To the Tal’darim protoss, duels were sacred. Their whole society was based on duels. If someone wanted power, they would challenge others in a duel. If there was a conflict, the two sides would duel. The winner would get everything while the loser would lose everything, including his or her life. The tal’darim valued strength, and there was no better show of strength than a duel to death. That was why executor Nyon was faced with a dilemma when one of the enemies demaned a duel.

He could order his warriors to destroy her. Even Ma’lash couldn’t stand again thousands of tal’darim with no support, but if he did then he, Nyon, would be known by his fellow people as a coward who didn’t even dare to fight with a terran woman. He would be laughed upon by those above him and lose the respect of those below. News would spread across the galaxies, and he would lose the thing he valued the most, his honor. Nyon gave out an order, and all the tal’darim stopped their attacks and turned back. The Raiders were surprised, but Jean gave an order via the AI and told them to fall back as well. Nyon walked to the front and faced Jean. He wasn’t afraid of an assassination. He had dozens of supplicants that could regenerate his psi power. As long as he had his psi energy, he was fearless.

“I, executor Nyon, respond to your demand.” Nyon said in a deep voice. “Tell me your name, terran female!”

Jean glanced at the remaining Raiders. About fifty of them were left. All the siege tanks were dead. She landed here with 240 units. The casualty was great. “I am lieutenant Jean Turner. Let’s make a deal. If I win, you let us have your artifact and leave this planet in peace. If you win, we die.”

Nyon thought about it. The deal was unfair for him. They would kill the Raiders anyways, but if he lost he would lose the artifact. Bot on the other hand he didn’t really care. It’s not like he, a warrior with thousands of years of experience in battle and powerful psi power, would lose to a woman in her twenties with no psi support. “Deal. If you win my warriors will give you the artifact you need, but if you lose...” He smirked bloodthirsty. “I’ll make your death a long and painful one. In the name of Xel’Naga I will follow these terms.” He drew his double bane blades and walked up. Jean grinned and ignited her plasma blade and walked to face Nyon.

The scene seemed desperate. It was a battle between David and Goliath. The weak and the strong. The terran and the protoss. The survivors of the Raiders were touched. She was their commander. She should be sitting in a command center giving orders. She could lift off the command center and leave them to die. The few scouts in the air couldn’t stop the command center from escaping to the Hyperion. But instead she chose to stay behind and fight for their lives. She was risking her life for theirs. All the Raiders gripped to their weapons, ready to save their commander if she lost and bring her to safety, even if it meant they would die.

All for one and one for all. This moment all the Raiders were ready to die for Jean.

Everyone thought Jean was the weak one, but was she?

Nyon focused his psi energy on his legs and charged forward. The cameras in Jeans suit observed his movement and predicted where he would land at and how long that would take. The girl used her speed, which was enhanced by the super stimpack, and made a diagonal cut toward Nyon. The executor was in charging mode and couldn’t respond quick enough. Luckily for him his plasma shield was modified and more durable than other zeolets and his psi energy was stronger than casual zeolets, or else he would be cut in half by that strike. Nyon backed off and strengthened his shield. For the first time he realized the solid faced blonde girl might not be the hunted in this dual.

Jean flipped her blade and charged toward Nyon. She knew the protoss was capable of powerful psi abilities, and she had no intention of being blown to pieces. Suddenly her computer warned her about psi energy massing. She jumped to the side, and the ground where she was at exploded. If she remained she would be no more than a pile of flesh and blood. Nyon frowned as the mind blast missed. He tried to assemble a psi orb, but Jean threw something at her. The something exploded and emitted a psi wave. Nyon groaned and dropped on the ground from his floating state. His psi energy was cleared by the emp.

Jean silently coughed, and some blood fell on the ground. She wiped her mouth casually and looked back at Nyon. The transformation from a weak terran girl into a superwoman was costly. “Give me another inject.” She sent out a mental message, and the AI that controlled the suit obeyed after a programmed warning of the damage it might cause. Jean knew the damage. In fact she programmed the warning herself, but she had no choice. A muscle tearing pain was soon overcomed by another surge of strength.

Nyon noticed the girl regaining her strength, and he realized he could do the same. A supplicant exploded into a surge of energy and entered his body. Nyon grinned and was about to say something when another grenade landed at his feet. An explosion told him his energy was drained again.

“You coward…” Nyon groaned and another supplicant sacrificed himself. This time when the emp grenade came he tried to push it away. Just as his psi energy reached the grenade it exploded in midair. The shockwave disabled Nyon again. Jean kept the grenade in her hand three seconds after pulling the plug so it would explode sooner. Her computer brain calculated how the executor would react.

Nyon knew this would go on forever. He didn’t know where the girl kept all these grenades or how much she had left, but he knew someone as smart as she was wouldn’t be lacking such a formidable tool against the protoss race. He was wrong. Jean had two more emp grenades in her watch. The Raiders could afford too much of this high tech gadget. The tal’darim executor decided melee was the best choice as he once again reinforced his shield and charged at Jean.

For the next several minutes Nyon and Jean exchanged strikes. None of them made any critical mistake, but Jean was getting closer and closer to the time limit of her stimpack. Finally, with one move, Nyon blocked the plasma blade with one of his blades and slash down on Jean with the other. Jean tried to back off, but she was too late. The blade ran across the flesh on her belly and left a deep wound. Blood poured out and painted the ground red.

The Raiders cried in shock and anger. Nyon grabbed onto Jean and looked into her eyes, searching for a sign of desperation or anger. Usually his victims would either be angry or be afraid. He enjoyed them either way. The result would be the same.

But this time something was different. This time the girl had a blank face on. Immediately he realized something was wrong.

Jean rotated her plasma shield and dismantled the two psionic blade focusers that powered the bane blades Nyon used. She then, with a swift move, turned Nyon around and grabbed onto his neck with her left arm and held her plasma blade to his neck with her right arm. “I am the victor of this duel.” She announced despite a puddle of blood forming below her.

Nyon seemed debating for a while, as if considering whether he should ignore the rules and order his men to slaughter the terran or obey the deal and hand the creation of god to terran thieves. Either way he would be viewed as a failure and a weakling. Still, if he chose the first way he would probably be executed by this girl. He wasn’t afraid of death, but he didn’t want to die at the hands of someone so insignificant. If he died fighting the queen of blades, he would be viewed as a hero because the queen of blades was strong. If he died here at the hands of a random terran female, he would be viewed as not the one that sacrificed for the artifact but the coward that was weak enough to be killed by a weakling. And so he made up his mind.

The Hyperion arrived after the three destroyers stopped fighting them and took away the piece of artifact from thousands of tal’darim guardians. Some of them wanted to protect the work of god, but those loyal to Nyon were enough to keep them in line. Jean let go of Nyon before boarding the Hyperion and leaving the planet that took the life of hundreds of Raiders. Returned to safety, Nyon toyed with the idea of intercepting the ship but then gave up. The Hyperion could jump away whenever it wanted.

On the Hyperion, Jean collapsed on the ground as soon as the hanger door closed. Her armor was stained red.