At the end of May 2491, Los Andares, the capital of the planet Cha Sala in the Sala system, was facing the greatest catastrophe since the city stood on the green plains.
In less than a month, a sticky, gelatinous carpet of zerg, a cross between slime and brown lichen, spread across the lush forests and plains of Cha Sara through the spread of spores through the atmosphere. breed. Plants began to wither, and the fungal organisms were assimilated into the zerg carpet and became part of the swarm.
Whether it is the rich green land or the Gobi desert landscape similar to its sister Star Ma Sara, they are covered with thick purple-black carpets and buildings infected by zerg. Otherwise, it is completely barren, with no livelihood, and even Even the birds in the sky have disappeared. Even the vast oceans, rivers and lakes are covered by a carpet of zerg bacteria, like a layer of dark brown oil that flows with the waves.
Zergs are eating away at this once vibrant planet.
Los Andares is the last human city that is still holding on and has not been captured. The other major cities have long been overwhelmed by the swarm. All survivors on the planet retreated to Andares, using its tall walls and fortifications to make a last stand.
At this moment, Los Andares, a city of high-rise buildings, factories and large-scale residential areas, is trembling in the local May warm wind mixed with the smell of blood and fishy stench.
The destruction of Cha Sara's environment by the insect swarm has forever changed the planet's landscape and climate. The disappearance of plants has brought about irreversible erosion caused by soil erosion and weathering. The weather has begun to become complex and changeable, sometimes It was cloudy and sometimes stormy.
At this time, Justice Collins of Cha Sara was commanding his only colonial force in the steel and concrete fortifications guarding humanity's last refuge on the planet.
The land outside the city's protective wall fortifications built with alloys and shaped ceramics has been completely covered by germ carpet. The dark brown land is covered with spiked fleshy spiers of zerg and veins beating like hearts.
Nowadays, the defenses outside Andares have long been devastated. The steel plates that can withstand arc tank impact shells are covered with sharp bone spurs and spines, and the protective plates are full of traces of acid burns.
A few hours ago, a tragic battle took place on the front line of Andares. Pieces of human and zerg corpses were piled up in front of the fortifications, and the air was filled with the smell of burnt protein. Humans had no time to clean the battlefield and recover the remains of the dead, because they knew that the enemy might launch the next attack at any time.
Collins used an optical telescope to observe the zerg troops gathering in the distance. The swarms on the horizon were like wriggling black dots. There were a large number of flying zerg creatures flying in the dark blue sky, like slowly moving worms. dark clouds.
The judicial officer was surrounded by a variety of signal transceivers and life signal detection instruments, and the entire fortification was filled with harsh static noise.
A few weeks ago the channels had been filled with the distraught shouts from across the colony, but now there was nothing but distracting static.
At the same time, several of Collins' information technology soldiers were tirelessly calling for help from other federal troops outside the planet, but there was always silence on the other end of the communication channel.
"How many aliens are in front of us?" The judicial officer put down his telescope and asked a soldier beside him. He is an unsmiling middle-aged man with a broad, square face with thick eyebrows, dark brown eyes and a long, neatly trimmed mustache.
Judge Collins wore a dark green army uniform instead of the beautiful judicial officer's uniform, and his eyes were sharp and penetrating under his wide-brimmed military hat. There is no doubt that this justice is more like a hard-blooded soldier than a federal official who is good at calculation and intrigue.
"Millions." The soldier said a number that made everyone feel desperate: "There are also millions of alien creatures on the left, right and behind Los Andares."
Although the Terran Federation had discovered and started a research project on zerg as early as 2491, the Cha Sara people who faced the zerg did not even know what these sudden creatures were, and still regarded them as alien creatures or aliens. It's "purple nightmarish creatures" as they are called.
"More aliens are still hiding in the caves and lairs they dug underground, and there are more flying zerg creatures in the sky."
"There is really no way to go to heaven, and no way to enter the earth..." Another technical soldier said a proverb from ancient times.
"God's ass! Their number is a hundred times a thousand times more than ours." Someone said.
"Where the hell is this shit fleet?"
