From Titan Corporation to the Empire of Man

Chapter 659 The Storm Before the Rain
The capital planet of the Terran Empire, namely Korhal.
The night sky on its shaded side was torn into fragments by the searchlights of the orbital defense platform.

The once prosperous Octegrad is now like a wounded "beast," huddled under the protection of an artificial force field.

The muzzles of thousands of anti-aircraft towers pointed straight at the sky, their charging coils flashing a dangerous blue light.

Sparse Imperial warships on orbit—

Most of them were old, behemoth-class battleships and hastily converted armed transport ships, which together formed a thin defensive network.

Compared to its heyday, the Khar Orbital Defenses are now like a leaky sieve.

"All close-in weapon systems charged to 120%!"

The communication channels in the ground command center were filled with anxious shouts.

The technical officers stared at several glaring gaps in the holographic sand table. The area that should have been guarded by the Third Fleet was now only occupied by a few barely functional frigates.

Valerian took not only the warships, but also the most elite crew members.

At this moment, on the surface of the earth, at the Oxtegrad Palace.

The palace complex, resembling a dark steel forest, stands in the heart of the city.

The Mengsk family flag flew from the towering spires, fluttering in the wind before the storm.

The exterior walls are coated with radiation-proof material and are also plated with lead alloy to ward off detection, giving them a sickly metallic sheen under searchlights.

The city walls, each reinforced with an electromagnetic mesh, are arranged in concentric circles, with a death zone between each wall.

Automated turrets, spider mine matrices, laser fences, and more traditional trenches, bunkers, and machine gun emplacements.

The Royal Guard, clad in CMC 660 heavy armor, patrolled the defensive lines like machines, their shoulder armor branded with the number of traitors executed.

The shoulders of some veterans are covered with a dense network of marks.

Two 20-meter-tall statues stand at the main gate of the palace:
On the left is Arcturus Mengsk holding high the flag of the Terran Empire, while on the right is a fictional hero who extends his arm to protect children during a nuclear explosion.

Ironically, the statue was made from soil from Khar, a region ravaged by nuclear bombing, and there has never been a hero to save the people there.

The top floor of the palace, representing the pinnacle of power.
The elevator doors slid open silently, revealing a corridor covered with a deep red carpet.

The walls on both sides are inlaid with various collectibles—

The crystal scepter of Speaker Tarsanis, the legionary insignia of the Umoyan National Guard, and even the specimen head of a UED officer.

Each item has a miniature projector underneath it, which plays a loop of the "glorious moment" of acquiring it.

At the end of the corridor is a heavy, imposing door.

Behind the door, Arcturus Mengsk's private domain occupies the entire top floor.

This place is less of an office and more of a small museum.

The ground is covered with chitinous shells of insects, which, after special treatment, are as smooth as black agate.

The ceiling projects a real-time star map, with important strategic nodes marked with skull symbols. The walls are floor-to-ceiling windows, using one-way light-transmitting Protoss Crystal technology, allowing one to overlook the entire city from the inside, while only reflections are visible from the outside.

At this moment, the ruler of the Terran Empire stands by the window.

Arcturus Mengsk had his back to the door and his face to the floor-to-ceiling window, with his hands folded behind his back.

His shadow fell on the glass, overlapping with the dimly lit palace complex outside the window.

The emperor was not wearing his signature formal attire, but rather a simple black military uniform, the indoor breeze ruffling his graying sideburns.

The lights outside the window suddenly went out in large numbers, leaving only a faint glow in the area within the palace's force field. This caused Mengsk's lips to twitch; this was the third energy rationing operation of the day.

"His Majesty."

A ghostly agent emerges from the shadows.

The agent, dressed in a combat suit adapted to hostile environments, reported in a voice like a rusty gear: "Just received news that His Highness the Crown Prince is returning to Khar."

Mengsk's fingers tightened slightly.

In the reflection of the glass, his eyes turned cold and sharp.

"How many rebel ships did they bring?"

“All of them,” the Ghost Agent continued his report, “and the fleet identification code has been changed to the dragon emblem of the Human Empire.”

The room suddenly fell into dead silence.

A bolt of lightning silently struck down from the clouds outside the window, illuminating half of Mengsk's face.

“Don’t forget the final plan.” His voice was eerily calm. “What if my son wants to be Tyrion’s gravedigger?”

Another bolt of lightning flashed, illuminating the fake Mengsk family portrait on the wall.

"I will make billions of people pay with their lives."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

After saying that, the ghost agent merged with the shadows and disappeared from Mengsk's sight.

