StarCraft: Tyranid Empire.

Chapter 329 Altera
Augustus was not able to spend some days in Antiga, enjoying life away from the war.He had just finished inspecting the industrial area and was about to go to the Stichol Forest, where Antiga's most important mine lode was located, when an urgent report from Warfield pulled him back to the governor's office.

Immediately afterwards, Tassadar and Zeratul's fleet also made direct contact with Augustus' Marshal Command.On February 2492, 2 Standard Time, the Jormungandr Swarm invaded Altara approximately 3 light-years away from Antiga Prime.

Five Yemengarde Behemoths jumped into Altera's synchronous orbit, which means that the cerebrum Yak of this swarm may have also appeared in the Altera galaxy.

In any case, Augustus' army is the only military force capable of rescuing Altaira in the near future, and Tassadar and Zeratul hope to take this opportunity to inflict a devastating blow on the huge Jormungandr swarm. blow, forcing them to withdraw to the star field near Char.

By the time Augustus arrived at the Hyperion, which was being maintained and repaired in the Antiga Shipyard, by the time that Augustus took a shuttle at the Ansardar Air Port, the Revolutionary Army fleet was ready to set off under his order.

"Jim, how many people do we have in Altera?" As soon as Augustus walked into the bridge gate of the Hyperion, he asked Renault loudly, who was standing in front of the central main screen.Kerrigan and Faraday followed closely behind him, and Tychus Finley, who was bragging with Hanak Hank and Rick Kidd in the bar, also heard the news.

"Warfield sent some people to investigate the situation there more than half a month ago, but now we have almost no way to contact them." Renault turned his head and looked at Augustus with a serious expression.

"Trouble keeps coming," he said. "After our successful raid on Char, the zerg's tendency to invade Koprulu on a large scale has been effectively curbed, but that doesn't mean it's going to make them give up their meat."

"Call the First Fleet and get ready to go." Augustus walked to Renault's side and put his hands behind his back.The main star of Antiga has enough power for defense. The fleet of Warfield and Holt plus the defense system of the Antiga galaxy is enough to resist the attack of three federal navy squadrons.

With the huge fleet of Tassadar and Zeratul "escorting" him, Augustus does not have to worry about losing the war with the swarm because the fleet does not bring enough.

The fleet of the Revolutionary Army has undergone several readjustments to incorporate new battlecruisers and battleships procured from the Kel-Morian Consortium, and now the First Fleet has a total of ten capital ships, including the Hyperion , the Norad III, the other three Alpha Squadron battleships, and the newly completed battlecruisers from the Delarian shipyard.

Warfield's fleet consisted of eleven battleships after the two Camerian Hercules-class battleships, the flagship being the Iron Justice.Jackson Hole was in command of the Third Fleet with nine Nova Squadrons as the main body, but the captains of the battlecruisers under his command were re-appointed by Augustus himself, and each captain was accompanied by A Revolutionary Army ghost agent.

It is worth mentioning that after the full-scale invasion of Zerg, the Kel-Morian Federation also began to strengthen the defense of the homeland like the Umoyan United States, and focused on rebuilding the military power that was almost completely destroyed by the Tyrann Federation.

Although the directors of the joint mining company still plan to make large-scale arms sales to the revolutionary army to make profits, they still have to reduce exports, otherwise the Moria will blow it up to the sky before the zerg raid.This regime, which was once powerful enough to rival the Tyrann Federation, has now declined to a third-rate force relying on the Federation, and a large number of Kel Morian adventurers have become pirates.

"Oh—gosh, my favorite thing is to work for a bunch of farmers for no money. My favorite thing is to be a babysitter." Tychus curled his lips.

"We've just gotten our feet out of that quagmire that Hedge. If I'm not giving you a 'rebel leader' but a mercenary or something, I'm going to ask for more money."

"Stop complaining, Tychus, if you don't want to go, you can apply for leave." Augustus silenced Tychus with a single sentence.

"Everyone returned to their posts. The vacation in the Dead Sea of ​​Antiga was cancelled. This is all due to the Zerg." Reynolds issued an order to his crew.

