Chapter 425 Retreat?

The five Astartes Chapters returned to the Forge World of Atar Median for replenishment and repair. In the final battle with the Cybernetic Legion, the Space Marines suffered heavy losses.

But the Iron Pagoda Regiment had barely a moment to rest, and the fleet had already left the galaxy and set out on another journey.

Because the losses in the last battle were not serious to the regiment and could even be ignored.

During the voyage.

The Chapter Master and his monkey spent all day in the armory of the Purification, studying the dark and heretical technological creations left behind by the black oil man Proteus, trying to crack the mysteries within them, and then arrange for the Phaeton Forge World to replicate and mass-produce them.

Xiao Fei can't help with this kind of thing.

Every man has his own specialty, and he is an expert on Titans.

"Qingshan."

That day Sid Nora suddenly came to the armory.

The Grand Inquisitor looked at the Space Marines and the Space Apes. The two figures, one large and one small, had their backs to him. They were concentrating on disassembling the Umbra Mirror and carefully studying the purpose of each component. They were discussing in a low voice, ignoring him completely. He couldn't help but feel anxious, and said loudly in a hurried tone:

"The battle situation has changed significantly!"

"What changes?"

Fu Qinghai put down the parts in his hand and asked.

"The Titan Legions on each Forge World have suffered varying degrees of setbacks. The enemy seems to have seen through all our tactical arrangements and military force distribution, and has begun to launch targeted counterattacks. I don't know which link has gone wrong, but I am very sure that there must be a traitor among us!"

Sid Nora said in a deep voice.

Fu Qinghai turned his head and said strangely:

"Isn't this something you expected?"

"No, that doesn't tally with my estimate."

Sid Nora explained.

At the very beginning, the Grand Inquisitor who was familiar with the Iron Belt area had come to the conclusion that except for the Atar Median Forge World, which could ensure loyalty, all other Forge Worlds were undercurrents, or had individual forces within them with ulterior motives and were not trustworthy. Some of the Mechanicus sects that appeared to be submissive and loyal had ambiguous attitudes in secret.

Through the battle on the Zhelas space station, Fu Qinghai also felt that the definition of heresy and orthodoxy was very ambiguous, and the boundary between rebellion and loyalty was so blurred that it was not either this or that, black or white. In this case, isn't it normal for a few traitors to appear? What's so surprising?

"According to my many years of experience, this leak is of a high level, a large scope, and a deep impact, involving the deployment of multiple Titan Legions."

Sid Nora said in a heavy tone:

"It is definitely not a core secret that the local forces in the Iron Belt can access. Besides, we have been on guard for a long time, and it is impossible for them to get access to any core secrets."

"You just said...Titan Legion?"

Fu Qinghai caught a key point:

"Then are there leaks in other forces as well? The Imperial Guard? The Imperial Navy? The Astartes?"

"At present, other imperial forces have not discovered any leaks, but you have to consider one thing. The Titan Legion is the main force in this war. Even if other forces leak, it will not be able to affect the war situation."

Sid Nora said.

"Then could it be..."

Fu Qinghai carefully proposed a guess.

"I know what you want to say. I also suspect that something went wrong with the Sage Ruler Hieronymus Gant. I sent an astropathic message to the Sage Ruler to test his attitude. Sage Gant was also very angry about the leak and is conducting a large-scale investigation of the entire Titan Order to find out the cause."

Sid Nora said.

"His anger doesn't mean anything."

Fu Qinghai said calmly:

"There must be a traitor in the Titan Order."

Sid Nora nodded in agreement.

So who could it be?

Sid Nora whispered:

"Hieronymos Gant, who serves as the ruling sage of the Iron Belt War Zone, holds a high position in the Martian Forging Council and is a close confidant of the Forging Commander Zagreos Kane. It is difficult for me to investigate him, at least not directly."

The status of the Ruling Sage is too high, which means that even if one wants to investigate, it can only be done secretly and indirectly.

"Excuse me, even if you can investigate directly, you don't have the ability to investigate a ruling sage."

Fu Qinghai pointed out bluntly.

Generally speaking, the investigation of internal traitors and spies within the Mechanicus is all about hacker skills and electronic information warfare capabilities. How can you, a demon inquisitor, investigate the great Sage Ruler? Not to mention the firewall of thought, just the vast amount of data and information in his mind, if it is opened to you without any defense, it can burst your brain.

In short, the major is not quite suitable.

Fu Qinghai did not know this Ruling Sage, Hieronymus Gant, nor did he know what kind of person he was. However, he was more inclined to believe that there was a rebellion within the Titan Order rather than suspecting that there was a problem with the Ruling Sage himself.

