StarCraft: Tyranid Empire

Mid-October, the Governor's Palace of Antiga.

After handing over the management of Antiga to Mr. Brown, the administrative officer sent by his father Angus Mengsk from Umoyan, and ordering Rondestein to be the commander-in-chief of the Antiga planet's garrison, Augustus was Sitting at the desk in the Governor's office, sorting out the belongings he wanted to take away.

It includes a thick photo album, a laptop computer, a holster containing a P-20 electromagnetic pistol, and several sets of military uniforms that have been sorted out.

The photo album records photos of Augustus walking with the people or the army in Turasis, Mar Sara and other places. It is these old photos that cut out the past time.

The computer stores letters from family members. To this day, my mother and Dorothy are still writing letters to Augustus, even if they cannot be delivered in time, they never miss a week. His elder brother Arcturus often wrote letters to Augustus, most of which were about the current situation of the mines he operated. Occasionally, he also talked about the past Korhal and Mengsk families, which was sentimental.

Augustus often read through these letters and never missed a word.

Renault's son John was almost one year old, and his nephew Valerian also grew up into a handsome blond boy at an amazing speed. This made Augustus think about how time passed so quickly.

John Raynor's psychic talents are rapidly awakening as he grows up, which can't help but worry his family. Fortunately, the Umoyan Shadow Guards are looking after this child to prevent his too powerful psychic energy from hurting others or himself.

Angus Mengsk, accompanied by his wife Katherine, has established himself in the elected parliament of Umoyan, regaining his former popularity among his people by actively promoting policies towards the Korhal.

Nineteen-year-old Dorothy Mengsk won the praise of "Dorothy of Korhal IV" and "The Flower of the Empty Crown of the Mengsk Dynasty" in Umoyan for her beauty, talent, and wisdom.

In order to protect the routes in the Koprulu sector from threats from interstellar pirates, zerg, and protoss, Arcturus established an elite armed force composed mainly of core members of the Sons of Korhal. Arm them with one-fortieth of the money earned in mining.

In addition, Arcturus's mining area extends to the desolate Dinares sector outside the Koprulu sector. In order to transport the mined crystal ore, high-energy gas, precious metals and other industrial raw materials, Arcturus also established a transportation company across the two sectors. About 800,000 Korhal and Umoyan people Work for him.

But although Arcturus achieved his youthful ideals, he did not feel much satisfaction from it.

Dr. Hansen of Agria, another territory of Augustus, would report to him every two or three months on the conditions there. Except for the Chimera pirates and several Camorian pirates who visited Agria, there We did not encounter an enemy that we could not resist.

Agria's remote location in the Koprulu Sector is no longer a critical factor inhibiting its development. The unique natural environment has allowed agriculture and biotechnology to flourish there.

After selling large quantities of food to the famine-stricken Caymorian Commonwealth, the containers marked with the white cross of Agria saved the lives of thousands of poor Caymorian people.

After Angus transferred part of Korhal's cutting-edge technology to Agria and conducted targeted immigration, the population on the planet has reached 5.6 million people, and the economy is booming.

Some of the emails came from worlds further away, even across the Koprulu sector.

The colonial fleets that escaped from Korhal IV two years ago have all landed on different planets and made contact with Umoyan one after another. Among the remaining five colonial fleets, one fleet jumped into a planet due to a navigation system failure. A single helium white dwarf, more than two hundred thousand people died in the accident, and the rest landed in the planet's only remaining giant planet.

On this planet that the survivors named Ingens - Latin for huge, the dead star was only as bright as the two moons of Korhal IV. The 150,000 people who landed there could only rely on the star's geothermal heat and the vast area of ​​high-energy gas mines on the planet's surface to obtain light and heat.

The giant planet was very close to Sigmaris, the core world of the Tyranid Federation, so the people who landed there did not dare to call for help and could only build their homes on the spot. By the time Angus was contacted, the immigrants had been living there for two years and had tenaciously built an underground city based on the ringed volcano.

On that planet, a day is incredibly long, newborns are born without ever seeing natural sunlight, and people there are generally fair-skinned and have a disproportionate number of hair pigments due to radiation from the star. white hair. The temperature in places far away from the city can even drop below minus 140 degrees, which is always freezing under the same atmospheric pressure.

To this day, the people of the planet remain loyal to Korhal, seeking help from Angus while working with some of the nobles of Sigmarius' moon world of Valhalla to source resources for survival. Angus has sent support ships to the planet, but they are still on the way.

Another colonial fleet had much better luck. Before they ran out of fuel, they found a habitable planet that was not inferior to Korhal IV. They still named it after Korhal, but the number after the planet was V. .

