Webway Space.
The construction base echoed with the clang of hammering steel.
Eden stood atop the deck of an Ork ship, overlooking the steel fortress in the voidâ
The combat satellite: Fort Rogg.
In the surrounding spaceâ
Hundreds of transport vessels zipped back and forth, hauling building materials for the fortress.
His Ork ship swooped down toward Fort Rogg and crashed violently into the docking bay.
Once the ship inevitably fell apartâ
Eden stepped through a gap in the wreckage and finally felt the true scale of the satellite.
The base of this massive construction was a hollowed-out asteroid roughly 100 kilometers in diameter.
The Orks had stuffed a stellar core and a pile of fusion reactors inside for power, while the outer shell was covered in mechanical constructs.
It had become a massive aerial fortress capable of holding billions of Orks.
Of courseâ
Fort Rogg wasn't meant for living. Its purpose was warfare.
So everywhere Eden looked, towering gun turrets jutted out of the surface, stuffed with every kind of oversized artillery.
Weapon arrays and defensive grids crisscrossed the structure.
Even the smartest Mekboys didn't know how many guns there actually wereâ
Because when they were feeling good, they'd install another Waaagh-style megagun in some random corner.
"Damn⊠I really underestimated the Orks' artistic talentâŠ"
Eden stared at the core region of the fortress and drew in a sharp breath.
Latelyâ
He had been busy with preparing for the battle at Baal, leaving the construction of the satellite unchecked for a while.
And to his surprise, the Orks had gone and made something this wild.
"Savior above!"
Big Barrel's voice rang out from behind himâhe too was stunned by what he saw:
"This⊠this kind of madness⊠How the hell did they even build this?!"
Before themâ
A massive mechanical structure, over ten kilometers tall and occupying a fifth of the fortress, stood like a steel mountain:
A towering, explosive half-body statue of Lord Rogg, sculpted from metal, rising proudly from the heart of the fortress. (TL: I kinda forgot... again the Ork name of Eden... so lets leave it as Rogg.)
Butâ
This muscle-bound monstrosity wasn't just for show. It was a terrifying war machine.
Its eyes housed concentrated las-lance arrays, and each arm was fitted with kilometer-long supercannonsâ
One that fired projectiles bigger than meteors, and the other an unknown form of energy cannon.
Most strikinglyâ
Emerging from beneath the statue's waist was an enormous, drill-like ram.
Clearly designed for ramming enemy targets.
"Great and explosive Sneaky Lord RoggâŠ"
A loud, sycophantic Ork voice called out as a green-skinned figure strutted over in a wrinkled, mossy tuxedo, taking self-important "elegant" steps:
"It's an honor to have you here! All the Orks salute you!"
Eden turned toward the voice and saw Torklaw making his grand entrance.
Smiling warmly, Eden asked:
"Torklaw, have you completed your task?"
Torklaw lowered his head and gave a loyal bow:
"We collected half the junk from the tinboy tomb world and gave it all to the little cogboys in the Mechanicus!"
Eden nodded, clearly pleased.
For Torklaw to lead an Ork fleet and strip half of a Necron tomb world's tech was already an enormous gain.
Those items should now be in the hands of the Necron Research Institute in orbit.
Once they've been analyzed, he'd get a full report on the loot.
But even now, he knew the haul was priceless.
"Well done. You're a sneaky, rotten little Ork!" Eden praised.
To whichâ
Torklaw beamed with pride, puffing out his chest:
"Thank you, Sneaky Lord Rogg! I feel so honoredâmy brain's leaking out!"
In Ork society, words like "sneaky," "vicious," and "brutal" were high complimentsâ
Only elite Orks earned those.
They were even used for their godsâ
Like Gork and Mork. But Lord Rogg was praised with sneaky, brutal, and explosiveâa rare trifecta.
Right nowâ
Torklaw felt like he was soaring. He shot proud glances at the other Orks around him.
He truly felt like the most Waaagh!-worthy Ork aroundâ
Only the boss of the Steelfang tribe was above him, mostly because that guy, like Lord Rogg, could eat him if he talked back.
This unusually smart Ork's eyes darted about, noticing everyone staring at the statue.
He smoothed out his crumpled suit, discreetly discarding a torn scrap, unaware that the entire back of his pants was now exposed.
Torklaw looked up with hopeful eyes and asked:
"Whaddya think of the big shiny Lord Rogg Kongbot, huh?"
"Ahem, you guys did a pretty good job."
Eden cleared his throat and gave the towering, overly muscular, very Orky Rogg statue a modest compliment.
Truthfullyâ
He wasn't that fond of it. But he couldn't kill the Orks' enthusiasm.
