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

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THE SWARM SHEET
  • Informational
    • The Brood of Blades
    ​
    Cerebrate Prime: Samantha Clarke
    LEVEL: 5
    XP: 205/210
    TRAITS
    Strategic Genius: Once per structured encounter, Sam can create a piece of the environment that is in her favor as a sticky spark. Roll a d3 for its value.
    Empathetic: upon meeting an NPC, learn their motivation!
    Legendary Commander: Gain 4 Command sparks at the beginning of each mission/combat. Command sparks may be spent to give NPCs orders, which they may either obey or refuse to obey (doing nothing instead.) Command sparks may not be regained via skills or powers.
    Hunted: Something wants her - but for what? +1 Danger to all scenes​
    SKILLS
    CLOSE COMBAT (2): Brawling, Edged Weapons
    PERSONAL (2): Awareness, Resilience
    SOCIAL (4): Charm, Empathy, Leadership, Taunt​
    MASTERY
    ACU Pilot (2): Nanofabrication [Mass], ObSat Operations [Range]
    The Hilt (4): Biomorphic Spawning (People), Regeneration (Durability), Physical Perfection (Speed), Telepathic Dominion (Range)​

    POWERS
    The Living Swarm
    Vent: 4-0
    Effect: Gain 1 Living Swarm spark, +1 per vent reduction.​
    The Living Swarm: While this swarm exists, move in three dimensions and through anything smaller than a keyhole, reforming at will. You may expend these sparks to cause 3 Hit Sparks in a Area 2 radius.​
    Area Upgrade: +1 to Area Characteristic​

    Biomorphic Reinforcement
    Vent: 4-0
    Effect: Create 1 Biomorphic Reinforcement spark, +1 per vent reduction, which can be given out to anyone within Range 2, or to yourself
    Biomorphic Reinforcement: +1 to Damage or Mass characteristic for the purpose of raw physical strength/feats.

    Back to Back
    Vent: 4-0
    Effect: Choose 1 ally (+1 per vent reduction), within Range 1. Each can take one action using one of your skills, any of them that you wish. Once they have done so, you may make a free attack with your melee weapon, getting +1 to your skill per ally that acted.​

    Adaptation
    Vent: 4-0
    Effect: Create a number of sparks equal to the enemy's difficulty, narratively based on turning their abilities against them. Works on enemies of Diff 2>, +2 per vent reduction.​

    Just as Planned…
    Vent: 6-0
    Effect: Vent 6 heat and create 1 Planning Spark for her or an ally, +1 Spark per vent reduction.​
    Planning: The person holding this Spark can expend this to get +1 to a skill check as a free action. Using this Stack counts as you are helping for the purpose of relationships.​

    GEAR
    Zeratul's Psi-Blades
    Adds: +0 (Edged Weapons) | Characteristics: Damage [Speed] (4)[1]​
    Shadowstep (3): Can expend as a free action to move without crossing intervening space.
    Guarded Space (3): Can expend to use Damage as a secondary characteristic for Durability, reducing incoming Damage characteristics.​

    GALACTIC WAR
    Victory Points: 5    ​
    RESOURCES​
    TERRAN DOMINION [Background] (1)​
    The men and material of the Dominion - limited, but they're mustering as we speak. ​
    ALLIANCE EXPEDITIONARY FORCES [Mastery] (1)​
    While you have access to several ACUs of every faction, they lack economic and technological support to be fully effective. ​
    ZERG HIVE [Mastery] (1)​
    The scant few Zerg you control that are free of Amon's influence. Mostly Zerglings. ​
    AEON FLEET [Background] (1)​
    While half a dozen CZARs seem impressive, they're not actually well made for ship to ship combat. ​
    ALLIED COHESION [Motivation] (1)​
    The alliance is fragile and weak.​

    FRONTS​
    Trade Sector-34-51 [Pirate Activity]
    Pirates Raiding 6 (Supply Lines in Disarray 1)
    COMMAND: Jim Raynor | ARMY: Raynor's Raiders
    RESULTS: Pending

    Braxis [Zerg Invasion]
    Borealis Siege 6 (Zerg Rampage1)
    COMMAND: General Samantha Clarke | ARMY: Brood Clarke
    RESULTS: Pending

