"Run!"
"Get your asses aboard the transports now, or you'll never get another chance!"
The alarms wailed like mournful sirens, followed by the engineering chief's furious roar as he snapped the personnel out of their terrified stupor.
Myron came back to his senses and instinctively followed the screaming crowd toward the spaceport.
Behind him, the industrial base spread throughout the asteroid field had already become a sea of fire thousands of kilometers across.
"Savior preserve us. Have the xenos invaded the Imperial heartlands?"
The senior employee of the Dowa Agricultural Group had never imagined that a business trip to the Voss Pan-Industrial Zone would end with him caught in such a horrifying attack.
This was one of the Imperium's most prosperous regions, located relatively close to the center of the Segmentum Pacificus.
If even a place like this could come under xenos attack, then the situation on the Imperial front lines had to be even more concerning than anyone had realized.
The assault had begun at the outer edge of the star system. This industrial complex in the asteroid field had been the first target.
It had suffered a catastrophic attack no defensive measure could withstand. Everyone had to evacuate immediately.
The Imperial Defense Department had previously issued warnings that certain regions might be attacked by abhorrent xenos forces.
But now that Myron was experiencing such an attack firsthand, overwhelming terror still consumed him.
The Necrons' assault was far more horrifying than any xenos offensive he had ever seen in Imperial war footage.
He had no time to dwell on it. All he could do was run with the evacuating crowd.
"Attention, all personnel. This vessel will launch in ten minutes. Anyone who has not yet boarded must proceed immediately to their designated embarkation gate.
"Repeating, this vessel will launch in ten minutes…"
The transport's vox-casters repeated the announcement over and over. To the desperate crowd, it sounded like a death sentence counting down their remaining seconds.
They had to board as quickly as possible. The transports were their only chance of survival. Anyone left behind would perish in the inferno when the next unknown attack struck.
As Myron ran, a strange, thunderous noise erupted behind him.
Unable to stop himself, he glanced back and witnessed a scene of pure horror.
The distant asteroid field was breaking apart. Some immense source of pressure was slowly crushing everything in its path.
Every human-made structure before it might as well have been made of paper.
Engineering vehicles and buildings made from rapid-setting ferrocrete were torn from their foundations by the violent pull. They tumbled into the pressure field and were ripped apart.
One unfortunate transport was caught as well. It crumpled like a deflating balloon.
Every fragment of wreckage burned. Curtains of ghostly green light shone through gaps in the inferno, sweeping across the void and illuminating Myron's terrified face.
The eerie glow came from some colossal construct. Along with it came a mechanical hum, cold and utterly devoid of mercy.
Myron had no idea how large the construct was or what it truly looked like.
He only knew fear.
No citizen of the Imperium could easily suppress the terror inspired by that ancient xenos construct of living metal.
It seemed capable of crushing all flesh-and-blood life with contemptuous ease.
Even if we reach the transport, that xenos construct might still catch us!
The despairing thought had barely entered Myron's mind when something even worse happened.
His momentary distraction allowed the crowd to knock him off his feet. Another violent tremor shook the platform, sending him tumbling into the passageway below and badly injuring his leg.
Myron was left behind.
The deafening chaos swallowed his cries for help. He could only watch the crowd recede into the distance, realizing that he might never reach the transport.
The flickering emergency lights made everything around him seem even darker.
Then a thick, powerful hand seized Myron and hauled him upright. The voice that followed was instantly reassuring.
"Supervisor Myron, come with me. Group Security has already secured an evacuation route."
The speaker was a security warrior from the Dowa Agricultural Machinery Group. His duty was to protect the company's personnel and property.
As a senior employee, Myron was one of the protected individuals listed in the company's security protocols. That was why security warriors had accompanied his inspection team to the industrial base.
The warrior drove an injector into Myron's thigh, then lifted him into his arms and used his jump pack to reach another passageway. From there, he sprinted toward the port.
