The Astartes Family's Notebook

No, that's not right. I'm testing you on behalf of the warband, and you bastard Kars, why are you turning around and boosting my strength?!

“You did a great job, Katz. At your age, even we company commanders wouldn’t do a better job.”

"What about the battle group leader?"

"If you want to join Deathwatch, just say so. Don't joke around with the Chapter Leader."

"..."

"..."

Those bastards in the Fourth Company are really shameless; we can't give them too much credit.

"Company commander, I did my best. Whether it's Omidas or Skord, I really did my best."

Great, that's it, that's exactly what I wanted to hear!

What are our responsibilities?

"To carry out the emperor's will."

"How can we carry out the Emperor's will?"

Motor Sich apologized to Kaz in his heart, but this kind of inducement was necessary. He needed to know if Kaz's heart was strong enough to live up to the trust of his brothers in the company, and whether he could make a choice that would not damage the honor and loyalty of the band at the critical moment.

Multitasking is truly a divine skill. While feeling frustrated, Kars was also ranting and raving.

No, buddy, the next question you should be asking me is what the Emperor's will is, right? As for how to put it into practice, the Book of Words and Proverbs don't cover that. This question is way beyond my syllabus!

Damn it, haven't I already become a formally employed Astartes in the Empire? Why do I still have to write those rigid, formulaic essays?

Katz, use your Astartes superhuman brain to think carefully about which passage from the Book of Words and Proverbs would be appropriate to follow up on this.

After a moment of silence, Katz spoke.

"If one does not doubt one's own incompetence, then the Emperor will bless him."

How can one be so clumsy as to not doubt?

That old bastard, Motor Sich, what's it about me you don't like today? Just tell me.

"Kill, kill, kill."

Motor Sich laughed. "This little rascal, I'll give you a pass."

"It's really hard to comfort you, Kaz. Relax. One last thing, if you were in command of this battle, what would you do?"

They're still digging the pit; Motor Sich is still lying in ambush with Katz.

"I will blow up Nest City Number One."

"Ok?"

This answer would stump Motor Sich.

"Company Commander, I'm serious. I know that building a hive takes hundreds or even thousands of years, and the value of a large hive city can even be compared to that of the Astartes Chapter. But I still maintain this view: peace will only come after all enemies have been eliminated. Compared to the first hive city, the value of completely destroying those Chaos traitors of the Shadow of Death is greater."

Motor Sich nodded; the review and assessment could be over.

Barely passable.

"Kaz, you are not allowed to tell anyone what I'm about to say."

"Understood, Company Commander."

"In the thirty-second millennium, Inquisitor Damachso proposed a theoretical hypothesis about the Dark Gods, namely that the Dark Gods must rely on mortals to intervene in the real world. The Inquisition and our Astartes Chapter, among others, have followed this theoretical hypothesis in their countermeasures against the Chaos invasion."

That sounds good, I love it, Company Commander, please continue.

"Knowledge is poisonous, and mortals often believe it's a means for the empire to suppress thought. But in this cold and terrifying galaxy, knowledge truly is poisonous. Although this theory has been used for nine thousand years and proven effective by numerous facts, it remains just a hypothesis. What if the Dark Gods are deceiving us through Damachso's words?"

Hmm, Kaz, the Cloud Hammer, had never heard of this Inquisitor Damachor, but he had heard a lot about Tzeentch tampering with Imperial documents, something the Lord of Changes was capable of doing.

And it seems that Slaanesh did it too.

"Therefore, even though this theory has helped the Empire successfully handle countless crises, it is still confined to a small circle and strictly prohibited from spreading. I must remind you again that the consequences of spreading it outside are very serious."

"Yes, I understand. This theory could easily lead to self-destruction."

The young Astartes' mind worked quickly, and Motor Sich nodded in satisfaction once again.

"Therefore, in the absence of stable subspace rifts, there is indeed no need for large-scale, execution-style cleansing."

Motor Sich waited a moment for Katz to process this information.

"Therefore, my order to purge those Nest-top nobles was not because of heresy, but because treason is unforgivable."

Kaz didn't respond, but patiently waited for the company commander to get into the mood.

"The two regiments of Astral Forces we brought with us are not on the purge list. Do you know why?"

"Because they chose to stay?"

