The Astartes Family's Notebook

Therefore, after the population transfer of Nafar began, the company commander issued a highly flexible reconnaissance order, instructing the eight Astartes warriors who had already landed on the planet's surface not to rush back, but to first carry out reconnaissance missions in the high-risk areas scanned by the Victory Balance's astronomical array.

Whether or not to carry out the operation would be decided on the spot by the three veterans.

Now, the veterans have made a decision: to slaughter them all, leaving no one alive.

They went in pairs, sneaking in from four directions. If they could assassinate someone, they wouldn't fire a shot. They had to make sure not a single scoundrel escaped.

Each veteran mentored a new recruit, and Katz once again became a privileged dog.

"Swain, why are you so nervous?"

Once in tactical group mode, Astartes' tactical helmet will display relevant information about teammates via retinal projection, just like the UI in a game.

Swain, a new recruit grouped with Katz, had a rapid heartbeat and his blood pressure was also rising.

"It's not nervousness, it's excitement. Katz, this is our first real combat mission since joining the company."

It's good to be happy about the prospect of war, but...

"Okay, let's switch roles. You take the lead, and I'll cover."

"Good buddy!"

Swain's heartbeat quickened, the readings of both hearts rising alternately; the dual-engine Emperor was truly terrifying.

What a load of rubbish, Sephiroth! You deserve to die! Look what you've done to Swain! You've failed in your duty!

The objective of this mission is to wipe them out completely, to not let a single Ork escape. I'm here to provide cover so you don't get carried away and forget the mission objective.

A battle that cannot be won is meaningless.

Astartes is such an unreasonable monster; after watching the veterans' instructional videos a few times, the recruits figured out the corresponding stealth techniques.

Despite its flaws, this batch of Orcs clearly hasn't evolved to the point where they can produce special forces kids.

The hunt has begun.

With thermal imaging combined with biological scanning, the darkness could not stop the Emperor's angels from bringing death to the Orcs.

The three veterans in other positions also chose to let the new recruits take the lead in the attack.

All I can say is that Sephiroth truly deserved to die; under his long-term torture, the recruits became so skilled that they were nothing like recruits at all.

The entire battle lasted only three minutes, and all the fart demons and adult orcs were beheaded and had their chests ripped open.

As an old adversary that has been entangled with the Empire for tens of thousands of years, the Mechanicus has conducted in-depth anatomical research on the Ork. Through molecular biology, the Empire has clearly determined that the Orks and the Orks are the same race, only with different traits.

However, the academic community has not yet reached a consensus on whether Sgugh is also an evolutionary branch of the Ork.

New recruits are carrying orc corpses to their campfire to burn, while veterans are showing off their throwing skills to hunt down the lurking Skull.

Eight Space Marines are fighting against more than a hundred Orks, who are still in a primitive stage of society. Even scratches on the paint of their power armor will reduce their score.

So the Blood Ravens...

Alright, I've already insulted the crows too much today. Let's give the Dark Raven Guard some face and not insult them anymore.

After quickly finishing up the remaining tasks, the veteran carefully checked the video recordings and confirmed that the thin orc who had used Wagggh energy optical cloaking was indeed dead before he breathed a sigh of relief.

Orcs are unreasonable. The entire company only has three optical camouflage cloaks, and they are reluctant to use them except for important reconnaissance missions. But the Orcs can become invisible just by muttering something.

That's absolutely outrageous.

If an orc boy who can use Wagggggggh energy appears in a camp, it means that there must be other orc camps nearby that can use Wagggggggggh energy.

This hastily assigned reconnaissance mission is highly likely to turn into a long-term clearing operation, and the situation is not optimistic.

They summoned two Thunder Eagles that were waiting dozens of kilometers away, and used the scanning array of the Thunder Eagle gunboat to check again. After confirming that there were no survivors, the eight people headed to the next mission location.

This time, however, no one will call Kaz and his crew new recruits anymore.

Brothers in arms, only those who have fought together can be called brothers.

Chapter 24 A Grand gesture

What's truly terrifying about the Great Devourer isn't its innate ability to devour everything, but its sheer size—a size that terrifies even the Empire.

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Which came first, the chicken or the egg? That's a riddle, and the answer is the chicken.

