Fenris Brood

Augustus's orders were immediately transmitted through the Fleets's command system to the flagships of Nova Squadron and Alpha Squadron. At that time, Nova Squadron Commander Jack Haller was eager to prove his loyalty to the Revolutionary Army through a war, while Duke was glad that the Marshal was still using him.

Augustus Mengsk

An aged voice came from Augustus's ear, and the Dark Templar Zeratul appeared beside him from a cloud of spreading black mist. During his time on the Hyperion, Zeratul had been studying the prophecy on the Xel'Naga tablet with utmost dedication.

"Elder, seeing you at this time puts my mind at ease." Augustus looked in the direction of the voice.

"This trust is truly invaluable." Zeratul approached Augustus.

"This is Haj, Zeratul." Raynor, who was sitting in the captain's chair, turned around. "Captain Jim, just so you know, we've arrived. I was pleased to see you in your new outfit."

Zeratul had changed into a dark purple ascetic robe and a new long veil, but it still looked old. The attire appeared dull and lifeless under the lights of the Hyperion's bridge, as if it could absorb light.

Their sun-worshipping Aiur Protoss favor gold and blue, while the Dark Templar, who dwell in the twilight-shrouded land of Shakuras, prefer muted hues, for they are a race from a shadowy planet.

"Thank you, James Raynor." Zeratul also knew Raynor's name; in his opinion, this pure and righteous human was indeed a likable fellow.

The reason Raynor did not become the leader of this human army was not because he was not good enough as a leader, but because Augustus Mengsk's brilliance was too dazzling and Raynor willingly took a subordinate position.

In fact, Raynor never considered becoming a true leader; he never even entertained the slightest thought of it. Especially when a leader like Augustus, who radiated the brilliance of a great man, was by Raynor side, he had even less of an idea.

He was a member of the Heaven's Devils Platoon, a man who followed Augustus in revolution with fervent passion. As for how to carry out the revolution, or how to truly change the corrupt political system of the Terran Confederacy, Raynor had never considered it.

This kind of thing is enough for Augustus; his job is to shoot the Revolutionary Army marshal in the head—if he/she has one.

"Augustus, I sense the presence of the Cerebrate Carlos and Nagar. Their swarms are wreaking havoc on this planet like a storm." Zeratul's thoughts were transmitted directly to Augustus's mind. This was a direct telepathic communication between the Protoss, accompanied by a strong expression of emotions and thoughts.

"Since those two Cerebrate are still here, it means the Swarm hasn't found the agent they're looking for in Haj yet," Augustus.

The Zerg that appeared in Haj have been temporarily named the Fenris Brood. They have bright green carapaces and are extremely aggressive and predatory. As for the other group, it has not yet appeared.

We still have a chance.

The current Revolutionary Army Fleets has six advanced giant scientific ships, each equipped with an extremely sensitive sensor array. They serve as mobile laboratories and supply centers, and also provide the Revolutionary Army with revolutionary detection capabilities. These scientific ships are the ears and eyes of the Revolutionary Army Fleets.

"If we concentrate all our efforts on finding that Swarm agent, there should still be a chance."

Raynor suggested, "But we still have many people to save. Damn, judging from the distress signals from all over, the Haj Confederacy, the Planetary Defense Force, and the Confederacy garrison have completely abandoned areas outside the cities. There are quite a few people in the towns near the mines, gas refineries, factories, and archaeological sites."

"Finding one person on a Zerg planet isn't as useful as just having a lot of people," Augustus. "We can't ignore the people suffering from the Zerg's ravages."

At that moment, Tassadar's flagship Star Shuttle, connected to the communication channel with the Hyperion. He was wearing a fine silk High Templar robe that shimmered with a blue light, as if it were cut from the blue sky of Aiur.

"Augustus Mengsk, my Fleets has detected large-scale Zerg activity signals on the surface of Haj," Tassadar said.

"I am setting out to order the Fleets to deploy orbital bombardment to clear out the major administrative areas and settlements infected by the Zerg. There is no hope of saving those areas; all the Terran Confederacy humans have either been killed or infected."

