Chapter 729: Marching Into Ai’er

Zeratul, my old friend. When we need you, you are always nowhere to be seen.

In the control tower on the bridge of the White Star, Augustus was thinking in his heart, with a worried expression on his face.

Counting the time it took for the coalition forces to integrate their forces, determine command authority and attack sequence, the huge fleet had been delayed here for several days, but it still failed to wait for Zeratul's Ihanri Protoss fleet. According to the agreement, the Yihanli people should have arrived long ago. There must be a strong enemy or other unexpected changes that delayed their trip.

Time is long and the universe is vast. Even for fleets equipped with next-generation warp engines, such situations are inevitable.

Having said that, this still casts a shadow over the plan to march into Ayr.

At this moment, the coalition fleet has begun to jump towards Ayr, uniting all the troops to launch a general attack.

On the holographic screen in front of the command podium, the majestic human and protoss fleets were taking off following the flagship. The edges of the accelerating force fields spreading around the warships seemed to be burning blue flames, which was extremely gorgeous and spectacular.

"All along, Zeratul and his Dark Templars have followed their unknown rules of conduct." Raynor lit a cigarette and leaned against the console with embossed wolf pattern: "They are There must have been something delayed on the way, otherwise we would never have missed the appointment.”

Anyone who is familiar with Zeratul knows that if he suddenly drifts outside and loses contact, there is no need to make a fuss. It is just that the critical moment that really requires the dark leader to show up has not yet arrived.

Renault exhaled a puff of smoke and seemed much more relaxed: "They had been arguing for a long time just now, and some people suspected that the Ihanli star spirit was late because it had taken refuge with Eamon."

"There is an old saying among Earthlings. If you live long enough, you can see everything. I actually heard a Tal'darin righteously accuse his allies of not being loyal enough and being duplicitous."

After agreeing on the battle plan to march into Aiur, the leaders and generals of the Protoss and the Empire have left and returned to the fleet to deploy their troops.

There was no one else here except Imperial Marshals Jim Raynor, Matt Horner, and several military officers serving on the High Command Staff. Although they are all new faces, these people are already excellent soldiers tempered by many battles.

In the battle meeting just now, the delay in waiting for the Ihanri Protoss fleet naturally caused dissatisfaction among many people, especially Duke and Alarak who were the loudest.

Duke believes that Ihanli's arrival is purely to cause chaos and is also a good thing, so as to show the bravery of him as the lion of the empire.

The new High Lord Alarak accused Augustus of wasting time. He was both impatient to avenge the Dark God's lies and lacked trust in his new allies, the Ihanri Protoss.

Duke felt very happy when he heard that it was rare for someone to cater to him. When he saw that it was Alarak, the high-ranking lord of Tal'darin, he suppressed the words "Heroes see the same thing".

"I don't like talking about allies behind their backs. In my opinion, this kind of statement really cannot withstand scrutiny."

Matt was meticulous about wearing his military uniform at all times, even when he was dating Mila - and it was obvious that he was reluctant to do so.

"If Ihanri really betrays us, then when the Imperial Combined Fleet is waiting in this galaxy, the people who came before will not be Artanis and Alarak, but the El zerg swarm." He Standing in front of a large tactical hologram:

"Artanis and the others also brought new news. The golden fleet and the insect swarm are still raging in the Koprulu sector. All evidence shows that Amon knows nothing about our raid."

"I'm not too worried about this." Augustus leaned on the other side of the console.

After all, Augustus could not ignore the possibility of his allies defecting before the war, but he only cared about suspicion before the war, which was nothing more than chaos.

Augustus's decision to recruit the Ihanli star spirit to join the coalition was the result of careful consideration, and he would not easily doubt his own judgment. At the same time, the Ihanli Star Spirit has Zeratul's full support, so there are reasons to trust it.

The Tal'darim distrusted everyone, and Duke distrusted all aliens, and it was reasonable to have such suspicions.

