Warhammer: In the Name of Nirvana

The atmosphere in the airdrop cabin was cold enough to be suffocating. Only the wall lamp above the head was emitting a temperatureless light, like a dim star.

Through his helmet, Hector smelled a vague odor: a pungent bitterness and the fishy smell of steel, which gave people a feeling of congestion, and the air next to his lips turned into a few sticky semi-sticky odors. Liquid: That was the blood and slurry they hadn't had time to wipe away.

Hector didn't like these things, but he had long since learned to adapt to them, just as he had adapted to the long and tiresome flames of war: beside him, the trustworthy Ajax and Chiron each occupied At one end, he was muttering different contents in a low voice to relieve the fatigue and mental pressure caused by continuous battles.

As a trainee technical sergeant, what Ajax recited was naturally the red tape from the forging world Reza. He seemed to especially like the part about the related transformation of plasma and armored vehicles, and he chanted it back and forth every time. So many times: By now, even Hecht knows this passage by heart.

On the other side, Kairon, the Terran veteran, was whispering a long list of names. They were the battle brothers who had fought alongside him but had now died. He used this method to remember these battle brothers who had fought for the Empire. Warriors who gave everything: In the beginning, there were only some Terra names that Hector was not familiar with, but later, every name in the prayer could bring back thousands of memories for Morgan's pride.

Unknowingly, he had lost so many battle brothers: Although the death rate of the Second Legion has always been far lower than that of the vast majority of the Astartes Legion, after two consecutive apocalyptic-level wars , the losses of each company are also quite eye-catching.

Hector's 23rd Grand Company can be regarded as a main company in good condition: the death rate is only more than one tenth, and the proportion of Terran veterans and new blood from the Far Eastern Frontier is almost equal.

Therefore, they were dropped on this extremely ominous dead star as the second batch after the vanguard. Along with them were hundreds of airdrop pods carrying weapons from the four legions. Soldiers: According to the optimistic estimates of the high command, half of the people should be able to escape the planet's anti-aircraft fire and reach the battlefield on the ground alive.

No matter when, such a large-scale assault airdrop is destined to be a feast for the eyes, and will be unforgettable for any onlooker, but Hecht has no chance of such a beautiful scenery. After all, the nearly completely sealed airdrop cabin not only blocks the The majestic wonders that should have surrounded them, and even the light penetrating from the stars, were intercepted one after another, leaving only those shuddering and strange whirlpools of unknown origin lingering in front of their eyes, burning their eyes. Eyes and Mind: Another product of the Warp, another testament to the chrysalis of the sea of ​​souls here.

These whirlpools were almost a form of torture, but fortunately they did not have to endure it for too long: about three minutes later, a heavy shock was felt in everyone's mind, and the sound of dozens of tons of steel falling to the ground was like It was the earth shattering that caused everyone to focus their attention in an instant.

The airborne landing was successful.

Before he could take another breath, Hector stood up first, and the remaining people lined up behind him in tacit agreement: the number of passengers in this airdrop pod was slightly less than that of its other brothers, because Hector was alone People have to occupy the positions of three or four people.

But it doesn't matter, his strength more than makes up for this shortcoming.

The sound of the airborne cabin lowering the iron door was heavy and harsh, but soon another fearful voice covered up the roar of the metal. Hector couldn't tell what the monster-like roar was, but he quickly You have to accept a symphony composed of thousands of gunfire and the screams of sirens. They are the first things to come in through the cracks, along with the same screaming fishy wind.

Thick and bitter: This was the first breath of air that Hector breathed in this world. Before he could see more, he took the lead and rushed out of the airdrop cabin. The bright light began to invade his field of vision unbridled, along with Greetings from the battlefield: Almost as soon as he stepped out of the airdrop pod, a blazing blue beam of light penetrated the iron plate beside him, and the sputtering light scratched the shoulder armor of a soldier. A series of explosions there told them that the fighting situation on the ground was not very good.

