"{And you have no way of making contact with them?}"
"{Or him. Or her. We can't-}"
"{Ya don't even know how many there are? Or who they are?}"
"{No, of course not. The occupation is dangerous-}"
"{Then so is the information you get, mon.}"
"{Are you saying we're being lied to?}"
"{No. I'm saying it's a possibility.}"
"{The information has proven reliable so far. How else would we have rescued the Praetor?}"
For a second, Erana wandered which Praetor Rassyr was referring to. And then she realized he was talking about her. She tried to hide her embarrassment at her momentary ignorance. But then the ever present pain at the back of her head reminded her that she didn't have to. There was no longer any way her emotions could be read, just like there was no longer any way for her to know exactly what Rassyr meant when he said something. She was cut off from him. Him, and all other Khalai, including Waiter.
Nonetheless, the change in her thought pattern was noticed by both of them, if only vaguely.
"{Is something wrong?}" Rassyr asked, turning to her. For a second, Erana was taken aback by his tone. It was as if he was annoyed, asking only for the sake of getting a nuisance out of the way. And then she realized that he was probably genuinely worried. She simply couldn't feel it in the dullness of his voice.
And she also couldn't reply adequately. Normally, she would simply send a short burst of emotion that would not only say that she was fine but would also quickly explain the cause of the disturbance. "No, nothing's wrong and I am fine and I was simply interested in this small thing you mentioned but it is trivial and let's continue discussing the matter at hand." All in the space of a microsecond. Now, however...
"{No.}" It was like talking to a terran. Short, detached and with words that were hard to find. Primitive, mundane and completely insufficient: the speech of an infant. Rassyr's eyes narrowed slightly and Erana wandered if he was echoing her own thoughts. He turned back to Waiter who was watching the pair with a face that was blank even for a protoss. The pirate's eyes focused on Erana for half a second and then went back to staring at Rassyr.
"{In that case, we'll have to enter their Khala,}" he said.
"{Why would we do that?}" Rassyr asked. Erana guessed he was taken aback by the suggestion but she couldn't be sure of anything.
"{Because something is going on and we need to know what,}" Waiter answered. He was probably annoyed and losing his patience. But again, Erana couldn't tell. Not that she would be able to do so anyway. Even though he retained his nerve cords, Waiter's voice was as neutral as any Nerazim's. Perhaps more so.
"{It can't be that important,}" Rassyr said, dismissively. Or at least she guessed he was being dismissive. What she knew, however, was that it was the wrong thing to say because, suddenly, Waiter changed. She didn't know exactly what made her realize it. The slightest change in posture, a flicker of the eyes, a subtle movement of the wrist. All put together and suddenly the pirate was someone else entirely.
But he didn't say anything. Erana waited, certain that he was building up tension before telling Rassyr just how wrong he was. But then two seconds passed. And then three. Four. Five. Nothing. It was only when Rassyr took an involuntary step backwards that she realized that the two were talking through emotions rather than words: the type of conversation she could not hear and would never be able to hear again.
A few more seconds passed, Rassyr took another automatic step backwards and then it was over. Waiter returned to his usual, less intimidating stance as suddenly as he had left it and Rassyr straightened himself, although his eyes didn't seem to meet Waiter's anymore. What had happened between the two, Erana didn't know and suspected she never would. What she did know, however, was that Waiter had chastised or intimidated or impressed Rassyr to the point of making him submissive.
"{How would we do it, then? We can't simply fly into Imperium space to investigate,}" Rassyr said.
"{Your ships were made by the Imperium,}" Waiter replied.
"{Yes. So what?}"
"{I will need a crystal from one of the ships. Any crystal. Anything that was made in the Imperium.}"
"{Why?}"
"{Just. Bring. It.}"
For a second, it looked like Rassyr was about to protest again. But then he nodded and left the room, leaving Waiter and Erana alone. She wasted no time in striking up a conversation.
"{Psionic signatures?}" she asked, struggling to form a complete sentence without the Khala to talk through.
"{I'm glad to see that the Imperium doesn't deal exclusively in arrogant fools,}" the pirate answered. She ignored the insult.
"{But as far as I know, psionic signatures can only tell you about a crystal's origin and maker. No one alive should be able to use one to ignore distance and connect to the creator's Khala,}" she continued. For some reason, the words had suddenly become more accessible, as if continuously talking made it easier to find them.
"{Not ignore. Mitigate. Make negligible. Distance itself is not a limiting factor when joining the Khala. It's the effort required to find other Khalai. I'm good at doing that on my own. But when a crystal is made by a Khalai, and they usually are, it is infused with the Khalai's thoughts and it becomes connected to him... or her. It's not just a signature. It's a pointer.}"
"{I still don't think I could do something like that. And I don't think I know anyone who can.}"
"{And that, sistah, is why I'm a pirate and you're a soldier,}" Waiter said cryptically and turned around to leave the room, presumably tired of waiting for Rassyr.
Supercarrier Hawk, Engineering Deck
"{You're certain that he won't be able to learn anything from it?}" Rassyr asked the engineer as he looked at the small crystal in his hand. It had been over two hours since he had left Waiter and he intended to wait a while longer before returning to the damn pirate. Let him wait, he thought, it's the least he deserves.
"{Of course not. It is a power crystal, not a storage device.,}" the engineer answered.
"{And besides, I am not interested in any of the information stored in your computers. You need to relax, mon.}" Rassyr and the engineer almost jumped as Waiter made his presence felt.
"{W-W-Waiter? How did you...?}" Rassyr asked, utterly confused. He was in space! On his own ship! How could Waiter have followed him? But his question went unanswered.
Waiter made a point of ignoring the pair and made his way towards Rassyr from the entrance to the engineering bay. It was best that way: keep them dumbstruck and they would become even more dumbstruck later.
The pirate took hold of the crystal and examined it redundantly. It made him seem... Intelligent, knowledgeable, superior, which was exactly why he performed the useless action. Others would think there was some meaning, some purpose to it, while the purpose was them thinking that.
But there was nothing to see on the crystal, what he needed it for was to feel through it. He closed his eyes and opened himself up to the Khala the same way he usually did - By hiding pretty much all of him from it and projecting false thoughts instead. No one would enjoy finding the true him in the Khala, probably not even he himself. Actually, he'd probably enjoy it quite a bit.
He once again felt the mass panic, the mass fear, that he had felt before, but it was still distant and vague. He focused on the object in his hands, finding a connection so thin that even he almost missed it, and was able to follow it closer to the source of the massive wave of fear.
He stayed silent longer than necessary, mostly for dramatic effect, before he opened his eyes again and turned to Rassyr.
"{There's fear, mon. Lots of it. Fear of fire, fear of pain, fear of death. But most importantly... Fear of chaos. I take it ya didn't do somethin' crazy like bomb da council?}"
SoA
-Waiter, Erana and Rassyr have a little chat.
-The Order and Waiter are now aware that something has happened to the Imperium's Ruling Council. The exact details are still unknown but the role of violence is known.
-Waiter does his job.
Fear. It was everywhere, lurking just beneath the surface. Like a suppressed buoy, ready to break the water line. Most did not know it: it was just felt, a vague sense of unease and anxiety. But it was omnipresent. Such was the nature of the Khala. Even the centuries of neglect hadn't yet eliminated the almost involuntary pooling of emotion among Khalai. At least, Odranos thought, in the Imperium.
As for those who knew the source and reason of the fear, they were silent. Stunned. Afraid. Indecisive. Everything leaders should not be. The only reason Odranos wasn't criticizing the Council in the privacy of his own thoughts was that those same thoughts were far more preoccupied with what had happened.
Unlike his fellow Councilors, however, he was not dumbstruck. He was afraid, yes. And surprised. And many other things. But centuries of experience allowed him to push such obnoxious feelings out of the way and think.
So the rebels were cooperating with the zerg. It was not a coincidence. Somehow, the two factions had come to some sort of twisted agreement. No permanent alliance: that was too extreme, even for the Order. Perhaps they both wanted Erana out of the Imperium's grasp. Perhaps the zerg had merely wanted to harm the Imperium. Perhaps the zerg were somehow baited into attacking the convoy. It did not matter.
The implications were what mattered. The first zerg attack in four years had attacked ships carrying the one protoss most responsible for their defeat. It happened right in the middle of Imperial space, resulted in the destruction of four Imperial ships, the death of Executor Sevethrun and was coordinated with the Order. This was change. A turning point. Only a fool would think otherwise.
As if to confirm Odranos' thoughts, Khanyr decided to be the first to speak: "{We... we have known for a while now that the zerg could move freely within our space. Even though this latest incident was only a chance encounter it proves that our space is... insecure.}"
Odranos stared at Khanyr. It was amazing. In his fear of decisions, the old fool was choosing one fearful explanation over a worse alternative. He wanted to believe that the attack was a "chance encounter" so strongly that he ignored everything that proved otherwise: the facts, the probability, the obvious. He was so scared of a serious threat that Odranos could smell his fear. He was in denial. And the rest of the fools seemed to be relaxing now, as if they had all wanted to hear the same thing but were afraid of saying it.
For the first time in many years, Odranos felt himself becoming genuinely angry. Angry at the Council's stupidity, at their cowardice, angry that hundreds of protoss had died and these damn fools were attributing it to a chance encounter to avoid the fatal, black truth. Even Umar and Naren, the impulsive "warriors" of the Council, seemed to agree with Khanyr. Even they seemed to fear the zerg. Even they didn't want to face them. Even...
Odranos lowered all of his mental barriers. His rage spread from his being to the Khala like a flood of fire. The rest of the Council turned towards him, alerted by his unthinkable emotional surge. But before they could respond, before they could blame him for what had happened to Erana, as he knew they would, before they could spout more ignorant, imbecilic nonsense, he rose from his seat, violently and purposefully.
But he didn't get far. The ground shook beneath him. The chambers suddenly became cold, the air dry. For the briefest of moments, he could make out a crack in the middle of the room. And then, he was sent flying, almost blinded by brilliant blue light.
The last thing he saw was his shield giving out in a flurry of sparks. The last thing he felt was his body colliding with a wall. The last thing he knew was the briefest, most profound silence. Then the darkness closed in around him.
The rest of the escape carried the unmistakable air of a spoiled victory. Erana could sense it all too easily. The way the bridge crew avoided looking at her, kept their heads down and looked at nothing but their respective screens. The way Rassyr became silent and seemed to shrink after she told him how Sevethrun had taken away her nerve cords and, with them, her life. Only the terrans seemed happy during the debriefing.
Terrans didn't understand, of course. To them, a lost limb or organ was a physical handicap that was easy to repair. Terran invalids were still terrans: people. It was the same with protoss... unless you were a Khalai who had lost her nerve cords. Then it was completely different.
The nerve cords were a Khalai's connection to the Khala and the Khala was what made a Khalai a Khalai. Without them, a Khalai became insubstantial. Neither Khalai nor Nerazim but something alien, something weaker. An outsider. Repair was impossible: the nerve cords could be restored physically but their function never returned.
That was why Erana had gone from figurehead to something unknown. Protoss had died to save her and yet they hadn't saved her. They had saved someone who used to be her but was now a mere shell, a damaged body. And yet the shell did not behave as expected.
Most Khalai simply took their lives after losing their nerve cords: they no longer considered themselves alive. But Erana was as alive and as sharp as ever. She didn't have the luxury of being able to take her life in prison. Instead, she was forced to live with the silence. And in it, she found solace. In it, she found a new life. And while she still longed for the Khala's warmth, she immersed herself in the freezing depths of the Void. She observed the universe, fascinated by its laws and patterns. She had become tempered, not broken.
Perhaps this was what scared the Hawk's crew. That she wasn't broken. That she was still there and not begging for the Khala. They would get used to it. They were warriors. They would have to get used to it.
Because, beneath the layers of cold passivity and tempered thought, Praetor Erana was angry.
SoA
A filler/character development post. The Amadeus, Unnamed and Hawk are already back on Dras Lana. Chronologically, the post takes place before the return (since it is by no means crucial).
What were they thinking, flying into the trap like that? Khalos clenched his fists in frustration. Executor Sevethrun's words were still fresh in his mind: "I shall purge this infestation". Purge! As if this were some kind of purification mission! The trap had been obvious. The zerg had been waiting for them. They had known about the convoy. Not even a civilian would have mistaken the ambush as a chance encounter. It was a trap, a trap that had been sprung all too easily.
Khalos had refused to follow the Executor in his blind charge against the enemy. He was familiar with the zerg's tactics and even more familiar with the Executor's flaws. He had foreseen the spores, had kept his ship back and had urged the other commanders to do the same. But they hadn't listened to him. It had taken the impact of a zerg spore to stop Sevethrun's accusations of treason and force him to concentrate on the battle instead.
Now, the Imperial forces were in disarray. The Niflheim and the Augur had been hit by spores and were fighting a desperate battle against the zerg, both in space and inside the ships themselves. Flocks of zerg flyers were ravaging the ill prepared and outnumbered Imperium ships, destroying them with ruthless efficiency. The zerg were no doubt scouring the insides of the ships, searching for Erana and killing any protoss that got in their way.
Meanwhile, Khalos surveyed the battle from afar, keeping his own ship, the Envoy, out of zerg range. He could already see several protoss escape pods launch themselves away from the compromised ships. He briefly considered rescuing them but dismissed the idea. He had a battle to fight.
"{Praetor, we are detecting foreign warp-ins,}" Naxxar, his second-in-command informed him.
"{More zerg?}" Khalos asked, surprised.
"{No, praetor. These are protoss vessels.}"
"{What? Display them.}"
The screen in front of Khalos shifted from the main battlefield to show the new arrivals. Four ships. Two of which were colored a dark green. One of which Khalos knew all too well.
