“Strike team report.” Jean turned around from the screen and demanded.

On Monylth, the terran strike team stopped before the protoss shrine, which held the artifact. The captain of the team ordered the team to stop and responded to his commander immediately. He was a marine that was with Raynor since Mar Sara, and she realized something was wrong. They didn’t encounter a single protoss on the way here, and he spoke of his concern. “Sir we have encountered no resistance at all. The target is straight ahead. Shall we retrieved it?”

Jean frowned. She was inserted with the memory of the general events of the Starcraft universe that would happen in the future, including things like the fall of the Golden Armada and the rise of Amon, but she received no memory of a small battle the Raiders took place in. She knew the Raiders used the artifact to disable the queen of blades, but she didn’t know who they got the artifact. Still, she sensed something was wrong. The fanatics, no matter how desperate, would never leave their precious artifact behind with no guards. Then where were the guards?

Dark templer? Blood hunter?

“Scan the shrine.” She ordered. A worker at the Hyperion control deck complied, and a few seconds later Jean looked at the feedback and realized what the guards were. Four stone statues with psi energy and heat signatures.

Unfortunately a trap was only dangerous when it remained hidden. Jean merely transferred the result of the scan to the captain in the field, and the experienced soldier knew what to do. All fifty combatants aimed for one of the statues and stimmed and opened fire. Their stimpack left hidden damages in the soldier’s bodies, which could be healed back onboard the Hyperion. The side effects were only dangerous when used too much. As of now, the soldiers with enhanced reflexes, strength, and speed unleashed upon one of the statues. It was blasted to pieces before it could even activate. The three remaining sensed the intruders and started to get into battle condition, but only two made it as another was shattered by the armor piercing rounds of marauders in the process. The two stone guardians unleashed upon the Raiders with their thermal lenses. One of the marines was melted instantly. Not even the medics could save his life. Another statue targeted a marauder. Unfortunately for the statue, the marauder's CMC660 armor was modified from the armor of firebats, which were designed to protect its user from high temperature flames. A layer of the armor was melted, but the marauder immediately jumped out of the lance with the effect of stimpack. A medic healed the armor of the medic.

All the while the rest of the strike team unleashed upon the statues. The marine’s gauss rifles were weaker in effect, but their numbers supplemented their weakness in strength. The twenty marauders proved to the observers that they were worthy of their cost as they unleashed endless grenades onto the statues. After four more dead marines and one more melted marauder, the two statues were turned to a pile of rocks.

“Grab the target and evacuate.” Jean ordered calmly as the last guardian fell. Mutalisks started to appear in space, and the commander knew the longer she stayed the more risk she had to take.

Dyges sensed the guardians being destroyed, and it sparked anger and fear in him. He was angry because some weak terran managed to steal the thing he was dedicated in protecting. He was afraid because he failed his mission. This would make him a weakling, and weaklings had no right to live in the tal’darim society. If his failure was learned by Highlord Ma'lash, he will either kill him outright or turn him into a vanguard. Either way, his way of ascension was over. He would’ve send some warriors to take the artifact back, but every warrior he had was in combat. Plus, they would never make it in time before the terran escape.

As the ascendant was worrying for his future, a modified zerg drop pod landed in an area surrounded by zerg units. As the smoke cleared, a purple figure floated out of the hole and stood on the ground. It was a woman, or it looked like a woman. Zerg carapase covered her entire body. Two large winglike structures extended out of her back. Her hair were snakelike. Her eyes radiated yellow light. The area around her turned yellow from her astonishing psi power.

She was the queen of the blades. She was Kerrigan.

Dyges sensed the blazing psi energy from the creature, and he was paralyzed. The best psi user he knew was Highlord Ma’lash, who ruled over the tal’darim with his menacing power. But even Ma’lash wasn’t as threatening as the queen of blades. Her energy was like a sun. Dyges could barely move. His level 9 psi level was like a dust against the level 13 of the woman.

