Chapter 986 The Shadow War (Part 1)
After the Empire’s heavy troops besieged the Black Legion Lord Erquessos in Fortress No. 7, the ground battlefield of Pai Mao quickly fell into an eerie silence.
The Black Legion stopped attacking the various explorer fortresses, and the Astartes Chapters no longer held on to those fortresses after evacuating the residents from the fortresses and settling them in camps in the Red Sand Mountains , but quickly gathered towards the location of Fortress No. 7.
In the following days, there were no more battles between the two sides. As soon as Soshyan Alexey, the chapter leader of the Astral Knights, arrived on the planet’s surface, he facilitated the White Templar and Darkness The leaders of the Angels and Gray Knights held a strategy meeting, attended by the Inquisitor and Colonel Stryker, a representative of the local garrison.
The three-hour meeting quickly decided on the subsequent deployment of the empire.
Each Astartes Chapter will be responsible for the defense of a certain aspect of Fortress 7, while the Astra Militarum and the local garrison will build a large number of fortifications, bunkers and trenches within a radius of 35 kilometers around the fortress, posing a long-term siege. attitude.
Obviously, this was a conspiracy, and Soshyan gave the choice to Abaddon.
Should we send all our troops to rescue the surrounded troops, or should we cut off our tail and survive, suffering a double loss in strength and reputation?
But the Black Legion did not respond further, and both sides seemed to sit quietly on the battlefield.
However, the calm on the surface does not mean that the waves in the shadows have decreased at all. Although the Black Legion has not made any major movements for the time being, the activities of their reconnaissance troops and small groups of raiding troops are becoming more and more frequent, constantly taking advantage of Attack the mortal garrison at night, massacre and plunder the defenders inside.
This was a morale-destroying tactic commonly used by the forces of Chaos. Soshyan, who became the commander of the coalition forces, also took advantage of the tactics and deployed equivalent anti-harassment forces.
On the eve of the war, a war in the shadows has quietly begun -
"Here, company commander."
Bahram squatted on a At the edge of the puddle, I wiped the scorched earth on the jungle floor with my fingers.
“More traces.”
Talos interrupted his search in the nearby bushes, walked over to Bahram, knelt down on one knee, and stroked the bumps and grooves he found.
"Sablin, Li Lin, come here. I want to know what you think."
The two nearby teams immediately gave up their detailed searches and listened to the company commander command.
“From the pattern, it looks like some kind of tracked vehicle. This is only part of it, but the ground here is slightly sunken, indicating that it will leave a pool of rainwater during the planet’s rainy season. This is why the traces here are like this. Intense and completely lost elsewhere”
Sabourin’s powers of observation are as precise as ever.
"These marks were made three days ago, you see, so that the lichens had time to grow on them."
Sabrin pointed at the dense leaves that Bahram had chopped down with his combat dagger to The place where the mark below is exposed.
"If the missing team's vehicle passed this way, it couldn't have been a recent event."
Out of the corner of his vision, Talos noticed another scout shift His attention was attracted, as if he was looking for further traces, so he glanced at the four people crowded on the vague mark on the tactical indicator.
“Nias, would you like to make any comments?”
The young man who was walking away strode to his superior, his enthusiasm evident in his gait.
Nias's deep eyes and black hair always make Talos think that he is a younger version of Markushen.
Arriving next to Talos, Nias also squatted down.
"My guess is Chimera, even though the trace is almost completely worn away, I see extended traces over there, you can tell by the width and shape of the traces, see those two bumps The area? It's here where the wet mud passes through the gap of the connected tracks. There is another one."
He pointed to the barely visible mark, and then used it. His hand traced it, wagging his fingers every once in a while. "There's another one, there's another one..."
Nias continued to describe that although Talos had come to this conclusion before Nias participated in the discussion, he was still pleased with the untrained and enhanced speed and accuracy of the new recruits. In this sense, he really looks like Markusen.
Talos was equally impressed when Nias found the first signs of wear and tear on the bark of the tree, which also brought them back within less than a second of their discovery. Got to the course.
“There is another one.”
Nias suddenly stood up, his big dark eyes staring into the distance.
"The Chimera is heading this way."
He added, raising an arm and pointing to the thick green leaves to the south, in anticipation of the company commander's next question.
"Company 11, line up behind me, in single column."
Taros stood up and ordered. In combat situations, he would use hand gestures to give orders.
So far this is just a training session,
Nias tried to squeeze past Talos to regain his place in the formation, but the captain of the Eleventh Company blocked the recruit's path with a strong arm.
"Where are you going, brother Nias?"
Taros said with a smile, dropping his hindrance and taking up a position behind the confused scout.
"Lead the way."
When the sun completely broke through the horizon, the 11th Company had penetrated five kilometers into the jungle and arrived in the emerald darkness hidden under the towering trees.
Some twisted and mutated animals screamed and sprinted through the bushes in the day cycle, starting their ruthless hunt for food.
The communication beads in Talos's ears were still active, flooding with tactical reports from the immediate area, while the Stormraven patrolled above the clouds, keeping as much detection of enemy infiltration units as possible.
As the jungle grew denser, the Chimera's tracks became clearer and clearer, so much so that the recruits were able to follow a pair of complete tracks for the past few kilometers.
Nias maintains his focus in front of the squad, a scout has a keen eye, and he sometimes slows down to pay closer attention to some mark or deviation in the road without having to stop completely .
Behind him, his battle brothers trained their guns on the dense foliage that lined the path created by the troop carriers, alert for local wildlife and any potential ambush.
Talos also drew his weapon, though it was his deactivated power sword in his fist instead of his pistol.
As he walked through the bushes, something gnawed at his mind, and he felt like he was missing something obvious, something that was right in front of him but not quite right.
Nias suddenly stopped in front of him and interrupted his meditation.
“They are gone.”
Nias turned to his company commander and said:
"Traces. They just...disappeared."
Confusion was clearly written on the recruit's face.
(End of this chapter)