StarCraft: Tyranid Empire

Halsain is a garden in the territory of the Tyranid Federation.

This planet is a fringe world, a young colony that was not among the thirteen worlds that originally formed the Tyranid Federation. Halsain is not a beautiful planet with poetic scenery, and its climate cannot even be called very suitable for human habitation.

But like many newly developed planets, Halsain is full of development opportunities. Gold and spices are buried in the land, and milk and honey flow in the rivers.

The land suitable for farming in Hailsen is so fertile that people can grow endless fields and vineyards all over the mountains and hills with golden waves of wheat fanning in the sun without fertilizing. The food produced here can easily meet the needs of the people on the planet and provide wheat, soybeans, corn, and meat to the three nearby colonial worlds.

The wines of Heilsein are world-famous, and famous wineries around the world are the most historic buildings in this young colony and the pride of the locals. The planet also produces brandy and ale, and is a mecca for alcohol lovers in the Tyranid Federation.

Although classified as a fringe world, Halsain is geographically very close to Tarsonis, even closer than Vardona Prime, which means that the route to the main world is always open. This has also brought unimaginable development opportunities to Helsain and other backward and marginalized worlds such as Mar Sara. The rapid development has greatly accelerated the modernization process of this colony.

When Augustus's combined fleet jumped to the planet Helsain, the planet was already well known as a developed emerging world.

In Helserne, modern steel and glass dense urban buildings coexist harmoniously with fertile farmland. Whenever harvest time approaches, rows of green-painted combine harvesters push through the golden wheat fields under the command of drones until the grains pile up into mountains.

Half of the inter-system enterprises and technology companies in the Tyranid Federation have branches in Helsain, and many companies rank among the top in terms of market value.

Halsain is an ideal place for those in the Terran Confederation who are unable to survive due to oppression and unfair treatment. In Helserne, there are job opportunities everywhere if you look carefully. What is commendable is that as long as they work hard, people who immigrate to Hailsen will receive matching rewards.

The universities in Heilsain are praised for their rigorous academic philosophy and world-famous scientific research achievements, which also means that the children of Heilsain people can get a good education.

For such newly colonized planets, there is never a shortage of hope.

But that was before the swarms arrived.

"Convey my orders. The airdrop will begin after the next round of orbital bombardment. Alpha Squadron will be the first force to land on Helsain and engage the zerg, followed by the Rock Legion in the Port of the Dead, and then Rondes. Tyne's two divisions. Reno's Rangers were assigned to the third attack echelon. The Guards Division was kept in reserve."

Augustus walked quickly through the long corridor inside the Norad II, and the tapping sound of combat boots echoed in the corridor for a long time. Only Lieutenant Kerrigan and Corporal Faraday followed Augustus, and Jim Raynor had to command his own brigade.

"Our friendly forces are the Protoss ground forces, including several Zealot legions and a large number of Dragon Knight mechas. The Dark Templar will also provide assistance to all human friendly forces they see." He said.

"This is but a small zerg invasion, and their numbers are nothing compared to what we encountered on Mar Sara, Antiga, and Char. We will prevail again—as always."

"We are righteous, and that's why we always win when we face our evil enemies."

"The commander of this battle is me, I am Augustus, and I am with you." Augustus said in the commander's channel as he walked.

After passing by a group of hurried technician sergeants again, Augustus arrived at the dock launch bay of the Norad II. At this moment, Wraith fighter jets and APOD transport ships were sailing towards the outside of the ship. starry sky.

When Hyperion was further upgrading its weapons system, Augustus once again used the former Alpha Squadron flagship Norad II as his flagship. The predecessor of the Hyperion was just an ordinary Federation Behemoth-class battlecruiser, while the Norad II was completely built based on the flagship standard.

Norad has a larger and more complete crew cabin, power cabin, dock and medical bay, and its weapons and armor are also more advanced. Although after more than three years of continuous upgrades and modifications, the performance of the Hyperion has surpassed that of the Norad II, but the latter is still the first choice for the fleet flagship.

