After warping back to the Spear of Adun, Tassadar and Lyra paid a visit to Rohana to check on her.
The moment they entered the war council chamber, they noticed that something was off about the Preserver. Lyra was noticing the signature crimson aura around Rohana that gave away their status as one of Amon’s corrupted.
When Lyra warned Tassadar of what she saw, the two cautiously approached the possessed Preserver.
Amon sensed their presence and turned around to face them. “Tassadar, why do you seek the path of suffering? Would it not be easier to embrace a life without fear, without pain. I could have given you salvation. And yet, you chose to let your people suffer to the bitter end,” he said. He then turned his eyes to Lyra, “What is one of Celestia’s children doing here?” Lyra gave him a confused look. “You didn’t think I knew about the fledgling Xel’naga that some of my misguided brethren created? I have known about them for a long time. If it were not for the fact that I did not have a body, I would have hunted them down and ended their suffering as well as the race they nurtured. Since you are here, I shall start with you and that upstart, Sweetie Drops…”
That was all he managed to say before Rohana finally fought off Amon’s control of her. “I have seen the truth. I have peered into his memories. The Golden Armada is constructing a host body for Amon on Aiur and it is almost complete.”
“As much as I wish we could go to Aiur and destroy this new host body, I doubt we have the firepower necessary for such an assault. All the more reason to go to the Glacius facility and retrieve the Purifier program,” Tassadar said.
While Tassadar exited the chamber to return to the bridge, Lyra gave a sad smile to Rohana. “Even though you gained some useful information from the Khala, you still wavered and allowed Amon to control you. I have to make good on what I said.”
Rohana interrupted, “No, I shall do this myself. I now understand that the Khala exists to enslave my people through lies and temptations of power through unity while bound to a malevolent will. It deeply saddens me to be severed from that which I dedicated my life, but I shall honor our agreement.” She deployed her own psi blade and reached for the back of her head before letting the searing energy blade cut through the strands of her nerve cords. Although extremely painful, she endured the pain and cut all the way through, severing her connection to the Khala.
While Lyra wanted to help her, Rohana asked that she be left alone for the time being. Honoring her request, Lyra left the chamber and returned to the bridge.
Lyra observed a conversation being held by Artanis and Swann. Artanis was thanking Swann for sending the research data they had on the Keystone and, in the end, gave the Praetor the nickname, ‘skippy.’
Artanis was confused about the name before Lyra explained Swann’s quirky nature of giving people he liked nicknames.
Zeratul, Vorazun, Tassadar, Artanis, Aldaris and Fenix’s Probe proxy gathered with Lyra around the celestial array to decide on their next destination. Most of the group agreed that they needed the Purifiers in their war against Amon. Aldaris was, of course, fully against reactivating the Purifiers.
Lyra countered that the Protoss needed to take a page from the Zerg and adapt to the changing times in order to survive. While some traditions were worth keeping, there were those that weren’t when they conflicted with their survival.
The Protoss agreed that they would need to adapt to survive. For Aldaris, the concept was harder to accept but assured everyone that he would take due time to ponder that.
The first thing noticed once the Spear of Adun reached Glacius was the Tal’darim fleet holding orbit. If the fleet had noticed them, they were not in the mood to talk.
Since she was sure that she would be fighting Tal’darim, Lyra went to the war council to figure which troops would work best against other Protoss. She decided on Centurions, Stalkers, Immortals, and Dark Templar. Artanis would be calling upon the support of the Sentries for the operation.
Rohana was surprised that the Tal’darim had revealed themselves after so long and wondered why they would suddenly show up.
“They’ve been seen since at least as long as I’ve been in the Koprulu sector which was about six years ago. Apparently they are worshippers of Amon,” Lyra responded.
“Why would any being willingly follow Amon?”
“Because they're convinced that Amon will make them into Xel’naga. Unfortunately, they are following a lie because Amon intends to wipe them out when he’s done with them. They have no idea they are being deceived.”
“In that case, I can only pity them. But tell me, how do you know this?”
“Because I spent three years among them and learned about the deception from someone among them who was not fooled. But me and the other guy have a plan to free the Tal’darim from the deception, I just need to know when he will make his move.”
