Chapter 906 - 905

“This is a betrayal of our entire species!” the Praetorian commander raged.

Exposing the transit routes would render many of the Infinite Empire’s tactics useless.

Now that humanity possessed deep-space interdiction technology, the risks facing the Tomb Fleets would increase dramatically.

It also meant that the Necrons’ advantage in interstellar travel was in jeopardy.

They would have to expend considerable time and effort charting new high-speed transit routes before they could restore access to the affected regions.

Worse, the Triarch Praetorians’ current strike against humanity would now fall behind schedule. They could no longer reach their target regions on time!

“Terminate superluminal transit!”

As the spatial fluctuations intensified and the entire Tomb Fleet began to shake, the Praetorian commander ordered the ships to leave the deep-space realm.

If they continued, the turbulence might fling the Tomb Fleet into an unknown dimension or the Warp.

The Necrons could not escape the Warp quickly. They might become permanently lost within that chaotic dimension.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

A short while later, the Triarch Praetorian Tomb Fleet skipped out of the deep-space realm like stones bouncing across water and reappeared in galactic realspace.

“We need to find another route. Perhaps we can use a Dolmen Gate to force our way into the Old Ones’ transit network.”

The Infinite Empire possessed two methods of ultra-fast interstellar travel.

The first involved using inertialess drives to cross the deep-space realm, as they had just attempted.

The second was a portal-to-portal technology. By forcibly opening a Dolmen Gate, the Necrons could invade and travel through the Old Ones’ Webway.

It was an unauthorized method of transit, essentially allowing the Necrons to sneak illegal vessels through the Webway.

The Old Ones had long since vanished, however, so the Necrons no longer needed to be discreet. They could use the routes however they pleased.

As the Praetorian commander considered his options, another thought suddenly surfaced within his data-logic core.

“Does this system have no star? Why is everything pitch-black?”

He soon discovered the reason.

Human fleet groups filled the void beyond the observation dome, forming a tight encirclement around the Tomb Fleet.

They had fallen into a trap set by those despicable humans!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The instant the Tomb Ship’s sensor arrays transmitted an alarm, the human fleets opened fire.

Lance beams, plasma bolts, torpedoes, and countless other weapons erupted simultaneously, illuminating the darkness of space.

“Execute withdrawal protocols! Leave this high-risk region at maximum speed!”

The Praetorian commander made the decision immediately.

The human fleet’s numerical strength exceeded anything his own forces could withstand. Retreat was the only sensible option.

As long as they moved quickly enough, the Tomb Ships’ shields could endure until they escaped the human encirclement.

That was the Necrons’ technological advantage. Even when surrounded, they could still withdraw safely.

Without the Stormlord’s fleets supporting them, humanity could never contend with an elite Necron fleet.

Then a pulsing wave erupted from the human armada.

The wave swept across the Tomb Ships, temporarily scrambling their inertialess drives.

“Damn them! How many of our advanced technologies have these humans stolen and mastered?”

The Praetorian commander’s thoughts nearly ground to a halt.

He suddenly realized that the Necrons had never seriously investigated the human Imperium.

Their arrogance and contempt had been absolute. To them, these younger species of flesh had never been worth considering.

How could an ape-descended species that had existed for only a few hundred thousand years threaten an ancient civilization tens of millions of years old?

Yet the threat was now directly before them.

Humanity possessed an overwhelming numerical advantage. If the Tomb Fleet could not even open enough distance to maneuver, how could it possibly continue fighting?

The commander struggled to coordinate his ships and intercept the incoming attacks.

The bombardment was too heavily saturated. It soon broke through the Necron shield line and began damaging the Tomb Ships one after another.

Their formation was on the verge of collapse.

At the same time, the Praetorian commander noticed something approaching the observation dome.

What?

The emerald flames in his eyes contracted sharply.

According to the scans, the incoming object appeared to be a humanoid lifeform!

“Ha! I intercepted one of the Silent King’s Praetorian fleets. We caught ourselves a big one!”

At that moment, Rogal Dorn was reporting the battle to a visibly exhausted and faintly jealous Guilliman.

Dorn was exceptionally excited.

“Eden kept ordering us to preserve our strength. Now we can finally stop holding back!”

Throughout the Reclamation Crusade fleet’s two-year advance into the Silent Zone, humanity had constantly restrained its power.

The Imperial fleets had obediently supported the Stormlord without deploying a single piece of their latest equipment.

Their restraint had been extraordinary.

Some unfortunate fleets assigned to the perimeter had not seen so much as the shadow of a xenos vessel throughout the entire campaign.

They had spent the whole war resting and recuperating.

Now, however, everything had changed.

The Imperium had achieved its strategic objectives.

Not only had it driven the Silent King and the Stormlord into an all-consuming civil war, it had also secured valuable time for the Holy Soul Cult to operate behind enemy lines.

Moreover, the Silent King had become desperate enough to send forces toward Imperial territory.

Humanity could no longer afford to hold back. It had to use its full strength to stop the Necron counterattack!

“Understood.”

