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

Reader mode
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​
     
    Last edited:
  • Informational
    • DragonCobolt said:
    Sure, though I'd like more specifics on what to talk ABOUT
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Hmmmmm

    My idea for what to talk about is about tangible/explicit end goals( Kill mengsk, Be Safe, etc) about what Sarah and Sam Wants as opposed to the purely theoratical "logical reasons" that Sarah is currently using.

    Is that a valid vote or is that going to be covered in the next update.
     
    Last edited:
    DragonCobolt said:
    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.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...


    Ugh...
    This is messed up. Congratulations, Dragon, I think it's one of the best descriptions of psychological overwriting I've read.
     
    DragonCobolt 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.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Huh, more agressive Cybran's than I recall them to be, or Dostya is really upset about this whole permanently suffering thing.

    Anyway, options :

    1. Bicker with Dostya about the fate of the war.
    2. Point out that the UEF would totally work together the Zerg. There are worse monsters in office, and the war demands every recruit. You'd just get a loyalty program.
    3. Kerrigan is a powerful psychic. Why stop at the heels. why not just be normal, you know from the ship that she can do it.

    (Also, neat illustration of of Kerrigan on display here, first having the whole deal about "look what evil stuff your masters hid from you" and then just casually showing of the torture victim. A victim she could afford to help, or kill, but she doesn't. She's not hiding it, but that doesn't mean she's doing any better).
     
    [X] Isolate. Brood. Try to cry.

    Tempted to write in "kill Dostya, it would be a mercy"

    Edit:
    You know what, fuck it. Prolly won't win but whatever.
    [X] Kill Dostya, it would be a mercy.
     
    Last edited:
    The mental corruption of Sam , even without the explicit control is really fucked up in a very visceral way . Perfect for teh Zerg Biological arc.



    [X] We are the adults.
    -[X] Punch her
    -[X] "Earlier you said only lie when you need to. I need to know what Sarah Kerrigan wants. "
    -[X] Kiss her

    REASONING: So here's my reasoning for this vote. I think the big part of this arc is in getting Sarah to admit that what she wants is not what Dura says she wants. This is the prologue and even if Sarah Lies to us, I think the question leads very well into her character arc of understanding that what she wants is important too.

    [X] Kiss Her
    [X] Tell her what you know about the Aeon and the Xel'naga
    Post Merged with MergyBot (AKA my hands)​

    DragonCobolt said:
    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,
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    My god Dragon, You made sam into a Teenager again

    You monster
    DragonCobolt said:
    Or was she just as easily caught as you were?
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Yes. Our independance suggest that this is the case.
    DragonCobolt said:
    "She liiiiiiiikes you," Dostya crooned.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    There's no one to judge her, not duran, not abathur, only Sarah and us. Her liking us is probably the most honest she has been.
    DragonCobolt said:
    "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.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    She's wants a anyone to be a human connection and understand her, so it feels like she's organised this as the worlds most destructive attention seeking backstab.
     
    [X] Demand Sarah fix Dostya or kill her trying. Stop stringing her along like the UEF apparently does, or Arcturus Mensgk.

    I just want to give Clarke an option to lash out in vicious righteousness. Kerrigan is doing what was done to her, and she should be better, or she should break her toys more effectively if she doesn't like being called out on the first point.


    Edit: including mailstrome's plan

    Plan: Busines First
    [X] So fix her, then. Ask your gene-doc to unfuck what you fucked up.
    [X] Tell her what you know about the Aeon and the Xel'naga
    [X] If you want my help, my terms are simple: Don't be Mensk.


    Edit 2: Now also Draz's plan

    [x] Plan: what do you want from me, Sarah and why does it look so shit?
    - [x] "To just fall into those eyes and those lips and to let bliss carry you away from the truth..." but then there's a half mad woman fused to the fucking HR Giger set dressing of this moist starship
    - [x] "Sarah, I get it, you're sexier than ever and everyone's out to get you. But what do you want me for? To warm your bed when all that's left in the sector is us, a trillion bugs and your talking furniture?"
    - [x] "And why are you turning Dostya into a creepy sconce anyway? Are you a slave to the aesthetic or is this really the best you could come up with when you couldn't make her yours?"
    - [x] "You're right, I can't go back to the UEF, but are those my two choices? Resist and become the scenery or join you and get really into damp, tacky war crimes? Can't we do something better? Don't you want to do something new?"
    - [x] And then probably Sarah will go off on one, but potentially we could argue for fixing Dostya and keeping her in decent conditions so she's a higher value hostage for trading later for something *we* want.


