Slayn. The blood council.

Six Ascendant Nyon scanned the room. Neither Highlord Ma’lash nor Fist Ascendant Nuroka was here. Only Guraj, Zenish, Ji’nara, and Alarak were present.

It was reasonable. Although Ma’lash called for the meeting, the strongest was usually the latest to arrive. This was a matter of respect.

Nyon turned to Alarak and Ji’nara.

“Ahhh. Six Ascendant.” Alarak smirked, emphasizing on Nyon’s rank. “I hear you raided another Daelaam facility. Your forces must have grown.”

“I consider that battle disappointing. Two of the Daelaam carriers fled. I was only able to seize two tempests.” Although he said he was disappointed, Nyon was actually smirking. He glanced at Ji’nara, who tried to cover her frown.

All the top ascendants had eyes and ears around their competitors. Two brand new capital ships, especially tempests, which were extremely rare inside Nyon’s fleet, couldn’t be hidden. There was no doubt both Alarak and Ji’nara knew about them, but Nyon still announced it openly. He was basically warning them not to try any tricks because he was tougher than they might expect.

“Congratulations. Any plan to challenge someone?” Alarak said mockingly and glanced at Ji’nara.

The Fifth Ascendant frowned. Her ship count grew as well. It went from 102 to 109, but it was no match for Nyon’s fleet. Alarak saw that frown and smiled. This way it was pretty much impossible for Nyon and Ji’nara to form a small alliance in this already small three-ascendant alliance to stand against him.

“Why do you think Highlord Ma’lash summoned us?” Ji’nara changed the topic. “Is there another message from our god?”

“I didn’t sense anything when I was under the blessing of the terrazine.” Alarak replied. “It can be related to the pieces of the Keystone that we were ordered to protect.”

Nyon slid his finger down his cheek thoughtfully.

Suddenly, the door of the chamber snapped open, and Ma’lash walked in. Even from a distance away Nyon could still sense the scent of terrazine on him.

“Warriors of Amon. Hear me!” The leader of the Tal’darim protoss got straight to the point. “The creation of god is under attack! The Queen of Blades have gathered the mightiest of the Swarm against us. Typhon XI has already fallen. The Tal’darim on that planet have been sent back to the void. Following two of the fragments, the third one has been desecrated.”

“That’s strange. He wasn’t as enraged when the first two pieces were lost.” Alarak whispered in confusion.

If Jean was here she would know why. Raynor’s attack and possession of the first two fragments was planned. Narud wanted that to happen and Ma’lash knew it. The Highlord sent those fragments out of the protection of the Death Fleet and into the hands of weaker ascendants so they could be taken away. It was all part of the plan. But this third one was a surprise, and this was bad. It might just wipe out Narud’s, and Amon’s, plan. The Tal’darim needed to do everything to not only secure the fourth, and last, piece of fragment but also take back the third.

“Recall all Tal’darim ships. The Death Fleet will march on Sigma Quadrant at once. After we secure the last piece of the artifact, we will enter swarm territory. The Forged will burn every zerg in our path until the Queen of Blades shows her face!”

This was no longer an order. This was a decree. Every Tal’darim, no matter what rank he is or what his situation is, had to obey. Even if an ascendant was about to behead a Daelaam high templar in just a second, he needed to give up and warp away. The nature of this command led Ma’lash to turn to his nemesis, only to find the First Ascendant not present.

“Where is Nuroka?” He demanded furiously.

The top ascendants exchanged a look. Just as Ma’lash was about to rage, Nuroka walked in. He didn’t look well. His armor hung unfittingly on his body. His red eyes were dimmer than usual. He reeked of terrazine.

“First Ascendant! I summoned you in the name of Amon! Failure to arrive is punishable by death!” Ma’lash ignited his blade at once. “Give me one reason I should let you live.”

“Amon…” Nuroka glanced at the bane blade for a second before suddenly snapping awake. “I have a supplicant army of over five thousand warriors. They only obey my command. Killing me means killing them. You can’t afford it, at least not with the Queen of Blades approaching.”

Ma’lash groaned. He swore if this was another chance and he caught Nuroka making a mistake like this, he would no doubt use it as a reason and strike him down, no matter the cost, but he couldn’t do it now. If he killed Nuroka here and now, he would need to spend his own warriors to kill all of his supplicants. It would take time and manpower, neither of which he could afford.

He put down his blade.

“Serve Amon well in combat, and your transgression will be forgotten. Fail to do that, and I will not be as merciful…” He trailed off with his casual threat. Nuroka nodded and returned to his seat. Ma’lash turned to his ascendants. Already, countless light beams were dropping on the ground. Every light beam meant a Tal’darim warriors who has returned to their homeworld.

“Ready yourselves. War is here, and only the strongest may live to serve Amon.”

