The Zone of Silence, outer star systems.
The human fleet advanced in a vast formation, its slowly moving warships resembling a colossal cloud of steel drifting among the stars.
The Holy Soul Cult's forces had long since destroyed every Blackstone Pylon in this region, making it one of the best routes for the fleet's advance.
It also minimized the effects of the Blackstone Veil upon the army.
Otherwise, the veil alone would have greatly slowed the fleet's progress.
In the void, a hideous fortress assembled from the wreckage of countless ships drifted silently.
The spikes covering its outer armor were adorned with the corpses of humans and various xenos.
There was no doubt that this was a xenos pirate stronghold.
Beep! Beep! Beep!
"Enemy attack!"
"Gods, what the hell is that thing?!"
The piercing alarms and terrified shouts jolted the xenos pirate chieftain from his sleep.
He angrily kicked aside the blue-skinned slave beside him and roared, "You've disturbed my sleep! Who dares trespass upon our base's territory?"
This was one of the domains belonging to the Necrontyr lords.
The pirates were vassals of a Cryptek Conclave serving the Silent King. Their primary task was to capture various living creatures and deliver them to the biotransference reversal laboratories.
The Necrontyr lords might have been embroiled in some minor internal dispute, but that did not mean other factions could simply trespass upon their territory.
When the pirate chieftain reached the observation terrace, he froze.
What?
He rubbed his eyes, unable to believe what he was seeing.
Had he gotten up too quickly? Why had the entire sky turned black? Why couldn't he see anything?
From the pirate chieftain's perspective, space had become terrifyingly dark. Nothing remained but a cold expanse of absolute blackness.
He quickly realized the truth.
What he was seeing was metal armor.
It resembled a smooth black wall stretching endlessly in every direction, blocking his entire field of vision.
Even more terrifyingly, that wall was probably only one small section of some colossal object, and it was bearing down upon them.
An uncontrollable terror seized the pirate chieftain.
His words tumbled over one another. "Destroy it! No, don't! Run! Get away from that damned monster!"
It was already too late.
The enormous object continued straight toward them, and the small fortress cobbled together from wreckage had virtually no room to evade.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The small star fortress launched its torpedoes. They struck the target one after another, blossoming into balls of flame.
Yet against the wall of steel, the explosions looked like nothing more than tiny sparks.
They caused no damage whatsoever.
Only then did the pirates finally manage to scan the full outline of the approaching behemoth.
It was a bizarre vessel nearly twenty kilometers long. Instead of a conventional ram, its prow bore an even broader structure resembling the blade of an enormous bulldozer.
It was a human Jotunheim-class Vanguard Megaship.
The vessel possessed a defensive ram more than twenty kilometers wide, shaped like a massive alloy blade. It could flatten obstacles, ram enemy ships, and block most incoming attacks.
This spaceborne monster of steel had been independently developed by an agricultural conglomerate in Charadon in answer to the Savior's call.
Jotunheim-class Vanguard Megaships possessed immensely powerful engines and were built with a largely solid internal structure, making them extraordinarily durable.
Of course, most people preferred to call them space bulldozers. Their original design had indeed been an industrial vessel meant to clear asteroids, wreckage, and other debris from shipping lanes.
Now, they had been converted into the most imposing vanguard ships in the Imperial fleet. They opened paths for the main force, swept away enemy torpedoes, and absorbed frontal fire.
The pirate fortress's weapons might as well have been scratching the megaship's armor.
"Damn it!"
Faced with such a terrifying beast of steel, the xenos pirate chieftain had no intention of resisting.
Without hesitation, he turned and sprinted toward the hangar.
His only chance of survival was to board a high-speed raider and escape the fortress.
He had not run far when a violent tremor threw him to the deck. A deafening roar followed immediately afterward.
He turned his head.
Everything around him was collapsing. The black, oppressive, bitterly cold wall of steel crushed through the fortress's outer armor and continued advancing without mercy.
Flames erupted everywhere, engulfing the entire base.
Overwhelmed by terror, the pirate chieftain tried to scream, but he could no longer produce a sound.
Boom!
The pirate fortress was crushed beneath the colossal steel monster and reduced to burning wreckage scattered through space.
The resulting explosion caused little more than a faint tremor aboard the Vanguard Megaship.
Inside the bridge.
"Praise the Savior..."
The captain of the Obstacle Clearance Squadron, Eighth Vanguard Group, Third Fleet of the Restoration Crusade, leisurely sampled a cup of premium milk tea produced on Malis.
Drinking something while seated upon the captain's command throne had become an Imperial tradition, and he was simply following the trend.
Alcohol and anything else that impaired judgment, of course, was strictly forbidden.
He had been in exceptionally high spirits for the past several days.
Originally, he had merely operated a space bulldozer and cleared debris.
Who could have imagined that the declaration of total war would give him the chance to be conscripted into battle and become the captain of an Imperial warship?
