Jean was sitting in the middle of the zerg cave. Her eyes closed as she focused on extending her psi energy.
She wasn’t alone. Dozens of queens were beside her. All across the planet overlords formed a net of psi energy. They aided Jean in her control of the swarm. Without their psi assistance no one, not even the overmind, could control the billions of zergs in the swarm. It just took too much psi.
The queens had their own thoughts. They were absolutely loyal to Kerrigan just like the cerebrates were loyal to the Overmind. They could return the control of the lower zerg units to the queen of blades with a single command from her. This was the major reason why Kerrigan handed over the command of the swarm so easily. She could take it back anytime she wanted.
Jean was in an all knowing state. She could feel every single zerg unit on or near Char. The heat on a zergling. The hunger of a leviathan. With the help of the overlords and the creep tumors she felt like every inch of Char was under her control. She felt powerful.
She tried ordering a zergling around. The beast ran around and jumped just like Jean commanded. The psi connection was so efficient that there wasn’t even a second of delay. The moment Jean wanted the zergling to do something, the zergling did it without any hesitation.
“I don’t understand.” Jean said, her eyes still closed as she tried to connect to more zerg. “You have the best tools a commander could ever hope for, and your most common tactic is mindlessly charging toward your enemy?”
Beside her, Kerrigan frowned, slightly unsatisfied by the question. “Is there a problem? The number of the swarm can overwhelm any enemy.” She paused, realizing the situation. “Almost any enemy.”
Jean realized the situation. One thing about starcraft commanders was that they commanded their forces by giving them general orders. For example, the commanders could order his forces to attack somewhere, but he couldn’t tell them exactly how to fight. This was why Jean’s Warden forces were so successful. The Warden forces, with computer AIs linked to a single net, could make every shot count. Technically all three races could do this, terran with computer, zerg with psi link, and protoss with the Khala, but no one had thought about this idea before.
Jean was different. Ever since the Raiders she had been forced to fight against stronger enemies with less forces. She needed to fight as efficiently as possible, and she managed to find a way.
“In that case...” Jean whispered. The amount of zerg units she was controlling was exceeding three thousand, and still she wasn’t stressed at all. “Speaking of, where are the rest of your swarm?”
Not all of the swarm was on Char. Dozens of broodmothers, each with their own brood and territory, were scattered all around the sector. Some of them had one or two planets and others had half a dozen. All of them had a small fleet of their own. By themselves they weren’t powerful, but added together they were a force to be reckoned with.
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“I have summoned them after you arrived. They should be arriving shortly.”
“Don’t summon them here. Position them somewhere the Golden Armada will not be able to reach and where you can send orders to them quickly.” Jean went over her plan.
“We need them against the Golden Armada.” Kerrigan reminded.
“Amon wants the swarm, which means he will not just burn the planet from above, assuming he can. He will blockade the planet to prevent you from escaping and then send out ground units down here to eliminate you. That’s the most efficient way to get as many swarm as possible.” Jean still thought Amon was here for Kerrigan’s swarm, not her essence. “This gives us an opportunity.”
“To do what?”
Jean didn’t answer. Instead, she continued preparing the defensive forces. Time was limited.
Above Char, a fleet exited warp space in a flash. Red psi energy covered the formerly blue ships. Its new color showed its current owner.
“Our master wants Kerrigan’s essence. It is our duty to deliver it to him.” Artanis said zealously. “Hybrids, we will hold on the swarm while you lead a group of elite warriors and capture Kerrigan.”
Beside him was a tall hybrid. Its eyes glowed in blue light, but the color of the templar could barely cover the scent of destruction from the monster. It was a hybrid mastermind, the commander of the hybrid legion under Amon and the second in command of this operation. Amon had no doubt the Golden Armada could take Char, but Kerrigan’s psi power might give her the time to escape. Amon couldn’t allow it.
“I obey.” The mastermind hybrid said concisely. “The queen of blades will feel my wrath.”
Outside, scattered overlords were being picked off. It didn’t matter, though, because their purpose was already served. Jean was notified as soon as the Golden Armada exited warp space. Defenses were put in place. The swarm mobilized. The fleet ready for war.
The Golden Armada, after the battle with the swarm, was down to around four hundred capital ships. Five motherships towered in the middle. Tempests were at the back. Carriers in the center. There were no void rays because all the dark templar were dead. Phoenixes covered the two sides and scouts were in front. A cloud of interceptors were launched. Warp prisms, armed with gravitic drives, were ready to phase. Inside the motherships tens of thousands of templar stood zealously, waiting for their chance to die for Amon.
They were the last of the Daelaam, and they were ready to give their lives for their god.
Instead of engaging the Golden Armada in the open, Jean ordered the zerg fleet to stay near Char where spore cannons could help the fight. They should be enough to keep the Golden Armada at bay.
The Golden Armada approached Char. An abandoned orbital station, previously used as a hanger for the zerg fleet, was in their way. It was emptied for now, but there were still some zerg units on it. Support units that maintained the zerg fleet but were not important enough to get a lift in the ships.
A dozen tempests targeted the station. They waited for a few seconds as a ball of energy started to get charged. When they were at their peak size, the orbs exited the ship and, after a few seconds of flying, smashed into the station.
There was no doubt as the station exploded into a giant ball of flames. The few queens, overlords, drones, and zerglings on the station were melted. The spore crawlers did next to nothing against the tempests. The Golden Armada ships were just too far away for the spore crawlers to take action.
With the obstacle out of the way, the Golden Armada continued forward, victorious as always.