Interlude I - Ship in a bottle
Mentor's pride.
"By the will of our mentors, by the wisdom of the Xel'naga.
This records will aid you in the understanding of our kind young one, may they be of use to you:
Void worlds: Massive deep space habitats with no combat capabilities. These vessels were created by the Ihan-rii shortly before their departure from the wider galaxy as a means to hold their civilian population and carry their technology with them. Of the seventeen that were launched into the void only three reapered after the missive by Zeratul was received. They are: The cry of pity, the tide of solace and the memory of home.
The creeds: The six alignments of the Ihan-rii people. They act as paths to honor the six great clans while also serving as practical disciplines by which their descendants can follow in their steps.
Psi: A term accredited by the terrans that distinguishes a particular facet of protoss technology. Psi is the energy stored by the protoss that is held in a reservoir intended to be used by a large enough force in order to support and power their technology as well as serving as a source of nourishment to a certain extent.
Zhakul: ancient archive of the protoss empire and abandoned world of Amon's Xel'naga. Before the beginning of the end war, this world stood as an usurped repository of knowledge as the planet and its guardians were corrupted by a malevolent hybrid. It was through the actions of dark prelate Zeratul that this world was liberated and its inhabitants were released from the clutches of Amon".
-Of Nebulas forgotten, servant to Idris
Othan
He was gone…
The last elder of her people was no more.
The Ihan-rii had never been without their elders in all of their history.
How would they survive?
Who would lead them into salvation?
Who amongst them could now interpret the will of the Xel'naga?
…
Who are you trying to deceive Othan…
Xiltar was no more. Your brother had abandoned you.
You are alone.
And now… Othan of the Ihan-rii was lost.
As lost as her people were without their home, as lost as they were without their last leader and as lost as their souls were without their last elder to guide them onto salvation.
And as lost as they were in this new realm…
Whatever it was that had saved her people from the last onslaught of the hybrid had also warped space and time and sent them into an empty void…
Othan was currently working on a console on the bridge of the mentor's pride and as she turned to look up towards the massive window that rested atop the bridge of their vessel her gaze met the endless nothingness as no star shined in the cosmos.
All save for one.
She did not know what power in this universe could reap a star from the firmament and move it towards another location but the design of the Xel'naga had surprised her once again as not only did the artifact warp all of the fleet to a new location but all of the Zhakul'Daran system.
However, the translocation of all the vessels as well as this sole star system had damaged most of the fleet and some of the vessels had even threatened to fall into the planet and destroy the sparse settlements of the guardians of Zhakul.
They had to overwork the motherships amongst their fleet as they disrupted space to stop the fall of these vessels and saved the planet from the falling apocalypse.
As their Ihan-rii makers added their efforts to that of the Khalai and Nerazim phase-smiths, she was surprised by how quickly those engineers and technicians managed to avert the crisis and save their people.
That victory was theirs.
Now, Othan looked around the bridge and found herself impressed as how the traditionally secluded creeds of the Ihan-rii were working with such coordination.
While the creators in charge of hoarding the knowledge of their people and to uncovering the secrets of the Xel'naga were usually reclusive and insular to the point of frustration and the makers of their namesake creed were usually strong-headed and refused to modify the designs, they were forced to work together as the task imposed on them was to important to be left to chance.
It was surprisingly through the voice and actions of the Nerazim that these two creeds found some sort of common ground.
Regardless, they had inverted the death of that world and the residents of Zhakul were more than grateful for their aid.
This strange protoss did not join the rest of their people as her brother had originally hoped as the preservers who had been found alive inside a deep and secluded stasis chambers found themselves in deep deliberation as they pondered if they should be joining their forces to those of the survivors as they still held some misgivings against the protoss of Aiur for a slight committed against them a few years before.
But their numbers only stood at around eight hundred thousand protoss. Most of them being nothing but the scholars that had survived the assault by Zeratul and his warband.
But their decision was meaningless to her now.
Her thoughts shifted to the reports on the state of the vessel that had been made available to her.
The mentor's pride…
It had been the vessel of her clan when they still numbered in the dozens…
Soon, the authority over the vessel would fall to her as what executors and admirals had survived deliberated about raising her to the position of executor to serve alongside them.
Only because of her clan of birth.
…
She hated nepotism.
Her brother may have been an eccentric and strange individual, but she shared this particular opinion with him.
Xiltar…
He wasn't fit to be an elder, Othan could see this now.
Elders were more than the ultimate authority amongst the Ihan-rii. For you see, they were also supposed to be the spiritual guides for her people. Charged with the responsibility of interpreting both the will of their gods and also seeing to the rites of the departed…
Her memory turned to the blessing of the departed warrior of her cohort, where she thought that her brother would fill all the protoss in the room with some sort of spiritual fervor she only saw… remorse.
