Marshal Augustus Arrives at His Loyal Tarsonis

"They forced us to do this."

"These insects will feast on the enemy," Arcturus Mengsk said amidst the flashing sparks and crackling electrical activity on the Hyperion's bridge control console. "Earthlings will pay for their aggression."

"Tear flesh off them! Bite them hard!"

At this moment, Augustus, the kind and amiable elder brother, slammed his fist on the star chart platform, his deep gray eyes shining brightly.

Arcturus was not directly in charge of the Revolutionary Army's Cerberus Project, but he had always been a proponent and participant in it. While controlling Zerg to replace human soldiers was certainly appealing, the mere fact that it could significantly reduce Revolutionary Army casualties was enough to make Augustus set aside his prejudices.

"Alpha, I hope your ability to Overmind the Swarm hasn't deteriorated," Augustus said to the Cerebrate that was radiating a dazzling light from displaying its Psionics.

As Cerebrate of the Revolutionary Army, Alpha Worm spends its days either clocking in to cooperate with alien biologists in experiments related to the mind of the main nest, or lying on the Creep watching TV, drinking cola and eating potato chips after work.

This is a young Cerebrate less than a year old. In terms of seniority and experience, it is certainly not as powerful as Swarm overlord like Daggoth. It is obviously easier to control, but it is by no means powerful among Cerebrate.

"This is no harder than me simultaneously running two thousand alt accounts and arguing with those humans in the Confederate Banner community (a spin-off online community of a magazine published by the Confederate Marine Corps)." The Cerebrate Alpha displayed its confidence as a Swarm leader.

Just like the Overmind, the Cerebrate can multitask while commanding millions or tens of millions of Zerg, controlling different groups simultaneously. The reason why the Brood Queen, who is also a higher Zerg, does not have an entire clan like the Cerebrate is because their duties have been specialized to guard the nest and reproduce the race.

Each Revolutionary Army ship carried a Kydarin Crystal communicator that Augustus smuggled from Artanis, so the captains immediately carried out the Marshal's orders—these devices were, of course, only on loan, and the Protoss Empire did not support foreign exchange transactions.

Outside the portholes of the Hyperion, as soon as the Fleets crew manually pried open the ship's hatches, a large number of Mutalisk lined up and took flight from over a hundred transport ships (Mimics fly through their exhaust vents, flapping their wings is instinctive), approaching the UED Fleets from all directions like a swarm of bats, followed by the Scourge and the even larger Swarm Devourer.

Some Zerg have also undergone mechanical exoskeleton modifications, including mechanical eyes as large as car headlights and rocket boosters, which are clearly the result of research from the Cerberus Engineering. However, these are mostly flashy but impractical designs with little effect.

In just a few minutes, tens of thousands of Zerg took off from the cargo hold of the Revolutionary Army Fleets. Even though this was only a speck of dust compared to a real Swarm, it was still enough to blot out the sun.

"The Swarm craves blood." The Cerebrate Alpha is, in the strictest sense, a cold-blooded monster; it shows no mercy and no hesitation before slaughter. Under the Cerebrate's control, thousands of Zerg warriors advance through the UED Fleets's barrage, tearing apart every ship and enemy they encounter.

"The Swarm is boiling; we are devouring the world."

The UED Fleets, which was attacking the Revolutionary Army, was clearly caught off guard. Neither the captain nor the crew was prepared to fight the Zerg, but that did not mean they would back down.

The UED Fleets was equipped with cluster rocket swarms and powerful laser weapons far surpassing those of the Terran warships, and its firepower was generally superior to that of the Confederacy Fleets. Amidst bursts of bright flashes, dense rockets and orange-red laser beams sweeping across the dark depths of space drew breathtaking, fiery arcs, demonstrating the Protoss Fleets's power in piercing space and opening up battlefields with its energy beams.

Groups of Mutalisk were blasted into pieces by laser cannons and cluster missiles, with large chunks of debris and blood floating in the vacuum.

Augustus stood on the bridge, his face constantly illuminated by the flashes of gunfire. Because the Hyperion's sensors were either damaged or frequently disconnected due to the electromagnetic pulse waves, it was difficult to get a full view of the battlefield with the naked eye.

The distance and coverage area between the Revolutionary Army Fleets and the UED Fleets alone exceeded 10 astronomical units. Meanwhile, warships and ships from both sides continued to jump into the battlefield, and countless ships gleamed in the light of cannon fire and stars.

