Narud, the Light of Humanity

"The Aleksander has reached the escape velocity of the Agria and, according to calculations, will open a one-way wormhole in 30 seconds."

The Adjutant's cold, synthesized female voice reminded Augustus that the Aleksander had abandoned the infected Fleets and was accelerating away from the battlefield, "Marking positions."

"It's unbelievable. Most of the stuff on the Aleksander is now scrap metal, and there are no warp engineers to maintain it anymore. Is she now using Psionics warp?" Kerrigan wearing ordinary Imperial Navy officer's uniform, but the golden wolf on the buckle of her tightly cinched belt indicated her connection to the royal family.

At this moment, the overloaded solar core engine's brilliance enveloped the entire Hyperion in a shield brimming with solar energy, making it appear as if it were bathed in dazzling golden light as it climbed higher, with several Imperial battlecruisers following closely behind.

"I'm afraid that's true." Dr. Narud walked to the star chart platform and pulled up the supercomputer's analysis report from the control terminal, "The Aleksander is a thing of the past, and this one is just a behemoth created by Carlos using its wreckage, an Avenger reborn from its corpse."

"If the Aleksander is allowed to escape, the Empire will continue to live in Carlos's shadow." The doctor spoke with deep concern, as if lamenting the fate of humanity.

"Only we can stop her!"

"Lieutenant, what are the chances of successfully stopping her before Alexander completes her jump?" Augustus glanced at Narud, thinking to himself that this Xel'Naga's righteous indignation was enough to make many humans blush with shame.

"34%, Commander," the Adjutant said. "Main gun fully charged and ready to fire."

The warp drive technology has not yet been developed, making it impossible to prevent ships equipped with Warp Drive from escaping. In particular, flagships like the Aleksander, which can open spacetime channels to lead their Fleets to jump, are even more difficult to counter by using warp drive to escape the battlefield.

The Confederacy Navy's standard operating procedure is to approach and closely follow an enemy warship that is preparing to jump, blocking its jump path—an extremely risky but effective method.

Space pirates are adept at raiding trading caravans, and Edmond Duke once tried to use this method to stop the flagship of Protoss High Executor Tassadar, but this stubborn act was quickly proven useless by the Protoss.

The Aleksander crashed in Char simply because it was overwhelmed by the Zerg in less than two minutes, and even the best warp engines require several hours of preparation beforehand.

After being infected by the Zerg, Alexander's method of warp-crossing changed fundamentally. Extremely rare Psionics organs grew in her body, enabling her to warp-cross like the Swarm Behemoth and Leviathan.

"The Aleksander has opened a small wormhole and is jumping into it," the Adjutant said.

After escaping Agria's gravitational field, the Aleksander opened a small, blue-glowing wormhole, rippling with colorful, oily waves. Its size was far smaller than the one opened by the Swarm Overmind, but large enough to support a battlecruiser without collapsing.

In a split second, the Hyperion could have chosen to follow the Aleksander into the wormhole and warp together, but no one knew what would happen afterward. What lay beyond was likely a wormhole or a collapsing neutron star, its immense gravity powerful enough to tear any warship apart.

Even so, the other warships couldn't keep up with the Hyperion.

"Abandon the pursuit, Fleets return to port and await orders." In a fraction of a second, Augustus made the decision.

Augustus quite confident in the Hyperion's performance; two years ago, he might have already caught up, but he wouldn't now. Even if the Emperor's whereabouts were merely unknown, the newly established Terran Empire would quickly disintegrate.

"Don't pursue a cornered enemy," Dr. Narud said immediately.

That old fox Narud knows when to fan the flames and when to play the coward, his timing is impeccable. It's truly remarkable how he's managed to do this for Amon's grand plan.

"This is an obvious trap. The Aleksander suddenly appeared, feigning a retreat to lure the enemy into pursuit. The Zerg also use tactics; they are another advanced civilization, and the intelligence of their hive mind is in no way inferior to that of humans," Kerrigan continued.

"This trick works every time it's used on Edmond Duke, but it's useless against humans with brains."

