Warhammer 40: Doom

Chapter 160 Pressing forward step by step

The First Fleet departed from the subspace and returned to the real universe amidst a magnificent glow.

Raising his hand and making a grasping motion, Doom clearly felt a viscous resistance, as if time had been compressed into a physical form.

He looked out the porthole and saw no lush, dazzling starry sky; the starlight could not escape gravity.

A massive accretion disk floats in the void, like the greedy tongue of a black hole, devouring all light and heat.

Time is personified by gravity, turning into sand at the far end of the accretion disk, but being stretched into a line at the closest point.

Before Doom could even utter a word of admiration at the magnificent scenery, he immediately sensed that the Royal Majesty was beginning to drift away.

The subspace energy surrounding the ship dissipates, the laws of real physics come into play, and the black hole's gravity pulls at the ship.

The ships of the First Fleet began to shift to the lower right under the pull of gravity.

"Stabilizing the warship." A cold, mechanical voice rang out as Gates hovered in the air, his mechanical tentacles flying rapidly.

With multiple operations under his command and the ignition of multiple auxiliary engines, the warship quickly stabilized its deviation.

"Recalculate the gravity formula." Though no one was present, Sophia's rational voice resounded throughout the warship. "Inject it into the automatic control system."

The fleet's Iron Man stabilized the warship, and the data core sent gravity data, quickly stabilizing the warship's attitude.

"Sir, we need to leave quickly; the warship's engine output is increasing."

Gates quickly pointed out that in the holographic image, the warship's side was spewing plasma.

Even without the Iron Man's reminder, all the side engines of the warship, parallel to the porthole, ignited, propelling the warship to its current position.

"Coordinates are locked, and our real-time location is displayed on the map."

The holographic image changes, revealing a star map of the black hole region and the location of the fleet.

The map of the black hole cluster was confirmed several times by interrogators, who even used psionic devices to extract alien memories and create it.

In this extremely dangerous place, even a slight error in coordinates could cause the fleet to fall into a black hole.

"The astronomical telescope has detected the target and displayed it on the holographic map."

Reports continued to pour in, and the fleet's telescopes locked onto the alien-inhabited artificial world.

Three aggregates of steel and keratin, shimmering with artificial light, of immense mass, each man-made world the size of Terra.

Surrounding the artificial world are suspended spaces of varying sizes, protecting the alien's home.

"Full speed ahead, sink their warships!" Doom sat back on the command throne, his gaze towards the alien image gradually turning cold.

Just as he expected, hundreds of alien warships of varying sizes gathered around the artificial world.

The first step in the plan is to demonstrate sufficient force to bring the aliens to the negotiating table.

The First Fleet deployed into full-speed battle formation, ignited all engines, and entered full-speed sprint mode.

The fleet charged into the alien's defensive perimeter, piercing the skin like daggers. All the capital ships opened fire, and a dense barrage of light spears struck the alien warships.

The alien warships hastily deployed into formation, advancing towards the First Fleet, continuously releasing gravity weapons to disrupt the human fleet's formation.

Unfortunately, after the first wave of contact, the First Fleet became familiar with the aliens' attack methods.

Horanion's warships and technology largely rely on gravity technology, resulting in very limited offensive and defensive capabilities.

They lack subspace engines, rely on faster-than-light engines to explore the universe, have little contact with other races, and their technological development is slow.

In their first battle after leaving the black hole cluster, they encountered the tenacious resistance of the human world, blocking them at the exit of the stellar graveyard.

Their own power easily crushed the remnants of humanity, so naturally they had no need to develop technology.

Like the sand lizard, Horanion is stuck in a developmental rut—lacking the stimulation of powerful external enemies, its technology is stagnating.

The environment stifled their imagination; before venturing out of the stellar graveyard, they believed the universe was a black hole, devoid of thriving stars.

Before encountering humans, they believed themselves to be the only life form in the universe, a race destined by fate.

The two sides waged war in the dead-silent deep space, where a long-awaited "prosperity" was ushered in.

A beautiful scene appeared in the void: a blazing spear of light streaked across the darkness, its trajectory not a straight line, but drawing out various exaggerated angles.

The projectile, pulled by gravity, deviated significantly from its course and was further influenced by the causal relationship of "certain hit," resulting in a tortuous trajectory.

The heavy torpedo is even more bizarre; it is the slowest and quickly loses its power under the influence of gravity, hovering in the void.

But a terrible thing happened: the torpedo was pulled out of the real universe like a building block and appeared in the place where it should have been before it detonated.

