Warhammer: Empire Reboot

Lawson continued, “There can be no gaps in the front line. Three hundred million is the minimum for the standing forces. Every standard Terra year, the Imperial’s Dark Side Logistics Department will send you a list of losses on the front line. If eighty million Tau Allied Forces are killed in the defense in that year, you will need to send eighty million replacement troops onto transport ships by this time the following year. The Imperial’s front line cannot be forced to retreat even a single step due to insufficient manpower.”

The Adam's apple of the highest representative of the Shui clan slid up and down with difficulty.

Lawson used terms like "defense line attrition" and "sacrifice" to mask the horrific attrition rate, but all that remained in the minds of the Water Clan officials were cold, hard numbers.

Filling the gap every year means that the Titanium Empire will be forcibly tied to a blood-sucking machine that never stops, with an unhealable wound that continuously bleeds out the blood of young and strong men.

O'Showa stood up and turned to the high-ranking members of the Fire and Water clans.

He understood the nature of this conscription order better than anyone else, and he knew even more clearly what kind of leverage of power it meant for him.

"The Presidential Office will immediately establish a special defense conscription committee."

"Military quotas for each world and planet will be issued within three days. This is a necessary price to pay for the survival of the Tau Empire. Any world that refuses to fulfill its military quota will be considered a traitor."

The Huo clan generals understood his intentions.

Lawson's conscription order became an excellent tool for O'Showa to purge internal dissidents.

Those forces that remain loyal to the old Aetheric hierarchy will be the first to be sent aboard the transport ships as part of the Titanic Allied Forces.

O'Showa will rightfully eliminate all his political enemies, and Lawson approves of O'Showa's resolve.

Cornerstone-071 stepped forward and announced the establishment of the Tax Department to the Tau Clan Council.

"The Imperial Dark Side Tax Department will immediately be stationed in the twenty-seven world domains of the Tau Empire. The Cornerstone Sequence will take over the audit authority of the core logistics nodes. The scope of the tithe will cover raw mineral materials, agricultural output, industrial finished products and energy reserves. The Tax Department will not interfere with local administration, but will have the highest level of account auditing and military collection authority. Any act of concealing production capacity or tampering with accounts will directly trigger the orbital strike procedure."

When the Shui clan's diplomats attempted to clarify certain vague tax provisions, Cornerstone-071 directly projected a tens of thousands of pages long Imperial Tax Code. The massive and cumbersome text instantly overwhelmed the Shui clan representative's objections.

At this moment, the bureaucratic machine of the empire's dark side displayed the same deadly crushing power as the war machine.

Thus, the Tau Empire's fifth expedition to the Vision Enclave, a grand war originally intended to clean house and expand its territory, ended in an almost absurd manner.

Instead of being wiped out, the Vision Enclave became a noose around the neck of the Tau Empire.

As Lawson's forces began establishing permanent defensive positions around key facilities on Tau, the Tau Empire's high command was allowed to leave the dilapidated council hall.

Back in their respective underground command posts, the high-ranking members of the Fire, Earth, and Water clans finally had time to review the homeland defense battle that had lasted less than two days.

Only at this moment did they awaken from their dream.

For thousands of years, the Tau Empire has been expanding smoothly at the edge of the Milky Way.

They encountered orcs, small Imperial patrols, and even the tentacles of the Tyranids, and won all those battles.

They believed their rise was a historical inevitability, and that the guidance of the highest good would enable them to replace the human empire and become the new masters of the galaxy.

Today, for the first time, they truly encountered the terrifying power of the galactic overlord.

Their proud expansion was only possible because the true apex predators of the galaxy had been too busy fighting amongst themselves to focus their attention on this remote region of the star system.

In the analysis room of Huo's strategic department, several senior staff officers presented Osham with a detailed battle damage report.

On the holographic projection, densely packed data was jumping around.

"Commander, this is the final post-battle data for ground armored combat."

The staff officer reported with great frustration, "In direct combat, the kill ratio of the mechs ultimately settled at 140 to 1."

This is a despairing number.

The Tau Empire firmly believes that the technology of the human empire is regressing, and they consider humans to be a group of barbarians who pray to ancient ruins.