What an honor!
His entire family, including all his relatives and friends, was now proud of him.
Of course, apart from the added sanctity and glory, his new position did not feel all that different from operating a space bulldozer.
Suddenly, the milk tea in front of him rippled slightly.
The captain immediately stood and asked, "Pilot, report. Have we encountered the enemy?"
Excitement crept into his voice. Perhaps he was about to fight his first real battle.
"No, Captain. Just a bunch of fucking xenos pirates. They left their pile of junk in the wrong place and blocked our path."
The pilot spat to the side.
"I see."
The captain sounded disappointed.
Encounters like this had excited him at first, but after several repetitions, they had lost their novelty.
These creatures did not even qualify as enemies, and crushing them earned no honor or military merit.
He waved dismissively. "Proceed according to regulations, Pilot. Just drive straight through."
"Reporting, Captain. I already drove through them," the pilot replied.
Barring some miracle, those xenos pirates had already been sent to meet their gods.
Unless the ship's auspex issued a special warning, they would simply continue moving forward.
Any unfortunate xenos pirates or other objects that happened to be crushed beneath them had only themselves to blame.
In truth, the pirate base did not even qualify as a speed bump for the Vanguard Megaship.
"Understood."
The captain said nothing more and sat down again. After a moment's thought, however, he added a reminder.
"Pilot, we're not bulldozer operators anymore. Try not to be so fucking crude when delivering your reports."
"Yes, sir. I'll fucking remember that!" the pilot replied with a nod.
The captain nodded in satisfaction and returned to evaluating his milk tea.
The damned stuff was expensive. If his benefits had not improved, he never would have been able to afford it.
He took a sip and discovered that Malis milk tea did not taste particularly different from the ordinary variety.
"Ah, milk tea from Malis really is something else."
The captain took another sip. This time, he began to imagine he could taste the difference.
Beyond the viewport, more Vanguard Megaships advanced alongside his vessel, ruthlessly clearing every obstacle from their path, including asteroid belts and enormous blocks of spaceborne ice.
Behind them stretched forest after forest of steel.
They were the warships of the Imperium.
...
The Farsight Homeworld.
This was a new world established by the legendary T'au commander O'Shovah, better known as Commander Farsight.
The new homeworld was a rocky planet almost entirely devoid of forests and oceans. Its only traces of green came from vast fields of moss sustained by moisture rising from subterranean rivers.
The heart of the settlement had been constructed within an immense mountain range.
There were none of the T'au's traditional cities of flowing light. Instead, heavily armored fortress complexes had been embedded directly into the mountainsides.
The surface was covered with tier upon tier of Battlesuit training grounds, rapid-fire railgun batteries, geothermal power stations, war-machine factories, and other military installations.
The enormous number of factories and laboratories, combined with the extensive exploitation of subterranean magma, ensured that the capital's air always reeked of sulfur and ozone.
From time to time, formations of crimson-painted XV-series Battlesuits roared through the lower atmosphere, while shimmering defensive screens illuminated the gloomy sky.
After the T'au Empire was conquered and forced to submit to humanity, the surviving resistance forces had followed Commander Farsight to the galaxy's frontier and established a new homeworld.
These resistance fighters regarded themselves as the last true members of the T'au Empire.
They intended to continue organizing counterattacks while awaiting an opportunity to rebuild the T'au Empire and restore their species' former glory.
They remained perpetually prepared for war, determined to reclaim their home.
"O'Shovah, do we still have any hope? Can we truly win this war?"
Commander Shadowsun asked the question.
She no longer possessed much confidence.
The human Imperium was growing ever stronger, assimilating more and more species into its domain.
That colossal empire spanned the galaxy. Its sheer scale inspired despair, leaving no visible possibility of victory.
Humanity had never discovered this remote frontier homeworld, nor had a human fleet ever reached it.
Even so, they could still feel the unbearable pressure exerted by the Imperium.
The Farsight Enclaves were gradually losing the space they needed to survive.
"Have you begun to waver like those Ethereals and other cowards?"
Commander Farsight's voice was cold and scrutinizing.
"Do you also believe the T'au should assimilate into the human Imperium and become its shameful vassals, rather than continue preparing our counteroffensive and ultimately destroy those evil humans?"
He was deeply displeased.
Weak and defeatist ideas had been spreading throughout the Farsight Enclaves. The intelligence brought back by a previous exploration team had quickly circulated, causing even more of his people to waver.
The Greater Greater Good had risen from the ashes.
Those T'au no longer wanted to resist. Instead, they wanted to join the human Imperium, spread the Greater Greater Good alongside humanity, and work together to build a mightier galaxy.
After all, the T'au had never restricted their philosophy by species. Anyone who embraced the Greater Greater Good could unite beneath its banner.
