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

You opened your mouth, to respond...

You could remember prior arguments. You knew when to give people time.

You sighed, softly. You finished your sentence. "Take all the time you need."

Sarah hesitated, then touched the button. The door hissed shut behind her as she left. You rolled onto your back, glowering up at the ceiling. You were an idiot for falling so hard - but you knew for a fact it was real right now.

It only hurts this bad when it's going to last, one way or the other. Either it'll last because you keep her or...more likely...it'll hurt because you'd be missing her into your seventies.

"Fuck," you muttered. "Fuck, Samantha, you're a moron." Your palm pressed against your forehead, rubbing.

You managed, eventually, to get some sleep. You were going to need it.

The closest the Earthers ever got to realizing something was amiss, to realizing the terrible danger they were in, came at that moment. Control, shaken by emotion, slipped and for just a moment, a tiny blip appeared in Dr. Hanson's scans as she monitored the shimmering weave of interconnected quantum signals routed throughout Aiur's biosphere, trying to sort what was Zerg from what was Protoss. For a few seconds, a signal came clearly from the E1's habitation section, and her brows drew together. She tapped her re-scan button, to check for variance.

In a bathroom, her eyes screwed shut, her hands tightened, the Queen of Blades breathed slow, controlling breaths.

Second thoughts?

Sarah narrowed her eyes and her focus. The signal vanished on Dr. Hanson's screens as the re-scan completed. She kept an eye on it, but nothing strange popped up again.

Of course. It's the second thing he ever taught me - adapt...or die.

There's adaptation and then there's foolishness, the other voice said, quietly. Lets go over what we've seen so far.

Sarah snorted, quietly. I had a front row view.

Of course, my Queen...

Is that jealousy I feel, my Consort? Sarah's voice had the acid sarcasm of the damned. Do you envy our connection?

It is not my place to feel envy, my Queen. Merely to advise you. And...well...you feel this connection, but how can you be so sure she feels it back?

I'm in her head, I see myself in her eyes, Duran. Sarah's lip curled slightly.

But she sees a human - not what you are. You told me of the first lesson he taught you...no?

Sarah looked aside. She breathed in, slowly, then brushed her hands through her brilliant red hair. She looked into the mirror, her eyes as green as she remembered them being. She reached out...and touched the mirror. For a moment, it was no telepathic communion, no ancient Zerg genetic memory flickering through her. It was the same image she saw every time: The half butchered hand, lifted up, the fingers severed on the floor. The spurt spurt spurt of fear-driven blood, hot on her belly, and her thighs, the skittery-fast way that the droplets flowed down a monomolecular composite edge. The weightless heft of the machete.

You're thinking of-

Don't, Sarah snapped, the image snapping shut, going back into the box. That's his gift to me. Not yours, Consort.

The feeling of someone bowing, in this link, was a strange, ghostly presence.

My apologies, my Queen.

"Get ready," Sarah whispered aloud. "Things are going to get dicey."

Of course...my Queen...

The presence vanished away. Sarah rubbed her hands against her face, rubbed, then felt her emotions settling - though they never quite were the same baseline as before. She didn't even know if it was because she wasn't human anymore - maybe any human would feel the same, in this situation, with this head of memories, with this terrible choice that had to be made.

Maybe she was just the queen bitch of the universe...

Sarah turned away from her reflection, and slipped into the corridors. But she couldn't even just keep her eyes on her feet as she walked - the floor was too well polished.

Her ghost chased her all the way back home.

You'd just laced up your boots when the entry chime came. You lifted your gaze up - and then said: "Enter?"

The door opened and Sarah stood there. She was holding a food carton - fresh and steaming, and a pair of glasses with narrow handles, dangling between her fingers, waiting for their chance to be filled. Her smile was shy, but you could tell she'd been crying.

"...I..." She paused. "I don't know if I can tell you everything in one sitting."

You smiled, gently. "You don't have to tell me anything," you said, then patted the bed. "Come on. I'm starving."

She walked in, settling next to you. You slid an arm around her and squeezed her. As she opened the food carton and the steam and fragrent scent filled the air, the two of you leaned, head to head.

Quietly, Sarah whispered. "Sam."

"Yeah?"

"Now I don't want to get up and I didn't get drinks."

You laughed, kissing her head. You stood, got the drinks, then dragged over a chair. Once you'd sat, knee to knee, you speared some of the spiced chicken with a bit of sliced and buttered broccoli, then popped it into Sarah's mouth. As she chewed, you grinned at her wryly. "How about instead of talking about the bad shit we've both done...we can talk about things we're proud of?"

She swallowed, then laughed. "You've already bragged enough about the United Earth Federation to make me want to get my..." She stabbed, then offered her fork to you. You grinned, then snatched the food from the fork before she could yank it back. "...citizenship. If...they'd take me."

"I'd make sure they take you," you said, stirring with a fork.

"You really would," she murmured, toe playing with your toe. "But what do you have to be proud about that's not related to blowing things up for the only human government worthy of the name?"

You sighed, then drew back, looking up into the air.

Silence.

"C'mon, Sam, you have to have something..." Her toe crept up your calf. "How about your honor?"

"Doesn't that have to do with my service?" you asked, dropping your eyes.

"Not even slightly," she said, quietly, then smiled. "How about your amazing cunnalingus skills?"

"I'm not amazing, you just did nothing but date boys before you met me," you said, forking another bit of food. You threatened to eat it off your own fork. Sarah's offended expression was so well acted that you actually felt a bit guilty - gently offering the fork to her. She leaned over and, ignoring the fork, kissed you. When she drew back, she grinned.

"Yeah, but the boy was really attentive."

"Hmmm," you said, as she went down on your fork again.

"Now!" Sarah chewed. "What I'm proud of? For a dizzying four months, I tricked myself into thinking I was a hero." She grinned. "And in that spate of time, I saved some lives, killed some bad people, met some wonderful friends..." She looked sad. "But...well, you know about my old government."

You could imagine it. Joining up with the Confederacy, full of whatever propaganda that old astrostate had put out. Four months of quiet service, maybe a battle here and there against unobjectionable targets - pirates, reavers, maybe even Zerg or Protoss, if it was back when they had first started to arrive. For all you knew, she had fought at the first battlefields you had read about like Mar Sara or Antigua. But when had the first real bad order come down from the Confederates, desperate to hold onto their power? You could see then, shadowed in her eyes as she looked past you, through you.

"What happened?" you asked.

"I woke up," she whispered.

The food was getting cold.

You leaned over, then kissed her cheek. Sarah shook her head, then smiled shyly.

"That...doesn't have to be what you are," you said, quietly. "Not anymore."

She put her hand on your cheek, gently, stroking her fingers up to your ear, cradling your head. She grinned, slightly. "You can't fix old mistakes. You just get to make new ones."

"God, and here I thought I was the old cynical one here." You said, then gently prodded her mouth with a food laden fork. "Come on. Eat up. We have a jump in five hours."

She crewed, swallowed, then chuckled. "Where too?"

"A planet called Braxis," you said, shrugging. "There's a Dominion base there - and it's a good enough place to meet with Prince Valarian."

And the Uraj. But Sarah doesn't need to know about that, you thought.

"Sounds delightful," she said. "You know Braxis is a frozen hell hole, right?"

"I'll be in a robot, though," you said, dryly.

Sarah snorted.

The jump went off without a hitch.

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HEAT: 0/6

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