StarCraft: Tyranid Empire.

Chapter 608

The last days of the year came quietly amidst the joy of the people of the Empire celebrating the victory at the Battle of Phaethon.In Augustgrad, the imperial capital of the Tyrannian Empire decorated in a festive atmosphere, the first snow of winter came late, sweeping away the haze that hung over the city.

Augustus knew that the queen and their daughter Louise were waiting for him to go back in the palace, and Keha and the people of other worlds were also waiting for his emperor to return in victory, but he must be too late.

At this moment, Augustus is on board the Imperial flagship Hyperion, and this battlecruiser that has accompanied him for ten years is on his way to the Imperial storage world Brokas Hur (storage world/Brokas Hur) , the distance from Keha is getting farther and farther.

Although the mainstream media of the Tyrannian Empire, such as the UNN Cosmos News Network, are promoting the victory of the Empire and the Kel-Morian coalition forces in Phaethon, and the swarms have indeed retreated beyond the southern and eastern borders of the Empire in the Koprulu sector, but the war The suffering itself and the war inflicted on the peoples of the Empire on the frontier did not end there.

About 1/4 of the empire's territory was affected in the second all-out war, and nearly [-] billion imperial people were forced to migrate to a safer core world, suffering from uprooting and displacement.Even with the assistance of the Imperial Government's Immigration and Refugee Bureau, various departments of the Ministry of Communications, and the Imperial Army, the journey to exile was full of hardships, not to mention the terrifying swarm that was always in hot pursuit.

According to incomplete statistics, in just half a year, more than 40 refugees lost their lives while fleeing to the core world, and there were countless missing people.If they are not just lost contact with the empire, lost in the vast sea of ​​stars, they are dead.

The trials and tribulations have just begun, and the imperial army is stationed at the frontier, ready to deal with the next attack of the insect swarm.

To supply such a huge army, the empire's finances are already quite tight, and the trauma left by the war has also brought a series of chain reactions.

More than 20 imperial worlds were almost completely destroyed by the swarm, including prosperous agricultural worlds, resource worlds, and hub worlds, and even those worlds that were not destroyed by the swarm could hardly maintain normal production order.When fighting, the rear is also very tight, not to mention the war zone.

As a result, the food crisis and shortage of resources brought about by the war caused Augustus and his court ministers an extremely headache. Currently, they can only transport resources and food from other worlds.At the very least, let the refugees have enough to eat, and then discuss the rest of the issues.

"Your Majesty, this is today's lunch." An orderly knocked on the door of the captain's cabin on the Hyperion, and walked in dragging a brown tray with cups and saucers under the watchful eyes of two royal guards.

On the tray, there is a plate of roasted pigeon with sauce, a plate of carefully seasoned boiled bracken, an MRE ration as a main course, and hot tea.The Emperor originally insisted on eating the same ration as the first-line marines, but his appetite has been so poor recently that he can't eat anything. The first-class officer chef on the Hyperion can only rack his brains to let him eat more or less.

"Put it here, Corporal Frank." Augustus just looked up from his desk, busy reading the backlog of documents.On the holographic projector in front of him is a rotating blue and white polygonal logo, which is the logo of the Umoyan National Defense Army.

Augustus could only obtain a series of scarce resources such as food, medicine, and clothing from the Umoyan United States, which was closer.Although the Umoyans have a small territory, their advanced biotechnology can more than make up for this disadvantage.It's just that compared to the Tyrann Empire, the main force fighting against the swarm, Umoyan's recent life has not been good.

However, the Umoyan Council is very knowledgeable and understands the path of death and coldness. For this reason, it also provided a series of advanced high-end military products, such as laser weapons and AI-equipped combat robots and iron crows.Although it is only a castrated foreign trade version, it is still very advanced.

It's just that this was in exchange for Augustus's guarantee that he would not make territorial claims on the Umoyan Territory.

There are also some highlighted information on the panel of the holographic projector, for example, the evil dark consul Orega has enslaved a cerebrum in some way today, exercising a cruel rule on the protoss home planet Aiur .

