The Arbiter Tribunal: Part 1 Chapter 9: Command

2481 C.E.
UMOJAN EXPEDITIONARY FLEET
PLANET JARDIS
The fleet was moving eastwards with a steady speed. All sensors were watching and listening for any enemies, in the air and on the ground. All guns on the battleships were status red and the crews were waiting for any reading that would guide them to the enemy.
They flew over low mountains and dusty valleys for a hundred kilometers. The ships moved carefully and the science vessels were registering even the flocks of local birds, but all in vain. The Terrans were seeing no traces of Zerg presence and the officers were growing vexed with the admiral's plan, although nobody dared defy the clear orders from above.
The terrain was changing ahead of them. A few kilometers further, the spine of some mountain chain rose that stretched from north to south. McNorman decided that there is where they stop and then turn back to see the Protoss one last time before moving on. So, the expeditionary fleet flew onwards to the grey mountains to see if there was anything worthy of their attention there.
As they crossed ridge after ridge, McNorman's doubts were growing more and more and he could imagine the objections from those of the officers who disliked the aliens. Their eyes met his with unconcealed expectation and it was not a secret then who would be right and who would be proven too optimistic in the overall situation.
Then, the Andronikos received a reading from one of the science vessels. It was telling them of many organic signatures in a gorge a kilometer away southwards. Hearing this, task group number two, which was the right flank of the fleet, turned from the main force and assumed course southwards. On the bridge of the flagship, the admiral was waiting.
Then, they confirmed.
'Sir, we see them,' Commodore Ferguson, in charge of the battlecruiser Hreimdar, informed the command. 'Many living things, just grown all over the place. It begins here and stretches for some kilometers southwards, but this gorge teems with life. Not flora, sir, life. I bet this is the Zerg.'
Shortly, this was confirmed by other ships. The fleet was flying between two ridges, each with many steep rocky precipices and scarce mountainous vegetation of teal bushes. At its middle, the long valley between the two ridges sank into the ground. That had to be the gorge. From the bridge of the Graf von Moltke, Boris looked at what was inside the gorge and was flabbergasted. There were living things inside it. Strange pink organic formations filled most of the gorge, like mold covers the inside of a carved fruit. They were big and small, some without shape, some with an excellent symmetry. They were like polyps or corns or soggy spiderwebs that fell from the walls of the gorge. Some where like cones and others like balls half-buried in the ground. Many had claw-like leaves or thorns sticking out of various parts of their bodies. The most awe-inspiring, or perhaps terrifying feature of those alien beings was the fact that they were alive, in the most disgusting sense of the word. Even as Boris was watching the uncanny colony, he could see with frightening clarity how the whole gorge was pulsing in one common rhythm, breathing in unison, in its dreadful, wild order. The bodies of the structures, covered in slime and full of life, seemed to make small twists together, as a part of some irritating trance they were caught in. The floor of the gorge where there were no Zerg formations was covered by a strange purple substance.
Paskirov took down the binoculars and realized how heavily he was breathing after this encounter of alien life, so different from anything he had seen before. Service in the Confederate armed forces had taken him to various planets and he remembered his initial surprises at seeing different plants and animals on the less popular worlds in the Terran sector. However, this was much beyond the usual flora and fauna he had grown indifferent to. The things down in the gorge were more than just strange grass or trees. There was something unique about them and he felt a mix of fear and ruth at the magnitude of the life force these beings held in themselves.
One of the lieutenants brought him out of his trance.
'Sir, the admiral wants to hear you.'
'Right, of course.'
Paskirov went to the video transmitter and heeded McNorman.
'Boris, that down are supposedly the Zerg. We are sending some men down there to take quick samples. Then, we are annihilating this gorge. All batteries on all ships will open fire at specific sectors and we're scouring this place for good. Prepare your weapons.'
'Yes, sir.'
As they were speaking, the science vessel Aldrin, accompanied by several dropships, descended towards the end of the Zerg-inhabited zone of the gorge. While it hovered a hundred and fifty meters in the air, the dropships deployed the soldiers from INFCOM Alpha and the scientists tasked with collecting data. The marines and the firebats immediately began moving towards the infested stretch of the gorge. The soldiers were walking with steady caution, expecting furious resistance from the strange foe. Behind them, the scientists hurriedly unpacked the machinery, eager to get samples from the amazing alien life forms.
The infantry was walking forwards. At one point, the solid rocky ground beneath the soldiers' armored boots ended and they found themselves walking on a strange purple slime that had spread all over the floor of the gorge. They looked around them. There was some of the purple slime even on the rocks on the steep walls of the gorge, hanging from them like very slimy lichens. Behind the troops, the scientists in their white suits kneeled on the ground and gathered some of the slime into the special sterile containers.
The soldiers walked forward, wondering at the very existence of such a place. At one point, one of the men saw something and directed the attention of his platoon to the object of interest. It was a brown four-meter centipede-like creature, crawling away from them. One of the soldiers raised his C-14 Impaler rifle, but the platoon commander did not allow him to fire and they went along.
