Zerus.

A distance away from the Daelaam establishment.

A group of primal, several thousand in number, are gathering. Unlike mass produced swarm units, primal have a more variating appearance. They were gathered around packs under the strongest beasts in the pack.

But the once prosper pack was silent. Even the lower beasts could sense the depressed mood of their leaders, and they, wisely, kept their mouths shut.

The leader of this pack was Yagdra, a creature that resembled the characteristics of an ash worm. He was worried. Really worried.

A group of foreign invaders landed on Zerus and started capturing local primal. The primal resisted, but they stood no chance against the overwhelming technology of the invaders. One of Yagdra’s fellow pack leaders, a constantly enraged Kraith, led his pack on a charge toward the protoss defenses, things didn’t go well.

Primal zerglings were slashed open by enemy foot soldiers with shiny blades. Primal hydralisks and primal roaches were blasted away by energy weapons. Kraith charged forward and crushed several enemy forces, but before he could make even a victorious growl several walkers appeared in the enemy flank and started firing at Kraith. As a melee unit, Kraith was forced to charge at his enemy under a rain of fire. When the pack leader, after half a minute, reached the walkers, he was only half the former size.

Normally Yagdra wouldn’t mind the death of fellow primal. This was the rule of Zerus: Consume or be consumed. Hunt or be hunted. The hunted were dead because they were weak, which meant they deserved to die. The weak must die so the stronger could live.

But this time it was different. This time the hunter came from outside the planet, and this time the hunter wasn’t consuming the essence of the defeated. They seemed to be simply hunting down primal and bringing them back to their base for some reason. Also, this time the invader used technology.

To the primal this was unacceptable. Technology was the weapon of the weak.

Usually Yadgra would simply order his pack and overwhelm the protoss camp, but the experience of Kraith was enough to convince him to wait for a while and see what would happen later.

He wasn’t too happy to find out the invaders continued to expand, capturing more and more primal on the way and shipping them back to their base. For once Yadgra felt threatened. Two enemy scouts approached outside his pack just last day. They were consumed, but Yadgra knew this wouldn’t be the end. More invaders would follow, and his pack wouldn’t be enough to hold.

This might be the first time Yadgra doubted the power of physical strength.

Suddenly growled appeared from outside. Yadgra growled impatiently. If those underlings outside didn’t have a good reason, he wouldn’t hesitate to unleash some of his anger on them. Sometimes essence can effectively relieve stress.

Digging his way to the entrance, he found an unexpected guest.

“You are not in my pack.” Yadgra spoke to a primal. He was standing by two legs. He had two arms, and a tail dragged behind him. His sharp claws and fierce teeth meant he wasn’t just an ordinary primal. “Who are you?”

“I am Dehaka.” The primal responded.

“Have you come to join my pack?”

“No.”

“Then you have come to challenge me.”Yadgra coughed destructive acid.

“No. I have come for an alliance.” Dehaka explained. He wasn’t afraid of a fight, but he didn’t need to fight.

“Alliance?” Yagdra asked curiously. One pack wasn’t enough. How about several?

“Those foreigners. They will destroy all the packs on Zerus.” Dehaka reasoned, something strange for a primal. “Only together can we survive.”

Yadgra hesitated. “Who else is in?”

“Slivan has agreed. Brakk has agreed.” Dehaka should feel proud. Primal weren’t the nicest to talk to.

Yadgra was convinced. “I agree. My pack will join you. Those invaders must die! When shall we strike?”

“Ready your pack. We will wait until other packs arrive, and then we will strike together.”

Daelaam base on Zerus.

Selendis and hundreds of Daelaam units surrounded Jean. In orbit twenty carriers were ready for enemies from all sides. Even if Jean was able to summon reinforcements the help would be held back.

“I am flattered.” Jean joked. “All this army, just for a girl.”

“Be quite.” Selendis snapped. She tapped her psi blade generator as the blood hunters put Jean down from the chains.

Free from the restraints, Jean didn’t go for her watch. She knew hundreds of pairs of eyes were trained on her. The Daelaam couldn’t see her watch, but they would suspect something if she tapped any empty part of her wrist, and they wouldn’t be blind either if a fleet appeared in space. If she made a wrong move twenty psi blades would make contact with her body in less than two seconds.

Twenty primal were slaughtered before her. Twenty small streams of essence entered Jean’s body. The girl smiled as the wounds on her limbs started to heal.

Selendis gripped her fists tight and looked at the blood hunters. The moment Jean was back to full health was the time she would be disabled.

Jean’s muscle tensed as her wounds healed. As she collected the essence, she felt her body being filled with strength again. She didn’t have enough to take down an entire fleet, but she might as well make it as painful and difficult for the Daelaam to capture her as possible.

The more time she could buy and the more distraction she could cause, the more likely her plan would work.

“Kneel.” As Jean’s was back to full health, the female blood hunter Jean first talked to walked up and demanded. She didn’t like being threatened. She really didn’t. This was why she especially enjoyed beating Jean down.

Jean ignored her and didn’t move, and the blood hunter was filled with anger. She held her hand out.

From Selendis’ perspective, the female templar could see a cold look crossing Jean’s eyes.

“Don’t you dare…”

Jean didn’t even wait for Selendis to finish as she turned around and wiped her right hand across the blood hunter’s body.

“What…” The blood hunter paused, confused as she felt her strength disappearng. She looked down, and realized her body was cut into two pieces and fading away. The last thing she saw was a pair of cold blue eyes.

“Like you said yourself, you can not escape!” Selendis held her hand up and halted the templar that were going to make a move. She couldn’t see the purpose. It didn’t matter if Jean killed a guard or if she killed ten guards. Eventually she would be captured again. Why?

“Then you’ll have to come and get me.” Jean smiled wickedly and extended her arms. “By the way you need me alive, remember?” She reminded.

Selendis’ expression darkened.