Marneus Calgar—the Ultramarines Chapter Master, now the Legion's deputy commander—was also nicknamed the ICU War God, or the ICU Immortal.
He treated the ICU like home—injured many times, yet stubbornly climbing back to his feet. In some older books, his limbs had been gnawed away in the first Tyranid invasion.
Yet in later books, his body had mysteriously regrown. When Rhodes first arrived on Macragge, he was curious.
Under the pretext of medicae treatment, he examined Calgar and found that his limbs had indeed been extensively gnawed by Tyranids, though not completely destroyed.
With a medicae pod's help, Calgar fully recovered, then went to Holy Terra to meet his gene-father Guilliman and the Emperor, and then underwent super-beast augmentation.
Those injuries were gone. Rhodes thought the ICU War God would finally shed that title—
But no. He still had to carry it.
"Lord Rhodes, our worst loss this time is that we lost all the superhuman organs. They were stolen by Chaos," said Chief Librarian Tigurius.
It was his failure—and a loss for all Ultramarines. Those superhuman organs could have created at least ten thousand Ultramarines.
Now Chaos had them, meaning ten thousand Chaos Space Marines could receive upgrades.
"That isn't the greatest loss. The lives of our warriors are what matter most. Organs are things—dead matter.
"With time and resources we can grow more. What truly pains me are the fallen Custodians, my gene-sons, your Ultramarines, and the common folk," said Rhodes.
"Your magnanimity shames me, great Primarch," said the Captain of the 27th Company.
Among Space Marines—even the relatively well-regarded Ultramarines and their successors—attitudes toward civilians were similar; only the Salamanders and their successors truly cared about civilian casualties. He hadn't expected this Primarch to care as well.
"The people of the Imperium are its foundation, and you Astartes are its strength. Both are vital. Remember—all Astartes began as ordinary humans. We aren't born Astartes," Rhodes said.
Upgrading Astartes in this new era wasn't simple. Without his medicae pods, mortality during Primaris upgrades would be high.
Unless the Chaos Gods sustained their Chaos Marines with divine power, success rates would be near zero.
If Chaos had to cultivate from scratch, it would be a cumbersome project—at least a decade to field a new batch of Chaos Primaris equivalents.
And the Zetton bio-muscle, the bone-strengthening serum specially blended via super-beast tech, the black carapace derived from Zetton hide, the tendon coils woven from living regenerative metal, the special brain core—none of these were simple. Even if Chaos obtained them, they couldn't replicate them.
"Lord Rhodes, it seems Chaos has mastered gigantification. What do you make of it?" Tigurius asked.
Originally, with gigantification, the new Astartes, and those special Titan machines Rhodes provided, the Imperium could steamroll Chaos. But Khârn's gigantification had restored the balance.
If there's one, there'll be a second. If a Chaos Chosen can gigantify, then Chaos Champions might follow.
"I'll investigate. You needn't worry. Go make arrangements for Macragge. Your Chapter fleet is in drydock and many matters require your hand," Rhodes said.
This matter did need investigating. How had Chaos gained gigantification?
They could rely on Warp power and the Gods' blessings to gigantify. During the Webway War, the Four had empowered Angron to become giant like the Dark Giant Daram.
But that was a hollow shell—a Warp-inflated giant. Against tens of thousands of tons of real mass, it was paper. Compared to the Emperor's Avatar, the Ace Killer, the Dark Giants, or even regular kaiju, it was nothing—only able to compete in density with Earth kaiju like Red King or Gomora.
But this time, Khârn was clearly different. His body density and physicality were terrifying—and solid.
This wasn't Warp power. It was a special substance—familiar to Rhodes, yet different.
It definitely needed a thorough investigation.
"I overstepped. Forgive me, great Primarch," Tigurius bowed and withdrew.
This was beyond his remit. Better to leave it to the Primarchs.
…
In the next few days, Rhodes, as a Primarch, visited Macragge's wounded and personally checked on Calgar in the ICU.
Then he had Tartarus warp him directly back to Holy Terra—he didn't even return to his flagship. He needed to discuss with Magnus, Guilliman, and the Emperor.
Lion El'Jonson, Vulkan, Sanguinius, and Horus had already left Terra to go elsewhere.
"You're back, Rhodes! How's Macragge?" Guilliman hurried over as soon as Rhodes stepped into the Imperial Palace.
It was his homeworld—the mother of the Ultramarines. If something had happened, the consequences would be unthinkable.
"Chaos was after the new-age Astartes' superhuman organs. They mounted a premeditated strike to seize them.
"They killed the guarding Custodian. Many of my gene-sons and yours fell.
"But the Chaos forces have been driven off. Don't worry—your homeworld is safe," Rhodes said.
"Good. I'll immediately send word to the Lion, Vulkan, and Sanguinius—Chaos might try to steal organ stocks. They should be on guard," Guilliman exhaled in relief.
"Actually, I came back to give you a surprise—but now it's a good news/bad news situation," Rhodes said.
Rhodes had kept Rogal Dorn's matter tightly sealed. Dorn hadn't yet fused with the cosmic phantom-beast, so he couldn't enter the Warp to talk. No one in the Imperium knew he had returned.
"Good news? That's welcome. Your good news never disappoints—let's hear that first," said Guilliman.
The bad news was that they'd lost the organs, and Chaos had gigantification. He hoped the good news would lift his spirits.
"When I campaigned against that Necron Overlord, I found some curious things among his collection—including several cloned Primarchs," Rhodes said.
"That's not good news, Rhodes. Cloned Primarchs are useless to the Imperium now. They should all be humanely destroyed," Guilliman said.
On this, he and Rogal Dorn were of one mind.
"Relax. I've already handled it. Those clones have been humanely destroyed—wiped clean. Nothing remains," Rhodes smiled.
"Good."
"Besides that, the Overlord's human collection included several Astra Militarum regiments and Astartes companies from the Heresy era and across the last ten millennia.
"Among them are some loyalist units, as well as companies from the Sons of Horus and Magnus's sons. I'll return those to their own. As for the remaining traitor companies, my thought is to replace their gene-seed and integrate them into your and my legions. What do you think?" Rhodes asked.
"No problem—so long as they're loyal to the Imperium," said Guilliman.
In the past, there was no way to deal with traitor Astartes. Now, with Rhodes's medicae pods, gene-seed could be swapped. That solved it.
"Now for the main event. Among the Overlord's final exhibits, I found a living Primarch—Rogal Dorn. He vanished back then because he was abducted by that Necron," Rhodes said.
"What!! You mean Dorn? Dorn was kidnapped by that Necron Overlord—and you rescued him?"