You wanted to be you.
"I want to be me..." You reached up towards Sarah. She took your hand and nodded, then lifted her head.
"We're not changing her."
"We can't risk that! The Xel'Naga-"
"There's a Way. Don't worry." Sarah smiled down at you.
Your eyes closed.
***
Time passed.
You woke, at last, with a groan, your head throbbing. It felt like there were a thousand ghostly whispers trying to slide into your mind, pressing against your temples. Your hand went to either side of your head - and you groaned as you sat up, slowly. You were laying in a large, silvery chamber. Everything was smooth, rounded, and the table beside your bed floated without being attached to the floor. There was a glass of water and a small bundle of greenish fabric. You were naked, but there were several small disks attached to your body - on your arms, shoulders, back. You felt those first, touching them.
The disks came off your body, one by one, slipping away from your skin and skimming away into the air. Your eyes widened as you saw them stacking up against the wall, then retreating into it, flowing through the metal like it was water. Your hand went to your hair. Spines. You looked down at your arm. Pale green, with carapace.
What had you been thinking?
I want to be me...
You frowned. "Painkillers..." you muttered, but you knew it was a lie, bald faced.
You stood up, naked, and rubbed the back of your neck. The strange green fabric, when you unfurled it, turned out to be what you recognized from a screen and intelligence reports: A crusader jumpsuit, the kind that those...fanatics in the Aeon Illuminate wore. Your lips pursed and you sighed. "I'm about to learn a lot about them, aren't I?" you asked, then started to tug the clothes on. You weren't about to meet your second Queen buck ass naked.
The clothing skimmed onto you and tightened, fitted, shifted. It didn't reveal as much as you'd have thought - there was padding and sockets mounted across it for fitting into an Aeon ACU. But as you felt it shifting on you like those fancy nanosuits that had been all the rage about a decade ago on Earth, the door chimed. You sighed, then squared your shoulders.
"Enter."
The door opened and...Princess Rhianna Burke entered the chamber. Without the haze of painkillers, you...could see almost why you'd mistaken her for Sarah. She was incredibly femme, with delicate cheekbones, kissable lips, a narrow and delicate nose. But her hair was brown and her eyes were far too sad to be Sarah's.
Sarah never got sad, exactly. Not without getting mad too.
You nodded to her. "Princess," you said.
"General," she said, her voice soft. "I'm glad you are awake. Sadly, we're going to need to be quite close to one another for the time being."
You noticed something. The whispering was...
Not gone.
But distant.
You rubbed your neck slowly. "I guess this is going to take some explaining, huh?"
"Quite a lot," she said, then grinned ever so slightly. "If it helps, I've gotten this down to a expositionary science. And unlike General Hall and Dr. Brackman, you've already seen it."
"Seen...what?" you asked.
"The Infinite Empire," she said, simply.
You focused on it. Drew closer.
Then for a single flashing moment, you saw something - a shadow of a shadow, slipping through mines. The shadow didn't move with feet, it rippled between space-time like an eel, slithering across physical space in a between-world that you could almost see...a membrane of pure darkness stretched over an infinite glittering light. And every time they risked that step, the light focused, drew in, the sense of danger was overwhelming. The light, though. The light was amazing. You looked at the bottom of the membrane, like peering into the bottom of a ecotour boat.
It was like looking into a cathedral made of mirrors - an infinite reflection of more and more brilliant light. It was beautiful. And...cold.
And then something noticed you.
You blinked, the flash of memory so intense that it shook you. "...start talking."
"Come," she said. "I'll show you to the bridge of the CZAR 1." She quirked her lips. "Apparently, our cousins in the Koprulu Sector name their starships. Such a strange custom."
"It's...grown on me," you admitted.
