Purgatory Corridor

2489.9.12, 7:00 AM.

Echo Town, Magistrate's Office, Temporary Command Center for "Anti-Gang Operation".

"Mital Severa, the leader of the Pegasus Brotherhood, committed suicide by shooting himself during our final raid. All his personal terminals, electronic devices, and old records have been destroyed." Tychus Finley, dressed in a khaki immigration officer's uniform, had a crude and fierce face beneath a wide-brimmed cowboy hat with an electromagnetic pistol at his waist.

Tychus slammed an arrest warrant in front of Augustus, then pulled a gleaming, blood-grooved dagger from its holster and pinned it to the table. "This also means that it'll be difficult to uncover the boss behind this notorious drug cartel or to expose an even larger criminal organization."

"Not bad, Sheriff Tychus." Augustus struggled to pull the dagger nailed to his desk and looked at the blood-stained photo on the wanted poster.

"Has no one ever told you you have the talent to be a police officer?"

"Just playing along," Tychus said, making no sense.

"If you ask me to be a police officer, I'll definitely be thinking about sneaking into the weapons depot or supply depot to get some benefits. But if you pay me to play a policeman, I'd be happy to."

"I don't think it's difficult, as long as you can control your bad temper and petty theft." Augustus the dagger to Tychus and then tore down a wanted poster from the wall.

At this point, only a few wanted criminals remained on the Confederacy, including not only the newly emerging drug lord of the Deadman's Port, but also the wanted posters for Augustus and his father Angus.

"Maybe," Tychus said, lighting a cigar. "We've wiped out all the gangs in this town, and even those thugs who loiter on the streets have been taught a lesson."

Tychus suddenly laughed, "I find it funny when I think about how those gangsters saw over a hundred Revolutionary Army lads in Power Armor blocking their doorsteps. They probably only get one chance in their lives to see something like that."

For Augustus, who commanded a Revolutionary Army, wiping out the gangsters in a small town was an easy task. Augustus had several Ghost operative captured from Vyctor 5, whose exceptional telepathic abilities exposed the underground gray network of Echo Town. The well-trained Revolutionary Army could then impersonate police officers and launch a powerful crackdown.

Currently, the Echo Town Police Department is nominally staffed with nearly two hundred officers, but in reality, if Augustus were to issue a few more sets of uniforms, the number of officers he could mobilize would be far greater than the actual number.

"The Yebu Family has been wiped out in one fell swoop. We brought back the gang leader and his blonde mistress, all tied up." At this moment, Raynor pushed open the door to the Magistrate's office. "We also brought back a lot of addictive white powder, which looks like a kind of enhancement drug. It should also be able to boost male potency."

"Want to inspect the goods?" Raynor strode in, placing a bag of drugs and an arrest warrant on the table.

"No, I bet Tychus will need this." Augustus picked up the wanted poster.

"Let Faraday calculate how much this is worth; it's a major achievement," he said. "This is probably the last gang leader."

"That's right, most of the others have already fled. Things are tense now; everyone knows that a ruthless Agria Magistrate has arrived in Echo Town, with a battalion of fully armed police officers leading the way, using Rattlesnake electromagnetic cannons to clear the way." Raynor said, pulling up a chair and sitting down opposite Augustus, while Tychus whistled happily as he went out to find some fun.

"I've brought back quite a few people, all of them scum with long criminal records. As for the rest, I've sent them back to their own homes. What can I say, does the Echo Town jail even have enough room for so many people?"

"The prison is already overcrowded with over two hundred people. I heard quite a few people inside have suffered injuries to their backsides." Augustus picked up the internal terminal in his office. "Sheriff McAllen, arrange for a few hovercraft to transport the prisoners to the mining area."

"That's right, it's the Monte Canyon Mine. I've already signed an agreement with the owners. We'll provide them with cheap labor, and the mining area will pay us with unrefined Ardien Crystal."

"I know the owners are Umojan, but that's irrelevant. The diplomatic conflict between the Umojan Republic and its government is none of our business. I'll take full responsibility. If anything goes wrong, let the Hilo State judge come to me."

"This is a good deal." As Augustus hung up the phone, Raynor said with a smile, "We'll punish the wicked, maintain order, and then throw those villains into the mines to atone for their sins."