    Typhan II [Active Xel'Naga ACU]
    Typhan II Occupied 6 (Xel'Naga ACU Spotted 1)
    COMMAND: Lt. Colonel Mathew Horner | ARMY: UEF Armored Command Unit
    RESULTS: Pending

    Deep Space Sector 981 [Hive Fleet Identified]
    Zerg Hive Fleet Spotted 6 (Kerrigan? 1)
    COMMAND: Citizen-Commander Dostya | ARMY: CN Armored Command Unit
    RESULTS: Pending
    ​
    ENEMY ASSETS (Currently Known)
    ​
    THE GOLDEN ARMADA
    ACTIVITY: Unknown | Threat Level: 6​
     
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  • Informational
    • Cookiesndip said:
    Do note this when switching that an otherwise less popular option may win instead. Approval voting is the way.
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    Ahh, good point, thanks! I've edited my post with my vote here again.

    Cookiesndip said:
    so going full sieg hiel now of all times is very OOC after having her entire self uprooted along with her chaotic feelings for Sarah, and is lacking foresight or even basic intelligence
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    I guess I could maybe see it as Sam just... breaking, deciding that the UEF is her life and if that means being a slaving boot on the necks of the innocent and building genocidal superweapons, so be it, but that seems a: still something of a stretch and b: as you say, a complete and utter tragedy. So let's not do that.
     
    Reese said:
    I guess I could maybe see it as Sam just... breaking, deciding that the UEF is her life and if that means being a slaving boot on the necks of the innocent and building genocidal superweapons, so be it, but that seems a: still something of a stretch and b: as you say, a complete and utter tragedy. So let's not do that.
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    I think a response to the shock of everything you knew crumbling would be to wrap yourself in the familiar and indulge, and to fall back to the ideals that form your core. The UEF did instill ideals into Sam, and Sam felt she was upholding the ideals of the UEF, but finding out those ideals were not the UEF doesn't change that those ideals are still hers. And because her eyes have been opened to how the UEF violated her ideals and worse got her to unknowingly violate her ideals that can be a driving motivation to fall back to when nothing seems to make sense and you don't know what to trust.
     
    There's also a massive pro to being Zerg now. Lifespan. Sarah will live effectively forever until killed and human Clarke will only live for a brief moment in the breadth of eternity in an easily killable fleshsuit. Now, we don't have either problem, and with the Zerg being Zerg, we can even upgrade ourselves over time.
     
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    Something interesting I think is that there's a slight dissonance with Sarah's statements

    First she asserts that she's a monster in spite of the mental blocks that they (the humans) put in her.

    Then she shows Sam the Cybran's memories as proof that the UEF is also bad and that we should work with her, or at least not work with the UEF.

    The dissonance I think comes from the emotional insistence that she is a monster while mentally recognising that anyone not her like Sam/Cybran's are either ignorant good guys/victims. Sam's not a monster inspite of killing people who want to be free, nor are the Cybran's monsters for the attrocities they must have did under the UEF mind control.
     
    Cookiesndip said:
    Lel. Read above, the UEF aren't that great, and it isn't a betrayal of the UEF's ideals, they are exemplars of them. They're 30k's Imperium mixed with a post-scarcity society and the USA half a century ago. Honestly, transmitting the truth about all that was lied about via the Black Sun would be catastrophic for the UEF.
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    I'm not saying that the UEF is somehow worth saving, or even reforming, but imo as a person raised in a polity like the UEF will believe in things that are absolute garbage to those in the know in that same polity. In fact, I'd argue you see some of Clarke's idealism in the SupCom Aeon ending - she doesn't understand the history of the Infinite War, but is willing to give peace a chance once her empathy is given a chance to shine through (through Aeon magic). The fact that the UEF is shit doesn't mean that order is somehow inherently bad - why wouldn't Clarke decide that everything was fine with the Earth Empire until Commander Smith wiped out the Xel'Naga and the administrators started using Adjutants?

    Kerrigan's choices make sense - twice betrayed by her superiors, mind wiped into an unthinking weapon of mass destruction - it follows on that once abandoned by the people she loved and respected, the only thing left for her is revenge.

