“Open up transmission to the entire rebel fleet. Order our ships to hold their firing for now.” In her bridge Jean ordered. Nova watched in amazement as a transmission was immediately opened up on one of the computer screens. She had never seen Jean’s AIs before.”

Hacking into the rebel communication system wasn’t that hard. The last time when Jean helped Valerian do it she added a backdoor to the system. Half a minute later Jean’s face was on every screen in the rebel fleet.

Jean was wearing a straight Dominion uniform. Her hair was tied into a clean ponytail. Her hands were behind her back. She looked like an elite Dominion officer. It was hard to believe she once slaughtered an entire Dominions battlecruiser without feeling anything.

“I am Admiral Victoria Heart of the Terran Dominion.” Jean was using an alias to avoid unwanted problems. A Dominion fugitive wanted by the former emperor himself being made the commander of the entire Dominion fleet wasn’t really reassuring to the people or the soldiers.

“You have been surrounded. All of you. You have two hundred ships left. We have more than twice the number. Our reinforcements are on the way as we speak. You are hopeless. Resist, and you will die this day.”

“You will die as traitors. Followers of a conspiracy. You will have neither fame nor glory. Your families will be disgraced by your actions. They will live in shame for the rest of their lives. Resist, and the strength of the Dominion will fall. Zerg and protoss will invade our world and slaughter our people, and we will be defenseless because you chose to follow a leader that cares for nothing but herself. If the zerg and protoss invades, then everyone that died will be because of you!”

“For the sake of the Dominion. For the sake of mankind. I urge you to lay down your arms and stand with your real brothers and sisters and fight for the real purpose. Terran shouldn’t be fighting terran. We should be dying against zerg and protoss invaders, not against our own men! I urge you! I beg you! Do what is best for mankind!”

“In the name of emperor Valerian Mengsk, I order all ships to jump to the assigned coordinates. Disable your shields and turn off your weapon systems. I promise with my honor as a Dominion Admiral, there will be no harm for those merely following orders.” Jean was getting very emotional at the end of the speech. She looked like a loyal, patriotic Dominion commander, and her loyalty and devotion seemed to be passing off to the rebel forces.

Jean didn’t give any mercy to the captains who were giving orders to rebel. She didn’t need their submission to win this battle.

After Jean turned off the transmission, Nova looked at Jean, impressed.

“You are a great actress.” She grinned, slightly relieved by the way the battle was going. “If I were a Dominion soldier forced to join the rebel cause I would be dying to redeem myself. I wonder what Davis is thinking right now.”

“It doesn’t matter. Her fate is sealed.” Jean returned to that cold, expressionless, and emotionless girl.

Nova smiled. “I’d hate to be your enemy.” She might have meant something. She might have meant nothing at all.

Jean looked into Nova’s green eyes meaningfully. “Then don’t be my enemy.” Nova frowned, and Jean turned back to the battlefield.

Meanwhile, the rebel fleet was in chaos.

The second announcement wasn’t like the first. Valerian’s announcement came when the rebel fleet was at its peak power. The soldiers were confident their leaders would lead them to victory. But now that the soldiers were near defeat the appeal sounded much more convincing. After all, surrendering meant not having to die. It meant seeing their families again. It meant so many things to the common foot soldiers that made up the fleet. Plus, in her announcement Jean made it clear that surrendering to the Dominion wasn’t a shameful thing. In fact, it was a righteous and courageous thing to do for the good of mankind. This satisfied the pride of most.

Now, for instance, a storm was rising on battlecruiser D230.

“Captain…” A few lieutenants exchanged a few glanced before standing up to the captain. “What do you think?”

“General Davis made me who I am today. I will die for general Davis.” The captain said with full determination. He was made captain by the general herself. He owed her, and he was willing to return that by dying for her.

The officers looked at each other. They didn’t share the loyalty of their commander. Their connection to Davis was merely the relationship between commander and soldier.

“Captain, we are surrounded and outgunned. If we fight we will die.” Another lieutenant made another attempt to convince their commander. “And for what? Davis doesn’t care about us! We’re just her pawns!”

The captain realized what his underlings were saying, and this angered him. He reached for the gauss pistol on his belt and pulled it on the lieutenant that spoke. But at the same time all the lieutenants pulled their sidearms on him as well.

“Soldiers! Arrest these traitors!” The captain ordered loudly. But nobody moved. They merely looked at each other as if they were deaf.

“Follow orders!” He frowned when nobody obeyed him. “MPs!”

There were ten MPs on the bridge. They were fully armed and armored. Their weapons and armors were modified. They were elite soldiers trained to maintain the authority of the captains and put down mutinies. If they stepped in the mutineers would be slaughtered. Their small pistol would do nothing against the enhanced armors.

But even the MPs did nothing.

None of the MPs were stupid. They were surrounded and about to die. If they stepped in and put down the mutiny then that captain would bring them to their death at a wave of Dominion projectiles. They would die in shame. It would be a pointless end. Even the best soldiers thought for themselves.

“How dare you…” The captain groaned and turned to face the MPs threateningly. He raised his pistol.

Bang.

The captain looked down and saw a hole in his chest. A bullet powered by an electromagnetic field penetrated his chest. He wanted to say something, but all his energy had disappeared. He coughed and fell dead.

Everyone on the bridge glanced at the lieutenant that fired the gun.

“Jump to those coordinates.” He lowered his pistol and said calmly. The crew members hesitated slowly before nodding.

“Don’t forget to lower the shields.” Another officer warned. He didn’t want to jump to the coordinates and be considered hostile and terminated. That would be really stupid.

A few seconds later battlecruiser D230 jumped away.

D230 was just the first the start of a series of changes. Battlecruiser after battlecruiser jumped away. The Gorgons were blocked from jumping, but not the Minotaurs. Eventually even the support ships started to leave.

Some battlecruiser captains chose to stay and fight, but they were quickly overwhelmed by rebellious underlings. In the end the majority of the rebel fleet was gone.

In her flagship Davis remained silent. She had been quiet since the announcement. Ship after ship left the fleet. All the while Davis remained quiet. In the end there were only ten Gorgons left. They were surrounded by more than four hundred battlecruisers, Gorgon and Minotaur, as well as thousands of fighters and support ships.

“General…” An officer asked in the Victor. He was barely able to push the words through his teeth. “Maybe we should consider…” He never finished his sentence. The sound of a gun firing stopped him. He collapsed and died.

Davis returned her pistol to her belt and scanned the rest of the crew members menacingly. “Assemble the ground forces and prepare to counter boarding parties. If that Victoria Heart wants my ship she will have to take it over inch by inch with the blood of her own men.”