Warhammer: In the Name of Ashes

"What is their military strength?" Chasov looked at everyone present and was the first to think about war as an inevitable event.

"Two companies, or no more than three companies." Nicholas answered Chasov's question, and then watched everyone explain their answer:

"According to the Extreme Star Territory's report to Terra, their main force should still be fighting on the front line in the Ghoul Star Territory, and there is only one strike cruiser fleet here in Presidia, which can also confirm this situation."

"We can fight!" Calvin affirmed. Part of this force will be allocated to regular defense on the fleet, and there will not be many left on the ground.

"Leave me two squads of manpower, and I'll promise to hold off their main force!" Tabos promised Calvin, and the latter directly rejected his plan.

"No, leave it all to you! It's enough for me to go down in person and take Golden and Nicholas with me!"

"But..." Tabos was about to retort, but Calvin had already made up his mind.

"No buts! The terrain there is not suitable for the deployment of large forces. The manpower for this operation is expensive but not expensive!"

"Your will!" Tabos thought for a while and finally compromised.

"Then the next question is, we have no reason to intervene directly, and after all, this is a sub-group of the Ultramarines..." Chasov raised his eyes and thought for a moment, raising the final question about the legality of Operation Calvin. .

"Then in the name of the Forbidden Forces, order them to clear the way! Is there a problem, Nissen?" Calvin looked at Nicholas, and after the latter simply agreed, he turned to Tebos and gave the order.

"What if it's still rejected?" Tabers finally confirmed.

"Doesn't that prove that there's something wrong with them?" Calvin grinned at Tabos:

"Then use naval guns to make them obey."

After the plan was completed, Calvin stood up and prepared to walk out of the office. Nicholas and Chasov also nodded slightly to him, and then began to prepare for their subsequent work.

As the Captain of the Custodes marched towards the bridge, he organized in his mind the words to be announced later to the Sons of Guilliman, and ordered the other Custodes Guards to begin to assemble;

Chasov, the scholar of the Tribunal, rushed to the deck of the Psychic Choir, preparing to lead an amplification ceremony there to open a stable transmission path for Calvin in the complex terrain environment on the ground.

The entire fleet has now turned to a state of war, and the priests of the Mechanicus began to gather in the direction of the engine room, praying to the Machine God to increase the output power of the plasma reactor;

Each energy storage unit located in the middle section of the battleship lights up saturated signal lights one by one under the full output of the large plasma reactor;

The weapons deck team also used a crane to connect heavy cables to the base of the light spear, and performed final maintenance on the light spear array, starting the final warm-up for war.

While Calvin and several Templars stood in the center of the teleportation array, Tabers and Nicholas on the bridge of the battleship also began their final communication with Presdia.

"Captain Cicero, I have given you the specific authorization document, in the name of the Tower of Hegemony! You have no reason to reject my application! If you and your soldiers are still fighting for the empire, please open it immediately and unconditionally Airspace control!”

Nicholas looked across the screen and spoke out the prepared announcement word for word.

The Astartes Captain opposite, wearing blue and white painted power armor, was still indifferent to Nicholas's words, and even had a vague mockery in his eyes.

"Sorry, envoy from Terra. We have not received authorization from Ultramar and have no obligation to open the airspace where our troops are stationed for you."

"Friar, you know what you are talking about, right?" Nicholas looked at Cicero opposite and asked seriously.

"It couldn't be clearer! As I said before, we refuse to surrender to anyone without authorization!" Cicero, the 4th Company Commander, Son of Guilliman, replied across the screen.

"What if we insist?"

"See you on the battlefield then!"

"……as you wish!"

The negotiation failed. Nicholas clearly received the other party's attitude. After fulfilling his obligation to notify, he immediately cut off the call with the other party.

At the same time, large red warning signals began to appear on the ground and orbit of Placedia on the auspicious instrument of the Endless Jihad.

"Prepare the entire fleet to strike!" The Forbidden Army Captain put down his last sympathy and signaled to the fleet commander Tabers. The latter immediately sent a signal to the fleet and also issued authorization and orders to the weapons unit command deck.