The remaining three fleets landed on different planets. One of them was an ocean world covered with large expanses of liquid water, and the other two were warm rainforest worlds covered with a large number of ancient civilization ruins and ancient Xel'Naga portals. Lost world.

The proportion of habitable planets in the five sectors of the Koprulu sector is much smaller than in other areas of the galaxy, and once you go out of the scope of Koprulu, it is easier to find planets suitable for human habitation - of course, exploration Explorers may also discover unknown mysterious ruins and intelligent races that were once protected by the protoss and eventually forgotten by time.

This was great news for Augustus. Several colonial worlds were scattered in various locations, far away from the nodes of the Zerg invasion.

It will take at least two or three generations for these colonial worlds to develop, but when Augustus wants to rebuild Korhal, the branch worlds from each Korhal IV will definitely send manpower to support the home planet.

In addition to these things, Augustus was still spending his energy on some trivial matters recently. Matt Horner, whom he brought back from the Terrador system, acted very well as a trainee sailor on the Hyperion, learning how to command a battlecruiser behind Renault.

Mira Han and Matt Horner, the female colonels favored by Augustus, belong to different military branches, the army and the fleet. Their only way of communication is radio communication, but Matt never answers Mira's calls. .

While waiting for the rotating vacation, when Mira thought the two of them could finally have a date, Matt always volunteered to work overtime.

As for Egon Steitmann, the clumsy boy often made his teacher, Dr. Francos, turn green with rage, but his talent was in no way denigrated by this flaw.

Francos told Augustus that the little boy who was not very good at communicating with others often cried. He was a bald, unmarried old man who had no choice but to be a father and a mother.

Also, Tychus Finlay always won money in Antiga's casino and was thought to be cheating, and ended up getting into a fight. Renault complained that Antiga couldn't drink No. 8 whiskey but was unwilling to try the expensive liquors in Augustus's wine cabinet. Augustus could only say that he was a wild boar who couldn't eat fine chaff.

When Augustus packed up all the memorable things, Sarah Kerrigan, wearing a dark gray Revolutionary Marine uniform, pushed the door open. Kerrigan had a dark look on her pretty face, the last time Augustus had seen her look like this was when she was about to pull her hair out for a fight with Lisa Cassidy.

"Even if I understand why you want me to stay in Antiga Augustus." Kerrigan was obviously losing his temper, which was why Augustus had to sort things out by himself.

"But I don't want to be too far away from you."

"Psychics like you are an extremely special existence to the zerg. Even a PSI level 5 ghost agent is enough to drive the zerg into madness." Augustus recounted that he did not allow Kerrigan to go. Char's reason: "Especially you, you are different. Your special connection to the zerg is what they are looking for."

"Sarah, you have read the memory of my conversation with the Cerebrate Sars." He said sincerely: "You know what the Zerg masterminds are thinking."

"It said that as long as you hand me over, the world will be saved, but you refused." Although Kerrigan understood Augustus' approach, her depression and worry about her lover still lingered.

"Of course I will refuse, why do you doubt this? I will never abandon you, even if you are at the center of disaster." Augustus picked up a red butterfly knife from the table, Hand it to Kerrigan.

"Like it?"

"A murder weapon" Kerrigan took the gorgeously crafted butterfly knife. The deadly weapon immediately spun in her hands. With the crisp snapping sound and the sound of wind, this butterfly knife was as dexterous as Part of Kerrigan's body.

"You can peel apples with it, my dear," Augustus said and kissed Kerrigan on the forehead, which silenced all the latter's complaints.

"Your mission is to follow Warfield to rescue the refugees in Little Atticus and bring them to Antiga. You are responsible for serving as the general's psychic advisor and investigating whether federal spies are mixed among those refugees." Ogu Stu spoke to Kerrigan in a soft voice—a tone that Augustus' men had only heard from members of his family.

"Then all you have to do is wait for me to come back. Don't worry, no one can kill me before I conquer this world," he said.

"But if it's not me, who will protect you?" Kerrigan asked.

"Corporal Faraday's soldiers and the ghost agents of Alpha Squadron." Augustus said: "After arriving at Char, I will sit side by side with Tassadar, the executive officer of the protoss, and act together. If the saints under him Even the Tang warriors can’t protect me, so there’s nothing you can do about it, right?”

"You always convince me," Kerrigan said ruefully.

"To boast, this is why I can lead those warriors." Augustus mentioned his laptop, and Kerrigan took other things for him. As for the power armor and other weapons, they had already been It was transported to the armory on the Hyperion.

