Dominion fortress. Char.

Inside his office, General Warfield looked down at a report filed by his field officers detailing the increase in activity of the zerg Swarm.

After the battle of Char, thanks to his final decision to obey Mengsk’s orders and turn on the Umojans, the General kept his position as the commander of all the Dominion forces at Char. The man still felt bad for turning on his former allies and brothers in arms, but he covered this grudge by focusing on terminating the zerg threat.

The zerg forces on Char were scattered. Broodmother Zagara, who was left on Char when Kerrigan led the best of the Swarm into the terran ambush, controlled most of the zerg on the planet, but dozens of other broodmothers each controlled a faction of the zerg. These broodmothers were formally independent of each other and only answered to the Queen of Blades. With the Queen of Blades gone, these broodmothers didn't hesitate to turn on each other for more resources and forces.

This made them even more vulnerable to the Dominion onslaught. For weeks, the broodmothers fought each other while striking back against Dominion attack parties, which were composed of ground forces and starships alike. Divided and having lost most of its flyers, the Swarm had little ability to challenge the terran in the air.

It was only a matter of time before they were terminated, but things changed recently.

Warfield wasn’t sure what happened. All of a sudden, all the civil conflict between the broodmothers disappeared, and when the terran hunting parties moved on a single hive cluster, they found themselves facing the full might of all the factions of the Swarm. The squad of battlecruisers sent to rescue the hunting party was forced back by a system of carefully positioned orbital defenses. This was odd. The broodmothers weren’t known for their tactics and skills in setting up defenses. All they knew was attack or retreat.

Something was wrong. Warfield knew it. He has sent out a squad of ghosts a while ago to investigate the matter. If he was to fight a war, he wanted to know who was commanding the other side.

And he got the answer rather quickly.

Someone knocked on the door. Warfield answered. An officer entered.

“General, the ghost squad you deployed has returned.”

“Send them to me.”

“Errr…” The officer hesitated. “There are...some complications.”

Warfield frowned, but in just minutes, he found out why.

The last member of the ghost party was lying on a bed. His suit was stained red from blood. A piece of spine penetrated his stomach. Nanobots were working on his wound as they cut apart and removed the spine and fixed the wound. The best of the medical resources in the fleet was deployed. Ghosts were valuable.

“General.” Seeing Warfield, the ghost struggled to salute, but Warfield stopped him.

“Soldier, what happened to you?”

“My brothers and I were scouring through one of the major hive clusters when we were made. We tried to take her down, but she was too strong...the Swarm converged on us. We tried to retreat, but it was too late. My brothers gave their lives so I can deliver the news to you.”

The apocalyptic nature of Char made terran communication devices unstable.

“What news?” Warfield’s heart sank. “Who is she?”

“The Queen of Blades.”

Warfield’s fist went tight. Last he heard, the Queen of Blades was taken away by that pirate Raynor after being returned to her human state. A while ago, the Dominion Alpha Fleet conducted a raid on the Hyperion and killed James Raynor. Sarah Kerrigan was assumed to be killed in the explosion as well, and Mengsk didn't hesitate to announce that news to the public.

But somehow, the Queen of Blades not only survived but also returned to Char. The Dominion, the Umojans, and the Raiders gave their lives to take her down, and now all their sacrifice were for nothing.

“Is she...human?” The general finally asked. A human Kerrigan was weaker than a zerg Kerrigan.

To his disappointment, the ghost shook his head.

Warfield tried to keep his face straight and prevent his anger and frustration from showing on his face. As the commanding officer, his every move might affect his men. He told the medical staff to take care of the ghost as much as they could before returning to his office.

He knew he needed to strike Kerrigan down immediately. Give her some time, and the Swarm would be returned to the peak of its power. He couldn’t afford to wait.

Suddenly, he found his personal communication device buzzing. Frowning, he picked it up.

“This is General Warfield.”

“General. It’s been a while.”

Warfield’s eyes widened as he recognized the voice to be that of Crown Prince Valerian Mengsk, who was now going rogue and plotting against his father.

“What do you want, Valerian?” He demanded, not bothering with being polite.

“General, you have spent years in the Dominion military working with my father. You know what type of man he is. Do you honestly think he is fit to lead the Dominion?” Valerian went straight to the point.

“And you’re suggesting you will be a better leader?” Warfield replied, unfazed. He was past the point where he would bend his knee from a few words. In fact, he had quite a grudge against the prince. “You are a fool, Valerian. Your righteous rebellion will only lead to pointless and meaningless death! I have heard of your little operations. Attacking Dominion colonies. Infiltrating Dominion armories. Hiring mercenaries. You’re preparing for war. How many people have you killed to build up your forces? How many more have to die before you can claim the throne? For what?”

“For justice!” Valerian knew he couldn’t let Warfield continue. “My father has committed crimes enough to send him to death a hundred times, yet he went unpunished. You know what he did to Tarsonis. If I remember correctly, you were commanding the Korhal defensive forces when the Raiders infiltrated Korhal and broadcasted evidence of my father using the zerg against the Terran Confederacy! You think I have blood on my hand? My father has killed billions!”

