I Will Find You (Kaeshana/OP)

[Tegaea Alcori]

It had been a regular, ordinary day on Kaeshana. Tegaea Alcori, her wife [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"] and their adopted daughter [member="Galina Kerrigan-Alcori"] had been out for a walk. After all, one couldn’t work or have non-PG-13 fun all the time!

It was a family meeting, but as they walked down to a lookout over the city of Santaissa it happened.

“Galina, come and see the city!” Tegaea called excitedly. With the morning sun reflecting off the white domes and spires it was breathtaking.

Then, suddenly, hideously, she felt movement, everything went dark and she screamed.

Was this death? Or was this just the beginning?

 

[Galina Kerrigan-Alcori]

The day couldn't have been more perfect and the young redhead was enjoying every bit of the sunshine with her mothers. As Tegs called out, Galina raced to catch up. Happily reaching out she taking her mum's hand in hers as she looked over the city. "Beautiful..." She managed to say but then it happened.

Suddenly she was torn away from everything that she'd come to know. Panic quickly overwhelmed her. Was this what death was like? The thought did cross her mind. It can't be, my life only just began.

[member="Tegaea Alcori"] | [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="Galina Kerrigan-Alcori"], [member="Tegaea Alcori"]


It had all started idyllic and beautiful. Peaceful. A happy, ordinary day on Kaeshana where she could relax and enjoy the sights with her family. A day away from the chaos that seemed to be engulfing the galaxy. Another day to see her daughter blossom into a young woman who could move on from the hell she had been through.



"It is!" Siobhan agreed brightly, pointing to one of the domes. "That building there is..." She would never get to finish the sentence because suddenly...Tegaea and Galina vanished before her eyes. She blinked...but they were gone.


Tegaea and Galina were gone. What the hell had happened? She tried to remember, but she drew a blank. They had been standing right here with her. No one had taken them. She had sensed nothing in the Force. There had only been a brief moment of darkness. Fear and panic gripped her mind, enveloping it in a crushing grip. "Tegs? Galine?" she called out, as if hoping that the mere mention of their names could return them to her, but there was silence. "Tegs?! Galina?!" she cried out louder, her voice becoming more and more frantic.


If Siobhan had bothered to notice anyone else, she would have seen that everywhere Eldorai and humans alike were experiencing the same thing. As a matter of fact, she would have noticed that the area she was standing was almost completely empty, whereas before it was filled with people. Alright, don't panic, they had to be close by. And so she stretched out with the Force, trying to get a reading on them...but she could not sense them.


She could no longer feel them. They were gone. Gone! No, this could not be. And so she ran, searching everywhere she could, heedless of anyone else, barely noticing pedestrians she might have knocked over on the way. But...no sign of them. "Tegs?!!! Galina?!!!" Such was the anguish, grief and terror she felt, that she could no longer control it. Nor could she control the way her emotions influenced and undermined her control over the Force. Rage, fear and power had filled up inside her. A miasma of darkside energy stronger than anything she'd ever drawn upon before. Aphotic energy writhed inside her and a pure wave of telekinetic energy rippled from her very being. It hit with the strength of a tsunami. One of the towering domes ceased to exist and was torn apart. She shook when she saw what she had done, but she did not really care. But...it did not bring them back.

 

[Tegaea Alcori]

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"] | [member="Galina Kerrigan-Alcori"]

Light came dimly to Tegaea and she opened her eyes. She winced, it was very uncomfortable.

She slowly, painfully sat up. Sharp rocks poked into her body. She was on a desert, rocky plain, not unlike those of Vandalhelm or Tatooine that she’d visited. But then, she looked up at the baleful green sun above and shivered.

Looking around, she saw, to her relief, Galina, lying nearby. Stumbling up, she ran to her and gently shook her.
“Galina…Galina my love. I’m here, mother is here,” she said, trying to reassure herself as much as her daughter.
“Siobhan?” she asked. She could not see her wife anywhere, just featureless rocks and sand. “Siobhan?!” she called vainly to the uncaring sky.