As far as Augustus knew about Ihanri's position in participating in the war, he did not think that they would side with Aemon. After all, Aemon never concealed his killing of the gods in Urna, the resting place of the gods. It seems he thought this would break the protoss' morale and make them despair.

The Ihanri Protoss worshiped the Xel'Naga even more than other relatives, and the miserable scene in Urna naturally made them hate the "Godslayer" Amon. Now, even the reason why Ihanli has been trying to pursue Xel'Naga's footprints in vain for thousands of years has been answered.

It's Eamon who is now telling them that he is the Xel'Naga who came to Aiur in the first place. Your current religious worship is all due to his self-promotion that he is satisfied with his identity as the Creator. In fact, the Xel'Naga in Urnari have no Having been to Ayr, Ihanli would only think of him as a blasphemous and deceitful person.

To this day, under the influence of Zeratul, the Ihanli protoss still believe that there is a Xel'Naga imprisoned by Amon in the void, and that is the creator they have been pursuing for generations.

Compared with the threat of the end of the world, Ihanri cared more about how to save their god, which was enough for them to devote themselves to this pilgrimage expedition regardless of sacrifice.

Although the Ihanri protoss was very dissatisfied with the human colonists who "suddenly" appeared on the world of their former empire, they still came to help at Zeratul's insistence.

More than one imperial territory and fleet reported that they had received support from the Ihanli Pilgrimage Fleet. The number of imperial citizens who survived the rescue was more than one million, and the amount of materials saved was unimaginable.

If the Ihanli Protoss was just deceiving the trust of the Terran Empire, their acting skills were too good.

Augustus's face showed a worried look again: "Compared to this, I am more worried about Zeratul's safety. The magical Zeratul always turns danger into safety, but not every time."

Raynor lit another cigarette: "In my opinion, you don't need to worry so much."

"Do you think we can win?" Augustus looked at Raynor, and then at Matt Horner on the other side.

Matt was silent. In his impression, the emperor would never ask such questions that reveal his weakness.

The emperor would only motivate his subordinates in this way. In addition to victory, we have no other way to go.

"Of course, we will win."

"My father taught me that everything depends on human effort." Reno took out a bottle of aged No. 8 whiskey from somewhere like a magic trick: "I also think that if it really doesn't work, we can only accept our fate. Drink some, there is no harm in drinking."

"Drink some?"

"Tell your wife about this." Augustus took the bottle and said noncommittally.

This whiskey variety produced in Tarsonis is widely loved by soldiers in the Guild War, but Arcturus Mengsk once publicly commented that this whiskey is an inferior wine that should be thrown into the garbage.

Reno and Hanak Hank both like this wine very much, and even the safe code is the name of No. 8 whiskey. The imperial generals who came from the old aristocracy never drink this kind of wine, as if it would make them inferior. Augustus is considered to be a No. 8 whiskey faction, and he is a very nostalgic person.

When Augustus drank a lot of wine, he found that Matt was still standing a little nervously, and he couldn't help laughing.

People thought that the wise and powerful Emperor Augustus was a prophet and omnipotent, but only the emperor himself knew that Augustus, who always won battles, would also lose. Things could not always go as he expected.

After all, they were no longer young. When his second daughter Charlotte was born, Augustus's view of the world had changed dramatically.

Augustus was also more afraid of failure than ever before. After all, he was no longer a person with nothing to lose.

"Matt, do you think we can win?" Augustus sighed.

"No matter what the result is, we will fight for your majesty and the empire until the last moment." Matt's words were sincere.

Augustus suddenly laughed, thinking that it was ridiculous and stupid that he needed to gain confidence from the words of the two of them.

At the same time, he felt that he had made all the preparations, and no matter how hard he thought, he could not think of any omissions, so he might as well sleep with his head covered.

So, Augustus patted his butt and left the two of them to go back to sleep. He took Renault's wine without any monarchical manners and ran away.

As soon as Augustus returned to his cabin in the White Star, the fatigue from more than 20 hours of sleepless nights came up, and he fell asleep. This cabin specially prepared for the emperor was not luxurious at all. Although Arcturus insisted that the royal family must be distinguished from civilians, Augustus did not care.

