Chapter Eight: The Hunt for Tassadar

The most I can say about Judicator Khakar is that he wasn't incompetent. He was good at establishing supply lines and knew enough to not try any idiotic offensives. Which is a lot more than can be said for Confederate generals in the Guild Wars.

He avoided taking any risks and left the regional commanders to run their own affairs. He also had a flair for administration. Protoss who were having to reestablish colonies got a steady stream of resources.

The problem was that the average didn't cut it.

-Liberty's report, volume IV

A week later the bridge of the protoss command ship was silent. Judicator Aldaris looked over charts and maps. Other protoss examined readings from the surrounding space. Before them on the screen was the planet of Char. A barren, molten rock of vulcanos and fissures.

What was Artanis doing out here? His place was with his brethren. He looked to Aldaris. 'Judicator, this mission does not sit right with me. To have both myself and Selendis drawn from the war simply to arrest one of our greatest generals.'

Aldaris looked up. 'Artanis, I know that you were reluctant to leave Aiur in this dark hour and that you still grieve for the loss of so many of our brethren. But remember that they lived and died as the Templar. They have reached the Khala's end. There is no greater glory than that.'

'Well, I expect a great many more people will meet the khala's end with us going halfway across the universe.' Said Serena. Artanis knew she had a similar opinion of the mission to him.

'Aldaris I am in agreement with Calabas. The Zerg are the immediate threat.' said Artanis.

'We Judicator are called to look beyond such matters; to ensure the safety and future of our people.' Said Aldaris. 'It is not the zerg, but the rogue Tassadar, who represents the greatest threat to us now.'

'With respect, Aldaris, Tassadar is not spreading death across our homeworld.' said Artanis.

'If he is allowed to spread the Dark Templar's tainted influence to Aiur, all will be lost.' Replied Aldaris. 'We will find him and bring him to judgment.'

Artanis could sense unease from Aldaris. He did not like this mission any more than Artanis did. 'And what of this world, Char? What is he doing here?'

'Tassadar claimed that this world was abandoned by the Zerg just prior to the invasion of Aiur.' Said Aldaris. 'Yet, our allies in the Dominion inform us that the zerg still retain many hive clusters on the surface.

'Indeed, I still sense a lingering darkness here. Be prepared for anything, Executor. The Zerg on this world must surely know of our arrival.'

'There is an orbital platform of terran make in this place.' Said Selendis. 'It will make a fine staging point from where to begin our search.'

'We don't have to search for them.' said Serena 'Raynor has been working with Tassadar for months. Find Raynor and we can find Tassadar.

'Let me see the communications array.'

'As you wish.' said Aldaris.

Serena reached the array and set her hand upon it. Artanis knew she had begun to familiarize herself with protoss technology. Terrans used crude physical manipulation for their equipment. Yet Calabas was what they called a psychic and what protoss called normal. She had been learning to wield their equipment.

He felt her reach out with her mind. 'This is Commander Serena Calabas of the Terran Dominion. I need to speak with James Raynor immediately.'

The viewscreen changed and a human with short hair and a stubble appeared on the screen. Artanis sensed he was incredulous but glad. 'Serena? What are you doing on a protoss warship?'

'Long story. We don't have time for it now.' said Serena 'I'm part of a protoss expeditionary fleet. We're here to evacuate Tassadar's forces and bring them back to Aiur.'

A lie. To what end? 'Finally.' said Raynor 'We've had to hold off our own evacuation for a long time. Not that I have anything against Tassadar. But Char ain't exactly prime vacation spot material.'

'What exactly happened?' asked Serena.

'Well, it started when Kerrigan and her cerebrate attacked the protoss.' Said Raynor. 'Tassadar managed to evacuate some of them and kill one of their cerebrates. That bought us some breathing room. But then the zerg got mad.

'They attacked the dark templar territory. Tassadar tried to help them but Kerrigan's cerebrate doesn't fight like other zerg. He focused on destroying our centers of command and control and hit all our weak points.

'We were so used to fighting frontal assaults that it threw us into chaos. The only good news was that the cerebrate went out of her way to avoid killing civilians. So we managed to evac a bunch of them with our dropships.

'God knows we have a lot of empty ones.' His thoughts were bitter with the loss of many comrades. Serena felt for her comrade as well.

