am-books Chapter 119 Ziras IV
Chapter 119 Ziras IV
For the bugs, their favorite type of prey was the one with high Psionic potential because the higher the Psionic Potential their target had, the more useful it would be for the swarm. Many talented Psionics or Psykers were kidnapped by the Arachnids because they were the prime biological material for some of the most unholy abominations.
Or they used the brains of talented Psionics and Psykers to advance their bioengineering. In this way, the Arachnids were constantly on the path of evolution to become an increasingly powerful race.
They were devouring everything in their path and assimialting it into their own Gene-Banks from which, then they would be creating more and more fearsome bugs.
Due to all of this, the Arachnids were one of the strongest Psionic Species in the entire Cosmos. Even though the degree of their advance varies from Hivemind to Hivemind, and not every swarm was really that advanced, they were still very dangerous; even a young swarm was an extremely dangerous foe.
With more genomes from more powerful and talented Psionics and Psykers, they could create more and more Psionically powerful Arachnids. Through this way, the Arachnids were perfecting the Psionic Arts, and even, in some cases, they were either to replicate or retain the Psyker Abilities of their target.
Especially in certain types of bugs that were created from the living target, when through unspoken procedures, they were able to turn Psyker into Arachnid.
***
Solitas Star Domain, Ziras Star System
Nestled in the far reaches of a binary star system, the planet Ziras IV stood as a monument to nature's harsh beauty. Orbiting two suns: one a yellow dwarf and the other a red dwarf, this alpine world experiences extreme variations in daylight, creating an environment of perpetual twilight interspersed with bursts of intense but cold sunlight.
The binary nature of its stars results in unique orbital patterns and an ever-shifting play of shadows and illumination across the planet's frozen landscapes.
Ziras IV was a planet dominated by towering mountain ranges that stretch for thousands of kilometers. Its jagged peaks, carved by millennia of glacial activity, pierce through dense layers of cloud cover, reaching heights that dwarf those found on even different similar worlds.
Many of these summits remain perpetually covered in snow and ice, their sheer cliffs a patchwork of gleaming frost and ancient stone. In the lower regions, vast alpine valleys and plateaus were dotted with immense glaciers that slowly crept down from the mountains, carving deep fjords and icebound canyons as they advanced.
The planet's atmosphere, composed primarily of nitrogen with traces of argon and carbon dioxide, is dense enough to support weather patterns, though the lack of oxygen makes it inhospitable to human life without specialized equipment. The air carries a biting chill, with average temperatures hovering well below freezing, even in the sunniest regions.
Winds whip across the open expanses, howling through mountain passes and creating blizzards that can last for days. These storms were often accompanied by dramatic displays of auroras, fueled by the energetic radiation from the twin suns interacting with Caldrith's magnetosphere.
Despite its hostility, Ziras IV was not devoid of life.
On the country, despite the harsh environment, the planet was brimming with life all of sized and shapes, of all forms and norms.
Hardy, extremophile organisms have adapted to its frigid climate. In the glacial crevices and beneath layers of permafrost, microbial life forms thrived, feeding on minerals and chemical reactions driven by geothermal heat. Unique lichen-like growths cling to rock faces, their dark pigments absorbing what little light reaches them.
Some regions host vast forests of crystalline structures resembling frozen plants formed by mineral deposits carried upward through ice vents by subterranean heat sources.
The other types of fauna included humongous wolves that could swallow whoe man in one gulp, sabertooth cats whose claws and fangs could pierce even the toughest Imperial-made alloys, and mountain bears whose physical strength allowed them to crush entire armored vehicles
One could say that the harsh environment of the Ziras IV gave birth to even harsher animals and beasts that inhabited the planet, which made it even harder for the colonists to survive in this world.
It was ironic that despite being located in the binary star system with two stars, the planet was colder than ice, and only the strongest, toughest and most powerful with the unbreakable will could survive in this kind of enviroment.
The hydrology of Ziras IV was as dynamic as its mountains.
