This multi-layered mobile fortress was a strategic-class weapon of the Umojan Protectorate. The combined area of its tiers equaled that of a moon, containing nuclear missile silos, physical laboratories, research stations, and several giant shipyards.
When necessary, the massive Umojan mobile base could use a hyperspatial warp engine to jump to other star systems. At present, the Umojan Protectorate had deployed such fortresses across multiple nodal systems—some even as far as beyond the Koprulu Sector.
Today, it was not only Augustus's sister Dorothy and his nephew Valerian who had come. His mother, Catherine, was standing there watching him, accompanied by hundreds of security personnel and Umojan soldiers shouldering Gauss rifles.
These Umojan soldiers wore deep-blue formal military uniforms and tall pointed caps adorned with pale-yellow plumes. On the woolen single-breasted tunics, the chest bore the emblem of the Umojan Protectorate embroidered in blue and white threads, while golden tassels hung from their epaulets.
Their bearing was upright and disciplined; there was no flaw Augustus could find in their immaculate formation.
In addition to Lieutenant General Aion Stamford, whom Augustus had already met, an admiral of the Umojan Defense Navy and two sector commanders had also arrived today.
"Augustus, we've all missed you so much." Dorothy Mengsk lifted the trailing hem of her long gown and ran up to her brother, throwing her arms tightly around him.
At eighteen, Dorothy was as beautiful and enchanting as her mother had been in her youth. The brows she inherited from the Mengsk family lent her a distinct heroic grace, and her deep-gray pupils shone like polished jade. Dorothy was no longer the little one in her father's and brother's eyes—the tiny girl who had wandered about clutching her pony doll. She had grown into a tall, long-legged beauty, her cheeks full of youthful vitality.
Standing on tiptoe, Dorothy wrapped her arms around her brother's neck and rubbed her cheek against his, like a sweet, affectionate cat.
If anyone thought that the daughter of Angus and Catherine was a frail, pampered noble lady, they would pay dearly for their foolishness. Now, under her parents' direction, Dorothy Mengsk already controlled two-thirds of the enterprises under the Mengsk family. Her talent in management and finance allowed her to run the financial empire once belonging to the Mengsks with ease.
Her many high-return investments across Umoja soon proved her exceptional insight in the financial field—Dorothy was undoubtedly a genius in that regard.
And just like her father and brothers, Dorothy was also a master of swordsmanship and combat. Even without a sword in hand, she could take down an ordinary grown man within two moves. If armed, she could wield a knight's twin-edged greatsword to cleave through wolves and leopards alike.
"That's the boss's sister," Harnack exclaimed, pointing at Augustus's back in surprise. "Damn, that's the finest chick I've ever seen in my life."
The moment he said that, Harnack immediately covered his mouth, terrified that Augustus might have heard.
"She's his blood sister," Tychus reacted indifferently. He knew that Dorothy Mengsk's identity and status were nearly equivalent to that of the Princess of Korhal IV—if anyone dared to harm her, her outrageously powerful brothers would instantly have that person executed by firing squad or fed to the Zerg.
Tychus still preferred the women in strip clubs; by comparison, the ones around Augustus were all inexplicably dangerous.
"Augustus values that sister of his more than anything. Back on Turaxis II, he was always tense, like a ferocious lion. Only when writing letters to his sister would he become gentle," said Raynor.
"That's really rare—no wonder he always ignored me whenever I asked him to play cards," Harnack said, then looked at Valerian standing behind Dorothy. "Rich families sure have a lot of sisters."
"I remember Augustus saying he only had one sister. He also has a nephew—that's his brother Arcturus's son," Raynor said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.
"Maybe I remembered wrong." He shrugged, not particularly interested in the matter.
"That's a boy," Sarah Kerrigan said as she looked at Valerian, reading his deeper memories through psionic resonance.
...
"Uncle Augustus." At that moment, Valerian walked up beside Augustus.
"I've always remembered what you told me—to practice swordsmanship and study books on politics and economics. Now they can no longer call me a sissy. I'm a man now."
While Dorothy clung affectionately in Augustus's arms, Valerian looked up at his uncle.
It was evident that Valerian's Umojan Pasteur lineage had given him beautiful golden hair and gentle facial features, while from the Mengsk family he had inherited the sharply curved aquiline nose and storm-gray eyes.
"Valerian, little Val," Augustus said. "Looks like I won't be able to carry you for much longer."
"You've done well—those born of the Mengsk family are destined for greatness." He repeated the words of his father, Angus—words that each generation of the Mengsks had taught their descendants.
Having said that, Augustus took his nephew's hand and led him toward his mother. As they walked, he waved toward the Umojan generals beside her and the soldiers standing in formation to welcome them.
Kerrigan, Raynor, and the others followed behind Augustus, forming a moving fan-shaped formation together with the ranks of Revolutionary Army soldiers trailing in the rear. Everyone's eyes were on Augustus; at that moment, it was as though all the lights in the room had converged upon him alone.
Augustus wore a sharply pressed dark-gray military uniform, draped in a deep crimson cloak, a bronze medal pinned to his chest. Holding Dorothy's hand in one and Valerian's in the other, he moved with the air of a head of state walking the red carpet at a diplomatic ceremony.
"Hello, Admiral Ted." Augustus shook hands one by one with the Umojan naval admirals, then waved in greeting. At noble banquets, Augustus had always been elegant and eloquent; now, every movement of his exuded authority.