The river that had carved the gorge was a waning stream at the point where the troops landed, but as they walked into the Zerg colony, it vanished completely. A huge Zerg formation stood in the air behind one of the turns. It had the shape of a jellyfish and while its head was reaching fifty meters above, almost to the edge of the gorge, it was held to the ground by several arms or tentacles. It had the color of gutted meat and its thick hide was covered in slime that shone against the light. Its majestic figure pulsed.
The platoon commanders of INFCOM Alpha were beginning to call back the command to ask for orders. The scientists were pushing the troops inwards, wanting more specimens of everything before the huge laser cannons of the warships above turned all into ash. So, the troops continued through the eerie emptiness of the infested gorge.
Ten meters later, the soldiers saw something big move behind some webbed rocks. The men of platoon one spread out and carefully made an attack maneuver towards it. The cameras on their visors were recording everything.
Suddenly, something jumped out from behind the rocks. Instinctively, several marines pressed the triggers and the Zerg creature was torn apart by the needles fired. The platoon commander reported first hostiles while the soldiers stood around the body of the Zerg examining it with curiousity. It was a four-legged animal with additional two long limbs on its back that ended each in a long claw. Its reddish blood was spilling out onto the purple slime beneath it. The troops were to halt and establish a defensive perimeter until samples were taken from the killed zergling and then everybody was going back to the ships to “watch the fireworks” by the words of one of the marines.
As the scientists were gathered around the dead body like flies, the soldiers moved forward. Fifteen meters further, they saw a deep niche in the rocks. They approached slowly and saw something eerie. In the organic slime the niche was covered in, there were cocooned figures. Humanoid figures. One of the marines extended his hand and cleared up some of the slime over the supposed head. When the goo fell aside, it revealed the blurred head of a Protoss.
Suddenly, there were readings for numerous enemies approaching. In the distance, there was a huge puddle of green liquid with strange organic lichens growing around it and behind that, alien figures were moving. The troops fell back and braced up.
The first Zerg appeared. Their stance was like a snake standing upright, but their bodies were thicker, shorter, and much more threatening. They had a pair of arms with a long sharp claw at the end of each. Their heads were long and widened to the back. The aliens' meat-pink bodies were divided into various segments and were covered with the familiar grease that was found on the surface of the larger organic structures. Their eyes were yellow and hostile.
The first alien curved itself and from the carapace on its back two flaps opened. The marines aimed at it and several needles suddenly flew out of it, penetrating the black armor and sticking deep into the bodies of the two soldiers in front.
The marines needed no warning. They immediately opened fire. Their rifles pushed back the aliens beneath the torrent of steel and pain. The hypersonic needles fired from their C-14 gauss rifles tore through the flesh of the Zerg creatures, suppressing them from retaliating with more needle spines. The scientists reported that they were ready and ran backwards from the danger. The marines left their fallen brethren behind, in an effort to avoid their fate, and also headed towards the dropships.
On his battlecruiser, Boris saw the units from INFCOM Alpha returning and ordered his task group of three Wanderer-class ships and the Graf von Moltke to assume positions and aim at its defined sector. The fleet was formed around the gorge, ready to annihilate every Zerg down in the rocks. The huge ships' batteries were charged and ready to fire against the living mass beneath them. McNorman gave the order.
The weapons fired a destructive wave of laser downwards into the enemy colony. The blasts were so powerful in their simultaneousness that they turned some of the air into plasma. Hundreds of beams directed towards the aliens pierced the air and glowed so bright that the shadows of the ships on the side of the ridge disappeared. The laser fire hit the gorge again and again, blasting everything alive down there to cinders. For fifteen minutes did the ships fire down below towards the colony, when they ran out of energy and were forced to wait.
There was little left of the Zerg. Much of the interior of the gorge was now a scorched smoking crater, full of the burned remains of Zerg life. The crews of the ships rejoiced at the destruction they had inflicted on the aliens.
However, the job was not done. Some aliens still crept down there, and the command saw this. Half an hour later, the Umojan fleet again opened fire at the foes, unleashing the wrath of the Terran ship weapons technology upon the hostiles beneath. When this was finished, the colony was ravaged. McNorman congratulated the crews on the job well done, but there were doubts among the officers. They had encountered almost no enemy ground forces. The colony seemed deserted, compared to Williams' accounts of what he had seen many weeks ago. The fleet had yet to find the Zerg ground forces who were somewhere outside the colony.
To the obvious question “where” there was the equally obvious but much more disturbing answer “on their way to the Protoss.” Therefore, McNorman ordered the fleet to track the closest land route towards the Protoss settlement from here and to prepare to meet the Zerg. The humans flew along the gorge, past the exit into the open fields and westwards. It was not long before they encountered the Zerg forces.
At this area, the field was ending to give way to some rocky areas and to continue towards the Protoss, the Zerg had to circumvent the restrictive terrain and follow a route northwards through a wide passage. The two battalion-sized groups of Zerg maintained a distance of about five kilometers between each other – enough to divide them and destroy them one by one.
This was the agreed plan of the attack. The terran air force would attack the rear group from east-northeast, pushing them westwards an away from the leading group. When the Zerg were forced to the northwestern side of a strategic, well-defendable hill. There, most of Williams' special forces of INFCOM Zeta, along with half the Goliath-class walkers would be deployed, ready to fire at the enemy. In the meantime, the two tank groups of the tank companies would advance in the field and open indiscriminate fire against the Zerg force. When the tanks were done barraging the enemies, the Zerg were to be pushed to the southwest, where the rest of the Terran ground forces were positioned. There, the Zerg were to be outflanked, surrounded and destroyed by the Umojan force.
