StarCraft: Downfall

Prologue: The Queen

They called her the Queen of Blades.

Once, she had another name. Once, she not been a queen, but a servant. Lapdog to a current emperor. Assassin to a confederacy. Once, she had been…different.

Such a time had ended only two years ago. But for the being once called Sarah Kerrigan, it might as well have been a lifetime.

Lifetime meant different things to different species. One-hundred years for the average terran. One-thousand for a protoss, though she couldn't be sure. It didn't matter though. Both species lived, both species died, whereas for the zerg, it meant nothing. It was an impossibility for herself. An impossibility that added to the certainty of victory.

When?

The Queen of Blades flexed a fist, before running it across the waxy surface of the hive's interior. It was cool in here, a stark contrast to the fires of Char that raged outside. With her hand, she could choke the life out of her foes. With a flick, she could send her children to do the deed for her.

Like Dylar?

The queen scowled outwardly. Inwardly, she summoned the visions to her mind. Memories. Seen through the eyes of her minions. The fire in space. Their deaths on the ground. There was a human word for events like Dylar IV – disaster.

Space.

Space. Terran battlecruisers exiting from warp space. Her aerospace strains buckling under a bombardment of laser fire. She hadn't anticipated any strong naval space force arriving in time, or even having the capacity for deployment. She'd sent her minions through a wormhole, not anticipating that they might need space support of their own.

Land.

Land. The terrans and protoss on the ground. Her minions hounding them. The canyon. The detonations. Terrans, protoss, and…and…

And Jim.

She watched him through the eyes of her minions. Watched him lead. Watched him fight. Felt some part of her wonder how he'd grown so…old…in just two years. Part of her wanted to kill him and be done with it. Part of her wanted to laugh, to congratulate her former ally for actually defeating her. Part of her wanted to send the Swarm back to the fourth planet of the Dylar system, to finish what she started.

Don't.

And there was that other voice. A whisper in the dark. Keeping her at bay. As it had done so since the end of the Brood War.

The queen shook it off. Dylar had been a defeat, but she'd learnt from it. Her foes still possessed strength. Enough to give the zerg pause. Enough to make her go back to the images, and against a feeling that she tried to suppress, look past Jim. Look at the one fighting beside those among him. Not terran. Not protoss. Something…different.

Mutate.

She focussed on the creature, tearing zerglings apart with her bare hands, watching her send spines right back at hydralisks. A mutate. A mockery of the zerg. A corruption. A perversion. Something…she would have to balance out, she told herself. Get rid of. Eradicate. Exterminate.

Assimilate?

With a snarl, she dismissed the memories. With control, she refocussed her mind.

Time was on her side, she told herself. Time had always been on the zerg's side. They could wait. They could plan. Adapt. She could wait until the last of those who knew her as the Queen of Blades, let alone Sarah Kerrigan, had passed from this world, if she wanted. But she didn't want that. The being once known as Sarah Kerrigan wanted blood. Wanted challenge. Wanted…something else.

What?

Irrelevant.

When?

Not yet.

Not yet. She couldn't return yet.

But she could plan.

A/N

So, this was a long time coming. Can't be sure how long as I don't date the notebooks used for storytelling, but...well, let's just say it was conceived well before StarCraft II was released. And before StarCraft Adventures was deemed non-canon. To which I say "meh, I'm an inclusionist."

Funny thing about this prologue in that I never intended it to be a prologue at all. I'd written it as the start of ch. 1, but ended up removing it (and a plenthora of other material) as I moved through the story. Ended up putting it back in though, as while it gave Kerrigan an early reveal, it did provide "the hook," as the literary term goes (or hopefully at least), and found that without it, "the hook" came in too late to the story. Still, as I tacked in an epilogue at the end, decided it would be best to balance it out with a prologue. Short, but...well, had numerous revisions in writing this, so I figure all's fair.