Now, the streets and alleys of Echo Town are plastered with police station slogans for "Combating Organized Crime and Gangs": "Anonymous reports are rewarded, let's build a better Mar- Sara together!" For the past two weeks, the town's residents have frequently heard the sound of intense gunfire and watched police officers marching in orderly formation, resembling an army, rampaging through the town under the menacing leadership of Sheriff Tychus.

During this period, even the most arrogant thugs would tremble at the sight of someone in a police uniform. The number of police officers in Echo Town was so large that officers patrolled every street in Vulture or on Mar-a- Sara ponies, and there were checkpoints at every intersection checking Confederacy ID cards. For a time, this forced some wanted criminals who were paranoid and lived in constant fear to surrender themselves.

The new Magistrate swept away all the gangs and thugs in Echo Town with unprecedented force. His iron-fisted methods in dealing with villains were praised, and his public statements that Confederacy police officers are public servants earned him the praise of the Echo Town.

Soon, Augustus's Revolutionary Army had effectively taken control of Echo Town as police.

"That's called squeezing every last drop of value." Augustus clasped his hands together, elbows resting on the table. "As for those death row inmates, the scientists in Cerberus who are researching limb modification and neural control will certainly be interested."

Augustus has taken full control of Cerberus Biotech that manufactures future war dogs, and has transferred its main researchers to a research base in a distant star system of the Umojan Protectorate.

"Weren't they already studying the alien creatures on the Victor V? What did the Cerberus people get from those monsters?" Raynor seemed to remember something.

"Two studies on Zerg and humans are being conducted simultaneously," Augustus replied. "By studying the Zerg's carapace, they have improved the armor of battlecruisers and made it more robust, and new discoveries like these are constantly emerging—but usable Zerg specimens are running out, and the lack of live Zerg has also brought the Zerg control project to a standstill."

"Overall, we need to obtain more Zerg samples to support further research by the Cerberus Project Group," he said.

"What is certain is that the Confederacy still possesses a considerable number of Zerg samples, and may even be keeping many alive in captivity, like wild animals."

"It wouldn't be surprising if the Confederacy did some really despicable thing," Raynor agreed.

"At least we already have a considerable amount of evidence of the Confederacy's crimes." Augustus stood up, took a cloak from the coat rack, and turned to look at the map hanging on the wall behind him.

"As long as we have enough evidence, our revolutionary comrades at UNN headquarters can once again expose the crimes and ugliness of the Confederacy to the entire Terran Confederacy through television."

"That Mike Liberty has gotten a column in the UNN Daily News, where he criticizes the Confederacy every day." Raynor walked around the desk to Augustus's side, looking at the map of Shiloh. "Although I admire him greatly, how has he managed to survive this long, showing so little respect for those high -Confederacy officials?"

"The Tagore Family and Holt Family families have shielded him from a lot of danger, and as long as Mike doesn't expose a scandal involving a certain Old Families, he's safe." Augustus smoothed out the creases on the map with his hand.

"I think he couldn't help himself..." Raynor followed Augustus's gaze to a corner of the map.

"The Purgatory Corridor... lies between the Ridgecrest Plains and the Gray Spotted Wasteland, its exit being the Sara Desert, two hundred miles from Echo Town and even further from our camp. According to initial survey records, the Purgatory Corridor's crystal reserves could be equivalent to one-tenth of Mar- Sara's total reserves, but due to the strong interference in those frequency bands, electronic equipment is unable to function." Raynor looked at the map.

"An even more fantastical account states that those who pass through the Purgatory Corridor witness bizarre and fantastical sights, such as chaotic whispers and grotesque scenes of planetary destruction. This also gave rise to a new religion with a considerable following, worshipping a so-called goddess of death and practicing witchcraft."

"I'm more inclined to believe that a Psionics is behind this, or that a criminal group or pirates are deliberately spreading this to create panic and keep people away." Augustus slowly gestured on the map. "My two Ghost operative discovered at least four different forces and organizations in the Purgatory Corridor."

"The Chimera Pirates have a research base in the Purgatory Corridor. They have kidnapped more than a dozen archaeology PhDs and alien biologists from the University of Tarsonis to study the strange phenomenon of rare crystals emitting strong electrical pulse signals."

"The Confederacy Resistance Army have two mobile bases there."

"There's a New Trinidad Pirate Salvage Station at the edge of the Purgatory Corridor."

"At the center stands a mining base belonging to the Kel-Morian Combine."

