Xyrin Empire
Chapter 407 - Chapter 407 Chapter 407 Unfolding

Chapter 407: Chapter 407: Unfolding Chapter 407: Chapter 407: Unfolding An unprecedentedly intense torrent of energy had appeared out of nowhere in the void of space, and the alarm system aboard the Hibernian was screaming wildly as if on the brink of self-destruction. Gigantic laser beams, unfathomable energy attacks, each explosion equal to the detonation of several nuclear bombs in oddly-shaped missiles, swept in from the direction where a colossal flash had just occurred. This sudden fierce assault bewildered the vast insect swarm, which had plunged the Hibernian Fleet into a desperate battle, even on the verge of complete annihilation. The swarm couldn’t even see their attacker, and amidst heart-rending shrieks and frantic contortions, they turned into ash. The energy beams that had incinerated countless insects couldn’t fully release their residual power, so the Nameless Planet, already hit by a direct cannon strike before, suffered another heavy blow. The unprecedentedly powerful beams cut across its surface with abandon; the entire planet shuddered violently like a boat bobbing in a tempest. Then, under the horrified gaze of James Raynor and his comrades, the planet instantly shattered into hundreds of neatly sliced fragments–it hadn’t even had time to explode!

When the nightmare finally ended, and Raynor was about to heave a sigh of relief, the Hibernian’s alarm system blared again: “Warning! Massive gravitational anomaly detected! Spatial stability dropping!”

“Good God! Commander! Look at this! What is it!?” The First Officer called out in shock, summoning everyone over. Raynor stood amidst his comrades, his face a mix of confusion and awe as he looked at the screen displaying the scene of the gravitational anomaly.

Like myriad phantoms in the night sky, a huge expanse of land shrouded in fog approached from the twisted vortex. A group of massive objects was emerging from the swirling chaos.

When the grand, colossal Cross-shaped Warship led its massive fleet slowly out of the warped space, even the battle-hardened James Raynor held his breath for a moment.

“This thing is really something… I bet even without that terrifying main cannon, they could wipe us out in thirty seconds,” a burly Big Man wearing thick Power Armor and puffing on a cigar stood next to Raynor, jabbing the latter’s shoulder with an arm covered in heavy steel plating, “Hey, Jimmy, where did you find these big-time killers?”

“If I could, I really wish someone could rescue me from this total bewilderment.”

Raynor shook his head slightly, his fist tightening.

Tex was right. Compared to this immense Alien Fleet before them, his own tiny army was excessively weak, and probably all his warships combined, including the Hibernian, wouldn’t match the size of a single lateral arm of that Cross Flagship. If the other side really wanted to kill them, forget thirty seconds–a head-on collision would do the job in one second.

Moreover, from that space-time-crossing bombardment that annihilated everything in an instant, even melting a planet’s Earth’s Crust, these massive, peculiar warships seemed possibly even stronger than the “Protoss” craft. Not to mention his own small force, which could at best be considered local armament, even the regular army of the Independent Federation might end up like those insect chunks turned into cosmic trash.

Since when did such a powerful Race appear in the universe? Isn’t one “Protoss” enough to make Human Civilization feel inferior?

Raynor suddenly had this strange thought.

Of course, he also knew that the chances of the other party suddenly turning hostile were practically zero–although their identity was unclear and their Warship’s style clearly didn’t belong to any known Human or Protoss design. But from their willingness to cross space to urgently assist him, and calling him and his people “Human friends,” they were at least not hostile.

But knowing there was no hostility was one thing, and actually facing such an oppressive, massive fleet was another.

The huge Alien Fleet gradually approached until the Hibernian was completely engulfed in the immense golden Cross’s shadow. Then Raynor saw a very spacious entrance opening at the lower end of the Cross, and a gentle voice echoed throughout his mind: “Human friends, please enter our Flagship. Your Spaceship needs repairs, and our Emperor wishes to speak with you face-to-face.”

