Dyges mind was immediately covered by rage. It was bad enough that the zerg were coming for the artifact. Now even a single terran ship was willing to come for the object the Tal’darim were so determined to protect.
It was obvious the terran were here for the artifact. What else would they want from this useless planet?
“Guris, obliterate…” He ordered almost mindlessly before suddenly catching himself.
That was when he remembered there was nothing he could do with these terran thieves. If they came a few hours ago, the Tal’darim defense fleet could easily defeat them and, if lucky, kill every single last one of them. But now...the Tal’darim ships were gone. Their commander was dead. Even the ground forces were dying by the droves. They could only sit back and watch as a single vulnerable terran cruiser sailed across their sky.
Suddenly, Dyges’ mind turned toward an odd direction.
The Queen of Blades was here for the artifact. The terran were also here for the artifact.
Dyges didn’t want to try to turn the terran against the swarm. Battlecruisers might be the ultimate weapon among the terran forces, but a single battlecruiser was no match for the swarm. A single leviathan could easily massacre the lone battlecruiser.
Instead, he was thinking about something...unorthodox.
His goal, no, his duty was to protect the piece of artifact. Now that that was turned impossible and the artifact would be certainly lost, his mission was turned to the closest thing. It turned to making sure the artifact wouldn’t be lost for long.
If the artifact was taken by the Queen of Blades, then there was no hope of retaking it. The Death Fleet was almost unstoppable in the sector, but the swarm was one of the few enemies that could indeed stop them. The endless zerg might not be enough to overwhelm the Death Fleet, but they were more than enough to keep the artifact from being found.
On the other hand, if this small group of terran managed to take the artifact...they would flee the moment they get their prize. As powerful as the zerg were, they had no way of stopping a ship that was this distance away from warping away. Once the ship was gone, even if the Queen of Blades could take down the battlecruiser herself, her power would be useless if she couldn’t find the ship.
Plus, for the Death Fleet, taking back the artifact from a group of terran with a single battlecruiser was much easier than fighting a way past hundreds of leviathans and millions of zerg before the zerg could even find the time to move the artifact to safety. It was an easy conclusion.
True, for a Tal’darim, handing over the work of god to a thief, zerg or terran, was the heaviest crime possible. If Ma’lash learned what he did, he would be punished more heavily than any other defeated ascendant in the history of the Tal’darim. Just because he had a good reason to do what he did didn’t mean it was justifiable.
But whether or not he was understood by his people didn’t matter. He was loyal to Amon, and he was willing to do that was best for Amon even if the price was not only his life but also his glory.
“Supplicants, load the artifact into the warp prism.” Dyges ordered as he made up his mind. He had a few war prisms, but he didn’t send them out with the artifact earlier. Countless mutalisks were patrolling the space above Monlyth, and sending the war prism out would only be helping the zerg by delivering the artifact to them.
But now, the war prism might just reach the battlecruiser without being destroyed. There was still some risk, but it would be much better than certain defeat.
The supplicants looked at each other in confusion, but they nonetheless obeyed the order. It might be a stupid order, but every supplicant was willing to die for their ascendant. Loading the artifact was hardly a problem.
Meanwhile, Dyges took out his communication device and started changing the frequency.
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In The Hyperion, the entire bridge went quiet as they saw what was outside.
The twenty zerg leviathans were on the other side of the planet, but the word of the adjutant was enough to tell the Raiders what was going on. The image from the sensors of the two dozen zerg cities, each at least a dozen kilometer long, crushed whatever hope they had of getting what they came for. Even The Hyperion was just less than two kilometers long. A rough estimation stated that at least a hundred Hyperions were needed to be an even match with the swarm present.
“Uhh, Jimmy? I think it’s time to get the hell outta here.” Tychus gulped and immediately changed his mind. It was one thing to go against an enemy he only knew about from files. It was another to try to grab the artifact in front of twenty leviathans, each of them holding an army more than enough to wipe the Raiders out. The sight of twenty capital ships was more menacing than any promise of credits. The fugitive immediately changed his mind.
Even Raynor was nervous. He fought with the zerg before, but leviathans were new to him. In the Brood War the largest zerg he saw were the guardians, and they were like an ant in front of the mountain like leviathans. He didn’t need to use his brain to know this was an impossible mission. The credits the Moebius Foundation promised wouldn’t be of any use if he was dead.
“Matt, prepare for jump…”
“Sir, we can’t leave.” Jean suddenly announced.
The one piece of artifact, as insignificant as it seemed, was critical to her plan.
The Queen of Blades was an interesting figure. She was a strict enemy of Amon. In fact, she was the only hope of defeating Amon. On the other hand, Sarah Kerrigan wasn’t exactly a friend either. She wouldn’t hesitate to take out everyone on The Hyperion just because she wanted to.
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She was an uncontrollable factor. In the original history, she would be returned to human form by the xel’naga Keystone. It was this that made sure, even when Kerrigan was turned back to the primal Queen of Blades again, she was on the good side of history.
Unfortunately, the artifact could only be useful if all the parts were in place. If Kerrigan took this artifact right here, the Raiders would never regain it.
Without the artifact, there was no chance of victory. Originally in the battle of Char, the combination of half the Dominion Fleet and the Raiders was almost wiped out by Kerrigan with ease. If she wasn’t careless and arrogant and sent all her forces forward, then all the terran would be zerg chewing toy before they could even use the Keystone. Jean didn’t think it would be different this time just because the Raiders had one more lieutenant.
