The Master of All Tactical Transitions

In early October 2491, the last Zerg hive on Antiga Prime was destroyed by the Protoss Expeditionary Force, and the newly renovated Governor's Mansion in Ansadar welcomed its new owner.

On the Red Plateau of Antiga, the deep purple Zerg Creep is slowly receding, and the ravaged land is once again exposed to the sunlight. When vegetation is extinct, and even the Creep can no longer hold back the sand on the ground, the red desert spreads as rapidly as a flame in the wind.

The lands already covered by the Creep will remain barren for a considerable period of time. Antiga's already fragile ecosystem has long since disappeared, and the planet has been completely reduced to a reddish-brown rocky planet.

The threat of the Swarm gradually receded from the people of Antiga, but even with their homes destroyed and families slaughtered, pain and sorrow still tormented those who remained, yet life had to go on.

Reconstruction work unfolds around the four existing cities, and the survivors, with the help of the Human Revolutionary Army, gather the rubble and begin to build new homes on the land that has been occupied several times.

Fearing that Antiga Prime would become a major battleground in the future, all residents of small and medium-sized settlements, including towns and villages, were relocated to areas near cities with fortified defenses.

In the beginning, both water and food were severely scarce, and the nearby colonies were affected by the Swarm invasion and were no longer able to provide support to Antiga. The Antiga people could only rely on themselves, and they could only survive by relying on synthetic food, groundwater and food from hydroponic farms.

More people joined the Revolutionary Army's garrison in Antiga to defend their homeland, and all the people of Antiga acknowledged the Revolutionary Army's dominance on the planet, which had effectively seceded from the Confederacy and become independent.

Amidst the cheers of victory from the people of Antiga, Augustus Mengsk became the new governor of Antiga —though he did not recognize the title. The revolutionaries skillfully took over the administrative and judicial powers of the Antiga Confederacy and did a better job than their predecessors, while the Magistrate and police chiefs, who were former members of the Revolutionary Army, were the most popular people in all of Antiga.

The red and blue star flag, a symbol of the authority of the Terran Confederacy, was thrown into the fire, and a new flag replaced what people considered a symbol of a government's authority and its responsibilities. Twenty years ago, the people of Antiga wouldn't tell others they were Confederacy citizens, and they certainly wouldn't now.

Antiga is part of the Terran Republic, and if we're talking about the capital of the republic, it's of course in Korhal IV.

The Terran Confederacy, which once ruled Antiga, no longer had the energy or interest to deal with this openly rebellious planet. The Confederate Congress also believed that Antiga Prime, caught between the Zerg and Protoss, would meet the same fate as Sara and Ma Sara, with the Antiga rebels suffering heavy losses in their attempts to rescue it, just as they had in the past.

The Confederate Congress has realized that the threat of the Zerg is not as simple as accidents from one or two planetary alien experiment projects, as more than 4/13 of the Confederacy territories have reported Zerg sightings.

The outer interstellar trade routes were almost paralyzed, and some peripheral planets, which were major food-producing areas, were severely damaged, causing the core world of the Terran Confederacy to show signs of a food crisis.

Six standard months after the Zerg invasion of the human world, multiple Terran Confederacy planets fell one after another. This terrible disaster even extended into the territory of the Kel-Morian Combine, forcing Umojan to withdraw its research teams far from its homeland. Countless people died, and the lives of billions were affected.

In less than six months, the destruction caused by the Zerg to the Terran Confederacy had already exceeded the total damage inflicted during the Guild Wars. Even the members of the Confederate Congress and the nobles, who harbored any illusions that the aliens would stop after invading a few planets, had to face the fact that the alien invasion was a much greater threat capable of overthrowing their rule.

This massive catastrophe forced the Terran Confederacy to mobilize their Fleets to strengthen the defenses of the core sector and attempt to rescue those worlds they still deemed valuable.

However, on the Revolutionary Army's detection radar, Omega Squadron and Delta Squadron still lingered in the star system near Antiga, monitoring the Revolutionary Army's every move—even though several surrounding colonies had been invaded by Zerg.