The sun was shining brightly outside the door of the Governor's Office, and a golden-red flag of the Revolutionary Army was fluttering in the wind. The force field of psionic disruptors is still protecting Antiga's capital city of Ansadar. With the efforts of Rory Swann, the force fields of dozens of psionic disruptors have covered major gathering places, military base and farm.

A group of revolutionary army generals are waiting for Augustus, including Edmund Duke, Jim Raynor and Tychus Finley of the Alpha Squadron. As for Mar Sara Governor Pryor, Harnak Hunk and other generals of the Demons of Heaven were sent by Augustus to other nearby planets to rescue the refugees there.

Originally, Antiga Prime, as the center of the Zerg invasion wave, had always been considered by Tarsonis's military analysts to be the most dangerous place in the universe after Cha Sara and Mar Sara. However, after the psychic disruptor was put into use From then on, Antiga transformed into a gap in the vast sea of ​​​​worms sweeping across the Tyranid Federation.

Antiga Prime, a planet destined to be destroyed by the zerg and protoss, suddenly became a safe refugee settlement and transit center. A large number of people were being transferred to Antiga by the revolutionary army from the land ravaged by the zerg.

Even without Augustus to command, those revolutionary army generals who had already been able to take charge alone could still complete this work. The current situation is that with the swarm of insects ravaging the territory of the Tyranid Federation, the Federation fleet and the Revolutionary Army are trying their best to save people.

However, the Federation only wants to stick to important planets and is unwilling to care about the life and death of those underdeveloped remote worlds, because they can re-establish such colonial worlds at any time. What Augustus's revolutionary army did was what the Federation was unwilling to do, and rescued those seemingly worthless refugees.

During this period, Augustus put the goal of "rescuing as many refugees as possible" above overthrowing the federation. This man with compulsory education understood the truth of winning the hearts of the people and winning the world. He was familiar with the art of dragon slaying and the art of killing dragons. Theory of Kings.

Augustus never claimed to be a savior, he was just doing things that the ruling class of the Terran Federation was unwilling to do.

"The shuttle is ready, Marshal." Tychus, who was wearing a Revolutionary Army uniform one size larger, said to Augustus: "Hell, I'm the only one among these people who thinks you must be crazy. There are bugs everywhere." Tiga is not over yet, now you have to run into the flame world of death in Char."

"Those people are also crazy, as if running to a ghost place full of zerg and lava is something to be happy about. During the Kailian War, the Federation and the Kaimorians were about to blow up Char with nuclear bombs. "

"But you still followed." Duke glanced sideways at Tychus with his viper-like triangular eyes: "I am the only one who is loyal to the marshal and takes the initiative to ask for a fight."

"That's great, old man." Tychus complained: "No one is stopping you from doing that. I hope you don't trip over your right foot with your left foot and fall into the steaming lava lake."

"I'm not that old yet, man," Duke shot back, "I hope you don't end up with your head in the Antiga bitch's crotch."

"Shut up, gentlemen. There are people who are willing to pay a few credit coins to listen to your quarrel. Maybe there are people who are willing to reward you with a few bananas." Augustus said and turned to talk to Kai behind him. Regan says his final goodbyes.

Augustus kissed Kerrigan gently goodbye, eliciting a flurry of flirty whistles from the soldiers.

"Good." Hanak clapped his hands and praised.

"We will meet again." Augustus stroked Kerrigan's red lips with his fingers: "By then, I must have found a way to kill the swarm master and the brain worm."

"I hope everything in this world is as you expected it to be." Kerrigan kissed Augustus again.

"Then I hope there will be peace in the world." Augustus said with a smile.

At this time, several propaganda airships were floating in the sky above the Governor's Palace. The sharp-edged Protoss fighter planes with blue tail flames spouting from their tails were gradually moving away over the ring highway in the main city of Ansadar.

"Come on, sir, I've had enough of the sand and red earth of Antiga," Tychus said to Augustus.

As Augustus boarded the shuttle and slowly rose into the air, he could see the city below divided by highway loops and maglev train tracks. It was morning at this time, and people in Ansadar were walking in the pedestrian streets in the city. People going to work or school took the newly opened maglev buses to leave their homes.

People have adapted to a life where the threat of the zerg has gone away. After a while, men will have time to drive their cars and take their families on vacation as before. Even the park in the center of the city was renovated by Swann's men and replanted with flowers and grass.

The city of Ansadar, which shines bronze in the sun, is definitely not grand among the many cities in the Tyranid Federation, but to Augustus now, its value is even more than that of the wealthy and prosperous Lord Tarsonis. city.

