Warhammer: Empire Reboot

Primarchs do not need to sleep like mortals, but fatigue still accumulates in their souls in another form.

"The Seventh Task Force of the Sunblade has lost contact."

"The last signal came from the outer edge of the Carmina-6 channel. They successfully killed three large synaptic creatures, but were then surrounded by the swarm from the flanks. The fleet flagship was penetrated by a biological torpedo, and the remaining ships were unable to jump."

Another staff officer followed up: "The Sunblade Task Force 12 requests a replenishment of ammunition and carrier-based aircraft. They destroyed a swarm node in the Narcissus shard belt, but the swarm's reaction speed exceeded expectations, and a new backup synaptic chain appeared."

Guilliman looked through the report, his expression grave.

Is even the Sunblade tactic gradually becoming ineffective now?

Sunblade was one of his most valued tactics in the Fourth Terran War.

The empire cannot simply stand passively on the front lines and take the hits.

If the Tyranid swarm is allowed to advance at its own pace, it will be like an ever-growing stomach, slowly swallowing up the entire star system.

Therefore, Guilliman assembled a large number of highly mobile independent strike fleets.

Space Marines, Imperial Guard, Inquisition, elite Astral Army, Naval Assault Ships, Fire Cruisers, Scout Ships, Kill Squads.

These mixed fleets are not responsible for defending the line.

They act like surgeons, bypassing the main force of the swarm, seeking out synaptic organisms, hunting down node commanders, and attempting to paralyze the swarm from the neural network.

Initially, this method worked.

The swarm will indeed be briefly thrown into chaos when its synaptic nodes are decapitated.

Some worlds were thus given time to evacuate, and some defenses were thus spared from collapsing on the spot.

However, Tyrannosaurus's tactics will be adjusted as the battlefield changes, and the Zerg swarm has begun to adapt its strategy to counter the assassination of the Sunblade.

They create decoy synaptic nodes to lure the sun's blade deeper.

They further fragmented the command chain, replacing the killed individuals with redundant synaptic networks.

They would even deliberately make a swarm appear out of control to lure out the Imperial elite, then use bio-ships to surround and hunt down the fleet from the flanks.

Now, the Blade of the Sun has suffered heavy losses and can play a negligible role.

Aside from the decapitation tactic, Guilliman played both of the Empire's most powerful cards.

He appointed the Supreme Commander of the Astral Army, Lord Sunlord Leontus, to personally oversee the entire campaign from the front lines!

Meanwhile, even Trajan Valoris, the commander-in-chief of the Imperial Guard who had been stationed on Terra, personally led a large number of Imperial Guard troops into the meat grinder of fighting against the Zerg.

But news of defeats kept coming from the front lines, and planet after planet, empire after empire, fell.

Even the Sun Lord and the Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial Guards could not reverse the decline.

The armored door at the far end of the hall opened.

Lord Leontus of the Sun entered.

Behind him stood Trajan Valloris, the commander-in-chief of the Imperial Guard.

Both of them exuded extraordinary presence.

Leontus is the supreme commander of trillions of Star Forces across the galaxy.

His brain has undergone extremely deep mechanical modifications and enhancements, enabling him to process massive amounts of battle reports from hundreds or thousands of star sectors simultaneously.

Before the outbreak of the Fourth Terran War, he had commanded countless sector-level expeditions with an extremely high success rate.

After Tyrannosaurus's attack, Guilliman handed over absolute command of the fight against the Leviathan swarm to him.

Another, even more illustrious, commander of the Imperial Guard, Trajan Valloris,

If emperors are gods, then Trajan is the most fearsome guard dog outside the temple.

He is one of the Terra High Lords and one of the strongest individual combatants in the entire galaxy. Before the Primarch's return, he was basically the Imperium's number one combat force.

Trajan wields the Watcher's Axe, a weapon capable of easily cleaving through the Chaos Demons.

But what's most incredible about him is a relic from the Golden Age that he possesses: the Instant Shackles. This artifact allows him to manipulate the flow of time for an extremely short period of time.

During the Battle of Lionsgate, he led the Guardians to thwart the attack on Terra by the eight Great Demons of Khorne. On the moon, he assisted the resurrected Guilliman in defeating Magnus, the Primarch of the Thousand Sons. Now, he is personally leading his troops to the front lines to slay the Tyranids.

He agreed to Guilliman as regent simply because it was the best solution for the empire at the time.

He was extremely arrogant and regarded the Imperial Guard as the noblest warriors in the entire universe.

Guilliman turned around: "What were your losses?"

Leontus raised his hand, and Constantine's horse head projected a war zone simulation map.

"The tactical value of the Sunblade has continued to decline, and it can no longer be used as a means to turn the tide of battle."