Under the operation of the navigator, the Hyperion sailed out of the giant dock of the Antiga Shipyard. The bright white lights shining outside the portholes of the bridge immediately transformed into bright stars in the universe. It is a glorious and magnificent protoss warship.

After the Hyperion sailed into the dark hyperspace channel, Augustus called up the satellite map of Altera, and discussed with Raynor and others when and where to cut into the galaxy where the planet is located.

Two days later, the captain's cabin of the Hyperion.Four o'clock in the morning on board.

When Augustus awoke with a jolt, Sarah Kerrigan was waiting for him beside the bed, fully dressed.Kerrigan's long red hair blazed like flames in the lighted lights, and she held Augustus's dark gray cloak in one hand and a hot, soaked towel in the other.

"Here we are." Augustus got up as fast as he could and put on his shirt, taking his black square-necked coat and cloak from Kerrigan.

"To be honest, I'm used to life on the Hyperion. In the past year, I spent most of my time on board, traveling around."

"But you enjoyed it," Kerrigan said with a smile.

"It's fun. Yes, especially when I know that many people have been saved because of my efforts." Augustus returned the same smile: "What else can we hope for if we Do nothing and things will only get worse."

After a brief wash, he took the hat from Kerry Gandhi, opened the door of the captain's cabin, and went to the bridge through the winding and narrow inner corridor of the Hyperion.A small team of engineers was entering the lower deck from a side corridor. Their bodies smelled of espresso, canned fruit, and sweet pies, and their language was full of anticipation and a little nervousness for the upcoming battle.

Since Augustus's many wars against the Zerg or the Federation army have won or forced the enemy back, the soldiers of the Revolutionary Army still believe that they will win the final victory despite knowing the strength of the enemy. Victory has a firm belief, which is not only a firm belief in itself, but also an absolute trust in their leader.

"Gentlemen, I wish you a pleasant day," Augustus said as he passed the engineers.

"I salute you, Marshal." The engineers immediately put away their smiles and saluted Augustus. This is a necessary respect, no matter how friendly and accommodating the Marshal looks on weekdays.

"Thank you." When Augustus said to them, the deck under their feet shook again.

"Looks like we're under attack?" He nodded again at the engineers before continuing on to the Hyperion bridge.

"Strengthen the frame of the lower deck, we are under attack." At this time, Raynor's voice came out through the broadcast equipment throughout the entire battleship: "Swan, deck 7, the sampan there needs repairs. Guys, join us Compared with the strong winds and waves we have experienced in the past, this is just a drizzle."

"Cheer up, we used to help each other, and we will get through it today."

"I sensed that the Hyperion was out of the space-time channel and found a large number of Mutalisks, Scourges, and Devourers (mutated devourers, Brood War expansion arms, but the official novel "Blade's Edge" in the original campaign Chapter 2 timeline It has already appeared in The Queen. The author confirmed the original English text. James Raynor also mentioned it this time.)" Kerrigan said, pressing her temple lightly.

"There are not many Zerg flying creatures in the Yermungandr swarm, this time it is uncharacteristically."

Augustus said as he walked: "We came prepared, and the zerg are not unprepared. The enemy is not just a ferocious and low-intelligence beast. They will reflect, learn lessons, and make changes. This is another dangerous thing." civilization."

As Augustus stepped through the open bridge gates, the twinkling lights came into view immediately.

Just below the bridge of the Hyperion is a mottled red planet in a synchronous orbit covered in a thick layer of interstellar dust.Right in front of the bridge is an incomparably huge swarm Behemoth, thousands of different dragons are gushing out from the folds and vesicles on its body surface.

The attack came from below the Hyperion, and a large number of different dragons and devourers were trying to launch terrifying blade insects and highly corrosive acid spore clusters at the human battleship.

At this time, the indicator light of the Hyperion suddenly turned to flashing red, and thousands of blasters were attacking it.

The Hyperion's gunfire blared, and a series of bright orange barrages swept towards the oncoming mosquito swarm, blasting these eyeless monsters like bats into pieces.A single Scourge can blow up an APOD transport ship, and hundreds of Scourge are enough to pose a threat to a battlecruiser.

