Chapter 541 At this moment, over Cadia-
The Eternal Will of Blackstone Fortress still stands where it was.
Their astral communication officer is connected by countless mechanical iron bolts and stands forever in a pool-like facility. Her brain and the psychic energy emerging from it can be seen from the translucent skull cover. Radiance, eight cables in different directions extend from the glass cover, connecting the eight psyker brains outside the pool, showing Although this is some kind of signal enhancement device, if Ms. Octavia, the current master navigator and matron of the Eighth Legion, sees this situation, she will definitely think of what she saw on the ship controlled by the Red Pirate. Mutation Navigators have nightmares and scream "Can't you heretics find a dry spot for the necessary psykers?"
Now the astrologer is loudly reporting the data observed by the auspices and scanning arrays of other conventional ships in the Black Fleet.
"One o'clock direction! Three hundred and ninety thousand kilometers away!" she shouted, her voice high-pitched and penetrating, "Leaping out! Recalculate...confirm identity...it's the Phalanx!" It’s the Shanzhen! It’s the Imperial Fleet led by the Shanzhen!”
Zara Feston and Devram Koda had already been waiting in front of the Warmaster's throne due to the former's power of foresight and the notification from the intelligence chief. At this moment, they hurriedly took orders and left separately: Devram, Lord of Slaanesh ·Kodak will begin dispatching the Black Expedition Fleet Some of them turned around and began to fight against the empire's sudden space support, while the rest continued to use orbital bombardments, light spears, and seemingly endless drop pods to continue to encroach on the empire that was being divided and surrounded on the three continents of Cadia. Resistance Army.
Zara Feston, the representative of Tzeentch, is heading towards another path: he will lead his wizards, cultists and chaos psykers to start a continuous and grand summoning ceremony to bring the dark beasts to the throne. God's followers are constantly being delivered to the ground and uninvited ships everywhere.
Of course, at this moment, in front of Zara Feston, the line of destiny is still extending or converging along the original path. At best, some small lines deviate too far midway, but they They are so insignificant compared to the Warmaster and his primary mission that it is not worth allocating resources and energy to pursue them one by one at this critical juncture.
This was true even for the most astute of them all, Carcadius Hieron. Despite the serious warning, the intelligence chief chose to go down to the lower deck with the Daughter of the Fortress first. Clear out the Space Wolves and Cadian warriors who have invaded the Blackstone Fortress. After all, you must first get rid of the pests around you before you can free up your hands to focus on completing the goals on the ground.
The reason why Clough Castle has been the main target of attack since the beginning of the war is not because it is the location of the general headquarters. Only Abaddon himself knows this best, while Shiron and Zara Feston Each has received revelations from the dark gods on this issue - but they are not completely consistent.
Therefore, the current situation of the war is still generally carried out according to the conception of the agent of the will of the dark gods. The Titan Legion, Space Marine Company and Cadian Internal Guard on the first and third continents of Cadia are still in A "normal level" level of resistance, which is nice, but the Space Wolves are always a jarring variable.
Hiron thought, Ruth's wolf cubs are always like this, either they are so loyal that they will die, or they are so unreasonable that they cause trouble to others and then die.
“Have you caught the new ‘tongue’?” He asked softly, closing his eyes tightly, Mocas was connecting himself to the Blackstone Fortress through the thick warp-distorted flesh and blood.
The latter was sweating profusely, and the black stone eyeballs transplanted under his eyelids were rotating at high speed together with the original purple eyes.
"Almost," she reluctantly replied, her hands scratching at something in the void of the devil's flesh and blood wall. The contaminated black stone wall gradually lost its luster, "I found a lone... Oh, hell. ," she made an annoyed sound, "Fortress slave! I just turned my eyes away for a moment!"
The intelligence chief sighed, "Which cabin? Open the passage for me."
The withered black walls squirmed, revealing gray fleshy gums after the blood vessels and nerve networks like dead branches were removed. with pale upper and lower teeth, and then This tooth door opened in front of them. The tooth even looked human, which made it particularly uncomfortable. However, Hieron turned a blind eye and passed through several such newly grown doors and the cabins separated by them. Arriving at the room Mocas told him about.
