Meatslop: It's what's for breakfast, lunch, and dinner [Open]

[aboutthatevac]

It had been months since Stacy had released Sarah Kerrigan but the meatship hadn't seen very much of her. It wasn't because she preferred to spend her days alone, at least not solely. It was safer this way. For her and for everyone else on the ship. She had come clean to the Captain, given him a short explanation of her reign as the Queen of Blades. She knew that he could not legally imprison her for crimes she had committed in her own universe but she was still surprised that he hadn't arrested her on the spot. It's what he should have done. Murderers shouldn't go unpunished, especially not when they'd murdered billions people. But then just because Kerrigan wasn't behind locked away didn't mean she wasn't a prisoner. She didn't remember everything but what she did was played out in brief bursts. Images flashing into her mind before vanishing as quickly as they had come. But that was good. That was what she deserved. And slowly she became accustomed to this new life. Barely interacting with others, training, waking up wracked with sobs and shaking.

And then he came. One day. One day with Jim Raynor. Because Stacy hadn't tormented her enough.

If one were to speak in metaphors, you might say that there was a hole in her heart. Kerrigan would say that was a terrible metaphor as she no longer had one. It was more a reminder of what she was missing. What she could have been had the zerg not claimed her.

Now Kerrigan sat in the messhall. It was not as popular as it once was now that there was a supply of real food but it was not as empty as she would have liked. Usually Kerrigan ate quickly and left but today, and in fact every day since Stacy's surprise "gift" to the crew, she sat staring at her slop but not seeing it at all. You would expect more from a telepath. They were supposed to get lost in others' thoughts, not their own.

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[hi_there_aliens]

Oh, right, like he hadn't been stuck on Galilee fighting alongside everyone else. He must've imagined it, or nearly getting shot a few times. The only reason he'd taken up a gun in the first place was to protect the people he knew, but the truth was, they could've possibly solved the conflict if they'd been given more time, and if people had kept a cooler head. They didn't know nearly enough details on both sides, not even now, to form a complete picture.

He got the feeling the GIA didn't give a damn. They only wanted the technology. That left them to either defend themselves or get killed. Daniel couldn't stand feeling like he'd been backed into a corner.

"I need to retain my sanity somehow, and so do other people. Whose war here anyway? We don't even have all the facts. Just the Daligig's word."

[aboutthatevac]

Ah, this was good. This was infinitely better than smalltalk. They were on familiar grounds now. "Glad to hear you're not completely stupid. As far as I'm concerned the Daligig are as bad as the Ohm. That doesn't change the fact that the Ohm are out to kill us all. Am I wrong to assume you weren't at Lirath?"

[hi_there_aliens]

Oh gee, thanks for the vote of confidence and the moral support. Glad to know he passed your test. Daniel gave her a tight lipped smile.

"Thanks. I try," he said dryly. "At least you're asking questions. There's a lot of people who are itching to fight, no questions asked." He looked up from the gruel, considered her for a second. "No. I was on the ship when the terrorists detonated the bomb."

[aboutthatevac]

Kerrigan did not return the smile. She continued to stare back at him.

"And you managed to survive that. Good." You're not completely hopeless, she managed not to say. "And people aren't asking questions because they're mad. What do you think happens when you take someone away from their homes, their universe even. If someone gives them weapons and a way to get back the majority of people will take it, no questions asked. They'll do anything it takes to get even. Never underestimate the need for revenge."

[hi_there_aliens]

He could read between the lines to know when he was being treated like an inept civilian. Daniel met her gaze steadily. He didn't need her approval to get through the day, but it'd be easier to finish his meal if he didn't have her looking down her nose at him for its duration.

It sounded like she knew a thing or two about the need for revenge, intimately.

"Believe me, I think I've learned a thing or two about what people will do if they get the chance," he said uncomfortably. It wasn't that long ago that Eva had a field day on the terrorist's face in front of him. "So you're just practicing for defense?"

