Agria, New Kurdelburg.
Within two months, a city named New Kurdelburg had already risen north of the Agria colony.
The new city stood by both mountain and water, located on an alluvial plain at the southernmost end of Agria's long and narrow main continent. Near the Tropic of Capricorn, the climate was warm, with indistinct and brief spring and winter seasons. Each standard year, monsoons from the ocean brought abundant rainfall, nourishing the lush green vegetation that covered the land.
The seeds of plants brought by the Korhalans, along with embryos of animals preserved through cryogenic technology, had—after much difficulty—adapted to Agria's air composition and the wavelength of its natural light. Gradually, they developed into thriving populations on this planet.
Creatures such as the Jugorhino, the Iguanodon, the Umojan Quath Beast, dairy cattle, and the Mammoth Beetle—all species native to the Koprulu Sector and long domesticated by humankind—were introduced to Agria together with Earth's cows and sheep. Meanwhile, to control the population of these docile herbivores, the Korhalans brought along their natural predators: the Scorpid, the Whiptail Leopard, and the famed Korhal Wolf.
This fertile land soon repaid the Korhalans who had chosen it, offering them generous gifts. The humus-rich soil required no fertilizer and could readily yield rye, wheat, and corn. The long, steady hours of direct sunlight and abundant rainfall throughout the year encouraged settlers to attempt the cultivation of another ancient crop from Earth—rice.
Agria's abundant marine life also ensured that the new colonists would never lack a source of protein. The planet's vast oceans sustained a complex ecosystem in which ammonites, nautiloids, and other ancient marine creatures had evolved alongside early vertebrates, forming diverse and intricate food chains.
Fishermen from Korhal soon established the first deep-sea port in Agria's oceans, naming it after a fishing village. The fishing industry immediately became one of the main pillars supporting Korhalan immigrants on Agria. Along with agriculture and animal husbandry, it freed the settlers from any worries about food.
Meanwhile, the geologists and mineralogists stationed around the settlement discovered several crystal veins and high-energy gas vents in the surrounding mountains—an exhilarating discovery for the new Korhalan immigrants.
The newly found Ardeon crystal vein lay buried beneath the deciduous forests south of New Kurdelburg, with nearly two-thirds of it exposed above the surface. Settlers could casually pick up the shimmering blue crystals while walking through the forest. The mining difficulty of this Ardeon crystal vein was far lower than that of the deep underground veins on Korhal IV.
High above, alloy chimneys from high-energy gas refineries rose among the dense mountain jungles. The refinery workers now resumed the same tasks they once performed on Korhal. Operating their SCV Space Construction Vehicles, they unloaded sealed canisters of green gas from the refinery conveyors and deftly transported them onto trailers.
Only a small number of engineers, technicians, and supervisors were needed to maintain the highly automated refinery production. The yellow-and-black SCVs worked tirelessly like industrious bees in a hive.
Soon, the Agria colony displayed a scene of vibrant prosperity—its pace of development far exceeding even the expectations of its own settlers.
Before Augustus's Revolutionary Fleet departed from the Agria system toward the center of the Koprulu Sector and entered the core territories of the Terran Confederacy, the new Korhalan colony on Agria had already achieved self-sufficiency and was capable of simple trade with the local settlers.
At this very moment, standing on the bridge of the Revolutionary Fleet's flagship, the Hyperion, Augustus gazed through a massive observation window at the blue-green world of Agria and its deep-blue companion star. Displayed across the holographic control panels and consoles beside him were live images of New Kurdelburg's city center and synchronized orbital footage captured by satellites. All the Revolutionary Army's generals, except for Warfield, Lundstein, and Duke, were now standing beside Augustus.
The Hyperion had been Augustus's first battlecruiser. After the Battle of Tarsonis, however, the Norad II had long served as the flagship of the Revolutionary Fleet, for compared to the aging Hyperion, its weapon systems and defense matrices were far more advanced.
Originally, Augustus had taken a liking to Alpha Squadron's new flagship, the Norad III, intending to designate it as the new fleet flagship—but the proposal was met with fierce opposition from Duke, along with criticism from Raynor regarding Augustus's fickle tastes.
In the end, Augustus reinstated the Hyperion as the Revolutionary Fleet's flagship—not out of sentimentality, but because Rory Swann had informed him that he and Victor Kachinsky had completed its refitting and upgrades. The latter firmly declared that the Hyperion would become the most magnificent battlecruiser in all of humanity.
At the same time, Rory Swann had installed several Void Crystals once discovered by the Revolutionary Army on Mar Sara, along with Khaydarin Crystals recovered from the Tal'darim base on Bel'Shir, near the Hyperion's main engine chamber.
Though Swann still could not decipher the operational principles of these crystals, the Xel'Naga and Protoss crystals were indeed capable of continuously supplying power to the Hyperion's main engines, as well as to its life-support and weapon systems.
