Warhammer: Starting as a Planetary Governor

High above, in the void—

Brilliant flames from countless weapons discharges nearly covered the heavens.

Every coordinated salvo from the tomb fleets sent large numbers of warships plunging into destruction. The asteroid belt between the opposing forces had been vaporized outright.

The sheer intensity of the void battle exceeded anything the observers had imagined.

Marran and the others even witnessed a terrifying energy beam tear through a Tomb World's defensive fields and reduce the entire planet to ash.

That was something their Indomitus Crusade fleet could never have accomplished.

"If we'd encountered tomb fleets like these back then, we wouldn't have had the slightest chance of survival..." Marran murmured.

For the first time, he truly witnessed the terrifying might of the Necron xenos.

This was power far beyond anything the Indomitus Crusade could confront.

"Humanity is about to face an extraordinarily difficult war. Perhaps our situation is even worse than it was before."

The Ultramarines Librarian trembled slightly.

The learned warrior was no longer as confident that the Savior and the Primarchs would achieve victory.

He now understood the terrible price the Imperium would have to pay to conquer this region.

Worse still, humanity had no guarantee of victory.

"God-Emperor, protect our suffering Imperium!"

Overcome with worry, the Sister of Battle dropped to her knees, lowered her head, and began praying to the Emperor.

"We must get this information back to the Imperium.

"The Savior and the Primarchs need to know the true strength of the Necron xenos. They must be warned!"

Marran looked at the others, fear plain on his face.

If the Imperium marched into this silent region without making adequate preparations, its armies might be annihilated beneath the Necrons' overwhelming firepower.

Every warrior present agreed with the Groupmaster.

They decided to find a way out of this heavily fortified Royal Menagerie and transmit their intelligence to the Imperium, even if doing so cost them their lives.

The warriors of the Indomitus Crusade immediately began formulating a plan.

...

The Tomb Pyramid.

Its highest level.

"Has the Silent King already discovered the Sacred Soul Cult's intentions? Why else would so many forces come to besiege us?"

Eden stood on a terrace, gazing up at the void battle. The emerald light within his eyes had dimmed with concern.

Over the past few weeks, he had finally absorbed the Faehra Dynasty, transformed its territory into a Sacred World of the Sacred Soul Cult, launched a cultural renaissance to restore Necrontyr civilization, and dismantled the surrounding blackstone pylons.

Yet almost immediately after completing that work, his territory had come under attack.

The enemy had arrived too quickly and struck too fiercely.

The Sacred Soul Cult's fleet had only just engaged them, yet it had already lost two Cairn-class Tomb Ships, dozens of cruisers, and even more escort vessels.

The losses were substantial.

Eden could only endure them because absorbing the Faehra Dynasty had given him a considerable military foundation. An ordinary Phaeron or Overlord would have been devastated by such losses.

More importantly, the outer defensive line was already showing signs of collapse.

Even the Aeonic Orb Array on this core Tomb World was having difficulty acquiring a viable target.

There was no helping it.

The enemy tomb fleets were far too cunning. They had refined their tactics to near perfection.

Every maneuver was executed with incredible precision. They continually positioned their warships behind the Sacred Soul Cult's own vessels or used nearby Tomb Worlds as cover.

Eden could only strike them by ordering the Aeonic Orb Array to fire indiscriminately, placing his own fleet and Tomb Worlds within the blast zone.

It would be the equivalent of killing a thousand enemies at the cost of eight hundred of his own.

Even if he won, the losses would be catastrophic.

Yet if he refused to deploy the Aeonic Orb Array and continued fighting the enemy tomb fleets directly, his forces would still suffer severe losses—and victory was far from guaranteed.

He was trapped between two terrible choices.

The Sacred Soul Cult had only just begun establishing itself. If its tomb fleet were destroyed, all future expansion would be crippled.

"My dear, we should leave. The enemy commander is too powerful for us to defeat."

Faehra approached Eden and gently wrapped her arms around him, her voice heavy with concern.

The youthful Phaerakh's emotions had grown increasingly vivid. She was genuinely afraid for the man she loved.

She had already given him everything.

Faehra understood that they could no longer hold this territory. The enemy might have even more tomb fleets waiting nearby.

If the Sacred Soul Cult wanted to preserve its fleet and armies, it needed to evacuate immediately.

"No. This is our home and the spark from which the Necrontyr will be reborn. If we become wanderers, everything will be even more difficult in the future.

"The Silent King, that traitor to the Necrontyr, will never allow us to remain within the Pariah Nexus.

"Worse still, once he defeats the Stormlord, we'll never have another opportunity to oppose him."

Eden shook his head.

He had no intention of retreating.

This base was far too important. It was the key to exploiting the current window of opportunity and expanding rapidly.

Without its armed forces, the Sacred Soul Cult would struggle to spread its teachings or expand its territory. It would barely be able to protect itself.

After all, not every Phaerakh was as unusual—or as easy to win over—as Faehra.

More importantly, once the Sacred Soul Cult lost its territory, it would have no way to withstand the Silent King's subsequent attacks.

