Aldaris walked into the testing facility that morning with a strange confidence, and an eerie sort of calm. The other cadets about him were no younger than his two hundred years, and yet some acted as if they were under one hundred. They wrung their hands, and the worry was so evident in their eyes that, had he taken his psionic shields down, he was sure that their thoughts would be leaking through their own eroded shielding.

He sat down, glancing about quickly, a small, snug sense of satisfaction settling over him. He was prepared for his trial. Others were not. Had he a mouth, he would be smiling, but as it was, his eyes were among the few that reflected that inner sense of peace.

Aldaris wasn't the only one who noticed the nervousness of most of the cadets, however. The instructor, settled on a raised podium that faced the arena seating the contestants, noted the calm on a few faces. These were the ones who were most likely to succeed this round, unless one of the nervous ones won out of sheer desperation. But then, the next part of the trial would eliminate those...and so, the cadets he mentally tagged as the ones with the most presence were the ones who would eventually succeed.

He was unable to stop a mental grunt of satisfaction, as he noticed that there were quite a few runners in that last category this year. He jotted down quick notes on his mental note pad, handing it afterward to a metallic scribe to make copies during his next speech. He then sent a small mental burst toward the whole room, silencing the young Protoss cadets in the same manner a clearing of the throat would silence a room full of Terrans.

The instructor's mental voice rang out through the room. :En Taro Adun, young ones. Today, young ones, we are going to test you. We will set you against each other, giving each of you control over a small force in a completely immersive holographic space. Half of you will be eliminated today, and you will be sent back to the training grounds of our noble foot soldiers. Another half will be eliminated tomorrow, and those will be sent to be trained as the pilots of our basic aircraft. The last quarter will continue their training here to become the commanders of our armies. Good luck to all of you. The matches are being distributed now.: Following his words, a few robots drifted down each row of cadets, handing out small metallic cubes that contained pure telepathic knowledge--in this case, who would be facing who in the first round.

Aldaris watched the robot moving down his row with unconcealed interest. The cadets receiving their match lists glanced about the room, trying to find their first opponents, as the robot moved slowly, steadily, down each row. Aldaris closed his eyes, letting his meditation exercises briefly settle over him, before he heard the hum that signaled the approach of the robotic assistant for his row.

He took the cube in his hand, and then closed his eyes, allowing his shielding to extend around it. Almost instantly, the knowledge of the first-round matches was pushed into his own memories, and he scanned them briefly for his own name. He found it, next to the name of another young cadet--Romanis.

Briefly, a wave of panic washed over Aldaris. Romanis?? He was supposed to face Romanis? Romanis was always the first to class, the last to leave, and all the teachers talked about how far he would go in life. Aldaris also knew the common rumor about how the teachers picked the first round; the troublesome students, or those who fell behind in their martial studies, were pitted against the best students in order to weed out those who were considered inferior.

That stream of thought led to another emotion--anger. Him? One of those who'd fallen behind in his studies? Sure, he wasn't exactly the best at studying...but that was because it all came naturally to him. He'd done well on all the practice exams. No, it couldn't be him.

But then, why was he facing the best student in the class?

The instructor announced that the time had come, and Aldaris stood, albeit a little shakily, and moved toward his assigned pod. He took one last glimpse over his shoulder, raking his eyes first over the instructor, and then over his opponent, who was confidently moving into his own holopod. He gave a small mental sigh, and closed his eyes, letting his meditation exercises once again clear out his doubt and anger, before moving into the pod, and resting in a comfortable reclining position. Aldaris closed his eyes for one last time, and completely lowered his shields, awaiting the familiar twist in his mind that would tell him he was now in a simulation.

When he felt that sudden jerk, he opened his eyes, and was looking at the familiar sight of the top window of a nexus. He looked down, and issued orders almost immediately for his small yellow probes to begin harvesting minerals, as he surveyed what he knew of the battle arena.

Thoughts came quickly to Aldaris, thoughts of strategy. He didn't have to worry about the sheer numbers of a Zerg attack, nor the wily ways of cloaked terran wraiths. The first step in any island assault, he recalled from his textbooks, and common sense, was to get gas early. It would be needed for the buildings that led to his shuttles. And so, Aldaris instructed the warping in of an assimilator before his first gateway.

The gateway was not far behind, however. A cybernetics core came online next, and Aldaris began the instructions to bring his first troops from Aiur--dragoons. Next came a robotics facility, and a robotics support bay for the dreaded reavers. Perhaps, he thought, his opponent would not be ready for such an early assault with one of the lumbering factories of death, and so, he began their construction as well.