"Release more Zerg," Augustus said coldly. "Throw out all the Zerg- carrying bays and give them all to the UED."

"Launch them all," Major General Arcturus added.

Like hundreds of restless beehives thrown out, the swarming Swarm multiplied exponentially. The numbers on the Hyperion's life signal detection platform, which was still barely functioning, were jumping wildly, and the red lights flashing on the bridge became even more dazzling.

In less than ten minutes, approximately 200,000 Zerg flew toward the UED Fleets. Most of these Zerg came from eggs captured by the Revolutionary Army, while the remainder were wild individuals captured by the Cerebrate Alpha. This number might not be enough to immediately overwhelm the enemy Fleets, but it was enough to terrify the Earthlings on the other side.

In the worlds under the Revolutionary Army that had previously suffered from the invasion of the Zerg and ultimately survived, Augustus dispatch elite extermination forces at the request of the local inhabitants to eradicate the Zerg nests hidden in the mountains or underground caves, while the Zerg eggs would be taken back for research.

Learning from the experience of the Terran Confederacy, Augustus established his alien laboratories in distant worlds far removed from human civilization, recruiting talent only through Cerberus branches in Antiga and Umojan. It was also a Cerebrate that Augustus to do this.

As it turns out, the Cerebrate is indeed priceless.

In comparison, it would be much more cost-effective to directly control a Cerebrate, although this Cerebrate is not entirely obedient.

"Although I'm not as kind-hearted and compassionate as I used to be, fighting alongside insects still makes me uncomfortable." Tychus Finley has been much more well-behaved lately.

"Many of our brothers died at the hands of the Zerg. What will those who remain in this world, burdened by their suffering, think?"

"But if it weren't for the Zerg, Alexei Stukov would have already annihilated the entire Revolutionary Army Fleets here." Kerrigan was surprised by the golden humanity in Tychus, which was probably why this old rogue hadn't degenerated into a great villain.

It must be said that if Augustus hadn't brought the Zerg, this would have been his final resting place. Alexei Stukov had laid a trap in the Tarsonis system, but Augustus had already anticipated his plans countless times.

"The electromagnetic field covering the Tarsonis system has turned all our warships and ships into sitting ducks; the Zerg are the key to victory."

As the horde of Mutalisk approached the UED warship, they were met with devastating firepower, their wreckage floating in deep space layer upon layer like ashes rising in the air currents. But the situation immediately reversed when the first Mutalisk pierced through the barrage and hooked its claws onto the ship's hull.

Bright fireballs and lightning-like currents kept flashing in the distance darkness. These were swarms of Scourge crashing into the warship. At the moment of impact, their bodies underwent a radical chemical transformation, and each monster with a wingspan of over twenty feet was no less than a large space torpedo.

The Swarm Devourer, resembling giant hornets, sprayed large, high-speed swarms of corrosive acid spores from an extremely long distance, etching ugly scars into the gleaming armor coating of the UED Fleets's ships.

UED warships and escort vessels continued to explode in dazzling flames, their towering alloy steel broadsides and blasting cannons enough to make them look down on any human force in the Koprulu Sector.

However, the Zerg's fighting style is like a frenzied swarm of bees; those deadly Scourge of mosquitoes are indiscriminate, even against friend and foe. Given the right opportunity, a few Scourge can penetrate a battered Valkyrie missile frigate and destroy the warship along with any Mutalisk already inside.

Augustus and his companions seemed to be watching a spectacular fireworks display, a dazzling display that was extremely far away, at least as far as the distance between the Earth and the Moon. The fireworks, which consumed the UED warships, were as brilliant as summer flowers.

"This is a necessary price to pay; a few dead insects are better than dead people." Arcturus sighed. "If it's not them who die, it'll be us."

"Given that, I don't think anyone would hesitate on how to choose. Moreover, I don't believe you have a better way to deal with the UED's electromagnetic interference weapons; they are revolutionary in modern warfare."

"It's no secret within the Revolutionary Army that there's a lazy, gluttonous Cerebrate being raised in the alien labs at the rear. It was the first Cerebrate we captured, and at the time, it was truly exhilarating," Augustus.

"We are not seeking power from demons, but rather mastering them."

