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

"I'm absolutely not," you said, flatly.

"Listen, General, you accepted a political officer, it'd be pretty silly of you to not be listening to my ideas, yeah?" Tosh asked, sounding as calm and collected as ever. The worst part was, you couldn't even point out that he hadn't pulled his weight so far - he had done more and better than you had ever expected, and thanks to his support, the operation on Aiur had gone off without a single hitch. Now you had the gratitude of an entire alien species and you had forced the Dominion to diplomatic talks, rather than having to crunch through their boarders with a prolonged war.

You hoped that the demonstration of your military technology and numerical superiority - three ACUs beating entire nation-states handily - would be enough to convince them. It seemed like your hopes had every chance of working out...and now Tosh wanted you to go down to Braxis without an ACU. You turned to Matt, who was adjusting his collar to hide yet another hicky. He coughed, softly...and stabbed you in the back. Right to your face.

"Well, General, he does have a good point," he said.

"Et Tu?" you muttered under your breath.

"General," he said, placatingly. "You're going down in a diplomatic mission. And we can have an ACU locked onto your coordinates to hit dirt the moment anything goes south."

"There's a minor logistic problem with your idea," you said. "An ACU arriving hits like an atomic bomb."

"The idea isn't that you will run immediately into it," Tosh said. "If something goes wrong, Major Horner will be providing backup. All you have to do is lay low and exfiltrate as quick as you can. And it's not like we'll send you in unarmed or unarmored. I was thinking a full escort of mech-marines and a T3 gunship for transportation and air support."

You frowned. A tiny trickle of paranoia tickled at the back of your mind - was Tosh planning something?

Or...

Or was that completely unfair and unfounded. He hadn't done anything but be assigned by the PolitBeurau. You crossed your arms over your chest, and you walked to the display window. Your eyes took in the orbital surveillance of the Terran Dominion base - it had been established well before Prince Valarian had been sent here. According to Dr. Hanson, the downspin crystal was located within the base's research center. Your eyes narrowed as you checked over the bunkers and the missile turrets. You were fairly sure a single T3 gunship could clear the base by itself. But still...going down felt damn naked.

But you don't want to kill more people, do you? you thought.

No. You really didn't.

You sighed. "All right," you said. "It'll feel like I'm going down naked."

"If it helps, the dress blues have thermals in them," Matt said, trying to sound cheerful.

You scowled at the orbsat view - at the white snow and the ice and the muddy ground churned up by tanks moving across snow. You crossed your arms over your chest and tucked your fingers under your armpits.

"Fine," you muttered. "But I hate the cold."

Wind whipped against the side of the Broadsword heavy gunship as it cruised around the Terran base. Red flags flapped on their standards, and red painted buildings gleamed. You recognized the command center, the mining operations, the vespine refineries, the barracks. The science facilities sprawled off to the southern end of the base, with attached physics laboratories for studying high end particle physics. You had to admit it: Even if they were backwards colonials with a goddamn Emperor, at least they kept their eggheads busy. Your lips pursed slightly. You had seen another, similar facility back on Redstone - but that had been dedicated to covert ops.

Had Sarah known about that level of Confederate vileness?

You knew she wasn't a Ghost, she didn't have psychic talents. But surely, Ghosts had support officers. Had she been one of those?

You cast the thoughts from your head, sighing as the Broadsword settled down before a phalanx of marines that were standing at attention. The vehicle's engines calmed and settled as the attached mech-marines stepped off the sides and marched off to flank your entrance. The gangway opened and you stepped from the cramped, uncomfortable, barely livable internal storage of the Broadsword and stepped down the ladderway. Your shoes crunched on the snow and the heated inside of your uniform made you feel nearly comfortable - save for your nose instantly beginning to freeze off. Your breath misted the air as you saw, at the end of the marine phalanx, was Prince Valarian.

The sense of deja vu settled itself shortly. You had seen him before...

On Redstone.

Your lips thinned as the elegantly dressed, blond haired youth walked forward. He wore a dress uniform that exceeded yours for fanciness, and glittered with medals he was far too young to have earned. Some snow gusted his hair and he inclined his head, and spoke clearly despite his teeth chattering.

"I suppose you'd prefer we do the introductions inside?"

You gave a curt nod. "That sounds best, to me."

He gestured with one hand, and you fell into step beside him - proud of the fact you and he were equal height. "I've been following your military campaign in the Koprulu Sector with great interest," he said. "If we can find a peaceful resolution between our governments, I believe that the UEF could be an answer to the Zerg problem that we've been fighting for...heh, for what feels like my entire life."

"Were you in the core system during the war?" you asked as you came to the command center's front entrance. The door whirred and clunked open. The interior was as utilitarian and practically designed as everything else the colonials had thrown together - but several steps cruder and more...jerry-rigged than what you were used too. Technicians were busy replacing a filter as you stepped in, swearing under their breaths as they worked.

"No, uh, I was kept at the Umojan Protectorate with my mother, to keep me and her safe," he said, nodding. "The Confederates were not above using covert operatives to assassinate their enemies as...my grandfather, grandmother and aunt were unfortunate enough to learn first hand." He made a face. "That was before I was born, but, still, my father took the lesson most completely to heart. It was that, almost more than the nuclear devastation of Korhal that drove him in the war."

You nodded. "Under the UEF, that kind of crime wouldn't have happened," you said. "We don't assassinate our political enemies. Because we don't have political enemies."

"...that's not what I've heard," Prince Valarian said, turning to face you, his eyes cool. "According to signal intercepts, you are at war with your own enemies - the Aeon and the Cybran, yes?"

You frowned. Signal intercepts? Or psychic snooping? The idea made your skin crawl.

"Those are not political enemies," you said, flatly.

"Then what are they, exactly?"

"Existential threats," you said, frowning. "The Aeon are an exterminationist xenophilic cult that would murder billions if they could get away with it. The Cybran use brainwashing programs and enforced cybernetic controls to turn people into their slaves." Your eyes flicked, for a moment to the Marines that had followed in after you, which were flanked by your mech marines - making for quite a crowded corridor behind you. When your eyes met Prince Valarian's, his lips pursed slightly.

"And your Federation has no criminals?" he asked, dryly.

"Of course we have criminals. Less than you'd think, of course. Ubiquitous nanofabrication makes a lot of pressures that lead to crime obsolete - why steal when you can fabricate?" You smirked, slightly. "And we don't jam control nodes in their brains."

Prince Valarian didn't quite bristle. You were impressed.

"I...actually have been a part of the reform programs in the Terran Dominion Marine Corps," he said, his voice a little stiffly. "Confederate methodology is not going to be kept unopposed and unexamined in my kingdom." He spoke those words with a quiet intensity - and you felt...he meant it. He really did see himself as a good king.

Pathetic.

You reached the confederacy rooms and took your seats. A surprisingly curvy adjutant arrived with refreshments - including piping hot tea, which she sat beside you with a whirr and a click.

---
Thanks to Empathetic, you know that his Motivation is "Be The Man My Father Could Not"

HEAT: 0/6

[ ] Begin by laying out your terms: total dismantling of the Dominion government, end of the Mengskian authority, and a peaceful integration as new member worlds of the United Earth Federation
[ ] Ask what the Terran Dominion wants out of this
[ ] Bring up the Uraj Crystal - you want it. Don't tell him why, obviously.
[ ] Write In