The exchange of fire was unremarkable.
So much so that the large number of Ecclesiarchy Priests who had defected to his side spent a long time struggling to describe how their great Lord Sith had gloriously and heroically won yet another victory against the vile xenos.
Surely they couldn't just write that they fired a single shot, and the enemy surrendered, right?
Even if that shot whipped the ocean into towering waves, giving the Tau a literal 'apocalyptic flood'.
As for why they didn't bombard the city?
Sith couldn't bear to waste his starch!
So, after the flood receded and cooled down the hot-headed Ethereals, the surviving Tau could only watch helplessly as a massive number of humans descended like meteors, acting like beggars who hadn't eaten in ages, even packing up the green plants along the roads to take away!
Firelight filled the once-bustling streets of the Tau Empire.
Night had fallen, but it wasn't streetlights illuminating the surface; it was the raging fires, the dense fleet in orbit, and the countless pinpricks of light from the massive number of Transports.
An Imperial Guardsman, holding a Tau Empire plasma rifle, walked down the long street, excitedly carrying a sack of starch.
The firelight shone on the soldier's face, highlighting his grinning mouth.
To the humans walking alongside him, this was the joyful, sunny feeling of a bountiful harvest.
But to the Tau being herded in large groups along the sides of the road toward the starch factories, he looked like a demon.
Then, at the end of the street, a group of high-ranking Ethereals knelt in unison on the ground. While feeling the pain in their knees, they kept glancing up at the sci-fi skyscrapers built by the Tau Empire, agonizing over when that human named Sith would summon them.
"These xenos are too rich!"
"Even without counting the plants and beasts, just the starch and protein produced is enough to supply our entire army."
"If we include the plants and beasts on the planet, we will wipe away our previous supply dilemmas and can even provide fresh meat for the entire army."
Van Roth was excited. Holding the supply list that Ana had just compiled, his face finally showed a look of complete relief for the first time since the expedition began.
Up ahead, Sith, who was observing the living standards of the Tau Empire, had truly been scared by poverty. He hurriedly withdrew his gaze from the surrounding buildings and pointed to the dense crowd of Tau Commanders outside the high-rise:
"And there are nearly a billion xenos here. They aren't corrupted or tainted; they are excellent raw material for starch."
Sith had already fully integrated into the Imperium by now, and he felt absolutely no discomfort regarding large-scale slaughter and processing!
After all, there was no reason to spare the xenos just because it was inhumane to eat them, while only eating one's own kind, right?
If anyone truly felt this was inhumane, then put another way, for every extra xenos eaten, one less human would have to die.
When put that way, isn't it much more humane?
Van Roth, with a look of embarrassment for almost missing such a major point, slapped his forehead and bowed respectfully to Sith with a smile:
"You are right to remind me, my lord. After these xenos are processed into starch, we can even ship quite a bit back to Alert Star."
Van Roth hurriedly recorded and drafted the order, then respectfully handed it to Sith, watching as Sith signed his name without a moment's hesitation.
And so, the fate of the xenos was decided in a manner quite characteristic of the Imperium.
Meanwhile, as the Ethereals below were being dragged away, still confused and wondering how Sith could deal a death blow without even meeting them, Sith and his core team finally enjoyed a long-awaited, sumptuous meal atop the high-rise of the Tau Empire.
Because more and more humans were beginning to appear in the Tau Empire, the warehouses contained large quantities of ready-to-eat food supplies specifically for humans.
It was no longer the deathly unpalatable life-sustaining starch; when humanity's staple foods for hundreds of thousands of years—rice and noodles—were brought to the table, along with Western-style desserts, Eastern dishes, and even Central Asian barbecue...
Sith could only sip his red wine while once again complaining that the common people of the Imperium really lived worse than a stray dog on the roadside.
However, complain as he might, Sith didn't blame them too much.
Because the advanced living standards of the Tau Empire were built upon highly intelligent and developed productivity.
For the Imperium of Man, which had experienced the Men of Iron rebellion, eating well and the survival of the entire race were simply incomparable.
After all, as long as there weren't endless desperate wars, in relatively peaceful regions like the Five Hundred Worlds, the living standards of humans actually weren't so bad as to be intolerable.
Swallowing the last sip of red wine that he couldn't quite appreciate and only found bitter, Sith leaned back in his chair with satisfaction.
Then, looking at the sci-fi, minimalist, and bright room of the Tau Empire, he silently complained that the space utilization rate was far too low.
He then refocused his attention on the matter at hand.
"Although the supplies are sufficient, the plan to resupply through Imperial worlds along the way is unlikely to work."
"And because we broadcasted our coordinates, while we did gain the support of many believers, it also drew constant attacks from the Necrons along the way."
"If this continues, even if we reach Terra, this level of military force won't be of much use."
Sith spoke slowly. Below him, the group, who hadn't finished eating, hurriedly put down their cutlery, except for Bruno, who remained buried in his food.
Bayer had not been by Sith's side recently. After deciding to create the 19th Legion, Bayer had completely locked himself deep in the lower decks of orac, occasionally asking Sith for blood samples.
Now that Sith had spoken, the brows of Van Roth, which had just relaxed due to resolving the urgent supply crisis, furrowed once again.
"Should we send a message directly to Terra, asking any subsequent reinforcement fleets to first assemble and wait for us somewhere?"
Daviello couldn't help but offer a suggestion, but let alone Sith, even Van Roth couldn't help but let his expression darken.
If there were any reinforcements left to mobilize, they wouldn't be in such a rush to urge Sith!
Daviello realized this as well, so after speaking, he fell silent again.
Then, because everyone was deep in thought, the whole room fell into silence.
Then, Bruno, who had been buried in his food the whole time, looked up with satisfaction to ask for another serving, while unable to help complaining:
"It would be great if there was another region with a large concentration of humans that didn't have so many xenos."
Bruno spoke, and upon hearing this, Van Roth and Daviello directly glanced at him, speechless.
Isn't that complete nonsense?
If such a place really existed, would they be in this current predicament?
But after Van Roth and Daviello glanced at Bruno, when they looked back at Sith, they suddenly discovered that Sith's originally equally gloomy eyes were gradually brightening.
Then, after Van Roth carefully recalled the galactic situation and actually found a place that fit the requirements, Van Roth, with an instantly pale face, and under the gaze of four increasingly amused eyes in the Warp, Sith...
took a deep breath in front of everyone.
"How did I forget about this?"
"The human rebels inside the Eye of Terror..."
"Aren't there quite a lot of them!"
The room went silent. Even Bruno suddenly stopped eating, and then the whole group, including orac, all stared at Sith.
"What do you mean?"
"You want to take the human army from the Eye of Terror..."
"To Terra?!"
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