Almost every instrument on the armor sounded an alarm loudly, and the air flowing into the mouth smelled like burning metal. Waves of deadly glare flashed across their sight from the sky and disappeared in the blink of an eye: this is A period of extreme chaos composed of blood, fear, and light, along with a sense of weightless stumbling and impact, is everything on the battlefield.

It took Hector a moment to adapt to all this madness. Then, he first raised his head and looked at the sky, looking for his comrades in the same batch: there were hundreds of airdrop pods in the atmosphere. Drawing fiery trajectories, the fierce artillery fire, ferocious energy beams and huge frictional heat captured them without hesitation. Those unfortunate people turned into powder in an instant and fell boilingly in the explosion. , and the remaining ones crashed onto this man-made plain, spitting out the fatal passengers impatiently.

Hector counted: After counting about the two hundred battle brothers who died in the sky, he finally stopped this meaningless behavior, lowered his head, and caught a glimpse of that person out of the corner of his eye. A behemoth.

It was a skyscraper giant sword inserted into the earth's surface, and it was also a giant beast that once roamed in the void. Its remains after death merged with this world, and behind it was a large sea of ​​scalding fire, almost ten years old. A brother who perished with it in this crimson hell. This is how the Calibans broke through the planet's defenses and dropped the first batch of landing troops. It was tough and effective.

"Hector!"

Someone called him from the other side, it was his men: Hector's team responded, and a team of several hundred people soon gathered on the burning plain, and they stepped over the scattered corpses. With the sound of the collision getting closer and closer, the brothers who were trapped in the malfunctioning airdrop pod were released. Amidst their busy work, more and more cruel fights were being staged in the sky.

Ships are falling, airdrop pods are alternating, the enemy's and our aircraft are either flying up and down, fighting each other, or passing along the low altitude, strafing the enemies on the ground: the explosion and shock are taken away from the beginning He has normal hearing, but the fierce rain of fire will fall from the sky anytime and anywhere, just like the gods crushing the gravel in their hands and scattering it to the world.

It took Hector a few minutes to complete the assembly and briefing, and his team began to rush towards the front line. The distance was not far away, it was just on the other side of the mountain, but the scenery along the way was enough to make seconds feel like years.

He saw a transport ship docked too low explode in the sky. The bodies and fuel wrapped in flames were captured by gravity and soon turned into a group of pure white meteors.

He saw a batch of melted rocks, the remains of a dozen Astartes warriors fighting to death against an opponent a hundred times their size. Their lives were permanently frozen in the balance by a precise plasma cannon. moment.

He bypassed a former minefield because the smell was unbearable: perhaps an entire army of mortals had wandered in and been scorched alive by the mine's cone of fire.

He saw death, death, and death: everywhere he looked, there was only more death.

After crossing these deaths, he came to the end of the battle line. Another Dawnbreaker company commander and his company seemed to have just withdrawn for a rest. He nodded to Hector, and then pointed out that the most important battle situation was The place.

Hector returned the silent salute and walked in that direction without hesitation.

Now.

He was going to challenge death.

——————

"Do you think we will die here?"

When the artillery position roared a new round of steel barrage towards the flesh-and-blood towers in the distance, Leman Russ suddenly looked at the brother beside him and asked this question in a low and hoarse Fenrisian voice.

"Instead of caring about these, you might as well care about the next round of attack: after all, it is the one that involves death. Even if there is a slight mistake, we will have to sign at least hundreds more death notices."

Zhuang Sen snorted lightly. He did not look at his brother, but concentrated on the position in front of the headquarters and the fortress in the distance: there, the void shields nested inside each other were like groups of sparkling balls, connecting each other. A strange kind of fortification is hidden in it, and the flesh-and-blood cannons inside the fortress are spraying deadly energy like a wall of fire and endless shells towards the empire's heavy army, which is extremely deadly.

"I never sign that kind of thing: the warriors of Fenris will only let Morkai's Tusk decide their life and death, not a meaningless piece of paper that will only be read over and over again. These things themselves It’s a sacrilege of sacrifice.”

"Stop selling your earthy beliefs in front of me, Riemann."

"Look at what you said, is your Caliban pure and flawless? Then who can explain the existence of those Black Watchers: Elves are not on any list of mutants recognized by the empire. These forms of your belief Isism cannot save their lives."