And besidesâ
If he said he didn't like it, they might tear it down and rebuild it, jacking up the construction budget of Fort Rogg.
That would be a complete waste.
In Eden's mind, resources should be spent where they mattered. If something workedâjust leave it be.
And honestlyâ
If the Orks did rebuild it, they'd probably make it even more ridiculous.
Torklaw, hearing the compliment, got even more excited, thumping his chest like a drum:
"That's my idea! I told the Mekboys to build it!"
He pointed at the massive drill-shaped weapon under the statue's groin:
"The big ol' Rogg Drill! It was my idea! All the boyz said it was waaagh-level brutal and explosive!"
"Oh? So this is your doing, huh?"
Eden finally understood where the statue's "artistic expression" came from.
Of course it was Torklaw, the Ork equivalent of a hidden genius and chaotic mastermind.
Torklaw puffed up, boasting about Lord Rogg and the mighty Drill, even claiming it had secret powers.
"Wait a sec, I'll show you!" he said, pulling out a comm device and shouting to the boyz in charge of the Drill to spin it up.
VRRRRRRRRRRRâ
Thick black smoke spewed out as the ten-kilometer-long drill began to spin violently.
Sparks flew from its surface.
The crowd around them was stunned.
Eden sucked in another sharp breath:
"Holyâ It can spin at high speed?!"
He had to admitâ
It did look brutal and explosive, and that rotational power would make its melee damage insane.
He could already imagine itâ
When the combat satellite Fort Rogg went into ramming mode, the Drill would plow straight into enemy ships or floating fortressesâ
Smashing them in a spectacular, devastating display of fire and metal.
Especially when the Leviathan hive fleet arrivedâ
He could already visualize the moment.
Though honestly, it was almost too graphic to bear.
"âŠMaybe I should ask them to tone it down?" Eden thought.
That scene might indeed terrify the enemyâ
But it also gave off Slaaneshi vibes. The kind that would cause some very unfortunate implications.
As the crowd remained stunnedâ
Torklaw's confidence skyrocketed.
He truly was the smartest Ork in the galaxy!
"I even designed an extra explosive mode for the Drill! Watch! I'll have the boyz launch it for you!"
Torklaw proudly grabbed the comm to give the fire command.
"Launch it?!" Eden froze.
A second later, realization hit himâ
His brain short-circuited. "STOP THE DRILL! NOW!"
He immediately halted the rotation and launch procedure.
Afterwardâ
Eden got a full explanation from Torklaw.
Apparently, the Rogg Drill could not only crush most warships and even one- to two-hundred-kilometer-long fortressesâ
But once launched, the sheer rotational force and impact energy could even destroy a planet.
Thank the Emperor he stopped it in time.
If that thing had launched, it might've torn open part of the Webway wallâ
Creating a disaster.
"We'll end the demonstration here," Eden said, wiping sweat from his brow.
He then issued a set of strict restrictions to the Orks:
No using any weapons on the Rogg Kongbot unless it's wartime.
No unnecessary destruction.
Here is the full English translation of Chapter 344 of the Warhammer 40K fanfic continuation:
At last, the matter had passed without disaster. Eden chose not to reprimand Torklaw or express dissatisfaction with the Rogg Kongbot.
After allâ
Letting the Orks exercise their imagination was a good thing. He couldn't impose too many restrictions or stifle their cognitive "growth."
Of courseâ
The incident wasn't without its consequences.
Eden had already decided to instruct the Greenskin Institute at the Loyal Sons Academy to develop some art courses tailored to Orksâ
And to enhance their disciplinary curriculum.
Once the curriculum updates were complete, all Ork graduatesâTorklaw includedâwould return for continuing education.
The goal?
To mold a new generation of sneaky, well-rounded, artistically inspired Orks with "moral, intellectual, physical, and aesthetic" development.
As Eden and his crew left the docking bayâ
The shattered Ork ship behind them had caught fire.
Several Ork engineering vessels were barreling toward it, ramming through each other in chaos as they rushed to extinguish the flames and begin repairs.
Led by the Big Mek, the group descended via elevator deeper into Fort Rogg.
Winding through complex and twisted passages, they arrived at the power core chamber.
They needed to install the C'tan ShardâNyadra'zatha, the Burning Oneâinto the fortress's power system.
Specifically, to serve as the energy core for one of Rogg Kongbot's twin main cannonsâthe energy cannon in its left hand.
CLANGâ
The Big Mek lifted the Blackstone cage and carefully lowered it into a larger mechanical frame.
The mechanisms hummed to life, siphoning the Burning One's volatile flame energy.
