Warhammer: In the Name of the Emperor

The headquarters of the fortress world is crowded with people. The command center of the entire planet is gathered here. Which line of defense advances, which line of defense retreats, abandons the defense, or launches a counterattack at any cost. The fate of the entire planet is determined here every moment. With the snap of a finger, you can write a new chapter or the end of the destiny of tens of thousands or even millions of people.

So when the defense war started, it has been very busy here. Hundreds of officers and staff staff are working here day and night. They constantly update the theater map, summarize and review massive amounts of data and information, and compile New orders are issued.

Surrounding the rotunda are stepped work areas. Behind each Meditator terminal are full of operators. Officers are running back and forth from area to area, and servo skulls are flying quickly above their heads, like a story. Like a flock of crows passing messages among the world.

Amidst the sounds of keyboard typing and conversations all around, the huge explosions outside the window constantly evoke the firelight shining here. The burning star port shines the dazzling firelight through the windows into the huge circular space of the command headquarters. The explosion The vibrations and the simultaneous firing of tens of millions of orbital weapons mixed with the noisy noise here made everything chaotic.

But suddenly, all the noise stopped instantly. As the huge automatic door beside the command headquarters opened suddenly, everything here suddenly became quiet. All the noise disappeared, and all the noise disappeared with that. He paused as he stepped into the huge footsteps behind the door.

It was an extremely heavy golden power armor iron foot. It suddenly stepped into the command center, using its thick and dull footsteps to press the pause button for all the sounds here. The surrounding people on the steps and the ground Everyone raised their heads and looked at the golden giant who strode in from the door.

He was walking under the tall dome of the headquarters, and the flickering firelight outside the window was still shining on him, shining brightly on his golden power armor. Surrounded by the huge tactical round table in the center of the headquarters, there were many people wearing general uniforms. The commander-in-chief raised his head. He looked at the golden giant approaching and quickly picked up the military cap on the table.

The commander-in-chief put the general's hat on his head, quickly arranged his military uniform, and then stood at attention at the table and saluted the giant who came over, "Commander-in-Chief of the Fortress World Defense Force, and Commander of the 6th Cadian Army, De Reik salutes you, Lord Marshal!"

Drake saluted loudly, and the staff officers on both sides of his table also stood at attention and saluted Vito, who was approaching. They stood upright, like sparse soldiers in the firelight behind them. A long shadow stretched out behind them. .

The three Astartes Chapter Masters standing beside them knelt down on one knee to salute Vito. The tall giant knelt on the ground and made a heavy roar.

Everyone around the table heard the Astartes kneeling, and they all knelt on the ground as if it was a signal, causing them to kneel on one knee involuntarily.

Drake, who was standing, tensed up and looked at the giant who came up to him. He looked down at himself, and the burning golden halo flickered vaguely behind his head, revealing an absolute authority at all times. He did not Any words that need to be said are enough to let everyone present know who is the absolute leader here.

Drake looked up at the burly giant in front of him, and he also looked down at himself. After a moment, the golden giant raised a hand to signal to the people around him to get up, "Everyone, please stand up, we are facing a war, and we have no time to waste on it. These are the polite words."

Vito's voice seemed to be an order, and everyone present immediately stood up. They gathered around the table and looked at the burly giant towering in front of them. The three Astartes Chapter Captains slowly stood up and stood. After settling, they all nodded to Vito, who responded silently, and then looked at Drake in front of him.

"Let me introduce to you, this is Judge Lilith, my companion and most trusted friend." Vito turned sideways and raised his iron fist to signal Lilith, who smiled at everyone with his hands behind his back. Nodding slightly, her charming smile made several young staff officers present feel at a loss.

But they soon regained their composure under the guidance of the people around them. Vito looked at them and smiled, then raised the power claw on the other side to signal to Yiyanna on the other side. She held it with one hand. Holding the scepter, the other hand lifted up the red hair next to the pointed ears and tucked them behind the ears, revealing the pointed Eldar ears.

Everyone present looked at the pointed ear, especially the local bishop of the state religion, who almost instinctively showed a look of disgust. The rest of the people were not much better. The hostility on their faces hardly required any keen observation. You can tell.

But Yiyanna just smiled, and then stood next to Vito with her hands behind her back, and nodded slightly to him to say yes. Vito also looked at her, smiled slightly, and then raised his head majestically. Looking at the top leaders of the local planet present.