It's not that he believes in the character of the oil man, but because if the ruling sage is a traitor, then there is no need to fight the Iron Belt anymore, the entire Titan Order is in his hands, all the loyal Titan Legions are under his command, and the Dark Mechanicus will win directly. As the ruling sage, if he wants to do bad things, there is no need to use such a low-level method as leaking secrets. So according to this logic, it is highly likely that it is not him.

"In any case, we should complete the tasks at hand first before thinking about these issues."

Fu Qinghai said calmly.

Sid Nora was a little worried.

Although Fu Qinghai and Sid Nora agreed that there were some problems with Marshal Hexu Luo's strategy, before finding conclusive evidence, he would still strictly implement the combat orders and arrangements issued by the highest command of the theater. This was the minimum professional quality as a soldier.

Many Hollywood war movies like to use the protagonist's disobedience to shape his unique image and exaggerate personal heroism. Many domestic military-themed film and television works also follow this trend, especially those starring popular stars. But in fact, no matter which country's army wants to form combat effectiveness, it must first obey orders. This is the most basic prerequisite for an army to have combat capability.

The Iron Pagoda Regiment received a mission to go to the Ni Deline sub-sector to assist the Dawn Stars Titan Legion (Star Traveler Legion) of the Graya Forge World and the Untamed Lords Titan Legion (Tamer Legion) of the Udis Forge World to deal with the Kurissatai Titan Legion (Gatekeeper Legion) that once belonged to the Kalibax Forge World.

The Ni-Drina sub-sector consists of seven stars and their corresponding star systems. It has a large number of resources and habitable planets, including thirteen industrial worlds, two fleet anchorages and one hive world. Although there are no forge worlds here, it is the raw material production site for many forge worlds in the Iron Belt, so its strategic location is very important.

At the end of the Great Crusade and before the Great Heresy, the Iron Belt's Forge Worlds held a meeting every year to discuss how to distribute the resources of the Ni Deline sub-sector. The more powerful Forge Worlds were always able to occupy a larger share, which led to dissatisfaction among some Forge Worlds and was also one of the triggers of the Iron Belt Civil War.

The Iron Pagoda Regiment came to support as ordered.

However, plans always fail to keep up with changes.

As soon as the fleet left the Sea of ​​Chaos and passed through Mandeville Point, it was immediately attracted by the flames of war in the void. The imagined scene of the Loyal Titan Legion, the Imperial Guard and the Imperial Navy dividing and encircling the rebels did not appear. On the contrary, the Iron Pagoda Regiment saw that two frigates identified as the Imperial Navy's Storm Starfield Baka Fleet were being chased by three cruisers of unknown identification.

"Khan, the Imperial Navy has sent a distress signal!"

Bridge, Eugene said loudly.

"Attack those three unknown cruisers."

Fu Qinghai gave the order.

Without waiting for the void shield to rise, the regiment fleet immediately opened fire, and instantly blew up a Tyrant-class conventional cruiser with concentrated fire. Seeing this, the remaining two Indomitable-class light cruisers immediately turned around and fled. The Iron Pagoda fleet had just passed through the subspace and had not yet established a firm foothold. The shield system had not yet been raised, so there was no pursuit, and the two light cruisers disappeared into the depths of the galaxy.

"Ask about the Imperial Navy fleet."

Fu Qinghai just gave the order.

The Star Language Supervisor Xia Long Frospin came hurriedly. The beautiful blind girl stepped onto the bridge stairs and whispered:

"Khan, the theater's highest command has sent an urgent message. The two loyal Titan legions in the Ni-Drina sub-sector have suffered a disastrous defeat. All industrial worlds and fleet anchorages have fallen, and the Imperial army is now hiding in the hive world."

Have you ever fought two against one?

Fu Qinghai looked a little serious.

Although he didn't know the military strength comparison between the three Titan Legions, the Loyal Titan Legion also had the support of the Imperial Guard and the Imperial Navy, so it shouldn't have suffered such a disastrous defeat - all the industrial worlds fell. It seemed that the consequences of the leak were far more serious than imagined.

"What instructions does Marshal Hexu Luo have?"

Fu Qinghai said lightly.

"The original words of the High Command are..."

Xia Long whispered:

"Qingshan Khan will make the decision himself."

Make your own decision?

Marshal Hexu Luo gave Fu Qinghai great autonomy, but it was reasonable to think about it. The highest command of the theater was far away in the Atar Medien Forge World. The Ni Deline sub-sector had just fallen, and they didn't know the specific situation here. How was the distribution of the rebel forces? How many organizations of the imperial army were left? Should they fight back or retreat?

The Iron Pagoda Regiment is the closest Astartes Regiment to here. Instead of learning from Chiang Kai-shek and micro-managing from a distance, it is better to actively delegate command power and let the officers on the front line decide how to fight.

