"By your command, great Warmaster. We'll begin setting up the defenses at once." The officers of the Imperium Navy and Army from the mortal forces saluted Rhodes.
Rhodes's gene-sons also took their own drop pods and small Pedan craft to moons on the fringes of certain systems to establish outposts there, where they would intercept the Tyranids.
This Exterminatus order had two aims. First, to turn this star system into a death world: all biomass on the planet had already been annihilated by Rhodes, so the Tyranids would find no supplies here.
Second, to prevent the Tyranids from obtaining suitable gene sequences to strengthen their broods.
Once everyone had departed to begin deploying defenses, Rhodes finally had time to observe, from the ship's main control room, the Tyranid hive fleet approaching the system.
According to the auspex, the Tyranids were still a few light-years out. Barring surprises, they would arrive at the battlefield in a few days—and so would Rhodes's fleet that was transiting the Warp.
The Tyranids were the first enemy Rhodes had encountered upon descending into this world, and so far the most troublesome.
Even against the forces of Chaos, Rhodes hadn't been so constrained—because the Tyranids' mastery of genetic adaptation was simply too formidable.
The special kaiju from the Ultra Series universe are inscrutable without the right samples and decades of study—even a master genetic analyst can fail to fully parse their biology. And yet the Tyranids can streamline them and create hive behemoths suited to themselves.
When he first fought the Tyranids, Rhodes only had a single Red King at his disposal, so he had no choice but to send that big lug in.
Thereafter, in his engagements with the Tyranids, Rhodes mostly relied on his gene-sons, mechanical kaiju, and cosmic phantom beasts.
In the last battle with the Tyranids in the Baal system, the special monster Birdon—which Rhodes had summoned—possessed the trait "Bane of the Bugs," and after Rhodes's enhancements,
it became very special indeed: through a certain sonic frequency it could instantly kill nearby bugs, even paralyze the surrounding Tyranid hive ships.
Even a Norn-Queen—beings of terrifying psychic power—couldn't fully resist that peculiar sonic attack. It was practically the Pleiades Star Lord of the Warhammer universe.
Previously, in the Octarius region, Rhodes had refrained from using that power to avoid drawing the Tyranids' attention. But now he could.
So Rhodes summoned a new Birdon and pushed it to its limits. This Birdon would lurk behind a planet.
When the hive ships appeared, it would unleash its special sonic attack, then Rhodes's gene-sons would carry special thermite bombs to straightforwardly blow the hive ships to pieces.
From the auspex returns, the hive fleet was vast: over a hundred Tyranid hive ships twenty kilometers long, plus several hundred bio-ship escorts.
For this grand offensive, the Emperor and Guilliman had made extensive preparations, and the number of Rhodes's mainline warships was terrifying.
Not to mention the Mechanical Ultra Six Brothers and all manner of mechanical kaiju. The primary task this time was to intercept the hive fleet at the system's edge,
then, when his main fleet arrived, to form up, unleash overwhelming firepower, and annihilate the Tyranids.
"Rhodes! The Tyranids really bring back memories. I remember when we first met, we were besieged by Tyranids. I thought I was dead for sure!" Elena slipped into the control room at some point and sat down beside Rhodes.
"Yeah! Back then you even wanted to obtain my gene-seed," Rhodes said with a playful look.
"Hahaha! That idea wasn't mine—it was Sister Atoria. But in the end the one who took your gene-seed was me. Why didn't you give her some gene-seed?" Elena said, amused.
How naive she'd been back then!
At eighteen, she had boarded Rhodes's ship in a daze, and that very night received the gene-seed.
She'd been just a little Hospitaller, thinking she would be tending to Rhodes's daily needs; she hadn't expected that kind of care.
With age, and with their son, she was no longer that innocent little sister.
"Hahaha! I've always liked your personality. When I left, I really was reluctant to part with you—and who knew you were hiding on my ship," Rhodes said, pulling Elena into his arms.
Though a certain Aeldari goddess and two ladies had borne him children, his true wife in this world was Elena.
"Hehe! When shall we have another child? Stark always seems a little lonely," Elena murmured, curled in Rhodes's arms.
"Worried that the kids of the Aeldari will bully our son?" Rhodes asked.
In the first phase of the Indomitus Crusade, he had chosen to bring his five-year-old son aboard. The boy would grow up with his parents, rather than be left on Holy Terra as Emperor suggested.
As a super lifeform, space was no different from a planet to him, and being by their side made for better tutelage.
"That's exactly it. You know my concerns—now you and those Aeldari women have three children each. They're not born yet, but on my side I have only one," Elena said.
"Wanting one doesn't mean you can just have one. Tell me, on what night have we not tried?
For super lifeforms, reproduction is extremely difficult. Sometimes having a single child is already quite good," Rhodes said.
"We can ask the Aeldari goddess of life to help! She let you cross reproductive barriers with Sister Yvraine and Lelith. It shouldn't be too hard for us, right?" Elena said.
She'd long since thought of this—they had a goddess of life aboard; it'd be a waste not to ask.
"Since you put it that way, how could I refuse? I'll speak with the goddess of life," Rhodes said with a smile.
It was indeed necessary. More human offspring would benefit the Imperium's future—after all, humans would feel stronger kinship with their own species.
