Boom boom boom...
A full-scale war was raging across the planet's surface below them. Countless explosions rippled outward in devastating waves, causing massive mushroom-shaped clouds to rise slowly into the atmosphere.
"What the hell is that?" Marcus muttered, his mind struggling to process what he was seeing.
On the ground far below, confronting the source of all that bombardment was what looked like a living black tide. Although the explosions instantly tore apart sections of that dark mass, it recovered almost immediately—the gaps filling in as more of whatever-it-was surged forward.
"Will, zoom in on the situation down there," Marcus commanded. "I want to know exactly what that black tide is made of."
As he spoke, Will adjusted the detection screen and continued magnifying the image. Finally, Marcus could see the true nature of the black tide clearly.
It was composed of countless hideous giant insects—each one roughly the size of a full-grown human. The entire swarm was rushing relentlessly toward a fortified defense zone where the ammunition fire was originating from.
"Insects that large, and in those numbers..." Marcus trailed off, a suspicion forming in his mind. "It can't be..."
Marcus had developed a pretty good guess about what universe this might be. Although he wasn't completely certain yet, this scene was definitely very similar to a place from his memories—a particular grimdark sci-fi setting he'd encountered in media before crossing over.
"Zod, it's your turn to take action!" Marcus's voice echoed throughout the Railjack's interior.
Zod and the other Kryptonians who'd been observing the planet's surface through various viewports all heard Marcus's words clearly.
They understood immediately what Marcus wanted from them: go down there, solve the problem, and help that defense zone resist the black tide of alien insects.
"Let's go!" Zod said decisively.
With that command, Zod led all the Kryptonians out of the Railjack's airlock. They used their biological force fields to fly smoothly through the sky, then unleashed a series of devastating heat vision beams to assist the defense zone's roaring gunfire in holding back the insect tide.
On the ground, the soldiers who'd been desperately resisting the Zerg onslaught suddenly spotted several brilliant red beams appearing in the sky above them. The power of those beams was clearly immense—a single sweeping motion could instantly vaporize huge numbers of alien insects.
"Is that... are those our reinforcements?" one warrior asked, glancing up at the sky while reloading his weapon.
He was wearing heavy power armor that made him look more like a walking tank than a man. Despite the protection, his movements showed the strain of continuous combat.
"What reinforcements?" another warrior replied cynically while continuing to fire his massive weapon. "We've been lost out here for months. We haven't encountered anyone from the Imperium at all."
They'd lost contact with all known Imperial planets long ago. If it weren't for their desperate need to replenish the ship's resource stockpiles, they never would have chosen to stay on this Emperor-forsaken planet in the first place.
If they hadn't stayed, they wouldn't have encountered this nightmare situation—wouldn't have been attacked by xeno insects here.
"But then what about those red beams falling from the sky?" the first soldier pressed. "I remember our ship is just an industrial vessel. We don't have weapons like that."
"Who knows?" the other soldier said dismissively, not particularly caring about the mystery. "Maybe the captain ordered them urgently produced to support us."
His primary focus remained on the Zerg that kept surging forward like an unstoppable tide in front of their position.
The soldier who'd been reloading didn't ask any more questions. After slamming a fresh magazine into his weapon, he raised the massive gun and pulled the trigger, unleashing more fire into the insect swarm.
The weapon—with its brutal 50mm caliber—spewed out explosive flames with each shot. Even wearing heavy power armor, the soldiers couldn't completely offset the weapon's savage recoil. Each soldier's body would shake violently with every shot fired.
But that tremendous recoil came with equally tremendous destructive power.
Each individual shot could blow apart several Zerg simultaneously. If they didn't have this kind of devastating killing efficiency, they wouldn't be able to hold back the alien assault at all.
"Zzzt... Calling the First Tactical Team!" a voice crackled through the communicator amid heavy static.
"Received, go ahead!" the soldier who'd been continuously firing replied.
He was the leader of the First Tactical Team—responsible for coordinating their defensive position.
"We've detected high-heat ray attacks in your sector," the voice from command said. "Did you activate the melta cannons?"
"Negative, the melta cannons have not been activated yet," the team leader replied, his voice remaining remarkably calm despite the chaos around him. "As for those high-heat rays, we can see them from here."