“Hey, Jimmy, I think I heard something just now…” The Armor-clad Big Man, who had stood beside Raynor all along, puffing on his cigar with a calm expression, suddenly trembled slightly. His face lost its indifference, and he didn’t even notice the cigar falling onto his neck, “It… it rang directly inside my head… Ah, damn it burns!”

It had to be said, Tex successfully eased Raynor’s tension…

“All hands, follow and enter the Flagship.”

Reynolds steadied himself and issued the following order.

“Commander!” his first mate Matt immediately cautioned from the side, “Although they indeed helped us, this is too risky.”

“If they really harbor ill intentions, then staying away would be even more dangerous,” Reynolds patted Matt on the shoulder. “Don’t worry, even the ‘Divine Race’ can become allies with us. Let alone a fleet that helped us so much as soon as they appeared. Moreover, they’re right, if the Hibernian doesn’t get some repairs soon, I doubt it’ll make it back.”

I stood on the bridge, watching the small-scale human fleet move with extreme caution into the hull of the “Imperial Admiral,” which was akin to a giant city, then turned my head to instruct one of the commanders, “Prepare to repair their spaceship, and bring James Raynor up to the bridge.”

I guessed that the Xyrin people’s ship must have been an incredible surprise to them because even Reynolds, who was used to grand scenes, and his cautious and composed first mate were both looking around at the mysterious equipment. It was not until a squad of Scorpion soldiers escorted them to the bridge and they stood before me that they seemed to snap out of it.

“Ahem!”

Feeling ignored, I used a somewhat awkward cough to attract their attention so they would stop studying the holographic projection below, which was displaying a cutscene from “Starcraft 2” in 10800p high definition. I bet they mistook it for a battlefield we had scanned with our radar, without the slightest idea it was just some otaku’s current spaceship mainframe shirking their duties and playing games during work hours.

“Welcome to my ship.”

Under their dumbstruck gaze, I shrugged nonchalantly. Though I fancied myself quite stylish in my flamboyant, pirate-like leader’s war robe, being stared at by two big men, especially one who had a rough, bearded look, was a bit overwhelming.

I knew all too well what surprised them: I looked too much like a human.

Damn it! I am human, you jerks! Why is it that from beginning to end I have to pretend to be some other-dimensional being or an alien? Is it really so hard to say I’m human?

Well, the fact was even if I had told them, they probably wouldn’t have believed me. And essentially, I and the two “people” in front of me were indeed different races; viewing each other as aliens was very normal.

“I must say, the universe is full of remarkable coincidences,” I said with a smile. “For instance, among the vast stars, we find life forms so similar to ours. You should feel lucky about your DNA, it’s what decided who would die under the Empire’s guns today. And it wasn’t you–it was those insects.”

This statement seemed to alleviate some of the initial discomfort Reynolds felt, and he began to show the decorum and poise befitting a man who once served as a planetary governor. He extended his right hand to me, “Thank you very much for the rescue of me and my soldiers, my name is James Raynor, as you see, a human.”

I smiled and shook his rough hand, “I am the Emperor of the Xyrin Empire–of course, you might not have heard of this civilization, as we had not previously colonized this sky zone. My name is Chen Jun, call me whatever you like, I’m not concerned with such formalities.”

Reynolds hesitated briefly but took my words as a deliberate show of amicability from someone of higher status. With a mix of respect and caution, he said, “So, Emperor from an alien star, why have you and your army come here?”

“For war!”

Before I could speak, a childish voice full of mirth unexpectedly interjected from behind, causing the expressions on Reynolds and Matt to go pale with shock.

Once they saw who was speaking, both men relaxed again.

A little loli standing 120cm tall, even with her weird blood-red cat-like pupils, couldn’t change her harmless appearance!

Pandora stood beside Visca, and though she didn’t speak, I could still see deep agreement in the girl’s eyes that went down to the bones.

Helplessly, I dragged the two little ones who had awakened their war factors over and introduced them to the others, “My sister… this little girl is right, we came here to fight–against those insects.”

