"In the Emperor's Name, We Promise"

"Tell Lady Athena."

Kores Ta slammed his scepter heavily against the ground. "We will provide the Imperium of Man with three thousand elite warriors, but not as vassals."

Blue light danced with gold along his nerve cords. "We will stand as allies who fight at your side."

Zeratul's figure began to be enveloped in Psychic Power. Before he vanished completely, the dark prelate left behind his final words:

"This is the Kares Executor I know."

After Zeratul had completely disappeared, Kores Ta found an emblem in his hand. It bore the dragon insignia of the Imperium of Man, yet it had been crafted using Protoss crystalwork.

All around the square, the Kares warriors dropped to one knee. As though sunflowers turning toward the sun, they all inclined slightly toward the emblem in their executor's hand.

Above the floating city, Chaos's final haze was dissipating beneath the golden aurora.

At the far end of the horizon, the first ray of true dawn pierced the eternal night.

Meanwhile, in Kares's low orbit, the Imperium of Man's fleet was scattered across strategic points like a golden constellation.

Cruisers formed triangular formations, their prow-mounted lance arrays firing a precise ray of destruction every fifteen minutes, melting the still-resisting Tal'darim strongholds on the surface into glassed craters.

Farther away, drones released by twelve frigates swarmed along the edge of the atmosphere like bees. Their scanning beams traced spiderweb-like patterns across the clouds, marking every remaining signal of corruption for the ground forces.

On the sunlit side of the orbit, the Emperor-class Battleship Athena's flagship, the Nerva, lay quietly at anchor.

This colossal vessel, more than ten kilometers long, was threaded throughout with pale golden currents of energy. The prayers carved along both sides of its hull gleamed beneath the starlight.

It had not taken