The Mandeville point of the Sotha system was surrounded by a massive Tyranid bio-fleet. After countless battles between the Kraken Hive Mind and the Imperium of Man, the Hive Mind knew that human fleets had to exit from this specific point to transition into realspace.
Currently, they held a firm grip on the system's Mandeville point to intercept any battle fleet intending to support Sotha. Should an enemy attempt to emerge from the Warp, they would instantaneously be met with a bombardment of countless bio-plasma bolts.
However, the Kraken Hive Mind never expected that there was a human fleet that didn't need to use the Warp at all.
In the void not far from Planet Sotha, ripples suddenly appeared in the stable fabric of space. Following a surge of energy, six warships materialized out of thin air in Sotha's orbit.
Standing in the ship's command center, Alexei looked at the numerous red dots representing the enemy on the star map at the edge of the system and chuckled inwardly. I have no idea who you think you're blocking.
He then turned his gaze to the planet below, which was surrounded by a sea of ship debris. At this moment, the first advantage of the Battlecruiser's relatively small size became apparent: the swarm fleets nearby, busy deploying spore chimneys, had not yet detected their presence.
Alexei immediately contacted the remaining humans on Sotha to announce his arrival.
Under Alexei's command, the sub-light engines of the five Battlecruisers roared to full power, and the ships dived directly into Sotha's atmosphere.
Looking at the red dots filling the entire sensor screen, Alexei murmured, "Hello, Tyranids."
Upon receiving the signal from the so-called reinforcements, Thorcyra, Chapter Master of the Scythes of the Emperor, immediately ordered his Librarians to verify the identity of this fleet.
When he learned that this fleet did not hail from any surrounding system or even the neighboring sectors, Thorcyra was filled with doubt.
He couldn't fathom how they had bypassed the layers of Hive Fleet Kraken's blockade to reach this world.
Suddenly, a massive roar echoed from the sky far above the monastery. Accompanied by the continuous gasps and cheers of the mortal auxiliaries outside, Thorcyra rushed to an open courtyard.
When he looked up and saw what was emerging from the depths of the endless Tyranid aerial swarm, his shock was beyond words. Beside him, the Chapter Librarian voiced the collective awe: "By the Emperor, what is that..."
Deep within the Tyranid swarm, which loomed like a thick, living storm cloud, countless red lights flickered. As innumerable Gargoyle corpses rained down upon the earth, five "behemoths" entered everyone's view.
Every laser battery and point-defense turret on the five Battlecruisers opened fire simultaneously. A dense red barrage illuminated the entire sky. The attacks from Tyranid aerial units struck the Void Shields on the ships' hulls powerlessly, creating nothing more than ripples.
Alexei snorted coldly. In the void, a Battlecruiser might seem insignificant to a Tyranid fleet, but within an atmosphere... what will you call me then?
"My Lord, ground Tyranid positions locked. Yamato Cannons fully charged," a crewman reported with a salute.
He nodded. The moment had finally come. Let's see your true power. "Fire!"
In mid-air, the five warships that had been systematically thinning the swarm slowed to a halt. Their prows aligned toward a single direction—the area not far below the Fortress-Monastery where countless Tyranids were converging.
Under the stunned gazes of everyone in the monastery, brilliant light began to gather at the prows of the five ships until the energy reached its peak.
Boom! With an ear-shattering roar, plasma beams capable of causing temporary blindness erupted forth. Half the sky was illuminated by the discharge. Immediately following, a violent tremor shook the foundations of the monastery. Giant fireballs surged into the air as the swarms below were instantly vaporized, granted not even the chance to struggle before death.
As the onlookers' vision slowly returned, the sky that had been choked with Tyranids was now empty. Only the five massive warships hung there silently, while the Tyranids at the foot of the mountain had been completely annihilated.
The world fell into a profound silence, broken only by the persistent ringing in the ears of everyone in the monastery. Their emotions were a complex mixture of shock and confusion—including Chapter Master Thorcyra, who stared blankly at the blackened earth below and the five massive craters, each large enough to have wiped out a small town.
"Who... are you people?" he murmured in his heart, gazing at the ships in the sky.
Aboard the flagship, even Alexei himself was deeply shaken by the power of the Yamato Cannons. This was a true surface-cleansing attack, not the "bird-shot" from the game that couldn't even kill a Thor.
He quickly snapped back to reality and gave orders to the still-stunned Brand. "Quickly, prepare all Guard Legions for auras-drop." This strike had definitely drawn the attention of the Hive Mind to these uninvited guests. It wouldn't be long before the fleets in the system rushed back to crush them.
They had to use this window to deploy all personnel to the ground—Alexei included.
In low-earth orbit, the bio-ships that were originally deploying spores and swarms immediately began moving toward the position of the Red Romance.
As Alexei's orders were issued, the belly bays of the Red Romance slowly opened. Nearly a thousand Banshees and Wraiths plunged into the atmosphere, their forms cloaking and vanishing into the environment instantly. Their mission was to intercept incoming Tyranid reinforcements and buy time for the drop pods.
Next, an entire wing of Viking fighters launched from the Red Romance's hangar. The moment they entered the atmosphere, their terrifying speed literally tore a rift through the air.
As specialized air-superiority units, they were to kill every Tyranid unit in sight to ensure the safety of the Banshees.
Once air superiority was established, Medivacs carrying a vast number of Thors and Siege Tanks headed for the surface. They would form the first solid line of defense for the initial ground units.
Now that everything was ready, it was time for the final Aiel Guard Legions. At Alexei's command, countless drop pods plummeted from beyond the atmosphere toward Sotha's surface.
Under the gaze of everyone in the monastery, the dark skies of Sotha were now lit by countless "meteors." These "meteors," filling the entire sky and burning with the friction of high-speed entry, were named Hope.
This time, the home world of the Scythes of the Emperor will not fall, Alexei thought silently, watching the countless brilliant streaks of light through the window of his Medivac.