"This is Iyanna, the prophet and representative of the Eldar. I believe Admiral Spier has told you before that we have formed an alliance with the Eldar. I hope that the Admiral has convinced you for me. Because I don’t want to waste time on this issue.”

Vito stared at Drake in front of him with majestic eyes. The latter spoke cautiously with a slight nervousness. However, this cannot be blamed on him. After all, whoever stands in front of a god in the eyes of the empire for the first time will not feel nervous. Woolen cloth?

"Yes, sir, Admiral Speyer has informed us. Although some of us do have doubts about this, we will obey the order."

Vito stared at Drake in front of him, and then raised his head slightly to look at the other people in front of him. His eyes scanned them, and he spoke in a low voice, "I hope that the Commander-in-Chief can say what he just said on your behalf. Right? Lord Bishop."

The bishop who was directly hostile to Iyana just now was stunned. He watched Vito turn around hurriedly and nodded repeatedly, "Of course, sir, in the name of the emperor! I and my church obey your orders." All orders."

"I believe you will. So now, let's start the meeting. Technical Priest, connect to the holographic image signal. Admiral Speyer and Captain Reina will participate in the meeting remotely on their own ship."

As Vito spoke, he raised his hand slightly towards the priest of the Mechanicus at the table. The latter immediately nodded in response, and then a long and curved mobile data cable stretched out from his armpit and inserted into the tactical round table. The superior fired two holographic projection beams and quickly outlined the images of the two captains at the table.

Spier and Reina stood at the tables on the left and right sides of Vito. They turned their heads and nodded to Vito in front of the table. The latter also nodded slightly and looked towards the table again. He raised his hand and approached Spier. The iron fist on one side signaled, "Let Admiral Speyer introduce the peripheral situation first, Admiral."

"Yes, Marshal." Spier nodded affirmatively and then turned to the people at the table. Everyone, especially the three chapter leaders, immediately looked over. The admiral faced them and pressed his hands on the tactical map in front of him. on the table.

"The Gothic fleet has intercepted and repelled the Chaos support fleet on the periphery, and the Eldar fleet has destroyed another Chaos ground reinforcement fleet coming from the storm outside the galaxy, so in the short term, they should not be able to move forward for the time being. Coming to support.”

"But this is only temporary. The Chaos army is endless. As long as the battle on the planet is not won, they will definitely continue to come here. So the key to victory lies in the fortress world." Speyer said and shook his hand. He raised his fist and knocked on the table in front of him. Through the sound transmission of the holographic image, the sound of him knocking on the physical tactical table on the bridge also echoed here.

Vito nodded slightly, then looked up at Commander-in-Chief Drake aside, "The Admiral is right, the key to victory lies on the ground. Tell me the current situation in the fortress world. Be brief, Commander-in-Chief."

"As you command, my lord." Drake said and waved his hand to the mechanical priest on the side, who immediately nodded. After the mechanical arm operated at the tactical table, the hologram of the fortress world was quickly projected on the tactical map. The map, the rotating sphere, was flashing with countless warring light spots, layer by layer, arranged from the ground to the orbit.

"As for the current situation, Chaos has occupied the eastern half of the planet. They assaulted and captured the starport on the eastern half, and forced the defense forces to retreat through orbital bombardment. During this period, the Chaos Space Marines launched an attack with the assistance of demons like sea water. A deadly assault was launched, taking advantage of the retreat of the Guardsmen and piercing our lines away from the defensive positions."

As he spoke, Drake raised his hand and waved it in front of him. His face was illuminated by the holographic image of the planet suspended in front of him. "The situation was once very critical. When the Chaos Space Marines were at their most dangerous, they almost attacked near the orbital elevator in the Western Hemisphere. , but they were eventually eliminated, thanks to the assistance and help of the Fire Angel Chapter and the Astral Ranger Chapter.”

As he spoke, Drake stood up and signaled to the two Chapter Masters behind him. Chapter Master Harlan Stark of the Fire Angels, and Chapter Master Tualatin Valk of the Astral Rangers both nodded to Vito. Especially Captain Stark, he took a step forward and clenched his iron fist and said.

"Our battle group, after the head of the think tank received the enlightenment from the emperor, led the whole group to come here. In the name of the sacred God Emperor, we will defeat the emperor's army here with thousands of mortal soldiers. Enemy, guard this sacred planet in his name.”

