Starting from the most basic Gauss rifles, Augustus bought 1 million of them, along with 200,000 sets of Ripper power armor, 1,500 Kel-Morian heavy main battle tanks, 3,000 Kel-Morian Hellfire 175 mm howitzers, over 5,000 Kel-Morian Type I heavy combat vehicles, and the production lines to match these weapons.
Perhaps out of fear of insufficient firepower, Augustus also purchased 300 Drakken railguns and Mag-Mines in the tens of thousands.
In addition, Augustus ordered 8 Kel-Morian Hephaestus-class battlecruisers.
In short, he wanted it all.
Augustus had already dispatched a group of Augustgrad National Security Committee commissioners to test these weapons in Moria's arms factories, and the power of these war machines—once so formidable in the Guild Wars—was plain for all to see.
"We can only deliver 30% first; the rest must go to the foundries and manufacturing workshops, and that requires a deposit." The CEO very much wanted to ask Augustus if he truly had that much money.
In his impression, Augustus's Revolutionary Army, though it had dealt a heavy blow to the legendary Alpha Squadron, was still just a guerrilla uprising and could not possibly have much wealth. But considering Augustus was no mere commoner, with the Mengsk family and all the people of Korhal behind him—
It was more likely Augustus was using the entire Korhal Dominion's foreign exchange reserves and accumulated wealth to buy weapons from the Kel-Morian Combine, funds that should have been left for the tens of millions of Korhal exiles who had fled to Umoja to rebuild their homeland.
Thinking of this, the CEO of the Kelanis Shipping Guild could not help but feel some pity for the warlike Korhal people—though the business still had to be done, and not a single cent less.
Bleeding the Korhal people dry might prick the CEO's conscience, but a swelling wallet gave him satisfaction.
No conflict there.
"My people are drafting a new contract," the CEO said to Augustus. "Please wait a moment."
"Before that, we can first go have dinner together," he said.
"Hell yeah! I like that guy." Though Harnack thought his voice was already very quiet, many present still heard him: "Holy fucking shit, you finally said something I can understand."
"You disgraceful bastard, I can't believe Mengsk would bring a Shiloh red-crested rooster like you here?" Tychus immediately jumped up beside Harnack.
"What's that phrase again?"
"Unfit to appear in refined halls."
"That one of your generals?" The CEO of the Kelanis Shipping Guild looked at Harnack with the calm composure of a medieval noble regarding a peasant.
"The Red Devil Harnack, one of the Revolutionary Army leaders ranked in the top 20 bounties on the Terran Confederacy's wanted list."
"I take pride in him." Augustus did not say anything like asking the other not to mind that Harnack was a rustic who knew no manners.
"Why is it that your name resounds, while I am just 'Augustus Mengsk's dog'?" Tychus's face twisted with jealousy.
"Seems you don't get it." Harnack said proudly, paying no mind that all eyes were on him.
"A title like that—you have to call it out yourself first. Otherwise, they'll just call you some mutt or stray."
"Marshal Augustus." At this moment, the executive of the Kelanis Shipping Guild stood, clapping his hands.
Behind him, a wall fitted with crystal water tanks suddenly rose upward, dazzling blue light immediately pouring into the conference room.
What appeared before everyone was a vast, aquamarine swimming pool, and further beyond, an elegant restaurant with glass windows. Dozens of beautiful, enchanting Kel-Morian women in bikinis swam like fish in the pool, moving with the grace of mermaids as though their legs had become tails. These alluring Kel-Morian women had fair skin, voluptuous curves, and were eye-catching.
"I knew this trip wouldn't be wasted." Tychus shoved aside the dazed Raynor, mocking his laughable look of someone who had never seen the world: "Good thing I carry swim trunks with me. You're about to get married, so you'd better keep yourself clean."
"I always thought Kel-Morian women were all hairy mountain dwarves. Curse that Rory who left me with that stereotype." Harnack's grin nearly split to the back of his head.
"Come on, let's go have a drink in the restaurant." Warfield clapped Raynor on the shoulder. "Ignore those two embarrassing fools."
"You can't go near them." Just as Augustus's generals were making a spectacle of themselves, Kerrigan's sharp gaze cut across the hall as she walked to stand before Augustus.
"Not until I investigate whether they are assassins—it may take a little time."
...
Augustus could not decline the Combine Board's warm hospitality, but he did not go down to swim together with those countless enchanting Kel-Morian women in the pool. Instead, he kept his wide-brimmed military hat on and closely followed the footsteps of the CEO of the Kelanis Shipping Guild toward the restaurant across the aquamarine pool. Raynor and Warfield, the two Generals of the Revolutionary Army, calmly followed behind him, while Corporal Faraday busied himself communicating with the CEO's guards.
