StarCraft: Tyranid Empire

Zeratul, my old friend. When we need you, you are always nowhere to be seen.

In the control tower on the bridge of the White Star, Augustus was thinking in his heart, with a worried expression on his face.

Counting the time it took for the coalition forces to integrate their forces, determine command authority, and attack sequence, the huge fleet had been delayed here for several days, but it still failed to wait for Zeratul's Ihanri Protoss fleet. According to the agreement, the Yihanli people should have arrived long ago. There must be a strong enemy or other unexpected changes that delayed their trip.

Time is long and the universe is vast. Even for fleets equipped with next-generation warp engines, such situations are inevitable.

Having said that, this still casts a shadow over the plan to march into Ayr.

At this moment, the coalition fleet has begun to jump towards Ayr, uniting all the troops to launch a general attack.

On the holographic screen in front of the command podium, the majestic human and protoss fleets were taking off following the flagship. The edges of the accelerating force fields spreading around the warships seemed to be burning blue flames, which was extremely gorgeous and spectacular.

"All along, Zeratul and his Dark Templars have followed their unknown rules of conduct." Raynor lit a cigarette and leaned against the console with embossed wolf pattern: "They are There must have been something delayed on the way, otherwise we would never have missed the appointment."

Anyone who is familiar with Zeratul knows that if he suddenly drifts outside and loses contact, there is no need to make a fuss. It is just that the critical moment that really requires the dark leader to show up has not yet arrived.

Renault exhaled a puff of smoke and seemed much more relaxed: "They had been arguing for a long time just now, and some people suspected that the Ihanli star spirit was late because it had taken refuge with Eamon."

"There is an old saying among Earthlings. If you live long enough, you can see everything. I actually heard a Tal'darin righteously accuse his allies of not being loyal enough and being duplicitous."

After agreeing on the battle plan to march into Aiur, the leaders and generals of the Protoss and the Empire have left and returned to the fleet to deploy their troops.

There was no one else here except Imperial Marshals Jim Raynor, Matt Horner, and several military officers serving on the High Command Staff. Although they are all new faces, these people are already excellent soldiers tempered by many battles.

In the battle meeting just now, the delay in waiting for the Ihanri Protoss fleet naturally caused dissatisfaction among many people, especially Duke and Alarak who were the loudest.

Duke believes that Ihanli's arrival is purely to cause chaos and is also a good thing, so as to show the bravery of him as the lion of the empire.

The new High Lord Alarak accused Augustus of wasting time. He was both impatient to avenge the Dark God's lies and lacked trust in his new allies, the Ihanri Protoss.

Duke felt very happy when he heard that it was rare for someone to cater to him. When he saw that it was Alarak, the high-ranking lord of Tal'darin, he suppressed the words "Heroes see the same thing".

"I don't like talking about allies behind their backs. In my opinion, this kind of statement really cannot withstand scrutiny."

Matt was meticulous about wearing his military uniform at all times, even when he was dating Mila - and it was obvious that he was reluctant to do so.

"If Ihanli really betrays us, then when the Imperial Combined Fleet is waiting in this galaxy, the ones who came before will not be Artanis and Alarak, but the El zerg swarm." He Standing in front of a large tactical hologram:

"Artanis and the others also brought new news. The golden fleet and the swarm are still raging in the Koprulu sector. All evidence shows that Amon knows nothing about our raid."

"I'm not too worried about that." Augustus leaned on the other side of the console.

After all, Augustus could not ignore the possibility that his allies would defect before the war, but he only cared about suspicion before the war, which was just to mess up the situation.

Augustus's decision to recruit the Ihanli star spirit to join the coalition was the result of careful consideration, and he would not easily doubt his own judgment. At the same time, the Ihanri Star Spirit has Zeratul's full support, so there are reasons to trust it.

The Tal'darim distrusted everyone, and Duke distrusted all aliens, and it was reasonable to have such suspicions.

As far as Augustus knew about Ihanri's position in participating in the war, he did not think that they would side with Aemon. After all, Aemon never concealed his killing of the gods in Urna, the resting place of the gods. It seems he thought this would break the protoss' morale and make them despair.