When Raynor and his deputy officer learned that our only purpose in coming here was to eliminate those dangerous Insect Race, their expressions were quite complicated. That included a bit of relief but also some skepticism; overall, though, they obviously took it as good news.

“Your spaceship will probably take a day to repair, and we need a few hours to develop equipment that can help with the repairs. In the meantime, you can take a rest on the ship, and then maybe I’ll have a chat with you about the insect problems in this star zone.”

“Ah Jun, what do you think?”

After Raynor and his group left the bridge escorted by a team of Scorpion Soldiers, Sandora suddenly crossed her arms and said to me.

“Based on the intelligence we’ve collected, this world is definitely the source of the information projection from Earth’s ‘StarCraft’. But for some reason, I always feel there’s something peculiar.”

The doubt I expressed made Big Sister remember something, and she suddenly raised a finger in surprise and swung it in the air, saying, “Ah, that’s right, normally, the information projections in this world should come from an adjacent Otherworld, but this star zone is in our Universe, which means, it’s in the same world as ours!”

“That’s what I’m puzzled about,” Sandora turned around and looked at the various Insect Race and Human unit hologram projections under the bridge, “Information projections originating within the same world are theoretically impossible. Without the World Barrier effect, such abnormal disturbances simply shouldn’t happen, yet this star zone… Anyway, we should be more cautious with our next actions. The exploration forces should establish Imperial Outposts on every planet they find, and build as many large-scale Star Weapons as possible. As a latter force, we urgently need surprise weapons and deterrent power.”

I fully agreed with Sandora’s point of view: “If the situation in this star zone is really the same as described in the ‘StarCraft’ background, then we really do need to increase absolute firepower. This place’s powers are intertwined and complex, and those Insects number almost in the billions–a bunch of physically enlightened beings. Getting stuck in a war of attrition with them is too disadvantageous for us.”

“However, one thing to celebrate is that the Insects’ own combat power is way behind the Xyrin Soldiers. Dealing with this kind of enemy that wins with numbers might be troublesome but not difficult,” said Sandora confidently, her arms crossed and a proud smile on her lips, “Besides, if we let Bubbles breed openly, our army’s expansion speed will not be much slower than the Insect Race.”

Me: “…”

This girl’s way of describing things was too quirky!

Based on the intelligence we had at hand, I contacted the other six legions acting as Imperial Pioneers and ordered them to establish a series of Planet Fortresses and start assembling large Star Weapons. I didn’t expect that their efficiency would far exceed my imagination; when I reached out to them, the Third and Sixth Legions had already reported that they had found several suitable base planets and begun setting up Mother Nests.

Each legion’s flagship has thirty Xyrin Hosts on board. With the efficiency of ten hosts transforming a planet in a short period, as long as they find suitable planets, it wouldn’t be long before we would have over ten fully-armed military fortress planets in this vast star zone–accumulate thin to send forth thick, which perfectly described our current state. After such a long period of accumulation and the effortful restoration of advanced technologies, the most powerful aspect of the Xyrin Empire Army was now unleashed: Extreme Expansion. Free from the shackles of Earth, the Empire’s army was truly back on their own battlefield, preferring extinction wars in the universe to being bound by conventional weapons within the atmosphere.

Using a somewhat inappropriate metaphor, freed from the constraints of humanitarianism, Imperial Soldiers could finally go wild with their antics…

“Our settlement forces have already established rudimentary bases at these locations,” explained Sivis, my deputy officer, next to the slightly smaller hologram projection in the war study room, pointing out a few shining dots on the densely packed mass of planets with her photon pointer. “The area is quite desolate, and it definitely lacks the possibility of Wisdom Race activities. Once the Space Invisibility Field is activated, they can develop without any interference, and all these planets have suitable-sized satellites or other planets nearby. According to your orders, sir, these planets will be transformed into Star Weapons equipped with Imperial Cannons. Of course, these rudimentary assembled weapons, while a deterrent, can’t compare to the Sniper Star Cannon’s power nor to the practicality of a real Star-level Battleship, but they will undoubtedly become a form of deterrence. If all goes well, these modified star cannons will be in service in a month.”