Which came first, the chicken or the egg? That is a biological question. The answer is the egg.

The calcified amniotic egg, a reproductive method, predates dinosaurs, so naturally the eggs came first.

In this Warhammer universe, the question of whether the Genestealers or the existing Tyranids came first becomes an ethical one.

From the Empire's perspective, the gene stealers naturally came first.

Because the Great Devourer is not yet worthy of having a High Gothic name.

The first formal contact between the Empire and the Tyranids occurred before M41.745, and one of the main protagonists was the Blood Ravens Chapter, which possessed both divine and demonic natures.

Why is it said to be before M41.745?

Because the judge in charge of investigating the matter, Kriptman, only arrived at the human colony planet officially named Tyran in that year, and named the alien race that destroyed the planet the Tyranids.

The planet Tyran was destroyed so thoroughly that the Inquisitors could not even pinpoint the exact time of its destruction.

But gene thieves are different; the Inquisition discovered their existence long ago.

For a thousand years, however, the Empire regarded the Genestealers as an infected mutation with humans as its host.

The Empire had far too many troubles. Before the Genestealers revolted due to the arrival of the Tyranids, the Genestealers, who were willing to serve the Empire like slaves, were not even considered a threat.

The bio-sages of the Mechanicus even considered optimizing and improving these cattle and horse genes to benefit all five star systems of the Empire.

It can only be said that in the realm of abstraction, the Imperial Double-Headed Eagle never disappoints.

The planet Omidas 1, whose identity has been altered, saw its gene-stealers die unjustly.

In this era before the Tyranids had a name, they were truly law-abiding citizens of the Empire.

Unfortunately, the cultists provoked Marcarius and his invincible expeditionary force. The gene stealers on the planet never understood why their commander issued an extermination order when they were fighting to the death.

Cunning guards the nation's borders, while chaos destroys the country. We must ponder this, we must ponder it!

Marcarius's expeditionary force dropped a virus torpedo, and the world fell silent.

All multicellular organisms underwent cell disintegration, leaving only single-celled organisms such as algae to survive in the entire Omidas 1 ecosystem.

The Empire's viral torpedoes are technology, not metaphysics; they are biological warfare precisely launched by the bio-sages of the Mechanicus against the ecological environment of Omidas I.

The expeditionary force didn't have time to fight the already established cult on Omidas I. Before the evil magic in the warp could take shape, issuing an extermination order was the right thing to do.

In many cases, on planets plagued by cults, the Empire deliberately stalled for time, eventually letting the situation crumble.

War coach Markarius dares to take responsibility, and mechanical coach dares to create viral bombs.

It's that simple.

Leave the land but not the people. Decades later, when the virus disintegrates and disappears, even the nests will be ready. Wouldn't it be wonderful to move in with just your bags?

Yes, that's what the rebels thought, and that's what they did.

The entire star system is not located at a node of the subspace route. Omidas I is of little significance to the Imperial Navy, which relies on subspace travel. However, for the Imperial Charter Fleet, which has a large number of sublight-speed merchant ships, Omidas I is an important legacy of the Macarian Expedition and a crucial planet worth risking to reclaim.

Marcarius's expedition was not simply about how many planets he conquered; the interstellar routes he opened up, or rather explored, along the way are also a valuable legacy.

Omidas 1 is of little significance for subspace travel, but of great significance for sublight-speed transportation in the real universe.

If the promethium refinery on the Omidas I can be restarted, the Imperial Charter Fleet will be able to connect two previously unrelated shipping routes.

Think of all the resources this can leverage, the number of jobs it can create, and the benefits it can bring to the world along the Belt and Road.

Therefore, the "rebels" occupying the planet have their own people.

It's been almost two hundred years since Motor Sich became Astartes. He's killed more people than the fishmongers at RT-Mart. His two hearts are now as cold as ice and as hard as iron.

He thought he had long since become indifferent and lost his passion, but he almost went to Deathwatch to find the fourth company commander, Epsilon.

Omidas I was a trap, a trap that the Empire had designed thirty years ago.

When Marcarius died, the rebelling expeditionary force was busy seizing the world, which was of higher value, and had no time to pay attention to Omidas I, who had been exterminated.