Putting aside those annoying class conflicts, the world where people live and work in peace and contentment is the world that Augustus expected.

The shuttle flew safely into space and entered the docking orbit of the Hyperion. As the shuttle slowly drove into the dock, Augustus could also see several Mammoth-class and Hercules-class transport ships passing through Antiga's atmosphere, full of refugees from other planets.

This means that at least tens of thousands of people have saved their lives.

But the problem that followed was that Antiga's scarce material reserves could not support the large number of people who continued to pour into Antiga. For this reason, Augustus had to ask his old mercenary friends Hill and Kemerian to join forces. and the Umoyan government for help, requesting ships and supplies.

Of course, even the "minimum employment price" and "materials at cost price" that adhere to the spirit of humanitarianism are an astronomical sum, and this is not enough to spend the money Augustus has earned from mining in the past few years. He could only rely on his brother Arcturus to provide the money.

It is worth mentioning that some people on the planet who were not rescued in time escaped in time through their own efforts. They tried every means, either to repair the old antique immigration ships left by their ancestors, or to Trade convoys and even pirates passed through the system asking for help.

Augustus took Renault, Duke and others to the bridge of the Hyperion through the ship's escalator. When he walked through the bridge door that automatically recognized his identity and opened it, Swann, who had been waiting in the bridge for a long time, immediately Walked towards Augustus.

"Boss, I analyzed what they call Kedarin crystals in the protoss - they were obtained from the protoss buildings in Antiga that were destroyed by the zerg. I don't know if this counts. Steal, but don't worry about it." Swann is still wearing his orange-gray overalls made of woolen textiles, with bright goggles on his forehead, and his Meinhoff accent is mixed with a lot of Korhal's. .

"Guess what happened?"

"I guess you've had a great success, old man," said Augustus, chuckling.

"Good morning, Swann," Reynold said. "Do you have any beer?"

"What did you find in that shining dwarf head?" said Tychus.

"Thanks, Jim, I have beer and brandy in my cellar if you want to drink." Swann replied to Renault.

"We found a lot of interesting things. For example, the Kedarin crystal contains inexhaustible energy just like the void crystals we found in the corridors of Mar Sara Purgatory." He said.

"Kedarin crystal is definitely not naturally formed. How should I put it? It actually contains an intricate matrix structure, one ring inside another, and the structure is tight. It is comparable to our most precise micro circuit electronic components. No, it should be said Our electronic components are comparable to theirs, ah, it’s not on the same level at all.”

"Can you imagine, the protoss carved a sun into a crystal."

"I can probably imagine it." Augustus nodded: "Maybe the gap between us and the protoss is like the gap between paramecium and humans."

"You must have gained some inspiration from the Protoss' Kedarin crystals, otherwise you would rather stay in the armory and smear dirty motor oil on your face than come here," he said.

"By applying the method of storing and utilizing energy in the Kedarin Crystal to our own technology, I may be able to improve the efficiency of the Hyperion's energy and weapon systems, making our energy shield more durable and strong enough to cope with Terrible solar wind," Swan said.

"The 'city-destroying' fusion strike cannon you asked me to research has achieved a breakthrough in Umoyan's weapons laboratory."

"This means that we will soon have powerful ship-to-ship weapons." Augustus was overjoyed.

"So."

"I know what you want to ask." Swann touched the back of his head: "The Umoyan people said that after calculation, a few rounds of such a weapon can destroy a city, but no one knows whether this is true. After all, there is no Real cities for shooting experiments.”

"Okay. You're right." Augustus said to the navigator on the Huberian: "Prepare to jump, Captain."

Outside the bridge window of the Hyperion, the Alpha Squadron's Norad III and another capital ship were entering the dark and twisted hyperspace channel.

Considering that there were still two Federation fleets lingering near Antiga Prime, Augustus only took three capital ships and hundreds of ships to Char.

Augustus also ordered Rundstein to strengthen defenses in outer space orbit and deploy a large number of space mines and Magnet mines on the only way the Federation fleet must pass to guard against surprise attacks and orbital bombings by the Federation fleet.

Farther away is the extremely majestic Tassadar Protoss Expeditionary Fleet. The number of Light Protoss aircraft carriers exceeds 150, and thousands of Protoss fighters and transport ships surround their mothership. A massive military force is enough to easily overwhelm the Federation's main fleet.

In addition to the fact that the zerg have not yet established a foothold in Char, this is also the reason why Tassadar dares to lead his army directly into the hinterland of the swarm territory.

The brilliant and shining protoss fleet will arrive on Char before Augustus' human fleet, and they will be the main force fighting the zerg.

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