In the outer office of the station, a dozen deputy officers snapped to attention the moment they saw Augustus, standing tall and saluting him with military precision.
These officers weren't just ordinary deputies—they were core officers of the Revolutionary Army and ideological commissars from the Pan-Terran Party, tasked with maintaining the army's political integrity. Their purpose was to ensure that the troops never betrayed the ideals they had sworn to fight for, keeping the military firmly under the control of Augustus and the Angus administration.
Nominally, Echo Town's police department was still on the Confederacy's payroll—but in truth, the building was entirely staffed by the very rebels the Confederate government despised.
Even now, the Tarsonis Federal Parliament and the Old Families had no idea that the rebel forces were hiding right under their noses. Far from being weakened by their exile, they had retreated to Mar Sara to quietly recover and prepare.
"Back to work, everyone," Augustus said, gazing with satisfaction at the disciplined and determined faces around him. "We've still got a long road ahead if we're going to topple the Confederacy's tyranny."
"For freedom! For Korhal! For the New Republic!"
These Revolutionary Army soldiers, clad in colonial police uniforms, shouted those powerful words with conviction.
Augustus stepped through the front doors of the police station. In front of him lay a freshly swept cobblestone road, flanked by colonial-style houses with reddish-brown roofs. The sky above was a deep orange hue, clear and cloudless. Two patrol officers on Mar Sara ponies were passing by just outside the station.
After spending some time here, Augustus had to admit—Mar Sara wasn't such a bad place… at least on the rare days when it wasn't smothered by blinding sandstorms.
Ever since Augustus arrived in Echo Town and purged it of gangs and criminal syndicates, using his authority as sheriff to implement new regulations, the transformation of this frontier town had been unmistakable.
The most visible change was the cleanliness of the streets. Anyone caught littering would be fined by the police. And as for the thugs who used to deface walls with graffiti—after getting arrested, they never came home again…
The town, once just a forgotten dot in the desert, had undergone a complete transformation. With nearly all criminal elements rounded up in one sweep, Echo Town had become so secure that even at night, unarmed citizens felt safe enough to walk the streets.
And since Augustus had sent every last vagrant and lowlife to the mines, the local vice industry had taken a heavy hit. Only two strip clubs remained—surviving solely thanks to Tychus's unwavering patronage.
At the same time, the Revolutionary Army's progressive ideology had fully seeped into every alley and corner of Echo Town. The people of Mar Sara already possessed a spirit of resistance not unlike that of Korhal's citizens. Ever since the destruction of Korhal IV, this planet had more Korhal sympathizers than any other colony in the sector.
Augustus had chosen Mar Sara as a temporary refuge after withdrawing from Tarsonis not only because of its remote location, rich mineral deposits, and the fragment of a Xel'Naga artifact buried here, but also because this was fertile ground for revolution.
Spreading revolutionary ideals among the people of Mar Sara did not spark any unexpected resistance. In fact, just as Augustus had predicted, with Revolutionary Army operatives quietly infiltrating nearby settlements, revolutionary ideology had begun to influence over a dozen towns—nearly a third of the Hinterland Autonomous Region's population.
Directly across the street from where Augustus stood, the LED billboard that once displayed standard colonial ads now brazenly featured satirical comics and jokes mocking the Terran Confederacy's tyranny. Echo Town residents had begun openly discussing politics in public, voicing their dissatisfaction with the Terran Confederacy. The Pan-Terran Party had started recruiting local members on Mar Sara, and a vast underground network of over a thousand members was gradually taking shape.
This was precisely why Judge Ida had urged Augustus to conduct a thorough investigation—not just in Echo Town. Every police station that had long-term Pan-Terran operatives embedded was now struggling to maintain control.
It could be said that if Augustus wished, he could ignite a full-scale uprising across the Hinterland Autonomous Region right now. But that wasn't his goal. He was a man who planned carefully and acted only when the groundwork was fully laid. Only when the Pan-Terran Party's underground network had taken root across the entirety of Mar Sara would he consider initiating the next phase.
One step at a time. One planet at a time. Spreading revolutionary ideals steadily until those ripples accumulated into a wave powerful enough to overthrow the Confederacy.