"It must be so, Chapter Master. Thank you for your help, and yours, Chapter Master Vardin." Vito nodded slightly to Captain Stark, and then said to the silent Vardin Chapter beside him. The chief nodded in salute, and the latter also crossed his arms and nodded affirmatively to Vito.

Vito then looked back at Drake and nodded to him to continue. The Commander-in-Chief also cleared his throat and continued pointing to the map in front of him, "With the help of the two Astartes Chapters, we The position on the ground has barely been stabilized. Now the various regiments of the defense force are on the surface, relying on several defensive fortresses to defend. The attacks from Chaos are still fierce, but they continue to defend the position. "

Behind that simple sentence "Still holding the position" are the corpses of thousands of imperial soldiers. Behind that simple sentence is a scene that cannot be described in any words. Countless soldiers died shoulder to shoulder, just to delay their death for a moment. It's just time, so that they can say here, "The position is still maintained."

"But in orbit, the situation is not so optimistic." Drake said, raising his hand to indicate a huge planet orbiting star port in the outer orbit of the planet, which is larger than Vito's. Most of the starports we passed were larger, perhaps only comparable to those on Terra and Mars.

Vito looked at the huge star port. That port could once accommodate a fairly large fleet and could provide a correction and maintenance base for almost the fleet in the entire star field. But now, it was shrouded in dim red. half.

They were slender red blood vessels that snaked along the entire interior of the huge star port, converging into a long tentacle that pierced forward, sweeping in from both sides of the planet and rushing towards Vito. At the current headquarters location on the back of the planet, it seems that no one can stop the penetration of the tentacles.

"At the beginning of the Black Crusade, basically all the fleets stationed locally left and went to the Cadia home planet for support, so we lost part of the control of the orbit on the east side of the planet before the Gothic fleet arrived, and Chaos also Seize this opportunity to expand the results.”

Drake said as he raised his hand and waved it helplessly in front of him. He sighed and looked at the long red waves that swept through most of the star port. "Blessed by the benevolent Emperor, the Astartes are because of With no way to escape due to the intense fighting on the ground, and the lack of Space Marine support in orbit, Chaos is advancing rapidly along the corridors."

Vito stood on the table and frowned slightly as he looked at the holographic map in front of him. He raised his hand and pointed at the space of the planet in front of him. Unlike the chaos on the ground and in orbit, it was extremely clean and there was no trace of battle at all. .

"I noticed that there seems to be no fighting, transportation or airborne landings in the sky of the planet. Are aircraft unable to be used here?" Vito looked at Drake and asked, who also turned his head and nodded.

He raised his hand to Speyer on the opposite side and said, "Yes, the gravity well of our planet is very strong. No shuttle or fighter plane can fly within the planet's atmosphere. Once the battleship approaches the planet's low-Earth orbit, It will also be bound by gravity and then crash. The transportation between the orbit and the surface is entirely connected by the orbital elevator, so the star port is built far away from the gravity range, and the diameter is therefore larger. "

Speyer, who was standing on the side, also nodded approvingly. He turned to look at Vito, who was on the side, and nodded slightly. The latter also looked over, "It is precisely because of this that the ground defenders were able to fight before our fleet arrived. Having persisted here for so long without controlling the universe, the Chaos Fleet was unable to approach low-Earth orbit for bombing due to the strong gravity on the surface.”

"That's why they chose to capture the outer orbit first. After occupying the orbit, they used the orbital defense artillery to turn the muzzle and fire at the surface of the planet for precise bombing. Due to the gravity constraint of the planet, the surface anti-aircraft guns of the Guardsmen It’s useless at all, the shells can’t hit high enough to intercept the bombing overhead.”

Drake turned his eyes and looked at the holographic star map in front of him and raised his hand. He looked at the red occupied area on the eastern half and sighed angrily, "So we were driven out, and Chaos is still moving along the star. "The harbor continues to advance. If we can't stop them, we'll be doomed by the time they take over the western track."

"No need to worry, Commander-in-Chief, I have ordered the Shark Chapter and the Sun Auxiliary Army to launch an attack. They have landed at the star port to face Chaos. If I am not wrong, they should have blocked the attack." Vito said Look at Raina.

