Warhammer 40: Doom

Chapter 158 The Abyss of Time's Decline
The Horanion fleet burst into flames in the void before being completely annihilated.

The First Fleet compensated for its lack of combat experience with its overwhelming numerical and firepower superiority.

The last flagship was recovered by Nur, who dispatched special personnel to handle it.

During fleet operations, Sophia discovered that the materials used in the Horanion warships possessed extraordinary and unique characteristics.

The alien warship's material has a very special molecular structure, so it was dragged back to Nur and analyzed and copied by the Stone Man team.

The First Fleet is anchored in orbit around the human world, overlooking the cratered and uneven human landscape.

Horanion manipulates gravity, plundering people and land, leaving the world devastated.

"Are you willing to accept Nur's rule?" Doom asked the human representative on the bridge of the Royal Majesty.

After defeating Horanion, the human world took the initiative to send a message to contact the Void Fleet.

In the holographic image, an elderly human man stands upright, bald with a white beard and a sharp demeanor.

The human world on the edge of the stellar graveyard has long fought against various alien species, forming a unique military government culture.

Power is held by the military, and multiple worlds have united to form a military government. The level of armed forces is extremely high, and almost everyone is a soldier.

“…My lord.” The old man stared blankly for a long time upon seeing the person sitting on the throne, completely captivated by the other’s extraordinary demeanor.

His weathered eyes revealed a hint of reverence, as nervous as a new recruit meeting his commander.

"I want to return to the embrace of order, but the 'military alliance' is not something we can do alone." The old man, trembling, spoke his difficulties to the god-like figure he had just met:

"The military alliance has been established for a thousand years, with six star systems and seventeen worlds as members, to resist the invasion of aliens."

"We are willing to join, but I'm not sure about the attitudes of the others."

"Please contact your allies, sir. We need to talk." Doom's expression was calm, his deep eyes showing neither joy nor sorrow.

He had long been accustomed to concealing his emotions and avoiding revealing information during negotiations.

"I understand, I will get back to you as soon as possible." The old man placed his left hand on his waist, his palm supporting his military cap, and raised his right hand in salute.

Doom nodded, the holographic image in front of him dimmed, and he glanced at the bridge floor.

The world below, ravaged and devastated, still stubbornly resists; such spirit deserves praise.

He himself does not want to use force; peace talks are the best outcome.

Military alliance. The humans here grow up amidst war; if peace talks succeed, it will be an excellent world for recruiting soldiers.

Sofia has sent representatives to negotiate with the military alliance, but these negotiations are not simple.

The Nur Cluster is the core territory, the base of the Doom faction, and the most important star cluster.

The surrounding star systems form the controlling territory, which is actually controlled by the Nur Cluster, which controls all political and military affairs.

The region far from the Nur constellation is the "region of influence".

Because it is far from the Nur constellations, and even far from the territory it controls, it only has influence.

The obligations required for planning in the world of influence differ, and the policies offered by Nur also differ.

Nur will provide some assistance, but will not directly control the government; instead, the locals will form the government.

The world of influence extends to provide Nur with taxes, and to pay for people or goods.

It is actually another form of "tithing".

Unlike the empire, Nur would assign personnel to conduct political oversight of worlds willing to submit to Nur.

Nur's rotation of supervisors and the oversight of the fleet were designed to minimize corruption and depravity.

This is the only plan that Doom can currently think of; within an area of ​​influence spanning a thousand light-years, this scheme is indeed quite effective.

As for the more distant territories, Nur was not capable of taking care of them. Rather than going to great lengths to conquer and manage them, it was better to leave them to the empire.

Internal affairs management was Sofia's forte, so Doom didn't pay much attention to it anymore and lightly lifted his finger to reopen the holographic image.

The commander of Horanion, in the ship's interrogation room, was like a lump of mud.

Torturers inflicted various forms of torture, causing the alien immense suffering.

It remained stubborn, its nostalgic voice cursing, trying to distract itself and ignore the pain to some extent.

"You damned humans..."

Before it could finish speaking, the interrogators, dressed in black robes, inserted instruments of torture into its anus, and black cables twisted and moved forward inside its transparent body.

"what!!!!!"

The cable pierced its dignity, the electric current shattered its last resistance, and a piercing scream, utterly devastating, filled the air. The alien submitted to the torture device: "I confess..."

The commander did not overestimate himself; suicide was the best option. He underestimated the cruelty of humanity.

