Down, Straight to Hell

"Sailors, we are about to emerge from our hyperspace jump state. Cheer up, the triumphant songs and beautiful girls are beckoning you!"

As Augustus emerged from the tiled floor of the Hyperion's captain's cabin bathroom, Raynor was speaking on the Fleets's intercom. Augustus could feel the Hyperion vibrating slightly, a sign that the warship was about to complete its jump.

Among human battlecruisers, the Hyperion of the Behemoth-class is considered a relatively old warship. However, it is one of the very few warships that possesses shield upgrade technology, Umojan titanium alloy steel armor, and Nemesis Missile Pod upgrade technology. Apart from a few flagships, the vast majority of the Terran Confederacy's Behemoth-class Battlecruiser can only rely on their armor for defense.

The Leviathan -class battlecruisers are now history; they are at a significant disadvantage against the new generation of warships in terms of weaponry, speed, and engine power.

Augustus quickly put on his shirt, coat, and trousers with white stripes, and picked up his sidearm.

After undergoing fingerprint and genetic unlocking procedures, Augustus met Faraday and another marshal's bodyguard behind the opened captain's cabin door.

"If the navigator is not mistaken, then we will be arriving at our destination soon," Augustus said to Faraday.

"Char. The Kel-Morian Combine and the Confederacy almost destroyed it. The surface is completely uninhabitable, and the remaining people live on Char's orbital space platform," Faraday said.

"Before the Zerg landed in Char, only mining companies owned by the Confederacy nobles and pirates frequented that area."

"This is a good place. A few years ago, the Confederacy and the Kel-Morian Combine fought tooth and nail for Char, not just because of the rich heavy metal deposits on it." Augustus leaned against the bulkhead next to the Hyperion's captain's cabin, which was covered with wool blankets, wondering where Swann had gotten these things. Their only purpose was to protect wobbly apprentice sailors from bumping into them and breaking their heads.

"The most important thing is the location of Char. Neither the Kel-Morian Combine nor the Confederacy wants to lose it," Augustus said as he followed the arrow markings on the passageway wall toward the command deck. "Once Char falls to one side, multiple planets of the other side will be exposed to the strike Fleets's firepower."

"Char was one of the first planets to be invaded by the Zerg, and its fall triggered a chain reaction. Of course, no one wants to stay in a harsh mining world. Being an official here is a lucrative job, but Char is a true hell on earth," he said.

"Char is nothing but lava and scorching air."

The Hyperion is hailed as the steel palace in the sky. Its interior is quite spacious, capable of accommodating six thousand crew members, a large amount of supplies and weapons, and berthing a small Fleets of Wraith.

However, this design was originally intended for warships sailing in deep space where every inch of space was precious, so the space left for the passageways was very limited. In some extremely narrow passageways, people even had to hug the hot pipes as they passed through.

Before departure, all the ship's refrigerated compartments were crammed with frozen meat, potatoes, and other supplies. When a battlecruiser had to transport an entire Marine Corps unit, some of the Marines were forced to sleep in narrow passageways.

Augustus long since adapted to the environment on the Hyperion. Just like the engineers under Swann, he would also use his spare time on the timetable to climb the layers of pipes stacked on top of each other in the auxiliary engine room below the lower deck of the Hyperion, like climbing a mountain.

Similar activities, such as Koprulu squash, bumper cars, and rugby, were among the most beloved sports of the Fleets's sailors, because these energetic young men were often bored out of their minds and had nowhere to vent their pent-up energy.

After passing through a passageway leading directly to the main control room, Augustus climbed a steel ladder several feet high. Inside the ship's elevator, he met Matt Horner Matt Horner, a new recruit of the Revolutionary Army, and the first mate of the Hyperion, who were also preparing to ascend the bridge.

This shy, sixteen-year-old boy was well-liked by the commanders on the Hyperion. Matt Horner possessed almost all the virtues of a commander: upright, serious, meticulous, with a strong sense of responsibility and justice, and able to complete every task assigned to him with excellence.

Matt Horner Matt Horner was also an avid learner. During his breaks, he read all the books Augustus him in his cramped cubicle, which could barely fit a single bed, as well as manuals and numerous professional books on human ships.

Aside from his love of chocolate, Matt Horner has no bad habits, which is the complete opposite of Tychus Finley.