 

[Galina Kerrigan-Alcori]

Galina opened her eyes slowly, feeling her mother speak to her and shake her. "I ... uh..." Things weren't quite coming together for her just yet.

In a flash she sat up, instantly wrapping her arms around Tegaea and clung tightly to her for fear she might lose her again. "Mum, mum... Love you, glad I am not alone. Not again." She whispered into the woman's ear as she started to cry, more in relief than anything else.

Finally releasing Tegaea slowly, she looked for the one person who clearly wasn't there. "Where's mummy?" Galina asked as she finally seemed to start putting things together, where they were and now suddenly entirely somewhere else. "Mummy? .... Mummy?!" Cried out loudly, looking for any sign of Siobhan.

Glancing around further more realizations were coming to her. "What is this place?" The sun, green.... that was wrong. The sky looked so odd and so did the terrain. "Where .. are we?"

[member="Tegaea Alcori"] | [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="Tegaea Alcori"], [member="Galina Kerrigan-Alcori"]



There was no one. She was alone. Completely and utterly alone. That was how she felt right now. Siobhan had stormed back to the villa, moving like a raging tempest that could only be described as a storm of pure, unadulterated wrath, grief and sorrow.


But...there was no one. Not a single soul could be sensed through the Force, not a single voice heard. No one. "Tegs? Galina? Love...please. Mirien?" No response came. The cruel universe did not deign her with an answer, her terrified and agonised cries went unanswered. The entire place seemed deserted. Dining room, business areas, kitchen, basement, bedrooms...no one was left. "Chesna? Harmony? Anyone?!!!" Struck by an outburst of the Force a vase sitting on a table shattered into a hundred pieces.



"No...they can't be gone...they...they...can't...Please, Goddess, don't...," she could no longer finish the sentence but simply broke down and fell to her knees. She would have cried...but she could not. Her mechanical eyes had not been designe for it. Otherwise an ocean of tears would have dripped down her cheeks. Coincidentally she happened to fall down right next to...Galina's stuffed nexu. A little toy she had bought for her daughter during their visit to the Firefarm zoo. It had brought Galina such joy and Siobhan had been so happy for her. She looked up at a holopic sitting on the counter. It showed her, Galina, Tegaea, Chesna, Mirien and Tempest at what could be called a family dinner. Her family...torn asunder.


Mirien...she could no longer feel her. Their bond...she could no longer feel through it. Was she gone as well? No! Terror and fright gripped her. She seized a comm device and dialled numbers...but it refused to work. No response from Tempest, Coryth, Anya...What had happened? Angrily she threw the comm against the Force with such force that it broke.


For a moment she heard movement, footsteps coming closer and closer, and she felt a surge of hope build up inside her. Hoping against hope perhaps that this might be set right, that it was jus a cruel trick the universe was playing on her. She quickly got to her feet and ran as fast as her legs would carry her. Only to find herself facing...


A horde of Eldorai. Clad in the livery and bearing the symbols of the Dark Eldorai. Carrying blasters, axes, pikes, grenades. Among them a mob of elves, uncontrolled malice evident in their auras. "The Goddess has passed judgement! The time for rebellion has come. Kill the monkeighs and traitors!" one of them cried out and so they charged. They had numbers and were armed, whereas Siobhan was not. The Force was...difficult to reach for her, for some reason. However, they faced two disadvantages. Firstly they were not Siobhan Kerrigan and secondly, they had not just lost a Tegaea and a Galina. They all died. It all happened in a blur, all in all in less than ten minutes, and she stood upon a pile of brutally mauled corpses, splattered with her own blood and those of her enemies, looking like a possessed fury. Broken bodies, limbs and innards were strewn across the halls. Enemies had been broken, beaten, impaled, heads chopped off. But...it did not bring them back.


They were...gone. She had failed her family. "I'm sorry...I'm so sorry." Those words were not enough. They could never be.

