The two were walking through the hall of the Cybros.
“The Cybros holds 8600 sentinels, 2000 instigators, 1500 adepts, 500 conservators, 300 energizers, 150 immortals, 50 colossi. The fleet includes 2000 mirages, 1500 scouts, and 150 carriers.” Jean explained as the two walked. “More units can be produced as long as there are enough resources.”
“That’s impressive.” Nova inferred as she looked at the ship around her. She had never seen something so high-teched as the Cybros. It was depressing to think that the protoss thousands of years ago could build a ship the terran nowadays considered advanced. “And me?”
“Be patient.” Jean replied. The two walked around another corner and entered a room. The room held two seats on two sides and a strange looking device in the middle. The device held a khaydarin crystal.
“This is the machine purifiers use to transfer the conscious of their warriors. It can extract your conscious from your current body and store it into this crystal, thus allowing the possibility to move it into your new mechanical body.” Jean pointed at the device. “Are you sure?” She asked one last time.
Nova stayed silent for a while. “Yes.”
Jean smiled encouragingly. Nova laid down on a seat, and the device touched her head. The machine blinked, and Nova fell unconscious.
Jean took out Nova’s new body and put it onto the other seat. She positioned the head of the new body to the machine and waited.
…
Nova opened her eyes. She sat up on the seat and looked around. The first thing she saw was a smiling Jean.
“Did I...” Nova asked, almost afraid of hearing the wrong answer.
“You made it.” Jean reassured. Nova looked down on her body. Everything seemed normal, but she felt like her mind was filled with other things. She attempted one of the items, and a plasma blade extended out of his right arm.
“Whoa!” Nova acted as if she was a ghost trainee who just got her first rifle.
“This will take a while to get used to.” Jean’s smile was as wide as ever. “Of course, the gadgets are cool, but the most important thing is…may I?” She requested, and Nova nodded.
Jean tapped her watch, and Nova disappeared. She tapped it again, and the now mechanical agent reappeared.
“It worked. How did it feel like?” Jean asked curiously.
“What?” Nova was paralyzed for a second. She barely realized what had happened. “It was...it was strange. I didn’t feel a thing. My last memory was when you asked me ‘May I?’.”
“Hmm.” Jean’s eyes turned as she processed with the newly gained information. “Anyways, now that that’s done, we can move out on our mission now.” She used ‘our’ to connect the two now that Nova had officially joined her.
“Attack on Shakuras, right?” Nova confirmed as the she stood up. Jean nodded and the two walked out of the room.
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“Yes, but here’s a piece of intel that arrived when you were asleep. The Daelaam engaged the swarm.”
Nova’s eyes flashed as her inner cpu started to turn. “The tal’darim threat meant the Golden Armada had to take down the swarm quickly.” Nova’s processing power allowed her to analyze the situation based on already gathered information. The theory she got was very close to what really happened.
“Care to know the result?” Nova tilted her head and looked at her loved one. She didn’t say anything, but the answer was obvious.
“Get this. The Daelaam crushed the swarm.” Jean said thoughtfully. “Turned out I was right in being careful in regard to the Golden Armada. Kerrigan made a stupid move in engaging the Golden Armada head on and believing she could win. As a result she lost half her fleet and had to run away with her tail between her legs, not that the queen of blades has tails.” The two girls giggled. The thought of Kerrigan fleeing was a pleasant idea that brought smiles to their faces.
“But that’s bad for us, right? The enemy of an enemy is a friend.” Nova eventually stopped giggling and crossed her slender legs.
“Don’t worry. The swarm is plenty, if nothing else. Kerrigan can remake her swarm in a very short period of time with enough resources. However, I am not exactly sure what the position of the swarm is for us. The last time I met with the queen of blades she sent a horde of mutalisks to kill me.” Jean remembered what happened the last time she encountered the swarm. After giving Kerrigan a perfect plan against the Golden Armada Kerrigan decided Jean was of no more use to her. She first allowed Zeratul to make a run on Jean, and when that failed she sent a group of mutalisks to shoot Jean down. Both failed, but the fact remained that there was bad blood between the two.
“Do you necessarily need the swarm?” Nova knew the swarm was one of the most powerful fractions in the sector, but she also knew Jean had the purifier fleet and the tal’darim fleet under her command. That should be enough.
“If I am just against the Golden Armada, not necessarily. I can wait until the purifiers build a fleet large enough to win the war. The purifier fleet can be built by automated probes extremely efficiently. The Daelaam, on the other hand, can barely replenish their losses. If everything remains peaceful for a few years I'll have enough to crush the Golden Armada. It is Amon that I am worrying about.” Jean had a frown.
“Is Amon that powerful?” Nova was a firm believer of the power of weaponry. Even the ultimate vessel of the protoss, the mothership, will fall under several hundred nuclear missiles. How many nukes can Amon stand? A thousand? Five thousand?
Jean wasn’t relieved. “Depends. Amon himself has no body here, and all he can do is control the Daelaam and the Golden Armada. What I am afraid of is him taking control of the Daelaam and just come after me. Chances are he will not allow me to produce the fleet I need." Jean seemed especially concerned now. “If you’re Amon and your minions are being taken out one by one, what will you do?”
Nova was quiet for a while. Her inner cpu enhancing her ability to do logically calculations. Everything Jean told her about the dark god was pulled up and entered into the calculation.
“I’ll make a run for it before all my minions are gone. Staying in the void doesn’t work because without supporters in the sector Amon can’t get out and complete his purpose of destroying the world.”
“Indeed. Amon is losing this war and he knows it. If he wants any chance of success he will take action as soon as possible. If he does exactly that and takes over the Golden Armada he will be..let’s just say I don't have the fleet to stop a fully determined Golden Armada.” Jean tried to put it lightly, but the weight of her words were heavy.
“Then why didn’t he do that?” Nova asked. What was the god waiting for? With every day that passed Jean's power grew and Amon's influence dropped.
Jean had no answer for that. In the previous timeline Amon might have postponed the controlling of the Golden Armada because he wanted to buy more time for his minions to grow. The longer he waited, the more hybrids were made, the more Moebius mercenaries were hired, and the more feral zerg he could control. This was not the case now. So why was he waiting?
“I don’t know.” Jean wasn’t afraid to admit her lack of knowledge. “But whatever Amon is planning it will not work if I can maim the Golden Armada first.”
“Contact Nyon and Valerian. It’s time to make a move on the Golden Armada.”