And so, the commanders of the different forces left the conference room of the Andronikos and headed to the docking bays to return to their units. The dropships were deployed and the battalion occupied its designated positions under the noon sun. In the meantime, the air force of the fleet prepared to do its part of the plan. The ships were divided into three task groups, mimicking the arrangement from the morning. The difference was that the science vessels were part of each task group, ready to provide support with sensors and defense matrices. Task groups one and two, with the Andronikos and the Graf von Moltke respectively, would push back the enemy forces while the third task force was supposed to pin the enemy down.

Then, the capital ships, followed by the wanderers caught up with the Zerg and began maneuvering in the distance. The rear group of Zerg, however, noticed the Terran activity. It was then that Paskirov saw from his ship that the enemy also had air forces. As the first two task groups were moving ahead of the aliens, towards closing the trap, a dark cloud of enemies took off from the forces on the ground and headed towards Ferguson and task group three. The enemies were an estimated fifty to one hundred, all hideous and ugly. The zoom only showed the outlines of the enemies, however Boris could discern forward-bent worm-like body and the pair of webbed wings that made up its silhouette.
Seeing this, McNorman ordered the wraith-class fighters from the first two task groups to aid Ferguson. The smart-looking wraiths headed with full speed towards the third task group, but stopped halfway through. The Hreimdar and the wanderers' batteries were very effectively repelling the Zerg air units. The lasers simply fired into the crowd and got guaranteed hits against the fragile enemy. As the ships' cannons picked off the flying monsters, the attention of the fleet was turned towards the moving Zerg. There were still some air units above their mass. They looked like sponges or brains flying in the air, with several long tentacles dragging behind them. Ferguson's group opened fire. The brain-like creatures were helpless against the cannonade of the fleet and were destroyed.
That being taken care of, the third task group moved on to support the first two. The admiral and the vice-admiral's forces were now spread in a perimeter around the second group of Zerg and were firing at those of the aliens that were at the edges of the cluster. The enemies could either try to break through and then be vaporized by the Umojan warships, or just stay away from the lasers. Doing so, the ships slowly pushed the whole Zerg mass backwards in the desired west-southwestern direction, away from the front group.
When the enemies were north of the INFCOM Zeta's positions and within range of the ghosts' C-10 rifles, Williams' battalion opened fire. The ghosts at first tried to aim, but then found themselves indiscriminately firing into the enemy mass. Farther from the major, at a special place, Konrad was watching over the camera. He had volunteered to go in the field because he still had to make amends for participating with Chester in the theft of the artifact. So, he was standing there, the camera was working fine, in the field in front of him giant Terran battleships were poking a herd of hideous bloodthirsty aliens westwards with spectacular laser works, and some ghosts nearby were firing. He walked to one of them, bored.
'Having an easy day?' he asked the soldier.
'Yes. Not being fired upon, while firing at the enemy is a good feeling,' the young ghost replied.
'I'm Konrad, what's your name?'
'Just Dallas.'
Konrad paused and then resumed the conversation.
'How accurate is your rifle?'
'Pretty good. I can hit any part of a target's body from distances up to eight hundred meters,' Dallas smiled.
'Really?'
'See that alien dog down there?' the ghost pointed at a zergling that had strayed from the group. 'Name a bone you want me to break with this here rifle.'
Konrad smiled.
'The stirrup.'
The ghost smiled in return.
As the Zerg were slowly pushed away, it was time for the tanks to move in and weaken the enemy further. The two groups moved down from the slopes towards the enemy. Raising tall clouds of dust behind them, the tanks rushed through the field and against the Zerg with a mechanical roar. When they were at range, they began firing their double cannons. The deafening cannonade was heard all over the battlefield. The shells fired from the tanks were a new wave of death and destruction in the Zerg ranks. Williams could see through his scope how the aliens were torn apart by the devastating cannonade of the siege tanks.
The firing continued for some time, while the fleet was still pushing the Zerg away, but now at a much slower rate, and the infantry was approaching from the heights. Now, Williams only fired in order to empty his magazine and occasionally to take down any stray alien. His C-10 had become hot, both because of the firing, and because of the noon sun that immersed the whole area in searing heat.

As the infantry battalion were crossing the field, something happened that was not in the plans. The tanks' fire weakened and both groups prepared to retreat because they had done what was expected of them. Once this happened, however, the surviving Zerg did made a left turn from their supposed route. They made a charge against the first tank group, rapidly cutting the distance between them and the confused tanks.
Seeing this, Williams gasped. The tanks were in a grave danger.
'All platoons, move to the northwest side of the plateau and open fire on the Zerg. Now!' he shouted over the radio and checked to see how many magazines he had. They were enough.
He started shooting as quickly as he could at the hostiles down below. The rear tank platoons had already left, but the ones at the front were still forming up and the machines were clumsily pushing each other like the Zerg multitude tried to keep away from the battleships' fire. The ghost aimed, fired, and reloaded in a matter of seconds. He picked a random enemy from the side of the tanks and shot it before picking another one and firing his rifle again, as fast as his training allowed him to.
