After losing almost all its engines, the Tyranid Empire battleship Iron Fist gradually slowed down and its altitude continued to decrease. It was finally chased by swarms of corrupted flying insects, mutalisks and flying snakes.
The Iron Fist is a Minotaur-class battlecruiser. The ship's name is inherited from another retired Behemoth-class battleship. The commander of the ship is Colonel Haley.
With his accent, he was called the aggressive Harley.
Among the large number of new warships that have been put into service since the Imperial Navy entered the new century, the Iron Fist can be said to be extremely young. In fact, as soon as she sailed out of the Apollo Shipyard, she was incorporated into the Combined Fleet and immediately rushed to Aiur to participate.
this battle.
Before entering the war, the Iron Fist was still shiny and new. The new black alloy steel hull had new red paint, the flags were raised on each deck, and the assembled marines on board the ship sang "Glory to the Emperor".
Forty hours later, this warship, which all its crew members were proud of, was riddled with holes and slumped like a dilapidated house leaking air from all directions. The Iron Fist's thick armor was like cracked fish scales.
Falling off from the once majestic and huge hull, thick, snake-like cables leaked out of the damaged armor, looking like a pile of blue-black intestines.
The battleship roared continuously inside and outside, and huge balls of flames surged out from under the deck, releasing astonishing light and heat.
Although it was severely damaged, its shields were disabled, and most of its outer laser cannons were lost, the Iron Fist's firepower was still very powerful. It was powered by nuclear energy and antimatter, and its thick armor piled throughout the hull, reinforced
The alloy steel keel and bulwarks make it extremely difficult to destroy.
Even if they often pay a very heavy price, humanity's battleships, which are regarded as scrappy by the protoss, have still proven themselves to be able to compete with enemies like the Golden Fleet and the Zerg Swarm. Every battlecruiser is born out of Imperial shipbuilding.
The ingenuity and extraordinary creativity of engineers are masterpieces that embody countless human wisdom.
However, in addition to being strong enough, the reason why the Iron Fist has not crashed is just a bit of ironic good luck, and this good luck will soon come to an end.
"Sir, there is a report from the lower deck that bugs have entered the engine room." Signal Sergeant Julian let out an imperceptible groan: "They are all finished!"
A single zerg may not be called desperate, but they always appear in swarms, hundreds and thousands. Fighting an entire swarm single-handedly is no less than trying to extinguish a raging and deadly swarm with a household hairdryer.
Coming forest fire.
This is in line with a saying from Raynor's Rangers: the most effective way to deal with zerg is to knock off their heads and let their fangs kill each other.
"Tell Captain Mader of the Marine Corps that I want him to lead people to take back the engine room immediately." Colonel Harley shouted: "These bugs know where our weak spots are!"
When they first jumped to the Aiur Galaxy, the huge forest of battleships of the Imperial United Fleet were lined up in multiple horizontal lines, like rows of silhouettes under the dark curtain of the universe. Silently demonstrating an unparalleled empire across galaxies.
The deterrence of force. The Imperial people like to decorate their warships with a three-color combination of gray, red and black, so that others can distinguish them from those of Umoyan and Kaimorian at a glance.
At that time, the Iron Fist was surrounded by hundreds of battlecruisers from the Seventh Fleet, nearly half of which had participated in the battles in the Korhal and Sigma sectors, including the USS Tahoe and the USS Medusa.
Battleships such as Medusa, Phobos and Palatine have become famous in the last century, and the naval battles they participated in were on a scale that was unimaginable even twenty years ago.
.
War not only kills the elite, but also tempers the elite. In recent years, many outstanding captains and fleet commanders have emerged in the imperial fleet.
From the orbit around the moon (satellite Sharok) to the low-Earth orbit of Aiur, the Iron Fist and the fleet fought with the Supreme Council Arbitrator fleet, the Aiur swarm and the golden fleet, and fell into the enemy's position eleven times and broke out of the encirclement, five of which
This time, even Harley and his crew thought they were doomed.
The most dangerous one came from the battle when the Iron Fist followed the flagship White Star into the inner space of the atmosphere. After that, the Golden Fleet suddenly appeared from above and launched an attack.
