The Hyperion Descends from the Heavens

In late May 2491, Los Andares, the capital of the planet Cha- Sara in the Sara System, was facing the greatest disaster since the city rose from the green plains.

In less than a month, a sticky, mucus-like Zerg Creep, somewhere between slime and brown lichen, proliferated across the lush forests and plains of Cha Sara through atmospheric diffusion of spores. Plants began to wither, and even fungal organisms were assimilated by the Zerg Creep, becoming part of the Swarm.

Whether it's the fertile green fields or the Gobi desert landscape similar to its sister city, Xingma Sara, both are covered with thick, purplish-black Creep and buildings infected by Zerg. Apart from that, there is only desolation, and even the birds in the sky have disappeared. Even the vast oceans, rivers, lakes, and seas are covered by Zerg Creep, as if covered with a layer of dark brown oil that flows with the waves.

The Zerg are devouring this once vibrant planet.

Los Andares is the last human city still holding out and not yet fallen; the other major cities have long been overrun by the Swarm. All the survivors on the planet have retreated to Andares, using its high walls and fortifications for a final stand.

At this very moment, Los Andares, a city of skyscrapers, factories, and massive residential areas, is trembling in the warm May winds that carry the stench of blood and fish.

The destruction of the Cha- Sara environment by the Swarm has forever altered the planet's landscape and climate. The disappearance of vegetation has led to irreversible soil erosion and weathering. The weather has become complex and unpredictable, sometimes overcast and sometimes stormy.

At this moment, Attorney Collins of Cha Sara was commanding his only colonial armed force— the Andares Security Forces —in fortified with Plasteel and concrete, guarding humanity's last sanctuary on this planet.

Beyond the city's protective walls constructed of alloys and shaped ceramics, the land was entirely covered by Creep, the dark brown earth teeming with spiky, fleshy spikes of Zerg and veins that pulsated like a heart.

Today, the defensive fortifications outside Andares are in a state of disrepair. The steel plates that could withstand the impact shells of Arclite Siege Tank are now riddled with sharp bone spikes and spines, and the protective plates are covered with traces of acid burns.

Just hours earlier, a fierce battle had taken place on the front lines of Andares. Piles of human and Zerg corpses lay before the fortifications, the air thick with the stench of burning protein. The humans hadn't had time to clean up the battlefield or retrieve the bodies, knowing the enemy could launch another attack at any moment.

Collins observed the Zerg army gathering in the distance through his optical telescope. On the horizon, the Swarm looked like wriggling black dots, and countless Zerg flying creatures danced in the deep blue sky like slowly moving black clouds.

The judge was surrounded by all sorts of signal transceivers and life signal detectors, and the entire fortification was filled with piercing static noise.

A few weeks ago, the channels were filled with irritating shouts from all over the colony, but now there's nothing but annoying static noise.

Meanwhile, Collins's information technology soldiers were tirelessly calling for help from other Confederacy forces beyond the planet, but the other end of the communication channel remained silent.

"How many aliens are in front of us?" The judicial officer lowered his binoculars and asked a soldier beside him. He was a stern-faced middle-aged man with thick eyebrows, dark brown eyes, and a neatly trimmed long black mustache on his broad, square face.

Attorney Collins wore a dark green army uniform instead of his smart judicial uniform, and his gaze beneath his wide-brimmed military cap was sharp and deep. Undoubtedly, this attorney was more like a hardened soldier than a calculating and power-hungry Confederacy official.

"Millions." The soldier uttered a number that plunged everyone into despair. "There are millions of alien creatures on Los Andares' left, right, and back as well."

Although the Terran Confederacy had discovered and initiated research projects on the Zerg as early as 2491, the Cha- Sara people, who were facing the Zerg directly, still did not know what these suddenly appearing creatures were, and still referred to them as "alien creatures" or "purple nightmare-like creatures."

"More aliens are hiding in the caves and burrows they've dug underground."

"It's truly a case of nowhere to go, no way to escape," another technician uttered an ancient proverb.

"God's ass! They outnumber ours by a hundred or a thousand times," someone said.

Where exactly is the support Fleets?