"You seem excited, Matt Horner," Augustus said, looking at the young man who was considerably younger than himself. "According to the Protoss, Char has at least several billion Zerg and a dozen different hives. Aren't you afraid?"

"No, sir, because I am convinced that I am on the great path to saving all mankind, and that is why I joined the Revolutionary Army." Matt Horner saluted Augustus.

"That's what I did when I first joined the Federal Marine Corps," Augustus laughed. "Staying true to your original aspirations is not an easy thing, especially when fame, status, and power come rushing in."

"That's exactly what I should learn from you," Matt Horner said.

"Did you write it down? You must remember every word you just said." Faraday whispered earnestly to his subordinate, "This is something we should all learn."

Augustus shook his head. Within the Revolutionary Army, the personality cult among some members was almost impossible to suppress. He could hardly imagine what this would bring after the overthrow of the Terran Confederacy and the establishment of a new regime.

When the elevator came to a stop, Augustus saw Tychus Finley in another elevator that was opening next to it. The man had a ruddy complexion, clearly having drunk quite a few cocktails from the Hyperion's bar.

Drinking was strictly forbidden in the Fleets, but Tychus was an exception; he used all his cleverness to figure out how to sneak a drink.

"Good morning, Marshal. I heard you're planning to throw us all into Char," Tychus said, trying to light a cigar in his hand.

Tychus was a man who lived for the moment, spending any money he had on alcohol, cigarettes, and women. The type of cigarettes Tychus carried indicated how long his Fleets had been at sea, as he always enjoyed the best first and only tried inferior cigarettes when absolutely necessary.

"Pretty much, Tychus. If necessary, you and I will be the first to jump," Augustus.

"Hypocrite, I never expected you to do that." Tychus felt he was making a fool of himself.

As Augustus entered the bridge of the Hyperion, a black vortex radiating dazzling light appeared outside the observation window directly opposite him—the subwarp spacetime channel that was being activated.

All the equipment in the bridge was running at full capacity. The seats in front of the command console and sensor monitoring station were full of people, and even more people were moving back and forth on the bridge deck. The bridge was a complex structure made up of sophisticated instruments, valves, wires, and measuring equipment.

After another slight tremor, the Hyperion leaped out of the hyperspace tunnel, and a world that occasionally burst into intense flashes of light appeared before everyone's eyes.

Suddenly, a call came through the previously quiet Fleets communication channel, and Jim Raynor, who was standing in front of the main screen, looked back at Augustus.

"The Hyperion has arrived in Char, Marshal. Welcome to the world of purgatory and death," Raynor said.

"Char, the crematorium of the world."

"Is anyone still alive here?" Augustus asked. "What about my scout fleet?"

While Augustus asking his question, Matt Horner and the others had already returned to their posts, awaiting orders from their commander.

"No one has contacted us yet." Raynor pointed to space outside the observation window.

"But it seems Tassadar's Protoss Expeditionary Force has been fighting Char's Zerg for quite some time."

Augustus moved closer to the observation window, and a small, fiery red dot immediately came into view. The planet was still quite far from the Hyperion, but the humans on the bridge could all notice its unusual features.

The closest planet to the Hyperion is a red giant planet with a golden ring and several small moons.

The war between Tassadar's Protoss Fleets and the Char Swarm in space stretched from Char to the fifth planet in the system, with a battlefield diameter of several astronomical units.

Along the way to Char, the Hyperion and its accompanying Fleets saw massive Zerg corpses and shattered golden Protoss warships everywhere. The aftershocks of the war even tore apart several large moons and countless asteroids, forming a rocky asteroid belt at the edge of the Char system.

"God's ass!" Tychus exclaimed. "Is this something a human could do?"

"That's spectacular," Augustus said as a fragment from the Carrier swept past the bridge flank of the Hyperion at incredible speed toward the edge of the Char system.

Further away, a colossal Swarm Behemoth floated in the frigid depths of space, resembling a small, lifeless moon or a continent cast into space. The enormous wounds on its skin, covered in cysts and pustules, were wide enough to accommodate battlecruisers; the seemingly dead monster itself was a colossal warship capable of traversing deep space.

A massive hole, hundreds of feet in diameter, pierced through Behemoth's head to its tail. Even though it appeared to have lost the vitality expected of a living being, its internal veins, tendons, and organs were still functioning. Countless Mutalisk and Brood Guardian continued to emerge from the trenches and valleys between its skin, while swarms of maggot-like larvae wriggled within, preparing to metamorphose into cocoons.

