“That’s odd.” Inside her own ship, Jean saw five more battlecruisers than she expected to see.

“Sir, what is your order?”

The captain of the battlecruiser asked with his head lowered in respect. He has worked with quite some employers, but he has never been this polite. However, when he was sent on this mission, Isaac personally talked to him and ordered him to follow every order Jean gives. If she wants him to sacrifice himself, he should do it without a second thought for the sake of his family.

The captain had no choice but to comply. Isaac was even worse than Orlan. Orlan was ruthless, but Isaac was brutal. The blood of the dozen or so mercenary leaders that stood against him was the best example. If he disobeyed, he had no doubt Isaac would terminate both him and his family.

Ever since Jean got on his ship, he did everything she wanted no matter how strange or irrational they sounded. When Jean ordered all crew members to return to their chambers, he even punished a couple mercenaries who refused to obey.

“There is no sign of conflict. Captain, standby. Officer, open up a transmission to the Hyperion.”

One of the mercenaries at the bridge looked at the captain, who nodded. He only complied when he saw the nod.

“Sir,” Jean saluted as Raynor’s face appeared on the screen. Technically she was still an officer in Raynor’s Raiders. “I have retrieved the Warden units and minerals.”

“Lieutenant...Jean,” Raynor hesitated. “Bring the transports to the Hyperion. Meanwhile, join us in the bridge. We have another mission.”

Jean nodded as the communication was turned off. After giving the mercenary captain an order, she exited the bridge and walked toward the hanger.

Her squad of reaper guards followed her. The reaper captain was right on her heels.

“Jean, you have met Tosh before.” In the bridge, Raynor introduced Tosh to Jean.

Jean nodded and smiled. The Raiders have done business with Gabriel Tosh before, but Raynor was mostly in charge of that.

“Tosh, this is lieutenant Jean Turner. She is one of my most trusted officers.”

Raynor was planning on separating with Jean, but Tosh just gave him a quick briefing about the mission he wanted the Raiders to go on. Turned out the enemy was one of the few forces Raynor was actually afraid of fighting. In fact, he has barely escaped from them a few days ago.

The Tal’darim.

At first the man considered refusing to go on the mission, but Tosh offered him something he couldn’t refuse.

Tosh promised to join him and provide him with psionic support in exchange for his help.

Raynor knew the help of psionic warriors was something he desperately needed. Without his own ghosts, Dominion stealth operatives could easily sneak onto the Hyperion and take him or other Raiders out anytime. The Raiders needed to constantly be on full alert. If they let their guard down, they might find themselves with a crippled ship, a dead commander, and a lot of destroyed mech.

Even in a frontal assault, ghosts could snipe down Raider officers and disable Raider mechanical units. All of that would change if he could gain the support of Tosh and his so called spectres.

He had no choice but to say yes.

Knowing the strength of the Tal’darim, Raynor knew he needed every ship he could get. It just so happened that Jean had a battlecruiser. If he could push the awkward talk after the mission, he could still have the help of the mercenary battlecruiser during the mission.

As much as he disliked Jean now, he decided to work with her for a while longer. His discomfort was nothing compared to the possibility of failing the mission and losing precious brothers and sisters in arms.

“Miss Turner.”

Tosh shook hand with Jean, but as the large spectre touched Jean’s hand, his mind was turning quickly.

Raynor was acting all nice to Jean, but he sensed something from him. It was as if he was trying to hide something. His eyes twitched. He might be able to use this to his advantage.

“Tosh, tell us more about the mission.” Raynor turned to Tosh. The latter nodded and pulled up an image of a planet. Jean could see dense purple smoke circulating around the world.

“Bel’Shir. It holds a gas called terrazine. I need those gas.” The spectres introduced concisely. He was a trained special operative, and his words were short and concise.

“And the defenders?”

“Tal’darim protoss. They are fanatics, but I think you have already seen that first hand.” Jean rose her eyebrows. She realized Tosh was discreetly telling them he has set his eyes on the Raiders a while ago. It was hardly a threat. If anything, it was just Tosh saying he has a source of information.