In just three rounds, its will to hold firm crumbled, and it succumbed to the tyranny of the torture instruments. "What a pity..." The human in the black robe said with a hint of disdain, "I thought you were a tough guy, but you're just a weakling."

The commander dared not refute, much less resist, and huddled together.

These humans are inhumane; those unprecedented torture devices are too horrible for it to experience a second time.

In order to experience the full spectrum of life, humans have even healed severed spines, preferring not to be treated at all.

Soon, the alien was brought to the lie detector and told everything it knew.

Doom looked at the holographic image and smiled. The interrogators from the "Punishment World" were indeed very professional.

They used persuasion, coercion, and enticement to extract information.

“If you don’t speak, plenty of your compatriots will. You’re not the only prisoner of ours.”

The simple application of the "prisoner's dilemma" horrified the alien commander, causing him to reveal all the information.

Interrogations were conducted simultaneously, with multiple parties questioning a single source to ensure the authenticity of the information.

After being processed by the interrogators, Horanion's intelligence was uploaded to the ship's data core for the fleet to access at any time.

Doom casually brought up the interrogation team's work results.

The more he looked, the heavier his heart became, and his thick eyebrows furrowed together.

The alien race originated from a cluster of black holes, the equilibrium point where the gravitational forces of black holes converge, where some broken worlds exist.

The Horanion are worlds without a sun; their only source of light comes from the accretion disk of a black hole.

Over thousands of years, they have used their talents to develop corresponding branches of technology.

Technology enabled them to detach from their parent star, collect matter from the black hole's accretion disk, and create an artificial world at the point of gravitational equilibrium.

When Horanion emerged from the graveyard of stars a thousand years ago, the first race he encountered was humanity, who had fought against him for a millennium.

Believing that humans were also a newly emerging race, they did not hesitate to launch an invasion, attempting to annex humans and strengthen themselves.

The conquest met with fierce resistance, and Horanion couldn't understand why humans, as a newly emerging race, were so insane.

The war between the two sides lasted for a thousand years, at least on the surface.

Within a cluster of black holes, the immense gravitational pull stretches time, causing it to pass extremely slowly.

From a human perspective, Horanion's raids, occurring only once every thousand years, allowed ample time for preparation.

The Horanion are different; they transport the looted resources and people back to the artificial world before emerging again, by which time a long time has passed in the outside world.

To date, the star graveyard contains three artificial worlds: Horanion, with a population of 80 billion, and the two billion humans plundered.

A difficult problem lay before Doom: the insurmountable barrier created by the laws of physics forced him to think deeply.

Eighty billion aliens, three heavily armed artificial worlds, and numerous fortified space stations.

The most important point is the difference in the flow of time.

According to the intelligence provided by the aliens, the time flow rate within the stable region of the black hole cluster is one to one with that of the outside world.

One month in a black hole cluster is a year in the outside world. It is an abyss where time has fallen.

Doom's fingers were rubbing together; it was very clear that Horanion had to be destroyed.

The alien race has immense potential, as they can manipulate one of the fundamental forces of the universe through their physiological structure. If left unchecked, they will cause lasting harm for generations to come.

Doom's biggest concern was time; the First Fleet absolutely could not get bogged down in a protracted war, and the destruction of the alien stronghold had to be a swift and decisive victory.

"Gentlemen," his gaze swept over the bridge, his voice authoritative and resonant, "do you have any good ideas?"

A complete overview of the Horanion was displayed on the entire bridge, with holographic images enveloping the staff.

The bridge was silent as numerous extraordinary beings carefully analyzed the alien intelligence, attempting to find a way to break the deadlock.

“Sir,” Iron Man Gates waved his tentacle, and the holographic console moved with it, “I have a plan.”

The Iron Man's computational thinking is extremely fast; he was the first to come up with a solution, creating a holographic image that outlined his data-driven ideas.

"A swift victory is the first priority." The synthesized mechanical voice was cold and ruthless: "Exterminating the aliens is the second priority."

"My suggestion is simple: use extermination weapons on a large scale to destroy the alien artificial world."

Upon seeing the Iron Man's plan, which listed dozens of weapons, Doom did not outwardly respond, but inwardly weighed the plan.

Gates's plan was very efficient; it had a clear objective and went straight to the point of exterminating the alien race.

As for the human population, those who are not Nur's subjects are not within its scope of consideration.

"And you?" Without making a sound, he shifted his gaze to the stone man, Victor.

(End of this chapter)