"That's giving Duke, that Viper, too much credit. That bastard's rotten to the core," Tychus added.

Tychus is now a seasoned veteran, not usually cheeky but knowing who to mess with. Plus, he's an old subordinate of the Emperor and has connections with the Heaven's Devils faction, so if things get really bad, he can get away with throwing a tantrum.

Although he was only a captain, in the Terran Empire, no one would dare to disrespect old Tychus. Moreover, the Revolutionary Army, represented by the Heaven's Devils, had always been at odds with the generals who had surrendered from the Confederacy.

Warfield disliked arguing with others, and Raynor, Harnack, and Tychus wouldn't give Duke, Haller, and Gregory, those former Confederacy generals, any face. The former mocked the latter as defeated opponents, while the latter looked down on them for lacking military education. And when the Navy and Marine Corps asked for funding, the situation became even more chaotic.

"Duke is still quite loyal." Augustus shook his head. "Although he's still as stubborn as before, he's learned his lesson to some extent. He thinks about whether he has enough men before he takes action."

Before long, Augustus's words would reach Duke's ears, surely making that ambitious fellow smug.

Duke didn't have a good reputation in the Imperial Army either. He was a competent commander, though he didn't think much in battle, but his strength lay in his sheer courage.

This guy would fight to the death even if he only had a rock in his hand, and he never reasoned with the enemy. It has to be said that not everyone could withstand the rapid offensive of the Alpha Squadron.

Moreover, Duke had surrendered to Augustus long ago and was now a lieutenant general commanding the Alpha Legion of the Imperial Navy. Returning to Tarsonis was a triumphant moment for him.

In the past, the Duke Family members were heartbroken by Edmond Duke's betrayal and distanced themselves from him, saying he had only been given a mind-distorting drug. Now, they just say, "Well done, Edmond!"

Of the Old Families of the past, only Terra, Holt, Bennett, Duke, and a few dozen other smaller families have survived to this day, all because they chose the right side in time or had offspring who held high positions in the Imperial Army.

"Can you still pinpoint the coordinates of the Aleksander?" Augustus asked after a moment of silence.

"The Aleksander has completely disappeared from our location," the Adjutant replied quickly.

If the Aleksander had a tracking device or spies, Augustus would have been able to pinpoint their location in no time, but that's unlikely to be possible now.

"This is the first appearance of the Aleksander. Since there has been this, there will be another one soon." Dr. Narud chuckled.

"Regardless, you have achieved victory, Agria is once again in His Majesty's hands."

"No need for flattery, Narud." Augustus waved his hand. "Shut down the overload and start the conventional reactor."

"Order the Fleets to return to high altitude, and the air regiments that carried out the bombing mission to return to port for repairs. The Battle of Agria is over, and it went as smoothly as I predicted."

"Order Harnack to send ground troops to further clear the infection." He showed little regret over losing the Aleksander, then continued, "Tell Bernard Hansen that the first tranche of one billion credits for the Empire's Agria reconstruction project has arrived. Before I leave, construction of the new city must begin."

Although the replacement of the currency has been put on the agenda, it is not something that can be done overnight. At present, the Terran Empire still uses Confederacy Credits, while currency featuring portraits of royal family members such as Augustus's grandfather is still in production.

Without any further complications, the Hyperion safely returned to Agria's high-altitude orbit.

That evening, Augustus attended a brief press conference and mentioned Agria's victory.

Meanwhile, Augustus also brought more good news: after the Imperial Fleets arrived, the Red Witch Swarm had invaded Taradorn and its leader, Prince Tosh of the Blades, left shortly afterward.

Although more worlds still under the control of the Confederacy's Old Families were subsequently visited by Tosh, the Imperial Fleets was doing its utmost to provide support.

In addition, the Tal'darim Fleets, which had already destroyed three human worlds, also retreated in disarray under the attack of the Fleets led by Marshal Warfield. Immediately afterwards, in response to the Taldarim invasion, the Imperial Marshals launched a counterattack against the Protoss in the Monlyth, Shil, Typhon and Sigma quadrants and won a series of victories, greatly boosting the morale of the Empire.

