Starting from the Planetary Governor - Chapter 698

Chapter 696: The Extermination Order is Announced, the Battle of Rheaduches (XI)

The Iron Coffin is the name for the Dreadnought.

It involves roughly cramming a Space Marine into an alloy life-support pod, one that can never leave. For the rest of their lives, the Space Marine’s entire lifespan depends entirely on the life-support pod.

This pod also serves as the Dreadnought’s cockpit. Numerous tubes connect to the Space Marine’s nerves, allowing them to control the massive Dreadnought as if it were their own limbs. The pod’s visual system acts as their eyes, and their acoustic system as their ears.

This sounds relatively well.

While they can no longer taste food, or experience any physiological needs or impulses, Space Marines have limited needs for these. In most Space Marine communities, the pursuit of appetite and the taste of food is despised. They prioritize asceticism and the refinement of their minds.

As for physiological needs beyond palate…

whether they possess sexual potency is hard to say, but I haven’t seen any serious Space Marines pursue it.

As for fertility, it’s a complete absence. Space Marines cannot reproduce normally; any reproduction is only possible through gene-seed implantation.

Therefore, the absence of these mortal pursuits seems unimportant to a Space Marine. Whether or not they enter the Dreadnought Coffin, they live the same life.

But this is only the most insignificant price paid for entering the Dreadnought.

The real price lies in the negative effects.

They will be constantly awake, no longer needing sleep, and without dreams. While their brains can maintain physical health thanks to the life support pod, the mental fatigue will persist forever, unrecoverable.

The life support pod maintains the Space Marine’s physical health, but due to the direct connection between the entire machinery and the nerves, a slight tingling sensation, more like an itch, will constantly torment the Space Marine when maneuvering the Dreadnought. Even

just moving, activating the visual and auditory systems is also operating the body, and that can cause an itch.

And when it comes to intense combat, the itch turns to pain.

It’s for this reason that many Dreadnoughts met a disastrous end. When not needed, they remained motionless in fleet warehouses, libraries, and elders’ chambers for extended periods. They appeared to be asleep, but in reality, they were awake, bored and unable to do anything. After all, any movement would trigger an itchy sensation all over their bodies.

But whether it was the itch or the boredom of the long darkness, it would eventually drive them mad.

Space Marines were indeed transcendent beings. While a normal mortal would go mad in a matter of days, they could endure this state for centuries, millennia…

but it wasn’t eternal.

Dreadnoughts were prone to self-destruction, often seeking relief in the midst of a single battle by placing themselves in the most dangerous situations. This served as a way to fulfill their loyalty to the Emperor and their Chapter, while also offering a reprieve from the constant torment.

Worse still, someday, at a single moment, they might be unable to endure the torture that had lasted for who knows how long, and would launch a frenzied, indiscriminate attack aboard their own ships, ultimately being dispatched by their own battle-brothers.

The Dreadnought’s nickname, “Iron Coffin,” is actually an understatement. It’s not just a steel coffin, but an instrument of eternal torture.

For this reason, only Space Marines with disabilities but strong wills can enter the Dreadnought.

If you’re not disabled, don’t enter; that torture is unnecessary.

Those with weak wills generally don’t want to enter. Rather than endure eternal punishment, it’s better to return to the Golden Throne.

Even if someone decides to enter for a momentary reason, each Chapter has strict criteria. For those who are disabled, hors de combat, or even face death if they don’t enter the Dreadnought, their daily performance and determination must be considered. Otherwise, they might not be able to withstand the eternal punishment and would harm the Chapter.

Leroy’s decision, first and foremost, is a testament to his immense perseverance and determination. Secondly, he possesses the willpower to withstand the trials of the Dreadnought Coffin.

…

Gu Hang had no objection to Leroy’s decision.

He had Dreadnoughts aboard his starship.

It belonged to the Phoenix Regiment, intended for use by some of its elite veterans who couldn’t be saved. Allocating one to Leroy wouldn’t be a problem.

