The Astartes Family's Notebook

However, with Motor Sich returning to his loyal Victory Balance, the ordeal finally came to an end.

Both Tyrant and Katz felt a surge of emotion, almost to the point of tears.

Company Commander Motor Sich, we respect you!

Chapter 97 Rejoicing at the Sound of War

We act immediately upon receiving orders, and rejoice at the prospect of battle. If I am chosen for the first battle, victory is assured.

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"Leothers, in terms of age and seniority, I shouldn't be telling you what to do. So, enough with the nonsense, watch out for Alpharis."

"Thank you for your advice, Company Commander Motor Sich. I will be careful. This is just a mutually beneficial deal."

"I'm giving you this warning only because our previous interactions were relatively amicable. If it were any other Inquisitor or other Chaos traitor, they wouldn't let Desolation Wings off easily, even if they turned Garland Gordon upside down. But if it's you... you'd better watch yourself."

"Company Commander, I understand everything you've said. However, serving the God Emperor sometimes requires unconventional methods. If I run into trouble, I hope it will be you who comes to punish me."

"Hmph, it's best to avoid that happening."

As expected of the famous social butterfly of the Pacific Star Region, when recalling their last meeting, Mad Sich found that he actually quite admired that old scoundrel Leoth.

Hopefully, that old scoundrel Leorus won't get too cocky and really mess things up.

As expected, a pre-announcement letter is not the style of the Chaos War Gang.

The Shadow of Death faction used this underhanded tactic to draw the attention of the Imperial Navy fleet and the Ministry of Military Affairs in the nearby star sector to the garden world of Garland Gordon.

This would then allow them to launch a devastating attack on their true target world.

While the chaotic subspace is indescribable and difficult to understand, the chaotic battles within the chaotic subspace are actually quite easy to comprehend.

Chaos warbands fall into two categories. One type has a creed, primarily composed of followers of the four Chaos Gods, with a smaller portion being followers of the lesser Warp Gods. A very small number of Chaos warbands, brainwashed and controlled by primordial Warp demons, have also openly proclaimed their beliefs. The other type is those that are unaffiliated with Chaos. If you ask these warbands what they believe in, they will answer that they believe in the Warp itself. If you are strong enough, you can try to press them further, asking what they believe in about the Warp. They will either become enraged or stammer. These unaffiliated warbands are actually only concerned with themselves.

For the Empire, the followers of the Chaos Gods were just as troublesome.

For mortals, the messengers of Nurgle are the most difficult to deal with.

However, for the Astartes Chapter, having made ample preparations, Nurgle's Plague Army was actually the easiest Chaos force to deal with.

Nurgle's followers possess the love of a benevolent father, extraordinary vitality, and terrifying contagiousness. Furthermore, the spread of Nurgle's supernatural plague completely transcends the common sense of biological pathology in the real universe, posing the most serious threat to the people of the Empire among the four gods.

However, the situation reverses when the righteous Astartes Warband faces the loyalist Astartes Chapter.

The Astartes, who believed in Khorne, possessed astonishing combat power, and the Lord of the Skull granted them unparalleled enhancement buffs.

The Astartes, who believed in the Treachery, possessed an astonishing willpower; the Lord of Change granted them a buff that always encouraged them to live a great life.

The Astartes, who believed in Slaanesh, possessed an astonishing imagination, and the Dark Prince granted them a buff that allowed them to completely unleash their potential.

The Astartes, who believed in the wicked, possessed astonishing vitality, and the benevolent father generously bestowed upon them an incredible buff that made them riddled with illness.

So to summarize simply, for loyalist Space Marines, the Khorne warband is difficult to fight, the Tzeentch warband is difficult to predict, the Slaanesh warband is difficult to withstand, and the Nurgle warband is difficult to kill.

If caught off guard and ambushed by the Nurgle Warband, loyalist Astartes can easily be defeated by the hard-to-kill Nurgle Warband in a battle of attrition.

However, on the other hand, knowing in advance that they are dealing with the Nurgle Warband, the Emperor's angels are also the most capable of devising countermeasures against these Nurgle followers.

Even though the Astartes, blessed by Nurgle, possess enormous health and defense, their mobility becomes a relative weakness. Furthermore, while these Nurgle Apostles have exceptional resistance to light weapons, they still struggle against the Empire's heavy firepower.

When fighting the Khorne faction, ranged attacks were ineffective; when fighting the Tzeentch faction, psionic attacks were plentiful; when fighting the Slaanesh faction, mental pollution caused headaches; when fighting the Nurgle faction, the theory of firepower advantage finally came in handy, and Newton's coffin lid was finally put into silent mode.

This highlights the importance of connections and personal background.

If Leorth cannot obtain the Shadow of Death's expected plans, and if the Wings of Desolation cannot ascertain the true faith of this warband.

Then the fourth company is going to suffer a major disaster and a huge loss.

But now, it's hard to say who is the prey and who is the hunter.

As victims of the Abyss Expedition, the former defenders of the empire have become the new perpetrators.

