Prompt: Where did Dehaka go, in the end?

This boredom-fueled thing ended up turning into some kind of arc that would have worked as game DLC. Enjoy, and stuff.

Change was the only constant in Dehaka. It was a good five years since Amon fell: Barren planets were becoming lively, Terran economy was growing, the Tal'darim nearly threw everything back into war two and a half times, and so forth. Dehaka wasn't too interested.

As the last surviving primal pack leader, Zagara had offered (well, Kerrigan had left an explicit order to offer) to return him to his homeworld of Zerus, to guard the first spawning pool's remaining power. He could still recall his exact response, and why he gave it.

"There is much more unique essence throughout this sector. I would rather have a way to reach it, than to hold onto the past. You may take Zerus. I desire a Leviathan."

And so he took a smaller, slightly modified leviathan. A behemoth. And now he was searching over one of the worlds filled with new life, a veritable resevouir of essence.

He realised a little later that he wasn't the only one on the planet he'd landed on this week. There was an unmistakable Terran presence, at least a year old. Even with the races at 'peace', he was slightly annoyed. If they beat him to rare essence, it could be lost for good. He opted to investigate.

He located a small Terran base. Possibly the only one on the planet, given the miniscule presence they'd had. He lurked under the ground, watching from the shadows, waiting for information to come.

He recognized the types of Terran immediately: Ghosts. Almost all of them had strong psionic signatures. Perhaps this was a training facility? No, or the Dominion would have kept him away from this world. Then he saw one very famous Terran.

The rogue ghost, Nova. Involved in the first incident of the Tal'darim nearly causing a third war. News reached Dehaka slowly, but some uproars were heard across the sector. This must be her base. Best to leave soon, Dehaka thought. He'd left his pack to comb the rest of the planet, and fighting multiple ghosts alone is generally a bad idea.

Dehaka was a few miles away, preparing to leave for the leviathan, when the hairs on his back prickled. He rolled to one side, and fired a spike from his tail -a new trick-, denting the barrel of Nova's rifle. Nova backed away quickly. "Terran! Explain yourself!" Roared Dehaka, diving for her. Or rather, the shimmer next to her.

He hit the shimmer, which fell to the ground with an 'Oof!'. The real Nova became visible, and the hologram faded. Nova grimaced "Damn, so this is how it ends?"

"I am Dehaka. One who collects. You may not recognize me, Nova, but I am one who was a commander under Kerrigan. Leave me be. I have no need for your essence, and to fight would be a waste." Dehaka rumbled.

Nova stood up, brushing some dirt off her armour. "What, the primal? Well, I'd be thankful if you didn't tell anyone we're here. But why aren't you attacking? Not very zerg of you."

"I have lived a thousand times longer than most zerg. I know which battles are to be fought. Which are a waste. I have terran essence. I do not need psionics. You have no essence worth a fight."

Dehaka grunted, and walked off. The sniper round crashed into his back. This had exactly two effects: one, there was now an ultra-high grade, armour-piercing round stuck somewhere inbetween Dehaka's chest and back, and two, Dehaka was now pissed off. "Terran!" He spat, roaring.

Nova was already loading her second round. Her grade of bullet couldn't be automated due to the size, and nobody tried to because one was normally enough. Dehaka made an unusual chittering sound, as Nova's ghost squadron of five decloaked.

Dehaka's chittering was his way of calling aid. The back two ghosts lost their legs as primal roaches appered from below. the remaining three squad members shot them apart quickly, but the fight was lost before it had started. The average primal lived for two years. Dehaka had picked up a few life lessons in two thousand. And a very good one was to keep a few allies handy.

Nova slugged Dehaka squarely in the forehead with her second shot. The round cracked Dehaka's plate, and the shock alone would have turned his brain to liquid if not for the fact it was an obvious weakness he'd guarded against long ago. The structure of his body dispersed the impact, and that was all the time Dehaka needed to stab Nova in the stomach with his longer claws.

Of the remaining three ghosts, two were killed trying to escape when hydralisks caught them. One lived to tell the tale and save Nova's life with some fast talking.

Nova clutched her bleeding wound in agony, dropping her rifle. "D-damn... Run, team. I'm sorry, Reigel, Casa..."

