Chapter 147: No Going Back, Yearning for the Great Crusade |
"Lord Romulus, we have arrived in low orbit above Optus."
The ship's captain stood before the command dais, his gaze locked onto the flickering data streams on the fleet's auspex.
His fingers glided across the control panel, adjusting the display parameters to ensure not a single detail was missed. The command deck was cast in shadow, with only the pale blue glow of the auspex illuminating his face, giving him an especially solemn appearance.
"The surface has suffered a massive invasion by the Iron Warriors and their Titan legion ground forces. The central fortress has fallen, but the threat has not yet expanded. The surviving population of the planet is roughly seventy-two percent of pre-war levels, and there are no obvious signs of corruption,"
he continued his report, a hint of relief in his voice. The fact that the planetary surface had not completely fallen was unprecedentedly good news.
"The ground fortress is reinforced with multiple overlapping void shields. Orbital bombardment will have limited effect, so I recommend initiating a surface assault."
The captain paused for a moment, his eyes scanning the enemy troop distribution displayed on the holographic projection.
"Initial estimates of enemy combat power consist of two thousand Iron Warriors, a Chaos Titan legion, and an unknown number of cultist forces."
Romulus stood at the center of the command dais, his hands clasped behind his back, staring intently at the planetary model in the holographic projection.
Clearly, the previous boarding operations had not quite quenched their thirst for battle.
On average, every single Iron Warrior had faced a relentless assault from three or more Sons of Dorn—
These Iron Warriors had truly committed an unforgivable sin to draw such wrath.
"Maintain a minimum level of orbital bombardment, contact the surface defense forces, and transfer control of the anti-air facilities,"
he commanded.
The military officers on the command deck immediately sprang into action, their fingers flying across the control panels as they relayed Romulus's orders.
Romulus's gaze then fell back onto the holographic projection, his brow furrowing slightly.
He knew that the upcoming battle would not be as straightforward as the recent boarding actions.
An Iron Warriors fortress was just as troublesome as one built by the Imperial Fists, perhaps even more dangerous. If an Imperial Fists fortress was an impenetrable wall constructed from solid stone, then an Iron Warriors fortress was a meat grinder forged from steel.
Launching a rash attack would only lead them to repeat past mistakes. They would end up just like Iydris, the commander currently holed up in the fortress below, who had carelessly squandered an Emperor Titan, nearly half his camp, and his own four limbs.
"Dan, as our tactical advisor, we need your input."
Romulus turned his head to look at Dantioch standing nearby. Dantioch nodded, his face completely devoid of hesitation.
He quickly stepped up to the holographic projection and swiped his fingers rapidly across the control panel, bringing up a detailed schematic of the fortress. Although ten thousand years had passed, it still held considerable tactical value.
This facility was one he had personally helped construct.
Back then, the Iron Warriors were advancing from north to south within the inner edge of the Ultima Segmentum. After conquering this planet, which had been occupied by a type of xenos that survived in black mist, they encountered a migrating alien species known as the Hrud, creatures capable of manipulating time, in the subsequent war.
What followed was a disastrous defeat caused by the Primarch's flawed judgment. After severely berating Perturabo, Dantioch, who had aged thousands of years from the ordeal, was exiled to Schadenhold, where he remained until the outbreak of the Horus Heresy.
"The structure is highly complex. There is a vast amount of space available for tactical counterattacks."
Drakus recognized the sheer difficulty of attacking this defensive bastion at a single glance.
Breaking inside would be easy, but exterminating the traitors within would be incredibly difficult. Even with a thorough understanding of the terrain, it would be hard to determine the enemy's fire distribution. There were far too many one-way passages, which could easily inflict immense casualties on both sides.
"We need to destroy these load-bearing zones to compress the enemy's maneuvering space."
Ledodes frowned as he analyzed the fortress's structure. The Black Templars were not merely reckless brutes who only knew how to charge forward; they simply hadn't needed to overthink their strategies ever since Romulus took over command.
Furthermore, they were no longer surprised that these elders could casually pull out relics from ten millennia ago. It was much like the Eternal Crusader, where many functions were only restored after the elders of the Huscarls returned.
"Then we will need heavy weaponry to clear a path. We must blow a breach as wide as possible and push forward in a straight line. Only then will we have sufficient time to evacuate after completing the detonations."
Everyone's thoughts immediately turned to the General Cannon, and they all looked toward Cawl.
"The lost technology has multiple layers of encryption. I am currently decoding it,"
Cawl stated at once. The encryption technology of this Grand General Cannon involved the Dark Angels from ten thousand years ago, specifically designed to counter the current systems of the Adeptus Mechanicus.
Furthermore, the encryption protocols of such ancient technology were so absolute that they remained secure even within the Warp. To bypass them, one could only rely on overwhelming Chaos corruption or decipher them using specialized expertise.
Certain members of the Dark Mechanicum, lacking the necessary knowledge, had attempted to take a shortcut using Chaos corruption. This had historically brought untold misery and endless trouble to the Mechanicus.
Using Chaos corruption was absolutely out of the question. Doing so would compromise all Relic Technology of the same model, resulting in an unprecedented loss for humanity. Thus, physical decryption was the only viable option left.
Aside from tracking down the Ironwing who originally set the cipher, the only ones who possessed the knowledge were Iydris and his personal honor guard down in the fortress.
"Right, this is the combat log we just pulled from the databanks."
Romulus presented another document. Recently, Rameses had been helping him actively search for the Iron Warriors' operational records to run models for targeted strategies. As a result, after extracting the memories of a few Iron Warrior veterans as search parameters, he had managed to uncover the exact tactics Iydris used to operate the General Cannon.
"Iydris once conducted a tactical experiment on the Paradise World of Fioros against over a hundred Emperor's Children guarding a palatial fortress. These are the detailed records from that event. He used this very General Cannon, so it can serve as a reference."
"..."
Everyone stared at the screen, slightly bewildered.
Even the observing Dark Angels wore expressions of pure horror.
'Did the Ultramarines also possess an organization dedicated to surveilling all the Legions?'
'It makes perfect sense. For Guilliman to have coaxed the Lion into participating in the establishment of Imperium Secundus, he must have been planning this all along.'
Evocatus felt it was absolutely necessary to warn the Knight Lord.
Although deep friendship was the strongest bond between them, they absolutely had to remain wary of the ambitious Ultramarines.
"There is no need to rush. We have plenty of time,"
Romulus reminded them.
During the Iron Warriors' invasion, the Dark Angels had rescued a substantial number of mortals and secured more than half of the main fortress city. This meant the forces of Chaos would be severely restricted in attempting any dark rituals.
"Understood."
Everyone nodded in agreement and resumed discussing the operational details.
Under normal circumstances, outside of declaring Exterminatus, it would take the Imperium years to breach such a fortress. Even with the might of an Expeditionary Fleet, the baseline expectation for anyone from the 41st Millennium was several months at minimum.
It was only due to the intervention of the elders and the deployment of various ancient engines of war that these campaigns to exterminate humanity's foes could be compressed into a matter of days.
At the same time, the Adeptus Astartes hailing from the decaying era of the 41st Millennium were realizing more clearly with every successive battle just how miserable their past lives had truly been.
Truth be told, they were still having a hard time adjusting to their current reality.
The combat doctrines of the Great Crusade era were simply far too exhilarating.