A deadly wave of purple psionic energy blasted the door open. A piece of what was left of the door was flung into the bridge, knocking over and crushing two Warden marines and a crew member. Blood flowed out from under that piece of metal.

That was just the beginning. Viper charged into the room. Crew members, officers, and Umojan security forces were taken by surprise, but Warden marines and marauders immediately recognized the threat and opened fire.

That had two seconds of free reign before another shockwave crushed every single one of them. Just before she came in, Viper took another syringe of terrazine, and it maintained her power at a formidable level.

Jean was tossed back as well. Unlike the other Umojan soldiers, she was able to take out half a dozen warbots and place them in front of her to tank some of the damage. Unfortunately, the rest of the energy still tossed her back. She slammed into a control panel. Luckily she didn't accidentally smash on some button with rogue intentions.

But Jean’s luck ran out as Viper walked to her. Without even wasting time getting back up, she started unloading units from her watch, but by the time she took twenty Warden marines out, Viper was already in front of her.

A single slash from her dissimated all twenty marines.

Jean waved her hand, and a railgun appeared in her hands. She took aim at Viper and fired a single shot. The recoil almost ripped her arm open. It obviously caught the female spectre by surprise, but the terrazine Viper took made her not just fearless but also quicker. She formed a psionic shield in front of her in half a second. The shield shattered in just one point two five seconds, but that already bought Viper enough time to dodge to the side.

Jean never had the chance to fire another shot as Viper’s psionic blade went straight through her chest.

Jean coughed. A distance away, thousands of Warden units were on the way back, but they would never get here in time. Viper, still holding the psionic blade, turned around and sent a psionic blast that sent the first line of Warden units back.

Blood dripped out of Jean’s mouth. Her left hand slid off her watch. She ignored the pain in her body and tried to move, but she was losing control.

She was dying.

Jean really did all she could. Her plan was carefully crafted. If the Dominion Special Forces ship didn't suddenly jump in and stab her flagship in the back, the entire Umojan Fleet, including her flagship, should be back to Umoja already. Sarah Kerrigan would be purified and out of control of Amon, which meant Jean would’ve accomplished her objective with minimal losses. The Dominion Fleet couldn’t afford to launch a full scale attack. She could feel free to expand her forces while working with the Raiders and Kerrigan to gain control of both the Terran Dominion and the Zerg Swarm.

Everything would be perfect.

But there were no ifs.

Perhaps thanks to Dominion advanced ravens, the Dominion Special Forces Corvette noticed the weakest point in Jean’s plan and jumped in at her most vulnerable point. As a result, the boarding party had a chance to shine.

Jean was prepared for that, but she wasn’t prepared for someone who could exchange punches with Sarah Kerrigan to go against her. If she knew that was the case, she would’ve ordered the laser batteries to blast the Corvette into ashes. Sure, it would result in a breach in the hull of the ship that might disturb the jumping process, but she was willing to take the chances.

But there were no ifs.

And now Jean was looking down on a purple psionic blade in her heart.

All strength faded away. Despite her gifts, Jean’s body was completely human. Stab her through the chest and she would die.

Viper smirked and pulled the blade out. She watched as the Umojan commander’s body hit the floor. She has seen this sight countless times, and she showed neither satisfaction nor appreciation.

That was until something on Jean’s face fell off.

Jean used a zerg organism to alter her look. That organism was a parasite, and when Jean lost her life, so did the parasite.

And Viper found herself staring at the corpse of the love of her life.

“What the...that’s impossible!” Her mouth hung wide open. For a second she couldn’t believe what just happened. Her girlfriend, the one who she thought was dead months ago, was alive!

And she just killed her.

“No…”

She whispered and knelt down beside Jean. Her knees hit the metal floor. Her psionic blade smashed into the ground. Almost desperately, she checked for a pulse, a breathe, and basically anything that told her Jean was still alive.

She found nothing. Everything, from her psionic energy to her eyes, told her Jean was gone.

Behind her, Warden units continued to move, but Viper no longer cared about them.

In fact, she no longer cared about anything.

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The spectre picked up her psionic blade and placed it next to her neck.

Viper felt like there was nothing to live for. She felt like that back in that bar on Deadman’s Port, but she found her purpose after meeting Jean. When Jean died, Viper made it her duty to avenge her death, and she was willing to go through hell to get it done.

She went through the excruciating process to become a spectre. She persisted through the hallucination and the agony of the terrazine with the thought of Jean in mind. She put her life on the line by making a daring, even suicidal, move against Raynor during the fight between Moebius and the Swarm. Hell she even joined Moebius and hunted down enemies of the Dominion and the Moebius simply because she wanted to gain more trust from Mengsk and Narud. This would give her an opportunity to struck the so called emperor down.

Sure, she would probably die after the assassination, but so what? What’s the point of life anyways?

But fate has made a fool out of her. Fate gave her hope and then took it away. Jean was really dead this time, and worse, Viper killed her.

Just as Viper was about to ignite the weapon and join Jean in whatever heaven or hell that exists in this world, five yellow protoss capital ships warped in. Viper saw those movements through a window of the bridge.

