Sarah Kerrigan stood alone on the deck of the once proud UED vessel Alexander. It was now drifting off in the endless void of space, its engines damaged and useless. It unlike so many countless UED vessels had been spared the fate of total destruction, left as a testament to the fury of the Swarm. It was unclear to Sarah why she had chosen to go there with only a small guard of two hydralisks, but she felt something calling to her here.
Upon entering the ship she had left her escort behind, wandering the corridors aimlessly, searching for something she was sure could not be found. She felt almost ghostly calls in the darkness of the ship’s interior. Her mind seemed to jump back to the events of that day, though she herself had not been with her swarms during the final victory. She saw men running frantically, heard gauss rifles echoing through the ship, men screaming, zerglings pouncing, and the men falling broken on the hard metal floor. She almost pitied them at that moment, they had all died so easily, and all in vain. Yet then she felt the claws rise on her back, and the bloodlust that had been with her since her infestation, and that pity became a memory.
They had wanted her dead, and if they reached the Earth then they would come back to try finishing the job. If anyone should be pitied it should be her, for she was the one cursed to live this wretched life. A life without joy, only hate. No one could be trusted, all where a threat to her existence. This is what she thought, but at the same moment knew it was not true. They all were a threat because she made them threats, and that was the fundamental truth. She knew it, but at the same time refused to admit it.
She continued to wander deeper and deeper into the ship, almost feeding off the memories of destruction that echoed in her mind while pacing through its walls. The ships walls grew more decorated as she went up one staircase, more plan as she went down another, but it did not really matter to her. To her it was all the same, a place that once held great power, a threat, but was now only a memory. The vessel was a hollow shell, a once strong piece of armor turned to a coffin.
She entered an area that looked nice enough to serve as an officers quarters. Here she stopped after hours of searching, but she did not know why. She walked into a room, where a different noise echoed through her mind. There was a record playing, a man looking at a computer screen while sipping a glass of wine. He looked sad, the record was sad, and the scene had a feeling of depression. She could hear the man thinking, reading the word on the screen in his mind
Dearest Helena,
By now the news of our defeat has reached the Earth. The creatures we were sent here to tame are untamable, and the colonies we were sent to reclaim have proven stronger then we anticipated. But know this, Alexei did not die gloriously in battle, I killed him. My pride killed him, and now my pride has consumed me as well. You will never see me again Helena. Tell our children I love them and that their father died in defense of their future.
The man then pulled out a gun and shot himself in the head. Sarah was bestowed with a feeling of sorrow, and of pity for this lost soul. She did not know who this man was, but the name Alexei made her wonder if he may have been referring to Vice-Admiral Stuckov. It mattered little really.
She was now certain that she had found what had called her here, and turned to leave, only to be meet by a pair of red eyes. The claws on her back rose, and she prepared to do what she was made to do, fight. The figure took a step closer, and she could make out the outline of a Terrain Ghost. The figure gave a chuckle.
"We've never meet before Kerrigan," said the figure, "But you were responsible for my 'death' and my rebirth."
"Who are you?" she asked, feeling foolish. Better to kill him or it now rather than give it a chance to kill her.
"I am Alexei Stuckov, resurrected by your Zerg infestation process, though I am not infested myself." He gave a sinister smile, then continued, "I have taken it upon myself to make sure your power is broken. And that I have."
"Oh really? And how would you have done that?"
"Your puppet cerebrate, and your primary hive cluster should be destroyed in a nuclear blast right about, now."
"No! You’re lying! Anyway He'll be resurrected!"
"Will he? Without the Overmind, I think not! I think I'll leave you here now, to contemplate your broken power, and perhaps be rescued by your enemies." Stuckov began to fade, as he engages his cloaking device.
"No!" Cried Kerrigan, springing toward him, but it was to late. She heard footsteps running down a hallway, then silence. She gave a scream of anguish and dropped to her knees giving off what might be perceived as tears. At the same time she saw her main hive, and in the center of it, the cerebrate. Then she saw the blast. First a mushroom cloud formed, then in spread, super heated winds literally tore the cerebrate apart, along with everything else in the area. She was beaten, and trapped aboard the Alexander. What made it hurt more was she was beaten by a dead man.