The Iron Fist was sandwiched between three Protoss aircraft carriers. The densely packed carrier-based interceptors swarmed up like a swarm of angry wasps, followed by a large group of Phoenix fighter jets chasing after them. The battleship was covered with horrific sting marks left by ion weapons.
At the most critical moment, the crazy protoss used powerful firepower to forcibly break up the shield field of the Iron Fist, and then they sent about a hundred templars onto the human battleship. The protoss rarely knew how to
Using such tactics, usually the overwhelming firepower and maneuverability advantages of battleships are enough to win victory over humans, but since Amon corrupted Kara, their tactics have become more radical.
Colonel Harley and his soldiers were forced to fight each other with the "barbarians" holding psychic swords while the battleship was sailing. Some decks are still full of corpses and rivers of blood.
From that moment on, the already chaotic battlefield became increasingly difficult to control. Each fleet and even every warship under its command was unable to protect itself, and had to use frequent short-distance jumps to avoid the enemy's main force or regroup the fleet to launch a counterattack.
In other words, as long as the warships of both sides find each other, they will immediately start fighting. Fighting is breaking out everywhere, and the fighting never stops.
As for now, after escaping from death several times, the Iron Fist has lost all its escort ships, and there are only a dozen Viking fighters in the dock that have been repaired and can barely fight again.
Misfortunes never come singly. Since the last two battlecruisers Titan and Antietam, which had been operating together with the Iron Fist, crashed and disappeared one after another, the Iron Fist can only fight alone.
Although there are currently Imperial warships operating all over Aiur, there are currently no friendly ships on the communication channel that can help the Iron Fist. They are either unable to protect themselves or are too far away.
Unknowingly, the Iron Fist was far away from the spaces where the battles were fierce, so that when its crew was told that the Golden Fleet suddenly changed from an enemy to an ally, their minds were still a little confused.
But what is confirmed is that the Iron Fist is still located near the Protoss Temple area, and is probably the closest Imperial warship to the surface now.
"The sensor detected a Leviathan, repeat, Leviathan found." Someone suddenly shouted on the bridge.
Because it had received most of the crew of the Titan, the Iron Fist was not short of manpower. However, excluding those who were injured and unable to continue fighting, the Iron Fist now totaled more than 4,000 people. It can be imagined that in the past
How many soldiers have they lost in total over time?
"Play this footage on the free screen." Colonel Harley said immediately.
The Iron Fist was falling into a patch of golden sunlight. A ghastly behemoth appeared on her starboard side, with huge spikes stuck across its dark back. It was extremely ferocious. There were many long
Tentacles and hollow tentacles hang down from the shadow of Leviathan, and the burning remains of protoss and human warships can be seen above. The scene can't help but remind people of those shrikes that stick their prey in thorn trees.
Leviathan cruised calmly, surrounded by countless swarming insects. The scene was both spectacular and mind-numbing.
"Ask for assistance from all fleet communication channels." Colonel Harley then added: "Including those protoss."
Harley knew that this Leviathan might have set its sights on his battleship a long time ago, and that a Minotaur-class battlecruiser alone had to deal with a monster that was at least twenty times its size.
However, the giant beast is simply a fantasy.
If you want to deal with or even severely damage a Leviathan, you must at least summon a sufficient number of Gorgons.
"The attack came from behind the right chord, bearing 90."
Accompanied by a huge earthquake in the hull, the Iron Fist tilted slightly, and people on the bridge suddenly turned upside down and it was a mess.
Leviathan was seen rushing towards the Iron Fist, slamming the scarred battleship to the side. Then, it inserted its huge hollow tentacles into various parts of the Iron Fist, thereby transporting a huge number of zerg.
It looked like a fat flea that had caught its prey and was about to suck its blood.
The Iron Fist has been invaded by zerg before. It won't be long before the battleship will be filled with tens of thousands of zerg until it completely loses power and crashes into the planet's surface.
"Decks 5 and 7 were invaded," someone reported.
On the main and secondary screens of the Iron Fist, zerg covered in metallic chitin carapace were pouring into various cabins like water, killing people along the narrow corridors. The Marines tried every means to stop the enemy.
