Adamantua.

Adamantua casts the world.

The Battle of King Kong is over, and the Imperial Fists have moved to the world of Forge. This is the core of the entire star sector, the most important imperial world in the star sector.

A dirty twilight enveloped the land.

In the foggy and reddish sky, the Battle Barge of the Fist of the Empire, the Antolax, hangs in low orbit like a rectangular tusk-shaped moon.

Warband Commander Mohan had already mobilized nearly ninety percent of the Imperial Fist's forces in this operation. This is a spectacular special operation with a show of force. In the eyes of the second company commander Kurland, perhaps a little too spectacular.

But it's also about politics – the Astarte Monks are good at provoking wars and ending them. And when peace lasts too long, it will be difficult to justify the need to maintain a powerful and costly army like the Imperial Fist, especially in the heavily fortified core of Terra.

They need to be released and given a goal to win a victory that the people of the core will celebrate. An alien like Exterminating Chromium is a fitting proof of this for a power like the Fist of the Empire.

The Imperial Fist shattered the outer part of the chromiummon's massive lair and slashed its way inside. The company led by Kurander took the lead, and ten minutes later, on the other side of the creature structure, the other companies followed. The interstellar warfare soldiers fought their way into the lair in multiple ways and became a nightmare for the chromium beasts.

Kurland rushed to kill alone in his damp. His blaster spews tongues of fire, and his power sword never leaves his hand. The large chrome beast will strafe with explosive bombs, and the small chrome beast will slash with a long sword. Chopped and exploded aliens splattered around him, and Kurland roared his company's battle cry.

They eventually cleared the area with great difficulty.

"Are you tired, company commander?"

A Space Marine asked Kurland.

"It's almost time to turn the page."

Kurland put away the blaster and said:

"Next time I came to this unlucky planet......"

"Buzz Buzz—"

His words were suddenly drowned out.

A sudden, muffled noise came from the depths of the lair. It was short-lived, but it resounded in the sky. It made the entire lair building tremble, temporarily overloading their intercom system and stabbing their ears. It took a while for the Holland eyepiece display to restart.

"The Golden Throne is above, what was that?"

Kurland asked, looking around.

"Request to speak with the fleet."

His Space Marines are repeatedly asking:

"Please reply to the fleet."

"Some kind of broadcast signal."

A technical sergeant spoke:

"UHF, high intensity, lasting a total of six .6 seconds...... Probably a new weapon? ”

"The chromium beast has come up with a new type of weapon?"

A Space Marine asked, somewhat confused.

"Possibly, move on."

Kurland replied with some reluctance.

They continued on their tracks. A few minutes later, communication was restored, and the Fleet Liaison Officer in orbit reported that they had not been able to identify the voice either. The entire planet, and even the Imperial Armed Forces in orbit, received it.

About half an hour later, the voice reappeared, this time for seven and nine seconds. Kurland's company was caught up in a fierce hand-to-hand fight with a dozen dense chrome beasts, and the noise caught everyone off guard.

When the sound stopped, the chromium beasts appeared slightly startled, and then they returned to the fight with an inspired rage. It's as if they're scared and they're starting to panic.

……

Adamantuaya casts the world, orbital space.

A total of four sonic booms, which occurred over the next ninety minutes, each lasting longer than the last, and communication was completely cut off. After the fourth tone burst out, Warband Leader Mohan pondered across the battle barge bridge, sat down on his massive steel throne, and then bowed his head to the messenger who had been waiting patiently for nearly two hours:

"Contact all the troops on the ground immediately."

Since the start of the latest wave of attacks, Mohan has been standing in front of the warship's strategic platform, watching every piece of data reported by air power and ground forces, and personally correcting every subtle deviation in the execution of tactics.

Defense is the greatest skill of the Emperor's Fist. But even in the midst of an attack, the strategy of the Imperial Fist is flexible. No surprises, no mistakes, no risks. Leave the reckless pig rush to the wolves of Fenris or the hunters of Chogris, the Emperor's Fist is the Empire's best tactical engineer, and even the most varied assault plans are planned with the same precision as the most complex defensive set-ups.

It is often mentioned that Leon Johnson once ridiculed Roger Donn's sophisticated thinking, saying, "When the battle begins, all plans become useless." Dorne retorted, "That's because your plan wasn't right." ”

Indeed, the Fist of the Empire's strategy saved Holy Terra in its darkest hour, and the strategy proposed by Dorn and inherited by Mohan is largely not a rigid word called "plan" but rather an "attack plan" - as the battle unfolds, the various contingencies that have been carefully planned in advance can be left behind, layer by layer.