"{The Order,}" Khalos declared. There was no reply. The ship was silent, awaiting his orders. He mentally ordered the AI to bring up a map of the battlefield. It did so, showing the four new ships, spread out behind the Imperial convoy and away from the battle. Even as Khalos assessed the situation, the Order's flagships launched a large detachment of smaller vessels. The ships flew right past the Envoy, ignoring it completely. They made short work of a pathetic group of Imperium fighters sent to stop them and made right for the Augur. As if they knew where Erana was.
Khalos' eyes narrowed as they darted back and forth across the screen, assessing the situation. The Order was clearly staying away from the zerg and it looked like it was avoiding conflict in general. It was planning on grabbing Erana and getting out as quickly as possible. And if the zerg were on the same ship...
"{Prepare the ship for maneuvering. I want us circling the battlefield, away from the Order, not charging into it. Deploy all our phoenixes, scouts and observers,}" he ordered and immediately saw the ship turn on the map. The fleet of fighters it stored was released and assembled in a defensive formation around the ship.
"{Prepare all weapons.}"
"{Our target, praetor?}"
Khalos hesitated. He knew that what he was about to do was risky and dangerous, even treacherous. But he also knew that he could not allow Erana to fall into enemy hands and that the convoy stood little chance against the combined assault of the rebels and the zerg.
"{Target the Augur. All fighter vessels are to make for the Augur and fire at it in the absence of enemy flyers.}" His order was met with a stunned silence.
"{T-the Augur, praetor? Surely, you me-}"
"{Yes, the Augur. A-u-g-u-r. You understood correctly,}" he said, irritated. Nothing happened. He sighed inwardly.
"{Both the zerg and the rebels are obviously here to capture Erana. At this rate, that will almost certainly happen. We cannot allow it. The Augur is already badly damaged. If we threaten to destroy it along with Erana, the enemy will be forced to call off their assault or lose their prize.}"
"{And if they do not? What if they simply try to secure the prisoner as quickly as possible? What if they think our threat a bluff?}"
There was a pause, a moment of silence. All eyes rested on Khalos.
"{Then a dead Erana is better than a captured one,}" he said.
"{But the Executor is on the Augur! If we destroyed it, he would... would...}" Naxxar's sentence was completed by a surge of emotion. Revulsion, fear.
"{I will face the consequences of such an act, not you Naxxar. But it is you who will be punished if you disobey me or hesitate one more time. It has been a while since I was last forced to cut off a nerve cord. Do you wish to change that?}" Khalos threatened, angered. They were wasting time. There was no retort. He could sense Naxxar's anger receding, replaced by a horde of other emotions, among them fear. He turned around to look at the bridge. It was quiet, once again awaiting his orders.
"{Good,}" he said, satisfied, and turned back to face the screen. It displayed a battlefield little changed since the last time he had last seen it. The zerg forces were pounding on the Augur and Niflheim, repeatedly scattering the meager fleets defending them. The Order had moved closer to the Augur and was flying in a sort of wall formation, the ships switching between a front and back row. If protoss could smile, Khalos would have. This was what he was. A warrior. Years on New Aiur, silent, bored. And now...
"{Now... target the area around the zerg spore and order the fighter craft to do the same. Fire in volleys, wait for my command before firing each volley. Be ready to stop firing at any moment.} This time, the crew scrambled to obey his orders. Screens and crystals lit up, information was exchanged, orders were transmitted. The first volley was fired.
A mix of missiles and particle disruptor fire slammed into the hole of the Augur's hull that had been made by the zerg spore, followed by the Envoy's own barrage of projectiles. The resulting explosion sent hundreds of pieces of metal and spore flying off into space, some of them colliding with nearby protoss fighters and zerg flyers.
"{Wait,}" Khalos said before the next volley was fired. He watched for movement, a reaction from the zerg. Nothing came.
"{Fire,}" he ordered. Again, the Augur was hit, releasing volumes of debris and gas into space. The ship shook visibly and violently. Nearby flyers were knocked away by the plume of debris, some of them destroyed on the spot. This time, however, the zerg responded. The two leviathans that had been fighting the Augur and Niflheim stopped attacking and made directly for the Envoy, leaving behind only half of their forces to deal with the two damaged ships.
"{Stop firing and recall half our fighters. I want them around the ship, bubble formation. The rest are to engage the zerg flyers around the Augur. Order the troop carrier to deploy its own phoenixes and follow us away from the leviathans. Prioritize evasion and defense. We want to drag the enemy away from the Augur, not engage them. Contact the Imperial forces in Ilyr and request immediate reinforcements.}"
"{Yes, praetor,}" this time, Naxxar's voice had no hint of doubt in it. It was pure loyalty and unquestioning trust. Khalos nodded to himself. It had been far too long.
SoA:
Praetor Khalos' ship (the Envoy) and fleet fire at the Augur (the flagship carrying Erana) and succeed in dragging the Nirogg leviathans away from the ships.
Reinforcements have been called from Ilyr. 2 ICs until arrival. 2 flagships and their cargo.
There was nothing ceremonious about their arrival or their reception. As soon as their medivacs landed in the planet's capital and only city, they were quickly escorted away from the landing zone and towards the interior of the settlement. The efficiency and lack of hospitality, combined with the silence of the protoss that received them angered Grell: he felt like a dumb animal being lead to a slaughterhouse. He would rather walk into the building with his CMC suit and Rifle or atleast his Magnum or knife, but the protoss calling himself Waiter had explicitly told him not to bring any weapons.
He looked around himself. Waiter, Captai- Cap'n Doom and the four other pirates that had joined them seemed to be at ease with the protoss. Next to him, Mike seemed to be paying more attention to the buildings they were passing than the protoss they were following. He sighed and kept walking resigned to the silence so thick he could almost smell it.
Eventually they approached what seemed to be the biggest building in the city, though Grell had seen hundreds of terran buildings that dwarfed it. The building was roughly dome-shaped and made of dull metal that looked more like brass than the gold terrans associated the protoss with. This, together with the unkempt look of the streets they were walking through gave Grell the impression that this "Order" wasn't exactly the mightiest protoss faction around.
"{Ya know, I'm not tha only that can read yo mind.}" Grell was abit surprised at the sudden “contact” of waiter, but soon adjusted.
"What do you mean?" he asked, breaking the silence, but soon realized that talking through his mind would better suit the occasion.
What do you mean? he repeated, noticing that the Order protoss were looking at him.
"{Tha Order may not be as powerful as tha Empire, but tha' doesn' mean they don't fight their hardest. Yo snap judgments are insultin' 'em. Careful what ya think mon.}"
Sure, Ill keep that in mind. Grell thought and he noticed that the protoss stopped glancing at him. After another half-minute of walking, they reached one of the entrances to the dome. The door slid open and they entered, leaving behind all but one of their escort.
"{Follow me,}" the protoss said and continued on ahead of them. They passed through three more doors and Grell noticed that each one was more heavily guarded than the last, starting with what looked like one cannon and ending with two protoss warriors and enough static guns to bring down a Thor. Finally, they entered a large elevator and climbed to what Grell thought was the very top of the dome.
The doors opened without a sound and their escort stepped to the side.
"{Master Rassyr will see you now.}" They exited the elevator and entered what looked like a waiting room. Another door opened immediately and Grell followed the others into a large circular room with a table in the middle: a meeting room. Around the table were a number of large chairs, three of which were already occupied by protoss. One of the protoss rose from his seat upon seeing the newcomers.
"{Ah, Cap'n Doom and Waiter. En Taro Tassadar. We've been expecting you. Do take a seat.}" There was nothing offensive or threatening about the protoss' psionic voice but the look he gave Grell and Mike, not to mention the fact that they hadn't been addressed, angered Grell. It took a mental nudge from Waiter to keep the emotion in check.
"{Ya've met Kenny, Swallows and Sparrows. Dis here's Kosh,}" Waiter said, pointing towards the man in the brown suit, "{And this be Grell and Mike. They be the leaders of the terran mercenaries we hired.}" They all sat down.
The protoss looked at Grell again. This time, his eyes were less demeaning and more... calculative. Grell stared right back at him, not blinking once.
"{I see,}" he said and then took his eyes away from Grell. "{Since you have so kindly introduced your own companions, I shall now introduce my guests. Ambassador Kelanin of the Exiled Tribes.}" the protoss gestured at one of the other protoss, "{and Templar Raznar of the Tama tribe.}" Grell noticed that the second protoss had his nerve cords bundled behind his head, unlike Kelanin and...
"{For those of you who don't know me, I am Rassyr, leader of Erana's Order,}" their host said, "{But enough with the pleasantries. We have matters of great importance to discuss.}" Suddenly, a holograph appeared above the center of the table. Grell immediately recognized it as a starmap.
"{As you already know... or perhaps don't know, we have been informed that the Imperium will be transferring Praetor Erana to the planet of Vetras in two days time. So far, we have been able to discover that four flagships will form part of the transfer convoy. However, details regarding the fleets and their commanders have proven... elusive.}"
"So we're hitting blind?" Grell asked. Rassyr looked at him, his eyes narrowing.
"{Grell, I assure you that our forces have had sufficient experience fighting the Imperium to be able to handle whatever the Imperium throws our way. It is your forces' ability to fight that I am worried about.}"
"{I am fairly sure Commander Grell is aware of both the Order's abilities and his forces' lack of experience with the Imperium. I, for one, interpret his question as a request for information, not a complaint,}" the words came from Ambassador Kelanin and stopped Grell from making a retort of his own. He turned to look at the ambassador.
"{As I have already told Master Rassyr, the Exiled under my command are fully ready to aid you in this assault.}"
"Really? I thought you guys bailed out?" Doom said. He drained the bottle of rum he had been holding and wiped his beard, all while staring at the ambassador.
"{Correction. It is our Council that "bailed out". The heart of the Exiled is still very much with the Order. After all, it is only right that allies aid allies. I, for one, consider everyone present an ally,} Kelanin replied, seemingly without missing a beat. Grell had to hand it to the ma- protoss: he knew how to talk.
"{We, the Tama, will assist you in what way we can,}" Raznar added.
"Well that's all fine and dandy but we ain't heard no plan yet," Doom said, draining another bottle of rum he had procured from who knew where. There a moment of silence in which Rassyr stood up and leaned towards the hologram. The starmap shifted to show a more detailed layout of what Grell took to be protoss space.
"{The plan has changed little since the last time Waiter and I spoke. Your ships will patrol the sides of the direct route from Khasan to Ilyr to ensure that the convoy is taking the predicted path and does not slip out of our grasp. Our forces and the terran mercenaries commanding the newly built vessel will lie in wait and attack the convoy when it is as far as possible from both systems.}"
“So, they're hiring me, why no action from them?" he asked, confused at the idea.
"{We can't interfere directly. If tha Imperium finds out we helped with tha attack, it would strain relationships with the Coalition, possibly leading to a war. We don't want that. You don't want that,}" Waiter explained, adding a menacing tone to the last sentence as if to warn Grell.
"Alright, three against four sounds fair to me."
"{Four against four. Another of our Order will be joining us though his current whereabouts are unknown. Ambassador Kelanin was the last one to speak to him,}" Rassyr answered.
"Alright, four against four should make things easy, now I'm guessing this is just a qucik snatch n' run, not sending em all to hell right?"
"{A quick snatch n' run. Yes, that is an accurate way of putting it.}" Rassyr seemed to chuckle as he used the term. "{But that does not mean we won't have to fight. Commander Grell, I trust your troops are battle ready? For there will be battle, both inside the ships and outside.}"
Grell leaned forward, a grin coming across his face."I will promise you my men are one-hundred percent ready to kick some ass! Now all we need to do is get to that ship, the rest is the precision job of infiltration, and killing."
With that the meeting continued with small details on the job at hand. Afterwords Grell got Mike off of a conversation with a protoss and they both took their leave to the protoss ship to get ready.
SoA:
Grell, Mike, Kenny, and Darth Waiter went to Order base and discuss in simple, the plan of capturing the Order's captured leader.
Khalos trailed behind the others, bored out of his mind. He hadn't wanted to come and see the security upgrades on the ship meant to carry Erana but the Executor had been adamant about it. According to him, commanders had to be familiar with what the were protecting but Khalos knew that there was a part of the Executor that wanted to sow superiority and dominance over his subordinates. Showing off the improvements to the ship he was going to command for no more than a few days was one way of flaunting his rank. The elaborate armor he wore was another.
"{The forcefields can be triggered by all personnel or only a select few, as dictated by the commander. The range in which the order can be given, however, is limited to seven meters, though the bridge can control all forcefields and doors regardless of distance,}" the leading engineer explained, illustrating his words by turning a nearby forcefield on and off.
"{How long can it last?}" Executor Sevethrun asked.
"{That depends. It can be held as long as there is power but it can be destroyed. The small surface area ensures that it cannot be destroyed too quickly.}"
"{And if it is destroyed? Can it be replaced?}"
"{With a small downtime, yes. However, if even one of the four crystals used to generate a forcefield is destroyed, it cannot be generated. Nonetheless, the forcefields will slow down the enemy, if not stop them completely. And one would need to know how the forcefields work to disable them.}"
"{Indeed,}" Sevethrun said, nodding in agreement.
Except the rebels were part of the Imperium once and knew the workings of Imperial technology Khalos thought to himself, carefully shielding his mind.
"{The floors are pressure sensitive. All movement can be tracked from the bridge and any kind of cloaking is rendered useless.}"
Except you don't have to walk on the floor. And you don't have to walk to exert pressure. It went on like that for half an hour, with the engineer pointing out the new security upgrades, Executor Sevethrun praising them and Khalos privately pointing out flaws and thinking up methods of bypassing them. From auto-turrets that could be turned against the defender to doors that were nearly impossible to open but all too easy to breach, Khalos concluded that their best defense was the fact that the rebels did not know about the transfer.
"{And finally, the reason for the upgrade,}" the lead engineer said and then gestured towards what looked like an ordinary wall. Suddenly, what looked to be seamless metal parted, a straight line separating equal lengths of the wall. The separate sections of wall slid in opposite directions, revealing a metal blast door. This door also opened and was followed by another two pairs of blast doors. Khalos had to admit, the system was impressive. The metal was thick and he could sense scanners continuously examining the group, ensuring that they were allowed to enter. The chamber on the other side was better protected than the ship itself.
