Duke Must Prove His Loyalty

"We've really stirred up a hornet's nest."

"You don't think these scrap metal can do anything more impressive than crashing to the ground, do you?" The arrogant Taldarim lord could have spent some time finishing off Rick Kydd and his warriors, but he was clearly more focused on expressing his contempt for humanity.

"To you, that's a warship, but it poses absolutely no threat; it's just a buzzing bug that you can swat at any moment."

The heavily armored Taldarim lord stared into Rick's eyes. Rick's body, clad in black and red armor, was instantly transformed into a molecular state and transported to the Taldarim warship. To humans, he seemed to vanish in an instant.

"We'll settle this later, Rick Kydd."

At the same time, the Taldarim carrier interceptors circling above the jungle and the small unmanned spacecraft equipped with plasma cannons began to climb upwards at an astonishing speed, as light as feathers lifted by the wind.

Immediately afterwards, the magnificent Taldarim aircraft carrier, with its elegant yet aggressive hull, disappeared from human sight, as if it had never existed.

In the sky Bhekar, already tinged red by the sunset, a massive number of human landing craft, transport planes, and fighter jets emerged from the battlecruisers, the light generated by the friction between the spacecraft and the atmosphere growing increasingly conspicuous with the passage of time.

"This is the Hyperion, the flagship of the Korhal Revolutionary Army. This is Jim Raynor." Raynor's voice came through Rick's communication channel, which made him feel particularly warm and familiar.

"You've been a huge help, Jim." Rick knew Raynor couldn't hear him, but he said it anyway. "I can't believe what would happen to these three million people without you."

Night had quietly fallen over Bhekar, and the lush jungle suddenly lost its color. Under the starlight, all sorts of bizarre, glowing plants began to awaken.

"Sir, the enemy has retreated. Should we continue the retreat?" one of Rick's officers asked on the officers' command channel.

In what seemed like an instant, the Taldarim vanished as quickly as they had arrived, their ground forces disappearing into the jungle. Rick and his men felt a surge of joy at having escaped death, and they began to feel proud of their Fleets.

Rick turned on the searchlight on the front of his Power Armor and looked around. "Stand by, fire flares."

At Rick's command, several fiery red signal flares rose and illuminated the night sky.

While waiting for reinforcements to arrive, Rick located the group of captured soldiers and Sild with purple eyes and ordered them to stay within his line of sight.

During this time, Sergeant Sild repeatedly mentioned Bhekar's prophecy, which displeased Rick. Apart from being a bit eccentric, Sild showed no other problems; he was perfectly normal in terms of mental state and self-awareness.

Rick wasn't sure if the Terrazine on all planets caused this, or if it only happened on Bhekar.

For the next several tens of minutes, Rick anxiously awaited an earth-shattering battle, a fierce and arduous struggle, but even after dozens of the Revolutionary Army transport planes and shuttles landed in the jungle, the Taldarim's warships and ground troops did not reappear.

He had assumed that once the Taldarim lord made his threat, the Revolutionary Army Fleets was coming to reinforce him and the Taldarim Fleets would immediately clash on the same track as Bhekar.

He escaped so easily—there's only one possibility that could make such an arrogant creature slink away: their power in Bhekar is far less than they claim.

Rick suddenly remembered the title of the Taldarim lord. He was just a captain of an expeditionary force, so Bhekar might not even be a colony of this race, but just a few Taldarim warships or an army stationed here.

"Hey, who's your commander?" At that moment, several silver-painted Revolutionary Army transport ships were parked around Rick, and the strong winds generated by the ship engines knocked down bushes and orchids with pink flowers in the jungle.

A squad of soldiers clad in white Power Armor, with gold eagle emblems painted on their shoulders, filed down. The commander at the head of the squad was opening his silver-plated helmet visor and striding toward Rick with his distinctive, swaggering gait.

The familiar voice and familiar posture immediately reminded Rick of an unpleasant character— Edmond Duke, the commander of the Confederacy Navy's Alpha Squadron.

Upon seeing the Alpha Squadron, Rick's men raised their Gauss Rifle. Seeing this, Duke immediately shouted, "Don't shoot! We're on the same side! We are the Alpha Squadron of the Korhal Revolutionary Army. I am Edmond Duke!"

As Duke spoke, he pointed to the Mengsk gold wolf insignia on his chest, loudly emphasizing his identity. "Look at this, I'm Revolutionary Army. We came all the way from thousands of light-years away to fight alien monsters, spending a full two months on the spaceship alone—it was inhuman!"

"I don't want to die at the hands of my own people."

Rick initially thought he had mistaken Duke for someone else, but Duke's flamboyant tone and his signature pointed head were simply too distinctive.

Rick had left Korhal a year earlier and was unaware of the recent victory of the Revolutionary Army in Mar- Sara, nor was he aware that Duke had switched allegiance to Augustus after being captured.

"You must be insane—or I am, this is even more unbelievable than hearing the entire Tarsonis Confederate Congress resign, or you are Duke's pathetic twin brother."

"I'm Rick Kydd, Major General, Marine Corps." He said insincerely, "Anyway, it's a pleasure to see you."

"Where are the enemies? I'm talking about those invisible monsters. I saw their gleaming ships when we were in high orbit. Our ships fired a few shots at them, and they ran away like rats in the street. To be honest, we didn't need to come all this way to deal with them. Taking down those Old Families of Tarsonis is the priority." Edmond Duke, wearing white commander Power Armor, led a dozen elite guards from Alpha Squadron as he approached Rick.

Duke looked at the Revolutionary Army soldiers on the ground, cut into pieces by the Taldarim warriors, raised an eyebrow, but showed no fear. "Medic! There are seriously wounded here."

