Disclaimer: It's not mine.

A.N. This is an AU HP/Starcraft Crossover - You won't need a Starcraft background to follow the story. Enjoy.

Prologue: Awaken

TarKossia, Koprulu Sector. Year 2481

The tall, lanky woman raised a shaking hand and abruptly ended the ComLink. Without another word, she turned on her heels, her long auburn hair whipping back against her exposed neck, and made her way towards the den. She was no older than 35, yet the current political climate had hardened her well past her years and there was now a pronounced edge to her already sharp features. To those who knew her, it did nothing to distract from her innate beauty.

She moved quickly now, making her way through the foyer and into the den, where her husband sat, absorbed in the current news update. As an SCV driver and mineral miner, his job was deeply affected by the current status of the civil war. His mining regiment had already been displaced around the sector four times in the past cycle, and the steady jumping had been particularly hard on his family, especially his daughter, Sarah.

The man turned his head and laid his pale hazel eyes upon his wife, Elizabeth. In an instant, he stood. He let his chair fall backwards with a loud thud, as he took in the terror etched on his wife's face. "Liz…?" he questioned almost cautiously.

"Patrick! Get Sarah, now!"

Patrick stumbled back as if physically struck by the shear panic laced in her words. He moved forward to calm his wife, his arms reaching around to embrace her, but was abruptly pushed back. Concern now roared through his body as he lifted his eyes to meet her own baby blues. The briefest moment passed between them in which a silent understanding echoed in his mind.

They were coming.

He turned and fled from the room, taking the stairs two at a time, while he sprinted up two flights and down the first hallway. The chilled air tugged at his loose clothes as he sprinted toward the first door on the right. His approach sparked the receiver pad and the door slid open on its own volition, revealing a quaint little room, dimly lit by a single light shielded beneath a thin blanket. The luminescence gave the blanket an orange glow and the shadow of a young child could just be made out beneath its cover.

The light was hastily extinguished when the door opened and the bulge in the sheet quickly smoothed itself out as the young girl lay back down, pretending to be asleep. On any other night, Patrick would have found this childish deceit heartwarming, but the panic in his wife's eyes echoed through his mind, and his thoughts were focused solely on the protection of his only daughter.

"Sarah, get up. We need to leave, now."

He tried to keep the anxiety out of his voice, but he must have failed. The blanket in front of him was tossed to the side and his daughter sat up, all pretenses of being asleep gone in a flash. Without a second's hesitation, Sarah jumped from her bed and made her way towards her dresser.

"No, Sarah. There's no time. We need to get downstairs right now." Ignoring her startled look, Patrick reached for his daughter's hand and pulled her up into his arms. Love, devotion, and panic surged through his mind in equal proportions as he looked upon her. She had almost identical features to her mother, and her auburn hair flowed down past her knees. She rested her head on his shoulder and swung her arms around to clasp his back.

Patrick carried his daughter toward the door. As it slid back open, Sarah reached out and snatched a brown furry object off the nearest shelf. She clutched the teddy bear to her chest, a defiant look of her young face, as she glanced back over her shoulder at the room that was now quickly fading from sight. It was the last time she would ever see it again.

They reached the bottom of the staircase in no time, the floorboards straining in protest beneath their feet. Liz was there, relief awash on her face at the sight of Sarah, and she quickly reached out for her young daughter. Sarah traded hands just as a loud bang resounded from the front door.

Fear gripped Patrick as he realized they were already too late. In a split second decision, he frantically gestured towards the main staircase and looked pointedly at his wife. He stood resolute before his family.

"The storage unit beneath the stairs," he whispered with a burning fervor. "Go, hide!"

He met his wife's eyes one last time and a silent confirmation of love and commitment passed between them before she turned, clutching her daughter fiercely to her chest, and ran to the storage space. Sarah's arm stretched out behind her mothers back, hopelessly grasping for her father as he disappeared from her sight.

All of a sudden a large explosion rocked the foundations of the house. With an eerie groan, the front door was blown off its hinges. Patrick glanced back over his shoulder just in time to see a flash of auburn disappear beneath the stairs. He briefly wondered if it belonged to his wife or his daughter, before he quickly turned his attention back towards the front of his home.

An empty hallway spanned the space in front of him. When the dust settled, he looked straight through the shattered door and glimpsed the cold features of the December landscape. Snow was everywhere now, and it covered the trees and the ground like a fresh feathered blanket. Patrick glanced down at the snow-covered walkway that led up to his home - there were no footprints in sight.