In one sentence, the Raiders must take the piece of artifact on the planet, regardless of the price.
“What the hell are you talking about? I ain’t going to die here.” Tychus said, a little frightened.
Even Raynor wasn’t sure what Jean was saying. If her eyes weren’t as cold and calm as they were, he might think she had lost her mind. Even so, he was growing impatient. The longer The Hyperion remained here, the more likely they would be attacked.
“Jean, a few thousand credits isn’t worth the risk.”
Jean opened her mouth and was about to say something when a transmission alert suddenly blinked.
“Patch it through.” Raynor turned away from Jean and ordered.
A rather ugly face, by human standard, appeared on the large screen.
“Terran thieves!” Somehow the protoss managed to insult every terran in the bridge with just two words.
“Who are you?” Raynor asked quietly.
“I am Tal’darim ascendant Dyges, but that is not important. What is important...” Dyges said something that shocked everyone in the bridge.
“...is what I am sending you.” He paused, as if reconsidering his choice. “I am sending you the artifact you came here for.”
“What?” Raynor almost choked of surprise. “I thought you’re its guardian. Why are you helping us?”
Before the ascendant could answer, Jean suddenly spoke up. While everyone else was busy being surprised, she was calculating the situation and putting herself in the shoes of the Tal’darim defenders.
“Because he can no longer guard it.” She immediately caught the attention of everyone in the bridge and Dyges. “It is better to have us have the artifact than the Queen of Blades.”
Raynor’s mind turned quickly as he returned to Dyges. “Is this correct?”
Dyges nodded. He wasn’t afraid to admit it. Anyone with a brain larger than that of a hydralisk could find out the reason behind his action. He was also confident these thieves wouldn’t let go of an artifact this precious when it was literally delivered to them.
“I am sending a war prism to you now. For your sake, label it as a friendly unit and provide cover.”
Dyges was about to end the transmission when Raynor spoke.
“How about you?” He knew the answer, but he couldn’t help but ask.
Dyges looked at Raynor coldly before the transmission went dark.
“What do you think?” Raynor turned to his most trusted advisor.
“We should remain here but keep the warp drive and the defensive matrix ready in case it’s a trap.” Jean suggested. “Meanwhile, we should keep an eye on the swarm.”
Raynor nodded.
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Dyges turned off the comm and found himself being stared at by countless of his people. Some were confused. Others were enraged.
What he said was heard by every other Tal’darim.
The supplicants were shocked but were relatively obedient. The same couldn’t be said for the rest of the Tal’darim.
“Ascendant Dyges! What have you done?” A zealot was the first to speak. Her voice was no longer filled with the familiar obedience she once had of her superior. All that remained was anger.
What the ascendant did was more than enough to remove his authority.
“I did what I had to do to ensure the safety of the work of god!” Usually Dyges would just execute the zealot for her transgression, but this time from the look of the hundreds of zealots and slayers around he knew he needed to do this nicely. One wrong move, and most of his forces would draw their blades on him in the name of Amon.
“You just handed the work of god to a group of filthy terran! Do you think us fools?” The zealot didn’t back down.
Dyges was going to explain his reasoning more, but he doubted the zealot would care to hear it out. Plus, the ruthlessness in his heart was once again awoken by the rash questioning of one of his underlings.
He didn’t need to explain why he did what he did, at least not to a mere zealot. Her opinion didn’t matter. All she needed to do was obey.
“All non-supplicant units join the battle against the swarm.” Ignoring the zealot, Dyges turned to those he didn’t trust and ordered them to the meat grinder in the front.
Most of the Tal’darim obeyed the order. Not all of them agreed with Dyges’ reasoning, but centuries of absolute obedience planted the idea of obeying without question into their heart. However, the female zealot stood her ground.
“As long as I stand, you will not commit this transgression!” She was joined by two dozen zealots and slayers. All of them had fire in their eyes.
Dyges’ eyes went dark. He has already wasted enough time with this idiot. With every second he spent arguing, the terran in space were more likely to be attacked by the swarm. If the terran were forced to flee, then the artifact would fall into the claws of the Queen of Blades.
Then again, the stubbornness of the female zealot wasn’t unexpected. Dyes was prepared for that.
“Look,” His tone suddenly went softer as he walked closer to the zealot. “I don’t want to do this either…”
The female zealot’s eyes widened as she realized something was wrong. How nice the ascendant was only meant one thing. Her blades were ignited, but the next moment she instantly exploded into a cloud of rogue bane energy.
After mindblasting the zealot, Dyges ignited his blades and punched through the chest of one of the zealots that stayed when he was ordered to leave.
The other zealots and slayers that remained activated their weapons, but the supplicant units were quicker and had several times the number. The rebels were massacred. Broken armors and slayer metal add ons covered the ground.
The supplicans acted without mercy. This wasn’t the first time they fought and killed their own people.
Wasting no more time, the war prism loaded up the keystone fragment and darted away through the sky. Four other war prisms followed the transport. Just because they weren’t exactly combat units didn’t mean they couldn’t act as moving shields.
Watching the war prisms leave, Dyges turned to the supplicants. The warriors had no fear. They would follow their leader to the gates of hell, and the swarm couldn’t frighten them if they weren’t afraid of death.
“Supplicants! Follow me into glorious combat! Glory to the Tal’darim! Glory to Amon!”
With a war cry, Dyges, no longer with a heavy load on his heart, charged into the front with the last of his forces.