This pure, prismatic synthetic crystal energy was virtually inexhaustible. If humankind could unravel its mechanisms, Protoss crystals would undoubtedly replace fusion reactors as the primary power source for cities, factories, and even warships exceeding the size of Behemoth-class battlecruisers. It was foreseeable that, from the Protoss perspective, human nuclear energy remained a primitive and backward technology—their mastery of energy systems far surpassed that of humanity.
From orbit, New Kurdelburg appeared only as a silvery-gray dot. As the camera drew closer, its standardized colonial grid town became visible. The new city, constructed by the Revolutionary Army's Engineering Corps in collaboration with Bernard Hanson's Agria Construction Company, blended the architectural styles of Tarsonis and Korhal IV. Every cube-shaped house was built from molten silver-alloy panels, fitted with gleaming glass and antennas.
New Kurdelburg had no towering skyscrapers or grand silver-framed glass structures. All its buildings were modest, single- and multi-story constructions—save for one tall building that stood alone in the city center.
Two gem-blue rivers flowed through the heart of the city, with broadleaf forests encircling the colonial complex. Against this verdant backdrop, New Kurdelburg's silver-white buildings shone like metallic cubes glinting beneath the sunlight.
To commemorate the city of Kurdelburg that had been destroyed in the Battle of Korhal—and to honor the heroic deed of its citizens, nearly all of whom had joined the Revolutionary Army, leaving their once-prosperous city desolate—people, under the suggestion of the Marshal of the Revolutionary Army, prefixed its name with "New," hence it was also called New Kurdelburg.
"Our homeworld has gained another one," Augustus said as he opened the Hyperion's starmap, manually marking Agria in green to indicate it was now a planet suitable for docking.
In Augustus's vision, within five years—or perhaps even longer—Agria would become a vast granary, supplying provisions for the entire Revolutionary Army.
During the construction of the new Agria colony, the development plan had also included its deep-blue companion star. Augustus intended to establish biological laboratories and an interstellar spaceport on that moon, designated Agria I, and to station a permanent fleet within the system.
Agria's strategic value lay not only in its abundant resources—rich mineral deposits and nearly inexhaustible food supplies—but also in its location at the edge of the Koprulu Sector, near the Kel-Morian Combine world of Meinhoff and the soon-to-be-colonized planet Haven.
If Augustus wished to establish a stable base in the eastern Koprulu Sector, Agria was undoubtedly the best choice. From the Agria colony, he could reach outward to the Bel'Shir settlements at the sector's rim, as well as several worlds occupied by the Tal'darim Expeditionary Fleet, and westward toward the Sara system and the Veridia Prime.
"This is a new beginning," said Raynor, standing beside Augustus. "The Korhalans have endured so much—at last, a new homeland has taken root."
"At long last, we've got a stronghold to call our own," said Tychus, his tone nothing like that of a revolutionary soldier devoted to liberating all humankind, but rather like that of a space pirate.
"The people on the two previous worlds where we left part of the Korhalans will need quite some time before they can build anything up."
"I think you just want to stake a claim on those two resettlement worlds," Augustus replied, "so that when we get into territorial disputes with the Confederates, the Kel-Morians, or whatever other damned aliens come along, we can say those planets have been an inseparable part of Korhal since ancient times."
Augustus gave Agria one final look before turning to the Hyperion's navigator.
"Ensign, take us out of orbit. Set course for Umoja—we need the support of the Umojan Protectorate Forces," he said.
"What about Ariel Hanson?" Tychus asked, as the Hyperion accelerated into the warp corridor. His tone carried that familiar teasing lilt Augustus knew all too well. "Why didn't you bring your little sweetheart along? Just because she wears glasses doesn't mean I can't see the way you two keep making eyes at each other~"
"How could you bear to leave that black-haired beauty on Agria? I sure couldn't—"
"Don't act like a pedophile, Tychus. Augustus isn't as despicable as you," Kerrigan said, pointing at Tychus's nose.
"She's right, Tychus," said Augustus.
"Yeah, Tychus—everyone knows you're a bastard," Raynor chimed in, backing him up.
"Cut it out—you're just jealous of the boss," Harnack said, as he always took Augustus's side in everything.
"Ariel Hanson's about to start college on Tarsonis. How could she possibly come along with us to risk her life… This is a revolution, not some children's game or a chance to play dashing bandits," Raynor said.
"I was just saying, you don't have to gang up on me like that…" Tychus, completely shut down by the barrage, fell speechless. He had only wanted to tease Augustus a little.
"Especially you, Jimmy. That revolver in your hand—I nearly got myself killed stealing it from Tarsonis. Otherwise, you'd have had to wait another five or six years before getting one like it," he said sourly.
"Ungrateful bastard."
"That's enough," Augustus said, just as Raynor was about to reply. He pointed toward the main screen on the Hyperion's bridge.
"Take a look at the latest news. We don't exactly have time to keep vacationing on Agria." Augustus's gaze fixed on the mechanical adjutant's avatar displayed on the screen.
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