Guilliman’s holographic image appeared exhausted. The moment he received Dorn’s report, he terminated the connection.

He had no interest in watching another tedious boarding action.

They were all shameless show-offs.

Not long ago, Vulkan had smashed an enemy flagship’s engines apart with a single blow from his hammer, while the Lion had hunted down a xenos Phaeron.

The other Primarchs had all achieved victories of their own.

Meanwhile, the Lord of Ultramar had devoted all his energy to command and strategic deployments, intercepting and defending against every possible threat.

If even one Triarch Praetorian fleet escaped his net, or if he made a single mistake, the consequences would be unthinkable.

Fortunately, the moles Eden had planted within the Silent King’s armies had transmitted critical intelligence, allowing the interception operations to proceed with remarkable success.

“Roboute must be jealous of us,” Rogal Dorn thought.

The blood of battle flowed through every Primarch. It was difficult to resist a war of this scale, especially one filled with mass boarding assaults.

Boarding an enemy ship while holding the advantage was exhilarating beyond measure.

Fighting under Eden was simply satisfying.

Dorn used his helmet optics to lock onto the enemy command vessel. He had already closed most of the distance.

The jump pack mounted on his armor suddenly erupted, propelling him toward the Tomb Ship’s observation dome at even greater speed.

After absorbing technology from the T’au Empire and the Necrons, the Imperium had developed powered armor specifically designed for combat in space.

It could minimize inertial drag during movement, allowing Imperial boarding forces to achieve astonishing assault speeds.

Hundreds of heavily armed Imperial Fists followed Dorn.

Their armor was exceptionally massive and thick. One glance was enough to tell that its defensive capabilities had been pushed to the limit.

The Imperial Fists followed their gene-father into a boarding assault against the Necrons.

As for defending their own fleet?

The Imperial armada had completely surrounded the xenos fleet and was bombarding it from every direction. At this point, humanity was practically shitting on the enemy’s head.

What was left to defend?

They had to board the xenos vessels immediately and prevent the enemy’s central commanders from escaping through their repair protocols.

The command Tomb Ship’s observation dome.

“Intercept them!”

The Praetorian commander ordered his forces to stop the heavily armored human assault force.

The human boarders had somehow crossed the range of the ship’s primary weapons and closed to point-blank distance.

Only the dome’s point-defense weapons and attack craft could stop them now.

Gauss beams and gravitic pulses struck the field barriers projected from the humans’ shields.

A formation of Night Scythes moved to intercept, but the human assault force smashed through it.

The Necrons no longer had time to organize another defensive line.

These genetically engineered human warriors were unlike any humans they had previously encountered.

Within the Praetorian commander’s vision, the golden-shielded human figure grew steadily larger.

He looked overwhelmingly powerful.

Boom!

Rogal Dorn braced the Shield of True Unity before him and slammed into the Tomb Ship’s observation dome.

The resulting field impact destroyed the dome’s structure and the layer of living metal covering it.

Dorn crashed through the breach and struck the bridge floor.

One heavily armored Imperial Fist after another landed behind him and immediately formed ranks.

Crackle!

The Primarch and his gene-sons carried shields in one hand and heavy mauls in the other. Pulses of energy flashed across the weapons’ surfaces.

Every weapon had been designed specifically to combat the Necrons.

“Xenos, lay down your weapons and submit to judgment!” Dorn’s deep voice thundered.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

He led the Imperial Fists forward through a storm of gauss fire and disintegration beams.

They advanced in silence, their heavy footsteps echoing throughout the bridge.

“Bzzzt… Impossible!”

The Praetorian commander involuntarily took a step back.

The dark mass of shield-bearing human warriors closing in on him placed both the commander and his elite Royal Wardens under tremendous pressure.

Nothing like this had ever happened before.

Humans were not supposed to be capable of withstanding their weapons!

Thump! Thump! Thump!

The Imperial Fists hurled a volley of specialized physical grenades.

When the grenades landed, they released dense clouds of smoke filled with crackling electrical arcs.

The grenades had been designed to interfere with directed-energy weapons.

The elite Royal Wardens’ ranged attacks weakened dramatically. The pulsing electricity within the smoke also disrupted their sensory components.

“Die, xenos!”

Before the Necrons could react, Dorn and his Imperial Fists charged.

Their massive pulse mauls came crashing down without mercy.

They blocked the Necrons’ phase blades with their shields, then brutally beat the hated xenos with their mauls.

The Praetorian commander suffered an even worse fate.

A capture net was launched over him, after which a group of elite Imperial Fists surrounded him and delivered a merciless beating.

His screams echoed through the bridge.

The Imperium’s current tactics were simple and brutally practical.

Even so, they were considerably more sophisticated than its previous strategy of charging en masse. At least these warriors now used specialized technology and tactics designed to counter their enemies.

Dorn’s boarding assault succeeded, and the xenos fleet’s central commander was captured.

The Imperial fleet also destroyed most of the encircled Triarch Praetorian Tomb Ships. Only a small number escaped through their repair protocols.

The interception plan had succeeded.

One potential threat had been eliminated.