Combat is the most chaotic and volatile thing in the galaxy, and there are a thousand possibilities at every stage of it. Some Space Marines, such as the Black Angels, respond intuitively when changes occur. An Imperial Fist, on the other hand, anticipates and prepares for any eventuality, and he simply chooses the most appropriate response.

But now.

Mohan did not have such an emergency plan.

His eyes were fixed on the screen in front of him.

"Isn't this a sonic boom?"

Mohan asked his technical crew.

"No, sir."

The officer in charge of detecting the array replied:

"It's a stand-alone event."

He pointed to a piece of data on the screen:

"Look here."

"Gravity?"

Mohan said with a frown.

"Yes, sir."

The technical crew affirmed:

"There is a drastic anomaly in gravity in the galaxy."

Mo Han, as the leader of the Imperial Fist and a veteran of space naval warfare, looked along the several green curves on the screen, and suddenly felt that the shapes outlined by the curves were slightly familiar.

"The gravity curves formed by the change in gravity remind me of the gravity curve of Mandeville Point."

Mo Han said slowly.

"You are sharp, sir. The mass-gravity curve resembles the Mandeville point, albeit on a much smaller scale. ”

The technical crew agreed.

"Have we previously probed the gravitational instability of the orbital region of the Adamantua Casting World?"

Mo Han turned his head abruptly and asked.

"Yes, sir."

The technical crew nodded in affirmation and said:

"As we approached, the whole area was surveyed, but the readings were brand new."

"Like a sonic boom?"

Mohan muttered to himself.

The technical crew nodded and said:

"We noticed that the initial sonic boom appeared about two minutes after the initial noise, and it was only at this point that we found a tiny floating object on our orbital anchorage. The analysis showed that the traction unit on the port side of the battleship exhibited an anomaly in gravity, which led to anchor roll. After correcting, we re-scanned and found that there were sixteen ipsilateral anomalies during this time. ”

A whole bunch of obscure technical jargon.

Mohan felt like he had caught some clues.

The mortal captain standing next to him suggested:

"If it is confirmed that there is indeed gravitational instability in orbital space, then we will have to let the fleet retreat, and we will have to compromise on the ground assault."

Mo Han nodded when he heard this. He had a company in his hands that hadn't even been deployed, and these Space Marines were all in the airborne cabin of the battle barge.

"Have you ever seen this before?"

Mohan turned to his captain and asked:

"The peak of gravity rises first, then bursts like a blister, and then returns to its original ...... Have you seen this before? Throughout your life in the Navy. ”

The captain shook his head and said:

"I've seen gravity diminished dramatically. And the situation of bursting like a blister like the one now, is more like being on the edge of a point where subspace repeats teleportation. ”

"Does it have anything to do with Mandeville Point?"

Mohan tried to find a pattern.

"It's similar, my lord. I've seen a lot of non-Euclidean gravitational effects on the tear curves of translational interfaces. As my mentors used to say, subspace doesn't actively change unless someone makes it change. ”

The mortal captain could only come up with a few conjectures.

"And do you think it's natural?"

Mohan was uncomfortable when he heard "subspace".

"I'm not sure, there's no precedent for this. But I guess we have to come to terms with the fact that we've entered a region of gravitational instability. ”

The captain shrugged his shoulders and said helplessly.

At that moment, the deck suddenly trembled violently, emitting a dull, heavy sound, a loud crash from some massive object colliding with something of its same mass, and a hot and pungent smoke filled the bridge.

Sirens sounded throughout the bridge.

"What's the situation?"

Mohan turned his head to look around and shouted.

The captain yelled orders and debriefed, and the crews on the bridge rushed to their posts.

"The gravity bag is deployed inside the reactor core on the starboard side! Our hull cracked, and there was a leak. I don't know if we can control the damage and maintain ......."

A technical crew member loudly reported the bad news.

"Something must be attacking us......"

Mohan pounced in front of the bird.

"Your Excellency, please lead all your troops and auxiliaries out of this ship and land on this planet before we suffer a catastrophic anchor failure and crash."

The captain grabbed his arm and shouted.

……

A cluster of warships in orbital space.

A Imperial Fist company commander watched as the wounded Antolax began to fall, breaking away from the sailing formation. There was a noticeable malfunction in the engine of the combat barge, which ejected a cloud of radioactive dust. After a communication jam, all communications connecting the fleet were also interrupted.

"There's a company of fighters in there!"

The Emperor Fist Company Commander hugged his head and exclaimed:

"What just happened?"

His captain was equally in shock:

"We don't know yet, sir."

