Warhammer [492-493] (Patreon)

Chapter 492: A Fierce Battle with the Xeno Fleet

The xenos that threaten the Imperium are not limited to the green-skinned orks; they are but one of humanity's disasters. Besides these greenskin monsters, there are other alien lifeforms invading the Imperium. On one world, for example, Rhodes's armies encountered a kind of beetle-man.

They stood between 2.5 and 3 meters tall, their bodies sheathed in thick exoskeletons. Their physical prowess was extraordinarily strong—comparable to that of the original Space Marines. Their hardened chitin could even withstand the fire of bolters; ordinary las-weapons were virtually useless against them. These terrifying aliens were invading three Imperial worlds.

By the time Rhodes's Unyielding Crusade Fleet arrived, the local garrisons were locked in bitter combat. They had sent pleas for help to the Imperium years ago, but due to the Imperium's abysmal communications, even now their cries had not been received.

"Lord Rhodes, these wicked xenos look like savage insects, yet they've developed something akin to a fleet," Titus said.

He had served in the Deathwatch for many years and had never seen such a peculiar lifeform. In terms of individual combat capability, they were no weaker than original Space Marines, and their chitinous shells could offer protection comparable to power armor. They made him think of one of the Imperium's old foes—the Tyranids—but these beetle-men possessed only a few black colossal warships.

Compared with the Tyranids' diverse bioforms, their terrifying hive ships, and their gargantuan bioships, these beetle-men were vastly inferior.

"You should count yourself lucky, Titus—lucky that we encountered them first and not the Tyranids," Rhodes said from the ship's command deck.

These beetle-men had tremendous innate physical strength, and their exoskeletons could shrug off human bolters. 

How monstrous was that?

Fortunately, his army had arrived in time; otherwise the garrison on the planet would already have been annihilated.

If such creatures fell into the Tyranids' clutches, their chitin would be exactly what the bugs favored most. Once that hard carapace was incorporated into Tyranid strains, then aside from our Pedanium-based weaponry and melta weapons, other artillery and lasguns would be little more than a tickle.

"Damn these xenos—Primarch, we should destroy them quickly," Tyberos said.

By the Forty-Second Millennium the Imperium would deal with some xenos, having revised its strictly human-supremacist doctrine. Certain sapient species, provided they were peace-loving and posed no threat to humanity's homeworlds, could coexist with humans.

But these ferocious beetle-men were clearly not among them, for these vicious creatures had even begun to devour the corpses of the human soldiers they defeated.

How cruel and evil is that? Humanity has roamed the galaxy for so many years and has encountered countless strange species, yet cannibalistic ones are few—the Tyranids, and now these xenos before them!

"Of course we'll exterminate them. We cannot allow the Tyranids to obtain their biological DNA. Send out the fleet to annihilate them—but let a few escape. We'll track them to their homeworld," Rhodes said.

These beetle-men were far too easy for the Tyranids to absorb genetically, so every precaution had to be taken.

With the exception of humans and the Necrons, virtually all other species could not perform true faster-than-light travel. Travel across the void required the Warp, and humanity were masters at plying the Warp—after all, humans are a psychic species.

"I understand! Genefather, I'll have all battle-brothers prepare to attack and completely eliminate these vile xenos," said Avares, another of Rhodes's deputy legion commanders.

"Fight with composure. I'll be watching you from the ship. Remember: exterminating xenos is your secondary objective; safeguarding your own lives and your brothers' lives is the first principle," Rhodes said.

"Thank you for your care, Genefather!" The legion commanders bowed to Rhodes, then departed together to deploy the forces and prepare for a planetary assault.

This time, aside from the Cadian deputy legion commander, Castellan Creed, Rhodes had brought practically all his other deputy legion commanders.

Former Space Sharks Chapter Master Tyberos had followed Rhodes for many years and rendered great service. Rhodes had granted him super-beast augmentation and bestowed upon him a mass-produced small Zoiger. He also elevated him to deputy legion commander, putting him in command of a 100,000-strong Space Marine force.

