The shipyards were created under the order of Nyon, though the idea came from The Assistant.

From a logical point of view The Assistant could never understand why the tal’darim refused to build their own ships. If they had done that then the Death Fleet would dominate the sector with the bravest warriors, the most ruthless ways, and the most amount of ships.

What The Assistant didn’t know was that the one behind the tal’darim, AMon, didn’t want that. The tal’darim obeyed the strongest, which, currently, was Amon. But if the tal’darim had a Death Fleet of thousands of carriers and motherships that could take out Amon himself with one single volley then Amon wouldn’t be considered as the strongest. Instead of obeying him, the Highlord could just kill him. Amon wanted the tal’darim to be strong, but he didn’t want them to be too strong.

Across the entire history there had been other tal’darim that, despite the propaganda, had tried to do a similar thing. Unfortunately they weren’t so fortunate. Technology wasn’t respected in the tal’darim world. Instead of building more advanced weaponry, the tal’darim enhanced themselves by inhaling terrazine. They had no tech tree, and all of their weapons and ships came from enemies they have conquered. They had no experienced phase smiths that could design more efficient weapons or ships. Anyone that tried to start an industrial revolution would find themselves with no infrastructure, few resources, and few supporters. They would also be seen as cowards and eliminated by the world. All of them have met terrible ends.

Nyon was a bit different. He had managed to take down a few Daeleem shipyards and, instead of taking what was already there and burning the rest, took away all the probes designed to build ships. He later reprogrammed them and establish secret shipyards of his own. He also had the warriors to keep everything a secret and the resources to build things. He might be the first to success.

Nyon wasn’t aware of what was happening in one of his shipyards. He was at a meeting.

The top ascendants were at the Highlord’s flagship. The flagship was the largest mothership in the tal’darim fleet. It had more firepower and plasma shield than two motherships added together. It was in this ship that Ma’lash observed the battle unfold below. If situation commenced, the flagship would join the battle and turn the tide.

Now the flagship acted as a war council for the commanding class of the tal’darim.

Nyon walked into the Highlord’s chamber and found most of the top ascendants present. Naruko was still in his uninterested state. Even the victory wasn’t enough to cheer him up. Guraj was more normal. He was the example of a normal tal’darim. A vicious smirk was on his face.

Ma’lash was sitting at the top. He was obviously pleased by the success.

“Nyon, you’re right. The Daelaam are much weaker than I imagined. In fact, they barely put up a fight. This is an easy victory.”

Outside the mothership, four captured Daelaam carriers were being transformed. The templar put up a good fight, but they were hopelessly outnumbered and surrounded. Weapon systems were being destroyed in seconds. They fought till the last men against the boarding forces, but in the end they lost.

As a result, the golden design that represented the Daelaam fraction was changed to the red color of the tal’darim. Ascendants that led the charge that wiped out the templar within and commandeered the ships were being rewarded by the loots. They took control of the carriers and would be joining the Death Fleet on the next raid.

Nyon forced himself to show obedience. Ma’lash gave all four carriers to ascendants that were ultimately loyal to him, which meant all four carriers were added to his direct control. These four ships, and those before this encounter, could be Nyon’s. Nyon knew he did what he had to do, but that didn’t mean he would welcome the loss generously.

Seeing Nyon didn’t say anything, Ma’lash smirked. The best general couldn’t win a war with no men behind him.

In the council, Fourth Alarak was obviously entertained by Ma’lash’s treatment of Nyon. He and Nyon were both allies and competitors. He enjoyed watching Nyon beaten down.

“Where should we strike next?” Nyon changed the topic.

“We…” Ma’lash started, but he was cut off by a zealot.

“Highlord, unidentified ship exiting warp space!”

The urgency of the news saved the zealot from the wrath of the Highlord. The consequences of cutting off the words of the Highlord wasn’t something a zealot could afford.

Ma’lash’s head started to spin. Despite the comments he made on how the weak the Daelaam was, Ma’lash wasn’t stupid. If the Daelaam were really vulnerable then the tal’darim would’ve destroyed them thousands of years ago. The only reason the Death Fleet could roam through the Daeleem skies like there was no opposition was because there was literally no opposition. If the Daelaam hierarch made up his mind to forget about the zerg and turn to the Death Fleet for some unknown reason then things would go terribly wrong. The Daelaam would be screwed, but the Death Fleet would also take heavy losses. As the Highlord it was Ma’lash’s duty to strengthen the tal’darim fraction. Whether for the sake of himself or for the sake of his people Ma’lash couldn’t lose the Death Fleet.

All those thoughts turned in Ma’lash head almost instantly. He was already considering whether he should resist for a while and retreat or just run away immediately when the Golden Armada exits warp space when he suddenly realized one thing.

Ship. Singular.

“Wait, ship? Just one ship?” Ma’lash asked, struggling to ignore the sense of shame.

“Yes, Highlord. There is just one single signal.”

Ma’lash gripped his fists together in ultimate anger. He couldn’t believe this. One ship almost scared off the entire Death Fleet! If this went out then Ma’lash would be the laughing stock of the entire sector. One hundred capital ships and thousands of smaller vessels being forced to run away with their tails between their legs by one single ship?

Ma’lash groaned and silently sentenced the zealot to a painful death. But the zealot was just a side. The unidentified ship was what caused his stupidity, and Ma’lash wanted that ship to pay.

The mysterious ship exited warp space. It was a terran battlecruiser. As soon as it left warp space, the battlecruiser started to turn around and run at full speed. Normally the warp drive of a ship needed to take a break before being able to jump again.

Ma’lash could almost picture the fear on the crew members of the ship. He had already sorted things out, or he thought he did. A terran battlecruiser was sent here for some random mission. It exited warp space and, since it couldn’t sense what was happening outside, stumbled upon the Death Fleet in accident. Realizing the danger, it tried to run away. The warp drive was used, so it had to fly.

“Eradicate that ship!” Ma’lash ordered loudly.

“Highlord, the ship is outside our range. We need to get closer or send out fighters to deal critical damage to that ship.” The battlecruiser exited warp space in a position awkward to the tal’darim. It was outside of the firing range of the destroyers. Interceptors and fighters could be launched, but it would take them a while to get there.

The wisest decision was to leave the battlecruiser be and get back to business, but Ma’lash wasn’t so wise. He, the Highlord of the tal’darim and the leader of the Death Fleet, somethat that at the peak of his power could wipe out an army with his psi power, was just scared by a single terran battlecruiser. He felt shamed. WIth shame came anger. With anger came a drop in wisdom.

“Chase that ship down!” The Highlord ordered.

“With the entire fleet, my lord?” An ascendant questioned. Sending one hundred ships had the same effect as sending two, but the spending of energy and time was vastly different.

Ma’lash thought about it briefly. He was the Highlord, but even so sending out an entire fleet at a single ship out of spite was obviously stupid. The rest of the fleet lords wanted to loot the Daelaam planets. Denying them that chance of getting stronger by chasing down a single worthless ship would raise discontent. Perhaps the ascendants wouldn’t turn on Ma’lash just because of that, but it was a risk Ma’lash didn’t need to take.

“I will lead my own ships against that ship. The rest of you, spread out and pillage the territory as you wish.“ The Highlord had 4 motherships and 32 carriers under his command. He was more than capable.

The other ascendants agreed. They didn’t care what their Highlord did with his ships as long as their own interests weren’t undermined. In fact they were even pleased that their leader was wasting precious time on a pointless mission.

And so the Death Fleet split into smaller fractions. The largest fraction among them moved after the fleeing battlecruiser.