Despite his numerous flaws, Duke possessed a quality that most people lacked: even in his forties, he retained the fearlessness of a newborn calf and an excessive level of self-confidence.

Whether it was the Kel-Morian people, the Revolutionary Army, or alien creatures, Duke always picked up his gun and charged in.

If a commander wants Duke to be effective, he should make him and his troops the sharpest point of the blade, rather than expecting General Duke to think strategically while charging into battle.

"They're dead. The enemy always has a habit of killing with one blow," Rick sighed.

"Well then, I think we have a batch of bodies to collect. Take these traitors with us; the Navy never abandons the bodies of its fallen comrades." Duke observed the wounds of the dead; even he dared not underestimate the enemy who had inflicted these massive injuries.

"It looks like the enemy has retreated," Rick said, shaking his head.

"What a disappointment. I dare say any alien creature would flee in terror after taking a single hit from this cannonball." Even though he had begun to take these aliens seriously, Duke wasn't about to back down. "Very well, I'm an expert at fighting aliens, but they don't dare face the renowned Alpha Squadron."

"Oh, I remember you, Bennett's youngest son. I should have recognized you on the Turaxis II, but it's been over a decade since we last met." Duke looked disappointed after learning that the enemy had retreated, but he wouldn't blame Rick for not holding them off.

The Duke Family has some ties with Rick's Bennett Family. As one of the most influential families in Tarsonis, their family members are quite familiar with each other.

"I remember your sister is a rare beauty from Tarsonis, compared to her you're just an ugly duckling." Duke never cared about other people's feelings. What made him annoying was that he always liked to bring up the most sensitive topics, and when he should have been considerate, he would be unusually cruel and heartless.

"You're right, my sister is an exceptional person, while I'm just a useless bum who can't do anything right." Rick always seemed downcast when talking about his family, but he didn't hold a grudge against Duke because of it.

"I've cut ties with the past... What surprises me even more is you, Duke. If I didn't know it was the Hyperion that came, I would have almost thought it was the Confederacy coming to help us."

"We've abandoned darkness for light." Duke clearly didn't want to elaborate on his reasons for joining the Revolutionary Army: "In short, we're in the same boat now, sharing both glory and hardship. Only by overthrowing the Confederacy can we secure a place in the new government. For that, I don't mind slapping the mouths of the Confederacy senators."

"Sorry, it's you, not us," Rick shook his head and said. "I joined the revolution not for fame, fortune, or any other lofty goal, but simply because Augustus Mengsk is the leader of the Revolutionary Army."

"You don't need to be so eager to show your loyalty. I don't believe anyone dislikes the feeling of having power." Duke scoffed at Rick's statement.

"Some people may not like money or beautiful women, but no one can resist power."

"My gut feeling tells me you're right, but there are always exceptions," Rick replied.

"Haha-- It's Kydd, I knew he'd personally lead his men to the battlefield." At this moment, Tychus chuckled and stepped off another transport ship that had just come to a stop.

"Look at his arrogant manner, I only consider him Augustus's dog." Duke was furious at the sight of Tychus, and he had a bad relationship with almost every one of Augustus's generals.

This wasn't because Duke harbored any prejudice against the Revolutionary Army's generals; in fact, he looked down on all his colleagues. His notoriously bad temper and abysmal interpersonal skills were far worse than any of the Duke Family's generals in history.

Of course, each Duke Family general has a distinctly different and eccentric personality. Some like to run naked when drunk, while others will lie on the ground and chew on wool carpets when they get angry.

However, following Tychus was Augustus, clad in red Power Armor, surrounded by fully armed Revolutionary Army soldiers and Sarah Kerrigan in a black bodysuit.

"Kydd, we came as soon as we received your message." Augustus opened his helmet as he walked toward Rick. His signature gray hair and gray eyes, along with his reassuring smile, almost brought the Revolutionary Army soldiers, who had just escaped death, to tears.

"How is the situation in the immigration areas?" Augustus asked him.

"Most of them are still alive," Rick replied. "The enemy that attacked us calls themselves Taldarim."

"Taldarim? It really is them." Augustus frowned, and spoke in a low voice, almost audible only to himself.

"Don't worry, their numbers are probably not many. We only detected two Taldarim warships in geosynchronous orbit. If they had a few more warships, the Taldarim wouldn't have had to flee in disarray," he continued.

"We're much wealthier now," Tychus, stepping forward.

"Our Fleets has eighteen battlecruisers, almost equivalent to Confederacy naval squadron—many of which were donated by Alpha Squadron, thanks to our old friend Colonel Duke, who donated them to us twice."

"It's Duke." Duke was extremely persistent when it came to military rank.

"These aliens have killed countless of our compatriots; this grudge cannot be left unresolved." Augustus stood among dozens of soldiers in Power Armor, the searchlights of the armor illuminating his face.

"Even if we have to dig three feet into the ground, we must find them all." At this moment, everyone could hear his voice, Kerrigan, Faraday, and others beside him were recording Augustus's words and transmitting them back to the Fleets.

"Whether it's the Zerg or the Tal'darim Protoss," Augustus said for the first time, "Any creature that can be killed is not enough to frighten us. Truth lies only within the range of cannons!"

"Let me deal with these Tal'darim," Duke stepped forward, eager to demonstrate his loyalty. He knew that Augustus had recruited many mercenaries in Moria and feared they might compete with him for credit.

Having only joined the Revolutionary Army a few months ago, Duke was constantly worried that Augustus doubted him and felt extremely insecure.

Duke's Alpha Squadron has over 20,000 Resocialized Soldier, who are undoubtedly the bravest warriors and never feel fear.

"I'll lead the charge," Duke Augustus.

Thank you for voting, and thank you to the Archbishop for disembarking and giving a reward to the parish priest.

The National Day Cup begins on October 1st, stay tuned!