This was the second day after the Revolutionary Army fleet arrived in the Tarsonis system. Like all the soldiers in the fleet, Augustus Mengsk had not slept for forty-two hours.
Augustus' men completely defeated the Federation fleet defending Tarsonis and two other fleets that came to support at different times, a total of twenty-one battlecruisers, destroying eleven and forcing the remaining Federation battleships to briefly
retreat.
But the revolutionary fleet also paid a heavy price. Augustus lost nine of his twenty-six battlecruisers forever. Three were unable to keep up with the fleet due to heavy damage, and the remaining battleships also suffered different types of damage.
degree of damage.
Renault's Hyperion is currently sending ships to several immovable battlecruisers whose propellers were damaged to pick up the crews of these battleships.
Norad 2 and the other nine Revolutionary Behemoth-class battlecruisers opened fire on the main facilities on the Tarsonis Vosing high-altitude orbital platform from both directions above and below the horizontal plane. The ship in front of Augustus
Under the bridge porthole is the dense torrent of bullets from the automatic turret of the orbital platform.
At this time, the battleship's shield energy has been exhausted, and Norad 2, like other battlecruisers, is using thick armor plates to resist fierce gunfire.
Augustus watched everything in front of him calmly. From the forty hours before his eyes, there had been rumbling in his ears. The sound of many people talking on the bridge and the sound of fleet gunfire on the main screen continued all the time.
It never stopped.
On a zooming home screen, a high-altitude orbital defense platform of Tarsonis is sinking into the planet's atmosphere. After calculations by Norad 2's intelligent adjutant, the orbital platform landed on a protruding point on the Tarsonis continental plate.
peninsula, triggering forest fires that swept through ten Tarsonis cities, bringing about earthquakes and tsunamis unheard of in the area.
"What's the situation like with the Sasha Marine Corps? Have Tychus's people come back?" When the time on the main screen was fixed at 19:30 pm on June 22, Augustus looked at the people beside him.
Sarah Kerrigan, his lieutenant, and Lieutenant Umoyan were either in the main control room or already on the front lines.
"Thirty-two of the forty-five landing troops have returned successfully." Standing next to Augustus, Kerrigan put on the uniform of the Umoyan Shadow Guards. These super warriors trained by Umoyan psychic mentors are often
Wearing a black tight-fitting pseudo-photographic combat uniform.
After speaking, even though he already knew what Augustus wanted to ask, Kerrigan still waited quietly for him to ask. This is the way of communication between them now, otherwise Augustus would not have to speak at all.
"How many people have returned?" Augustus asked.
"Less than two thousand people." Kerrigan slowed down her speech, and she observed Augustus's expression: "Most people died on the way to and from Tarsonis and the fleet. The Federation troops on the planet's surface
The casualties caused were less than one percent."
Augustus just sighed and didn't say anything. The troops brought out by Takhar were almost depleted, and too many people died in foreign lands and were buried in the stars.
"According to intelligence provided by Umoyan and August Security Committee agents, our fighters successfully 'ransacked' five federal scientific research stations and weapons laboratories, and part of the guards there were transferred to protect local officials.
." Kerrigan reported.
"We found many technologies in the database of Tarsonis' command center and scientific research station, including CMC series power armor, vulture vehicles, arc light tanks, Goliath armed robots, Avenger fighter jets, and Kaimorian's Cerberus modifications.
Fighter planes, Wraith fighter planes, iPod transport ships..." she said.
"From the design concept, prototype data to structural drawings, they are all complete. As long as they are uploaded to the data network in a standardized heavy factory, the foundry can immediately produce these weapons."
"Data is being uploaded from the data disk to Norad 2's terminal network."
The good news made Augustus breathe easier. Every time a battleship was lost and every soldier was lost, his heart was bleeding. He could not help but feel hatred.
"Hey, Mengsk, I have some good things for you." At this time, Tychus walked towards the bridge from a constantly opening and closing air valve, and his crimson power armor had a dozen more
Cave. It seems that it has fought a lot of hard battles since landing in Tarsonis.
"A revolver - Colt Arms Company, ceased production more than a hundred years ago, and there are very few that have been preserved except for private maintenance." Augustus took it from Tychus.