The prospect of fighting alongside the Zerg had a significant impact on the Revolutionary Army soldiers, causing unease among those who harbored painful memories of the Zerg. However, this did not affect Augustus's reputation or shake his position.

Since the use of Zerg was intended to reduce casualties among the warriors, the warriors could barely accept it. After all, they had fought alongside the Protoss before, and dealing with Zerg was nothing new to them.

If you want to control a Swarm, then capturing a Cerebrate is undoubtedly the best option.

The hive can only function efficiently under the will of the Cerebrate. Controlling the Zerg is not as simple as implanting brain control chips or creating Resocialized Soldier chemical agents. Cerberus Project has been underway for four years, but has yet to yield significant results, and this is not due to the incompetence of the project's scientists.

The most crucial point is that the higher Zerg directly control other Zerg through Psionics based on the mind of the main hive. This means that unless the brain of an individual Zerg is completely replaced with mechanical neural reconstruction technology, the Cerebrate can easily gain control of the Cerberus Zerg.

However, at present, doing so would be like throwing money into a bottomless pit, which is extremely costly. If the Cerberus Executive Committee cannot reduce the cost of the Zerg, they will always remain an expensive luxury that cannot be mass-produced and deployed to the battlefield.

In the unsettling silence, Augustus could only gaze at the occasional bursts of dazzling fireworks in the distant deep sky.

Meanwhile, engineers on the Hyperion were extinguishing the burning cables and repairing damaged equipment, at least to restore basic communications. All the Revolutionary Army warships were engaged in similar work; until these colossal, city-sized behemoths were put back into motion, they would remain steel tombs floating in space.

Compared to large warships, frigates and smaller vessels suffer greater damage from electromagnetic pulse waves. Thanks to the modular design of the Terran Confederacy's heavy industry, the equipment components and wiring of various ships can now be mass-produced and replaced, making it possible to repair most damaged systems without worrying about finding spare parts.

Augustus hoped that the number of casualties caused by the fire and explosion of the power lines would be as small as possible.

However, as long as the UED's electromagnetic field production equipment in Tarsonis remains operational, the Revolutionary Army Fleets will find it difficult to disengage.

"The enemy is about to retreat; they've retreated," said the Cerebrate Alpha. "I need more Zerg to pursue these humans; even the Overmind can't fight a battle without troops."

Give them to me!

At this moment, the Cerebrate truly resembled the Swarm's Overmind, cruel and cold. For the Cerebrate Alpha, which had extensive knowledge of human Game, controlling the Swarm in combat was nothing more than a delicate micro-management exercise, befitting a master of real-time strategy Game.

"Enough." Augustus n't about to let this Cerebrate control the Zerg, a force capable of destroying everyone. "Ignore the retreating enemy. I need you to bring me some prisoners, the higher the rank, the better, preferably technicians and commanders."

"You know about the UED's rank system. I don't believe a Cerebrate capable of understanding human university courses would be completely ignorant of this."

Augustus needs some high-ranking UED officers to find out the location of the electromagnetic field generators before he can continue his advance toward Tarsonis after destroying these devices.

"You're forcing the Cerebrate to lay eggs, that's impossible." The Cerebrate Alpha tilted its neckless head, as if in confusion.

"Humans will not surrender to the Zerg unless they are terrified to the point of madness."

"That's what makes humanity so precious," Kerrigan scoffed.

"You know what to do," Augustus said to the Cerebrate. "My scientists told me that you are highly intelligent, like a human child."

"Hmph, if you're pleading with a great Swarm Master," the Cerebrate interrupted Augustus, "Of course, I'll grant your request."

"Then you must order all the Zerg to return to their original ships—each one is marked, so you have no chance to cheat," Augustus.

"Well, humans are inherently suspicious and greedy," the Cerebrate said.

Then, in footage from a newly repaired camera, the UED Fleets was seen scattering and fleeing back to Tarsonis homeworld. Some of the battered warships were left behind, engulfed in flames, while the empty spaces were crawling with Zerg.

For the enemy, this must have been a nightmare. Augustus almost smell the blood of the wounded and the charred smell of burning corpses, but that only made his heart grow colder and strengthened his resolve to defeat Alexei Stukov and the United Earth Directorate Expeditionary Fleet.

"Alexei Stukov, we don't have many good moves left," Augustus.

"Let me see what your next move is."