Two ghosts fled immediately. The third unhurt ghost jumped in front of Nova. "Wait! I'm the one you're after, I shot you in the back!" He said. It was a total lie, but not an unconvincing one.

Dehaka did not show amusement by laughing. But other self-aware zerg would have noticed his tail flick. "Why should I let her live? Perhaps I should show her how getting shot feels." The ghost flinched. He couldn't read Dehaka's mind. "Are you surprised I can operate your tools? I changed a hand just in case. I change all to suit all."

The ghost's mind raced... "I'll give you information if you let us go!" he shouted.

"Such as?" Dehaka was enjoying making the ghost suffer. He knew he had some time before any reinforcements could arrive.

The ghost drew a blank, but Nova wasn't going to let a six-inch deep stab wound slow her mind. "There is a rare species of fast-burrowing mole on this planet. Date file 17 says you burrow to travel, so you can't pass up the opportunity to get it. You can find them living on the hill by there. To draw them out, broadcast a sound of frequency 51 hertz. And I can't lie right now, since I'm surrounded and I can't walk. But you have only got time to get them if you move now, because we'd find your leviathan before you could otherwise, leaderless or not."

"Compelling. You may go, terran. If you see me again, then it will be because you are about to die." Said Dehaka, calling off his pack.

In Daelaam space, a Protoss supply craft was suddenly having a very unique problem: A leviathan had warped into the exact same place it had warped. The two crafts were of great size, so neither had the time to stop before a collision.

Dehaka received a message from a disgruntled pilot. "You stupid, stupid, senseless..." He had been ranting for the last minute before someone considerably calmer pushed him out of the way. Karax's gear hadn't changed a bit.

"So, is this a social call or are you here to start another war?" Karax joked. The ceasefire between Protoss and Zerg was based on one fact: Protoss were useless to zerg, zerg were death to pretty much anything. Solid grounds to ignore each other.

Dehaka didn't get it "My behemoth was drawn off course. It sensed a psionic signture imprinted into it."

Karax turned to the technician next to him. "Great job, Falar. Seal the breach quickly, or we'll lose our power cells. Uh, anyhow Dehaka. My people do not take kindly to having their ship crushed. But alas, we were also drawn off course. We detected a psionic signature matching the infamous Kerrigan here, so I investigated. We found it coming from this thing." He held up a rusty metal disc. "An old psi-emitter. Probably the reason our ships are currently crashed together."

Dehaka looked at the device sideways "I am no psionic. It is simply metal to me. Now, move your ship back so my behemoth can leave. There is no essence here."

Karax gestured to a display. It looked terrible over the behemoth's connection. "That's not going to work for either of us. To cut a long story short, one of my crew accidentally caught the attention of some feral zerg. Their leviathan will be upon us before we can disengage, and they're out for blood. We... unfortunately, we must work together if we wish to survive."

"I have seen many alliances. This is neccessary. They will board your craft of metal first. Easier to infest. I will move my pack to your ship. We will surprise them." Replied Dehaka.

The leviathan appeared next to the pair of ships. At least twice the weight of Dehaka's behemoth, and three times Karax's ship. The ferals were upon them in an instant. Nydus worms crashed into the ship's shielding with intent to simply rip the vessel apart. The ferals were mad with bloodlust.

Karax was giving commands to a computer absurdly fast. The ship did have defences, and even a few zealots and two high templar, but there had been no reason to bring any true war machines. Karax paled as he received a message from his console. "Breach on the lower decks! They're putting their forces into that area, move fast templar!"

The high templar were happy to demonstrate why they were high templar. Dehaka could feel their psionics from his ship. Of course, they weren't expected to hold the breach alone. Primal underlings were a great substitute for a defensive wall, it turned out.

Karax was working with a dozen consoles at once. "We need a plan, and soon. They outnumber us one to three, and I only have a dozen fighters."

"Our opportunity to strike has not presented itself. It will not until that leviathan moves to attack me." Said Dehaka.

"It'll only switch to you when my ship has fallen! Zealots, pull back from the area, I've primed new defences along the corridor." Said Karax.

Dehaka watched as Karax's ship began to break in two. And there was his chance.

