Warhammer: In the Name of Ashes

"Go to the command hall!" Calvin said to Nicholas. This is no longer the time to hold people accountable. If there is a problem in Goth, the first one to bear is the security of the forging world.

He is not worried about these followers of the God of All Machines. Their martial virtues are ranked among the best in the entire empire.

But under his command, such loopholes appeared in the war zone. This would not only cause a blow to the morale of the entire war zone, but also make the Forge World, which already has its own small thoughts, become more reserved.

The adjutant of the Imperial Fist walked directly at the front of the team as a guide, and the Forbidden Army Captain Nicholas followed Calvin. In just ten minutes on the road, the defenses in various parts of the war zone were unfavorable, and news came one after another that key areas had been lost.

Directions to Pesma:

The first three layers of defense belt in the outer orbit, after its iconic core star fort was breached by the Death Guard, its attached peripheral defense system collapsed immediately;

Peiwei Wu is in a state of assembly, preparing to support the fifteen Astral Legions on the front line, and a complete company of Talos is trapped.

Inner ring area:

Turab's troops, under the favorable conditions of orbital space control, were in a strategic position to deal with the sub-core of the war zone, and used the main force of the Purifiers to deal with threats on the Pesma continent;

Together with a total of eight teams, including himself, in a limit of 120 hours, they used orbital strikes and psychic transmission to perform nearly a hundred "surgeries" on the chaotic pollution sources scattered in various locations on the continental plate. "Knife" style strike.

The effect was not unobvious. It basically fulfilled his promise to Calvin and Talos, and completely suppressed the possible disaster in Pesma in a short period of time.

But...everything has a price.

The price for the centralized use of Purifiers was that the orbital defense inner ring, which was also contaminated by the Death Guard's early suicide attacks, became a victim of Turab's emphasis on the local area.

Plague, subspace anomalies, spread of chaos beliefs, large-scale non-combat attrition...

The inner ring of the Pesma orbit is close to the defensive belt of the mainland, and the instability in morale caused by many abnormalities has become obvious.

With both the Inquisition and the Gray Knights operating at full power and having no time to worry about, Talos and the generals of the Astra Militarum who were responsible for the defense had no other choice but to send out the organic Astra Militarum Legion to suppress it. order on each node.

But everyone knows that until the source of chaos and corruption is investigated, this seemingly effective measure will only provide a breeding ground for even greater rebellion in the future...

Both the Pesma decision-makers and Calvin on the other side of the galaxy knew this clearly.

Even within the military command department of the Gothic system, some permanent members of the Tribunal have intervened in the military command system with the active cooperation of the military, recording every order that sent those legions forward from the perspective of a bystander.

And this kind of order is the reason and basis for the imperial officials, headed by the Tribunal, to be lenient when they are purified if these legions are really contaminated and rebel in the future...

They have already met the fate of these lives, and they even prepared the ending for these people as early as the beginning...

They all know the risks of doing so, but they also have no other choice in the current situation.

They are all betting that in this cruel game, when the two unstoppable war machines of the enemy and ours are operating at full strength and fighting to the death, it is not their side that will collapse first...

Especially Calvin himself, after actually setting foot on a battlefield of this scale, he finally understood what reasons or considerations led those heroes who could leave their names in history to make such moves. Decisions that were controversial in the eyes of future generations.

This is war...

This is also the lag and inefficiency that will inevitably occur after the huge war machine is suddenly launched, and it involves immeasurable interactions between people and things.

And Calvin knew that this was an inevitable period of weakness after the scorched earth strategy he had led before had overdrafted the war potential of the defending troops.

The defensive posture of the entire battle is like a bowstring that has been stretched out for a long time but has been stretched to the extreme. At this moment, the one standing on the front line to withstand the attack of the Chaos Astartes Legion is the one who follows the bowstring. The sound of "collapse, collapse" was heard from the falling paint layer and the bow arm that was struggling to support it.

There is no absolute defense. If the scorched earth strategy wants to achieve the desired effect, it must launch an effective counterattack at key locations and cause heavy damage to the enemy!

There is no absolute loyalty. Even the most determined soldier needs to know that his dedicated life will not be wasted before he sacrifices...

You have to fight back, and you must succeed with one blow!

As for this counterattack, even Calvin had already begun to prepare for this counterattack as early as the beginning of the war and the scorched earth strategy.

The conceptual attack on the Death Guard Legion is the forerunner of this huge counterattack!

But the problem now is that he knows that this counterattack is brewing, and he also knows the necessity of perseverance and sacrifice at the moment.

But do the grassroots officers and soldiers at the middle and lower levels know?

Will the information isolation caused by the scorched earth strategy make these people mistakenly believe that the empire has abandoned them;

Will those soldiers who have stood on the front line long enough collapse in the final darkness before dawn...

"grown ups!"

The crowd parted to both sides, and people came and went to pay their respects to Calvin.

Feeling the aura emanating from them, especially the expectations placed on him, Calvin was reminded once again in his anxiety that he was the only one among them all who could not be impetuous.

"Get up!" Calvin raised the corner of his mouth and raised his hand to signal to the people on both sides.

Amid the cheers of the crowd, he stretched out his hand to lift up the representative of the Tribunal who came to greet him. Then, the moment the two people's eyes met, a subtle voice sounded in the other party's ears.

