Zeratul stared up at the entrance ramp as it unfurled from the Gantrithor's armored hull. As the ramp touched the ground, Zeratul began wondering if this was the best course of action. He knew how the Khalai protoss on Aiur were taught to hate and fear his people, the dark templar. Tassadar himself, one of the most open-minded protoss that Zeratul encountered, had attacked him when they first met. Strangely enough, despite all this, Zeratul felt almost guilty to be stepping aboard this vessel. It pained Zeratul to return to Aiur, let alone attempt to rejoin with the rest of the protoss civilization.
Zeratul gazed over at his Khalai counterpart, Tassadar. Where Zeratul was hunched and reserved, Tassadar carried himself proudly. Where Zeratul's mental voice was like dry scudding leaves, Tassadar's was regal and powerful. The former Executor, with his black and white facial stripes, had become a sort of student to Zeratul these past few weeks. Zeratul had taught Tassadar much about the Dark Templar and how to channel their energies. But more importantly, he had forged a link which would help Zeratul accomplish one of his long-standing goals, uniting the protoss people. Yet, he wondered if they weren't pushing things too fast, and was ambivalent about taking the same ship as the Khalai. "Tassadar, is this necessary? I told you, I can take my ship, the Void Seeker."
"Nonsense," replied Tassadar, his arms crossed and gaze level. "You shall travel with us aboard my flagship."
The Carrier's vestige darkened the area around them all. Tassadar gazed upwards. The gargantuan warship bore the familiar stripes of solar ion discoloration typical of many veteran ships. With it, Tassadar had destroyed entire fleets and helped burn planets. From his control room he had directed the courses of battles, and spent many an hour thinking and meditating. It was created specifically for the Executor rank, crafted from the luminous metals of Aiur's great forges. The Gantrithor was one of the few remaining super carriers. The facility that crafted these mighty vessels fell with the province of Asari. Of the original nine that were created, it was perhaps one of the last. As Tassadar stepped up the ramp he felt that he was, in a sense, coming home.
It irked Tassadar: the warship was sitting idle in high orbit, useless, while he was trapped on the planet's surface, running from the onslaught of Kerrigan's swarm. However, he quickly chided himself; it was probably for the best. The ship might have been destroyed, and he didn't dare endanger the Preserver who was aboard. If he used it to leave the planet he would have never forged his relationship with Zeratul or the human Jim Raynor, whom he both considered valued friends. And right now, Tassadar needed all the friends he could get if they were save Aiur and its people. Zeratul and several of his dark templar especially needed to be onboard the ship, so that it would be known that he trusted them with his life.
Artanis's sky blue eyes turned towards Tassadar. "We should hurry," Artanis announced. "Judicator Aldaris told me that the Templar forces were making progress against the swarm, but my associates back on Aiur tell a different tale."
Here was someone else Tassadar could rely on. Tall, slender, and youthful, Artanis was trustworthy and full of energy - always ready to help. The young Executor was given Tassadar's former rank, yet had agreed to help him by rescuing the dark templar. Tassadar lost his rank in the first place by defying the conclave, and had asked Artanis to do the same by ignoring Judicator Aldaris's pleas. Tassadar was familiar with the judicators' subtle usage of psionic mind control techniques during negotiations, and was impressed when Artanis flat out refused the imposing Judicator. Yet, Tassadar questioned whether it was right to ask Artanis to risk his rank and stature, knowing how hard the protoss wanted to make everyone proud, and how hard he had worked for his accomplishments.
"This is a vile situation indeed. Every ship should have been there for Aiur's defense," Zeratul coldly declared as the warriors stalked into the ship.
"We must convince the Conclave to recant. We don't have the strength to fight the zerg ourselves. Kerrigan has decimated our armies." Tassadar grimly thought.
"I wouldn't put it past Aldaris to have us all executed. But surely the rest of the Judicator Assembly will listen to reason," Artanis responded, "especially when Aiur itself is under invasion."
Tassadar nodded his head in affirmation, "But only if they can be made to see the gravity of the situation. They are secure in the fortress of Khor-shakal, yet are far removed from reality."
The protoss warriors then stepped into the cavernous entrance of the Gantrithor's main hallway. They were greeted with a wide expanse that truly highlighted the grandeur of Templar warships. Golden walls twisted and flowed like Aiur's Tur'vali canyons, their outlines detailing the ship's perfection of composition. An arched ceiling was bejeweled with striking crystals, which glittered next to the historic emblems that streamed above them all. A large statue of Adun stood tall among them, a perfect likeness of the revered protoss hero. Adun was credited with saving the khalai protoss from the dark templar, thus ending the tumultuous period in protoss history known as the Discord. Thus, statues of Adun were common throughout the Protoss empire.
Artanis's eyes traveled to the end of the hallway, with its high ceiling and rows of flags. He looked up at the emblem of the Akilae tribe, and pride emanated from him like heat from Aiur's sun. Zeratul himself could not hide his awe. "I did not know the Templar had so much room for opulence aboard their vessels. Our dark templar warships are far more sparse and compact. Truly, the khalai workers' engineering skills are beyond compare, to have such extravagances aboard a warship..."
Tassadar nodded his head. "Indeed. I am familiar with the design of the human ships as well, with their narrow hallways and gangways. I should have liked to know what Raynor would have thought of this, but he insisted on staying in the Hyperion."