As of now, Augustus commanded fourteen battlecruisers—six docked in Umoja, and eight stationed within the Sara System.
This force was still far weaker than the full might of the Confederate fleet, but it was sufficient to go head-to-head with a naval squadron or the armed forces of a colony.
The closest friendly unit to Augustus was led by Heaven's Devils commander Kydd—two colonist fleets carrying around one million Korhal civilians and Revolutionary Army soldiers. They were over 1,000 light-years away from Mar Sara and had already exited the Koprulu Sector.
"Won't this draw the Confederacy's attention?" Kerrigan asked, eyeing the billboard across the street with a hint of concern.
"Oh, without question," Augustus replied, spreading his hands. "If they didn't respond, that'd be the real joke."
"But by the time they do, the revolution will already have taken root on Mar Sara. And our fleet will be long gone," he said. "Logically, they'll start by sending militia forces and planetary defense troops to investigate. Only afterward will they deploy the Confederate Marine Corps."
"And after that little circus starts, we'll jump away before their fleet even shows up."
...
Late November, Perdition's Crossing, a Revolutionary Army mining outpost.
From high above, the footage captured by twin-turbine surveillance drones revealed a circular mining pit—reinforced with alloy plates and a full metal framework—like a black blemish on the crimson sands of Perdition's Crossing.
Encircling the enormous pit, which measured over 210 meters in diameter, was a ring of drilling platforms forged from concrete and steel. Scattered across these platforms were rows of miner barracks, ventilation ducts stacked on the open ground, construction panels, massive cranes, and heavy excavators. Occasionally, crowds of workers and armed militia on patrol moved beneath the watchful eyes of the drones.
At the heart of the camp flew the red-and-blue flag of the Confederacy, flapping in the wind. The white diagonal cross and numerous stars made it unmistakably clear—this was a mining base under the Terran Confederacy.
Due to the hostile environment, rampant crime, and the local police force being spread too thin to root out the many gangs and pirates entrenched in the region, Perdition's Crossing had long been a lawless zone—a hotbed for illicit trade.
For years, this desolate gorge stretching over 1,600 kilometers had been the most chaotic and unruly area in all of Hinterland, perhaps even the entire hemisphere. Communication difficulties had caused multiple raids organized by nearby precincts to fail. Sheriffs could only look on helplessly, unable to bring order to the criminal stronghold.
That is, until a Confederate Marshal named Caesar emerged from obscurity. In one bold move, he crushed the notorious Chimera Pirates who had made Perdition's Crossing their base, bringing these infamous interstellar outlaws to justice. Only then did some semblance of order return to the ravine.
Soon after, with the help of Hinterland's magistrate, Rod, Marshal Caesar sold a portion of the mining rights in Perdition's Crossing to a company called Styrling, acting in the name of the Hinterland State Government.
Both Marshal Caesar and Magistrate Rod were seen as upright, selfless men—driven by an unwavering loyalty to the Confederacy. Witnessed under the banners of the Stars and Stripes Cross and Hinterland's goat-emblazoned state flag, they solemnly signed the mining rights transfer contract. All revenue was officially allocated to the Tarsonis Bureau of Mineral Resources and to the development of the Hinterland Autonomous State. No illicit wealth was pocketed, because every transaction was "legal."
And if anyone dared to question the magistrate's growing collection of luxury goods, high-end vehicles, or number of mistresses, then clearly that person didn't respect the Bureau of Mineral Resources—or certain members of the Confederacy's cabinet. To question the validity of that mining contract was as absurd as questioning the fairness and justice of the Confederacy itself.
Inside an orange-and-gray prefab unit, Augustus couldn't help but chuckle as he recalled his wine-fueled banter with Magistrate Rod at the five-star hotel in Hinterland's capital. All it had taken was a modest bribe to get the magistrate flushed with glee.
Naturally, both of them had taken money from Styrling Mining. And Magistrate Rod was fully convinced Augustus would never betray him—they were, after all, "in the same boat."
But in truth, this so-called mining company, with thousands of personnel, was nothing more than a front. Its entire workforce consisted of Revolutionary Army soldiers and miners made up mostly of convicted criminals. That so-called hefty bribe? It had merely passed from Augustus's left pocket into his right.
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