Yes, sir!

During the separate screening arranged especially for Pex, he behaved much better and offered no violent resistance. He merely insisted that civilians had no right to touch him when blood and other samples were taken, collecting the samples himself.

He soon passed the tests, confirming that Pex was fully human, had not been infected by Xenos, and carried no lethal viruses.

Conwater warmly received Pex in the space station's reception room.

"These are specialties of the Euronia System. They may look like ordinary jewels, but they're extremely difficult to mine and very rare. They're considered quite valuable luxuries throughout the neighboring star regions."

Conwater spoke at length, preparing to bribe Pex and win him over step by step.

"Governor! Seal off the space station immediately! Genestealers have infiltrated it!" Pex cut him off at once.

Conwater looked utterly incredulous. At that same moment, his private encrypted communicator rang.

The boarding forces had come under attack. Six of the eight teams had encountered large numbers of Gitz, while the other two had encountered Orks.

The space station's screening center had detected Tyranid genes in survivors from the Glory Knight, and some individuals had already begun violently attacking people.

"Wh-what... what is going on?" The inexperienced Conwater panicked. He had never handled an emergency like this before. He was far too young for a Planetary Governor.

Even worse news followed. The Glory Knight, which had been quiet just moments earlier, was moving. She had sunk two of his destroyers and rammed his most prized cruiser, the Guardian!

"Orks are piloting the Glory Knight toward Euronia III! Governor, what should we do?"

"I... I..."

"There are still two billion humans aboard!"

"Forget the cruiser's damage and the boarding forces! This is war! We cannot let the Orks and Tyranids land on a planetary world! Pursue them immediately and destroy that ship as quickly as possible!" Pex shouted into the communicator from beside him.

"...Governor?" The people on the other end were baffled. They felt this was inappropriate, but dared not say anything more.

"Follow Captain Pex's orders, immediately!" Cornwall ordered as he recovered his wits. In that instant, Cornwall realized that while he knew nothing about this, Pex did.

With someone to rely on, Cornwall's anxiety eased.

"Euronia is facing a terrible upheaval. Captain Pex, you have extensive experience. Could you help us fight the Xenos?"

"It is my duty," Pex said modestly. "These Xenos followed us here as well. Eliminating them is my responsibility."

Cheng Mingrui noticed the human cruiser behind him accelerating toward his ship, its blue lances repeatedly striking his warship's Void Shield.

At this rate, the Void Shield system would soon overload. Euronia 4 was still a day's journey away, and there was a considerable chance they would be destroyed en route.

Simply advancing at a steady speed would never work. He needed an idea, a good plan...

As though Mork truly were watching over him, Cheng Mingrui came up with a good plan after opening the star chart and studying it for only about ten minutes.

The vast universe was not completely empty. Nebulae, asteroids, and planetary moons were all strategic terrain he could exploit.

The Glory Knight began turning away from her straight course. It looked as though she were evading the lance fire from behind, but he actually had something else in mind.

"Iron Claw, have you cleared out all the enemies aboard?" The Tyranids and humans inside the ship were sources of instability, after all. Through the Weirdboy, Cheng Mingrui could stay in contact with his Boyz in real time and keep track of the fighting.

"...Nearly done, Boss. Nearly done." Iron Claw sounded distinctly sheepish.

"Nearly done? You still haven't wiped them out? What are you doing, having a picnic and roasting Squigs?"

"We've nearly killed all the Humies. We raided their rear and grabbed their ships, and they fell apart real quick. But those Tyranids are a pain. They're sneaky. They won't fight us head-on and keep squeezing into narrow places..." Iron Claw's voice grew quieter as he explained.

"I don't want excuses. Get more Burner Boyz and keep clearing them out. If I see even one Tyranid in front of me, I'll knock out every tooth in your gob and make sure they never grow back!"

After threatening Iron Claw, Cheng Mingrui contacted every Mekboy he could find.

"I want you to build bombs that can float in space, with magnets so they stick to enemy warships. The bigger the blast, the better. The more you make, the better." To help the Mekboys understand, Cheng Mingrui even drew a sketch.

The Orks' mechanical talent truly was extraordinary, and the technology encoded in their genes gave them an unbeatable edge in invention. Not only did they quickly grasp what Cheng Mingrui meant, they even made modifications.

Some Space Mines had greater explosive power, others had wider detection ranges, and others were faster and could attach to enemy ships more easily. There were even chain-reaction models, where triggering one would send a whole cluster of Space Mines attacking the targeted enemy ship.

Cheng Mingrui patted his bald head. What on earth had the War in Heaven been like, if Ork Boyz remained this terrifying and inventive after degenerating so much?

After giving the Mekboys their orders, Cheng Mingrui personally took three Mekboys and a group of Gretchin helpers to the damaged Macro-cannon sections to carry out damage control repairs.

As for commanding from the Bridge... Cheng Mingrui glanced down at his feet. Clever Git, the Gretchin, was clinging to his leg.

Had this fellow grown bigger again? I'm five meters tall now, yet Clever Git doesn't even look that small against my leg.

Ork Boyz were generally reckless and easily got carried away in battle. Gretchin were timid and more cowardly, but their weakness made them crueler and more cunning.

"I plan to have the warship travel in an S-shaped course, giving the Macro-cannons on both sides firing angles so they can attack the Humie warship behind us and slow it down."

"But I can't stay here to command. Can you get the Boyz here to do that?" Cheng Mingrui asked Clever Git at his feet.

Clever Git jumped down from Cheng Mingrui's leg, stood at rigid attention, and saluted him with his right hand.

"Yes, sir! Clever Git guarantees the mission will be completed!"

After saluting, Clever Git shouted at the nearby Ork Boyz to prove himself. "Officer Slick has given his orders! Did you hear him? Stand straight and salute, like the Blood Axes Boyz!"

The other Ork Boyz were somewhat confused, but cowed by their boss's authority, they copied Clever Git, standing straight and saluting Cheng Mingrui. "We'll get it done, sir!"

It seemed there would be no problem. Cheng Mingrui had no doubts about the Orks' talent for war.

"You can't even salute, you country bumpkin!" An Ork Boy kicked over the Boy beside him, who had saluted with his left hand.

Uh, hopefully they won't cause any trouble...