Aiur

The figure behind the Holographic Projection screen gradually blurred and eventually disappeared, leaving only a pair of scarlet eyes.

"He was the master of the stars, and he will return as king."

"You cowardly, despicable scoundrel, do you think this will frighten a righteous freedom fighter!" The hot-blooded young man Jim Raynor had tried his best to understand the meaning of these words, but he was still completely confused.

The riddle-maker who suddenly appeared spoke a bunch of things that were completely incomprehensible, which stunned the Protoss.

But in Raynor' view, it was nothing more than the ramblings of a neurotic mad scientist whose conspiracy had been exposed, hoping to scare others.

"Can you find out where this communication signal came from?" Augustus opened the built-in computer in the commander's Power Armor and ordered the Fleets to prepare to leave the asteroid belt.

"Nothing was found," Kerrigan replied immediately.

Augustus then looked at Tassadar and Zeratul, noticing that both of them were heavy-hearted. Narud's words had a much greater impact on the Protoss than on the humans, especially on Zeratul, who had been pursuing the Xel'Naga prophecy.

"The Xel'Naga have long foretold a dark age, and the voice in the darkness has brought ominous omens," Zeratul said. "If these evil creatures created from Protoss and Zerg genes are the executioners of Amon's dark plan, then the catastrophe we face will be far more than this."

The wise Protoss elder Shakuras, felt a heavy sense of mission: "I must pursue the ancient prophecies scattered throughout the universe by the Xel'Naga and uncover the conspiracy of Amon, the god of darkness. May the gods guide my path."

"You're leaving us?" Upon hearing Zeratul's words, Augustus assumed that he was about to set sail on the Void Seeker in search of the Xel'Naga prophecy.

"Of course not now, my friend Augustus," Zeratul said in a low voice. "The sacred homeland of Aiur must be saved first, and then I can leave in peace to pursue the prophecies."

"Let's leave this place of trouble," Tassadar said. "Everything that has happened today must be recorded and reported to the Conclave. As the leaders of the Protoss Empire, they must understand the warning this discovery carries."

"The three arks built during Adun's time were created to prepare for the possible apocalypse that could destroy this Protoss civilization."

When Augustus and his men, along with Tassadar and others, stepped out of the shuttle, researchers in the Revolutionary Army's alien laboratory were collecting samples of the Hybrid corpses and the mutated creatures in the containers; the rest were burned.

The Protoss are working to warp back some of the Taldarim's weapons and vehicles to their Fleets; these were stolen by the Taldarim from the Protoss Empire. As for the small number of weapons that were copied by Taldarim craftsmen, the wealthy Protoss Empire has not hesitated to destroy them.

When Augustus returned to the Fleets, Tassadar's flagship Star Shuttle, used its main guns to tear the entire asteroid apart, shattering it into thousands of smaller asteroids and stardust.

The Fleets returned to Luria IV, within the territory of the Kel-Morian Combine, carrying a somber, dark prophecy, and destroyed a Kel-Morian Pirates fortress along the way.

For the next week, Augustus's Revolutionary Army continued to operate as usual, following established procedures.

Augustus knew that the upcoming Battle of Aiur would be an exceptionally difficult campaign, and on his orders, a large number of soldiers were granted invaluable leave.

The soldiers pouring into the local cities of Luria were eager to spend all their money, and within a few days, the economy of the major cities prospered many times over, even making the local dark-skinned girls' complexions rosy.

After the Zerg seized one Outer Colonies after another that provided raw materials, manpower and other products to the main world, the economic depression brought about by the war is making the Terran Confederacy, once Giant, increasingly weak.

The Confederate Congress was forced to cut various subsidies, and even the salaries of civil servants working for the government were drastically reduced. At the same time, the corrupt and bloated Confederacy and capitalists intensified their exploitation of the Confederacy people. Confederacy soldiers were under immense psychological pressure while fighting the terrifying Zerg, yet their salaries were not guaranteed.

Even in the most difficult times, Augustus's Revolutionary Army insisted on distributing Umojan currency, which was not easily affected by inflation and deflation in the Terran Confederacy, as wages to its soldiers.

