“For Aiur!” Urun screamed. The situation was bad. In fact, the chance of surviving was barely present. Still, the admiral did what he could. He rallied those that survived the stasis fields and made a suicidal charge toward the Death Fleet. His thoughts were simple. The Death Fleet would come and kill them all anyways. If they were going to die anyways, then they would die fighting and do as much damage to the enemies as possible.
Nyon’s thoughts were full of confusion when the small group of fighters and four carriers moved toward his seventy or so capital ships and several hundred fighters. It was 20:1. Nyon knew the Daelaam were courageous and even mad, but this… If Nyon was in the Daelaam position he would just turn and run.
”Highlord?” Alarak attempted as he gestured for the approaching enemy.
“Kill them all and leave before the Golden Armada exits stasis.” Nyon was planning on freezing the Golden Armada and then proceed with the plan, but he would never say no to crushing a small group of enemies with absolute power. Never mind the numbers and loot, it was the satisfaction that mattered.
Alarak obeyed gladly. He had had quite some fire built up in him recently. From about to become Highlord to being a stepping stone and now an underling of someone else made him mad. He couldn’t unleash his anger on Nyon, so he decided to do it on the Daelaam.
The Death Fleet opened fire on the Daelaam forces. All sorts of weapons, energy and projectile, were launched at the Highlord’s foe. The lights were pretty. The explosions that followed was even better, given that you are not at the wrong end of the lights.
The interceptors fell like flies. Scouts and phoenixes had shields to deflect a few attacks, but the cheap and sacrificable nature of the interceptors meant that they were poorly protected. They had no shields, and all it took was a few laser beams or one anti-matter missile to go down.
“Shields to maximum! Follow me and go for the tal’darim flagship! If we are to fall this day, then we shall do so as one!” Urun cheered, trying to make sure his ships do the most damage to the enemies as possible. The more damage he did, the easier the Golden Armada would be when they exit stasis. This was the least he could do for his people. This was the least he could do for Artanis.
At this moment Urun was no longer the admiral in control of the entire armada. Instead, he was just another Daelaam pilot, willing to give his life for the good of the protoss race. Missiles dotted past him, but all he could see was Nyon’s flagship.
The pilots were brave. Just like their commander, these noble soldiers were more than willing to give their lives for the greater good, but courage couldn’t overcome the lack of numbers and firepowers.
Scouts and phoenixes did all they could do dodge. Their ships were agile and relatively tough. The pilots themselves were experienced and calm. Not that it mattered.
It wasn’t that far from the Daelaam horde to the tal’darim flagship, which was at the front of the Death Fleet, but this distance that would normally take the phoenixes half a minute became an almost impenetrable barrier.
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.
Fighter after fighter exploded into balls of flame. Some of the pilots warped away but most were killed in action. And yet the Daelaam pushed on.
Nyon’s expression changed. The Daelaam had lost one third of their ships in less than twenty seconds, but they were still charging.They were going to die and they knew it. Nyon changed his smirk to a respecting glare. Martyrs were always admired, even by their enemies.
Still, that didn’t mean Nyon would let this small group of Daelaam forces reach his mothership. The Daelaam didn’t have enough firepower to do real damage, but if a small group of Daelaam fighters could reach his flagship, the throne of his power, it would undermine his authority. It would make him look really bad.
“Launch all fighters.”
“All of them?” Alarak asked. The tal’darim fighters weren’t launched before due to the spending of energy needed.
“Launch however many you need to stop these fighters.” Alarak obeyed, and a few seconds later a wave of tal’darim phoenixes and scouts left the hanger and moved toward their blue counterparts.
“Get past them!” Urun knew it he was caught here his fighters would be overwhelmed.
As soon as the two groups got into range they fired at each other. Ion cannons and anti matter missiles were exchanged. Red or blue, fighter after fighter fell.
Admiral Urun made a right turn and dodged a string of ion cannons before unleashing a string of ion cannons of her own at one of the tal’darim fighters. The scout exploded into flames, but Urun merely got past the fire and toward the Death Fleet.
Not all the Daelaam shared their admiral’s power. Countless fighters were taken out, but they took down some tal’darim fighters as well. More importantly, they cleared a route for their brothers.
There were still several dozen fighters that made it past the tal’darim line. At this point all the Daelaam carriers were gone. Apart from the frozen armada all that was left were Urun and his several dozen fighters.
The tal’darim fighters turned around, but it would take them a few seconds to do that. When they were done the Daelaam would already be at the flagship.
Nyon signed and glanced threateningly and Alarak, who faltered. Alarak knew Nyon could punish him. His Highlord gave him a mission and he failed, but Nyon didn’t do anything. Instead, he just stood and watched as the dozen fighters were seconds away from his mothership.
Ion cannons fired at the crimson mothership in futility. The weapons, designed to fight other fighters, was not exactly suitable to take down something as large as a mothership. The anti matter missiles of scouts did some damage, but even they couldn’t take down the mothership.
And then the purifying beam of the mothership shined, charging.
Urun sat back in his seat and signed deeply. He might be able to dodge this shot, but he would never make it out alive. All around him his brothers and sisters have fallen. No matter, they died as heroes, and soon he would join them in the Khala. He did what he could, but it was simply not enough.
And then the purifying beam evaporated Urun.
“Idiot.” Alarak commented with a smirk.
Nyon made no comment to Urun’s action. He did what he thought was the right thing to do. “Warp to Shakuras now. It is bad enough for us to be the bait. I don’t want to miss the real fight.”
The Death Fleet jumped away, completely ignoring the frozen Golden Armada. If Urun had fallen back the Death Fleet would never had wasted time hunting them down, but the admiral in command was under the impression that the Death Fleet would leave no survivors. Well, he was wrong.