I did say… the industry experts of Xyrin really had no bottom line…

“Then there’s the issue with the first Fortress Star,” Sivis said, seeing that we had no more opinions, and continued, “As the main force of the First Legion, we must find a suitable planet to transform into a fortress as soon as possible to enhance the legion’s sustained combat capability. Although each mother ship has the function of a military base, there is still a huge cost difference between a self-circulating supply system and a base established on a fixed planet. Moreover, only on a fixed planet can the Xyrin Host Mother Machine fully exhibit her functions–instead of being pushed around in the ‘Imperial Admiral’s’ central machine room all day by Arthas!!”

Uh… I didn’t expect Sivis’s resentment towards Bubbles to have reached such an extent. He truly lives up to the reputation of a rigorously serious Imperial Officer…

If we’re going to establish a Fortress Star, it’s best to consult the locals. Reynolds is probably free right now. I instructed Vega to bring him over.

Coming with Reynolds was someone I hadn’t expected: a can… cough cough, a big man with a scarred face, clad in full power armor, looking like a giant tin can.

“Let me introduce myself–I’m the most outstanding bounty hunter in the universe, Tex Fendley, haha,” said the big man in power armor, a cigar clenched between his teeth. The terrifying scar under his eyes twitched with his boisterous laughter, appearing like a deep chasm within the shadows of his helmet, “Don’t mind me. I’m just here out of curiosity…”

I shrugged. I didn’t care much about this “curious” big man who came along for a look, casually freezing the energy on the cigar in his mouth without heeding his bemused expression. I asked Reynolds, “Here’s the situation–my army has just arrived in this unfamiliar star zone, and we know nothing about it. We need to establish a base and require a geologically stable planet that has no sovereignty. Any suggestions?”

As soon as I posed my question, a wary look immediately crossed Reynolds’s face.

Obviously, our request as aliens had triggered his racial vigilance.

“You can relax,” I patted Reynolds’s shoulder, “we harbor no animosity towards humans, and I will not trouble human colonization stars. You just need to find me a stable planet that’s away from all sides’ influence. Even if it’s desolate and barren, no problem–we don’t need those low-level resources.”

A conflicted glint flickered in Reynolds’s eyes, clearly weighing the credibility of our mysterious military force. Then he nodded, “Since you’ll find such a place sooner or later, consider it gratitude for your assistance… How should this star map be used?”

Under Reynolds’s guidance, an inconspicuous star system came into our view.

“It has no name. I discovered it by chance. It has a dying constant star that is not stable, but at least it won’t explode within the next few hundred years,” Reynolds introduced us to this star system, “This star system has only three planets. The outermost planet may meet your requirements. It is geologically stable, with a gravity constant of 10.0, an atmosphere rich in nitrogen, two sizable satellites, and most importantly–this godforsaken place has absolutely no sovereignty claimed over it. Not even the Independent Federation knows of its existence.”

“Whew–” I whistled loudly, “An absolute barren land. I’d bet you have even better places stashed away, but no matter, I like this place–Bubbles, redirect course, we have a new home.”

The vast Imperial Fleet responded swiftly to my order under the unified direction of the Xyrin Host. Small escort ships began to quickly approach their mother ships, and then a massive super space-time jump field enveloped the entire fleet. In the next instant, we vanished from that star zone.

“You’ll get used to it soon.”

Watching Reynolds’s pale and queasy face, I spoke emotionlessly.

“After all, the energy turbulence caused by moving such a vast legion hundreds of millions of kilometers at once is tremendous. It far exceeds the physical limits of humans.”

Reynolds, struggling to contain the churning in his stomach, supported his buddy Tex and gave me a thumbs up, “Your Majesty… I can now be completely certain that your kind and ours are not the same species… Damn, I could use a strong drink to settle my stomach…”

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