"{Executor, you will be the only one with the ability to open this chamber via mental command. It contains another three photon cannons and an emergency escape pod should the need for escape arise, though I assure that it will not. The stasis tube itself can only be opened through a DNA and psionic signature scan. Do test this, Executor.}"
Sevethrun nodded and stepped forward, putting his hand on a small blue panel next to a cylindrical protrusion from the wall. There was a hiss and the metal encasing the protrusion opened vertically, revealing a large stasis tank. And in it: Erana.
SoA
The ship meant to house Erana during the transfer receives a security upgrade.
Amar watched with anticipation as the modified cargo vessel approached the wall of plasma that was the Great Wave. On any other day, at any other time, this would have looked like a suicide mission, a death wish. But in this particular case, it wasn't. Well, at least it wasn't an intentional one.
The vessel slowly began to turn towards the left, preparing to brush the side of the ever-expanding supernova. The view on the screen shifted to show the ship from a different angle and Amar clenched his fists. He knew that he and his group of scientists were thousands of kilometers away from the Great Wave. He knew that the ship he was watching was unmanned. He knew that neither he nor the others were in any danger whatsoever.
But that did not stop the enormous supernova shell from inspiring both awe and fear in him. Here was something truly big. Something that not even their toughest designs could survive. Something that could kill - had killed - but couldn't shed tears. Something that didn't feel. Something bigger than both the protoss and the zerg and the Imperium and the Exiled and their conflicts. Here was a mystery. And they were here to tame it. Not explicitly but-
"{Estimate: Contact in twenty seconds,}" the AI's robotic voice echoed in his mind and he could feel the others begin the countdown in their own heads. He joined them, adding his own mix of anxiety, fear, excitement and curiosity to their mental connection. This was their first trial in two months and their first ever trial using an actual ship. And if it worked... oh, if it worked! And if it didn't...
"{Estimate: Contact in five, four, three, two, one.}" All eyes were glued to the screen as the vessel and supernova touched. For half a second, nothing happened. And then, the plasma started coiling itself around the ship, like a wave collapsing in on itself as it entered shallow waters. The plasma continued to spiral, obscuring the vessel from view, enveloping it.
One second passed. Then two. Three. Four. And then, just as they were about to lose hope, the cargo ship emerged from the death wall, the inanimate killer, the cosmic destroyer. It may have been no more than a glorified cargo vessel but to Amar it was Kharun's Flame as it battled the Tama, Tassadar's Gantrithor of legend as it descended upon the zerg. The ship looked like a missile as it accelerated away from the supernova shell, leaving a trail of orange-glowing plasma in its wake, apparently unaffected by the Great Wave's infernal interior.
"{Shields at 25%,}" the AI proclaimed. The jubilation that met the statement eclipsed all else.
OOC: @onslaughtbear: Your ship has only been spotted so far. The Imperium hasn't sent its forces out just yet. You can still run away. Count yourself lucky.
Khasan System
"{Show me.}"
"{Yes, Prelate.}"
The screen in front of the imposing Khalai templar shifted to show the image of a protoss carrier. It was not moving yet but showed all the signs of preparing for a warp jump.
"{The Order. As I thought. Up to their underhanded, dishonorable tricks again. Attacking the defenseless and scurrying away like zerg when detected,}" the templar's mental voice trembled with anger as he spoke.
"{Prelate, the ship has almost completed its warp jump preparations. Shall we pursue it?}"
"{Of course. Inform the Council that Order operatives likely to be responsible for the desecration of the monument to the Founders have been detected and that we are giving chase. I will not let criminals infringe on our borders and escape unscathed. All templar ready for warp jump.}
Council Meeting Chambers, Aurun, New Aiur, Khasan System
Odranos surveyed the rest of the Council with a lazy eye. They were talking among themselves, discussing the issue in the groups Odranos was so familiar with. He could see Khanyr and Malyr shift uneasily as they conversed while Umar and Naren nodded vigorously, no doubt planning the Order's swift downfall.
"{I take it you have thoughts of your own on this recent... development?}" Arali's question half-startled Odranos. It was not like her to talk in public, much less begin conversations with other Council members without prior warning.
"{What makes you think that?}" Odranos asked, effortlessly concealing his surprise.
"{You are the one who suggested this course of action. It is only reasonable that you would have envisioned every possible outcome and accounted for it prior to even discussing theidea with the rest of the Council. After all, you are not Umar.}"
Odranos chuckled at her comment. "{Arali, I did not know you could sting.}" He felt a wave of emotions from the Khalai female. Mirth, embarrassment... guilt?
"{I am a patron of the arts. It would be strange if I could not jest. But that is besides the point.}"
"{Indeed.}" Odranos responded and then addressed the Council as a whole: "{Councillor Arali has inquired as to whether I had foreseen and prepared for the inconvenience I am sure all of you are currently discussing.}" There was silence as the eyes of the Council turned towards him.
"{Since the transfer of former Praetor Erana was my idea to begin with, it is only natural that I had accounted for any future developments. However, let me inform you that the recent sighting of an Order ship in our system was something I did not foresee}"
A wave of surprise washed over Odranos but he spoke before he could be interrupted.
"{Allow me to tell you why. It has been little over a week since the traitorous rebels assaulted what is perhaps our most important historical monument. It has been a little less than a week since we decided to transfer the traitor Erana to Vetras. It has been barely an hour since Prelate Erios notified us of the presence of a hostile ship in our system. Given the recent arrival of Executor Sevethrun and the flagship from Khasyn, it is only natural to suspect that the rebels have noticed that something is afoot.
However, let me ask you this. What would be more suspicious? Recalling our troops to a recently assaulted capital or leaving it as undefended as it was when the attack took place? Would it not be more logical for the enemy to assume their attack has worked to such an extent that it has forced us to reinforce our capital? Let us not forget that these rebels underestimate us. How else could they maintain the hope of defeating us? They think us paranoid, incompetent, stupid!
This is why I did not foresee this. Not out of negligence but out of the assurance that, were it to happen, it would mean nothing. Nothing. The rebels underestimate us and in doing so cripple their own thinking, their own intelligence. I assure you that the transfer can proceed as planned for were the rebels half as intelligent enough to see through our plans this easily, I would not have suggested this course of action.}" Odranos spoke more through emotions than words, driving the point of his argument home with bursts of anger and contempt. He turned to Arali.
"{Does that answer you question, Arali?} he asked. A moment of silence. A nod.
SoA:
An Imperium flagship gives chase to Opheilm. Its speed is the same as the Amadeus' but it can call reinforcements to intercept. Assume that travel time has been proceeding normally from onslaught's post.
The Council discusses the sighting of the Amadeus and decides not to delay Erana's transfer.
I would love to argue with you and point out the flaws in your arguments but it seems Eiviyn has already summarized everything I wanted to prove in one sentence:
"{Is that really necessary?}" Rassyr asked as he and the templar-turned-pirate paced the corridors of the Order's headquarters.
"{In the eyes of the Council, it would certainly eliminate the possibility of terran involvement. Terrans in a protoss ship look a lot more like hired mercenaries than terrans in a terran ship. The Council's bias towards your Order would only further this belief,}" Waiter responded in his emotionless, Nerazim voice.
"{I don't understand,} Rassyr said, shaking his head.
"{Reliance upon terrans would fit into the Imperium's perception of your Order. They do not think highly of you. The only thing that would truly surprise them would be cooperation with the zerg. And even there they would find logic and a weapon to use against you.}" There was a brief silence. Then:
"{I can't say I take pride in having to hire mercenaries to do our job for us. However, it is the Imperium that has forced us to take these measures and we have few other options, none of which are wise. Have you actually found these mercenaries or are you still searching for them?}"
"{We are still searching. Had we found them, we would not be having this conversation. There are not many terrans willing to venture into protoss space, at least not with the aim of attacking protoss.}"
"{I am not surprised. Our might is not something a measly terran fleet can handle head-on. Do you require aid in the construction of this ship?}"
"{Only in the form of instruction and schematics. We have already procured the materials necessary for the vessel.}"
"{Is that so?}" there was a badly concealed hint of surprise in Rassyr's mental voice and Waiter picked up on it all too easily.
"{Seeing as I just said so, probably,}" the Nerazim answered. Rassyr's eyes narrowed at this and he stopped walking.
"{I shall inform the others of this and instruct a group of engineers to accompany you back to Domus. As you may already know, the Exiled tribes have agreed to assist with the operation meaning we will definitely have the firepower needed to destroy the Imperium's fleet. En Taro Tassadar,}" he said, indicating that the meeting was over.
"{En Taro Tassadar, Rassyr,}" Waiter answered. As the two went off in opposite directions, he thought to himself: Firepower. As if that's what it's about.
Khasan System
The lone observer drifted through the dark rim of the Khasan system as dim and inactive as it had been for the past few decades. And then something caught its single robotic eye.
Suddenly, the robot sparked to life, unfolding its gravitic boosters and adjusting its course. OX-73, eye of the Imperium, had spotted something unusual.
SoA:
Rassyr and Darth Waiter discuss the Erana mission. A group of Erana's Order engineers is instructed to accompany Waiter.
An Imperium observer is activated after thirty years of aimlessly orbiting the Khasan system.
"{You may enter.}" The two guards stepped aside and the door they were guarding irised open. Khalos stepped through it, leaving the brightly lit hallway and entering a cool, dimly-lit room. The door closed behind him silently and the light from the hallway was replaced by what little light came in through the large window opposite him.
Khalos walked towards the window, ignoring the rest of the room. Through it he saw Aurun, the planet's capital, spread out far, far beneath him, like a sea of darkness filled with millions of lights. From such a great height, and with such dim lighting, he could only make out the city's most prominent features: the Council Chambers, the Citadel and the Founders' Monument, which was badly damaged as a result of the recent attack.
"{Appreciating your home, Praetor?}" The thought came from somewhere behind him, as cool and dry as a Nerazim's. Khalos did not turn around or flinch as Councillor Odranos joined him. Instead, he kept his eyes fixed on the city below him.
"{Aurun is not my home, Councillor,}" he answered, his mental voice matching the Councillor's neutrality to keep the feeling of surprise out of it.
"{It is not? I am under the impression that you haven't moved from the planet in the past three years. Am I mistaken?}" This statement surprised Khalos as much as Councillor's first question.
"{No, of course not. But merely staying in one place for a prolonged period of time does not make it one's home.}"
"{But you are used to Aurun?}"
"{Yes, Councillor.}"
"{Tired of it?}"
Khalos hesitated before replying. "{Councillor?}"
"{You have not moved from New Aiur in the past three years. It is only natural that someone of your talents and experience would find the... immobility sickening, especially when others of the same rank and profession are as mobile as ever. For instance, did you know Executor Sevethrun returned to New Aiur only yesterday?}" The Councillor's sentence ended in a way which invited inquiry, despite its lack of emotion. Khalos turned to face the protoss.
"{The Executor is here?}"
"{So it would seem. He has been recalled in order to coordinate what the Council deems a top priority mission.}"
"{What mission?}"
"{Did you know that, had it not been for your relationship with a certain treacherous Praetor, it would be you and not Sevethrun who would be the current Executor of the Imperium's forces?}"
Once again, Khalos was taken aback by the Councillor's questions.
"{What? My relationship with... Erana?}"
"{Yes. The Council deemed it too dangerous to let you assume control over the Imperium's military. A tragic flaw.}"
Khalos suppressed a surge of anger.
"{While I do not agree with all of praetor Erana's actions, to say that she was a bad commander would be a lie. And to deem a superficial military relationship a genuine threat to the Imperium is, in my honest opinion, paranoid folly,}" he said it before he could stop himself and immediately wished for more self control. The Councillor's blue eyes flared.
"{Praetor Erana committed a crime against her people when she handed over the Arken and the technology used to create it to the terran Coalition. In doing so, she put us at the mercy of the terrans and destroyed any chances we had of driving the zerg out of Eurim. However, when I said 'a tragic flaw', I was referring to the Council.}"
Khalos' anger disappeared as quickly as it had come and was replaced by surprise.
"{You think the Council incompetent?}" he asked. Odranos seemed to think for a minute. Then:
"{Do you?}"
Before Khalos could reply, the Councillor continued.
"{While Executor Sevethren is heading Erana's transfer from New Aiur to Vetras, it does not mean he will go unaccompanied. After all, this is a top priority mission. Expect to leave the confines of our capital soon, Praetor.}" As soon as he had finished talking, the doors to the Councillor's room opened again, filling it with the hallway's orange light. Seeing that the Councillor had said what he had wanted to say, Khalos thanked him and left.
SoA:
(Repost): Introducing Praetor Khalos. Talk about Erana's transfer.
"{You have discussed the situation with Ambassador Kelanin?}"
"{I have. The talks were a somewhat... unexpected success.}"
"{Much as I appreciate them, I am afraid I do not have time for your personal comments and opinions.}"
"{I apologize, Patriarch. Ambassador Kelanin offered his personal assistance with the operation.}"
On the screen, Patriarch Myr's eyes seemed to widen.
"{Kelanin wishes to participate?}"
"{I was as surprised as you are, Patriarch. However, that seems to be the case. He volunteered to help. I cannot imagine the Exiled Council will be pleased with his decision but they will have to accept it if they want our forces to remain in Idum.}"
There was a long, thoughtful silence. Not a useless one. U'lun knew that both he and the Patriarch were analyzing the situation from every possible angle, trying to find motives, reasons, possibilities.
"{Very well. I will inform Praetor Armul of this and instruct him to offer a portion of his forces as aid to Ambassador Kelanin. Inform the Ambassador of this. En Taro Tassadar.}"
"{En Taro Tassadar, Patriarch,}" U'lun said an terminated the connection.
