When Marshal Edmund Duke stepped into the broad and bright bridge of the Norad III, everyone stood up and saluted him. On this great imperial flagship, the status of the marshal is second only to the one hanging on the wall.
The portrait of Emperor Augustus.
Duke's white power armor is already the latest commander's armor, and it is still decorated with dozens of military rank emblems and medals of honor according to his past habits.
To put it bluntly, Duke still looks like a silverback gorilla whose hair has been stripped off. If you put the male silverback gorilla's walking posture together with him, you will find the unique and arrogant posture of the two.
Almost exactly the same.
He is no longer young. He just celebrated his fifty-third birthday today, but he is still energetic and high-spirited. Every part of his body is in the best condition. It cannot be better than this.
"All the information briefings have been listed one by one on the tactical console display, and you can check them at any time." The AI of Norad III's intelligent mechanical adjutant has been improved by UED computer experts, and is at least smarter than before:
"Welcome back to Norad III, Marshal Edmund Duke."
Although Duke is not very happy for those earthlings to touch his ship, he is not an old antique who does not know how to adapt. In the new era, military weapons and even combat methods have undergone many changes, and even he, Duke, has to learn new knowledge.
But in general, past experience can always come in handy.
"Let's all go back to our respective posts. The peace of the empire will be maintained on our shoulders." Duke finally did not make a lengthy comment on the uselessness of the army today, probably because he was in a good mood.
After the words fell, the crew members sat back in their seats.
Duke was very satisfied with this. This was a well-trained Imperial Navy. Considering that they were not resocialized soldiers, it was even more valuable. The Imperial Army was not a disorganized militia. Even in peacetime, they must have received training.
Rigorous training is the final preparation for war.
The navy is, of course, the elite of the empire.
Even Field Marshal Jim Raynor, who was at the same level as Duke, had to be lowered to Norad III - even though the latter never boarded Alpha Squadron's flagship except when leading men to fight.
If Marines carry out missions on a Navy ship, even if their commander has a higher rank than the captain, they must lower themselves and maintain respect. Of course, it is basically the same for whoever goes to whom, but the Navy has
In their own naval base and small circle, they will never come into contact with Marines unless they have to.
In any case, this unwritten rule between the Navy and the Army has made Duke invincible.
And even if it were twenty years later, Duke would not think that he was worthy of these admiring looks.
Even though he had fought so many defeats, and Duke had been defeated most of his life, he was such a person, he would start all over again after failure, never get discouraged and be full of confidence.
Duke is a very confident person, and he is even more so now. At this moment, the Norad III and the surrounding huge fleet are jumping out of the hyperspace channel. He will never get tired of seeing this magnificent sight no matter how many times he sees it.
If Duke had had such a fleet when the protoss fleet bombed Mar Sara during the first contact war, he might have been able to take down Tassadar's flagship.
Norad III is a Minotaur-class battlecruiser that inherited the name of the former flagship of Alpha Squadron. Its speed, armor and firepower are much higher than those of the past Behemoth-class, and the performance of each electronic system is also far behind.
Leading the way. The wider cabin of the new class of battlecruisers can carry more naval soldiers, with the number of people on board one of them exceeding 5,000.
The Minotaur-class battlecruiser is made of bioregenerated steel and is also equipped with an advanced energy defense matrix, five-type Yamato cannon and ATX laser cannon. The battleships used by the Nova Squadron to perform special operations missions are even equipped with secondary capacitor banks.
and advanced cloaking modules enable cloaking.
The Behemoth-class battlecruiser was once the absolute force for the Tyranid humans to conquer the Koprulu sector, but now it has been relegated to the second line and has begun to be gradually retired.
Thanks to the Tyranids Empire's ambitious and extremely grand shipbuilding plan at the end of this century, the discovery and application of new materials, the rapid development of the shipbuilding industry, and the emergence of a large number of skilled workers and excellent engineers have also strongly promoted the development of the Tyranids Empire's warship levels.
Updated iteration. It’s just a battlecruiser class, and there are now six types.
