StarCraft: Tyranid Empire

Imperial territory, Bekaa Row Dominion.

As the morning light faded, the velvet blue back blanket covering the sky was gradually coated with a layer of gold. In this town called Freeport by the original pioneers of Becca Rowe, thousands of red-tiled gabled buildings scattered on the highlands are shrouded in the golden sky, and a white road goes straight east along the street. The earth disappears into the horizon.

Octavia Bren drove her family's newly purchased combine harvester rumbled along the field road toward the town, leaving the fading stars behind.

When she occasionally looked back at the huge fields that were neatly divided into pieces and the silver lightning protection towers and processing towers that stood in between, she always felt like she was in another world.

Summer has arrived, and the trees on the edge of the fields are full of white apple blossoms. The fragrance of the flowers is blowing towards your face, refreshing, as if you are in a sea of ​​flowers.

Unexpectedly, Beka Luo, whose environment was so harsh and the land was so barren that she couldn't spare any extra land to plant cash crops, would have flowers in full bloom one day. In the past, Octavia thought that the kind of world surrounded by green trees and colorful flowers only existed in old data books and disks. She had never imagined this planet that had brought many hardships to her ancestors. It turned out to be like this.

As long as they think about the past when they were not able to have enough to eat, they seem to be living in paradise today.

Unlike the rich and prosperous planets like Agria, Helzen and Haven, Beka Luo was originally an ordinary piece of rotten stone in the universe, and perhaps beautiful flowers can bloom on even the barren land after all. , even if this beauty is always fleeting.

Ever since the first Tyranid Imperial fleet arrived on Beka Ro and raised that red flag on the moody stone planet, declaring Emperor Augustus Mengsk I to rule over a world long forgotten by the Old Confederacy.

Four full years have passed, but the past four years have witnessed rapid changes and vicissitudes of life.

When the Empire drove away the Zerg that invaded Beka Lo and established a government that gave its people a high degree of autonomy, some pessimistic natives couldn't help but think that the free and anarchic state in the past was about to be replaced by cruel and high-pressure policies. replaced.

Perhaps, these people's views will be verified in dozens or hundreds of years, but now it seems that the empire has brought more to the people of Beka Luo than they have lost.

In order to improve the soil quality of Bekaa Luo and accelerate the terraforming process, Augustgrad specially dispatched a team of renowned experts to build a scientific research station and a climate monitoring station. In response to the complex earthquakes and thunderstorms on the planet, the Empire demolished the free ports of the past and built shock-absorbing buildings, seismic monitoring stations, and lightning towers on solid and stable foundations.

Gradually, the planet became habitable, and more and more fertile farmland was cultivated on Beqa Luo. Even settlements such as small towns and villages gradually grew with the continuous influx of directional immigrants. increase. Freeport, the only town on the planet at that time, has become a small city with a population of 50,000. Facilities such as Park Plaza and movie theaters that were unimaginable in the past have also been built.

Octavia also couldn't figure out how so many people suddenly poured into Becca Rowe, which used to have only two to three thousand people. Freeport is not even the largest city on the planet. The largest city is located hundreds of miles away near a large high-energy gas mining area.

The current Beka Luo conservatively estimates that there are 500,000 people, which is certainly nothing in the vast Terran Empire, but counting the past population base, this is simply an increase of hundreds of times in four years.

When the sun was just rising, the harvester driven by Octavia drove into the road that ran from east to west through Freeport. Before dawn, the sidewalks beside the road are full of people. People who make a living on the barren land must work harder than people in other places to survive.

Because they can barely feed their families only with food grown in the fields that they put in many times their sweat. If they cannot grab a bite of food from others, they may not be able to see the sun tomorrow.

This may be why the Mar Sara tend to be tougher than other people, while people who grew up in rich lands don't have that aggressiveness. Regional differences mean that people in various territories of the Terran Empire may have very different customs and styles of doing things. After all, this is a huge interstellar empire with a vast territory.

Octavia knew that the difference might be answered in a lesson from her biology teacher. On the remote islands in Ayr far away from the main continental plate, the easy availability of food and the lack of predators gave rise to many flightless free-range chickens. Their carefree life gradually allowed them to grow fat and round. A stick can knock several of them unconscious, and the lack of competition has caused the evolution of these island species to go in a very different direction.

