Infinite Metaverse

The forge world of Adamantua, orbital space.

"There's no way that's the moon!"

The chief navigator stretched himself up and looked at the holographic projection on the strategy platform, and said with disbelief:

"It is too close to this planet. Look, it is so close to the disturbance ring in near space. Its gravitational effect will split the Adamantua forge world into two!"

Almost as soon as the mortal captain of the Imperial Fist Fleet finished his last words, a giant celestial body suddenly appeared on the screens of all auspicious devices and sensors, and everyone in the naval fleet's flagship bridge looked up.

On the main screen of the bridge, the shadow caused by the signal interference dissipated, and a planet suddenly appeared next to the planet. It is smaller in size, like a conjoined twin baby next to a larger planet, or like a swollen cancer extending from this world. Evil, yet weird.

"I didn't understand what I was seeing."

Hess murmured, staring at the moon.

"If a planet suddenly appeared so close to this world, it would have a concentrated and significant impact - the Adamantua Forge World might change its orbit, or even hit it directly! The basic physical laws of the universe The moon or other satellites will never be allowed to be so close to the planets, and such celestial bodies will not appear..."

the navigator said incoherently.

"I've seen demons before, and they were very close to me, so don't tell me about the basic physical laws of the universe!"

Hess turned and cursed.

A question hangs over everyone's heads: Why does a moon with huge gravity and radiation suddenly appear next to the forge world of Adamantua?

The voyage logs and scan data from the Antorax have been transmitted to the cogitator terminal on the bridge, and the technical crew is busy analyzing them. But analyzing these huge and complex data is of no help to the current situation - the "moon" has already appeared in front of the fleet!

"No matter what, get ready to fight!"

the Admiral said with a roar.

In the shadows of Forge World's orbital space, things are changing, and the gravity storms that are turning the planet's atmosphere into a mess are intensifying, then spreading outward.

The scales on all the sensor screens and auspicious arrays on the bridge turned into a red area, then deep red, and finally an unscaled white border. The dial cracked and the copper frame splintered away. The sensor slaves screamed, and the cable connectors inserted into their skin were torn off, splattering blood and amniotic fluid, and swaying like ears of wheat in a strong wind. The main strategy station flickered, then shut down in a data stream crash. The Admiral rolled out of his seat.

The change in cosmic gravity was so rapid and violent that the boiling storm surrounding the planet transformed into something completely different in twenty to thirty seconds. All the technical crew members on the bridge were instantly injured, their eyeballs burst and they were blind, and most of the ranging and scanning instruments were scrapped.

Gravity is expanding and pressure is rising dramatically.

"Shield! Shield!"

shouted the Lord Admiral, lying on the ground.

Although the experienced deck crew has activated the flagship's void shield generator, he still hopes that fleet commanders approaching the edge of space will be more alert at critical moments, activate emergency evasive strategies, and use the highest speed that the real universe can carry Evacuate from orbital space.

He turned to his officers and shouted:

"Restart all the detection instruments and supplement the data. I don't care if you hold hands and act as human connectors to reconnect the power coupler!"

They hurriedly obeyed his orders, even though hope of recovery seemed slim. Thin sparks flickered, and cut and burned cables hung from the bridge's ceiling. Several consoles were on fire, and two large monitors also caught fire from the explosion. Damage control teams rushed to extinguish the fire and tow away crew members who were injured by glass splashes and flames.

It was repaired through the unremitting efforts of the damage control team.

The main console finally had half of its power restored.

The alarm sounded again, and the bridge was covered in red light. The screen automatically enlarged the detected image: hundreds of missile-like objects launched from the moon.

The Admiral's breath hitched.

It senses that the slave workers have fallen to the ground in rows.

But he didn't need a report to recognize:

That's a spaceship, that's a battleship!

Countless warships, large and small, made of various broken metals, rushed out of the cracks in the moon and formed an attack formation to attack his fleet.

There is no need to see the enemy's face; an experienced admiral already knows who the enemy is. There is no unified model and specification, both practical and crude style...

"Orcs...orc battleships!"

One of the technical crew members shouted heartbreakingly.

"Artillery ready! Artillery ready!"

The Lord Admiral climbed to his feet and shouted:

"Load all weapons! Now!"

They are trying their best to survive.

But they are also waiting for death.

The bridge became a chaotic place, with alarms ringing constantly. Most were damage notifications from other decks, and some were alarms triggered by the approach of Ork fighters. The air was filled with choking smoke from the combustion, and the crew rushed in all directions, trying to transfer data or frantically trying to repair the collapsed bridge control system.

