boxofmisfits | Open Post

The silence in the back of her mind was deafening. The utter nothingness where she'd grown accustomed to the background buzzing of billions of Zerg, and the Swarm Queens who commanded billions more. The rock she was trapped on had nothing truly interesting beyond the ruins she arrived in. Ancient, old enough to have been Xel'naga, but not quite right for them.

Day after day she explored the jungle, further expanding her knowledge of her surroundings and occasionally circling back to the ruins. Most of her attention was turned outward, though, there was no civilization she could detect even in her considerable psychic range. Individuals or even a ship full of beings could easily escape her notice but she wasn't desperate enough to begin a massive telepathic broadcast.

A ship arrived a few months-worth of the planet's solar cycle, and she made her way to it. Unfortunately, the group spoke in a language she didn't understand, their memories revealed a recent space battle with a much larger ship, which explained the hull damage she could see.

Equally unfortunate, they decided to pick a fight with her. Their energy weapons were considerably more painful than simple Terran small-arms bullets, she wasn't going to risk them possessing something that could seriously injure or incapacitate her. The last survive Kerrigan saved long enough to rifle through his memories further. Other ships, other aliens. More sapient species than she had ever guessed existed.

If the ship had been fully functional, it was likely she could have eventually figured out how to fly it without blowing it, or herself, up. But the damage had apparently forced an emergency landing, and it was beyond her limited and somewhat out of date mechanical knowledge to repair.

It wasn't too long after she left the ship behind, having decided to take a few of its weapons and what seemed like communications gear, when a much larger ship appeared in the sky.

The Chimaera had easily picked up the trail of the pirate vessel and followed it to this planet near where Wild Space ended and the Unknown Region began. The vessel had taken damage and would be forced to land down below, where they could be captured and brought in for sentencing.

Thrawn took some Stormtroopers and ventured down in a shuttle, prepared for a fight that would end in the pirates' defeat. What they found was that apparently someone had gotten to the pirates first. Most curious, since scans of the planet had shown that there wasn't sapient life on it. Thrawn suddenly got a sense of familiarity, remembering the circumstances in which the Empire had found him. More importantly, he remembered what he had done to those who had intruded upon his camp.

Thrawn inspected the nearest body. The pirate's weapons and communication devices had been taken. Wild animals hadn't done this.

"Stay on alert," He ordered. "Look for any survivors and restrain them."

The Stormtroopers did as told, gathering the bodies and fanning out to look for any pirates who may have survived whatever had attacked them. Thrawn, meanwhile, began to inspect the scene so he could determine which way the attacker had gone.

Kerrigan had foregone lightning and using telekinesis to crush enemies in favor of close combat. Punctures and slashes from the deadly limbs growing from her lower back and claw wounds were less definitive than psionic energy and crushing. Rather than go for the ruins she'd been using as her base, Kerrigan redirected for more difficult terrain. Rocky and overgrown, difficult for humans and similar species to traverse without making enough noise that they'd be obvious. She hadn't made any attempt to hide her tracks, expecting people to rely more on sensors and scanners than visual clues or even scent.

She wasn't completely opposed to making contact with her current best chance of getting off the uninhabited, overgrown rock, but neither was she eager to get into a fight with people who would be better armed and better-disciplined than a handful of criminals. People who could pose a real threat to her without a safe place to regenerate and recover if she was severely injured.

Eventually she got the communication equipment working, listening only and trying to find what frequency was being used by the people who came down on the shuttle. It wouldn't help her much if they were using even basic encryption, but locating the proper frequency would allow her to start adapting to reach for it with her mind.

Without knowing how easily their technology could detect her, she wasn't interested in trying to approach the main group closely enough to read their minds. Most people would think patience went against the Zerg strategy, but proper timing just as important for the Swarm as it was for anyone else.

As expected, there weren't any survivors of the attack on these pirates. Who or whatever had done this likely hadn't wanted to take chances. Thrawn had been hoping that they could take at least one pirate back for interrogation, but it was more likely that this was just a splinter group and they weren't connected to any larger pirate operation. Right now he was simply curious as to what had killed these pirates and whether they were a danger to him and his own men.

"Stay close to the shuttle, men," He ordered. "We may need to leave in a hurry."

Motioning for one Stormtrooper to follow him and act as backup, Thrawn ventured into the woods. He also ordered the trooper to set his blaster to stun for now and only fire if it looked like Thrawn was in danger.

It didn't take long for Kerrigan to be located, but she didn't hear enough noise for it too be too large a group. Reaching out, she felt only a pair of minds, one human, and one not.

She left behind most of her stolen equipment, keeping only one of the energy rifles she found similar enough in its construction to familiar weapons. Now it was time to make contact, but Kerrigan wanted to speak before they saw her. Even if they didn't know what the Zerg were, her appearance didn't exactly invite diplomacy.

Kerrigan waited, she had the high ground and plenty of cover from the large rocks in the area. Once they were close enough for conversation with only a little bit of raised voices rather than needing to shout, she called out. "That's close enough," Kerrigan ordered, careful to speak only with her voice and not telepathically at the same time. She remained by one of the larger clusters of boulders for the moment, unable to see or be seen by those approaching.

