After the siege of Char, Kerrigan struggled to recoup her losses. She contacted Jim Raynor and the protoss, suggesting that they work together to rescue the remainder of the Terran Dominion and retaliate against the United Earth Directorate. With the Overmind under Earth’s control, the allies reluctantly agreed that the UED was a bigger threat than Kerrigan.
Guided by Samir Duran, Kerrigan attempted to reunite the devastated zerg broods under her control. She “encouraged” Mengsk to provide a psi emitter, which helped attract enough zerg to her side to destroy the UED psi disrupter on Braxis. Kerrigan and her allies then attacked Korhal, with Raynor and Fenix sieging the fortifications and Kerrigan’s zerg swarming forth to kill the UED. Mengsk began to rebuild his empire on conquered Korhal – but, with her swarm renewed, Kerrigan viciously turned on her allies, killing Fenix and General Duke and forcing Raynor and Arcturus to flee.
Only one obstacle to Kerrigan’s dominance of the zerg remained. Arriving on Shakuras, Kerrigan took Raszagal hostage, and forced the Dark Templar to slay the UED-controlled Overmind while her zerg crushed the UED. Victorious, Zeratul demanded Raszagal’s return, but the matriarch refused – she had been controlled by Kerrigan from the moment the Queen set foot on Shakuras. Sorrowfully, Zeratul slew his matriarch rather than allowing her to remain a thrall of the Queen of Blades.
The tenuous allies that Kerrigan had deceived earlier – DuGalle, Mengsk and Artanis – staged a desperate assault on Char, but the Queen of Blades devastated each fleet in turn…and then allowed some of the survivors to flee. Living foes no longer troubled her. Mengsk and Artanis slunk away, while DuGalle, whose UED fleet had been completely destroyed, took his life in despair. Content in her control over the Swarm, Kerrigan cemented her position on Char – and grew ominously quiet.
Meanwhile, Zeratul discovered an abomination hidden on a dark planet – a zerg/protoss hybrid cultivated by Samir Duran. Duran hinted that he served greater powers than any the protoss knew, and predicted that the coming of the hybrids – which he had seeded throughout the Koprulu sector – would change the galaxy forever.
