In honor of Khas, who brought the Aeon of Strife to an end, and ushered in a golden age for the Firstborn.

In honor of Adun, who spared the forefathers of the Nerazim, and spirited our brothers and sisters from the Conclaves malice.

In honor of Tassadar, who in defiance of the Conclave sought to save Aiur, and brought the Overmind of the Zerg low.

In honor of Zeratul, who in spite of his branding as a traitor to both the Khali and the Nerazim, ushered us unto hope.

In honor of Artanis, who broke the chains of the Fallen One, and truly united the Protoss, and reclaimed our homeworld.

Aiur fell once, because of the hubris of our people. Aiur shall fall, no more, for we are the Vigilant of Aiur. We have been chosen by the Hierarch himself to protect Aiur from those who would dare attempt to break the Firstborn as we nearly were before. Given blessing to tread, where the Daelaam cannot tread in plain sight, to bring war where the Firstborn are forbidden to fight openly. In the shadows we strike against those who would seek to bring ruin to our homeworld a second time.

My name is Arlatha, sister of Hierarch Artanis. I'm the leader of the Vigilant of Aiur. I was on patrol on the outskirts of Daelaam territory, onboard my flagship. The Mothership, the Shield of Aiur. "Phase-Smith Colorada, can you detect anything suspicious?" I said to the ships pilot.

"Nothing of interest so far Executor Arlatha, a few anomalous readings here and there, but nothing out of the ordinary Executor." Colorada said and it is no lie that right now I was bored. While it would be more then wrong and irresponsible for me to wish conflict, and that my duty is more than simply seeking conflict. But it has been a very long while since my crew's last battle, and I grow restless from our lack of activity. I've trained virtually nonstop in the art of the Avenger warrior, and that's just been to re-leave the boredom.

"Executor Arlatha! We've picked up a signal." Colorada said as the bridges instruments went off.

"Define 'signal'?" I asked skeptically, the Vigilant of Aiur don't chase after every random signal. But if it's important enough for the sensors to go off like this then it has to be something important.

"It is of an Ark, one thought lost during the Second Great War near the ice world of Kaldir." Colorada explained.

"Kaldir? I'm familiar with that name, an expedition was sent to see if the planet could be terraformed for colonization. What is this ship doing in this system? We're nowhere near Kaldir" I asked.

"Unknown, but our sensors have picked up Zerg biomasses within-"

"Zerg?! Ready our warriors to board the Ark! We must learn the meaning of this outrage." I said, Zerg... I've always hated those monsters. They all but destroyed our civilization, Aiur in ruins, our people driven to the brink of extinction. The only consolation is that we were reunited with the Dark Templar on Shakuras. But for all the lives the Zerg took during that dark hour... I will never forgive there misbegotten kind for the horrors they unleashed on the homeworld. While Artanis may dictate thus far that the Swarm under Zagara's dominion is an ally, but I remember the madness of the One-Day War. But that mess is a story for another time I think, nothing to do with the matter at hand.

We teleported onboard the Ark, including myself, a Dark Templar by the name of Sol'um, a Tal'darim Blood Hunter known as Kadar, and finally my own pupil, Adept Yaat. "By the Xel'Naga what a mess, there's Creep everywhere." Kadar said, noting the Zerg Creep lining the walls of the ship.

"Yes, Zerg tend to leave Creep like this whenever they set up anywhere." Sol'um said, irritated with his Blood Hunter counterpart as usual.

"Still, there's so much of the stuff. You can barely make out the walls there's so much Creep." Kadar said.

"Warriors, we must focus. We must find the source of this Creep, and eliminate it." I said, breaking up the unproductive bantering between my warriors.

We moved through the corridors, aside from Creep we found the wrecked remains of Sentries, Stalkers and Immortals lining the halls, along with the corpses of various non-sentient species. Most likely harvested for biomass or for 'Essence' for their own nefarious ends. "The Zerg have truly made a number out of this place. I thought the old ruins on Aiur were a mess, but this comes pretty close I think." Kadar commented.

"Kadar be silent! Besides, as extensive as the Creep is aboard this vessel. The infestation on Aiur was far, far worse." I said to the Blood Hunter, normally I'd leave him behind on the Shield of Aiur. Rather than bring him along and put up with his insufferable sarcasm. But he has been relatively well behaved of late so I granted him the right to fight beside me and my warriors. Besides, the Zerg would likely have grown detectors like Overseers and Spore crawlers. So his talent for Void Stasis would be of great help here.

"Executor,there are Zerg up ahead, and there is an Overseer among there number!" Yaat said, and speak of Amon Kadar had a use.

"You know what must be done. Put the Overseer in stasis Kadar, and we slaughter the Zerg." I commanded.

"I need no order to imprison anything!" Kadar said, I didn't take his comment personally, he did it anyway.

"Yaat! Shoot down the Overseer while we deal with the ground forces."