"Avoid that Behemoth; we are no match for it," Augustus ordered.

In the cold, dark expanse of space, the Swarm had already noticed the human Fleets that had suddenly entered the Char system. Although this Fleets was insignificant compared to the powerful Protoss Expeditionary Force Fleets, a large number of Zerg were still approaching them.

"Find Tassadar's flagship, the Star Shuttle." As Augustus spoke, a Carrier that was close to the Hyperion opened fire, and the bright flashes of its gunfire momentarily illuminated his face, like the firelight in a fireplace.

"Probing in progress." Raynor walked to the observation platform.

A radar scan of the Char system appeared on a main screen projected by a hologram, displaying various colored, triangular, or square symbols representing Zerg and Protoss warships orbiting high above Char.

The main battleground has shifted from the edge of the galaxy to Char's high orbit, where bright flashes occasionally erupt, as if several supernovae are exploding.

"We made contact, and they responded to us," Raynor reported after a while.

"I am Tassadar, Augustus." Tassadar's face with light blue skin appeared on the main screen, and his sky-blue eyes, which seemed to burn with flames, were as awe-inspiring as ever.

"The Fleets has been fighting at Char for four solar cycles," Tassadar said. "We still can't break through the Zerg's defenses in Char's high-altitude orbit."

"We have detected hundreds of millions of Zerg eggs hatching in the numerous main hives of Char, and these Zerg must contain Zerg variants specifically designed for space warfare. Once Char's Zerg hatch enough flying creatures, our Fleets will be at a disadvantage in this battle."

"I am preparing to send ground troops to Char to destroy those main hives. If you can spare the time to help us destroy a few, my friends, the Sons of Aiur will be eternally grateful. The great Archon Dragon Knight Tal'darim will fight alongside you."

No sooner had Tassadar spoken than Augustus saw a golden flash erupt outside the Star Shuttle, Scourge, obscuring the sky, were crashing into the Protoss Fleets.

Farewell, my friend, may Adun protect you.

"So, are you going to help?" Tychus looked at Augustus: "We're just accessories to these Protoss high-flyers, like tassels on sword hilts. Leave these things to them."

"Did we travel all this way to Char just to witness an unprecedented space Fleets battle?" Raynor asked after a moment's thought.

"I can see that Tassadar, the executive officer of the Protoss Expeditionary Force, is far more noble than those people in the Confederate Congress. If we help him once, he will definitely remember it," he said. "Don't forget, we owe Tassadar a great deal back in the Sara System and Antiga."

"But no one said that gratitude should be repaid, especially when this is risking your life." Tychus curled his lip.

"I hate people like you the most; it makes me look like a despicable person."

"An attack on Char will force the Zerg to return to defend, which will undoubtedly relieve pressure on several Edge World. Putting all that aside, the friendship with Tassadar is worth the risk," Augustus.

"Jimmy, how many nuclear bombs do we have left?" Augustus.

"Not much," Raynor said. "Two Apocalypse-class Nuclear Missile and two 50-megaton tactical hydrogen bombs are enough to destroy a few Zerg main hives, but after that, it's all up to us."

"We used quite a bit on Antiga Prime."

As they were talking, the Hyperion and other warships, after a short jump, warped to the vicinity of Char, but kept a distance from the Protoss and Zerg who were fighting in high orbit.

At this moment, on the right side of the Hyperion was Edmond Duke's flagship, the Norad III, and on the other side was the Alpha Squadron's science ship, the Amerigo. These massive ships were distinguished from the other gold and red Revolutionary Army ships by their gray and white paint scheme and the Blood Eagles.

On the constantly zooming main screen of the bridge, the surface of Char, with its bright orange-red spots of light, seemed to be getting closer and closer to Augustus.

It was a dead world, its surface filled with boiling lava oceans and unstable volcanoes. Golden flashes and black spots would occasionally appear on its orange-red planetary surface—those were erupting volcanoes and the ever-moving Char continental plate.

At first glance, Char looks like a sun that can be seen with the naked eye, with raging storms carrying golden heat waves, like a bursting solar wind. Large swarms of Mutalisk, Scourge, and Brood Guardian keep flying out of Char's surface into space; how they manage to escape Char's gravity remains a mystery.