It was noon in Ansadar, under a clear blue sky and bright sunshine. This was a rare period of peace since the invasion of Antiga by the Garm Brood and Surtur Brood, giving the Revolutionary Army ample time to rest and regroup, and allowing them to send their wounded back to Umojan.

Augustus was entertaining his new friend, Tassadar, the executive officer of the Protoss Empire Koprulu Expeditionary Force, in the banquet hall of the Antiga Prime Governor's Palace.

The hall remains as opulent as ever, with expensive Tarsonis wool carpets and famous paintings and sculptures on the walls. For over twenty years, this has been the place where the pleasure-loving Governor Antiga entertained his guests, where celebrities in velvet and Silk and officials in suits indulged in revelry every day.

Augustus had little to offer Tassadar, as the Protoss relied entirely on their skin for hydration and drew energy from the light of their stars. Their long, narrow faces lacked mouths, meaning Protoss would not consume human food.

So, Augustus, who didn't have much of a sense of humor, could only open the curtains in the hall to let the pure sunlight of Antiga greet Tassadar.

The large hall was sparsely populated, with only a long mahogany table and a number of chairs depending on the number of people. The human side consisted of Augustus, Kerrigan, and Raynor, while Tassadar had only brought Zamara, the Protoss Preservers who had accompanied the expeditionary force.

Tassadar sat opposite Augustus, still wearing his elegant High Templar robes, his golden armor inlaid with beautiful blue gems.

The Protoss Preservers Zamara, standing beside the Executive, was dressed in magnificent attire. Her deep blue robes, like a hanging curtain of night, were covered with crystals and gems. The teardrop-shaped pendants on either side of this female Protoss's head shimmered in the sunlight. This attire must be related to Protoss etiquette and traditions.

"The warriors I sent to Char sensed a terrifying Psionics signal there. Even from a distance, its power far surpasses any creature the Protoss Empire has ever encountered in the universe," Tassadar brought unsettling news, which was why he had come to see Augustus.

"The Overmind of the Swarm, the Psionics scream of this terrifying creature as it descended upon Char echoed throughout the universe. Its power far exceeded my expectations. In the long history of the Protoss Empire, we have never encountered such an enemy."

"This is unfortunate news. If I were to say that I had said long ago that the Confederacy shouldn't have lost Char, the Confederacy's congressmen and political commentators would all say I was being wise after the event," Augustus shook his head. He hadn't received a detailed report on Char's current situation, but he wasn't surprised at all.

Although Augustus also dispatched more than one scouting fleet to Char, the Protoss's precise and rapid warp technology was far superior to that of humanity. While the Protoss had already arrived at Char, Augustus's scouting fleet was still en route.

"I must tell you, though it saddens me," Tassadar continued to Augustus, "That your human colonies in Char have become a paradise for the Zerg, and the rest of you have turned into grotesque monsters."

"This is the meaning of our fight," Augustus said somberly. "If we give up the fight, humanity will eventually be assimilated by the Zerg and become part of them."

"To rise up and fight, or to perish, is the fate of all races, including the Protoss." Tassadar agreed with Augustus: "The arbitrators of the Protoss Imperial Council have always overlooked the fact that what brought the Empire to its current height was not arrogance, but the united Khala followers. If the threat of the Zerg is underestimated, even the Empire will perish."

"The Cerebrate can regenerate, which means we can never completely eradicate the Zerg. Underestimating the Zerg is like underestimating a storm on the vast ocean of Aiur; even the Ark would appear incredibly small in a raging sea."

"Sath has been resurrected in Char, and its people have regrouped under its command." His sky-blue eyes, burning with Psionics flames, flickered like candlelight in the wind.

"In that world of lava and ash, the intense radiation from the Char binary system would be deadly to most life in the universe, yet the Zerg thrived on that planet. This makes me wonder if the world where the original Zerg originated was also such a hellish planet."

"No creature is immortal. I believe even gods will die one day." Augustus think so.

"I just haven't found a way to completely kill the Cerebrate Sars yet, Executor. Did you notice the light that rose from Sath's body after it died?"

