StarCraft: Tyranid Empire

If Charles is hell on earth, then New Folsom is no less.

New Folsom's crater-strewn surface is extremely unstable, with moving continental plates constantly colliding to create new volcanic mountains and lava lakes, or obliterating old landforms.

The planet's peak temperature can reach 800 degrees Celsius, and the scorching air is enough to burn the human trachea. Dry and hot cyclones wreak havoc on New Folsom's ever-changing surface, and the only volcanic rocks are as hot as a red iron. .

In the Koprulu sector, the number of planets with dangerous environments far outnumbers those suitable for life, but the rich geological resources of New Folsom are enough for the brave adventurers of the Tyranid Federation to take risks and establish new colonies.

Although New Folsom has almost no land to stand on, the Terran Confederation hired the most daring and meticulous experts, materials professionals, and terraforming engineers to build a vast, deformable structure on the rolling lava lake of New Folsom. steel mobile platform.

The new Folsom Consolidated Mining Company was born thanks to a mobile platform that creates the lowest level of natural environment for workers.

"The gravitational field of New Folsom is fickle. If you want to get close to it, you can only take a powerfully armed military starship and pass through the two main planetary force fields in an unpredictable orbit." Iron Forged, the adjutant of the Hyperion The lips are closed up and down.

"New Folsom now exists as one of the most brutal prisons for the most heinous political prisoners, terrorists, anti-government activists, captured revolutionaries, and rebel officers in the Terran Confederacy." The cold electronic synthesized sound of the mechanical adjutant has no trace of warmth.

"New Folsom Prison's remote location and daunting terrain on the Terran Confederacy's world make escape a life-or-death adventure."

"It's really a hell." Augustus walked across the bridge of the Hyperion and faced the New Folsom star outside the porthole: "Unless the prisoners inside can take wings and fly, that is, escape. The prison would be baked dry by New Folsom's scorching lava."

Outside the porthole, New Folsom seemed to be close at hand. Several federal space stations and dock weapon systems were continuously firing at multiple Revolutionary Army Wraith fighter jets approaching at high speed. A flash of light that eclipsed the sun flashed. A federal communication relay station built on an asteroid was hit head-on by the Yamato cannon of the Revolutionary Army battlecruiser Ragnarok. The fire suddenly spattered and torn apart.

As the Hyperion's shipboard sensor array returned more images and data, the splashing debris of the communication relay station was almost clearly visible, and the Federation flag standing on the relay station was torn to pieces like rags.

Most of the last communications sent from the relay station to the core world of the Tyranid Federation were intercepted by the Revolutionary Army fleet, and the data scattered like snowflakes were uploaded to the Hyperion's supercomputer. With the help of Protoss space-time acceleration technology, the computing power of human supercomputers is no longer the same.

All low-level encrypted communications were quickly cracked and filtered and listed on the Hyperion's bridge's main screen. The most frequently mentioned words in these messages were Augustus Mengsk, Revolutionary Army, and Request for Reinforcements.

Behind the Federation Space Station is New Folsom. The planet's surface is filled with volcanoes and magma oceans, flashing with angry orange-red fire. The gray mobile platform on top of the magma is so huge that it is in high-altitude orbit. It can also be seen from above, like a peeled off coconut shell floating in the red ocean.

"Hitherto, New Folsom Prison had a reputation of being vicious and cruel. By comparison, the prisons of Cha Sala and Mar Sala were as comfortable as nurseries." Revolutionary Army Logistics sergeant Tychus Finley said as he looked out the porthole at New Folsom.

“In decades, I haven’t heard of anyone escaping from New Folsom Prison or returning home with a good piece of meat on them?”

"If your knowledge in this area is as good as your knowledge of military regulations, it will be a great help to me. The notoriety of New Folsom Prison is enough to scare the most vicious thugs in the Terran Confederacy - but among them The vast majority of people are not eligible to serve their sentences in New Folsom Prison,” Augustus said, looking at the red planet outside the porthole window.

"Behind this high wall are many of our comrades-in-arms. Most of them were arrested by the Federation while conducting underground espionage activities in the core world of the Tyranid Federation. The others are our soldiers who were lost or captured on various battlefields. ."He said.

"The largest number of people in New Folsom Prison are senior officials who have served in the federal government and highly prestigious public speakers and agitators. They have all been arrested on charges of attempting to subvert the government or attempting to steal federal secret intelligence. Of course, We'll have to break into New Folsom to get the exact list of charges."

This was only one of the reasons why Augustus decided to attack New Folsom. The rich resources on this planet were also the key to his decision to take it.