The moment he heard the question, the team leader had already concluded that those red beams weren't being fired by their ship at all.
Although he found that somewhat surprising, he didn't stop his own attack. He continued methodically destroying alien insects with the weapon in his hands, each shot carefully aimed and devastating.
After receiving the team leader's response, the other end of the communicator went silent for several long seconds before continuing.
"First Tactical Team, with direct authorization from the captain, you are cleared to activate melta cannons. Also—maintain awareness and try to identify the source of those high-heat rays. Command out."
"Acknowledged!" the team leader responded crisply, then finally ceased fire.
He switched his comm channel. "All members of First Tactical Team—activate melta cannon platforms! Let's burn these xenos back to whatever hell spawned them!"
As his command rang out, all members of the tactical team began powering up the built-in melta cannon emplacements scattered throughout their defensive position.
Accompanied by deep, mechanical roars, massive fireballs of superheated plasma launched from the cannons and arced through the air before smashing into the black insect tide. Almost instantly, the impact points transformed into raging seas of fire.
The blazing flames were so intense they could ignite and melt the very rocks on the ground. Every area covered by the melta cannon bombardment turned the Zerg's chitinous bodies into liquid, making the already intense fires burn even more vigorously.
Under the devastating assault of the melta cannons, the insect tide was effectively severed—split into separate sections. Until the molten lava cooled down and solidified, the Zerg would have to pay an enormously greater price to push through and continue their attack.
"Keep firing!" the team leader commanded.
The First Tactical Team continued systematically clearing the surging Zerg tide in front of their position, while the melta cannons behind them fired again after their cooling cycles completed.
High above, the situation on the ground was clearly visible to Zod and the other Kryptonians. Although these humans' combat methods seemed somewhat primitive and kinetically-based, it had to be acknowledged that their attacks were effectively splitting the Zerg tide and relieving pressure on the defenders.
"Let's continue and finish off this insect swarm!" Zod declared.
He took a deep breath and exhaled forcefully in a specific direction, using his super-breath ability.
Whoooosh~
As he released that breath, the temperature in that entire sector dropped precipitously. The Zerg that had been rushing forward began moving in slow motion as thick layers of frost rapidly condensed on their exoskeletons, freezing them in place.
Seeing this technique's effectiveness, the other Kryptonians followed Zod's example. They systematically exhaled at different sections of the insect tide, flash-freezing massive numbers of Zerg where they stood.
"Hmm?" Marcus observed from above, slightly amused.
So they weren't planning to communicate with the people in the defense zone at all?
Watching Zod and his companions' actions, Marcus instantly understood the situation. These Kryptonians were still carrying significant pride—the arrogance of a technologically superior civilization.
They looked down on people who still relied on primitive kinetic weapons. In their eyes, the technology these humans had mastered probably wasn't much more advanced than what existed on Earth—which from a Kryptonian perspective was barely above caveman level.
"Forget it, it's their choice to act how they want," Marcus said with a slight shrug. "But if this really is the universe I'm thinking of, things are about to get very interesting.
Will, maintain orbit. I'm going down to take a closer look."
The moment those words left his mouth, Marcus instantly departed the Railjack and plummeted downward, aiming directly for the section of insect tide that resembled a roiling black ocean.
As Marcus fell rapidly through the atmosphere, his entire body ignited with flames. The fire grew stronger and more intense with each passing second, transforming him into an ever-growing fireball streaking toward the planet's surface.
The suddenly appearing fireball in the sky was spotted by everyone on the ground. They watched with growing alarm as the fireball grew larger and larger, descending at incredible speed.
"Massive energy surge detected," the voice from command crackled urgently through every comm channel. "First Tactical Team, immediate tactical withdrawal advised!"
All members of the tactical team received this warning notice simultaneously. They stared up at the fireball that kept growing as it approached, genuinely confused about what they were seeing.
But while they stood there momentarily stunned, something even more alarming happened—the number of fireballs seemed to be multiplying.
"Am I seeing things?" one soldier muttered, staring at the sky. "Why do I count four fireballs now? No, wait—there are eight!"
The soldier thought maybe his vision was playing tricks on him after so many hours of concentrated combat—that he was seeing multiple images of the same object.
