40k: Midnight Blade

Chapter 533 51. Records of the Battle Group Era (Twelve, the clarion call for counterattack)

In Calth, the sun is poisonous, the air is poisonous, and the earth is scorched by radiation. This cycle continues for ten thousand years and never stops. Their power transformed all living creatures on Calth into something else, and even the lifeless dust itself became poisonous.

Today, this once-dazzling jewel in the crown of Ultramar can only be regarded as a huge scar on the king's forehead, but the people who live on it are still tenacious.

Before Calth's surface was what it is today, its engineers designed a system of underground caverns that would make it entirely self-sustaining.

The system was severely tested during the early and middle stages of the Calth War, and it survived with even more improvements. The people of Kaos began to breed underground creatures for their meat, cultivating ferns and mushrooms, and building circulatory systems from underground rivers.

They don't even lack minerals. For ten thousand years, countless generations have never stopped digging.

Today, the people of Calth have developed another splendid civilization underground, but few outsiders have seen it with their own eyes.

Even Robert Guilliman himself had not visited Calth for six centuries, and during his limited visits he had not been able to explore the dungeons.

Not only that, but the storms and surface threats that envelope this galaxy make normal navigation to low-Earth orbit a luxury. Therefore, even within the Five Hundred Worlds, Kaos has become a place that no one wants to come to.

But the people of Calth did not give up on saving themselves, never.

They have been trying to counterattack the ground, and to this day, they have built thirteen fortresses on the surface. Precious science and technology related to stars and spaceflight were transported from the ground and verified one by one in these fortresses.

Three fortresses have already achieved results in this regard. According to calculations, it only takes another third of a century for them to leave the surface of Calth again, go to low-Earth orbit, and explore the unmanned space station that has been stagnant for ten thousand years.

The ground weapon platform of Calth has been completely destroyed, and even the ruins have not been preserved. The orbital weapon platform is different. The servo engineers have verified it many times. They used seventeen centuries of data calculation to prove the orbital weapon platform. still exists.

Not only that, it's even running.

The most intuitive evidence is a data packet that Fortress No. 5 has continuously received since it was built. The data inside is in a corrupted state and is junk code that cannot be decrypted or processed.

However, every data packet contains the mark of Kaos, which is the lowest level of operating logic. Even if the meditator responsible for sending it has long been unable to identify and calculate the data he sent, this mark will still remain.

The servos call it the Seal of Persistence.

"However, the current situation on the surface is still not optimistic. Fortress No. 6 and Fortress No. 7 were breached one after another eleven years ago and lost contact."

"These two fortresses are responsible for directly transporting raw materials for trial and error manufacturing of shuttles to the third fortress. Due to the lack of minerals and problems with the manufacturing line, we cannot even use the previous design and must design or improve a new shuttle from scratch. ”

"It needs to be strong enough to withstand storms in the sky. Its communication system must also be improved to withstand the signal disruption caused by electromagnetic storms. We have created the design drawings of five prototypes, and now we only need to Raw materials are available to start manufacturing.”

As the Chapter Master of the Sons of Calth spoke, he shook his head helplessly, swallowing the unspoken twist in his stomach and showing it on his face.

The other six people in the room could see what he was saying: But we are just short of raw materials.

"Can't you just ask Macragge's Glory to reinforce your Thunder Eagles?" Sevatar asked.

"One or two gunships can only solve the urgent need. The problems of the Calthians will ultimately have to be solved by the Calthians themselves. What's more, not every Thunderhawk or shuttle can break through the storm's blockade and successfully meet with us."

"The sun of Calth is deteriorating. It has survived the poison for ten thousand years. No one knows how long it can last. Maybe next year or the next second, it will go out."

"Although this does not have much impact on us, if the sun is missing, the situation on the surface will probably be even worse. Without daylight, darkness will always cover the earth."

"Those things will go crazy over this. They are afraid of the sun, but they still retain some human instincts deep in their genes. They also don't like the dark night."

"By then, our fortress may face pressure several times greater than before. The tribes formed by these savage mutants will continuously attack the defense line until they breach the fortress."

Calgio sighed, the gun-gray armor reflecting silent spots of light under the pale light of the lighting lamp.

The paintwork of the Sons of Calth has a certain unique dead temperament like the land they were born in. Looking at the entire power armor, only the dark blue left shoulder can vaguely show some of the elegance of the parent group.

They do not have a flagship, and they are a war group that basically never operates elsewhere. Logically speaking, their combat effectiveness should not be very strong. However, judging from the battle reports that Khalil had read, the Sons of Calth had no problems in this regard at all.

They are quite good at one-to-many combat in extreme environments, especially against cultists or demons. They can often achieve an unreasonable battle loss ratio and surprisingly like to clear the ground with artillery fire before charging.

This may be inseparable from the current weapons factory in Calth.

For thousands of years, those flying technologies could no longer advance, so weapons engineers used their talents in other aspects, from enhanced versions of promethium flamethrowers to accelerators with a caliber so large that they must be mounted on heavy vehicles. Type electromagnetic gun, almost all-encompassing.

The Calthians even designed an additional set of special armor for their auxiliary army that can fight in the extreme environment on the surface. Even the light gun has been improved in fifteen versions.

Maybe this is the essence of the former crown jewel. Even if it was almost destroyed by war, it could still stand up again, or even stand higher.

Or maybe it's a trait of humanity itself.

"I understand roughly," said Sevatar. "So what you need is not just simple support. What you really need is to escape from the cradle all over again. I admire you very much, Chapter Commander Calgio, that you actually want to reenact the departure of humans from Terra."

"Your statement is too flattering to us." Calgio replied with a wry smile. "There are so many people who have tried for ten thousand years but failed to succeed. What is there to admire about them?"

