StarCraft: Tyranid Empire

Chapter 666 Lowering the flag

The Gorgon battlecruiser Freedom Day sailed smoothly into the anchorage of the Korhal IV Sky Shield orbital platform where dozens of giant ships were parked. Her majestic and huge hull was covered with the star of the Korhal system. In the light, it looks like a steel city with golden edges.

Engine technical sergeant Lars Brun leaned against the cold bulkhead behind the high chair, looking at the brightly lit starport outside the small observation window of the technician's mess hall. He had been working for twelve hours in the burning heart of the engine room, and now he could finally put on a clean shirt and rest.

Behind the Sky Shield Orbital Platform, which is as endless as a continent, the shining sun of the Kohal Galaxy is suspended in the sky. The Viking fighter jets passing by at high speed outside the window seem to be about to sail into the incandescent light spot. .

Gradually, the magnificent hull of Liberty Day's sister ship, the Gorgon-class Judgment Day, slowly appeared under the observation window in front of Lars.

The Judgment Day was almost identical to the one Lars was standing on, and the Gorgon was definitely the greatest battleship he had ever seen. Compared with the Day of Judgment, even the once largest Minotaur class pales in comparison. When the shocking naval guns unleash an overwhelming barrage of gunfire, it seems to be raining down punishment from heaven.

She is the queen of the star sea, the ruler of the world, and the light of order for mankind.

Lars grew up in a small town called Freeport in Becca Luo. There were only two to three thousand people in the town. Even if he traveled far away, he would probably meet acquaintances and neighbors. There are more than 8,000 people on the Freedom Day Gorgon where Lars is serving. As a technical soldier, he dare not say that he has been to a quarter of the cabins on the ship, let alone know all the people.

Countless times, Lars Brun told himself that this is what the human civilized world really looks like. In a small place like Becca Rowe, there are only shooting stars in the sky.

Little Beka Luo was just a featureless rocky planet on the edge of the Koprulu Sector, a barren and desolate piece of rotten stone. But in contrast to his unimaginative neighbors and relatives, Lars never I don't think the whole world is like this. Lars is different from those of Becca Rowe. The adventurous spirit he has had since childhood and the curiosity that can never be satisfied make him look more like an adventurer and fighter.

Perhaps that was the quality possessed by the first humans who looked up at the stars.

When Lars looked through the postcards and books left by his grandparents, he knew that countless alien wonders and bizarre interstellar stories were what the world was like. Human beings were not born to live on the planet Beka Luo. Their ancestors came from the starry sky and from more distant stars.

Human beings are children of the stars, and the stars are their destination.

The ancestors of Becca Luo were a group of hermits who cut themselves off from human society. They would rather live a life of poverty and refuse to set foot in the stars again, living like ascetics pursuing purity and faith.

Lars is trapped in such doubts, and the people around him just blame it on the brutal persecution of the Tyranid Federation. They have no power to resist, so they can only live in exile in a place unknown to anyone to avoid being discovered by others.

Never contact the outside world has even become a dogma passed down from generation to generation by Becca Rowe. It is like an irrefutable dogma, even if the new generation has a vague impression of the federal government.

Although it only lasted three generations, Becca Luo's technology has fallen into permanent stagnation and regression with the death of the scientist.

Lars believed that if Becca Rowe could continue undetected for several more generations, the planet would most likely degenerate to the level of primitive humans. Each new generation of Beka Luo people born is sternly informed by their elders of a human government that has been demonized. They are told to never contact the stars and never respond.

No matter what Lars thinks, this is really sad, and he does not want himself and his descendants to live such a life.

It wasn't until the day the Tyranid Empire fleet arrived at Beka Ro that Lars' life changed.

He knew that he would never forget the shock brought by the shining armor of the Imperial Marines and the huge Gloria droid, and the pride on the faces of those Imperial soldiers was even more fascinating - what brave and loyal warriors, each of them Be proud of the empire you are defending.

When the Imperial Navy established the first interstellar military port in Beka Luo, Lars made up his mind to leave on an Imperial Navy battleship, but it was not until the eve of the second total war that he was drafted into the army as he wished.

Lars Brun doesn't think there is any problem with this. The Tyranids have ushered in a new government, no longer the corrupt and greedy Federation.

Lars has never actually met the ruler of the empire, but everyone who knows him is in awe. After all, the framed portrait of the emperor hangs in a prominent position where all the sailors can see it, and it is also a large banknote of the empire's credit currency. acquaintance. Lars later learned that no one in the history of Tyranids had achieved such outstanding achievements as Augustus the Great.

Emperor Augustus had such high prestige among both the army and the people that even those who hated him could not deny his achievements.

"Have you heard that many of the marines on the ship have got a holiday and are going to Augustgrad to have fun." Philip, the military surgeon, held two glasses of Mai Tai cocktails.

"There is really no need for the honor guard and the military band to do anything at this time." Lars took a cocktail from Philip's hand and said with malice: "You can't ask the Marines to always do the same work as us. "

Ever since Lars pulled out a damn rotten tooth in the medical bay, they had somehow become friends.

Philip came from Parragos, a planet with an extremely harsh climate. The colonists had to survive in the thorny swamps and terrible hurricanes.

But generally speaking, the conditions of Palangos are much better than that of Becca Roco, because it has a quite developed sister planet in the same galaxy, so that Philip can fully receive a higher level of education and become a navy A military doctor in .

According to Lars, it is an extremely coincidental and wonderful thing that there are two worlds suitable for human habitation in a galaxy at the same time, because people there can look up and see another star inhabited by humans, knowing that they Not at all alone in this universe.

But Philip didn't mention a word about his hometown. This may be related to the fierce battle that broke out between the Empire and the Zerg in Palangos.