“Smart. Why does the report say most of them, instead of all of them? Those who were willing to stay can be spared, but those Astragalus who participated in the internal fighting of Hive City but chose to return have all been purged.”

"Afraid of the spread of chaotic corruption?"

"That's right, the corruption of chaos requires a carrier."

Mercy is not the way to command an army. Kars, no sacrifice is too great to bear. The Sage of Yomi VI has been very merciful in his handling of the aftermath, so merciful that it is not like the style of Mechanicus at all.

For all the Star Guardians who are willing to stay in Skord, the Forgeworld is willing to provide resettlement. On other planets, the incident of soldiers receiving their pay without armor has happened countless times.

So, with such favorable conditions, why insist on "going home"? What does the empire think of that?

Later, Motor Sich talked a lot with Katz, which seriously delayed the work process, forcing the two to work overtime all night.

Because the war has already begun.

To reiterate, the Empire has never acknowledged the existence of any Marcarius Expedition Rebellion.

In just sixty years, the Holy Terra has barely had a chance to catch its breath.

To support Lord Marcarius's expedition, the Pacific and Solar Spheres poured almost all the resources they had accumulated over the past century into it.

Therefore, in the past sixty years, Holy Terra has not transferred even a single Astral Legion to the new redevelopment zone of the Pacific Sector.

While a thousand worlds are certainly important, does that mean the other hundreds of thousands of worlds in the Taiping Starfield are unimportant?

This war was not, in essence, a suppression of a rebellion, but rather a dogfight among the remaining six leaders of the expeditionary force, each vying for amnesty.

The High Lords haven't manipulated politics on such a large scale in a long time.

The weapons and equipment transported from the Sun Starfield during the Makarian Expedition have not been exhausted even after sixty years, which gives you an idea of ​​the immense resources that Holy Terra invested in them.

Therefore, one can imagine the hatred that Holy Terra harbors towards these individuals who cannot be called rebels.

Leosus's work has been remarkably successful, including the reactivation of the Emperor-class battleship, Lord of Light, which is considered an immortal monument in orbit around the planet Macarius's home planet, now renamed Macaria.

People yearn for stability, and all stakeholders involved in this expedition are growing impatient with the chaos in the Pacific Starfield.

The First Army, which was honored by Makarius, would not allow the name of Saint Makarius to be tarnished, whether out of emotion or self-interest.

The long-term political infiltration efforts have been effective; three of the major powers have already pledged their allegiance to Holy Terra, willing to relinquish a large amount of vested interests in exchange for a safe return to power.

The preparations we're making now are nothing more than a final attempt.

Whether it's four against three or five against two, there's no fundamental difference for Holy Terra; it's merely a matter of cost and consequences.

To this end, Leoths contacted more than one hundred loyal Astartes Chapters.

Although, according to information obtained by Motor Sich, not many were willing to fight to the death, the Astartes Chapters also had few who explicitly refused this large-scale call to war.

A company, half a company, three squads, or even a small team.

The number of Astartes who were willing to respond to the Grand Master of the Inquisition was also considerable.

This is also why Motor Sich is facing this dilemma.

The more effort you put in, the greater your reputation will be. If the Fourth Company is still at full strength, then there shouldn't be any major problems.

However, after a long period of fighting, although some new recruits were added, the number of Astartes brothers in the Fourth Company who were truly combat-ready was reduced to only about sixty.

If we disregard the special circumstances of a four-legged tie, this ratio is actually quite healthy.

Many battle groups typically only begin to rest when their membership level is below 40%.

However, the Fourth Company is special, which is why Madsich needs to wait for the warband commander's satellite message to give a definite answer.

The Fifth Company doesn't know when it will be able to return from the Misty Starfield. The First and Third Companies are on an expedition with the battle group commander and can't be relied on. The Sixth and Seventh Companies also have their own missions and can't be seconded for a long time. The Eighth Company is unresponsive when called, and no one knows what happened to it.

Therefore, if we want to transfer more manpower, we can only consider the Second Company and the Ninth Company.

Unfortunately, the Second Company had to guard the combat barge that was about to be completed, so they really didn't dare to make any rash moves.

That was a battle barge that the warband had spent seven hundred years building. If they lost people, even if Motor Sich apologized with his death, it wouldn't be enough.