***
"They're called the Xel'Naga," Burke said, her voice soft as the elevator hummed up the shaft in the center of the vast, circular starship. "The scripture says they rule an infinite empire, sprawling universe after universe. This is...inaccurate." Her lips quirked up. "It's closer to three or four. And they don't rule entire universe. As you are well aware, habitable planets are rare and terraforming is difficult. A single sentient species can claim an entire galaxy in remarkably short order, on the celestial timescale. But then we run into issues of
scale. What do you do when every world is tapped and the energy emissions of every star in a galaxy still can't bridge the vastness of space between galaxies."
"...you enjoy yourself?" you asked, mirthlessly.
"Empires don't survive on stasis," Burke said, quietly. "There's always a need for more resources. More slaves."
You looked away, watching the silvery elevator shaft passing by with a quiet, susurrating hum.
"The Xel'Naga found that the barrier between dimensions was vastly easier to pierce. And so, they came to their next Milky Way to conquer. It was a bloodbath. A millennia and a half of endless slaughter. And so, the next time, they grew craftier. They found ways to tune the dimensional equations - to arrive in the Void between universes. Where time is programmable, variable. Controllable."
The elevator stopped and the bridge stretched around you - a circular bay of silvery metal and sheer glass. Through it, you could see dozens of other CZAR ships floating in space, arrayed with battlecruisers, transport ships, and the trusty, plucky old E1. Aeon officers glowered at you from a distance as Burke led you to a railing, to look out into space.
"The next time was handled better. Their agents lurked in the Void and shaped the evolution of selected species. They crafted the perfect weapons for their invasions - essence..." She held her hand out. "...and form. Genetic variability and psionic potential, both in hive minds that can be centralized and controlled."
You frowned. "The Protoss and the Zerg."
"From what I've managed to discover, they're not the first one. The Quel'dorei and the Gul'danians, the Voshren and the Sha'dyian, the...the names are meaningless, aren't they?" She chuckled, softly. "Sorry. I've been devlving into ancient lore so long, I forget not everyone has the same academic interests." She breathed in, then pushed herself up a bit by her palms. "What matters is the system is the same. Craft their races, turn them into weapons, use them as a way to form a bridge head, annihilate all resistance. Expand."
"What about us?" you asked.
"We're one of the wild cards," Burke said, smirking slightly. "They crop up once in a while. A race that doesn't quite measure up to their requirements, but isn't so easily disregarded. Our destruction was to be via plague. A biogenic weapon, designed by scientists who sacrificed decades of their life by traveling from the Void to our galaxy. You see, in the Void, centuries, millennia, it can pass in a heartbeat. To come here is to live as we do. And even for the Xel'naga, it's quite a choice."
You frowned slowly. "...Seraphim II," you whispered. "Colonel Trent."
"Colonel Trent and the United Earth Empire did not find a Xel'naga colony by accident. They were lured there to give the Xel'naga everything they ever wanted," Burke said, her eyes flashing. "Colonel Trent survived fifteen minuets before a Xel'naga agent named Duran had killed him, impersonated him, and instituted a
quarantine."
"Studying human captives to wipe us out," you said, turning your back on the railing. "And your great-great-great grandmother..."
Burke chuckled. "She did what we Burkes have always done, General. She used her words. We...the name...of the Xel'naga researchers she spoke to is lost. General Amon and Duran slaughtered them. But in the uprising, we my ancestor learned the truth. And she crafted a solution. A weapon. The Way. A psychic method to
purge Xel'naga influence."
Your scowled. "Then what the fuck has your people been doing the past thousand years?"
The princess looked ashamed. Her hands twisted. "One in every ten million humans has psychic potential. Though, apparently, that's fixable." She cast you a wry look. "The Way became a religion. Religion became...intolerance. Intolerance became...war." She hung her head forward. "I've spent my life, struggling to learn what I know. To find these scraps of truth, to wring out of ancient books and corrupted data-files some semblance of reality! And now...now, no one believed me until it was too late!"
You sighed, quietly.
It all fell solidly into place.
Except...
"What about Sarah?" you asked.
"I have no idea," Princess Burke said, shaking her head. "She could be anywhere as part of Amon's forces."