    Clarke has been supported by refugees as well as her command staff throughout this campaign - Duran assassinating Stukov and Kerrigan massacring the Dominion was hardly Clarke being left to die - if anything, it's just more manoeuvring that went over Sam's head, one might say just like the manoeuvring Tosh and Riley (as well as the political bureau as a whole) did in order to complete Black Sun. One could even say that Black Sun was only completed because of Kerrigan's destruction of the UEF task force - a lie of course, because Black Sun would always be completed, but still.

    I intended my reasoning to be illogical and emotional - I think that's how a soldier like Clarke will react given the circumstances. She's lived in the structure of the UEF her whole life; the helpful blurb your post has lays it out - the key value the UEF holds is order (and control). She is (was) a cog in a machine designed to perpetuate a system, and cogs are not known for having flexibility immediately after being freed from such a system. While I'm as much of a fan as a Kerrigan/Clarke/Izsha threesome as anyone, Clarke - a person who has lived in cold duty their whole life, who was born in an exowomb, who for all intents and purposes had human connection only in the scope of fighting - isn't the sort of person to start reaching out for connection. I reckon she's much more likely to clam up, and to respond violently when pressed.

    If anything, the coldly logical thing to do now is to abandon all previous ties - it makes sense to say "fuck this, they lied to me" and sign up with someone who is offering much better emotional fulfilment than the UEF.

    The Xel'Naga are still out there, somewhere, and I honestly think that a small conflict here now could lead to increased independence in the future (hence more character agency, too, to deal with this). Kerrigan has to realise Clarke is her own person, not some ideal that she can point to and say: "I'm not a monster, I just did what anyone would do in my situation".

    And with the whole immortality thing - what's she gonna do, uninfest Sam?
     
    Kon9181 said:
    The Xel'Naga are still out there, somewhere, and I honestly think that a small conflict here now could lead to increased independence in the future (hence more character agency, too, to deal with this). Kerrigan has to realise Clarke is her own person, not some ideal that she can point to and say: "I'm not a monster, I just did what anyone would do in my situation".
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    Hmmm those are good points.

    From my end , out of character, I kinda disagree in that I don't think Kerrigan wants clarke as an Ideal. Rather I think Kerrigan is emotionally unstable and wants human connection to say that Sarah Kerrigan exist as a knee jerk rejection to Duran's stance that only the Queen of Blade exist.

    In Character I think that Kerrigan still exist, largely because her insistence that she is a monster kinda ignores that she only sometimes act like one and the other time she is as irrationally attached as Sam is. She didn't need to wait so long to backstab Sam, she could have done it a while ago with the AIUR mission which would have given her a much bigger advantage. Her insistence to get SAM for an ACU commander ignores that Matt Horner is an easier target that gives her almost as big an advantage. Nor did she need to let Valerian go.
     
    Kon9181 said:
    The fact that the UEF is shit doesn't mean that order is somehow inherently bad - why wouldn't Clarke decide that everything was fine with the Earth Empire until Commander Smith wiped out the Xel'Naga and the administrators started using Adjutants?
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    True, but Clarke would probably for a period of time be adverse to aspects and doctrines associated with the UEF due to the association. Think of this as an overdue teenage rebellion, she needs to find herself all over again and figure out how she wants to live, and what she wants to actually do. I just can't see her, or any other human just shrugging off having their entire identity and existence upended like that and go five seconds, or even five days later, 'yeah, but the ethos is still great!'. Nah, not a chance, humans just don't work that way. Especially since the obsession with order is the core of the rot in the UEF, so why the flying fuck would she run to it?

    Furthermore the point is she has no clue how deep the rot runs. Also, weren't symbionts introduced wayyy earlier before she was even born? Like, almost 1000 years before her birth. So like, she has no reason to believe it was any better then, especially with all the propaganda. That yearning for the past is also the exact same bullshit the UEF leaders do to justify their bullshit. It's like going maximum US patriot because they were great 3 centuries ago, it's stupid.

    Kon9181 said:
    If anything, the coldly logical thing to do now is to abandon all previous ties - it makes sense to say "fuck this, they lied to me" and sign up with someone who is offering much better emotional fulfilment than the UEF.
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    Well, yes. But the point is that there's literally nowhere to go to but with the Zerg. What exactly does she plan on doing, jumping out of the Leviathan? Then what? That isn't even taking into account she's a Zerg, a species with literally zero positive diplomatic ties other than Raynor, not to mention she barely knows what the fuck she's even doing or even where she is, or how to navigate. Her former allies are out, she has no relationships with any other faction, and everyone else is an enemy. The Zerg is who we're signing up with that offers more emotional fufillment than the UEF with Sarah.