The Black Cross Marshal’s performance in the battle on the ground was truly remarkable.

And it certainly had a profound impact on the outcome.

Large Zerg hives were destroyed, and that wave of incapacitating blows wiped out hundreds of thousands of Zerg units across the battlefield. This number might not seem impressive, but the key point is that it included a large number of high-level units. After all, the Hive Lord’s own level was so high that many of the seemingly highest-level node creatures were actually under his control. Now, there was no need to go to great lengths to kill them; simply observing from afar and firing cannonballs would make the enemy evade them.

This immediately forced the Zerg’s Bio-Titan army to retreat.

A significant number of Bio-Titans had indeed escaped, but they had also suffered significant losses in the preceding battles. The subsequent retreat, whether from the destruction of remnant units by humans or units lost in pursuit, severely weakened the Zerg Queen’s army, which had originally intended to completely destroy the human army’s surface base.

The battle wasn’t over, but in reality, it had already shifted phases.

From the first phase of airborne operations, to the second phase of base defense, it was now entering the third phase of the strategic offensive.

With the Hive Overlord dead and the Zerg Bio-Titan army in retreat, the vast area surrounding the human base was devoid of sufficient military resources to hinder the human army’s advance.

Gu Hang naturally wouldn’t waste this golden opportunity.

He decisively increased his ground forces, even going so far as to send all four of them—Salilus, Martins, Xi Rui, and Ewing—down to the surface.

These four, if nothing else, were at least as strong as Leroy. Leroy managed to reach fourth place among them, but that was only because Xi Rui was at the bottom.

Although Alma Ewing, the Blood Shark Chapter Leader, was usually quiet, Gu Hang was well aware of his actual combat power, which was quite formidable.

From his soul and the little bit of Warp Essence he possessed, Gu Hang could directly see his strength.

Furthermore, Gu Hang commanded what were arguably the most elite warriors in the entire human coalition: the Phoenix, Ortopis, and Blood Sharks. All three chapters were transported to the surface by Gu Hang in an organized group.

To strike while the enemy is weak, Gu Hang handed over the command of ground operations to Salilius, the commander-in-chief of the Western Front, who replaced Leroy. His request to Salilius was to rapidly expand the area of the human base within two months and destroy every Zerg nest that could be found.

We have elite troops, troops, and firepower, and the enemy’s main force has been repelled. How can we not win this battle?

Salilius completed Gu Hang’s task very well.

When the human coalition can ensure a safe area of more than 1,500 kilometers in both horizontal and vertical directions on the ground, the success rate of airdrops will be much higher.

This not only eliminated ground-based air defenses, but also transformed naval engagements near planetary orbit.

Human fleets were far more powerful than the Zerg biological fleets, both in size and combat power. However, due to the impact of ground-based orbital fire, they suffered greater casualties. This limited their capabilities, and often, sending support to the surface meant simply exchanging ships for supplies.

Now, with an entire area secured, this meant a relatively safe orbital airspace for starships in the sky.

While 1500×1500 square meters wasn’t large for the entire planet, engagements at greater distances would still provide a significant amount of orbital fire. However, a reduced number was a positive development. Furthermore, if Human starships closed sufficiently close to the planet, directly above this safe zone, the Zerg’s orbital guns would lose their firing angles due to the curvature of the surface.

Thus, the creation of a safe zone finally reduced the risk to Human ships in naval engagements.

This will feed back into the ground, making the ground offensive smoother. Success on the ground will allow for more and faster destruction of Zerg nests, reducing the threat from the sky and expanding the range of human starships, which

in turn feeds back into the ground… a virtuous cycle.

However, this still isn’t enough to achieve victory.

The human coalition’s goal isn’t simply to win; it must do so within a year, or else reinforcements from the tentacles will arrive. By then, the battle situation will have changed dramatically.

Currently, the situation allows for the safe and highly successful deployment of the Extermination Order weapon.