“Exactly how many of them are there?”

“A standard sized Tal’darim fleet. Scouting party reported four carriers and eight destroyers.”

“We don’t have the ships.” This time the Raiders didn’t have the backing of the swarm. They needed to take the full brunt of the Tal’darim.

“I’ve got five ships. All of them are top notch and are piloted by the best crew members in the port. That makes seven cruisers in total. My spectres will also aid our mission. I have hired an army of mercenaries as ground support.” Raynor didn’t know it, but although most of Tosh’s spectres were locked up in the Dominion maximum security prison at New Folsom, Tosh still have some of his people left. They were short in numbers, but they could be extremely effective in a good position. “If you and I work together, brother, we can win this.”

Raynor nodded. “Fair enough. We should all get our forces ready.” He checked a file. “My forces will need at least two more days to be ready. Does your mission have a time requirement?”

“No.”

After Jean returned to her own ship, she went to her own room. Even her reaper guards were sent to a distance away. For the moment, Jean was completely by herself.

Doing another full scan of the surrounding just to make sure, Jean took out the hologram projector the blood hunter gave her.

She turned it on with a light tap.

On the other end, Nyon sensed the communication device buzzing. He waved his hand, and the dozen or so supplicants standing guard in the chamber backed off. It’s not that he didn’t trust them. He just didn’t feel like doing a conspiracy with a crowd watching.

“Jean.” He stated. “What is it?”

“I need a piece of information from you.” Jean said. “Bel’Shir. Which ascendant does it belong to?”

Nyon seemed surprised. “Why? What do you want from it?”

“Answer my question first.”

“Me. Now, tell me why you want to know that.”

Jean tapped her chin. “My associates and I are planning an attack on the planet. We are after the terrazine.”

A normal Tal’darim would’ve drawn his blade already after realizing the terran was planning on looting the breath of god, but Nyon wasn’t the typical Tal’darim fanatic. If he was the common Tal’darim, he would never have made a deal with Jean in the first place.

The relationship between the Tal’darim and Amon was twisted. On one hand, the lower Tal’darim treated Amon as a god as would gladly give their lives for him. On the other hand, the high leveled Tal’darim viewed Amon more as an idol than a leader. They only respected him because he was powerful. If, say, Ma’lash, suddenly gained a power equal to that of Amon, the Highlord wouldn’t hesitate to attack and attempt to kill his god.

After all, what do you expect from warriors who spent most of their lives killing? They weren’t exactly easily convinced.

Nyon was similar. He was only singing Amon’s praises and guarding his artifact because he didn’t have the power to say no to Amon. He would never openly challenge Amon, at least not now, but he wouldn’t turn against an ally just because she spoke ill of Amon either.

“What do you want me to do?” Nyon asked the brain among the two.

Jean started thinking. Just allowing Raynor and Tosh to fight Nyon was inefficient. All of them were her allies and potential assets. Any losses would be losses to her ability to complete her mission.

She couldn’t convince Nyon to abandon the terrazine without a fight either. Even if the ascendant was willing to give up an entire planet and all the resources on it without making a stand, his reputation would be largely damaged. She couldn’t risk it.

Nyon was a key part of her plan. The potential access to the entire Death Fleet was more than appealing.

That was when Jean thought of something.

“Nyon, is it normal for ascendants to trade planets?”

Nyon’s eyes glared as he started thinking. “It’s unpopular in general, but ascendants at my level do it all the time. You want me to sell Bel’shir?”

Jean nodded. “I need Bel’Shir to fall. This is the best plan.”

Nyon slid his sharp, armored fingers down his chin. “A planet as rich of terrazine and minerals as Bel’Shir is extremely valuable. I can get at least two fleets for it. Maybe three.” A single Tal’darim fleet held four capital ships, usually carriers, and eight support ships, usually destroyers. That didn’t sound like a lot, but with the power of the Tal’darim, two fleets could take down half the Deadman’s Port.

“But, tell me, Jean. Why should I do that?” Just when the things were thought out, the Sixth Ascendant suddenly said. A typical smirk found its way on his face.

