"What? we received a distress signal?" Alexei suddenly received a report through the psionic network from a member of the Astropathic Choir. "Where? From whom?"
Upon learning it was a system right next to his own sector, Alexei was stunned. It couldn't be that Tyranid fleet he had chased off before, could it? That was ages ago; it shouldn't be possible.
"Is there any more detailed information?" he asked again after a brief thought.
"No, My Lord. The communication is being severely interfered with by the Warp."
"Fine, I understand." Alexei sighed. This damned Warp communication. Once he had a few more planets under his belt, he had to establish a cross-system communication network. Using this bird-brained Warp tech every day was enough to make anyone depressed.
"Does My Lord wish to reply to them?" the Astropath asked.
"Not for now," Alexei replied. He didn't know the situation yet; it was best not to respond rashly.
Alexei urgently summoned Brand. Seeing Brand running toward him from the direction of the mess hall, he couldn't help but mutter, "Is sautéed Ant-Bull canned meat really that good...?"
"My Lord, you summoned me?" Brand saluted.
Alexei briefed him on the situation. "Take a few Battlecruisers to take a look first. Report the situation back to me. Do not act recklessly."
"Understood!" Brand took his orders and left quickly to prepare.
Watching his retreating back, Alexei calculated that for an Aiur fleet, the distance was only a matter of minutes. The longest part was the preparation phase. He would decide what to do once he knew what was happening.
Shortly after several Battlecruisers left the orbital shipyard and jumped, Alexei received a message from Brand.
"My Lord, planet Doppler III... Looking down from low orbit, except for a region near the central equator, the entire world is covered in a green unknown substance..."
"Green?" Alexei was taken aback. Wasn't that an Agri-world? How could... wait... green?
A realization struck him. "Brand, are there still signs of life on Doppler III?"
"Yes, My Lord. Wait... we are under attack! Dammit, what is that thing? How can a piece of junk like that fly?!"
Hearing Brand's swearing, Alexei was now almost certain: the poor Agri-world next door was being hit by Orks. "Is the enemy fleet large? Hold on, reinforcements are coming."
"We can handle this junk fleet..." Brand looked out the observation port at the few Space Hulks and ramshackle gunships built from scrap metal, his heart full of disdain.
How dare this garbage fleet charge at them? He immediately ordered the Yamato Cannons to charge. Minutes later, the city-destroying beams slammed into the unshielded scrap hulls.
The next moment, Brand's eyes widened. The enemy ships were blasted into heaps of flying debris, their hulls shaking and shuddering—yet before long, they stabilized and began wobbling toward him again, even managing to fire their guns.
"Your mission is done. Retreat for now," Alexei's voice echoed in Brand's mind. Brand stopped tangling with the strange ships. The four Battlecruisers vanished from Doppler III's outskirts in the blink of an eye, leaving behind a bewildered junk fleet.
"Hiss... so it really is an Ork Waaagh!?" Alexei scratched his head. Well, he'd have to clean this up. Otherwise, if these Orks accidentally 'Waaagh!'-ed their way off that planet and toward Aiur, things would get messy. After all, they were right next door.
Thinking of this, he immediately contacted the thriving Zerg Swarm. "Zagara, take the Leviathan and clean out the enemies in the neighboring Doppler system."
"As you command, Master."
In Alexei's eyes, Orks were essentially a natural source of biomass. If he wasn't afraid of things getting out of hand, he'd almost want to ranch them to feed the Zerg. They were perfect, self-replenishing organic biomass.
I wonder where these Orks came from in this remote sector, Alexei thought curiously.
---
"Dammit, where did these cursed Orks come from?!" Commissar Cassius slammed his wooden desk.
As a Commissar who had graduated from the Schola Progenium with barely passing marks and had been assigned to the Astra Militarum in this remote sector, Cassius had long ago planned to spend his life slacking off.
In his view, this "backwater" of the galaxy was so barren that even Tyranids would turn away in disgust. There shouldn't be any enemies here, save for the occasional rebellious Planetary Governor.
Yet in recent years, every kind of monster had crawled out of the woodwork. First, a starving Tyranid splinter fleet came to scrounge for food, and just when they finally wiped them out, these Orks appeared out of nowhere.
"Cursed Orks," Cassius cursed. The Warp communication efficiency was horrifyingly low. By the time they received the plea for help and arrived to reinforce, Doppler III was nearly buried in green.
Now, they were pinned down in the planet's largest agricultural storage depot at the equator, making a final stand. These damned Orks also seemed to grow larger as they fought; during a frontline inspection a few days ago, he had even seen an Ork Warboss.
He had no idea when the next wave of reinforcements would arrive. Suddenly, the sound of Earthshaker Cannons firing erupted from the trenches outside. Cassius donned his hat and walked out. Ranks of Imperial Guardsmen were rushing toward the front.
"Faster, faster! Haven't you eaten?" Cassius climbed into a Chimera transport to head for the front.
Moments later, before even disembarking, he heard the unique "dakka" of Ork weaponry. He stepped out to find dozens of Basilisk self-propelled artillery pieces coordinating with Earthshaker batteries, firing frantically at the distant green tide.
The Orks were roaring toward them in hundreds of Trukks and Battlewagons. Shoota Boyz on top fired their oversized, high-recoil scrap guns at the Imperial Guard lines.
In the sky, Ork Burna-Bommas and Dakkajets braved the AA fire. These Ork vehicles were painted entirely in various shades of red.
With countless roars of "Waaagh!", Ork vehicles were pulverized by heavy artillery. However, this time was different. In Cassius's vision, a colossal object made of discarded metal plates appeared.
"Concentrate fire on that giant target!" Cassius shrieked, cold sweat breaking out on his forehead. One by one, massive Stompas and Gargants were stomping toward their lines.
"Am I truly going to die here?" Cassius felt a wave of despair. But the next moment, he realized he had despaired too early.
The sunlight above him suddenly vanished. When he looked up, he saw a dozen gargantuan shadows in the sky. Staring at these somewhat familiar biological warships, Cassius muttered, "Emperor above... are we being smitten by divine wrath...?"
As if in response to his sorrow, thousands of drop-sacs capable of blotting out the sun began hurtling toward the Ork positions in the distance.