After their rather heated exchange, Titus and Gadriel both fell silent, continuing to press on with their journey. Chairon walked at the very rear of the group, sandwiching Marcus between himself and the two in front.
Marcus, in the middle of the group, pondered how he would deal with the Chaplain and the Captain later, while also observing the internal structure of the battle barge.
Along the way, humble serfs in ragged clothing occasionally walked past them. Upon seeing them, these humble serfs all knelt in greeting, muttering various praises for the Ultramarines and the Emperor. Marcus listened curiously for a moment, finding that these humble serfs had a great variety of praises, with not a single repeated phrase.
As humble serfs under the Ultramarines, these individuals did not appear as sallow and emaciated as humble serfs on other Imperial faction ships. Aside from the Salamanders, the Ultramarines could be considered one of the Astartes Chapters that treated mortals the best. Even the humble serfs on the ship would never experience hunger, and their mental state was quite good.
However, Titus, Gadriel, and Chairon were accustomed to this, not even glancing at the humble serfs, simply walking past them.
Besides these numerous humble serfs, Marcus occasionally saw servitors whose bodies had undergone extensive modification, with many mechanical parts embedded in their flesh, performing various heavy manual labors. The origins of these servitors were very complex; most of them were clones born from Adeptus Mechanicus flesh-cultivation factories.
But there were also refugees, criminals, and even volunteers forcibly conscripted from various refugee planets… That's right, some even voluntarily became servitors, these things whose souls were imprisoned in flesh, forever only able to work according to pre-programmed procedures on punch cards.
If a certain blue-skinned alien from the Warhammer universe were to see servitors, they would surely exclaim 'For the Greater Good!' and furiously condemn the Imperium of Man… Even Marcus, seeing so many servitors, couldn't help but feel a chill down his spine, a sense of dread.
Shaking his head, Marcus quickened his pace, catching up with Titus in front.
Just as they were passing a large room from which binary prayers and the scent of incense emanated, a tall dreadnought caught Marcus's attention. Several Adeptus Mechanicus priests were gathered around this dreadnought, using incense and prayers to soothe the machine spirit within.
From its appearance, this should be a Redemptor-class dreadnought developed by Archmagos Cawl. The surface of this Redemptor dreadnought was covered with various scars; it seemed to have just returned from the battlefield and was undergoing repairs.
"It seems the situation on Kadaku is not optimistic; even a dreadnought can sustain such severe injuries," Marcus mused inwardly. In fact, Marcus and his companions did not directly confront large-scale Tyranid forces when they reactivated the orbital cannon, so they did not encounter those truly dangerous Tyranid units.
Upon seeing the dreadnought, Titus and the other two stopped in unison, bowing in respect. "Elian once told me that if he were wounded and unable to fulfill his duties, he hoped the Chapter would inter him in a dreadnought, so he could continue to serve the Imperium," Gadriel said, looking at the dreadnought before him.
Titus and Chairon remained silent. Marcus, however, watched everything with interest; he had no intention of intervening in the conflict between Gadriel and Titus at the moment.
"Let's keep going," Chairon broke the silence first. After a brief stop, the group continued on their way.
A few minutes later, they arrived in front of a massive elevator. They stepped onto the elevator, pressed the ascent button, and the elevator began to slowly ascend, heading towards the bridge.
On the ascending elevator, Marcus could now see a panoramic view of the battle barge's interior. Inside the battle barge's hull, thunderhawk gunships and other types of flying vehicles continuously moved in and out, transporting large numbers of personnel and various supplies and equipment.
From the hull's entrance, one could also get a slight glimpse of the entire Imperial fleet's situation. With his superhuman vision, Marcus could clearly see that not only the battle barge, but other Imperial warships were also continuously disgorging numerous small flying vehicles. These flying vehicles were loaded with combat personnel and military supplies evacuated from Kadaku.
Given the scale of the entire Imperial fleet, it wouldn't be long before all useful personnel and resources on Kadaku could be evacuated to the nearby hive city world, Avarax. If nothing unexpected happened, the Imperial fleet's next plan would likely be to unleash an exterminatus on Kadaku, preventing the Tyranids from recovering much biomass.
However, the Tyranids currently had little disadvantage in the void war; even after losing a hive ship, they maintained a fierce offensive. And even now, Tyranid bioships were continuously arriving from the edge of the star system, joining the Tyranid fleet.
Therefore, it should be difficult for the Imperium to implement a full exterminatus on Kadaku; at most, they would exterminate a portion of the area, weakening the amount of biomass the Tyranids could recover as much as possible.
In addition to the flying vehicles transporting troops and supplies back and forth, many fully equipped Ultramarines, ready for deployment at any time, could be seen on the internal decks of the battle barge. Once operations on Kadaku were complete, these Ultramarines would be immediately air-dropped onto the hive city world of Avarax, assisting the local millions of defenders in their defensive efforts.
Relying on the complex terrain of the hive city and its more abundant combat material reserves, Avarax should be able to hold out longer than Kadaku.
"Clunk… clunk…" The sound of gears stopping interrupted Marcus's thoughts. Looking up, Marcus could see two fully armed Ultramarines, holding bolters, guarding the elevator exit. Upon seeing Titus on the elevator, the two Ultramarines saluted, then moved aside.
Following Titus out of the elevator, Marcus arrived at the brain of the entire battle barge—the bridge. Marcus could see an Ultramarine wearing Phobos pattern power armor standing next to a holographic map. And behind this person stood two Ultramarines honor guard members, wearing honor guard power armor, winged helms, and wielding power swords and storm shields. This person was none other than the Captain of the Second Company of the Ultramarines, Archagellan, who had survived the Battle of Vigil.