But reality slapped them hard in the face.

The industrial system under Lawson's command can not only mass-produce armor far beyond their understanding, but also perfectly integrate these armors with a neural control network that they cannot decipher, achieving near-zero-latency tactical coordination.

The Turks' engineers, holding fragments of Imperial Dark Side mechs collected from the battlefield, fell into a long silence.

Their technological advancements, which they were so proud of, were like a child's sandcastle, easily flattened by the waves, in the face of the empire's dark underbelly.

At the communications station, a representative of the Shui clan responsible for liaising with the outer worlds quickly walked to Osham's side.

"Commander, the garrison fleets of the Second, Third, and Sixth World Domains have assembled. They are requesting new jump coordinates and preparing to reinforce the capital."

Just hours before, these fleets were their hope for a comeback.

They believed that as long as they held out until reinforcements arrived, they could drag the human fleet into a war of attrition and eventually force Losen to retreat by relying on the advantage of fighting on home soil.

In retrospect, this idea seems ridiculously naive.

If the Tau Empire's conventional fleet were to jump into the Tau system at this time, it wouldn't even have a chance to deploy its formation.

"Cancel the jump request."

Osham issued the order that would determine the fate of the Tau Empire: "Order all garrison fleets to immediately cease combat readiness, return to their respective home ports, and shut down their fire control systems. We will abide by the armistice agreement signed by Grand Commander Oshowa."

The staff officers carried out the orders.

A profound sense of powerlessness permeated the command post.

On the surface of Titan, the mechanized infantry of the Cornerstone Sequence are methodically taking over key nodes of the city.

After Lawson completed the reorganization of the orbital defenses on Tau, he left behind a full-strength combat force.

The commander of this combat unit moved directly into the Presidential Palace.

Their stated purpose was to assist Oshowa in stabilizing the situation and preventing any possible rebellion.

In reality, they were a dagger that Lawson had plunged into the heart of the Tau Empire.

This force will be responsible for urging O'Shova to complete the recruitment and reorganization of the first batch of 300 million Tau troops as soon as possible, ensuring that this labor force and cannon fodder can be delivered to various war zones in the dark side of the Empire on time.

Having resolved the issues here, Lawson returned to the dark side of the Empire.

Deep within the network, in a hidden observation node known as the Blind Eye, Governor Tenebris stands before a control console made of bones and dark crystals.

This observatory hovers in the gap between reality and subspace, with all its sensor arrays locked onto the direction of the triple star system.

Tenebris's mission was very clear: to monitor the Imperial Dark Side's main fleet stationed on the outskirts of the Tri-Stars.

As soon as that massive fleet of Blood Angels and Dark Angels sets sail for the Vision Enclave to provide support, he will immediately send the highest level of encrypted signal to Comoros.

Once the signal is sent, the Thief God Project, prepared by the Supreme Lord Victor, will officially begin.

Tenebris's gaze swept over the pulsating star map coordinates.

War breaks out on Oshowa's nine planets, killing and injuring hundreds of millions of civilians.

Tenebris waited.

He had even anticipated the energy ripples that would occur when the human fleet hastily jumped over.

A dark light engineer responsible for deciphering alien communications quickly walked to Tenebris's side and handed him a data panel.

"Consul, we have intercepted broadcast signals across the entire spectrum of the Tau Empire."

"The signal source is the Titan, and the transmission authorization is the highest level of the Ethernet protocol."

Tenebris took the data panel, and the text and images on the screen were simultaneously translated into the Comorian language.

Tenebries' gaze lingered on the first line of text for a moment, somewhat taken aback.

He was certain he understood the words, but he couldn't put them together to form a logical conclusion.

The broadcast was extremely clear: Anwa, the Supreme Ether of the Tau Empire, had died two hundred years ago. For the past two centuries, what has ruled over the trillions of Tau people is merely a holographic image and a chemical synthesizer. Oshova has succeeded as the Supreme Leader of the Tau Empire. The entire Tau Empire shall cease all military operations against the dark side of the Empire and unconditionally accept the ceasefire terms. From this day forward, the Tau Empire shall officially become a vassal state of the Human Empire and be subject to the Empire's administrative control and tax collection.