    I don't care what sort of background you have or emotional turmoil, you aren't going to become a blathering idiot. Emotional yes, irrational yes, but outright 'hurr, leave me on a random planet alone with no allies' is beyond stupid. From a metaknowledge perspective it's even worse, because crowbarring Duran's influence away is imperative here, and given that up until now Clarke has been very attached to Sarah, she's not going to bail on her just yet, especially after being bombarded with so much info in such a short time. Get angry yes, be confused yes, be uncertain yes, but she's been bombarded with twists over and over again over like, a few minutes from her perspective. She's more likely to go 'I need to think for a while' after having her entire existence and life upended than fuck off.

    Kon9181 said:
    The Xel'Naga are still out there, somewhere, and I honestly think that a small conflict here now could lead to increased independence in the future (hence more character agency, too, to deal with this). Kerrigan has to realise Clarke is her own person, not some ideal that she can point to and say: "I'm not a monster, I just did what anyone would do in my situation".
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    Still dumb. There's a time and place for that sort of discussion, this is not the time to go full moral paragon seeing everything myopically in black and white while lecturing one of the most powerful women in the universe. If you read the same story as I did, we absolutely cornered Sarah by opening up the adjudants, previously, she was content with keeping up the facade, but we broke it. What did you want her to do, sit on the UEF ship and let us kill her like we had just promised Valerian to do? Sarah, who was backstabbed twice by those that had authority over her and mindfucked constantly? Fuck no. You also know Kerrigan didn't have to have keep us free like she is, you do realize we're essentially a second Queen of Blades, right? We're like a second faction leader. I don't even believe Sarah's rationale matches your claim, like at all. She gives very much a damn about Clarke, and it was never about that 'I'm not a monster' nonsense, but about having her lover/waifu with her, first and foremost, because to do anything but what she did would mean becoming mortal enemies. We're her morality pet, not her morality excuse, she's a better person because of Clarke's presence, but she's also not excusing the darker stuff she does.

    Both Kerrigan and Clarke are in extremely delicate moods right now, pushing can easily break the rest of Sarah's humanity, or shatter the relationship altogether. Don't force Clarke to take the darkest path possible, or start lecturing Sarah when she's already acting like a goddamn saint compared to the Brood War Queen of Blades and we're nowhere in the mood to do so given we have far bigger fish to fry. I mean christ, Sarah let Clarke keep her agency and mind completely untouched, and is presently letting Clarke do all sorts of shit unmolested. Aside from the whole infestation aspect, we got the best deal possible, and that's not to mention the indirect influence we have through her. Asking for more, or chastising her for that in particular is kind of ludicrous, considering.

    Besides, moral paragons are the most boring archetype in existence, whitewashing is for chumps, I'll take my yandere-lite world-destroying becoming-slightly-gooder QoB, thank you. We're Zerg, I'd like to do some Zergy things at some point.

    Kon9181 said:
    And with the whole immortality thing - what's she gonna do, uninfest Sam?
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    The actual worst-case scenario is tossing Clarke back in the pod, this time leaving her less free will while leaving Sarah with no more humanity. You're more likely to catch flies with honey than vinegar, going for the kill is going to accomplish the exact opposite of what you intend. God forbid she actually succeed, Clarke would shatter completely and go probably even more mad than QoB at her worst.

    Honestly, your entire plan seems to have a good chance of directing the plot into becoming a full on tragedy.

    Kon9181 said:
    The Xel'Naga are still out there, somewhere,
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    The Zerg are literally the only reason there's even a smidgeon of hope. Sarah, and the Zerg are our best, if not only true chance to actually win against them. Going elsewhere is going to be a pure downgrade in terms of chances.
     
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    The "do everything to maximise the Lovers drama" plan only has 7 votes compared to the winning vote of 17 to talk to the Cybran. This makes Pika Sad T_T.

    Cookiesndip said:
    Fuck no. You also know Kerrigan didn't have to have keep us free like she is, you do realize we're essentially a second Queen of Blades, right? We're like a second faction leader.
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    I think from the chapter Kerrigan's primary mechanism to control us seems to be by amplifying our emotions. Which for someone with root access to our brain is very very tame compared to literal Mind control/virus/brainwashing of the other factions if they were given the oppurtunity.