In contrast, a Man of the Dead who grew up in an environment where he would starve to death if he was weak would always be a hungry wolf rather than an ignorant little rabbit. There are many honest and hard-working farmers in the new colony of Haven, but they won't hesitate to crack your skull if you steal the crops they depend on for a living.

The Beqa Luo people may be lucky that they have not evolved into El free-range chickens after all.

As soon as they drove into the Freeport, Octavia noticed that both sides of the road were lined with the golden and red flags of the Tyranids. The atmosphere among the people was obviously much more lively than a few days ago, as if they were commemorating the emperor's coronation.

The buildings in the Free Port were all built after the first year of the Empire. They are solid and beautiful. There are rotating wind-powered street lamps standing on the roadside, and there are a dazzling array of shops selling all kinds of imported goods. At the entrance to the Freeport stands a huge bronze statue of Emperor Augustus, with two giant wolves sitting beside him. Not just here, almost every imperial city built after the disaster would erect a statue like this to show respect for the emperor.

Those anti-imperialists who incite rebellion and riots will spread rumors that there are surveillance cameras installed under the eyes of each statue of the Great to monitor the entire city, and anyone who plots against the statues will be arrested by OGB plainclothes interrogation.

But Octavia didn't care. Not to mention how a statue could monitor a city, who would plot evil against the emperor's statue.

Although the people of Beka Ro had never heard of Augustus Mengsk and his Imperial government four years ago, he was well-liked by the people here.

Two years ago, a sudden fungal infection caused by smut swept across Bekaa Luo. Not only did a terrible famine break out in this emerging colony, but a large number of people died due to the infection.

Only then did Becca Luo realize how lucky a responsible government was. With an order from Emperor Augustus, Ashrigo, Zeph III and Krydon ) Imperial governors in many places dispatched rescue teams, including a large number of medical personnel and relief food.

If it weren't for the help of other imperial worlds, the population of Beka Luo would have been reduced by at least half, and Octavia's parents almost died in this disaster.

At this time, imperial soldiers can be seen everywhere in the free port. Young people wearing blue, black and brown khaki uniforms are walking in twos and threes on the streets paved with blue bricks, chatting as they go.

Imperial military police with armbands guard Freeport bars, shops and all places where alcohol and other contraband may be sold to sailors. Numerous military reconnaissance drones shaped like two-winged giant dragonflies rule the sky over the town. Keep an eye on the soldiers scattered throughout Freeport.

The quality of the personnel of the Imperial Navy is quite good, and the military discipline is also quite strict. According to the Navy's unilateral statement, only those who cannot become the Navy will be sent to the Marine Corps. But if these young guys who may not have seen the opposite sex for half a year are not carefully monitored, it is no joke if they cause some scandals.

The locals have long been accustomed to soldiers appearing here from time to time. There is a very large military port in Beka Luo's orbit that serves as an anchorage for the warships of the Empire's Sixth Fleet. Every once in a while, when the fleet returns to the port for supplies, these The soldiers would then be allowed to come down and relax.

The imperial government is vigorously constructing Beka Roko not only because of its unique geographical location in the Koprulu sector, but also because of its rich high-quality high-energy gas resources, which is also an extremely important energy source. Frequent and violent seismic activities in Bekaa Ro have also moved a large number of high-energy gas springs closer to the surface, making them easier to mine.

95% of the crystal ore minerals in Beka Luo are used for warship casting to support the huge fleet in the military port.

In this era when insect swarms invaded and devastated all life, Beka Luo was extremely lucky to have a large fleet stationed there. You know, those developed core worlds that think they occupy a considerable part of the empire do not have such treatment.

In the past two days, the number of naval soldiers who came to the Freeport to get some fresh air has obviously increased. Octavia has received some news that a large number of Imperial warships that have been withdrawn from the front line are currently resting in the Beqa Luo naval port, and a large number of nervous Imperial Navy soldiers have nowhere to go.

