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Chapter 153 - The Rangdan Threat
Bright lines flickered through the air and formed a holographic projection.
"Praise the God of All Machines, praise the Omnissiah."
"Control room, transmit the battle data to command."
A tech-adept opened communications and ordered personnel to relay the intelligence. The Thinker array hummed as servitors opened their mouths, muttering calculations and symbols.
Screens throughout the chamber displayed the final records from Fleet 73 before its destruction. The green hologram showed the Imperial fleet's fate after encountering the xenos threat.
Fleet 73's Astropath had transmitted one final message into the Warp as the fleet died. In earlier times, such transmissions took years to reach Imperial space through vox networks.
However, the Empire now utilised communication technology from the Trisolaran universe, featuring real-time transmission towers throughout their territory. Even flagships carried these devices.
The astropathic message reached Imperial command shortly after transmission.
What the screens showed made every commander's face turn grim. This wasn't a simple xenos raid; it was a calculated invasion and systematic slaughter targeting human civilisation. Without a decisive response, these enemies would grow bolder.
The projection showed a Fleet 73 battleship caught in enemy encirclement. Dense las-fire and kinetic projectiles hammered its void shields, creating energy ripples. After nearly a minute of bombardment, the Imperial warship was pierced by a silver beam weapon.
The vessel collapsed. The prow section broke free, drifting into the void. Both flanks disintegrated as flames erupted from within, destroying the ship.
Another projection revealed a battle inside the flagship's corridors. One thousand Space Wolves Astartes and the ship's crew fought boarding xenos. The Rangdan warriors' weapons matched Imperial war-gear.
Under their assault, the Emperor's warriors fell one by one while waves of crew were cut down, their bodies littering the passages.
"According to our assessments," Magos Land's mechanical voice cut through the tension, "Rangdan warships are technologically superior to Imperial vessels. Their firepower and manoeuvrability exceed ours by fifteen per cent or more."
Land's servo-skulls drifted around him as he continued. "I've reviewed archived records and compared them with current Rangdan fleet compositions. Their technology has advanced significantly since our last encounter."
"They weathered the Long Night unharmed, suffering none of the technological regression that plagued humanity during the Age of Strife. They've been developing continuously."
The commanders exchanged troubled murmurs. The ancient Rangdan had matched humanity during the Golden Age. After millennia of advancement, their capabilities had reached unprecedented heights.
Raven, perched on the Emperor's shoulder, listened to Land's briefing. Now he understood why, in the original timeline, multiple Legions working together to destroy the Rangdan had suffered such losses.
The Second and Eleventh Legions had been expunged for classified reasons. Victory had demanded that the Emperor unlock the labyrinth containing the Void Dragon itself.
The evidence pointed to one conclusion: Imperial technology couldn't match the Rangdan. Without unconventional tactics, humanity faced defeat.
Behind the Emperor stood four gene-sons: Perturabo, Mortarion, Lorgar, and the Khan.
With Guilliman, Curze, Sanguinius, and others on campaigns, only these Primarchs remained to counsel their father. Each calculated potential strategies.
"So far," Land continued, gesturing toward the data streams, "the Empire has lost sixteen star systems. Property losses are incalculable, and over one trillion Imperial citizens have been slaughtered."
Even through his augmented vocal cords, disgust was evident. "The enemy's methods are cruel, driven by hatred for humanity. They reject all negotiation, even when planetary governors surrender, the xenos respond with massacre."
The screens shifted, showing worlds scoured of human life. Prosperous hive cities lay in ruins beneath black smoke. Enemy fighters strafed fleeing civilians, turning crowded streets into charnel houses.
Unlike Space Necrons, who viewed humans as potential subjects, or Greenskin Orcs, who valued slaves for labour, or even Eldar, who occasionally showed restraint, the Rangdan demonstrated absolute genocidal intent.
They took no prisoners, accepted no surrender, showed no mercy, only a drive to exterminate every trace of human existence.
"The enemy advances toward the Imperium's core systems," Land reported. "Intelligence indicates their next target is the Valf system, a commerce hub supporting over ninety billion souls."
"Expeditionary Fleet 56 has departed to reinforce the system's defences, but projections give them only a twenty percent probability of repelling the attack."
The display shifted to detailed schematics of the Valf system. Nine worlds orbited its star, the two outermost being lifeless frozen spheres. The inner worlds bore thriving human colonies, while countless spacecraft moved between them, evidence of Valf's prosperity and strategic importance.
The Emperor spoke at this time, his voice breaking the sombre atmosphere. "We will accelerate our schedule. The second-generation warships will be deployed immediately, and the Astartes will receive their enhanced gene-engines to ensure victory."
His original strategy had been to distribute these advanced vessels among fleets commanded by his sons.
But the situation now demanded their immediate concentration within the First Expeditionary Fleet, along with comprehensive upgrades to the Legiones Astartes.
Yet the Rangdan weren't the only concern.
Intelligence gathered by Alpharius had revealed another threat, a Greenskin empire of staggering scale, commanded by an Ork Emperor and Warlords whose combined might exceeded even the decaying Eldar or awakening Necrons.
Alpharius had infiltrated the outer reaches of the system containing Ullanor, the Greenskin capital, but could not get closer. The Ork Emperor's presence had warped space through raw WAAAGH! Field power. Even the Orks guarding their leader had grown to grotesque proportions, rivalling ancient Gargants.
The weakest greenskins on Ullanor stood over ten meters tall. Under the gestalt psychic influence of their countless brethren, the Orks had undergone genetic reversion, reclaiming the might granted by their ancient creators.
The WAAAGH! expeditions the Empire had previously encountered were just preludes to the gathering storm.
Raven's expression darkened as the discussion turned to the Greenskin threat.
He knew their true nature.
In the orignal timeline, during the 32nd Millennium, long after the Emperor's internment on the Golden Throne and the Primarchs' transformation into legend, the Greenskins had risen again. Twelve Ork Warlords had emerged from their conflicts, even bringing a War Moon into Terra's orbit.
The threat had grown so dire that the High Lords nearly capitulated before the Empire's remaining forces finally prevailed at terrible cost.
Vulkan himself had perished alongside an Ork Warlord, while the Imperial Fists had been annihilated, later rebuilt from successor chapter gene-seed.
The Ork Empire of Ullanor dwarfed even that future catastrophe. The concentrated WAAAGH! Energy had reached unimaginable intensity, making their leader, The Beast, the effective incarnation of Gork and Mork within the material realm.
Land then displayed more intelligence.
Ullanor had been transformed into a vast metal world, dozens of War Moons suspended in low orbit like malignant satellites. Innumerable Greenskins swarmed around colossal Warlords in numbers that defied comprehension.
Even viewing the recorded images brought crushing despair.
The combined threat posed by both xenos races weighed heavily on every soul present.
"We cannot remain passive," the Emperor declared, His presence filling the chamber with reassurance even as His words confirmed their dire circumstances. "Both alien threats must be annihilated, no matter what all these xenos will suffer to go against humanity."
His voice carried absolute conviction, transforming uncertainty into resolved purpose.
Both Greenskins and Rangdan posed existential threats to human survival, yet the Rangdan's genocidal hatred made them the more immediate concern.
After extensive deliberation, the Emperor decreed their course: the Rangdan would face Imperial wrath first, followed by crushing the Greenskin menace.
Raven observed the strategic discussions with initial interest, using his meta-knowledge to offer unique insights into the campaign. However, as the council delved into logistics and tactical details, his attention waned.
He tore open the veil between dimensions and departed for the Mist Space to attend to his own matters.
[End of Chapter]