However, the first groups of Zerg were now upon the tanks. They jumped onto the armored machines with unnatural frenzy and just dealt whatever harm they could with fangs and claws. By itself, this was not little. Williams could see with what strength the aliens tire the armor of the tanks slowly but unstoppably and how the explosion of the destroyed tank, although harming and stunning the surrounding Zerg, did not quench their bloodlust to the slightest extent. The enemies showed no mercy to the tank drivers who were trying to escape their vehicles. Instead, those unlucky men found themselves in a world of anguish as they were gutted by the furious aliens. There was now the black smoke of burning tanks rising over that part of the field despite Williams' best efforts. Even the first goliath group who were deployed on the plateau had been firing at the merciless foes, but many tanks were now gone.
And then the second goliath group came. Previously stationed with the infantry, the goliaths were supposed to provide anti-air support. The second group was southwest of the plateau and had hurried to answer the call of their comrades from the tank units. The huge walkers bravely stepped forwards and engaged the Zerg. The twin autocannons on their arms burst in light as they sent their load of explosive shells at the enemy. Their precise fire delivered their vengeance to zerglings and the bigger monsters alike without much waste. The enemies were hewn down, but their numbers were too great. Soon the platoons realized that their autocannons could not keep up with the rate of fire and began to overheat. So, they fearfully began pulling out, not knowing what the Zerg would do next.
Williams, up on the rocks like the other ghosts, was well protected against any alien who tried to fire needle spines at him. However, he was running dry. Now more careful to save his ammunition, he aimed more carefully before firing, but this helped little. Then, finally, the infantry companies began to appear. The soldiers rushed forward to assist the goliaths against the enemies. The black-armored marines eagerly shot at the terrifying aliens, hungry for battle. The clash was hard, as the aliens had a seemingly unlimited supply of wrath. They are born to kill, Konrad thought, looking at the bloodbath down below.

However, the infantry was prevailing. The massed fire against the Zerg lines was efficient not only because of the high damage of the hypersonic spikes, but also because of its suppressing effect on the enemy warriors. So, the soldiers were melting their way through the enemy lines.
The Zerg, at this point, were surrounded. The Terran army was confronting them on all sides, with infantry or armor or ships, and was not losing. On his comfortable position, Williams was looking down at the battle. He was out of ammunition and could only sit and wait for the enemy to be destroyed. And destroyed they were, but after some hard fighting. The entire force of the expeditionary fleet had surrounded the Zerg and was pouring steel, laser and hellfire down upon them. Half an hour later, the last Zerg was killed and the soldiers cheered at the small victory. Because there was another similar group of Zerg to fight. So, the troops were picked up as fast as possible back to the transports and the fleet continued to finish the job.
The Terrans accelerated towards the Protoss settlement. McNorman's intention was to catch up with the Zerg and destroy them, preferably in front of the Protoss' very eyes. This would help facilitate peaceful relations between the humans and the aliens and, hopefully, give the professors in the fleet some work as the humans learned things from the Protoss. After all, this is why Umoja sent everybody in deep space for.
The fleet soared through the familiar landscape of Jardis' dry tropical zone. Half an hour later, they approached the field where the Protoss' settlement was. The ships moved to a lower altitude and formed two columns as a goodwill gesture and display of trust to the good intentions of the other side. However, the Terrans soon began doubting whether this was the best thing to do.
Far away, above the dark spot in the field where the Protoss camp stood, there were Protoss ships. From the bridge of the Graf von Moltke, which was leading one of the columns, Paskirov could see strangely familiar little silhouettes. There were five of them and from this distance they looked like grains of rice or miniature golden buds. But Boris remembered the events from when he was with the Confederate fleet “Lambda” and knew that down there, the Protoss had five carriers. He called the admiral.
'Did you see that, Paskirov?' his voice was heard.
'Yes, sir. These are enemy... Ahem, Protoss, ships. Carriers, sir, something like our Enteos, but much more durable. And, faster. And, better armed.'
'Yes, I know the records. How much of a threat are they to us?'
'Well, sir, two of these beat our previous fleet and had us surrender.'
'Oh, dear,' the admiral was concerned.
'These ships must have taken down the first Zerg force,' Boris mentioned. 'Orders?'
'Yes, be polite. And prepare to move into a vee.'
'Will you send someone to talk to them, sir?'
'Yes, I will. Williams is tired, so I'll send Carla, she's fine and was asking for missions. You stay put. And be ready for clashes.'
Fifteen minutes later, the Umojan fleet was two kilometers southwest of the settlement. A dropship left towards the settlement with Carla, Paskirov, again to negotiate, and four guards aboard. As it flew, Boris could see through the pilot's window how the massive round golden capital ships were turning away from the settlement and to the field southwest.
'You know why are they moving, sir?'
'Not really. I hope it is some effort to facilitate diplomacy by clearing the area of armed forces. Otherwise, we're flying targets,' Boris replied.
The dropship landed a hundred meters from the settlement. The carriers were far away in the distance, he could see, and so were the human ships from his own fleet. He scratched his head, wondering what would the approaching Protoss say.