With the influx of people, they have succeeded in the past, but this time there is obviously little hope.
As decks and cabins were lost one after another, Harley realized that there was nothing he could do to save his battleship.
"Can we make another short jump?" Harley asked.
This is always mentioned repeatedly and highlighted in the combat manual, that is, short-distance jumps are not stable and may throw them towards a high-speed rotating pulsar, and the greatest possibility is that they will jump into nothingness.
In a deserted space.
Stars and planets only account for a very small proportion of the universe, and in most areas there is nothing but cold darkness. They are more likely to starve to death before rescue ships arrive.
That means that emergency short-distance jumps are always the next best thing.
"It can't be done." His deputy Werner replied: "The jump engine is dead. When it exploded, it killed all our technicians."
A large group of screaming alien dragons flew past their eyes, leaving behind hundreds of blade insects that bounced around. These terrifying living biological bombs immediately made an earth-shattering noise.
"Lay down the escape pod and everyone prepare to evacuate." The colonel ordered: "God bless the empire, I am abandoning the ship."
If the captain determines that his side is unable to continue fighting and is convinced that his warship cannot be saved, he is allowed to order the abandonment of ship.
But abandoning the ship in this case is actually no less than throwing a group of people into the rough North Pacific, not to mention a group of hungry sharks waiting below.
Without the protection of fighter planes, the escape capsule will become a target in the air. Even if it can land on the ground unscathed, the situation there may not be better than a hulk full of zerg.
"Sir, someone responded to our call for help." The adjutant suddenly shouted.
"How many people are there?" Harley cheered up. He hoped that the best one to come would be the Gorgon. Even if there was only one ship, it would buy them time to evacuate.
"There are more than a dozen APOD transport ships and a Viking squadron." The adjutant's voice turned sharp.
"A dozen transport ships?" Colonel Harley thought for a forty-tenth of a second: "Tell them that I am grateful for their support, but I still ask them to go back and forth where they want without taking more lives.
Already."
With that said, Harley straightened his navy hat and determined to continue abandoning ship.
The adjutant was so excited that it took him a long time to say the second half of the sentence: "It's a transport ship of the Royal Guard, and it's Your Majesty!"
On the battlefield, where the royal guards are, there the emperor is.
"Next time, remember to report to Mr. Werner after you find out more about it." Harley paused and said, "Tell the correspondent that I want to speak to His Majesty immediately."
At the same time, more transport ships and fighter planes appeared on the Iron Fist's radar scan, including many protoss warp prisms.
"Sir, do you want to revoke the previous order?" Werner asked.
"Tell everyone that we will fight to the end." Harley said: "The time has come to be loyal to His Majesty."
About half an hour later, Augustus and his Royal Guards stormed the bridge of the Iron Fist, and they almost recaptured the battleship from the Zerg.
At this time, the Iron Fist had descended to a dangerous height. Below, the earth had turned into a pot of lifeless thick porridge. It took a long time to cool down. Even if the protoss had been destroyed, it would still be extremely spectacular.
The ruins of the city are also missing.
At this point, the green land has turned into a desert, and the hardest rocks have liquefied and crystallized under high temperatures.
A new assembly coordinate appeared in front of the captains of the empires. Emperor Augustus had taken over the command of all fleet commanders and ordered all warships that could still move to jump to this position.
A few minutes after the order was issued, the first battleship appeared about two miles to the port side of the Iron Fist, very close. It was a Gorgon-class battleship, the Subversion Myth, with its magnificent T-shaped bow.
The wide decks on both sides and the huge Yamato cannon are enough to make the enemies of the Empire tremble and make the Imperial warriors within its fire coverage rejoice.
Then came the second and third ships. Some battleships were still in good condition, and those hideous wounds seemed to be just medals of bravery. Some were severely damaged, and there were even embers of fire remaining in some places, but even in this situation
Even so, they can still respond to the emperor's orders.
For a moment, the crazy flashing jump signal was as bright as stars on the sensor.
On the bridge of the Iron Fist, Augustus saw the Leviathan retract its tentacles, hastily abandon the Iron Fist, turn around, and prepare to escape. ()