The Bladeless Queen [Starcraft][Misc]

[d.fish]

Yay, die motherfucker.

I hope he stays down, though that kind of critter usually doesn't. What is he anyway?

Click to shrink...

servant of space cthulhu

 

[d.fish]

Nova 2







Nova woke to the cold of space. There was a hum beneath her rump—the vibration of the engines of the Wraith. Her fingers ran through the worn, decades old linen covers of the chair she was in. As she tried to move, the thick strap around her body held her to her seat and its buckle clinked.



"You're awake."



Nova saw into the darkness of the vessel—the glowing, lightning-blue eyes of Sarah Kerrigan, pulsing with power. To the former Queen of Blades' side, a single zergling was also strapped into its seat. It gurgled up at Nova as her gaze turned to it. Behind it, the last of the three hydralisks wiggled its talons, also safely fastened into its seat. This was the motley crew that she had found herself with—with none of her support or her own team, even.



It made Nova want to laugh and cry.



"You might not remember," Kerrigan added. "But before you passed out, you told me where to find this ship."



Nova chuckled coldly then, at her own incompetence. She should have been more prepared. "A zergling, a hydralisk and two ghosts walk into a bar..."



"What?" Kerrigan's eyes were widen.



"Nothing." Nova shook her head. She said louder, "What happened?"



It was Kerrigan's turn to grimace and evade the question. "We beat Duran, we escaped. There was no time to stay before the whole facility went up in flames."



"So you did not confirm the kill."



"Yes."



He was more powerful than both of them combined, and he had powers she never saw before. The encounter had shaken her to her core in more ways than one. The green energy... it showed her things, unlocked things that should not be. Nova determined that as soon as she returned, she would require another wipe.



Nova sighed, realizing the worst possibility was to face it again. "Then he could still be out there. Do you know what Samir Duran is?"



"... No."



"Yet he served you for some time, as consort, no less," Nova remarked with lidded eyes.



The zergling beside her barked like a retarded puppy that had just gotten the scent of a stack of grilled steak. Its tongue lopped out of its jaw sideways and flapped back and forth. After a moment of uncomfortable silence in the cabin, Kerrigan rubbed her forehead and sighed, not bothering to turn away from the piloting console to look at Nova. "If we're going to be listing all the things neither of us knows, we're never getting out of this ship."



"Why was he there?" Nova changed the direction of her questioning.



"Huh..." Kerrigan blinked. "I thought you'd know that."



But she did not. What she did know was... too little. She needed to milk Kerrigan for answers. The Queen of Blades was resigned towards her fate before; she must have known something. "I don't know much about the... infamous Samir Duran. He is wanted throughout the sector by every major power. As you saw, he is apparently a shapeshifter."



"Hm."



"If I remember correctly, some of your Zerg could change their shape," Nova noted.



"They can only change their appearance by shifting pigment, scales, and inflating or deflating their organs. They can't change their composition and miraculously make matter disappear," Kerrigan replied dismissively. "Look, if you think I am behind him..."



"I would not think that." Nova replied in a similar tone. "He is more powerful than you, as it were."



The cabin fell to relative silence.



Nova felt an inch in her trigger finger, looking down at the pathetic zergling. It peered up at her with its eight large, round eyes and whimpered stupidly before trying to lick its own tail. Instead, it found itself caught and tangled in the seat belt. Once more, it blinked up at Nova, as if pleading.



Nova made no move to help the little thing.



"Why did you come?" Kerrigan asked finally, after what seemed like minutes of silence.



Nova shrugged, a motion she had long practiced to show her cool, uncaring resolve. "I did not come to kill you, if that is what you're asking."



"It's not," Kerrigan replied immediately. She sounded confident, as if she was not afraid of the chance of Nova reaching forward and strangle her from behind. She did not even look over her shoulder. "I'm wondering if Duran followed you."



"That would be impossible, I covered my trail. The only other possibility would be Valerian Mengsk's friend, the researcher into alien biology." She shook her head. "And he is a timid man with no power, I did check."



"I could not get a read on Duran during the fight," Kerrigan said, suggestively.