The full might of the Death Fleet assembled at Slayn. Apart from a couple warriors left to guard several important mining and terrazine planets, every single Tal’darim warrior and ship was here. As all the fleet lords assembled, the overall ship counted reached the height of 1100.

For a race whose skills with manufacturing was limited to making modifications to captured vessels and weapons, this meant capturing 1100 enemy ships. This was the result of countless millenniums of plunder. Ever since they were first taken away by Amon, even before they reached Slayn, they have been looting other protoss factions. This structure has a fatal mistake. If the existent fleet is wiped out, the Death Fleet might never be rebuilt again.

For centuries the Death Fleet was scattered around the sector with each fleet lord leading a portion. Some grew. Some died. Assemblies like this was rare because if the Tal’darim were defeated here, the whole Tal’darim society would be at risk.

But Ma’lash didn’t care. He felt Amon’s rage coursing through his veins when he was soaked in terrazine, and he knew how furious his god was. As the Highlord, Ma’lash’s loyalty to Amon was infinite. He knew Amon would slaughter the Tal’darim after the final victory instead of making them hybrids as he had promised, but he didn’t tell a single soul about this. Why he did that was still a mystery, but his loyalty to Amon was unquestionable.

“All ships of the Death Fleet, warp to Sigma Quadrant at once!”

As of the moment, all the members of the blood council assembled at Highlord Ma’lash’s mothership. Countless zealots formed hundreds of squares on the platforms in space in front of them. Their blades yearned for enemies’ blood. Slayers tapped the metal floor restlessly with their metal limbs. Havoc beeps added to the chaotic surrounding. The Highlord was using the time in warp space to rouse up the morale of his men.

But unlike the common foot soldiers, Alarak wasn’t excited. As Ma’lash cheered his warriors, Alarak psionically made contact with Ji’nara and Nyon.

“I don’t like this.”

“What’s the matter? You’re worried that this victory will strengthen Ma’lash’s rule?”

”Don’t play games with me, Ji’nara. You know exactly why.” Alarak groaned impatiently. For once he didn’t have the patience to toy with others. “Don’t tell me this magnificent portrait has fooled you. The Death Fleet is more vulnerable than you think.”

Ji’nara frowned. It was true. Out of the 1100 ships, a large portion of them were destroyers. Destroyers had relatively little armor and shield. More importantly, if Kerrigan was here for a fight, she would be backed up by the best of the swarm. The Death Fleet would be severely outnumbered. Even if they win, they would never recover from the casualties for centuries.

“Perhaps you’re right, but perhaps this can be an opportunity.” Nyon suddenly said, half ignoring Alarak’s warning.

It was true. If the Death Fleet was defeated, Ma’lash’s power would dwindle, but so would the forces of Nyon, Alarak, and Ji’nara. However, if he could play this carefully...oh how he wished he had one Jean Turner beside him. If she was here, she would no doubt give him a way to come out on top…

Suddenly, he felt a device attached to his armor sending him a psionic notification. He frowned. It was from Jean. He turned around and glanced at Ma’lash, making sure he wasn’t paying another attention, before walking down the platform and into a corner. He made sure no one was watching before turning on the device.

He wasn’t satisfied when he saw the hologram projection of someone who wasn’t a human blonde.

“Six Ascendant Nyon.” The mechanical purifier on the other side said quietly.

Nyon’s eyes narrowed. “Identify yourself, protoss.” A hint of fear appeared in the back of his mind. This communication device belonged to Jean. He has just talked to her a few days ago. If this unknown, odd looking protoss holds this device, then how did she get it and what happened to Jean?

“Let me introduce yourself. My name is Delta. I am an ally of Jean Turner. That makes us allies.”

“I have never heard anything about this.”

“Jean told me everything I need about you. You two first met on Xil, where she took the second piece of Keystone fragment from you. Both of you sent a strike team into a broken xel’naga temple, but Jean’s forces came out on top. You were engaged in battle with the Queen of Blades and you were forced to leave. No one could’ve gotten information this detailed unless someone who was there told her that.“

“When did I meet Jean on Slayn?” Nyon demanded.

“You two have never met on Slayn. Jean told me the last time you two met, you raided a Daelaam research facility and seized all the ships from the local Daelaam fleet.”

“How many ascendants did I send to protect Jean?”

“You sent blood hunters, and they were sent back to you after saving someone under Jean’s orders.”

“You have proven your identity.” Nyon finally nodded. “Contact Jean. I need her advice.”

“She is unavailable right now, but I can help.” Delta promised. After all, she and Jean were practically one and the same. “I have a fleet with me.”

“I don’t need a fleet. I need advice.” Nyon groaned. “Unless you have enough ships to take down the Swarm and the Death Fleet, your forces are of no use to me.”

