From Titan Corporation to the Empire of Man

Chapter 646 "Then, we launched a full-scale attack on the planet completely occupied by the Zerg."

at this time;

The ventral armor plates of the two Emperor-class battleships slowly slid open, revealing hundreds of large, honeycomb-shaped launch tubes. Accompanied by a silent hum like a mechanical hymn, a total of 244 giant metal prisms were launched.

These kilometer-long hexagonal pillars are etched with ancient Forerunner runes, which shimmer with an ominous blue-green luster under the starlight.

They deploy in an array with nanosecond-level synchronization, constructing two perfect rhomboid matrices in space, casting the new Canaan under the shadow of geometric death.

"Matrix charging begins."

The gunners' reports echoed through the bridges of the two Imperial-class ships.

The void between the prisms suddenly twisted, and visible arcs of energy jumped between the prisms.

As the charging progress exceeded the critical point, the entire matrix suddenly lit up with a blinding white light—

That was not ordinary light, but a destructive glow released by space being forcibly torn apart.

then
Whoosh—whoosh—!
Two matrix beams, each over fifty kilometers in diameter, simultaneously pierced the atmosphere, ionizing the air in their path into a plasma state.

The earth's crust in New Canaan underwent a terrifying change the instant the beam of light touched it.

The continental plates began to "soften" like heated glass, with trillions of tons of rock vaporizing directly.

Under the bombardment of ultra-high energy, the mantle material formed lava fountains with a diameter of thousands of kilometers. The crimson magma was ejected into the thermosphere hundreds of kilometers high, and the ocean was evaporated at a visible speed. The once blue waters disappeared completely, and the destructive impact of the explosion directly tore apart the remaining atmosphere.

The destruction experienced by a planet's core is the most spectacular.

Two matrix beams converged at the Earth's core, heating the planet's iron-nickel core to supernova-level temperatures. This caused New Canaan to expand like a punctured balloon, with countless lava mountains tens of kilometers high rising from the Earth's surface, only to disintegrate in the next second.

When the shockwave from the explosion finally broke through the critical point, the entire planet transformed into a magnificent plasma fireball, and the expanding stardust formed a continuously spreading colorful nebula in the vacuum.

This planet, once the cradle of billions of lives but now overrun by alien insects, is now nothing but drifting dust.

At this moment, inside the bridge of the Flame Lizard Triad flagship, namely the Imperial-class battleship, the Unyielding Flame;

Behind the observation window, Dr. Ariel Hansen gripped the railing in front of her tightly with both hands, her long, slender fingers turning a bony white from the excessive force.

Outside the window, the last remnants of New Canaan were transforming into a magnificent "nebula," with the ever-expanding halo of destruction turning the entire bridge a sickly orange-red.

The former chief scientist of the Agria colony unconsciously held his breath, as if that would alleviate the dull pain in his chest.

Her flaxen hair swayed in the artificial gravity field of the ship, with a few conspicuous strands of silver-white hair mixed in, clearly traces left by continuous high-intensity evacuation work.

The radiation-shielding coating on the observation window filtered the destructive light into a softer hue, but it still cast pulsating spots of light on her irises.

A bead of sweat slid down her taut jawline, leaving a dark stain on the collar of her white coat.

“Another human world has disappeared.” Her voice was as soft as a sigh. “Even though I know this is a necessary purification, witnessing such a scene always causes me to have irrational fluctuations.”

Standing beside her, Gao Zan nodded slightly. The Terminator armor worn by the company commander of the Third Company gleamed with a cold bronze light under the halo of dust outside the window.

"Statistics show that we saved 94.7% of the survivable population."

Even without a helmet, Gao Zan's voice still sounded like it had been processed by a sophisticated audio processor, and each syllable carried the unique mechanical rhythm of Astartes. "Compared to the evacuation operation of Agria, this operation was 23% more efficient."

As for Hansen, he noticed a subtle twitch in the jaw muscles as the company commander spoke—

That was during the breakout battle of Argria, when the company commander endured the fierce psionic attack of the Zerg Queen to protect her and her research team, and to save more Argria citizens. This resulted in nerve damage and short-term aftereffects.

But at this moment, those invisible scars, winding across his bronze skin, resembled another set of invisible medals.

".!"

When she realized that she had been staring at the company commander for too long, she immediately forced herself to turn her gaze toward the observation window.

A strange heat spread through her chest, a reaction that immediately triggered her scientific thinking to analyze the situation. The results of this analysis made her fingertips tremble slightly, feeling both unfamiliar and unsettling.

