“All warriors boarding the enemy flagship is dead.” Nyon said quietly, showing no sadness or anger.

“I am not surprised. The commander of a fleet tend to be a powerful templar.” Assistant replied. “The other boarding parties are much more successful. Two carriers have already joined your cause. Two more are about to fall. The enemy flagship is the only survivor.”

“I am just glad the fool leading the charge is dead.” Nyon said coldly. “Anyways, one fewer ship is not a problem. Order the destroyers to destroy that ship.”

While the zealots were assaulting the carriers from the inside, the five destroyers have warped right next to the carriers. The last two carriers have fallen, and Selendis’ flagship was the only survivor.

The destroyers opened fire on the last standing carrier, but both Assistant and Nyon knew it was too late. The carrier blinked and disappeared.

A few hours later, the tal’darim fleet, now consisting of nine carriers and five destroyers, was still in the battlefield.

The phase smith were fixing the warp drives of the one carrier that the tal’darim destroyers destroyed with the surprise attack. Groups of tal’darim were hunting down Daeleem survivors. These survivors included khala phase engineers onboard, pilots of the fighters that got into the carriers and were stuck inside, and units that survived the boarding and were making a desperate stand. Nyon and Assistant were standing in the bridge of the flagship.

“Are you sure it’s safe to be here? The Golden Armada can be here anytime.” Nyon asked suspiciously. He was proud, but he wasn’t stupid. His 14 ships couldn’t fight even a small portion of the Golden Armada. Consisting of 500 capital ships and thousands of support ships, even the Death Fleet would think twice before attacking.

“Artanis is smarter than that.” Assistant replied. “I have calculated the train of thought. If I were Artanis I would cut the losses and pull back.”

Nyon nodded. “Speaking of, how did you get the warp prism near the carriers?”

“I modified them and added cloaking devices.” Assistant replied casually. “I wonder why no commander before me thought about that.”

“But pilots in carriers can sense cloaked units if they get close…” Nyon questioned.

“...which is why I sent those destroyers to hit the carriers in the back. The enemy commander thought it was a kill shot, but it was just a decoy.” Assistant tilted her head. “The enemy commander did what any commander would do when being attacked. He responded to the attack. Moving units and dealing with enemy ships that are so close tend to divert the attention of a commander. He was looking over his back, and I used that chance to sneak a cloaked warp prism onto his ship.”

“Impressive...what should the commander have done differently? What would you do?” Nyon asked, impressed.

“If I were the enemy commander I would cover the field with observers the minute I arrive. That should shut down most types of tricks. Assumption leads to defeat.”

“Very well…” Nyon trailed off. “Now what?”

“I have sent a group down to the captured facility and move all the ship production hardwares onto the carriers. With these hardwares we can produce our own ships instead of relying on capturing ships from the enemies. As soon as they are done we will warp back to Slayn. The Death Fleet will be a critical part of Jean’s plan, and now you have what it takes to play a role in the tal’darim leadership..”

A bruised carrier exited warp space above Shakurus…

A few minutes later, Selendis was facing her disappointed teacher. She just told everything that happened to Artanis. She could see the disappointment in her teacher’s eyes. Losing four ships was a painful damage to the Golden Armada. Sure, four ships among a total of five hundred capital ships was insignificant, but these four ships could hardly be replenished. This was especially the case since the ship production facility on Cranmir II was taken over by the tal’darim.

“Send another fleet to Cranmir II and wipe out the tal’darim. The tal’darim attack can not go unchecked.” Selendis requested, desperate to wash away her shame.

Artanis wasn’t so confident. “The tal’darim might be a pest, but they pose no real threat.”

“Hierarch, is there something that I should know?” Selendis asked cautiously.

“Reports came in when you were fighting the tal’darim. Kerrigan tricked us. As the Golden Armada spread apart to chase after individual leviathans Kerrigan converged her leviathans into a single fleet and started picking off small groups of carriers. Over 20 carriers have gone down before we could response. Admirial Urun is recalling the rest of the 280 carriers to face the converged swarm in combat.”

Selendis frowned darkly. Things have went down really quickly. Before she left the planet the Daeleem had been chasing the fleeing leviathans across the entire sector. But now for some reason the swarm have decided to come together and fight the protoss. Selendis didn’t feel good about this. Kerrigan would never do something if she wasn’t confident.

“This is why the tal’darim are the least of our concern. We need every ship we can get on the swarm.”

“The Golden Armada is invincible.” Selendis reminded.

“Indeed, the Golden Armada is invincible. But if the Golden Armada suffers too many losses we will not be able to recover. One leviathan can effectively fight 5 carriers. The swarm can rebuild twenty leviathans with enough resources much faster than we can rebuild 100 carriers. We need to end Kerrigan and take acceptable losses.” Artanis explained. “This is why I am sending the majority of the Golden Armada to the front. Apart from the 100 carriers and 2 motherships guarding Shakurus every capital ship, support ship, and fighter will be sent to the battle against the swarm.”

“Is it safe? Shakurus might be attacked…”

“100 carriers and 2 motherships will be enough to fight whatever enemy that approaches. The swarm is our top priority.”

“What can I do?”

“I want you to lead the reinforcements to Urun. When you arrive stay with Urun and help him fight the war against Kerrigan.” Artanis ordered.

“As you wish.” Selendis nodded and left.