“What!? How?” Selendis’ eyes widened with disbelief.

Even with the advanced protoss technology they couldn’t just disappear and appear somewhere else with no limitations. Protoss needed a force field to warp into. In most cases these force fields were either created by pylons or warp prisms. In this case it could only be a warp prism. But how did the tal’darim get a warp prism past the heated battlefield?

Still, the executor realized how this happened didn’t matter. She communicated with the other pilots and realized they were in a similar situation. All five carriers were being boarded by tal’darim ground forces.

She came to a depressing realization. The tal’darim wanted her carriers, and they had been wanting it from the very start. It was a trap, and she walked right into it with all the confidence in the world. Now the hunter had became the hunted.

The female executor felt trapped, like she was caught in a carefully nested web with no escape, but her sense of duty didn’t allow her to give up. She had lost this battle, fine, but she needed to bring these five carriers back to safety. Selendis had been with Artanis long enough to know how much the devoted leader cared about the Golden Armada. He did everything he could to piece together this invincible fleet after the fall of Aiur. Every ship was priceless, and reinforcements were slow since the ship production wasn’t exactly prospering after the zerg disaster. Losing five ships would be a blow to the head for Artanis, and Selendis didn’t want to disappoint her leader.

“Templar, command this ship and pull back the fighters. Sacrifice the interceptors if you need to but cover the fighters’ retreat. Ready the warp drive.” Selendis turned to a fellow templar. Interceptors could be rebuilt with ease, but the fighters, especially the pilots, were much harder to replenish. The fighters were the only reason why she didn’t order the carriers to warp away now. Each fighter had a protoss pilot, and she could never order the abandonment of hundreds of brothers and sisters. “Zealot, assemble the ground forces. We will meet the tal’darim in real combat. For Daeleem!” She ordered decisively, showing absolutely no fear of the dire situation.

Meanwhile, on Selendis' flagship, dozens of bodies solidified. Most of them were zealots, but an ascendant was leading them.

“For Nyon!” The ascendant screamed and mindblasted a dragoon. Nyon told all five ascendants that they would get control of the ship if they were to capture it. It was enough to make the ascendant do everything he could. A carrier could effectively rise his status in the chain of ascension. Dozens of zealots followed their leader as they charged into the battlefield.

All of the zealots were specially chosen for this mission. The inside of carriers were smaller, and the hallways were thinner. This meant only a small amount of units could fight. The scatter cannons of vanguards would either hit the ceiling or blast a hole in the ground. Slayers had a similar fear. Thus everything depended on old fashioned blade to blade melee battle. With this in mind, all the zealots on this mission were experts in the art of blades and were armed with the best weapons, armors, and plasma shields.

Several Daeleem zealots that made an attempt to cut off the warping process were too late, and they were quickly overwhelmed by the tal’darim ones.

The ascendant ignored the dying zealots and charged headon toward the bridge. His master, Nyon, told him his time would be limited. Nyon predicted as soon as the Daeleem fighters re-entered the carrier the ships would jump away. If that happened the ascendant and his warriors would be trapped and slaughtered. The ascendant had no intention of dying, which was why he moved quickly.

As the tal’darim made another turn, they found themselves facing a certain female templar and a group of zealots.

Selendis came here as soon as possible. Every protoss warrior available onboard was here. They were mostly zealots. Even though carriers could hold an entire army, Selendis’ carriers came here to chase away the enemy fleet, not fight a ground battle. They were only packed with a small group of units. After all if a carrier filled with zealots was destroyed, then the protoss within would die as well. It was just too risky.

There was no exchange of words. The tal’darim wanted to get to the bridge as soon as possible. Selendis didn’t want to waste words with tal’darim cowards. The two sides charged and clashed…

On Nyon’s flagship, Nyon watched as the Daeleem fighters were pulling back. In contrast, the interceptors bravely and mindlessly launched a suicidal charge on the tal’darim interceptors. Despite being few in numbers, the Daeleem interceptors held on. They were suffering heavy losses, but the fighters were already halfway back. As soon as the fighters were back into the carriers, the capital ships would warp away, and Nyon would lose access to the five carriers.

“They’re getting away. Our boarding party will not be on time.” Nyon said impatiently. Five more carriers could make him even more powerful and allow him to move higher in the chain of ascension.

“All carriers move forward.” Assistant ordered, as calm as ever. “All destroyers jump right next to the carriers and take down their warp drives. Ascension awaits.”

The ascendant’s blades clashed with those of Selendis. The red clashed with the blue. Behind them the tal’darim zealots smashed into the Daeleem zealots. Blades slashed into plasma shields.

Selendis screamed and focused her strength on her arms, pushing the ascendant away with her crossed blue blades. The ascendant fell back and smashed into a few friendly zealots. The zealots helped him up, but the ascendant merely pushed the zealots away in anger. But while he was done, Selendis held her hand out and channeled a spell.

“Nooo!” The ascendant screamed as violent psionic energy ripped through the tal’darm line. The psionic storm ripped apart the shields of the tal’darim zealots and torn open their flesh. Selendis might be wasted in battle by Assistant’s tricks, but she was the student of Artanis and a powerful psionic warrior.

The ascendant knew he had lost the battle. His zealots were either dead or heavily bruised. His chances of winning over the carrier was lost. He would escape, but he knew very well who Nyon was. If he failed his master would kill him in the longest way possible. In comparison to a certain death he perfered a chance.of survival.

“My life for Nyon!” He screamed and charged forward. Two mindblasts took down two zealots. What was left of the tal’darim zealots followed their ascendant. The tal’darims were never afraid of dying.