Everything had gone smoothly. Planet after planet was detonated, and the enemy's advance was soon halted. They had devoured the resources of only a few dozen planets before collapsing under the Imperium's relentless attacks.
"Move the entire Fleet forward one hundred astronomical units."
"Compress the enemy's operating space! Do not let any survivors escape this sector!"
Perturabo commanded the Fleet as the immense Imperial Warships advanced through the cosmos, their brilliant Lances effortlessly destroying the unknown vessels made of black metal.
The enemy certainly had numbers, but under the combined assault of thousands of Imperial Warships, they could do nothing but retreat.
Beyond the vast observation window lay a silent feast of destruction.
The incandescent white beams fired by the Warships' Lance Batteries were like the Emperor's swords of Judgment. With every flash, they precisely ignited a brief, blinding sphere of light in the distant void.
Each marked another enemy ship or densely packed cluster of Constructs utterly vaporized, reduced to cosmic dust.
The massive shells fired by the Macro-cannons traced long trajectories, slamming like heavy hammers into the seemingly endless black tide and sending expanding ripples of metal debris through it.
Hercules stood quietly before the thick composite-glass window, his mountain-like figure looking especially solemn in the flickering light of the explosions outside.
He watched the vast Fleet engagement, but inwardly, he was nowhere near as calm as he appeared.
This was his first time participating in a head-on Fleet engagement of this magnitude, utterly unlike his previous experiences on the training grounds and Death Worlds.
This was pure, cold destruction delivered beyond visual range, filled with awe-inspiring power yet carrying a detached cruelty.
"Hercules."
A deep voice with an unmistakably synthesized electronic quality sounded behind him, breaking the Silence of the observation deck. Hercules would have known who