"Let's set off."
Kasjia instructed the captain of the escort ship.
After having the interior and exterior of the Pride of the Emperor and the other escort ships painted with Yriel's Wraithbone nanites... ...Kasjia bade farewell to Fulgrim and, with his Sixth Company of Space Marines, headed to Gardiner to support Ferris.
Fortunately, in the end, after fully satisfying her needs, she had taken the thing off his neck.
It wasn't easy.
It really wasn't easy.
Standing in front of the huge observation window at the bow of the escort ship, Kasjia recalled the Eldar intruder who called herself a Shadowseer from a few days ago.
"Is it right not to interfere? To just let this world inevitably plunge into the cesspool?"
Kasjia looked at the Pride of the Emperor, which was slowly moving away with the surrounding scenery not far away.
Even when it was just a small, tiny dot in the vast universe, Kasjia could still see Fulgrim standing at the window of the ship's bow, waving her hands in farewell to Kasjia.
What a beautiful and fragile existence.
Was he really going to give her up for some ethereal prophecy?
"No."
"I will save all of you."
"All who are worthy of being saved."
Kasjia said silently in his heart.
And with the ship, he stepped into the Mandeville Point.
Not long ago, a transport ship loaded with several thousand new recruits of Space Marines from Chemos and Terra had arrived at the planet Byzas, where the expeditionary fleet was located.
Not only that, the Council of Terra had also brought a large number of Imperial Army regiments as support for Fulgrim.
As for the supply of weapons and equipment, she would have to personally go to the various forge worlds of the Mechanicum to sign supply contracts with them.
With the replenishment of personnel, the Pride of the Emperor could also gradually become a Gloriana-class battleship capable of standing on its own.
And not just a flower vase with an empty interior.
The military schools being built on Byzas would also continuously provide new blood for the Emperor's Children in the future.
From then on, the Emperor's Children, like a patient recovering from a serious illness, could gradually move on their own.
The 52nd Expeditionary Fleet.
The Fist of Iron.
As the vessel of the Primarch of the Tenth Legion, the Iron Hands, the Fist of Iron, compared to the other "Fist" in the Imperium of Man, was more like another "Iron."
Produced on the Primarch's homeworld of Medusa, with the dark, hard Medusan iron as the warship's hull, and nanodeposited plastasteel columns supporting its journey into the void.
According to the Magi of the 52nd Expeditionary Fleet, the machine spirit of the Fist of Iron was impulsive and belligerent, and the desire to engage the enemy at all times filled everything.
Just like the Primarch who controlled it, Ferris Manus.
And as for its interior, it was even more cold.
The minimalist design had no decorations, and the interior of the ship, which was like a bare body, only had some long, strip-like electric lights for illumination.
In the view of the Primarch Ferris, unnecessary enjoyment would only make people weak and lack fighting spirit.
Only an army that had been constantly tempered in a harsh environment was the most combat-effective army.
If it weren't for distinguishing the legion's affiliation, there was no doubt that Ferris would be too lazy to even paint the power armor of the Iron Hands.
She would just go into the battlefield with a grey model, to show the cold ruthlessness and efficiency-first style of the Iron Hands.
The Forge
This was the name of the conference room they were in.
"The distress call from Gardiner... interesting."
"I remember this system. It was once mentioned by Kasjia of the Emperor's Children."
"And you? Sorcerer, with the help of your sorcery, have you ever had such an accurate predictive ability?"
Ferris asked, on the iron throne in the flagship.
Sitting below was a psyker Librarian from the Thousand Sons legion, Amal.
His skin was as dry and red as his gene-father's.
"I'm sorry, Lady Ferris, I—"
"We have already sent an astropathic message to the 28th Expeditionary Fleet as you instructed," he chose to evade the question.
"The ship of the Emperor's Children is already in contact with us. When this little prophet arrives, our meeting will officially begin."
Fortunately, the 52nd Expeditionary Fleet, where Ferris was, was not far from the location of the flagship of the Emperor's Children at this time.
"Lady Ferris, the Emperor's Children await your command."
Not long after, a giant in magnificent purple-and-gold armor opened the heavy, giant door of the Fist of Iron.
Arcur Tona.
Captain of the Second Company of the Emperor's Children, Sword Saint, First Sword of the Phoenix.
