Ulnar's Legacy

A few hours later, Augustus awarded Duke a gleaming gold medal and sent him away. He then returned to his flagship, the White Star, accompanied by Raynor and Zeratul.

The surrender of Alarak, First Ascendant of the Tal'darim, was merely a minor interlude. Augustus did not wish to show too much regard for him, lest Alarak lose sight of his place.

Alarak was renowned for his brutality and cunning, and his personal combat strength was virtually unmatched. Keeping him at his side was ultimately inappropriate—who knew when he might stab him in the back and hold the emperor hostage to command the lords? Thus, Augustus handed Alarak over to Artanis. Only Artanis seemed capable of keeping him in line.

By this point, the grand fleet battle within the Aotearian Rift had come to an end. Fleets from all sides began regrouping their warships and recovering the carrier-based fighter swarms they had launched in full force.

The Terran Empire and the Purifier Protoss had joined forces to defeat the corrupted Daelaam fleet. They had done everything possible to save some of the Daelaam warships, but they had still been forced to destroy most of the rest, because the Templar aboard them had already fallen completely into darkness.

In this civil war between the three allies, the Daelaam Protoss suffered the greatest losses. More than a third of their warships had been destroyed in the conflict, while the remainder had also been heavily damaged. Including the arkship Spear of Adun and several motherships, fewer than twenty warships required no major repairs and could immediately enter the next stage of the battle.

The Protoss had always been accustomed to warping in fleets and structures directly from distant Aiur and other Protoss Empire colonies instead of building new warships as humans did. Such was