SoA:
Ambassador U'lun informs Patriarch Myr of Kelanin's decision. Patriarch Myr orders the Tama fleet to stay in Idum and send 10 dark templar to help Kelanin with the mission (they will take up 20 of your cargo which is how much you have left if I am correct). Both U'lun and Patriarch Myr are surprised by Kelanin's decision.
Opheilm is one of the young Dark Templars that was with Zeratul when the latter first met with Tassadar. Initially not trusting the Khalai Protoss, Opheilm was against Zeratul aiding Tassadar as he carries a huge resentment against the Conclave. After witnessing Tassadar's devotion to the future of the Protoss, and his views about both light and dark, Opheilm gradually grew to respect Tassadar as a great leader and as someone who is able to bring the gap between the 2 sides. However, this all changed when Aldaris made the announcement that Tassadar was a traitor and has no longer any say in the Conclave.
Resentment against the Conclave began to fill Opheilm again as he believes that the Conclave were stuck on old ideals that will just lead to their downfall. Regardless, he still greatly respects Tassadar as an individual and continues to serve him. His experiences with Tassadar, Raynor and Fenix has convinced him that both of their races can work together for the greater good.
However, everything changed for him when during the final battle of the overmind, whereby, Tassadar sacrificed himself to destroy the overmind. Not understanding fully why Tassadar would willingly sacrifice himself for these foolish Protoss, Opheilm's resentment for the Conslave grew into hatred as he believes that it shouldn't have been Tassadar that died that day.
Background - Brood War
While aiding the Protoss in the escape to Shakuras, before the Warp Gate was shut down, Opheilm was knocked unconscious by the Zerg, not before managing to kill his attacker. When he woke up, he found himself at Shakuras, battered and injured. While the Dark Templar and protoss refugees were assaulting the Zerg on Shakuras, Opheilm chose to run away from it all. Disillusioned and weary from conflict, he boarded his shuttle and went into cold sleep, drifting into the sea of stars...
Unknown to him, while drifting aimlessly, his shuttle has been sucked into a random wormhole that connects the Koprulu sector to the Eurim sector. Opheilm just continued to be in cold sleep, as though this is what he wants.
Centuries after WoL
The shuttle continued drifting until it was too close to the Planet Khasan and was sucked into it due to its gravitional pull and in part, the poor maintenance of the shuttle. This woke Opheilm up from his slumber. Realizing that he was surrounded by a megalopolis of Protoss settlements, he went ahead and made contact with them, and since he was a Dark Templar, he was given a scouting position in the army. He soon came to understand that The Ancestral Imperium of Protoss is exactly the same as the Protoss Conclave led by the Khalai. This brought back up painful memories and once again, stirred up ambivalent feelings of hatred and loss within him.
It was then he met the Praetor Erana whom reminded him very much of Tassadar. It was through Erana that he managed to find a source of peace in this sector hostile to him just because of his caste. He found Erana's views of racial segregation and the Dark Templar to be very similiar to Tassadar and vowed his alligence to Erana - the same way that Zeratul had once sworn to help Tassadar. Since then, Opheilm has been acting as a slient guardian to Erana, overseeing everything that goes around Erana.
Not too long later, the Zerg invaded and Opheilm proved himself as a Master scout during the war, the battles and experiences that he faced during his time at the Koprulu sector gave him much exposure to the Zerg and their tactics. His timely and accurate reports saved the lives of countless of Protoss and even at times, allowed them to turn the tide of battle, earning him the nickname "Shadow"
Despite his efforts, the overwhelming concentrated numbers of the Zerg still proved to be too formidable against the divided unity of the Protoss. It was then that Praetor Erana managed to get all the different tribes of Protoss and even the Terrans to work together against their common enemy. This brought back memories of the alliance between Zeratul, Tassadar and Raynor. In Praetor Erana, Opheilm saw Tassadar. He envisioned himself as Zeratul and the Terran as Raynor's Raiders. Except that this time, "Tassadar" didn't die after the war.
After the Battle Of Arken
Despite being a Dark Templar, Opheilm was given the rank of Praetor after the war for his heroic exploits. However, on the day where he was awarded Praetor, The Imperium arrested Erana and stripped the rank of Praetor away from Erana. It dawned on him that he was awarded Praetor to fill in the gap in the conclave that Erana once held.
Opheilm realized that being a Praetor, he would have a say regarding racial segregation and other conservative laws that the regime has and he would be able to carry on Erana's views, but he may very well lose a close friend whom he sworn to protect. Against his better judgement, he chose to stay on as a Praetor. Despite being made Praetor and openly voicing out his views, the Imperium's disdain and ostracize against Dark Templar and the Nerazim hasn't changed and slowly, he became disillusioned again. It was at this time he thought of what Zeratul would have done, and he fell to his knees in remorse and mortification.
Erana's Order
During this time, he left his Praetor position and joined Erana's Order, for a chance of redemption. There, he found the solace that he needed and has always dreamed of. There wasn't any Racial Segregation, both light and dark fought for the same cause. Although he initial faced some disapproval from members as he chose to become a Praetor instead of rescuing Erana that day, his abilities and judgement has earned the respect of everyone in the order. His sole motivation for going on now is Erana, whom he sees as a figure of Tassadar. He has since taken on a new oath, and vowed Erana will not die while he is still holds breath.
Personality
Opheilm likes to work alone or work with a selected few people that he trusts. Years of resentment and hatred has taken a toll on his mental state, leading him to be cynical towards others. Although it takes long to earn Opheilm's trust, once its earned, it will not be broken easily. After the events of Tassadar, He disdains taking away the life of both Protoss and Terran, as he has witnessed the mutual cooperation between both sides, however that does not go for Zerg. He fights the Zerg with a fevour unlike any other, and will stop at nothing to kill these abominations.
Blink -
Energy - Nil,
Cooldown: 10 seconds
Studying from his mentor, Zeratul, Opheilm is able to mimic his blink ability to 100% efficiency.
Twilight -
Energy - 0.9 per second
Advanced cloaking techniques enable Opheilm to move around without the "cloak blimp" being seen at the map
Expel -
Energy - 75
Using Psionic techinques, Opheilm is able to push a group of units back to range 6 from Opheilm. This ability shoots out as an AoE cone that extends from Opheilm Massive units are not affected. Cannot affect structures, but air units are effected. No damage is dealt.
Surreal Hallucination -
Energy - 50 (Per Illusion, Max 4 illusions)\ Picking up a few tricks from Tassadar, Opheilm is able to create 1 hallucination of himself instantly. These hallucinations differ in the fact that they possesses the same intelligence and will as Opheilm and lasts twice as longer. These hallucinations are used as more of a messenger then to actually distract enemies
Assassinate -
Energy - 100
Every Dark Templar is trained in the art of assassination. Opheilm is no different. Deals 225(+75 to massive) damage to a single target at melee range. However, Opheilm must not be revealed by any detectors while using this skill.
Heaven's Web Energy - 75 Cooldown: 10 seconds
Using the technology from the corsairs, Amagumo is able to launch a disruption web which disables structure type units from attacking for 20 seconds. Radius of 3. Range of 9 (MTs have range 8 when upgraded)
Supersonic Energy - 25
Cooldown: 30 Seconds
Charges : 5
Turns all thrusters of Amagumo to 150% power. Dashes the Amagumo for 10 Range in the timeframe of 1 second. However, this ability has 5 charges in which 1 will be used each time. Replenishing of charges can only be done either through repairs, or by docking at a stargate.
"{Praetor Armul, preparations have been finalized. Our fleet is ready to leave the system}"
There was a moment of silence in which Zhedril waited anxiously for the Praetor's response.
"{Do you know what this means? Violating the treaty?}" came the response.
"{We are not the first to break it. The Exiled have done it many times before and we have not objected so I see no reason for them to do so now.}" Zhedril replied without missing a heartbeat. The significance of their actions had been going through his head the entire day and this was merely an opportunity to speak out.
"{I am not talking about justification, Zhedril. I am referring to how this reflects our tribe's relationship with the Exiled as of late.}" Armul replied as quickly as Zhedril had. Had he anticipated such a response?
"{Praetor?}" Zhedril asked, not knowing how else to respond. There was another, longer moment of silence.
"{No. It is nothing. Inform the Exiled of our imminent departure. You are dismissed.}"
Planet Paleora, Idum System
"{Master!}"
Kelanin gave the mental equivalent of a sigh and looked up from his ongoing experiment to see one of his students enter the lab.
"{What is it now, Daelash?}" he asked, only remembering the student's name because they had conversed the previous day. Daelash rose his right arm to reveal a slim tablet and handed it to Kelanin.
"{An urgent message from the Council. I was only told to bring it to you, not what it was about,}" the student explained.
"{Is that so?}" Kelanin said absentmindedly, his fingers already tapping away at the storage tablet's crystal surface in order to access the message. The tablet flashed twice and then played a recorded psionic message:
"{Greetings, Ambassador Kelanin. About an hour ago, the Tama fleet present on Thanus informed us that they would depart the system in less than a day's time. This not only violates the Zamar Treaty but also exposes our capital to the Imperium. A meeting has been arranged between you and the Tama ambassador. Do all that is within your power to rectify this situation. Do not fail us.}" The tablet went dark.
"{Well, what did it say?}" Daelash asked, not containing his curiosity. Kelanin's shoulder's slumped as he looked back at his student.
"{I am to meet with Ambassador U'lun immediately. Please clean up after me,}" he answered, gesturing at his experiment as he left the laboratory.
SoA:
The Tama fleet positioned on Thanus, Idum system as part of the Zamar Treaty (an alliance between the Exiled Tribes and the Tama Tribe) has announced that it will depart the system promptly, leaving behind a stationary ground force which would be unable to defend the rest of the system in the case of an attack.
The Exiled Tribes Council has "asked" Ambassador Kelanin to rectify the situation. The Tama fleet is under direct orders of Patriarch Myr and is not acting independently.
Black smoke mingled with white clouds while explosions echoed off in the distance. Bodies and debris littered the streets and parts of the city were still on fire. From his vantage point, Khanyr could clearly see blue sparks of electricity jumping from building to building where the capital's power grid had been damaged.
However, he paid no heed to the physical chaos and destruction before him. He was far too busy dealing with the emotional turmoil taking place inside his own head. Wave after wave of wild and untamed emotions hit him as the planet plunged deeper and deeper into chaos, filling the Khala with the fear, confusion, anger and grief of thousands of protoss.
The force of the onslaught was almost physical, forcing him to hold onto the railing in front of him as if his life depended on it. It was too much. Far, far too much...
"{That was chaos. What we are faced with here is no more than a single complaint, a whisper. It can only harm us if we spend too long debating our course of action. It does not merit our attention and should have been left to the workings of the local law enforcement,}" Khanyr concluded. A moment of silence followed the end of his argument and Odranos opened his eyes to look at the rest of the Council.
There were sixteen of them, including Khanyr and himself. Sixteen of the Imperium's most powerful and influential protoss in the same room. If the rebels had half a mind, they would concentrate all their efforts on infiltrating and destroying the building with their enemy inside instead of running about and causing messy but insignificant mischief. But they didn't. In fact, the actions of "Erana's Order" firmly convinced Odranos that the rebels had no mind to think with and instead relied on pure instinct to fight for their cause.
It was this knowledge that allowed him to attend the Ruling Council's assemblies without fear of, as terrans would put it, a nasty surprise. The assemblies themselves were, in Odranos' opinion, nothing more than nominal, a formality. Very little meaningful discussion went on and Odranos left every assembly feeling as if he had planned the whole thing before hand.
Even as the rest of the Council stirred and began to respond to Khanyr's argument, Odranos predicted their reactions and counter arguments. Malyr and A'eth would side with Khanyr's argument. The three of them were perhaps the most conservative and indecisive of the Council, as afraid of facing decisions as they were of facing change.
Umar and Naren, the rash and young "warriors" of the Council, would suggest a quick and brutal retaliation that was well beyond the Imperium's means but which they ignorantly believed was the only real way to end "the rebel nuisance".
Khandra, Sirenis, Aldram and Lanos would be convinced that increased security and law enforcement would be the correct response, an option even more foolish than what Umar and Naren would propose.
The rest of them, Virmun, Inarix, Asarun, Daros, Erriun and Arali, would remain silent, content to let others decide for them. Odranos almost trembled with disgust. This was The Ruling Council, governing body of the Ancestral Imperium of Protoss, the greatest protoss faction in existence. Most of its members had been part of it for five hundred years and even the newest member had been a member for more than a century. And yet, they had learned nothing.
It was as if all the experience and knowledge they could gain simply washed over their polished, decorated nerve cords. The Ruling Council was, in Odranos' opinion, made up of imbeciles, defective protoss completely lacking the qualities necessary for good rulership. He did not mind though. It made them easy to manipulate.
Odranos let them argue for ten minutes, only listening to make sure his assumptions were correct but otherwise ignoring their drivel: he could not stand listening to such ignorance. When their arguing died down, he spoke.
"{If you will permit it, I would speak,}" he said, addressing not only the Council members but also their various advisors and guards and doing his best to appears as respectful as possible. The chamber suddenly went quiet. Not only did the psionic communication cease but so did all physical sounds. Everyone in the chamber was still and silent as Odranos stood up and slowly walked towards the center of the chamber where everyone could see him clearly.
"{Before I begin, I would like to ensure that we all know we are not discussing an isolated incident but a string of aggressive acts performed by the rebel faction calling themselves Erana's Order and their affiliates. Over the past year, we have borne witness to an increasing number of rebel attacks, both on our borders and here, on New Aiur, the heart of the Imperium. Up till now, we have allowed the military and law enforcement agencies to handle these threats. Some of you have suggested we continue in this way.}" He lowered his head to look at the floor as he said the latter, not wanting to offend any of the Council members by naming them.