Across the room, the rest of Tassadar's warriors stood, waiting for their leader to return. They closely watched Tassadar as he walked into the room. Tassadar and Artanis stopped when he reached them. Several visible gasps of shock arose as Zeratul and his dark templar strutted in alongside the former Executor. Neither Tassadar nor Zeratul flinched from the warriors' chagrin. Tassadar only stood tall, and addressed them, "My brothers, this is Zeratul, Praetor of the dark templar. He has saved my life on several occasions, and I have learned much from him. I ask you all, as your brother, to be open-minded, and see past the negative stigma that his people have wrongfully received in our culture. Zeratul and his brethren have my respect. Know that they are coming to Aiur to help us fight zerg, and nothing more."
Tassadar sent a private thought to Zeratul, laced with comfort and reassurance. "You have nothing to fear from my crewmates. They chose to follow me when I disobeyed the Conclave and refused to burn the terran worlds. It is doubtful that a finer crew exists. You can be assured that they are of the same outlook as my warriors who have fought with us on the surface of Char."
Zeratul relaxed, almost imperceptibly, but said nothing. He then bowed to the templar warriors, indicating his respect.
Artanis turned toward the two protoss and said, "I will try to establish contact with my acquaintances on Aiur. We must leave immediately."
Tassadar sat on his bunk in the Gantrithor, weary from the day's events. He had been shocked to learn earlier from the preserver Zamara that Adun was indeed ordered to execute the rogue tribes, and had died to protect them. Tassadar did not doubt Zeratul when he told them these things, but the hard confirmation from a preserver, a being carrying the memories of all khalai protoss, had been jarring indeed. He almost understood why the Conclave had lied about these events. Ordering templar to kill fellow Protoss? It was appalling! Tassadar could not even obey them when ordered to burn innocent Terran worlds.
Nonetheless, Tassadar now had to deal with the fact that the Conclave, to preserve their own name, painted the dark templar as villains. Knowing how deep each khalai had been indoctrinated with the old tales, it would be difficult convincing the conclave, or indeed any other khalai, to work with the dark templar. Tassadar remembered the stories told to him as a child, that the dark templar were considered demons, who's only goal was the ruination of the khala. Rumor had it that they met in secret to worship false gods, and kidnap children in order to cut their nerve cords and manipulate them into joining their cult. Tassadar had especially feared such stories, as his nerve cords, like most protoss', were quite sensitive. The act of cutting them must have been painful. Zeratul had told him that dark templar now were often cut at birth, depending on whether they came from the Boros, Lenassa, or Zer'atai tribes. Tassadar wondered whether it was right for the dark templar to decide for others whether or not they could ever touch the khala again, but he didn't press the issue with Zeratul.
Tassadar would lose far more than his nerve cords if the zerg overran Aiur. And he had already lost so much. He vividly remembered the results of his decision to spare the human worlds. Aldaris was incensed.
"What have you done? Did we not tell you to continue purging the system's worlds?"
"The deaths of millions of people will not be at my hands."
"The mere fact that it is the sacred will of the conclave more than justifies their deaths, let alone the fact that the humans will be used as fodder for the zerg! Did you forget your place? You are simply our hand - the moral issues are left to us, not you."
"Then I am glad that this time it was not up to you, for offhandedly consigning worlds to their death is only justifiable from a distance."
"You shall pay dearly for this Tassadar. We are returning to Aiur. This expedition has been...a failure."
On that day Aldaris's words were more than tinged with loathing and righteous anger. Knowing that his honor and position were doomed, he had not followed Aldaris, especially when he would be tried on his return. He had went to fight the zerg directly on Char instead. Yet when Aldaris had returned to Char to try to arrest him anyway, Tassadar had discovered that Artanis was given his former rank. Tassadar did not begrudge the position to Artanis, who would make a fine leader, and did disobey the conclave to help him as well.
Yet, Tassadar had worked his whole life to reach that rank, and seeing how easily, how frivolously, the conclave took it away had been difficult. When he first began his training, he remembered the intense sparring sessions at the Citadel of Adun with Fenix, fought out at increasing multiples of gravity each and every day. But most of all, the pain tolerance training had been excruciating! Tassadar had never done anything so challenging in his life. Participation in the pain tolerance exercises was not mandatory, yet all who wished to partake in battle had to complete them. Those who could not bear the pain were seen as cowards, and indeed, the vast majority of warriors did finish the exercises, lest they be dishonored. Many Protoss had even learned to ignore the pain permanently, gaining the ability to perform the exercises indefinitely.
The templar physical training took everything he had, and things he didn't even know he had. The days turned into weeks, then months, then year, even decades. Tassadar still could not remember large tracts of time from this period of his life. The sheer effort of will it took to survive and keep somewhat of a clutch on sanity was absurd. Nobody had told him that it would have been like that. Yet he emerged from his training as a new Protoss.
Tassadar also remembered the long days spent studying military tactics at the Aran'mir institute in Antioch. He was the highest consistently scoring student, and both teachers and disciples alike had put their faith in him. Judicator Nariin was his most influential teacher, and Tassadar had learned much from him. There were few that Tassadar respected more. Nariin was also the one who had the privilege of awarding Tassadar his new rank, when he became the Executor of the protoss forces on Aiur. Tassadar's family was proud that day. No doubt, he had probably disgraced them all with his decision to disobey. This was the one thing about all this he truly regretted, and Tassadar had spent many a night wondering if he had the right to dishonor them in that way. Aldaris's sharp words echoed still.
"Not only have you damned yourself...but you have damned all those who have followed you!"
Tassadar sat up and walked over to his access crystal. He grabbed it from the stand and found a good spot to sit. As he channeled his thoughts into the crystal, he then felt the presence of hundreds of protoss souls, and was comforted.