《The Voyager》Season 1: The Starcraft Commander---Chapter 40: Tactics

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“So, how does my transformation actually work?” Jean asked Abathur. The two were in the evolution chamber, and Jean had just put another Ultralisk under her command. She had been practicing this for quite a while. The girl was in her terran form and was wearing the specialized suit that she took off before going into the spawning pool. “How am I able to shift between my terran body and my zerg body?”

Abathur casually ate a larvae. “Terran phase...carapace under skin...hide zerg characteristics...zerg phase...carapace emergy...psi level identical…”

Jean nodded in satisfaction. If the zerg carapace was under her skin then she didn’t need to be afraid of being sniped by surprise. The pain and suffering she went through was worth it.

Suddenly she received a psionic command from her queen, and Jean obediently stood up and head straight toward the bridge of the leviathan.

All the zerg units moved to the side and made a way for Jean as she walked through the hallway of the Leviathan. The purple creep made her much faster as she moved now that she was a zerg. She entered the leviathan bridge with radiating confidence.

The bridge was somewhat crowded. Apart from Kerrigan, there were dozens of broodmothers. Broodmothers were commanders of the zerg forces. They looked like queens, but were of a higher rank. Broodmothers answered directly to the queen of blades and were to Kerrigan like the cerebrates were to the Overmind.

“Jean.” Kerrigan noticed Jean’s presence instantly. The broodmothers turned to Jean in curiosity. For a moment they didn’t realize it, but that curiosity quickly turned to anger as they saw Jean was a terran, or at least she seemed like a terran.

“Why is a terran here?” One of the broodmothers asked in fury. It took all she had to not rip the terran open with her claws. Jean wanted to shift into zerg mode, but a hidden order from Kerrigan made her give up that choice. She simply remained in terran mode went to the side, ignoring the broodmother. The broodmothers growled in anger for Jean’s lack of respect.

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“Jean here…” Kerrigan explained after a few seconds of tense situation. She was secretly glad how the broodmothers despised Jean. She knew Jean’s way of thinking and she knew what Jean did to the last group of people that trusted her. The Raiders trusted Jean, and she used that trust to develop means and eventually terminated all the Raiders. Kerrigan learned from the Raider’s mistakes and knew not to trust Jean from the very beginning. Furthermore, she didn’t want her underlings to trust Jean. A zerg would never trust a terran. Kerrigan made Jean a zerg so Jean could help her, but she needed to do everything she could to keep Jean loyal to her. She would not allow what happened to the Raiders to happen to her and the swarm. Now Jean was isolated in the swarm. Every broodmother would keep an eye on her.

Kerrigan was known for her abilities to trick others, but she had no intention of being the tricked one.

“Jean here is my new adviser. Sure, she is a terran, but she is the smartest commander I know.” Kerrigan said casually. The broodmothers groaned in fury. There were dozens of broodmothers here in this leviathan, but their queen needed to turn to a terran for advises. It meant the broodmothers were seen as incapable, which pissed the zerg off. None of the broodmothers dared to question Kerrigan, so they directed their anger to Jean. Granted they would never do anything to sabotage the swarm, but that didn’t mean the broodmothers wouldn’t make Jean’s life as tough as possible. That was exactly what Kerrigan wanted.

“Our enemy will be the Golden Armada.” Kerrigan announced. “We have 25 leviathans in total. Each of them carry their own share of corrupters and mutalisks.” Jean noticed there were 17 broodmothers in the bridge. Each of them had at least one leviathan and countless other units. All the broodmothers here were the powerful ones. Usually they had their own planets and their own enemies, but now that their queen summoned them they converged and formed the zerg fleet.

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“The Golden Armada consists of both Aiur and Nerazim ships, including motherships, carriers, tempests, void rays, phoenixes, and scouts. The exact numbers are unknown, but it is certain that there will too much protoss for the swarm to attack and win.” Kerrigan said matter of factly.

“My queen, the swarm is unstoppable. Under your command we can crush the protoss!” One of the broodmothers said loudly. Jean noticed she was the broodmother that first complained about her presence.

Kerrigan seemed entertained by the flatter, but deep down she knew better. “I’m flattered, Zagara, but this is a fight that takes careful plannings...and my new adviser have came up with an...interesting plan. Jean.” Kerrigan nodded and Jean, and the girl nodded in acknowledgement and took a few steps forward into the center of the bridge. The broodmothers looked at her challengingly.

“It is clear that the swarm can not win against the Golden Armada.” Jean didn’t even bother to be polite. She saw what Kerrigan was trying to do and she knew it was in her own best interest to let the queen get what she wanted.

“But the swarm has one advantage the protoss can not match.” Jean continued. “In order for a protoss fleet to be 100% efficient, they have to have a steady energy supply. Protoss need energy to do everything. Fire their weapons. Use their plasma shields. Warp in or out of places. If we can get the protoss constantly on the move, then we can eventually weaken the Golden Armada to a degree that the swarm can defeat them with acceptable losses.”

“How exactly are we going to do that?” Zagara challenged with a hissing voice.

“Make the leviathans mutate more warping organs to make sure our ships can outrun the enemies. Locate planets that are essential to the protoss. Separate our fleet into different portions and hit different areas.” Jean suggested.

“We can send one or two leviathans toward a protoss planet and start assaulting it with cheap ground forces. The protoss need to save those planets, whether it was to save their resources and their infrastructures or to save their people. When the protoss fleet, whether it is a small portion of the Golden Armada or the entire fleet, arrives, the leviathan can just abandon the ground forces and warp away. Meanwhile other leviathans will strike other protoss planets to keep the Golden Armada moving.” She said casually when mentioning abandoning the ground forces. None of the broodmothers objected. To them all zerg units were expendable.

Zagara thought about it, trying to find out a weakness in the plan, but she couldn’t. The plan was actually pretty good. Well, at least it was better than going into a fair fight with a semi invincible foe.

“Very well.” Kerrigan concluded. “Abathur will develop the mutation necessary. As soon as all the leviathans are mutated, the attack will begin. Jean stay here.” The broodmothers exited the bridge, leaving the chamber to just Jean and Kerrigan.

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