StarCraft: Tyranid Empire

Imperial territory Taurus.

Ice cave training camp. This is the home of the Reaper Legion, the gospel of the dead.

It was freezing cold on the ice field of Taurus, the cold wind was howling, the sky was thick and pale, the wind and clouds were carrying the overwhelming ice and snow, and the earth was pale.

A series of inclined granite, titanium steel plates and reinforced concrete create a vast and complex folding building complex. Its steep spire is like a white forest, and its wavy eaves are covered with white snow. Many drones powered by twin-turbo engines are busy clearing snow from roofs, like a group of dexterous and petite frost elves.

There is a beautiful name here, the Snow-Covered Garden.

But the bastards living here have no artistic talent. They call it the Ice Cave. The name is simple but inexplicably scary.

If the Reaper recruits in the ice cave training camp are enjoying wine, caviar and roast goose on soft and comfortable sofas by the warm fireplace at the moment, they may also be holding a few masterpieces of Tarsonis literature full of innocent moans. , then most likely there is still a little bit of arrogance to recite poems and write poems.

But the Ice Cave, this ghostly place at the end of the world, is not much warmer outside.

Today, another group of recruits completed six months of training, and they celebrated their graduation ceremony on this day. This means that these young soldiers are about to become the best killers in the universe, the Imperial Death Gods who will be feared by their enemies.

Thousands of new recruits lined up on the huge training ground in the ice cave, saluting and standing at attention, waiting for their commander to announce that they had graduated.

The recruits certainly have reason to be happy and proud, because they have survived the most difficult stage in the ice cave. A huge imperial cast-iron badge hung high above the recruits' heads, and the words order, peace and law shone like gold.

The training of Reapers is famous for being extremely rigorous, and the pass rate of recruits may be higher than that of Viking pilots among the various branches of the Tyranid Empire.

Routine duties, emergency gatherings, night training, and mountain training are just child's play for the Reapers. Before graduation, the recruits have no privacy and no right to control their own time. But all the recruits in the empire came here this way, except for those resocialized soldiers who could go to heaven and earth after soaking in a nutrition cabin. But only a fool would envy them.

War is no stranger to Tyranids. Many male citizens of the planets in the territories of the Tyranids have received more or less short military training when they were young, especially in crisis-ridden edge worlds and resource-rich areas. area.

Imperial Emperor Augustus Mengsk has also mentioned on many occasions his experiences training and serving on Turasis II as a young man, and was deeply proud of his battalion and comrades.

While the Marines' recruit training is to mold naive high school and college students into real warriors, the Reaper's training is to create aces in the Empire's armed forces.

Reapers must also undergo pilot-like physical training to ensure they don't faint while wearing a combat suit equipped with a jump pack. The latest Reaper jump pack has the ability to travel long distances, but it is also extremely dangerous.

An expert who can skillfully use the Reaper armor can launch a surprise attack across canyons and cliffs, and use his superb speed and maneuverability to make the Marines run away, but no one knows that he has broken several bones before doing so.

They must learn to use the "Reaper of God" P-45 electromagnetic pistol or P-38 and P-55. These fire-breathing monsters with strong recoil that can knock people into the sky are as powerful as their tempers. If the recruits cannot control these terrifying monsters, they are very likely to hurt themselves and their comrades around them.

If not operated properly, the D-8 explosives carried by the Reapers are so powerful that they may inadvertently injure friendly forces when blowing an insect nest into the sky. If you inadvertently reimburse yourself, you can save yourself the trouble of being held accountable by your superiors afterwards.

Almost every day, people quit the ice cave for various reasons. Either they endured the cruel rules of the ice cave and quit voluntarily, or they had a fight with the instructor, or they died.

The recruits have reason to believe that their instructors are a bunch of sadists and lunatics, always asking them to repeat meaningless things, but in short, the ice cave will eliminate those who are delicate and leave behind the true braves.

In the Tyranid Empire of Augustus the Great, reapers were synonymous with elites and aces. Although the Reapers and Marines always blame each other and blame each other, when they are trapped in a tight siege, any Marine team hopes to have the Reapers behind them.