Soon, the high-pitched scarab factory was complete, and a shuttle was loaded with it, as well as a dragoon. He flew it north, to the north-east corner of the map, hoping his opponent would be there. Luck was not with him, however, and he instructed his shuttle to move toward the north-west corner and search there.

Then, he saw the enemy shuttle. It must have had the same hopes as him, of finding an opponent in the north-east, for his shuttle passed it on the western edge of the island in the north-east. Aldaris quickly checked back in his base, and found that his instructions of producing dragoons had left him with a sizable army there, as well as another reaver. He would be able to handle anything that came from one shuttle. He continued his own to the west, hoping to catch his enemy without any defenses.

Just as his shuttle reached his opponent's base, his view from his nexus window showed the approaching shuttle, under heavy fire from his squad of dragoons. One by one, the shuttle, skimming along the ground, deposited a zealot, and one by one, they tucked into a ball, rolled to the ground, and sprung forward to assault his dragoons.

Meanwhile, his own shuttle met with heavy fire from dragoons, and he recalled it back toward his own base, figuring any assault on his part would be futile. Then, Aldaris turned his attention back to Romanis' zealots, which were now sprinting past his firing dragoons toward his line of workers.

Quickly, Aldaris ordered his reaver and dragoons to intercept, but the zealots started pushing psionic blades into his workers. Luckily, only a few fell, and his dragoons and reaver quickly dealt with the enemy threat.

Noting how Romanis had staved off his shuttle-drop, by spreading dragoons along the backside of his island, Aldaris quickly sent his remaining dragoons to surround the back of his own island. He inwardly smiled, as he began to assimilate the tactics of his opponent into his own.

Meanwhile, he was ordering the production of more probes, and having them shuttled about the map, to several expansion places. Inexpensive spies, he decided, and also could set up a new base once he had the resources to do so. Now, Aldaris thought, as his probe to the island directly west of him began to warp in a nexus, and several supporting pylons.

He turned his attention back to his scouting probes on the islands to the east and south of his enemy's base, which were reporting sightings of enemy shuttles. His eyes frowned, as he watched each probe, one, then the other, meet with a scarab from a deposited reaver. His eyes there were gone, but not for long.

His observatory had been online for some time now, and Aldaris had several observers to replace his probes as information gatherers. He sent them toward both islands, and one reached the island in the center of the northern side of the map just in time to report that Romanis was beginning a new base there.

The nexus at his own expansion, as well as the pylons about it, were finished warping in from a simulated Aiur. He filled three shuttles with two reavers and three dragoons, as he began the warp of photon cannons about his expansion. The shuttles arrived at Romanis' expansion just in time to witness the warp-in of a couple of pylons.

The shuttled troops made short work of the pylons, and Romanis cancelled the warp of his nexus, trying to pull some of his money back out of the area.

Suddenly, alarm claxons were sounding. He turned his attention back to his fledgling expansion, and was greeted with the sight of a pair of Romanis' reavers destroying his probes, and the cannons protecting them. Quickly, his troops were thrown back into their shuttles, and flown down to try and salvage his nexus at his expansion.

Aldaris decided he wanted another expansion, and shuttled a probe to the island just to the north of his main base. He began construction there, then glanced back to information an observer had just sent him, cursing slightly as the knowledge that Romanis has re-established the expansion he destroyed, and defends it with cannons and dragoons, streams into his mind. Then, he turned his attention back to his newest-forming expansion, which was under fire from a dragoon and a reaver, with several more enemy shuttles approaching.

Cursing at being caught expanding undefended, Aldaris directed several shuttles of troops to defend, and they landed just as reinforcements from Romanis landed on the island as well. Dragoons began to rise up and fire singularity charges, as reavers shot scarabs from both sides into the other. Absently, Aldaris registered the setup of a second expansion by his opponent on the base in the western-central area of the arena, as his troops, complimented by a pair of dark templar, dispatched the attacking force.

Aldaris snarled mentally, and loaded his defensive troops back into their shuttles, moving them north-west toward the expansion he had already destroyed, once. The four shuttles deposited the dragoons, reavers, and dark templar under heavy cannon and dragoon fire, and his forces once again tried to destroy the expansion in the northern-central area of the arena.

