Aboard the Star Walker, the air was thick with a concentrated, lethal energy. Every crew member, from the most humble human technician to the most advanced android, was a veteran hardened by a century of conflict. They moved with silent efficiency, checking weapon systems, shields, and engines with machinelike precision. This was the calm before the storm, a calm populated by professionals who knew the price of blood and victory.
Julius, now fully clad in his midnight blue and gold combat armor, stood before the central holographic command table. His eyes, visible through his helmet's visor, blazed with an electric blue intensity, scanning the incoming tactical data. The fleet was in position; the troops waited impatiently in the deployment bays.
"Activate the descent of the teleportation steles," he ordered, his voice modulated by the helmet's speaker, clear and devoid of hesitation.
In the past, Julius had used the System to acquire the blueprints for Star Trek-style transporter technology. He had entrusted them to his engineers, led by Stetmann and Swann, with a simple mandate: improve it, make it more reliable, faster, and adaptable for the needs of a massive army. The fruit of their labor was the Instantaneous Transfer Steles. These imposing structures, fifteen meters tall, were installed aboard all major Legion capital ships. They allowed for the near-instantaneous deployment of troops and materiel to a planet's surface, bypassing the need for vulnerable assault shuttles.
"Initialize the descent of the Mobile Command Center," Julius added.
On the main screen, an external view of the Star Walker showed several of its lower armor plates retracting. Long bays opened, and immense, truncated pyramid-like structures, made of the same midnight blue metal as Julius's armor and engraved with Legion symbols, detached from the ship. Protected by energy shields, these Steles began their controlled descent towards the surface of the Green World, streaking through the atmosphere like meteors of will.
They were not alone. One of them, more massive, carried the core of Julius's Mobile Command Center – a prefabricated module that, once on the ground, would become his forward command post, equipped with communication systems, shields, and defensive weaponry.
Julius watched their descent, a cold satisfaction in his gaze. He turned to the weapons officer.
"When everything is in place and locked down," he declared, each word falling like a sentence, "fire will rain upon these xenos."
He let the silence hang for a moment, allowing the promise of destruction to settle in the minds of his crew.
"Let them understand, today, the definition of superiority. It lies not in savagery, but in precision. Not in fear, but in certainty. And our certainty today is that they will all die."
The bridge of the Star Walker became the nerve center of a war machine poised to strike with calculated, absolute fury.