"{However, as the very existence of this assembly indicates, this is proving ineffective. The military and law enforcement agencies have proved incapable of dealing with the threat without proper instruction and planning. The most recent attack, the one we are discussing at this very moment, an assault on the monument to the Founders, on this very planet, in this very city, is, in my opinion, all the evidence we need to discard the idea of simply leaving things as they are.}" Odranos paused, waiting for some kind of response from Khanyr or his two friends. When none came, he continued, satisfied but appearing somber and weary.
"{Others have suggested a sharp and decisive counterattack, retaliation swift and final. However,I am confident that I am not the only one who would discourage such a decision. With the zerg at our very borders and our so-called brethren as tense and active as they are, our resources are spread far too thin for a direct attack to be a viable option.}"
"{So you agree with us, Odranos? You agree that we should strengthen our security measures in order to eliminate the threat?.}" This came from Khandra who, Odranos noted not for the first time, had a bad habit of speaking out of turn.
She moved her head as she spoke, causing her decorated nerve cords to jingle and add an odd flavor to her words. Odranos looked down at the floor and then began to pace back and forth, as if deep in thought.
"{The paranoid approach,}" he said after a long silence, evoking confusion and curiosity in those present. He let the silence linger for a minute longer, strengthening their interest and attention. When it looked like they couldn't wait any longer and were about to speak, he continued.
"{The rebels are not attacking us without a reason. They truly believe us to be an oppressive, corrupt and incompetent regime.}" Which we are, Odranos added to himself before continuing, although he made sure to keep the thought hidden.
"{And they seek to overthrow us by spreading this belief. By turning our own people against us.}"
"{What? By killing them and attacking their homes? That is the most ridiculous thing I-}" Odranos silenced Umar by simply standing still and glaring at the idiotic youth. The young protoss seemed to lose his courage and simply leaned back in his seat. Satisfied, Odranos continued.
"{To put it in words you will understand, Umar, the scale of the security measures needed to control our populace and prevent any further attacks would make us look like an oppresive, corrupt and incompetent regime. The rebels' aim is not to harm but to provoke. They seek to anger us, to lure us into making mistakes that would turn our subjects against us.
Theirs is not a protoss way of fighting for only terrans would stoop so low in an effort to gain power. Nonetheless, we must not deceive ourselves by thinking their strategy is inferior and flawed. Unless we react properly and with care, the rebels may very well triumph over us.}" His last sentence caused a visible stir among the rest of the Council but he did not continue, instead remaining where he was to indicate he wished to continue but was also allowing the others time to think. Surprisingly, Khanyr was the first to speak.
"{As always, your words are wisdom, Odranos. But are you merely proving our arguments wrong or do you have a suggestion of your own to share with us?}" The eyes of the Council members seemed to narrow at this.
"{I believe I can suggest a... suitable course of action,}" Odranos answered and, not expecting a response, continued.
"{We know that all these attacks are the result of the former Praetor Erana's imprisonment. This is what triggered the rebellion itself and this is what the populace believes the rebels are fighting for: Erana's freedom. In the eyes of the public, these attacks are protests against Erana's imprisonment and efforts to free her. The attack on the monument to the Founders in particular may appear as a protest.}"
"{So what do you suggest we do? Free her?}" Umar's voice was laced with scorn. The young fool thought Odranos was presenting the obvious as something unknown!
"{Nothing so drastic,}" Odranos replied, controlling his mental voice in order to appear unfazed.
"{Erana is the source of all this turmoil and she is located right here, on New Aiur. Her presence makes New Aiur a logical target both to her "Order" and in the eyes of the populace. If she were to simply be removed from the planet, the rebels would lose any public sympathy regarding their attacks on this planet.
If they are foolish enough to continue with their attacks, any increased security measures would become justified and our options would become more numerous. For now however, I believe this is the best way to deal with the threat.}"
"{But there is no guarantee that the attacks would stop?}" asked Inarix.
"{No, but that is beside the point. The attacks may continue but they would pose less of a real threat to us and we would be able to deal with them in a far more drastic way.}" Silence followed his answer as the Council digested the information. Then:
"{Erana is a top priority prisoner. Moving her elsewhere would be nothing but foo-}"
"{Oh, be quiet, Umar. Odranos' proposal is the most reasonable we have all heard and you know it. Odranos, where would the traitor be taken?}" Arali's outburst surprised everyone, including Odranos. The slight and young female was not known for such passionate words.
"{I believe Vetras is the best choice. It is small and on the very border of Zerg territory, ensuring that there will be little cause for civil conflict,}" Odranos replied, almost immediately.
"{Very well. I, Arali, am in favor of this arrangement. Who opposes it?}" When no one, not even Umar, spoke, Odranos returned to his seat, knowing that he had accomplished his goal.
Fools, the lot of them he thought to himself as he sat down.
Mostly empty space really. Almost completely empty space. Between the stars, between the atoms. But not quite, no. There was always matter. One electron as good as any more, one atom proving mass. And with mass came force and with force came mass, not so much a cycle as one line. But still, there was force and with force came systems and interaction. But still empty space, mostly. But not quite.
And then there was time. Always tricky. But it was essential, it was only movement. No time, no change. No change, and the universe did not matter. Without time, empty space became full and overflowing. Because without time, nothing mattered.
And with it? There was change. A reason to be. But what was reason? A concept? To be? Madness. Chaos. And what were those? It did not matter. So long as the meaning got across, it did not matter. Definition was a trap. As long as there was change, there was reason. There was difference. There was a gradient, potentia-
Erana's eyes snapped open as the door to her cell emitted a sudden hiss. She sat bolt upright in her bed and turned around to look at the door, her eyes quickly adjusting to the constant twilight-blue glow of her cell.
That glow had been there since the moment she had entered the cell, three years ago. It had been an unchanging, unwavering, maddening constant. Only three years. It was intriguing how easily one's view of the passage of time changed. Indeed, she had often found herself thinking that time was entirely subjective, that a mind could completely manipulate it, not through psionics but through sim-
"{Prisoner Erana, Kharun seventy nine.}" A bulky guard stood in the doorway, his body completely obscuring what was behind him. His voice carried the same lifeless neutrality Erana had heard every protoss speak in since her nerve cords had been severed. She got off her bed and stood to face the guard.
"{Did you know Kharun was actually seventy nine years old when the Imperium was formed? It wasn't until later that he was accepted as a Founder, when he had further proved himself by defeating three separate fleets in order to drive the Tama out of Ilyr. Still, I find it an interesting coincidence that I bear that number. Almost as if I am like him, yet unproven but hopeful,}" she blurted out, sharing thoughts she had often had herself but had never discussed with anyone else. However, if the guard seemed even mildly influenced by her words, he did not show it.
"{You will be moved soon. You are to be prepared.}" It was all he said. A short sentence made shorter by its lack of emotion. The guard turned to leave but, just before the door to the cell closed, he said:
"{Kharun was no traitor.}"
And then the door to her cell swung shut with another hiss, separating her from the rest of the universe both mentally and physically. She stood there for a while, staring at the door as if she could pierce it.
"{Neither am I!}" she screamed at the closed door after a prolonged, painful silence. And then again.
"{NEITHER AM I!}" she kept on screaming, barraging the door and wall with her thoughts. After a while, she began to attack the space physically as well, throwing herself at the solid barriers as if she could break them, as if it made a difference. But it was futile. After about half an hour of it, she found herself back in her bed, staring at the ceiling with both of her now bleeding fists clenched tightly.
"{It is a fool's errand. Praetor Erana has been in the custody of the Imperium for three years. We may not know exactly what has been done to her but we can rest assured that she is not what she was. She is a figurehead, one whose power has diminished significantly over the past years. More concrete actions will be needed if you are to encourage the Imperium's citizens to rebel against their masters. Simply rescuing your Praetor will mean nothing alone.
If you still wish to free her, do so but know that you will not have the support of the Exiled.}"
The holographic screen showing the representative of the Exiled Council blinked out of existence and Rassyr sighed mentally. Not dwelling on the Exiled Council's decision, which he had not expected, he turned his head to face the other two screens more fully.
One showed Patriarch Myr, the leader of the Tama Tribe, while the other one showed Keeva Lane, the terran woman who Rassyr took to be the true leader of the Terran Coalition. Both were allies to him and the Order but, as he was beginning to realize, even allies were conditional and restrained.
The meeting itself had been brief and hastily organized. As soon as an informant had informed the Order of Praetor Erana's imminent transfer, Rassyr had called together an emergency meeting between himself and the Order's allies. All he had done was explain the situation, inform them of his barely formed plans and wait for their responses, the first of which had been a disappointment.
"{Our forces are spread out and battered... but we owe Praetor Erana many things, not the least of which is our loyalty. I shall see what I can do to organize an assault force. We may not be able to provide a flagship and army of our own, but rest assured that we will do something to help. Contact me when you have more information.}"
Despite its flatness, the Patriarch's voice never failed to inspire and excite Rassyr. It did so even now, and he nodded vigorously to show his gratitude. The Nerazim's screen disappeared and Rassyr turned to the final screen.
Keeva Lane stared at him from inside it, her face as unreadable to Rassyr as a zerg's. He had heard other terrans call her beautiful but he saw nothing special in her features: he supposed terrans thought too differently for him to share their views.
"You know that the Coalition cannot intervene directly. We don't want to start a war, especially not with the Empire. However, we haven't forgotten your Praetor's help in the war and we aren't about to forget it either. We will try to intervene discretely, even if it means hiring a third party or getting the Pirates to fight. However..."
"{You will need more information, I know. I shall do my best to notify you of everything we learn the moment we learn it. Currently, however, I am not sure if even the Ruling Council knows more about the transfer than we do.}"
"I see. Well, contact me or our officers when you have something new to say. Until then, I will do my best to organize some kind of attack. Goodbye."
"{En Taro Tassadar, Keeva Lane,}" Rassyr replied and her screen also disappeared. He was silent for a moment, staring at the empty space where the screens used to be. The Exiled Tribes would not help, the Tama Tribe would do the little it could and the terrans would intervene in only a small way. It was not what he had expected and certainly not what he wanted but he knew it was all he and the Order would get. And he was grateful for it.
He rose from his seat and turned towards the door, sighing inwardly once again. A dozen matters required his attention and he would have to tend to all of them before he could even begin to plan and organize Erana's rescue and he was not sure he could cope with any of them. And yet, he felt hope for the first time in what seemed like decades.
0
Planet Dras Lana, Dras Lana System
"{So ya don't know anything?}"
"{No. Why would we?}"
"{Ya've got no spies, no informants?}"
"{We do. They are... silent.}"
"{All of them?}"
"{Yes.}"
"{And you have no way of making contact with them?}"
"{Or him. Or her. We can't-}"
"{Ya don't even know how many there are? Or who they are?}"
"{No, of course not. The occupation is dangerous-}"
"{Then so is the information you get, mon.}"
"{Are you saying we're being lied to?}"
"{No. I'm saying it's a possibility.}"
"{The information has proven reliable so far. How else would we have rescued the Praetor?}"
For a second, Erana wandered which Praetor Rassyr was referring to. And then she realized he was talking about her. She tried to hide her embarrassment at her momentary ignorance. But then the ever present pain at the back of her head reminded her that she didn't have to. There was no longer any way her emotions could be read, just like there was no longer any way for her to know exactly what Rassyr meant when he said something. She was cut off from him. Him, and all other Khalai, including Waiter.
Nonetheless, the change in her thought pattern was noticed by both of them, if only vaguely.
"{Is something wrong?}" Rassyr asked, turning to her. For a second, Erana was taken aback by his tone. It was as if he was annoyed, asking only for the sake of getting a nuisance out of the way. And then she realized that he was probably genuinely worried. She simply couldn't feel it in the dullness of his voice.
And she also couldn't reply adequately. Normally, she would simply send a short burst of emotion that would not only say that she was fine but would also quickly explain the cause of the disturbance. "No, nothing's wrong and I am fine and I was simply interested in this small thing you mentioned but it is trivial and let's continue discussing the matter at hand." All in the space of a microsecond. Now, however...
"{No.}" It was like talking to a terran. Short, detached and with words that were hard to find. Primitive, mundane and completely insufficient: the speech of an infant. Rassyr's eyes narrowed slightly and Erana wandered if he was echoing her own thoughts. He turned back to Waiter who was watching the pair with a face that was blank even for a protoss. The pirate's eyes focused on Erana for half a second and then went back to staring at Rassyr.
"{In that case, we'll have to enter their Khala,}" he said.
"{Why would we do that?}" Rassyr asked. Erana guessed he was taken aback by the suggestion but she couldn't be sure of anything.
"{Because something is going on and we need to know what,}" Waiter answered. He was probably annoyed and losing his patience. But again, Erana couldn't tell. Not that she would be able to do so anyway. Even though he retained his nerve cords, Waiter's voice was as neutral as any Nerazim's. Perhaps more so.
"{It can't be that important,}" Rassyr said, dismissively. Or at least she guessed he was being dismissive. What she knew, however, was that it was the wrong thing to say because, suddenly, Waiter changed. She didn't know exactly what made her realize it. The slightest change in posture, a flicker of the eyes, a subtle movement of the wrist. All put together and suddenly the pirate was someone else entirely.
But he didn't say anything. Erana waited, certain that he was building up tension before telling Rassyr just how wrong he was. But then two seconds passed. And then three. Four. Five. Nothing. It was only when Rassyr took an involuntary step backwards that she realized that the two were talking through emotions rather than words: the type of conversation she could not hear and would never be able to hear again.
A few more seconds passed, Rassyr took another automatic step backwards and then it was over. Waiter returned to his usual, less intimidating stance as suddenly as he had left it and Rassyr straightened himself, although his eyes didn't seem to meet Waiter's anymore. What had happened between the two, Erana didn't know and suspected she never would. What she did know, however, was that Waiter had chastised or intimidated or impressed Rassyr to the point of making him submissive.
"{How would we do it, then? We can't simply fly into Imperium space to investigate,}" Rassyr said.
"{Your ships were made by the Imperium,}" Waiter replied.