The best reapers in the empire come from the ice caves, and the reapers of the Port of the Dead Legion are also famous for their cruelty and bloodshed. The Reapers are renowned for their ferocious and determined strikes and roundabout tactics that tire their enemies. They move through the hail of bullets like thousands of flowers, not even a leaf touching them.

The Reapers were so honored on the battlefield that even the United States of Umoyan launched their own version of the Reapers.

At this moment, Kejora, the commander of the Ice Cave Training Camp, was giving a speech at the graduation ceremony, talking about the contribution that the young Reapers would make to the war to defend the Tyranid Empire.

Ko'hra was also a former Reaper. According to him, his service dates back to the days of Korhal's Revolutionary Army, and he even fought alongside Emperor Augustus Mengsk on the battlefields of Aiur. He was obviously very proud of this, and the golden piping on his straight uniform epaulettes commemorated the troops he had served in.

This man was as inhuman as cold steel, but the recruits in the ice cave never expected him to have any humanity at all.

His uniform is as neat as new, his face is handsome, and he speaks well.

Under such a glamorous surface image, there is a terrible fact hidden - this man is actually a devil.

It was Kehra who formulated many of the horrific training subjects in the ice cave. The Reaper recruits of this period received a gift from Kohra on the first night they joined the Ice Caves - they were chased by a large number of Mechanical Hydralisks and Cerberus Zerg and almost vomited out their bile.

According to the training guidelines of the Ice Cave, the speed of the recruits when wearing power suits must be faster than electromagnetic accelerated bullets in order for the instructors to be slightly satisfied.

"Augustus Mengsk has ordered that all able-bodied citizens of the Empire need to use all their strength to defend our Empire until death." Kehra's words have been played countless times in the propaganda of the Tyranids. all over.

"We still face terrible threats. Bloodthirsty, bloody and violent alien races are looking at us with jealous eyes, and human villains, scoundrels, and rebels are still fighting against the Empire."

"At this critical moment when the Terran Empire was in turmoil, the Emperor needed reapers, so the Ice Cave was created. His will is the command." Kehra showed a rare smile, and the recruits in the Ice Cave thought he was a Facial paralysis.

"Now, I am proud of you prisoners, because you have passed the most brutal training camp in the Terran Empire. This is the greatest moment of your lives, and I swear it will be the same for the rest of your lives. "

Prisoners are just what Kehra calls the new recruits. In fact, the proportion of criminals in the ice cave training camp is not high. Those who have criminal records are those who have undergone resocialization but are still out of control. Although their memories have been wiped away, they still have severe violent tendencies, strong aggression and all kinds of strange things. morbid hobby.

But apart from that, the ice caves are all citizens of the empire who are legally recruited and have clean financial status, and they have been strictly screened before enlisting in the army. Although it is different from the Revolutionary Army era, the Reaper Legion is no longer composed of Revolutionary Party soldiers with extremely high ideological consciousness, but not just any scum of society can join.

"After making unimaginable sacrifices and arduous training, you have become a qualified reaper." He said: "Every drop of blood and sweat you leave in the ice cave will become a nightmare for the enemy. "

"Remember the Ice Cave and the Reaper Legion, prove your worth to the Emperor, prove your worth to the Empire."

After Kehra finished speaking, there was warm applause, and the newly graduated recruits were very happy. Only one out of every three people can survive until the end, and Reapers are also the most sought-after unit in each imperial legion.

Then they can enjoy a hearty meal as usual and say goodbye to protein mush and sweet bars for a while. After today, they will take a spaceship to garrison in various imperial territories in Nuoda.

Considering that the insect swarm is invading and the front line is in short supply of troops, most of the recruits who graduate on this day will join the Reaper Legion on the front line as supplementary soldiers.

Perhaps in the distant future, the soldiers who survived this war will recall every bit of life in the ice cave. But only one thing is correct, the front line is far more cruel than the ice cave.

Soon, the recruits would no longer see Kehra's stinky face, and they would already start to imagine what would be in their meals today.