Since time was short and the Tal’darim were preparing to attack the facility, Lyra and the Daelaam set up a Nexus Point in a spot that was not yet taken by the Tal’darim.
As they were setting up, a Tal’darim Mothership began firing a phase displacement beam against Glacius’ orbital defenses. Lyra noticed that the beam was slowly moving toward the facility where the program was being kept.
Seeing the death beam reminded her of one of Bon Bon’s stories where she was captured by a criminal mastermind who strapped her to a table and fired a deadly magical beam at her that slowly crept its way to her.
Banishing the memory with a shake of her head, Lyra returned to the task at hand.
A transmission was received from the Tal’darim mothership, <”I am First Ascendant Alarak, and I’ve been charged with destroying this facility.”>
“Alarak? Hey, long time no see,” Lyra said, earning the gaze of all of her Protoss friends.
<”I see that Ma’lash failed to get rid of you, First Ascendant Lyra Heartstrings.”> he said with an amused tone. <”Perhaps this mission will be entertaining after all. Let’s see who will reach the technology vault first.”>
Lyra knew that she was not going to convince Alarak to back down. Instead, she accepted his challenge and prepared her forces quickly.
Karax released some nearby sentries from stasis and calibrated them to be warped in from the Gateways.
Meanwhile, Alarak was nice enough to send some forces against them early. Lyra personally carved up the Zealots and Stalkers that tried to attack the Nexus Point.
<”I see that your skills have not rusted since last we met,”> Alarak commented.
Lyra gathered up a force of Centurions, Stalkers, Dark Templar and Immortals before moving forward and dealing with whatever Tal’darim were in the area. She dealt with a Warp Prism and Photon Cannon combo by teleporting on top of the Warp Prism and used it as a shield against the Photon Cannon which deactivated when the multipurpose ship was shot down.
The Zealots around the cannon were unable to detect Lyra and were slain with one strike.
Lyra moved ahead of the group to deal with more of the Tal’darim that were foolish enough to not have a detector nearby, eliminating a number of Zealots, Stalkers and Havocs along the way.
<”Hrrmph...Perhaps I’ve been making things too easy for you, Lyra Heartstrings.”>
Alarak began producing a number of Observers to patrol the areas still under his control. He also increased security by deploying more ground forces to defend the vault until the displacement beam arrived.
Lyra saw Alarak’s strategy but was prepared for such an eventuality. Thanks to the enhanced vision given to her by Bon Bon, Lyra was able to see the miniature detectors. When she sensed one, they were wrapped in her magic and smashed into whatever part of Alarak’s forces she decided.
Alarak began fielding Vanguards and Wrathwalkers, the equivalent to Immortals and Colossi.
Each time Lyra cleared the area of Observers, she sliced off the legs of the mechanical walkers to make them topple and explode. She dodged slow-moving barrages from the Vanguards before teleporting behind them and slashing off the cannons followed by a horizontal slash through the middle.
As Alarak’s attacks were growing in ferocity, Lyra smirked as she knew that her strategy was working.
While Alarak was focusing his forces on Lyra’s position, Artanis’ forces took advantage of Alarak’s tunnel vision and pushed past some unsuspecting Tal’darim and made it to the vault before the beam arrived.
The vault containing the Purifier Program was opened and the sphere within was warped aboard the Spear of Adun just as the displacement beam arrived.
When Alarak realized what had happened, he laughed at his own foolishness. <”Well played, Lyra Heartstrings. I should not have been so focused on one as strong as you. I won’t make that mistake twice. We shall meet again.”>
When Alarak finished saying his piece, Karax mentioned a prototype warrior that was warped aboard along with the Purifier technology.
Fenix chimed in, <Ah yes, I remember. Years ago, I came to this facility at the Conclave’s request to have my personality and memories imprinted into a robotic soldier for experiments to determine whether the Purifier Program should have been allowed to continue. Alas, this took place shortly before the fall of Aiur and death of the Conclave. The program was sealed away since then.”>
“Does this mean that we just warped in a robot version of you?” Lyra asked.
<”Yes. I will inform this robotic soldier of the situation. Karax and I will decide whether he is safe to be around.”>
Lyra left the matter to them and returned to the Spear of Adun with her job done.