There was a group of beasts or zombie-like fortress slaves here. Hiron dispersed these slaves who only had biological instincts when Mocas did not look at them, and then stepped on their dirty soles. An almost shapeless body was found on the ground.
But the quality of the equipment of the Cadian Internal Guard Corps is really good. The intelligence of these living corpses is not enough to dexterously open the helmet buckles on the fallen heads. They just use their skinny fingers to pick out any possible He dug in and ate where he could, so the poor guy's brain was basically intact.
Alfa opened the buckle without emotion, pulled out the combat knife, carefully removed the corresponding brain tissue, put it in his mouth and chewed it carefully for a moment - even though he faithfully provided intelligence to the Warmaster. service, but his gene-seed has remained intact and pure under years of high-intensity subspace radiation. In other words, he has retained all the organs available to loyalists, which allows him to still read by tasting brain tissue. A part of the memory of the brain owner during his lifetime.
"Space Wolves... um..." Xiron suddenly opened his eyes, "Damn, this is still a bait! Mocas! Can you hear me?! The east has been ruled out! Here is also ruled out! To the west Search in all directions! Prepare your fortress slaves and animate chambers to drive our hunters from above and to the west. Go to the empty room. Abaddon's hounds have all been sent to the ground, and we have to complete the pest removal work ourselves."
A new flesh tooth gate was formed and opened in front of Alpha, and he pulled it out. He pulled out his gun, stepped in, then closed his teeth, and the door disappeared into the darkness again.
Although wild wolves are cunning and ferocious, the fangs of poisonous snakes lurking in the shadows will be particularly deadly to wild wolves.
——————————
Shanzhen Fortress
At this moment
Over Cadia
"Escape successfully!" The voice of the navigator supervisor came calmly from the gilded eagle-head loudspeaker on the bridge, "The coordinate point is being determined. We are now at the forefront of the entire fleet, and it is estimated that there are still ninety seconds before the enemy is contacted. "Very good. Are the masters of the apocalypse and weapons supervisors in place before firing?" , the navigator and the engine room should allocate enough power to our frontal shields. There is no need to rush, and we must advance slowly to ensure that we can reach the front line and cover the target point from above."
< br>A neat response came from below. Danat Lysander, who was wearing a full set of Terminator armor, nodded, while Thor Garadon beside him hesitated to speak.
"Do you think this idea is really good?"
Although this decision has already been made, the Phalanx's astrological choir received a fragmented request for help from Cadia and decided to organize a fleet to rush to Cadia. It had been made by Lysander before, and as the former Chapter Master, Vladimir Pew, who entered the Dauntless, also supported his decision, not to mention that the chief think tank, Haldo Mazon, unexpectedly strongly promoted Lysander. virtue about him The various resolutions they made during this trip - as if Ma Song had received some revelation - it is a pity that Haldo has a tighter mouth than anyone else. Except for Pew, no one knows what the relationship between the chief think tank master and his father came from the Pillar of Bones. Kneeling in front of the now empty shrine, he sincerely prayed for the specific content of the omen he received after seven days and seven nights. However, Ma Song now has a faint look of regret every time he sees Garadon, which makes the newly appointed third company commander instead Very uneasy.
However, given that Lysander's decision proved to be very far-sighted in the subsequent series of events, and all the captains were pleasantly surprised to find that this man who was once the son of Dorne embodied the spirit of dedication and sacrifice. 's First Captain - now Acting Chapter Master - Yes, Lysander finally In this way, he avoided the lavish and grand inauguration ceremony. Of course, he also had to thank an old friend for his timely help. Now he has become humble, peaceful, compassionate and understanding in daily life, which makes him become a comrade-in-arms. The terrifying anger that amazed everyone was only directed at the empire's enemies.
So much so that the company commanders who were most dissatisfied with him are now beginning to think that perhaps Lysander's personal heroism and extremeness made ordinary monks and young officers very popular in the past, but made senior officers sometimes frown. The behavior of being obsessed with classical personal glory and victory is either just too young or because The thousand years of subspace trekking and fighting have brought about some sequelae, and now that he has solved this problem, as long as he continues to hone in this agent position for several decades, they can happily work in the next one. It was announced at a Feast of Blades that the Imperial Fists finally had a true leader who could revitalize the Chapter.
