Standard Terran calendar, 968.M41
Maelstrom area, Magg star cluster, Tovack planet
In the third month of sitting in Tovack, Soshyan received News from the distant Badab sector. After a brutal half-year siege, the expeditionary force finally broke through the last underground stronghold of the red pirate garrison trapped in Badab, just as Soshyan expected. In that case, Honso finally chose to escape.
Marshal Helbrecht of the Black Templars originally planned to complete the operation in two months, but it eventually turned into a bloody tug-of-war, which also caused the already fragile Badab Prime to be almost destroyed. It was drowned in the blood of both our enemies and ourselves, but even so, a world that would never be colonized in the future was still important to the empire.
First of all, it represented that the Empire regained control of the order in the Badab Sector and destroyed the pirate stronghold that had long plagued the Maelstrom Route, making a century of Huron's efforts in vain.
Secondly, as the core of the Badab sector, Badab Prime's role in controlling the maelstrom channels and trade routes has far exceeded its role as a habitable planet. It only needs to restore its orbital facilities, so its superior location determines It will still prosper again soon.
Finally, and most importantly, it is its symbolic significance, because when the high lord granted Soshyan the position of commander-in-chief of the expeditionary force, the core combat target he set was the Badab sector, that is, Restoring the empire's rule in the Badab sector means that the most basic victory of this expedition has been achieved. Regardless of whether the Hurons can be eliminated in the end, Soshyan can already handle it, and the expeditionary force can openly declare it to the outside world. A decisive victory was achieved.
For the Maelstrom soldiers and civilians who have been dragged down by the expedition and are full of complaints, this is definitely a shot in the arm, because they can see the dawn of victory.
Of course, the price of victory is very heavy. More than 24 million soldiers were killed, making the Siege of Badab the battle with the most casualties in the Maelstrom Expedition. Correspondingly, the Empire It also annihilated more than a hundred million Chaos servants (including servitors) and countless warp demons. (If you are interested, you can write a separate extra chapter about the siege of Badab in the future. I personally prefer to write about the details of the offensive and defensive battles)
But no matter what, this is a great victory, not only It was a victory for the Empire over the heretics. More than 500 bodies of the Iron Warriors could be found in this battle. Therefore, it can be regarded as another victory for the Imperial Fists against their former enemies. It is worthy of special mention.
With a stroke of his pen, Soshyan personally inscribed a commendation notice for the siege troops in the Badab war zone.
However, there are some dissonant notes in the victory song. Malakin seems to have had a serious conflict with Herbrecht. In a private letter to Soshyan, Malakin accused Helbrecht of being a "cold-blooded butcher" who wasted a large number of soldiers' lives in an almost profligate manner. His "impatient" and "reckless" tactics led to many avoidable sacrifices. .
The Chapter Master of the Tianshi Chapter also criticized Helbrecht. Although he was also the son of Dorne, he said that Helbrecht was more like a "cruel war blacksmith" and Honso It is "matching the opponent". This accusation is in a sense more serious than Malakin's, which means that he is as cold as a heretic.
Helbrecht did not make any excuses or complaints in the battle report. He always only talked about numbers and progress, which was very consistent with Soshyan's impression of him.
For these, Soshyan, from the standpoint of the commander-in-chief of his expedition, has no reason to blame Helbrecht, because the other party won and ensured that the Fourth Army would no longer have a chance. Intervene in this war unless they are willing to assist the Red Pirates, not Honso the man.
Soshyan's choice was to move Malakin in the direction of Arash, and let the battle group in the Badab war zone clean up the situation as soon as possible and go to the Mag star cluster to assemble.
Because the decisive battle may be coming soon.
According to Occam's latest intelligence, Soshyan finally knows what the Huron shrinking power is doing. He's trying to take control of a mysterious hulk he just acquired.
The origin of this hulk is very secret from Huron, and even Ockham can't figure it out, but it is very different from those ordinary hulks, and seems to have everything normal The functions that a battleship should have, and after acquiring this ruined ship, the number of demon engines in the Huron army increased rapidly, and had at least doubled in size.
According to Occam's description, if this ruined ship really moves, the empire may need to dispatch the Queen of Glory or several battleships to fight it.
However, the ship does not seem to be under complete control yet. Ockham knows through the informant network that has been established within the Red Pirates that Huron has temporarily organized a skull feast in the mysterious wasteland. ship, and the reward is that the winner will be given the title of commander of a hulk called the Savage Crucible.
But in fact, he wants to send some disobedient people to the hulk, because it is filled with all kinds of terrifying aliens and subspace creations. However, under this huge temptation, many are ambitious. The Chaos Space Marines still chose to join in.
However, the result was probably no return, and Huron probably would not keep his promise, although he never broke his promise.
Soshyan attaches great importance to this, not only because of this mysterious hulk, but also because this matter represents a new force supporting Huron.
In addition, Huron seems to have noticed something, and once again strengthened the defense of Blackstone Fortress. Now there are at least 3,000 Chaos Space Marines stationed there and a large number of attached mortal soldiers. Combined with the solidity of Blackstone Fortress itself, it is a very difficult thing to crack. of hard bones.
Soshiyan also chatted with Veronica about this matter, but Veronica was not too worried about it. More than three thousand Chaos Space Marines seemed like a lot, but they had no control over the Blackstone Fortress. She knew nothing about their structure, so there was no need to eliminate them all on the spot. As long as she diverted them and took control of the Blackstone Fortress, she could activate the internal defense mechanism and strangle them all in the Blackstone Fortress.
When Suoshiyang thought about it, it seemed to be the same. After all, the goal was to take over the Blackstone Fortress. As for the enemies inside, there was plenty of time to take care of them.
After knowing that Huron was preparing for a decisive battle, Soshyan also decided to speed up. At this time, the Red Pirate stronghold of the Magog Star Cluster had basically been swept away by the Dark Angel, so he sent the Flesh Tearers to assist the White Scars and his sub-groups to eliminate the red pirate stronghold in the Bloody Skull Galaxy.
As an important mining area of the Maelstrom, the Bloody Skull Galaxy has a large number of mineral worlds. Those worlds are characterized by desolation and a large number of underground mines. In a sense, they are independent fortresses. It is difficult to conquer them one by one. It's troublesome, but it can't be done without fighting. On the one hand, the foundry world is in urgent need of raw material supply, and on the other hand
Not long after Soshyan signed the agreement with the Short Man Alliance, they supplied the goods on time and also provided mercenaries.
It is naturally difficult to go back on the mining rights promised to others.