The Victor

When the flagship of the Korhal Revolutionary Army Fleets, the Giant-class Frigate No. 1, leaped out of the hyperspace tunnel, everyone felt a wave of dizziness.

An inconspicuous, dim yellow planet appeared on the Holographic Projection star map projected in front of the bridge, with some small green triangles representing Augustus's "vast" Fleets.

Victor V is a near-Earth planet whose surface is mostly covered by desert, with sandstorms stretching for dozens of miles ravaging this little-known Edge World.

Despite the planet's seemingly uninhabitable and unusually volatile nature, it is indeed home to Confederacy colonies. Several hundred thousand Terrans live on oasis farms established on the Victor V using groundwater and artificial irrigation systems.

These people's ancestors came from Terran Confederacy colony spaceship that crash-landed here about fifty years ago due to a power system malfunction. After initial despair, the colonists discovered a precious underground water system, and humanity's tenacity and perseverance enabled new cities to rise between deserts.

In the star map, in the galaxy that is estimated by triangulation to be about 120 light-years away from Victor V, the red dot marks the Dylarian Shipyards of the Terran Confederacy. However, until more warships, including the battlecruiser Hyperion, join the Fleets, Augustus has no confidence in capturing the shipyard.

Augustus knew he only had one chance; if he failed, Korhal would never recover.

However, Augustus could not sit in the Revolutionary Army headquarters in Korhal and wait, so the Revolutionary Army Fleets launched this operation, which he preferred to call a training exercise, using Victor V as a forward base for the raid on the Dylarian Shipyards.

At that moment, Sarah Kerrigan, dressed in military uniform instead of her Ghost combat suit, walked in and stood beside Augustus, saying, "That's where Ghost 24718 and I set off from—we were just transferred to Victor V from the Ghost Academy in Tarsonis within three months, and before that, we knew nothing about this place."

"Why does this base need so many Ghost operative and so many Psionics —it's too far from the battlefield." Augustus looked at the slowly rotating yellow planet.

"Does the Confederacy intend to establish a new Ghost Academy here?"

"I don't know why, and the Psionics suppressor doesn't allow me to question orders," Kerrigan said. "We just need to know what to do."

However, the location of this military base is indeed very strange. The planet it is on is too far away from the major star systems where the Kel-Morian Combine and the Terran Confederacy are at war, and it is also far outside the star system trade routes, which means that no fleets other than adventurers will pass by here.

At first glance, setting up a military base on the Victor V on the star map seems pointless, but its location is precisely between the bases of several Confederacy Fleets. Rather than considering it an outpost or a military fortress, Augustus more convinced that the Terran Confederacy is conducting some kind of secret experiment here that absolutely cannot be made public.

Putting all that aside, Augustus believed he was likely to obtain the technology to train Ghost operative at Victor V. He didn't necessarily need these ruthless agents to work for him, but the research findings of the Confederacy scientists on Psionics were what he truly desired.

This is also why Augustus determined to take this place.

"We'll soon figure out the little secret of the Victor V," Augustus said to Raynor. "Jim, stop playing cards and get the ship into low orbit."

"We need to preserve as many facilities as possible in this base, so this is a landing operation."

"Where are my troops?" Augustus shouted from the bridge via the Fleets's communication channel. "Korhal warriors, draw your guns and load them!"

"Kerrigan, you'll be with the Anti- Psionics Squad Sterling Strikers Squad," Augustus. "I need you to deal with those Ghost operative."

"And me?" Tychus, having collected all the money he had won from playing cards, Augustus and asked, "What is my task?"

"You will lead the ground landing forces in the attack," Augustus. "Tychus, you will be the commander of this force."

"When you're about to destroy something, you can trust old Tychus." Tychus chuckled as he left the bridge to don his CMC-300 Power Armor.

As everyone inside the warship went about their duties and got busy with their tasks, the frigate passed through the extremely thin atmosphere of the Victor V and arrived on a huge, swirling, high-speed tornado.

The Holographic Projection screen in front of Augustus showed that this unparalleled tornado was 60 miles high and 12 miles wide, and the military fortress of the Terran Confederacy was located in the calm eye of the tornado, unknown even to the local residents.

If Kerrigan hadn't told him the coordinates, Augustus would never have known that there was a Terran Confederacy military base on this harsh planet, hidden within a storm powerful enough to tear a human apart.

"Hey boss, I've fixed those Arclite Siege Tank in the Hyperion's warehouse. Now you can deploy these 'Big Tanks,' which are full of top-notch tank drivers." At that moment, Swann's image appeared on the screen in the armory on the lower deck of the frigate.

"To cope with these storms, I spent several days installing gravity accelerators on these tanks."

"You really did it. What use are these new devices besides keeping things stable in a storm?" Augustus asked.

"That would be very useful." Since Swann could only hear Augustus's voice and not see his image, he had no idea where to look; all he could see on the screen was his signature mustache.

"The inspiration comes from the gravity generation units of battlecruisers and high-altitude orbital defenses. With just a few modifications, it can be applied to the Arclite Siege Tank. The tank driver can simply press a button to increase the tank's gravity to 5 to 6 times its original value, preventing these tanks from being swept away by violent storms," Swann said.

"Power Armor can also utilize this technology, but so far it's only been used to allow Marines to stand firmly on the deck in space and on warships," he continued.

"In the future, by combining Umojan's anti-gravity technology and plasma thrusters, we may be able to realize the 'flying tank' you mentioned."

"Swann, you're a real gem," Augustus praised.

"Oh—I don't understand what you're saying, but you're right." Swann looked at the screen, bewildered.

Augustus smiled silently and turned on his command channel.

"Repeat the operational plan. Tank units will launch a preemptive attack, traversing the storm and destroying as many enemy air defenses as possible. Afterward, landing craft will descend from above the eye of the storm to deliver ground troops."

"Fight for Korhal!"

A somewhat disjointed but powerful response came from the channel.