Artanis
Altera Airport.
This shipping port, built on a cliff, was once abandoned because illegal cargo would only enter through little-known private starports.
Now, after being renovated by the Revolutionary Army's engineering corps, it has been put back into use and has been included in the Revolutionary Army's star map under the new name of Altera Airport, open to any Revolutionary Army or allied forces.
The airport boasts a spacious, brand-new apron and towering launch towers; all the buildings gleam with a beautiful silvery-white sheen under the sunlight.
Below, halfway up the mountain, lies the camp of a battalion-level unit of the Revolutionary Army. Here, the mountains are high and the roads are long, and few people venture here. The wind that travels through the mountain streams carries away high-energy gas, making the entire mountain seem to be covered with a thin green blanket. These mountains are generally considered to be poisonous because the gas emitted by numerous high-energy gas springs even forms a lingering mist among the mountains.
When Augustus arrived at the Altera spaceport from the Kel-Morian Vas Refinery after hearing the news of the unknown Protoss Fleets's incursion Altera the Altera, two gold-red Revolutionary Army APOD-33s were landing amidst the roar of their engines.
Pirates, their hands bound by metal shackles, descended the gangway below, followed by the Revolutionary Army soldiers in Power Armor.
These pirates wore ivory-colored long vests and long leather boots that looked old and tattered, with turbans or low-brimmed hats on their heads. Their captains wore Gustkul-style tight-fitting suits with triangular hats decorated with gold-threaded Chimera and ships. Because space pirates roamed the outer star sectors year-round and made their pirate ships their homes, their equipment and clothing generally appeared tattered and outdated.
Some of the pirates were wounded, clearly from fleeing during the Revolutionary Army's pursuit. The Chimera Pirates had strongholds in many places, and what the Revolutionary Army destroyed this time was merely one of the pirate gas collection stations in Altera.
In this star system, hundreds of Chimera Pirates use a massive, wrecked spaceship as their base, plundering technology and goods with their fast, small raiding airships. Of course, what they do most often in Altera is double-crossing.
The Chimera Pirates are a major force in the Altera system, and their main raiding Fleets, which roams the Koprulu Sector, even possesses modified battlecruisers. However, if they encounter the Korhal Revolutionary Army, the largest reactionary force in the sector, they are simply out of luck.
"Those persistent pirates, you can bump into them anywhere." Kerrigan frowned her beautiful eyebrows in annoyance as she walked past the dejected pirates with Augustus.
"Pirates are pirates, they are everywhere and infiltrate every nook and cranny." Once Augustus realized that the Chimera Pirates had simply been unlucky enough to run into him, he stopped paying much attention to them and began to ponder the purpose of the unfamiliar Protoss Fleets.
"As long as the stars and the sea exist, pirates will never disappear."
"Hopefully these pirates will learn their lesson," Kerrigan said. "The Confederacy is giving us enough headaches already."
Augustus shrugged, not even glancing at the unfortunate group of Chimera Pirates, and boarded the Little Devil transport ship with Kerrigan and the others. Several Wraith also took off with the transport ship; these crimson-based, gold-trimmed fighters spun across the horizon, becoming part of a silver meteor shower.
After leaping out of Altera's planetary gravitational field, the transport ship headed straight for the Tassadar Fleets's flagship, the Star Shuttle. From the small, round observation window on the side of the ship where Augustus was positioned, the magnificent and dazzling Protoss Fleets was already close at hand.
Tassadar's Protoss Fleets did not intercept the transport ship Little Devil, Augustus. In the past, Augustus would often travel on this ship to visit Tassadar on the Star Shuttle. The growing friendship between the former executive officer of the Human Revolutionary Army and the Protoss Expeditionary Force was well known to Tassadar's followers.
In the outer space orbit of Altera, besides the Tassadar Protoss Fleets that Augustus familiar with, there was another golden-blue Fleets facing it from afar. Judging from their consistent style, it should also belong to the Protoss Empire. And these Fleets Fleets clearly in a standoff.
Based on Augustus's understanding of Tassadar's current situation, it should be the Protoss Empire Conclave Fleets that came to hunt him down.
