THE INFINITE BROOD (Starcraft/Supreme Commander Crossover Quest!)

CW: Child abuse, ghost training

You squared your shoulders and beat back the sense of gathering dread in your stomach, then started forward. You walked through the base, following the footprints. The faint wet slap slap slap of someone walking, bare foot, just out of your sight echoed through your ears, almost as loud as the hissing static over your communicator. Your flashlight played over a doorway and you saw the footsteps turned to face it. You walked to the door and shone your light around the room. It was sparse. Undecorated. The walls were padded and there was a small table on it. You stepped into the room-

The gun gleams on the table. The man stands beside it. The voice over the PA is clipped, robotic.

"Take it from him."

The man snatches up the gun. You step forward, grab the barrel - control it. You twist, push, tug. He's stronger than you. He yanks back and you fall backwards. He aims the gun at you. The barrel is huge.

"Reset."

The man sets the gun down again. You think you might have wet your pants. You force the tears back, breathing raggedly. You stand up.

This time, you focus. They'd been teaching you how to use your powers. You just had to do it. You just had to do it. You just had to do it. You just had to do it. Your heart hammered as the man resumed his position. The tiny chip in his forehead glittered as he took his posture. He was bald and brick faced, even in white smock and leggings.

"Take it from him."

He reaches. You grab the barrel. Twist, push-

He pushes back. You feel something pop inside you. You're stronger. His finger cracks and you wrench the weapon free, bringing it around and aiming it at him.

"Execute."

Your finger-

You snap back to yourself with an echoing gunshot in your ears. Your pistol shakes as you swing it around the room. The table is still there, but the gun's long gone. You touch the dust on it and frown, harder. You turn back and see that the footprints continue. You come, at last, to the circular chamber...the computing core. Your flashlight swept around...and saw what the robot had missed. There, huddled next to the console, their body pressed against metal and curved chairs, was a figure - slender and trembling and clad in a pale white smock. Their hair is wild and tangled and their eyes show have the jaundiced hue of someone suffering from pretty severe nutrient loss. Their frame is skeletally thin, like they were on the very edge of running out of rations. You immediately set your pistol down on the counter beside you, holding your hand out.

"My name's Samantha," you said, quietly. Your voice felt like a bulldozer in the room. Too fucking loud. The child flinches. You pause. "What's yours?"

They don't speak for a long, quiet moment, their eyes wide as they look at you. Their eyes bore into yours and you swear you feel a tingle in your mind. Their voice is soft, but less cracked than you'd expect. They had to have been drinking water, even if they were running low on food.

"XG9081," they whisper.

You try and keep yourself from frowning - pretty sure that a frowning Samantha Clarke was the last thing this poor kid needed to see.

"Is that the name they gave you?"

Their head bobbed.

"...you scared the mercs aware, didn't you?" you asked - thinking of the little line Mira Han had fed you. Haunted by Ghosts indeed. The child nods again.

"Do you have your old name?" you ask, and begin to very, very slowly reach into your pouch.

They pause. "They make it go away. With a machine." They say, haltingly. "It hurts." Then they see your hand and tense up.

"Wait, wait," you whisper. "Wait."

You draw, gently, a small ratbar out. You hold it to them. "Eat it slowly. It's smart food - it's designed for slow release for these situations, so-" You get about that far before the ratbar gets snatched up and the child starts to chew on it with a ferocious eagerness. They chew and chew, hungrily, then push the last of it down their mouth. "...can you stop blocking my communications? We need to get you back to my ship."

They shook their head. "If I do, they come."

Your brow drew in. "The...mercenaries?"

That head shook again.

Your frown came, despite your efforts. "The Zerg."

The child whispers. "I don't want her to find me."

"Who's...her?" you asked.

The child reaches out. Their finger touches the floor and draws, tentatively, a stick figure on the ground - crude, but unmistakably human. Then they draw two additional curved wings thrusting from the shoulders, ending in equally crude lines. Something in your stomach shifts. It almost reminds you of...something. A dream you'd seen once. Or a nightmare. You opened your mouth and wracked your memory.