At the same time, a great pirate named Alan Schezar and his Scavengers have risen in the southern borders of the Empire's broken order. Now, Scavengers, Chimeras and Kay The Morian Pirates have become the most notorious pirate force in the Koprulu Sector.

When Corporal Frank left the captain's cabin, General Jim Raynor was about to walk in. The former immediately stood up and saluted him.

"Go on your way, kid from Nafu." General Raynor was very easy-going most of the time, although that didn't mean he presented himself as a good old man in the army.

"Yes, General." The orderly walked sideways to the corridor outside the captain's room.

"Jimmy, what's the matter?" Augustus still didn't look up, but took a few sips of the cup of hot tea.

"I can't come to you if I have nothing to do?" Renault closed the door.

"...You have never done this before." The emperor raised his eyelids: "Keep your paws away from my precious wine cabinet, you are committing a crime."

"Unless I'm a magician, I won't be able to get the wine in the safe." Renault walked across the blue marble floor and sat down on a leather sofa next to Augustus, putting his legs up indecently Leaning on the coffee table, he carefully watched the flower arrangement in the vase.

This made Augustus frowned again. Since the last time the hangover Tychus rushed into the captain's cabin and drank tons of water in the vase, these few flowers picked from Albion It is also dying.

"The communications duty sergeant on the signal bridge received a message from Bennett and Hank that they are on Zerus," Raynor said.

"How are they doing now?" Augustus realized that he must have missed the news.

More than half a year ago, Augustus sent a fleet to Zerus, the home planet of the original Zerg, with the purpose of capturing the original split pool on that planet.

Zerus is located in the central region of the Milky Way, closer to the star-studded galactic center, even with a warp drive, it must go through a long hibernation voyage to reach it.Counting the time, this almost forgotten fleet finally arrived at Zerus.

What they walked was also the way the swarm set off from Zerus to the Koprulu star area, and the scene they saw along the way was also barren.Even if these unknown worlds and unexplored virgin lands, which are far larger than Koplu, once gave birth to magical alien races, they have long since faded into the past.

"When sending the message, Bennett had just made a preliminary exploration of Zerus, and hadn't had much contact with the Zerg above. But considering the time it took for the information to be transmitted, he probably had already contacted the Zerg on Zerus. The worms are at hand." Raynor knew what the test was for the boundless expeditionary fleet, even though their commander was the emperor and his most trusted generals:
"However, the situation on Zerus is much better than we expected. Since the original Zerg escaped, the number of Zerg on it has not been large. Although the number of Zerg still occupies an absolute advantage, the original Zerg also has some Few. And the original split pool is still well preserved, it seems that the Zerg also need that split pool to optimize their genes."

"Jaco Bennett is one of my best generals, and any mission I give him will be resolutely implemented and executed." Augustus nodded and asked again: "Where is Zeratul?"

"Zeratul appeared once." As soon as Renault finished speaking, both the monarch and his ministers had a dumbfounding expression on their faces: "He jumped on Bennett's boat and left a scorpion to record his memory. Ian Crystal is nowhere to be found."

This dark templar elder, who is quite prestigious among humans and protoss, is a very special figure to people like Augustus and Raynor.Augustus and Zeratul are called brothers, but he is Kerrigan's half master. Princess Louise calls him grandpa, and the royal cerebrate calls him uncle.

For a long time, Zeratul has maintained contacts with the court of the Tyrann Empire, and Keha and Aiur are the two worlds Zeratul often visits.This is a very strange thing, because Zeratul is often lost, and even his fellow Dark Templars are often unable to find him.

"I know Zeratul is busy, busy saving the world, but no one knows what he is busy with except Zeratul himself." Augustus shook his head and said:
"What the hell did he find on Zerus?"

"Maybe, Zeratul really got a revelation from the Xel'Naga. He just admonished Bennett that the mysteries about Zerus, the Primal Zerg, and the Primal Splinter Pool are closely related to the dark future of Oblivion." Raynor replied .

"That's right, he likes to ask others to guess riddles, and then announce the answer when others are scratching their heads and wondering about the solution." Augustus spread his hands, but at this time his appetite came up, he grabbed the roasted pigeon next to him and gnawed .