"Negative, you're not hallucinating," the tactical team leader's voice cut through the comm channel, remarkably steady despite the circumstances. "The number of fireballs is genuinely increasing."
The sky could no longer be described as containing just "a few fireballs." Now the entire sky was filled with falling projectiles. A catastrophic rain of flames was about to fall upon them.
BOOM~
Countless fireballs smashed into the alien insect tide with earth-shaking force. The ground shook continuously under the impacts, and massive deep cracks spider-webbed outward from each impact point.
Only then did the soldiers realize these weren't fireballs at all—they were enormous meteorites wreathed in blazing flames, raining down like divine judgment onto the insect swarm.
Everyone could clearly see that massive numbers of alien insects were killed instantly on impact. Even the ground itself—everywhere covered by this rain of fire—transformed into bubbling lava within seconds.
"Emperor's teeth..." one soldier breathed. "Thank the Throne that didn't land on our side!"
The soldier swallowed hard, genuinely shocked by the apocalyptic scene playing out before them.
Every soldier around him nodded in fervent agreement. If those meteors had fallen on their defensive position instead of the enemy, absolutely none of them would have survived. Power armor or not, they'd have been vaporized instantly.
In the center of the rolling lava field, Marcus—now transformed into Ember Prime rose smoothly to his feet.
"Good thing I suppressed my power output," Marcus remarked to himself, looking around at the devastation. "Otherwise this entire planet would've turned into a fireball."
He'd completed his Warframe transformation while descending through the atmosphere. Those scattered fireballs that had multiplied across the sky were comets he'd summoned using his Hellfire ability, raining down alongside him to smash into the insect swarm.
Even though he'd deliberately held back his full power, he'd still delivered an absolutely devastating blow to the Zerg tide.
Lava covered the ground in every direction, and rings of fire spreading across that molten landscape completely incinerated every insect in this entire sector.
"Time to go talk to them," Marcus said.
As he spoke, the surrounding fire rings separated out a continuous stream of flame that wrapped around his armored form. He activated the Immolation ability, one of Ember's signature techniques.
The flames coiling around him continued building in intensity, gradually transforming him into what looked like a miniature sun—his entire body bathed in blazing fire that radiated overwhelming heat.
As he continued moving toward the defense zone, terrifying flames ignited in his wake. The fire transformed into a massive wave that followed Marcus forward, swallowing and consuming every alien insect in his path.
Marcus advanced completely unimpeded, cutting a burning path straight through the battlefield.
When he finally arrived at the defensive position's perimeter, the entire defense area had become surrounded by flames—transformed into an isolated island in a sea of fire.
"Alright, let's disperse now," Marcus murmured.
As he spoke, the entire sea of fire suddenly transformed into a spiraling tornado of flame that rushed back into his armor, absorbed and contained.
Aside from the lingering terrifying heat radiating from the ground, only the skeletal remains of insects—burned to ash and charcoal—remained as proof of what had just occurred.
After all the flames had been dispersed and absorbed, Marcus walked calmly up to the defensive position. The moment he stepped onto the fortified ground, dozens of large-caliber gun barrels immediately swung to point directly at him.
"Identify yourself!" the tactical team leader demanded, his weapon trained on Marcus.
As leader of the First Tactical Team, he was appropriately wary of Marcus's sudden appearance in their midst. He couldn't yet confirm what Marcus's intentions or purposes were.
"Hmm, the translation's a bit awkward, but it's still understandable," Marcus noted.
The soldier's words actually gave Marcus some relief. He'd briefly worried that the universe reactor's translation matrix couldn't properly interpret their language at all. But although their speech pattern came through slightly awkward and stilted, he could definitely understand them well enough to communicate.
"Greetings," Marcus said clearly. "I'm the captain of the Dark Aster. We detected that you were engaged in combat with those insect creatures, so we took action to assist."
Marcus's straightforward explanation made the team leader fall silent for several moments. He wasn't some brainless grunt—he could think tactically and assess situations.
Marcus's performance just now had demonstrated overwhelming power—enough to easily kill everyone on this defensive position without breaking a sweat. There was absolutely no need for deception or trickery.
And the entire series of battles they'd just witnessed had clearly proven that Marcus held no hostile intentions toward them whatsoever.