"You have persisted for ten thousand years and have not given up. Isn't this something worthy of admiration?" Sevita asked in return.

He stood up slowly from the comfortable sofa, and the expression on his face had completely changed.

According to calculations, it will take at least two months for Macragge's Glory to reach Calth, and this is based on the premise that no warning signals from other planets are received along the way. Like Khalil said, they have plenty of time on their hands.

waste.

Or, do something else.

Do something good for humanity.

Sevatar smiled.

"That's right, Calgio." He approached the other person, stretched out his hand familiarly and affectionately, and put his arm around his shoulders again.

"Look, we have a total of five hundred and one people. The arrival of so many people will definitely add some unnecessary pressure to you. And we never like to owe others, so why not do something for you? how?"

——

With his hands behind his back, Khalil stood among the five hundred Nightborne.

He looked very inconspicuous, and his figure was completely obscured by the five hundred Astartes who were neatly wearing Terminator armor. If you didn't look carefully, I'm afraid no one would notice that these five hundred people were actually using a protective position to protect him firmly in the center.

There was a rumble under their feet, cold air roared from bottom to top, and the light of the emergency lights quietly fell from the long steel pillars that were constantly shaking on both sides, and then was swallowed up by the various armors with different coatings.

Although the people of Kaos live underground, they naturally have a way up.

Their Mechanicus was still good at building huge construction machinery, so many shafts and tunnels were quietly dug underground, and then the spaces were divided and various lifting platforms were installed for different purposes.

From platforms specifically designed for Astartes to attack, to transport platforms for heavy vehicles and artillery, almost everything is included. Now, no one will tell the engineering team anymore. They can dig as big a hole as they want. How big to dig.

However, the problem is that the process of lifting up and down seems a bit slow. A full twenty-five minutes have passed since I stepped onto the lifting platform, but the indicator on the lifting platform has only reached one-third of the time.

"The mission goal is to kill people." Saiweita whispered in the communication channel. "There are no taboos, there is no specific tactical purpose, we just need to kill in that fortress."

"It has been captured by the enemy, so, my brothers, you can indulge your genetic desire for violence."

"You can rip out their heads with their spines, or you can drop them from the sky and chop them all into pieces. I don't care. I just ask that you kill all the enemies you can see, and then go about our business of clearing away Chaos pollution. ”

"Everything has to be fast, you know? I like blitz the most."

He chuckled happily, his laughter filled with impatience.

Khalil heard an uncontrollable joy and expectation from it, which made him raise his head and glance at Yago Savitarion who was standing next to him. The latter also lowered his head and looked over with some feeling, his eyepiece was filled with scarlet red.

"How are you, instructor?" he asked with a faint smile. "How was my speech?"

"Better than me," Khalil said noncommittally. "But still sounds like hive thugs."

"Ah, you have wrongly blamed me, instructor, I can't help it. I was born in the shanty town of Nostramo, grew up among gangs, and have long been accustomed to talking like this. Not to mention you I’ll find a teacher later, isn’t Siani from a Terran gangster?”

"He's the son of a prisoner, not a gangster."

"The sons of prisoners in underground prisons are probably more vicious than the sons of gangsters." Saiweita said softly. "It's not like you've never seen him go into battle to kill the enemy. How many people could be more violent than him at that time?"

Khalil turned his head and stopped answering his words. So Savita changed his torture to someone else. He found Caiul Sahora, who was standing silently aside, and asked him a question.

"Speaking of which, Caiul, have you read our history during the Legion?"

"Of course I've read it," said the Shadow Knight. "But I don't understand what you are asking for, my dear, great Iago Savitarion."

"I just have nothing to do, so you don't have to be so hostile to me."

"Every time you have nothing to do, you will do something that is not acceptable to us. Therefore, if I misunderstood your purpose in advance, then I apologize. I am really sorry, Lord Sevita. I should You imagine it’s kinder.”

"here we go again"

Another Chapter Master, the Supreme Grand Master of the Blade of Judgment, couldn't help but sigh in his helmet and complained as follows.

"Seriously, brothers, do we only have fun with each other to pass the time? Or do you have to stimulate each other to the point of entering the duel cage to feel comfortable?"

"Oh, Lord Sheikh suddenly became a role model after the instructor returned!" Saiweita looked at him and suddenly shouted.

"It is truly a miracle of the Emperor, a blessing from Konrad Curze! Lord Scheherel Cold Soul, who loved to torture each other with his brothers in the duel cage all the way to becoming the Grand Master, has changed his gender. !”

"I'm not telling you, Lord Sevatar, could you please be more careful about your image?" the Lord of the Crimson Claw asked expressionlessly.

He hadn't put on his helmet yet, and his long white hair was tied back securely. His wild and fierce but noble and gloomy face was full of helplessness, and he would glance at Khalil standing aside from time to time.

"Why didn't you tell me this when you were carrying an ax and smashing the enemy into pieces with the blade of the ax?" Savita stared at him and retorted. "Also, it's obviously me talking to you, why do you keep looking at him?"

"."

"say something?"

The Maharaja turned his head and stopped talking. The hunter then took his place and joined the fray. His voice was low and soft, but it reached Sevatar's ears just right.

Of course. He wasn't talking to Savitar.

"Instructor, after we get to the ground, do you want to join us?"

His question made the other four people look over silently. To be precise, everyone silently looked at him at this moment. The eyes of the five hundred children of the night were quiet and burning, firmly locked on a person who didn't really want to talk.

The man covered his forehead, turned his head, and suddenly glared at Yago Savitarion with a slight annoyance, and then returned to his usual expressionless face.

"I acted alone," he said. "By the way, I will test your anti-stealth skills."