When the group of several robed aliens approached, Boris could see that there was a new individual in charge. This Protoss was younger than Nartas and had tattoos on the left side of his face, although he was wearing quite the same clothes. Their delegation stopped ten meters from the humans and the tattooed alien jerked back when he looked at them, as if a hostile animal had suddenly materialized in front of him. He looked at some of his peers, no doubt telling them something, Paskirov thought, and then slowly stepped forward.
After a pause, Carla frowned.
'What? Oh, great, just great. Damn bastard.'
'Hey, take it easy,' the vice-admiral interrupted her. 'What is it, we're in a meeting.'
'Tell them, boss. This guy doesn't like the fact that I'm a woman. He says he refuses to talk to me!' Carla was angered.
'Tell him that you are just a translator and that he really talks to us,' Boris tried to insert some reason.
Things were taking a turn to the worse at a very early stage.
'He says,' the ghost continued half a minute later, 'that he is offended by the fact that you use me in the negotiations, but will forgive us.'
'Tell him that this we... No, that I appreciate this, and that we come in peace.'
She focused and then told Paskirov.
'They want to know why we have returned.'
'Tell them that the admiral decided to help their people and so we fought the Zerg and took down half their army. Then, we tried to finish them and headed your way, but you had already eliminated them.'
'They say that there was no need for you to do this and that the Protoss forces can easily deal with the enemies,' Carla said impersonally.
'Well, ask him what happened to the previous speaker of theirs, the elderly Protoss called Nartas.'
'Wow. He says that he was executed for talking to us humans and that we are not welcome here.'
'Oh, great. We helped and... Never mind,' Boris murmured. 'Tell him that we will leave in peace now.'
'Alright.'
A minute later, the ghost was worried.
'He's asking where is the sphere.'
'The what?' the vice-admiral was surprised.
'I'm afraid he is referring to the artifact we have. The map.'
'How the hell does he know?'
'He said,' Carla replied, 'that you match his commander's memories of you and how you were captured in the previous fleet. And he wants to know where the artifact is.'
'Ohboy. Right. Tell him that I need to talk to the admiral about that.'
'He says that you cannot go back, because he does not know whether or not you will return.'
'What do you mean?' Boris was getting nervous.
'He wants you to tell him. Right now,' she said with fear in her eyes. 'This is not good, Paskirov.'
'Then, this is just arguing we're doing here. Things are not going well. I cannot tell what will happen now. We better leave.'
'As you say,' she replied and followed him as he turned back. 'Wait, do you want to hear another thing he just said?'
'I doubt, but go ahead,' Boris looked grim.
'He says that we are to immediately return unless we want to die.'
'Come again?' he asked, but saw.
The dropship was thirty meters away. From the enemy group, two Protoss were walking quickly towards Paskirov. Carla, and the four marines.
'Hurry up.' he ordered and the group hurried their pace towards the ship.
As they were ten meters from it, the two aliens caught up with them and lay their grey hands on the last two marines' shoulder pads. The soldiers turned aside, each only to see a long, glowing white blade with blue light surrounding it fly into the glass of his visor and cut through, still continuing towards their heads. They fell dead.
Paskirov turned and saw the two Protoss draw the psi blades formed above their wrists from the corpses of the bodyguards. The aliens looked at him and the sight of their glowing purple eyes made
his heart freeze.
'Negotiations are over. Run!' he uttered and headed towards the open door of the dropship.
The two Protoss cut the distance to the other two guards and slashed at chests of the marines with their two psi blades before the two men could even aim their weapons at them. Boris heard the clank of the soldiers' black armor when they hit the ground and felt himself one of the first casualties of the upcoming battle. Then, he saw Carla stop.
'Come on!' he shouted, five meters from the dropship.
'I'll be righ there,' she said and looked at the two Protoss coming at her. Boris hurried inside to warn the admiral of the development of the events. The alien warriors reached her and the first one swung his blade against her. She kneeled aside to avoid it and with a quick horizontal kick pushed his leg sideways and took him off balance. The second Protoss, attacked, too, and she jumped aside from the trajectory of his blade, trying to divert his armed hand with hers. However, beneath the robes, she did not see the warrior's leg moving at her and the alien hit her, causing her to fall in the dust. She crept a few meters away, struggling to breathe, and hurriedly came back on her feet. The two aliens were next to her, ready to finish her off. The noise from the dropship's engines was increasing. Then, the chest and the left Protoss burst into grey blood as the roaring sound of an AGR-14 assault rifle. The other alien looked at the dropship behind her. Paskirov's voice was heard.
'Negotiations are over, wretch!'
Another burst of bullets hewed the standing warrior and Carla hurried to get in the vessel, which was already a meter above the ground.
'Thanks for giving me a hand.'
'I was doing what your nice guy would do to me if I let you die by their hands. Negotiations are damn over, alright,' the vice-admiral replied.
The dropship flew back to the Andronikos at top speed. The admiral was waiting for them in the very docking bay, with some aides beside him.
'Boris, what the hell!?' he shouted.
'Sir, they started it. You can have the recordings.'
'How could you allow this to happen?'
'Sir, I am sorry, but they asked for the sphere. They wanted to know where it was. They knew me.'
'How on earth could they know who you are?' McNorman was astonished.