Biting off a mental profanity, Aldaris watched as his forces fell to the dragoons and cannons guarding the base. He recalled his shuttles back to his forces for further use, and decided to try to expand to the north-eastern island in a way to evade detection by his enemy, and began to warp his nexus in on the opposite side of the gas depository.

:Our carriers are up and running, Aldaris,: the voice said.

:Wait for there to be several of them,: Aldaris replied. :Let's see how well the vaunted Romanis holds up under interceptor pressure.:

His shuttles flew swiftly across the map, and landed at the western-central island, which, as he had guessed earlier, only had a light defense of a few cannons. His templar stormed the probes, as the reavers and dragoons made light work of the nexus and other structures on the island. At the same time, however, Aldaris noted that his "hidden" nexus did not go unnoticed, and was being destroyed by a couple reavers and several dragoons.

Aldaris sighed, and contented himself with the two mining bases he had established. By now, he thought, the minerals at his main base must be long gone. If he has no expansions I am unaware of, then he only has the northern isle left mining minerals...

His returning probes found a fledgling expansion on the western of the central isles in the arena, and the troops quickly moved out of the shuttles, destroying it. Aldaris let another wave of elation wash over him, as he realized he had this test passed. Four carriers approached Romanis' only mining base, and the interceptors began to attack.

He had won.

Filled with an inward mental smirk, he opened the door to his pod. He blinked his eyes, attempting to adjust them to the sudden light, and as his eyes began to focus again, he blinked them for an entirely different reason.

His dejected opponent stood in front of him, which was no surprise. However, with him stood five members of the conclave. It was apparent that their presence here was unplanned; they wore none of the formal robes of state, and only their elaborate jewelry denoted their rank. His instructor was the first to speak.

:Congradulations, Aldaris. You have defeated Romanis. I must admit, this is a bit of a surprise.:

:Surprise?: Aldaris stuttered out, still a little shocked at the ensemble surrounding him.

:I will not lie to you, Aldaris,: his instructor said, gravely. :None of us expected you to succeed against Romanis. You have completely outperformed all expectations, and have overturned a prediction of the conclave.:

:What...what does the conclave have to do with this?: an extremely confused, but victorious, Aldaris asked.

:They make the initial predictions, Aldaris. Again, I will be candid with you. You are the first person in over two hundred years to overturn a prediction of the conclave.: Aldaris blinked in shock. None of this was common knowledge; why were they sharing it with him?

The instructor continued. :Aldaris, because the conclave thinks so highly of Romanis, they wish to offer him another chance. We want you two to face off again, tomorrow. No matter the outcome of that match, you will move on to the second stage of selection. This match will only decide if Romanis does, as well. However, the conclave wishes to take into consideration the thoughts of its newest surprise--you, Aldaris. Do you accept this second match, or will Romanis return to train as a Zealot?:

Aldaris blinked, as he realized the choice being put into his hands. He was potentially deciding the fate of the career of Romanis.

Inner turmoil raged in him. How dare the conclave decide who should proceed, and who should not? Why was he slated as one of those who would be "easy pickings" for those of Romanis' ilk? His anger at them carried over to Romanis, and he looked up at his former opponent with barely-concealed rage.

What he saw struck another thought in him. Romanis was not standing there, bashful, afraid, worried about the decision Aldaris was about to make, and yet, neither was he standing proud, haughty, certain that Aldaris would choose to face him again. He was simply waiting for the answer, as a commander on the battlefield waited to hear the result of his latest attack.

Aldaris felt the conflict within him, and closed his eyes, briefly, once again calling the meditation exercises to allow himself to think rationally. Yes, the conclave had slated him to fail. But he had not. The reasons for not accepting, for sending Romanis back to the training pits of Aiur, were spawned of jealousy and hatred. The reasons for giving the young Protoss a second chance were out of dedication to the protection of his homeworld, as he knew that Romanis, although defeated, would still make an excellent commander over Protoss forces.

Slowly, Aldaris answered. :I accept,: he simply stated. :I will face him again.:

The conclave gave a collective mental sigh, and turned away. Romanis stood there, and then moved his head down toward Aldaris, a sign of respect, and of gratitude. He then followed the conclave out of the room, leaving Aldaris alone with his instructor.

Aldaris turned to the wizened Templar, and asked a question that had been bothering him for the last few minutes. :Who was the last to overcome the prediction of the Conclave?:

The instructor gave him an odd look, and turned away, walking out of the room. Behind him, drifted one final mental word--:Tassadar.: