I do not own StarCraft. This goes for all chapters.

Prologue

A door slammed in a deserted hall, three floors away, someone turned off their com, and a landing dock opened its door allow the victorious troops to land eight hundred yards to the east. A mechanic was repairing one of the main refrigerators in the kitchens, while in the armory a lone marine was polishing his teams weapons until they gleamed, and a medic typed in the information for a newly born civilian. The ship breathed with this kind of rhythm, maltreating and tender caring.

Exuberant marines discarded their armor before hitting the showers, the infirmary was filled with doctors who worked diligently on the injured, and the magistrate finally was able to take a break and relieve himself. His cyborg unplugged herself from the ship's mainframe, loosing the sense of the machine's breath, instead feeling the chill that was present in the chamber. She shivered as she stood up, pulling on her jacket. The Cyborg rubbed her scalp, fingering each receptor with one hand. Then she smoothed her hair and stood up. She carefully wrapped up her cords and pushed in her chair before leaving the office.

She made her way up the empty hall, her heels clicking the only sound. Doors hissed open for her, machines understood each other, even if they didn't always breath at the same time. She turned a corner, and as another door opened, entered the crowded main hall of the Hyperion. Fighting the flow of traffic, she made her way to the infirmary. The reception nurse smiled at her as she timidly came up to the counter, "The doc's busy, it'll be a while, Ma'am."

She noddedthe cyborg, "It's alright, one of your cryogenic cell monitors is starting to act up, I'll just have a talk with it while I wait."

"Seline, meaning to disrespect Ma'am, the doctors orders says that you are supposed to limit your time online." The nurse said.

"Mr. Adams, it'll just take a minute, and the ward will be worlds safer for it." The nurse shrugged, typing something rapidly into his console as the Cyborg made her way into the infirmary's long term care.

The halls here were brushed steel, just like the rest of the ships interior. The only difference was the widows seeing into each room, the Cyborg knew better than to look in, but still she couldn't help her eyes wandering as she opened the panel to her port. Pulling off her gloves, she placed her hand on the slightly glowing pad.

The reception nurse typed a misspelling, a doctor sent for some adrenaline, and a dropped piece of candy from months before that had been carelessly dropped had caught in the gears of the cryogenic monitor's command com was creating the problem. The Cyborg sighed, this would be too easy of a fix, but it was something she was not allowed to do.

"Lieutenant Seline, I thought I made it clear that I wanted you offline as much as possible, your body can't handle it." The Cyborg would have jumped if not for the connection to the machine. She withdrew her hand from the pad, slipping on her glove.

She turned to face the doctor, "Yes Doctor Hyde." The Cyborg said in her perfectly calm voice. "I was unable to discover the problem with this system when I was online earlier, but it just need basic maintenance, not programming repairs."

"And we are unable to discover the problem with you and your systems when we are out here." The doctor gestured for her to follow him.

"Miss Kathrine," The doctor said as the Cyborg unbuttoned her shirt in the office. "How have you been feeling lately?"

The Cyborg shrugged as she carefully folded the garment, a movement that made her almost seem completely human for a second. "Normal I guess, all my systems are running at maximum capacity, and the rash on my back cleared up." The Cyborg pulled at her hair and detached the wig, placing it on the chair. "It was an allergic reaction, as you said it would be."

She sat down on the examination table, unlacing her shoes, setting them on the table. She carefully slid off her pants, folding them and placing them on top of her shoes. She turned to face the doctor who was still rifling through charts on his board. "Hard day, Doctor Hyde?"

"You could say that Kathrine, I had to let three of my patients go, there was no way they could have lived even if we were to put them in cryo and have the experts work on them back at base." Hyde said, running a hand though his short black hair. He was tall, even for terran standards, but this large hands were soft and completely professional.

Hyde set down his clipboard, the device shutting itself down as crossed over to the Cyborg. He started off with examining her scalp, running a hand over every cable port. "You're going to have to shave soon, you're starting to get some fuzz. I'll set up an appointment for you, Kathrine." He commented. Then his hands smoothed down her shoulders, running his fingers over wires that ran just below her skin.

"You're not having any back pain?" The Cyborg shook her head, relaxing as the examination continued. When it was finished she carefully replaced her clothes, attaching her wig to her scalp. She went to the sink and used the mirror to make sure it was straight.

"I'll be seeing you soon, Doctor Hyde." The Cyborg said, holding out her hand. The doctor sighed and shook her hand. She made to pull away, but he hung on, placing his other hand on her cheek.

"Lieutenant, don't forget it's alright to be terran. Your programming isn't what makes you you, Kathrine." He said, "And for the last time, it's Simon." The Cyborg nodded slightly as he let her go. "See you."