"Hehe! You're the best. I'll put my Hospitaller habit back on tonight," Elena said.
"I like the sound of that! We'll send Stark to train with the Sisters of Battle," Rhodes said.
Nominally, Stark was a Primarch—but in terms of seniority, he stood alongside the Sisters and even Astartes. Who knew how awkward his gene-sons would be when he formed his Astartes Legion someday.
…
In the following days, Rhodes asked the Aeldari goddess of life for help. Using her life energy, Elena successfully conceived a second time.
Five days later, the Astartes units watching the system's edge reported to Rhodes that the Tyranid vanguard had arrived.
Without hesitation, Rhodes first dispatched the cosmic volcanic monster Birdon, which had been lurking on the periphery, to deliver the opening strike.
His gene-sons followed close behind, ready to use their teleportation bracelets to launch boarding actions and plant large thermite charges and Pedanium bombs on the hive ships.
When the massive bio-ships entered visual range, the cosmic Birdon let out a joyful cry and swept in on enormous wings.
"Cock-a-doodle-doo!"
A sound like a rooster's crow rang through the hive fleet. Tyranids that heard it felt their bodies go weak and limp; higher forms immediately lost motor function. Even Norn-Queens and brain-bugs were affected.
Lesser Tyranids dropped dead on the spot, one-shot wiped.
Once, the Tyranids might have been caught off guard by this. Not anymore.
In the Battle of Baal, the Great Devourer had tasted that attack. The instant the enemy struck, the Great Devourer's consciousness extended, and the Norn-Queens within the hive ships sensed it.
Though they raised psychic shields, this special attack targeted the soul—psychic power couldn't stop it.
As Birdon attacked, Rhodes's gene-sons burst forth as well.
Piloting Pedan craft, they flew to the hive ships, then made boarding teleports at knife-fight range.
In a flash of blue light, they appeared aboard the bio-ships. With practiced ease, they used bolt weapons to finish any surviving high-tier Tyranid organisms, then tossed their charges and blinked out.
A moment later, brilliant fireworks blossomed across the void!
After Birdon's opening salvo, Rhodes recalled it at once—lesson learned: he remembered vividly how the first Birdon had been psychically slain by the Tyranids.
Damn bugs—don't think you're the only ones who can adjust your tactics. Humanity is a warlike species too!
After the first wave of boarding, Rhodes's gene-sons immediately jumped back into their FTL craft and returned to their lines.
Then the human battle-barges, destroyers, and cruisers presented their broadsides. Macro-cannons, Pedanium beam cannons, and lance batteries trained on the hive fleet.
Rhodes also launched the Mechanical Ultra Six Brothers. Metallium Rays, Specium Rays, Emerium Rays, Strium Rays, and the M78 Ray blasted into the hive fleet.
The hive fleet reeled from Birdon's sudden strike and suffered grievous losses.
But the Great Devourer reacted with speed. The Norn-Queens aboard the hive ships rapidly adjusted their tactics, ordering the remaining bio-ships to mass fire and attempt to break the Imperium line.
Rhodes's fleet was ready. The broadsides of battle-barges, destroyers, and cruisers thundered; the roar of macro-cannons rolled through the void. Pedanium beams and lances carved the darkness and lanced into the bio-ships.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Under the dense fire, bio-ships exploded one after another, blossoming into bouquets of stellar fireworks.
Yet the Tyranids did not retreat. They know no fear. In swarms, the bio-ships punched into the teeth of the guns.
The hive ships spewed spore mines and bio-missiles, seeking to smother the human fleet with sheer numbers.
Spore mines spread rapidly through space, forming lethal spore-clouds, while bio-missiles swarmed like locusts toward human hulls.
Rhodes's Mechanical Ultra Six Brothers raced to intercept. Ultra Seven's head-mounted flying blade and Ice Axe precisely cut down swathes of spore mines.
The original Ultraman's Specium Ray swept a swath of bio-missiles. Mechanical Ace's Metallium Ray and Mechanical Taro's Strium Ray hammered directly into hive ships, inflicting massive damage.
Struck Tyranid vessels burst into stellar fireworks. The beams of these Mechanical Brothers were absolute nemeses of the bugs.
Meanwhile, Rhodes's gene-sons launched another boarding wave, piloting Pedan craft and using their teleportation bracelets to appear inside the hive ships.
But as time passed, psychic shielding within the hive fleet rose, beginning to block the human guns.
On Rhodes's side, the Imperium's main battlefleet had also arrived. The two sides arrayed themselves across the unknown system.
With a thunderous detonation, a hive ship's interior blew out, tearing the behemoth in half. Wreckage drifted through the void. battle-barges, destroyers, cruisers, and escorts were also relentlessly shot down by the Tyranid hives.
The carnage was extreme on both sides.
["We meet again, human. You didn't expect it, did you? Those beetle-men were my gift to you—something I created specifically.
This is my trap for you, not yours for me."]
A psychic transmission sounded in Rhodes's mind.
"Great Devourer, how much do you really know of my power now? Do you think I'm still who I was?
'This is my trap for you, not yours for me'—let me return those words to you," Rhodes sent back, mind to hive mind.
Great Devourer, Great Devourer—who's truly the prey? You still haven't figured it out.
Everything you can think of, I've already thought of one step ahead.