The emperor turned away from the floor-to-ceiling window, went to his desk, and picked up a data tablet.

However, he hadn't even glanced at it for long before Mengsk slammed the intelligence data panel against the wall.

Bang-!
The holographic projector exploded with a burst of electric sparks upon impact.

And those images are still flickering in the air—

The moment Athena's divine body expanded to the size of a planet, her golden boots crushed the earth's crust.
The main guns of the Traveller-class dreadnoughts fired in unison, their matrix beams piercing through the swarm of insects like a hot knife through butter.
And Valerian, standing beneath the dragon emblem of the human empire, expressionlessly declared the Terran fleet's allegiance to its new master.

These images were the last intelligence sent out by Mengsk's sentries within the rebel fleet before they lost contact, and every frame pierced his nerves.

"What kind of being?" Mengsk's voice was deep and rumbled like thunder, his knuckles pressed against his temples, veins bulging, "that could make a god bow down in submission?"

Meanwhile, the other ghost agents standing silently in the shadows emitted a slight hissing sound from their breathing regulators.

They had witnessed the Emperor nuke innocent planets with nuclear bombs and execute rebels with psionic crushers, but they had never seen him show this expression before.

It wasn't fear, but a rage, like the ferocity of a wild beast discovering it's no longer at the top of the food chain.

Mengsk suddenly turned around, his boots crushing a piece of databoard debris.

He strode towards the star map projection area, his palm sweeping across the void to bring up Korhal's defensive deployment.

In the holographic image, the scattered red dots represent the remaining fleet, while the golden dots symbolizing the human empire are approaching, like a pack of wolves hunting.

“Valenian,” the Emperor uttered the name as if chewing on some deadly poison, “I underestimated his awareness.”

He knows his son too well.

Valerian was no fool, nor would he yield to mere coercion. That kid must have weighed the options: in the face of the absolute power of the human empire, resistance was tantamount to suicide, while surrender might preserve something.

"Herald!"

Three officers rushed in immediately from outside the door. Their uniforms were crisp and straight, but they could not hide the bewilderment in their eyes.

Mengsk didn't even bother to look at them, tracing a few lines on the star map with his finger.

"All fission mines planted in civilian areas, enter standby mode." His voice was eerily calm. "Orbital artillery array charged to critical point, target set to..."

Suddenly, his finger pointed to several coordinates on the surface of Khar, "These are densely populated areas."

The officers' faces turned deathly pale instantly.

One of them, Adam's apple bobbing, said, "Your Majesty, these are the coordinates of the refuge."

“Exactly.” Mengsk flashed his first smile of the night, a hint of madness hidden in the wrinkles around his eyes. “When the Empire of Man’s fleet arrives, I will make them see for themselves—either accept my terms or take responsibility for billions of lives. They preach about being human-centered, huh?”

He walked back to the one-way floor-to-ceiling window, where the night was as dark as ink, occasionally torn apart by the flashes of defensive artillery fire.

The city below the palace was ablaze with lights, and millions of civilians slept soundly, unaware that their lives had been turned into chips, neatly stacked on the gambling table.

"As for me"

Mengsk took out a biometric key from his pocket, and a faint blue DNA authentication pattern floated in his palm.

This is the switch connecting to the lowest secret chamber of the Khar Palace, and also his true lifeline—

Once activated, the entire planet will be reduced to cosmic dust in a chain reaction, while the escape shuttle hidden in the palace's secret chamber will risk activating warp travel during the most chaotic moment to teleport him to a predetermined location.

Now that he is "dead," he can no longer be wanted, so he can hide in the shadows, continue to accumulate strength, and wait for the moment to strike back.

“I am prepared to negotiate,” Mengsk continued to his messengers, “if negotiations break down.”

The key twirled between his fingers, reflecting a cold light. "I want that human emperor to understand that some beasts would rather perish than submit."

Boom!
Suddenly, thunder roared outside the window, and a torrential downpour began.

Raindrops struck the Protoss crystal glass, like countless tiny fingers scratching. Mengsk's figure was reflected in the rain, overlapping with the dying light of Korhal, like a melting portrait.

Meanwhile, outside the palace;
The torrential rain poured down, washing over the gilded streets of the aristocratic district.

The once brightly lit tree-lined avenue was now pitch black, with only the occasional flash of patrol searchlights briefly illuminating the rain.

The buildings cast menacing silhouettes in the lightning, the arches and pillars carved with the emblems of various families resembling the skeletons of some kind of behemoth.

The upscale neighborhood under curfew was as silent as a tomb, with even the automatic cleaning machines "huddled" inside charging stations.