Buzz—! Buzz—!
Suddenly, a piercing alarm sounded throughout the entire ship.

"Warning: A surge in biosignals and psionic responses."

The ship's intelligent AI's female voice broke the heavy atmosphere.

The tactical hologram exploded in front of everyone, revealing a crimson exploding scene. The Zerg fleet, which had been thrown into chaos and disintegrated by the extinction order, was reorganizing in a way that defied the normal biological behavior of organisms. Millions of alien ships, like an enraged swarm of bees, rushed towards the two fleet companies without regard for formation.

The salvo of bio-plasma cannons created continuous ripples on the energy shield.

Furthermore, the shells of several Leviathan behemoths suddenly cracked, revealing the pulsating biomass reactors inside. This was clearly a precursor to a self-destructive charge. The intelligent AI calculated that any cruiser directly hit would suffer catastrophic structural disintegration.

"Notify the Weeping Company to prepare for a full-scale evacuation and leave this place of trouble."

The highly praised command is concise and powerful.

Hansen instinctively gripped the data panel on her chest. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Gao Zan processing the tactical data stream at an astonishing speed. His power armor data interface was flashing with emerald light, performing calculations every second that the average human brain could not keep up with.

As for the company commander, he seemed completely oblivious to Hansen's subtle emotions—

Or rather, even if they were aware of it, for an Astartes who was prepared to dedicate his life to the human emperor and the human empire, it would just be another variable that he didn't need to care about.

As the navigator activated the warp engine, nearly a hundred spacetime vortexes emitting a ghostly blue light bloomed at the forefront of the two fleets.

These entrances to the mezzanine spaces are like glowing jellyfish in the deep sea, distorting the structure of reality in ways that defy the laws of physics.

The swarm's final barrage of acid rained down on the gradually blurring ship, exploding into useless green fireworks in the vacuum.

As the bow of the Unyielding Flame was finally swallowed by the blue light, Hansen saw through the last frame of live footage that the frenzied Zerg ships were tearing each other apart, their psionic screams erupting from the loss of their prey even creating visible ripples in the nearby stardust.

Beside her, Gao Zan had already pulled up a new holographic star map, and the scars on the Terminator armor silently told the story of countless battles similar to today's—for humans in different universes, these were thrilling life-or-death moments, but for Astartes, they were just another punctuation mark in the long history of conquest.

More than ten hours later, the afterglow of the jump voyage gradually faded from the surfaces of dozens of ships.

The combined fleet of the Flame Lizard Third Company and the Weeping Company neatly disengaged from the interdimensional space and anchored at the designated coordinates in Mar-Sala's near-Earth orbit.

The sight before her caused Ariel Hansen, who was on the bridge, to involuntarily hold her breath—

Because this colony planet, once ravaged by war, has now been transformed.

The sixteen large orbital space stations resemble steel star rings, each employing a modular honeycomb structure, with intricate matrix structures covering their silver-gray armored shells.

These colossal structures are interconnected by gravitational beams stretching thousands of kilometers, forming a perfect defensive array in synchronous orbit.

From the tactical hologram, the entire system looks like a sophisticated mechanical work of art, with each component operating precisely.

Furthermore, with the completion of the space station, an energy barrier, faintly visible and emitting a pale blue light, unfolded like a water curtain, enveloping the entire Mar-Sala, much like Scalif in the Star Wars universe.

Hexagonal interference ripples occasionally flashed across the surface of the shield, a testament to the defense system performing periodic self-checks.

The changes on the Earth's surface are equally astonishing.

The original ruins were almost completely cleared away, and replaced by neatly arranged industrial facilities and residential areas.

The automated construction fleet is still busy at work, its nano-nozzles spraying armor plates, the newly built starport near the equator is brightly lit, and countless transport ships are queuing up in an orderly manner, waiting to unload their cargo.

Just then, the fleet's sensors detected a familiar energy signature.

Swish—swish—!
The Hyperion, with its sharply defined bow, was the first to end its warp jump, its modified plasma cannon array glowing a dark red under the starlight.

Following closely behind was the cruiser of the Third Assault Platoon of the Man-Eating Shark Company, every seam of its armor revealing the vicissitudes of a long battle.

When these ships converged and bypassed the "Ma'Sala Shield" space station No. 3, the scene before us could only be described as "breathtaking".