Now, the strategy table works again. From there, the Admiral could see his own fleet appearing as several curved green lines, embedded in the orbital space of the forge world of Adamantua like an outstretched claw. He also saw his enemies, densely packed red danger icons pouring out from the moon like an avalanche.

In terms of quantity, each naval warship needs to face thirty or even forty orc enemy ships. It didn't take a bridge officer with years of training at the Imperial Naval Strategic School to know how this was going to end.

"There is absolutely no chance of winning."

Hess climbed out of the corner in embarrassment:

"Retreat. It's obvious that we must retreat."

The admiral shook his head and said:

"There is no time, my lord. They will kill us long before we teleport."

"What should we do?"

an aide next to Hess asked in horror.

"Tell the Imperial Senate and the High Lords Council to report the situation we know as completely as possible and send it out through the Astropath as soon as possible. I will try to delay the time, but it won't be long, we can only Do your best to take away as many enemies as possible, this is the last resort.”

said the Admiral, drawing his saber.

Hess raised his hand and saluted him.

The Admiral returned the favor.

"Auto loading completed!"

News came from the artillery officer.

"Secondary artillery group free fire."

The admiral ordered:

"Kill these green beasts!"

A pre-numbered sequence of fire was then activated.

The main gun group and spine gun group of the naval fleet's forward formation opened fire, and the recoil made the superstructures of these giant ships groan. A beam of light shot out from the ship's spine, followed by a slower-moving cluster of macrocannon shells and torpedoes.

A green-skinned warship exploded into a ball of light in the interlacing beams of light, like a miniature star about to go supernova. The second ship was torn apart, its mechanical guts ejected, fuel, gas, and flames sprayed across space, and it continued to tumble due to the loss of inertial stability.

The human empire's space battleships are far superior to these crudely built orc battleships in terms of firepower and protection, but the opponent's numbers have an absolute advantage. A frigate on the port side of the flagship was engulfed in gunfire, and a cruiser on the starboard side of the flagship was surrounded and filled with Ork landing craft.

The orcs' gang members swarmed in.

Naval fleets began to fall one after another.

"Call the entire Astropath Chorus."

Hess shouted as he walked quickly.

Attendants around him ran around delivering orders.

In the few seconds they were talking, the entire left wing group of the naval fleet was completely overwhelmed by the intensive artillery fire from the orcs and the hordes of gang-hopping troops.

They could see clearly from the porthole.

Several people stood speechless for a moment.

"us……"

The adjutant swallowed hard and said:

"We've defeated them countless times, sir."

"What?"

Hess asked blankly, standing behind the porthole.

"Orks, sir. We've always defeated them before, even in Ullanor..."

The adjutant looked up at Hess and said.

"At that time, the Emperor still walked among us."

Hess replied gloomily:

"And the damn Primarchs. It was a different time, the time of the gods. We stopped them, but they became stronger again, stronger than ever. And we Weakened, the Emperor is gone, and so are his favored sons."

Hess scratched his scalp with his fingers and lamented:

"But the Greenskins... Throne! They are only six weeks sailing from Terra! No warning, no warning at all! The Orks have never been so close to the Core World! They have technology we have never seen before, not even In the old Ullanor... Gravity manipulation! Space tunnels! Or a whole fucking planet! They almost killed the best Space Marines in one fight. Battle group!"

"The Emperor's blessing."

In the end, his adjutant could only say this.

This prayer seemed bitter and sad at the moment.

"He used to."

Hess put his hands on the porthole and said:

"But today we are the only ones left."

…………

Terra, the Royal Palace.

“The message must be concise and to the point.”

The video is playing in the dark room.

The resolution of this clip is not very high, and there is a lot of distortion. It must have been transmitted and encoded by the Astropaths with all their strength. The face of Hess, the commander-in-chief of the Imperial Guard, can only be barely recognized. There were others around him, although their figures were very blurry, and what looked like the bridge of a battleship behind them was a constant noise and shaking in the video.

"The Ork's 'Battle Moon' I have described has enormous war potential and potentially unlimited energy. Given that we are no longer able to survive a firefight with the Orks, Admiral Kieran, this is something I greatly appreciate. The famous general is determined to lead the ship closer. We tried to destroy the battle moon with a salvo of main guns, but the result was to no avail. It was protected by armor and a shield. It may be some form of gravity field shield. It used rough But the effective giant rock bombards us. The scan results show that the battle moon is partially hollow, and inside it, it has a huge mouth through which endless reinforcements and battleships can be sent. It is initially speculated that it is a subspace portal. "

On the screen, the high lord struggled to raise his head as the battleship Hess was on shook violently. The screen flickered briefly, then resumed.