The Ihanri Protoss worshiped the Xel'Naga even more than other relatives, and the miserable scene in Urna naturally made them hate the "Godslayer" Amon. Now, even the reason why Ihanli had been searching for Xel'Naga's footprints in vain for thousands of years was answered.

It's Eamon who is now telling them that he is the Xel'Naga who came to Aiur in the first place. Your current religious worship is all due to his self-promotion that he is satisfied with his identity as the Creator. In fact, the Xel'Naga in Urnari have no Having been to Ayr, Ihanli would only think of him as a blasphemous and deceitful person.

To this day, under the influence of Zeratul, the Ihanli protoss still believe that there is a Xel'Naga imprisoned by Amon in the void, and that is the creator they have been pursuing for generations.

Compared with the threat of the end of the world, Ihanri cared more about how to save their god, which was enough for them to devote themselves to this pilgrimage expedition regardless of sacrifice.

Although the Ihanri protoss was very dissatisfied with the human colonists who "suddenly" appeared on the world of their former empire, they still came to help at Zeratul's insistence.

More than one imperial territory and fleet have reported that they have received support from the Ihanli Pilgrimage Fleet. There are more than millions of imperial people who have survived because of the rescue, and the materials saved are even more unimaginable.

If the Ihanri Protoss was just trying to gain the trust of the Terran Empire, the acting would be too good.

A worried look appeared on Augustus's face again: "In comparison, I am more worried about Zeratul's safety. The magical Zeratul will always save the day, but not every time."

Renault lit another cigarette: "In my opinion, you don't need to worry so much."

"Do you think we can win?" Augustus looked at Renault and then at Matt Horner on the other side.

Matt was speechless. In his impression, the emperor would never ask such a question that showed his weak side.

The Great Emperor will only inspire his subordinates in this way. Apart from victory, there is no other way for us to go.

"Of course we will win."

"My dad taught me that everything depends on man-made efforts." Reynold pulled out a bottle of No. 8 whiskey that had been aged for many years like a magic trick: "I also think that if it doesn't work out, we can only accept our destiny. Drink some. There’s never any harm in drinking.”

"Drink something?"

"Talk to your wife about this." Augustus took the bottle and said noncommittally.

This whiskey from Tarsonis was popular among soldiers fighting in the Guild Wars, but Arcturus Mengsk publicly described it as inferior and should be consigned to the trash.

Reynolds and Harnack Hank both loved the drink, and even the combination to the safe was named after No. 8 whiskey. The imperial generals who came from the old aristocracy never drank this kind of wine, as if it would make them inferior. Augustus is considered Whiskey Pie No. 8, and he is quite nostalgic.

While Augustus was drinking heavily, he found that Matt was still standing slightly nervous and couldn't help but laugh.

People thought that the wise and mighty Emperor Augustus was omnipotent, but only the emperor himself knew that Augustus, who always won battles, would sometimes lose. Things could not always be as he expected. That way.

After all, they were no longer young. By the time their second daughter, Charlotte, was born, Augustus's view of the world had changed dramatically.

Augustus was also afraid of failure as never before. After all, he no longer had nothing to lose.

"Matt, do you think we can win?" Augustus sighed.

"No matter what the outcome is, we will fight with His Majesty and the Empire until the last moment." Matt's words were indeed sincere.

Augustus suddenly laughed, feeling that it was ridiculous and stupid that he actually needed to gain confidence from the words of the two of them.

At the same time, he felt that he was fully prepared. No matter how hard he thought about it, he couldn't think of anything he missed, so he might as well just sleep with his head covered.

So, Augustus slapped his butt and sent the two of them back to sleep. He drank Renault's wine without any monarchy and ran away.

As soon as Augustus returned to his cabin on the White Star, the fatigue of more than twenty hours of sleeplessness came over him, and he fell asleep. This cabin specially prepared for the emperor was not luxurious at all. Although Arcturus insisted that the royal family must be distinguished from the common people, Augustus was indifferent.