Thrawn held up a hand for the Stormtrooper, signalling him to keep his weapon lowered for now, but be prepared to fire just in case. Thrawn was also confident in his own reflexes, given that they were faster than a human's and he could get off a quick shot if he had to. Since this person had chosen to speak rather than simply shoot at them, Thrawn would extend the same courtesy. If she wished to kill them, she would have tried to do so by now, since she had the high ground and could have easily ambushed them.

"Allow me to introduce myself. I am Grand Admiral Thrawn of the Imperial Fleet, and you are the one who killed those pirates we were pursuing." His voice was calm and stoic, simply stating a fact without judgement.

Grand Admiral. Higher than a full Admiral, implying either a need to give out inflated titles our a force large enough that it was necessary to have a rank between full Admiral and whoever was at the very top. Strange that he was out here in person instead of simply allowing his men to do their job, but not unheard of. Kerrigan was well-acquainted with several hands-on types in high ranking positions, even without counting herself in that group.

"You're not going to hold a little self defense against me, are you? They were far less willing to talk than you are, Admiral." Kerrigan said with a hint of dry humor in her voice. "Since you've been so polite as to introduce yourself, I am Kerrigan."

She didn't reveal herself, instead remaining in the relative safety of her position. If the Admiral really cared to, he could bring enough forces to bear to be a real threat to her. Her best option was to play it slow and cautious. The fact that she was dealing with likely the highest ranking officer in his force for at least the range of several star system boded well for not only her survival, but her chances of getting off the planet.

"I would have preferred to capture the pirates. However, you had a right to defend yourself and your territory." Thrawn certainly did the same when Captain Parck's men discovered him and intruded on his territory. Though, back then he was also showing off what he could do and giving them incentive to bring him into their ranks rather than kill him. He got the impression that wasn't the case with Kerrigan, and she genuinely was just defending herself.

"How did you come to reside on this planet?"

Right to the question Kerrigan least wanted to answer.

"I'm searching for something that isn't here, and now I'm stranded. That pirate ship is in no shape to fly without repairs I can't make on this planet, though it seems I lucked out in not trying to fly off with it." Kerrigan could easily picture how much worse this encounter would go if she'd been caught in a damage ship being chased.

She's not in any particular hurry to leave, there's nothing pressing back home that won't keep for a few months or a few years. Zagara can handle everything in her absence. But she does want to get off this rock, and right now there's an opportunity, even if she'll have to gain it through diplomacy. Not her worst talent, but neither it is her best.

"Indeed. My ship was responsible for that," They could have easily destroyed that vessel, but Thrawn had ordered them to damage it just enough to force it to land. "Had you somehow gotten that ship spaceworthy, you would not have made it far in the shape that it is in. Do you intend to stay here until your people come to rescue you?"

It was his way of asking if anyone was coming for her or if they even knew where she was, which in turn would determine if he offered her the hand of friendship or simply left her on this world. He would rather not have to take her on board the Chimaera by force.

It was nice to have confirmation that the ship in the pirates' memories was indeed the one currently in orbit.

"No. I will continue my search elsewhere." Eventually. Her tone indicated that she was confident in its inevitability. Either because she had a plan or because she really could afford to wait however long it took.

It didn't particularly matter if she left behind a sign for the Zerg to know where she went. Knowing that she was here at all point would be enough as long as she could manage to come within telepathic range of this place periodically. If the Zerg infested this planet, she would eventually find out about it.

"I'm stepping out now." They had been talking enough that Kerrigan was confident she wouldn't be shot, and that her appearance wouldn't hinder negotiations. The alien commander's mind was slippery, thinking in patterns that were difficult to grasp without trying to go deeper, and she was wary of doing more than passive telepathic senses in case he had enough ESP to sense an attempt. But even then, she was confident in her assessment of him.

Kerrigan kept her bladed limbs folded up behind her instead of spread out as she would if she were getting ready to attack or if she wanted to show obvious aggression. The pointed, powerful claw at the wrist joint curled downward loosely but still coming up over her head even in their lowered position and the long bladed tips of the limbs nearly touching the ground.

The Stormtrooper tensed up, hands tightening on his rifle, while Thrawn simply regarded Kerrigan with his usual stoicism, giving her only a curious and interested look up and down. A near-human species, of course, though which one in particular Thrawn couldn't say. As a near-human, Thrawn could thankfully read her body language and facial cues, seeing that she was making herself look non-threatening.

"A pleasure to meet you face-to-face, Kerrigan. If you intend to continue your search, you may require some assistance, as you have no means by which to repair the pirate vessel. Perhaps we may be of aid to one another."

Having a calm discussion in person with someone who wasn't Zerg felt strange after so long. Especially without the simmering undercurrent of fear or anger that usually met her from even friendly Terrans or Protoss. His offer of mutual aid was a welcome one, but it still did bring up some questions.

"What aid do you believe I can offer you, Admiral?" If they were familiar with her abilities and position, the offer would be more clear. Thrawn almost certainly knew nothing about her beyond what he'd learned from this meeting and from the small fight she'd had with the pirates.

Kerrigan did move a little closer as they spoke, but remained outside of melee range for even the extended reach of the limbs on her back. Not out of concern for her own safety; the energy weapon shot to the thick carapace on her upper torso had healed completely, leaving only a slight discoloration that could have easily been dirt or a bruise. After months on a deserted planet and a recent melee fight she was hardly clean, with the pirates' blood drying on her long claws, as well as on the lower tips of the limbs on her back.

In a galaxy further away than usual

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Anders~

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