    Additionally Sarah kept our Humanoid shape rather then a more vulnerable overlord based shape considering we are ostensibly an ACU/Commander unit who doesn't really need to be on the front line.

    Kerrigan's "I am a monster" feels like it's only partly true , like she's gaslighting herself .
     
    Sarah is obviously suffering from what the Confederacy, Mengsk, and the Overmind did to her (and OOC, what Duran does to her). Also being an alien, with alien wants & desires. She's clearly targetted Clarke for her skill, but kept her as she is because her humanity etc. Kerrigan could just convert Clarke into a minion or just go on without her, but she needs Clarke for some reason.

    As for what Clarke would do in this situation, militaries drill people to instill habit that will survive trauma. She can probably compartmentalize, she can remain focused on what she wants to do: probably be a big damn hero.
     
    Evillevi said:
    I think from the chapter Kerrigan's primary mechanism to control us seems to be by amplifying our emotions. Which for someone with root access to our brain is very very tame compared to literal Mind control/virus/brainwashing of the other factions if they were given the oppurtunity.
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    Eh, Clarke has a shitton to be feeling chaotic about. A lot happened in very quick succession and feeling emotional makes complete sense.

    I doubt it. More likely it's psionics. Both of them are bouncing off each other like a feedback loop, amping both of their emotions. Hiveminds are a hell of a drug.
     
    Evillevi said:
    The "do everything to maximise the Lovers drama" plan only has 7 votes compared to the winning vote of 17 to talk to the Cybran. This makes Pika Sad T_T.
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    There there, well get it next time, didn't even realise that putting like 4 things together in an order was an option until later,
    There's still a lot to talk about/discuss rn it seems anyways, so maybe that can come later-
    Oh hey we could find out about what she wanted Bea for somepoint now too
     
    Avangelion said:
    Oh hey we could find out about what she wanted Bea for somepoint now too
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    Bea?
    Cookiesndip said:
    Eh, Clarke has a shitton to be feeling chaotic about. A lot happened in very quick succession and feeling emotional makes complete sense.

    I doubt it. More likely it's psionics. Both of them are bouncing off each other like a feedback loop, amping both of their emotions. Hiveminds are a hell of a drug.
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    I just realize that this is a possibilty. I am dum
     
    [X]Dostya Doesn't Need to See this
    -[X] "Take me to the Cybran. Now."
    -[X] Kill her (well, try at least.)
    -[X] Kiss her
    -[X] "We have to talk"
     
    Adhoc vote count started by DragonCobolt on Dec 14, 2023 at 11:45 AM, finished with 76 posts and 37 votes.
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    So, I'm gonna use the tied votes - see the Cybran, talk.

    Will there also be the gay sex?

    if there is, no kissing
     
    ACT TWO, MISSION ONE: Among the Vileness (0.2)
  • Threadmarks
    • You grabbed onto what was solid. What you knew. Facts. Not feelings. Feelings were for later, when your head wasn't so full of anger and rage and...and fucking moral confusion. Your head spines twitched, then flattened as you growled the words out. "Take me...to the Cybran. Now."

    Sarah regarded you. Then she nodded, her hand gliding along your back. You felt an urge to...

    Rrh.

    Nnh!
    The noise trying to crawl out of your throat was too alien and too pleased. You felt something rattling in your chest and...chittered as your spine arched to meet her palm.
    Sarah was so fucking smug you wanted to smack her.

    She stood. It was poetry in motion - inhuman grace with a dancer's pose. Since you remained laying on your side, you were near enough to nuzzle one of her feet. She had a bony arch-spur, thrusting from her heel, giving her natural high heels. You wanted to bite her.

    "Come on."

    You got to your own feet, feeling like a lumbering tank next to her. You walked behind her and tried to breathe slow and steady. The only problem was that breathing itself felt wrong - and right. You hadn't been aware of how many tiny aches and pains you had gotten used to as you aged - tiny twinges as your body slowly lost out to entropy. You had thought they had been bad in your 30s, bearable in your 40s, and nothing to worry about in your 50s. Now they were gone. Not just ignored. It made you feel energetic. Buzzing in your skin. Like you wanted to run and sing and laugh and dance for the joy of it. And then there was the sensations that drew along your flesh, like paintbrushes along a canvas.