After the internal power struggle, where those who acted first got what they wanted, divided the territory into seven major branches, the big military leaders, who had eaten their fill, were naturally satisfied, while the smaller military leaders below were still hungry.

So when Omidas I was all the rage, nobody paid attention, but once things calmed down, they realized that this beautiful planet was being eyed.

With a push from the invisible hand of Holy Terra, the plan to accelerate the virus's degradation and failure through a large influx of immigrants gained the approval of the rebel forces.

Because it really works.

The Cult of Mechanics is not a god, and it certainly cannot create a perfect virus that will be remembered forever.

With that kind of ability, why be a priest of the Mechanicus? Wouldn't it be better to be a high-ranking person in Holy Terra, the kind of high-ranking person who stands guard for you in the Imperial Guard?

Sacrificing hundreds of millions, or even billions, of civilians would grant one a planet with an industrial base and a completely undamaged capital city.

worth it.

done.

By draining resources from its own occupied territories to fill the hole in Omidas I, Holy Terra not only weakened the rebels' potential strength and divided their alliances, but also planted a major time bomb for the rebels who came to Omidas I to make their fortunes.

That is, the Inquisition directly contacted the Mechanicus Sage who created the virus bomb back then. After a full exchange of benefits, this biological expert, who had been transferred to oversee the Sages, returned to his old profession. Out of respect for Saint Macarius, he created a new virus sample for the Inquisition that could quickly kill all aquatic life on Omidas I.

The decision to preserve single-celled organisms instead of burning all the biomass was made to save the Mechanicus a lot of trouble when restoring the Omidas I ecosystem, since such a task would most likely be done by biological sages like them.

Now that he has changed jobs, the Sage of the Command has experienced the hardships of biochemistry, environmental science, and materials science himself, so how could he possibly consider the path of his juniors?

Academic disputes have always been like this, and the professional hierarchy of contempt within the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering has always existed.

The virus sample has now completed the cultivation process and has been transformed into a new viral bomb.

For Omidas I, which now possesses billions of people, Judge Odachi is invincible.

The only remaining question is how much profit to make.

When it comes to being inhuman, the empire never disappoints its subjects.

In response to Captain Motor Sich's questioning, Judge Odach, while puzzled by the Astartes captain's excessive humanity, readily transferred the virus bomb directly from the Luna-class cruiser to the combat barge Victory Balance.

"It's merely a last resort to ensure victory. Whether to use it or not is your choice, Company Commander."

Odachi readily handed over the key to the security lock, much to Motor Sich's dismay.

In this hellish galaxy, it's too difficult to be a good person, and it's even more difficult to do good deeds.

As a provider of oxygen for the planet and a vital food source to feed billions of mouths, algae were extremely important to Omidas I.

Even after becoming the captain of a Space Marine chapter, Motor Sich still felt fear towards the words "extermination order".

It's not a battle on the battlefield; it's just pressing a button and then waiting for billions of people to die.

I've heard that old geezer, the war corps leader, talk about the fear of issuing extermination orders—a psychological illness that most people don't deserve.

I thought I was fearless.

I'm so slow on the uptake.

Motor Sich felt the key was too hot to handle.

Chapter 25 Gods and Men

Admittedly, this is a cruel universe filled with war and darkness, simultaneously bringing out both the best and the darkest parts of humanity. But when we recklessly place the butcher's knife against our own people, we take a step closer to the dagger at our throats. — Uriel Ventress

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Astartes is the Emperor's angel of death, bringing destined death to the Emperor's enemies.

Astartes are the demigods of the Empire, the guarantee that His Majesty the Emperor's will will be carried out.

But the Astartes are, in the end, still human. Although they are tainted with divinity because of the holy Emperor, at their core, they are human, human, human.

Superman is human too; Superman also sheds tears.

Different battle groups have different battle group cultures, and their attitudes toward this self-examination issue vary greatly.

The Wastewing have a clear stance on shaping consensus within the chapter: they will not hesitate to shed blood or commit necessary evil.

But these words were meant for the warriors, to encourage the Astartes brothers to fight freely and not let rules and regulations restrict them.

The incident that led to Sakumo Hatake's suicide wouldn't even have been discussed in the Desolate Wings Chapter; he deserved to die.