The Ethereals who had arrived with Shadowsun had also swiftly abandoned their former views, becoming increasingly difficult to control.
Farsight regretted his earlier decision.
He should have acted more decisively. He should have defied the pressure and killed every Ethereal instead of merely confining and keeping them under guard.
Now they had regained their influence, and even warriors such as Shadowsun were no longer as steadfast as before.
"No, I don't want our people to become humanity's vassals," Shadowsun said. "I'm merely concerned that continuing to provoke humanity will bring disaster upon this world.
"We should distance ourselves from the humans so we don't attract one of their fleets and lose our final home.
"That is especially true of the Savior. If we draw his attention, the consequences would be unimaginable..."
The shadow of their previous defeat had never left Shadowsun's heart.
The more she learned about the Imperium, and the stronger humanity became, the more thoroughly her last hopes were extinguished.
The surviving T'au could not withstand a human assault.
The reality was that the Farsight Enclaves were insignificant compared to the human Imperium. They had no hope of defeating it.
As far as Shadowsun and the others were concerned, the T'au could no longer afford to provoke humanity, much less launch another war of conquest. If they did, they would lose even this final home.
Their only option was to travel as far from humanity as possible and settle in some remote corner of the galaxy. Only then might they have a chance to survive.
Furthermore, the Savior no longer seemed particularly interested in waging campaigns of extermination against xenos.
He had even established trade zones where different xenos species could conduct commerce with one another and do business with humans.
The human Imperium is just like the old T'au Empire. In fact, it is doing an even better job.
That was Shadowsun's conclusion.
The T'au Empire had once recruited other species as vassals, placing the T'au at the center while allowing all of them to develop together.
That principle had been one of the Greater Good's most important foundations.
The senior Fire Caste commander had noticed the change in Farsight.
He was preparing an attack against humanity, and his obsession had reached the point where he no longer cared about the consequences.
She was deeply worried.
Shadowsun wanted to persuade him to abandon his plans. This was not the time to make an enemy of humanity.
The T'au needed to leave their old feuds and hatred behind, withdraw to a more distant frontier, and rebuild their strength. Given enough time, they might someday have an opportunity to return to the galaxy and reclaim their home.
"Now is our best opportunity, and our only opportunity," Farsight replied. "Humanity is about to go to war with the Necrontyr.
"The humans cannot defeat that ancient race. They will suffer a devastating defeat and incur catastrophic losses.
"Once humanity has been dealt a merciless blow and dragged into a prolonged war of attrition, they will be unable to concern themselves with the T'au for a very long time. They won't have the strength to do so.
"This is our chance to reclaim our home. Every human occupying our territory will be punished..."
Farsight's blue eyes were unfathomably deep, and his resolve was absolute.
He had prepared for this war for far too long. He would not allow anyone to prevent it from beginning.
The T'au rebel had begun to regret allowing Shadowsun and her followers to join him.
They still clung to the Greater Greater Good and were too deeply bound to its ideals to change.
As time passed, they gradually eroded the purity and resistance of the Farsight Enclaves.
Shadowsun tried to respond, but Farsight silenced her with a stern glare.
She knew she could not persuade him.
The faint madness concealed deep within his eyes made her heart tremble.
Farsight seemed to realize something, and his expression softened.
"Shadowsun, I will consider the concerns you and the others have raised. I won't carelessly expose the Farsight Homeworld to the guns of the human Imperium..."
It was, of course, a lie.
The rebel's ambitions and his loathing for Shadowsun and the others had already become almost impossible to suppress.
Before launching the war, he intended to begin with a purge.
He would eliminate Shadowsun and the other cowardly members of his own species, along with those foolish Ethereals.
As Farsight attempted to reassure Shadowsun, he noticed the terror in her eyes.
A moment later, she released an involuntary cry of alarm.
She had seen something horrifying, something coming from space.
Farsight turned.
An utterly terrifying sight confronted him.
Shadows were spreading across the stars, slowly devouring every trace of light.
The darkness seemed alive. It silently swallowed the visible galaxy before sweeping toward them with cold, merciless inevitability.
All he could see was a black and lifeless starscape.
Several star systems surrounding the Farsight Homeworld had already been engulfed by the unknown shadow.
Those systems represented only a small portion of it. The shadow's full extent had to be far greater.
It was terrifying beyond belief.
More and more T'au saw what was happening. Cries of alarm and screams began to spread.
"By the Greater Greater Good! Have the Tyranids come for us?!"
An elderly Ethereal's voice trembled with terror. His entire body shook uncontrollably.
He had never seen so many Tyranids before, but he knew how terrifying those creatures were.
They would devour everything.
"No... impossible!"
Farsight's eyes widened.
He finally recovered from his shock, and a trace of fear entered his expression.
If those truly were Tyranids, then their numbers were far too vast.
The approaching swarm surpassed every known Hive Fleet!
(End of Chapter)
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