Until Renault's adjutant informed Augustus that the fleet had arrived at its destination, he didn't know how long he slept.

At this moment, the White Star has arrived in the Aiur system, between the third and fourth planets in the system.

Two astronomical units away from the port side of the White Star, headed by the flagship Gorgon Steel Will, the Empire's Seventh Fleet (Second Fleet) is arriving.

Battleships appeared on the radar scans day after day. Battlecruisers, cruisers, frigates, destroyers, troop carriers, supply ships, hospital ships, and scientific ships equipped with high-precision detection matrices were among these huge battleships and spaceships. When entering the jump space at the same time, the scene is much more spectacular than the astonishing numbers on paper.

The Seventh Fleet is just one of the Empire's combined fleets. Countless warships enter the warping state at the same time, and the resulting space-time vortex is as numerous as the vortexes swirling in the sea.

The Imperial soldiers in each cabin of the White Star took action. The various cabins were filled with Imperial soldiers and technicians, and the officers shouted at the deployment personnel, asking them to perform their duties. Such a scene was played out on every battleship in the Imperial Fleet, and even some people with little experience and lack of psychological quality ran into the bulkhead before the war.

The revolutionary armies of the past have withdrawn from the stage of history. Many of them did not fall under the guns of the Federation Army, but died in the hands of the Protoss and Zerg. Most of the current Imperial Army are young soldiers of the new generation. They have spent more than ten years of their adult life under the rule of the Empire.

The protracted war has caused the empire to lose elite troops and experienced veterans. Coupled with the ever-expanding fleet size, it has also had to send new recruits who have just completed training to the battlefield.

These soldiers were dissatisfied when they learned that they were transferred from the territory of the empire that was under attack. In fact, they were just stepping from one purgatory to another.

At this time, not to mention the young soldiers, even the veterans who were full of fighting spirit were enveloped in the depressive atmosphere before the war. People in many positions on the battleship could not figure out what was happening beyond those several layers of bulkheads until the end of the war. They could not even see the enemy, but that did not mean that their work was not important.

According to the combat deployment, Artanis's Daram Protoss Fleet and Alarak's Tal'darin Death Fleet served as the vanguard of the attack on Aiur. The reason why the latter is willing to be the vanguard is partly out of revenge and anger against Eamon, and partly because he is unwilling to hand over his back to others.

When Augustus arrived at the White Star to command the flagship, there were no reports of exchanges of fire with the enemy from various imperial fleets.

On the home screen, Al today is very different from what it was more than ten years ago. She was once a planet with a beautiful luster, a paradise that nurtured life, but now it is a star in the center of the star map. Spots of bright red light.

The void has corrupted this planet so deeply that the original green land is covered with void fragments towering into the sky, and the appearance of the former glorious city can only be distinguished from the empty and charred building skeletons.

This is a ravaged land.

When the enemies on Aiur noticed the sudden appearance of a large fleet, the situation quickly changed. It can be expected that the hybrids or cerebrates that ruled the swarm of Aiur were by no means slow to react, and immediately attacked Artanis. Before Alarak's fleet approached Aiur, he mobilized a swarm fleet to block it, including a considerable number of corrupted protoss warships.

The El Insect Swarm is like interstellar dust, and the vast space is filled with frozen insect corpses and fragments of battleships.

The first Terran Empire fleet to be attacked was the Second Fleet. The commander of this fleet was Vice Admiral Alexander Davidoff. He immediately ordered the huge battlecruisers to form a tight half-moon formation. A salvo of broadsides.

The incoming insect swarm hit a large indestructible forest of battleships and was immediately shattered into pieces.

Under the cover of the battleship, the Hercules transport ship loaded with soldiers and land combat mechas moved quickly towards Aier, preparing to land from orbit and destroy the warp matrix on its surface.

Everything is staged for real.

Charge forward and fight forward.

It turns out that the soldiers in the game who can be discarded at will just to win are actually living people with emotions, angers, sorrows and joys. As a result, it is inevitable to hesitate when making the decision to send them to death.