Delta didn’t feel insulted. “Explain the situation.”

Nyon struggled to control his anger as he, as calmly as possible, informed Delta what the situation was.

“Kerrigan has led the Swarm to Sigma Quadrant in hunt for the last piece of artifact? Ma’lash has led the Death Fleet there to meet her and take back the artifact she took?” Delta’s mechanical eyes started turning as her CPU was turned to its full efficiency.

“Give me the map of the Tal’darim territories with the influence of all the ascendants.” Delta turned back to Nyon. “You’re right. I don’t have the ships to cut into the fight between the Tal’darim and the Swarm, but didn’t you say all the Tal’darim forces left for the Sigma Quadrant? I have more than enough to ravage through the soft underbelly of the Tal’darim. Of course, I will leave your territory untouched.”

Nyon's eyes lit up as he realized what the female protoss was suggesting.

“And when the Death Fleet conquers the Swarm, Highlord Ma’lash will return to a world on fire. His fortress, his planets, his shipyards...they will all be in ashes. Without a world to fall back to and having lost most of his forces against the Swarm, Ma’lash will be more vulnerable than ever. The other ascendants will be weakened as well, and I will easily ascend to the seat of the Highlord.”

“Assuming the Tal’darim survives the fight.” Delta suddenly rained down on Nyon’s grand plan. “The Swarm is not an easy foe. Kerrigan’s power is unchallengeable. I doubt if even the full power of the Death Fleet can truly defeat the Swarm, much less retrieve her piece of the artifact.”

Delta’s first priority was more power. To do that, she needed to complete the mission, which was to terminate Amon. Unfortunately, Amon was in the safety of the void, and he has influence over almost half of the factions in the sector. One of them was the Queen of Blades.

Delta knew she needed Kerrigan to be purified. For one thing, she was subtly influenced by Amon in her current version. For another, the current Queen of Blades wasn’t easy to work with. Her list of allies she betrayed went from Fenix to Mengsk to Raynor and then back to Fenix again. She only became one of the good guys and learned to stop killing those on her side after she was purified. In this aspect, she needed to be turned back to human form.

Of course, Amon would later use Kerrigan’s essence to come back to the material world, but that should be solved by a surprise assault on the Hyperion after the battle of Char and before Narud could sneak the now fully charged artifact away. This was still a long way away, and thinking about that now would be pointless.

This meant Raynor must hold all the artifact pieces, which meant the Death Fleet must not only hold its line against the Swarm but also defeat it. Delta doubted that would be possible. The Tal’darim simply didn’t have the numbers. Even if she didn’t lay a finger on their homeworld, the Tal’darim’s ability to replenish their forces was still next to zero.

Perhaps in the first fight, the Tal’darim could take out half the zerg fleet with the cost of one tenth of the protoss one, but as long as Kerrigan got away, she might return after a few days with a brand new fleet. Maybe in the second day, the Tal’darim lost another twenty percent of their ships and wiped out two third of the zerg fleet. Maybe this would repeat for a few more fights, and for every one of them the Tal’darim would come out ahead.

But eventually, one day, the Tal’darim would find themselves at their lowest point, and they would still be facing the full power of the Swarm.

The Death Fleet, the Forged, would be wiped out.

Delta couldn’t allow that. She, Jean, didn’t spend so much time on Nyon and help him rise to power just to see him die along with the rest of his kin.

For a moment Nyon’s pride made him want to execute the female protoss talking to him for undermining the power of the Forged, but he controlled it. “It’s impossible. The Tal’darim…”

“You have neither the resource nor the manpower to fight a drawn out war against the Swarm. According to my simulations, you will likely lose.”

Nyon remained silent. He didn’t want to believe it, but both Alarak and Delta said this, and he couldn’t help but to wonder. As much as a defeat would weaken Ma’lash, Nyon couldn’t really command the Tal’darim if there was no Tal'darim alive. “What do you suggest?”

“Combine all your ships and launch an attack. Defending is the worst thing an army can do against the zerg. Kerrigan can sit back and spawn and launch wave after wave of attack at the defenders until the defenses eventually crumble. You need a precise, combined strike to invade the Swarm territories, destroy their hatcheries, and shut down their production. After that, destroying the zerg fleet shouldn’t be hard. Without her swarm, even Kerrigan can’t take on the Death Fleet alone.”

“Highlord Ma’lash will not agree to this.”

Delta’s plan meant evading the Swarm’s main forces in exchange for attacking their territory. This would likely be seen as a sign of weakness. Ma’lash was a zealot. Even if he understands this plan was the best for the Tal’darim, he might simply refuse to use it.

Delta didn’t have a good solution for that either. There was no way she could control Ma’lash’s actions.