Fu Qinghai is the Chapter Master of the Space Marines.

He has the ability and qualifications to command a campaign.

"very good."

Fu Qinghai said with confidence:

"Contact the two naval frigates immediately and ask their captains to come aboard the Rectification to inquire about the current situation of the entire Ni-Delina sub-sector."

Soon, the two naval officers each boarded a shuttle and arrived at the bridge of the Supremacy.

"Sir."

They both bowed:

"Thank you for your timely rescue."

"What's the situation now, the entire secondary star sector?"

Fu Qinghai sat in the captain's chair, tapping the armrest slowly with his black gauntlets, and asked.

"The Tamer Titan has rebelled!"

The captain came up with a shocking revelation.

"We are covering the Tamer Titans and the Star Traveler Titans to encircle and suppress the rebels of the Gatekeeper Legion. They suddenly turned against us and the Dawnbreakers suffered heavy losses. They have retreated to the Hive World. This is a long-planned action, because another Chaos fleet suddenly arrived in the Ni Deline Secondary Star Sector..."

The two of them talked back and forth, supplementing each other, and soon gave a general explanation of the causes of the war.

"How many troops are left in the Imperial Army?"

"The Dawnstars still have three Warlord-class Titans and five Warhound-class Titans. The navy fleet still has one Overlord-class battlecruiser and three Endurance-class light cruisers. The Imperial Guard Corps still has one regiment of Ulesh Grenadiers left."

"How many troops are left on the rebel side?"

"The Chaos Fleet is a regular cruiser fleet consisting of three Destroyer-class cruisers, three Slaughter-class cruisers, and three Butcher-class cruisers. As for the Chaos Traitors' ground forces, I'm sorry, sir, we don't know much. We just heard that the losses of the Traitor Titan Legion were not very great."

The two captains were well aware of the enemy's naval forces and seemed to have fought against them before, but they knew nothing about the enemy's land forces.

"Destruction level? Killing level? Butcher level?"

Sid Nora asked doubtfully:

"What type of cruiser is this, and which forge world is it from? How come I have never heard of it?"

"These are Chaos warship models."

A naval captain explained,

"Their code names are all newly drawn up by the Imperial Navy, so it's normal that you don't know them, sir."

The Chaos Battleship model appeared so soon?

Fu Qinghai thought this was not good news.

Fu Qinghai originally thought that the Chaos Forces were still using the Imperial warships they had looted that year, but he did not expect that the Forge World under the Chaos Forces had already produced its own models.

Fu Qinghai had played Gothic Warfare in his previous life. Generally speaking, due to the lack of resources in the Eye of Terror, Chaos warships are not as good as Imperial warships in terms of materials, and their comprehensive indicators in defense, endurance, firepower, etc. are all inferior to Imperial warships. However, it is hard to say in terms of technology, because the traitors looted a lot of STCs before hiding in the Eye of Terror, and the Dark Mechanicus has mastered a lot of unique technologies through studying Chaos and Aether, so some Chaos warships are still quite bright.

Or extremely fast.

Or the playing style is particularly weird.

At the same time, the Chaos Navy also has a special existence - the enchanted warship. The entire warship's machine soul and all the crew members on board are occupied by demonic corruption. This is an enchanted warship, also known as a "demon ship". The Imperial Navy has many legends about these enchanted warships. Some people say that they can recover from hull damage on their own and will never be sunk. Others say that they can freely enter and exit the subspace, appearing and disappearing mysteriously, and are not restricted by subspace jumps and Mandeville points.

As long as the demon ships don't appear, the battle group fleet should still have a good chance of winning against the Chaos fleet composed of nine conventional cruisers - because we are good at boarding!

Fu Qinghai thought to himself.

The two frigate captains were still lamenting that the sudden appearance of the Chaos warships had caught them off guard, causing the Imperial Army to lose control of the sea... Fu Qinghai was already thinking about how to take these nine warships for himself.

Fu Qinghai scratched his chin and began to think.

"Qingshan."

Seeing Qingshan Khan's high-spirited expression, Sid Nora whispered,

"What Marshal Hexu Luo meant by 'making his own decision' is that retreat is also an option."

Originally, Sid Nora thought that after figuring out the enemy's military deployment, the Iron Pagoda Regiment should go back and report. There was the Titan Legion on the opposite side, so they should first report the situation to the highest command in the war zone and then wait for follow-up arrangements.

Fu Qinghai turned his head and said strangely:

"Retreat? Why should we retreat?"

Is there any need to ask?

Sid Nora said word by word:

"The enemy has two Titan legions."

Fu Qinghai licked his lips and smiled:

"What about two Titan legions?"

His evil smile.

It feels like the real purpose is revealed.

...

(End of this chapter)