A large number of Wasp-men swarmed in from all directions, surrounding Talon.
Fortunately, these creatures had no advanced technology. Otherwise, with the Wasp-men constantly flying through the sky, they would have been a real nuisance.
Peng!
Peng! Peng!
Talon walked forward, firing as he went.
Bolter rounds bearing the Imperial Purity Seal poured toward the Wasp-men. The sharp, Emperor-blessed combat knife in his hand stabbed straight at the vile Xenos flying toward him.
"Hmph! A sneak attack? Vile Xenos!"
After taking care of the Wasp-men flying at him, he immediately continued shooting at the ones ahead.
The Wasp-men in front of him were actually suppressed by him alone for a time.
The enraged Wasp-men rallied their forces again, summoning more of their kind from nearby. They even began calling in the hive's guard bees. The attacked Wasp-men buzzed furiously, grabbed their weapons, and surged toward the invaders in a dark swarm.
Before long,
gunfire sounded from behind them, too.
The shots from behind were even more concentrated.
"Talon, keep advancing."
"Yes, squad leader!"
Two Astartes warriors stood at the front. One wielded a Chainsword, while the other held a combat knife and a Bolter. Facing the dark swarm of Wasp-men, they showed no concern, each one holding off a thousand foes.
"First squad, provide suppressing fire!"
"Second squad, locate the enemy hive and send the strike coordinates."
"Third squad, provide covering fire."
"Charge, charge, charge!"
"Why are there so many disgusting creatures?"
"Let's give them surgery."
The Astartes and the soldiers from Gamma Planet advanced against the Wasp-men. Though the Wasp-men vastly outnumbered them, they were powerless to stop the soldiers' advance. In an effort to protect their hive, the enraged Wasp-men summoned even more of their kind to fight.
Stinger Bees were a type of Wasp-man that moved at incredible speeds, like assassins.
They darted through the sky, and could even dodge Bolter rounds.
Buzz!
A Stinger Bee swooped in.
Talon dodged aside.
He swung his gun around, took aim, and fired in one smooth motion.
After blowing its head off, he advanced toward the enemy again.
Cyrus was even more efficient.
Every shot hit a Stinger Bee with pinpoint accuracy.
Not a single one managed to get close to him.
The battlefield quickly became a meat grinder.
The backward Wasp-men were riddled with bullets, while the Wasp-men's poisoned weapons struggled to wound the soldiers. They could only look for an opportunity to strike a soldier in the eye or hit exposed skin.
Even with the Stinger Bees around, they could only kill a few soldiers. They could hardly turn the tide.
"Target location confirmed."
"Transmitting signal."
"First strike commencing. Estimated impact in five seconds."
The soldier directing the operation sent a strike signal to the soldiers fighting up ahead.
At one of the several factories they had built, the doors of a quiet facility opened. Black missiles spewing flames shot up from the ground. Once airborne, they left trails of white smoke behind them.
A white line streaked across the sky.
The ignorant beasts on the surface of Ozrax looked up at the clear sky, watching the sudden white streak as it flew off in a certain direction. Then they lowered their heads again. Just like the Chaos Beacon before, what did it have to do with them?
Meanwhile,
on another battlefield,
"Target locked. Sending strike signal."
"Signal sent."
"Target locked. Missile arrival in five seconds."
A missile rose from the base and flew off in another direction.
"Governor, there are only two Xenos Hive Cities within fifty kilometers. Our examination shows that this species' brain structure is not particularly advanced, so they probably aren't very intelligent. However, they contain abundant protein. What should we do with them?"
Cisrain glanced at him. "Process them into canned food. Put them to use as waste."
"By the way, Governor, the minerals we detected on this planet aren't especially abundant, and neither is its energy. It was previously named Ozrax. Would you like to rename it to make our future administration easier?"
After colonizing a planet, Cisrain had the authority to name it.
Renaming planets also helped Cisrain maintain consistent administration.
After all, there were millions of usable planets in the Milky Way. If they weren't classified according to function, even looking at the star charts would be a headache.
So, for easier administration, Cisrain gave planets standardized internal names based on their function.
"Change the name." Cisrain paused before continuing, "Let's call it Consumer Goods Planet 1."
"Understood, Governor. It's been marked as Consumer Goods Planet 1."
Cisrain had settled on a name for the planet, and had also determined its responsibilities and obligations, as well as the procedures for managing planets of this type in the future.
"I still don't have enough alloys, and I'm still short on energy. What I'm most short on is my space fleet. I've only got three science ships for now—how shabby. I don't even have a single battleship, let alone a megastructure."
The various figures on the Stellaris Template were all declining.
The technology for the Synapse Condenser (Sacred Khala) had already been delivered through the Stellaris Template to the Research Station on the homeworld, where they were working overtime to produce it. Cisrain had ordered them to build it as quickly as possible, no matter the cost. But the thing consumed a tremendous amount of power, and required a huge quantity of alloys to forge. That much alloy could build nearly ten Research Stations.
And keeping it running required a constant supply of electricity.
I need an energy-producing planet to power my Synapse Condenser.
I need an industrial planet to provide production capacity for my space navy.
And I still need a population empire.
Boom!
Boom!
Outside,
brilliant flames flared up.
The beautiful mushroom clouds failed to draw even the slightest attention from Cisrain.
Where were the other two science ships?
One seemed to have entered a sector marked as Orks.
[Jaga's Great Warboss Waggggggh]
"."
"Just as expected."
I hope the other direction brings me a surprise.
The last science ship was headed toward the Tau Empire.
I need an excuse to start a war.
I need to grab a few energy and mining planets!
"Flamethrowers, clear the battlefield."
"Wait. The Governor has designated this planet as Consumer Goods Planet 1. Hold off on burning anything for now."
"Fine, then. Switch to capture guns and clean up the battlefield."
Hearing the soldiers' conversation,
the Astartes were puzzled.
Who named a planet like that? Besides, the planet already had a name. There was no need to give it another one.
"Consumer Goods Planet 1?"
"What's there to consume? These Xenos can't afford to buy anything."
Watching the soldiers drag the Xenos away,
the people who had just bombarded the Xenos hive looked disappointed again.
The Astartes couldn't understand it.
An Imperial Academy exam question
How many Primarchs did our great Emperor create in total?
A: 20 B: 18 C: 21 D: 9
Before you continue