General Drost pointed to the outermost layer of icy asteroid belt on the star map.
This asteroid belt was composed entirely of thick ice, and when viewed on the star map, it looked like a circle of sparkling diamonds surrounding the Netherworld Star System.
"Adamant Shield," High Sister Magda said its name through the laser communicator.
In the entire conference room, only she, Alexander, and Reyna had lived in the Netherworld Star System for a long time, making them locals.
Because of this, they also knew the power of this Adamant Shield.
"This is a cold asteroid belt composed of a large number of ice crystals, permeated with a certain concentration of Warp energy, which can cause anti-cold instruments on starships to malfunction. Theoretically, any fleet attempting to invade this place from the physical universe would be frozen into ice."
General Drost nodded slightly and said,
"Any starship wishing to enter the Netherworld Star System must perform a short-distance Warp jump."
"And when a fleet exits the Warp, it is often at its most vulnerable."
"Our unwilling ally, Admiral Justus Van Avac, is stationed behind the Adamant Shield, waiting to intercept the Tyranid biological fleets."
"Historically, the Netherworld Star System has been repeatedly invaded by Chaos warbands, Aeldari, Green-skinned Orcs, and multiple waves of space pirates, but it has never been breached thanks to this Adamant Shield. It truly lives up to its name as the 'Shield of Baal'," High Sister Magda nodded slightly and said.
In the conference room, everyone except Alexander, High Sister Magda, and General Drost nodded in approval.
The Adamant Shield, combined with the naval fleet behind it, indeed looked like an unbreakable bulwark.
Since Chaos warbands, Green-skinned Orcs, Aeldari, and space pirates had all failed to breach this place, there was no reason why the Tyranid should be able to.
No wonder the Navy was so confident.
"Useless," Alexander shook his head and said.
A silence immediately fell over the air, and the others looked at Alexander with some bewilderment.
While the Navy and Astra Militarum often disliked each other, to so directly call the Navy's carefully prepared defense measures 'useless'...
It was... it was so invigorating! The other Astra Militarum commanders immediately looked at Alexander with much more warmth.
High Sister Magda and General Drost, however, looked at Alexander with an added hint of approval.
"Although what Sir Alexander said was a bit crude, it is indeed useless."
High Sister Magda sighed and said,
"I have fought the Tyranid twice, and I have some shallow understanding of them."
"The Adamant Shield cannot stop them."
"But what surprises me is..."
High Sister Magda looked at Alexander:
"I thought you were just a Lower Nest expert against genestealer and cultists. I didn't expect you to also understand Tyranid starships?"
The Tyranid first made contact with the Imperium in the Ultima Segmentum in 745.M41, making them a relatively new enemy for humanity.
Most Astra Militarum soldiers actually had no experience fighting the Tyranid.
Because of this, Alexander and High Sister Magda, who understood the Tyranid, were especially valuable.
Alexander nodded slightly, without explaining why he understood the Tyranid:
"Tyranid bio-ships do not rely on Warp travel for faster-than-light movement at all."
"They use a kind of Narwhal-class ship to create gravity wells for faster-than-light movement, and after arriving at the outer edge of a star system, they enter the star system through physical means."
"Yes, Sir Alexander's understanding is very detailed," High Sister Magda sighed and said, "Unlike what the Navy expects, the Tyranid will not enter the star system via Warp jumps at all."
"Wait," Aleksey of the Vostroyan Firstborn raised a question.
He said with some confusion, "If that's the case, how will the Tyranid pass through the Adamant Shield?"
"How will they deal with the extreme cold of the Adamant Shield?"
The Vostroyan 1653 Mechanized Regiment he led had not fought the Tyranid.
In fact, Aleksey had only been promoted to commander in the last war against the Orcs, and he was still a young general.
"The Tyranid come from the endless, vast deep space beyond the galaxy, drifting from an extremely cold region with almost no stars,"
Alexander sighed and said,
"Even such an environment could not stop the Tyranid migration, yet the Navy is pinning its hopes on a mass of ice."
Commander Aleksey said with a somber expression, "I apologize, my understanding of the Tyranid is limited. These monsters seem more complex and unpredictable than the Orcs."
Alexander nodded, agreeing with Commander Aleksey's words.
The Tyranid are skilled at self-evolution, capable of incubating different units according to the needs of the battle, and the Leviathan hive Fleet invading the Netherworld Shield is particularly adept at this.
"Here, I have a copy of 'An Ogryn's Guide to Tyranid Biology.' Everyone can take a look."
With that, Alexander took two notebooks from his embrace.
He handed one to General Drost and the other to Tech-Priest Shakolik, signaling him to scan and send it to all attendees.
Drost took the notebook Alexander handed him with a bewildered expression.
According to what he knew, Alexander had never left the Netherworld Star System, so he shouldn't know much about Tyranid, at least not more than the information he had obtained. General Drost's information primarily came from High Sister Magda, who had fought the Tyranid twice.
General Drost, with a casual and curious look, opened the notebook Alexander had written.
He estimated that this notebook would only contain information on common Tyranid like Gun Bugs, Hormagaunts, and Gargoyles.
"Huh?" General Drost looked at the first page of the notebook Alexander handed him, completely bewildered.
On this page was a sketch of a gigantic, four-limbed, armored behemoth.
Glossy chitinous armor covered its massive body, and four slender legs supported it on all sides.
The giant beast held two bio-cannons in its hands, its gaping maw ferocious and terrifying.
"Insect Tyranid Titan."
General Drost looked at the content Alexander had written in the notebook, utterly bewildered.
"Unit: Insect Tyranid Bio-Titan"
"Size: At least equivalent to a Warhound-class Titan, size is incubated and manufactured by the hive Fleet as needed."
"Armor: Must be equipped with sturdy chitinous bio-armor, possibly with psychic shields."
"Carried Armaments: Bio-plasma torrents, bio-cannons, lash whip tendril clusters, Tyranid scything talons, corrosive toxic spores..."
"Description: The largest, strongest, and most Waaagh! unit among Tyranid, capable of rivaling the Machines of God. In addition to various terrifying Tyranid symbiotic weapons, its abdomen is relatively fragile, but it still contains a large number of barbed tendrils and other types of Tyranid.
When the Titan is damaged, highly toxic spores will rapidly erupt from its body, capable of instantly suffocating or burning the lungs. Theoretically, Imperial forces within the Netherworld Star System do not possess ground-based means to inflict effective damage on such creatures."
"Threat Level: Extreme Threat"
"Recommended Response: Silly child! Run!"
"Huh?" General Drost was completely bewildered.