Myron narrowed his eyes against the wind. Everything around them blurred past so quickly that the warrior seemed almost as fast as a grav-car.
At that moment, Myron gained a new appreciation for the value of his corporate benefits.
In the past, he would never have received such dedicated protection from a gene-enhanced warrior, an Angel of the Imperium.
"Brother, when you write your after-action report, remember to put in a few good words for the security department. If you can, make sure you mention me by name…"
The warrior spoke without even sounding winded as he sprinted.
Apparently sensing Myron's concern, he continued to reassure him.
"Don't worry. We received plenty of warning this time, and every search-and-rescue team has already been deployed. At least eighty percent of the personnel should evacuate safely.
"We're in even less danger. Once we retreat deeper into the system, we'll be safe.
"The planetary defenses there can hold until an elite Imperial fleet arrives. This system won't fall. Those xenos bastards aren't taking anything!"
The asteroid-field industrial base had never housed a particularly large population, making a complete evacuation possible.
The Imperium had also conducted drills for this exact kind of emergency. Every stage of the withdrawal was proceeding in an orderly fashion.
Before long, the security warrior delivered Myron and the other employees safely aboard a transport.
After the vessel lifted off, Myron looked through a viewport and finally saw what had attacked the industrial base.
It was a crescent-shaped xenos warship shrouded in ghostly green light. More xenos vessels could be seen behind it.
They had torn apart the entire asteroid field, including the Voss industrial complex within it.
According to the Imperial Defense Department's latest warning, these vessels belonged to the personal forces of the Silent King, leader of the Necrons. His Triarch Praetorians were attempting to launch a surprise attack against the Imperial heartlands.
Whoosh!
The moment the transport cleared the port, it engaged its warp engines and fled deeper into the star system through the Immaterium, hoping to avoid further xenos attacks.
The Triarch Praetorian tomb fleet continued its silent advance, crushing every obstacle in its path.
Within the domed command chamber of the tomb fleet's flagship, a Royal Warden sat upon his throne. Dense bundles of cables connected his body directly to the vessel.
He watched the human transports flee without the slightest concern. He could not even muster enough interest to attack them.
The high-ranking commander and Necrontyr noble had linked his data-logic core to the sensor array, allowing him to analyze every fragment of information concerning the Voss industrial worlds.
According to the sensor array's findings, the system's interior contained numerous void-fortress arrays and orbital platforms, along with several colossal religious structures.
"A foolish race. Devotion to imaginary gods and the pursuit of fanatical worship can only rob a species of its potential for advancement."
The Royal Warden shook his head.
Humanity delighted in wasting resources on religious worship. They even built cathedrals aboard their warships, squandering valuable tonnage and internal space.
Such pointless additions could only degrade a vessel's performance. They served no practical function whatsoever and were therefore acts of extreme stupidity.
The Necrontyr had once committed a similar mistake by worshiping the C'tan. Fortunately, they had ultimately cast off the Star Gods' shackles and reclaimed their freedom.
The Royal Warden soon received the sensor array's final report.
The defenses within this system were exceptionally dense. If the Triarch Praetorians attempted to conquer and destroy the entire system, it would take considerable time. More than enough time for an elite Imperial fleet to arrive.
The Royal Warden was unconcerned, however, because the system's inhabited worlds were not his true objective.
The stars were.
Under their latest orders, this elite Triarch Praetorian force was to strike throughout the Imperial heartlands and create as much chaos as possible.
Under those circumstances, wasting time and energy destroying every human world within an entire system would be inefficient.
The best method was to attack the system's stars directly, depriving its worlds of light and heat before rapidly moving on to strike the next target.
Only then could they inflict the greatest possible harm upon humanity.
The tomb fleet passed beyond the asteroid belt, and the light of the system's suns fell upon its vessels, only to seemingly disappear into their hulls.
The entire fleet retained its deathly coloration. Only faint streams of liquid energy could be seen flowing across the surfaces of the ships.