Guaranteed to hit within range!
The incredible technology of the Golden Age, guaranteed to hit its target after launch, defying the laws of physics.

Causal technology is extraordinary; it is not natural technology, but rather a means to modify the fundamental logic of the universe. Violating the peace of the natural universe, causality represents humanity's assertive stance and an unquestionable, absolute will!
At the edge of a black hole, something even more desperate than the inescapable light occurs.

Horanion's warships were hit repeatedly, their smooth surfaces riddled with dents from the various forms of fire.

The aliens discover a terrifying truth: the hit rate of human warships has reached a terrifying 100%.

Their own warships sank one after another, falling into the depths of the black hole's gravity and being torn apart into basic matter.

The battles between warships are sluggish to Doom. On the vast, infinite scale of the universe, void warships are as insignificant as flies.

He had to suppress the Primarch's instinct for speed, adapt to the warship's slow tactical pace, and wait for the outcome of the naval battle.

Although the development of the battle was no different from the simulation in his mind, he still needed to wait patiently, and the anxiety of waiting was tempered into peace.

In the battle between the Void Fleets, the First Fleet's overwhelming firepower gave them the upper hand, causing the Xenomorphs considerable trouble.

"Sir, there's a signal coming in," Gates' mechanical voice announced. "It's Horanion."

Doom adopted a cold expression and waved his hand to signal Iron Man to connect to the signal.

"Humans..." A slug appears in the overall image, its energy glands flowing slowly, looking extremely frustrated.

The Horanion look almost identical, and it is difficult for the human eye to distinguish them.

“My people acknowledge defeat,” Horanion’s gelatinous body slumped, his slippery voice betraying his frustration: “We are willing to negotiate with you.”

"Peace talks?" Doom looked puzzled, as if he hadn't understood. "There have never been peace talks, only genocide!"

Without showing any outward expression, Doom forcefully expressed his intention to commit genocide.

The goal is peace talks, but it cannot be revealed too early. Pressuring relentlessly and showing no mercy until you finally relax a little, and the aliens will be grateful.

“Even someone as humble as myself can see that you are a great being.” Horanion’s tone became even more humble, and it lowered its raised upper body.

Although species and cultures differ, based on the instinct of biological evolution, a humble posture to show submission is a code etched into the genes of living organisms by the universe.

Horanion prayed: "There should be no stain of 'genocide' on your great glory."

"The Children of the Abyss have offended humanity, and we are willing to accept the punishment."

“No! No! No!” Doom still shook his head, his face devoid of any pity: “I love humanity, yet your race plunders humans at will. You must be brought to justice.”

The words were spoken in a grand and dignified manner, revealing love and kindness towards humanity, and seamlessly connected with the performance that followed.

"Hollanien will never surrender!" With that, Hollanien could no longer bear it and revealed his anger and determination.

"Sir! Please wait a moment." Just as the negotiations broke down, an old man rushed into the bridge, looking anxious.

“Please forgive my rudeness,” William said to Doom in a flustered and discomposureed manner, “Sir, please give me a chance to speak.”

"Please speak." Doom frowned, clearly displeased, and gestured for him to speak.

"Thank you very much!"

William's face lit up with joy. He turned to Hollanian and said, "The military alliance is willing to negotiate, but there is a condition."

"What premise?" Representative Horanion craned his neck, eager to know the answer.

“You abominable aliens,” William gritted his teeth, his aged face filled with grief and indignation, “the abducted population must be released.”

"This..." Horanion hesitated, the hem of her skirt undulating around her abdomen, deeply conflicted.

Intelligent beings are not fools; the aliens naturally know that the only thing humans fear is the two billion humans they have abducted.

With prisoners in hand, humans might hesitate to act rashly and still have room for maneuver. But once they are all handed over, humans will have no more scruples.

"You have three days to think about it."

Just as it hesitated, Doom pressed it again: "We will launch an attack in three days."

His face was expressionless, and his voice was firm and resolute, without a trace of falsehood.

Doom was telling the truth. Three days later, he would definitely launch an attack, disregarding the casualties among human prisoners, and completely annihilate the alien race.

“My lord…” William said in a hoarse voice, looking at the throne as if pleading.

His plea was interrupted by a raised hand, and a murderous glint flashed in Doom's eyes: "Old man, you have already given them a chance."

“We will consider it!” Horanion quickly replied, needing to seriously consider it and consult with the authorities within its tribe.

Three days. The alien learned about human timekeeping standards through holographic images.

(In the future, when I read comments, I will find some interesting questions and write them in the "Author's Note".)
(End of this chapter)