Although the enemy came with great force, the Terran Dominion's Fleets was, after all, a battle-hardened force, and it also had the support of its Protoss allies. The battles at Char and Aiur had forged a valiant and skilled army for Augustus, which was precisely what he relied on to look down on Koprulu.

For Augustus, as long as he completely repelled or even destroyed Carlos's Griffin Swarm, he could return home in triumph.

Three days later, Augustus left Agria, leaving behind two full-strength marine divisions with over 50,000 men, thousands of tanks, armored personnel carriers, railguns, and two battlecruisers.

Because more than a dozen other worlds were under attack by the Griffin Swarm, Augustus the first to arrive in Agria, not only because it was the first planet to be invaded, but also because of its position within the Empire's territory.

There are eight of them, Augustus has already sent reinforcements there. The infection there is still in its early stages and is not so difficult to deal with.

Augustus's next destination is Seth, a nearly primitive alien world, a world where most of the land is surrounded by ocean. Tropical palm trees and giant waves tailor-made for surfing enthusiasts are some of Seth's defining features.

Of course, the local residents are mainly workers in the high-energy gas plant. However, unlike other regions, Seth's high-energy gas extraction plant belongs to the local colonists rather than a monopoly of the Terran Confederacy.

This also means that Seth does not welcome the arrival of the Terran Empire, as they fear that the Empire's intervention will disrupt the balance of the local mining guilds.

When the Zerg invaded the world, the Seth didn't care about anything else; they would obey whoever could save them.

On December 12, Augustus's Fleets arrived at Seth.

On the Hyperion's main screen, Seth appears as a strange sphere of interwoven yellow and blue hues, with scattered green dots dotting the islands separated by the ocean.

Seth's global resources are untapped, and sporadic civilian colonization is insufficient to form large-scale human settlements, although the location of the Zerg invasion can be determined entirely by the dark spots on Seth's surface on the star map.

Computer analysis showed that the number of Zerg in Seth was not large; what truly drove the locals to despair was the incurable disease.

"Dr. Narud, is it time to show me your new technology?" Augustus said, glancing at Narud standing beside him, while Kerrigan and Tychus remained at the Emperor's side.

After the Battle of Agria, Lieutenant General Alexei Stukov was kept in the small cell on the Hyperion, which was usually used to detain soldiers who violated military regulations, such as Tychus, who often got into trouble after drinking a little alcohol.

However, Tychus's joy was short-lived, Augustus immediately had an iron cage built for him.

Since witnessing the horrific state of the Aleksander after it was infected, Alexei Stukov had remained silent. For a time, he even considered committing suicide by starvation, but his hatred for the Zerg kept him alive.

Fueled by hatred for the Zerg, Alexei Stukov even decided to join the Imperial Army, but he never received a reply from Augustus.

Perhaps the emperor didn't trust this earthling, or perhaps he simply wanted to make it clear that he only had one chance to surrender.

"It's not much of an invention; anyone could have come up with that idea."

Narud chuckled and said, "By mimicking the Zerg's method of spreading viral spores, we can effectively eradicate the Zerg infection by spraying large amounts of antidote serum into the planet's atmosphere via warships and drones."

"The activity of surface Zerg will also be affected to some extent by the antidote serum. This is the most effective method after overcoming the bottleneck of large-scale serum production."

"I have a question. What if the Zerg covers its nose?" Tychus chuckled.

"Captain Tychus, the Zerg don't cover their noses." Narud showed anger, but dared not provoke Tychus.

"Very good," Augustus.

Several transport ships departed the Fleets and entered the Seth atmosphere to release treated antidote serum.

"How are your experiments going? I mean the projects on the Hive Mind Simulator and the Psi Crusher. I heard you've made another major breakthrough." Augustus added, as if remembering something, "You are the most authoritative Zerg physiologist in the Imperium."

"If you succeed, you will save billions of people. Narud, you are the savior of humanity."