Jean followed Raynor into his room. This was the second time she was in his room. Just like Jean’s, Raynor’s room was dull and boring. The only decoration was a small picture on the desk. Jean glanced at it. It was portraying a certain ginger ghost.

In the picture, Sarah Kerrigan seemed nice and innocent. Whoever saw the picture would have trouble connecting the smiling woman with the monster that slaughtered millions.

Raynor sat down in one of the few seats. He pointed at another empty seat, and Jean sat down as well, wondering why Raynor wanted her here.

If it was someone else, she would suspect the commander wanted to have some rather unorthodox relationship with his young female lieutenant, but she knew Raynor’s heart belonged to someone else. Otherwise Jean would’ve tried an approach other than being Raynor’s lieutenant and advisor.

But then why did Raynor call her into his room?

“Sir?” She asked.

“What you did back there, it was stupid.”

Raynor paused for a second, as if constructing a thought, before speaking.

“What do you mean?”

Jean’s brain turned like a computer while she tried to get more information.

“You know what I mean.” There was a hint of disappointment in Raynor’s voice. “You decided to put everyone on this ship at risk just for a few thousand credits. That was nothing but dumb.”

He shook his head. Here he was thinking Jean might be the best commander among the Raiders, and now he was slapped in the face by what the girl did.

Jean understood what was happening. As much as he trusted her, what happened frightened him. Raynor was experienced with the zerg and knew what they were capable of, which was why he was afraid of what happened. The feeling of almost dying at the tentacles of the leviathan was enough to make him falter.

Jean wasn’t surprised. Experienced and determined didn’t mean escaping death by a single second and still act as if nothing happened. She quickly came up with a response.

“I didn’t.”

“What?”

“I didn’t do it for a few thousand credits.” Jean started to turn the table. “If that piece of artifact is just a random piece of protoss relic, then I would’ve suggested Captain Horner to warp away as soon as possible, but the artifact is not normal. It’s important.”

“How do you know?”

Raynor questioned. He had no idea what the Keystone really was, and Jean shouldn’t either.

But Jean was too good to make such a stupid mistake.

“The Queen of Blades came to take the artifact with half her swarm.”

She replied calmly. Her strong and confident voice brought some strength into Raynor’s heart.

The man nodded as Jean continued, no longer as disappointed as he was before.

“Last I checked, Kerrigan is our enemy. Whatever our enemy wants, we should deny.”

Raynor nodded again. That was completely reasonable. As his mind calmed down and his fear was dying down with every second that passed, he realized what Jean did was not based on a sudden impulse but was rather the consequence of a carefully crafted string of logic.

“I’m sorry.”

After realizing he wronged Jean, Raynor didn’t hesitate to apologize. He didn’t continue his argument or try to beat Jean down with his authority, but instead, he simply admitted his mistake.

“It’s fine, sir.”

Jean accepted the apology, but instead of leaving the room, she sensed another opportunity. It was an opportunity to make herself more important in Raynor’s mind.

“Sir, if it is ok, may I say something.”

Raynor waved his hand. “Shoot.”

“Sir, you seem...beaten down.”

Raynor looked at Jean and only saw concern. He lowered his head and smiled mockingly. He was mocking himself. “Yes.”

“May I ask why?”

Raynor subconsciously wanted to say no and tell Jean to leave. This was none of her concern. For years he processed his grief and fear all by himself. No reason to open his heart to a random lieutenant now, but the following words changed his mind.

“I might be able to help.”

Raynor thought about it for a second and finally made up his decision. The girl impressed him. She wasn’t a game changer, at least not yet, but she was doing the best she could. A part of him hoped she could impress him even more.

“It’s just that...when I saw the zerg in the field today, I realized how little I really am. Funny thing, I have always been the underdog.” He said slowly as Jean carefully listened, trying to gather any information that might be useful to her. “Back on Tarsonis, four years ago, there was nothing I could do when Mengsk left Sarah to the zerg. I screamed at Mengsk. I even took his flagship. But that was it. I could only sit back and watch Sarah being taken by the zerg...and turned into the monster she is today.”

“And now, four years later, there is still nothing I can do. I am still nobody. Raynor’s Raiders...fighting for liberty...what a joke!”

He was loud, and Jean quietly stood up and closed the door. It could be demoralizing for the crew members and the soldiers to see their leader and spiritual figure so distorted. If the commander wanted to quit, there was no reason for the common soldiers to keep fighting.

“Arcturus Mengsk became the Dominion emperor. Sarah was turned to the Queen of Blades. And what do I have? The same thing I had four years ago.”

Jean kept quiet. Heroes were human beings, not characters in a book. When defeated or hopeless, they could lose morale and give up, just like every other human being. This never happened in the original history, but comparing to wondering why the leader of the Raiders suddenly went depressed, she thought of ways to bring him back up.

Unlike the last talk Jean had with Raynor, this time, the problem couldn’t be solved with a few inspiring words. She needed real, concrete plans to ease Raynor’s stress. As long as she could show Raynor there was a hope for the Raiders and for the success of his cause, the man would be back on his feet in no time.

