The Taldarim retreated
The war between humans and Protoss in the northern hemisphere of Bhekar reached its climax from April 22 to 24, 2490, with both sides bogged down in a protracted conflict.
The Revolutionary Army deployed over 50,000 fully armed soldiers and mechanized troops, including Alpha Squadron, mercenaries, and special tactical units, while the Tal'darim had fewer than 3,000 warriors, a few hundred Dragoon, and a small number of Ascendant with powerful Psionics and their slaves.
Under Marshal Augustus's orders, frontline commander Edmond Duke restrained his urge to lead the elite Alpha Squadron into a direct confrontation with the Tal'darim, opting instead to capitalize on their superior firepower. At least Duke wouldn't engage the Taldarim in hand-to-hand combat or use knives on the enemy—nevertheless, Duke harbored the same urge, much like his primal instinct to destroy something.
The Tal'darim retaliated by relying on their powerful plasma shield technology and particle beam cannons with calibers comparable to the main guns of human warships. They used their warp fields and shuttles to deploy their warriors and assassins behind the human army and in weak points between the battle lines, inflicting significant losses on the human forces.
Even so, the massive human forces continued their steady advance. The Tal'darim far surpassed an ordinary human soldier in both technology and individual combat capabilities. A powerful warrior known as Blood Hunter was capable of killing dozens of times his size without sustaining any damage before the plasma shield's energy was depleted.
However, their main disadvantage lies in their extremely small numbers. The Protoss are a long-lived race, but their reproductive capacity has always been at a very low level. The Tal'darim, which adheres to the tradition of survival of the fittest, suffers from severe internal strife. The brutal internal struggles have made this race increasingly rare, far fewer than their counterparts in Aiur and Shakuras.
With the firepower support of the elite and fearless Resocialized Soldier and mercenaries of the Alpha Squadron and the Raynor Raynor's Raiders, the Tal'darim began to show signs of weakness and began to shrink their defenses thirty-six Earth standard times after the outbreak of war, and the plasma shields on their buildings also became weak.
Although the Tal'darim were still warping more troops to the battlefield from their various forward bases and outposts on Bhekar using their incredible Gateway technology, Duke's Alpha Squadron had already begun a steady advance by the early morning of the 24th.
"The Taldarim's sharpshooters have begun their retreat." In the Alpha Squadron's command center, Duke, Raynor, and Harnack were intently watching the various windows on the main screen, which displayed intelligence from the cameras of the various frontline command vehicles and fighter jets.
It was a bright, sunny morning. Several Alpha Squadron Wraith flew overhead from the command center, gliding like albatrosses on the wind. Part of the Tal'darim buildings had been completely destroyed, and the black alloy wreckage lay scattered like broken glass on the ripped earth.
Sunlight streamed onto the ruins, the remains of the buildings gleaming with an obsidian-like luster. A particle beam cannon mounted on the Nexus fired, its extremely thick crimson beam instantly sweeping across a large area of Alpha Squadron Bunker and marching infantry formations, leaving a black trench half a mile long and several tens of feet wide in the ground. The Alpha Squadron soldiers swept through were instantly vaporized.
"These bastards." Raynor's face began to twitch. This time, the Alpha Squadron had lost at least several hundred men and five Arclite Siege Tank that had already been set up.
Duke, however, remained unmoved, showing no sign of regret over the losses suffered by the Alpha Squadron, nor any remorse for the deaths of those soldiers who were criminals to begin with.
For Duke, his soldiers were nothing more than pawns in a war game; they didn't care about the lives of soldiers or people and would stop at nothing to win—a common problem among many noble officers of the Terran Confederacy.
"I can't believe we might one day be in Total War with the Tal'darim," Raynor said.
"What worries me most is that this isn't the first alien race humanity has encountered."
"For the Terran Confederacy, more enemies will force them to mobilize more forces to defend the peripheral star systems." Duke was unmoved by the losses of his men.
"This is to our advantage, because the Revolutionary Army doesn't have many planets to defend, while the Confederacy now owns hundreds or even thousands of worlds after annexing most of the Kel-Morian Combine's colonies."
"Looks like you're getting into character quickly, Duke," Harnack shrugged. "But how do you know those bamboo shoots can't tell the difference between us and the Confederacy?"
"They don't care if you're a grasshopper or an ant, Hank —but I bet they won't take their anger out on the Confederacy."
Raynor said, "Unless their leader is a madman who went insane from taking too much Terrazine —but frankly, what happened in Bhekar was entirely their fault. If they didn't want us to colonize this planet, they could have given us advance warning instead of slaughtering innocent civilians."
"But no matter what, we have a permanent enmity with the Tal'darim."
"So many of us have died, this isn't over yet." Harnack and Raynor had completely opposite thoughts. Raynor was worried about the Tal'darim's retaliation, while Hanak was preoccupied with the fact that the Taldarim were in deep trouble this time.
As Augustus's generals discussed the consequences of their conflict with the Tal'darim at Bhekar, command center received a series of reports from the front lines. The reports indicated that the Tal'darim had abandoned their base and begun their retreat.
A company of Alpha Squadron, composed entirely of Resocialized Soldier including officers, was the first to breach the Tal'darim defensive positions, bringing great honor to their commander, Duke.
"See that? This is Alpha Squadron." Duke tapped the chest of his Power Armor with his iron gauntlet, showing off the golden eagle insignia on it.
"The Taldarim couldn't withstand our offensive, they retreated!"
On the screen, you can see Tal'darim warriors retreating into the warp field shrouded in a layer of aura around the Pylon. The Taldarim shuttles and long, futuristic fighters, which can fly at high speeds without any thrusters, are rising into the clouds like a gust of wind.
"Too strong." Although Harnack himself didn't mean anything sarcastic, Duke still looked angry.
"Write a report to the Marshal's headquarters, saying that Edmond Duke wants to present him with a palace with a pointed head in the Taldarim," Duke, with his pointed head and protruding forehead, said to his adjutant.
"Whether I can become a general depends on these sharp minds. You'll all be serving me tea and water when the time comes."