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Silent Message

7th Day, Month 1st, 500th cycle

Zane was stopped by his brother on his way to the general mess hall. Xiao whispered in his ear for a brief moment as the young boy eyes' narrowed. Eventually, he gave a curt response and the older brother nodded before going back to his tasks without nary a sign of interruption. The blue haired boy, on the other hand, deviated from his task of obtaining food to obtaining his gear.

There was a fight to be had, and if he were lucky, Zane could possibly test out the new weapons of the Templars even further.

O O O

The more advanced members of their organization were already lined up at the edges of the building, watching as the red and black trail of soldiers advanced up the street. They hardly needed to worry about the enemy spotting them, as it was both night time and it was the slums; it was a miracle to see the building past the one in front of you at times. The group, about eight people in all, wore green cloaks with hoods shadowing their faces, with various emblems and patches sowed on to show their personal differences. All of them were wearing leather and metal gauntlets, as well as a myriad of other weapons on their person, held in place by various belts and armor pieces.

Footsteps approaching the group made them turn around as two more cloaked figures in green appeared, one from the shadows and the other from simply leaping down a nearby building. They joined the observation position. "Numbers?" Xiao quietly asked as he noted their heavy armor and laser weapons.

"Two full squads, about 20 people," One of them whispered.

"Positioning? I only see five here."

"Vanguard group we assume. Others won't be far behind."

"You all, delay the arrival of the main group subtly," The black haired boy ordered and the eight Templars nodded before dispersing. Four of them simply disappeared and reappeared across the street and repeated, continually teleporting around as they stealthily made their way through the enemy vanguard. The other four followers simply ran and leapt from building to building, being sure to never make a noise as they made headway around the vanguard's possible detection range, never alerting the enemy to their presence.

The two brothers watched their departures with nods of approval. "They pick up quick," Xiao commented as he looked out into the night sky. "It would seem that we will not have to worry about the training regimens of our new recruits."

"But it is clear that two types of Templars shall arise brother," Zane quietly commented as he got on the ledge of the building and began wobbling back and forth. "And from there, our order shall have two types of warriors at our command, one that coincidentally suits our styles."

"And what may they be?" Zane too got on the ledge, but instead of standing, he crouched and rotated his neck around slowly, warming up. The older brother turned to see his younger sibling give a sly wink before disappearing in a blink of an eye.

Down below, there was a gruesome shriek as a glowing green blade popped out of the chest of a soldier, droplets of blood fizzling and evaporating in contact with the psionic weapon. His comrades spun around in alarm to see Zane kicking the corpse off his stiletto psionic blade as he studied the glowing green weapon on his arm with interest. "So this is how my weapons actually work," The young Templar mused, looking up to see the shocked masked enemy. "Well?"

Before any of the soldiers even began drawing weapons, Xiao made his move. He leapt from his crouching position, dropping fast and heavy as he slammed into the ground between two other enemy men. Quicker than the eye could follow, his two arms came upwards and slammed elbows into the two soldiers' mask, caving them in and letting the bodies crumple to the ground.

The remaining two fumbled with their weapons before two swords were drawn, a flick of the switch charging them with electricity. Zane mused through his knowledge and quickly identified the weapon as a power sword, a cheap replacement for psionic blades. This scouting squad must really be on the lowest ladder in the enemy hierarchy.

He quickly revised that thought as the enemy charged Zane and Xiao with sudden speed and skill. The brothers found themselves caught off guard as they frantically defended themselves, the element of surprise now on the side of the enemy. It would seem even the grunts of the enemy were just as skilled as his Templar. It would be hard to get a killing head blow now, with the two being forced to evade the heavy infantry's attacks.

However, Zane wasn't out of tricks. He quickly rolled backwards to dodge a horizontal slash before reaching for his baton on his belt, deactivating his psionic blade in the process. A quick flick of his hands extended the item into a pole, but an additional pulse of energy he sent through the weapon activated its real form. Out of the top of the pole, glowing green energy spiked outwards and fluctuated wildly before taking on the shape of a curved blade. With a twirl, Zane readied his psionic scythe as the enemy reappraised the situation.

He didn't have the chance to come up with an appropriate counter before the boy disappeared in a flurry of dust. The heavily armored man blinked, suddenly realizing that he was staring at his own…body…

With a flick, the Templar leader reappeared, his scythe's blade already burning off the blood that came with the decapitation of his foe. His eyes blazed green as the shadows lingered on Zane's body, an aftereffect of the powers he had just harnessed to eliminate his foe. "I am Dark Templar," He softly intoned, flicking his weapon and reducing the scythe back to its small and innocent form.

