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

The egg in the heart of the brood pits quivered, writhed, twitched, then...stopped moving. It twitched and thrashed again.

You glanced at Abathur, frowning. "Something's wrong."

"UNCLEAR," Abathur's deep, resonant voice spoke.

Sarah put her hands over her face and sighed. "Abathur, did you forget that you removed her claws?"

There was a short pause. You hurried forward, realizing the problem. Your claws dug into the thick, leathery skin of the egg and ripped. Gore and green bile splattered you and something heavy and slippery sprawled out, thrashing and kicking. You skidded backwards on the fleshy ground, coughing and spitting as bits of green goop dripped into your mouth. You blinked a few times and realized that you were on your hands and knees, looking down at the slippery, slime covered, completely naked body of one Commander Ivana Dostya laid beneath you. She blinked slime away from her eyes as you looked down at her knife thin body, her narrow hips, her...fascinating webwork of glowing cybernetic implants right around-

You jerked your eyes up to her eyes and she grinned at you.

"Well, finally," she said, dryly, then put one hand on you, pushing you aside. You sat on your haunches, watching as she stood up, wobbled slightly, then flicked her hair back, as body shy as a...well, a Cybran would be. She swung her gaze around to Sarah Kerrigan, frowning at her.

Sarah smirked slightly. "...have you two fought before?" she asked.

"Several times," Dostya said. "I believe." She frowned. "My memories a little muddled." She rubbed at her temple. You stood up and wished you had a collar to adjust. Being Zerg and naked felt so freeing, right up until you needed something to do with your hands. "Now..." Dostya looked at Abathur, then back to Sarah. "I was made to understand that you have a mission for me?"

Sarah smirked. "You can say that."

She gestured and Dostya started off. Sarah grinned as she watched her go.

You have my permission, my Armiger, she crooned. So long as you share every detail of the hunt.

You coughed. "Not sure what you mean by that my Queen."

Sarah snorted, loudly enough that even Abathur let out a little chuckle. You glared at the huge geneticist. "What are you laughing at?"

"HUMAN PREDELICTIONS. AMUSINGLY INEFFICENT. PRONE TO ERROR. DEEP ENTERTAINMENT."

You scowled at him.

The edge of the Char system glittered with the arriving warp signatures - and you watched from the bridge of the Gantrithor'es while standing beside Sarah. The Protoss carrier was made to lead invasions like this, but you were sure it had never been an invasion quite like this. On the world of Char, Daggoth was becoming the new Overmind. If he could be obliterated, then the Swarms would be under Sarah Kerrigan's control and nothing at all would stand between Raynor's Raiders and his Protoss allies and toppling the Dominion's government - other than, of course, the might of the Terran Dominion.

And with you as a part of that...

The image of bringing down Mengsk, after everything he had done to Sarah, was sweet on a visceral level. But the image of his burning palace came with the question of what came next. Matt still needed to be told about the secrets in the heart of the UEF and...and...

Executor, we are detecting Terran vessels in orbit around Char, a female protoss said, turning to face Artanis.

What, Selendis? Surely, the scanners must be mistaken - or...are they infested? Artanis asked.

Selendis shook her head. No, sir!

You stepped over to the curved, golden console - like everything else the Protoss made, the Gantrithor'es' bridge was utterly beauteous and elegant in a way that made you sure it was all going to break the instant someone shot it. You, Sarah and Artanis leaned over the console as Selendis drew her finger through the shimmering hologram. The image of Char flickered to life - there was the asteroid of nuclear weapons you had left here, unmolested but surrounded by a fleet of Zerg forces. But your eyes were drawn to the fleet of battlecruisers, fighter squadrons, and a single science vessel in orbit around the world of Char. They...were...

"They look like they're in formation with the Zerg," you said, slowly.

"That's...impossible," Sarah whispered. "That's the Norad III. This is Alpha Squadron - the elite force of the Dominion." She frowned, intently. "Can we send them a message?"

We are already recieving such. Behold, Selendis said, pointing with her finger. The forward view of the stars that shone beyond the ship's prow rippled and...

General Edmund Duke, looking like a prune with a bad attitude, scowled at you.

"This is General Edmund Duke," he said, his voice gruff. "To all terrorist forces and alien types that have arrived in system. The Char planet is under the protection of the Terran Dominion under a recent treaty signed between our Emperor and the head of the Zerg species known as Daggoth. Any approach will be taken as hostile and will be fired on."

"Duke you asshole," Sarah snapped, stepping forward.

Duke's scowl grew even more pronounced. "Kerrigan..."

"What the hell is Mengsk doing?" Sarah snapped.

"You may have thrown in with the Earthers, but Mengsk isn't going to turn over the independence of the Koprulu Sector and the Dominion over to some fascist dictator back on a planet what we've never seen before," Duke drawled. "If that means signing a deal with the devil, he'll do it."

"Daggoth will stab you right in the back!" Sarah said.

"Like you wouldn't too," Duke said, rolling his eyes. "We got an entire psionic jammer up here. It's been calibrated to target yer Swarms thanks to the little brain scans the Confederate government took of your pretty little head." He smirked. "But you think we can't retarget it if our little brainy boy down there starts thinkin' he's too big for his britches? You got another think coming then."

"I always said we should have left you to die," Jim Ranyor said, frowning as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Too late to cry over spilled milk, boy," Duke drawled. "You have my ultimatium. You want to test it...feel free."

The line clicked off.

Was this Mengsk not weeks before seeking an alliance with the Khala? Artanis asked.

"He's a weaselly little snake," Jim said, scowling. "Always was, even back when he was running a two bit organization like the Sons of Khoral. Anything he can do to get ahead, he'll do it."

Sarah scowled.

You, though...were looking at the plans.

---
HEAT: 0/6
SPARKS: 4 Command

Mechanically: Command sparks can be spent to make 1 NPC that you can communicate or interact with do one action. They can either do the action or do nothing - so, if you tell an enemy to kill themselves, they won't kill themselves...but they also won't attack YOU. This covers everything from giving friendly orders to confusing enemies with telepathy/clever tactics. Since it's a super broad, creative ability, I'm going to leave it to write-ins. So, feel free to throw in Command usages in the future!

You get more Command at the beginning of a mission, or when a battle starts, but otherwise, once they're gone, they're gone!

[ ] Hit them in orbit with everything you got! You don't want to take on Char with the enemy having orbital supremacy.
[ ] Try and slip the ACUs onto the planet before the orbital attack. Force Duke to split his attention between ground support and defending his flanks.
[ ] Sneak a small team aboard the science vessel and see what mischief you can do with that psionic disruptor before the battle
[ ] Write In