"Why, have you been busy again recently?" Philip looked at Lars with his aqua blue eyes.

"Who says it isn't? I took a trip to Tiberus and found that ten of the twelve condensers on the left and right sides had problems, and some were still leaking. If it is not solved quickly, the condensers on the lower deck will If you help people, you have to sleep in the wastewater." Lars complained:

"I also have to watch the ship repairmen coming up from the port and tell them every five minutes what they should and shouldn't touch."

"Friends, we used to think that the super battleship of Liberty Day was indestructible, but we didn't realize it until we met the zerg of Tiberus. Sometimes, even if we bump into each other, we have to lose a layer of skin." Philip. Shake his head.

The Battle of Tiberus had been over for several weeks, and Philip could not stop trembling every time he thought of that terrible war. Those heroic souls who would always remain with Tiberus seemed to be still sighing in his ears, asking him why he didn't save them.

The Liberty Day served by Philip and Lars was definitely lucky, at least it was completely evacuated from the Tiberus system. You know, at that time, they often could only watch the friendly ship sink in the vast sea of worms, turning into a terrible orange-red flame.

Gorgon is already the highest-level warship in the Tyranid Empire, but five ships were lost in the Tiberus system. There were only about thirty battleships in Warfield's fleet that sailed out of the Tiberus system, and more than fifty battleships were severely damaged, and the rest were turned into debris drifting between galaxies.

They thought they had been trained to become fearless warriors, but only those who experienced it firsthand could understand how desperate these warriors in the center of the battlefield felt at that time. Every time you kill a zerg, you have to pay the price in blood, but it seems that you can't kill them all.

Countless blood and sacrifices led to today's victory.

"Don't mention it again." Lars drank the cocktail in his glass and motioned to Philip not to say any more.

He originally thought that there were countless mysteries above the stars waiting for him to explore, but he ignored the dangers hidden within them.

Only people like Lars who have truly experienced it can know the truth of this war. Fighting wasn't Lars' job, but that didn't mean he hadn't seen death.

Lars has not only seen the mighty swarm of insects destroy an entire planet, razing a settlement much larger than Beka Row to the ground and killing millions of people, but he has also seen the protoss fleet use terrifying artillery fire. Burn the worlds.

The memory of the terrible war in the Tiberus system will never be erased. It was truly a lingering nightmare.

Most of the people on the Liberty have been awakened by the cruel reality and will no longer hesitate to say that real men want to drive warships. They no longer want to fight. The passionate young people have already experienced the horror of war and the suffering of life and death.

Lars used to think that he was already a veteran, but it wasn't until the Battle of Tiberus that he realized that he was still far from it.

By lying about his age, Lars had only served in the Imperial Navy for more than two years. It was already a miracle that he was promoted to sergeant and served on a flagship battleship like the Liberty Day.

Imperial soldiers who have been to Char think they are superior to others. If they have participated in the El Expedition, they can brag about it for a lifetime. Although Lars has not been to too many planets, he has followed the fleet to hells like Blackxis.

Lars has been to the endless ice field and watched the violent and ferocious bear-tooth beasts wandering around on it. He originally thought that the jagged glaciers and raging snowstorms of Black Sith were the most terrifying things in the world, until he was really close to death this time.

During the most difficult period of the Battle of Tiberus, the Liberty was separated from the main fleet by a large number of zerg swarms. The shields and hull were bitten by zerg, and the terrifying zerg swarmed into the ship, along all cabins. Tao hunts the humans it sees.

Lars followed teams of electrical engineers, mechanics, and engine technicians as they rushed to repair facilities in the most dangerous places. There was blood and death everywhere, and his mind was filled with the horrific sight of being dismembered by zerg and covered in livers and brains. Many people he knew were dead, including "Fat" Lal and "Jesus" Rutte, who were once alive.

During the boring voyage, these people always sat around the workroom chatting about various stories and their families, until Lars even remembered their family members’ names and interesting anecdotes, until they had nothing to say anymore. It can be said.

None of them made it back to Korhal, to where they started.

"Well, we don't want to mention it." Philip spread his hands and turned to talk about the interesting things he heard: "I know that Princess Dorothy is in a certain port in the Sky Shield. She made a special trip from Victoria. Tia is here.”

"I don't have time to go." Lars knew that he could apply for a vacation if he wanted to: "Wake up, Princess Dorothy can't possibly like you."

"I already have a beloved girl." Philip never mentioned this matter.

"Really?" Lars smiled: "There is also a girl waiting for me in my hometown."

"I know, her name is Xin En." Phillip said, "She must be very worried when you go back to find her."

"Let's wait until the next holiday." Lars said, "What about you?"

"I really want to see her again," said Philip, "but she has been dead for two years."

After saying that, they all fell silent.

In the distance, the Militant battlecruiser was slowly entering the harbor under the instruction of the signal light.

After waiting for a while, Philip spoke again: "I think you should ask for leave and come with me to the Sky Shield orbital platform. A flag-lowering mourning ceremony is being held there. I heard that Emperor Augustus is also there."

In the Terran Empire, all the imperial flags will fall at the end of the day with the sound of flag-lowering, but it is destined that no one will see it raised again.

"Can we see the Emperor?" Lars asked.

"Who knows," said Philip.

"You don't look very interested." Lars looked at him.

"I don't like him," said Philip.

"Why?" Lars asked.

"You have to ask why in everything, that's why you are the most annoying." Phillip shook his head repeatedly.

"But you are still willing to be friends with me." Lars shrugged.

"I feel sorry for you, you don't even have anyone to talk to." Phillip snorted.

"You are not honest." Lars said, "Obviously I was the first to talk to you."

"Maybe you can read minds, like those ghosts."

"Have you seen them?"

"I haven't seen them, so they are ghosts."