“With all due respect sir, sitting down and giving up can not make things better.”

Jean was almost being cruel. She knew the man had a reason to be sad. He gave his life for a noble cause, and in the end he got nothing in return. His girlfriend was turned into a monster that literally massacred millions. The man he fought for turned out to be a conspiracist who would let the world burn to gain power, and ironically he became the emperor of the Terran Dominion. All the while, he, the hero who fought for justice, was stuck, alone and defeated. Anyone less would’ve said “screw it” and turned to the dark side. Raynor held, against all odds. He had a reason to be depressed, and denying him the chance to mourn was simply brutal.

But why would she care? She needed a strong leader, not a crying baby. She didn’t care if he was burning inside as long as she could gain his trust and influence. Plus, she needed this emotional moment of Raynor to make what she had in mind come true.

Jean walked to the adjutant projection and tapped a few keys.

“We need an army.” She said. “With an army, we can take down the Terran Dominion and bring Arcturus Mengsk to justice. With an army, we can stop Sarah Kerrigan from hurting anymore innocent people.”

With an army, she could kill Amon and complete her mission, but she left that part out.

“You mean the Raiders?”

Raynor rose his eyebrows.

“The Raiders are experienced, but they lack the numbers to truly matter. A couple hundred men, no matter how elite, can’t take down the swarm or defeat the Dominion.”

Jean shook her head.

“We need a real army. We need an army that is formidable, loyal, and can be easily replaced.”

“What do you suggest?”

Raynor tapped the desk. If he could get an army like that, he wouldn’t be sitting here, depressed. The problem was he didn’t.

“What do you think about an army made up of AI units?”

The hope in Raynor’s eyes died down. He thought Jean had some good ideas, but he was disappointed.

“God knows how many scientists tried that out. The reality is AIs can’t be equipped in large numbers.”

There were AI units in the terran army, but they were mostly units like ARES, eradicators, and sentry bots. Powerful yet expensive, they were mostly used as security guards than front-line troopers. In a real battle, a few of these warbots couldn’t do much against an entire army while too many of them would be inefficient for their cost. A few orbital strikes could destroy millions of credits in seconds. They were slowly and stupid as well.

“I know. I did my research.” Jean had this topic in mind a while ago. She pulled up a file on the computer. “Three problems. First, AIs are expensive to program and install. Second, AIs can be unreliable in certain occasions. If hackers can get into the internal network, they can turn your own army against you. Third, AIs have trouble reacting to rare situations that weren’t programmed into their computers.”

“And?” Raynor realized Jean might have more in mind than he imagined.

“I am not talking about standard AI units. I am talking about something else.” Jean paused a while. Raynor rose his eyebrows, desperately wanting to know what the girl had in mind.

“What if we can program AI units and install them into our standard units?”

“What?”

“The limitation of human reflexes and emotion means weapons wielded by men and women can not be put to their full potential. If a marine is about to be overwhelmed by twenty zerglings, he wouldn’t fight until the last dying breath and take two zerglings to the grave with him. He would turn and run and be easily mowed down with no losses on the enemy side.”

“AI units are different. An AI will only act as what its programming suggested. If it is ordered to fight, even if it’s one marine against twenty zealots, it will fight until the end.”

“More importantly, AI units can act more efficiently than human units. Here’s what I’m thinking.” Jean was being quite the teacher.

“We can program the AIs to respond to all kind of situations. In fact, we can even dissect the codes of the adjutants and add in battle tactics and knowledge. They will have the skill of the most experienced soldier with the tap of a few keys.”

“Moreover, If we can connect every AI unit into one single data web and let them collaborate with each other, the AI units will accomplish more than what those individual units ever could.”

“There will be no missed shots. No morale issues. Every tank shot will land in the center mass and do the maximum damage. Every AI marauder will gladly throw itself into a wave of banelings to save its marine counterparts. An army like that can take down enemies twice their size.”

Raynor had to admit he was attracted by Jean’s proposal. The future she painted for him was bright, but he knew nothing was perfect.

“How are you planning to control these units? If the Dominion hacks it…it will be a disaster.”

Raynor didn’t want the forces he poured every credit into to be turned into the property of Mengsk by a few computer geeks.

“I am planning to create a backdoor in the data web. A termination code only the two of us knows that overrides every other order.” The explanation was as good as ever. “Of course, it’s your decision, sir.”

“And the necessary technology and money?”

“Swann should be capable of making modifications. As for the money, well, the Raiders are not exactly broke.”

Jean persisted.

“The only problem, sir, is what your decision is.”

Raynor sighed and picked up the picture on his desk. He stared at it for a few seconds before making up his mind.

With this AI army, he could kill Mengsk and save Kerrigan. Those were the two life goals he had in mind ever since Tarsonis. Years of standing by and doing nothing burned in his chest. He would never give up a possibility of reaching the goals.

There was surely going to be trouble and obstacles, but the result would be worth it.

“What is this project called?”

“It’s not named.”

“Well, call it…”

Raynor thought about it for a while.

“Project Warden.”

This new army would be the warden of justice.