"My apologies, but we cannot establish contact with you without authorization," the team leader said formally, then switched his comm channel. "Requesting immediate contact with command."
"Captain, the insect tide has been completely neutralized," the team leader reported. "However, we've encountered an unknown individual with extreme capabilities. Requesting command presence for proper diplomatic contact."
After delivering that report, he uploaded both visual data of Marcus's armor and audio recordings of his voice directly to the ship for analysis.
He was just the leader of a tactical team—he had absolutely no authority to decide whether to establish formal contact with Marcus, especially given that Marcus clearly possessed such devastating power. That kind of decision had to come from the captain.
After receiving the detailed message from the First Tactical Team leader, everyone aboard the ship—including the captain himself—breathed a collective sigh of relief.
The insect tide had been completely resolved. That was genuinely excellent news for all of them.
As long as they could successfully collect enough resources from this planet, they could continue their voyage through the void and eventually find a way back to Imperial space.
However, after the captain reviewed the information about Marcus that the team leader had transmitted, everyone in the command center immediately sat up straighter, their attention fully focused.
They could see through their ship's long-range detection equipment that the entire defense area had been surrounded by temperatures exceeding anything their sensors could accurately measure. Now the team leader was telling them that all of this devastation had been caused by a single individual—one man with flames burning above his head—and that furthermore, this person had been helping them.
That revelation made everyone fall into troubled silence.
Although this stranger had helped them survive, the sheer power he'd demonstrated was absolutely terrifying. If they made formal contact with him, and if he subsequently decided to do something threatening or hostile, they would have absolutely no way to resist. He could wipe out their entire expedition with trivial ease.
"So the question before us now is this," the captain said, standing up from his command throne and leaning forward with both hands braced against the conference table. He looked around at everyone attending this emergency meeting. "Should we establish contact with this individual, or not?"
"I believe we should make contact," one of the ship's researchers spoke up immediately. "We all know the current state of our ship. Our resources have been almost completely exhausted. If we don't contact this person, it means we'll have to abandon the First Tactical Team and all of our resource mining equipment currently on the surface.
If we abandon those assets, we cannot sustain ourselves for much longer. I believe everyone here knows exactly what will happen in the end."
The researcher had expressed the situation with brutal clarity: their ship's resources were critically depleted, and they genuinely had no other viable options.
Right now there were only two paths before them. Either make contact with this powerful stranger and try to negotiate for a chance at survival, or refuse contact entirely and wait for death in growing despair as their supplies ran out.
His words made everyone fall silent again. They all understood that what he'd said was absolutely correct. Those really were their only two choices.
The worst possible outcome of either choice was death. But if fortune favored them—if they were lucky—not only would they avoid death, but they might also be able to continue sailing through the void and find their way back to Imperial space.
"It seems no one has any objections," the captain said after giving everyone time to consider. "In that case, I will make contact with this individual personally."
With that decision made, the captain stood up straight, carefully adjusted his uniform to ensure he looked properly commanding, and prepared to take a shuttle down to the planet's surface to meet with Marcus face-to-face.
On the ground, the team leader received notification that the captain would be arriving shortly. They were actually going to make formal contact with this person who controlled such terrifying flames.
"The captain will arrive soon," the team leader informed Marcus.
"Understood," Marcus replied with a simple nod.
He didn't mind this cautious approach at all. After all, these people had to be responsible for everyone aboard their ship. Taking time to assess the situation before committing was just basic leadership.
But it was becoming somewhat problematic that Zod and the other Kryptonians were still just floating around in the sky like that. No matter what plans Marcus had for the future, at the very least they were currently under his command and authority. Even Marcus himself was waiting here patiently for their captain to arrive—it was excessive for those guys to still be hovering up there like they were too good to land.
"I think it's time for you all to come down and properly greet our new friends, don't you?" Marcus said calmly through his communicator.
His voice reached Zod and the other Kryptonians clearly. Zod's expression froze for just a moment as he processed the implicit command in Marcus's tone.
Then, recognizing he'd been somewhat rude, Zod led all the Kryptonians down from the sky. They landed smoothly on the ground in a group formation directly behind Marcus, presenting a unified front.
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