Meanwhile, over a dozen other CEOs of the Moria guilds likewise paid no attention to those beauties. They had long heard of how Augustus Mengsk, back in his school days when one should normally discover the difference between men and women and develop interest in the opposite sex, had rejected all the advances of girls, instead indulging in a biker-gang-like life—often racing through the dangerous routes between the city of Styrling and the mountains—so much so that people wondered whether he preferred men.
Moreover, the supreme leader of the Revolutionary Army was supposed to be a rather upright figure. No matter what, Augustus at least ought to appear like such a man.
The CEOs had only heard from their spies and commercial agents that Augustus's old comrades from the Confederate Marines, Tychus Findlay and Hank Harnack, were fond of women—and pandering to such tastes was a trick they often used.
Inflation and the ensuing Great Depression had destroyed countless Kel-Morian lower- and middle-class families. The wives and daughters of the war dead had no one to look after them, bankrupt enterprises were too numerous to count, and within a single year the sex industry had swelled by about one hundred and fifty times. Even the pampered daughters of Moria's great tycoons had no choice but to put on thin gauze.
As for the high-ranking elites of the Combine, they enjoyed keeping women of wealthy families penned up, to satisfy their peculiar fetishes.
By contrast, Tychus and Harnack behaved completely like peasant rebel leaders with little culture and no self-restraint, dazzled by the splendor of the great city. In less than two minutes they had changed into swimsuits and plunged into the pool like fish in water.
Just as Sarah Kerrigan had said, she truly did gaze for quite a while at those Kel-Morian women with their alluring figures. Using her far-surpassing telepathic powers, she perused not only the surface thoughts many of them had in that moment, but also deeper layers of memory.
It was not until Tychus, wearing swim trunks, leapt into the pool that Kerrigan suddenly withdrew her gaze as though her eyes had been pricked by needles, lifted her leg, and walked toward the restaurant.
"The Ripper power armor from the Four-Year War can undergo some additional upgrades and external modifications, repainted and refinished." As soon as Kerrigan stepped into the resplendent, palace-like restaurant, she could see Augustus clinking glasses with the CEO of the Kelanis Shipping Guild. In dealing with such a luxurious high-end setting, Augustus appeared entirely at ease, displaying the grace befitting a Korhal IV noble, calm and self-possessed.
A Kel-Morian attendant with a blue rose on his chest was handing over a napkin, while Corporal Faraday stood upright behind Augustus, like a sword planted into the ground.
Raynor and the others, meanwhile, sat at several other round tables together with over a dozen Combine Board members. Attendants swarmed around them, and Kerrigan clearly knew that these people were all elite security personnel and family guards trained by the guild corporations.
Compared with the Terran Confederacy and the Umojan Protectorate, the Kel-Morian Combine's Ghost Agent program was still in its infancy, so Kerrigan did not find even a single high-level Kel-Morian psionic among the guild leaders surrounded by guards.
"Hold on a moment." Augustus saw Kerrigan walk to his side and immediately apologized to the CEO opposite him. The latter did not mind, only turning to have his attendants bring the food quickly.
Whether in the elite nobles' high-class restaurants of the Terran Confederacy or of the Kel-Morian Combine, dining was about ceremony. Before the meal there would be numerous attendants, even reciters of poetry, creating an atmosphere as if all were serving the very few honored guests.
"What have you found out?" he said in a very low voice. "Are they spies, agents, or assassins?"
"I'm still investigating—this needs a little time. You know that in so short a time, I can only read the surface thoughts." Kerrigan bent down, whispering softly into Augustus's ear. Her face was so close that, in the eyes of those around, it looked as though she were biting his ear.
"How long is a little time? A minute or a day?" Augustus was silent for about half a second.
Then Augustus did not wait for Kerrigan's answer. He used his hand to move her rosy cheek aside and continued with the CEO of the Kelanis Shipping Guild sitting opposite.
"Executive, let's return to the main point—what matters is performance. We don't need a castrated version of power armor. Understand, the Ripper armor was meant to match the Terran Confederacy's CMC-200. If you cut it down further, wouldn't that be a step back to the CMC-100?"
"Of course, these retired Ripper power armors we'll sell to you as scrap—worth five grots even if it's only 200 pounds of waste iron." The CEO showed little expression. He could hold his liquor well, drinking glass after glass of red wine.
"The newest power armor, we will not sell. These weapons, already showing generational lag, will not circulate in any arms market for at least 5 years."
"…Alright, even a set of nearly patched-up power armor is still stronger than those exoskeletons and military uniforms made of cloth and dye. Of course, the price stays as agreed—you can't expect me to pay factory price for secondhand gear. Power armor does not appreciate in value."
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