StarCraft: Tyranid Empire

It was already 16:00 on February 19th, seventeen hours after Alpha Squadron landed in Mar Sara.

Augustus was standing in the center of the Martin Fortress Command Center, paying close attention to the communication network of the revolutionary army's military headquarters at all levels. In front of him was a holographic projection screen made of blue-green lines, with a constantly changing battle map on it.

Behind Augustus were rows of consoles close to the walls and glass observation windows, and massive amounts of information were being imported into the command center through wireless communications. This information comes from dozens of different areas and departments such as the capital area battlefield, the moving Reno Department, Tychus Department, Mira Han Department, Revolutionary Army outposts, mining areas, etc., and they will eventually be reclassified, filtered and summarized. , passed to the main console where Augustus is.

Standing in front of the console were Revolutionary Army operator operators and command staff officers wearing dark gray stand-up collar military uniforms of the Revolutionary Army. They all wore flat caps with Revolutionary Army cap badges, and their uniforms had golden wheat ears, golden wolf heads and Pan-Talon Party emblems. Panda badge. Revolutionary army officers who can enter the staff must first have good conduct and be able to perform their duties impeccably. Secondly, they must be members of the Pan-Talonian Party and be able to pass the assessment of psychics.

The holographic projection combat map in front of Augustus is constantly changing along the timeline. The marks representing the positions of his own troops and enemy troops sometimes change and sometimes remain motionless. These data all come from the last report two hours ago, both There were inaccuracies and delays, and it was possible that the main force of Alpha Squadron had moved hundreds of miles overnight on vehicles without the Augustus command center knowing anything about it.

But even so, for Augustus, this combat map can still clearly and intuitively reflect the battlefield situation.

Before landing, Alpha Squadron's fleet launched an attack on the Revolutionary Army's First Fleet, which was staying in the Mar Sara synchronous orbit. After a brief but fierce exchange of fire, the Revolutionary Army's six battlecruisers made a short jump to the nearest of three star systems.

After repeated weighings, Duke ordered the fleet to pursue according to the detected jump signal. The fleet was divided into four. The only battleships staying on Mar Sara were the flagship of Alpha Squadron and three other Behemoth-class battleships. Cruise ship. Two hours later, these four battleships encountered eight battlecruisers from the Revolutionary Army's Second Fleet that had jumped from other galaxies. The two sides immediately fought in synchronous orbit.

On the surface of the planet, the first force the two sides clashed with was the air force. The Revolutionary Army's three airports located in the Capital District, Fort Martin, and the Hilo Autonomous Prefecture dispatched more than 2,000 Avenger fighter sorties and the four air wings of Alpha Squadron in multiple locations. Battlefield confrontation. Since the Revolutionary Army's air force had an advantage in the confrontation with the Alpha Squadron's air force, the federal army could not use transport aircraft to deliver troops to various parts of Mar Sara without scruples, and could only use railway and road hubs to deploy ground troops.

Two divisions of Alpha Squadron, an armored brigade and an artillery brigade landed on the Plains of Bones and Red Mesa in the north of the capital area. This force of more than 20,000 people, each of whom was armed with power armor and Gauss rifles, advanced south. Forty miles later they encountered Tychus Finley's four mobile battalions.

Just as the enemy commander Colonel Duke expected, the "rabble" with poor equipment and weak combat effectiveness collapsed at a stroke. Tychus fired a few shots and ran away. He left a pile of supply boxes to the vanguard of Alpha Squadron and retreated around the capital area toward the desolate canyon in the south in an armored personnel carrier obtained from the Mar Sara Planet Defense Force.

The complacent Colonel Duke immediately ordered two Marine brigades of Alpha Squadron to pursue Tychus' troops, and he led the remaining six brigades all the way to support the capital area and arrived two hours later.

But at that time, Augustus had already ordered Rundstein's First Division to the west of the capital area to launch a general offensive. Rundstein took only half an hour to defeat Governor Mar Sara and nearly 30,000 soldiers. The disarmed Planetary Defense Forces drove out of the capital area and forced them to flee north.

As a result, the two leading Marine battalions of Alpha Squadron, which came to relieve the siege of the capital area, collided head-on with the defeated Planetary Defense Force and militia at night.

This led to disastrous consequences. This army, which was composed of planetary defense forces, civil defense forces and a small number of marines from all over Mar Sara, came from dozens of different regions. They had dozens of positions with equal powers and different powers. Commanders who belong to the same system.

Because the supreme commander, Governor Mar Sara, did not fulfill his duty to restrain the army during the retreat, the fleeing army, which lacked unified command and panicked, plunged into the marching convoy of marines and armored vehicles. middle.

Chaos began, tens of thousands of panicked Mar Sara soldiers mixed with Alpha Squadron soldiers, shouts everywhere and the scattered light of power armor searchlights. When the first ill-trained militiaman accidentally misfired, the soldiers began shooting at each other.

So Colonel Duke, the commander of Alpha Squadron, had to order his soldiers to clean up the deserters of Governor Mar Sara. After leaving more than a thousand corpses and several times more wounded soldiers, the Governor's troops ran back and scattered. flee.

This chaos, which was unspeakable for the military, lasted all night, and it was already daylight when Alpha Squadron arrived at the Capital District Governor's Mansion, which was in ruins. When the revolutionary army retreated, they obviously still had enough time and energy to transport heavy artillery and baggage, without leaving behind even a single seriously wounded or sacrificed soldier.

This morning, the surveillance department of Augustus listened to Duke's report announcing that he had defeated the rebels after retaking the capital area. This report will take at least two weeks to be translated and then sent through a large number of interstellar communication base stations to enhance the signal. To the Terran Confederation Naval Headquarters on Tarsonis.

In the report, Duke proudly called the battle the Duke Offensive, bluntly stating that the rebels were vulnerable.

At this point, Augustus was finally able to confirm that it was indeed Edmund Duke who personally led the Alpha Squadron to land on Mar Sara. This was consistent with his own fighting style, and he was indeed angered by Augustus. I am eager to avenge my shame.

The slogan of Alpha Squadron is to be the first to attack and the first to leave the battlefield. They always charge before friendly forces, tearing apart the enemy's defense line like a heavy hammer and retreating with success.

After retaking the Capital District, Duke's Alpha Squadron continued to advance south without rest, chasing the fleeing Tychus Finley's forces through the Capital District, the state of Lorenzana, and the United States over the course of six hours. The sandworm desert spans nearly ten million square miles. On Augustus' battle map, Alpha Squadron's marching route was an almost straight line.

At the same time, more than 60,000 soldiers from Augustus's Renault, Harnak, Mira and retreating Rundstein troops were approaching this straight line from different directions - an encirclement is rapidly taking shape.

If Augustus and his staff and military advisors are not wrong, then Duke’s target should be the command center of Fort Martin where he is located. The Alpha Squadron fleet in the synchronous orbit of Mar Sara can easily discover this A huge military base, this is an obvious primary target, the heart of the revolutionary army's command system.

At this time, the Revolutionary Army transport plane at Fort Martin Airport was taking off. Augustus received reports that Tychus's troops had fled into the desolate canyon. At first, the two federal marine brigades that Duke ordered to pursue Tychus followed closely behind, while the main force led by Duke in the direction of the capital area Also approaching rapidly.

At the marching speed of Duke's troops, it only took them less than an hour to reach the last barrier in front of Martin's Fort - the desolate canyon with complex terrain.

In Augustus' eyes, Duke was like a flying insect about to fall into a spider's web.