“You...you’re a zerg!” Valerian whispered. Deal with a terran hacker, and he was a prince with flawed history. Deal with a zerg, and he was a traitor.

“You planned this all along…” Nova realized. She was EMPed and restrained, but she was still conscious. It all made sense now. The capture. The transportation. The confrontation. Everything seemed so easy for her. Jean barely resisted. Nova knew something was wrong, but she didn’t realize what it was. “I brought you to the emperor!”

There was no way for Nova to know that, within a few days, Jean got inside the swarm, mutated, and got out. Thanks to Abathur the mutation was completely hidden. Another factor was Mengsk’s carelessness. If he had been more cautious, if he had stayed further from Jean instead of beating her up himself, it would be much harder for Jean to get to him.

There were twenty elite marines and god knew how much ghosts outside. If the ghosts could hold on for just a second Arcturus could get a signal out to the security. These twenty marines could buy more time either for Mengsk to escape or for more reinforcements to arrive. Once exposed Jean would just die. Even with the mutation she couldn’t fight an army.

But that didn’t happen. The door outside Mengsk’s chamber was pretty thick. Designed to be the last line of defense against any potential assaults, it would take several crucio shock cannon hits to break. It was no wonder the door blocked all sound from getting out, not that there were many sound made. Claws and plasma blades were silent. So was EMP. The EMP Nova received also disabled her communication with the outside world. No one survived long enough to produce a scream.

As for surveillance, who would dare putting cameras in the emperor’s office?

“Depends on your point of view. I am part human part zerg.” Jean exited zerg mode to prove that she wasn’t a zerg. It was an important part to buy Valerian over. She needed the Dominion fleet as her friend, not her foe. Valerian blushed and turned away as the carapace disappeared. Jean looked down, frowned. It had became a difficulty to find a suit strong enough to survive her transformation and still be on her when she turned back. A Warden ghost took out a jacket from its bag. In reality Jean took the jacket out off her watch and put it into the ghost’s bag to hide her watch.

Putting on the jacket, Jean returned to Valerian. The prince looked back, much calmer. After all he was trained to be the successor of an empire. He was just taken by surprise. Now that he had a few seconds to calm down he regained control of his emotion.

“What do you want?” He demanded.

“I want to make you the same deal I made with your father. I offer to make you the emperor of the Dominion. In return you give me control of the Dominion fleet.” Jean replied, tucking her jacket tighter to make herself seem more trustworthy.

Valerian smiled as if Jean said something funny. “You’re a fool if you think you can make me the emperor by killing my father.” He pointed at the surrounding. “Someone will know we made a deal if I survived when everyone else died.”

“Not if your father is assassinated by the Nerazim.” Jean wasn’t taken back. “Your father is assassinated by the Nerazim because a united terran Dominion under your father might be a threat to the protoss domination. You survived thanks to agent Nova, but your father and the other eight agents lost their life in the attack. As the sole survivor it is your duty to take up the responsibility of being the emperor of the Terran Dominion and take revenge upon the protoss.” She produced a well crafted lie.

Valerian frowned. “Even if I am willing to lie to my people, no one will believe this obvious lie.”

“I ordered my men to use plasma blades, which are similar to the weapon of dark templars. I was a bit clumsy on Arcturus, but that’s not a problem.” A ghost ignited his plasma blade and cut through Mengsk’s body twice. The opening covered the claw wound and gunshot wound. Valerian’s face turned white as his father’s body was mutilated.

“Plus, we don’t need everyone to believe us.” Jean emphasised on the ‘we’ to show they were on the same side. Valerian didn’t object.“We just need to make you the emperor as soon as possible before anyone can respond. After that anyone that stands against you will be branded as a traitor of the Dominion. He or she will be hunted down and executed.”

Valerian was still debating, so Jean pushed on. “Imagine what you can do with the ultimate power of being the emperor. Plus, as soon as you help me destroy my enemy I will stand by your side and aid you with everything I’ve got.” She lured the young man into her manipulation by appealing to his desire to help the people. Unlike his father, who cared about no one but himself, Valerian Mengsk actually wanted the best for his people. Jean saw that and used it for her own gain. “With our combined forces you can end corruption. You can end war. You can unite the terran race under the banner of the Terran Dominion. Both the protoss and the zerg will crumble. You will be known as the savior of mankind.”

Of course that was just another lie Jean composed. The moment she ended Amon she would leave this world. As for the Terran Dominion, well, why should she care?

Valerian took a few minutes before making up his mind. When he spoke again, he was full of determination.

“Prepare a news broadcast. I need to address the Dominion and inform them about the tragedy and the outrageous act the Nerazim protoss committed.” He said. Jean nodded and turned around, but Valerian grabbed onto her shoulder. “I will stay true to my word. I expect you to do the same.”

Jean turned back and smiled innocently.