Chapter 41 40:
The great regent's fingers brushed against the cold surface of the hologram, enlarging an area where the red lights were marked.
"regardless, now that we are here, we cannot allow the empire to be vilified by these impure vermin. We will prepare an offensive under my command and prevent these new weapons, capable of overcoming our invulnerabilities, from ever being built again by anyone else in the entire galaxy."
He turned toward Varnak-Sul, who lay on his knees.
"I decree. this technology cannot exist outside this sector. At least one intact spear must be captured for our scientists, and every Lanther who has seen how they are manufactured must be executed. I decree, the entire Lanther race is to be exterminated under sentence of extinction."
No one said anything, and by then, Thragg had already abandoned the entire room, under the excuse of evaluating all the assets with operational capabilities within the base, while Varnak-Sul was given the order to prepare an offensive team for the next 7 segments.
And he hoped that this time, under the leadership of the regent himself, viltrumite casualties would not be so severe.
During the first 18 orbits of the conflict, viltrumite casualties in the sector had been minimal. Imperial warriors died, when they did die, from accumulation of extreme damage or from exposure to sustained lethal environmental conditions. No enemy weapon had demonstrated the capability to kill a viltrumite in a direct and reliable manner.
But that changed with the appearance of a terrifying weapon.
The appearance of a new Lanther war artifact, denominated in their language as something that could be translated as "Piercing Spear" or "Empire-Breaking Spear," it was a weapon of surprisingly primitive technology in appearance: a shaft of unknown alloy approximately two meters in length, finished with a crystalline material tip that emitted a faint amber glow when activated.
What this spear did, however, had nothing primitive about it.
In three engagements where the spear appeared, viltrumite warriors were brought down by direct impacts from it. The reports of the few witnesses who survived coincided on one point: the spear did not kill through kinetic force nor thermal energy. It seemed to operate through a principle of high-dimensional annulment, destabilizing the smart atoms together with the matter at the point of impact.
In simpler terms, the Piercing Spear made it so that the viltrumite body behaved as though there were no resistance.
And since the appearance of the first case, Varnak-Sul had requested urgent reinforcements while awaiting the empire's response.
In addition to the new threat of the Piercing Spears, Varnak-Sul had requested on multiple occasions authorization to implement reproduction programs within the sector, which had been denied at all times.
The high compatibility of viltrumite cells posed a risk to the empire, given that there was a strong refusal toward any type of hybrid existence that did not comply with the edicts of the viltrumite physiological archetype.
Faced with the impossibility of obtaining more viltrumites and the new threat of the Piercing Spears, Varnak-Sul developed three tactical adaptations that, although they failed to reverse the situation, at least prevented an immediate collapse.
He took advantage of the Venatici's energy absorption capability through a mixed squadron of one viltrumite and 200 Venatici arranged in defensive formation. The Venatici absorbed the enemy light constructions and, instead of dissipating them, stored them and later redirected them against the Lanther themselves.
He had also made the painful decision to abandon the peripheral systems of the sector in order to concentrate his forces on the four worlds considered strategically vital.
The evacuated systems were seeded with minefields designed specifically to disrupt enemy light constructions, creating "dead zones" where the Lanther had no choice but to operate with reduced efficiency.
Also, following the appearance of the Piercing Spears, Varnak-Sul implemented a new operational protocol: no viltrumite could confront Lanther formations at medium distance without Venatici cover.
The Venatici, due to their energy absorption capability, could intercept a portion of the spear energies before they reached the viltrumites, at the cost of high casualties. The protocol reduced spear deaths by 60%, but increased Venatici casualties by 200%.
At this pace, the loss of territory would become an irreversible trend, not to mention that their forces seemed to continue increasing, following the union of the remaining factions into the war.