"In this godforsaken place, you could drop a boot and it would probably hit an insect on the head," Tychus said.

"This is Duke, a swarm of Mutalisk is coming at us!" General Edmond Duke's voice rang out on the communication channel from the Norad III.

"Don't be afraid, General, we've got your back. You coward," Raynor whispered.

"Retaliate immediately! Do you expect them to just happen to be passing by?" Augustus ordered.

"Duke, prepare the transport ships for landing. I need Alpha Squadron to immediately send an elite landing force to Char." Augustus's finger swept across a scan of Char's surface, which was divided into vast fan-shaped areas marked as Mirror Plains, Bone Trench, Death Valley, 17th Mining Outpost, and Burning Lands.

"Land here and here." Augustus pointed to Mirror Plains and Burning Lands: "The landing forces will be led by General Duke and myself, respectively."

The Bone Trench was omitted by Augustus; Warfield later lost many Gorgon-class Battlecruiser there, so it was not a lucky place for him.

"Sir, we've spotted a Confederacy Fleets," a Revolutionary Army soldier sitting at the observation post suddenly reported.

"Damn it, these damned ghosts are relentless!" Tychus roared like a vicious dog whose tail had been stepped on.

"It's a Nova Squadron warship; no Omega Squadron ships have been detected," the soldier continued.

"What are they doing here?" Raynor asked, puzzled. "What benefits can the Confederacy gain from Char?"

"The most crucial question is how they found us."

"I don't think they've come for us," Augustus. "But anyway, be careful."

"Wait, what's that?" Raynor suddenly pointed to the radar map. "Several Protoss ships. They don't look like Tassadar's Fleets, and they're completely different from the Taldarim we've seen before."

When Augustus looked over, several wedge-shaped, jet-black spaceships emitting a green glow flashed across the main screen, then disappeared without a trace with a ripple of force.

Although these ships only stayed for a moment, Augustus still able to clearly see their appearance.

Apart from the fluorescent green glow that lingered on their surfaces, the hulls of these spaceships were completely black, like obsidian in the dark or a smear of ink—a black that was almost entirely non-reflective. The surfaces of the spaceships were smooth and without luster, as if they could absorb light.

It was far less slender and elegant than the Tassadar Fleets's gold and blue ships, but it was equally light and fast. These ships looked quite old, with many signs of weathering and wear visible on their surfaces. Given the Protoss's shipbuilding technology, it would take millions of years to create this level of wear.

Augustus even suspected that these dark warships were as old as celestial bodies in the universe.

Each black spaceship is engraved with ancient patterns, their strange textures and green light seeming to possess life, like the afterimage of the spaceship.

Dark Templar.

"Are you sure you're not seeing things? Jimmy, you always seem to misread things." Tychus hadn't seen anything at all and assumed that one of them, Raynor, must be completely blind.

"Nonsense." Raynor ignored Tychus.

"This is probably going to be bad." Even Augustus hadn't expected the Dark Templar to arrive at Char at this time. Originally, Tassadar and Zeratul were supposed to have been captured by the Swarm in Kerrigan and brought to Char before arriving on this planet.

Because Kerrigan, who was being transformed into the Queen of Blades by Abathur, the Swarm evolution master, kept using her powerful Psionics to call for help, the terrifying creature's Psionics screams echoed throughout the universe, and Tassadar, Raynor, Arcturus, and others heard her cries for help.

However, the current timeline is completely different from that time because Augustus rescued Kerrigan earlier, thus altering the timeline.

Perhaps the Dark Templar, who had been traveling through the universe, observed their kin appearing in Char and fiercely fighting the Zerg there, and thus came to help them fight the Zerg.

"Can you pinpoint the location of those ships?" Augustus asked Raynor.

"The Hyperion's detection equipment can't locate those ships at all, but I think they should land at Char," Raynor replied. "Those ships don't look like warships; they should just be some kind of shuttle."

"Tell Swann, Fick, and Kaczynski to make sure my shuttle and Power Armor are ready," Augustus calmly ordered. "Maintain the original battle plan. Bring all our Spider Mine and fusion explosives; we'll need them sometime."

"Did you hear that? Preparing to land on lava." Tychus walked toward the bridge gate. "Hmm, hopefully we'll still have a chance to drink Number Eight Whiskey at Joey Ray's Bar."

"Any further down is hell."

Bonus chapter progress 5/44