Within Confederate territory, New Folsom is the largest source of catalysts needed to cast fine steel. Although after the equally abundant catalyst resources that were much easier to mine were discovered in the Sarah galaxy, New Folsom became a tasteless and discarded waste, but since the Sarah galaxy was completely destroyed by the protoss, New Folsom Ersson once again became an important source of raw materials.

You must know that the Sarah Galaxy is actually under the control of the Augustus Revolutionary Army - only they dare to approach the Sarah Galaxy within the strike range of the Protoss Fleet.

If Augustus captures New Folsom again, the Tyranid Federation will have to obtain catalysts from other production areas or the resource tycoons of the Camorion Consortium. The production capacity of fine steel will be greatly restricted, which will affect battleships and tanks. and other weapons production.

In other words, Augustus can then use these resources to build his own fleet.

"It's not easy to break into New Folsom. It's so heavily guarded here that even a fly can't escape." Tychus crossed his arms over his chest, but his expression was full of the New Folsom Prison he was talking about. dismissive.

"Commander, for unknown reasons, the Terran Federation sent troops many times to strengthen the defense of New Folsom Prison after the first full-scale war, and also sent more prisoners into the prison." The mechanical adjutant said. Also said at this time.

"There was at least an entire division of Union Marines stationed at New Folsom, nearly one-half the number of prisoners."

"One division is not enough." Augustus smiled.

"If there are twenty divisions, I will give the defenders here time to surrender."

As he spoke, Augustus walked past Hyperion's wide bridge porthole and came to the main holographic projection screen, on which the images of commanders of multiple Revolutionary Army warships flashed simultaneously.

"Norad III, clear a landing zone immediately. Duke, prepare your landing troops," Augustus said.

"I repeat the order of the marshal's command for the last time to avoid casualties among the prisoners as much as possible. As for whether they are the tortured revolutionary heroes who have been imprisoned here, politicians and martyrs who once spoke for the people, or they are really damn thugs , that is a matter for the telepaths to decide." He said:

"Quick victory. After that, we will launch an attack on the edge worlds near the main star of Antiga that are still under the control of the Federation, and connect our scattered points on this star map into a whole plate. .”

"My Alpha Squadron is more than enough to deal with the new Folsom jailers wearing crotchless pants. If these despicable bastards dare to ambush us, kill them all!" Duke has no trace of the elegance of a Tarsonian noble. , and he himself prefers to call this the straightforwardness and heroism of a soldier.

Duke's viper-like inverted triangular eyes narrowed slightly, and he roared his orders at the officers of Alpha Squadron, who stood with their heads high: "Alpha Squadron, listen to the order, and everyone is ready for battle. Blood Eagles, take you Their bayonets are polished brightly, this time they will see blood!"

"The first shot of the revolution will be fired by Alpha Squadron, Norad III, immediately search the defense facilities of New Folsom Prison. Bring the armor, I will personally command the landing force!" General Duke swore:

"Be loyal to the revolutionary army and be loyal to Marshal Augustus Mengsk."

"Duke is a smart guy, isn't he? If you want to be promoted to an official position, he will have to flatter you more." Tychus wanted to light a cigarette, but thought that Augustus was standing next to him. He still stopped his hands that were about to move.

"At least he knows how to flatter." Augustus stood still.

On the Hyperion's home screen, Norad III, flagship of Edmund Duke's Alpha Squadron, sails toward New Folsom in the orange-red wake left by thruster acceleration, over one hundred and twenty The laser cannon team fired at the same time, and the space torpedoes also ejected from the cabin.

The battlecruisers under Duke's command never save energy on ammunition and weapon systems. They are used to solving frontal enemies as quickly as possible and returning in triumph as quickly as possible. With the exception of Augustus's revolutionary army, few enemies could withstand the Alpha Squadron's fierce offensive and sweeping artillery fire.

At the same time, another revolutionary army fleet headed by Horace Warfield's flagship Iron Justice stepped up its siege on the New Folsom satellite "Su" and the largest space station. Hundreds of Warfields Iron Legionnaires land on an APOD transport ship. The federal defenders among them were routed and quickly surrendered.

New Folsom Prison is indeed one of the most heavily guarded prisons in the Terran Federation, but it is just a prison and cannot withstand the artillery attacks of more than forty Revolutionary Army battlecruisers.

There was no need to send special forces to infiltrate New Folsom Prison. Even if the defensive firepower and the number of guards in New Folsom Prison were repeatedly strengthened after the Korhal Uprising, Augustus's revolutionary army still had enough strength to capture it.