Its followers would be reduced to scurrying from one place to another like rats in a sewer.

According to Eden's original plan, the Sacred Soul Cult needed to establish a secure territorial base and expand steadily, eventually forming a vast religious dynasty.

Only then could it compete with the Silent King and the Stormlord for supremacy within the Pariah Nexus—and seize control of the Necrons themselves.

Under these circumstances, Eden would rather summon the Tyranid Hive Fleet and Ork fleet concealed along the sector's outer perimeter.

He would unite them with the Sacred Soul Cult's tomb fleet and gamble everything in a decisive battle before abandoning the system without a fight.

The blackstone pylons within this star system had already been dismantled. The Tyranid and Ork fleets would suffer little suppression here.

In short, Eden intended to continue defending the system and hold out for as long as possible.

The situation hadn't yet become completely hopeless.

"Charles, you are the emissary of the new god and the hope of the Necrontyr. Whatever decision you make, I will face it with you."

Once Eden had made his choice, Faehra stopped trying to persuade him and instead offered her complete support.

She trusted the judgment of the new god's emissary—her husband.

"Have our reconnaissance units gathered any information on the enemy?" Eden asked, turning toward her.

Faehra shook her head.

"Every Shroud-class scout vessel we deployed has been destroyed.

"A new group of reconnaissance units has only just departed."

"Deploy our Deathmarks," Eden ordered after a moment's thought. "They don't need to execute their assassination protocols. Tell them to obtain as much intelligence on the enemy as possible."

"I'll awaken every Deathmark."

Faehra nodded and committed those precious snipers and assassination specialists without hesitation.

She gently embraced Eden once more, then left to carry out his orders and organize the system's defenses.

Now that they had decided to hold the system, the youthful Phaerakh wouldn't hold anything back.

Even if the ultimate outcome was annihilation alongside the one she loved.

Eden closed his eyes and continued waiting patiently for further intelligence.

At the very least, he needed to know who had launched this attack.

Were they the Silent King's Triarch Praetorians or the forces of another Phaeron?

Was there any possibility of negotiating a ceasefire—or winning the attackers over?

No commander could make sound decisions during a war without intelligence.

Unfortunately, sixty million years of slumber had left the Necron Empire shattered into countless pieces.

The loss of memory modules and data archives had severed communications between the various Phaerons. Meanwhile, rulers who had lost much of their memory continued to awaken one after another, making reliable intelligence exceptionally difficult to obtain.

There were many occasions when two Necron forces would fight half a battle before unearthing fragments of ancient data from a Tomb World and finally identifying their opponents.

Only then would they realize that the enemy had been their closest friends or beloved relatives sixty million years ago.

They had effectively flooded their own temple while trying to drown an enemy.

The opposing sides would then dispatch envoys, negotiate a ceasefire, and reconcile.

Of course, reconciliation was only possible if the Phaeron, Overlord, or Necron Lord on the other side hadn't already gone completely insane.

That was the current state of the Necron Empire.

Phaerons, Overlords, and Lords constantly waged war against one another for an endless variety of reasons, making unity nearly impossible.

Since awakening, their entire species had fallen into an age of feuding warlords. Only a handful of supreme rulers possessed enough authority to maintain order.

The Silent King and the Stormlord were among them.

Some maddened high-ranking Necrons even believed themselves to be C'tan slaves, humans, Orks, or tiny worms wriggling through the dirt.

In short, they were all spectacularly insane, each one crazier than the last.

Eden desperately wanted information about the enemy. What if their dynasty had been related to the Faehra Dynasty sixty million years ago?

If they were family, there would be no need to fight.

The worst possible outcome was that the Silent King had sent them.

That would mean Szarekh had already recognized the Sacred Soul Cult's growing influence and understood the danger it posed, prompting him to eliminate the threat before it could mature.

I hope that isn't the case.

Eden clung to that faint hope.

Unfortunately, before he received any intelligence identifying the enemy, another piece of terrible news arrived.

An even larger enemy tomb fleet was entering the Sacred Soul Cult's holy star system!

Worse still, Tomb Worlds throughout several nearby sectors were showing signs of fleet mobilization.

That meant the Sacred Soul Cult's fleet could still be intercepted and surrounded even if it withdrew from the region.

Eden felt as though a thunderbolt had struck him.

His entire body went numb.

"Did I kick a hornet's nest? Isn't this a little excessive?"

All he had done was operate within territory that had originally belonged to the Faehra Dynasty and dismantle a few blackstone pylons.

Yet that had provoked an assault by multiple tomb fleets.

Judging by the enemy's scale, their combined forces represented at least four or five Phaerons.

It was like quietly last-hitting a single minion, only for the enemy team to respond by unleashing its ultimate.

They weren't giving him the slightest opportunity!

How was that possible?

Had the Silent King decided to stop fighting the Stormlord and destroy the Sacred Soul Cult first?

Given the number of enemy vessels, even summoning the Tyranid and Ork fleets waiting beyond the sector might not be enough.