This is true no matter which boot camp it is, the instructors will do their best to flog the recruits so that they have little time and energy to think about things, but today is different.

But at this moment, Kehra's expression suddenly froze while he was talking. The expression was somewhere between panic and ecstasy, and gradually turned into panic. The recruits all thought that the benevolent warden was a robot at all, but now he was really panicking like a rooster that had laid eggs, and dumb clucking sounds came from his throat from time to time.

The recruits below were silent for a while, then suddenly cheered loudly.

The emperor in military uniform was seen coming from the other side, followed by the royal guards.

Augustus Mengsk is really like a figure coming out of a war painting. He has a tall and straight figure, and his cold gray eyes are as sharp as an eagle. Compared with his youth, Emperor Augustus's marble-sculpted features have become deeper and deeper, more like the twenty-eight-year-old Arcturus Mengsk, except that he does not have a beard and his face is neat and meticulous.

Kehra looked at the other ice cave commander who was also at a loss. His expression seemed to be saying why no one told me that the emperor was coming.

But when Emperor Augustus came forward, Kehra had already adjusted the expression on his face.

Anyway, this is indeed a surprise.

There are so many recruit training camps in the Terran Empire, and it is impossible for the emperor to attend the graduation ceremony of every recruit. In fact, even the generals of the empire can't spare the time to participate.

Since taking over Augustgrad, Emperor Augustus obviously did not have so much time to go in and out of the military camp. A few years ago it was quite possible that Imperial soldiers would have met the Emperor, but now such opportunities were rare.

It wasn't until he shook the Emperor's hand that Kehra confirmed that this was a real person and not some silly holo-bait joke.

At this moment, there was a complete mess under the podium. If the instructors had not tried their best to maintain order, the recruits would have almost rushed forward.

It is rumored that the Emperor of the Tyranid Empire has many clones. Otherwise, it is simply unimaginable how he can handle a large number of official duties and still appear in various social occasions. Any knowledgeable officer would not believe this rumor, but the average recruit would not think so.

"Salute to you, Lieutenant Colonel Kehra, your Reaper Legion has brought countless merits to the empire." Augustus inevitably noticed the lieutenant colonel when shaking hands with Kehra. mechanical prosthetic arm.

This is an early robotic arm, powered by pistons and hydraulic systems. Although it is not as sharp as the Cerberus mechanical prosthesis, it is simple and easy to replace.

The Empire's chief engineer, Rory Swann, has designed a similar robotic arm, which is not only quite reliable but can also be used as a tool to repair machinery. If he hadn't considered that his hands and feet were sound, he would have wanted to try it out.

"Serving you is an eternal honor for all citizens of the empire." Lieutenant Colonel Kehra did not mention the glorious years he fought side by side with Emperor Augustus. I think he just stood back and watched this kind of thing a few times when he was in Ayr. It's impossible to say it out loud.

Augustus nodded to Kehra, and then stood in the latter's previous position, looking at the cheering recruits below.

I don’t know when Augustus had such great prestige among the people of the empire. Most of the reapers came from the families of law-abiding imperial citizens, while the unruly people who broke the law had been excluded by the recruitment center during the screening process of establishing files and cards.

Amid the cheers of the new recruits, Emperor Augustus continued the speech Kehra had just given. The emperor made no mention of dedication and sacrifice; his words came only from an impromptu speech.

"I am Augustus Mengsk, and I am the Emperor of the Tyranid Empire. I am honored to witness the great moment when you graduate from the Ice Cave."

"I summoned you precisely because you are the most outstanding warriors of the Tyranids." He said: "The swarms are invading in large numbers, and they are destroying everything we have built with our own hands, and the Tyranids must not give this away. "

"The war is about to begin. It brings fame and glory, but also darkness and terror. Warriors, freedom is calling you."

"This is the Tyron Empire. The whole world is the king's land, and the shores of the land are the king's ministers."

The original reapers were indeed prisoners, real habitual criminals and the scum of the world, and they were the kind of people no one in the army wanted to give. In this book, the situation is better, roughly equivalent to Valerian's reign.