In a mid-level suite of a high-end hotel called "Crown"
The crystal chandelier was dimmed to its lowest setting, casting a cool, bluish light onto the one-way glass.

Nova Terra embedded a miniature fusion mine into her arm armor, and her nanosuit immediately flowed and covered it, perfectly concealing the dangerous item.

The surface of this new combat suit has a texture similar to biological scales, and it occasionally flashes iridescent colors under the light.

"The reading is normal."

Stone's voice came through the encrypted channel; he was adjusting the holographic jammer on his wrist armor.

The other two former Ghost agents knelt on the ground, inspecting the energy magazine of the pulse sniper rifle.

“The psionic suppressor has blocked the palace scan; we have a three-hour window,” Stone continued.

On the other side of the room, Chiru Invee stood quietly in front of the floor-to-ceiling window.

The torrential rain meandered like a river on the glass, but it did not affect his "observation" of the outside world at all.

The special combat suit beneath the black robe is equipped with a comprehensive perception matrix that projects the energy flow and dynamic changes of the surrounding environment directly into his nervous system.

In fact, after joining the Imperial Empire, the Imperial Biological Department could have easily restored Chirrut Angway's normal vision, but in order to better cultivate his character and improve his skills, this Jedi Knight chose to remain as he was.

Four people dressed identically.
Or rather, the new Jedi Knights belonging to the human empire stood like statues in the shadows. Although their lightsabers were not activated, the fluctuations of the Force combined with pure psionic energy had already created a subtle air pressure in the room.

“Mengsk’s escape shuttle is in a large, secret chamber beneath the palace,” Chiru suddenly spoke, his voice as calm as if discussing a dinner menu, “guarded by numerous ‘ghosts’.”

"hehe."

Baze Malbus let out a muffled laugh.

His bio-enhanced body nearly burst the black power armor, and the hydraulic joints emitted a beast-like growl with his movements.

He casually picked up a six-barreled rotary machine gun that was supposed to be mounted on the vehicle and examined the ammunition belt as if he were fiddling with a toy: "I like this kind of configuration."

The dozen or so heavily armed soldiers behind him were also armed to the teeth. Each of them had undergone skeletal enhancement and neural modification. The missile pods on the shoulders of their power armor were filled with thermonuclear warheads, and their appearance resembled that of the Galactic Empire's stormtroopers, but they looked even more robust and terrifying.

Betz's unit is an auxiliary force of the Jedi Knights of the Imperium of Man, and directly adopts the original Galactic Empire's name, "Stormtroopers".

Nova's original intention after returning to the StarCraft universe was to secretly capture Arcturus Mengsk in order to dismantle the entire Terran Empire from its peak.

However, Arcturus Mengsk valued his life immensely, and Khar's security measures were extremely comprehensive, not to mention the numerous Ghost agents lurking in the shadows.

Unless it's a "major operation," it's difficult to infiltrate Arcturus Mengsk's side undetected.

Therefore, Chiru, Betz, and others came to provide assistance to Nova and the others.

At this moment, Nova walked to Chiru's side and lightly touched her temple with her fingertips.

A holographic image was immediately projected into the air, displaying a three-dimensional structural diagram of the underground palace.

“Our original plan was to infiltrate through the drainage system, but recently, Mengsk installed an acid trap.”

She swiped the image, revealing several flashing red dots. "These locations have automated turrets, and someone needs to draw fire from the front."

Bates grinned: "Isn't that a coincidence?"

He patted the plasma cannon on his shoulder, powerful enough to blast down city walls, and said, "I specialize in treating all kinds of autism defenses."

Stone suddenly raised a finger, and everyone froze instantly—

Including Betz, who was joking around.

Shortly after, the metallic footsteps of a patrol team echoed from the end of the street, and beams of searchlight swept across the hotel's exterior walls.

Nova, Stone, and the two Ghost agents' nanosuits automatically adjusted and deployed optical camouflage, while the others disappeared into the "force field" deployed by the Jedi.

As the patrol passed by, no soldiers noticed anything unusual about the hotel.

"Plan adjusted." Once the danger was over, Nova quickly charted a new route. "Master Chiru will lead two Jedi escape shuttle guards, Stone's team will disable the communications hub, and Mr. Marbus..."

“I know, I know,” Bates waved his hand dismissively, feigning impatience. “Make a big commotion, preferably so the old fox thinks we’re going to storm the main gate, and that…”
Just what I wanted! "

After saying that, Betz cocked the machine gun with a "click," signaling that the squad was ready to attempt to capture Arcturs Mengsk.
(End of this chapter)