On the orbit where the sunlit and shadowed sides of the planet meet, a dense array of ships form a "steel city." Among them, the most eye-catching are more than ninety warships painted in black and white stripes, which float in the void like silent judges.

The core vessel of this massive fleet was a Traveller-class dreadnought from the Forerunner civilization.

Inside the bridge of the Indomitable Flame;
"Imperial Fist First Company - Black Templar." Gao Zan recognized the black and white painted fleet at a glance. "Lord Dorne has indeed dispatched his most elite forces."

Furthermore, the company commander's voice carried a rare hint of respect.

The Black Templar fleet was almost the size of the combined 3rd Flame Lizard Company, the Weeping Lizards, and the Man-Eating Shark Company, fully demonstrating the Imperial Fist Primarch's high regard for the Black Templar.

Immediately afterwards, the damaged ships of the Flame Lizard and Lamenter fleets began to sail in an orderly fashion toward the repair space station.

The most serious situation involved the Weeping Ones ships, with tens of thousands of repair-type Hunters carrying out emergency repairs when more than a dozen ships approached the space station's port.

Meanwhile, the space station is also supplying the cruisers of the Flame Lizard, the Lamenter, the Hyperion, and the Third Assault Platoon of the Man-Eating Shark, and it seems that a large-scale battle is about to begin.

Then, the ships of the Flame Lizard and the Lamenters opened their hangar valves, releasing tens of thousands of transport ships that broke away from the fleet and sailed towards the new city on the surface, fully loaded with New Canaan refugees.

At this moment, Gao Zan had already left the observation window of the bridge and arrived at the center console. Around the center console, six hard light holographic projections were also displayed.

These images cast a cool-toned light within the somewhat dimly lit bridge—

On the far left is an image of Malakin Forros, the company commander of the Weeping Men.

This warrior, who inherited the blood of Saint Gilles, had a near-perfect face, with long platinum-gold hair tied back and ice-blue eyes that shimmered with the psionic radiance unique to their Primarch.

Fross leaned gracefully against his custom-made powered spear, the shaft of which was wrapped with a ribbon of blood-stained oath.

In stark contrast is the projection of Tiberius, the man-eating shark company commander.

This giant, who is over four meters tall, always wears his signature shark-tooth helmet. Behind the dark red visors, two crimson lights can be faintly seen. His Terminator armor is covered with trophies of alien bones and teeth.

The image of Sigismund, the Black Templar company commander, exudes an aura of imposing authority.

As the Primarch of the Imperial Fist
There are even rumors that he is the first person below all Primarchs. Sigismund's resolute face is like a marble sculpture, and the scars on his brow bone and jaw record countless fierce battles.

Athena, the goddess of war, clad in golden armor, stood in the center of the projection, her presence enveloping the entire bridge in a soft divine glow.

The spear of victory trembled slightly in her hand, and tiny flashes of lightning occasionally shot from its tip.

Jim Reynolds' holographic image, however, seemed somewhat out of place.

The rebel leader was still wearing his signature white short-sleeved shirt, his stubble on his chin seemed to have grown longer, and he was frowning as he looked at the data panel, occasionally making marks on the tactical map.

Indeed, compared to beings like Athena and Tiberius, Jim Raynor seems rather "ordinary".

On the far right, Leon S. Kennedy didn't seem overly surprised or astonished. After all, for Leon, the existence of those myths and legends was nothing new and there was nothing to be shocked about.

but
!!!

However, for Ariel Hansen, who was standing not far away, the sight of a group of company commanders with demeanor and appearances that resembled "gods," as well as the real goddess Athena, directly caused her to show an expression of utter astonishment.

Even with mental preparation, Ariel Hansen still found it difficult to calm her emotions when she saw the hard light holographic technology that presented a lifelike image to her.

Athena, unaware of Ariel Hansen's "mortal" nature, stated directly:
"Gentlemen, the Emperor's decree is clear—to capture the Zerg Queen of Blades, formerly human Sarah Kerrigan, alive. Secondly, a joint force of Rangers and the Investigation Department is collecting all artifacts belonging to the Xel'Naga."

According to reliable sources, the Queen of Blades is also collecting artifacts, and we have already located the last artifact.

Therefore, all departments need to suspend all missions and operations to assist the combined forces of the Rangers and Investigations Department in seizing the last artifact and intimidating the Mobius Foundation, and then…

At this point, Athena's tone turned serious:
"Then, they launched a full-scale attack on Char, a planet completely overrun by the Zerg."

(End of this chapter)