Don't think this kind of thing won't happen. The Chaos traitors are having such a hard time. Many warbands are annoyed just to get a frigate. If they had the chance to get an Imperial standard combat barge, there would be plenty of guys willing to take the risk.

Therefore, the second unit really cannot be moved carelessly.

After much deliberation, Motor Sich decided to send the 7th Company back. They were also on patrol missions in the sector and had received a lot of kickbacks from the governor. Their long-term absence would be bad for the reputation of the Desolate Wings.

Although the 7th Company Commander was disappointed, he knew the priorities. Motor Sich was very generous in distributing the spoils of war. This harvest would greatly help the 7th Company restore its Astartes numbers, so he left satisfied.

The company commander of the Sixth Company didn't care. The Sixth Company didn't have any big tasks before, so it was fine for them to continue to work with Motor Sich and enjoy the benefits.

So the twenty combat brothers of the Second Company bid farewell to their old company commander with three glances back, and boarded the light strike cruiser Dreadnought Star to return home.

After much deliberation, Motor Sich decided not to move the Second Company's forces.

Although they managed to contact the Ninth Company, they gave a clear answer: they were busy with other work and couldn't come.

So, even with the fourth and sixth companies combined, and including the new recruits, there were still over ninety Astartes of the Wasteland Wings, not enough to form a full-strength company.

Fortunately, after an internal military democratic vote, the Raptor Legion decided to continue following the Wastewings to reap the rewards.

Yesfee finally understood. The 5th Company's fighting brothers were fine in battle, and the Raptor Fighting Group had no cowards, but expecting these autistic kids to be self-sufficient was simply asking the impossible.

Professional tasks should be handled by the professionals at Astartes.

Fighting alongside the Fourth Company was profitable, and the Fifth Company was truly grateful to the brothers of the Wasteland Wings for this.

Take this incident for example. The Fifth Company originally planned to break up right there in the Skold system, but it was because Motor Sich was generous enough to keep the Eagles behind.

The Grand Inquisitor Leothers certainly has a lot of influence; it's rare to see an industrial world openly supplying weapons and equipment.

For the empire, there is never enough high-end industrial products; even if you have money, you can't buy them, and you have to wait in line to place an order—this is the norm.

Because Motor Sich felt guilty, he gave the Raptor Five a great deal of preferential treatment in the distribution of Throne Coins. The big eagles, who had money in their hands, spent it all and experienced the joy of luxury.

That was truly enjoyable.

In particular, Leos was well prepared, with not only a variety of conventional weapons, but also many heavy equipment that are rarely seen, and even the power armor used by Astartes.

Jessford discovered that the quality of the electronic muscle beams in this world was excellent, and he replenished the stock for nearly two hundred years at once.

And Motor Sich finally resolved a long-held obsession.

The two bathhouses on the Pioneer Star have finally been used to recruit crew members.

Thus, together with the three Fury interceptors and two Starhawk bombers that had been "coordinated" from the Imperial Navy, a small formation could finally be formed.

It wasn't easy, it really wasn't easy.

Don't be fooled by the Imperial Navy's seemingly nonchalant attitude towards crashing planes; acquiring these heavy weapons and equipment is quite difficult for the Astartes.

The Empire did design and build a number of weapons and equipment specifically for the Astartes, but to be honest, some of them were effective, while others were simply a sham.

Take fleet battles, for example. Imperial naval forces use either Fury or Starhawk, but what do Astartes use?

Thunder Eagle!

Why does the Thunderhawk gunboat carry such a large pipe on its back?

Because it needs to meet the artillery fire requirements of deep-space operations...

Being a jack-of-all-trades means being a master of none.

The Thunderhawk gunboat is indeed excellent equipment, but...

Sigh, never mind, let's not talk about it.

With these seven precious aircraft, the Fourth Company will have much more flexibility in its tactical choices when it encounters situations requiring fleet battles.

The Raptor Fifth Company was waiting for their cruisers to arrive from the planet where the repair dock was located to rendezvous, while the Desolate Wings Fourth Company was waiting for clear instructions from the warband commander. For the time being, they all stayed in the planet's synchronous orbit to rest and recuperate.

During this time, Kaz also deeply felt what it meant that there were differences between different warbands.