'What happened then?' asked Serena.

Raynor shrugged with his shoulders. 'Kerrigan took over. She and the cerebrate had a falling out. He went off to Aiur, and she stayed back here. Ever since then the zerg has gone right back to killing everything that moves.

'The only reason we've lasted this long is that Kerrigan isn't much of a commander. Of course, things have still been going badly for us. She's been getting smarter.'

'Focus Jim. Where is Tassadar now?' said Serena.

Raynor detected something wrong in his friend's voice. Not her thoughts but the audible pitch of the sounds she made from her mouth. Could he tell so much from that? 'We're on an orbital platform called Char Aleph. It used to be Kel'morian, but that's a long story. Tassadar is hoping to use it to shelter the refugees-' There was a sudden screeching noise.

'What was that?' asked Serena.

'Damn it!' said Raynor 'We've got zerg incoming, Serena. I hope you're fleet is packing more heat than us because we're about to come under attack.'

'We're on our way. Calabas out.' said Serena.

She broke the connection.

'Why did you not inform him that we intended to arrest Tassadar?' asked Artanis. 'Raynor is impulsive and what we're doing would hit a bit close to home for him. We want to arrest Tassadar quickly and without warning.' Said Serena. 'If he knows we're coming he might be able to get his men to fight us.

'That's the last thing we need.'

'A wise decision.' said Aldaris 'Selendis bring us into Char Aleph. And send out observers to scour the whole of that platform for any sign of the zerg.'

'This cerebrate Raynor spoke of.' said Artanis 'He seems similar to Kaloth.'

'He probably is Kaloth.' Said Serena. 'I don't know of any other cerebrates who avoid civilian targets and are tactically brilliant.'

'Who is this Kerrigan?' asked Artanis.

'Probably the lingering darkness Aldaris senses.' said Serena. 'She was once Raynor's girlfriend. During the battle of Tarsonis, she was captured by the zerg and infested.

'I guess she was once a hero but I never much liked her.'

'Why not?' Asked Artanis, finding himself curious.

'She was a hypocrite.' Said Serena. 'When General Edmund Duke was shot down by the zerg she wanted to leave him to die. Then when Mengsk wanted to unleash the zerg on the Confederates she changed her tune. She spouted this line about how nobody deserved to have the zerg unleashed on her.

'She pretends to be this great person who cared about the average colonist. But I think it was an act. I don't think she ever really cared about the cause, only the people she knew personally.'

'That seems a great assumption to make.' said Artanis.

'I am an empath.' said Serena.

The screen soon showed a huge metal station of terran make. It was rusted and several smaller pieces had fallen off of it. Looking at it Artanis saw on the far end a protoss settlement. He sensed from there many of his brethren. And also many of a kind he did not know. Could they be the dark ones?

His gaze turned to the west of the protoss settlement and saw a sprawling zerg hive. That entire region was bristling with zerg. He could see many of them slithering across the stations. Photon cannons had been established on a metal cliff and many zerg were slain by them. Those who got past the barrage were cut down by zealots. Eventually, the zerg drew back, rather than attack again. Whatever had commanded them had decided that it wasn't worthwhile to attack.

Artanis could sense other zerg, however. Huge numbers of Overlords coming toward the station.

'We are over the terran station now.' said Selendis 'However I am reading vast numbers of zerg on it. There are also a great many zerg flyers approaching the station. If they land it is likely that the protoss colony there will be wiped out.'

'Order our forces to disembark on the nearest part of the station Selendis.' Said Aldaris. 'Artanis and I will carve a path through the zerg to reach Tassadar and bolster his forces. You will take the fleet and intercept the zerg flyers. If we are to withdraw the forces of Aiur we must prevent the zerg from reinforcing their ranks.'

'I'll go with you.' said Serena 'Raynor may be there. If so I might need to talk him down.'

The station was even worse when Artanis set foot on it with his forces. Although the artificial gravity still worked the artificial atmosphere was beyond primitive. There were many towers of broken metal and pieces of the station had broken and fallen away. Here and there one could see floating debris leftover from some battle.

For the life of him, he could not understand the purpose of the place. 'This station is decaying and falling. Tell me, Calabas, why did your people build such a place?'

