Iron Ring, Ni-Delina Subsector, Paladonna Fleet Anchorage.
Over a hundred warships translated into realspace. A message was chanted across channels constructed by machine communicators, spreading through the Ni-Delina Subsector.
"Whether newborn or ancient, your worlds all put faith in the false Omnissiah on distant Terra, whose mouth is full of lies."
"You have betrayed the true Omnissiah and His blessed messengers. You will be purged."
The fleets of Udish and Calibax spread out, bearing down on the defending fleet.
Udish's Great Sage, Jian-18, stood upon a broad and magnificent strategic deck. His briefing chamber was exquisitely beautiful, arranged in an oval and covered everywhere in glittering ornamentation.
Statues of the various Magos Dominus stood in niches around the hall, while the largest statue at its center had been dismantled.
Servitors stripped materials from the False Emperor's golden statue and recarved them into a statue of Jian-18.
The inscriptions and reliefs celebrating victory around it were erased in swathes.
The engraved battle scenes were covered in paint.
Tech-Priests opened all manner of decorative panels, busily moving through the network of circuit racks.
His bionic eye swept across the holographic screens. The God of All Machines' flames of destruction engulfed the defenders' weak fleet from all directions.
He opened a communications channel. "We chose the right time for judgment."
As one of the two great fleet anchorages in the Ni-Delina Subsector, Paladonna had once possessed a powerful fleet. But not at this moment.
The Ni-Delina Subsector consisted of seven star systems and possessed many resource-rich habitable worlds, serving as the raw material source for dozens of Forge Worlds.
It was now the time when negotiations began for the next decade's resource allocation plan.
By tradition, during the interval before a new division was finalized, each Forge World had to rely on its