"The swarm has adapted to synaptic decapitation. When we kill a node, the swarm will be briefly slowed down, but its recovery speed will increase. The losses of Task Forces 7, 12, and 21 indicate that the swarm has begun to use fake synapses to lure our elite forces deeper into our territory."

A naval admiral frowned: "If we stop the Sunblade, we can only defend passively."

Leontus glanced at him.

“I didn’t say stop, I said it’s no longer the core.”

Trajan coldly said, "I led the Imperial Guard to kill three node-level behemoths. The insect swarm did not collapse, but only retreated for seven minutes."

The hall fell silent for a moment.

The Imperial Guard commander personally intervened, but only managed to gain seven minutes.

Guilliman looked at the star map: "How much longer can the Ogram Lines hold out?"

Leontus provided the most sophisticated reasoning.

"Based on the current losses, it will take twenty-six days."

"What if the Sunblade continues its high-intensity offensive?"

"Twenty-seven days, at the cost of 30% of the task force being unable to rebuild."

"What if we draw troops from the rear?"

"There are no troops in the rear, only conscription lists."

Leontus raised his hand, and dozens of worlds lit up on the star map.

"The logistics of the Taiping Starfield have been cut off. The agricultural world has been largely lost, food supplies have decreased, ammunition transport has been delayed, and the arrival rate of reinforcements is lower than the rate of death. Now I have two other options."

Guilliman gestured for him to continue.

A large amount of data stream flashed through Leontus's mechanical eyes.

"First, build the sanctuary defense line."

On the star map, several fortress worlds are marked with gold.

"Relying on Heliosburg, St. Griffin, the Shield of Macarius, and the third fortress of the Outer Ring of Ogram, we will construct an absolute defensive chain and press all the fleets, artillery, Titans, and remnants of the Astronauts that can be withdrawn to these nodes."

One staff officer couldn't help but say, "This means abandoning all the intermediate sub-worlds."

Leontus ignored his questioning; he certainly knew that there were people in those secondary worlds, and he even knew the population of most of them.

However, when faced with the overall situation, some sacrifices are necessary, and there are those who suffer even more than them.

Leontus continued, "The second one is the scorched earth tactic."

In the hall, someone gasped; what was bound to happen had finally arrived.

Trajan did not react at all.

Leontus continued, "The essence of the swarm is biomass conversion. They devour a planet not just to destroy Imperial assets, but to replenish their forces for the next offensive. As long as we feed them, they will multiply."

On the star map, a dozen worlds about to be swallowed by the swarm are marked with red skull icons.

"These planets cannot be defended."

"Evacuate key technical personnel, officers, navigators, relics, genetically modified seeds, transportable food, and the core of industry."

"The remaining resources will be destroyed on site."

"The underground grain depot was burned down."

"Poisoning water sources, destruction of the biosphere, and pollution of the atmosphere."

"Execute cyclone torpedoes or virus bombs if necessary."

"Don't leave even a single drop of usable biomass for the insects!"

A representative of the state religion, pale-faced, said: "This will cause the deaths of trillions of imperial subjects."

Leontus turned to look at him: "They were going to die anyway."

"Moreover, it is better to die at the hands of one's own people than to die in the mouth of insects."

The representative of the state religion sighed and stepped back without saying a word.

Leontus said, "If they are eaten by the swarm, they will become the next wave of insects to kill more of the Emperor's people. If they die at our hands, they will have done their duty to the Empire."

Trajan didn't care how many of the Empire's citizens died or were injured. He asked, "According to your plan, can the Sanctuary defense line be held?"

Leontus said, "If resources are concentrated, we can hold out for a while."

"how long?"

"Enough to allow Ogram's main battle zone to complete the second phase of deployment."

"Conservative estimates suggest that between 370 billion and 1.2 trillion civilians will be unable to evacuate. If the swarm advances faster than the model suggests, the death toll could rise to trillions."

Everyone in the hall was deep in thought, waiting for someone to make a decision.

Guilliman looked at Trajan: "Speak your opinion."

Trajan said calmly, "I agree. The Emperor's safety is paramount. If Tyran breaks through the Pacific Starfield, the subsequent threats will approach the more core shipping lanes. Sacrificing the peripheral worlds in exchange for the stability of the main defense line is in the Empire's survival interest."

Leontus said, "I don't like this proposal either, but I don't have a better one."

Exhaustion flashed across his face.

Once this order was issued, a part of the world in the Pacific Sector was already sentenced to death.

Guilliman made the final decision: "Execute both plans."

"The Sanctuary defense line is activated immediately. All available fleets are to be concentrated at the fortress node. The Sunblade is to be reassigned to a different mission and will no longer penetrate the main Zerg force alone. Instead, it will be responsible for disrupting the synaptic chain, covering the evacuation, and attacking the Zerg supply nodes."

"The scorched earth list will be finalized by Leontus, and an evacuation window assessment will be conducted before each planet is targeted."