StarCraft: Tyranid Empire.

Chapter 384 The Eldridge
A freezing rain fell over Lake Eldridge, and the cold wind howled outside the window of the command center, and a chill came to Augustus's heart.

Such extreme weather is unheard of even in a province like Antioch, which is close to the south pole of Ayr, which indicates that the climate of this green planet, which is lush and vibrant like a garden, has undergone drastic changes due to the protracted war.

The war is destroying Ayr, and like the passionate movement of an epic drama, there must be ups and downs at every climax.

The window is facing the inlet of Lake Eldridge, looking into the distance, the lake is as wide as the ocean.

The huge hull of the iron-gray Revolutionary Army scientific ship is hanging above the lake, thousands of blue and white lights illuminate the tumbling Eldridge Lake, and a huge black shadow gradually emerges from the water.Its streamlined back seems to have been waxed, and it exudes mysterious blue and green brilliance under the light.

Thousands of years ago, the Protoss Empire used the spaceship left by the last Xel'Naga when they left Ayr to exile the rebellious ancestors of the Dark Templar, but the ship under Lake Eldridge was obviously not counted. inside.

The Xel'Naga spaceship sleeping under the lake is the source of many myths and legends of Eldridge. Its characteristics as if it were a living creature also brought many miraculous natural phenomena, and those were either regarded as gods by the ancient protoss or regarded as gods. The source of ghosts.

When Kerrigan and several guards stood beside Augustus, the back of the huge black shadow in Lake Eldridge was still floating up, and a large amount of lake water refracted brilliant light rushed from both sides of the boat. splash down.

The graceful and coordinated hull of the spaceship exudes twisted and mysterious brilliance, such as the light moving under the water, like jumping arcs or snakes, the breathtaking beauty and the mystery from the ancient past rush to the face, making people fascinated.

As the black shadow got bigger and bigger, Augustus was surprised to find that he had still underestimated the size of this Xel'Naga spaceship.

When the Xel'Naga spacecraft fully surfaced, the shores of Eldridge's lake receded a lot due to the sudden drop in water level.It was surprisingly huge, the part that surfaced was equivalent to three Protoss Motherships, and it was the size of an island in the center of Lake Eldridge.

According to surveyors of the Revolutionary Army, the Xel'Naga spaceship may be more than ten kilometers long, larger than any human spaceship to date.This made engineers suspect that this was a Naganaga space station that fell into the earth, and Eldridge was just a huge crater left by its impact on the ground.

However, this Xel'Naga spaceship has subverted mankind's perception of technology and miracles.It was just an ordinary ship abandoned by Xel'Naga, but it was already a model and blueprint for imitation of many protoss technologies today.

Protoss has spent many centuries studying the spacecraft left by Naganaga, but still cannot understand the true mysteries of the technology. The mysteries hidden in the spacecraft of Naganaga may never be solved.

"Annabella, where's your boss?" Another holographic screen was projected in front of Augustus, who was wearing a black square collar jacket with a golden captain on the shoulders. The platform on the lake is full of revolutionary military divisions in raincoats.

It can be said that Augustus was the boss who hired Rory Swan to work for him, and Swan was the boss of the engineers in the Revolutionary Army Engineering Corps.

Having said that, the engineering regiment of the Revolutionary Army is actually a big happy family. In a sense, Swann plays the role of the brother of the young engineers. Since he looks much older than his actual age, the young people will even take it He acts as a loving father and uncle.

In the center of the picture is a female engineer with long chestnut hair. Her slender figure is wrapped in thick protective clothing, and her hazel eyes are bright and full of youthful vitality.

Like the Revolutionary soldiers who eagerly answered the call to join the Revolutionary Army, engineer Annabelle Thatcher joined the Revolution when a Revolutionary army arrived home.

Annabelle is even younger than Kerrigan, not yet 20, and she is lively, cheerful, sweet, and very different from the more mature appearance of the future.

"Oh—God, who did I see! Earl, no, I'm sorry, Marshal Augustus Mengsk, I can see you." Annabelle originally just glanced at it plainly, but then her face changed It quickly turned red.