Until Renault's adjutant informed Augustus that the fleet had arrived at the destination, he didn't know how long he slept.

At this moment, the White Star had arrived in the Aiel system, located between the third and fourth planets in the system.

Two astronomical units to the left of the White Star, the Empire's Seventh Fleet (Second Fleet) led by the flagship Gorgon Steel Will was arriving.

All of a sudden, warships appeared on the radar scan map one after another, including battlecruisers, cruisers, frigates, destroyers, troop transports, supply ships, medical ships, and scientific ships equipped with high-precision detection matrices. When these huge warships and spacecraft entered the jump space at the same time, the scene was much more spectacular than the amazing numbers on paper.

The Seventh Fleet was only one of the Imperial Combined Fleets. Countless warships entered the folding state at the same time, and the resulting space-time vortexes were as numerous as the whirlpools in the sea.

The Imperial soldiers in each cabin of the White Star took action. The cabins were full of Imperial soldiers and technicians, and the officers shouted to deploy personnel and asked them to perform their duties. Such a scene was staged on all the warships of the Imperial Fleet. Even some inexperienced and psychologically deficient people bumped into the bulkhead before the war.

The former revolutionary army has withdrawn from the stage of history. Many of them did not fall under the guns of the Federation Army, but died at the hands of the Protoss and the Zerg. Most of the current imperial army is composed of young soldiers of the new generation, who have spent more than a decade of their adulthood under the rule of the empire.

The protracted war has caused the empire to lose elite troops and experienced veterans. In addition to the ever-expanding fleet size, it has also had to send new recruits who have just completed training to the battlefield.

When these soldiers learned that they were transferred from the empire's territory that was under attack, they were dissatisfied. In fact, they were just stepping from one purgatory to another.

At this time, not to mention the young soldiers, even the veterans who were full of fighting spirit were shrouded in the depressing atmosphere before the war. Many people in many positions on the warships could not figure out what was happening outside those layers of bulkheads until the end of the war, and they could not even see an enemy, but that did not mean that their work was not important.

According to the combat deployment, Artanis's Daram Protoss Fleet and Alarak's Tal'darim Death Fleet served as the vanguards to attack Aiur. The latter was willing to be the vanguard partly out of revenge against Amon and partly because they were unwilling to leave their backs to others.

When Augustus arrived at the White Star command flagship, there were no reports of the various imperial fleets engaging in fire with the enemy.

On the main screen, Aiur today is very different from more than a decade ago. She used to be a planet with beautiful luster and a paradise for nurturing life, but now it is a spot on the star map with a bright red glow in the center.

The Void had corrupted the planet so deeply that the once lush land was now covered with Void fragments that soared into the sky, and only the empty, charred skeletons of buildings could reveal the appearance of the once glorious cities.

This was a ravaged land.

When the enemies on Aiur noticed the sudden appearance of the large fleet, the situation quickly changed. As expected, the hybrids or cerebrates that ruled the Aiur Zerg were not slow to react. They immediately mobilized the Zerg fleet to intercept Artanis and Alarak's fleet before they approached Aiur, including a considerable number of corrupted Protoss warships.

The Aiur Zerg seemed like interstellar dust, and the vast space was full of frozen Zerg corpses and fragments of warships.

The first Terran Empire fleet to be attacked was the Second Fleet, whose commander was Vice Admiral Alexander Davidoff, who immediately ordered the huge battlecruisers to form a tight crescent formation and fire their broadsides.

The incoming swarm of insects crashed into a large forest of indestructible warships and was immediately shattered.

Under the cover of the warships, the Hercules transport ship loaded with soldiers and land combat mechas quickly moved towards Aiur, preparing to land from orbit and destroy the warp matrix on its surface.

Everything was played out in real life.

Charge forward, one after another.

It turns out that those soldiers in the game who can be abandoned at will for the sake of winning are also living people with joys and sorrows. In this way, it is inevitable to hesitate when making the decision to send them to death.