Martann exited the crashed ship with three new robots in tow, one of which was absolutely perfect for my immediate pns.

  'Did you repair the energy bridge?' Because the hulking, even by my new standards, form inching slowly along behind Martann could never have crossed the gap by itself. The form was that of a giant robotic caterpilr, and it was one of my favorite units from the games. I've always advocated keeping maximum distance from those you were hunting.

  'Yes Hierarch. I thought that the situation called for the power of this Reaver construct.' He wasn't wrong, the Reaver's production of the small, fast, and explosive Scarab drones were just the tool for the job at hand. I was eager to see them in action.

  I smiled at the Phase-Smith, 'It's perfect Martann. Have it pummel that disgusting Tower with Scarabs.' The Reaver slowly began to crawl towards the cliff side. The Reaver's gcial speed was it's primary weakness, however, with the Scarabs' operational distance it could stay well out of the range of the Naga's retaliations.

  'I have always wanted to ask, is there any particur reason that the Scarabs can't st longer before they explode?' I looked at the Phase-Smith with a piercing gaze. Martann was already somewhat aware of my thought on his species restraint.

  If a Protoss could splutter, Martann would've. He calmed down after only a moment, with my question fully sinking in. 'It would require some study, but it shouldn't be difficult to alter the Scarabs to only detonate on command.' After all, one of the most common counters to the Scarabs was to run a cheap unit into them.

  I nodded. 'I have some ideas for a redesign of both the Reaver and the Sentry, what would we need to make that happen?'

  'A Robotics Facility and a Robotics Bay. Then I would need to guide you through the tempte system, so that you could produce the initial design document. After that both the system and myself would work to bring your ideas into reality.' He seemed a bit less enthusiastic about seeing my ideas than I would've initially thought. But now I knew that Martann was a gentle soul.

  That Smile graced my face, as I thought of the hell we would create for the Naga. Yet at the same time, my heart went out to the Phase-Smith. I was going to have him ruthlessly update the tech of his people to their full destructive capabilities.

  Martann stepped back, I could feel his discomfort. 'I should begin construction Hierarch, in the meantime these two Observer constructs should be able to scout the rest of the Isnd, and then monitor the southern side of the Isnd for the enemy.' I wish I had a way to show him the enemies that likely awaited us. Maybe he would start to understand.

  'Thank you, Martann. You have done well.' I wanted to give him a comforting shoulder pat, but it wasn't really their way.

  As he walked away, I turned and ordered the Observers to scout the parts of the Isnd I hadn't been to yet. They vanished from my sight, though I could still feel them with my mind. See their cloaking tech, I was anticipating the day we could unleash Arbiters to hide whole armies of mighty Protoss.

  Jar'thal watching our interaction closely choose to wait for the Phase-Smith to begin his construction tasks before asking, 'What terrible pns do you have for these, "Naga"?' Unlike the kind Phase-Smith, the stern Praetor believed that the enemy deserved no mercy or pity. I imagined that the only time he would feel remorse would be if he was ever forced to kill some of his own Tempr.

  'I intend to make the waters around this Isnd deadly to all trespassers. As we use the Portal to travel I do not want to have to worry about our base here.'

  'I understand. So we will be using the Portal more?' He seemed to be considering the value of such actions. I figured I'd give him a bit more about the nature of the Portal.

  'If I have understood the functions of the Portal correctly we should be able to use the Portal to travel to other pces in this world, as long as we have pced a Pylon, or perhaps even a Moon Well, in the desired location.' Hmm, we'd still be required to tech up to Warp Prisms to get across the Ocean. Perhaps straight north to Feras, I could try to make contact with the Kaldorei there.

  Jar'thal though deeply, 'There would be a mighty advantage to using the Portal instead of the transfer system we will have avaible. No dey in travel would remove a great vulnerability, and Warp Prisms are often easy targets without proper escort.'

  The Reaver had finally reached the edge of the cliff, it released a single Scarab, looking much like its namesake though the size of a small pony, which rapidly crawled down the cliff toward the tower. It's movements were surprisingly fluid.

  The Naga not being fools, sought to intercept it. As the first Myrmidon stabbed violently into the construct with its trident, the Scarab detonated. Blue energy fred, then decompressed. We could feel the explosion all the way up here. Debris rained down, as sand swirled in a choking cloud.

  As the cloud of kicked up sand cleared, the dismembered bodies of dozens of Naga became visible. The center of the bst had formed quite the carter on the beach.

  Their comrades having witnessed the complete annihition of the interception group recoiled in terror. Their hissing cries were full of fear at the unknown weapon. I knew their fear wouldn't st, however, I admit I felt a certain amount of satisfaction, at the results.

  I walked over to the Reaver and patted it, "Well Done! Do not stop until that Tower is dust."

  It beeped a deep and menacing sound, as it released the next Scarab.