And also the person in charge of the exchange company between the Iron Hands and the Emperor's Children.
Among the three legions in the Imperium of Man that currently had female Astartes, the Primarch of the Ninth Legion, the ghoul legion, that one with the angel wings, was currently studying in Horus's fleet.
And it was clear that after excluding the ghoul legion that no one would like, the relationship between the remaining two, the Emperor's Children and the Iron Hands, had also become closer.
After Fulgrim had also joined the Great Crusade, they would from time to time send a small detachment to the other's expeditionary fleet for exchange and study.
A Techmarine from the Iron Hands was still working on the Pride of the Emperor now.
"Welcome, child of Fulgrim."
"Please, be seated."
She was not in a good mood today.
As for the reason, it was also very simple.
That one, Arcur, had beaten the Iron Hands in a mock drill again.
And it was the kind of complete and utter defeat that left no room for mercy.
If only Arcur had a little more emotional intelligence, and had held back a little, it wouldn't have made her feel so annoyed.
So useless!
You Iron Hands!
In the Great Crusade, every legion had its own unique legion culture.
And in the Iron Hands, Ferris had divided the legion into six clans, and encouraged mutual competition and friction between the clans to improve the legion's competitiveness.
As for the result, it was of course— ...useless.
They were still easily defeated by Arcur alone.
Ferris was also furious at the thought of this.
What's going on, what's going on!
Clearly, after countless wars of blood and fire, their level is still no match for the best of the other legions!
This generation of Iron Hands is the worst I've ever led! She glanced at the Iron Hands present with dissatisfaction.
"You make me feel ashamed."
And under Ferris's negation, they burst out in strong protest.
"No, Iron Mother! We are not weak."
"We will adapt. We will do better next time!"
"That's what matters, isn't it?"
Kasjia, looking at Ferris, who was gradually heating up on the iron throne, tried his best to hold back his smile.
The Iron Hands, another extraordinary legion of the Great Crusade era.
Of course, a large part of their extraordinary behavior was also inseparable from Ferris's deliberate division and balancing.
As a social Darwinist, Ferris's theory of the strongest within the legion, although it could serve as a certain incentive for the soldiers... ...it was fine when Ferris was around. She could control the competition within the legion to remain just competition.
But once she was gone... ...the entire legion would fall apart and be unable to achieve a unified command.
Even with the second most black technology in the universe, the divided Iron Hands still did not perform well in the Great Betrayal.
I hope that in the upcoming Gardiner campaign, I can resolve the internal conflicts of the Iron Hands and prevent the tragedy from repeating itself.
Kasjia thought to himself.
"Iron Hands, you seem to be unconvinced, don't you?"
And just then, Ferris's gaze also fell on Kasjia.
This was the reason Kasjia had come.
She had invited Kasjia to the Iron Hands because she had seen his powerful ability to train new recruits.
To be able to, in a short period of time, train a group of soldiers who had not experienced large-scale warfare to be able to fight against elite veterans on the frontal battlefield.
If a part of the Iron Hands' clans were handed over to him for a period of time, their competitiveness would probably increase a lot.
"Then I have a proposal."
"This First Commander of the Emperor's Children, Kasjia Sherlock, will be leading a part of the First Company's Avernii Clan in the upcoming operation."
"My lady, we—"
"Losers have no right to speak."
Ferris cut off the objection from below with a cold voice, and after the field was silent again, she turned to Kasjia.
"I hope that in the time to come, you can teach their iron heads some new tricks."
"Lady Ferris..."
"Do not disappoint me."
Judging by Ferris's tone, she seemed to have given Kasjia no right to refuse.
"Yes, my lady."
Kasjia could only curse inwardly.
You want me to teach these iron blocks the thinking patterns of normal humans in a few days?
Seriously?
"Next, it's the main event we're about to face."
"Speak, sorcerer of the Thousand Sons."
Ferris, seeing that Kasjia and the First Company of the Iron Hands had no more objections (forced), turned to the Thousand Sons Librarian at the side.
"What kind of challenge did you encounter on Gardiner?"
The Gardiner system was originally the target of one of the Ultramarines' expeditionary fleets.
As a diplomat of the Ultramarines, this Librarian of the Thousand Sons had failed in his negotiations with the other side, and a war had broken out between the two sides.