"Lieutenant General Heinz, I'd already heard back on Korhal of your brilliant feat in crushing the Trinidad Pirates."
The Umojan generals, too, demonstrated exceptional composure and refinement. All of them had graduated from the Protectorate's military academies, having reached their current positions through ability and accumulated service, not through family reputation.
Officers of the Terran Confederacy's nobility were accustomed to arrogance and command, always lofty and self-satisfied. The officer system of the Kel-Morian Combine, by contrast, was entirely different from that of other regimes—their officers were more akin to corporate executives than to professional soldiers in the strict sense.
Senior officers of the Umojan military generally came from civilian and middle-class backgrounds. Their promotion paths were comparatively fair, allowing soldiers to attain their rightful status by merit rather than background. There was no shortage of capable officers within the Umojan ranks—they were far from incompetent.
Augustus conversed with the generals for quite some time. He briefly mentioned several key deployments during his campaign on Mar Sara, and then spoke of an encounter with an alien race on another planet.
The Umojan generals took this very seriously. For a long time, the Protectorate had sought to obtain mysterious technologies from the alien ruins they had discovered, but as they had never come into direct contact with the Protoss, little substantial progress had been made so far.
With just a few words, Augustus had already struck the Umojans' itch, and under the generals' persistent questioning, he reluctantly mentioned that he had pried loose quite a number of intact Tal'darim Protoss altars and seized several extraordinary psionic weapons.
Immediately, the Umojan generals decided they would pay a hefty price for those altars and Protoss weapons.
After some time, Augustus finally managed to deal with the overly enthusiastic Umojan officers and promised that the cooperation between the Revolutionary Army and the Umojan Defense Forces would, as always, include the sharing of technology.
Skirting around the Umojan generals and leaving Raynor and the others to handle them, Augustus finally approached his mother, Catherine.
"Mother, I'll be staying in Umoja for a while." Augustus now stood much taller than his mother—he was broader and more imposing than two years ago, his shoulders wide enough to seem capable of holding up a mountain.
It pained Augustus to see that his mother's face had gained a few more wrinkles, though he knew that no one could escape the passage of time.
"Augustus, my child," Catherine said with a smile.
"You're no longer that toddler who stumbled when learning to walk. Your wings have grown strong; you're long capable of braving the wind and flying on your own. We no longer worry that you'll drift through life aimlessly, but we're always afraid that someday bad news from the Revolutionary Army will reach us," she said softly.
"Angus always said you're more like your grandfather—the man who dared to cross the forest on foot with only a hunting rifle. Back then, people used to say that Augustus Mengsk was a drawn bow: the greater the threat his enemies posed, the stronger his counterattack would be."
"But I still hope you don't place too much pressure on yourself. In the letters you write to me, you always say that you bear the hopes of all Korhalians and cannot allow yourself to fail."
"I will," Augustus said after a few seconds of silence, looking at his mother.
"And Angus? I know he's joined the Umojan Council."
"He couldn't make it today," Catherine sighed. "You'll see him soon."
"I heard Angus has aged a lot—his hair's turned completely white," Augustus said.
"Once the situation stabilized, some people began blaming Angus's uprising as the root cause of Korhal IV's destruction," he said.
"Not all of us are strong and unshakable," Catherine said. "When people begin to long for the past, they inevitably place the blame for their suffering on others. And we always resent those within reach—those whose faces we can see—instead of cursing the Confederate Congress far away on Tarsonis, because they can't hear us, and they don't care."
"We can't stop the rumors and resentment," Catherine said.
"The greater the prestige Angus once held on Korhal, the harsher the backlash it brings upon him now."
"We will win," Augustus said.
"But not everyone believes that," Catherine replied. "Many of them have already lost their courage and drowned themselves in sorrow for the past."
"Angus has never tried to justify himself for Korhal's destruction. He has taken all the blame upon himself. He publicly announced that you had once strongly opposed launching the uprising prematurely and had supported him only out of necessity," she said.
"And your successive victories have gradually caused the name Augustus to replace Angus's place in the hearts of the Korhalians. They now revere you as their true savior and an undefeated god of war. As long as you reclaim Korhal, they will willingly accept your leadership."
"This honor isn't so easy for me to bear. There has never been such a thing as a savior in this world, nor any gods to rely on," Augustus said. "I am only an ordinary human being. If anyone believes me to be great, then my greatness should come from the greatness of all Korhalians—of all humankind."
At those words, Corporal Faraday and Kerrigan immediately took notes. The Pan-Terran Revolutionaries would soon list this as a mandatory maxim to study.
"Where is Arcturus now?" Augustus then asked.
"He has finished his work in the mining zone. After handing over his duties to his assistant, he's preparing to return to Umoja," Catherine said.
At that moment, Warfield, Duke, and Lundstein each disembarked from their own warships, leading a hundred-man honor guard as they advanced toward Augustus.
Warfield walked at the front. He had been Arcturus Mengsk's old subordinate and was the eldest among the generals—now the unquestioned second-in-command within the Revolutionary Army, ranking just below Marshal Augustus himself.
To Augustus, Warfield was not only a reliable general but also an elder. Most importantly, he had once learned from Arcturus's offhand jokes about Augustus's embarrassing past.
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