Since this land and the people on it have used their actions to essentially challenge the authority of the entire empire.

Then they are obliged to respond to the request of this land and give them the rewards they want!

"You will pay the price for your arrogance!" Nicholas's cold voice resounded throughout Presidia's public channel.

The Relentless Jihad, which had already charged up its energy, responded to his announcement and instantly launched intensive light spear strikes towards the designated target.

The mortal armies on the orbital defense system screamed in panic. Warnings that the star forts and space weapon stations were locked by the space beasts came one after another. Star-like dazzling light spots condensed in their eyes, and then at a certain point in time suddenly lit up, tearing apart the vacuum in milliseconds and extending towards them!

"Counterattack! Counterattack!" The officer responsible for commanding the orbital mass-energy weapons roared at the top of his lungs and issued orders to the soldiers in the communication channel.

Fortunately, Star Castle's standing force field shield was able to withstand the devastating disaster just one second before it was overloaded.

As for the several weapon base stations around the Star Castle, they did not have such luck. This officer witnessed the fall of those weapon base stations with his own eyes.

Without energy shields, or defense nodes that have no time to turn on energy shields in the future, they will only turn into molten iron and slag under the attack of the light spear.

The thickness of the armor is meaningless in the face of high-energy lasers, and the flesh and blood inside has no chance of survival.

He didn't know why he received the order to attack the Imperial warship, but since the Emperor's Angels they served had the order, he had only the obligation to carry it out as a soldier.

But before his soldiers could lock their weapons on the opponent, under the special energy circuit from the Retribution-class battleship, a second wave of light spear strikes followed without any gaps!

This time he no longer had to worry about the orders he had received. A spear of light from the Relentless Jihad accurately penetrated the cabin where he was. He and his subordinates were trapped under this dazzling laser forever. Turn into an inconspicuous piece of dust in the universe...

A cruiser and several small frigates belonging to the Sons of Guilliman were also targeted by the two grand cruisers and fell into siege.

Artillery fire broke out in Plasdia's orbit. Two groups of Emperor's Angels, who received different orders, aimed their weapons at each other in the starry sky and started a fierce exchange of fire.

"How long do we have to wait?" Calvin stood on the teleportation array and asked the bridge, carrying "Imperial Truth" on his back.

The surrounding six Imperial Guards and an equal number of Templar Knights were all fully armed, carrying their halberds behind their backs, and surrounding Calvin with heavy shields and broadswords in their hands.

The war has started for nearly ten minutes, but Calvin has not yet waited for the signal from the Psionic Chorus. Even though he knows that there is a heavy barrier between the target and the Relentless Crusade, he still feels a little impatient after waiting for a long time.

"Wait a moment, right now..." The ceremony in the direction of the psychic choir has also reached a critical moment. Chasov is deducing countless paths between the battleship and the entrance to the webway that can theoretically lead to the underground under the vision of psychic amplification. tunnel.

After repeated selections and attempts, Chasov finally found the most suitable one among countless time and space rifts that were born and destroyed.

"Now!" he shouted loudly, and the volume of the psychic choir's "chanting" suddenly increased at the same moment.

Calvin heard the sound and stepped on the switch at his feet. After a huge roar and lightning, the entire teleportation array was suddenly empty.

Under the earth's crust 70 kilometers deep from the ground, an isolated island suspended above an endless ocean of lava is standing in the darkness.

The "island" covers an area of ​​tens of square kilometers, and obsidian is its main material, which is also the biggest reason why it can stand on top of the lava without being melted.

The entrance to the Webway is in the center of the island, surrounded by numerous human structures.

Like all alien civilizations, it has a distinct alien aesthetic and technological style;

The many human-style buildings surrounding it strangely possess the characteristics of both the Empire and Chaos.

Dozens of Astartes warriors wearing blue and white power armor were walking among the surrounding tactical nodes;

Ten times as many Astartes warriors, wearing power armor bearing the mark of Chaos, were supervising the progress of tens of thousands of mortals in the central area.