Those scorching flames spread through the energy conduits above them, channeling into the main energy poolâ
Waiting to be unleashed by the cannon.
Eden could feel itâthe entire power system was active, ready for combat.
He issued a direct order:
"We're short on time. Begin the test firing immediately."
Truth be told, Ork technology had proven surprisingly reliableâ
Especially the Big Mek Eden had trained himself. His machines rarely exploded, and were both safe and powerful.
This trial wasn't about testing stabilityâ
It was to study the true power of the energy cannon so they could prepare proper battle plans.
Soonâ
They left the underground chamber and ascended to the weapon control deck.
In the distanceâ
A derelict cruiser had been dragged into position.
Its hull shimmered faintly with residual void shielding.
Though old, it still had functional defensesâ
Making it a suitable target for the test.
RUMBLEâ
From Fort Rogg's left side, the energy cannon in Rogg Kongbot's arm slowly rotatedâ
Lining up its dark, yawning barrel toward the cruiser.
At the same timeâ
The weapon began charging.
A brilliant flame lit within, deepening from gold to crimson red.
In the control roomâ
Eden watched the Big Mek handle the cannon with only three crude levers.
Simple. Brutal. Direct.
Just as the Orks liked it.
They neither enjoyed nor understood complex systems.
As the energy builtâ
The control room began to tremble violently.
Bits of scrap metal rained from the ceiling.
The cannon itself groaned and buzzed like it might tear itself apart.
But Eden wasn't too concerned.
As long as Orks were at the controls, these machines were somehow stabilized by their bizarre Waaagh! psychic field.
It didn't just keep the weapons from explodingâ
It made them even stronger.
BOOM!
A blinding energy beam, nearly a kilometer wide, erupted from the cannonâ
It blasted across the void and struck the derelict cruiser.
The void shields collapsed instantly under the blast.
The next second, the beam melted through the armor, core, and everything in its path, triggering massive internal detonations.
The cruiser exploded into a titanic fireball.
And stillâ
The beam continued, smashing into a nearby section of Webway ruins, leaving behind deep craters and scorched wreckage.
Fortunatelyâ
The Webway's foundation materials were highly resistant to energy damage.
Otherwise, the fallout would have been far worse.
"WAAAGH!"
All across the fortress, Orks roared with excitement.
"With that kind of firepower, we can absolutely take down those Tyranid bio-ships," Eden muttered with a sigh of relief.
And thisâ
Was only a test fire.
The cannon hadn't even used its full power.
With the C'tan's energy further refined, it could unleash a beam far strongerâ
While still not matching the Magnificent Prism, it was already terrifying enough.
Used correctlyâ
Fort Rogg might even be able to destroy an entire small star system.
Nowâ
With this combat satellite, Eden could replicate the Prism's tactic for obliterating systems:
Find a gas giant.
Use the cannon to ignite its core.
Leverage the resulting shockwave to annihilate nearby planets.
And the Baal System had a gas giant.
If the battle became truly hopelessâ
He could ignite that gas giant and wipe out the entire system.
Dealing a deathblow to Leviathan, maybe even eradicating the hive fleet completely.
But that was a last resort.
If Eden proposed that strategyâ
The Blood Angels would never agree.
They'd rather die defending their homeworld than abandon it.
Having reviewed the progress of Fort Rogg's constructionâ
Eden issued a new order to the Orks: accelerate final integration and move to the Baal system as fast as possible.
Battle was coming.
Once orders were given, he returned to the Dreamweaver.
Nextâ
He needed to personally head to Baal, where he would organize a stronger defense against the incoming Leviathan hive fleet.
The war in the Underworld system had been rushedâ
Many defensive measures hadn't been properly established.
But this timeâ
Eden was determined to fight with precision, and crush the Tyranids so thoroughly that they'd fear the name of mankind.
...
Dreamweaver, Savior's Sanctum.
Eden sat behind his desk as his aide, Tako, delivered a report.
He'd received a new update:
Besides Regent Guilliman, many other Astartes Chapters were being deployed by the Imperium to defend Baal against the swarm.
Eden thought for a moment and said:
"These brothers came all this way to aid usâ
We must receive them properly."
The Imperium was waging war across the stars more than ever before.
Resources were stretched thin.
Many Chapters were running low on supplies and gear.
Some had already been wiped out, or were barely holding on.
Soâ
If they were willing to come fight by his side, Eden wasn't going to let them suffer.
He turned to Tako:
"Start compiling the inventory.
Get out every piece of gear and vehicle we have for Space MarinesâŠ"
(End of Chapter)
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