More than nine-tenths of the population of Cha Sara had been devoured by the Swarm, and of Los Andalus's more than 900,000 people, only less than 400,000 remained after weeks of defensive fighting. Even including militia, conscripts, and armed men, the forces that Justice Collins could mobilize were minimal.

The situation has become so critical that Collins has had to release prisoners from Andares prison to fight the Zerg. However, without support, the isolated city of Andares will inevitably be overwhelmed by the vast Zerg swarm.

If the Zerg weren't unable to communicate and wouldn't accept human surrender, the surviving Andalusians would have surrendered long ago.

"Shut up, Sergeant, or I'll throw you out to feed those monsters. Have you seen how Lieutenant Colonel Ray and the Secretary of State of Semiro Province died?" the judge roared.

Unlike his other colleagues in the Terran Confederacy, Attorney Collins was a remarkably capable official, a rarity indeed.

The recent economic boom of Cha Sara is inextricably linked to the enlightened policies of this judge. As one of the earliest planets primarily used for exiling criminals, Cha Sara was once a strictly ordered prison world. If the Koprulu humans are descendants of Earth's exiles, then the people living on this planet are exiles of those exiles.

Of course, aside from those who enjoy making sarcastic remarks about the Old Families of the Confederacy, no one would admit that they are descendants of a group of exiles. Whether in official documents or historical records, the people of the Terran Confederacy only proudly proclaim that they come from the ancient and sacred Earth, and the word Terran is also another name for the Earth.

Even as a planet that was once used to exile criminals, Cha Sara has developed faster than its sister planet Ma Sara, which had an earlier colonization process and has been considered a highly underdeveloped world for many years.

It is worth mentioning that Judge Collins also took a very hard line against rebel forces such as the Korhal Revolutionary Army and the Sons of Korhal, consistently emphasizing that all rebels should be brought to justice. He believed that the only basis for sentencing these rebels was the most severe punishment, and that only hanging awaited the rebel leader Augustus Mengsk and his accomplices.

Especially after the Mar- Sara Rebellion, the incompetent governor Mar- Sara and the magistrates who colluded with the rebels further highlighted Collins's incorruptibility and deep hatred for the rebels.

"Has anyone responded to our distress call?" The judicial officer looked at the trembling technicians. He had no one else available, and these soldiers, who had stood guard for days and nights, were already on the verge of collapse.

"No, Attorney General, no, no," a sergeant replied. "Only a few people, including Ma Sara, responded to us."

"Why didn't you report the response?" the judge questioned him.

"The only ones who responded to us were the Mar- Sara Observatory, the Meteorological Bureau, privately owned interplanetary radio stations, and a few universities," the sergeant stammered.

"What else?" the judge asked, already growing impatient.

"And there are also the Ma Sara rebels," the sergeant said hesitantly.

"What a cruel irony!" Then, Attorney Collins cursed in some obscure local slang that sounded anything but pleasant. Since the Zerg invasion of Cha Sara, all cries for help had gone unanswered, and the Confederacy Navy Fleets, which always loved to swagger around, seemed to have never existed in this world at all.

Just then, everyone could feel the ground shaking.

The Swarm's attack has begun again.

Collins glanced at the haggard faces and heavy dark circles under the eyes of the technicians around him. Almost simultaneously, everyone grabbed the C-13 Gauss Rifle leaning against the wall and rushed toward the firing port.

Like the rustling of insects crawling through leaves, a dark mass of Zergling and Hydralisk formed an overwhelming Swarm. These ferocious and deadly alien creatures were covered in sharp spikes and hard shells, and their terrifying roars merged into a horrifying wave that swept across the land.

An officer's shout immediately rang out from the fortifications, and all the automatic turrets, automatic defensive machine guns, and anti-aircraft missile turrets in front were activated and rotated under the remote control of the advanced computer AI system and operators.

A machine gun atop Collins' fortifications fired a series of rapid-fire shots, ejecting clanging metal cartridge cases. Meanwhile, artillery positions throughout the city unleashed their dwindling ammunition amidst the deafening roar of gunfire.

Hundreds of colonial militiamen in CMC-200 Power Armor are marching into position, including conscripts in military camouflage and men with automatic rifles.

"Only three hours have passed since the last attack," said the technical sergeant. "The intervals between their attacks are getting shorter and shorter."