"{Yes. So what?}"
"{I will need a crystal from one of the ships. Any crystal. Anything that was made in the Imperium.}"
"{Why?}"
"{Just. Bring. It.}"
For a second, it looked like Rassyr was about to protest again. But then he nodded and left the room, leaving Waiter and Erana alone. She wasted no time in striking up a conversation.
"{Psionic signatures?}" she asked, struggling to form a complete sentence without the Khala to talk through.
"{I'm glad to see that the Imperium doesn't deal exclusively in arrogant fools,}" the pirate answered. She ignored the insult.
"{But as far as I know, psionic signatures can only tell you about a crystal's origin and maker. No one alive should be able to use one to ignore distance and connect to the creator's Khala,}" she continued. For some reason, the words had suddenly become more accessible, as if continuously talking made it easier to find them.
"{Not ignore. Mitigate. Make negligible. Distance itself is not a limiting factor when joining the Khala. It's the effort required to find other Khalai. I'm good at doing that on my own. But when a crystal is made by a Khalai, and they usually are, it is infused with the Khalai's thoughts and it becomes connected to him... or her. It's not just a signature. It's a pointer.}"
"{I still don't think I could do something like that. And I don't think I know anyone who can.}"
"{And that, sistah, is why I'm a pirate and you're a soldier,}" Waiter said cryptically and turned around to leave the room, presumably tired of waiting for Rassyr.
Supercarrier Hawk, Engineering Deck
"{You're certain that he won't be able to learn anything from it?}" Rassyr asked the engineer as he looked at the small crystal in his hand. It had been over two hours since he had left Waiter and he intended to wait a while longer before returning to the damn pirate. Let him wait, he thought, it's the least he deserves.
"{Of course not. It is a power crystal, not a storage device.,}" the engineer answered.
"{And besides, I am not interested in any of the information stored in your computers. You need to relax, mon.}" Rassyr and the engineer almost jumped as Waiter made his presence felt.
"{W-W-Waiter? How did you...?}" Rassyr asked, utterly confused. He was in space! On his own ship! How could Waiter have followed him? But his question went unanswered.
Waiter made a point of ignoring the pair and made his way towards Rassyr from the entrance to the engineering bay. It was best that way: keep them dumbstruck and they would become even more dumbstruck later.
The pirate took hold of the crystal and examined it redundantly. It made him seem... Intelligent, knowledgeable, superior, which was exactly why he performed the useless action. Others would think there was some meaning, some purpose to it, while the purpose was them thinking that.
But there was nothing to see on the crystal, what he needed it for was to feel through it. He closed his eyes and opened himself up to the Khala the same way he usually did - By hiding pretty much all of him from it and projecting false thoughts instead. No one would enjoy finding the true him in the Khala, probably not even he himself. Actually, he'd probably enjoy it quite a bit.
He once again felt the mass panic, the mass fear, that he had felt before, but it was still distant and vague. He focused on the object in his hands, finding a connection so thin that even he almost missed it, and was able to follow it closer to the source of the massive wave of fear.
He stayed silent longer than necessary, mostly for dramatic effect, before he opened his eyes again and turned to Rassyr.
"{There's fear, mon. Lots of it. Fear of fire, fear of pain, fear of death. But most importantly... Fear of chaos. I take it ya didn't do somethin' crazy like bomb da council?}"
SoA
-Waiter, Erana and Rassyr have a little chat.
-The Order and Waiter are now aware that something has happened to the Imperium's Ruling Council. The exact details are still unknown but the role of violence is known.
-Waiter does his job.
0
New Aiur, Imperial Council Chambers
Fear. It was everywhere, lurking just beneath the surface. Like a suppressed buoy, ready to break the water line. Most did not know it: it was just felt, a vague sense of unease and anxiety. But it was omnipresent. Such was the nature of the Khala. Even the centuries of neglect hadn't yet eliminated the almost involuntary pooling of emotion among Khalai. At least, Odranos thought, in the Imperium.
As for those who knew the source and reason of the fear, they were silent. Stunned. Afraid. Indecisive. Everything leaders should not be. The only reason Odranos wasn't criticizing the Council in the privacy of his own thoughts was that those same thoughts were far more preoccupied with what had happened.
Unlike his fellow Councilors, however, he was not dumbstruck. He was afraid, yes. And surprised. And many other things. But centuries of experience allowed him to push such obnoxious feelings out of the way and think.
So the rebels were cooperating with the zerg. It was not a coincidence. Somehow, the two factions had come to some sort of twisted agreement. No permanent alliance: that was too extreme, even for the Order. Perhaps they both wanted Erana out of the Imperium's grasp. Perhaps the zerg had merely wanted to harm the Imperium. Perhaps the zerg were somehow baited into attacking the convoy. It did not matter.
The implications were what mattered. The first zerg attack in four years had attacked ships carrying the one protoss most responsible for their defeat. It happened right in the middle of Imperial space, resulted in the destruction of four Imperial ships, the death of Executor Sevethrun and was coordinated with the Order. This was change. A turning point. Only a fool would think otherwise.
As if to confirm Odranos' thoughts, Khanyr decided to be the first to speak: "{We... we have known for a while now that the zerg could move freely within our space. Even though this latest incident was only a chance encounter it proves that our space is... insecure.}"
Odranos stared at Khanyr. It was amazing. In his fear of decisions, the old fool was choosing one fearful explanation over a worse alternative. He wanted to believe that the attack was a "chance encounter" so strongly that he ignored everything that proved otherwise: the facts, the probability, the obvious. He was so scared of a serious threat that Odranos could smell his fear. He was in denial. And the rest of the fools seemed to be relaxing now, as if they had all wanted to hear the same thing but were afraid of saying it.
For the first time in many years, Odranos felt himself becoming genuinely angry. Angry at the Council's stupidity, at their cowardice, angry that hundreds of protoss had died and these damn fools were attributing it to a chance encounter to avoid the fatal, black truth. Even Umar and Naren, the impulsive "warriors" of the Council, seemed to agree with Khanyr. Even they seemed to fear the zerg. Even they didn't want to face them. Even...
Odranos lowered all of his mental barriers. His rage spread from his being to the Khala like a flood of fire. The rest of the Council turned towards him, alerted by his unthinkable emotional surge. But before they could respond, before they could blame him for what had happened to Erana, as he knew they would, before they could spout more ignorant, imbecilic nonsense, he rose from his seat, violently and purposefully.
But he didn't get far. The ground shook beneath him. The chambers suddenly became cold, the air dry. For the briefest of moments, he could make out a crack in the middle of the room. And then, he was sent flying, almost blinded by brilliant blue light.
The last thing he saw was his shield giving out in a flurry of sparks. The last thing he felt was his body colliding with a wall. The last thing he knew was the briefest, most profound silence. Then the darkness closed in around him.
Relief.
SoA
Ka-boom
0
Supercarrier Hawk, Warpspace
The rest of the escape carried the unmistakable air of a spoiled victory. Erana could sense it all too easily. The way the bridge crew avoided looking at her, kept their heads down and looked at nothing but their respective screens. The way Rassyr became silent and seemed to shrink after she told him how Sevethrun had taken away her nerve cords and, with them, her life. Only the terrans seemed happy during the debriefing.
Terrans didn't understand, of course. To them, a lost limb or organ was a physical handicap that was easy to repair. Terran invalids were still terrans: people. It was the same with protoss... unless you were a Khalai who had lost her nerve cords. Then it was completely different.
The nerve cords were a Khalai's connection to the Khala and the Khala was what made a Khalai a Khalai. Without them, a Khalai became insubstantial. Neither Khalai nor Nerazim but something alien, something weaker. An outsider. Repair was impossible: the nerve cords could be restored physically but their function never returned.
That was why Erana had gone from figurehead to something unknown. Protoss had died to save her and yet they hadn't saved her. They had saved someone who used to be her but was now a mere shell, a damaged body. And yet the shell did not behave as expected.
Most Khalai simply took their lives after losing their nerve cords: they no longer considered themselves alive. But Erana was as alive and as sharp as ever. She didn't have the luxury of being able to take her life in prison. Instead, she was forced to live with the silence. And in it, she found solace. In it, she found a new life. And while she still longed for the Khala's warmth, she immersed herself in the freezing depths of the Void. She observed the universe, fascinated by its laws and patterns. She had become tempered, not broken.
Perhaps this was what scared the Hawk's crew. That she wasn't broken. That she was still there and not begging for the Khala. They would get used to it. They were warriors. They would have to get used to it.
Because, beneath the layers of cold passivity and tempered thought, Praetor Erana was angry.
SoA
A filler/character development post. The Amadeus, Unnamed and Hawk are already back on Dras Lana. Chronologically, the post takes place before the return (since it is by no means crucial).
0
Imperial Flagship Envoy, Bridge
Fools! Damn fools!
What were they thinking, flying into the trap like that? Khalos clenched his fists in frustration. Executor Sevethrun's words were still fresh in his mind: "I shall purge this infestation". Purge! As if this were some kind of purification mission! The trap had been obvious. The zerg had been waiting for them. They had known about the convoy. Not even a civilian would have mistaken the ambush as a chance encounter. It was a trap, a trap that had been sprung all too easily.
Khalos had refused to follow the Executor in his blind charge against the enemy. He was familiar with the zerg's tactics and even more familiar with the Executor's flaws. He had foreseen the spores, had kept his ship back and had urged the other commanders to do the same. But they hadn't listened to him. It had taken the impact of a zerg spore to stop Sevethrun's accusations of treason and force him to concentrate on the battle instead.
Now, the Imperial forces were in disarray. The Niflheim and the Augur had been hit by spores and were fighting a desperate battle against the zerg, both in space and inside the ships themselves. Flocks of zerg flyers were ravaging the ill prepared and outnumbered Imperium ships, destroying them with ruthless efficiency. The zerg were no doubt scouring the insides of the ships, searching for Erana and killing any protoss that got in their way.
Meanwhile, Khalos surveyed the battle from afar, keeping his own ship, the Envoy, out of zerg range. He could already see several protoss escape pods launch themselves away from the compromised ships. He briefly considered rescuing them but dismissed the idea. He had a battle to fight.
"{Praetor, we are detecting foreign warp-ins,}" Naxxar, his second-in-command informed him.
"{More zerg?}" Khalos asked, surprised.
"{No, praetor. These are protoss vessels.}"
"{What? Display them.}"
The screen in front of Khalos shifted from the main battlefield to show the new arrivals. Four ships. Two of which were colored a dark green. One of which Khalos knew all too well.
"{The Order,}" Khalos declared. There was no reply. The ship was silent, awaiting his orders. He mentally ordered the AI to bring up a map of the battlefield. It did so, showing the four new ships, spread out behind the Imperial convoy and away from the battle. Even as Khalos assessed the situation, the Order's flagships launched a large detachment of smaller vessels. The ships flew right past the Envoy, ignoring it completely. They made short work of a pathetic group of Imperium fighters sent to stop them and made right for the Augur. As if they knew where Erana was.
Khalos' eyes narrowed as they darted back and forth across the screen, assessing the situation. The Order was clearly staying away from the zerg and it looked like it was avoiding conflict in general. It was planning on grabbing Erana and getting out as quickly as possible. And if the zerg were on the same ship...
"{Prepare the ship for maneuvering. I want us circling the battlefield, away from the Order, not charging into it. Deploy all our phoenixes, scouts and observers,}" he ordered and immediately saw the ship turn on the map. The fleet of fighters it stored was released and assembled in a defensive formation around the ship.
"{Prepare all weapons.}"
"{Our target, praetor?}"
Khalos hesitated. He knew that what he was about to do was risky and dangerous, even treacherous. But he also knew that he could not allow Erana to fall into enemy hands and that the convoy stood little chance against the combined assault of the rebels and the zerg.
"{Target the Augur. All fighter vessels are to make for the Augur and fire at it in the absence of enemy flyers.}" His order was met with a stunned silence.
"{T-the Augur, praetor? Surely, you me-}"
"{Yes, the Augur. A-u-g-u-r. You understood correctly,}" he said, irritated. Nothing happened. He sighed inwardly.
"{Both the zerg and the rebels are obviously here to capture Erana. At this rate, that will almost certainly happen. We cannot allow it. The Augur is already badly damaged. If we threaten to destroy it along with Erana, the enemy will be forced to call off their assault or lose their prize.}"
"{And if they do not? What if they simply try to secure the prisoner as quickly as possible? What if they think our threat a bluff?}"
There was a pause, a moment of silence. All eyes rested on Khalos.
"{Then a dead Erana is better than a captured one,}" he said.
"{But the Executor is on the Augur! If we destroyed it, he would... would...}" Naxxar's sentence was completed by a surge of emotion. Revulsion, fear.
"{I will face the consequences of such an act, not you Naxxar. But it is you who will be punished if you disobey me or hesitate one more time. It has been a while since I was last forced to cut off a nerve cord. Do you wish to change that?}" Khalos threatened, angered. They were wasting time. There was no retort. He could sense Naxxar's anger receding, replaced by a horde of other emotions, among them fear. He turned around to look at the bridge. It was quiet, once again awaiting his orders.
"{Good,}" he said, satisfied, and turned back to face the screen. It displayed a battlefield little changed since the last time he had last seen it. The zerg forces were pounding on the Augur and Niflheim, repeatedly scattering the meager fleets defending them. The Order had moved closer to the Augur and was flying in a sort of wall formation, the ships switching between a front and back row. If protoss could smile, Khalos would have. This was what he was. A warrior. Years on New Aiur, silent, bored. And now...
"{Now... target the area around the zerg spore and order the fighter craft to do the same. Fire in volleys, wait for my command before firing each volley. Be ready to stop firing at any moment.} This time, the crew scrambled to obey his orders. Screens and crystals lit up, information was exchanged, orders were transmitted. The first volley was fired.
