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

You held Zagara, panting.

Kill her.

Kill...her...

That voice wasn't you. It was these goddamn hormones. This Zerg adrenaline, coursing through your nerves. You were better than it. You were better than her.

So, you slammed your head into the back of Zagara's skull and she was out like a light.

You dropped to the ground beside her heaped body, then looked up at the shadow.

An overlord loomed above you. Tentacles unfurled and you felt the instinctive call - taking hold of one that brushed the ground near you. The zerglings chittered and cheered and you were swept up with a whipcrack of displaced air. Speed, then silence, then warmth...

And you were gone.

"Excellent work, my Hilt," Sarah crooned, her hand sliding along the top of your head as you sat, brooding, in the observation room of the Levithan, watching as Char began to recede, kilometer by kilometer in space. Your head spines, traitors that they were, reacted to Kerrigan's touch with a writhing, reaching motion, brushing between and along her fingers as you resisted the urge to lean into her touch. She drew her hand away, as if remembering her words about not turning you to make you a fuck toy. And then, remembering how you had reacted to that, she got the crystal between you and her, turning to face you. Izsha, who had been waiting silently on the wall, spoke.

"Zagara resists joining our swarm," Izsha said, her voice quiet. "I can subdue her, if you wish my Queen."

"Not yet," Sarah said. "Any psionic calls from Daggoth?"

"Not yet."

"What do you expect?" you asked. "How do you think Daggoth's going to react?"

"He's going to chase us," Sarah said. "So, we're going to head to somewhere he can't follow."

"And where's that?" you asked.

Sarah regarded you from across the crystal. She smirked, slightly. "Redstone."

"Redstone?" you asked, frowning.

"That Confederate ghost research facility, you found?" Sarah asked. "Remember it?"

"Yes," you said. You felt a pang of worry about the girl you'd found there. She was on Haven. Safe. If Sarah ever set her course towards Haven...you forced the thought away as Sarah lifted her hand, and the crystal in the center of the room came to life under her mental command. It flickered and glowed, shining brightly. It projected the map of Redstone.

"The Dominion has reactivated it. But rather than turning it into a ghost training facility, they're using the laboratories there to run their psi disruptor," she said, then smirked. "It'll make my normal troops ineffectual."

You narrowed your eyes slowly. "...but you think my ACU can capture it."

"Got it in one," she said. "When we control it, we can direct it as we see fit. It can buy us time. And it can give us a bargaining chip. I hope to use it to bring...well...some interesting people to my door. People who don't want Daggoth to be a new Overmind as much as I do." She counted them off on her finger. "Raynor. Fenix. Raszagal."

"I don't know the last one," you said, frowning. "But she sounds protoss." Your brow furrowed. "How do I know it's a she?"

"Protoss names are weighted with their psychic touch. It's part of their language - deeper, even than their Khala, even the sects that don't partake of that particular eccentricity have it," Sarah said, leaning against the wall, regarding you. "Though, the Nerazim, the Dark Templar...they're masters of shadows. For all we know, there could be one here. Right now."

You glanced around the room. Silence.

"It was worth a shot," Sarah said, then stepped away from the wall.

Iszha cocked her head. "My queen, we are receiving a message from Daggoth."

Sarah waved her hand. The crystal glowed and once more, it projected a translucent image. This one was of a quivering pustule of gray matter, shrouded in another, thinner membrane that flexed and throbbed periodically. You hissed at it instinctively - even as a gravely, fierce voice gargled from it. "Oh Queen of Blades, you have made a grave error striking against me at this time."

"And yet, you call instead of sending your brood to bring us down," Sarah crooned. "Curious. Does it have something to do with the fact the Swarm is weakened to the state we can't risk a Levithan's death?"

"Oh you would wish," Daggoth said, his body pulsing and quivering slowly and grotesquely. Then you felt his attention snapping onto you. "And I see, you already tire of your first consort. Has Duran been so easily tossed aside?"

"He's taking the breakup well," Sarah said, her voice venom-sweet. "Now, Daggy, darling, why are you calling us? This line isn't free, you know. You are calling collect, after all."

What the fuck is collect? you thought.

Daggoth hissed angrily. "You forget your place, hybrid. Offshoot. Evolutionary dead end. You are neither the Purity of Form, nor the Purity of Essence our Makers wished for. You are as great an error as the Overmind made."

"Greater than allowing itself to be slain on Aiur at the hour of our victory?" Sarah asked, dryly. "Impressive."

"Greater still," Daggoth said. "You taint the Swarm with your very presence, and you bring in another human - not as they should be. This should be a walking pustule of corruption and pain, waiting to die gloriously for the Swarm. Instead, you make a pet and a mockery of the Cerebrates that once were your master."

"Consider it a preview," Sarah crooned. "I still remember that master Cerebrate. I remember Tassadar obliterating him from existance."

"You...that Cerebrate watched over your Chrysalis, and this is how you-" Daggoth writhed in fury. "Enough! You have Zagara aboard your Levithan. Return her to me or else that Levithan will not reach the edge of the Char system."

Sarah smirked slightly. You frowned, and considered...

Interjecting now might change the course of events to come.

---
HEAT: 0/6

[ ] Try and get Daggoth to keep talking. But...how much?
[ ] Try and scare Daggoth off by citing your ACU and what it can do to his space born forces. (Diff 8 Intimidation check, using Leadership - 5 HEAT)
[ ] Tell him to fucking bring it, cut coms, and spend the time prepping. (Gain 12 Preparation Sticky Sparks)
[ ] Write In