Chapter 713: The Harvest Begins
First, the most protruding part of the planet's leading edge touched the membrane of light.
There were no earth-shattering explosions, no flashes of matter annihilation.
The point of contact was like a stone cast into water, stirring up rings of brighter, more complex energy ripples on the membrane's surface, which rapidly spread across the entire veil of light.
That section of the planet smoothly submerged into the eerie blue, as if passing through a curtain of water, disappearing beneath Pandora's starry sky.
Immediately following was the rest of it.
Continents, oceans, polar ice caps... the Predator homeworld, like a giant sphere sinking into a dimensional ocean, steadily and resolutely passed through the portal.
The portal framework bore unprecedented pressure. The three main rings emitted a brilliant light. The wraithbone and alloy structures upon them trembled slightly, but thanks to their exceptional design and preemptive reinforcement, the framework remained firmly anchored in space, unmoving.
The crossing process lasted for several minutes.
When the final part of the planet disappeared behind the eerie blue light membrane, the membrane rippled violently for a moment before rapidly contracting, stabilizing, and returning to its original size and brightness.
The Predator homeworld had completely vanished from the starry sky of the Pandora universe.
But it was not destroyed.
At the other end of the dimensional gateway, the starry sky of the predetermined receiving zone in the Death World star system was welcoming an uninvited guest.
What appeared first was a point—a dark red speck of light, its edges slightly blurred from the high-speed dimensional transit.
This speck rapidly expanded, its contours gradually clearing; it was exactly the leading edge of the Predator homeworld.
It surfaced from the spatial region directly facing the observation window of the Death World base's main control center—a region deliberately cleared out and heavily deployed with gravitational equilibrium arrays.
Unlike the smooth sliding into the Pandora portal, here, the planet looked more like it was being pushed out of the water.
Its arrival was accompanied by more pronounced spatial fluctuations. The gravitational equilibrium arrays deployed in the receiving zone operated at full capacity, emitting a bright blue radiance to form an invisible force field network. It gently caught this transiting planet and began applying reverse force to help it decelerate, stabilizing it into its new, predetermined orbit.
It was a safe orbit circling the star of the Death World system, kept at a moderate distance that would not interfere with the original planetary bodies.
"The target has fully passed through the dimensional gateway! It has appeared in the Death World receiving zone!" a Tech-Priest at the Death World base announced, his voice filled with excitement.
"The receiving zone's gravitational equilibrium arrays are operating normally. The deceleration process meets expectations. The target's orbit is stabilizing!" reported the Tech-Priest in charge of the receiving zone.
"The Pandora orbital portal framework is stable. The energy required to maintain the gateway is beginning to drop." Good news also arrived from orbit.
Ryo looked at the main screen. The dark red planet was slowly finding its new position in the Death World star system, gradually ceasing its tremors, and finally hovering silently in the starry sky. His face remained expressionless, but a gleam of calculated completion flashed through his eyes.
Almost simultaneously, Eldrad's conscious connection arrived once more. This time, his eternally calm tone seemed to carry a nearly imperceptible hint of relief.
"The physical planetary relocation is complete. The first and second phases of the esoteric rite have concluded flawlessly. Honored Ryo, your gateway technology and receiving operations are impeccable." High Farseer Eldrad's voice echoed in Ryo's consciousness, carrying a trace of businesslike detachment within its calm. "Now, we should focus on processing the most valuable part of that planet."
His meaning was unmistakably clear.
The Predator homeworld itself, along with its geological structure, the vast majority of its natural resources, and its foundational ecosystem, had been successfully relocated as the subject of their trade and was now under Ryo's absolute control.
However, those highly developed tenants on the planet—the Predator civilization itself—their fate and disposition were the deeper core of the plan.
They were not obstacles to be cleared, but the source of active biomass and genetic templates urgently awaiting harvest. They were the indispensable, conscious, and highly organized raw materials needed to extract the special substance Yautja Prime.
Ryo nodded slightly. All of this was well within the established strategic framework.
"Confirmed. Planetary relocation is complete. Initiating Control and Extraction protocols. Please have your esoteric rite maintain a stable shield over the planetary crust and critical biosphere. Ensure that during the upcoming civilization-level suppression and harvesting operation, we avoid irreversible damage to the planet's foundational value caused by potential extreme self-destructive behaviors or large-scale combat from the target race."
"As it should be. We will maintain and reinforce the planetary-level stabilization field, focusing on isolating high-intensity energy releases that could trigger cascading geological or ecological disasters. Then... may your control be precise and highly efficient, Honored Ryo."
The communication temporarily weakened.
Eldrad needed to concentrate his psychic energy to maintain the protective force field over the Predator homeworld and ensure the esoteric rite's solidifying effect on the planet's overall structure, allowing it to withstand the incoming storm.
Meanwhile, Ryo cast a cold gaze toward the new planet that had just settled into the Death World star system, and toward the forces he had long since finished deploying on the perimeter of the receiving zone for the extraction of a civilization.
Astartes squads, his affiliated Skitarii, several Knight mechs in combat readiness, and a portion of Eldar assault warriors acting in coordination... they were already in their predetermined positions, like blades waiting to be drawn.
Now, the target planet was isolated and helpless, entirely cut off from its original interstellar environment and potential support systems.
Now was the time to land on this planet and execute a grand operation aimed at conquering, suppressing, and systematically controlling its entire native civilization: the Predator race.
This was not an annihilation, but an unprecedented scale of capture and captivity, designed to establish a stable raw material supply chain for the subsequent, continuous extraction of Yautja Prime.
Over in the Pandora star system, the portal framework that had just completed the feat of planetary teleportation saw the energy radiance on its surface gradually dim. It returned to a low-power standby state, as if the spacetime ripples that had swallowed an entire planet were merely an illusion.
The starry sky seemed to return to its eternal tranquility. Only the most astute interstellar observers might, in future star map comparisons, bewilderedly discover that a distant star sector had permanently lost a dark red planetary companion.
But in the Death World star system, there was the addition of a new planet that was by no means empty.
It carried an entire civilization—one plunged into sudden upheaval and chaos, yet possessing extreme biological and genetic value—waiting to be conquered, incorporated into a brand new order, and transformed into the core reserve of living resources for a grand scheme.
In the new orbit of the Predator homeworld, the planet itself was still wrapped in a thin but resilient psychic force field.
This force field was not for defending against external enemies, but a protective shield maintained by Eldrad in accordance with their agreement. Its purpose was to isolate the impending surface warfare, preventing excessively powerful energy bombardments from destroying the planet's geological structure and valuable natural resources.
Outside the force field, the fleet dispatched from the Death World base was already in position.
Several modified transport ships, equipped with heavy assault pods and orbital bombardment calibration systems, hovered in geostationary orbit under the flanking cover of the two Eldar cruisers.
Beneath them lay the dark red, deeply ravined surface of the Predator homeworld.