Umojan Kel-Morian: Pop the Champagne!

By the end of December that year, Empress Sarah Kerrigan took her daughter, Louis, aboard a private shuttle from Bennett Starport in Augustgrad, bound for the Sky Shield orbital defense platform above Korhal.

The brightly lit Augustgrad gradually blurred into a dazzling sea of lights. This great city had been expanding for the past eight years, its urban area occupying an entire continent, and it looked immense even from orbit.

Now, that exaggerated momentum had finally slowed, its sharp edges drawn in. Environmental improvement projects had gradually been placed on the Imperial government's agenda, and hints of green could be seen throughout the city.

When the private shuttle broke free of Korhal's gravity and entered orbit, the first thing Kerrigan saw was the Sky Shield's incomparably magnificent lower structure. Countless space transports were entering and leaving the anchorage beneath it, each carrying tons upon tons of military supplies.

There were more fighters patrolling here than anywhere else on Korhal. Larger light cruisers and destroyers could occasionally be seen as well. Hercules transports were mainly used to carry Imperial soldiers, and the number of troops aboard them numbered far beyond tens of thousands.

The sight was even more spectacular when viewed from above the Sky Shield.

Sky Shield was a metallic wasteland suspended above the Imperial capital world, shrouded in an enormous artificial atmosphere. A pale blue shield field blocked the deadly radiation of space, creating a sky-blue vault overhead.

A massive pentagonal shield-shaped emblem covered the center of Sky Shield. Within it, a sharp-rayed sun rose from the orbital platform above Korhal, shaped like a crown.

To this day, Sky Shield remained the largest single installation in Terran history. All the other orbital defense platforms above Korhal combined did not equal even a tenth of it, while the Umojan mobile