Warhammer: The 11th Primarch - The Black Emperor

"Forge Lord, activate the Warp Gate disruptor now!"

Diana shouted urgently, clenching her fists. She refused to let her first battle as flagship captain of the legion end with a critical flaw.

But with hundreds, possibly thousands, of enemy ships, she couldn't possibly track every one or monitor all their movements.

Normally, this wouldn't pose a major threat; a fleet alone couldn't change the tide. But the Primarch had warned them: the enemy might attempt to detonate the warp gate.

Now, all her hopes rested on the Forge Lord's interference device.

"Beginning activation of the Warp Gate interference device," came Rosicky's voice over the comms, calm and firm, immediately soothing Diana's anxiety.

Foundry Deck – Throne of Sovereignty's Shadow

The Forge Lord wore pauldrons painted red, signifying a close alliance with Mars. Unlike other legions whose techmarines often painted their full armor red to show allegiance to Mars, the Shadow of Order only painted the pauldrons.

Rosicky's mechadendrite reached out behind him, connecting to a massive silver machine, the size of a Knight-class war machine.

The spherical device was etched with dense arrays of runes and binary techno-script.

Suddenly, the lights across the Throne of Sovereignty's Shadow dimmed. The device required immense power; non-critical systems like lighting were temporarily rerouted to feed it.

One by one, the tech runes began to light up in sequence, activating the device. It began to glow with a blinding radiance.

Rosicky's augmented eye tracked the rapidly rising energy levels, and within his mind, a surge of inspiration exploded like a detonation of force.

He looked toward the strategic display above the device, showing the warp gate designated "Strategic Point B."

With activation complete, a shockwave of energy burst out, sweeping across the entire Necromunda system.

The enemy's gates were circular, with eight folded mechanical limbs extending from the ring, bent at the middle like spider legs.

These designs were born of Necromunda's millennia-long spider cults, stylized into an abstract insignia: the "Round Spider," prominently displayed on all Continuity structures.

Now, the energy cores embedded at the bends of those "legs" began flashing erratically.

These gates drew power from nearby stars to perform interstellar teleportation. Using unique energy condensers, the Araneus Continuity captured stellar energy to feed the gate.

Rosicky's device was engineered to disrupt those energy condensers, interfering with their ability to gather and distribute power.

As the pulse swept outward, five of the condensers shut down. Then, the crystals used in lieu of Imperial runes began flashing wildly.

After mere seconds, a large number of data crystals flickered out. The warp gate's inner glow, the light resembling ripples in water, suddenly dispersed.

Three enemy battleships, advancing toward the gate, were caught in the energy pulse, paralyzed like prey in a web, completely immobile.

Data streamed across Rosicky's bionic eye. Within seconds, he had analyzed the situation and spoke over command comms:

"Warp Gate B disabled. Estimated disruption time: five hours, eleven minutes."

"Enemy warships are trapped in the energy surge, currently in stasis. Duration estimated at two hours, thirty-three minutes."

"Current energy storm radius: 152,000 km. Will reduce to 84,000 km within one hour."

Diana exhaled in relief and praised him:

"Forge Lord, your work is exemplary."

With renewed confidence, she ordered the fleet to move toward Strategic Point B.

From the command throne, Nareth nodded with satisfaction. Diana had performed well, despite a minor oversight; she had detected and addressed the issue even before he had to speak.

Under her command, the Eleventh Legion soon secured control of five warp gate zones. They began targeting Necromunda's orbital defense installations.

The remaining Araneus Continuity fleets attempted resistance, but once the Throne of Sovereignty's Shadow passed control of Node E to a frigate and destroyer squadron, entering the battle, resistance collapsed swiftly.

The Primarch received updates from the Master of Vox: all five other systems were also progressing smoothly, each warp gate under Eleventh Legion control.

The Most Difficult Front: The Agricultural System

The 2nd and 7th Chapters faced the fiercest resistance in the agricultural system, one of the Araneus Continuity's most vital worlds.

Centuries of pollution had devastated the environment far worse than Vostroya. The Iron Tower, where the Techno-nobility dwelled were surrounded by ashen wastelands. With population levels far higher than Vostroya, these worlds were critically dependent on imported food.

In the Continuity's hierarchy, the agricultural and data crystal production systems were the two most vital sectors. One sustained their food supply; the other underpinned their cyber-technological infrastructure.

Naturally, both were heavily defended.

The 2nd Chapter was the last to finish space combat among the five strike groups.

The system included four habitable worlds: two grassland planets, one oceanic world, and one mountainous.

After clearing orbit, the Chapter Master reviewed Auger Matrix scans of the four worlds. He immediately realized that their population structure resembled that of other Imperial agri-worlds, millions of scattered serfs, largely indifferent to who ruled them, as long as they fulfilled their labor quotas.

This insight led him to issue swift orders:

"Our next phase must follow the Primarch's directive: precise and efficient."

"Target the towers."

Due to Techno-nobility's influence, the ruling families on these planets had built their own iron towers, though far smaller than those on Araneus Prime.

Black drop pods rained from orbit, streaking across the skies.

Clad in black armor, the Shadows of Order formed tight formations and stormed the towers.

The defenders fired Araneus las weapons, but against Mark II power armor, they barely scorched the surface.

The Reaver Attack Squads led the assault, synchronized, disciplined, and deadly. A single volley from their bolt guns shattered enemy formations.

Chainswords roared. Wherever they passed, only mangled bodies remained.

Within 22 hours of initiating ground operations, 4,500 warriors of the 2nd Chapter had captured 163 towers across four worlds.

Though last to start, the 2nd Chapter became the first to complete planetary conquest, and with minimal casualties: only 13 marines lost to desperate suicide bombings by tower lords.

At that moment, with orbital control of Necromunda secured, Nareth gave the final command.

Climbing into his custom-made black drop pod, far larger than those used by regular legionaries, he stood tall even inside.

His destination: the highest Iron Tower of Necromunda.

His objective: the Supreme Techno-Lord

...

If you enjoy the story, my p@treon is 30 chapters ahead.

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