Three hours ago, Mid-Hive.
The air in the conference room seemed to solidify into lead, so heavy it was suffocating. The only sound was the faint, low hum from the ventilation ducts on the ceiling.
In the center of the room, a tactical holographic projector cast a cold light, displaying a desperate reconnaissance image onto the cold metal conference table.
It was a boundless, churning sea of sick green, composed of millions of orks and their crudely made war machines. Every pixel was filled with savage violence and chaotic vitality, a vast force slowly but unstoppably spreading towards the hive city like a plague.
Robert stood by the projector, hands resting on the table. He scanned the people around the conference table—each face illuminated by the green light of the holographic projection, their expressions as grave as iron.
He took a deep breath of the recirculated air, which carried a metallic scent, finally breaking the deathly silence.
"Everyone," his voice was not loud, but it clearly reached everyone's ears, "you have all seen the photos taken by Zobayan. Now, let's discuss: how do we stop this endless green tide?"
The atmosphere in the room grew even heavier. Even though Robert's words included a Name that would normally be amusingly absurd, no one could crack a smile. They couldn't even twitch their lips, as if the muscles in their faces had frozen.
"Convert all our current exp into armored power," a logistics player spoke first, leaning forward, trying to analyze in the most rational tone, "Concentrate tanks, armored vehicles, and self-propelled artillery to increase frontal firepower density, to more efficiently kill orks. Can this create a positive cycle of exp?"
Before he finished speaking, another person immediately shook his head in denial, a deep sense of powerlessness in his voice: "No. In that case, ammunition consumption would be a bottomless pit, terrifying beyond imagination. Until our own industrial production capacity can guarantee self-sufficiency in ammunition, just breaking even with ammunition consumption would be a miracle."
"Then why not just fight in close combat?" a player couldn't help but say, "In the last battle, we relied on close combat to hold back those orks for a long time!"
"We had a terrain advantage there," another person shook his head in denial. "At least at this stage, we don't have enough strength to fight a large-scale cold weapon war against the orks in the vast areas outside the hive city. Moreover..."
He paused, emphasizing his words: "We cannot naively assume that if we use cold weapons, the other side won't use large-scale ranged firepower! With millions, tens of millions of orks, who can guarantee they don't have a few 'Steam Colossus' or similar devices?"
"Then... let the space marines and airborne troops cooperate," someone else proposed a new plan, "take Valkyries for high-mobility assaults, go straight for the jugular, and execute a decapitation strike?"
"Wishful thinking," this plan was immediately rejected. "First, we only have two space marines, and they are new recruits. Can a warboss, commanding millions of orks, be dealt with by just two new space marines? I am extremely skeptical."
"But these orks shouldn't be completely unified yet, right?" the previous logistics officer pointed to several areas in the holographic image that were clearly attacking each other. "According to the photos, they are still fighting amongst themselves. This indicates they are divided into at least several war tribes, so it's not like hundreds of thousands or millions of orks are all under one warboss."
"That would only make it harder!" a refutation immediately rang out. "If we assassinate one, the other ork WarSires will certainly make targeted arrangements, and it will probably be very difficult to create a second one-on-one situation. Unless a player has a mandatory duel skill like the Iron Man Arena, or... simply takes a nuclear bomb to die with the target!"
"But a nuclear bomb impact also has flaws!" another person added. "When assassinating a ork warboss, we don't have to worry about not finding him, because he would never hide for fear of being ambushed by 'ummie'. If he did, his boys would overthrow this cowardly warboss who lacks courage before we even had to act. But if we use a method like a nuclear bomb self-detonation, whether the opponent will still appear openly is hard to say. orks are barbaric and cruel, but never stupid!"
One plan after another was proposed, and one after another was rejected. Each suggestion was like a stone thrown into the Dead Sea, merely stirring a tiny ripple before quickly sinking and disappearing without a trace.
"This doesn't work, that doesn't work!" Finally, someone couldn't stand it, slammed his hand on the table, and stood up, "Are we just supposed to cower in this damned hive city and pray to the Emperor that those orks won't attack us?!"
His question echoed in the conference room, but no one could answer.
In this suffocating silence, a hand was raised somewhat abruptly.
It was Mua'dib. He had been leaning back in his chair, almost unnoticed, but now he sat up straight and spoke with a hint of uncertainty: "Uh... speaking of nuclear bombs, I suddenly thought of a method."
Everyone's gaze instantly focused on him.
"How about we... have Valkyries carry large-yield nuclear bombs to bomb the orks, blowing them all away until nothing is left?"
This suggestion was so blunt and crude it sounded like something a ork would come up with. An officer subconsciously rubbed his temples, pondered for a moment, then tiredly shook his head: "It's probably not feasible. orks, as war creatures, have a tenacious vitality, just like their desires. To carpet bomb them with nuclear bombs to the point where they cannot survive at all, Perditia would pretty much become Krieg 2.0."
He twitched his mouth: "Our Helldivers Legion would then have to change its Name to the Death Legion."
These words quickly extinguished the flicker of hope that had just ignited.
"No, this method can work."
A voice suddenly cut through the pervasive despair.
Everyone looked in the direction of the voice; it was Joker. From the beginning of the meeting until now, he had been sitting quietly in the corner, silent like a great Buddha.
"However, our goal doesn't need to be to cover and eliminate all orks," he said slowly. "We only need to blast out a quarantine zone. An area enveloped in high-intensity radiation, stretching between them and the hive city. And this quarantine zone doesn't need to make the orks completely unable to adapt; as long as it can continuously weaken them, it will provide us with a huge tactical advantage."
The officer from before frowned deeply: "What about our warriors? How do we deal with nuclear radiation strong enough to weaken even orks?"
Joker's answer came without a trace of hesitation: "Increase the drug dosage."
"Perhaps everyone's remaining lifespan will decrease by a few more hours because of this, but what's the problem with that?" He tilted his head slightly. "I think twenty-four hours of remaining life is already a lot. With this give and take, the orks are continuously weakened in the radiation zone, while our individual combat power reaches its peak under the effect of the drugs. It's possible our soldiers will be stronger than them."
As his words fell, Mua'dib and the representatives of the Military Committee from various units all brightened up and became excited. Most of the officers, however, were dumbfounded, their mouths agape.
"Please remember, this is a game world after all. People can be resurrected after death, so nuclear bombs and drugs can naturally be used as conventional tactical means." He paused, then turned his gaze to Mua'dib, "I also want to thank you Mua'dib; you opened up my thinking."
"Uh..." Mua'dib was a little embarrassed by the sudden praise and instinctively scratched his head, "I also thought of it after hearing the previous discussion..."
Meanwhile, Robert, as the supreme commander, picked up his personal communicator on the table and began dialing: "I will immediately notify Reddito to get him ready. Expand the drug production line... And also, churn out more nuclear bombs."