The Emperor’s Angel of Death

"The evacuation is proceeding as scheduled, and it is expected to take another .49 hours."

Watching transport ships rise from various parts of the planet, which was almost completely enveloped by spore clouds, Solzhenitsyn withdrew his gaze from the observation window. The planet's orbit was now filled with the wreckage of dead Tyranid bio-ships, some of which were still twitching, resembling a ring of flesh and blood.

Imperial ships formed two lines of defense, with some ships on alert in orbit and providing ground support, while others intercepted Tyranid tendrils in the distance.

Under Solzhenitsyn's repeated and strict orders, the fanatical Silent Fleet managed not to plunge headlong into the Tyranid swarm, but as the battle became more intense, the situation still turned against the Imperium.

There was only one reason.

They were too numerous, so numerous that Solzhenitsyn couldn't even allow the Dynasty's fleet to leave now, otherwise the entire system would be flooded by bio-ships of terrifying magnitude. Most of the Tyranids were still being held back by the Dynasty.

Looking back at the tactical display, as always, it was densely packed with striking red markers, as if they could never be killed off.

At this moment, Solzhenitsyn even felt a sense of powerlessness. With his immense power, what could he do in the face of this endless tide of insects?

Even if those Tyranid bio-ships didn't resist at all and allowed him to kill them one by one, it might take him many years.

Against enemies like the Tyranids, the collective power, the power of the race, more ships, more resources, and greater productivity are needed to fundamentally form the power to fight against them. Individual power is of little decisive use against opponents who win entirely by numbers.

"Sir, a red intrusion signal is coming from the direction of Westeros IV."

Hearing the tense voice in the loudspeaker, Solzhenitsyn calmly walked to the tactical instrument. As the camera zoomed in, an even more shocking situation appeared. The entire star system could be said to be almost completely engulfed in a scarlet ocean, except for a relatively large 'gap' in the fourth quadrant, which was marked as yellow. That was where the Dynasty's fleet was located. Planets three, four, and five were surrounded by red markers on the large map, but the area around five was the most dense. The other two planets were still relatively empty, but 'tendrils' had already begun to extend towards them. This was the advantage brought by the absolute number of Tyranids.

They could attack from any direction and any angle in the star system, while human fleets could only defend one area.

In this situation, facing an invasion that was not so 'huge,' they could only choose to let the ground defense forces hold on first. After Five completed the evacuation mission, they would turn to the next planet. However, judging from the flashing markers on the tactical instrument, it was clear that a swarm of insects exceeding the 'general' scale was rapidly heading towards Westeros IV.

It had actually been invaded before, but the orbit was 'casually' cleared when reinforcements arrived, but there were still many Tyranid creatures remaining on the ground. If this Tyranid invasion occurred, the defense situation on the planet's surface would only become more severe.

But how much power could Solzhenitsyn spare to support it now?

After looking at the situation of the various ships flowing on the screen next to him, he got the answer.

None.

He couldn't spare a single capital ship to support that planet. All the capital ships were under several times the pressure of attack, and taking away any one of them could have a devastating impact on the situation.

This was the Tyranids, the damn Tyranids, an enemy he couldn't figure out no matter how he thought about it.

"Send some frigates, send some personnel, ammunition, and equipment to let the ground garrison hold on."

Talos suggested at this time, which was exactly what Solzhenitsyn was considering, so he nodded.

"That's all we can do."

"Sir! An unidentified signal has been detected, very strong!"

"Mark it."

Soon, a constantly flashing ripple appeared at the edge of the star map, as if a stone had been thrown into the red ocean.

"Unable to confirm the identification!"

Unable to confirm the identification meant that it was likely not an Imperial ship. Solzhenitsyn suddenly thought of something and raised his head slightly.

"Are they finally here?"

"Transmitting target images——"

A dozen minutes later, a picture covered with a thin layer of snowflakes appeared on the sub-screen of the tactical instrument. It could generally be seen that it was a fleet, dragging energy ripples, forming a突击阵型.

On another sub-screen, these fleets were presented in the form of 3D outlines.

The three leading ships were the largest, followed by two smaller ones, and finally six smaller ones at the rear.

Seeing these ship outlines, Solzhenitsyn finally confirmed the identity of the visitors. Talos looked at him.

"Squats?"

"Yes, I've been waiting for them for a long time. They're finally here."

Solzhenitsyn reached out and magnified the three leading ships. These should be the Longbeards that Wok Khan spoke of. Their shape was very different from that of humans. The stern had a unique cross-shaped wing. Solzhenitsyn guessed that this might be related to their unique engine. This engine was called an 'electromagnetic spoon' by Wok Khan. Solzhenitsyn didn't quite understand the specific principle, but it allowed the Hearthkyn ships to have gravity bow ejection capabilities, which was the way the Tyranid narwhals moved. At the same time, they could also perform 'Warp dives,' which were short and controlled Warp jumps, similar to skipping stones, quickly entering and exiting the Warp, which could avoid the unstable turbulence of the Warp, and always leave the Warp at the right time and place.

This was also the reason why Solzhenitsyn hired the Hearthkyn warships at a high price. Now only they could be completely free from the interference of the Hive Shadow area and carry out rapid navigation.

The main body of the Longbeard was also very special, like a flat and slender octahedron, with an extra layer protruding in the middle, like a sleeve added to the middle of an arrow. The bow was carved with a huge Hearthkyn mask with a beard. This was the so-called Votan Ancestor, but Solzhenitsyn had always been curious, what exactly was Votan?

Although the Dynasty had established embassies and offices in the Votan Confederacy in the galactic core, intelligence gathering work was progressing very slowly. The Hearthkyn were very fond of making money, but they were also very tight-lipped. They were extremely sensitive to topics such as 'Ancestors' and 'Ironkin.' Once they were considered to be probing for intelligence, they would be furious, which had once triggered a diplomatic crisis and forced the replacement of several diplomats.

In order to maintain relations with the Votan Confederacy, the Dynasty could not do too much, so there was not much progress in intelligence, let alone touching such core secrets.

According to Wok Khan, the Longbeard mainly undertakes ground attack and personnel delivery tasks, so its positioning is closer to a battle barge, and its long-range firepower is not very strong. However, as the distance approached, seeing them open fire on the Tyranid bio-ships approaching Westeros IV, Solzhenitsyn realized that Wok Khan might be a little modest.