84: Chapter 84 The Allied Expeditionary Fleet Sets Sail

The muster signal for the expeditionary fleet spread across all allied anchorages at dawn, Metallis time. Heinrich von Strauheim stood on the bridge of the Shield of the Emperor, the red light of his cybernetic eye scanning the dense fleet array outside the viewport. Sixteen Strike Cruisers of the Third Assault Fleet formed a wedge anti-aircraft formation on his left wing; the leviathan mothership battle group deployed into a three-layer crossfire grid on the right. Iyanden's wraith cruisers led the vanguard, using ghost coating to shroud the entire expedition's Warp signature. Canoptek-7's living metal regeneration pods were loaded onto the Metallis base ship, with the Titan-Eater perched atop the base ship's upper deck, its void-class core's cold green light patterns breathing slowly in the stellar wind.

"All fleet, set sail." Heinrich pressed the fleet channel, and the allied emblem on the bow of the Shield of the Emperor glowed faintly under the starlight of the Gravity Reef Anchorage. The expeditionary fleet cut silently into the dark matter lanes at the edge of the Ultima Segmentum, following the routes surveyed and marked by the Brood Queen in a standard marching column. Flanking the lanes were the remnants of partially closed Warp rifts and chaotic psychic embers drifting from the direction of the Cadian Ruins. The Psionic Void Network formed a filtration layer of living neural networks around the fleet, decomposing those residues into basic particles.

The Brood Queen crouched on the creep platform of the Metallis base ship, the Photonic Crown flickering with cold green light patterns steadily along the ridges of her carapace. She decoded the estimated defense parameter packets of the Origin Facility layer by layer, while Canoptek-7's quantum-state decoding array simultaneously cross-referenced the ancient survey archives of the Necron Dynasty with the parameter packets. The comparison results showed high-intensity psychic reactions detected on the periphery of the Origin Facility, their waveform structures pointing to the Old Ones' standard composite combat testing protocol. The Iyanden Farseer drew a ghostly blue arc on the allied holographic projection with a Wraithbone Staff, fully unfolding the precognitive fragments concerning the Origin Facility from the Web of Prophecy—the Old Ones' defense array was divided into three synchronized testing layers: psychic, quantum resonance, and living neural network. The alliance had to complete the answers to all three problems simultaneously inside the facility; if even one was missing, the overall test would be judged a failure. The Farseer's voice was steady and certain, stating that the defense array's intensity was approximately three times that of the Star of Judgment's sealing protocol, but the Old Ones had reserved all the clues required for cracking it for those who activated it. As long as the alliance successfully decoded it within the time limit, the defense array would actively degrade.

Sebastian checked the allied universal armor plates of the Terminator Assault Platoon in the base ship's hangar, the edge of his Power Sword glinting ghostly blue under the lights. He spoke into Bern's communication channel, saying that the Grey Knights' Holy Hammers might be busier in the Origin Facility than at the Blackstone Defense Line. Bern unslung the Holy Hammer from his shoulder, the Psychic Talisman inside his breastplate emitting a constant silver glow of Holy Power. He replied that the Old Ones' defense array was not Chaos, so Holy Power would not receive a bonus there, but the Old Ones' Cohesive Psionics would not reject Holy Power either—this was a true test of martial arts for all civilizations.

In the command cabin of the base ship, Marcus Aurelian set his coffee cup on the edge of the tactical projection, his right fingertips repeatedly tracing the lane star charts of the Origin Facility. The countdown for the Old Ones Evaluation Protocol was still ticking; he had just sent the latest situation of the expeditionary fleet and a copy of all decrypted terms of the Old Ones Evaluation Protocol to Terra. The reply from the Council of High Lords was as brief as stone: "Acknowledged. The alliance has full authority to execute." He turned toward the Brood Queen's translator, wanting to let the Overmind know that Terra had not wasted time on paperwork this time, only to find the translator already lit up.

The Overmind's anticipation was as precise and concise as ever—the defense array of the Origin Facility could not be directly absorbed by the Psionic Void Network. When the Old Ones designed this array, they included a Cohesive Psionics immunity protocol; it was impossible for him to be filtered by his own network. However, the key to cracking the array lay with the Psionic Void Network Technical Committee; the combination of the Brood Queen, the Iyanden Farseer, and Canoptek-7 was currently the alliance's strongest decoding team. He requested that after the expeditionary fleet landed at the Origin Facility, the Titan-Eater would not participate in the first wave of testing and would remain on the ground as a combat-ready reserve.

Heinrich sent a confirmation signal from the bridge. The expeditionary fleet had completed two-thirds of its journey, and the giant outer shell silhouette of the Origin Facility had been detected ahead. It was an artificial celestial body older than the Star of Judgment, its surface covered in hexagonal psychic resonance chamber arrays forged during the Old Ones' peak, with a diameter close to that of a small moon. The facility's energy core was still running, and the Psionic Void Network had already detected the preheating signal of the defense array. The Brood Queen looked up and issued one final technical reminder to the entire fleet via the translator—the defense array would automatically activate upon the alliance's landing, and the decoding window would open simultaneously; once the countdown began, it would not pause. Marcus pressed the War Council's all-hands channel and issued the final command to the entire expeditionary fleet.