A freezing rain fell over Lake Eldridge. The cold wind howled outside the window of the command center, and a chill filled Augustus's heart.
Such extreme weather is unheard of even in a province close to the South Pole of Aiur like Antioch, which indicates that the climate of this lush and vibrant green planet like a garden has been changed due to the war between the protoss and the zerg. Upheaval.
The war is destroying Al, like the passionate movement of an epic opera, with ups and downs at its climax.
The window is facing the inlet of Lake Eldridge. Looking into the distance, the lake is as wide as the ocean. The huge hull of the iron-gray Revolutionary Army science ship was hanging over the lake. Thousands of blue-white lights illuminated the rolling waves of Lake Eldridge, and a huge black shadow gradually emerged from the water.
Its streamlined back seemed to have been waxed, exuding a mysterious blue and green glow under the light.
Thousands of years ago, the Protoss Empire used the last ship left by the Xel'Naga when they left Aiur to exile the renegade ancestors of the Dark Templar, but the ship under Lake Eldridge was obviously not included in the calculation. Inside.
The Xel'Naga spaceship sleeping under the lake is the source of many of Eldridge's myths and legends. Its characteristics like living creatures have also brought about many magical natural phenomena, which are either regarded as gods or ghosts by the ancient stars. source of.
When Kerrigan and several guards stood next to Augustus, the back of the huge black shadow in Lake Eldridge was still rising, and a large amount of lake water reflecting the brilliant light rushed from both sides of the ship. It flowed down loudly.
The graceful and harmonious hull of the spacecraft exudes a twisted and mysterious brilliance, such as the dancing light under the water like jumping arcs or snakes. The breathtaking beauty and mystery from the ancient times come to the face, making people fascinated.
As the black shadow grew larger and larger, Augustus was surprised to find that he had underestimated the size of the Xel'Naga spacecraft.
When the Xel'Naga spaceship completely surfaced, the shores of Eldridge's lake receded a lot due to the sudden drop in water level. It is surprisingly huge, and the surfaced part alone is equivalent to three protoss motherships, equivalent to an island in the center of Lake Eldridge.
According to the report of surveyors of the Revolutionary Army, the volume of this Xel'Naga spacecraft may exceed ten kilometers, which is larger than any human spacecraft to date. This has made engineers begin to wonder whether this is a Xel'Naga that crashed into the earth. The human space station, and Eldridge is just the huge crater left by its impact on the ground.
However, this Xel'Naga spaceship has subverted mankind's understanding of technology and miracles. It is just an ordinary ship abandoned by Xel'Naga, but it has become a model and blueprint for many protoss technologies to imitate today.
The protoss have spent centuries studying the ships left behind by the Xel'Naga, but they still cannot understand the true secrets of the technology within them. The mysteries hidden in the Xel'Naga ships may never be solved.
"Annabella, where is your boss?" Another holographic screen was projected in front of Augustus, who was wearing a black square-collar coat and a golden captain's strap. On the screen was a building built with rapid-setting foam in Eldridge. The platform on the lake was filled with revolutionary military advisers wearing raincoats.
It can be said that Augustus was the boss who hired Rory Swann to work for him, and Swann was the boss of the engineers in the Revolutionary Army Engineering Corps.
Having said that, the engineering corps of the Revolutionary Army is actually a big and happy family. In a sense, Swann plays the role of the older brother of the young engineers. Because he looks much older than his actual age, young people may even regard him as He treated him as a loving father and uncle.
In the center of the picture is a female engineer with long chestnut hair. Her slender figure is wrapped in a thick protective lake, and her hazel eyes are bright and full of youthful vitality. Like those Revolutionary Army soldiers who eagerly answered the call to join the Revolutionary Army, engineer Annabella Thatcher joined the Revolution when a contingent of the Revolutionary Army arrived in her hometown.
