“Sir, the zerg are regrouping for another assault.”

A distance away, zerg units were massing. Mutalisks were already in the hundreds. The corruptor count was at two dozen. The Tal’darim fleet was gone, and the zerg flyers were swarming upon this position. Ground reinforcements came in as well. Apart from the supplicants, every Tal’darim warrior abandoned by Nyon was killed in battle. An army of over three thousand warriors, completely wiped out.

They fought till the last man and took down three times their number of zerg even though they were completely surrounded, outnumbered, and outgunned, but in the end the result was the same. The zerg lost tens of thousands of units, but these losses could be replenished with relative ease. Each Tal’darim, however, took centuries to become a warrior.

At this point the Hyperion could no longer maintain the peace. Previously the Hyperion wanted to secure the exit of the temple and the zerg didn’t have the power to push forward, but now this has changed. The zerg had enough firepower to threaten the Hyperion, and Horner didn’t need to use his brain to know Kerrigan wouldn’t wait until Jean came out to launch the attack.

“Keep the warp drive online.” Raynor didn’t have a perfect way either. All he could do was wait and pray for the best.

Suddenly, as if Raynor’s prayers worked, dozens of figures emerged from inside the shrine. Five dropships were already waiting there.

Jean and the Warden units, along with the Keystone artifact, entered the dropships. They immediately lifted off.

“Attack, my children! Rip them apart!”

The Queen of Blades saw the terran strike team appearing, and she knew she couldn’t let them get away. Previously she didn’t attack because she didn’t have the forces and because she thought the zerg strike team she sent into the shrine were enough to wipe out or even cripple the terran. She was so busy fighting the Hyperion and then summoning her units that she forget to check on the status of the zerg she sent into the shrine.

That was another mistake. Kerrigan might have god-like power and was an experienced commander, but she could still make mistakes in the heat of the battle.

The zerg psionic network delivered the queen’s order to every zerg present, and all of them charged toward where the Hyperion was with all the fury in the world. Zerg screeches covered the field.

The zerg organisms didn’t care if they were zerglings or roaches and had no way of even scratching the battlecruiser. All they knew was they would do everything to serve their queen. Even if their only contribution to the battle was by taking a few laser batteries, they would still be serving their queen by wasting the enemies’ ammunition.

In the air, all the mutalisks and corruptors approached and opened fire. Spores and glaive worms rained upon the lone terran vessel.

The Hyperion was immediately under attack from all fronts. If it was a standard issued battlecruiser in its place, it would be in pieces already, but the Hyperion, with its enhanced plating and weapons, held its ground.

The five dropships turned their engine to maximum power. They had a head start compared to the zerg and they were closer to the Hyperion than the zerg, but even so, they still weren’t faster than hydralisk spines.

“Boom!”

With a loud bang, one of the dropships exploded into a ball of flames. Twelve Warden marines and one Warden marauder were obliterated instantly. Luckily, it wasn’t the one that held Jean and the artifact. Small groups of Warden units were replaceable.

“Sir, hold on to something! This is going to be a rough ride!”

The pilot tried her best to bring everyone on the ship to safety. Suddenly, the dropship shook violently. A spine found its way into the dropship’s rear armor.

Jean sat quietly.

Luckily, it was a small distance, and the four dropships arrived into the hanger of the Hyperion safe and sound. All of them were fractured, but that was no longer a problem.

The dropship pilot was sitting in her seat and breathing deeply from the brush with death. Her uniform was soaked wet, and every inch of her muscle was shaking from fear, but Jean didn’t have time to comfort her.

“Captain, get us out of here!” She touched her earpiece.

“About that, there’s a problem.”

In the bridge, Horner stared in a mixture of awe and horror at what was happening below.

A long ray of purple energy hit the rear plating of the Hyperion. The defensive matrix of the ship was offline a while ago, and the beam, along with all the zerg spines and spores, was burning its way through the armor.

That wasn’t the only problem.

“Sir, we can’t enter warp space! That energy beam is going to knock us off balance! We need to take it out before using the warp drive!”

Making something as large as a one kilometer long battlecruiser enter and exit warp space at the correct location was an extremely precise job. Protoss technology allowed their warriors to warp in and out while being attacked, but terran technology was less advanced. Perhaps spines and glaive worms didn’t have the punching power, but there was no way a terran battlecruiser could enter warp space safely while being burned through by an energy beam without risking being tossed out in god knows where.

Even Horner was losing his cool. The situation was almost desperate. In order to get out of here he needed to take down Kerrigan, or at least delay her, but in order to do that he needed to send units out. The ship’s Yamato Cannon was offline and the laser batteries were barely enough to hold back the Swarm. Deploying units into a swarm of zerg flyers and a sea of groove spines wasn’t exactly ideal. They would lose half their numbers before they could even reach Kerrigan. Even if they reach Kerrigan, they can barely launch a round of missiles before being shot out of the sky.

Jean ran into the bridge. Light reflected off her sweat covered forehead. She just ran from the hanger to the bridge in around a minute. “What is the situation.”

Horner didn’t say anything. He was still holding a grudge, especially since Jean’s decision might cause the destruction of Raynor’s Raiders. Raynor was the one that did the explaining.

“We need to take down Kerrigan to use the warp drive, but under this circumstance…” He shrugged and gestured at outside the bridge’s window. “sending men out there is suicide.”

Jean’s mind turned quickly. “How many vikings do we have left?”

“8, but they will never reach Kerrigan.”

“That’s debatable.”

It took Raynor three seconds to understand what Jean meant.

Kerrigan grinned as she sensed the armor of the Hyperion falling apart. She could feel the fear and desperation of the crew members on the ship.

The battle was tilting in her favor. She calculated at most a few more minutes before the giant terran vessel fall. Once that happens, she would hold the artifact fragment she went through all the trouble for. In additional, she could kill every single Raider that was foolish enough to follow Raynor.

She would enjoy that. Killing Tal’darim was challenging, but it wasn’t exactly satisfying. Against those fanatics, she would never have the pleasure of seeing the fear in the eyes. She could easily rip their bodies open, but she will only be answered by a crimson blade. Terran, on the other hand, would scream and beg and cry before they die.

The Queen of Blades always enjoys a nice sweet slaughter.

Suddenly, she sensed a dangerous feeling coming from above. At Kerrigan’s level of power, she could vaguely sense it when her life was under threat.

But how? What on this planet could threaten her?

The Tal’darim were gone. The terran were a few more minutes away from death. She was in the midst of an entire army of zerg.

Looking up, Kerrigan saw eight figures coming out of the hanger of the Hyperion.

Eight vikings.

“What the...” Kerrigan suddenly smiled while maintaining the energy beam. “Ahhh, Raynor, Raynor, Raynor. Running out of options, huh? Sending eight vikings against an army of zerg?” She smirked. “Well, if you weren’t foolish enough to challenge me, I might just let you live, but now…” Her eyes turned cold. “Push forward, my underlings, and rip those puny terran machines apart.”

Mutalisks and corruptors converged, but the vikings made the move first. Under Kerrigan’s toyful eyes, the vikings suddenly accelerated. Their engines were turned to maximum power, and these eight fighters charged straight at the xel’naga temple.

Mutalisks gave chase, but the vikings were simply too fast. Their engines were overloaded. This was extremely exhausting in terms of energy and damaging in terms of life expectancy of the engines themselves, but this was worth it. Vikings designed for frontal assault were outrunning the agile mutalisks. Even if the mutalisks could toss out a few glaive worms, they merely bounced off the rear plating of the vikings.

Kerrigan realized something was off. She knew Raynor. The man never gives up. If he was truly desperate and wanted to take down as many zerg to hell with him as possible, he would’ve kept the vikings around the Hyperion and fight under the support of the battlecruiser. If he sent these vikings charging at the temple, there must be a reason for it.

Kerrigan’s mind turned. Why would he want to do that? What gain would he get by sending out a squad of fighters at a shrine that belonged to an ancient race of aliens? Maybe there’s something in that shrine that he didn’t want her to see? Maybe there’s something in the temple that could turn the tide of the battle?

The Queen’s mind wandered, but as the vikings came even closer, she suddenly realized she went down the wrong direction.

The vikings weren’t coming for the shrine. They were here for her.

Upon making the understanding, Kerrigan, surprisingly, relaxed. Raynor was thinking outside the box, and it took her by surprise, but he was indeed desperate. Killing her would certainly save the Raiders, but did he really think a squad of eight vikings could go through all the zerg flyers and ground units and take her out? Even if they managed to reach her, and assuming she didn’t attack or move away, it would take the vikings a few volleys to even significantly injure her, much less kill her.

The hydralisks and mutalisks could kill the vikings much quicker.

If a squad of vikings could kill her, then she didn’t deserve the name of the Queen of Blades.

Under Kerrigan’s mocking eyes, the vikings approached her position. Hydralisks opened fire. Two of the vikings was caught in the sea of spines. A spine hit a viking, going through the hardened glass of the cockpit as well as the chest of the pilot. Another viking’s engine was hit. The fighter exploded into a ball of flames.

The vikings kept on charging. They were putting Kerrigan into their missile range, but they showed no sign of slowing down and taking aim with their weapons.

Kerrigan’s eyes went wide. She suddenly had a faint idea.

The six vikings left charged at Kerrigan with full speed. One of the pilots sighed. She glanced back at the Hyperion before turning back. A determined look appeared in her eyes.

“For the freedom of mankind.”

She silently whispered.

“No! Cover me!”

Kerrigan’s eyes widened as she tried to summon her underlings. She pulled back the energy beam and formed a shield in front of her, but it was too late.

One by one, the six vikings crashed into the Queen of Blades. All the vikings carried missiles and explosives that were modified to make the vikings a giant bomb. As soon as first viking hit Kerrigan, it exploded into a ball of flame that consumed everything in a two hundred meter radius.

Then came the second.

And then the third.

The purple energy beam was gone, and the Hyperion was free to enter warp space.

“Matt, get us out of here.” Raynor said quietly. He wasn’t as cheerful as a man that just escaped death should be. He glanced at Jean, who remained quiet.

Horner nodded at the crew members, and a few seconds later the Hyperion disappeared.

The explosion of the six vikings punched a giant hole in the ground. The amount of explosives used in such a small area had an astonishing effect.

All six vikings went directly for Kerrigan. The resulting explosion wiped out every single zerg unit in the two hundred meter radius of the queen. It didn’t matter if it was an ultralisk or a zergling. It didn’t matter how much carapace these units had. The fact was all of them were blasted into pieces.

Suddenly, a figure emerged from the layer of debris.

Kerrigan was hit hard. Her left wing was snapped. Half her body was melted. Her claws were almost broken. Her tentacle hairs weakly rested behind her head.

“Raynor!” The queen screamed weakly. She tapped her temple, and ten hydralisks that survived the previous battles slid to her. Almost simultaneously, they started hacking at each other.

Blood splattered the ground. Kerrigan didn’t move. Ten drones moved up and started cutting at the flesh of the dead hydralisks before delivering them to Kerrigan. It was as if they simply brought her a snack.

The queen grabbed onto a piece of hydralisk meat and put it into her mouth. A few seconds later, her wounded body parts were growing back. Spines reappeared on her back. Broken carapace were replaced by new ones.

As she ate, Kerrigan went over what happened again.

Raynor just ordered eight vikings to kamikaze into her. The explosion of the payloads these fighters held wounded her and disturbed the energy beam she used and allowed the Raiders to escape.

Frankly speaking Kerrigan was surprised. Raynor was completely against the idea of sending men to die in the name of victory. When Arcturus Mengsk abandoned her on Tarsonias, Raynor didn’t hesitate to break away. The fact that he and Kerrigan were close was one thing, but a more important reason was that he realized Mengsk was not a hero he appeared to be. How come he thought that? Because he abandoned Kerrigan.

It surprised Kerrigan that the righteous man was doing something he despised so much.

War really changes people.