A mix of missiles and particle disruptor fire slammed into the hole of the Augur's hull that had been made by the zerg spore, followed by the Envoy's own barrage of projectiles. The resulting explosion sent hundreds of pieces of metal and spore flying off into space, some of them colliding with nearby protoss fighters and zerg flyers.
"{Wait,}" Khalos said before the next volley was fired. He watched for movement, a reaction from the zerg. Nothing came.
"{Fire,}" he ordered. Again, the Augur was hit, releasing volumes of debris and gas into space. The ship shook visibly and violently. Nearby flyers were knocked away by the plume of debris, some of them destroyed on the spot. This time, however, the zerg responded. The two leviathans that had been fighting the Augur and Niflheim stopped attacking and made directly for the Envoy, leaving behind only half of their forces to deal with the two damaged ships.
"{Stop firing and recall half our fighters. I want them around the ship, bubble formation. The rest are to engage the zerg flyers around the Augur. Order the troop carrier to deploy its own phoenixes and follow us away from the leviathans. Prioritize evasion and defense. We want to drag the enemy away from the Augur, not engage them. Contact the Imperial forces in Ilyr and request immediate reinforcements.}"
"{Yes, praetor,}" this time, Naxxar's voice had no hint of doubt in it. It was pure loyalty and unquestioning trust. Khalos nodded to himself. It had been far too long.
SoA:
Praetor Khalos' ship (the Envoy) and fleet fire at the Augur (the flagship carrying Erana) and succeed in dragging the Nirogg leviathans away from the ships.
Reinforcements have been called from Ilyr. 2 ICs until arrival. 2 flagships and their cargo.
0
Planet Dras Lana, Dras Lana System
There was nothing ceremonious about their arrival or their reception. As soon as their medivacs landed in the planet's capital and only city, they were quickly escorted away from the landing zone and towards the interior of the settlement. The efficiency and lack of hospitality, combined with the silence of the protoss that received them angered Grell: he felt like a dumb animal being lead to a slaughterhouse. He would rather walk into the building with his CMC suit and Rifle or atleast his Magnum or knife, but the protoss calling himself Waiter had explicitly told him not to bring any weapons.
He looked around himself. Waiter, Captai- Cap'n Doom and the four other pirates that had joined them seemed to be at ease with the protoss. Next to him, Mike seemed to be paying more attention to the buildings they were passing than the protoss they were following. He sighed and kept walking resigned to the silence so thick he could almost smell it.
Eventually they approached what seemed to be the biggest building in the city, though Grell had seen hundreds of terran buildings that dwarfed it. The building was roughly dome-shaped and made of dull metal that looked more like brass than the gold terrans associated the protoss with. This, together with the unkempt look of the streets they were walking through gave Grell the impression that this "Order" wasn't exactly the mightiest protoss faction around.
"{Ya know, I'm not tha only that can read yo mind.}" Grell was abit surprised at the sudden “contact” of waiter, but soon adjusted.
"What do you mean?" he asked, breaking the silence, but soon realized that talking through his mind would better suit the occasion.
What do you mean? he repeated, noticing that the Order protoss were looking at him.
"{Tha Order may not be as powerful as tha Empire, but tha' doesn' mean they don't fight their hardest. Yo snap judgments are insultin' 'em. Careful what ya think mon.}"
Sure, Ill keep that in mind. Grell thought and he noticed that the protoss stopped glancing at him. After another half-minute of walking, they reached one of the entrances to the dome. The door slid open and they entered, leaving behind all but one of their escort.
"{Follow me,}" the protoss said and continued on ahead of them. They passed through three more doors and Grell noticed that each one was more heavily guarded than the last, starting with what looked like one cannon and ending with two protoss warriors and enough static guns to bring down a Thor. Finally, they entered a large elevator and climbed to what Grell thought was the very top of the dome.
The doors opened without a sound and their escort stepped to the side.
"{Master Rassyr will see you now.}" They exited the elevator and entered what looked like a waiting room. Another door opened immediately and Grell followed the others into a large circular room with a table in the middle: a meeting room. Around the table were a number of large chairs, three of which were already occupied by protoss. One of the protoss rose from his seat upon seeing the newcomers.
"{Ah, Cap'n Doom and Waiter. En Taro Tassadar. We've been expecting you. Do take a seat.}" There was nothing offensive or threatening about the protoss' psionic voice but the look he gave Grell and Mike, not to mention the fact that they hadn't been addressed, angered Grell. It took a mental nudge from Waiter to keep the emotion in check.
"{Ya've met Kenny, Swallows and Sparrows. Dis here's Kosh,}" Waiter said, pointing towards the man in the brown suit, "{And this be Grell and Mike. They be the leaders of the terran mercenaries we hired.}" They all sat down.
The protoss looked at Grell again. This time, his eyes were less demeaning and more... calculative. Grell stared right back at him, not blinking once.
"{I see,}" he said and then took his eyes away from Grell. "{Since you have so kindly introduced your own companions, I shall now introduce my guests. Ambassador Kelanin of the Exiled Tribes.}" the protoss gestured at one of the other protoss, "{and Templar Raznar of the Tama tribe.}" Grell noticed that the second protoss had his nerve cords bundled behind his head, unlike Kelanin and...
"{For those of you who don't know me, I am Rassyr, leader of Erana's Order,}" their host said, "{But enough with the pleasantries. We have matters of great importance to discuss.}" Suddenly, a holograph appeared above the center of the table. Grell immediately recognized it as a starmap.
"{As you already know... or perhaps don't know, we have been informed that the Imperium will be transferring Praetor Erana to the planet of Vetras in two days time. So far, we have been able to discover that four flagships will form part of the transfer convoy. However, details regarding the fleets and their commanders have proven... elusive.}"
"So we're hitting blind?" Grell asked. Rassyr looked at him, his eyes narrowing.
"{Grell, I assure you that our forces have had sufficient experience fighting the Imperium to be able to handle whatever the Imperium throws our way. It is your forces' ability to fight that I am worried about.}"
"{I am fairly sure Commander Grell is aware of both the Order's abilities and his forces' lack of experience with the Imperium. I, for one, interpret his question as a request for information, not a complaint,}" the words came from Ambassador Kelanin and stopped Grell from making a retort of his own. He turned to look at the ambassador.
"{As I have already told Master Rassyr, the Exiled under my command are fully ready to aid you in this assault.}"
"Really? I thought you guys bailed out?" Doom said. He drained the bottle of rum he had been holding and wiped his beard, all while staring at the ambassador.
"{Correction. It is our Council that "bailed out". The heart of the Exiled is still very much with the Order. After all, it is only right that allies aid allies. I, for one, consider everyone present an ally,} Kelanin replied, seemingly without missing a beat. Grell had to hand it to the ma- protoss: he knew how to talk.
"{We, the Tama, will assist you in what way we can,}" Raznar added.
"Well that's all fine and dandy but we ain't heard no plan yet," Doom said, draining another bottle of rum he had procured from who knew where. There a moment of silence in which Rassyr stood up and leaned towards the hologram. The starmap shifted to show a more detailed layout of what Grell took to be protoss space.
"{The plan has changed little since the last time Waiter and I spoke. Your ships will patrol the sides of the direct route from Khasan to Ilyr to ensure that the convoy is taking the predicted path and does not slip out of our grasp. Our forces and the terran mercenaries commanding the newly built vessel will lie in wait and attack the convoy when it is as far as possible from both systems.}"
“So, they're hiring me, why no action from them?" he asked, confused at the idea.
"{We can't interfere directly. If tha Imperium finds out we helped with tha attack, it would strain relationships with the Coalition, possibly leading to a war. We don't want that. You don't want that,}" Waiter explained, adding a menacing tone to the last sentence as if to warn Grell.
"Alright, three against four sounds fair to me."
"{Four against four. Another of our Order will be joining us though his current whereabouts are unknown. Ambassador Kelanin was the last one to speak to him,}" Rassyr answered.
"Alright, four against four should make things easy, now I'm guessing this is just a qucik snatch n' run, not sending em all to hell right?"
"{A quick snatch n' run. Yes, that is an accurate way of putting it.}" Rassyr seemed to chuckle as he used the term. "{But that does not mean we won't have to fight. Commander Grell, I trust your troops are battle ready? For there will be battle, both inside the ships and outside.}"
Grell leaned forward, a grin coming across his face."I will promise you my men are one-hundred percent ready to kick some ass! Now all we need to do is get to that ship, the rest is the precision job of infiltration, and killing."
With that the meeting continued with small details on the job at hand. Afterwords Grell got Mike off of a conversation with a protoss and they both took their leave to the protoss ship to get ready.
SoA:
Grell, Mike, Kenny, and Darth Waiter went to Order base and discuss in simple, the plan of capturing the Order's captured leader.
0
New Aiur, Khasan System
Khalos trailed behind the others, bored out of his mind. He hadn't wanted to come and see the security upgrades on the ship meant to carry Erana but the Executor had been adamant about it. According to him, commanders had to be familiar with what the were protecting but Khalos knew that there was a part of the Executor that wanted to sow superiority and dominance over his subordinates. Showing off the improvements to the ship he was going to command for no more than a few days was one way of flaunting his rank. The elaborate armor he wore was another.
"{The forcefields can be triggered by all personnel or only a select few, as dictated by the commander. The range in which the order can be given, however, is limited to seven meters, though the bridge can control all forcefields and doors regardless of distance,}" the leading engineer explained, illustrating his words by turning a nearby forcefield on and off.
"{How long can it last?}" Executor Sevethrun asked.
"{That depends. It can be held as long as there is power but it can be destroyed. The small surface area ensures that it cannot be destroyed too quickly.}"
"{And if it is destroyed? Can it be replaced?}"
"{With a small downtime, yes. However, if even one of the four crystals used to generate a forcefield is destroyed, it cannot be generated. Nonetheless, the forcefields will slow down the enemy, if not stop them completely. And one would need to know how the forcefields work to disable them.}"
"{Indeed,}" Sevethrun said, nodding in agreement.
Except the rebels were part of the Imperium once and knew the workings of Imperial technology Khalos thought to himself, carefully shielding his mind.
"{The floors are pressure sensitive. All movement can be tracked from the bridge and any kind of cloaking is rendered useless.}"
Except you don't have to walk on the floor. And you don't have to walk to exert pressure. It went on like that for half an hour, with the engineer pointing out the new security upgrades, Executor Sevethrun praising them and Khalos privately pointing out flaws and thinking up methods of bypassing them. From auto-turrets that could be turned against the defender to doors that were nearly impossible to open but all too easy to breach, Khalos concluded that their best defense was the fact that the rebels did not know about the transfer.
"{And finally, the reason for the upgrade,}" the lead engineer said and then gestured towards what looked like an ordinary wall. Suddenly, what looked to be seamless metal parted, a straight line separating equal lengths of the wall. The separate sections of wall slid in opposite directions, revealing a metal blast door. This door also opened and was followed by another two pairs of blast doors. Khalos had to admit, the system was impressive. The metal was thick and he could sense scanners continuously examining the group, ensuring that they were allowed to enter. The chamber on the other side was better protected than the ship itself.
"{Executor, you will be the only one with the ability to open this chamber via mental command. It contains another three photon cannons and an emergency escape pod should the need for escape arise, though I assure that it will not. The stasis tube itself can only be opened through a DNA and psionic signature scan. Do test this, Executor.}"
Sevethrun nodded and stepped forward, putting his hand on a small blue panel next to a cylindrical protrusion from the wall. There was a hiss and the metal encasing the protrusion opened vertically, revealing a large stasis tank. And in it: Erana.
SoA
The ship meant to house Erana during the transfer receives a security upgrade.
0
The Great Wave
"{Adapted spacecraft trial one}"
Amar watched with anticipation as the modified cargo vessel approached the wall of plasma that was the Great Wave. On any other day, at any other time, this would have looked like a suicide mission, a death wish. But in this particular case, it wasn't. Well, at least it wasn't an intentional one.
The vessel slowly began to turn towards the left, preparing to brush the side of the ever-expanding supernova. The view on the screen shifted to show the ship from a different angle and Amar clenched his fists. He knew that he and his group of scientists were thousands of kilometers away from the Great Wave. He knew that the ship he was watching was unmanned. He knew that neither he nor the others were in any danger whatsoever.
But that did not stop the enormous supernova shell from inspiring both awe and fear in him. Here was something truly big. Something that not even their toughest designs could survive. Something that could kill - had killed - but couldn't shed tears. Something that didn't feel. Something bigger than both the protoss and the zerg and the Imperium and the Exiled and their conflicts. Here was a mystery. And they were here to tame it. Not explicitly but-
"{Estimate: Contact in twenty seconds,}" the AI's robotic voice echoed in his mind and he could feel the others begin the countdown in their own heads. He joined them, adding his own mix of anxiety, fear, excitement and curiosity to their mental connection. This was their first trial in two months and their first ever trial using an actual ship. And if it worked... oh, if it worked! And if it didn't...
"{Estimate: Contact in five, four, three, two, one.}" All eyes were glued to the screen as the vessel and supernova touched. For half a second, nothing happened. And then, the plasma started coiling itself around the ship, like a wave collapsing in on itself as it entered shallow waters. The plasma continued to spiral, obscuring the vessel from view, enveloping it.
One second passed. Then two. Three. Four. And then, just as they were about to lose hope, the cargo ship emerged from the death wall, the inanimate killer, the cosmic destroyer. It may have been no more than a glorified cargo vessel but to Amar it was Kharun's Flame as it battled the Tama, Tassadar's Gantrithor of legend as it descended upon the zerg. The ship looked like a missile as it accelerated away from the supernova shell, leaving a trail of orange-glowing plasma in its wake, apparently unaffected by the Great Wave's infernal interior.
"{Shields at 25%,}" the AI proclaimed. The jubilation that met the statement eclipsed all else.
SoA:
???
0
OOC: @onslaughtbear: Your ship has only been spotted so far. The Imperium hasn't sent its forces out just yet. You can still run away. Count yourself lucky.