"Restore communication and find out as soon as possible! I didn't see any airborne pods or escape boats leaving the battle barge. ”

The company commander had a very bad premonition in his heart.

And the truth is that at this time almost nothing is visible. Displays, repeaters, and image enhancement screens are shrouded in radiation and gravitational distortion. The technical priest on board the battleship is working on this problem, analyzing the captured data.

The conclusion was very bad: the gravitational distortion in the shape of the bag was detected at a certain point in the orbit. No one can reasonably explain this, and no one can adequately explain why the ship was attacked without warning.

Now, the Antolax, a fully staffed ship, a battle barge, the warband flagship of the Imperial Fist, and maybe a whole company of Space Marines.

In an instant, it was all gone.

The Commander of the Emperor Fist Company looked at the screen in front of him that flickered and jumped frames. Unable to resist this gravitational force, the battle barge is slowly sinking into the gravitational field of the Adamantua Casting World. How long does it last? Fifteen minutes? Half an hour? An hour? Because of the enormous pressure that has been built up, it is likely that a damaged engine will explode before it can land.

"Send them a rescue boat immediately!"

The Emperor Fist Company Commander roared and ordered:

"At least some of them can be saved."

"We're doing the best we can, sir."

The busy subordinates around replied.

The company commander turned to face the technical priest who was on board.

The oil guys also looked at each other at a loss.

"I want an explanation for this."

The commander of the Emperor Fist Company waved his hands and said:

"I want a full explanation of this!"

The oil guys nodded, but the Emperor Fist Company Commander was not confident in their reaction, and they were just as confused about the matter as he was. He was about to say something to stabilize the mood on the battleship, when the screen behind him instantly burst into dazzling light.

"What's wrong again?"

The Emperor Fist Company Commander turned around and asked.

The radio waves are filled with static noise and disordered distortion.

However, the entire bridge was silent, and no one answered him.

He stared blankly out of the porthole.

The Imperial Fist fleet in orbital space.

Explosions are happening one after another!

Then a tremendous pressure swept in.

The Emperor Fist Company Commander hadn't reacted yet.

The battleship beneath his feet shattered in the twist.

……

Adamantua casts the world, the surface.

The sky was pierced by several rays of light.

It wasn't rain in the air, but some inexplicable liquid that fell like hail, making every piece of ground slippery and sticky. The chrome beasts' lair was blown to pieces by orbital bombardment and gunboat strikes. Smoke rose from everywhere, mingling with the wind, mixed with the torrential rain. Kurland heard the sound of pouring rain hitting his helmet.

Kurland crawled out of the ruins of the lair.

By the way, pull out a couple of his combat brothers.

and the Mechanicus sage Lawrentis.

He was contacting the group of warships in orbit, but received no reply, something blocked the communication signal, and fortunately their mission on the surface was completed.

"What's that?"

Lawrentiis suddenly pointed to the sky and asked.

"We don't have time to see the scenery, Sage."

An Emperor Fist warrior said coldly.

"No, look."

Laurentiis insisted.

Kurland picked up four explosive magazines and handed them to his teammates, and when he was done dispensing, he turned to look at where Laurentis's finger was pointing. There was a light in the sky, a broad, divergent light that pierced the thick clouds, but in the center of it was a glare of light, tiny but red, like a fragment of a burning star.

"The end of a ship."

An Emperor Fist fighter said bluntly.

"Fuck, how ...... this"

The other fighter subconsciously wanted to scold.

"I don't understand, why? How did these chrome beasts take down one of our ships? In the name of the throne, when did these damn pests get orbital weapons? When did they have the ability to fight naval battles in space? ”

An Emperor Fist warrior held his head in disbelief.

Laurentiis Sage said in a calm voice:

"We still don't know how these chrome beasts traveled through space, and I speculate that they use subspace tides to disperse their eggs, but mass migration theories don't explain why they are so densely populated on this planet but never seen or described. I don't believe they have ships or fleets in our usual sense, they shouldn't have ships at all, but ......"

Laurentiis paused as he spoke.

He was silent, and so were the people around him.

Dirty raindrops slipped off the edge of the Space Marine's armor, and the yellow terracotta giants stood motionless, like a group of sculptures. They remained in the same position, staring blankly at the gray sky in the distance.

More bright beams pierced the clouds one after another.

Heavy clouds are becoming porous.

Inside these holes are a large number of debris fragments.

Large and small dragged the smoke and dust tumbling down.

Each piece of wreckage represents a battleship.

Not "one ship", but "many ships".

None of the Emperor Fist fighters could speak.

Time seems to freeze at this moment.

The Fist of the Empire warband fleet was wiped out.

…………