It was not that Iax did not want to commit the Titan fleet to battle immediately.
The Imperium's almost stagnant administrative efficiency, the deeply entrenched barriers between its departments, and its technological system—built on ancient STC Templates yet rendered incomplete by ten thousand years of wear and gaps in understanding—left Iax with almost no other choice.
Apart from those stationed in certain critical regions within the Imperium, all four hundred-plus Titan Ships available for deployment were already in this part of Segmentum Tempestus.
Nearly half the Titan Ships had become mobile "stellar forges."
The Titan fleet compressed and ignited captured small gas planets and vast comet swarms, artificially catalyzing one short-lived, violent star after another.
These newborn, highly unstable suns were delivered precisely to key nodes using Gravity Tow. Their savage radiation and gravitational disturbances were enough to force the Tyranid Swarm's main force to alter course, driving it toward the death line the Imperium was frantically constructing.
The remaining Titan Ships were assisting Imperial forces in building an enormous defensive line along the Imperium's border in Segmentum Tempestus, following Dorn's requirements and detailed data analyses.
This line stretched nearly a hundred light-years, spanning three sectors, dozens of star systems, and almost a thousand planets.
If the Imperium had undertaken a project on this scale alone, its technology would probably have required several centuries to complete it.
But Iax could do it.
Long-range Quantum Printing technology could do more than remotely deploy mechanical combat units.
Building defensive fortresses was no problem either.
To conserve materials as much as possible, Iax had to make full use of the terrain and the matter already present on each planet.
New, gigantic Disintegrator Cannons had been added to the hulls of the Titan Ships.
These enormous guns could easily bore a hole dozens of