More than nine-tenths of Cha Sara's population has been devoured by the swarm, and of the more than 900,000 people in Los Andalos, only less than 400,000 are left after weeks of defensive battles. Even counting the militia, conscripts, and armed men, Justice Collins could mobilize very little power.
The situation was so critical that Collins had to release the prisoners in Andares Prison to let them fight against the Zerg. However, without support, the isolated Andares would be overwhelmed sooner or later in the face of the mighty sea of worms. destiny.
If the zerg were not able to communicate and would not accept human surrender, the surviving Andalos would have surrendered long ago.
"Shut up, Sergeant, or I will throw you out to feed those monsters. You have seen how Rey and Semiro died." The justice roared loudly.
Unlike his other colleagues in the Terran Confederation, Justice Collins is a very capable officer, which is unusual and rare.
Cha Sala's flourishing development is closely related to the magistrate's enlightened policies. As the earliest planet mainly used to exile criminals, Cha Sara was once a prison planet with strict order. If the humans of Koprulu are the descendants of the exiles on Earth, then the people living on this planet are the exiles of the exiles.
——Of course, except for those who like to satirize the founding family of the Federation in a bitter tone, no one will admit that they are the descendants of a group of exiles. Whether in official or historical documents, the Terran Confederacy will only proudly claim that they are from the ancient and sacred Earth.
Even as a planet that was once used to exile criminals, Cha Sara has developed faster than its sister planet Mar Sara, which implemented the colonization process earlier, and the latter has been considered a highly underdeveloped planet over the years. world.
It is worth mentioning that Justice Collins also has a very tough attitude towards rebel forces such as the Korhal Revolutionary Army and the Sons of Korhal, and has always emphasized that all rebels should be brought to justice. He believed that the only basis for sentencing these rebels was the harshest criminal law, and that the only fate awaiting the rebel leader Augustus Mengsk and his associates was to be hanged.
Especially after the Mar Sara rebellion, the governor of Mar Sara, known as the incompetent pig, and the judicial officers who colluded with the rebels further highlighted Collins' selflessness and deep hatred of the rebels.
"Has anyone responded to our call for help?" The judicial officer looked at the trembling technical soldiers. He had no one available, and the soldiers who had stayed at their posts for several days and nights were on the verge of emotional collapse.
"No, Judicial Officer, no... no..." replied a sergeant: "Only some of Mar Sara's men responded to us."
"Why didn't you report the response?" the judicial officer asked him.
"The only ones who responded to us were the Mar Sara Observatory, the Meteorological Bureau, the privately owned Interstellar Radio and several universities...and..." the sergeant replied hesitantly.
"What else?" The judicial officer was already impatient.
"And the Mar Sara rebels..." the sergeant said hesitantly.
"What the greatest irony!" Justice Collins then cursed something in some difficult to understand local slang, which definitely didn't sound like a good word. Since the Zerg invaded Cha Sara, all calls for help have come to nothing, and the Federation Navy fleet that likes to show off its power seems to have never appeared in this world at all.
At this moment, everyone could feel the ground shaking.
The swarm's attack begins again.
Collins glanced at the haggard faces and eyes with thick bags under the eyes of the technical soldiers around him, and almost at the same time picked up a C-13 Gauss rifle leaning against the wall and rushed toward the firing port.
Like the rustling sound of insects crawling across the leaves in swarms, the black springtails and Hydra Hydralisks formed an overwhelming army of insects. These violent and deadly alien creatures were covered with sharp spikes and thorns all over their bodies. The solid carapace and frightening roars converged into a terrifying sound that swept across the earth.
The officer's roar immediately came from the fortifications, and all the automatic turrets, automatic defense cannons and anti-aircraft missile towers in the front were activated under the remote control of the advanced computer AI system and the operators. An automatic cannon on top of Collins's fortification ejected tinkling metal shells in a series of rattling shots, and the city's artillery emplacements fired what little ammunition they had left amid the rumble of gunfire.
Hundreds of colonial militiamen wearing CMC-200 power armor are entering the position, including conscripts wearing only military camouflage uniforms and men holding automatic rifles.