Supporting a massive army of nearly 650,000 combat personnel requires enormous funds, and building and maintaining new weapons and warships is an astronomical expense. This is due not only to the financial support from the Mengsk Family, the people of Korhal, and the Umojan Council behind Augustus, but also to the income from the numerous mines that Augustus tries to open wherever he goes.

In addition, Augustus possessed the best soldiers and engineers in the Koprulu Sector.

Their lofty revolutionary spirit causes them to work with twice the effort of Confederacy soldiers. For example, SCV SCV drivers in the Revolutionary Army can always collect twice as many resources in half the time of Confederacy engineering teams. In addition, the extensive use of Kel-Morian and Umojan technologies is also the reason why the Revolutionary Army's mines and factories always have exponentially higher output.

During this time, Augustus did not take a break for himself. Augustus spent most of his time talking with Tassadar and Zeratul, discussing the detailed plan for advancing into Aiur.

They had to temporarily put aside what they had seen and heard at the Taldarim outpost. The commanders knew that once they returned to Aiur, the Combined Fleets would face not only the Zerg, but also the Protoss Empire army, which was very likely to attack them.

Augustus offered his opinion on the matter, believing that the combined Fleets needed to find support on Aiur, as only with more support could the Fleets gain a foothold on the planet.

Tassadar and Zeratul both agreed with Augustus's ideas and praised his wisdom.

As a legendary executor of the Protoss Empire Templar Knights order, Tassadar's prestige among the Templar Knights is unparalleled in the Empire. He has many old friends on Aiur, and those virtuous warriors may be able to help him.

As time went on, Augustus, Tassadar, and Zeratul all came to believe that the journey back to Aiur was now urgent.

By the second week of November 2492, the Revolutionary Army's logistics officers had largely completed their resupply work on Luria, and hundreds of refugee ships converted from mining transport vessels of the Kel-Morian Combine had joined the Revolutionary Army's Fleets.

Not only that, the conscription department also recruited several thousand new soldiers in Luria as usual. Most of them were miners who were starving under the oppression of the Kel-Morian Combine Guild and hot-blooded young men. These soldiers were quickly incorporated into a recruit replenishment brigade and underwent rigorous training until they were deemed ready to receive their own Power Armor.

After Augustus confirmed that the high-energy gas fuel tanks in the Fleets were full and the engineering stations and armories were filled with cargo containers again, the Revolutionary Army soldiers, who had ended their vacation, were summoned back to the bright red Revolutionary Army flag and boarded transport ships returning to the Fleets from various ports.

The revolutionary Fleets, fully equipped and ready to go, set off amidst the sighs of the Luria people. Many soldiers also bid farewell to the young women they had just met in the area, women they were reluctant to part with.

This wasn't just because the shrewd young men with pockets full of cash were making the locals rich; the people of Luria were also hoping that the Revolutionary Army could overthrow the Kel-Morian Combine's rule.

After the Guild Wars ended, the major guild shareholders in the Kel-Morian Combine distributed the compensation and losses among all members of the system. However, the guild enterprises within the Kel-Morian Combine were always uneven in quality; some valued employee welfare and subsidies, thus gaining a good reputation, while others didn't care about the lives of their workers at all, since they could find other people and machines to replace them.

In the Kel-Morian Combine, the oppression of civilians is no less than that in the Terran Confederacy. The so-called unions that speak for the workers have been a lie and a joke from the very beginning.

Ultimately, the Revolutionary Army did not bring much change to Luria IV. However, wherever Augustus's army arrived, the revolutionaries took root like dandelion seeds.

After leaving the Luria System, the Revolutionary Army Fleets joined forces with Tassadar and Zeratul's Fleets in another system, and the massive combined Fleets set sail once again. Within the Fleets, the busy work continued, and everyone was trying their best to find something to do to pass the time.

Aside from the time he spent with Kerrigan, Augustus was always consulting with Zeratul and Tassadar, firmly believing that the journey to Aiur would be fraught with danger.

This time travel was extremely long, Augustus could only keep track of time through a calendar. The most obvious way to observe it was by the ever-increasing age of Augustus's nephew Valerian and Raynor's son, John the Younger.

