A leviathan took a deep dive downwards. The laser batteries were already tough to handle, and things went even worse when the entire terran fleet loaded up its Yamato Cannons and opened fire.

The leviathans were massacred. Hundreds of Orange balls of plasma melted their way through these cities. Everything in their way, carapace, flesh, bones, and other zerg units, were reduced to ash.

If the leviathans were carriers or Gorgon battlecruisers, they would’ve been in pieces already, but the leviathans were larger than most of the other capital ships in the sector. They ranged for over ten kilometers, and even if the Yamato Cannons destroyed one or two kilometers of the ship, the rest of the leviathan could still live. While battlecruisers would’ve crumbled with ten percent of its body gone, the zerg nature of the leviathans kept the heavily wounded alive and moving.

That leviathan was one of the three leviathans unlucky enough to take more hit than they could handle. All three ships, or what was left of them, floated aimlessly into space.

“All ships at Area A3, evasive warping now!” Warfield commanded with haste. The battlecruisers right in front of the falling leviathan corpses blinked and warped to a safe distance away, saving them from the fate of being crushed by the zerg cities.

Zerg units, dead and alive, floated out of the corpses. The sight of banelings and hydralisks and roaches and ultralisks floating around the battlefield was a spectacular sight.

The rest of the leviathans weren’t taken back by their comrades’ demise. They continued charging into the hail of laser batteries. Fortunately, the battlecruisers didn’t have the time to fire another round of Yamato Cannons.

Unfortunately, as they got closer, the leviathans were forced to face even more enemy fire than before. With the help of advanced targeting systems, almost all of the shots found their way to their target.

Tens of thousands of wraiths and vikings were already in vertical phalanxes. Before the battle, Jean and Warfield have came up with a detailed schedule that fit every fighter into a vertical plane, allowing all the fighters to aim their guns at the zerg.

“Open fire!”

“Waste these bastards!”

Torpedoes, missiles, and more laser batteries were added to the battlecruiser guns.

Another leviathan fell, along with hundreds of thousands of zerg aboard. On Char, these hundreds of thousands of zerg could take out armies of terran. Up here, they were merely the background music.

“Sir, they’re ramming straight at us!” A Dominion lieutenant reported.

Battlecruisers were mighty, but they could never survive a collision with enemy vessels half a dozen times their size. The biological nature of the leviathans made them even stronger in the event of a collision whereas battlecruisers were designed to defend against projectiles rather than physical contact. The battlecruisers would be knocked over like toy cars in front of a real car.

Plus, the Swarm was desperate. The Queen of Blades was willing to risk every single one of her ship to get to safety, but the Terran Dominion couldn’t afford to take the losses. If the Dominion Fleet was too badly damaged, it could mean invasion from other factions hostile to the Dominion.

“Evasive actions.” Warfield ordered.

Individual battlecruisers performed short ranged jumps to get out of the way of the leviathans.

“They can’t get away.”

Raynor commented. His Raiders were practically useless in this circumstance. For the moment, all he could do was provide some tactical support, but even that part seemed to be covered by this female lieutenant from the Umojan Fleet.

“Wait a second...they’re preparing for jump!” Warfield suddenly realized something as he looked at the scanners. The energy signature of the leviathans started peaking, but that was odd. Only leviathans were capable of warping. If Kerrigan really chose to flee, she would be abandoning all her corruptors, mutalisks, scourges, and overlords. It would be a painful blow.

Jean’s eyes twitched.

“They’re not leaving…”

The dozen or so leviathans suddenly entered warp space, revealing corruptors and mutalisks that were previously protected. Vikings, wraiths, and battlecruisers fired freely. Their pilots were confused by what happened, but that confusion didn’t stop them from blasting the zerg apart. Thousands of zerg fell every second.

But that didn’t last long. Just as Warfield and Raynor were about to ask Jean what she meant, the dozen or so leviathan reappeared. This time, they were right beside the terran battlecruisers.

“All ships evasive jump now!” Warfield commanded, but it was too late. The leviathans charged into the middle of the terran fleet. Battlecruisers were tipped over before exploding into balls of flames. Vikings and wriaths simply fell apart. Some pilots reacted quickly and got out of the way of the leviathans, but they failed to get out of the way of the tentacles. With a speed several times faster than the vikings, the tentacles grabbed onto the vikings and crashed them with their pilots inside.