"Ah, such beautiful light. The wellspring upon which all flesh-and-blood life depends…"
The Royal Warden gazed through the command dome and saw two dazzling, golden-brown suns.
A binary star system, much like the one that had once held the Necrontyr homeworld, though these stars were far gentler.
This was a gift the galaxy had bestowed upon humanity.
The Necrontyr had possessed no such fortune. Their two hateful suns had been both the source of their life and its curse, condemning them to incurable diseases from the moment their species was born.
"Humanity is unworthy of such stars. They are unworthy even to share this galaxy with the noble Necrontyr!"
The Royal Warden felt a surge of jealousy.
Humanity had been blessed by the cosmos. Their genes had never carried the curse of incurable disease from the moment of their birth.
Never before had he desired so strongly to steal humanity's stars. He would take them one after another, plunging every human system into a cold that no living creature could endure.
Without warning, the sensor array sounded an alarm.
Several unidentified units were approaching from within the system.
It was the local human defense fleet.
"Ha. You misjudged the situation, and now you rush to correct your mistake. Unfortunately, nothing can be changed."
The Royal Warden broadcast a mocking message as he watched the human fleet race toward them.
It was already too late for humanity to intercept the tomb fleet's attack.
He issued his command.
"Execute the Destruction Protocol. Annihilate this star system!"
A strange hum reverberated through the flagship.
The tomb command ship launched a pitch-black, triangular construct toward the nearby binary stars.
It accelerated rapidly toward them.
It was a Celestial Orrery, a miniature stellar-class destruction weapon.
The sheer scale and energy of a star made it difficult to damage with conventional energy weapons. A physical weapon, however, could penetrate deep into a star's interior and trigger a collapse, transforming it into a supernova.
If both stars erupted as supernovas, the result would be a catastrophic spatial disaster. The entire system would be struck by the blast.
"Humanity, you will learn to fear Szarekh, the Silent King. And this is only the beginning."
The Royal Warden watched the Celestial Orrery as though admiring a work of art.
This was merely a miniature model. The great Silent King possessed larger Celestial Orreries capable of annihilating an entire star system with a single strike. No defensive network could withstand such a weapon.
Against humanity, however, this smaller device was more than sufficient.
The humming Celestial Orrery racing toward the suns was the noble Necrontyr's warning of death to humanity.
It would teach the humans the true cruelty of the galaxy.
Fire flared in the void.
The human fleet launched plasma beams and heavy torpedoes, attempting to destroy the Celestial Orrery.
Unfortunately, they were too far away. The tomb ships intercepted every attack with ease.
As matters stood, the destruction of this binary star system was inevitable.
"Great Szarekh, witness this! Behold the calamity you have brought upon humanity!"
Without hesitation, the Royal Warden established a pulse communication link and transmitted the scene directly to the Silent King.
Szarekh and the assembled Phaerons would be able to witness the destruction firsthand.
The Triarch Praetorians' previous failures had infuriated the Silent King and undermined his authority.
He had dispatched only a handful of Triarch Praetorian fleet groups, yet they had still suffered setbacks against humanity. It was already a humiliating loss of face.
Worse still, that traitor Imotekh the Stormlord had seized upon those failures to attack and discredit the Silent King, and several Phaerons had begun to express their dissatisfaction.
They needed several acts of large-scale destruction to provide a satisfactory accounting for this offensive.
Thus, the Royal Warden had begun a live transmission so that the Silent King and the noble Phaerons could enjoy the destruction of an important human industrial region.
They particularly enjoyed watching other species lose their stars.
During the height of the Necrontyr empire, they had scoured the galaxy for the stars of other races, stealing them to manufacture weapons.
Civilizations that settled close to their stars, especially those fortunate enough to possess high-quality stars, often suffered terrible misfortune.
A low hum filled the chamber.
A ghostly blue communication image rose from a blackstone disc, and the Royal Warden immediately bowed with the utmost respect.
The Silent King waited at the other end of the pulse link.