"Kel-Morian?" Raynor was quite familiar with the Kel-Morian Combine's style. While the Umojan Republic had numerous research stations and flight fortresses in the Kel-Morian Koprulu Sector, Kel-Morian could appear in any mineral-rich area. They were like potatoes in the soil, suddenly emerging from any nook and cranny, clutching a crystal and loudly proclaiming it theirs. "They're incredibly bold; this is one of the core worlds of the Terran Confederacy."

"This is illegal harvesting!"

"No matter what, we have to take this place." Augustus a premonition that the strange phenomenon in the Purgatory Corridor was caused by Xel'Naga Artifact Fragment. As long as the artifact was excavated, he could also obtain a rich mine.

"Send the Revolutionary Army from the Fleets. Just two battalions of Raynor's Raiders and a few Arclite Siege Tank will be enough to wipe out the pirates and Kel-Morian entrenched in the Purgatory Corridor," Raynor said.

"No, the orbiting satellites on Mar- Sara can easily capture images of our troops' movements on the plains." Augustus had already devised a plan of action.

"A battalion of Marines will be broken up into smaller units, with platoons as the smallest unit, and will enter the Purgatory Corridor in batches over a week, assembling at a pre-arranged assembly point to set up camp." He marked the map with a marker. "Afterwards, I will lead a force disguised as police officers to join them."

"Proceed step by step, first establishing multiple outposts and supply depots in the Purgatory Corridor, then gradually eliminating or expelling the forces within."

"Then, we may need to hire some archaeologists and a professional team to work on the subject to unravel the mystery of the Purgatory Corridor."

"Have you chosen anyone?" Raynor said, then shook his head to himself. "Since you already have a plan, you must have thought of even the smallest details."

"The main focus is on recruiting in Umojan, and then finding some young, energetic archaeologists in the Terran Confederacy who haven't yet had a chance to advance. As long as they're not Confederacy spies, there shouldn't be any problems."

Seven days later, at the entrance to the Purgatory Corridor on the Ridgecrest Plains.

The Purgatory Corridor, the only road from one desert to another, is a paradise for villains in Ma Sara, a living hell.

In the vast, rugged Gobi Desert, howling winds whipped up clouds of yellow sand. The temperature had reached 104 degrees Fahrenheit, and the blinding sun shone with scorching rays. Only a few tenacious Sara were still rummaging through the sand and stones.

Hot and dry, desolate and uninhabited.

Hundreds of Vulture sped across the red earth of the Ridgecrest Plains, these hovercrafts like light leaves on the Gobi Desert, their thrusters kicking up clouds of dust that blotted out the sky.

Augustus's Vulture came to a stop after a beautiful turn and abrupt halt, and with a series of engine hums, more Vulture braked sharply to a stop.

"This is a deadly place."

Tychus stood behind Augustus, pulling down his sunglasses. The Purgatory Corridor was a canyon 1,600 miles long, its entrance littered with the stark white bones of men and animals. The howling wind sounded like the wailing of a thousand demons.

"Going deep into this utterly terrible place of death is fraught with risks. Most of the people who die there are lost because their compasses malfunction or their personal tracking devices are not working properly. Some are kidnapped and killed by the bandits inside," Augustus told his men.

"This operation is likely to be fraught with difficulties. Once we enter the Purgatory Corridor, our first challenge will be the Chimera Pirates. The Chimera Pirates are adept at using fast assault ships and high-tech weapons to attack their targets along interstellar trade routes. Sometimes they even raid Terran Confederacy outposts and interstellar ports."

"I've heard that the Chimera Pirates love collecting high-tech parts from weapons and warships. Maybe we can impress them on that front and avoid a bloody conflict," Corporal Faraday suggested, standing next to Augustus.

"Or kill them." Tychus said, biting into a cigar.

"The Chimera Pirates ' collection is all ours."

As an aside, Mike Liberty is a character from the official novels and also appears in the comics. He's a predecessor to our female host Kate Rockwell. Kate was influenced by him to learn part of the truth, which is why she's biased towards the Raynor's Raiders and their perceived ulterior motives towards the Empire. Her tendency to speak the truth and risk serious consequences is also likely inherited from him.

By the way, I get nauseous and carsick when I look at my phone in the car, so I can't even type 500 words in two hours. It's a bit uncomfortable.