"It shouldn't be as simple as the Jormungandr swarm. There may also be a lot of Leviathan swarm's nests in the sky." Augustus stood still on the bumpy bridge.

At this time, the Star Shuttle, the flagship of the Tassadar fleet, appeared outside the starboard window of the Huberian bridge. That magnificent golden-blue battleship was also being attacked by the Zerg.A large number of small and fast Protoss aircraft carrier-based interceptors are driving out of the dock of the Star Shuttle, like a group of irritated and manic wasps.

More Protoss aircraft carriers appeared around the Star Shuttle, and swift and fierce unmanned carrier-based aircraft gushed out of them, converging into a golden blue torrent.These interceptors, with two plasma tail flames ejected from their tails, formed a dense attack formation like a ferocious bee swarm, rampaging through the insect swarm, and the azure plasma beam swept across the gathered zerg.

All of a sudden, a sudden but escalating space battle broke out in Altera's geosynchronous orbit.

The Hyperion was illuminated from time to time by the light from the weapon, and Augustus watched as a dozen Scourges that escaped the battleship's fire hit the bridge.Cracks and leaks appeared in the solid sampan armor immediately.

Since the shield requires a lot of energy, if it is not necessary, the Hyperion will still rely on fire suppression and its own armor to withstand the enemy's attack like an ordinary behemoth-class battlecruiser in conventional combat.

War in Altera's synchronous orbit is dangerous, but as more Revolutionary and Protoss warships join the fray, the Jormungardian swarms are surprised to find that their enemies don't appear to be coming to the rescue just because the colony is under siege. Humans are as simple as that.

The protoss also came.

And their number of warships is four to five times that of humans.

"Our protoss allies have also joined the battle," Raynor said to Augustus.

While Raynor was speaking, the Star Shuttle opened fire, and the beam of the main cannon directly hit the huge head of a Yermungard Behemoth and penetrated it.

The space whale-like creature let out a psionic scream that traveled light-years away, but it still didn't die.Even though more than one-third of its brain was cut off, it still opened a hyperspace channel to escape.

The main gun of another Protoss carrier fired, hitting the Behemoth's spine and cauterizing a terrifying hole in its spiked and wrinkled body.

But even with such horribly fatal wounds, the tenacious and massive creature was still moving at high speed.Only this kind of attack can truly hurt it, so that its miles-long pain-sensing nerves can quickly transmit the severe pain to the brain.

Normally, a human battlecruiser would not be able to approach a Behemoth under the protection of Infinity Mutalisk, Scourge, Swarm Guardian, and Swarm Devourer.Even if it can be done, even if the Behemoth is isolated and helpless, it may take at least a few times for the destruction of the human battleship to penetrate its chitin, which is thicker and harder than the armor of the battleship, and completely kill it. hours or even longer.

If it was only Augustus' revolutionary army that came, they would undoubtedly suffer heavy losses during the space battle, and in the end, if the rescue fails, they may even beat themselves into it.

Another beam of shining protoss main cannon beam hit the fleeing swarm Behemoth, this time completely obliterating its tail tentacles and fin-like gliding aids, and a large number of them were swept away. The Allosaurus was instantly wiped out.

"How's the scan on Altera?" With the Protoss fleet nearby, Augustus' Revolutionary fleet was able to take a backseat.

"There are at least [-] million zerg on Altera," Raynor said, pointing to the ugly red planet spinning on the bridge's main screen.

"This planet has a harsh environment and a sparsely populated area, but its rich resources should be precisely the reason why the zerg would attack here. Altera's reserves of Ardian crystals and high-energy gas are quite amazing, but there is almost no complete mining in the area. and rough processing industry chain." He said.

"If we can take this place and build our mineral extraction station and high-energy gas refinery here, there will be more resources and funds to support our military."

"That means we can count money lying on the bed." Tychus walked over, just in time to hear Raynor's words.

Before the Zerg invaded, the revolutionary army could not control the entire planet, because the fleet of the Tyranid Federation would swarm in immediately, and the uprising of Mar Sara was a lesson.

But now the Tyranid Federation itself is overwhelmed, and the Revolutionary Army has a magical weapon against the Zerg, the Psychic Jammer.

(End of this chapter)