"I want a local holographic sandbox in Goth. Is there one? If not, just build one for me temporarily!

Also, establish long-range communications and get through to Tindaros and the headquarters of the Astra Militarum representatives. remember! Don't make too much noise! "

"As you wish." The judge was stunned for a moment, then immediately realized what was happening.

He lowered his folded hands from his shoulders and bowed back as he answered to Calvin.

"The sand table is on your left front, the one next to the porthole."

After handing over the information, the Inquisitor immediately resigned. At the same time, following the Blackstone Fortress, they had arrived at the Astra Militarum headquarters at the Gothic Center Defense Hub. An Inquisitor who was on standby suddenly appeared in an unnoticed corner. , opening your eyes from standby meditation.

The crowd in the center of the hall is bustling, with hundreds of messages coming in and out every moment. The low-ranking officers of the staff have a data pad in one hand and a headset in the other to confirm the received messages from time to time;

Under their orders, the servitors carrying heavy beacons updated the signs representing the life and death of countless soldiers on the huge sand table in real time.

In front of the sand table of a small star fort in the corner, 11-25 was having a heated debate with his temporary partner, Lieutenant General Moore of the Astra Militarum.

"I don't care! I just want this Star Castle!"

11-25 tugged at the tie on his military uniform shirt, and the corners of his cracked mouth were exactly the same as Calvin's.

"But the battle damage of that regiment has exceeded 60%! There is no way it can survive until the support troops arrive!"

"Then don't support us, just order them to counterattack!"

"But it is already an isolated island! It has no saving value!"

"Whether it's valuable or not...it's not you or me who has the final say!"

"Yes! What I said doesn't count! But there are five regiments! Just for this star fort, we have invested five regiments!"

"so what?"

"Not great! But it's not worth it!"

Moore was still arguing, trying to change the opponent's will, but 11-25 on the other side remained unmoved, even if Moore's saliva splashed on his face.

This had been an incalculable number of quarrels since the war began. The two men had completely opposite military styles, which made Moore miserable as his deputy.

One star fort and the ten attached weapon platforms have almost eliminated the six integrated Astral Legions in Moore's hands.

Although the Astra Militarum was a great cause for the Emperor's moneybags, this kind of dismissal regardless of cost and life still made Maul feel heartbroken.

He was also a junior officer who rose up from the ranks. Although his aristocratic background made his promotion smoother than others, in terms of his service history in lower-level units, he considered himself to be no worse than anyone else.

And treating all his subordinates equally is the biggest reason why he has reached his current position.

The war cannot be fought like this! People can die, but they must be valuable!

Moore's eyes were widened with anger. When he saw the rosette on the opponent's chest, he shrank for a moment, but when he thought of the countless soldiers in the entire galaxy, he risked himself in the next moment.

"I disagree!"

"Okay! Then reserve your opinion and execute the order!"

"I will appeal to the Primarch!"

"Yes! Of course!" 11-25 still had a smile on his face, but his movements towards his waist were full of murderous intent.

The atmosphere between the two was almost at a fever pitch, only for Moore to rebut again.

The lieutenants watching the battle had no doubt that if Moore continued to disobey orders, the general of the Tindalos Army would draw out his gun without hesitation!

However... "General."

The Inquisitor with the original body's order appeared on the edge of the crowd, and then without waiting for their reaction, he squeezed through the crowd and walked behind 11-25.

11-25, whose cuffs were pulled from behind, was slightly stunned for a moment, and then heard the prompt from the judge:

"The Primarch wants to see you."

"see me?"

He gave up the confrontation with Moore and subconsciously glanced at the sand table. If Tindaros could be used at this stage, it would definitely be an extremely critical battlefield.

But the focus of the previous dispute between the two - although the orbital defense on the periphery of Pesma is important, it still does not meet this requirement.

Then only, and only if something goes wrong in Goth's hometown!

11-25 pursed his lips with a serious look on his face and subconsciously touched the rosette on his chest.

That was the last gift his former fourth regiment commander gave him before his death after the entire regiment was wiped out;

It was also with this token that he was able to stand out from the legions that had been shattered and rebuilt, trained in the Titan II fortress group, and assumed his current position.

The Inquisitor to whom this thing belonged had long since died on that battlefield with his brothers.

And he knew that more than once, he saw fear in Moore's eyes, but he had never thought of using it as a blackmail, and he had no intention of explaining to him.

And this time, will he have a chance to give it away again?

"General." The judge urged, while 11-25 glanced at Moore opposite, raised his hand to adjust his appearance, and then turned to leave.

Seeing this inhumane guy walking away, Moore, who had just relaxed, had no time to take a breath when he saw the judge looking at him again after watching 11-25 leave.

"The Emperor's blessing!" Moore was still lucky and tried to get confirmation from the other party's eyes again.

But when the Inquisitor nodded to him again, he could not help but pray to the Emperor.

If 11-25 can be transferred at this time, there is no doubt that only extremely important situations occur;

And if he is also on the original body's meeting list, it can only mean that in addition to the already tragic ground battlefield on the outside, the fourth-class horses of the Astra Militarum will have another place to bleed.

renew.