"I'm glad to see you too. Well, my lovely girl, thank you for your hard work. Where's Swann? Just say that Augustus is looking for him." Augustus showed an amiable smile.

"Yes, sir." Annabelle left with her face in her hands and a titter.

"You are so young, smart, cheerful, beautiful, and an engineer." Augustus sighed and said: "It is such fighters in the revolutionary army that can continue to grow and develop."

"She's a little angel."

"But you're not old yet," Kerrigan said emphatically. "You're not even twenty-five, actually."

"Yes." Augustus nodded.

"Hey, boss, someone said you were looking for me." Swan's iconic beard appeared in front of the screen: "I have to say, you came at the right time."

"Tell me, how many people can this ship carry?" Augustus cut to the point.

"It's hard to say." As it was raining heavily outside, Swan was wrapping himself in a raincoat, revealing his big nose and eyes.

"It's not very common to hear that word in your mouth," Augustus asked.

"I'm sending the internal camera of this spaceship back to Eldridge's command center, you can see it at a glance." Swan was operating something in front of a console in front of him.

"Thank goodness it's still running its engine, don't know how on earth those little shiny green crystals send this behemoth into the sky - hopefully I figure it out before I lay in my grave."

"Good job, Swan, next time I must buy you a drink." Augustus praised his old buddy and said, "But how did you drive this Xel'Naga spaceship into the sky?"

"Ah, it's not that difficult." Swan said in a matter-of-fact tone: "My old friends in the Protoss Empire helped me a lot. They provided a lot of advice and taught us how to use the Xel'Naga spaceship."

"The builders of the spaceship didn't design such complicated and difficult driving methods. In fact, the launch procedures of the Sarnaga spaceship are very simple and clear—" Swan explained.

"You definitely don't know why that crystal can output such a huge amount of energy just by emitting light, but it is very convenient to use."

"You have so many old friends." Augustus sighed, "When did you make friends with Protoss?"

"Probably last year, when we were killing bugs with the protoss in Tassadar in Char." Swan said, "I asked the engineers of the protoss to see if they could watch our marshal Augustus For the sake of saving face, give me some blueprints of Protoss probes, so that I can install particle light guns and new types of drives for the Revolutionary Army's space engineering vehicles."

"You must have missed it, otherwise our space engineering vehicle would have been able to go to the sky." Augustus shook his head and said.

"That's because the boss doesn't have enough face." Swan spread his hands: "But I have made friends with Protoss engineers after going back and forth, and you will know what happened later, they have helped us a lot. .”

"Well, it's my fault." Augustus chuckled lightly.

Swan's contacts are like Doraemon's pocket, always able to surprise Augustus.In the words of Tychus: Don't worry, I have many friends on the road.

Soon, pictures appeared on the screen in front of Augustus.

Under the towering dome, pillars marked with green characters, stone statues, and hexagonal graphic lines outline the magnificent hall, and the seats of the giants are facing the alcoves flowing with green light.On the walls engraved with spiral patterns and hollowed-out steps, vines with emerald green stems and leaves are still clinging to the walls, and green crystals filled with void energy are suspended in the very center of the hall, radiating outward like a heart. With a thin arc of light.

Its internal structure is very similar to those Naganaga temples that Augustus had seen in the past. It is hard to imagine whether these races with god-like technology directly opened their temples to the sky.

The Xel'Naga spaceship is more like being gradually cast with some kind of organic metal and celestial bodies scattered in the vast universe, like countless carefully cut rocks.

"It seems that the former owners of these spaceships were very large." Kerrigan said, pointing to the huge seats on the screen.

"You're right." Swan pointed with a finger, as if to praise Kerrigan's cleverness: "We found that although this spaceship is very, very large, it can hold all the battle lines of the Revolutionary Army." Cruisers and other small craft, but its internals were clearly designed for a creature much larger than a human or even a protoss."

"It's terrible..."

"Well, if we want to squeeze enough people in, we also need to weld new alloy frames inside the spaceship and add more compartments." Swan continued: "This is how to add more cabins to accommodate refugees."