 

[Tegaea Alcori]

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"] | [member="Galina Kerrigan-Alcori"]

With a great effort, and far from total success, Tegaea managed to pull herself together. Her daughter was here. She needed to protect what she had left, so she took Galina’s hand firmly.

“Galinai, shh…shh…it’s alright, mum’s here,” she said soothingly. “I don’t know where we are, I don’t know what this place is…but we’ll find out together. I’m not going to abandon you, Galina, I’m going to stay with you no matter what. We just need to stay calm.”

She looked around at the wastes. It looked very similar in all directions, but she chose a direction and pointed. “Let’s head that way,” she said. It was better to do something than nothing after all, and if anything happened where they landed they’d be able to see their landing site for a couple of hours.

And so, with the sun directly behind them, they were off.

 

[Valiens Nantaris]

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]
From behind Siobhan, in the ruins of her house, there was a feeling, a presence. A familiar presence possibly.
A figure, shimmering with faint light, stepped down onto the broken glass of the room.
“They are not lost, Siobhan…they can be found…if you are willing to do what is needed.” The voice, and when Siobhan would turn it was the face of Adril Tythorin, her long-lost former master and lover.

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="Adril Tythorin"]


The silence was broken, just when Siobhan ws given into the depths of despair, so completely and utterly broken. No wound inflicted by any blade or Force attack had hurt her as much as this loss. Even almost dying after being spaced paled in comparison.



A voice...she knew this voice. Adril Tythorin. Her long dead Master...her idol...her first love. No, it could not be, she was dead. Still she slowly turned around, hoping against hope perhaps, and beheld the shimmering figure of the beautiful Eldorai. She looked the way Siobhan remembered her, the way before she died during that awful day on Manaan so many years ago.


"Adril...you're...is that really you?" her voice cracked, overcome with emotion. "You know where Tegs and Galina are? You can tell me to bring my wife and little girl back? Please." She felt something...that was close to hope. These were the words that could build her up again or utterly break her.

 

[Valiens Nantaris]

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]
“The walls between realities are breaking down, Siobhan. Many people were taken, but some have returned. I have returned. I do not know the cause of this overlaying of the worlds, but I may be able to help you.”

It was then that Adril seemed to focus on Siobhan. “You’re married…and have a daughter?” she asked. For the first time it sounded more like the real Adril, a little note of shock in her voice.

“I suppose it has been some time…many years probably. And you live on Kaeshana? Tegs…Tegaea? The soldier girl, the human redhead?” she asked.

The shade of Adril seemed to cross some Rubicon of personal issues.
“I will help you, Siobhan. Those taken have gone to the Netherworld, but those left behind cannot easily follow them. However, I know of a rift leading to the Netherworld which has opened on Alderaan….”

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="Adril Tythorin"]


Awkward. See, many years ago Siobhan and Adril had been lovers. Before the Eldorai perished, having given her life to slay Cthulhu. Or rather an eldritch abomination that looked and acted like him. It had been Tegaea, then still an amazonian soldier woman, who had saved Siobhan from a coven of sadistic energy vampires...and helped her unleash vengeance upon her tormentors and save Adril.


Her two loves were...big opposites. It did not change the fact that she loved both of them deeply. But Siobhan was not in the mood for awkward. What mattered was finding Tegaea and Galina. Every moment wasted was one more where they might be suffering. Nothing else in the world mattered anymore. "Yes, yes, I am. Tegs and I have been together for many years. I...did not think I could love someone after you...died," her voice seemed to crack. "But I love her, she's been my rock. We adopted Galina a few months ago. Our beautiful little girl. She was stranded on an island in the wilderness..."


Then her mind snapped back to attention. Only the present counted. "You'll help me...This rift is on Alderaan? Where can I find it? I don't care about the risks. I will get them back. Anyone or anything who gets in my way won't survive." Energy seemed to fill her once more and she immediately jumped to her feet.

 

[Valiens Nantaris]

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]
“That’s my Siobhan…always so strong,” Adril said softly, smiling.

“Go to Aldera City. There you will find a rift into the netherworld. The planet is at war, there are horrible creatures fighting Jedi and human soldiers. I will meet you there.”