He carried a heavy revolver in a reindeer leather holster.
"It's very expensive, but the power is acceptable." He simply commented: "Jim just needs a gun."
"?" Tychus was stunned for a moment, then spread his hands and said, "Okay."
"You came back alive, brother. Where are the others?" Augustus put the pistol on his waist.
"Seven or eight good brothers died. They were all real tough guys, and no one was captured." Tychus said angrily: "The people in the Tarsonis Police Department are all a bunch of cowards, but in the hands of socialized soldiers,
But they are all real guys.”
"We raided a scientific research station, but there was nothing inside except a few 'fat pigeons' in suits." He continued: "I left a few people to copy documents, and then I went to Tarsonis's suspension
The train track base station detects the enemy's situation."
"The data has been uploaded, you can see it yourself."
Augustus nodded frequently. As he read the information, the bridge deck of the Norad 2 was still shaking violently. A scanned and uploaded drawing caught Augustus' attention: it was a vehicle suspended on the
The heavily armored tank on the ground has two symmetrically arranged railguns mounted on its sharply angular body.
This drawing comes from a document bag wrapped in thick leather. On the cover is a curled-up snake-like creature skeleton with intertwined ends. The hole in its skull is ice blue.
"Rattlesnake -" Augustus recognized this. His eyes lit up and he began to read the information: "Rattlesnake chariot, a conceptual chariot that is still in the theoretical stage, uses magnetic levitation technology and is equipped with an executioner electromagnetic track.
The Gunferende tank armor plate is initially positioned as a high-speed, suspended tank vehicle that can effectively target heavy armor."
"What a good thing, a new gadget from the Federation." Tychus clicked his tongue in surprise.
"Leave it to Chief Engineer Rory Swann, he knows what to do." Augustus said decisively: "Maybe we can install the railgun on other vehicles, but the development of batteries is a problem."
"That Kemorien dwarf is going crazy with joy," Tychus complained.
"It doesn't matter if you have the money," Tychus said.
But after a while, Augustus' expression changed. He looked at the list of items given by Tychus and said angrily: "Arts, antiques, record players from the 1950s after the colonial ship crashed, high-purity crystal,
Tarsonis Erotic Magazine Collection…”
"The city of Tarsonis is home to all the latest cutting-edge technologies in the Tyranid Federation. Take a look at what you brought back."
"There's nothing we can do about it. There are only a few useless pieces of tissue paper in that scientific research station." Tychus didn't care: "There are at least two army groups and a mechanized division in the central city. It's impossible for us to catch the Tagore family member.
old woman."
"I experienced nine deaths before landing on the ground. It would be a pity not to take something." Tychus had his own reasons: "There is an old saying on Earth, don't take advantage of it, you bastard."
"It's my fault for not getting you a few beautiful noble ladies. I forgot to ask you what kind of girl you like, flaxen hair or red, brown skin or fair enough, or do you actually like them?
With a handle."
"Forget it, I didn't expect you to do anything serious." Augustus felt that there was no need to vent his anger on Tychus.
"General, we have contacted the last landing force that has not yet returned to the fleet. Their landing point was about a thousand miles away from their intended location and sandwiched between two army brigades. In the last communication, this force
The commander, Captain Ireland, declined our offer to send additional reinforcements to the ground."
"I remember that Captain Ireland was the eldest son of the Rondstein family." Augustus stopped talking.
"Why not just level Tarsonis." Tychus scratched his helmet with the tip of his power-armored index finger.
The Revolutionary Fleet did not attack Tarsonis. Although they were fully capable of forcibly breaking through the blockade of high-altitude and orbital defense platforms to conduct indiscriminate orbital bombardment of Tarsonis at the beginning, they did not do so.
Augustus only sent about 20,000 landing troops to various areas on the planet's surface. The landing troops fought in many places on the main planet of Tarsonis. The purpose was just to create chaos in Tarsonis and seize the federal military base command center and
Design drawings of new weapons at the scientific research station.
"Yes, but we can't do this." Augustus glanced at Tychus, his cold gray eyes reflecting the gorgeous deep sky outside the porthole window.