Through the porthole on the side of the dock, Augustus could see the two Revolutionary Army battlecruisers parallel to the Norad II. They were hundreds of miles apart. This was by no means a close distance.

Unseen by Augustus, Tassadar's protoss fleet was anchored in geostationary orbit on the other side of Halsain.

"The federal garrison deployed in Heilsain was engulfed by a swarm of insects in a wheat field an hour ago. The highest-level commander there completely lost contact with its command center." Kerrigan opened his own page at this time He carried a data terminal and reported to Augustus.

"Are they crazy? At this time, they still dare to fight against the Zerg in an area without any fortifications as support." Augustus sighed. It has to be said that at least the courage of these federal soldiers is worthy of respect.

"Obviously, they have stepped into a trap carefully designed by the brain worms - the bait is a small city surrounded by siege, which houses the most important local pharmaceutical factory." Kerrigan said, shaking her long fiery red hair. .

"Many of the founding families of Tarsonis are investors in this pharmaceutical company."

"I thought they were going to rescue civilians." Augustus shook his head.

"I shouldn't expect federal troops."

"In addition, Tassadar's fleet has destroyed 90% of the main nest and the zerg entrenched in it as planned...the rest is much simpler." Kerrigan continued to report.

"What about the loss of the main town of Helsinn?" Augustus said: "I just read a report on this a few hours ago, but that was only a few hours ago."

"The situation is much worse now. Nearly a third of the city of Helzen has been lost, and the zerg are slaughtering unarmed civilians. Whether they are men, women, old or children, they kill everyone they see." Kerrigan continued.

"The zerg seem to have figured out that humans depend on the ground beneath their feet."

"It's urgent." Augustus sighed, hoping that Duke's Alpha Squadron had landed at Helsinn.

At this time, a group of revolutionary soldiers wearing heavy armor walked past Augustus. Their armor is an upgraded version of the Firebat CMC250, using Umoyan's armor-reinforced frame and refined alloy steel armor. The new hydraulics, gravity compensator and dual-reactor generator set design allow the servo system to more easily Drive this set of power armor that is heavier than ordinary CMC.

These powered armors are truly behemoths, giants among individual powered armors. Their helmets abandoned the matte visor design and replaced them with prototype helmets with cross-shaped viewing ports. The mechanical palm used to grasp the rifle has been completely replaced with the AGG-17 grenade launcher. This grenade launcher is not the latest design of the revolutionary military industry, but is just a larger and thicker upgraded version of the old federal AGG-12 grenade launcher. .

The No. 12 grenade can destroy dozens of zerg gathered together at one time, and its upgraded version undoubtedly has even more amazing power.

Hiram Fick, the Firebat Power Armor's designer, was the final architect of the armor and received valuable advice from masters like Rory Swann and Viktor Kaczynski - starting with Ensure that this armor is closer to what Marshal Augustus Mengsk dreamed of looking like.

It is said that when selecting a suitable grenade launcher for this heavy type, Chief Engineer Swan did not have many options in front of him. For a while, he even had to use the Vulture's AGP-2 grenade launcher for testing. Although the grenade launcher also possesses considerable power, Swann still believes that it is as unreliable as the Vulture itself.

In the stage of designing prototype weapons, more novel designs were also proposed, such as installing railguns on new armor, but this proposal was ultimately shelved due to technical and financial issues, probably only by the wealthy Umoyan. Talent can mass produce this armor.

All in all, Swann and Fick's team can definitely try some more attractive combinations, but for now, the Revolutionary Army needs a standard weapon that can field troops on a large scale rather than a costly mascot.

The stainless steel armor and amazing firepower undoubtedly make it the first choice to deal with the Zerg Thunder Beast and Protoss Dragon Knight mecha on the frontal battlefield. Once this armor came out, it was considered an epoch-making progress, capable of destroying more enemies. This means that more soldiers and people will be saved.