The size of the fleet that Duke can command is now far greater than that of the Alpha Squadron of the old Federation. The Empire's First Fleet under his command alone has more than 120 Minotaur-class battlecruisers, cruisers, destroyers and supplies.
The number of ships is a huge number. This fleet alone is enough to destroy the Kaimorian regime. Both sides are no longer at the same level in terms of fleet quantity and quality.
There are more than 400,000 naval soldiers serving in the First Fleet, and the number of other sailors exceeds 2 million.
In this sea of stars, the power of the fleet is hegemony. All in all, the status of the navy is undoubtedly stronger than that of the army.
Since the empire already possesses such a powerful naval force, Duke is convinced that the time has come for talents like him to show their talents. The emperor is surrounded by treacherous ministers and shameless villains, and some even
Not really.
After paying tribute to the portrait of the Emperor on the bridge, Duke turned his attention to the tactical display screen. A slowly rotating green planet was his destination.
Braken
This planet is pure green, shaped like a glass ball covered with seaweed. Bracken is a magical planet. It has no ocean, but all the land is covered with lush green vegetation. It is an extremely lush jungle world.
The diameter, gravity, axial inclination and climate data of the data panel all show that Bracken is significantly different from the planet in human cognition. Experts in alien geography research believe that it has some mysterious power.
Duke is not too fond of Bracken, because this planet has been closely linked to something he hates since its discovery:
Protoss Empire.
Bracken is an ancient holy place with religious significance in the Protoss Empire. It was once covered with gorgeous golden crystal buildings of the Protoss, and various miracles appeared in it. Legend has it that in ancient times, the Xel'Naga still walked among the Protoss.
On top of the ancient home of the empire.
Although Bracken was of great significance to the Protoss Empire, it was completely destroyed by the zerg swarm during the First War, and now only the ruins of the ancient walls remain on it, and the entire planet
civilization declined thousands of years ago.
Nowadays, as the Protoss Empire continues to weaken and its sphere of influence has shrunk significantly, Bracken has become a distant lost world to the Protoss. Although there are still some Protoss living on Bracken, here
I have completely lost contact with Al.
At some point after the end of the First Total War, human immigrants came to this planet. They once had conflicts with the Bracken Protoss, but in the end they stayed in some kind of peaceful coexistence.
This planet is rich in resources, so it is also on the pre-colonization list of the Tyranid Empire. However, it has only made no progress due to the reaction of the protoss. At present, most of the humans on Braken are spontaneous immigrants.
Ken, no one had ever told them about the protoss on this planet before.
There are currently about 15,000 humans living on Bracken, including many archaeologists and private geological explorers.
Bracken was not geographically prominent at first, but now it is the front line against the swarm.
The Zerg have arrived in the Bracken system, which is about to become the main battlefield between the Tyranid Empire and the Zerg Swarm. The Augustgrad Palace pointed out the purpose of the Battle of Bracken, which is to severely damage the original Zerg forwards and force them to
Detour.
For this reason, the veteran Edmund Duke became the commander of the First Fleet and was completely delegated. Emperor Augustus' intention was obvious. He needed Duke to fight a tough battle in Bracken and block the enemy.
The route of the insect swarm divides the original insect swarm that is not united.
It's like scattering all the balls when the ball is teed off.
In this way, the scattered primitive insect swarms will be surrounded by other approaching imperial fleets.
It is equivalent to Augustus having used the F2 key to assemble his troops, and now he only needs to hand it over to Duke A.
Although Duke has many obvious shortcomings of the old federal aristocrats, such as being eager to achieve success, arrogant, self-willed, and irritable, he is still a qualified general. For Emperor Augustus Mengsk, this is enough
.
What Duke is best at is launching a storm-like attack through fleets and fighter jet groups, and he will never let go easily until the enemy is completely defeated.
However, Duke completely regarded this as Emperor Augustus's trust in him, and believed that this had actually shown that his status in the emperor's heart had far surpassed that of Renault, leaving them behind.
This is the true imperial general!