If Augustus hadn't wanted to rescue the criminals in New Folsom Prison, the Revolutionary Fleet wouldn't even have to send troops into the prison. It would just have to drop an orbital strike from New Folsom's high-altitude orbit to detonate the planet, which would have been extremely dangerous. If the continental plate is unstable, all the people in the prison will die without a burial place.

The strength of the revolutionary military fleet is no longer what it used to be. With the help of starship experts and technical personnel sent by the United States of Umojan, the Antiga Starport and the Altera Orbital Shipyard provided Augustus with ten brand-new giant ships. Beast-class battlecruiser.

At the same time, the United States of Umoyan also provided Augustus with six retired Umoyan-class battlecruisers for free - but, in the words of Tychus, these retired battleships are just like It looks like it just came out of the shipyard.

Now, as the conflict between the United Umoyan United States and the Terran Federation has escalated, the Federation Council and the Umoyan Council have also been at odds with each other, and even the well-established Umoyan Protectorate has directly put on Korhal. The Revolutionary Army uniforms attack the Federation planet.

With the First Total War just ending and the Earth's UED expeditionary force invading, the Tyranid Federation could no longer take care of Umoyan. Even the Camorion Federation, which had been completely defeated by the Federation in the Guild War, was waiting and watching. Is it time to revive their mining empire in due course?

The continuous wars caused the Tyranid Federation to intensify their efforts to oppress and exploit the people in order to build their huge naval fleet, but this also further exploded internal conflicts.

The edge world is bankrupt due to tax payments, but the Federation fleet only guards the main star world!

Nowadays, the corrupt bureaucracy of the Terran Federation has long been unable to control such a huge territory, and has to retreat to the scope of the core world.

There was a vibration on the bridge of the Hyperion, which was a signal that it was accelerating through the New Folsom gravitational field. New Folsom zoomed in rapidly below the bridge, stopping only when Augustus could see the column of magma rising from the explosion.

"Augustus, next we should march to Onuru Sigma, where my old headquarters of the Federation's 33rd Assault Division are still stationed." Augustus's brother Arcturus Mengsk left at this time Entering the bridge, wearing power armor that he got from who knows where.

Arcturus's power armor was built by Hellem's armor technician Hiram Fick and chief engineer Rory Swann. The former was the inventor of the Firebat power armor, and the latter led the team. A more robust version of the Marauder Power Armor was developed.

This piece of power armor with a dark red background and gold trim is painted with the emblems of the Golden Wolf and the Ring of the Whip of the Sons of Korhal. The meticulous craftsmanship makes this armor look much more gorgeous, comparable to that of the Kaimorian Union. Ceremonial armor used to worship ancestors.

"Because of my involvement, many of them are not living a very good life. Even if they have repeatedly achieved military exploits, they cannot be promoted, and they are even persecuted by the federal secret police and agents." Arcturus said.

"But as long as I return to Onulu Sigma, they will definitely rise up. The people there have long been fed up with the brutal rule of the Tyranid Federation."

"Of course, this planet is also on my battle map." Augustus looked at Arcturus and said: "Since the beginning of the Guild War, Onuru Sigma has always been a union between the Tyranid Federation and Kemerian. It is the focus of physical competition, and it is a vital strategic location that can be attacked when advancing and defended when retreating."

"A full-scale counterattack is about to begin, and the Federation will once again think of the fear that the Mengsk family once brought to them!"

"Let them tremble." Arcturus walked to Augustus and asked him:

"What are you going to do with New Folsom Prison after this?"

"Of course, it is necessary to completely bulldoze this criminal prison. Since the Antiga uprising, so many people with lofty ideals have been tortured to death in New Folsom Prison." Augustus said after thinking for a moment.

"No, you should keep it," Arcturus said. "New Folsom Prison is the best option."

"Why? I don't need this prison," said Augustus.

"In the future, the prison of New Folsom will make your enemies and opponents tremble. If you want to rule on the throne, you must keep your promises, keep your word, and if necessary, break your promise." Cruelly punish those who may betray you and seek to subvert you.”

"You must make them extremely afraid, so that your position can be stable!" Arcturus looked at Tychus Finley next to him when Augustus's expression gradually changed, and stopped at the sergeant rank on his shoulder. down.

"Mr. Finley, the last time I saw you, you were still a major. Now, I have to say, I have never seen anyone promoted as quickly as you."

"I made a little mistake that is not worth mentioning." Tychus laughed.

"I just had a little drink and had a discussion with Swann's gang. Yes, a person from the engineering group."