After all, Obi-Wan could appear and vanish where he willed, so presumably Adril would be able to as well.

 

[Galina Kerrigan-Alcori]

Galina glanced back to Tegaea, and sniffled softly as she tried to soothe her. Once more she wrapped her arms around the woman, hugging her tightly. Finally she nodded slowly, she understood enough as she took Tegaea's hand once more, not willing to let go. She was all the young redhead had now in this strange new world. "Can't lose you. Can't. You all I have here...." She glance around once more. "Together." The girl reached up to try and dry away the tears that had swept in so quickly at the agonizing loss. At least together, they could figure this out and lean upon one another. All was not lost as long as they had each other.

"Okay." Galina followed hand in hand, but kept as close as she could to Tegaea, barely a hair's width between their shoulders. And a small trembling in her hand was so easily felt. Here, in this place, Galina was terribly afraid.

[member="Tegaea Alcori"]

 

[Tegaea Alcori]

[member="Galina Kerrigan-Alcori"]
Tegaea held Galina's hand tight, not letting her go for even a second. "Together. You are my daughter and I will protect you with my life," Tegaea said softly.

They walked on. They didn't seem to be getting very far, but it wasn't hot or cold, she wasn't thirsty or particularly tired. Better to move and walk because staying still would invite dismay.

However, they had a surprise waiting. There was another figure laying on the sand. Slowly they got to their feet and shook the sand from her skimpy dress. It was Chesna.
"Oh...so this is real, is it?" she asked. "Tegs? Galina? Where's Siobhan?"

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="Adril Tythorin"]


"Thank you, Adril." Horrible creatures. Siobhan could deal with those. She remembered Alderaan well...from her battle there. It was Vong Central. She would be lying if she claimed that the memory of almost losing her mind did not still haunt. The planet was infested with abominations...and Goddess knew what horrors lurked in the netherworld. Her control of the Force felt erratic...as if she no longer had mastery over it. Siobhan did not care. None of this was even remotely relevant. If she had to tear across Alderaan like a storm, murder every single being she encountered and slaughter her way through hell, she would do that. And so like a woman on a mission she walked down the stairs to the basement, past bodies upon bodies, may of them in a horrible state of mutilation, her path taking her to her armoury.


There were guns there...lots of guns. Weapons racks upon weapons racks stuffed with death dealers, bladed and ranged weapons, bolters, blasters, grenade launchers...the list went on and on. It seemed like if a gun existed, she owned. There was probably enough firepower crammed into her personal armoury to make the praetorian guard of a tin pot dictator green with envy. Her blouse and skirt, blood-stained and torn anyway, dropped to the ground and she slowly put on her beskar'gam. The heavy armour clung to her body as if she had been meant to wear it. The armour of Butcher Kerrigan.


MK1 bolter was mag-clamped to her thigh, disruptor pistol was holstered. Then grenades...lots and lots of grenades and thermal detonators. Portable shattergun rotary cannon landed in her duffel bag along with plenty of ammunition. Scylla chainsword - the weapon that had tasted the blood of Xerxes by chopping his feet off - followed into the bag. Lightsabre went to her belt. The darkside-infused crystal Mirien had made for her would be worn around her neck. Grabbing the bag and flinging it over her shoulder she walked out, seemingly without effort despite how much the weaponry must weigh. Her Adril-class starfighter should still be at the landing pad. If not, she would find herself a different transport.

 

[Galina Kerrigan-Alcori]

Galina solemnly nodded to her mother. How are we going to do this? Together. A voice inside answered her silent question. Where are we? Does where matter so much as the fact that you're mother is here with you and you are not alone? No, it does not. I'm not alone. For the first time in such horrific situations she was not alone. Not faced with the loss of her parents alone. She squeezed Tegaea's hand to reassure herself, and offer what comfort she could as well. For she wasn't the only one who had lost something today. "I hope it does not come to that, I do not want lose you too."