    The heat.

    The scents.

    The moist pressure of the Levithan.

    The slow breathing. The thumping heartbeat.

    You closed your eyes for a moment and breathed in - but that just brought you Sarah's alien scent.

    You didn't want intimacy right now. She didn't fucking deserve intimacy.

    You wanted to fuck her.

    You wanted to kill her.

    You wanted to serve her. To kneel at her feet.

    You've turned me into a fucking headcase, you thought, opening your eyes as Sarah caressed a wall, and a slit in the wall slipped open with strands of gleaming moisture connecting the lips. She stepped inside. You wanted to say a million things as you came into the small, pearl-beaded chamber, which began to flow through esophageal tubes like an elevator shaft - but what came out was. "Why the high heels?"

    She cocked her head.

    "You have high heels," you said.

    Sarah chuckled. "I haven't controlled my body for my whole life." She crossed her arms under her breasts, shelving them. You forced your tongue back against your teeth to not lick your lips. It was hard to not fucking drool. "So why not? Why not exert some measure of control over something in this stupid universe? I couldn't be human, I couldn't be free, but I could at least look fabulous."

    "You...grew them?"

    "Yeah," she said. "Right after I almost killed my first High Templar." She snorted. "Not that he was ever actually there."

    She glanced at you. "Want the full story?"

    "Maybe...later," you said.

    "It's pretty funny, from a certain point of view," she said, dryly. "Does make me look like a moron, though."

    You paused. "Maybe sooner, then."

    Sarah chuckled.

    Damn it, you didn't want to make her laugh. You didn't want to fall into this old routine with her. You didn't want to be her fucking girlfriend. But it was like a Lagrange point, cluttering up your soul. And when she had that light, wry tone, she just made it easier. Was that...was she doing it on purpose? Or was she just as easily caught as you were?

    "Fuck," you muttered.

    Sarah glanced at you - but she didn't ask any questions as the pearl shifted open with a creak and you stepped into a ribcage-studded room that flexed subtly with a breathing, bellows motion. The floor had a slippery, smooth quality to it, but you and Sarah could move across it without skidding. And there, in the shrouded space between two ribs, was...the Cybran. Your eyes widened as you saw...

    They'd call you a monster. But this was something monsterous. Dostya looked...remarkably similar to the times you'd seen her on the vid...from the left side. But her right side had bloomed. Fungal growths, nautiloid shelves, writhing tentacles and glowing, bioluminescent sores. They studded from her cheek and ear, her jaw and her shoulder, enfolded her arm and leg. Her skintight combat suit split along jagged lines as the growth slashed across her belly. Her shoulder and her free arm were webbed into the wall. The cybernetic inlay of her implants gleamed sickly green against her cheek. And yet...one good eye narrowed as Sarah and you stepped before you. A thin puff of mold spores sprang from her cheek.

    "...General...Clarke..." she said, her voice a wry croak. "Imagine meeting here...of all places."

    "Dostya," you said, softly.

    "I see...your...integration has gone worse than...mine..." she grinned, ferally. "So you did it. You fucking bitch. You did it."

    Sarah nodded. "Abather, my genetics specialist, says she has...cold strands inside of her. Some kind of prosthetic." She snorted. "I had cybernetics as well-"

    "Doctor...Brackman's gift," Dostya croaked, her good eye gleaming with an almost insane delight.

    "I thought the mind control program was a lie," you said, quietly, glancing at Sarah.

    "Ah, you've...torn the wool from her eyes. Fascist lapdog," Dostya said, laughing softly. "I remember...kicking your ass off Procyon..."

    You glared at her. "It was a strategic retreat with a 1 to 20 kill death ratio - for my side."

    "Still our planet, last time I checked," Dostya crooned, laughing.

    "And I remember blowing your assault on C-" You started, and then cut yourself off.

    Stupid.

    Stupid stupid stupid. It was so fucking easy to remember every Cybran attack, every counter-offensive, every friend you'd lost to their attack waves and their fucking...you closed your eyes, shook your head, then snorted quietly. "...how the fuck did you end up like this?"