"Regardless of the fact that the Creation Family has already escaped, and the possibility of them hiding in an underground shelter that can withstand nuclear strikes, we do have a chance to wipe out the entire Creation Family." He said calmly:
"Send an apocalyptic nuclear bomb toward the center of the main city of Tarsonis - it's easy to aim, because the city's plan is a regular and changeable geometry that overlaps with each other, and the Sky Tower of the Creation Family is in the center.
"
"Right, with just one apocalypse, the Creation Family and their ugly hearts will be finished together. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. After today's incident, the Federation fleet will definitely strengthen the defense of Tarsonis. Next time
It won't be so easy for us to visit here." Tychus nodded.
"But do you know how many people there are in the densely populated commercial district of Tarsonis and the nearby residential areas?" Augustus said a number: "Nearly two hundred million people."
"One billion people will be affected. At that time, the revolutionary army will be called the butcher. We are the revolutionary army and insurrectionists, not terrorists."
"What you did is not much different, isn't it?" Tychus never regarded himself as a member of the revolutionary army.
"The federation doesn't care how many people Korhal will die, but we can't and don't care about the civilians of Tarsonis. That's the difference between us and the federation." He said: "And this difference is what we want to do for all Tasonis.
What the people of Lun know.”
"I would rather let those members of the Creation Family live and let them continue to rot until they are beyond redemption, than let hundreds of millions of innocent Tarsonis be buried with them." He said: "I have no choice.
"
"Your heart is not dark enough or ruthless enough." Tychus sighed and said: "If it were your brother Arcturus, he would have launched all the nuclear bombs."
"Or you can push the others out and say that your general pressed the red button secretly."
"I understand this." Augustus looked at Tychus: "This is a dark age. If you want to succeed, you must do whatever it takes. Sacrificing a dozen people is a serious humanitarian crisis, and destroying a dozen people is a serious humanitarian crisis."
Hundreds of millions of people is just a political issue."
"Then what are you going to do?" Tychus asked.
"My fleet will wander like a ghost at the border between the Kemerian Federation and the Tyranid Federation." Augustus said: "I am making enemies in the dark and in the open. As long as the Federation is exhausted, they will be exhausted. When the Federation starts
After giving up control of the peripheral world and shrinking the defense of the core world, we achieved initial victory."
"I will spend the rest of my life fighting against the Terran Confederacy until one of us falls forever."
"Don't be ridiculous, you are only eighteen years old after all." Tychus smiled and lit a cigar, inhaling deeply the smoke in the air and letting it circulate in his lungs: "Can the Terran Federation live as long as you?"
"So, you want to use those monsters on Victor 5, which are called zerg by federal scientists, to deal with the Federation?" Tychus said, looking at Augustus' profile.
"They are simply the most perfect weapons for genocide. They do not produce any pollution at all and are thrown away after use. They can even be made into canned food after the battle. Even if they are not good enough, they can be used to feed the Yumoyan Beetle Ranch.
brute."
"The Federation has a really good idea. No one will doubt them. In the end, they will send troops to eliminate those monsters, and the victims will praise them."
"The truth will be revealed to the world one day." Augustus shook his head: "And the Federation does not know how terrifying the zerg are. Their number is much greater than they estimated."
"The Federation is playing with fire and burning itself. We must control the zerg through other more reliable means."
At this time, Norad 2's sensors detected a large number of jump signals. Although Korhal was not the first planet colonized by Tarsonis, it was located at the core of the Tyranid Federation's territory, and Korhal's fleet was located
It only takes two days to arrive.
However, Edmund Duke's Alpha Squadron was still missing at this time, and Captain Jackson might still be walking him on the edge of the Koprulu sector.
"Notify the fleet and prepare to jump."
"Where are you going?" Tychus asked him.
"Sarah System." Augustus said: "Send the coordinates of this system to the entire fleet."
"What are you going to do there?" Tychus knew clearly: "A remote place - I understand what you mean. It is a good place, far away from Tarsonis, and it is one of the main star worlds. It is a good place to dominate.
.”
"What do you know?" Augustus ignored him and instead issued an order through the command channel of the entire fleet: "Everyone returns to their positions and straps the wounded to the acceleration seats."