None of his words mirrored that of the other elders, he had been flat and to the point in the final rite of the warrior.
Could he… No, that can not be possible.
"Aspbad Othan…" the call for her name broker her out of her introspection. She turned to meet a zealot of the templar, her cousins from Aiur "The fleet reports that all vessels had interned their non essential crew and refugees into the sanctuaries of your void worlds" the warrior said as he approached Othan with the crystal that held a message for her.
"Thanks for the report Templar, go and give this to Executor Aitan in turn" Othan said as she handed him the report she had written on the state of the Mentor's Pride.
"As you command, Aspbad" replied the zealot as he took the crystal with the report and requested for his vessel of origin to warp him back home.
Home…
This place certainly did not feel like home as the situation on the fleet was complex to say the least.
Of all the vessels they had departed the Koprulu sector with, approximately 72% still remained active.
That left them in the following situation:
Three Ihan-rii void worlds remained intact, each holding little over seven millions souls in stasis. Khalai, Nerazim and Ihan-rii all across them. It had been decided that only military and technical elements would remain awake as a way to conserve resources in order to ensure the safety of the Armada.
What remained of their warships was of more concern. They had only seven operational motherships including the Mentor's pride. A little over a hundred carriers remained operational, with another hundred floating as debris around them, the Veil of peace among them.
Of their support vessels like tempests, void rays and oracles they had salvaged over two hundred all combined.
The situation with their star fighters was more critical since almost none had survived, their wrecks a grim reminder of the loss.
She mentally sighed "What do we do?" She asked her goda what to do as the place they found themselves in offered almost nothing.
This was true, whatever the keystone had done to the fleet had resulted in two distinct outcomes: The first thing it did was purge of the invading hybrid. Remembering their screams of agony as they banished from reality brought some measure of satisfaction to Othan's 'day'. And as stated before, the keystone had sent a whole star system to a realm beyond time and space and had kept most of their technology intact.
Othan had some hypothesis as to how they found themselves in this empty void but one thing's for certain: The Keystone had warped them to another reality.
She didn't understand how, but found some comfort knowing Amon's forces couldn't follow them here.
But…
The horizon laid empty in an unnatural and eerie manner that kept the aspbad on edge.
Even as the Ihan-rii admirals that remained activated their ancient nebula wells to comb through the empty nothingness in search of dark energy for these artifacts to gather, they came completely empty handed.
There simply was nothing out there.
But how could this be?
Othan left the station where she had been working from and made her way towards the only other protoss that did give some mind to her thoughts.
"Nerazim… I mean, Jonus" Othan made her way to the side of the aged woman "I wish to know of your state".
The old warrior had left her armor some time before this meeting. She had not explained the reason as to why this was so, but Othan knew that it may have been due to a more private matter.
Othan had asked of her state as she had been gravely injured in their brief fight against the hybrid.
"I am fine, Aspbad" Jonus turned to her for a moment before she resumed her work in one of the consoles "What is it that you require?" she asked in a flat thone.
"Your input on a… situation of mine" Othan asked in turn.
The old warrior turned towards her with a frown "Is it related to the survivors of Zhakul and how they are not willing to allow us residence upon their world?".
Othan took a moment to answer "No… but".
"Then it can wait for another moment" Jonus replied as she coordinated the deployment of pylons next to the star so they could provide some needed psionic energy to sustain their technology as it was usually done in most battlefields.
The reason as to why they needed to establish a pylon network was to restore their reservoirs of psi so the fleet could be sustained for a while longer. This was due to the fact that they had expended a significant amount of their reservoirs while fighting the hybrid and while also saving the world bellow them from destruction.
In truth, Othan wished to ask the dark templar if her family had been fully accounted for since she had voiced her concern for them just a few cycles before but it would seem that such a task had been concluded.
The Ihan-rii found herself in a position where she had nothing else to work on as she had done all that would be allowed for her as of yet.
Othan left for the archives as she knew admiral Kiot would be assessing the damage to that place as well as to mourn their leader and that of his friend.
The death of the last member of the old council brought a sense of dread across her kind. Much like the remnants of the Daelaam, they now found themselves without proper leadership and friction between the factions would threaten to plunge them into open hostility.
It was only due to the tenuous cooperation of executor Aitan, Jonus and admiral Kiot that some semblance of unity remained amongst the fleet while the protoss of Zhakul remained aloof to the plight of the rest.
But the same could not be said about the other members of the choir…
Kiot was the only person that kept the rest of Xiltar's executors at bay as they called for the blood of those they considered 'heathens' while blaming the protoss of Aiur and Shakuras as being responsible for what had transpired to their race as well as calling for the removal of the Protoss down below so they could take this world as rightfully theirs.
