The Golden Armada was not just jumping into a trap. No. It was warping into a trap.
“It is a trap.” As the Golden Armada was in warp space approaching the besieged outpost, Zeratul blinked into the bridge in a puff of smoke. Someone as powerful as him could blink with an insignificant amount of energy, which allowed him to blink on a normal basis as if it was an instinct. After all, teleportation is faster than walking. “The tal’darim are waiting for us.”
“I know.” Artanis said, to Zeratul’s surprise.
“And you’re walking into the trap?”
“Trap or not, the Golden Armada can purify any opposition.” The hierarch said with confidence. “We can tear whatever the net the tal’darim have ready for us open.” Artanis had the right to be confident. No enemy was ever capable of taking down the Golden Armada. Whatever was on the other end, 20 nukes or 5 motherships or both, couldn’t break through the Golden Armada.
Zeratul’s cautious took lead. “We have no idea what the tal’darim have planned for us. I suggest we take caution and send scouts.”
Artanis signed. “Too many Daelaam have already perished at the hands of the tal’darim. I will not let the Death Fleet escape and bring more death because of my caution. Whatever the tal’darim has planned for us, we need to take them down. Taking some losses now in exchange for the destruction of the tal’darim will be a worthy price to pay.”
Zeratul backed off. He knew Artanis respected him, but the fact remained that he was the adviser and Artanis was the leader. Zeratul could make suggestions, but Artanis was the one choosing whether or not to use those suggestions.
“Hierarch, the entire armada is ready for battle.” Beside Artanis Selendis reported.
Artanis nodded but then frowned. “Where is Urun?”
“Admiral Urun is leading the attack with the phoenix squadron.” Selendis spoke with respect. The phoenixes were usually the first to fall. Urun had relatively better experience and a better ship, but that didn’t promise his survival.
Artanis signed. It was Urun’s own decision. The noble general was always someone who preferred charging into battle himself. During the battle against the swarm his mothership literally crashed into the swarm, firing at the zerg ships and warping units onto zerg capital ships. Countless spores and tentacles hit the ship. Its plasma shield was the only thing that kept the ship together.
“In that case I will personally command the fleet. Prepare boarding parties. Get the warp fields on line. Ready the weapons. Be ready to launch fighters.” Artanis announced. “Very soon we shall avenge our fallen brothers.”
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“Highlord, warp signals detected. It’s the Golden Armada.”
“Mobilize our fleet and maintain a safe distance with the Golden Armada. Special ops ships get ready for action. We shall proceed as planned.”
Instead of gaining an advantageous position and hit the Golden Armada when they come out of warp space, the Death Fleet backed off for a small distance. When the Golden Armada exited warp space, they were uncontested.
“Launch all fighters.” By all Artanis meant all except for the reserves. A wave of interceptors, scouts and phoenixes exited the hanger in a swarm. A yellow specialized phoenix was leading the charge.
“Highlord, if we are to strike we need to act now. We can’t afford to wait!” Ji’nara exclaimed. Someone more experienced with politics, like Alarak, would stay quiet. It was one thing to ask questions before the battle and another to ask questions during the battle. Alarak didn’t care enough about Nyon to risk annoying him for his sake. If Nyon used Alarak’s suggestion and the Death Fleet won Nyon would get all the credit. If the battle was lost Nyon would unleash his anger on Alarak because it would be Alarak’s suggestion that got them defeated. So why bother? Ji’nara had a bit more faith in Nyon. Just a bit.
“Be patient.” Nyon demanded, and Ji’nara had no choice but to be quiet.
The fighter swarm was already approaching the Death Fleet. Capital ships such as motherships, carriers, and tempests followed the fighters. Greatly outnumbered, Alarak was already thinking when he should run and whether or not he could become the Highlord if/when Nyon got killed by the Golden Armada.
That was when Nyon acted.
“Now!” He ordered loudly.
Four arbiters appeared behind the Daelaam fleet. They were modified with cloaking abilities for this mission. They had split off during the Death Fleet’s retreat and got behind the Daelaam.
The arbiters blinked, and powerful surges of psi energy circled the ship. With a bright yellow flare from the arbiters yellow crystal started to form around the capital ships of the Daelaam fleet.
“Stasis field!” Artanis noticed and recognized the flare. He had seen these specialized ships used in the Brood War. Even though they passed away from the years of war their power was not to be undermined. Just like motherships, a few arbiters could change the course of a battle. “All fleet initiate defensive warping now!”
Artanis reacted quickly, and the nerve cords passed down his order to the entire fleet in less than a second. But even so the execution of the order was slower than the effect of the stasis fields from the arbiters. The Golden Armada fell into the trap.
As the energy swept through the majority of the capital shields were frozen in time and space. The advanced protoss technology was equally effective against their own people than against foes of other races. The purifier arbiters disabled most of the enemy armada.
Still, four arbiters weren’t enough to cover every inch of protoss. Smaller groups of forces were scattered all around their frozen comrades. Stray carriers. A couple dozen fighters. Among these forces was Admiral Urun.
One of the stasis fields caught the majority of the fighters, but the brave warrior was leading the charge, which meant he escaped the fate of being frozen like most of his forces. Unfortunately, this also forced him and the forces still with him, outgunned and outnumbered, to face the Death Fleet all by themselves.
So the soldier did what he could.