"It was more than a cursory mind scan. I had done extensive background checks and scans." Nova felt a heat of indignation burn in her heart for half a second, but it was smothered immediately. She would not allow such silly emotions get ahead of herself.



"If you say so." Kerrigan remarked, clearly not believing that an innocent old man like the good doctor Emil Narud might be something more than he seemed. Everything in her Ghost training told her otherwise—Nova knew which was right. Kerrigan pressed on, "You still haven't told me why you came for me. Not that I'm ungrateful. I am."



She did not sound like it.



Nova did not like drudging up old memories, but this was of one that she could not wipe from her mind, no matter how hard she tried. And it was a defect she found impossible to report... Still, if Kerrigan really wanted to know, who was Nova to stop her? "When Jim Raynor died, I saw into his mind."



For a second, Nova felt as if time paused and space itself stopped all motion, as Kerrigan's breath stopped. Then it started, and Kerrigan just sighed silently. "... Go on."



"He had a vision of the end."



At those words, Nova saw Kerrigan's eyes glaze over in recollection.



She remembered something.



Nova smiled to herself.



"He had a vision of the end, given to him by the Dark Templar Zeratul." Nova added. It was a vision that played each time she closed her eyes. She could not sleep... no matter deed she had done for the Dominion, she had restful sleep, but this...?



"Zeratul." Kerrigan grunted in... not quite rage, more like annoyance. She sounded like she had just discovered a mosquito on her arm.



"Without you, we would all be doomed." Nova felt weak just saying those words. She could not check the validity of those words and she could not help but feel resentful. "It is a vision that does not leave me."



"Zeratul." Kerrigan's voice echoed through the void. Now it sounded like rage.



Perhaps it would be better to ask of her plans, Nova decided, and distract the unstable being from destroying their only mode of transport by accident. "Where are you going now?"



Kerrigan finally looked over her shoulder again. Her eyes were gold and bright like twin suns.



"I will take back my Swarm. I will gather my Zerg. I will rid myself of the nuisance that is Arcturus Mengsk." She said with finality. "And then, only then, will I be able to prepare for the coming storm."



And she meant it too.



As if disregarding Nova, Kerrigan turned back to the console. Over her shoulder, Nova saw that they were headed to a nearby planet infested with the Zerg.



It felt like ice dropped into the pit of her stomach. She hoped it was not true.



"... You mean to overrun the Dominion just for one man." This one man was the founder, but he was also the root of all of the Dominion's problems. He was the reason that the Dominion's foe was itself. He was the one who... Even so, the Dominion was, the Dominion... The...



She frowned and reached for her gun silently.



The zergling crawled onto her lap, weighing down on her. Its eyes were watery, but its maw hungered. Its claws left marks on her legs like the way a cat would as it clawed itself up, though Nova hissed when it pressed against the wound which she had sustained from the battle against Duran. The little bastard had the audacity to look apologetic, with all of its little claws.



Each of the hydralisk's limbs pressed down against her shoulder. Jagged teeth rested themselves on the crown of Nova's head. "Hsssaaa-a-a-a..." The hydralisk's breath brushed against her nape, sending up involuntary goosebumps. It hissed against her neck ever so softly.



"Careful," Kerrigan's seductive, teasing voice fluttered over. "And you might come out just... ahead."

 

[Beyogi]

What... did these Zergs get possessed by the creatures from that Worm AU where Taylor is the queen of her own swarm?

I'm not sure about Zerglings, but Hydralisks are supposed to have seriously nasty temper. Also I hope that Kerrigan choses a more sensible way to bring down Mensk than in canon.

 

[Biigoh]

They are the derpy zergs from Starcrafts... :3

 

[selonianth]

What... did these Zergs get possessed by the creatures from that Worm AU where Taylor is the queen of her own swarm?

I'm not sure about Zerglings, but Hydralisks are supposed to have seriously nasty temper. Also I hope that Kerrigan choses a more sensible way to bring down Mensk than in canon.

Click to shrink...

They do, all Zerg do. But they're also Kerrigan's pets. If she wants one to resemble a cuddly puppy, it's gonna resemble a goddamn puppy.