"The two Zerg nests that invaded Haj are more adept at infection; their speed and sense of smell are also quite acute."

"So, they're the hounds of the Overmind," Raynor said, hearing Tassadar's words. "After all, everyone has their own specialty."

"Let's do it that way," Augustus's thought. "I have no objection to it. We will fight side by side once again. Humanity will forever be grateful for your righteous act, great Executor Tassadar."

"And these locations still retain a certain number of Terran Confederacy defense forces. If you decide to send reinforcements there, my Templar Knights will provide immediate assistance," Tassadar continued.

Immediately afterwards, the entire scan of the Haj was uploaded to the Hyperion's main screen, which also showed several red dots marked with human text, indicating the last defensive positions of the Terran Confederacy garrison.

The Revolutionary Army has so far been unable to intercept or decipher Protoss communications; their methods of transmission are simply incomprehensible to them. Conversely, human communication remains quite primitive to the Protoss.

The Protoss possess extremely advanced technology, even considering the Protoss Empire's highly conservative approach to technological development. In an era where technology and civilization have reached their highest levels, the Protoss have stagnated their technological advancements for many years and imposed significant restrictions on their war technologies.

By comparing the Protoss scans, Augustus confirmed that the last defensive positions of the Hygi-Terran Federation garrison consisted of Grandi and Mathera on the Hygimorise subcontinent, and Hagrid on the Land main continent.

In addition, there are more than a dozen other locations where the Hige are still sending distress signals to the outside world and the Haj are holding their ground. After much deliberation, Augustus assigned the task of supporting these areas to Duke and Haller's Alpha Squadron and Nova Squadron. Their troops were already eager to go.

"The Revolutionary Army's First Guard Division, 3rd Army Division, and Hogg's Armored Brigade will land five miles outside Geladi City. Given the unfriendly attitude of the Confederacy troops, return fire immediately if any Confederacy forces fire on us," Augustus issued a series of orders.

"Tell the port that hopefully all the shuttles and landing craft will be ready by the time I arrive at the bridge of the Hyperion."

"Are you prepared to personally command this army?" Raynor asked.

"It's not time for me to step down yet," Augustus said, looking around the spacious and bright bridge of the Hyperion after announcing his orders.

Where is Tychus?

Whenever Marshal Augustus of the Revolutionary Army was about to send troops or wanted to personally go to the battlefield, his first question was usually to those around him: Where is Jim Raynor right now?

If Raynor were around, the person in question would be high-ranking commanders like Harnack Hank, Tychus Finley, and Londerstein. In any case, only the members of the Heaven's Devils Squad were the people Augustus immediately thought of and mentioned.

"Oh—I saw Tychus Finley when I passed the bar; he was playing cards," replied Rory Swann, who was fiddling with cables nearby.

"Whatever you say, you know that, anyway, I have no objection." Raynor shrugged.

Raynor was not idle; he had to coordinate the movement of crew members and soldiers in various compartments of the Hyperion, as well as the entry and exit of ships on board. After Augustus left, he was also the commander-in-chief of the entire Fleets.

"Very good. Jimmy, now I need you to take full command of this Fleets and provide support for the landing forces." Augustus walked towards the air valve at the entrance to the Hyperion's bridge.

The two soldiers standing guard at the gate immediately saluted the approaching marshal. Their CMC-300 Power Armor, with its gold and red base, was brand new and gleaming, and their C-14 Gauss Rifle were equipped with gleaming bayonets.

Faraday, the commander of the Marshal Guard, stood outside the bridge gate. As soon as he saw Augustus emerge, Faraday immediately followed him. As the most trusted guard officer of the Revolutionary Army Marshal, Faraday would appear anywhere according to his superior's needs, including the kitchen, mess hall, bar, and battlefield, because he was supposed to be all-around.

Zeratul followed Augustus, but he remained silent, seemingly deep in thought. This Dark Prelate always pondered deeply before offering his opinion, spending most of his day in meditation and contemplation.

This Dark Templar master of shadows lived by the doctrine of caution throughout his life. If Augustus consulted Zeratul about war, Zeratul would remind him to conceal himself before launching an attack.