The sudden decapitation of the man's comrade made him flinch before the heavy trooper lunged at Xiao, sword outward. The older brother didn't hesitate as he stepped closer and smashed the blade between his two gauntlets. With a solid snap, the sword broke in half and Xiao finished the job with a strong elbow strike to the visor, sending the foe crashing backwards. "Well, I guess that with that dramatic declaration, it's only fair that I make one myself: I am High Templar!"

With that, the small fight was over and the enemy vanguard was eliminated. Xiao tensed up and held up a hand as his augmented sense picked up a noise in the background. Barely a second later, a Templar leapt downwards from a nearby rooftop and was kneeling in front of the young man. "Sir, we have located the remaining enemy squad. We are ready to strike from both shadows and up high. Your orders?"

Xiao glanced at Zane who gave a slight nod. "Attack. No witnesses and no collateral," The elder brother told his subordinate. There would be no room for doubt or mercy. They had to show the Protoss Templars were playing for keeps.

O O O

A lone hooded figure stood watching the massacre that was his master's forces getting ambushed by former lab rats. They watched impassively as the leader fell to a psionic blade embedded in his back, the skill of such a feat not lost on the observer. With a sigh, they mentally began their report to their master, ensuring that there would be no stray details. A shadow war was about to being; the master of Firstborn Collective would need to know everything about these "Protoss Templars."

O O O

8th Day, Month 1st, 500th cycle.

In one of the many skyscrapers of Ark, a teenage girl sitting at a conference table was furiously attacking the keyboard on a laptop, her lips pursed as she stared at the endless scrolling code. She was dressed in a start contrast to her surroundings, a revealing red tank top with brown shorts that seemed to clash with her dark short hair. Her hands paused a few times before resuming the task of slamming text into the laptop, the machine nearly groaning at the harsh use. "Terrans…started. Zerg….started. Protoss….started. Everything is going to plan...? Dropship crash program initializing…"

The door to the conference room opened and the girl slammed the laptop shut, nearly catching a hand between the two halves. With a quick whisper, her clothes shimmered before turning into traditional Firstborn robes, the typical and expected wear. "I see that you've decided to take my warning seriously," She stated, staring straight ahead.

"Indeed. You were right about everything." The man hesitated before taking a seat across the girl, looking carefully at a tablet he brought. "We are indeed getting reports of serious dissent in various parts of our glorious empire. Nothing that we can squash out in time, but the fact remains that you were telling the truth."

"An interstellar empire such as the Firstborn would always have some form of internal strife. The question is, what are you going to do about it, oh leader of the Firstborn Collective?" The girl smirked at the hooded man's glare. "Your people hold office for now, but the moment revolutions begin, the common people may be swayed to the other side and…"

"Enough. We can deal with this ourselves," The leader snarled and the girl shrugged in response.

"Then I guess I will take my leave-"

"But I will not as foolish as to ignore free help, especially from one whose claims have proven accurate," The man reluctantly admitted, placing the data pad down. "So you wish to know the results of our…project?"

"Yes, and I do believe I have the right to know what happened to them. They are, after all, the results of my contribution."

"Very well. One is stable, and shows much promise. It is undoubtedly the better result, as her vitals and brainwaves shows signs of a strong psionic power within. I'll have my apprentice take on her as a student and we will have another great warrior on our side."

"That's good. And the other…?"

"Abject failure."

The girl blinked in surprise. "Beg pardon?" She asked, clearly not expecting that result.

"It's best you don't know the specifics. It may distress you with how poorly the other self came out, but it was expected that one of the two would be bad." The man gave a slight smirk. "In all hindsight, our previous results have shown that the worst the other outcome is, the better the ideal is. I wouldn't worry about it, we've already taken to disposing and reusing the body."

"This wasn't in the programming…" She muttered, tapping a finger on the computer. "Who's screwing with me?"

"Excuse me?"

"Nothing. I'm satisfied with the results. Many thanks."

O O O

As soon as the master of the Firstborn Collective stepped out of the conference room, leaving his ally behind mumbling to herself, a dark shape stepped out of the shadows to his side. "I trust that we still have use for her then?" His apprentice asked, easily matching the older man's stride. "Or would you like me to dispose of witnesses?"

"No, I can see that she will be vital to the future success of our operations," The leader replied, tossing a datapad to his student. The hooded figure read through the information before blankly handing it back. "Well?"

"Why not you? I am not entirely comfortable with the notion of…teaming up with others," They admitted. "I have more success in solo operations."

"Which is why I will be placing her under your tutelage. You need to learn the benefits of having tools at your disposal. If you still disagree with my notion, I am making it an order; I am a busy man and do not possess the patience to train another one of you."

"…understood master."

O O O

"Hm…so this new group called the 'Protoss Order' is promising acceptance for all?"

"It would appear so, my lady."

"Then I better meet them. Ah, if you could…?"

"I will arrange a meeting, my lady. You need not worry about having to go outside. I will make it so that they will come seeking you."

"Thank you."