Othan was worried that should Kiot be removed or deposed as admiral then the fleet would descend into anarchy as the Ihan-rii slaughtered the Khalai and Nerazim for baseless accusations and mistrust.
…
She would not allow this to be.
As Othan contemplated a manner in which her people could maintain some semblance of peace she failed to realize that she found herself in front of the archives already.
The place where he…
She averted her gaze from the door as remorse filled her thoughts.
If she had been there… she wouldn't be alone now.
After gathering what valor she could muster she entered that accursed place with the intention of finding the admiral so she could speak with him.
Othan dared to enter but what she found perplexed her.
The room was darkly lit but she pondered as to how that could be so. The reports of the makers in charge of maintaining the vessel told her that the lights in this place had already been fixed.
The Aspbad entered the room and a sense of anticipation began to gather around her as she expected that the admiral would come out of the darkness and speak with her.
But he was not there.
"Admiral Kiot?" Othan called for the old Protoss.
(He is not here) an ethereal voice responded in his place.
The young woman readied her shield and stood in a battle stance as she turned to all corners of the room in search of the origin of the voice.
"Who are you?" Othan asked.
(A friend) the voice replied more clearly. Othan reacted as if the origin of the voice was…
Behind her.
Othan turned towards the source of the voice and found herself… surprised.
In front of her stood the small of an alien that was somewhat familiar to her.
…
Terran.
That's what Jonus had called the other race that created the hybrid from the flesh of his people and the essence of the Zerg.
The creature smiled (Much like your brother, you are sharp one. Memory of Urabax) Othan was surprised to be called the memory of her legendary ancestor, Urabax the betrayer (It is because you act just like her, little soul) the terran said this as if she had personally met her ancestor. Before Othan could ask what was the meaning of this, she raised an object that she had been holding in her hands (I bring you a gift...).
She extended her arms for Othan to grab the object which was a sphere of Onyx hue.
Orthan hesitated for a moment but curiosity got the better of her that day as she slowly began to reach for the orb…
And as she touched the object, Othan saw as the space around her shifted and twisted as her consciousness began to leave her body.
…
She slowly began to regain her consciousness as she felt the cold metallic ground under her.
A commotion made her recovery into reality a more quick task as she opened her eyes and found herself surrounded by aliens.
She quickly got to her feet and jumped backwards as she got away from the creatures. But to her surprise none even cared for the presence of the Aspbad.
This was made clear by the fact that they weren't even looking in her direction.
"What is this?" she turned to ask the figure who had given her the artifact.
She wasn't even there.
"I am XIltar…" As these words echoed across the hall she found herself quickly turning towards the center of the chamber where she saw…
"BROTHER!" She exclaimed with happiness as she heard the voice of her brother.
But as she began to head towards the source of his voice, she realized that she did not bump into any of the aliens around her.
They weren't real, this was an illusion.
This broke her heart, knowing that she had really lost the last of her family while she was being tortured by images of him.
She focused on her brother once more and began to listen.
Was this the past, present or… the future?
She stopped pondering about this, as she listened to his words she felt as his frustration flared at these aliens, but something was different this time.
She saw something else in him…
Was that purpose?
Her brother, he had always been odd. Not caring that fondly for rite and tradition while also being an extremely competent individual in his craft. Be it war, exploration or understanding.
Othan now knew that the mantle of leadership would have been felt as a burden by one such as him since he had never coveted the position of elder in the first place.
He had always been honest with her and Othan had listened to his troubles and supported him as kin should always do.
But he never spoke of his thoughts on leadership.
…
She continued to listen.
He spoke of their people, with shame, regret and… hope?
He spoke of what they hadn't been in millenia, what they had betrayed so long ago.
Was this vision of another realm?
Was his brother alive somewhere amongst eternity?
Would she ever see him again?
(Yes, little one) spoke the voice again (He walks this path alone. But soon he shall open the gate for your kind…) it explained, hope returned to Othan (You must be ready, listen to his lessons…).
She continued to listen.
Protectors…
Mentors…
Sacrifice…
Ihan-rii, true and simple.
She saw their people reborn within him.
And as the vision began to fade and his fate in their purpose was restored she made a promise.
"Wait for me, brother. I will stand with you…"
…
Othan woke up on the cold floor of the vessel as her senses returned to her.
She was alone as the terran had long departed the archive and left healone…
Alone save for the orb of the vision.
Othan wasted no time in shredding a part of her cloak and cradling the relic inside the fabric as she lifted the artifact with care.
This was a message, but she did not know yet with whom to share it.
Othan decided to keep this relic in her ossuary as the room remained mostly empty.
She left the room.
Never turning back to see the place where his brother had disappeared…
Along with Exandra.