    "Exploring. QAI theorized this place was important," Dostya said, lifting her head, looking around herself. "You know him? The first...true artificial intelligence. Designed by...Dr. Brackman, the inventor of Adjutants?" She smirked, slightly. "Old enough to remember the launching of the Supercarriers that colonized this place. One of his cousins was even on the...Reagan, I think. I wonder if he made it..." She shook her head, eye focusing on the now. "He made a counter-program to the loyalty system. It's...very effective. Which is why, after I was captured by this fucking bitch." She glared at Sarah for a moment, before turning her gaze back to you. "And she asked me to be her ACU pilot...I told her chtob tebe deti v'sup srali!" She spat on the ground - and the spit was flecked with black slime.

    Sarah shrugged one shoulder. "Now you know," she said.

    "Why me?" you asked. "Why not Matt?"

    Sarah snorted. "You'd have kicked Horner's ass in sixty seconds."

    "She liiiiiiiikes you," Dostya crooned.

    "Shut up," you and Sarah said at the same time. You glared at Sarah. Sarah smirked at you.

    "...why did your little chatbot think the Koprulu Sector was so important?" You asked, biting your lip slightly.

    "Quantum interference. What you Earthers call...Dead Zone..." Dostya said, drawing her lips back. Some of her teeth were black. "QAI noticed similarities between it and certain regions of Aeon space. Considering their technology, well..."

    "I've never managed to get her to tell me what their technology is based on," Sarah said.

    "You should have asked nicely," Dostya said. "But now? Now I am just going to wait. Because some day, little Sarah, they're goinnnng to fiiiiiind you..." She let out the words like a little sing song. "The Cybran Nation...is going to find you...and they're going to kill you. They're going to incinerate every last Zerg in the galaxy. They're going to unmake your parasitic, rapacious species, and they're going to fix me." She laughed, softly. "You think they can't fix this? We have technology you can't even begin to fight! You think! You think!" She laughed more, and there was a note of madness in that laugh.

    Sarah rubbed her hands along her shoulders.

    If Dostya had been captured a year before - that was the last time she had been spotted - then...

    How long had Sarah been sitting with an ACU she couldn't use, and with explicit knowledge of what it could do.

    She had seen, from orbit, what three ACU could do to billions of Zerg.

    Were you sympathetic?

    Or were you sorry she had learned to fear. Because that'd make her harder to pin down and kill.

    You wanted to...brush a strand of those spines back and tell her it was okay. You were here. You...you were here. You were Zerg. No. You weren't Zerg. But you were, down to your cells. You looked down at your own hand - at your corded muscles, at the perfect synthesis of human and Zerg. Could that be undone?

    "Why is she so fucked up?" you asked, to push the questions off.

    "Abathur said the cold strands fought back against infestation and ruined his creations," Sarah said.

    "Can you fix her?" you asked.

    Sarah shrugged one shoulder. "Maybe. I haven't asked Abathur."

    "Well, why don't you?" you asked, glaring at her.

    "Because we're Zerg, honey," she turned to face you. "Do you think that she's going to go 'oh, I see you're sorry' and leave us alone? Do you think her nation is going to turn a blind eye to this? To us? Do you think your government is going to do the same? Or hell, forget the Terrans, do you think the Protoss will?" She stepped closer, her finger pressed against your chest. "What do you think Fenix, the man who has personally killed hundreds of thousands of Zerg over his life, is going to say when he sees you? The Protoss hate us. They'll obliterate entire planets to destroy even a small Zerg hive!" Her finger slid, slowly, up, between your breasts. Up to your chin.

    "I won't fight the UEF," you whispered, softly. "I won't."

    She looks into your eyes.

    "Okay," she says, quietly. "And when they come to kill us?"

    "I won't," you whispered, shaking your head. "I won't."

    Her hand cupped your cheek. "We'll see," she said. "So. What else do you want to talk about?"

    Her hand is intoxicating. Part of you...such a big part is sick of being strong and independent and principled. It'd feel so good, so...so good to stop thinking. To just fall into those eyes and those lips and to let bliss carry you away from the truth...

    ---
    HEAT: 0/6

    [ ] Tell her what you know about the Aeon and the Xel'naga
    [ ] Isolate. Brood. Try to cry.
    [ ] Give into your needs - kiss her.
    [ ] Write in
     
  • Threadmarks
    • [] We are the adults.
    -[] Punch her
    -[] Kiss her
    -[] "We need to talk"

    This okay Dragon?
     
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