Then in a flash, the air in front of him became distorted. The very air molecules seemed to vibrate, as if they had been superheated, and brief glimpses of electric current flickered around the human forms that were now beginning to materialize before his eyes.

And then they were there.

Three lean, and well-muscled soldiers, each completely encased in identical, slim-fitting bio-suits. Their faces were shielded by what looked like bio-hazard helms and black tubing connected these helms to their armored suits. Slings holding rounds of ammunition rested across each of their chests and multipurpose utility belts hung from their waists. Slung across their backs were identical sniper rifles – the weapon of a Ghost.

Patrick was less concerned about the weapons hanging from their backs and more focused on the ARG-14 assault rifles that were gripped strongly in their arms. His mining job had often placed him in settlements hosting a marine barracks and he had seen, first hand, the destructive power of these weapons.

He unconsciously took a few steps back as one of the three Ghosts casually moved forward. Glowing green eye sockets bore down on him and the voice that emanated from the helm was oddly distorted, though distinctly male.

"Patrick Kerrigan, I am Unit 37. Under statute 311 of the Confederacy, your daughter, Sarah Kerrigan, is to be quarantined under the Confederacy of Man."

Hate and anger welled up inside Patrick as he glared at the soldier. He understood his words all too well. There was no quarantine. This was conscription. This was the brainwashing of all the gifted children in the sector. He had hoped for the longest time that Sarah would escape their eyes, that she would be free to live a normal life… He would not let them take her.

"She's been sent away for boarding school," he lied, trying to stay calm as panic swept over him in waves. The sweat on his face betrayed him. "She no longer lives here."

Unit 37 cocked his head to the side, sizing Patrick up with what seemed like an air of amusement. Then, with no warning at all, the metal of the soldiers' rifle gleamed in the light as it was swung upwards. The butt of the weapon struck a heavy blow to Patrick's temple and he was knocked clean off his feet, before falling to the floor unconscious.

"The wife and child are hiding in the storage unit beneath the staircase," the soldier dictated without emotion while looking down at the still form of Patrick. Blood was now leaking from the corner of his mouth. "Use standard extraction procedure."

In a brief second they had closed around the hatch leading to the storage unit. With uncanny speed and strength, Unit 37 ripped the metal latch off its hinges and roughly tossed it aside. Liz was in the corner of the small, damp room, shielding her daughter from the soldier's sight. She was visibly shaking, and cried out in protest as the soldier forcibly grasped her arm and dragged her and Sarah from the small room.

A second soldier made to take Sarah from her mother's arms, but Liz moved quickly, pulling the young girl back and out of the soldier's reach. She then arched her neck and abruptly spat in the soldier's face.

For her troubles, she received a harsh backhand to the face. The crack of a broken jaw echoed in the night and Sarah clenched her small fists. She remained silent - an odd feat for an eight year old in her current situation - as she looked upon her mother, who was clutching her already bruising face in shock.

Then Sarah saw her father.

His still form lay prone on the ground, a pool of blood arched in a halo around his head. Sarah shut her eyes tightly. Her still clenched fists began to simmer as light blue light pulsed from her enclosed palms. Vibrating with anger and a power she had never known, her whole body began to pulse slowly. She opened her eyes and looked back at the soldier who had struck her mother.

The soldier gasped as smoldering blue flames appeared deep in Sarah's eyes. He made to move forward to restrain the girl, who was now trembling with righteous anger, but was thrown off his feet and into wall as a concussive force of crackling blue energy exploded from the young girl. The two other soldiers fell to their knees, clutching their heads in their hands. There was a clatter as their rifles fell uselessly to the ground.

A piercing scream broke Sarah from her anger and she spun around. Her mother was on her knees, clutching her head as she rocked back and forth violently. A look of pure agony spread across Liz's sharp features, and her eyes met her daughter's one last time before her head exploded in a swirl of crackling blue light.

Shock washed over Sarah as she watched her mother's limp body fall to the floor. The horror of what she had just done struck her with all the force of a nuclear blast and she too fell. She brought her knees to her chest as tears slowly leaked from her baby blue eyes. A whirlwind of emotions ravished her mind and she was only vaguely aware when the soldiers regained consciousness.

They moved towards her cautiously, and one soldier knelt down to pick up the teddy bear that had dropped from Sarah's grasp. Blood coated its brown fur.

Sarah stared off into space, uncaring of the movements around her. She hoped she would wake up soon.