Fetal Education

Railguns and energy weapons stretched all the way to the distant horizon, their interwoven brilliant beams slicing the sky into countless irregular blocks. From time to time, massive warships and Zerg corpses fell from high orbit, their countless shattered fragments resembling burning mercury.

Before nightfall, the Zerg swarm and the Void army launched wave after wave of attacks on the White Star's landing site. Surging black shadows carpeted every corner as far as the eye could see. Even seasoned Imperial veterans could not help but shudder at the sight.

In response, tons upon tons of shells, missiles, and laser fire were poured onto the ravaged land. Then Banshee bomber formations cleared the obstacles on the ground, and ground mechs and tank units led by Heck, Warhounds, and Goliaths began advancing toward the Xel'Naga Temple where the dark god's vessel stood. Large numbers of infantry, Hellions, Cyclones, and Rattlesnake Tanks followed close behind.

The battle was exceptionally brutal. Charred wreckage littered the fractured front lines, while air abruptly heated by ion weapons shimmered beneath the sunlight with ripples of death. Thousands of massive cannons roared at once, and energy weapons lashed the earth like the whips of hell.

Within the Xel'Naga Temple area, the average survival time of a soldier could be measured in seconds.

The battle for Aiur was undoubtedly the most brutal engagement the Terran Empire had ever fought in all its Total Wars. With a resolve ordinary civilians could scarcely comprehend, the military had committed the greatest force in its history to this remote battlefield, far from the Empire's core territories. Now, however, their remaining combat-capable forces amounted to only one-third of what they had possessed before the war began.

The Empire had known all along that attacking Aiur would inevitably leave them caught between the Golden Armada