Screams and cries for help covered the radio. Even elite Dominion soldiers couldn’t keep calm in front of absolute death. Not all of them was called Jean Turner. In fact, none of them was.

Inside both the Umojan and the Dominion flagship, crew members and officers ran around like headless chickens, trying to contribute to the battlefield as much as they could.

“Keep calm!” Jean was much logical. “This is an opportunity. The zerg are separated into two groups. Their light flyers are defenseless. We have the numbers and the firepower to surround and terminate them!” Her voice was ice cold. She saw the number of casualties grow and she didn’t care.

Warfield knew what the situation was as well. He wasn’t new to the casualties, but he merely lost hs calm when he saw several Dominion battlecruisers falling. They didn’t seem much in the grand scale, but each one of them had thousands of crew members aboard. Tens of thousands of young men and women just passed away in a few seconds, and he couldn’t help but hold himself responsible. As experienced as he was, it took him several seconds to recover to the state of absolute calm.

Two Umojan battlecruisers fell as well, but Jean didn’t give a damn. To a degree, Jean was a better commander than Warfield.

Warfield gave the orders. Fleets of battlecruisers converged and targeted the leviathans from a safe distance away while other battlecruisers turned on the mutalisks and corruptors, who made a kamikaze at the terran armada. They knew they were abandoned, but their absolute loyalty to Kerrigan convinced them to do whatever they could to contribute to the Swarm.

Viking, wraiths, and battlecruisers didn’t yield.

And the battle continued.

Jean watched silently. The leviathans stood strong. She had to admit. Kerrigan was a tough foe. Even after all the weakening, from fighting the Tal’darim to not having support of her fellow broodmothers to being forced away from the home turf of Char to being completely surrounded by the combined terran fleet, Kerrigan still proved to be a semi-equal enemy against the terran. Keep in mind most of the terran here were the best of the Dominion Fleet, but still ship after ship was destroyed.

Finally, Warfield was tired of the losses. He moved an entire fleet of Gorgon battlecruisers into the field. With extra armor and larger sizes, these Gorgons had a greater chance of survival against the zerg.

Unknown to Warfield, that was exactly what Kerrigan wanted.

The Queen of Blades knew she would never make it back to Char in one piece. Short ranged jumps could be done with ease, but she couldn’t jump to Char with short ranged jumps because it was simply too far away. If she tried, at the best case scenario, she would lose half her fleet by the terran firepower on the way back. She could do a long range jump, but it would take a long time of preparation. Plus, they needed to clear the area in front of the zerg fleet for a long ranged jump. By the time they got everything ready, they would be dead already. The terran weren’t stupid. They would do everything they could to keep the zerg here.

Fight or flight. If she couldn’t flight, she could only fight. Back on Char, Zagara has already summoned all the broodmothers. If the terran fleet was here the entire time, then most of the broods were still alive. They should be coming to reinforce now. If Kerrigan could survive until the reinforcing broods arrive, she might still have a chance.

Competing firepower with eight hundred terran battlecruisers was nothing short of stupid, but the zerg had its advantages, and Kerrigan intended on putting these advantages to their full effect. She knew she only had one opportunity with what she had in mind, and the Minotaurs weren’t valuable enough to be targets.

Gorgons were quite the opposite.

As soon as the Minotaur battlecruisers backed off and were replaced by Gorgon battlecruisers, the zerg leviathans made their move.

Dozens of tentacles, previous hidden inside the leviathans, were swung out and slammed into the Gorgons’ armors. These tentacles were dozens of meters long and several meters wide. They were at their peak condition because Kerrigan kept them out of battle the entire time. Once put into action, they formed hole after hole in the enhanced terran plating. They weren’t strong enough to break through the armor completely and destroy the Gorgons, but it was enough.

These tentacles grabbed onto the Gorgons and held them in place, keeping them from warping away or even flying away.

“What the…” One of the Gorgon captains complained, but his words were quickly cut off by what happened next.

Thousands of drop pods, previously prepared, were tossed at the openings the tentacles formed. Some missed their target and hit the battlecruisers’ platings and exploded, barely denting the armor, but the rest made it into the battlecruisers.

Inside the Gorgons, drop pod after drop pod erupted. Elite zerg units emerged.

“All personnel, suit up! Security forces repel the enemy! All crew members remain at your positions! For the Dominion!”

Groups and groups of marines and marauders were deployed to the points of contact. Crew members did their best to forget about their personal safety and concentrate on manning the battlecruisers.

