Jean looked at the battle analysis, and she had to admit she was impressed by the Nerazim’s defenses.

Since the Nerazim fleet didn’t have enough ships to take down the combined fleet, the dark templar used an alternate and much wiser method. They projected their dark pylons onto the Dominion ships and then used the force fields the pylons generated to warp in ground units into the Dominion ships. Unable to use heavy weapons due to the environment, the security forces were overran by the stealth assassins with ease.

7 ships have already been destroyed from within by boarding parties, and 20 more were being boarded and were struggling to save themselves. Overall the Dominion fleet struggled in terms of cleaning up the intruders. It was next to impossible to aim at cloaked dark templars without detection, and a few bullets couldn't even break the shield. Jean knew very well the Nerazim would eventually be taken down, but if the losses were too great she would lose the support of the Dominion fleet. The Dominion fleet was the foundation of the Terran Dominion. Warfield wouldn’t risk losing it for Jean’s cause. Jean still needed the Dominion fleet for phase three of the plan.

Meanwhile, despite Vorazun’s best effort, the combined fleet had already melted away the Nerazim fleet. The void ray count was dwindling by the minute. Corsairs were shot down. Oracles were a thing of the past. Victory was assured.

Jean suddenly noticed a transmission from the Death Fleet. “General Warfield.” She glanced at the transmission and then turned to another communication. “Disengage and move toward Shakuras. The Death Fleet will take your place.” The tal’darim would counter the Nerazim hit squad much more easily. “When you reach Shakuras...” She paused. “Nuke and bombard it to the ground. Scan and target the main infrastructures. When you are done, open fire on every protoss in range and kill as many protoss as possible.”

Warfield hesitated at the cold words. It was one thing to wipe out an armed fleet, but it was another to rain down death upon civilians, even if they were alien. During the briefing of the plan Jean announced the combined fleet would take down Shakuras, as in occupy it, but her real plan was much more cruel. He was fine with conquering, but the protoss weren’t mindless zerg, and he had a slight problem with slaughtering them. “There are civilians on that planet.” He objected.

Jean tilted her head. “So? They are enemies.” The more protoss she killed her the less support the Daelaam would have later.

Warfield signed as another battlecruiser was lost, shown by the desperate scream of the captain in the comm, and decided to follow the order. It was better to sacrifice alien than to sacrifice his own men. “All ships disengage and move toward Shakuras.”

The Dominion ships obeyed and fell back. The movement caused an opening, which was quickly blocked as 70 red ships filled the gap. The Death Fleet descends.

“You’re late.” Jean commented as Nyon appeared on another computer screen.

“Some Daelaam ships weren’t stasised. I had to put them down.” Nyon replied briefly. “What did I miss?”

“Not much. We have the Nerazim surrounded. Please destroy them.” Jean said lightheartedly.

“Gladly.” With the words from Nyon red tal’darim ships joined the battle, covering the retreat of the Dominion fleet. Despite having less ships than the Dominion fleet, the Death Fleet caught up via their skills in the art of war.

“The Death Fleet?” Vorazun pulled her weapon out of the body of a dead Dominion captain. “It’s a trap from the start.” Now she realized what was going on. The Death Fleet was part of a greater plan. The tal’darim lured the Golden Armada out by pillaging Daelaam outposts, and when the majority of the forces were gone the majority of this unknown fleet attacked the now vulnerable Shakuras.

“Matriarch, the Golden Armada was chasing the Death Fleet. If the Death Fleet is here, then that means the Golden Armada…” The executor in command paused at the horrifying thought.

“The Golden Armada is invincible. It must be occupied for some reason.” Vorazun cut off the theory that the Golden Armada might be destroyed. It was impossible.

“Occupied or destroyed, we can not hold on much longer.” The executor reminded. “We have lost one third of our void rays and half of out corsairs. Hold on!” His voice trembled. “The terran fleet is approaching Shakuras!”

Vorazun’s eyes widened. She would do everything she could to protect her planet, but there was very few that she could do. The strength of a certain individual was just so weak against an entire fleet. Vorazun could slaughter an army of infantry, but she could do very little against capital ships in the air. Sure, she was cutting her way through ship after ship, but a handful of battlecruisers was nothing against a fleet of over 600 ships.

“Matriarch?” The executor asked as Vorazun froze in helplessness. Outside, a corsair was tailed by two tal’darim phoenixes. The corsair pilot was good, but the phoenixes were equally talented. Under the executor’s pained eyes, the corsair took a dozen ion cannon shots and exploded into flames.

“How many civilians are evacuated?” Vorazun asked, exhausted both phsyically and mentally.

“22 percent.” Needless to say, that was not enough. “What do we do?”

Vorazun paused for a few seconds, considering. The shadow guards around her were silent as they looked to their leader for guidance in this desperate hour. The bridge was silent.

For a few seconds Vorazun looked out the terran window. Outside, her brothers and sisters were dying, and there was nothing she could do. It was her duty as the matriarch to protect her people, and she had failed in doing exactly that.

“We go for the throne.” She finally said with determination. “Executor, scan the terran communication and analyze the location of the enemy command structure.”

“Very well.” The executor stayed silent for a while as he used the superior protoss technology to analyze the battlefield. A few seconds later he found the answer. “Enemy command located. Deploying dark pylon now.”

“Assemble all warriors and prepare for warping.” Vorazun looked down on her scythe. “This is our last chance. It is victory or death. For...for Shakuras.”

The executor nodded as he proceeded to warp in the dark pylon. All around him the Nerazim fleet was falling into pieces. All his thoughts, all his concerns, finally ended with one single slow but determined phrase. “For Shakuras.”

Meanwhile, aboard the Warden flagship, Jean’s expression changed slightly as a green protoss structure appeared out of nowhere on her ship.

“Interesting…” She whispered as she flickered her nails. It seemed like she was undermined.