"It has only been three hours since the last attack..." said the technical sergeant: "The time between their attacks is getting shorter and shorter..."
"There is definitely something commanding them." In many battles with the zerg, Justice Collins has a good understanding of these alien creatures that suddenly appeared in Cha Sara.
The Zerg now appearing on the frontal battlefield lack obvious intelligence, but it is obvious that for the Zerg swarm as a whole, there must be a Zerg similar to a human commander who is secretly dispatching troops. Under the well-organized command of this zerg commander, the attacks launched by the swarm all followed certain terrifying patterns. It knows that humans have the habit of sleeping at night, so insect swarms always attack in the dark.
In Collins' view, the organizational structure of these alien creatures is similar to a colony of termites, and there must be a supreme "queen" among them who controls its group members through some kind of pheromones in the caves they dug deep underground in Cha Sara. And maybe the other aliens are "worker ants" and "soldier ants". They are all children of the "queen" and inherit the same genes.
Once the queen is killed, the alien creatures will be leaderless. But that "queen" must be under strict protection, and they don't even know its exact location.
"How long can we hold on? Where is the federal fleet?" Seeing the desperate scene in front of them, the federal soldiers who had long been full of complaints complained again. They have not yet undergone resocialization, and they still have self-awareness and are not temperless wooden people.
"When Augustus Mengsk launched the uprising in Mar Sara, Alpha Squadron arrived not long after. Even counting the distance from Tarsonis to the Sara system, the earliest fleet should have arrived long ago!" said a soldier.
"They just want us all to die here. I bet the bastards in the fleet must be watching us somewhere - they are observing what kind of damage this new race can cause, testing how an ordinary colony can How long can you hold out under their attack?"
"This is impossible." Collins did not angrily scold the hysterical soldier. This bizarre speculation could not be the truth, unless the people in the Federal Parliament and the Federal Naval Command were all selfish lunatics.
Either the Federation Navy had already arrived, but they were unable to break through the swarm's blockade. This may be closer to the truth. After all, even the Alpha Squadron in the Navy, which has a strong and civilized style, is no match for the rebels. It is understandable that they were beaten to the ground by the sudden alien creatures.
Once upon a time, human beings thought that they were alone in the universe. They were the only creatures that evolved high intelligence and were the only creatures born from the earth's unique natural environment. Humans consider themselves a race of destiny, and their enemies can only come from their equally despicable and greedy compatriots.
However, the sudden appearance of alien creatures in Cha Sara easily destroyed the pride of the leader of mankind.
Now, for the people of Cha Sara, they have only two choices, either to completely wipe out the tens of millions of Zerg on the surface of the planet, or to escape from Cha Sara. And if Justice Collins could do these two things, he would not be huddled in this fortification.
"Who can help us...even if it's the rebels, I still have my family..." the nearly collapsed federal soldier said in despair.
"What are you talking about? This is treason!" Even at this time, Collins remained loyal to the Terran Confederacy.
"...Judge, our call for help finally received a response from the fleet." Suddenly, another information technology soldier reported loudly.
"Which fleet is it?" The judicial officer was relieved.
"The feedback I got is...the supporting fleet flagship is the Hyperion-" The information technology soldier obviously did not realize that anything was wrong, nor did he notice the unhappy expression on the judicial officer's face.
"Ah - and Norad 2 and Norad 3 -" he said happily.
"I know the names of those two battleships. They are the flagships of Alpha Squadron. Thank God, we are saved." The soldier who was still cursing God's ass laughed loudly.
"Idiot, Alpha Squadron has betrayed the Federation." The Justice shouted angrily.
"Those are rebel warships."
Under the complicated gaze of the judicial officer, a dark blue-painted Behemoth-class battlecruiser was falling from the sky in the atmosphere. The ground-attack laser cannon poured bright orange barrage towards the ground, and in an instant it wiped out thousands of running battlecruisers. Zerg. Once a zerg is hit by a laser beam, it will turn into a bright fireball like dry firewood.
Wherever the Hyperion went, it started burning.
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