Khasan System
"{Show me.}"
"{Yes, Prelate.}"
The screen in front of the imposing Khalai templar shifted to show the image of a protoss carrier. It was not moving yet but showed all the signs of preparing for a warp jump.
"{The Order. As I thought. Up to their underhanded, dishonorable tricks again. Attacking the defenseless and scurrying away like zerg when detected,}" the templar's mental voice trembled with anger as he spoke.
"{Prelate, the ship has almost completed its warp jump preparations. Shall we pursue it?}"
"{Of course. Inform the Council that Order operatives likely to be responsible for the desecration of the monument to the Founders have been detected and that we are giving chase. I will not let criminals infringe on our borders and escape unscathed. All templar ready for warp jump.}
Council Meeting Chambers, Aurun, New Aiur, Khasan System
Odranos surveyed the rest of the Council with a lazy eye. They were talking among themselves, discussing the issue in the groups Odranos was so familiar with. He could see Khanyr and Malyr shift uneasily as they conversed while Umar and Naren nodded vigorously, no doubt planning the Order's swift downfall.
"{I take it you have thoughts of your own on this recent... development?}" Arali's question half-startled Odranos. It was not like her to talk in public, much less begin conversations with other Council members without prior warning.
"{What makes you think that?}" Odranos asked, effortlessly concealing his surprise.
"{You are the one who suggested this course of action. It is only reasonable that you would have envisioned every possible outcome and accounted for it prior to even discussing theidea with the rest of the Council. After all, you are not Umar.}"
Odranos chuckled at her comment. "{Arali, I did not know you could sting.}" He felt a wave of emotions from the Khalai female. Mirth, embarrassment... guilt?
"{I am a patron of the arts. It would be strange if I could not jest. But that is besides the point.}"
"{Indeed.}" Odranos responded and then addressed the Council as a whole: "{Councillor Arali has inquired as to whether I had foreseen and prepared for the inconvenience I am sure all of you are currently discussing.}" There was silence as the eyes of the Council turned towards him.
"{Since the transfer of former Praetor Erana was my idea to begin with, it is only natural that I had accounted for any future developments. However, let me inform you that the recent sighting of an Order ship in our system was something I did not foresee}"
A wave of surprise washed over Odranos but he spoke before he could be interrupted.
"{Allow me to tell you why. It has been little over a week since the traitorous rebels assaulted what is perhaps our most important historical monument. It has been a little less than a week since we decided to transfer the traitor Erana to Vetras. It has been barely an hour since Prelate Erios notified us of the presence of a hostile ship in our system. Given the recent arrival of Executor Sevethrun and the flagship from Khasyn, it is only natural to suspect that the rebels have noticed that something is afoot.
However, let me ask you this. What would be more suspicious? Recalling our troops to a recently assaulted capital or leaving it as undefended as it was when the attack took place? Would it not be more logical for the enemy to assume their attack has worked to such an extent that it has forced us to reinforce our capital? Let us not forget that these rebels underestimate us. How else could they maintain the hope of defeating us? They think us paranoid, incompetent, stupid!
This is why I did not foresee this. Not out of negligence but out of the assurance that, were it to happen, it would mean nothing. Nothing. The rebels underestimate us and in doing so cripple their own thinking, their own intelligence. I assure you that the transfer can proceed as planned for were the rebels half as intelligent enough to see through our plans this easily, I would not have suggested this course of action.}" Odranos spoke more through emotions than words, driving the point of his argument home with bursts of anger and contempt. He turned to Arali.
"{Does that answer you question, Arali?} he asked. A moment of silence. A nod.
SoA:
An Imperium flagship gives chase to Opheilm. Its speed is the same as the Amadeus' but it can call reinforcements to intercept. Assume that travel time has been proceeding normally from onslaught's post.
The Council discusses the sighting of the Amadeus and decides not to delay Erana's transfer.
0
@Taintedwisp: Go
I would love to argue with you and point out the flaws in your arguments but it seems Eiviyn has already summarized everything I wanted to prove in one sentence:
You're a fucking poet.
0
Planet Dras Lana, Dras Lana System
"{Is that really necessary?}" Rassyr asked as he and the templar-turned-pirate paced the corridors of the Order's headquarters.
"{In the eyes of the Council, it would certainly eliminate the possibility of terran involvement. Terrans in a protoss ship look a lot more like hired mercenaries than terrans in a terran ship. The Council's bias towards your Order would only further this belief,}" Waiter responded in his emotionless, Nerazim voice.
"{I don't understand,} Rassyr said, shaking his head.
"{Reliance upon terrans would fit into the Imperium's perception of your Order. They do not think highly of you. The only thing that would truly surprise them would be cooperation with the zerg. And even there they would find logic and a weapon to use against you.}" There was a brief silence. Then:
"{I can't say I take pride in having to hire mercenaries to do our job for us. However, it is the Imperium that has forced us to take these measures and we have few other options, none of which are wise. Have you actually found these mercenaries or are you still searching for them?}"
"{We are still searching. Had we found them, we would not be having this conversation. There are not many terrans willing to venture into protoss space, at least not with the aim of attacking protoss.}"
"{I am not surprised. Our might is not something a measly terran fleet can handle head-on. Do you require aid in the construction of this ship?}"
"{Only in the form of instruction and schematics. We have already procured the materials necessary for the vessel.}"
"{Is that so?}" there was a badly concealed hint of surprise in Rassyr's mental voice and Waiter picked up on it all too easily.
"{Seeing as I just said so, probably,}" the Nerazim answered. Rassyr's eyes narrowed at this and he stopped walking.
"{I shall inform the others of this and instruct a group of engineers to accompany you back to Domus. As you may already know, the Exiled tribes have agreed to assist with the operation meaning we will definitely have the firepower needed to destroy the Imperium's fleet. En Taro Tassadar,}" he said, indicating that the meeting was over.
"{En Taro Tassadar, Rassyr,}" Waiter answered. As the two went off in opposite directions, he thought to himself: Firepower. As if that's what it's about.
Khasan System
The lone observer drifted through the dark rim of the Khasan system as dim and inactive as it had been for the past few decades. And then something caught its single robotic eye.
Suddenly, the robot sparked to life, unfolding its gravitic boosters and adjusting its course. OX-73, eye of the Imperium, had spotted something unusual.
SoA:
Rassyr and Darth Waiter discuss the Erana mission. A group of Erana's Order engineers is instructed to accompany Waiter. An Imperium observer is activated after thirty years of aimlessly orbiting the Khasan system.
0
City of Aurun, Planet New Aiur, Khasan System
"{You may enter.}" The two guards stepped aside and the door they were guarding irised open. Khalos stepped through it, leaving the brightly lit hallway and entering a cool, dimly-lit room. The door closed behind him silently and the light from the hallway was replaced by what little light came in through the large window opposite him.
Khalos walked towards the window, ignoring the rest of the room. Through it he saw Aurun, the planet's capital, spread out far, far beneath him, like a sea of darkness filled with millions of lights. From such a great height, and with such dim lighting, he could only make out the city's most prominent features: the Council Chambers, the Citadel and the Founders' Monument, which was badly damaged as a result of the recent attack.
"{Appreciating your home, Praetor?}" The thought came from somewhere behind him, as cool and dry as a Nerazim's. Khalos did not turn around or flinch as Councillor Odranos joined him. Instead, he kept his eyes fixed on the city below him.
"{Aurun is not my home, Councillor,}" he answered, his mental voice matching the Councillor's neutrality to keep the feeling of surprise out of it.
"{It is not? I am under the impression that you haven't moved from the planet in the past three years. Am I mistaken?}" This statement surprised Khalos as much as Councillor's first question.
"{No, of course not. But merely staying in one place for a prolonged period of time does not make it one's home.}"
"{But you are used to Aurun?}"
"{Yes, Councillor.}"
"{Tired of it?}"
Khalos hesitated before replying. "{Councillor?}"
"{You have not moved from New Aiur in the past three years. It is only natural that someone of your talents and experience would find the... immobility sickening, especially when others of the same rank and profession are as mobile as ever. For instance, did you know Executor Sevethrun returned to New Aiur only yesterday?}" The Councillor's sentence ended in a way which invited inquiry, despite its lack of emotion. Khalos turned to face the protoss.
"{The Executor is here?}"
"{So it would seem. He has been recalled in order to coordinate what the Council deems a top priority mission.}"
"{What mission?}"
"{Did you know that, had it not been for your relationship with a certain treacherous Praetor, it would be you and not Sevethrun who would be the current Executor of the Imperium's forces?}"
Once again, Khalos was taken aback by the Councillor's questions.
"{What? My relationship with... Erana?}"
"{Yes. The Council deemed it too dangerous to let you assume control over the Imperium's military. A tragic flaw.}"
Khalos suppressed a surge of anger.
"{While I do not agree with all of praetor Erana's actions, to say that she was a bad commander would be a lie. And to deem a superficial military relationship a genuine threat to the Imperium is, in my honest opinion, paranoid folly,}" he said it before he could stop himself and immediately wished for more self control. The Councillor's blue eyes flared.
"{Praetor Erana committed a crime against her people when she handed over the Arken and the technology used to create it to the terran Coalition. In doing so, she put us at the mercy of the terrans and destroyed any chances we had of driving the zerg out of Eurim. However, when I said 'a tragic flaw', I was referring to the Council.}"
Khalos' anger disappeared as quickly as it had come and was replaced by surprise.
"{You think the Council incompetent?}" he asked. Odranos seemed to think for a minute. Then:
"{Do you?}"
Before Khalos could reply, the Councillor continued.
"{While Executor Sevethren is heading Erana's transfer from New Aiur to Vetras, it does not mean he will go unaccompanied. After all, this is a top priority mission. Expect to leave the confines of our capital soon, Praetor.}" As soon as he had finished talking, the doors to the Councillor's room opened again, filling it with the hallway's orange light. Seeing that the Councillor had said what he had wanted to say, Khalos thanked him and left.
SoA:
(Repost): Introducing Praetor Khalos. Talk about Erana's transfer.
0
Planet Zamar, Zaratun System
"{You have discussed the situation with Ambassador Kelanin?}"
"{I have. The talks were a somewhat... unexpected success.}"
"{Much as I appreciate them, I am afraid I do not have time for your personal comments and opinions.}"
"{I apologize, Patriarch. Ambassador Kelanin offered his personal assistance with the operation.}"
On the screen, Patriarch Myr's eyes seemed to widen.
"{Kelanin wishes to participate?}"
"{I was as surprised as you are, Patriarch. However, that seems to be the case. He volunteered to help. I cannot imagine the Exiled Council will be pleased with his decision but they will have to accept it if they want our forces to remain in Idum.}"
There was a long, thoughtful silence. Not a useless one. U'lun knew that both he and the Patriarch were analyzing the situation from every possible angle, trying to find motives, reasons, possibilities.
"{Very well. I will inform Praetor Armul of this and instruct him to offer a portion of his forces as aid to Ambassador Kelanin. Inform the Ambassador of this. En Taro Tassadar.}"
"{En Taro Tassadar, Patriarch,}" U'lun said an terminated the connection.
SoA:
Ambassador U'lun informs Patriarch Myr of Kelanin's decision. Patriarch Myr orders the Tama fleet to stay in Idum and send 10 dark templar to help Kelanin with the mission (they will take up 20 of your cargo which is how much you have left if I am correct). Both U'lun and Patriarch Myr are surprised by Kelanin's decision.
0
0
Planet Thanus, Idum System
"{Praetor Armul, preparations have been finalized. Our fleet is ready to leave the system}"
There was a moment of silence in which Zhedril waited anxiously for the Praetor's response.
"{Do you know what this means? Violating the treaty?}" came the response.
"{We are not the first to break it. The Exiled have done it many times before and we have not objected so I see no reason for them to do so now.}" Zhedril replied without missing a heartbeat. The significance of their actions had been going through his head the entire day and this was merely an opportunity to speak out.
"{I am not talking about justification, Zhedril. I am referring to how this reflects our tribe's relationship with the Exiled as of late.}" Armul replied as quickly as Zhedril had. Had he anticipated such a response?
"{Praetor?}" Zhedril asked, not knowing how else to respond. There was another, longer moment of silence.
"{No. It is nothing. Inform the Exiled of our imminent departure. You are dismissed.}"
Planet Paleora, Idum System
"{Master!}"
Kelanin gave the mental equivalent of a sigh and looked up from his ongoing experiment to see one of his students enter the lab.
"{What is it now, Daelash?}" he asked, only remembering the student's name because they had conversed the previous day. Daelash rose his right arm to reveal a slim tablet and handed it to Kelanin.
"{An urgent message from the Council. I was only told to bring it to you, not what it was about,}" the student explained.
"{Is that so?}" Kelanin said absentmindedly, his fingers already tapping away at the storage tablet's crystal surface in order to access the message. The tablet flashed twice and then played a recorded psionic message:
"{Greetings, Ambassador Kelanin. About an hour ago, the Tama fleet present on Thanus informed us that they would depart the system in less than a day's time. This not only violates the Zamar Treaty but also exposes our capital to the Imperium. A meeting has been arranged between you and the Tama ambassador. Do all that is within your power to rectify this situation. Do not fail us.}" The tablet went dark.
"{Well, what did it say?}" Daelash asked, not containing his curiosity. Kelanin's shoulder's slumped as he looked back at his student.
"{I am to meet with Ambassador U'lun immediately. Please clean up after me,}" he answered, gesturing at his experiment as he left the laboratory.
SoA:
The Tama fleet positioned on Thanus, Idum system as part of the Zamar Treaty (an alliance between the Exiled Tribes and the Tama Tribe) has announced that it will depart the system promptly, leaving behind a stationary ground force which would be unable to defend the rest of the system in the case of an attack. The Exiled Tribes Council has "asked" Ambassador Kelanin to rectify the situation. The Tama fleet is under direct orders of Patriarch Myr and is not acting independently.
@Zanryu: Details in PM.
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SoA:
Introducing the Protoss.