Jean wasn’t surprised. She never considered Nyon to be a selfless friend who would help her without a reason. They were allies, but Jean hasn’t done anything for Nyon yet, and Nyon has already given her the blood hunters and the information about Bel’Shir. There was no reason for him to sell the planet at all.

“What do you want?” This time it was Jean asking.

Nyon stayed silent for nearly a minute. He was trying to exert some pressure on Jean. He could see she was on a timer, and the more he delayed the more impatient she would become, the more likely she would say yes to his offer, but Jean showed no sign of being worried.

Finally, Nyon was the one that broke the silence. “I want an advice.”

“What is it about?”

“I am not exactly in the best situation.” It hurt Nyon’s pride to admit the direness of his situation, but a part of him knew he needed to speak up so Jean could help him. The desire for not just survival but also power was enough to overcome his injured pride.

“After Xil, I lost the second piece of artifact, thanks to you.” He looked at Jean, remembering she was the primary reason he was in this place. “Ma’lash decided I am no longer fit to guard god’s work. The rest of the artifact fragments have been taken away from me and given to the rest of the top ascendants.”

“Not only so, the defeats have lowered my authority. My supplicant army is still intact and my blood hunters are still intimidating for the common warriors, but even so most of the ascendants are still on a shaking ground. If one of them decide to abandon me, the rest will follow. Without the ascendants and their forces and ships, I can’t maintain my position as the Sixth Ascendant. Even if I can defeat a few challengers, I will not have the forces to attack and loot other factions.”

“We Tal’darim don’t have shipyards. Every single one of our ship comes from captured and modified vessels from the Khala faction. Without the ability to attack, I will not be able to expand my forces. If I can’t grow and the others can, eventually I will be challenged and defeated.”

“I want you to help me prevent that pathetic fate.”

Jean nodded. “I need more information. If you want me to help you I will need to know more details about your people.” She knew the general information about the Tal’darim from the memory she received from the Supreme One, but there was no way she could receive every piece of information there is about the Tal’darim. She would literally be driven mad by the massive amount of information.

Nyon tapped something, and a few seconds later a file appeared on the hologram projector. Jean noticed the words were written in terran language.

The file contained detailed info about the top few ascendants, from Highlord Ma’lash to the Tenth Ascendant Kasar.

She read the file carefully, word by word.

“You need a victory.” A few minutes later, she finally said. “You need a swift victory and, if possible, a relieving slaughter, to confirm your authority.”

Nyon wasn’t exactly satisfied. He has thought about that as well. A swift victory could make the common warriors forget about his defeat and make the ascendants understand this is not a good time to challenge him. It will settle everything. With the main army and fleet intact, he could keep on with his path of looting and growing. The aftermath of the battle of Xil would be gone.

But there was a reason he came to Jean for help even after knowing that.

“A victory alone is not enough. I need a swift victory.” He reasoned, slightly impatient. “More importantly, I need to take down a tough foe, otherwise the effect wouldn’t be there. Killing a squad of terran can’t make my people see how powerful I am. Yet if I launch war on a well know faction, like the Khala, I might be forced into a drawn out war and might even be defeated. I can afford neither option.”

“Perhaps,” Jean tilted her head slightly, “but who said anything about fighting another faction? Here’s the plan...”

Nyon’s crimson eyes widened as Jean told him her plan. The more he heard, the gladder he was of making the decision of working with Jean.

“How did you think of all that?” He finally asked. If he had a mouth it would be hung open. “We have the same data, but I can never come up with something like that.” He quietly put himself in the situation of all the players in this party and realized there was no way he could sense something was off.

Jean didn’t answer. In reality, she realized, apart from her lack of emotion, her brain was also much more intelligent than the common people, terran or protoss. She could come up with a plan and check all fronts within half a minute.

It was almost as if her brain was designed to be tactical.

Of course, there was no need to tell Nyon that.

Seeing no response from Jean, the Sixth Ascendant finally agreed. “I will sell Bel’Shir at once. Wait for my call.”