Reina watched Vito look around at the people at the table, then raised a finger and pointed at the orbits on both sides of the planet, "The Man-Eating Shark Chapter is starting to counterattack after stabilizing the front from the west with our position as the center. , The Sun Auxiliary Army counterattacked from the east. They are advancing along the orbital corridor. The combined fleets of the Eldar and the Empire are also launching a counterattack in the universe. We have repelled the Chaos fleet offensive. "

As soon as these words came out, people around the round table began to discuss in whispers. Many people showed happy smiles. Even the two burly chapter leaders nodded in approval. Vito looked at the holographic projection. With both ends laughing, he deliberately arranged for Peter and Tiberius to attack from both sides. Considering their previous unhappiness with each other's first meeting, it was obviously inappropriate for them to act together.

So Vito asked them to attack separately and have a game, a competitive and healthy game, to see who gets there first in the center of the other end of the star ring. This will allow them to understand each other and respect each other, and the only thing that will happen is The only unpleasant thing about this game is chaos, so I guess there's no harm in it.

But when Vito smiled, he also noticed that in the pleasant atmosphere of this hall, except for one person, he did not smile and stood there with a cold face.

He stood there silently, holding his helmet under his arm and standing silently. Vito raised his head and looked over. He looked at the melancholy leader of the Lamenters Chapter, "Malakin, you Why is your face full of melancholy?"

Malakin, the handsome Chapter Master with long blond hair, raised his head. He looked at Vito and lowered his head in shame, "I have no words to face you, my lord, and even less to face the Emperor."

"Why? Chapter Master." Vito slowly stood up and raised his power claw and asked, while Malakin sighed longly.

"We were ordered to defend the temple where the key relics were located, but we failed to hold it there. The traitors of the Iron Warriors pushed us out. Many brothers died there and we lost the defense."

Malakin sighed sadly, with shame and resentment on his face, "My brothers and I betrayed the Emperor's trust, and what's even more shameful, I couldn't even organize a decent counterattack. ”

"This is not your fault, brother. The number of Weepers is already very small, and they have to support the battles in various places. You have no way to allocate forces for counterattack. I believe the Emperor will understand." Captain Stark raised his hand Hand said to Malakin.

Valdin beside him also immediately reconsidered. He stepped forward and clenched his fists, "He's right, brothers. You may have lost the temple, but we will get him back! And I believe that it will be in the near future." Within time, we will drive those traitors out of this planet!"

"But I am still ashamed of the Emperor, I am ashamed of the original body, and I am ashamed of the blood of Sanguinius." Malakin still said melancholy, and his pain could almost be seen directly on his face. Tuo then looked at Drake beside him.

"How long has the temple been lost?" "Not long, my lord, it was lost just today." "Very well, Yiyanna, do you think Honso has seized the artifact?"

As Vito spoke, he turned to look at Yiyanna behind him. The latter shrugged slightly and spoke in proficient Gothic that shocked everyone present, "No, he shouldn't have it yet. If I get it from Ark If the database and information are correct, the artifact is buried deep underground in the temple, and Hong Suo will definitely not be able to open the secret passage of the temple, so he can only forcefully open it physically. "

"There is a thick layer of granite that separates the temple floor from the relic chamber. It will take a lot of time to penetrate it, so I guess he is still struggling to dig holes."

The two Chapter Masters looked at each other in surprise. They had never seen such a simple Eldar. I mean, there were no riddles, no convoluted descriptions and metaphors, just two simple sentences. Everything, moreover, sounded like a human speaking. If they closed their eyes, they would definitely not think that the person standing in front of them was an Eldar.

"Then we still have time. We will take back the temple." Vito suddenly leaned on the holographic map in front of him. Drake beside him frowned slightly. He raised his hands and looked at Vito. .

"I don't want to disturb you, sir, but the temple is in the orbital bombing zone controlled by the enemy. In front of it is a large endless plain. All the bunkers on it have been evacuated or destroyed. Chaos can bombard the entire area. That's simply It’s just a killing field, which is why the Lamenters’ several counterattacks failed.”

Vito raised his head slightly and glanced at Derek, then he raised his eyes and looked at the holographic map in front of him in silence for a moment, "I will figure out a way, but before that."

Vito raised his eyes and looked at Malakin, who still looked melancholy among the jubilant crowd. The latter also raised his head and met Vito's eyes.

"Malakim, come with me, we have to talk."