Karax was, despite his modesty, a battle-hardened being. He was still searching for solutions to his situation even as the end of his ship broke off. But then he saw the Behemoth make it's move. It flew for the leviathan, Karax's ship still stuck to it's side. This turned Karax's ship over, forcibly tearing the nydus worms in it's hull in half, but the real spectacle was the fact the side of the behemoth slammed into the front of the leviathan. It was a zerg-on-zerg broadside.

The Behemoth had Nydus canals, but they served their purpose. The leviathan suddenly had four breaches within ten metres of it's nerve centre, and primal zerg flowing from each. Dehaka hacked through the enemy zerg quickly, with no intention of giving the rest time to react. He tore through enemies until he reached the nerve centre, and it was over for the leviathan. Dehaka made sure he'd destroyed every nerve cluster in the room before leaving. The effect was immediate. The leviathan was dead where it was. Now it was just a matter of retreating through the nearest Nydus canal. The ferals were nowhere near the strength of the primals, lacking the leadership to set ambushes or focus on a target.

Dehaka's behemoth detached, leaving the leviathan as nothing more than an oversized bag full of maddened ferals. He turned to the behemoth's psionic communicator. "Successful. However, my pack is weakened. We must land and regrow. Move your ship back, protoss."

Karax frowned "I'd like to, but I cannot. We have no thrusters. Also, scans indicate only one site nearby we can reach in warp. It's a powerful terran world, so you'll need us to land."

"Take me there. We must move quickly, before space claims us." Dehaka said.

The world of Draconis V was confused when it received a protoss distress signal. More so when they read the attached message. 'Must make emergency landing. Do not fire on craft. Currently on board damaged ship attached to allied zerg craft. Will explain.' And the most confused of all were the inhabitants of the mining outpost when both a Behemoth and a protoss exploration ship crashed twenty metres from thier base.

Karax cheered "We made the landing! It'll be easy from here." A tile fell from the roof. His ship was in pieces.

The behemoth had fared just a little better, but not much. The landing had been rough, and it had taken damage during Dehaka's broadside. To Dehaka's annoyance, the Behemoth was too tired to properly run it's communicator.

Karax was the first to step outside. His ship looked like it had been used as a cosmic football. Not good for much but scrap.

Dehaka left his Behemoth to set up his base, and noticed a more relevant problem. At least a dozen marines looking at the two crashed ships. "Karax! Diplomacy is your business. Make them leave, I'm going to find a mineral formation." He growled, burrowing into the ground.

Karax turned to look at the welcome party "High smith Karax, at your service. Our vessels were attacked, and both needed to land. Your authorities have been notified."

The lead marine rolled up his visor. "Well, you got any permission to land, buddy? And what about that thing?" He pointed at the Behemoth.

"I crashed before the reply could come through, but if I don't have permission then I'd like to know why. Emergency landings are covered by your own treaty." Replied Karax.

Dehaka emerged from the floor. "We can probably win in a fight. There is a mineral deposit fifty metres below ground, Karax. My forces will be replenished soon. I will leave to hunt now. I do not often have a reason to explore terran domain." And he was gone again.

"Wait no, I don't know if you can..." Karax sighed "Well, I guess we were only allies because it was life and death. I'll try and get him off world quickly, terrans."

The leader just shrugged "Buddy, my pay grade covers guarding our tool shed from robbers. Not a joint invasion of the planet. Just do whatever. It's a dumb place anyway."

"I'll need some minerals to fix my communications. Then I can contact the Heirarch. Though I am unsure about Dehaka. He just wants to find unique things to eat, I think." Said Karax.

Dehaka didn't stay for long. By the time the planet authority had scraped together an anti-zerg task force, his Behemoth was in space, fully healed.

Dehaka considered where to go next. The swarm was a big no, Zagara would have him killed and Abathur was insufferable anyways. Terran worlds could be explored for essence, but systematically making enemies of a race generally doesn't work in the long term. Zerus was the swarm's now, but there was nothing he hadn't done there. The protoss were also a bad choice. Still, Aiur had some lingering infestations and they might have useful adaptations. Perhaps a chaotic area full of outlawed terrans and feral zerg? The Dominion wouldn't care if pirates mysteriously disappeared, or thier worlds had a few less species. They'd be dowright thankful for less feral zerg. Yes, it was a safe bet. To survive, Dehaka needed essence. So he traveled to a place he could gather it unseen.