While sitting on the hard cushioned seat of the transport ship, Augustus contacted the bridge of the Hyperion again as the ship he was on sped toward the Star Shuttle. At that moment, the warship's first mate, Lieutenant Colonel Ryan, was issuing a Level 1 alert order to all decks to deal with any possible emergencies.
"Lieutenant Colonel, prepare for a space Fleets battle in the Altera system," Augustus ordered the vice-captain.
"They came with ill intentions."
"Who are our enemies?" the first mate asked. "If they start a war, should we go in?"
"Of course," Augustus replied, "And without a doubt, we must stand on Tassadar's side."
"Yes, Marshal," the vice-captain replied to Augustus's order with a brief response.
Augustus then asked Lieutenant Colonel Ryan, "What about Zeratul's Dark Templar Fleets?"
"The Protoss Dark Templar Fleets disappeared when this unfamiliar Protoss Fleets appeared; they must have entered stealth mode," the vice-captain immediately replied.
"If the Conclave's Fleets discovers that there is a Dark Templar Fleets here, it will inevitably trigger a new conflict," Augustus nodded.
"Zeratul's choice was very wise."
"Maintain high alert, Commander." He instructed the first officer of the Hyperion as he ended the call, "You bear the weight of more than just the fate of a warship's crew; you carry our noble beliefs and enduring mission."
Augustus then handed command of the Altera Revolutionary Army Fleets Jim Raynor, who was hastily returning to the Hyperion, and focused his attention on the two Protoss Fleets outside the transport ship's porthole.
"It seems the Protoss's internal strife is no less than that of the humans," Kerrigan, sitting next to Augustus, said at this moment. "Strange, since the Protoss possess the Khala, a mental network that connects everyone's thoughts and feelings, why are they still embroiled in conflict and civil war?"
"Even with the greatest mutual understanding and empathy, the Protoss will never have completely identical opinions and thoughts," Augustus replied. "The Protoss's Khala cannot resolve all conflicts. The Khala may be able to be of one mind and inseparable, but as long as there are beings with independent thoughts, disagreements are inevitable."
The transport ship Little Devil sailed past the side of a Carrier toward the Starship, the most magnificent and ornate warship in Star Shuttle Protoss Fleets. It appeared so tiny in the face of these gleaming giant warships, like a sardine swimming past a whale.
Various beautiful butterfly, needle, and saucer-shaped objects flitted around the giant warship, its elegant, artistic hull shimmering with a bright golden light under the starlight.
The navigator, who was steering the ship for Augustus, skillfully entered the harbor at the bow of the Star Shuttle and came to a stop in a spot filled with Protoss golden shuttles. As soon as the gray Little Devil came to a stop, two Protoss phase engineers dressed in blue robes approached it.
A swarm of servant ships, resembling swimming fish, approached the human spaceship, using ion beams and gravity traction beams that emitted a blue glow to repair the damaged hull.
Whenever Augustus came aboard the Star Shuttle, the ship would invariably receive meticulous maintenance. In the eyes of the Protoss engineers, human spaceships were crude and primitive. The Protoss believed that humans still adhered to the principle that as long as the engine was powerful enough, the spaceship could fly—even if their spacecraft were so crude and simple, devoid of any art or beauty.
As for the extremely violent flying machines of human mercenaries and pirates, in the eyes of the Protoss Empire's engineers, they were undoubtedly a desecration of beauty.
"Salute to Adun." With a hiss of the hydraulic system deflating, Augustus descended the gangway of the transport ship below and spoke to the two Protoss Phase Technicians who approached him.
"Greetings to Adun, Marshal Augustus Mengsk." The Protoss still address Augustus by Augustus full name and title almost rigidly, as if it were the proper thing to do.
"What happened, my friends?" Augustus asked the two Protoss Phase Technicians.
"That was a Fleets that was supposed to be guarding Aiur," a Protoss phase engineer with long nerve bundles adorned with golden hoops told Augustus.
"We don't know who the commander of this fleet is, but they bear the insignia of the Templar Archiri and the Arbitrators of the Yara tribe."
"Wasn't Aiur already attacked by the Zerg?" Kerrigan asked as she descended the gangway. "Has the Protoss already dealt with the Zerg invading Aiur and are now able to send out Fleets?"
"We don't know," said the Protoss Phase Technician.