"You have performed well. The great Szarekh will reward you."
As always, the Silent King remained silent upon the Dais of Dominion. It was Hapthatra the Radiant who spoke, granting the Royal Warden his approval.
There could be no doubt that he and the assembled noble Necrontyr would witness the annihilation of the star system.
Perhaps they would even see the humans wail and beg for mercy.
"Humans, your Emperor foolishly began this war. This is but one of the great Szarekh's answers to your aggression!"
Following the Silent King's earlier decree, the Royal Warden informed the humans why they were about to be destroyed.
Their Savior, their Emperor, had overestimated his own strength. His arrogance was the reason human worlds would now burn.
To the Royal Warden's surprise, however, the humans on the nearby worlds showed no fear.
They resisted.
"The people of Voss will never surrender!"
"Our omniscient and almighty Savior will never forgive you!"
"Damn it, what kind of xenos shows up in Voss, starts spouting garbage, and attacks our industrial bases?!"
"This is bad. The xenos are targeting our suns! Where's the defense fleet? Get in there!"
"Brothers, even if every last one of us dies, we can't let these out-of-system xenos escape!"
"Activate the Colossus!"
The people of the Voss Pan-Industrial Zone were furious. More than that, they felt humiliated.
They believed their defenses had proven inadequate, allowing the xenos to slander His Majesty the Savior.
"The ravings of the defeated are meaningless."
The humans' response displeased the Royal Warden, especially while the Silent King and the Phaerons were watching.
Still, he was certain that once the Celestial Orrery completed its attack, the humans would finally scream in terror.
It would be a magnificent, devastating spatial catastrophe.
The Celestial Orrery accelerated under the pull of the stars' gravity.
At this distance, no weapon should have been capable of stopping it.
The immense gravitational forces surrounding the stars would deflect the trajectories of energy beams, macrocannon shells, and torpedoes alike.
Yet the Royal Warden and the other Necrontyr waited, and nothing happened.
The Celestial Orrery was still flying.
Worse, it was getting slower and slower, crawling forward at a pace that bordered on absurdity.
What?!
The Royal Warden stared in confusion. The Silent King and the other Necrontyr watching from across the pulse link appeared equally bewildered.
Only after another moment did they recognize the problem.
The Celestial Orrery had become trapped within some kind of stasis field.
At its current speed, it would not reach the stars in a hundred years.
The tomb fleet opened fire on the stellar region. Only then did one void fortress after another reveal itself around the stars.
The fortresses were interconnected, and strange runes shimmered across their surfaces.
Until that moment, the chaotic energies surrounding the stars had concealed them.
They were hybrid constructs of technology and psychic sorcery, generating an unnatural stasis field around the suns.
Humanity had effectively placed a protective shell around the entire binary system, shielding its stars from attacks by apocalyptic weapons.
The Imperium had long anticipated that its enemies might target its stars and had secretly constructed specialized defensive networks throughout its most important regions.
The wealthy systems of the Voss Pan-Industrial Zone possessed particularly astonishing stellar defenses. They had built an entire stellar ring around the suns, combining technological and sorcerous protections into more than five distinct layers of force fields.
The Triarch Praetorians had simply chosen the wrong target.
Had they attacked an ordinary Imperial system, their plan might have succeeded.
"Humanity… is capable of something like this?"
The Royal Warden and the other Necrontyr were stunned.
What they saw was the astonishing result of humanity's immense productive capacity.
What kind of species would think to surround even its stars with machinery?!
Then came the humiliation.
Humanity's defenses had transformed the Necrontyr's warning and attack into a farce, and the entire disaster had been broadcast live over the pulse link.
The Silent King himself lapsed into an even deeper silence. No one could guess what he was thinking.
Before the Royal Warden could recover, an even greater problem emerged.
Space began to convulse violently.
The tomb command ship's sensor array detected an immense object, a target of truly colossal size, about to arrive in the region.
(End of Chapter)
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