However, the human forces already have too many combat troops deployed on the ground, and their quality is high. Gu Hang faces the same dilemma as he did with the Northern Front Legion: should he simply burn them along with the Zerg Queen?

That’s not necessary.

Gu Hang himself couldn’t bear to burn both the Phoenix and Martins on the ground.

Even putting aside the emotional implications, from a profit perspective, perhaps Gu Hang could replenish the Phoenix population at a relatively low cost, even at the level of a company champion. However, those who surpass Company Champion and reach the level of Chapter Paragon or Chapter Champion are no longer available.

While there’s a [Hero] interface for enlightenment, subsequent upgrades require sufficient talent.

Talent alone isn’t enough; sufficient experience is also required.

This limits Gu Hang’s ability to create expert warriors.

Furthermore, even if they reach the highest level the system allows, Level 9, even with Space Marine training, their overall strength will still be slightly inferior to that of a Chapter Champion.

Just like Psykers, without Gu Hang’s numerous reward templates and the support of the Storm Realm, even at Level 9, they’re only A+, with only one S-rank ever achieved.

The same is true for Space Marines. Not only the Phoenix, but even the Fury and New World Torch have seen warriors

raised to Level 8 and 9, but generally fail to reach Chapter Champion level. The Chapter Masters of those two Chapters don’t live up to their reputations, lacking the conventional notion of a Space Marine Chapter Master’s formidable combat prowess.

Only Martins, the lone champion, has experienced a unique combination of circumstances and breakthroughs. Combined with Gu Hang’s blessing from the Storm Kingdom’s lesser gods in the Warp, he’s been able to demonstrate strength that’s considered top-tier even among the Chapter’s champions.

These things are hard to come by. Even the blessing of the Chosen, which Gu Hang can control, requires the target to be able to withstand it, and the number of people blessed is limited.

If Martins dies now, Gu Hang won’t be able to replicate him; there’s no one to choose from.

He truly can’t let him go .

Gu Hang can’t just kill people like Salilius, Xi Rui, and Ewing. Ewing’s Blood Shark Gu

Hang is plotting against him, and the former two are influential figures throughout the Empire. Killing them would cause a huge political upheaval. However, while Gu Hang made a similar decision to Leroy during the first battle, the situations they faced were fundamentally different.

If there were truly no other options, they could all be burned together. But that wasn’t the case now.

Humans had the advantage in both size and quality of their starships. While the battle was evenly matched, that was due to the support provided by ground-based orbital firepower in the naval battle. As the

ground battle progressed smoothly, the human side would undoubtedly regain the upper hand. And the ground battle was indeed proceeding quite smoothly.

So why the rush?

The deadline for ending the battle was still over six months away.

Not directly deploying Extermination Order weapons on the ground didn’t mean they wouldn’t be used.

Gu Hang mobilized several transports to deliver five Extermination Order weapons to the surface.

The Zerg could still sense the presence of the Extermination Order weapons and tried their best to intercept them.

But this time, they were unable to stop them.

Ground-based orbital interception firepower had been critically damaged, and the pressure was insufficient. Those Zerg that could reach the outer atmosphere would first be subjected to ground-based anti-aircraft fire.

The lack of ground-based orbital firepower allowed the human fleet to more closely and comprehensively protect these transports.

Even if the Zerg Hive Fleet launched an all-out assault, it would suffer heavy losses from the human fleet’s attacks. Even so, only four were ultimately intercepted, and one Sky-Burning torpedo still made it to the planet’s surface unharmed.

At this point, the human forces began a rapid retreat, evacuating from various safe areas by landing craft.

While the evacuation process had an approximately 85% success rate, if unlucky, the entire crew would be intercepted by Zerg bio-ships before returning to the starship or transport.

But it was still better than remaining on the surface and being buried with the Zerg a month later.

———

4k to make up for yesterday.

One more chapter before bed.

(End of this chapter)