"I've seen the cockpit of Zeratul's Xel'Naga spaceship Void Seeker, and the seats on it don't look so big." Kerrigan flicked her long red wavy hair: "Could it be that Sa Ernagar's body shape is not fixed."

"It reminds me of a ballad by Meinhof, the resident shellfish can always stuff his soft body into any shell." Swan said: "Haha, that Kaczynski guy actually said , he thinks that Nagar is a big octopus with a fishbowl on its head."

"How is this possible, even earthlings wouldn't believe this joke."

"Victor's whimsical ideas are always impressive." Augustus nodded: "Swan, I need you to complete the transformation of this spaceship as soon as possible, so that as many people as possible can be inserted into it." .”

"The Naganaga's body structure must be very different from that of humans. In any case, you must at least install a toilet." He expressed the most important opinion on this matter.

"Well, I know, including water circulation, air purification systems and reactors, this is almost like rebuilding a super giant ship." Swan also said: "We can use modular components instead, or even just set up a tent. gone."

"There is not much time left." Augustus said to Swan: "Even if we can win the battle in Thane province, we have to consider the issue of transferring refugees."

"As soon as possible."

"Okay, well, it shouldn't be difficult." Swan estimated, "My people are all outstanding engineers. Don't worry, boss, as long as we talk about how many people we can save by doing this, the boys and girls will be very happy." Useless strength."

"What? Boss, I have some good news for you now." Swan paused: "This ship may not be just a Naganaga transport ship... It's not very good to say, it may be a battleship. "

"Battleship?" Augustus frowned, and glanced at Kerrigan who also showed a surprised expression: "This is great, tell me, Swan, what else can this spaceship do?"

"It has a main gun with at least twice the caliber of the Yamato gun of the Hyperion. In other words, it can kill a battlecruiser with one shot." Swan continued: "And, according to We estimate that this cannon is much more powerful than a human."

"That's right, but what should we charge it with?" Augustus asked.

"The protoss never used these weapons," Swann said, "but they thought they were powered by void crystals."

"We have a lot of void crystals in our hands, and we can borrow some from Tassadar and Zeratul." Swan said, "It depends on you, boss, only your face is the most valuable among the protoss. "

"I see." Augustus knew that he was going to sell his ass: "There should be a lot of void crystals in the Xel'Naga ruins on Al. Anyway, let's use them first."

"Any other weapons?"

"There is also a distortion field projection device. According to the protoss, it should be able to slow down the time passing speed at a distance of about a thousand yards near the spacecraft." Swan said with a stroke: "Imagine that it can also make people close to the spacecraft Missile speed reduced."

"That's all?" Augustus admitted he was a little disappointed.

"That's all." Swan said: "I don't think Naganaga has thought of using this spaceship as a battleship, just like we are still installing machine guns and turrets on those yachts. In their eyes, this kind of ship The cannon might just be used to clear the universe of meteorites blocking the way."

"A small gunboat is already a magnificent ship in the eyes of humans." Augustus sighed: "Use this spaceship well."

When Augustus was talking to Swan, the spaceship floating on Lake Eldridge began to lift off with unparalleled power. The lake created huge waves, and the ten-meter-high walls of waves spread like ripples. , formed a huge vortex.

It was a conical, indigo-colored giant ship, like a shrine to Naganaga rising from the bottom of the lake.A cold sleet furiously hit its majestic ship god, and a layer of crystal clear ice condensed on its surface in an instant.A great shadow covered space, and the whole of Lake Eldridge was illuminated with a bright, blazing green light.

"Choose a name, boss." Siwan said, "We can't call him that thing from Sarnaga or a cat or a dog."

"Let's call it the Eldridge," said Augustus.

"We dug him up in this lake, after all."

"Just do it like this. I thought you would come up with some new tricks." Siwan left the screen for a few seconds.

"You have always been a genius for naming... If we find Naganaga one day, maybe we can get their shipbuilding blueprints."

"Look, I'm just talking."

(End of this chapter)