The Wolf King smiled provocatively, while Zhuang Sen withdrew his gaze and looked at his brother with cold pupils. His stubborn face was illuminated by the light from time to time, which was the ferocious thunder in the distance in the atmosphere. The crackling sound is a phenomenon caused by the void shield on the fortress being overloaded due to intensive offensive firepower.

"You spy on my home planet? Riemann?"

"It's not spying. After all, your insurance against Caliban is just that, far less than what Dorne did against his hometown: I just did it out of my duty. After a little inquiry, I can hear a lot of interesting information. Things about Caliban, these are things I heard even on Terra.”

"..."

"Stop doing this kind of thing, Riemann, you have no right to do this to me."

"It is true that I have no power. After all, I am just a knife-wielder: but I have a reason to do this, Jonson, and this reason is right before you and me."

Leman Russ pointed his finger at the end of their field of vision: as the shield shook, the flesh-and-blood fortress began to turn into powder under the continuous bombardment of heavy artillery, splashing up large waves of strange black fog. , desecrated the broken sky, flying wantonly in the wild storm, and everyone who was still alive became a target.

"Look, Jonson, if we don't have a supervisor between us, then things like this are very likely to happen again. Before that man betrayed his loyalty, who would have thought that he would be reduced to this. ?”

"I once regarded him as a goal in life to a certain extent. His military posture and calm style were what I aspired to be: I have thought about it many times, if I had not been left behind on Fenris, and If I had grown up on Holy Terra, would I have been a meticulous soldier, and would I have been like what he showed?"

"I'm pessimistic about this, Riemann: Even if I seal you into the Imperial Fist, I'm afraid you won't be able to learn the value of order and calmness. Even if you are my heir, I will let that blind man kill you like this. Pharmacists who are recruited by such people are punished with a lifetime of imprisonment."

"That's such a shame: had I known I would have gone to the Dark Angels selection."

Leman Russ grinned, not caring about Jonson's serious face. Half of the Wolf King's face was covered by the fiery red color, which came from the burning of the distant fortress: this indestructible fortress was already bombarded. The muzzle turned into a sea of ​​scalding fire, like a huge firewood, covering most of the sky in smoke. It was only a matter of time before the black smoke and stench completely blocked the attackers' sunlight.

As the fortress was breached, a large irreparable gap was torn open in the ground defense. Commanders in low-Earth orbit quickly responded: large numbers of transport ships emerged from the vortex above the atmosphere. body, and countless unmanned combat aircraft also rushed out, their engines or motors roaring at full strength, rushing towards the small air defense positions on the ground like sharp arrows, locking their targets.

The offensive continued to progress, and nothing exceeded the speculations of the original bodies. Although they were still a long way away from the final fortress, the remoteness of the landing site also reduced the difficulty of the early battle: now, Jonson is not in a hurry to advance him front, but waiting for the arrival of more follow-up troops in orbit.

"So, like I said."

The Wolf King of Fenris watched from afar as the dense fleet completely filled the sky above his head, and thousands of thunderous explosions tore apart the fortress's dying cry.

"Just one of us betraying the whole father can already lead to such a huge scene. If such a betrayal happens again, if the scale is bigger, what kind of consequences will it have? It really makes me think I don’t even dare to think about it, Zhuang Sen.”

"..."

"Your speech is very dangerous, Riemann. I don't think any of our brothers can betray the empire, and I don't think their betrayal will cause the same disaster: after this time, we can't Unprepared."

"I don't want to believe it either, Jonson: before this, I absolutely didn't believe it."

The Fenrisian's face came closer, and there was still the smell of blood on his wolfskin cape.

"But the current situation is that one brother has chosen to betray: treasures such as loyalty or the bottom line will be worthless as long as they are broken once. Betraying the Emperor was originally unthinkable, but now, it is not only It’s only conceivable that it could even happen.”

"Since there was a first time: then the second time is not impossible."

"..."

"Who do you suspect?"

"Is this important: Even if I gave you the authoritative list, what would you do?"