'The former executor, Zaraldis, whom I met when I was still with the Confederates, must have informed these Protoss. And he must have told them about me knowing about where the artifact is.'
'God, they have carriers over there, ready to attack us! Now they want the sphere...' Richardson interrupted.
'And, they... They said that Nartas was executed for talking to us. Bad news, indeed,' Paskirov informed him.
'I knew our help would be in vain,' Richardson angrily remarked.
'Silence! It's not the time for this. So, we saw you killing the aliens, Boris.'
'Yes, sir, I did. To protect the ghost. And avenge the killed soldiers.'
'You killed Protoss...' McNorman said, not knowing what to think.
'You did the right thing, vice-admiral,' Richardson said from behind. 'You know that it was them who attacked first, admiral.'
'Yes, but now we are in grave danger. Boris, get back to he Graf and await my commands. Carla, return to the Enteos and get some medical assistance. Things are about to become rough,' McNorman ordered and left.
On the bridge of the Graf von Moltke, Paskirov was reviewing the development of the situation. The Umojan fleet was preparing for a fight. The enemy Protoss fleet was moving in their positions, rearranging the carriers. He gave his aide some papers and walked to the tactical map. There they were, on the open field of an unknown planet, facing an unknown enemy. Well, not entirely unknown to Boris and three other people in the fleet, but still unknown to the ordinary Umojans. No winds or rain, just the two well-armed fleets ready to fight under the sun.
The humans quickly assembled the fleet into the three task groups and arranged them in a line. Task group one, followed by task group two was supposed to deliver the main blow towards the enemes' right flank. Task group three was to advance southwest in support of the first two. The science vessels were divided into two sections, a and b, each of equal strength. Section a was supporting the first two task groups while section b was to help the third. In addition, the Wraith-class fighters were divided into two air groups, each of twenty aircraft. Like the science vessels, the two air groups assisted where the main advance and the supporting advance were planned. The transport ships of the Umojan expeditionary fleet were decided to be left behind in order to avoid the risk of battle. No infantry or armor were deployed for fear of vulnerability and as the enemy themselves had no ground forces, the battle was to be entirely aerial.
Before the order to attack was given, Paskirov looked at the final updates on the enemy positions. The Protoss' carriers were arranged in a line and had two groups of their starfighters near the carriers, ready to support the capital ships. The odds seemed equal. Yet, that no belligerent could know, due to the nature of war. The vice-admiral just checked the status of his task force and then heard the orders to attack at 1430 hours fleet time.

The Umojans began their first maneuvers. The task groups gained speed against the enemy and the science vessels began creating defensive matrices around the warships. The second group followed. And the first air group of wraiths moved to the Umojan left flank to try to support the bigger ships. At the earliest possible moment, the Terrans opened fire against the enemy. All the batteries unleashed laser beams towards the right flank of the Protoss fleet and the humans saw the two massive enemy carriers absorb the volley with a bright bluish glow, remaining unscathed. As they approached, the humans continued to fire, but, to the disappointment of the crews, it produced no visible effect.
While the third task group was moving southwest, the admiral saw the intentions of the two rightmost enemy carriers. They were moving in, following the small golden starfighters, and were heading towards Ferguson and the third task group. McNorman ordered the commodore to engage the enemy with wariness. However, his attention was turned to the other three approaching enemy carriers and their focus on the bigger part of the human fleet.
Fifteen minutes later, the two task groups met the enemies. Paskirov watched Ferguson's force in their supporting position and ordered the Graf and the other three wanderers to move into an echelon left and proceed to the second enemy carrier in support of the Andronikos' main attack against it. The enemy carriers were beginning to unleash their little interceptors and Paskirov grew cautious as he watched a swarm of tiny golden machines, flashing in blue, approach the friendly ships. However, something drew his attention.

Obliquely to his right, a group of thirty Protoss fighters was approaching towards the task group. The aliens' ships were dangerous, he remembered, so he ordered the Wanderer-class ships to fire at the enemy group. He kept the Graf firing at the second enemy carrier and observed the actions of the enemy fighters.
The wanderers had hard time repelling them. Their batteries were insufficient and the enemy missiles hit the human warships, wiping away the defensive matrices and dealing heavy damage to their neosteel armor plating. From the bridge, Boris could see the quick enemy vessels dodging the fire of the friendly cannons, while at the same time twisting to fire their missiles. The task group was losing.
There was no time to waste. He ordered air group one to engage the enemies and hoped that they would do it before the three other carriers arrived. The Graf was still pounding on the second carrier, its massive wing batteries firing again and again. The carrier was unaffected, to his dismay.
Then, the wraiths finally arrived. The human fighters quickly locked onto the nearest enemy fighters and released the gemini missiles. Boris saw how the missiles exploded on the surface of the Protoss starfighters and the explosions blended with the glow of the alien shields that protected the smooth golden surface underneath. This diverted the enemy attention from the Wanderer-class ships and the Protoss fighters engaged the wraiths. Although a single enemy missile could deal enough damage to disable a human fighter for the rest of the combat, the Umojans did have the numerical advantage. They fired missile after missile and the aliens' shields finally began giving up. Caught between the continuous fire of the fighters and the wanderers, the Protoss realized that they could not win. They began turning away, but two of the Wanderer-class of Ferguson's task force three cut them off. The Terran guns were now firing lasers at the enemy from three sides. The wraiths again and again assailed the group of enemies and turned back, blasting the golden ships with their lasers. Under the crossfire, they exploded in bright light. The science vessels renewed the defensive matrices on the wanderers and covered their battered hides with the mostly transparent teal-shaded veil.
