"Your request really is a bit difficult for me."
Lox looked up at Guilliman. "I use technology, not sorcery. Even in our time, ships could not simply be conjured out of the void with a point of a finger."
"Warships require large orbital shipyards. Some colossal fortress-ships even require an entire planet to be shaped into a shipyard before they can be built."
"Even with the help of an STC, you must give it time to generate an orbital shipyard large enough."
"Take your brother, Rogal Dorn, Primarch of the Imperial Fists, and his Phalanx. It was a space fortress from an ancient age. I am curious why, of so many space fortresses, only one remains today. Perhaps the wars of the past were simply too brutal."
The Phalanx was a historical marvel from the Dark Age of Technology. To the Imperial Fists, it was an invincible warship, a void fortress, and a homeworld. It was as large as Terra's moon.
That warship from the distant past had suffered extraordinarily severe damage. Its shattered hull had remained in orbit over Rogal Dorn's homeworld of Inwit until Rogal Dorn attempted to restore it, bringing it back to life.
Guilliman also realized that his idea had been somewhat fanciful. He had mythologized the power of the STC too much. STC templates were crystallizations of ancient technology, not wish-granting machines capable of making anything one desired. They required time, resources, and the assistance of artificial intelligence.
"Then can those mining ships in space be mass-produced? I think they are quite good as well." Though Guilliman had failed to achieve his first request, he continued probing with the attitude of trying his luck.
"Those mining ships are controlled by AI, and their defenses are not particularly strong. If the enemy spots them, a single beyond-visual-range strike could destroy them." Lox sounded helpless.
"But at close range, they do have considerable firepower. Their disintegration fields are enough to tear through most warship armor. However, that tactic can only be used once. Once the enemy knows about it, it cannot be used again."
"That is enough. A single surprise attack can determine the outcome of a campaign." Auguston, already clad in adamantium battle armor, spoke up. "The soldiers of the Five Hundred Worlds have never feared death. We only fear meaningless death. If things truly deteriorate to that point, piloting such ships to perish alongside the enemy would not be a bad end."
Reports of the enemy's steady advance arrived at the Primarch's office every day. Everyone knew that an incomparably brutal war was approaching. The most pessimistic view was that the Five Hundred Worlds might well be destroyed beneath the enemy's iron hooves, but the Ultramarines did not care.
There was only one way for the Five Hundred Worlds to be destroyed: every Ultramarine would have to die first.
"I have now gathered sufficient intelligence. My shameful traitor brother, Lorgar, has received support from at least two warships known as Abyssal Fury-class vessels. He and Angron have launched a campaign of destruction called the Shadow Crusade. We cannot sit back and wait for death."
The Five Hundred Worlds were ready to bleed out their last drop of blood.
Whether it was their own or the enemy's.
"At least in this age, humanity has not lost its finest virtue: courage."
Lox watched the scene before him and sighed inwardly.
"Humanity's hymn is a hymn to courage. Even with advanced weapons in hand, a coward can still be killed by an enemy inferior to him. Conversely, a warrior with courage may also kill his enemy with inferior weapons."
"Actually, it is not completely impossible." Lox spoke. Although he had no way to build warships powerful enough to destroy the enemy in a short time, that did not mean he had no way to deal with those troublesome targets.
The greatest danger posed by the Word Bearers and the World Eaters was their top-tier strength: two Gloriana-class Battleships, along with at least two even more powerful Abyssal Fury-class vessels.
At this level of flagship, the Ultramarines had only the Macragge's Honour, which was still undergoing repairs.
"What do you have in mind?" Guilliman stared at Lox, hoping he could offer more good news.
"I cannot build warships capable of destroying the enemy in a short time, but I can modify a moon or an asteroid and use overwhelming firepower to annihilate their fleet."
"In terms of speed, modifying an existing celestial body will always be faster than building a warship from scratch."
Lox's concept was to use gravity generators produced by the base to bind an asteroid of suitable mass.
After making it as dense and durable as possible, they would install superweapons that could originally only be mounted on planetary surfaces.
He would install Warp engines and sufficient thrusters on the asteroid, giving it a certain degree of mobility. Once the enemy fleet entered a star system and could no longer freely escape through Warp jumps, it would be time for the battle planet to begin harvesting them.
The prototype for this weapon was an extremely crippled version of something recorded in the database: a Neutron Battle Star. It was the crudest imitation.
The original weapon, meanwhile, was a neutron star captured by humanity. Gravity technology was used to construct engines within the neutron star itself, allowing them to command that celestial body of terrifying mass and use it to attack the enemy.
Whether through the neutron star's pulsed radiation, directed gravitational rending, or the most primitive method of all—collision—the Neutron Battle Star was an immensely terrifying ultimate weapon.
Although they could now bind at most a single asteroid, that was already enough to deal with enemies of this caliber.
No warship's firepower could possibly contend with a celestial body. Planetary defense weapons could only be struck beyond visual range by warships holding orbital superiority, but a mobile asteroid did not have that problem.
If the weapons cannot reach them, let the planet move closer!
Move the planet closer to them!
By the time the enemy warships realized they could not escape an asteroid's gravity, it would already be too late.
Being unable to flee through Warp-engine jumps meant the enemy would have to trade fire with the asteroid. It would be the most direct possible exchange of firepower.
"I understand. How long will your battle planet take to modify? I will have the troops coordinate with it and give the enemy a tremendous surprise."
A complete strategy had already taken shape in Guilliman's mind. They needed to find a way to lure the enemy fleet into a suitable star system. Once the enemy was fully caught in the trap, the ambushing battle planet would jump into the system, lock down the enemy, and bring them the most terrifying destruction.
Roboute returned to Macragge with a ship full of equipment, along with a beautiful promise.
Lox guaranteed that within one month, he would transform an asteroid within Mustafar's gravitational range into a battle planet capable of delivering a decisive blow.
One month later, a battle planet would appear in Macragge's chain of command.
To achieve this goal, even Lox had no choice but to begin working intense overtime.
Mustafar's factories established massive production schedules for gravity generators. From this point onward, every gravity generator had to be deployed within the allotted time onto the asteroid in orbit known as Virgin Star.
Large numbers of mining ships carried gravity generators to Virgin Star and, under the Cogitator's control, precisely deployed them at every gravitational balance point on the asteroid.
According to the Cogitator's calculations and simulations, at least one million gravity generators were needed to produce enough force to compress the asteroid and allow it to withstand the tremors caused by jumping.
Time passed second by second, and everything proceeded according to plan.
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