The place where Zeratul either is...or to which he will return. I will know it when I see it.

Jake's mind went back to worrying about the warp gate. Zamara seemed to think it would eventually open for them.

Yes, Jacob, as I said before, I think at some point we will be permitted on Shakuras. However, I would imagine that all gates that open onto Shakuras are closed at this time. Unless Rosemary and the others can convince the protoss that the information I bear is more important than a possible invasion of Shakuras, I doubt they will open the gates any time soon.

Oh great.

Do not lose hope, Jacob.

He tried not to. He really did. But the headaches were growing more frequent and more severe, and he knew that despite her calm demeanor and words of reassurance, Zamara, too, was worried that time would run out on them.

I should have been faster, Jake sighed. I lingered too long. I gave them enough time to shut the gate before I tried to go through.

True, said Zamara mercilessly, and Jake winced slightly. But it is difficult to blame you for your desire to see the destruction of UlrezaJ. I admit, I, too, would have taken pleasure in knowing for ⁵² certain that he was no longer a threat. Regardless, what is done is done, and regret serves us nothing.

He nodded, still gazing at the landscape unfolding beneath him. If it hadn't been tinged with that peculiar yet soothing rose-gold wash, it would look like the holovids of old Earth he'd seen. Meadows, oceans, trees, mountains...glorious.

Tell me about Zeratul.

I will show you. But it will take... context.

Trusting her completely, Jake let her take charge of piloting the vessel—she was anyway, really, he was more or less just along for the ride—and opened to the wave of memories.

Clad in the glorious, graceful ceremonial armor that was his right to wear as a high templar and the leader of the vast protoss fleet, Tassadar stood on the bridge of the Gantrithor, staring out at what remained of the human colony they called "Chau Sara. "

"It is done, " he said, sorrow tingeing his mental voice.

Jake tilted her head and regarded—

"Holy crap, Zamara, I'm you! I mean, it's you!" Jake had always had an instant understanding of whose identity he was sharing in these moments. He was that protoss, as well as himself, but it felt odd to be both Jake Ramsey and Zamara, whom he had come to know so well.

"Indeed you are, and indeed it is. These memories are but a few years old, and they are my own. I thought I had made that clear." "No, but it's a nice surprise."

—the executor. "It was you who first found the probes, Executor. It is thanks to you that the zerg have not spread farther."

"Perhaps, Zamara. But it is also thanks to me that every terran on this world is now dead. "

Jake waved a dismissive hand. "Unfortunate, but necessary. The zerg must be stopped. Extreme measures were demanded, the responsibilities of the Dae'Uhl notwithstanding."

"I'd...forgotten how callous you were when we first met," Jake muttered.

"I have not. But I am glad that my sentiments changed. Just as Tassadar's did. We are not omniscient, infallible gods, Jacob. We know much—and preservers remember all that our race knows—but we still have much, much to learn."

Tassadar touched one of the communication crystals andinformed the Conclave that the mission had been accomplished.

"Well done, Executor," said Aldaris, his imposing visage filling the holographic viewscreen. "It sounds like the first step was a complete success."

"First step?" Tassadar asked.

"Of course. This is not the only planet in the system. We cannot afford to assume that the zerg would confine their efforts to a single world. You must investigate all possible sources of infestation and root them out. Then and only then may we consider our job accomplished."

Jake kept her thoughts to herself. "Our job " indeed. It was Tassadar and the hundred-plus ships he commanded that had come to confront what could have been an attack. Aldaris and the others had taken an extreme position from the outset, and yet they were not the ones who had to do the deed. Still, that was how it had always been, since shortly after the Khala had been established.

Ever the obedient arm of the Conclave, Tassadar inclined his head. "As you wish. I will investigate the sister world to this one. And if it, too, is infested beyond hope, I shall destroy it."

Aldaris hunched his shoulders in displeasure. "If it is infested at all, Executor, or is even likely to be infested, you shall obliterate it. We cannot afford to take any risks. Those are your orders. "

Before the conversation could continue, Aldaris had terminated it. Tassadar did not move for a moment.

Jake regarded the world before her, or rather, what was left of it. Incongruously beautiful smears of light pocked the planet, and Jake knew that the spikes of orange marked where the protoss purging of the infested world had gone deep into its heart, so deepthat the planet's magma had boiled to the surface. Some of these orange spikes marked where the terrans had had settlements. Some of them were far away from the terran population, but not the zerg. Eighty percent of the atmosphere was now gone.

"...I had friends there," Jake said sickly. "They would have become zerg. The infestation was irreversible."

"Yeah...but still.. .to see this...wow."

Tassadar gave the order to move to the sister planet of the one he had just destroyed. He kept his thoughts to himself, and Jake did not pry. Tassadar had been in the forefront arguing against the action he had just been ordered to take; it was to be expected that he would harbor regrets.

"Executor, we are detecting terran vessels."

Tarn not surprised, after what we have just done. Display."

The crystal hummed and an image appeared before them. " Vessel is identified as Norad II, Colonel Edmund Duke in command. It is a Behemoth- class ship...."

Jake paid little attention as the statistics of the terran vessel were described. The protoss had long kept a watchful eye on the terrans; the Dae'Uhl, the "Great Stewardship," demanded it. The protoss had watched this young race grow and expand, marveling at how they managed to thrive despite almost constantly attacking one another. It was the Dae 'Uhl that Tassadar had cited when he had been ordered to utterly destroy Chau Sara. The protoss knew a great deal about terrans, their weaponry and ships, and what they were capable of. And while the Norad II was a powerful ship by terran standards, it was but a single vessel, and posed no real threat at all. It was a buzzing insect, easily swatted away.

Except Tassadar gave no order to do so.

"Executor?" queried the pilot. "Shall I destroy the terran ship?"

Jake watched both her friend and the vessel. It was moving quickly to intercept. No doubt it would begin attacking them as soon as it was within range.

"There are no other ships. It comes to its doom," Tassadar said. Jake felt Tassadar's respect and sorrow wash over her. "They are... courageous, these humans."

"Sir? They are almost within range. "

Tassadar's next words stunned everyone. "Deploy the subwarp field and give the order to retreat. "

Jake stared at her friend. " You are supposed to destroy Mar Sara, Tassadar. This ship is nothing to us. "