  I watched as the Naga fled from the drone, and dived back into the Ocean. It made it to the base of the Tower and detonated.

  As the dust settled, I would've liked to say that the damage was extreme, but the construction methods of the Naga proved to be solid and the damage while extensive was nowhere near critical. It would take a few more direct hits to bring the ugly building down.

  The next Scarab was on the way. It's impact was solid, and I began to hope that we'd bring the Tower down before the Naga adapted.

  Sadly, the fourth Scarab was intercepted by an Ice Barrier. The fifth by an Ice bolt. The Naga had once again, found a counter to my strategy.

  I had the Reaver stop. It gave a disappointed sounding beep. I gave it another pat.

  I sighed. Ryll trilled an encouragement. She got pets. I pulled out a few SCOP Dogs I had the foresight to stock up on and fed her slowly, tearing off little bit of it at a time, another activity that distrubed the Protoss. SCOP Products even without all the preservative like Sodium Benzoate, could st for a while, though I would like to be able to get her more fresh fish soon. I was sure it would be was healthier for her.

  I decided to take a break and py with Ryll, while wait form the Trees to develop, and Martann to build the Robotics buildings. After working with my little dragonling for a while, I asked Jar'thal for some training.

  Honestly, Protoss martial arts were a bit like dancing, though I'd always imagined that was true of a lot of martial arts. However, Jar'thal was also starting to show me how my mind could be used to enhance my movement. How the Psionic energies I was only just starting to tap into could be used to add force and power to my blows. The energy could even be used defensively, though the Protoss themselves relied more on their shield tech.

  I repeated the forms the Praetor taught me, again and again ingraining them into my new muscles. Unlike the study of the Kaha itself or the Protoss technology, the martial forms were best studied with a clear mind. Something I was far more adept at, having mastered keeping my mind silent while stalking through hordes of Zombies.

  The repetition was enjoyable and kept me usefully occupied. I noticed that I could continue my forms for hours without feeling fatigue. Even Jar'thal was impressed, and despite all of this exertion I didn't sweat.

  After absorbing his lessons, Jar'thal walked me through how to safely spar while using the psibdes. Little could I have imagined that you could will them to a more pcid state. In this mode they would sting, but do no real damage.

  I spent another few hours sparring with Jar'thal and the Zealots. Mostly one on one, for now. I began to see how each Tempr made the forms their own, and that sometimes ignoring the forms was a valid tactic. Something Jar'thal said often could take young Tempr years to learn.

  Good, a lot of my former knowledge was useful.

  Night was creeping up on us, I fed Ryll and then retired to my bunker. Using my monitors in there, I ran through the footage that the Observers had collected.

  The Western side of the Isnd was rocky and swelled into a small mountain. Nothing suggested it was volcanic, which made this Isnd very odd. Maybe it was artificial. Not a strange thing for Azeroth. The good news was that there wasn't a way the Naga would be able to infiltrate from that direction.

  Perhaps some useful secrets or materials were hidden under that small mountain, it wouldn't hurt anything to have some of the Probes dig into it.

  To the south past the crashed vessel was more pteau. More prime building real estate. The cliffs on the southern side of the Isnd were sheer and plunged straight into deep waters. That was, for the most part, great news, we now only had to worry about the North or the East.

  I ordered the southern Observer to follow the cliff line back around to the east were the forest was. I was worried that the Naga might start building a hidden presence over there. My concerns were eased as the Observer turned up no trace of the Naga in the woods.

  However, all of the sudden, the Observer started fshing an alert, and text in the Protoss script flowed across my screen.

  "Fuck." We didn't need another problem.

  I ran to get Martann.

  'What worries you, Hierarch.' he asked as I found him beside a nearly complete Robotics facility.

  'The Observer I sent to the east is fshing an alert. I still can not read your nguage.' I felt a note of concern from him.

  He pulled up a holoscreen from his gauntlet, and examined the Observer's readout. 'I will have to make some adjustments to the transtor.' He kept reading. 'I do not know if this is bad news or not? The Observer is reporting the emanations of unknown Protoss craft to the East. While I can not yet say with certainty how far away they might be. They are within the atmosphere of this Pnet.'

  I looked at the crashed vessel. 'Other wrecks?'

  'No judging by the readings they are fully active, though strange to my thinking.' He shook his head.

  'Not an immediate problem then?' We had enough to deal with.

  'I would say not Hierarch, though I will have the Observer investigate the signals.' He seemed to zone out for a moment. 'Done.'

  'Thank you, Martann. I hope your people in this Universe can come to welcome me into the fold.'

  'Without the unity of the Kha, it will be a difficult path. Much as with the Preserver, I have my doubts they would even be willing to make the attempt.' He was sad at the idea that we would come into conflict with other members of the Firstborn.

  I was as well.