    Edit 4: I'm not actually sure who had this plan first, to my regret

    [X]Ask Dostya what she'd like us to do with her given we can't set her free; if Sam's stuck with the zerg now, the zerg are going to be better.
     
    Last edited:
    [X] We are the adults.

    [X] Isolate. Brood. Try to cry.

    Eh, Dostya is kept alive for information, obviously, since she can't be fully infested. There's no point in killing her and hurting our options when we may need her in the future, and neither she, nor Cybrans, nor the UEF would have the same mercy. No reason to overmoralize here, Sarah is literally our only ally now, don't fuck it up. The Aeon are cool though, aside from that whole worshipping Seraphim Xel'naga thing, and Rhianne is pretty damn based.
    Evillevi said:
    The mental corruption of Sam , even without the explicit control is really fucked up in a very visceral way . Perfect for teh Zerg Biological arc.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Clarke still has less mental corruption than how much Sarah was warped when she was infested. But yeah, it's great. Morally ambiguious zerg yuri arc ahoy!
     
    Last edited:
    [X] Isolate. Brood. Try to cry.

    Fighting isn't an option. Freezing and following her training led to the next stop on the carousel of horrors. Flight is the last remaining option.

    How Sarah reacts to this will help us judge just how genuine she is - maybe.

    Dostya's great too, wonder if we'll have more opportunities to interact. Reconciliation of Cybran and UEF commanders, perhaps?
     
    [X] We are the adults.
    -[X] Punch her
    -[X] "Earlier you said you only lie when you need to. I need to know what Sarah Kerrigan wants. "
    -[X] Kiss her

    [X] Kiss Her
    [X] Tell her what you know about the Aeon and the Xel'naga

    EDIT:
    [X]Ask Dostya what she'd like us to do with her given we can't set her free; if Sam's stuck with the zerg now, the zerg are going to be better.
     
    Last edited:
    Plan: Busines First
    [X] So fix her, then. Ask your gene-doc to unfuck what you fucked up.
    [X] Tell her what you know about the Aeon and the Xel'naga
    [X] If you want my help, my terms are simple: Don't be Mensk.
     
    DragonCobolt said:
    I don't even know what that is, I just wrote stuff that turns me on!
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    I will say, having given it some thought, it really fits as a way of characterizing the subtle mind-fuckery the Zerg integration works with. It feels insidiously natural - like, of course that's how the ultra-organic species would handle mind control. Pump out the dopamine when you're a good girl, make you feel bad when you think about duty to the Federation, play up the instinctual revulsion at the thought of suicide, emphasize all your kinks and urges and instincts you could normally ignore when work needed to get done.

    Until in the end you're technically still in your right mind, but ultimately a slave to your own body. Coherent enough to fight and plan and think, but not enough to rebel, or even kill yourself at the horror of what's been done to you.
     
    Last edited:
    [X] Kiss her
    [X] Tell her what you know about the Aeon and the Xel'naga
     
    Taut_Templar said:
    I will say, having given it some thought, it really fits as a way of characterizing the subtle mind-fuckery the Zerg integration works with. It feels insidiously natural - like, of course that's how the ultra-organic species would handle mind control. Pump out the dopamine when you're a good girl, make you feel bad when you think about duty to the Federation, play up the instinctual revulsion at the thought of suicide, emphasize all your kinks and urges and instincts you could normally ignore when work needed to get done.

    Until in the end you're technically still in your right mind, but ultimately a slave to your own body. Coherent enough to fight and plan and think, but not enough to rebel, or even kill yourself at the horror of what's been done to you.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    DragonCobolt said:
    "OBEDIENCE. YES. QUEEN, UNDERSTOOD. STRANDS WILL REMAIN. ALTERATIONS...BIOLOGICAL. THOUGH, STRANDS ARE NOT SO EASILY DISTANGLED. CHANGE TO HORMONE, CHANGE TO MUSCE, CHANGE TO DIGESTIVE SYSTEM, ALL PRODUCE RIPPLE ON EFFECT. CHANGE TO MIND IMPOSSIBLE TO AVOID."
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    Hmmm... 🤔
     
    Taut_Templar said:
    I will say, having given it some thought, it really fits as a way of characterizing the subtle mind-fuckery the Zerg integration works with. It feels insidiously natural - like, of course that's how the ultra-organic species would handle mind control. Pump out the dopamine when you're a good girl, make you feel bad when you think about duty to the Federation, play up the instinctual revulsion at the thought of suicide, emphasize all your kinks and urges and instincts you could normally ignore when work needed to get done.

