Warden Flagship B501. Zerus.

Jean looked down on the shattered glass on the ground. Her eyebrows grew even tighter.

The essence from Zerus was helpful. She was at the peak of her strength. Even without the help of her Warden fleet she might be able to take on Kerrigan in a one on one and probably win. But this sudden growth of strength had brought its fair share of trouble as well. She had very little control and experience over her new body. Forget about fighting, she could barely take a drink without unintentionally breaking the glass, which she just did.

She needed time. Only time could get her used to this newly gained power.

Stepping on and crushing the glass, Jean took her mind away from herself. Instead she turned to the B501 Warden AI.

“Report.”

“The purifier fleet have controlled 85 percent of the planets in the sector. A total of 498 purifier capital ships and 166 Warden battlecruisers have been produced. More are in the production line.”

Jean nodded in satisfaction. A total of 600 more capital ships didn’t sound like a lot, but keep in mind the Golden Armada was merely around 500 ships. Adding to the already present ships, the combined fleet had a total of over a thousand purifier ships and around six hundred Warden ships. If Jean had a fleet this size at the very start she would’ve just engaged the Golden Armada directly and probably would’ve won.

Of course, this came with a cost. AI technology allowed Jean to create units without worrying about having a population to back the fleet up, but even AI units required resources and energy. Purifier probes and Warden SCVs had been stripping the planets of their resources. Every single piece of mineral and every single drop of vespene gas had been turned to a part of the fleet. This was disastrous to the environment. When the miners were done it would take the planets years to recover. This was why no other faction, except the zerg, and perhaps the tal’darim, dared to do such a thing. Luckily environmental concern didn’t matter to Jean.

“Calculate the amount of time until complete resource depletion.”

“Calculating now.” The AI calculated, as shown through the blinking light on the AI symbol on the computer screen of the battlecruiser control panel. “Estimated ten days until complete resource depletion.” The efficiency of probes and SCVs was mind blowing. They needed no rest at all and only a small amount of energy to function. Tens of thousands of mechanical workers were working on each planet. Day and night they worked to build up an invincible fleet.

“Understood.” Jean acknowledged and then remembered something. “Speaking of, where is Nova?” Before confronting Zurvan she received report of Nova destroying Amon’s body.

“Commander Terra has led the combined fleet to Slayn right after the battle of Aiur. According to analysis on tal’darim military forces and combined fleet military forces victory should be soon.”

“Ahhh.” Jean understood immediately. Nova had told her about making Alarak pay for his betrayal. The only thing keeping her from going to Slayn the moment she learned about what Alarak did to Jean was the greater enemy, Amon. Amon was dead now, so...Personally Jean didn’t find a purpose in revenge. The tal’darim could no longer help or harm her cause. The only reason they survived the takeover of the sector was because Warden AIs estimated the amount of losses an attack could potentially lead to and realized it was greater than the amount of resources that could be taken over after the victory. Still, Jean didn’t call Nova back. It was good for her to have some fun. She needed to let off some steam.

SInce it would be a while until Nova’ return, Jean had no intention of wasting that time.

“B501, what are the units on this ship?”

Jean stood in the hanger of B501. Taking off her specialized suit, she stood as her zerg part took over her body. The pretty girl was gone. Now instead of just being a monster within, she was a monster within and without.

Apparently the primal essence had changed Jean’s zerg mode by a small but crucial amount. She felt like she had much more control over her body compared to after she was mutated by Abathur. Actions like changing the form of her body was much easier. Usually she couldn’t really change the general look when she was in zerg mode. Whenever she fought, whether it was when killing Mengsk or during the other fights, she had to turn her entire body to zerg form. This was rather risky when she was doing covert missions. But now…

Jean looked down on her right hand. At Jean’s will, the limb changed. The long, dangerous, and obviously impossible to hide, claws turned back into Jean’s normal fingers. Her nails were still long and sharp, but they were much more discreet than claws. She did the same to her entire body. The carapace remained, but they turned to a fleshy color that were easier to be hidden.

This was good, but still Jean wondered what else there were. Guess it was time to find out.

A variaty of Warden forces was standing before Jean.

Jean estimated herself to be powerful enough to fight the queen of blades, but she didn’t know that for sure. The zerg essence enhanced her physical strength and her psionic power by a significant amount. Jean wanted to find out what exactly that amount was.

What was a better way to learn about her power than in battle? She wasn’t fighting an enemy, but who said one could only fight with an enemy?

A Warden marine was the first to act. It aimed at Jean and fired. Without any surprise, the gauss rifle barely penetrated her first layer of carapace. Her body looked like it was covered by flash, but it was not. Then again the failure of the rifle was completely normal. Even before Zerus Jean was more than capable of dealing with the lowest rank of the terran army. Now that defense had been tested, it was time to test the attack. Jean looked at her right hand again. Her long nails might appear harmless, but they weren’t.

The next second she disappeared and reappeared right next to the mechanical marine. She didn’t know how to blink. It was just that she was fast enough to move a short distance in a very short amount of time. It was just a sudden burst, but it could mean life and death in battle.

Beside the marine, Jean reached out and scratched on the armor. Her fingernail moved without a single sense of resistance. As it went across, the nails left a deep scar. If Jean really wanted she could rip the entire suit open faster than she could blink.

Waving and ordering the marine to back off and get repaired, Jean turned her attention to other more advanced weaponry.

The next on the menu was a hellbat. A Warden hellion armed with infernal preignitor. As Jean ordered it to fire on her, she silently prepared some precautions for if things went to the wrong direction for her.

As the order was given, the blue flame left the flamethrower and hit Jean in the face. The initial burst of scorched sensation made Jean groan a bit, but it didn’t take long before Jean’s body reacted. The adaptive side of the zerg essence took hold. One hidden strain hidden in Jean’s zerg dna chain of an ash worm was rediscovered. Literally living in lava, ash worms weren’t exactly vulnerable to heat. Every cell in Jean’s body mutated and prepared itself with the capability of withstanding lava, much less flame throwers.

The zerg were known for their ability to assimilate and adapt.

The process wasn’t comfortable, but it was effective. A few minutes later Jean’s pained expression was gone. Giving another order, the hellion set her aflame again. Only this time the fire did next to nothing. In fact perhaps the only thing it did was it made her look oddly pretty.

Moving on, Jean continued down the terran tech tree. Siege tanks made her cough. Thors pushed her back. Plasma blades hurt her eyes more than they hurt her body. Neither siege tanks nor thors could withstand several scratches. She could sense cloaked units within a half a mile radius.

In conclusion, Jean was really badass.

As the experiment ended, Jean left the hanger and went to take a bath. All the getting burned could really make her body dirty. As she was cleaning, the sound of Warden AI B501 rang through the halls.

“Commander, commander Terra has returned from Slayn.“