"That is undoubtedly a kind of Psionics, but it is completely different from that of humans and Protoss." At this moment, Sarah Kerrigan, the red-haired female ghost standing next to Augustus, joined the conversation.

"That energy felt extremely cold to me, unlike the intense heat of Templar Knights Psionics or the malleability of human Psionics," she said, tossing her long, fiery red hair.

"Our leader suspects that the Cerebrate's ability to resurrect is related to this Psionics."

"The Void, the origin of the universe, the tangible system of the cold, dark space, the other side of the real universe." Tassadar raised his head and stood up from his not-so-comfortable human chair. "To this day, we rarely mention the existence of the Void, but I can sense that the Psionics of the Cerebrate originates from the Void."

"However, since Khas established the Ascended Path of the Khala, my people have no longer drawn energy from the Void. Perhaps I should return to Aiur and search for a way to kill the Cerebrate in the Templar Archives on the Floating Fire Isles," he said.

"Currently, it's possible that only the heretical Dark Templar possess the ability to use void energy, but even their legends and existence themselves are unknown."

"You want to seek help from the traitor?" Preservers Zamara's cold voice sounded like water about to freeze beneath a glacier.

"My education tells me that the Dark Templar are traitors, and I hate them just like other Khala followers," Tassadar said. "If the Dark Templar truly exist, and we haven't had the chance to encounter them, I think we must find another way."

"..." Tassadar continued, "Marshal Augustus, your people have been saved, and I think we must leave this planet now. Spending too much time on Antiga has displeased the wise men of the Protoss Empire Conclave, and more planets are under threat from the Zerg."

"If we purify Antiga immediately and rush to other planets to eliminate the Zerg there, the spread of the Swarm will definitely be effectively curbed." Preservers Zamara's words were devoid of any emotional fluctuation. As recorders of history, the Velari Tribe of the Protoss Empire have always recorded everything that happens with absolute calmness and rationality.

"You don't need to explain to the humans why we do that; they simply don't understand what you've done for them. The controversy you've caused in Aiur is enough for the council to select a new executive officer from among the Akilae Templars to replace you in order to protect the humans here," she said.

"Whether it's about sacrificing a small number of people to save a larger number, this has always been a question worth pondering," Augustus.

"You don't understand, and I don't expect you to," said Preservers Zamara. "In the Protoss Empire, there are significant disagreements between the Conclave Arbitrators and the Templar Knights in the Fleets regarding the issue of dealing with the Zerg invasion."

In the Protoss social system, some tribes rule the Protoss Empire as the arbiter class, while others fight for the Empire as Templar Knights, and the remaining tribes are artisans and other professions. The path and future profession of every Protoss after reaching adulthood are fixed, which means that a child's future is determined from the moment of birth.

Generally speaking, the Templar Knights class could not defy the authority of the highest-ranking arbitrators, just as the commoner Khalai Caste had to bow down to the Templar Knights. This shows that Tassadar was under great pressure during his time in Antiga.

"The Conclave believes that the 'inferior humans' infected by the Zerg are beyond saving and must be burned to ashes, while Tassadar believes that the expeditionary force should uphold the Dae'uhl Doctrine and protect the weaker races."

"And who won this argument?" This was the question Augustus more concerned with at that moment, "Thank you, benevolent and great Executor Tassadar."

"I suppose I win, thanks to the wise and kind elders in the council." Tassadar had learned a bit of human humor from Augustus.

"I reported my observations in Antiga to the Conclave, and I have decided to lead the expeditionary force directly to Char. The Zerg's rule in Char is not yet secure, and once they establish a foothold, it will become a springboard for the Swarm to invade the human world and Aiur," he said.

"If we can make the Overmind feel threatened, they will definitely withdraw their troops from the Koprulu Sector to defend their territory."

"But Aiur's coordinates have always been a secret; the Zerg could never possibly know them," Zamara said.

"Throughout history, we know that things that were thought to be impossible often happen," Tassadar said.

"Prepare for a rainy day." Augustus realized Tassadar's intention. This was a tactic Augustus used: to attack Wei from the rear to rescue Zhao.

"I will send a Fleets to fight alongside you. No, I will personally lead an elite force."