The Uneasy Squeeze

Such selfish behaviour was no doubt very annoying, but it could not be denied that Pontin had those higher up bastards by the balls. They could not tolerate losing a weapon that could be mass-produced and could significantly increase the combat power of the humans in ground warfare. And that was why such a large fleet had been mobilised!

In the same way, those crazy human bureaucrats also had the Protoss elders by the balls – if they had any balls. Facing a combat force of such scale, the power of the Keystone had become insignificant. After all, even the Spartan warrior king Leonidas could only flee if he had to face tens of thousands of people; it was the same theory. The Protoss' garrison forces near the Lost Temple planet numbered less than one tenth of what the humans have sent!

If a war broke out, the Protoss would undoubtedly lose the two Keystone shards. This was a cost they simply could not bear....