"Where is the executor?" Augustus asked.
"Bridge," the phase technician replied.
Augustus nodded and led Kerrigan and Faraday straight to the bridge of the Star Shuttle. Seeing Augustus hurrying along, the two Star Shuttle phase engineers merely exchanged glances before returning to their work. An ancient Protoss Khalani still circulated among the Protoss Khalai Caste: "Our duty never ends."
Using the teleportation matrix inside the Star Shuttle, Augustus arrived at the bridge corridor, whose dome was piled with transparent crystals and stars, a few minutes later.
"--We're here to arrest you. Then, we'll take you back to Aiur for trial." Augustus heard an arrogant voice as soon as he stepped onto the bridge of the Star Shuttle. The voice was far less powerful than Tassadar's, but it was certainly not weak.
"That tone reminds me of that old Duke," Kerrigan said as she walked. "The arrogance of the old Tarsonis nobility is exactly the same as that of the Protoss."
"Arrest me? The Zerg are destroying Aiur, and you've come all this way just to arrest me?" Tassadar's voice was filled with rage.
"Tassadar, what happened?" Augustus went straight to Tassadar, who was standing in front of the bridge platform. The Templar Knights beside Tassadar did not stop Augustus; they did not believe that Augustus would harm Tassadar.
Sarah Kerrigan, the human Psionics who follows Augustus, may be a dangerous character, but her loyalty to Augustus himself is absolutely unquestionable.
"Who is this human here? Tassadar."
"He is Augustus Mengsk, the leader of the Revolutionary Army of Mankind. He is a brave and upright man," Tassadar replied.
Augustus finally saw the owner of the voice clearly; he was a Protoss dressed in a gold and red robe and wearing a hood, with a crystal-clear blue crystal embedded at the top of the hood.
"Interesting. Your taste in choosing companions is becoming increasingly unbelievable. You've strayed into heresy. I can feel the stain the Dark Templar left on your soul, a stain that even blasphemed Khala."
"Who is this arrogant and rude fellow?" Augustus asked Tassadar.
"What an idiot," Kerrigan said sarcastically. "Stop looking down on humans. Duke is a much better person compared to him."
"You've come, Augustus," Tassadar Augustus.
"He is Arbitrator Aldaris of the Conclave, and as you heard, Arbitrator Aldaris is here to arrest me."
"Don't let them take you away, Executor. You are not a puppet to be manipulated by the Conclave," Augustus said, looking at Tassadar.
"Arrogance! This is not the place for you to speak, human." The blue flames in Aldaris's eyes blazed even brighter with rage.
"Shut up," Kerrigan said. "Don't be disrespectful to Augustus, or I'll shoot you."
"If you had a mouth—pathetic fellow."
Kerrigan had no reason to be subservient to Aldaris. She never showed any kindness to anyone who dared to offend Augustus, whether human or Protoss.
For a fleeting moment, Aldaris, enraged by Kerrigan, was almost speechless; the fire in his eyes had never blazed so brightly. But as Protoss, even in his fury, Aldaris would not act like Tychus.
"Interesting," Aldaris declared, adding that he had remembered the two humans.
"If you remember the honors you once achieved, Tassadar, we once believed in you so much, believed in you as much as the sun and the great Adun." He ignored Augustus and Kerrigan and continued speaking to Tassadar.
"And now you have not only betrayed the expectations we placed in you, but you have also allowed these humans to enter the supreme and noble Star Shuttle. I have come to arrest you! I reiterate, you and all your foolish followers will be imprisoned and taken back to Aiur to face trial!"
"What is he trying to do? Incite people to rebel?" Kerrigan whispered.
"Everything I've done is for Aiur! I will return to Aiur when the opportunity arises," Tassadar replied calmly.
"The Dark Templar's corrupting influence on you is so profound," Aldaris's voice rose.
"Arbitrator, anger will not solve the problem." At that moment, a voice that sounded far too young appeared.
A Protoss dressed in a gold and blue executive robe stepped out from behind Aldaris. He was clad in almost antiquated plate armor, and his eyes were a clear, watery sky blue.
"Executive, you are so young, yet you have already risen to the position I once held," Tassadar said, looking at him.
"Artanis."
The tavern ruined me!