"There's definitely something directing them." Through numerous battles with the Zerg, Attorney Collins had become intimately familiar with these alien creatures that had suddenly appeared in Cha Sara.

The Zerg currently appearing on the front lines lack obvious intelligence, but it is clear that, as a whole, there is a Swarm Zerg, much like a human commander, secretly directing the swarm's attacks. Under this Zerg's skillful command, the Swarm's offensives follow a terrifying pattern.

For example, it knows that humans sleep at night, so the Swarm always launches its attacks in the dark. Humans also lend a helping hand to their fellow swarms in danger, so the Swarm uses this to implement a tactic similar to besieging a stronghold and attacking reinforcements.

According to Attorney Collins, the alien creatures were organized like termite colonies, with a supreme "queen" controlling her colony members through some kind of pheromone from the burrows they had dug deep underground in Cha Sara. Perhaps the other aliens were "worker ants" and "soldier ants," all children of that "queen," inheriting the same genes.

Once the queen is killed, the aliens will be leaderless. But the queen must be under tight protection; they won't even know her exact location.

"How much longer can we hold out? What about the Confederacy Fleets?" Seeing this despairing scene before them, the already disgruntled Confederacy soldiers complained again. They had not yet undergone resocialization and still possessed self-awareness; they were not robots without temper or emotions.

"When Augustus Mengsk launched the uprising in Mar- Sara, the Alpha Squadron arrived not long afterward. Even if you include the journey from Tarsonis to the Sara System, the earliest Fleets should have arrived long ago!" a soldier said.

"They want us all to die here. I bet the bastards in the Fleets are watching us from somewhere—observing the destructive power of this new race and testing how long an ordinary colony can withstand their attacks!"

"They are experimenting on their own people!"

"That's impossible." Collins didn't rebuke the hysterical soldier. Such an absurd speculation couldn't be the truth, unless the people in the Confederate Congress and the Confederacy Naval Command were a bunch of selfish lunatics.

Or perhaps the Confederacy Navy had already arrived, but they were unable to break through the Swarm's blockade. This might be closer to the truth, since even the Alpha Squadron, known for its tough tactics, was no match for the mere rebels. It's understandable that they were routed by the sudden appearance of alien creatures.

Once, humanity believed they were alone in the universe, the only species to have evolved advanced intelligence, nurtured by Earth's unique natural environment. Humanity considered itself a chosen race, with few rivals in the universe; their only enemies could be their equally despicable and greedy fellow human beings.

However, the alien creatures that suddenly appeared in Cha Sara easily shattered humanity's pride as the leader of all beings.

Now, for the people of Cha Sara, they only have two choices: either completely wipe out the tens of millions of Zerg on the planet's surface, or flee Cha Sara. And if Attorney General Collins could do both, he wouldn't be holed up in this fortification.

"Who can help us? Even the rebels, I still have family," the nearly collapsing Confederacy soldier said dejectedly.

"What are you saying? This is treason!" Even at this moment, Collins remained loyal to the Terran Confederacy.

"Judge, our distress call just now received a response from the Fleets," another IT soldier suddenly reported loudly.

"Which Fleets is it?" the judge asked with a sigh of relief.

"The feedback I received is that the flagship of the supporting Fleets is the Hyperion-- " The information technology soldier was clearly unaware that something was wrong, nor did he notice the judge's unpleasant expression.

"Ah--and Norad II and Norad III-- " he said happily.

"I know the names of those two warships. They're the flagship of Alpha Squadron. Thank God, we're saved." The soldier who had been cursing God's ass suddenly burst into laughter.

"Idiot, Alpha Squadron has betrayed the Confederacy!" the judge roared.

"Those are all rebel warships."

Under the complex gaze of the judge, a Behemoth-class Battlecruiser painted in deep blue descended from the atmosphere, its ground-attack laser cannons unleashing a barrage of bright orange bullets that instantly wiped out thousands of Zerg that were scurrying about. Once the Zerg were hit by the laser beams, they were like dried firewood that had been ignited, turning into bright fireballs and emitting the crackling sound of burning dry straw.

Wherever the Hyperion went, it started to burn.

"The Hyperion has arrived. Are there any survivors below?"

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