    Until in the end you're technically still in your right mind, but ultimately a slave to your own body. Coherent enough to fight and plan and think, but not enough to rebel, or even kill yourself at the horror of what's been done to you.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    That's kinda what I had in mind but couldn't find words. Kerrigan is not doing any kind of mind control, with straight-up personality edit. What she did was mess up the Sam's biology to heighten and diminish chosen subconscious reactions. It's not the loyalty program or the explosive collar, it makes your own body betray you.
    Like, imagine your friend has a very attractive boyfriend/girlfriend. Obviously you know that they're happy together and trying to get in is wrong, but still every time you see him/her you can't help but want to have sex, because your stupid hormones still think "HEALTHY MATE. GOOD GENES. PROCREATE."
    Sam now has this times 100 - it's even more wrong and she wants it even more regardless. 24/7/365. And to top it off, she is fully aware of that, that what she/her body (is there a difference) desires is more screwed-up that Greek pantheon. I'd dare to say it's even worse that I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream treatment, because then remains distinction that this is not you that does the terrible things. Here there is no such comfort, so you can pile a whole-ass load of self-loathing and probably incoming a metric ton of guilt-ridden PTSD on top of all the previous issues.
    TLDR: Taut_Templar stated very well what I thought about why this is such an exquisite horror.
     
    I think it would be fucked up to kill Dostya. She hasn't asked us for that. Killing someone because you think their life sucks is an ableist theme that I don't want in my horny starcraft fic.

    [x] Plan: what do you want from me, Sarah and why does it look so shit?
    - [x] "To just fall into those eyes and those lips and to let bliss carry you away from the truth..." but then there's a half mad woman fused to the fucking HR Giger set dressing of this moist starship
    - [x] "Sarah, I get it, you're sexier than ever and everyone's out to get you. But what do you want me for? To warm your bed when all that's left in the sector is us, a trillion bugs and your talking furniture?"
    - [x] "And why are you turning Dostya into a creepy sconce anyway? Are you a slave to the aesthetic or is this really the best you could come up with when you couldn't make her yours?"
    - [x] "You're right, I can't go back to the UEF, but are those my two choices? Resist and become the scenery or join you and get really into damp, tacky war crimes? Can't we do something better? Don't you want to do something new?"
    - [x] And then probably Sarah will go off on one, but potentially we could argue for fixing Dostya and keeping her in decent conditions so she's a higher value hostage for trading later for something *we* want.

    And an approval vote for crying

    [X] Isolate. Brood. Try to cry.
     
    Last edited:
    DragonCobolt said:
    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."
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Since we're leaning so heavily into the maso-sexual themes and how they play into power dynamics, I take it the 'pet-play' implications are rather intentional. It's also a reversal of their previous power dynamic, where Clarke was the confident senior expeditionary officer and Kerrigan the pretty local sweetheart she took a liking to - or, at the very least, pretended to be. It turns out that was all a lie, and Clarke's not sure how she feels about suddenly being the bottom, so to speak.

    ... Ugh, that feels wrong to lay out so seriously, but it feels like an accurate depiction of the character dynamic as intended?
    DragonCobolt said:
    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.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    She can't even take in a deep breath to try and clear her head - not when her very body has been transformed into something meant to serve, her every thumping instinct an enticing advertisement to the bliss of servitude and acceptance.
    DragonCobolt said:
    as Sarah caressed a wall, and a slit in the wall slipped open with strands of gleaming moisture connecting the lips.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    ... Feeling subtle, aren't we?

    I wonder what theme the Aeon/Protoss chapter will have.
    DragonCobolt said:
    "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?
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Y'know, I should read more about the Starcraft section of the lore, since I don't actually know what exactly Kerrigan's deal is right now either. But maybe that's a good thing, since it puts me into Clarke's confused headspace - she doesn't know what Karrigan's deal is either! It's not even totally clear whether she likes being part of the Zerg or not; there seems to be a certain fatalistic embracement and bitter insistence about her lack of agency. Simultaneously exalting in the power of being the Queen of Blades and reassuring away the guilt by insisting she never had a choice - not about this, not about being a ghost. So why not enjoy the ride?