Annabelle is even younger than Kerrigan, less than twenty years old. She is lively, cheerful, sweet, and very different from her more mature appearance in the future.
"Oh - God, who did I see! Earl... No, I'm sorry, Marshal Augustus Mengsk, can I see you..." Annabelle was just plain. He glanced at the ground, but then his face quickly turned red.
"I'm very happy to see you, too. Well, my lovely girl, thank you for your hard work. Where is Swann? Just say that Augustus is looking for him." Augustus showed a friendly smile.
"Yes, sir." Annabelle held her face in her hands and snickered as she left.
"You are so young, smart and cheerful, beautiful, and an engineer." Augustus sighed: "It is soldiers like this in the revolutionary army that can continue to grow and develop."
"She's a little angel."
"But you're not old yet," Kerrigan emphasized. "In fact, you're not even twenty-five."
"Yes." Augustus nodded.
"Hi, boss, someone said you were looking for me." Swann's iconic beard appeared in front of the screen: "I have to say, you came at the right time."
"Tell me, how many people can this ship carry?" Augustus got to the point.
"It's hard to say." Since it was raining heavily outside, Swann was wrapping himself in a raincoat, exposing his big nose and eyes.
"It's not common to hear this word from your mouth." Augustus asked: "It seems that you haven't figured out the internal structure of this Xel'Naga spaceship yet."
"I am transmitting the internal camera of this spacecraft back to Eldridge's command center. You will understand after taking a look." Swann was operating something at a console in front of him.
"Thank God, its engine can still start. I really don't know how those shiny green little crystals sent this behemoth into the sky - I hope I can figure it out before I lie in my grave."
"Well done, Swan, I will definitely treat you to a drink next time." Augustus praised his old friend and said, "But how on earth did you get this Xel'Naga spaceship into the sky?"
"Ah, this is not that difficult." Swann said in a matter-of-fact tone: "My old friends in the Protoss Empire helped me a lot. They provided us with a lot of suggestions and taught us step by step how to use Thrall. Naga’s spaceship.”
"The builder of the spaceship did not design a complicated and difficult driving method. In fact, the startup procedures of the Xel'Naga spacecraft are very simple and clear-" Swan explained.
"You have absolutely no idea why that crystal can output such a huge amount of energy just by emitting light, but if you use it, you can't put any effort into it."
"You have so many old friends." Augustus sighed: "When did you make friends with the protoss?"
"Probably last year, when we were killing insects in Char with the protoss of Tassadar." Swann said: "I asked the protoss engineers to see if they could watch our Marshal Augustus. I would like to give you some blueprints of the Protoss Explorer on my behalf, so that I can install particle light guns and new drivers on the Revolutionary Army’s space engineering vehicles.”
"You must not have arrived, otherwise our space engineering vehicle would have gone to heaven long ago." Augustus shook his head and said.
"That's because the boss doesn't have enough face." Swann spread his hands: "But after going back and forth for a while, I finally made friends with the Protoss engineers. You will know what happened later. They helped us a lot. .”
"Well, you have to blame me." Augustus chuckled.
Swann's connections are like Doraemon's pockets, always able to surprise Augustus. In the words of Tychus: Don't worry, there are many friends on the road.
Soon, pictures appeared on the screen in front of Augustus.
Under the towering dome, there are columns marked with green characters, stone statues and a magnificent hall outlined by hexagonal graphic lines. The seats of the giants face the niches flowing with green light. On the walls engraved with spiral patterns and hollow stairs, there are even vines with emerald green stems and leaves clinging to them. Green crystals filled with void energy are suspended in the center of the hall, radiating thin waves outward like a heart. arc of light.
Its internal structure is very similar to the Xel'Naga temples that Augustus had seen. It is hard to imagine that these races with god-like technology suddenly opened their temples to the sky.
Xel'Naga's spaceship is more like it is gradually cast from some kind of organic metal and celestial bodies scattered in the vast universe, like countless carefully cut rocks.