It wasn't until January of 2493 that the combined Fleets finally crossed the distance of time and space to reach its destination Aiur System.

While Kerrigan was telling Augustus the Protoss Empire of Aiur was almost within reach, Augustus still writing letters to his family in his personal room on the flagship Hyperion.

This was both a habit he had developed since coming into this world and one of the few times he was truly able to relax.

Whenever Augustus lamented the fleeting nature of time, he would look at the family photos and the portrait of the Heaven's Devils on his desk. To this day, Augustus still writes letters to many of those people, but some will never receive them again.

"The Fleets is leaping out of the hyperspace tunnel, Marshal. Aiur is now below the bridge."

Kerrigan in, carrying a long spear. "The Aiur System is littered with the wreckage of Fleets spanning half the galaxy and the massive corpses of the Zerg — Tassadar sadly tells us that the once glorious and invincible Protoss Empire Fleets has been severely damaged."

"But the Zerg are definitely not having an easy time either." Augustus stroked the photo of his nephew Valerian and John Raynor. Just moments ago, he had been marveling at how little John, who was learning to speak behind Valerian, had such an unexpectedly good relationship with his brother Arcturus.

Arcturus Mengsk, who has always despised Psionics, is quite fond of this child who has shown exceptional Psionics talent since childhood. This is not only because he believes the child is likely to become a valuable ally for his son, Valerian, but also because of his own approval of General Jim Raynor.

Arcturus only despised powerful Psionics who were not under his control or posed a significant threat to him, and a child was clearly not among them. He still harbored Kerrigan resentment towards Sarah Kerrigan, who had assassinated his father, not out of pity for his father, but simply because he feared that Psionics would control his younger brother's mind.

Upon hearing this, Augustus lowered his hand from the photograph, donned the iron-black coat with golden wheat epaulets, and followed Kerrigan out of the room.

Augustus found Raynor, Harnack, and Tychus in the narrow passageway leading to the bridge. The first two were talking about Aiur and the Fleets, while Tychus was still immersed in the holiday he had taken a month ago.

"I've never been this far from home before. You know I'm a sentimental person, and being away from home for too long always makes me miss my mother," Tychus poured out his grievances as soon as he met Augustus.

"Have pity on your mother. If you could remember that gentle woman's teachings when you're preparing to do something bad, Tychus, at least you'd act more like a human being." Augustus dismissed Tychus's complaints as easily as swatting a fly.

"Jim, any updates?"

"Augustus, we've just arrived in Protoss territory. We're unfamiliar with the area and don't know what happened in the past," Raynor said immediately.

"But the only thing we're certain of is that the main forces of the Protoss and Zerg have practically blown the brains out of Aiur across the entire galaxy. At least two planets have suffered devastating blows from the Protoss Fleets, one of which has shrunk to about a third of its original size," he said.

"No matter how powerful the Protoss Empire's Fleets may have been in the past, most of them no longer exist."

"So, the Protoss have already lost?" Augustus asked.

"In reality, it's very likely that both sides will suffer heavy losses," Raynor replied. "Neither the Protoss nor the Zerg are likely to back down and make peace. Two powerful races waging war in a small star system—the fighting won't stop until one side has completely defeated the other."

"We may have completely underestimated the intensity of this war—initially, the Overmind only sent a small portion of the Zerg into Aiur, but now the entire Swarm has been slammed into the Protoss's face, exploding across their homeworld."

Augustus walked into the bridge while talking with Raynor and the others. The bridge was brightly lit, and outside the portholes was the dark space and a few scattered stars.

A brilliant orange orb of light erupted from the warp field, dispelling the void of darkness. Up to a thousand phantoms and the outlines of warships appeared around the Hyperion, causing breathtaking and mesmerizing signs of spacetime distortion.

"A long voyage has brought us here." Augustus walked to the main screen on the bridge, looking at the Protoss homeworld Aiur, which was once lush and green but is now covered with black spots.

--The birthplace of the Protoss, and the center of their vast empire spanning the astral planes.

"Aiur," Augustus.

"Summon my generals and tell the soldiers that we are about to go to war with the Zerg Overmind and the Protoss Empire."