[aboutthatevac]

Don't take it personal, Daniel. She thought that about a lot of people, including hardened soldiers.

"Does it really matter? Defense or offense, either way I'm taking out as many enemies as I can. And if it's my day to die they'll overwhelm me in the same way." She'd been through enough battles to know she wasn't going to die from a lucky shot. If she was going to die it would be like it was that day at New Gettysburg, overwhelmed by a zerg swarm.

[hi_there_aliens]

"You didn't want to fight someone else's war without knowing the facts," Daniel felt it was his duty to point out, feeling a little uncomfortable with the hint of bloodlust he felt from her. "Intent and circumstances do matter. Defense is one thing. Offense another."

[aboutthatevac]

That hint was just one drop of an ocean.

"You don't win wars by playing it safe. And I contacted the Ohm. They weren't interested in talking or explaining. Negotiation is over and even if it was, who would make a deal with the people who destroyed universes?" Well, she would have but she had been a mass murdering psychopath.

...Maybe that sentence shouldn't have been in past tense.

[hi_there_aliens]

"No, but there's defense and then there's fighting someone else's war, one we're missing facts on," even if the Ohm weren't biting, it didn't mean they shouldn't question the other side's intentions either. If the crew defended themselves, that was one thing. But going on the offense, no matter the other side, was playing the Daligig 's part. "For all we know, they could have started this. We don't know."

[aboutthatevac]

This man was so soft, so weak, so naive. It disgusted her.

"We've seen the Ohm attack worlds first hand. Would you rather sit back and do nothing while they destroy more? The Daligig will pay for what they've done. I will see to that."

[hi_there_aliens]

Daniel flushed, embarrassed and angrily. He wasn't suggesting they ignore the issue. "That's not what I meant! No, we can't let them attack other people, but we've been screwed over by the Daligig before when they assign a mission." He tried to calm down. "I'm just saying it's very easy to see things in black and white. It's dangerous. That's what's being painted here."

[aboutthatevac]

"Don't," Kerrigan nearly spat. "Lecture me about the Daligig. You have no idea." For a moment her eyes looked like they were glowing before returning to their previous jade green color. "There is no white, only black and the fools who cannot see that."

[hi_there_aliens]

Daniel stopped. Either it was a trick of the light or her eyes lit for a second, a faint orange that, mercifully, wasn't followed by a double voice. He looked again, just to be sure. They were green.

Of course he had no idea about the Daligig. Neither did Sarah. He didn't think anyone really did.

"That's where you're wrong. There's no such thing just good and evil. It's a stupid and narrow minded-way to look at the world."

[aboutthatevac]

Oh, no goa'uld in Kerrigan. But she had been infested by something else. Something that was, in her opinion, much, much worse.

"There is evil. I've seen it. I've been it. Stop talking about things you do not know. All you are accomplishing is annoying me and that is a very dangerous thing, Daniel Jackson."

[hi_there_aliens]

That could mean anything. Daniel's imagination easily supplied a few possibilities. A former, rehabilitated criminal. Maybe she'd done something, accidentally, a temper maybe, because he could believe it from her, and she regretted it. Maybe even a host of the Yeerks, like Eva. His luck couldn't be that bad.

Whatever her story was, she was wrong. The world, the universes, just couldn't be compartmentalized into good and evil.

"But there are grays to everything," Except the Goa'uld. "So you think we just kill them all? What if the Daligig were the ones that started it in the first place?," Daniel persisted. Being told to, all intents and purposes, shut the hell up didn't usually stop him. Besides, it wasn't like she was holding a staff weapon or ribbon device to his head.

[aboutthatevac]

"If that's true then it makes my job much easier." For her the Ohm were just a stepping stone to the real problem. True, they deserved to die for destroying the universe she was supposed to save but that wasn't her main concern. "But it doesn't excuse what the Ohm have done. My universe did nothing to provoke them." Although if it was in her power earlier she probably would have done so eventually.