At the same time, Imperial operations against the other Triarch Praetorian fleets were already underway. Fierce battles erupted across numerous regions along the outer perimeter.

The Webway.

A Triarch Praetorian fleet group that had used Dolmen Gates to invade the Webway was trapped amid a raging battle.

Wave after wave of Ork fleets attacked it, while vast defensive networks bombarded the Necron ships.

Then humanity’s elite forces arrived, and their attacks were even more ferocious.

“Damn these human vermin! How could they have deployed so many forces inside the Old Ones’ transit network?”

The high-ranking Necron noble commanding the Praetorian fleet was stunned.

Even during the War in Heaven, these transit routes had not been this dangerous!

He looked along the towering walls of the Webway.

Nearly every region within sight had been filled with human anti-ship weapons platforms, which constantly drained the Tomb Ships’ shields.

This was humanity’s true advantage.

Its sheer scale was immense. When properly organized, the human species could unleash nearly limitless productive power.

Across the Webway battlefield, the Orks crawled through every available opening like ants, inflicting tremendous damage upon the Tomb Ships.

Yet humanity’s elite forces remained the greatest threat to the Triarch Praetorians.

Their attack craft were extremely fast and equipped with advanced technological weapons capable of inflicting severe damage upon Necron vessels.

“Stop those xenos! No unauthorized vessel escapes the Ministry of Transportation!”

The patrol commander, an officer of the Adeptus Custodes, eagerly ordered his combat craft to charge.

The Webway was one of the Imperium’s most important strategic assets. Its security was directly connected to the safety of the Imperial capital.

They dared operate illegal vessels inside the Webway?

Not a chance!

The Custodian patrol forces of the Ministry of Transportation were among the Imperium’s most elite military units. They were in no way inferior to any other Imperial force.

In fact, the Webway Patrol ranked among the three strongest formations in the Imperium.

This was an old Imperial tradition.

The forces deployed within the Webway had always been among the very best.

How else could they stop all the monsters and madmen who tried to break into it?

White Scars speeding through the tunnels, Dread Warriors, and even Greater Daemons entering without authorization all reacted to the patrol forces like mice confronted by a cat.

Some especially unfortunate Greater Daemons were captured and sentenced to stand at major traffic junctions holding warning signs.

They served as examples to passing vessels, pedestrians, and potential invaders.

Everyone had to obey the Ministry of Transportation’s regulations.

Even daemons had to stop at traffic signals and follow the rules!

This Triarch Praetorian fleet had been a small raiding force. By choosing to invade one of the Webway’s principal thoroughfares on its journey toward human territory, it had selected the worst possible target.

The defensive arrays and military forces stationed in these regions were far stronger than those deployed throughout most of the Imperium.

The Triarch Praetorian fleet group was soon destroyed.

Its unfortunate Necron commander was captured and sent to a major traffic hub, where he was sentenced to stand holding a warning sign for one hundred years.

“This is an outrage!

“This punishment is entirely without honor! You cannot treat a noble Necron in this manner!”

The captive noble loudly protested the Imperium’s disrespectful behavior.

He stood within a restraining field with a warning sign held above him, exposed to the gaze of every fleet that passed through the traffic hub.

His pride had suffered a devastating blow.

“Stand properly and stop complaining!” the Custodian patrol commander barked. “Even if the Silent King himself came here, he would still have to obey the laws established by His Majesty the Savior!”

The former Custodes did not care who anyone claimed to be.

The Savior had issued these laws, so anyone who violated them would stand there and accept punishment.

“This humiliation is unforgivable! You will suffer the vengeance of the great Szarekh!”

The Necron noble desperately wished he could lose consciousness.

The warning sign listed his identity and every traffic regulation he had violated.

It even identified him as an official serving under the Silent King and included a special condemnation issued in the Savior’s name.

Images of his punishment were distributed throughout numerous regions.

The Necron noble nearly wept.

He would rather have been destroyed and forced to enter his repair protocols than endure such humiliation!

But he could not escape the restraints.

Given the military strength deployed in this region, only a much larger force of the Silent King’s central elite troops could rescue him.

Anything less would fail.

…

The Void Fortress.

Imperial Command.

“We have secured several advantages in this total war.”

Guilliman had just finished speaking with the Savior and was in a relatively good mood.

The operations to intercept the xenos raiding forces had progressed smoothly. One threat after another had been eliminated, and Imperial casualties remained within acceptable limits.

The Silent King had severely underestimated humanity.

He had dispatched a handful of fleets and believed that would be enough to force the Imperium to withdraw.

That was impossible.

Eden, who was currently conquering territory behind the Necron lines, was extremely pleased with the results. He had nevertheless ordered Guilliman and the other commanders to remain vigilant.

Not a single Imperial world could be allowed to burn.

Then an emergency intelligence report arrived.

Guilliman’s relaxed expression immediately vanished, and his brow furrowed.

One Triarch Praetorian fleet group had escaped the Imperial interception forces.

It had already reached one of the Imperium’s most important regions.

The industrial world of Voss!

(End of Chapter)

“Zaelum”]