The Empire begins with the Fourth Scourge.

Chapter 2641 The Rise of the Black Nest (Part 2)
2641. The Rise of the Black Nest (Part 2)

"You mean the Kilik swarm just dropped a few hundred soldier swarms onto our planets, and then those planets immediately became untrustworthy?" Severance Tann frowned.

"Participants, no medium required, extremely rapid spread, incurable, undetectable." Abathur emerged from an evolutionary chamber before him and said in a deep voice, "Five planets, number of participants unknown, personnel unknown. Command transmitted. Problems may arise at any stage. Must be avoided."

“Is there any way to deal with this?” Severance Tann asked.

“Humans are fragile, primitive, and inefficient; they cannot cope. The only solution is to destroy the mother hive,” Abathur replied.

"If we destroy the instigator's nest, then the participants will have no source of instructions, and they can return to their own lives?" Severance-Tann nodded slightly to indicate that she understood.

However, Abathur emitted a high-frequency sonic wave that seemed to mock him, and then said, "Destroy the Hive, stop the spread, that's all. Every participant, rebuild the Hive, the ultimate goal. Purification, inevitable. The participants are already part of the Kilik swarm, and that cannot be changed."

Severance Tann took a deep breath; she was starting to feel incredibly overwhelmed.

The Kylik swarm, an ancient super-civilization that once dominated the Milky Way, possessed only this most basic racial talent, which already nearly overwhelmed most of the intelligent life in the galaxy today. It's hard to imagine how powerful they must have been at their peak.

Severance Tann nodded, said nothing more, and turned to leave Abathur's lair. She didn't ask Abathur about his next plans, because Abathur was merely an evolution master; he didn't fight.

How to eliminate this swarm of Kilik bugs was something she needed to consider.

Upon returning to her flagship, Severance Tann received a communication from Governor Sheen Morabito of the Kingdom of Chiss: "It is a pleasure to see you personally leading the troops here, Marshal Tann."

Today, Morabito was wearing sunglasses and a wide-brimmed hat, making him look more like a cowboy than a sector governor.

“You were decisive in sealing the border, that’s good,” Severance Tann said calmly. “Next, I will take over the defense fleet of the Chis territory and deal with the Kilik swarm’s attack with all my might.”

"My suggestion is to start the investigation with the Galactic Empire's attacking fleet," said Governor Sheen Morabito. "That fleet wasn't particularly large, about 20 capital ships, but they disappeared on the eastern border of the Chiss Territory. I find it hard to imagine the Galactic Empire's fleet leaving our Chiss Territory right in front of them without attacking; I think there's something fishy going on."

"Where did this fleet last appear?" Tann asked.

"Qoribu is a gas giant. This planet is extremely complex," Morabito said.

"How complicated is it?" Tann frowned. "The planet Jorib has 55 recorded moons, but that's only a small fraction. There are at least thousands of unregistered asteroids surrounding it. And any one of these asteroids could potentially harbor a nest of the Kilik swarm," Morabito replied.

“Therefore, it’s also possible that the Imperial fleet was ambushed by the Kilik swarm here,” Severance Tann nodded.

"I don't know." Morabito spread his hands. "However, the Qis haven't been completely idle during this time. At least, they made this thing."

He raised his hand and picked up a full-face helmet, then continued, "This thing has been tested by Abathur and it can indeed block the bio-wave signals of the Kylik Mother Nest. I suggest you all wear this; otherwise, when your army lands on the planet, they might not even stand there for a few minutes before they turn around and shoot you."

“I believe the best approach against the Kilik swarm is a thorough orbital bombardment, avoiding amphibious landings,” Severance Tann said.

[Hahaha!] Shin-Morapit laughed. [Do you really think you can guarantee the complete destruction of a planet with hundreds of capital ships? Besides, the Kilik swarm's hive won't just obediently build itself on the ground and wait for you to bomb it. Furthermore, even if you bomb the planet, can you really confirm the hive's destruction? A landing operation is the only way to ensure the destruction of their hive—that's the Protoss's advice.]

"The Protoss? Will they join our operation?"

"That's right. High Templar Rasdian has returned to the Protoss territory to find reinforcements; they should arrive soon," said Sheen Morabito. "Rest assured, the Protoss have an innate aversion to these insect-like races. To be honest, I've never seen such passion from them, who are usually so deliberate."

"Finally, I must remind you of one more thing. The sensors and radars commonly used on our warships cannot detect the Kilik swarm. As for biological or thermal detectors, their location is very inaccurate and their detection range is very short, which is insufficient for operational needs. On this matter, we can only wait for the Protoss's assistance," said Governor Morabito.

Severance Tann nodded, her expression grave.

She had a pretty good idea of ​​what she was going to face; this mission was far more difficult than she had imagined!
……

Three days later, a batch of specially made helmets was received from the territory of the Chiss. Afterwards, Severance Tann personally went to Abathur to confirm that these helmets could block the bio-wave signals of the Kilik swarm.

Then, without stopping, she led a force of 20 capital ships and 100 cruisers directly to the planet Jorib.

Jorib is an incredibly large gas giant, approximately 136000 kilometers in diameter, with a pale purple hue throughout. Several massive cyclones and at least seven extremely fast-moving cloud bands are visible on its surface, indicating that its atmosphere constantly maintains terrifying wind speeds.

Surrounding this raging planet are as many as 55 satellites, the largest of which has a diameter of 3700 kilometers and the smallest has a diameter of over 800 kilometers. Around the planet's equator, there are thousands of even smaller satellites, the largest about 400 kilometers in diameter. Because these satellites, or asteroids, have relatively small masses, they are all beginning to converge towards the equator under the powerful gravitational pull of Jorib.

"Conduct a thorough scan!" Severance Tann, wearing a helmet, issued the order from the bridge.