A particularly tall Astartes warrior was standing in the center of the entire island, on a high platform in front of the entrance to the webway, observing everyone's actions.

He wears a white bone helmet that symbolizes human purity, but holds an eight-pointed star scepter that symbolizes chaos.

The Mark VI power armor bearing the imperial emblem still maintains its original painting, but the eagle emblem belonging to the empire and the details decorating the edges of the shoulder armor have been replaced by the incantation belonging to Tzeentch.

Among the many Astartes warriors, from time to time someone would go to the center with the progress of the project to report to him.

But he had no intention of paying attention here. He only looked at the top of his head with solemn eyes after occasionally touching the communication device beside his neck.

"Sir, the last batch of gene seeds is ready. "They" have kept their previous promise. Apart from the blood tax, the remaining parts are enough for two companies of recruits."

"I understand, how is the training progress of the new recruits?" Chief Priest Appius Kersula nodded to acknowledge receipt, and asked the pharmacist in front of him about other tasks.

"It has entered the final stage, and it is expected to be completed within 42 standard millennia..." the pharmacist replied respectfully, but before he could finish his words, he was interrupted by communication from the surface.

"Warning! They have not been deceived by me, and fighting has begun in orbit! I suspect that the intelligence has been leaked, please be careful of the other party's infiltration attacks at any time!"

"Understood!" Appius ended the call with the surface, and then looked at the pharmacist in front of him:

"We don't have time! Excessive hormone injection will end their culture cycle early!"

"This will lead to the destruction of their potential." The pharmacist calmly gave feedback to Appius' order. Obviously this was not the first time he had done this.

Appius obviously understood this problem and said directly to the pharmacist:

"They are just cloned embryos. They don't have much potential in the first place. Let these recruits go to the warehouse and get their weapons. I will see them standing here within six hours!"

"Your will!" The pharmacist bowed and retreated, disappearing into the darkness.

Only the chief priest was left on the high platform, and a strange voice emerged from his shadow:

"You are in danger. You are being targeted by those hunting dogs. Can you still fulfill your master's orders? If you cannot fulfill your master's orders, you will never be able to become one of us..."

"Shut up!" Appius interrupted the shadow's speech angrily:

"Who are you? A bastard who doesn't even have a title, are you worthy of being compared with me?"

"Huh... You are right, but that is only for now. When you complete your demon promotion and join us, our status will be different..."

Will it be the same?

Appius looked at his shadow, and the tide of ambition surged in his chest.

How could he accept being the inconspicuous one among the endless demons?

If eternal life can only be regarded as ordinary as a footnote, then why would he betray everything and make such a deal with the gods?

He has lost enough, and the reason why he has reached this point is because he wants to get back everything he has lost.

There is no doubt about this determination. If the Emperor cannot do it, then he will change his master!

Appius emerged from his thoughts again, and the nameless demon in his shadow continued to chatter.

"Oh~! Oh! Careerist! Greedy person! Your trouble is coming! Your end has come!"

The chief priest was about to get angry again, but the psychic perception he was given in the previous "deal" allowed him to see a silver thunder brewing in the void in front of him!

"Everyone on alert!" He roared loudly, and the surrounding Chaos Astartes also looked at the position pointed by their master's staff with guns in hand.

A huge thunder was born from nothingness, tearing open the curtain between reality and subspace under everyone's gaze.

A huge wave of psychic energy suddenly pulled up, and after the lightning flashed across that was so dazzling that it was impossible to look directly at it, it released a tide towards the surroundings that made people instinctively retreat!

boom!

After the huge roar, a total of 13 giants appeared in everyone's eyes.

Not to mention the unfamiliar gray warriors among them, the remaining golden ones made Appius frown.

What frightened him and the other Astartes even more was the existence that stood like a mountain in the center of the crowd.

The demigod-like being was pushing away the guard standing with a shield in front of him with one hand, and said to the distorted Appius on the high platform and all the Astartes present:

"Huh? There are a lot of people..."

4,000 words, two in one, supplementing yesterday’s and today’s updates.