    Duran may or may not be pulling the strings? I'm not sure what his deal is either, I think he's some sort of evil Protoss, but he doesn't seem so much like her boss as her Wormtongue.
    DragonCobolt said:
    nd 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."
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Nothing like some proper body horror to liven things up! An horrific, unnatural abomination to contrast with Clarke's new sinuous form.
    DragonCobolt said:
    "Ah, you've...torn the wool from her eyes. Fascist lapdog,"
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Of course they'd say that. I wonder what buzzword the Xeon will use ...
    DragonCobolt said:
    "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.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Okay, this part is really funny. The Forever war takes that normal connection between rival generals and ups it up to a hundred, since there's literally nobody else involved but them and they talk shit over the radio. It's also somewhat encouraging to see Clarke hasn't instantly stopped identifying as a Federal, although who knows how long that'll last.
    DragonCobolt said:
    "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.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Huh, looks like the UEF wasn't the first to get involved. I wonder why the Cybran expedition went so much worse? They must've gotten jumped by the Zerg quickly ... or maybe something similar could've happened with the Expeditionary force and they drew things out to secure a proper ACU pilot. That doesn't sound quite right, hm.
    DragonCobolt 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.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    He's also considerably less likely to have allowed himself to be taken alive, or mind-fucked into obedience. Men like him are made of iron - they don't bend until they shatter, and either way, Kerrigan's got nothing useful to work with.
    DragonCobolt 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.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Goddamn, Dostya's fucking based. And she's right - the cat's out of the bag, and the Zerg are a noxious pest. Literally everyone wants them gone, or at least rendered into a non-threat. Not unless they can somehow reverse-engineer the broader universe's tools - hence, pet Clarke.
    DragonCobolt said:
    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.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Heh, it's certainly satisfying to imagine her squirming all that while, and explains why they had such a detailed plan to capture an ACU commander.
    DragonCobolt said:
    "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!"
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Ideally, they'd put everyone here out of their dammed misery. But I doubt Kerrigan's taking that for an answer. Will Clarke?
    DragonCobolt said:
    "I won't fight the UEF," you whispered, softly. "I won't."
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Oh, I'm sure we'll start off with some suitably puppy-kicking Dominion force. Maybe General Edmund Duke will make a reprisal?

    [X] Isolate. Brood. Try to cry.

    Clarke still desperately needs a moment to combobulate herself, and every second spent in Kerrigan's presence does the exact opposite. I'd rather bite my tongue off than give her a smooch, so let's try and see if privacy is even still possible for a Zerg hybrid.
     
    Taut_Templar said:
    Y'know, I should read more about the Starcraft section of the lore, since I don't actually know what exactly Kerrigan's deal is right now either.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    I am kinda doing my own thing cause, like, Starcraft 1, Brood War and 2 have...5 different Kerrigans that it alternates between and it doesn't do a great job of explaining how one becomes another. That's why I'm bringing to the forefront the fact that Sarah killed Arcturus Mengsk's family and had it mind blocked - I figured being left behind and betrayed, then learning you "deserved it" while also being a Zerg would be a good reason for why she goes into her SC1/Brood War evil manipulative monster mode!

    Taut_Templar said:
    He's also considerably less likely to have allowed himself to be taken alive, or mind-fucked into obedience. Men like him are made of iron - they don't bend until they shatter, and either way, Kerrigan's got nothing useful to work with.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    ...okay, but he does let himself get bullied into marrying Mira Han, lets be fair
     
    Last edited:
    Taut_Templar said:
    Goddamn, Dostya's fucking based. And she's right - the cat's out of the bag, and the Zerg are a noxious pest. Literally everyone wants them gone, or at least rendered into a non-threat. Not unless they can somehow reverse-engineer the broader universe's tools - hence, pet Clarke.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Eh, if you actually played SCII, even taking into account SupCom, an emancipated Zerg under the QoBs or other former 'human' party is still absolutely essential to not winding up with an unwinnable apocalypse scenario like in the protoss vision of the dark future. I can think of a couple alternative paths, but they're far less realistic or convenient, and are much more likely to end in tragedy with no clear path at the moment. Mostly involving Clarke taking her original role and going for the whole purity of essence/form thing, and getting Burke's aid.

    If we can go full feral zerg a la QoBs did in canon and re-evolve, without pissing Sarah off completely, it'd be best case scenario for the arc.
     
    Last edited:
    Reader mode
    You must login or register to reply here.
    Back
    Top