Hellhound Hellwalker
Central Command Room of the Fortress (SET: 2491.6.4)
"What else did the commander of the Confederacy Hellhound unit reveal?"
Augustus stood inside the command center, which had a semi-circular dome, holding a cup of military-grade instant coffee in both hands—coffee that tasted as bitter as if it contained burnt eggshells. In the past few days, Augustus had been working long hours with very little rest.
His expression remained resolute, but a faint yet persistent dark circle under his eyes made his gaze always appear somewhat fierce.
The four walls of this central command room are covered with huge Holographic Projection screens, resembling a large monitoring room. The images on the screens come from the various Revolutionary Army legion command posts and several Revolutionary Army warships in the Sara System, but most of the screens are currently either disconnected or in a state of reconnection.
Now, besides Augustus, only his adjutant, bodyguard, and girlfriend, Sarah Kerrigan. His staff officers are still in the meeting Reagan the guidelines given by Augustus —how to deal with the Omega Squadron and the Jormungand Brood the Sara System, and how to rescue as many Mar- Sara people as possible.
"Besides Sara, M. S. Sara also secretly built several Xenomorph research laboratories on par with Victor V," Kerrigan said. "The records we found at the Confederacy bases strongly support this— the Zerg in the Sara System were all brought here by humans themselves."
"It's ironic. The Zerg's massive invasion of the Sara System was solely due to humanity provoking them and abducting large numbers of their Zerg. It had nothing to do with whether they were brutal or not," she said. "Humanity was the one who started the war."
"We've added another piece of dirt on the Confederacy." Augustus nodded, already considering whether they should find a suitable time to retake the UNN headquarters building in Tarsonis.
This is usually highly unlikely, but perhaps the UNN didn't expect the Revolutionary Army to be so audacious.
"What exactly happened to that Hellhound unit? I think guarding a base deep in a swarm of insects should never have been their original mission." Augustus quickly turned his attention back to the problem at hand.
"Given the usual practices of the Confederacy secret service, they should have left after completely erasing all the evidence, and then burned down the lab to the ground along with the knowledgeable commanders and soldiers at the base."
"This force arrived within about a week of the massive Zerg invasion of Cha Sara, when sightings of alien creatures were reported all over the planet," Sarah Kerrigan, dressed in a well-fitting dark gray military uniform, replied immediately.
"The person in charge of the Xenomorph research project was a member of the Confederacy's Ghost Program, while Cha Sara's Zerg lab was managed by an unnamed high-ranking official under the Confederate Congress." Kerrigan frowned, seemingly recalling her terrible memories of her time at the Ghost Academy.
"Initially, the Confederacy thought it was just an accident at the Cha Sara Xenomorph Lab, so they dispatched an elite squad from the Confederacy Hellhound Force to clean up the mess and eliminate all the Zerg to ensure that Cha Sara's Zerg research project remained under extremely high secrecy."
"However, this Hellhound squad is facing more than just a few 'escaped' survivors from the labs." Augustus had already guessed the whole story, and why this unit remained in Cha Sara, ultimately being discovered by the Revolutionary Army.
"To be precise, the Hellhound squad didn't realize the enemy's numbers were far greater than they had imagined until they were deployed to the surface of Cha Sara by the destroyer," Kerrigan said.
"But the destroyer had already left, so they were actually trapped at Cha Sara's Confederacy base before we discovered them."
"Why were they able to hold out for so long in the Zerg southern hemisphere of Cha- Sara?" Augustus asked.
"The commander of that Hellhound squad didn't know why either. Their Fram Base was surrounded by the Jormungand Brood's main hive and underground tunnels," Kerrigan said. "Just like the siege of Los Andares, each attack by the Jormungand Brood kept the people in the base constantly on the run, but never completely breached it."
"At the same time, this unit is indeed a well-equipped and highly skilled special force. They were established at the beginning to deal with alien enemies that humans might encounter in space. During the Guild Wars, the Hellhound Unit always appeared on the most brutal battlefields, and they were often found walking out of mountains of corpses and seas of blood when they were discovered," she said.
"This earned the Hellhound the title of messengers of hell, and the honors and medals bestowed upon them surpassed even those of the Heaven's Devils."
"I won't be jealous even if you say that." Augustus finally smiled, knowing that Kerrigan was just joking.
"The Confederacy also calls Cha Sara's Zerg the Jormungand Brood?" Augustus thought Jormungand just a name used by the Revolutionary Army: "It seems the leader of the Jormungand Brood might be observing the humans' attack methods and testing the combat capabilities of his Zerg."
"More likely, they are selecting the strongest members of their race through battle or forcing some Zerg to mutate through brutal warfare and the environment, then identifying the beneficial mutated individuals and ultimately replicating the new genes into other Zerg members," he speculated.
"The Confederacy also named Swarm Jormungand Brood Sara, following the same naming logic as us. The Zerg that appeared had a massive ground force mainly composed of Hydralisk and Zergling. Those serpentine creatures with snake tails and terrifying muscles always naturally remind people of monsters from mythology," Kerrigan explained to Augustus.
"Perhaps your guess is correct. The Zerg, at least some of them, possess very high intelligence," she said.
"But the way the Zerg think is completely different from ours; they are not human." Augustus took a big gulp of strong coffee.
"Negotiation is useless. Against humans, we can wage war and force them to the negotiating table, using negotiations and agreements to fight for territory, interests, and honor," he said. "But against the Zerg, it's a war of life and death."
"So, has the commander of that Hellhound squad decided to join the revolution?" Augustus asked Kerrigan again. "I've met him. He possesses a level of professional military skill and strategic thinking rarely seen in our officers and sergeants; he's a remarkably excellent career soldier."
"I know you like to 'collect' the best talent from all walks of life," Kerrigan said with a mocking expression.
"I prefer you to call this a thirst for talent and a high regard for people," Augustus, finishing his cup of coffee.
"It's not that I have some strange collecting habit; I don't have any particular fetishes."
Thanks to Saint Dragon Ous for the patronage, Agent Rongrong for 1500, Corporal Kerry for going on patrol, and Shi Yiji for the helmsmanship for the donations. Now I have three patronage patrons, and I've calculated that I owe almost forty chapters.