She let go of the blade for a second.

Twelve warp prisms darted toward the Umojan flagship. Their gravitic drives allowed them to outrun a mutalisk. Within half a minute, they reached the ship and entered warp mode, generating a dozen power fields all over the ship.

They were escorted by three dozen yellow protoss fighters. Two dozen of them were mirages and the rest were scouts. When they reached the ship, scouts circled around the ship and surrounded the Special Forces Corvette.

They blasted it out of the sky in two rounds of anti-matter missiles.

Mirages remained around the warp prisms.

Thousands of energy beams dropped down from the sky and formed thousands of legionnaires and adepts. As soon as they got into the ship, they spread out and secured the entire vessel.

They were in harmony with the Warden units. AIs from both races were programmed to see the other side as allies unless being attacked.

“Friendly protoss unit spotted. Identification: Purifier. Action: Ignore.”

Legionnaires were quieter. They merely proceeded with their action without a single sound.

Viper sighed and rested the psionic blade on the ground. She didn't know who these protoss were, and she didn't care, but a small part of her hoped that these protoss might offer a way to help her. After all, the protoss had technology that made the best of the Dominion scientists look like children.

Twenty legionnaires walked into the bridge.

Viper was about to say something when the legionnaires stepped to the side. A protoss individual that reminded Viper of a mechanical humanoid female walked in.

Delta glanced at Jean’s body before looking at Viper. During her period of grief, Viper subconsciously took off her goggles and mask, revealing her face. Without those obstacles, Delta, who had Jean’s memories, could tell the spectre that killed Jean was Viper.

As soon as Jean’s ship exited warp space in this middle of nowhere, she called for help from Delta and the Purifier Fleet, and Delta brought half a fleet with her to the rescue. If Jean was able to hold on for several more minutes, if Viper was a little less powerful, the girl would still be alive right now.

For the third time, there were no ifs.

“My name is Delta.” Delta waved her hand, and two legionnaires walked to Jean’s corpse, picked her up, and started walking over. Viper growled and rested her arm on her weapon, and Delta quickly spoke. “I am a friend of Jean Turner. An ally, if you will.” She scanned Viper from top to bottom as if she didn't know the spectre. “You must be Viper.”

Viper rose her eyebrows. “How do you know my name?”

Delta didn't shy away from helping out Jean. “Jean told me about you. She talked about you everyday. She loved you and she wanted to contact you, but she couldn’t find you.”

Viper gulped. It was possible. After becoming a spectre, in order to go undercover inside the Dominion and the Moebius, she did everything she could do clean up her steps and make herself look different. It wasn’t surprising that Jean couldn’t find her.

A hell lot of coincidence resulted in this tragedy.

The spectre did her best to keep tears from falling down her cheek. She didn't shed a tear when she was transformed into a spectre, but now she was in agony.

“Can you save Jean?” She asked as calmly as possible. It took all her strength to keep herself from breaking down and crying.

“I can keep her in stasis, but she’s dead.” Delta started thinking. “I can try to create an AI personality for her and install her into a special shell…”

Viper closed her eyes. “Any other option?”

“We are machines, Viper. We are not experts in biotechnology.” Delta replied. “However, we know who are…”

“The zerg.” Viper didn't even need to use her brain to come up with the answer. “But Jean and the Dominion have just taken down the Queen of Blades. Even if they didn't, we can’t find a zerg faction willing to help us.”

Delta started thinking as well. She had Stukov as an ally, but she didn't want Jean to become an infested. Neither her nor Jean cared about the looks, but from what they knew, they wouldn’t stay in this world forever, and in long terms, having tentacles growing out of Jean’s mouth could be a problem.

“Zerus.” She suddenly said.

Zerus was the birthplace of the zerg. At the beginning of everything, the zerg merely referred to the beasts on Zerus. On that planet, all sorts of animals constantly fought and killed each other, taking the essence of their prey after a kill was delivered. Under this absolute example of Darwinism, every beast on the planet became a deadly hunter. They were so powerful that they attracted the attention of Amon.

Amon went to Zerus and enslaved most of the zerg, turning them into the Brood. He created the Overmind to control the Brood and hoped to use the zerg as a blade against the sector.

While most of the zerg were taken away, some remained on Zerus, and for millennials they reproduced and continued their ways. The primal zerg on the planet were more than a match for the best of the Swarm.

But that wasn’t what interested Delta and Viper.

“Zerus has a primal spawning pool. It holds the most valuable essence on Zerus. If we can take Jean to that spawning pool, the essence in that pool should be enough to bring her back to life.”

In the original history, Kerrigan, seeking power to avenge Raynor and take down Mengsk, went to Zerus, got into the spawning pool, and emerged as the primal Queen of Blades. Her power was amplified, and she was returned to a zerg.

Jean wasn’t as powerful as Kerrigan, but she did have the backing of the entire Purifier Fleet.

“But she will become a zerg.” Viper reminded.

“Zerg is better than dead.” Delta stuck to her plan. Being turned to a zerg was better than being turned to an infested.

Viper finally nodded.

“Then so be it.”