The swarm felt the presence of their queen and howled. For a moment the tal’darim warriors felt their enemies strengthening. New reinforcements of banelings and mutalisks arrived, and the tal’darim line shook. The only thing holding the line was the willingness to die for the Highlord.

Kerrigan walked toward the protoss flank as if taking a casual walk on a sidewalk. Zerg units made a way for her even if it meant stepping on other, smaller units. Kerrigan, slowly but surely, walked to the tal’darim flank.

A zeolet saw the queen. She wasn’t blind, and she sensed the threat. Still, she was a tal’darim, and tal’darim could never be broken. “We strike at the Highlord’s foes!” She charged at the Kerrigan. The queen smirked, and the warrior was dismantled into basic elements by the queen’s psi power. Kerrigan continued without even slowing down.

Dyges knew he was doomed. Just Kerrigan herself could kill every tal’darim on the planet. He knew he could warp back to Slayn safe and sound, but then what? He would lose his warriors and any honor he onced had. He would either receive a long and painful death or being given the chance to redeem himself in a vanguard. He would rather die in glorious combat. He turned to the supplicant.

The supplicant knew it was his time, and he did what every other supplicant would do.

“Without remorse!” He screamed, and his body transformed into a stream of pure psi energy and entered the ascendant. The ascendant felt his body filled with powerful energy. He knew even so he would still lose against the queen of blades, but at least the sacrifice of the supplicant gave him a chance to do some damage.

The ascendant composed a mindblast with all his energy and used it on Kerrigan. The queen had a wicked smile on her lips and intercepted the spell with her own energy. An explosion one feet before the target told the ascendant his best spell was rendered useless. The attack that could’ve destroyed any target was deflected. Dyges knew he overestimated himself. Even the sacrifice of the supplicant couldn’t make her strong enough to combat the queen of blades.

“Go on foolish child. Show me what you can do.” Kerrigan smirked and spoke as if she was talking to a kid that posed no threat to her. The ascendant was enraged. He ignited his red psi blade and peaked around. The tal’darim line was cut into pieces and overran by the swarm. The battle was lost, and so was he.

The ascendant roared and charged to Kerrigan with his blades ready. Kerrigan signed as if she was a mother disappointed at her naughty child. As the ascendant approached she finally jumped in a flash.

Dyges exited charge mode. He looked down at his body, only to find it disappearing.

The strike team had boarded Hyperion with the artifact. The mission was successful. The Raiders retrieved their target with few casualties. Jean, on the other hand, had her focus somewhere else. She was watching the duel between the queen of blades and the ascendant. Her eyes twitched at the last strike.

“Adjacent report.” Jean ordered. She didn’t see what happened, but the mechanical adjacent did. It was, after all, a computer.

“Sarah Kerrigan used her psi energy to increase her speed and cut the tal’darim ascendant in half in 0.23 seconds with her wings.” The mechancial voice solved Jean’s confusion.

Jean suddenly saw Kerrigan closing her eyes and immediately knew something might be wrong. “Jump away now!” She ordered quickly.

Kerrigan’s yellow eyes snapped open. She knew the artifact was taken away by her old friend, Jim Raynor. In fact, she could even sense the Hyperion. Unfortunately for her even with level 13 psi energy she couldn’t taken down a battlecruiser in space. Still, she could sense every human being on the ship. She sensed her old friend and former lover. She sensed a lab nerd. She sensed a mechanic with robot arm. She also sensed...someone special.

A certain woman...a lieutanent?

Kerrigan sensed something was wrong with the lieutenant. For everyone else she could sense their emotions and see their feelings. But for this woman she couldn’t sense anything. It was as if this woman didn’t have any emotion.

Curious, she reached toward her with her psi energy.

“Hello child…” She whispered.

Jean frowned, but before she could do anything the Hyperion entered warp space, and the connection was broken.