Gunshots, screams, and growls rang through the entire fleet of Gorgons.

Warfield found himself in a painful position. The leviathans were too heavily armored for the battlecruisers to kill quickly with just their batteries. At this close of a distance, Yamato Cannons were rendered useless. He could order his ships to fall back to a safe distance and then blast the leviathans to pieces of floating debris, but with all the Gorgons trapped, that decision would mean condemning the entire fleet of Gorgon battlecruisers to its death. Warfield couldn’t and wouldn’t make that call.

“Kerrigan’s trying to buy time. We should fall back.” Jean suggested. If it was just her leading a fleet of Warden battlecruisers, she would just order the fleets to fall back, abandon the trapped, and then open fire on the trapped battlecruisers and the leviathans alike. Unfortunately, most of the combined fleet was composed of Dominion ships. She needed Warfield to make that call, but she doubted the good general would listen.

Things went on like she expected.

“We can’t leave the Gorgons.” He replied.

Jean wasn’t defeated or insulted. Both emotions could do more harm than good. “Then we launch a counterattack. We board the leviathans and take out Kerrigan inside her flagship. Without the Queen of Blades, the Swarm will be leaderless. It will no longer be as big of a threat.”

If the ships’ guns couldn’t do it, then she might just have to solve the problem the old fashioned style.

Warfield coughed on surprise. “Are you serious? Kerrigan’s flagship will be packed with zerg. Neither my men nor yours can establish a staging area, much less attack and kill the Queen of Blades.“

Jean turned around and said something into her earpiece before returning to Warfield and Raynor. “True, but I have an army who can. We have to try. If the Swarm comes to reinforce, we might lost the best chance to take down the Queen of Blades.” She knew this could get to Warfield.

“Fine. I will deploy a strike team to support your men.” Warfield agreed. As much as he didn’t want his men to charge into a sea of zerg and meet their end, the Queen of Blades was a bigger threat. Attack now, and thousands might die. Hesitate, and perhaps billions would perish. The commander knew what his choice should be.

Both Jean and Warfield turned to Raynor. While the Raiders didn’t have a fleet, they didn’t become the bane of the Dominion by being weak. Their mercenaries and other soldiers were among the best terran ground forces.

But Raynor seemed to be blanked out for the moment.

Warfield frowned. In the original version of history, he would frown upon Raynor at first, but then appreciate his presence and hand him command of the Dominion Fleet after he himself was wounded by a hydralisk and then saved by Raynor. In this version, it was completely different. Warfield was never put into a life threatening situation, and Raynor never saved him. The Dominion general trusted Jean more than he trusted Raynor.

When he saw Raynor hesitate, Warfield felt insulted. Both Dominion and Umojan men were dying for humanity, and now Raynor was holding his men back and keeping them safe? Perhaps Raynor was no different than any other pirate in the sector. He only had self interest in mind.

What neither of them knew was that Raynor was having a flashback. For a moment, his memory went back to someone else.

A lieutenant. Jean Turner.

Jean and this Umojan officer Cassidia had so much in common. Both were efficient. Both advocated for an aggressive way of action. Both were brilliant tacticians. Jean was obviously good, and this Cassidia was giving suggestions to General Warfield, and most of those suggestions turned out to be good ones. Hell she was even able to trick and ambush the Queen of Blades. Even more, both were young, blonde women. Raynor knew Cassidia wasn’t Jean. The two looked different, and he knew Jean was dead. Eventually, Mira told Horner the news, who told Raynor.

“Commander Raynor?” Warfield demanded. He wasn’t going to let the Raiders remain untouched while his own Dominion men sacrificed their lives.

“Yes. I will personally lead a squad.” Raynor recovered from the flashback. Seeing the situation, he quickly replied. His answer surprised Warfield. He didn’t expect Raynor to put himself into such a dangerous position. This made him slightly change his impression on the commander of the Raiders.

“Be careful, Commander Raynor.” He finally suggested. Whoever Raynor used to be, now he is a champion of the terran race.

“I will.” Raynor gave one last glance at Jean before turning off the comm. With that being done, the rebel leader turned to captain Horner. “Assemble a strike team. Also, prepare the alien artifact for transport. If it does what Valerian said it does, then at the end of the day, I might just get Sarah back.”

Sarah Kerrigan. The Queen of Blades. Also, Raynor’s formal girlfriend.