Tenebris looked at the position of the triple star on the star chart.

The massive Imperial Dark Fleet remained stationary, its battleships in formation perfectly still.

Lawson bypassed all conventional battle zones, and at the very moment when the Tau Empire thought victory was in their grasp, he destroyed the entire Tau civilization's will to resist at its root.

"Verify the authenticity of the signal," Tenebris ordered, preferring to doubt the information's authenticity rather than believe it was real.

"It has been verified three times."

The engineer replied, "The signal included the original data packet extracted from Anwa's memory, biometric verification from the Honor Guard, and confirmation receipts from high-ranking officials in various Tau worlds. This is indeed an official announcement from the Tau Empire. The Tau fleet on its expedition to the Vision Enclave has completely deactivated its weapons and is standing by."

Tenebries tossed the data panel back to the console, sighed, and it seemed his mission was over.

"Send this intelligence back without missing a single word."

"Let the great lords see for themselves what kind of fine swords they have chosen are."

Deep within the Comoros lies the Hall of Power.

The holographic projector was playing the intelligence sent back by Tenebris on a loop.

The Supreme Lord Victor stared at the document announcing the surrender of the Tau Empire on the holographic screen.

"This bunch of blue-skinned trash didn't even last two days before handing over the entire empire to that tyrant."

"A bunch of spineless, despicable bastards!"

The head of the Skinning Skull Conspiracy, Freske, looked utterly disgusted. "Thousands of inhabited planets, six thousand warships! Even if they opened fire with their eyes closed, they could have easily taken a piece of the human fleet! And they surrendered without even a shred of resistance?"

“They were terrified by the lies of their own people.” Another Blood Gate Master let out a sharp, cold laugh. “The Tau people pride themselves on being the embodiment of reason, placing all their faith in a false program. Lawson simply unplugged that program, and they all turned into paralyzed lumps of flesh. This race is not worthy of living in the galaxy at all; even their value as slaves has been depreciated.”

“I told you long ago, these blue-skinned aliens are unreliable,” Karag, the High Lord of the Poison Blade Conspiracy, scoffed. “They lack our Dark Eldar’s thirst for survival. If Comoros were to be invaded, we would rather blow the entire planet to pieces than bow down to a human warlord.”

"It's pointless to complain about the cowardice of the Tau now."

Victor interrupted the cursing, his gaze sweeping across the room. "The surrender of the Tau Empire is a fact. Lawson has taken over trillions of people and a complete alien industrial system without bloodshed. His power is expanding exponentially, and that is the problem we need to face."

The hall fell silent.

Everyone understood what Lawson's sudden increase in strength meant.

The dark side of the Empire is getting closer and closer to the Webgate of Comoros.

Karag leaned slightly toward Victor: "Your Majesty, the Tau Empire has knelt down. The Imperial fleet of the Tri-Star Alliance will never leave its defensive positions again. We have lost our preconditions. The Thief God Project... shall we continue?"

After a moment's thought, Victor said coldly, "We never abandon our prey because of the enemy's strength."

"The Thief God Project will not end. The Goddess of Life is the core bargaining chip for Comoros' future survival and revival. Although Lawson has taken over the Tau Empire, taking over the administrative system of the twenty-seven world domains is not something that can be done overnight. The Empire's computing power and administrative resources in the dark will definitely be greatly affected by the mess of the Tau Empire. We still have a chance."

"Moreover, we now have a more pressing reason to obtain the Goddess of Life. The threat from Lawson is growing, and we need Isha's power to create even more powerful war behemoths, or even biological weapons targeting Lawson."

Carragher said no more; Victor's decision was beyond question.

"But before we consider how to reach out to Obulus III..."

With a grim expression, Fresk steered the conversation toward the internal turmoil in the Comoros, "We must deal with those troubles at home first. How's the clearing out of those two Slaanesh demons going?"

Over the past few days, Ash and Thousand Strings, the two Slaanesh archdemons, have unleashed an unprecedented and terrifying storm within the Comoros.

They specifically targeted densely populated, poorly defended civilian areas and low-level gladiatorial arenas.