Mengsk(III) or The Response! or A Vow!!

Planet: Umoja

Year:2530

Place: Umoja city

- 2000 - Arcturus Mengsk's Penthouse Mansion - A full year later

"It's on! It's on! It's on! Arcturus! You're father's finally on!" Yelled Juliana, in her arms was Valerian Mengsk, his two-year-old son. He smiled at the pair as he took his seat on the couch. His father walked onto a stage overlooking the gutters of Styrling City, capital of Korhal IV.

People from all across the star sector tuned in to see millions of homeless, poor, or struggling middle-class parents await his every word.

'He must've paid them,' thought Arcturus.

And he was right. A portion of the audience was struggling actors or just homeless looking for a dollar they'd never see.

"Hello, my dear citizens," said Angus. His southern accent was immediately winning the audience over. Yet, at the same time. It drew the ire of every 11 and confederate politician watching his speech.

-- Tarsonis City - Confederate Council Headquarters --

'Slimy fuck!' They thought, before glancing at Popovich's camera. He nodded while sipping his tea. On his mug read, 'for the confederacy.'

All of their mugs or cups read it.

"Are they ready?" Asked Popovich, speaking into the distance. Suki materialized behind him, her all-black hostile environment suit shimmered with a blue light as it did.

"Yes," said Suki. The darkness surrounding Popovich's room gave her eyes a haunting, golden glow.

'Psionics, we can never trust em.' Duke thought, while his mind wandered back to Caesar.

Matriarch Holt said, "Popovich, are you sure the neural adjuster and inhibitor are functioning?"

He nodded before glancing at Suki. 'The data says it is but lately, I'm not so sure.' In a closet beside the pair was Caesar, feeding Popovich's every thought into her environmental goggles.

"The speech is starting," Suki stated, eyeing Popovich's psi-screener. Laughing, 'If only you know.'

The noble's eyes shot towards the monitor as the lights dimmed, displaying Angus's fat, old, yet charming face.

- Arcturus Mengsk's Penthouse Mansion - Television Feed

"Hello, my dear citizens. My name is Angus Mengsk. And today, I'll be addressing our declining economic situation." Juliana raised an eyebrow. Her fiance smirked after hearing his father say the economy was declining.

"As many of you may know. Our beautiful planet Korhal. Is a central component to the Confederacy's economic engine.

We are not a carburetor, an exhaust pipe, or a god damn fuel cell. No! Those things are replaceable. We! Are the WHOLE GOD! DAMN! ENGINE BLOCK!"

Crowd: "MENGSK! MENGSK! MENGSK! MENGSK..."

"We provide their water, meat, vegetables, milk, fruit, metal, and energy. EVEN THE CLOTHES OFF THEIR BACK COME FROM KORHAL. And yet, even after that they still have the nerve. THE AUDACITY! THE GUMPTION! To DEMAND! NO. To steal our wealth! They label it taxation or tribute. But it's really just theft."

Crowd: "MENGSK! MENGSK! MENGSK! MENGSK..."

The crowds' fervor picked up, the Mengsk name echoed across the Korhal system. Arcturus, the nobles, and every confederate or Umojian citizen alike burned this site into their memory. As Angus continued riling up the crowd.

"Our streets corrode, our bridges corrode, our buildings corrode. The trees that once populated Korhal fade faster than we can repopulate them. While our freshwater supply dips trying to meet the confederacy's ever-growing need. Animals go extinct because of the whole process."

When a crowd actor yelled. "BOo! Fuck the confederacy! Fuck the 11!"

The crowd quickly followed. "Fuck the confederacy! Fuck the 11! Fuck the confederacy!"

Feigning anger and sadness, Angus continued to enrage the crowd. "And so, my People. My nation. My...dominion. When will it be enough!? When will our sacrifice be enough? When will our children and the wealth we've dedicated to them, be enough?" Asked Mengsk.

Tears rolled down his eyes as the adults glanced at the child standing within the audience.

Confederate mothers, daughters, fathers, and sons nodded in silent protest. While their minds thought back to all the senseless wars. Waged in the name of minerals and vespene gas, two resources found in abundance within their galactic sector.

"When will the resources we waste on extravagance be used to help the needy?" Asked Mengsk.

Back on Tarsonis, a silent undertone began to rumble throughout the city as those living in the gutters thought. 'Fuck the 11's! Fuck the 11's! Fuck the 11's.'

Popovich smashed his hand against the desk, yelling. "THAT HYPOCRITE!"

While Suki stood in complete awe, muttering. "But the Mengsk possess more wealth than two-thirds of the 11."

Although annoyed by that thought, Materiach Tygore chimed. "However, Tarsonis is desert-filled dumb and we haven't exactly improved living in recent years." As Mengsk's speech entered its next phase.

He donned a sorrow-filled expression before continuing. "My sons and daughters. For years we have toiled, supporting the Confederacy's rotting trunk. When the base is just too bad.

And so I ask you. Who of you will fight with me? I am not asking you to fight for power or wealth. No! I am pleading that you help me fight for a glorious future. One in which our children grow up strong and free."

The crowd went silent. Everything went silent. "Rebel against the Confederacy?" One woman asked, she was another actor.

"Nay, my goal. Is to secure independence. I do not wish to fight, I do not wish for war, I just wish for my people to flourish."

"MENGSK! MENGSK! MENGSK! MENGSK..." Yelled the people of Korhal.

As they charred, whistled, and applauded his name. Those throughout the Confederacy felt a multitude of emotions.

"THE CONFEDERACY IS NOT DYING!" Yelled the Loyalist. Most of them were devotee followers of Popovich.

"HOW DARE HE!" Sneered the nobles. They rubbed their hands, awaiting the opportunity to bond with the 11's.

'Fuck the 11's! And fuck their nobility!' Thought some impoverished commoners. Many of them lived within the slums of Tarsonis.

Slums that could be found in any city, on any planet, within this Confederate space. But yet most would still think about fighting back. 'Were too weak,' thought these people.

As they watched Angus raising his arms, while the crowd followed.

To the surprise of everyone, marines dressed in all red CMC power armor rose onto the stage armed with the latest in Confederate gauss rifle technology.

"But worry not! Should they deny our freedom, we are ready to fI-"

"*BANG!*

"OH MY GOD!!!!!!"

---Chapter end--

[Red Marine picture here.]