"And... this is your result?"
Ferris's voice was trembling.
Her silver, liquid-like arm gripped the handle of the iron throne tightly. If it weren't for the fact that this throne was made of hard Medusan minerals, the handle would probably have turned to dust under this grip.
"Five hundred thousand Imperial Army soldiers died on the battlefield, and over a thousand Astartes are missing in action!"
Countless resources, all wasted by your clumsy and incompetent command?!
"Not to mention half a Legio Titanicus was wiped out!!"
Ferris particularly emphasized this point.
It seemed that in her eyes, which held no sympathy, the value of the latter was significantly higher than the former.
Faced with the defeated remnants who had come for help, the Gorgon showed her fierce fangs.
"We... we did not expect the other side to use an oversaturated nuclear weapon strike."
The Ultramarines were originally at an advantage.
In an instant, a large-scale nuclear weapon attack from Gardiner had instantly destroyed the Ultramarines' position.
Not only that, the nearby satellite cities would also be affected by the fatal radiation for the next few decades.
This was the last thing they wanted to see in the Great Crusade.
The residual radiation would greatly increase the cost of governance and the time cost for the Imperium of Man.
And what the Great Crusade lacked most was time and cost.
"Unexpected! What an 'unexpected'."
Ferris held her head in annoyance.
She had thought the Iron Hands were already stubborn enough, but she had never expected to meet guys who were even more stubborn than them.
Perhaps the Ultramarines didn't need any command in war anymore.
From now on, they could just hold a standard-issue military book for the rest of their lives and fight according to the articles in it!
Ferris looked helplessly at Kasjia at the side.
His helmet was still painted the bright red from before, which clashed with his purple-and-gold armor.
The Gardiner system, as one of humanity's pocket empires, possessed a total of eleven planets in the entire system, and even retained many advanced creations from humanity's Dark Age of Technology.
Compared to the native friends on Byzas, they were much more formidable.
Therefore, the Council of Terra had requested that they preserve all the facilities on it as much as possible, so that they could be better put into the service of the Great Crusade.
In other words, no Exterminatus.
"My lady, I can understand your anger," the Thousand Sons Librarian said, trying to comfort her. "But we don't need to take any risks. We just need to trap them in the Gardiner system and wait for the help of other reinforcements."
"Lord Guilliman's reinforcements will arrive smoothly in just two weeks of Warp travel."
Lord Guilliman is on his way!
Heavens, it's Lord Guilliman!
He's on his way again!
But thank goodness, this time the reinforcement time was two weeks, not nine hours.
"Oh?"
Ferris's eyebrows raised slightly. "You mean to say, I should just wait here like a coward until the great and wise master of the five hundred worlds arrives, and let him decide the next course of action, is that right?"
"No! Lady Ferris, that's not what I mean!"
"No? If it's not, then you shouldn't have proposed any plan that would make the Iron Hands stop in their tracks."
Just like her other siblings, Ferris did not like Guilliman.
She even loathed him.
And what was even more loathsome was that everyone else actually thought that only Guilliman could handle this matter with the most appropriate means.
"Two weeks, is it? Then let's get this all sorted out before he arrives."
She turned her head and glared at the Iron Hands Terminators beside her.
"Go and get the legion ready."
"Also. Kasjia, you come with me."
Ferris called him out alone.
"It's Amal! Amal's signal!"
"Our Thousand Sons Librarian, he has found the nearest reinforcements!"
On the smoke-filled battlefield of the main planet of Gardiner.
"He has sent back a signal through the astropaths. We will have reinforcements soon!"
It must be our Primarch, Roboute Guilliman's Twelfth Fleet, right?!
The Chapter Master of the Ultramarines, Cicero, was overjoyed.
At the very least, it would be a group of capable reinforcements, enough to help them hold out until the arrival of Lord Guilliman's Twelfth Expeditionary Fleet.
Once they got Lord Guilliman's support, everything would be alright!
"Neither?"
"What!? The arriving fleet is Ferris Manus's?!"
Click.
The communicator in his hand fell to the ground.
The dusty face of the Ultramarines Chapter Master, at this moment, showed a smile of resignation.
Haha.
It's the Iron Hand, Ferris!
We're doomed!
-------
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