Fleet of the Matriarch

Fleet of the Matriarch
Political
Type	Military force
Race(s)	Protoss
Leader	Matriarch Raszagal (—September-October 2500) Praetor Artanis (September—October 2500)
Commander-in-Chief	Praetor Artanis Dark Prelate Zeratul The Executor
Societal
Capital/Base	Citadel of Talematros
Historical
Formed From	Khalai Refugees, Nerazim
Status	Reformed into the Great Fleet

The Fleet of the Matriarch was a protoss army of Khalai Refugees from Aiur and Nerazim of Shakuras, which fought in the Brood War. Its authority and direction came from Raszagal, the Matriarch of the Nerazim, until her death when it came under the command of Praetor Artanis.
It was considered to be the first example of the awesome potential of the Khalai and Nerazim unification.

History

After Zeratul lead the Khalai survivors to Shakuras, a large force of zerg followed them through the warp gate. This necessitated the Khalai and the Nerazim to combine their forces under the Fleet of the Matriarch, tasked with retrieving the Uraj and Khalis crystals and activating the xel'naga temple to destroy the renegade zerg on the planet. The fleet attacked the zerg surrounding the temple, killing two cerebrates. In the aftermath, Sarah Kerrigan offered her aid in retrieving the crystals to weaken Daggoth and his swarm.

The fleet traveled to Braxis to retrieve the Uraj crystal, and fought through a Terran Dominion garrison to retrieve it.
However, as they attempted to leave the planet, they were stopped by a United Earth Directorate blockade. Praetor Artanis led a reconnaissance detachment to disable the generators powering their platforms, and created an opening large enough for the fleet to escape. Eventually the United Earth Directorate ended their pursuit.

The Fleet of the Matriarch arrived on Char to retrieve the Khalis, only to discover that the renegade swarm had settled the new Overmind near the crystal. Artanis speculated that if enough superficial damage was done to the Overmind, it would pacify the swarms surrounding the crystal. With the help of a number of broods under Kerrigan's control, the Fleet of the Matriarch broke through the zerg hive clusters and retrieved the Khalis.

Upon arriving back at Shakuras, the fleet was forced to engage Judicator Aldaris and his group of Khalai insurgents under Raszagal's orders. They fought through Aldaris and his illusions, until reaching him and ordering his surrender. Aldaris refused, stating that he would not ally with Kerrigan, but before he could reveal the nature of Kerrigan's control over Raszagal, Kerrigan killed him. Disgusted with her action, Zeratul banished her from Shakuras.

With the protoss united again and the crystals secure, the fleet broke through zerg to the xel'naga temple again, and defended it as Zeratul and Artanis channeled the energies of the Uraj and Khalis through the temple. The resulting energy discharge destroyed all zerg on Shakuras.

The fleet was dispatched in the end stages of the Brood War under the command of Artanis after Raszagal was killed by Kerrigan. The Fleet of the Matriarch, alongside the Terran Dominion and United Earth Directorate, engaged the weakened Zerg Swarm at Char Aleph. All three fleets were defeated, and Artanis pulled back the Fleet of the Matriarch swearing that he would not forget her treachery.

The remainder of the Fleet of the Matriarch retreated back to Shakuras. In the following years the protoss began focusing on rebuilding their fleets, and ships that served in the Fleet of the Matriarch would be absorbed into the Great Fleet.

Trivia

In the Co-op Missions mode of StarCraft II, the Fleet of the Matriarch is the name of a potential enemy attack wave composition deployed by Amon's Forces, inspired by protoss air units found in StarCraft.