“Yet he commands a unified terran empire. Killer or not, your father’s presence unites the terran against the alien threats. If he dies, how long will it be until you can fully replace him? How many will die in the process because the Dominion is too weak to protect them?”

“It’s a necessary sacrifice.” Valerian was as determined as Warfield was. “This is why I am here. I have made alliances. I have allies. If I become the emperor to the Dominion, the zerg will no longer be a threat.”

“What? Why?”

“Because the Queen of Blades will be on our side.”

Now Warfield was enraged. “You listen to me, boy! If you think you can control Kerrigan, you are wrong! Your father has tried this before, and he was betrayed. Kerrigan is not your friend! The moment she sees an opportunity, she will betray you!”

Valerian came prepared. In fact, he has put some thoughts into Warfield’s questions before when he was alone. “It’s possible, but I have reason to believe Kerrigan has changed. If you look at the reports from the Dominion planets that have fallen to the zerg, you will notice that the zerg spared anyone that laid down their arms. They even gave their captives enough food to keep them alive until help can arrive. Does that sound like Kerrigan is still the Queen of Blades that massacred billions?”

“It’s just an act…”

“Perhaps, but it shows how much Kerrigan is willing to go to take down my father. We have a common enemy, and with this alliance intact, the Dominion will have no need for someone as ruthless as my father.” Valerian tilted his head. “It’s a pity, general. I thought you served the people of the Dominion rather than my father. It’s obvious which decision is better for the people.”

Warfield stood there, torn. On one hand, he despised the Swarm and he knew a lot of people would die during this civil war. On the other, he recognized Valerian would indeed be a better emperor than his father. Although he tried to cover it, he wasn’t exactly a fan of certain orders from Mengsk, including holding back against the Swarm when there was a chance to put them down and turning on the former allies like the Umojans. From what he heard about Valerian, the prince would indeed make a better king.

Valerian waited patiently.

Eventually, Warfield reached a conclusion. There will always be casualties in war. As for the Swarm involvement…

“Prince Valerian, you might be right.” He paused. “What do you want me to do?”

“Let the Swarm fleet land on Char and depart with the zerg forces and the Queen of Blades. Afterward, don’t answer the my father’s call for help.”

“I can pull a few strings.” Warfield agreed. “However, I need you to promise me something.”

“What is it?”

“Keep the zerg away from Korhal. The civilian population on Korhal will be decimated if the emperor’s forces clash with the Swarm in the streets. There are billions of people on Korhal, and I will not condemn them to die.”

Valerian frowned. “My father will gather all his forces around Korhal. It will be a tough fight. If the Swarm isn’t involved…”

But Warfield held his ground. If the zerg were involved, it would be a disaster. A single zergling could accidentally run into a pedastrian and rip him apart. An Ultralisk could step on a house and crush everyone inside. A baneling could explode into a puddle of acid, and if someone accidentally steps on that aside, well...it wouldn’t be pretty. Sure, there would always be collateral damage in war, and terran forces clashing against each other would be no different, but at least human beings would have more concern for the innocent. It was one thing for terran to kill terran. It was another for zerg to kill terran. Plus, it didn't matter much if Valerian used the Swarm to destroy Dominion fleets, but if he used the zerg to take Korhal, he might be seen as a traitor to humanity to the public.

The prince was hesitant. Saying yes would mean the Umojan forces and his own forces would need to take Korhal all by themselves. It would be a costly move.

But if the deal wasn’t struck, he would need to take on the full might of the Dominion Fleet. As long as he said yes, half the Dominion Fleet, the part under Warfield, would be effectively neutralized.

Finally, he agreed. “You have my word, general. No zerg, except for the Queen of Blades, will set foot on Korhal.”

Warfield was clever. He knew he didn't have absolute control over his men. If he straight up ordered them to leave, he would be challenged and Emperor Mengsk would know. Therefore, he put up an act.

The Dominion Fleet blockading Char was suddenly attacked by a Swarm fleet from the back. General Warfield recalled all ships to a single side of the planet to face the Swarm. Meanwhile, zerg leviathans landed on the opposite side of the planet where Warfield left a gaping hole in the defenses through the recall. These leviathans loaded up Kerrigan and most of the zerg on the planet and quickly warped away. None of the terran saw this. Warfield made sure of it.

As soon as the transports were gone, the main zerg fleet, which has always been in a defensive position, jumped away with minimal losses.

Warfield ordered the Dominion Fleet to return to surrounding and blockading the now empty planet. In reality, Char only had a shell of its former might, but all the orbital defenses were in place. Warfield put a halt to all requests for attacking and suggested the tactic of starving the zerg. That sounded reasonable. As the homeworld of the Swarm, Char was mined out of resources years ago. As long as the Dominion Fleet could keep any type of zerg reinforcement and supply lines out, eventually the Swarm would be out of resources. While the zerg didn't need bullets or cannon rounds, they did need energy to generate spines and spores.

No one in the hundreds of battlecruisers above Char knew their real enemy was already heading for Korhal.