"With limited time and limited resources, we attempted to translate the broadcasts sent out by the Battle Moon. The biosage Laurentiis, who I recommend without reservation, devised some reliable translation methods. All intercepted from the Ork warship Transmissions and Sage Laurentian's notes and deciphered codes were transmitted with this message. We presume that the Orks refer to the warp portal as the 'Waaagh Gate', and their war boss' self-portrait is hardly a simple one. The exact wording. Depending on the details, it seems to be called 'The Beast' or 'The Killing', or 'The Lord Who's About to Cause a Massacre'. I don't think it matters, his intention is obvious and..."

The image is blanked again.

This time it took longer to get back to normal.

"There's almost no time."

Hess said when he reappeared.

He was cut by something, which seemed to be flying glass shards. He looked directly into the camera lens:

"Study the files I sent, study the damn data. In order to protect Holy Terra, you need to understand, you must be prepared. The Imperial Fists are finished, they wiped them out, an entire chapter. We will too. Die here, unless you are prepared, otherwise..."

The screen goes blank.

"This concludes the report, my lord."

an assistant whispered.

Lan Song nodded.

He sat on the sofa and thought for a long time.

"Send a message directly to Lord Udo and tell him that a major emergency has occurred. We need to call all the high lords for a meeting immediately. Go now!"

Lan Song ordered in a deep voice.

"Yes, my lord. Summon the entire Senate?"

The assistant looked up and asked.

"No." Lan Song shook his head and said, "Only the high lords, only twelve people, no others."

…

Terra, the headquarters of the Inquisition.

“The message must be concise and to the point.”

The blurry image of Hess said:

"Study the files I sent, study the damn data. In order to protect Holy Terra, you need to understand, you must be prepared. The Imperial Fists are finished, they wiped them out, an entire chapter. We will too. Die here, unless you are prepared, otherwise..."

The screen goes blank.

"Turn on the lights."

Wienander spoke.

The representative of the Inquisition stood up from her seat, the lights in the room gradually increased, the screen gradually dimmed, and behind her was a group of silent Inquisitors.

"This is the latest intercepted message."

Wienander turned to look at everyone and said:

"It was transmitted directly to Admiralty Headquarters, via a secure beacon, but thanks to our friends in the Imperial Guard's transmission department who extracted a copy of the data for us. Over the next hour, Lanson will have this footage, or at least The key parts of the video were shown to the twelve high lords. "

The representative of the Inquisition paused as he spoke.

Facing her colleagues, she said seriously:

“I think three things are self-evident. One, we must act now and without hesitation, this crisis is as serious as we feared and predicted. Second, the public must not be informed of the Empire’s The destruction of the Fist is an important morale issue. Third, we must raise our game. There is no subtlety anymore. We know who is coming better than any other force, including the Imperial Navy. We did not share this knowledge with the Twelve High Lords because we knew that Lanzon's power group could not guide us in the right direction and adopt appropriate strategies. Traditional and rigid military doctrine was constraining us and delaying our ability to respond. From now on we must define our strategy, we must be a source of power during and after this crisis, otherwise the Empire will not survive."

“What about those who disagree?”

one of the inquisitors asked, raising his hand.

"This is an unprecedented crisis and no one can stand in the way of our plan of action this time."

Wienand looked at the person who asked the question and replied:

"After their term ends, they need to be controlled, or they need to be silenced."

…

Terra, headquarters of the Court of Assassins.

“What about those who disagree?”

one of the inquisitors asked, raising his hand.

"This is an unprecedented crisis and no one can stand in the way of our plan of action this time."

Wienander looked at the person who asked the question and replied:

"After their term ends, they need to be controlled, or they need to be silenced."

"Kacha."

Grand Master of the Assassin's Court Wangerich pressed the remote control. In the center of the screen in front of him, the image of the Inquisition representative Wienand giving a speech in the private suite stopped.

Wangerich sat back in his chair, put down the data tablet and remote control in his hands, and crossed his fingers under his chin. This was his habitual action when he was lost in thought.

"The beast has risen."

The Grand Master of the Assassin's Court said to himself:

"But... who will make him fall?"

…………