"It seems that the former owners of these spaceships must have been extremely large." Kerrigan said, pointing to the huge seat on the screen.
"You're right." Swann pointed with a finger, seeming to praise Kerrigan's intelligence: "We found that although this spaceship is very, very big, it can even put down all the revolutionary army's weapons. cruisers and other small craft, but its internal structure is clearly designed for a creature that is much larger than humans or even protoss."
"Well, if we want to cram enough people into it, we also need to weld new and alloy frames inside the spacecraft to add more compartments." Swann continued: "In this way, we can add more cabins to Accommodate refugees.”
"I have seen the cockpit of Zeratul's Xel'Naga spaceship Void Seeker, and the seats on it don't look so big." Kerrigan shook her long red wavy hair: "Could it be said that Xel'Naga Ernaga's body shape is not fixed."
"This reminds me of a ballad by Meinhof. The resident shellfish can always stuff his soft body into any shell body." Swann said: "Haha, that guy Kaczynski actually Said he thought the Xel'Naga was a giant octopus with a fish tank on its head."
"Victor's fantastic ideas are always impressive." Augustus nodded: "Swan, I need you to complete the modification of this spacecraft as soon as possible, so that as many people as possible can be packed in. .”
"The Xel'Naga's body structure must be completely different from that of humans. In any case, you must at least have a toilet." He expressed his entire opinion on this matter.
"Well... I know, including water circulation, air purification systems and reactors, etc., this is almost like rebuilding a super ship." Swann also said: "We can use modular components instead, Even just pitching a tent would be enough.”
"There is not much time left." Augustus said to Swann: "Even if we can win the battle in the province of Seine, we have to consider the issue of transferring refugees."
"As soon as possible."
"Okay, okay, this shouldn't be difficult." Swan estimated and said: "My people are all outstanding engineers. Don't worry, boss, as long as we talk about how many people we can save by doing this, the boys and girls will win." Use your endless strength."
"What? Boss, I have good news to tell you now..." Swann paused: "This ship may not only be a Xel'Naga transport ship, it may even be a battleship."
"Battleship?" Augustus raised his eyebrows and glanced at Kerrigan, who also had a surprised expression: "This is great. Tell me, Swann, what else can this spaceship do?"
"The caliber of its main gun is at least twice that of the Hyperion's Yamato gun. In other words, based on this calculation, it can kill a battlecruiser with one shot." Swann continued: "And, according to We estimate that the power of this cannon is much greater than that of humans."
"Yes, but what should we use to charge it?" Augustus asked.
"The protoss have never used these weapons," Swann said, "but they think they should be charged with void crystals."
"We have a lot of void crystals in our hands, and we can borrow some from Tassadar and Zeratul." Swann said: "It depends on you, boss, only your face is the most valuable to the protoss here. "
"I know." Augustus knew that he was inevitably going to sell his ass: "There should be a lot of void crystals in the Xel'Naga ruins on Ayr. Anyway, let's use them first."
"Any other weapons?"
"There is also a distortion field projection device. According to the protoss, that should be able to reduce the speed of time at a distance of about a thousand yards near the spacecraft." Swann said: "Imagine, it can also reduce the speed of missiles approaching the spacecraft. reduce."
"That's all?" Augustus admitted that he was a little disappointed.
"That's all." Swann said: "I don't think Xel'Naga wants to use this spaceship as a battleship, just like we are still assigning machine guns and turrets to those yachts. In their eyes, this kind of ship The cannon may just be used to clean up meteorites blocking shipping lanes in the universe."
"A small gunboat is already a magnificent ship in the eyes of humans." Augustus sighed: "Make good use of this spaceship."
While Augustus was talking to Swann, the spaceship floating on Lake Eldridge was beginning to take off with unparalleled power. The lake water set off huge waves, and walls of ten-meter-high waves spread out like ripples. , forming huge whirlpools.