Countless massive drop pods were launched from Rhodes's flagship. The accompanying Gloriana–class warships also deployed large numbers of Space Marine drop pods.

At the same time, innumerable Imperial destroyers, battle barges, and cruisers formed up, training their Pedanium beam cannons on the enemy vessels.

On this expedition, some Imperial battle barges and cruisers had been equipped with Rhodes's Pedanium beam weaponry. Its power was no less than that of lances, with an astonishing reload speed—far superior to macro-cannons.

Boom! 

Boom!

Imperial ships opened fire first on the beetle-men's fleet. In addition to Pedanium beam cannons there were lance weapons and macro-cannons from smaller escorts.

The beetle-men's battleships could not compare with Imperial battle barges in defensive capability. Although they could travel in the Warp, it was mostly shallow blind jumps, with not even the most basic plotted routes. Their Gellar fields were rudimentary at best, and they had nothing like void shields. Once hit, their ships erupted in violent explosions. They quickly turned their guns and launched acidic bio-cannon bombs.

But their bio-bombs were immediately blocked by Imperial void shields, the impacts bled off into the Warp.

To destroy an Imperial ship, you had to completely overload or disable its void shield arrays; otherwise you would never land a hit.

Of course, you could attempt a boarding action, but it was obvious these beetle-men lacked advanced psychic teleportation or technological phase teleporters. They merely sent small bioships charging at Rhodes's fleet, and these isolated landing craft were reduced to cosmic dust in moments under Imperial fire.

Under Rhodes's command, the Imperial fleet displayed overwhelming superiority.

Though the beetle-men's fleet was vast, they were far behind the Imperium in technology and tactics. Their bioships, while sturdy, were blasted to cinders one after another by the Imperium's advanced Pedanium beams and lances.

Imperial cruisers and battle barges, under Rhodes's direction, slowly encircled the enemy, forming a tight web of fire. Any beetle-men vessel that tried to approach was mercilessly destroyed.

The beetle-men's acidic bio-bombs, despite their corrosiveness, were useless against Imperial void shields; all their attacks were effectively vented into the Warp.

Now, some of the Imperium's main battleships were not only fitted with void shields but also with Rhodes's energy shields—double insurance. Those energy shields hadn't even been activated yet.

"Lord Rhodes, ninety percent of the enemy fleet has been destroyed. Only remnants remain," reported the Imperial Navy commander overseeing the fleet action.

It was a great victory. The new Primarch had brought the Imperium a monumental triumph, and these mortals were honored to have joined this great war.

"Order the fleets to continue destroying the enemy—but let one ship escape. We'll use it to track their homeworld and wipe these hateful xenos out completely," Rhodes said.

"By your command, great Warmaster of the Imperium! Your order is our will."

…

Meanwhile, Rhodes's Space Marines landed successfully on the beetle-men–controlled planet via drop pods. Outfitted with the most advanced weapons and armor, they displayed incomparable combat strength against the enemy ground forces. Though the beetle-men's chitinous carapace was tough, it afforded insufficient protection against melta weapons and Pedanium munitions, and they were blasted to pieces.

The fighting on the planet's surface was fierce. The Space Marines advanced like a tide of steel, and the beetle-men's resistance gradually collapsed under the onslaught.

"For the great Genefather—fight, warriors!" Titus enlarged himself into a 60-meter-tall giant, brandished his power sword, charged into the throng of beetle-men, and began his slaughter.

"Carry out Lord Rhodes's will—exterminate these damned xenos," Tyberos roared, cleaving a beetle-man in half with his massive power axe.

The battle on the planet became one-sided. As large numbers of Imperial troops made planetfall, the outcome was no longer in doubt. The beetle-men began to rout.

From the ship's command deck, Rhodes monitored every development on the battlefield closely. Under his command, the Imperial forces ran like a well-oiled machine, every order executed with precision.