It was then that another figure shifted in the sands. A familiar being. Galina cocked her head to the side as she glanced between her mother and Chesna. "Chesna!" There was relief in her eyes, at seeing someone else here who was familiar to her, to her family. "Yes, real." She answered before she let Tegaea do so. "We do not know. Were with her before .... then dark, then here. She was not here."

The young girl hadn't noticed the things that it was not hot or cold, nor was she hungry or thirsty either. Perhaps fear kept her from seeing that part of this reality.

[member="Tegaea Alcori"]

 

[Tegaea Alcori]

[member="Galina Kerrigan-Alcori"] | [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]

Chesna evicted more sand from her clothing. “I hate sand. It’s coarse and irritating and it gets everywhere,” she grumbled. “I was just having a nap and them boom, here I am. Are we dead? I don’t think we’re dead.”
She looked around. “Weird. This isn’t my idea of hell, or of paradise.”

Tegaea sighed. “Whatever it is, Chesna, we need to keep going. I think I saw something over in that direction, so let’s head that way.”
She hadn’t seen anything special, but it was important to keep Galina’s hopes up.

Chesna picked up on this and obediently took Galina’s other hand and they began their journey.


Meanwhile, Siobhan’s fighter was waiting for her. When she emerged and got into it the craft was ready to go. Swiftly she headed into space, then hyperspace, aiming for Alderaan….

 

[Galina Kerrigan-Alcori]

Galina reached up with her free hand and checked her own pulse, "No, not dead. Hearts still beat. Not dead." She was more trying to convince herself than anything else as she looked between the women.

The redhead's gaze followed to where Tegaea had pointed. She saw nothing really, and started to wonder if her mother had something to do with that side of things.

As Chesna took her hand, the young woman squeezed it tightly, and tried to pull the woman closer. The poor thing was terrified to let go, for fear that she'd lose them both again. She just couldn't bear that idea.

[member="Tegaea Alcori"]

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="Galina Kerrigan-Alcori"], [member="Adril Tythorin"]


Santaissa was in chaos by the time Siobhan's Adril-class starfighter had shot through the atmosphere of the planet and then into the cold, fathomless void of space, but she did not care. Selfish? Perhaps, but no one was a total altruist and her priorities were clear. Her family, those she loved most.



Siobhan had manifold flaws and those were probably larger in number than her virtues, but she was loyal to those she loved. Suicidally. She was also...completely lacking in moral scruples when it came to protecting them. It had been said that she was destruction on a leash. The leash was off. It would not come on again until her wife and daughter were safe. Or she was dead. Her control over the Force seemed impaired, but that did not matter, for she did not need it for carnage and slaughter.


Before she made the jump for hyperspace, she opened up a comms channel and sent a quick transmission to [member="Anya Venari"]. She owed the Queen, a good friend of hers, that much. "Adril came to me. Tegs and Galina are in the netherworld. I'm getting them back. There's a portal on Alderaan. Tell Coryth and Mirien I'm sorry. May the Force be with you." Her tone was cold, resolved, all doubt banished from it. Given how chaotic things were and how problematic comms traffic was, it would probably not reach the Queen for a bit, but she would get it. Then she punched the coordinates for Alderaan into the navcomputer and a moment later hyperspace swallowed her starfighter. The Butcher had work to do.

 

[Anya Venari]

[member="Galina Kerrigan-Alcori"] | [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]

In the palace on Kaeshana the Queen listened to the message, nodded, then turned away.
“Send my reply. I don’t know if she’ll get it. She’s in the Goddess’ hands now,” she told the staff. She left them to it and went to share the message with [member="Coryth Elaris"].

Meanwhile, in the desert the threesome continued their march.
“This reminds me of an old story I heard once,” Chesna said. “When you die you are put into a desert, the length of which is determined by how many sins you have to atone for. Along the way all the people you’ve helped or harmed will repay you for either good or ill.”
She walked in silence for a moment. “Well, so long as Galina is the one which gets judged it should be a pretty short road, hmm Tegs?”
Tegaea gave her a sharp look and grunted something non-committal.