'Orbital platforms have a lot of uses.' Said Calabas. 'We have three of them on Tarsonis which we use as staging areas for our fleets. In this case, however, I think it was probably meant for use as a staging point for merchant fleets.

'Char is supposed to be very mineral rich.'

'Yet there are no colonies of your people here.' noted Artanis.

'No Confederate colonies.' Said Calabas. 'But the Confederacy isn't the only terran faction. If I could access the computer system I might be able to tell you more.'

They marched upwards and through the maze of metal. Artanis could see no sign of the zerg Selendis had detected. However, he could sense the distant battle between Tassadar and the creatures.

They rounded a corner and saw before them a vast network of sunken colonies. Yet there was no sign of any other zerg. 'Look there Aldaris. Sunken colonies.'

'I see them.' Said Aldaris. 'They must have been established to prevent our brethren from fleeing the station. Yet they are not alone.'

Then he raised a hand. Into his palm, he summoned a wave of psionic lightning. Then it stretched forth from his hand and fell over the station. Plates of metal were torn upwards through the creep. Many hundreds of zerg were dragged up screaming. Hydralisks, zerglings and many others. Then it was done.

'What was that?' asked Serena. 'That was a psionic storm.' said Artanis 'A technique used by the High Templar to destroy the enemies of Aiur.'

'And you could do that the whole time?' asked Serena.

'It is a taxing technique.' said Aldaris.

'How did you know there were zerg there anyway?' asked Serena.

'It is not the way of these creatures to leave their hives unguarded.' said Alaris 'Now forward, Executor. Destroy the sunken colony and let us press on.'

The protoss charged as one. The sunken colonies sent forth their tentacles. One of Artanis' brethren had his shield pierced. He screamed as he was torn to bits but the others were only incensed. They tore through the sunken colonies. Artanis cleaved down three tentacles as they came at him. Then he stabbed deep into the monstrous structure. It spasmed and died. The dragoons unleashed their volleys and burned another to ash.

At last the way was clear. He turned to Aldaris and Calabas. 'It is done, Judicator.'

'Excellent.' said Aldaris.

Serena moved on ahead and came to a strange device on the wall. 'Hold on, we've got a console here. The sort used to log data while doing shipping. I might be able to access the records.

'Okay, I've got it. They aren't encrypted. Playing logs now.'

There were a few minutes as the logs played and strange sounds resounded. Artanis took this time to see to the wounded. He sensed horror from Serena, but also a sense of being impressed.

The log finished.

'I don't understand.' he admitted.

'I just ran the logs.' said Serena.

'Yes but there was no meaning.' said Artanis 'No emotion. Only sounds.'

'Oh right.' said Serena 'Your records are all psionic. You communicate with me because you read my mind. So when I play video feed you only get my reaction and can't actually understand what the contents mean. You don't actually speak English.'

'We have no time for this.' said Aldaris 'Take the records and continue the discussion while we walk.'

Serena obeyed, downloading the data into a pad. Her thoughts were about historical significance. And first contact.

'I'll tell you what I found in short.' she said 'Basically this station is called Char Aleph. It was part of a Kel-Morian expedition to try and tap the mineral wealth of Char. Before that, the unstable ground of Char made tapping minerals a nightmare. But they hit on the idea of using an orbital station to send smaller expeditions. They'd gather minerals then withdraw.

'It was sent out ten years before the Guild Wars so it was way before First Contact. Although now that I think of it, this probably was First Contact.'

'What happened to it?' asked Artanis.

'Well, first their attempt to mine for minerals was attacked and destroyed.' Said Serena. 'They assumed that it was an attack by some kind of wild animal. Which means they never expected to get attacked in space. 'Their sensors were designed to pick up on metals. Not organics.

''So the zerg got the first strike. They blew out their long-range communications with scourges. Then while they were trying to figure out what was happening the zerg landed in every hanger except one. Some of the Kel'morians tried to fight. But a lot of them ended up fleeing to the last remaining hanger.

'They got into the ships and fled. The video feed from that hanger indicates that they were cut off and destroyed. Meanwhile, the Kel'morians who stayed to fight were too few to make any difference. They were overwhelmed and destroyed. Or worse.

'Brilliant.'