Nevertheless, it was too early to rejoice. The other group of enemy starfighters approached from west-southwest. They were moving against the Andronikos, trying to push it back from the second carrier. Seeing this, Boris decided to help. He ordered the batteries of the Graf to aim at the group of Protoss fighters to see what effect this could have on their morale. Shortly, the great salvos from the batteries hit the enemy group, incinerating any ship caught in their way and burning a hole through the alien force. His battlecruiser fired a few more times, dispersing the enemies with each hit. Then it became impossible to aim and he had to focus again on the second carrier.
New danger appeared from the right, in the face of the three carriers that were approaching. Paskirov had to decide what to do. They would soon overrun his and Ferguson's task groups if unchecked, but what would then happen to the admiral aboard the Andronikos who would have to face two carriers. His force was already trying struggling with the enemy interceptors and it seemed that the only thing that kept those Terran ships intact were the defensive matrices. He chose to attack south.
Aboard the Andronikos, the danger and uncertainty of the battle were taking their toll and everybody was nervous, but also doing his best to help the ship. In such an environment, Williams felt useless. He just stood in his cabin, hearing the explosions on the battlecruiser's hull and feeling anger for not being able to help in any away against the hateful, perfidious Protoss. He could only lay in the bed waiting for the battlecruiser to blow up or to win.
Suddenly, he saw a thought that was not his own.
'Human...'
It was a voice calling him. It was Protoss.
'What?' he thought as loud and strong as he could.
'We meet again... This time there will be no escape.'
'Who is this?' Williams formulated in his mind.
'It is I, Zaraldis. You and your kin escaped me back on Nocala when we caught you, but there are no Zerg now to save you. We will take the sphere from you this time.'
'You alien scum!' the ghost was filled with hatred.
'Calm yourself now, young human. I want to propose a deal to you and your commander.'
'What are you doing here?'
'I am the executor of the Sei'Tara tribe. I lead their forces into battle. I defeated the Zerg that you missed out on the plains,' Zaraldis replied. 'Now, heed me.'
'Alright, what kind of deal?'
'The following. If you agree to give us the sphere you are keeping, we will let you go in peace. If you do not, we will destroy your ships and find the artifact in the rubble on the ground.'
'Why should I believe what you say, Protoss? Your race is treacherous and arrogant.'
'Because you want to, human. Because you need to in order to make it out of here alive.'
A thought occurred to Williams, which he quickly concealed.
'We do not keep the sphere here,' he informed Zaraldis.
'What?'
'That's right. It's not here. We all thought it would be too risky to carry it around with us, so we only have a copy, a facsimile.'
'You lie, petty Terran, and you do it badly. I have read the thoughts of some aboard this ship. You have the sphere.'
'That's what they think. They are all deceived,' Williams boldly stated, trying to imagine he was telling the truth.
Zaraldis stood silent for a while. He then spoke to the ghost.
'Why should I believe anything you say, human?'
'To quote you, because you need to. Otherwise, you will not find where we have the artifact in the next thousand years.'
'I can sense how you hide your thoughts from me. You do this poorly as well, but somehow you manage. Why shouldn't I just take you prisoner and interrogate you?'
'What, will I get to see your master Xentus?' Williams kept the dialogue going.
'My master is above the level of the like of you! I will capture you and bring you to him just to teach you manners...' and then the ghost felt a surge of surprise and panic in Zaraldis and the executor disappeared.
Williams immediately ceased listening for thoughts and walked to the bridge in a happy mood. His plan seemed to work and by bothering the enemy commander for as long as he could, he seemed to have really driven the Protoss to neglect the course of the battle.
'You can read our thoughts, but you cannot read our memories, alien... I've figured how this works. Stupid foe,' he was thinking gladly.

On the bridge, the admiral was happy. The third battlecruiser, which was in the middle of the line, had stopped moving halfway to the second task group, which had allowed the vice-admiral to combine firepower with the Andronikos and deliver so much damage to the second carrier that it was destroyed. Now, the first task group, together with the second air group of wraiths were firing upon the first carrier.
The first carrier was now battered. The light blue radiance that its Protoss shields emitted in defiance to the Terran lasers was growing dimmer and dimmer – a sign for them waning. The wraiths, by order of McNorman, were firing their reserve missiles straight at the gargantuan capital ship, toghether with their small laser batteries. The right enemy flank was being decimated.
Close to the Andronikos, aboard the Graf von Moltke, Paskirov was analyzing the situation. Some most fortunate turn of events had caused friction in the Protoss fleet and one of their carriers, the one in their very center, stood oblivious to the developing battle. This had allowed Ferguson's task group, with the help of the vice-admiral's Wanderer-class ships, to hold back against the waves of interceptors that the two leftmost carriers unleashed upon his battle group. The clash that ensued between task force two and the carriers was somehow kept even for long enough with the help of the wraiths, albeit at the price of a Wanderer-class ship. Now, Paskirov was turning his group against the third carrier, fresh to confront the Terrans..
