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Chapter 312: Heading to the Cryptus System
🕑 Added 2025-09-21 13:10:05 +0000 UTCChapter 312: Heading to the Cryptus System
While the fleets that had returned from the Commorragh campaign were undergoing repairs and recuperating, Lucan had already organized a new fleet and was preparing to advance toward the Cryptus System.
Knowing the original fate of the Cryptus System, Lucan was well aware that with its existing forces, it could only hold out for a few days at most against Hive Fleet Leviathan—the largest Swarm humanity had ever encountered. Although the Imperium was not currently threatened by the Eye of Terror, and the galaxy had not been torn in two, the massive Shadow in the Warp generated by the Leviathan Swarm still made it impossible for the vast majority of the Imperial Navy to conduct warp travel and reinforce the Cryptus System.
It wasn't just a question of whether conventional travel could even reach the Cryptus System in time. The "Diamor Shield," a special ring of ice asteroids affected by the warp that surrounded the system to protect it from xenos invasion, had now become an obstacle to Imperial reinforcements. Any fleet attempting to force its way through this belt would be affected by an unnatural, extreme cold and frozen into solid blocks of ice.
At this moment, the only fleet in the entire Imperium that could ignore both the Shadow in the Warp and the Diamor Shield, and enter the Cryptus System in force, was Lucan's.
Lucan once again stood on the bridge of the Stellar Pioneer. A new fleet of the Mongorte Dynasty had been assembled. However, this time, including the Stellar Pioneer, Lucan was only bringing three cruiser-class or larger warships. He had no intention of fighting the Tyranid Swarm to a decisive victory in the void. The number of Leviathan's bio-fleets was simply too vast. Staring at the endless sea of Tyranid bio-ships, Lucan felt that even with his current fleet, he had no chance of winning in space.
The probability of victory through a fleet engagement was too small. Even if they could destroy a large number of Tyranid ships, his own losses would be catastrophic. He was worried about losing the entire fleet he had spent all these years building.
Therefore, this fleet was composed of one hundred easy-to-produce StarCraft Gorgon transports, all of which were equipped with tactical jump drives. Their Yamato Cannons were also sufficient to damage the Tyranids' flesh-and-blood armor. Most importantly, the Gorgons had sufficient mobility. In the void, the Tyranid bio-ships were much faster than conventional Imperial vessels. The Gorgons could use their tactical jumps to tie down a sufficient number of them.
Large capital ships had little advantage against these Tyranid vessels. When at a numerical disadvantage, and facing the Tyranids' own massive bio-ships, if they were to wrap their tendrils around a warship, there would be no escape. Endless swarms of Tyranids would pour through the breaches, kill every human inside, and plunder their biomass.
In addition to these Gorgons, Lucan had also temporarily requisitioned the 50 largest super-freighters in his Dynasty. These transport ships were no smaller than heavy cruisers and had been specially modified to meet the demands of the Mongorte Dynasty's massive trade network.
At this moment, these giant transports were loaded with two million Raider troops, as well as massive stockpiles of ammunition, powersuits, and other StarCraft constructs, including pre-fabricated Barracks, Factories, and Starports. With the threat from Commorragh gone, Lucan could now deploy more of his ground forces.
If the Cryptus System had enough wargear and ammunition, it could mount a much stronger resistance and would not be so easily overrun. The fall of most of the system in the original timeline was precisely because they had run out of supplies. Lucan could not, like the Imperium, pull a hundred million Astra Militarum troops out of a hat and send them to Cryptus, but the system itself had a sufficient population. He could use these supplies to arm the local ground forces.
These soldiers and supplies occupied one half of the transports. The other half was filled with a large number of pre-hatched Nydus Worms, Drones, and Larvae. A large amount of raw biomass that had not yet been collected by the Swarm was also loaded onto these transports to ensure that the Zerg would have sufficient resources the moment they arrived in the Cryptus System, allowing them to immediately expand their numbers with the help of the Nydus Worms.
In addition to the regular Raiders, the Blood Ravens had also abandoned their own fleet, as their ships could not reach the Cryptus System. Leaving a small number of Chapter members behind to guard their ships, the rest of them had all boarded Lucan's fleet.
Norris had also gathered most of his available Ghosts to go with them. Their presence would help Lucan hunt down the Tyranid Swarm's synapse creatures and node-beasts.
"Artanis, you and your Protoss will wait patiently on Agathos," Lucan instructed. "I need you to take Ferrus and his Iron Hands and join the battle at the critical moment. Only your Spear of Adun has a chance to destroy the Tyranid mothership at a moment's notice."
Just like in the game, although the Tyranid ships were strong, the moment their central node-creature, the mothership, was destroyed, their morale would collapse instantly. Once the Hive Mind's control was broken, the Tyranid bio-ships would follow their biological instincts and flee.
Each Hive Fleet tendril had more than one mothership, but one of them was bound to contain the Norn-Queen that controlled the entire tendril. Lucan needed to find this mothership and have the Spear of Adun warp in and destroy it completely. Without leadership, the Tyranids, even with their numerical advantage, would no longer be a threat.
"My Lord, I think you should take the High Templar with you," Artanis said, concerned. "They can protect you."
"Don't worry," Lucan smiled. "I have a new comrade coming with me this time."
Artanis looked at the empty space behind Lucan. A hunched, grey-skinned Protoss slowly shimmered into view.
"Artanis," the newcomer rasped, "I am glad to see you have become a fine leader for the Protoss."
"Zeratul... I am glad as well, that you have returned to my side."
This person was none other than another legend of StarCraft, Zeratul, who had been awakened using the soul of Asdrubael Vect. And he was not alone. With him were several hundred Dark Templar, who had been converted from the souls of Dark Eldar nobles and Trueborn.
Lucan had thought that the number of Trueborn Dark Eldar he had killed would be sufficient, but it turned out that Trueborn were even rarer than Craftworld Eldar. The "playful" Dark Eldar were not at all keen on this traditional method of reproduction.
As Dark Templar, they were different from the traditional Protoss. They had walked a different path. They could bend light to hide their bodies, and their use of psionic power was more violent. Having forsaken defense, they had put all of their points into attack and speed. They, along with Norris's Ghosts, would be the ones to hunt the Tyranid synapse creatures.
"You two can stop with the sentimental reunion," Lucan interrupted. "You'll have plenty of chances to fight side-by-side soon enough."
With all personnel in place, the fleet led by Lucan set off once more.
At that moment, within the Cryptus System.
Everyone was on edge to the point of breaking. The Tyranid bio-fleet was already pushing into the Diamor Shield. It would not be long, just a few days, before they were drawn by the biomass and broke through the belt to enter the Cryptus System.
It had to be said, Lucan's departure was just in time. If he had been any later, he might have had to face the Tyranids within the system itself, and the transport of his war materials would have become a huge problem.