Artanis was surprised. 'Brilliant? Your own people were decimated.'

'Sure but that doesn't mean I don't respect the way the zerg did it.' Said Serena. 'Obviously, the zerg didn't want anyone to know about them just yet. The Overmind probably wanted to wait another generation. For the psychic gene to get stronger, I guess.

'So he cut off all long-range communication. Then he destroyed every hanger but one. If he'd destroyed all the hangers then the Kel'morians might have made a last stand. Instead, they divided their forces and destroyed both.

'No word ever came back from this colony. Just like no word ever came back from any other colony. If we'd known about the zerg on Char before the Guild Wars the history of the sector might have been very different.'

They came up a final rise and came before the protoss encampment. There they found many proton cannons in flame. Wounded were being tended to. There were terran marines, clad in blue rather than red, standing guard with zealots.

'You boys the backup?' asked a soldier.

'Something to that effect.' said Serena 'Where is Tassadar?'

'He is here.' said a voice.

Tassadar appeared. He came forward. His golden executor's armor was chipped and damaged and he bore several new scars. Yet his spirit was undimmed. However, he was confused. With him was the terran from before. James Raynor. 'Aldaris? Artanis? How is it that you've come here? I was about to abandon all hope of rescue!'

'I have come to arrest you and bring you home to Aiur to stand trial.' said Aldaris.

'Arrest me?' asked Tassadar 'Aiur burns at the touch of the Zerg, and you travel all this way to arrest me?'

'Don't let it get to you, man. This happened to me once.' said Raynor 'Serena what the hell is going on?'

'This is an internal matter Raynor.' said Serena 'It's none of our business.'

'Commander James Raynor.' said Aldaris 'You would be wise to step aside. The decisions of the Conclave are far beyond the scope of your vision.'

'The name's Jim Raynor, pal.' said Raynor 'And I won't be talked down to by anybody. Not even a protoss.'

'Amusing.' said Tassadar 'Tassadar, your taste in companions grows ever more inexplicable. Executor, prepare to take Tassadar into custody.'

'Artanis, wait.' said Tassadar 'I do not know what they have told you about me, but what I've done, I've done for Aiur. Help me find Zeratul and his Dark Templar. They alone can defeat the Overmind's Cerebrates. Once we've won I'll gladly submit myself to the judgment of the Conclave.'

Tassadar was asking Artanis to betray Aiur? To betray the Conclave?

'Unthinkable!' said Aldaris 'You presume that we would side with the Dark Ones as you have? You have gone quite mad, Tassadar.'

'You shall speak of them with respect, Aldaris.' Said Tassadar. 'Executor, there is much that I can explain to you if only you'll help me find Zeratul.'

At that moment a transmission came in. 'Judicator there is a vast swarm of zerg coming toward us. We are unable to face them and are withdrawing. If you return to your landing site we should be able to warp you back.'

Aldaris paused. 'I understand. Prepare to-'

At that moment Artanis sensed a presence. Looking up he saw a vast tide of zerg disembarking from overlords. They poured out over the station and his warriors looked up. And at the head of the swarm was a figure, a combination of terran and zerg.

'I've finally found you Tassadar.' said Kerrigan 'This time, Jimmy isn't going to be able to save you.'

'We've been surrounded!' said a zealot.

The hunt for Tassadar was over. Now the only question was whether any of them would survive long enough to arrest him.

Author's Note:

So I'd just like to talk about Artanis' defection in Queen of Blades. Namely that Artanis' defection in Queen of Blades makes no goddamn sense. The Magistrate defecting to Arcturus Mengsk made perfect sense. The Confederacy had left him to die and if he didn't join Mengsk his whole colony would burn.

But Artanis has grown up his entire life in the Conclave. As far as he has been taught the Dark Templar are all pure evil. Moreover, the Conclave isn't exactly being super unreasonable. Accusing Tassadar of treason for bad information might be jumping the gun a bit. But Tassadar favors the enemy of everything the khalai protoss stand for. And Artanis has a really good job as a high ranking officer. Tassadar is asking him to literally throw his entire life away to go save what Artanis has spent his entire life believing are satan worshippers.

My point is he shouldn't have been so casual in throwing away his rank, his honor and everything Artanis had earned up until that point.