"..."

Zhuang Sen did not respond: he just silently tightened the scabbard on his waist.

"At least you are right about one thing, Riemann: The empire will no longer be unprepared. This bloodshed will avoid future bloodshed. Someone will always do the right thing."

"Don't take this job from me, Jonson: I am the whole father's executioner."

"..."

The Lion King glanced at the Wolf King and said nothing.

"So, what exactly are you talking about with me, Riemann?"

"Actually, it's nothing. I just had an immature idea. This idea involves certain elements of politics and power: You know, I'm not good at these things. Just thinking about them makes me feel a headache. ."

"...Then you shouldn't look for me."

"I remember that your performance on Holy Terra was pretty good: you were very comfortable facing those bureaucrats, Zhuang Sen. Many of them had a good impression of you."

"First of all, those mortals are completely different from the original body. Secondly, being proficient does not mean being good at it. Riemann, just like being good at it, does not mean being proficient: go find Morgan, she is the real master in this area. ."

"That being said, I still want to talk to you: after all, this is an issue involving the Warmaster."

"..."

"Tell me this: I still have some time."

Hearing this, Leman Russ grinned at first. He glanced at the work of his soldiers: the Dark Angels and Space Wolves were leading the mortal engineers to form a semi-permanent defense line around the landing site. Prepare for the enemy's counterattack.

Special building materials created a large steel-framed behemoth almost instantly, supporting the shell of the command center and logistics center. Subsequently: foundations, roads, supply depots, communication stations and air defense firepower networks also Built at a speed visible to the naked eye, the triple macro cannon with a fixed range of fire is embedded on the city wall facing the outside. The slender laser cannon tubes are insidious killers during the embellishment, and above them, like super heavy tank cannons Thick quadruple anti-aircraft guns were always ready to fire.

The Wolf King took a second to appreciate all this, to appreciate this direct manifestation of the empire's power in war: a rear core fortress like this may require a hive city to squeeze all the residents and continue to operate at full capacity for several years. There is a possibility of success, but in the hands of the empire's legions, such a spectacle is just like a child's clay, a one-time product that can be kneaded and created at will, without even needing to pay too much attention.

In Leman Russ's view, this kind of calm demeanor can better demonstrate the essential reason why the human empire can conquer the galaxy than the endless fleets, thousands of legions, and the so-called billions of artillery fire and billions of glory.

But while the Wolf King of Fenris was admiring all this, he also felt a little melancholy, because he realized that such power was actually used by various Astartes legions. Only the Primarch's Only by will can one use this power unhindered.

And he also realized that opposite them, the blasphemous brother should also be doing something corresponding: when the Astartes Legions who led the Great Crusade blasphemed their loyalty, the power of the Empire It will in turn harm the empire itself: and the stronger the force, the greater the damage.

After all, only these Primarchs and the Legiones Astartes, who were once the sharpest blades of the Empire, when they stabbed the Empire in turn, the wounds they caused were the most fatal and could not even be healed.

During this war, Leman Russ realized this. The bloody casualties made his mind and eyes extremely clear, but he was still in pain, because after he realized this, , but he couldn't think of a suitable solution: maybe he had been pretending to be crazy and stupid for too long, and it even interfered with his real rationality and thinking.

After treating himself as a beast, a person cannot return to civilization immediately. Although he is a civilized person at heart, for individuals, civilization is never a stubborn or loyal concept.

Otherwise, the Wolf King would not have come to Zhuang Sen to discuss this matter.

"What I want to tell you is very simple, Jonson: As we have seen, the corruption of any original body will lead to such bloody consequences, and we cannot guarantee that the corruption will not happen again. We All we can do is estimate in advance.”

"But it is unrealistic to predict this matter. If you want to prevent the possibility of such corruption more efficiently, the real approach should be to establish a supervision system."

"...supervision?"

Zhuang Sen frowned

"Yes, perhaps we could supervise all the Primarchs to prevent new corruptions from rising from them: of course, we would be among those supervised."

"..."

"An organization that oversees the Primarch?"