The Graf opened fire at the huge Protoss ship while it was still outside the range of the latter's interceptors. Its crew was preparing to combat the redoubtable enemy vessel, when suddenly the reports from the battle changed their tone. To the north, Ferguson was reporting of the two carriers pulling back. McNorman's group was also successful. The first carrier was turning away from them, its shields gone and one of its radially positioned thrusters smoking. Boris realized that they had won.
Great joy was burning throughout the fleet at the good news. People everywhere, from the bridge to the batteries were rejoicing at the defeat of the mighty Protoss. Paskirov felt himself in some euphoric state and reality seemed to him like a dream. He was in a better place, where he was triumphant and no enemy was too great, because his side had the power. His side had the will to vanquish the foes and to crush the enemies of Umoja. They were the almighty ones and their desires came true.
He sat in his chair in his cabin, still not believing this. Then, McNorman called.
'Vice-admiral, congratulations on the victory, haha, of course, and be aware that one hour from now, at about 1630 fleet time, we are going to our Protoss friends in the settlement again. We, I mean, you, are going to, along with an interpreter and some more guards, demand an explanation for what happened.'
'With extreme pleasure, sir,' Boris replied and returned to the merriment of the now.
On the bridge of the flagship, McNorman was enjoying the triumph with his men. Williams was there, too, however he was standing in grumpiness.
'Cheer up, major, we kicked their ass!' one of the officers came up to him.
'Cheer up yourself!'
'What's the matter, we taught them a lesson they will remember well!'
'It's just that they chose to leave. The war's not over. Find something better to do and get off the clouds... Lieutenant,' Williams replied impersonally, looking at the guy's uniform.
'As you wish,' the lieutenant smiled and went somewhere else.
Was there any point in telling the admiral about Zaraldis and the little talk they had? No, not really. To begin with, McNorman would most probably not believe. Also, why would he care if anybody knew? Doing harm to the Protoss was a sufficient reward for the cunning he displayed.
In the meantime, on the fleet there was a clash of opinions. The high command were arguing what to do about the Protoss in the conference room of the Andronikos.
'I say we finish the job and destroy this place. Like we took out the Zerg,' one said.
'No, we will not. There are innocents down there,' the admiral chided him.
'Yes, the admiral has a point here. Many of the aliens who work there are civilians,' Summers noted.
'There are no innocents down there. They told us ourselves, Nartas is executed. The other guys tried to kill lieutenant Ravros, how innocent is that?' Richardson argued. 'And, besides, if those “civilians” work for the Sei'Tara tribe, then they still work for our destruction.'
'And, they are arrogant,' Bracknell, a relative of Richardson's and an aide of the admiral said.
'Then perhaps by not following the eye-for-an-eye philosophy we could teach them a lesson, sirs?' Paskirov proposed, emphasizing the last word.
'Yes, else we become like the Confederates,' the admiral spoke and ended the meeting. 'I am sending Boris and Ravros and Williams down there to demand an excuse from the Protoss.'
'We could try to get reparations...' Bracknell began, but was stopped by Ferguson.
***
Shortly, the three-person delegation was again in front of the alien settlement, demanding audience. The same group of Protoss came out from the village, but this time Boris was safe. The Andronikos was positioned a kilometer from the settlement, low above the ground, aiming at the Protoss buildings. If they tried to do something stupid for the second time, they would suffer the consequences, Boris knew.
The aliens realized the battlecruiser's factor as a deterrent and their demeanor was way more compliant.
'They said a plain “Welcome,” black one,' Williams told Paskirov.
'Tell them that we want to know why do they want us off the planet.'
'He says, he wants us off the planet, because we are Terrans and we seek to cause their harm,' the major interpreted.
'Tell him that if we sought to hurt them, we would have let the full Zerg force march upon them. And that we could probably give those nice Zerg a hand,' Boris said angrily.
'Told him and he is not changing his mind.'
'Right. Great. Can't we just tell any of the other Protoss? No, I forgot that they would be executed if they talk to us.... Damn, what kind of absurd laws do these guys live by?' the vice-admiral was thinking aloud. 'Mike, tell this guy that our fleet wants him to repent of his acts.'
The ghost focused and then waited. The Protoss tilted his head slightly and a few seconds later Williams conveyed.
'He says he is sorry and asks for our forgiveness.'
'I'll be damned if he feels like that,' Carla mentioned.
Boris realized that this was pointless.
'Mike, did you see any trace of remorse in this Protoss?' Paskirov asked what seemed a rhetorical question.
'Negative.'
'In that case, for the sake of the recording, I declare our side to be done with the speaking. Tell him that. We're leaving.'
In the dropship, Williams spoke to him.
'Do you think that this was the right thing to do? Just walk away?'
'There was nothing I could do. These persons, if I may call them so, are less than cooperative. Absolutely awful. One can't negotiate with them, at least I can't.'
Aboard the flagship, McNorman responded to Boris' account with mixed feelings.
'Then, these Protoss are arrogant and malicious after all. Well, we had our dealing with them. A pity that such advanced beings would behave in such a childish way. Regardless, we have a mission to attend to. Set a course towards the next planet.'

----------------------
Key to map symbols