Augustus named the armor the 5-4 Marauder Power Armor to commemorate the armor's official finalization and production on May 4 - but some records indicate that the marshal apparently got this date wrong.

From then on, soldiers wearing 5-4 power armor were also called Marauders.

The Marauder powered armor is very popular among the Revolutionary Army. Compared with its popularity, the small number of trial-production Wolf Armor equipped with the main force is nothing more than a thing of the past.

When the top officers of the Revolutionary Army announced the launch of the Marauder Armor at the Army Equipment Headquarters, they almost broke their heads fighting for this power armor. They always had their own reasons. Army General Lundstein believed that such a weapon of war should be Duke, who belonged to his troops, and the Navy, belittled this armor while taking more orders.

As for Hunk Hunk of the Firebats, he spent a good portion of the Navy and Army bickering about how fucking cool this thing is.

Now, hundreds of sets of Marauder Power Armor have been issued to Army and Airborne Division troops to make up for their lack of heavy support firepower on the battlefield. On the battlefield, ordinary soldiers can rely on the firepower and heavy armor of the Marauders to stand firm against the frontal impact of the Ultralisk.

"I have praised the contributions of Fick and Swann more than once." Augustus watched the pair of marauders walking past him, and his ears heard the sound of their huge anti-fall boots stepping on the metal alloy. Sounds from the ground.

The Marauders carried nearly a hundred Punisher grenades, which made up the bulk of their load. Once the ammunition is exhausted, they will switch to the Gauss rifle behind them.

Since the last time Augustus saw Swann in the armory, improvements to the new armor had been unexpectedly rapid, almost entirely completed while the Hyperion was still in Chronosphere.

"You were really elated at that time." Kerrigan smiled and said to Augustus: "I have never seen you so happy since the zerg invasion. You spent half an hour praising you. Engineer Corps, talk about the value of Marauder armor."

"Each of them is a hero." Augustus said: "And I am just lucky enough. It happens that these heroes are willing to listen to my opinions."

"This is not because you are lucky. You found each of them one by one from places light years away." Kerrigan said: "This sentence is enough to be recorded in the marshal's quotation, waiting for you to become famous all over the world. , all the Tyran people are talking about it."

"What quotation?" Augustus was surprised.

"No such thing." Faraday quickly denied.

"." Augustus did not stay on this issue for too long. In his opinion, it was simply insignificant.

Not long after, another group of distinctive soldiers ran towards the transport ship moored in the dock from the other side. Today, exoskeleton armor and thin combat uniforms are rare among the main forces of the Revolutionary Army.

Each of the soldiers wearing light combat uniforms and breastplates has a huge turbojet backpack on their back. The jet uses refined high-energy gas as fuel. After starting, it can jump to several places with just one jump. Hundreds of feet in the air. An experienced wearer can also use the jetpack to fly in mid-air, gliding over buildings and people.

This is also a design from Hiram Fike. A few years ago, he designed a power armor that can assist the landing of airborne troops, and the Tyranid Federation also has a more complete design.

Fike has improved the armor, abandoning the heavy armor and using a powerful turbo backpack to provide power. Even after improvements, this combat uniform and jetpack are the equipment that cause the most non-combat casualties to the wearers.

A soldier who is determined to wear this combat uniform and go into battle as an airborne force must go through extremely rigorous training to control it. Only the most experienced Death of the Revolutionary Army can perfectly fall from the sky from the enemy's head. The mortality rate of a platoon of trained recruits before graduation is as high as 10% to 20%, so this is also a true game of the brave.

Marshal Augustus unoriginally called the only company equipped with this combat uniform the Reapers. The number of Death Company has always been maintained between 400 and 500 people. They only recruit the most fearless extreme challenge masters among the veterans and recruits who have experienced many battles.

The Death Gods of the Revolutionary Army will carry D-type explosives, P-25 electromagnetic pistols and electromagnetic rifles. They mainly perform assault and reconnaissance missions and are also known as the Death Gods of Augustus.

When Augustus's grim reapers were thrown into battle, that also meant that was where the fighting was most intense.