"There is no problem with this idea, don't worry, Galaton." Lysander turned his head. He now had neat short gray hair, the short beard on his chin was neatly trimmed, and the sacred incense and The smell of mechanical maintenance ointment came from his body, and he smelled like a decorator who had just attended a ceremony or military parade due to social needs.
Garadon subconsciously turned his eyes - really, he had never realized that Lysander's behavior would make him both happy and frightened at the same time: he always felt that something in Lysander's essence had been permanently changed, But he couldn't tell what it was. Although it seemed that this change would be beneficial to Lysander himself and the entire Chapter, Galaton still felt very uneasy in his heart.
“I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with your insistence on letting the 1st, 3rd and 7th companies stay on the mountain formation this time, because the facts now presented to us have proven your Prudence and long-term vision..."
"Are you saying that we shouldn't let our prisoners take the lead?" One of Lysander's eyebrows moved slightly upward by 0.1 cm. Although it was very subtle, Galaton noticed it. From his recent observation, this Lysander was in a good mood and relaxed on behalf of him. - But should this behavior be felt this way?
"Yes." The third company commander chose his words carefully, "Although we do need more vanguard airdrop pods, the more the better, and I'm not saying that we shouldn't punish our enemies, It's not that traitors to the Empire shouldn't atone for their crimes, but it's a bit..." He searched for the right words, "a bit It’s incredible.”
“There are many incredible things in this universe, Thor.” Lysander’s eyes suddenly became wandering and distant, “But Dorne is in my heart...the divine father guides me. Follow my words and deeds. I will not do anything against Dorn's will." The power conveyed in his words was so determined and convinced that the third company commander was silent for a moment.
Ripples appeared outside the huge void stance of the Phalanx. As the distance approached, the main guns of the Black Legion ships with the longest range were already being tested. However, the ancient fortress of the Imperial Fist remained motionless. This The state of the chapter's home monastery is now much better than before, which is a sign that Lysander is considered a renaissance man: many hidden mechanical secret doors and warehouses are After he came to light after agreeing to take over as Acting Chapter Master, the Chapter's Techmarines were pleasantly surprised to discover a number of spare parts, well sealed with ancient holy oils and parchments, that had barely oxidized and are now even on the Forge World of Mars. Apparently) were no longer able to be produced. The priests of the Mechanicus who came after hearing the news paid a very high maintenance cost to obtain a few samples.
“But I heard that you have just ordered the return of their power armor and weapons and equipment,” Galaton said disapprovingly. “What if they jump back immediately after landing? These Iron Warriors... I don't trust them, how can you be sure they will fight alongside us instead of giving us valuable battle repairs from behind? A shot at the warriors? "
"In order for them to form an effective combat force, let them attack with their bare hands and teeth? A shameful waste of Space Marine manpower, Thor. "
"It's a matter of trust. I've never been able to trust them, Lysander, and I don't understand why. Why do Pew, Masson, and, especially you, believe so easily that they would surrender so easily and agree to atone for their past crimes?" Galaton pursed his lips into a firm straight line, "I Can't trust them any more than Dorne can trust his traitorous brother."
"You talked to the priests about this. Maybe the Reverend Shadras would be a good listener?" Lysander stared at more explosions of fire that gradually bloomed in the porthole in front of him, "But maybe we can leave it to this battle. Let’s talk about the uneasiness in your heart later. Now, it’s time for you to stand here and command the Phalanx in my place.”
"What...me?"
"Yes, I believe that no brother of the Imperial Fist can do a better job than you in this matter. Thor, I entrust my trust to you." Lysander said as he walked down the command deck. "Calling the first company!"
"Wait a minute, if I command the mountain formation for a naval battle, where will you go?"
"I will hold on to the bonds of blood and welcome the unknown. Destiny, and do your part to make a difference."
Lysander drew his Fist of Dorne and strode into the dark passage.
(End of this chapter)