The Umojan Shadow Guard
When Augustus's mother, Katherine Mengsk, heard the news, she was preparing to announce the start of the banquet and share the news of her youngest son's safe return with everyone.
Katherine was truly startled; it was the first time Augustus had ever seen so many expressions, including blankness, shock, anger, and joy, appear on his mother's face in turn.
"You mean, Arcturus has a son? When did this happen? Why didn't he tell me? What's the girl's name? Where are they? How old is the child? Show me a picture." Katherine slumped in her chair, and after the initial shock, she suddenly bombarded Augustus with a series of questions.
"I have a little nephew?" Dorothy was sitting next to her mother, who was no longer an innocent little girl. Although she wasn't particularly tall, her soft breasts were already beginning to take shape.
"Brother, will he like the little dresses you wore?"
As Augustus felt as if an arrow had pierced his chest. He wanted to remind his sister that he hadn't worn a skirt for many years, but saying it didn't seem quite right.
So Augustus pretended not to hear anything and showed his mother the photo of Valerian that Ailin had sent him on his personal terminal. "Remember Juliana, the Pasteur Family's daughter? This is Arcturus with her child, Valerian."
"That's a good name, Valerian. He looks just like me." Katherine was no longer angry, but looked at Valerian's photo with delight.
"Let me see!" Dorothy squeezed in from behind her brother.
It was a blond little boy wearing black overalls and a small shirt, playing in the stream at the Pasteur Family estate. Valerian had milky white skin, and like Augustus, he also had high cheekbones, an eagle-shaped nose, and the Mengsk Family's signature cold gray eyes. His smooth, shoulder-length blond hair was tied into a cute little ponytail.
Augustus noticed that although Valerian was still just a child, he was much thinner than his peers, with overly slender arms that were almost devoid of flesh, and a frail demeanor, far less robust and energetic than Arcturus had been as a child.
She looks a bit like a little girl.
"He also looks a lot like Angus. When Valerian frowns, he looks exactly like his grandfather." Katherine flipped through the photos for a while, her joyful expression gradually fading. As the guests began to eat, her expression became very serious, and she sat up straight, displaying the authority of the matriarch of a large family.
"Tell me what happened. Tell me exactly what Augustus Pasteur told you, and don't try to excuse your brother."
Shaking his head, Augustus told his mother everything, and advised her to forgive his brother.
"Hmph!" Katherine was still furious, but she knew that Arcturus couldn't be entirely blamed. He himself was unaware of the situation and never imagined that Juliana would become pregnant from just one night of pleasure at Tyrador IX.
"Actually, Arcturus doesn't know?"
"I can't get in touch with him." Augustus wanted to say something nice about his brother, but after a moment he decided to ignore him.
"Arcturus' current expedition team is likely thousands of light-years away from us, and their communication equipment is decades old and severely outdated. It may take one to two months for them to receive messages."
"He shouldn't have done that." Katherine sighed, said nothing more, and simply stroked Valerian's photograph.
Over the years, Ailin Pasteur stood with the Mengsk Family, as both a friend and a comrade-in-arms, Katherine felt that they owed the Pasteur Family a great deal.
"This poor child has never seen his father since birth. He is a member of the Mengsk Family, and we have a responsibility to raise and educate him," she said. "He has also never met his grandparents. I really want to meet this child. But Korhal is in great danger right now."
"Valerian is currently in Umojan, at the Pasteur Family's estate far from the city. Ailin can arrange a sufficiently discreet interstellar journey for you and Dorothy, ensuring you arrive in Umojan without anyone knowing," Augustus said immediately.
"To counter the threat from the Terran Confederacy, the Umojan Protectorate has been established. They are constructing an orbital platform in their home planet's geosynchronous orbit to counter the Confederacy's Fleets. All trade will take place in low-gravity ports on their satellites, and any Confederacy ships that enter the atmosphere without permission will be shot down by anti-aircraft guns. Meanwhile, I will arrange for your decoys to divert the Confederacy's attention."
"It's safe enough there."
"You're too impatient. I know you want to get us to a safer place. I do want to see little Valerian, but over the years I've learned to be patient and wait."
Katherine looked into her son's cold, gray eyes. "Korhal is indeed in chaos right now, with staunch supporters of the Confederacy, Kel-Morian sympathizers, Korhal separatists, revolutionaries, Confederacy secret police, and agents."
"Yes, the most direct and effective way is to stay away from the center of the revolution," she said. "We should send Dorothy to the Pasteur Family. But your father still needs me, and I must stay by his side."
"Angus was already isolated, and the senators of the Korhal Senate and the nobles of Sterling were constantly looking to bring him down."
"In Korhal, only the people support him, but the people are too far removed from him."
Before Dorothy could speak, Augustus spoke again, "The situation is far more serious than you imagine. I have reliable intelligence that the Terran Confederacy is training a group of agents with powerful Psionics, capable of carrying out assassinations silently. They are the most ruthless and efficient killers among humans. Assassination is a common tactic of the Confederacy, and Father deserves their most powerful assassins."
"Even if we employ a hundred or a thousand defensive measures, it's difficult to guarantee absolute safety. Please believe me, Mother. Only when we are certain that nothing will happen to you can Father and I fully dedicate ourselves to the revolutionary cause."
"Training Psionics into super soldiers? They actually did that?" Katherine knew some of the inside story, which is why she was even more shocked when she learned of this.
"The Confederacy has been doing this for at least a decade or more, or even longer." Augustus looked at his mother with unwavering eyes.
"Do you understand the gravity of the situation? Psionics possess supernatural powers. We don't know if they're still considered human or if they've evolved into a new kind of humanity. God knows what they really are. It wouldn't be surprising if Psionics had the ability to pass through walls like spirits."
"But what about you and your father?" Katherine Augustus; she realized that she and her daughter would only be a burden.
"We'll be fine. I'm trying to get the necessary support from Umojan, better anti-stealth equipment, and more elite Umojan Protectorate soldiers." Augustus breathed a sigh of relief.
"I believe that Umojan is also training Psionics agents, but this must be top secret. If Ailin isn't lying to me, then even he, an elected member of parliament, is unaware of this. However, Ailin promised that I would discuss with the parliament the possibility of sending Umojan Psionics to Korhal. With their protection, our safety will be truly guaranteed."
Augustus remembered that Umojan also had Ghost operative known as the Shadow Guard. Perhaps they wouldn't be a match for Sarah Kerrigan, the most powerful Ghost operative in history, but it was still better than having a group of ordinary people fight against Psionics.
"Alright. Dorothy and I will leave Korhal." Katherine agreed.
"Augustus, after the banquet, go to your father's. Angus is in the Mengsk Sky Tower in Sterling; he needs to know about this."
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