"No, I mean how does she fit into these fucker's plans?" you growled, quietly.
"I'm...not sure," she admitted.
You frowned, slowly, then tightened your grip. "Princess Burke, who is your highest ranked military officer?"
She stood, slowly, then squared her shoulders. "You are."
You almost tripped, despite standing perfectly still. "W...me?" you asked. "What about High General Kael?"
"She, along with a significant portion of the Illuminate military have defected to General Amon in the wake of my...opening up Aeon Illuminate gate networks to the UEF," Princess Burke said, her voice soft. "...it was the only way to save...anyone from Earth."
You did sag now.
"...what happened to Earth?" you whispered.
***
The map of the galaxy flared like a cancer scan on a world without a medcenter. Earth was a red circle, and radiating red lines shot out from it to every major UEF colony. Cybran space was buckled, and the green of the Aeon Illuminate had become crosshatched with orange lines, indicating newly minted Aeon Order's control. Purple, spreading splotches and burnished brass markers for subverted Zerg hive clusters and Protoss fleets. Engagement markers along the entire spinward boarder between the Koprulu Sector and the rest of the milky way. The circular table had people from five armies and, counting you and Cr, three species.
Four, actually. Depending on how you counted yourself.
"Two billion dead and our homeworld has been turned into a Xel'Naga stronghold. That gate of their is bringing in Xel'naga ACUs as fast as they can - Amon has been joined by half a dozen of his subordinates," General Hall snarled, his mustache bristling. "The Cybran and Aeon have both fallen into civil war at the same exact moment, and not one but
three alien species are romping through human space. It's a goddamn disaster out there, and my best general is...is..." He turned to you.
"Zergified," you said, dryly.
Cr, who sat on his haunches beside you, churred and chittered happily.
"And you brought a goddamn dog into the meeting room!" Hall snapped. "What the
fuck am I supposed to do with ANY of this!?"
"Now, hold your horses, General Hall," Jim Raynor said. "Lets see what we do got to work with. You have my boys-"
"Oh, a platoon of colonial pirates," Hall said.
"You have Major Horner and his ACUs."
Hall grunted. "Major Horner's services have been...exemplary."
"You have the Nerazim," Jim said, nodding to Zeratul.
And I as well! Fenix boomed from beside him. You shook your head.
"How the hell did Burke get you?" you asked.
Tis a simple matter - my connection to the Khala is weak and pitiful compared to the mighty, virile thread that ran through my mind before my wounding! Fenix said, his voice grace.
It kept me from the vile Amon's grasp until I reached the protection of an Aeon ship.
You nodded as Jim kept ticking off on his fingers. "And then we got Dostya and her Cybran boys."
"Dr. Brackman has made himself quite comfortable," Dostya said, nodding gravely. "The three ACUs are...less than I'd wish."
"That's less than twenty five percent of known Cybran assets!" Hall snapped. "The rest of them..." He shook his head, sighing.
"I wasn't the one who activated a quantum super weapon that allowed a hyper-advanced alien empire to invade our galaxy," Dostya said, cooly.
"There's one thing you're missing, Jim," you said. "We have another upside: Sarah Kerrigan ripped that bastard Duran's heart out. Apparently, he was one of Amon's best agents."
"There is that, too!" Jim said, nodding. "I've been in long odds before. This might be the longest I've ever seen, honestly. But we still got cards to play and, by hell, I say we play em. According to that Princess there...these Xel'Naga have been kicking over galaxies for millions of years. I say it's time we show 'em what for."
Hall stuck his tongue into his cheek, considering. He grunted. "True." He said, quietly. "And, hell. I'd rather go down swinging."
You nodded, slowly. "If we're going to run this, I need to be in command. I want total authority for this...alliance."
Everyone regarded you.
"I'm in," Jim said, without hesitation.
As am I! Fenix said.