At Rhodes's order, a lone beetle-men ship fled in disarray. Pursuing it, a small Pedan craft flown by several of Rhodes's gene-sons tucked in close behind.

These warriors would locate the beetle-men's homeworld and transmit the coordinates to Rhodes's fleet to ensure these xenos were utterly exterminated.

Chapter 493: Exterminatus; Clash with the Tyranids Again

The planet's mortal garrison was saved. Overjoyed, they embraced one another, cheering for this hard-won victory and their unlikely survival.

The Imperium's ordinary mortal regiments are the most tragic lot—fighting on the front lines, ready at any moment to die for the Imperium. But at the moment of death, do they truly return to the Golden Throne? Who remembers them?

 Rhodes's appearance saved them, sparing these mortal soldiers from dying miserably on this world and being devoured by those loathsome beetle-men.

After successfully taking the planet, Rhodes, as per his usual practice, first purged the world of evil elements. Once he ensured the planet's safety, he led the grand fleet away.

This time he did not take the mortal troops who had fought here with him. Instead, he gave them a very special order: from this day forward, they would formally leave Imperial service, take wives and raise children on this world, and become its guardians.

Upon receiving this news, countless mortal soldiers cheered, for it was unimaginable—something they could never have dreamed of when they enlisted.

Rhodes did not fold them into his grand crusade because he did not currently lack mortal auxiliaries. More importantly, this world had been ravaged by war and needed people, and he had no way to transfer a new wave of settlers from elsewhere for the time being, so he simply had these troops remain.

Besides serving as residents, they had combat experience and could function as a planetary defense force—a win-win.

…

A few days later Rhodes received two messages. The first confirmed the beetle-men's homeworld. Reports described it as a revolting world—everywhere foul, filthy, and wicked xeno constructs.

The second was that the scouting team had found a Tyranid hive fleet which, in a few days, would almost certainly arrive at the same time as Rhodes's fleet.

This was not good news for Rhodes. He wanted to eliminate the beetle-men quickly to prevent their genes from falling into Tyranid hands.

The Tyranids' basic strains were currently being crushed by the Imperium's basic infantry because of the super-soldier serum Rhodes had introduced. Mortal soldiers had reached the level of the original Space Marines. Ordinary Termagants—and even Tyranid Warriors—could be killed by mortal auxiliaries.

Only Lictors and Hive Tyrants and the like required the Astartes to handle—or, with scores of times more mortal troops, they could be buried by sheer weight of lives.

Thus, any Tyranid enhancement, no matter how small, was bad news for the Imperium and for Rhodes personally.

These bugs are simply too good at exploiting genes. Rhodes had only dispatched biobeasts to fight them a few times, and the Red King's gene had already been taken.

So he was extremely wary. He absolutely could not allow them to obtain useful resources. By absorbing biomass, the Tyranids could spawn evolutions that favored their conquests.

The Tyranids—the first opponent Rhodes faced after he crossed into this universe—were about to clash with him again.

But a problem lay before him. If they proceeded by ordinary Warp transit, they would arrive almost simultaneously with the Tyranid fleet. Battle would be inevitable, but the beetle-men on that world would also inevitably fall to the Tyranids, for as long as even one sample of their genes leaked, the Tyranids would obtain that special genome.

Rhodes had to alter the plan. He must enact Exterminatus on the beetle-men before the Tyranids could reach them.

"Transmit my order: all fleets are to proceed along the planned route. My flagship will engage its superluminal drive and jump to the target system," Rhodes said.

To prevent the Tyranids from acquiring the beetle-men's genome, his force had to get there first and eliminate them.

The only option before him was to act alone. Fortunately, his flagship was large enough to carry hundreds of thousands of troops. It wasn't a problem to destroy the beetle-men.

Rhodes considered going even more aggressive—dispatching the Angel Zog or Tartarus and having them level the planet with their ultimate abilities.

"Warmaster, I cannot agree to this plan. It's too dangerous. How can you risk yourself alone?" a mortal Navy commander protested.