It is said to be a pigeon, but it is actually a unique bird in Albion. The pigeon-like bird lives in the cave between the rock shelf and is a dexterous and curious species.The bird was bred a century ago to be an excellent breed of small free-range chicken for its meaty meat.

"Zeratul likes to tease people like this. I think he doesn't know the true intention of that Naganaga himself." Renault's ability to accept is relatively strong.

"But Zerus is too far away from us, launching an additional war there may completely drag down the empire." Augustus thought for a while, and then said: "I see, there is only one way now, to split the original We'll talk about it when Chi moves back, and by the way, let Jaco and Harnack pack some original zerg chieftains."

"I've seen it. The split pool is not small, and it's not so easy to drain. Besides, you think the zerg on it will watch us steal them for nothing. Er, um, the holy pool." Renault paused:
"And I can't figure it out. I ran all the way there just to fish for a pool?"

"There are too many things you don't understand, Jimmy." Augustus smiled: "This is a big project. First drain the water inside, and even dig the mud in the pool three feet to get it back. Ya There are several Carlisle phase technicians in Ke's fleet - if there is the warp technology of the protoss, it will get twice the result with half the effort."

"Don't worry, Dehaka will help us."

"I didn't expect that we would steal the Zerg's things." Renault shrugged.But he thought it was a good plan.

"Damn it, Jimmy, what do you think I built this empire on?" Augustus put the teacup on the table.

"The hearts of the people are supreme, and the benevolent are invincible." Renault immediately gave the standard answer: "Determination, courage, and faith."

"It relies on concentrating resources to build an invincible army and arming them with ideas. In order to maintain the army, sometimes we have to rely on stealing, cheating, and robbing." Augustus is really hungry, Even ate two pigeon legs.

"The best thing to do at the moment is to move the pool back."

Sarah Kerrigan has not experienced the steps of being transformed into the Queen of Blades by the Master, and then being planned by the Xel'Naga Artifact, but in other words, she has not been controlled by Amon's influence at all, and she does not need to go through the steps of the Artifact Wash away the part of the swarm gene.

For Xel'Naga Aurus, as a candidate for a pure form, human Kerrigan is tantamount to being completely unaffected by Xel'Naga Amon. The race that Mongolian seedlings have fostered.

One of the rules of Xel'Naga guarding endless reincarnation is that the creator cannot interfere with his own creation.

Humans are lucky, because Amon doesn't think much of them at all.The primordial zerg were lucky too, they lingered on Zerus.

But the question is whether the current Kerrigan meets the requirements of pure form.If she achieves it, she can directly absorb the energy of the original split pool to become an incarnation similar to the original Queen of Blades, and she has the qualifications to become Xel'Naga Kerrigan.

To deal with Emon, a new Xel'Naga is still needed.Augustus did not have this talent, but he had a wife.

In Augustus' view, there was only one person who was qualified to become a Naganaga and really succeeded, and that was Sarah Kerrigan.Augustus wouldn't risk putting anyone else in the Creator's place, because no one else has ever succeeded except Kerrigan.

What's more, Naganaga is the creator of the world, who can create the world as well as destroy the world. The new Sarnaga must be someone who Augustus absolutely trusts.

And although Kerrigan's current spiritual power has reached the point where even her teacher Tassadar would admire, whether her current human body can withstand the energy of the original split pool, and even the powerful original Zerg It is possible to be strangled to death.

This requires step by step, a little bit of testing, a slight mistake may lead to disaster, and it is definitely not something that Augustus can afford.

"Where are you going to put the original split pool?" Raynor asked.

"Keha, of course—we can build another zoo with original zerg in it, like Jurassic Park." Augustus said: "The money you make from charging tickets and zerg shows can maintain normal run."

"You can figure it out. It sounds like a good deal." Renault pondered for a moment: "I hope it won't be messed up."

At this time, the Hyperion trembled slightly, but the sofa chairs fixed on the wall and the ground remained motionless: "Your Majesty, Brocas Hull has arrived."

"Let the Governor come and see me," Augustus said to the other end of the communicator.

(End of this chapter)