"The Queen of Blades?" you asked, the name coming to mind from the interview with General Duke and the reporter.

The child nods, their eyes bright and afraid.

"Well, don't worry," you said. "I'm General Samantha Clarke and I'm from the United Earth Federation."

"What's Earth?" the child asks, nervously.

"It's where all humans come from, and we're going to keep you safe. Come on." you said, standing up. "Lower the jamming and we can get you to Expeditionary 1. That's my spaceship. You'll get food. Medical attention. I promise."

The child gulps, slowly. "Okay."

The buzzing static cuts off and you hear Lt. Stukov's voice. "General? We've just got you on- bozhe moi, who is that?"

"A survivor that Prince Valarian missed," you said, lifting the kid without even noticing the weight. You tucked them against your shoulder. "How did that happen, buddy?"

"Hid," they said.

"Can't blame you," you muttered, softly.

"...uh, General," Stukov said, his voice alarmed. "Detecting a sudden Zerg biomass bloom out there. It's as if enough of them have collected in one place to..."

"Are they approaching?" you asked.

"...no, General. They appear to be scattering again. Unfortunately, they appear to be scattering due to Mira Han sending a flight of ships your way. I'd suggest you hurry."

You nod. "Tell Dr. Hanson, we're going to have a patients for her," you said, jogging through the corridors as fast as you could. You reached the exterior, the blazing heat slapping into you and the child at the same time. They clung to you and you hurried as fast as you could, enfolding them in your arms to keep the scorching heat from burning them too badly. You reached the ACU's side and touched the rungs - and they were scalding hot, despite the coolant systems the ACU had. You hissed, jerking your hands back. "Damn it." you started to program in some simple instructions - and the ACU started to take a knee.

As it laboriously got lower to the ground, a screaming sound shot by overhead. You looked up - but saw no sign of anything overhead. Your brow furrowed. For just a second, you swore you saw that there was something distorting the clouds. You filed it away for a future worry as the ACU's movement got you close enough to the hatch. You swung in and reached the cockpit with just a few more moments of inelegant scrambling. The child tucked against your side as you tapped at the console, bringing out another ratbar. The smart foods couldn't kill the kid, not like just giving them normal food - but you had to admit, they had to be very hungry to be able to ignore the fact that they tasted how they sounded.

Once the ACU stood, you brought the view online - and wouldn't you know it?

There was a call from Mira Han.

"Sammy, Sammy, Sammy!" she crooned. "Your pretty Matt has been holding out on me. I didn't know he went in for girls with jaws squarer than his." She grinned.

You frowned, intently. "This is General Samantha Clarke of the United Earth Federation Expeditionary forces. What are your intentions?"

"My intentions?" Mira asked. "Here, my poor bored Marauders were just on a Zerg hunt and you were sitting on an old Confederate covert ops laboratory and science facility." She grinned. "Do you know how many credits the Dominion would pay for this?"

"Nothing, they've already looted it," you said.

"Oh?" she asked. "Then we'll sell it on the black market then. There are enough smaller parties who...well, they won't be able to train platoons of Ghosts, but having one or two on the staff would suit them quite nicely." She grinned, wickedly. "Maybe even the Kel-Morians."

You frowned at her.

"Oh, Sammy, don't look like that! I'm being quite generous," Mira said.

"Are you now," you said, flatly.

"I have two squadrons of Wraith fighters overhead with antiarmor infrared lasers and aspect seeking ATS reaper missiles, Sammy," she said, her voice playful. "And I'm offering to let you and your little faux Goliath leave."

You quirked a single eyebrow.

---
HEAT: 2/6

[ ] Okay then. (Fail diplomacy and set heat to 0. Begin Combat - XP Value 15)
[ ] Accept her offer and quit the field. (Allow Mira Han to have access to the Covert Ops lab, get nothing.)
[ ] Stall her so you can make a drone and send it in to download the data, erase the rest, then bounce. (Diff 5 Charm check - 5 heat, overheat by 1. The situation then gets worse because...)
[ ] Write In