Amidst a burst of noise and exclamations, an Imperial Navy soldier whose buttons were torn ran across the street on one side, but was thrown to the ground by the military police and Freeport law enforcement officers who had been waiting for a long time.

"Why don't you let me drink! While my brothers and I were fighting bloody battles in the Tiberus system, you guys were enjoying themselves in the back!" But even when he was about to be taken away, the soldier But while crying, he kicked and beat the law enforcement officer who firmly controlled him:

"We went to Tiberus, and you just stayed here. Why, why weren't you the ones who died?"

He didn't drink, but he still seemed drunk.

He may have violated discipline by injecting himself with a large amount of strengthening agents, and according to military regulations, he will be severely fined.

Octavia immediately understood that it was a soldier who might have come down from the front line of Tiberus not long ago. The soldier's anger and despair made him cry, because all his close friends stayed there forever, and only he came back alive, like a lonely ghost left alone in the world by the god of death.

She simply couldn't imagine how she would feel facing the bodies of her friends and relatives if they died in the war.

Even ordinary civilians in the empire have some understanding of the battle that just ended in the Tiberus system, although their understanding is quite limited.

A month ago, the zerg invaded the Tiberus system again and destroyed the colonies under construction. Several imperial worlds were immediately exposed to the swarm's maw. A large number of imperial fleets immediately launched a decisive battle with the zerg in Tiberus. It was said that even the protoss participated in the melee.

This may be the largest interstellar war since Emperor Augustus came to the throne. It can be seen from the UNN reports that the battle was unprecedentedly brutal. The fleet was destroyed, the galaxy was turned upside down, and only the announced deaths were The list is shocking.

Just looking at such reports, people can't believe what would happen if such a war happened not in the distant and unknown Tiberus, but on the planet where they live.

Octavia could vividly remember the days when her parents would sit on the phone all night long, waiting for notifications. Fortunately, she was on board the Gorgon-class battlecruiser Liberty Day. Lars Bren, his older brother who served in the army, does not appear on the list of killed and missing.

But Octavia knew that this was only temporary, there were too many people killed, and the list had not yet been completely counted.

Liberation Day is a powerful battleship named to commemorate the day when the Revolutionary Army liberated Mar Sara from Confederate tyranny. But Octavia cannot rest easy. On the battlefield of Tiberus, even the Gorgon may sink.

Take the Imperial Navy where Lars served, for example. If a battlecruiser sank, at least two to three thousand people might die on the battlefield, and the chance of survival was not high. Therefore, the Empire still has not announced all sunken Imperial battleships.

Each battlecruiser is a patron saint that maintains the rule of the empire and protects one side. Their loss is likely to cause an uproar in the imperial society.

But relatively speaking, this time the Empire also achieved a huge victory in Tiberus, not only killing tens of billions of Zerg, but also pursuing their remaining fleets. At present, the Empire not only expelled all Zerg within the Empire's territory, but also destroyed dozens of Zerg brood worlds of various sizes through orbital bombardment.

The military even made bold claims that within a few years the insect swarms would not be able to resurge and invade the imperial world on a large scale, and the victory of the Tiberus system would win long-lasting peace.

This is why there is so much joy in Freeport. In fact, not only here, but most of the empire is celebrating victory, so that the voices of those who question that this is likely to be a tragic victory are ignored.

But in other words, the Tyran Empire is far inferior in terms of population, military strength, and mobilization. Even if it can win multiple times in the war against the insect swarms, it is already a miracle.

You know, the power of the second-generation insect swarm is even comparable to that of the first-generation insect swarm that overturned the Protoss Empire and destroyed El, or even worse.

Regardless of strategy or determination, Emperor Augustus on the throne tried his best to make his tribe invincible in this vast sea of ​​​​stars. Whether he was the Korhal tyrant of the era or the Prometheus holding the fire will be commented by later generations.

Finally, human civilization has survived another difficult situation. If the enemy cannot destroy mankind, they will only become stronger and stronger.

Thinking of this, Octavia drove a little faster, hoping to see her brother Lars' joyful face when she went home.

Cyn McCarthy, the young widow is still waiting for Lars. She had already lost one of her husbands during the Battle of Tasha.