The fleet slowly began its journey, and Zeke was preparing to return to his family.
According to the family's preparations, in about a month, they should be ready to go to the Cadia region to participate in the 13th Black Crusade.
This was the usual routine of the Empire; every time they prepared for war, they would spend a long time preparing, ranging from half a year to several years. In short, their main characteristic was slow and cumbersome reactions.
Now, for the knight house to be ready in a few months was already considered a swift response.
That's what Zeke thought, so he led his fleet to slowly head towards his family's territory.
However, to avoid alarming his family, Zeke did not order the Dominion's battleships and cruisers to accompany him. Instead, he only brought a portion of frigates and destroyers for escort.
The battleships and cruisers entered the warp directly, maintaining a stealthy posture.
Achieving faster-than-light travel in the stars was a very simple matter. Therefore, even if Zeke's forces did not enter the warp while moving between star systems, by the sixth day, he still returned to his family's star system with his fleet.
Even though there was a distance of 69 light-years between the two star systems.
Zeke's fleet still only needed six days to cross 69 light-years.
This was at a conventional cruising speed; in an emergency, he could fully activate a higher-power warp drive.
Still, the same old saying: when it's time to save, save. There's no need for unnecessary waste.
For Zeke, returning to his family at just the right time was the most important thing.
If he returned early, would he have to continue reciting those scriptures, which were as annoying as a throne, and the vast family epics every day?
Reciting them was out of the question.
After six months of happy life in the Dominion, he was simply unwilling to return to his family to recite epics.
So he timed it perfectly; the sixth day should be when the family was preparing for the expedition.
Moreover, if he went to pray to the Emperor, would the Emperor even want him to pray?
It must be said that, after precise calculations by advanced AI, Zeke's timing was absolutely perfect.
The moment he arrived at his family's star system and home planet, the family's forces had just begun their final preparations.
The Relic Maintainers had started their final inspection work, sending knight titans one by one into the drop pods, getting them ready.
At the same time, those massive, knight-esque drop pods—or rather, drop castles, which would be more accurate—were being loaded onto transport ships with the help of the navy and family private soldiers, ready to fight for the God-Emperor at any moment.
Everything was bustling, and even the Emperor's scriptures and epics that the knight house had to recite daily were no longer needed. Zeke's return was perfectly timed.
Zeke took a shuttle, built with Dominion technology, directly from the fleet back to his family's royal court, and everyone bowed to him upon seeing him.
He was the universally recognized heir of the knight house, so bowing to him was a necessity.
After six months, Zeke once again picked up his noble etiquette.
He gracefully and appropriately returned the bows of his subordinates and the arriving Astra Militarum commanders and planetary generals.
At the same time, he tried to quicken his pace and slip away while maintaining his elegance.
Since the knight house was going to war, Astra Militarum legions from several surrounding star systems and noble generals had gathered on the knight planet where Zeke was located.
Needless to say, given the Yaeger family's status, the Astra Militarum in these surrounding star systems clearly looked to the Yaeger family for leadership.
During wartime, their command authority was entirely in the hands of the Yaeger family, and their mission was simple: cooperate with the knight titans in battle.
After a round of tormentingly elegant bowing and returning bows, bowing and returning bows, Zeke finally escaped the sight of those people and arrived at his father's palace.
He wanted to go back and see his father first. He had brought a very important gift for his father and mother.
That's right, his mother was also a family knight.
War was about to break out, and his entire family had to go to the battlefield. To ensure his parents' safety as much as possible, Zeke had prepared a gift for both of them.
Star-class colossal combat bodies!
These were two colossal combat bodies Zeke had built using his precious alloy resources, specially prepared for his parents.
These two colossal combat bodies had consumed a portion of Zeke's alloy production capacity over the past six months.
They were also the most powerful colossal combat bodies he could currently build.
Although they were far inferior to the Dominion's active combat bodies, they were indeed the best he could make at the moment.
Star-class Colossal Combat Body:
Height: 1000 meters.
Most of its structure was made of the highest-grade null-element armor. To be precise, this thing was almost equivalent to a neutron star. The combat body was equipped with a dark matter shield, a dark matter core, and a dark matter engine, ensuring a continuous supply of energy.
At least, unless the Chaos Gods themselves struck his parents with an axe, his parents would absolutely be safe and sound.
If the Chaos Gods really dared to do that, Zeke wouldn't mind going to find the Emperor again to have a 2-on-4 or a righteous gang-up on them in the warp.
Even if doing so would deplete all of Zeke's warp energy reserves, he would still strike hard when it was time to.
Inside the colossal combat body, a small warp jump device was also installed, sufficient to directly warp from the Cadia combat planet back to his Counter-Attack-class battleship flagship.
Such a warp jump could occur anywhere within 400 light-years. No matter what, he could successfully warp to his Counter-Attack-class battleship flagship.
More importantly, it was equipped with sufficient life support facilities, so even if the warp jump to the battleship failed, it would still be able to survive in space.
With a continuous energy supply, this colossal combat body could even simulate a living environment within its internal simulation chambers, allowing these two colossal combat bodies to drift in the universe for 400,000 years.
This was extremely important. Within 400,000 years, Zeke was 100% confident he could rescue his parents. This was the life-saving trump card he gave them.
Of course, in addition to its defensive and survival capabilities, this colossal combat body also possessed exceptionally powerful combat strength. Even some ship-borne weapons originally intended for cruisers were utilized on this colossal combat body.
Its left hand was equipped with a Phase Disintegration Cannon. This cannon, with a range of up to 1 light-year, could hit any target it desired on a planet's surface.
Furthermore, based on Zeke's extensive experiments, the Phase Disintegration Cannon was capable of pulverizing any enemy, and even striking Imperial cruisers or battleships.
Even Imperial cruisers, when facing the Phase Disintegration Cannon, would find their void shields largely unable to withstand it.
The best solution would be to quickly escape the lock-on range.
In addition, it was also equipped with hive Missiles. hive Missiles could also be used for anti-ship combat. A volley of hive Missiles, again using Imperial void cruisers as an example, would inflict even more damage than the Phase Disintegration Cannon.
Not only that, but to accommodate his parents' potential desire for close-quarters combat, Zeke also equipped this colossal combat body with a Phase Greatsword.
This weapon was truly indestructible. If it were held aloft with its phase field active and then released to fall to the ground, the sword could directly penetrate an entire planet.
Of course, to prevent the weapon from being lost and unrecoverable, this greatsword was also equipped with a small warp jump engine, allowing it to warp back to the user's hand at any time within a one-light-year range.
During the period of inquiry by the Terran Dominion, their conclusion was that, apart from necron warships, other warships facing the attack of this colossal warship would basically be directly pierced through.
These would be two massive colossal combat bodies, and these two colossal combat bodies would also help his parents become the most powerful Imperial knights.
Of course, if there was anything most important about this colossal combat body, it was that these two colossal combat bodies had no machine spirit! No machine spirit!
There would be no troublesome entities like that present!
The so-called 'machine spirit pleased,' 'machine spirit displeased,' or 'machine spirit very displeased' would not exist there. Instead, there would be the Terran Dominion's sentient combat AIs.
They would disguise themselves as machine spirit and converse with his parents, while fully assisting his parents in combat, thereby completely eliminating the most unreliable factor.
At the same time, in unfavorable combat situations, they could immediately request support from the Dominion's Custodes.
The Dominion's Custodes would arrive around his parents at the fastest speed and protect them.