Massive frozen lakes dot the valleys, their surfaces cracked and ridged from the shifting ice below. During the brief periods of warmth when the red dwarf aligns closely with the yellow star, some of these lakes experience partial thawing, creating temporary rivers that cascade down the mountainsides in spectacular ice-laden torrents.
These glacial meltwaters form labyrinthine networks of channels and caves beneath the ice, where water refreezes into fantastical formations resembling vast crystal cathedrals.
The Imperial Orbital Defense Network was designed in a rather peculiar way; one couldn't basically disable it without the control codes from someone with the Rank of Bashar General in the Imperial Army.
If it came to sabotage, the best they could do, was to make the Orbital Defense Network unresponsive, which meant, that it wouldn't respond to the commands and thus it wouldn't attack anything out of its own.
Arcturus sighed because the situation was indeed as bad as they feared, but at least it seemed that the Arachnids were still contained to their location, and they didn't take over the entire world.
This meant that somebody from the colony was infected by the bugs and attempted to disable the entire Orbital Defense Network, but was obviously unsuccessful at the endeavor, but at least managed to make several of the parts of the Orbital Defense Network unresponsive.
At least that way, nobody would be able to use the Orbital Denfese Netwrok to launch barrage of the orbital bombardment on the Arachnid Nest. Though there were several unanswered questions about this, when did this happen?
Who managed to do this?
And why nobody proposed to make use of the Orbitral Defense Network to deal with the bugs from the Orbit.
Not to mention the most important question of all of them...
How the fuck did the Arachnids manage to land on the planet, considering the fact that the Orbital Defense Network was fully activated and untampered with before the appearance of the bugs.
Or...
Someone smuggled them here.
That was a possibility that neither of the three of them wanted to think about because it was the most severe one.
"Now, it seems that the situation is pretty fucked up... what shall we do?"
Zehal asked with rahter uncouth language because this was clear that the situation was as fucked as they were thinking. Fortunately enough, the majority of the Orbital Defense Platforms was intact and could be used in direct combat, and even those that were unresponsive would function if they were attacked first.
However, they would need to be in a working state after being attacked first. It was somewhat luck that the infiltrators were not capable enough to disable the entire Orbital Defense Networkss around the Ziras IV, but he seriously doubted that such thing was even possible.
According to the Zehal, such a thing would be immediately noticed by the Directorate and the Imperial HighCom. This was because all of the Orbital Defense Networks were being monitored by the Central Artificial Intellignece of the Eternal Empire of the Asurya, The Architect.
If the entire Orbital Defense Network was disabled out of nowhere, then most possibly, after just a few days, the whole Ziras Star System would be swarming with the Imperial Navy that would be investigating what had happened.
"We need to immediately report this situation to Imperial HighCom so they can pass the chromatin to the Directorate and wait for further instructions. It seems that this is not just a simple mission from the Imperial Phoenix Military Academy but a matter of national security."
Jenaiel stated in a firm voice that she was most familiar with the various protocols and procedures, and Arcturus agreed with her as they went to follow her instructions.
Soon enough, they sent a transmission to the Imperial HighCom about everything they found, including proof of someone tampering with the Orbital Defense Network around the Ziras IV, information about the Arachnids, and the convenient location of unresponsive parts of the Orbital Defense Network, which was exactly above the place where the Arachnid Nest was.
While many could see the evidence as half-baked, they all knew that the Empire acted against its enemies even for far less in many cases. Not even ten minutes later, the Red Queen received a reply from the Directorate with top-secret encryption about the situation.
It seemed that the Directorate had evaluated the situation and given them an order to descend down on the planet and carry out the reconnaissance of the Arachnid Nest and the situation on the planet, while the entire Fleet from the Imperial Navy would be dispatched to the Ziras IV.
Unfortunately, due to the great distance, it would arrive only after four days because the distance between the closest Star Fortress and Ziras IV was rather significant. Before the 71st Imperial Fleet arrived at the Ziras Star System, all three of them were given the Imperial Conscription Order to immediately investigate the situation on the Ziras IV.