Augustus swiftly navigated the ship's corridors, passageways, and ladders, which were crowded with various orders. Every few minutes, dozens of the Revolutionary Army in dark gray uniforms and flat-topped hats with gold insignia with woven rings passed by him in the corridors between the crew cabins, heading to the armory to collect their armor and weapons.

Most of them were very young, some were still freckled boys, but they were already brave warriors and veterans. They still felt nervous and shy when they met Augustus, and looked at Augustus with reverence for his cold and serious demeanor during the war.

The Hyperion had more than 6,000 crew members. In addition to the ordinary crew, it also carried two full-strength battalions of the 1st Brigade of the First Guard Division of the Revolutionary Army, totaling about 1,800 men. The rest were on large troop transport ships, escorted by a large number of warships and aircraft.

When Augustus entered the Hyperion bar, Tychus Finley was sitting on a high stool, rubbing his hands together, preparing to break the ban on drinking. By the time Tychus subtly pushed the bottle under the table, Augustus had already grabbed him by the collar.

Although Tychus Finley had always been a domineering and arrogant character, now he could only mutter complaints and was too unlucky to retaliate. Tychus had always only been subservient to those who were far stronger than himself.

"Put on your armor, Finley." Augustus's aura was imposing. "I'll only say this once, don't expect me to forgive you every time."

"His butt's moving, it's moving, Marshal." Tychus sighed, tucked his cigarette into his pocket, and followed Augustus.

After passing through several opening and closing air valves, Augustus walked onto the noisy bridge of the Hyperion, where one APOD transport ship after another was heading into space through the open dock hatches.

A platoon of the Marshal's Guard and a company of the Guard Division were ordered to accompany Augustus aboard the transport ship, the Little Devil. The ship was as reliable as its crew, and it, along with the Heaven's Devils Squad, accompanied Augustus through the most difficult early days of the uprising.

There were several sets of commander-level Power Armor on the spaceship. With the help of Corporal Faraday, Augustus put on one of them and sat on the alloy bench in the crew compartment, fastening his seatbelt.

These Power Armor were all crafted by Hiram Fick, a Power Armor technician from Heaven's Devils and Augustus's personal armor technician. As a soldier's second life, the reliability and safety of Power Armor are of paramount importance.

Being granted the Power Armor to maintain the Revolutionary Army marshal meant that Hiram enjoyed the deep trust of Augustus himself, almost to the point of being his personal steward.

When Augustus confirmed that the vanguard, mainly composed of the 1st Battalion of the Revolutionary Army Guard Division, had left port on transport ships, he ordered the Little Devil to take off. Zeratul was sitting to Augustus's right, while Tychus was smoking on the other side.

Because Augustus utterly detested others smoking around him, Tychus was one of the few warriors who dared to smoke inside his enclosed armored helmet, so much so that Colonel Finley was always described as having an iron lung.

"Elder, I believe you and your Dark Templar are crucial in the search for Haj's Swarm agent," Augustus said to Zeratul.

"Of course, the Dark Templar will lend you a hand," Zeratul said as Augustus turned to him. "We fight together, and therefore our destinies are intertwined."

The Little Devil sped out of the Hyperion's dock and merged into a large number of transport ships and Wraith. These transport ships were fully loaded with heavily armed Revolutionary Army soldiers, Arclite Siege Tank, Goliath Combat Robot, Vulture, and Spider Mine.

Hundreds of ships departed from the transport ships and headed towards the surface of Haj, away from the massive Fleets, gradually disappearing into the planet's atmosphere.

After a period of turbulence and sailing, the Little Devil transport ship entered the skies above the Morisai Subcontinent. By this time Augustus was able to survey the continent's long coastline and lush coniferous forests through the ship's external probes. The core area of this subcontinent was covered by a dark Creep, resembling a disgusting, viscous paste.

"Prepare to land at the designated location," Augustus ordered over the command channel.

"Wait a minute, Augustus, I sensed the residual traces of Psionics shock around here. It seems to have come from a powerful human Psionics," Zeratul Augustus at this moment.

"We should go and take a look."