The leviathans were at the center of the zerg fleet. Corruptors in the front and mutalisks in the back. Scourges filled in the gaps. These small flyers could do a massive amount of damage when detonated.

The Golden Armada opened fire as soon as the two fleets were in range. Anti matter missiles, ion cannons, laser beams, purifier beams, and kinetic overloads rained down on the zerg like a storm.

The zerg fought back. Normally leviathans only had their tentacles to work with, but Jean added spore crawlers and spore cannons onto the capital ship for additional firepower. Besides the leviathans, the corruptors fired parasite spores. Mutalisks engaged the phoenixes and the scouts. All three flyers were quick, and they started a game of tag in space.

Under the cover of the Golden Armada, thirty warp prisms flew toward the planet of Char.

“Mutalisks, hunt down the warp prisms.” The longer Jean could delay the Golden Armada the better. The protoss had no backup and no energy or resource income while the zerg had planets to work with. A dragged out war would be beneficial to the swarm.

Small squads of mutalisks deviated from the main battle and then moved toward the warp prisms, but the warp prisms had escorts. Artanis was too experienced to make such a minor mistake. Phoenixes fired at the mutalisks while the warp prisms had their gravitic drives turned to full output. Only two of the thirty warp prisms were down when the rest approached the surface.

Spore cannons fired from the ground. Giant balls of corrosive materials were launched toward the warp prisms. These anti capital ship static defenses were more than enough to break through the light warp prisms. Jean saw, through an overlord, one of the warp prisms being hit. The shield blinked for a few seconds before running out. The haul of the ship gradually disappeared, along with the ten zealots inside. Unfortunately these spore cannons had a slow firing rate.

Despite heavy losses, the protoss fought with incredible moral. Corrupted or not, the Daelaam were willing to die for their cause. Phoenixes made the ultimate sacrifice as they put themselves before the warp prisms and the incoming danger. One of the phoenixes even smashed his fighter into a mutalisks. The pilot must’ve did something to the fighter’s crystal, because the explosion that followed consumed four more mutalisks and bought enough time for the warp prisms to reach its destination.

The first warp prism entered phasing mode, and then the second, and then the third. Immediately after the force fields were set, they were covered by shiny warp beams. Among the smaller warp beams of zealots and templars were larger ones of hybrids. Artanis had sent out his best units in this suicidal landing.

The warp prisms couldn’t move in phasing mode, which meant they were an easy target for spores and glave worms. All the phoenixes had perished, but there was still a few mutalisks left. However, the glaves and spores were the least of the prisms’ problems. The swarm converged upon these transports. If the warping units were lucky they only had to deal with zerglings, who arrived almost instantly. If they were unlucky they would’ve been warped in on top of burrowed units...not the best call.

Jean saw a materializing zealot being tossed into the air by an unburrowing Ultralisk. The zealots friends suffered a similar fate as the kaisar blades striked down on the defenseless templar.

The Daelaam suffered heavy losses. For every warp prism taken down the units that failed to warp in would be dead. Half of their body would be on Char while the other half would be on the ships. The precious ground forces were dying in the dozens every second.

If Artanis was still the hierarch he was a few days ago he would’ve retreated already, but for the Artanis now all he could think of was the glory of dying for Amon. He kept pushing as more and more templar were sent into the meat grinder.

It was when the warp prisms were down to their last few that something was achieved.

A hybrid reaver solidified. He was much more fortunate than his brothers, who were taken out before they could even fight. When you get cut to several parts it didn’t matter if you were a hybrid or a zealot. You just die.

But this reaver had managed to arrive. A group of thirty zerglings charged toward the reaver. Their speed had been great against the defenseless protoss units, but against the completed hybrid being able to run faster only meant being able to die faster.

One swipe from the hybrid, and the zerglings were reduced into a pile of flesh.

Twelve hydralisks came slightly later, but the Daelaam forces behind the hybrid had completed the warping as well. These forces, mostly zealots and adepts but some templars, launched themselves at the hydralisks. There was no doubt as the hydralisks were ripped apart by the psi blades.

In orbit Artanis noticed the breakthrough. This encouraged him to send in another group of warp prisms. Half of them were sent to where the first warp prism managed to phase and the other half was sent to random locations, hoping the zerg would be caught off guard.

Jean noticed the point as well. She had been dragged thin a bit, having to control the battle in space and snipe the warp prisms, but for now she was still managing. Most of the fronts were fine. The zerg fleet was able to stall the Golden Armada, for now. Most of the prisms were taken down instantly. But if the Daelaam could unload a dozen hybrids on the surface of the planet everything could change.

Kerrigan, who had been observing the battle unfold, had to admit she was quite impressed. Amon was anxious to get to her, and Jean saw it and used it. The Daelaam moved without consideration of the losses, so Jean used this mindset and did as much damage as possible. If it was herself commanding she would just tell her underlings to ‘leave no survivors’. Her units would then wonder around aimlessly. A lot of units would be crammed in one place with no foe while the warping units would only be attacked by a couple zerglings at most. Jean’s sniping and command was on point. In fact, she didn’t make a single mistake despite the pressure.

At this point hundreds of Daelaam had already died, and the number was still growing. It was a big loss for the Daelaam. That was when Kerrigan heard Jean’s voice.

“Your majesty?” Jean’s voice was as polite as ever. If Kerrigan didn’t know what Jean did before she would think Jean was actually a loyal servant.

“Yes?”

“One of the hybrids have finished warping. I need you to take it down.”

“Where’s the rest of the swarm? You have more than enough under your command to take down one hybrid.” Kerrigan wondered. She didn’t want to be ordered around by Jean. Plus, she noticed Jean was keeping the majority of the swarm in the nydus network. Only a small number of zerg units were on the surface.

“Two reasons. First, you can test the waters against the hybrid. Second, I want to make Artanis think we are weaker than we truly are.” Jean explained. “Same reason I told the broodmothers to stay away from here.”

“Fair enough.” Kerrigan nodded and left the cave.