If Exterminatus had to be carried out with a vanguard, then they, the Imperial Navy, should be the ones leading the charge. How could the Primarch be at the tip of the spear?

"If I don't stand at the front, who will? I'm a Primarch. I'm responsible for you. I must lead you.

"And only my ship has a superluminal drive; yours do not," Rhodes replied.

"Lord Rhodes, please put your safety first. You are the Imperium's Warmaster, the commander of this crusade. It's only a Tyranid swarm—we'll hurry over at best speed, annihilate those hateful xenos, and then fight the Tyranids," several Imperial admirals said.

"Warmaster, let us charge in your stead!" the admirals said almost in unison.

"Rhodes—we could have Tartarus open a giant portal and move part of the fleet through," Elena said at his side.

She spoke using an encrypted method—ordinary mortals could not hear it. It was a special means of communication among bearers of cosmic beast.

Tartarus's abilities were no secret in the Imperium. His teleportation was too useful—the fastest way to travel in the universe, faster than any other method.

Rhodes fell silent, pondering. Tartarus's power was indeed convenient, but it had only been revealed to the Emperor and the Primarchs; ordinary people did not know about it. Still, this expedition would be with him for decades—perhaps a century or more. He felt he should place some trust in them. In emergencies to come, he might need to employ Tartarus's abilities more than once.

"I understand. Your loyalty is exemplary. At this critical moment, you dare to stand and fight for the Imperium.

"So be it—I'll grant your request. I will use a special means to take you directly to the target system, but it can only bring ten ships at a time," Rhodes said.

The fleet was vast; transporting all of it was impossible. Rhodes would bring only ten ships; the rest would follow at flank speed.

Ten Imperial battle barges were more than enough to carry out Exterminatus and scour a planet's surface flat.

"By your command, great Primarch," the admirals said, palms to their chests.

Rhodes nodded, summoned Tartarus at once, and selected ten massive battle barges equipped with the Imperium's most advanced weapons.

A golden portal opened. Rhodes's flagship, together with the ten Imperial battle barges, entered a strange star system—the home of the beetle-men.

There was a planet twice the size of Holy Terra, with gravity more than five times that of Terra.

No wonder it birthed such monstrosities; the gravity here was enormous. On other worlds they would be superhuman by default.

Rhodes intended to covertly collect some of their special genetic material and give it to his chief scientists—Yapool and Balt—to see if they could create new ultra-beasts.

In the earlier raid, ground forces had already collected samples of the beetle-men, and even captured some live specimens. They were currently under guard by several of Rhodes's gene-sons.

"Lord Rhodes, we've jumped to an unfamiliar system. This should be the target xenos' homeworld," an Imperial Navy officer reported.

"This is indeed their homeworld. Notify everyone: prepare to enact Exterminatus. In the Emperor's exalted name, I invest you with the authority to carry out Exterminatus—for the Imperium," Rhodes said solemnly, issuing the order as Warmaster.

Upon receiving Rhodes's command, the machine-spirits of every Imperial battle barge read the sacred directive.

All Tech-Priests and technical adepts began their preparations, tuning macro-cannons, lance batteries, and Pedanium beam projectors.

In the Emperor's name, in the Imperium's name—ten battle barges lined up above the planet, covering all landmasses. Rhodes's flagship held station above the central continent.

Golden beams rained from the heavens. The fleet went to near full power, and their ferocious fire illumined the entire world.

Countless lances of light speared the land, unleashing cataclysmic bombardments. Innumerable beetle-men were torn to shreds in an instant.

This time, Rhodes showed no mercy. He annihilated these alien lifeforms completely—exterminated them to the last.

…

Three days later, the Exterminatus was complete. The planet was reduced to a wasteland.

"Warmaster Rhodes, Exterminatus is complete."

"I know. Instruct all Navy and Army personnel—Space Marine units—prepare for battle. We meet the Tyranids."