I, Sol'um and Kadar dealt with the Zerg on the ground. Keeping what we could from harming Yaat while she used an experimental blaster cannon that could target air born enemies to deal with the Overseer. She did so, but not before taking great wounds.

"Yaat fall back! We'll exterminate the Zerg here and press on when you feel ready." I said to Yaat as I gutted a Hydralisk with my phase scythe.

"Must we coddle the Adept like this?" Kadar said, I didn't need to correct him, as Sol'um slapped him across the face.

"Be silent Blood Hunter! If Arlatha wishes to tend to Yaat, then that is not your place to question." Sol'um said, letting his temper get the better of him. Not because he was dealing with Kadar, but his temper was more incited by the destruction of Shakuras during the End War. Even after a few years his rage has not subsided at the destruction of the Nerazim's adopted planet. On the plus side he hates the Zerg at least as much as I do.

"Yaat, how are your wounds?" I asked of my student.

"It is... nothing I can't handle Executor. My shields took most of the assault." Yaat said, doing her best to put on a brave face for me. It wasn't necessary of course, and the pain on her face and the scars on her armor were both dead giveaways.

"Nonsense child, take this. It should restore some of your strength." I said as I gave her a device. Something that the Phase-Smith Karax himself created in the aftermath of Amon's defeat, I believe that it was inspired by the medical devices the Terrans use.

"A Bio-Restoration Drone… no Executor, we have to conserve these-"

"I'm well aware that we have few of these devices. Now be quiet and let the drone do its job." I said as the drone healed Yaat. Unfortunately after it was done, it shorted out and fell to the floor, and warped out for repairs.

"Oh! So that's why we can't just have one of those things to each of us." Kadar said.

"Yes, there still prototypes. Not sure why our technology seems to have such a problem with Terran engineering." I explained, we moved down the corridors, slaying Zerg as we went. Occasionally we ran into scrapes like the one when we first arrived. Eventually we arrived at the bridge... and I must say that what we saw was horrible indeed, a Brood Mother.

"I am Niadra! By the will of the Queen of Blades all Protoss shall be consumed." Niadra said.

"Well... we have our culprit for this mess. Shall I place a beacon for the Sentinels?" Kadar said.

"No... I have a better idea." I said as I placed my own Warp Beacon.

"What? Surely summoning him isn't necessary?" Sol'um asked.

"Perhaps, but Brood Mothers are not to be trifled with. He's the best warrior we have on hand. Plus, it'll make for a wonderful ambush." I said as a warp field stabilized, and out stepped the greatest warrior of our generation... or at least the closest left in creation

"En Taro Artanis young Arlatha!" Talandar said in his usual boisterous tone.

"Yes, En Taro Artanis, but you must be quiet. We're onboard a lost Ark overrun by Zerg. The Brood Mother is on the bridge back there, but the entire area is covered in-"

"Say no more! I shall face this Zerg abomination in single combat. EN TARO TASSADAR!" Talandar said as he charged heedlessly into Zerg brood head on.

"And he charged in, was that your plan? Have Talandar serve as a distraction while we summon Purifiers?" Kadar said.

"Not entirely, but we must place our beacons at key locations around the bridge. Niadra's Zerg will go off to defend their Brood Mother... and when there all slaughtered our reinforcements will make quick work of taking this bridge." I said, and we went about our work. Placing Warp Beacons, and helping Talandar where we could against the Brood Mother.

"Okay, we've got the Beacons in place. Is now the time to activate them?" Yaat asked.

"Yes Yaat, feel the wrath of Aiur, Zerg filth!" I said as I ignited the beacons, and they in turn produced warp fields that the Purifier Sentinels warped into. The Sentinels began their work in removing the Zerg hatcheries off of the bridge. "Vigilant of Aiur! Drive back these filth!" I shouted as we joined in the slaughter.

"No! The will of Kerrigan will not be denied!" The Brood Mother shrieked.

"Be silent abomination! You have sullied a craft of the Firstborn! That is reason enough for you to be purged!" I said as my squad and I engaged to help Talandar.

Even after the wounds that mighty Talandar inflicted, it was still a hard fought battle. Zerg of all variety's fought to aid there Brood Mother, eventually we finally felled Niadra. "Yaat, access the ships computers and find out what happened to the Kaldir colony." I asked of Yaat, she did so accessing the computers. "Kaldir colony... that has a nice ring to it, Kaldir colony-"

"Not another word Kadar." Sol'um said.

"Well, looks like this thing is on reserve power only, wouldn't surprise me if that Brood Mothers first target was the main power core." Yaat said.

"Is there enough power to extract the logs for latter study?" I asked.

"I'm sorry to say Executor, but no." Yaat said.

"Then you shall have more! Phase-Smith Colorada, I need you to do a power transfer between the Shield of Aiur and this Ark, we need the systems onboard restored yesterday!" I said as I opened a com channel to my Phase-Smith.

"I understand, beginning transfer of auxiliary power to the Ark." Colorada said.