Zeratul inclined his head. He seemed...more somber. Sadder. As if he had seen something slip between his fingers. You knew the exact feeling. Your hand stroked Cr's head, while Hall sighed, then nodded as well. "The UEF chain of command is shot to hell, but you have seniority. And President Riley..." His face looked shadowed. "His last order was...if possible...to give you this." He reached into his vest, and took out a medal box. You took it. You didn't open it. You held it, and felt the bitter taste of it - of getting what you'd dreamed of your whole life...and to now want to throw it out an airlock. You tapped it against your forehead.
Dostya's eyes were closed. She opened them and nodded. "The Cybran Nation has held a vote. By an amazing majority, you have won our loyalty." She smirked. "Don't let it go to your head. Our non-subverted members are lesser in number than I'd prefer."
You nodded.
Swann's voice cracked in over the PA, making Princess Burke - who had sat quietly, her head bowed in thought - to jerk her head up. "Jimmy boy, you will never fucking guess whose fleet just warped in."
Jim and you both stood at once.
In a flash, you were on the bridge, and both of you boggled at the battlecruisers hanging in space.
"No," Jim and you said at the same time.
"We're...getting a communication message, my princess," one of the Aeon women said.
"Bring it up, if you would be so kind," Priness Burke said.
The glassy wall that marked the outer edges of this open air bridge shimmered and, projected on it, larger than life...was...
"Raynor." Emperor Arcturus Mengsk I and his son, Prince Valarian Mengsk looked down at you all. "Clarke. I believe we need to talk."
***
Jim refused, point blank, to have Mengsk anywhere near the circular, egalitarian conference room where the Alliance had had its first meeting. And so, instead, you all met in a side chamber, a meeting room that Burke got together - though her expression went from polite interest to a serious frown as you sketched out the basics of Mengsk's rule. When he finally did arrive and you were in the same room as the man who had betrayed Kerrigan and left her to die, the man who had taken a fight for liberty and revolution and made it all about him...you felt the impressive weight of his personality slam into you despite that.
Few men could pull of a cloak with a gold skull clasp. No one, you were sure, could make it fit so naturally as Arcturus Mengsk. He wore the clothes of empire as if he had been born to them, unlike his son - who always had felt like he was in a costume, even when he had come to you hat in hand.
Now, you and Mengsk squared off.
You were a little bit taller than him.
He...wasn't actually that tall. You wondered how much of that was growing up on Korhal and spending his life running from Confederate reprisals. His eyes and yours met. Then he inclined his head. "My condolences," he said. "I've...lost a homeworld as well."
"Yeah, and wiped one out too," Jim muttered.
Mengsk politely ignored him.
"I've been informed of the strife now sweeping throughout the galaxy and I am aware that humanity's future is in peril. These...Xel'Naga..." he frowned. "My scientists have fed me a great deal of information about them, what we've learned from the Zerg and the Protoss, it seems that this legion of fire that's now seeking to tear down our two great empires can only be defeated and driven back into the void from whence it came by our cooperation. I know you see the Dominion as a mere...backwater. But currently, General Duke and General Warfield, as well as other commanding officers, are securing vital mineral and vespine resources. My scientists have already begun to make immense strides in our SCV construction capacity just by being aware of more advanced nanolathe technology. I..." He paused, then for a moment, there was no Emperor, no politician, just a tired, old father.
How much of that was a mask too?
"...I want a galaxy for my boy to grow up in, Samantha."
Your head spines twitched subtly and your glowing eyes regarded him, cooly.
"...this is horseshit," Jim said, quietly. "You just want to keep your crown. This is all it's ever been about! You fuckin' tried to throw in with the Protoss, shit, you tried to work with the
Zerg."
"Ironic, I know," Mengsk said, and his eyes flicked from Jim. To You. To Jim again.
Jim scowled. "That's different, you-"
You grabbed his chest, stopping him.
You made your decision in a flash.
---
[ ] Take the Dominion as allies
[ ] Refuse
[ ] Write In