"Marshal, the settlers of Bracken are determined to defend their homeland together with the imperial army." Lieutenant Colonel Scott, Duke's adjutant, stepped forward.
This is a standard professional soldier, with a straight uniform and a serious expression. Scott is known as Duke's brain, because some people in the Navy believe that this stupid marshal does not have a brain.
Scott himself was tall, handsome, modest, and deeply loved by the sailors. If the Duke Empire's navy was a stern father, then Scott was a gentle mother.
"These loyal subjects of the Dirty Emperor deserve respect. Give them weapons!" Duke snorted from his nose. He looked down on the country bumpkins in the fringe world from the bottom of his heart, but he no longer spoke as openly as before, because that would
Give his enemy Renault a reason to discredit him.
"But the imperial army does not need the help of a group of farmers digging in the ground to grow crops." He said with his usual arrogance:
"Let them stand behind the imperial soldiers and stay calm. We won't take care of troublemakers running around when the war starts."
Despite Duke's poor reputation, he actually knew how to assess the situation, not just move forward. He was paranoid, tough and cold to the point of being unhuman, but even Reno had to admit that he was a competent general.
"What about the protoss above? If they refuse to accept the leadership of the Tyranid Empire, then it's best for me to step aside." Duke asked Scott.
"The protoss declined our communication request." Scott replied:
"The protoss of Bracken are powerful high-level templars who defend their homeland in their own way. Local settlers say that these protoss can use the magical power in the temple, and they may rely on this method.
Come to fight against the zerg."
"Damn mysticism! Then let these arrogant bastards go away." Duke shouted: "Even if Archbishop Durham is here, he has to get off the boat to talk to me!"
"Considering the Empire's policy towards the protoss, we cannot take strong measures." Scott was already accustomed to Duke's rage.
"I have always assumed that those imperial officials have really grown their brains. The only way to deal with foreign races is to massacre them to make them surrender and ask for peace!" Duke snorted.
"This policy was formulated with the participation of the emperor," Scott added.
"Of course the emperor is wise and wise. I'm talking about those palace ministers." Duke's face turned a little green. He didn't care much about politics and was not interested in the politicians in the imperial government. As long as he could continue to lead troops and fight in wars
, there won’t be any opinions.
"There's something wrong with this planet, it's just as hateful as Baishir." He changed the subject and said, "I bet those Xel'Naga people must have done something here."
"The stars of Bracken spread ancient prophecies. They believe that the person who rules this world will have great power and become a saint." Scott said.
"Okay, I want to dedicate this planet to Emperor Augustus." Duke liked hearing this, and he immediately made up his mind to capture Bracken for the Tyranids.
Another great achievement, a great achievement.
"Osiris called the flagship, a group of primitive zerg is attacking Bracken, the number exceeds one hundred thousand." A colonel captain appeared on the main screen. This relatively younger captain was tense
His face looked like a purple eggplant holding back its purple color.
The Terran Empire has strong shipbuilding capabilities, but its internal reserve of outstanding naval commanders is insufficient.
Emperor Augustus made an exception and promoted some outstanding young officers based on the opinions of generals such as Warfield and Duke. Although these young officers were sufficient to cope with most situations, they had not yet participated in a real large-scale naval battle and were inevitably inexperienced.
.
"It's just the vanguard, don't panic." After all, Duke had been fighting for twenty-five years. In his opinion, this situation was just a small scene, like a drizzle.
One of the great advantages of this person is that his overly optimistic blind confidence can be passed on to his subordinates, greatly improving morale. When the wind is favorable, he can lead the fleet to quickly wipe out the enemy, and when the wind is adverse, he can also boost morale. The disadvantage is that compared to Arcturus
·Mengsk, Jim Raynor and others did not fight smart enough.
"What's your plan?" Scott looked at Duke.
He knew his old commander very well. No matter how complicated the battlefield situation was, Duke usually only had one plan.
"Of course I have my own plan." Duke's formidable triangular eyes were resolute and calm:
"The time has come to be loyal to the emperor. Norad III is in front, and the entire fleet is in attack formation!"