Considering the fragmented state of the Necron Empire, only the Silent King possessed the authority to mobilize so many Phaerons and Overlords.

Every sign pointed toward the same conclusion:

The Silent King had made his move!

"Do I have to bring humanity into this war already?"

Eden sighed softly and fell silent.

The blackstone pylons throughout the Sacred Soul Cult's territory had ceased functioning, and the blackstone veil covering the region had dissipated.

Human fleets could now translate into the system and participate in the war.

But it wasn't a good choice.

The timing was wrong.

An Imperial fleet could unite with Eden's other forces and defeat the incoming tomb fleets, winning this sudden war.

His territory within the Pariah Nexus would be preserved.

However, humanity's intervention could trigger an entirely new crisis.

The Necrons might unite against an external enemy. Eden could even find himself under simultaneous attack from both the Stormlord and the Silent King.

The pressure would be immense.

More Necron Phaerons would rally to the Silent King in response to the foreign invasion.

That would drastically reduce the number of forces the Sacred Soul Cult could win over and could easily produce a prolonged war between entrenched factions—an exceptionally costly outcome for humanity.

The disparity in losses alone demonstrated the problem. A single tomb ship could destroy at least four or five human vessels before going down.

Worse still, when Necrons were destroyed, their remains could be returned to their Tomb Worlds and reconstructed.

Humanity could only answer by sacrificing more lives.

If the Imperium became trapped in a prolonged war of attrition, it would probably have to reorganize its entire society around military production merely to survive.

Once the Imperium underwent full militarization, crushing tax increases and mass conscription would inevitably follow.

More Forge Worlds would need to be established, weapons manufactorums would have to operate at maximum output, and enormous quantities of arms and warships would have to be produced.

Such a war would burn through staggering amounts of money and resources. In the long run, the Imperium's economic development would inevitably suffer.

The expansion of humanity's Warp colonies would also have to be suspended until victory was secured.

No matter how Eden examined the situation, the war would harm the Imperium. His previous development plans would be abandoned, and recovery would take far longer.

Yet ignoring the Silent King was equally impossible.

Szarekh was clearly determined to eliminate the galaxy's other forms of life, and humanity stood directly in his path.

The supreme Necron ruler had acted with extraordinary decisiveness and precision.

It was as though an invisible pair of hands had sealed every escape route, destroying Eden's opportunity to quietly build his strength and reap the benefits while the Necron factions fought among themselves.

Whichever path Eden chose, they all led to the same conclusion:

A direct clash with the Necron Empire—a contest to determine which side possessed more strength and could endure the greater losses.

The situation is out of control...

Eden realized that his schemes and contingency plans were failing one after another.

He gazed into the void, his expression dark and profound.

"Silent King, did you see through my plans so quickly and begin dismantling them? You truly are an opponent worthy of the Savior's attention!"

The leader of the Necrontyr, the Godslayer—the being competing with Eden for dominion over the galaxy—had thrust a blade at him.

And Eden had nowhere left to evade.

"It's time to make a decision. Humanity can't continue retreating."

Eden abruptly opened his eyes, emerald flames burning within their sockets.

He had attempted to rely on schemes and strategic maneuvering to minimize humanity's losses and win a vast prize with a small investment.

But cunning alone was never the surest path to victory. Any scheme could fail, just as his had now.

The current situation also left no time for hesitation.

Sometimes, the only way to win a war was to meet the enemy head-on and triumph through overwhelming strength.

War between humanity and the Silent King had become inevitable.

While the Sacred Soul Cult delayed the enemy, Eden needed to organize the Imperium's armies immediately. Every reserve force and every reserve of industrial capacity had to be activated in preparation for a prolonged war.

Otherwise, it would soon be too late.

So be it.

They would go to war.

It would be a direct and uncompromising contest of strength, even if humanity had to confront the entire Necron Empire.

They would discover which was more terrifying—the Necrons' endless legions of living metal or humanity's vast tide of steel!

MASS-PRODUCE TROOPS!!!

Eden wanted to see exactly how much industrial power the Imperium he had spent so long developing could unleash.

"Your Majesty, the Savior."

Zabok approached and dropped to one knee.

This time, he had answered the summons in his human identity.

That was right.

The living-metal governor remained firmly convinced that he was a pure-blooded human who had merely infiltrated the Necron xenos as an undercover agent.

"Dispatch your fastest units to deliver a message to the Royal Court. Inform the Imperial Regent that the conflict has escalated and the Imperium is entering a state of total war."

Eden drew a deep breath and issued his supreme command.

"Tell the Logistics Department to release every warship and weapon in its reserves. Every Forge World and weapons manufactorum controlled by the Adeptus Mechanicus is to operate at maximum capacity.

"Fill every orbital dockyard and storage world. If we don't have enough dockyards or storage worlds, build more!

"At the same time, order the Department of Military Affairs to accelerate recruitment. Mobilize every reservist, and have every suitable Space Marine aspirant undergo implantation and transformation as quickly as possible. We need them deployed to the war immediately.

"We humans...will commit everything we have until the xenos bow completely before my throne!"

(End of Chapter)

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