Zhuang Sen's brows furrowed deeply, like a towering mountain.

Regardless of the nature and enforceability of this proposal, the words themselves made Caliban, the Primarch, feel extremely uncomfortable: This has nothing to do with personality, but the innate blood of the Emperor. Their incomparable pride and extreme self-confidence have led them to have the most instinctive malice and the most violent resistance to any imposed constraints.

"A very funny idea, Riemann."

"Does the institution you are talking about have a meaning for its existence? Even if it does, how should it be established? And who should set it up? Do these organizers have the ability and power to do all this?"

"You'd better have thought about these questions and have an answer in your mind. Riemann, I don't have time to help you answer these questions. The war is still going on."

"I know."

Leman Russ glanced at the direction where the fighting started again, which was where the third batch of landing troops arrived: as more landing craft and airdrop pods landed among the wreckage of the pioneers, the casualties of the imperial army increased. In addition, the combat attitude of the Astartes warriors also became active again. Reconnaissance teams composed of dozens or hundreds of people began to quietly set off from the position, and their figures soon disappeared among the rolling weapons. Amid the thick smoke and flesh-colored fog, only a series of footprints were left that were quickly swallowed up by the ground.

"I have actually thought about these issues you know, Zhuangson. The meaning is naturally the point I raised before: although monitoring whether the original body has fallen may sound like a trivial matter, but look at the cost once it falls. The Empire has shed so much blood, and it is not unacceptable to make a fuss about it.”

"As for how to organize and organize personnel, we can think about it together. My idea is: only the Primarch can successfully supervise the Primarch. Maybe we should recommend a few from our brothers who can convince the public and are worthy. Trust people to form this supervisory committee, and at worst a rotation system will be implemented.”

The Fenris Wolf King's voice was a little unclear, and it seemed that he lacked confidence in his own ideas. The response of the Caliban Lion was also very simple and direct: Jonson just snorted coldly.

"No one will agree with your whimsical idea, Riemann. No one should govern us except the Lord of Mankind. Even the position of Warmaster is only to better serve the Emperor: Warmaster It is the hilt of the Emperor's sword, allowing him to hold his own blade better. The Warmaster should not have his own thoughts, and this should be the case for any organization composed of Primarchs."

"Your idea is quite novel, Zhuang Sen, but it's a pity that I don't fully agree with it."

Leman Russ shook his head. His eyes glanced at the exit of the command headquarters, and his finger pointed at the Dionysian Spear leaning against the wall. It seemed that the Fenrisians were already paying attention to the battlefield. Beyond here.

"But I do have an idea. Just listen to it."

"You should also know, Zhuang Sen, that there have always been voices within the empire against the establishment of a Warmaster. This voice actually exists among the Primarchs because people are afraid of the rights and status of the Warmaster position and do not want to Let anyone ascend to this position on the same level as the Emperor."

"But if, I mean if: if you put forward the theory of this supervision committee when you are running for war commander, and the first supervision target of this committee will definitely be the highest-ranking war commander, then will you How about breaking the bad feelings in many people's hearts and even gaining more support?"

"..."

Zhuang Sen blinked, and his face froze for a moment, as if he was thinking very seriously and deeply.

Leman Russ laughed.

"Well, this is actually just a whim of mine: this matter has been lingering in my heart. I just want to find someone to talk to before the war starts, otherwise I will always have a tangled feeling: my bastards It’s not very suitable for this kind of thing. After thinking about it, it’s just you.”

"Thank you for listening to me chatting about these things, Zhuang Sen. It's time for me to go to the battlefield. My troops are probably waiting for me. Without me, they won't dare to launch the next charge."

"goodbye."

"...Ah, goodbye."

Zhuang Sen was stunned, and said goodbye to his brother with some hesitation.

Then, he once again looked at the complex tactical map in front of him, and after thinking for a while in silence, he shook his head dejectedly and forced some thoughts out of his mind.

But just as he focused his attention on military issues again, an idea flashed through Caliban's mind: like a cunning meteor.

Morgan, how long until you come? I don’t know how she views this issue.

after all……

…

What Leman Russ said makes sense.