The Shadow of Death faction doesn't deserve sympathy or understanding, but it does deserve the attention of the Wings of Desolation.

This is a Chaos Warband with a strong foundation; it should not be underestimated.

Therefore, Motor Sich did not rush to launch a military strike, but instead began to call in troops.

The first unit to shake was his old company, the Second Company.

The mission of guarding the battle barge is of paramount importance. After seven hundred years of waiting, if it is intercepted by other forces, the warband leader will be so angry that he will have a stroke.

Therefore, the closer the project got to completion, the less able the brothers of the Second Company were to move. When fighting the orcs in Anwislan, Mada Sich had even considered borrowing half a company's worth of brothers from the Second Company. Now, the Fourth Company Commander had to weigh the pros and cons for a long time before transferring twenty Astartes from the Second Company.

Secondly, there are the six-hit and seven-hit combos from the Wings of Desolation.

Although the six, seven, eight, and nine companies combined couldn't even muster a hundred gang members, the Wings of the Wasteland were still a regular warband of the Empire, and the support company structure was still in place.

The Eighth Company is on a patrol mission for the star sector and cannot be moved. The Ninth Company has special arrangements made by the squadron leader and cannot be moved either.

Therefore, Motor Sich planned to bring in the Sixth and Seventh Companies, so that, together with the two squads of the Second Company, he would have a force of about two companies.

However, although the frames are for two companies, the actual number is only about one and a half, which is still inappropriate.

After much deliberation, Motor Sich finally decided to use a valuable favor he had done for someone.

Thankfully, the Star Language Choir was added; otherwise, contacting the ship-based battle group would have been truly difficult.

The friendly unit that Motor Sich wanted to contact was the 5th Company of the Raptor Squadron.

The Wings of Desolation and the Raptor Chapter share only gratitude, not enmity; they are brothers who deeply cherish each other despite their hardships.

How so?

In short, it's the story of two unlucky gangs that almost got wiped out meeting in the Taiping Starfield.

When the Desolation Wings faced a formidable foe in the M37 era, the entire chapter couldn't muster even twenty mobile members. The Raptor Chapter fought against Abaddon's Black Crusade even earlier and was nearly wiped out.

Both chapters were added to the Astartes Chapter extermination list of Holy Terra in almost the same batch.

The Astartes brothers, who had wiped out entire groups, knew that among the Empire's five star systems, the Solar Star System looked down on people. Although the star system world was rich in resources, it was the most infamous place under the emperor's nose, and it always flattered the powerful and bullied the weak. If you came with your entire group, the planetary governor would be happy to offer you gifts with both hands. But if you were alone, their attitude would probably be quite unpleasant.

No, I'm not going.

The Extreme Starfield encompasses the heart of the Milky Way, an extremely dangerous place, not a good place to lick one's wounds.

No, I'm not going.

The Misty Starfield is a notoriously cold and desolate place, sparsely populated and haunted, hardly a health resort.

No, I'm not going.

Therefore, the only suitable areas for low-key and stealthy development are the Taiping Starfield and the Storm Starfield.

After weighing the pros and cons, the Supreme Elders decided to slowly rebuild their forces in the Taiping Starfield.

The Raptor Chapter, being a clearly identified sub-chapter of the Ravenguard, should logically have gone to the Salvation Planet in the Storm Sector to seek help from their parent company, the Ravenguard.

What exactly happened during that time, Desolate Wings was too embarrassed to guess, but it was probably just some unpleasant things like people looking grumpy and having bad meals.

As a result, the Raptor Legion, now reduced to a few scraps, and the old, weak, and crippled Desolate Wings encountered each other while trying to make a living in the Pacific Sector.

Furthermore, it was the Raptors who initiated the contact, given the Desolation Wings' resounding chapter name.

This contact was like a thunderbolt striking the earth; how could two unfortunate souls be so similar?

The arduous journey of starting a business again is too difficult; fair-weather friends can never compare to the four pillars of life.

Therefore, during the M39 era, after the Raptor Chapter and the Desolate Wings returned to the galactic stage, they exchanged contact information and called on each other to fight in the wild for the next two thousand years. In terms of personal relationship, the Raptor Chapter was more trustworthy than the White Scars.

During the previous conflict in Omidas, Motor Sich did not consider calling for Raptor support because he was too familiar with the Raven Guard's modus operandi.

Don't contact us unless necessary, but we're ready to fight if needed. The Raptor Squad's style matches its name—they always draw blood.

The Grey Knights, they really dare to kill.

Chapter 98 Sunbathing Area

The Desolate Wings' fourth company has a flexible moral bottom line, while the Raptor Squad's fifth company has an extremely flexible moral bottom line.

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The fact that the Desolation Wings can hang out with the Raptor Legion suggests they share some similarities.

"Motor Sich, long time no see. You've been promoted to company commander. Not bad, not bad. Fourth Company, a main force company. Keep up the good work and see if you can get promoted again someday."

As soon as Jesfer, the company commander of the 5th Company of the Raptor Squadron, spoke, the entire Desolate Wings team couldn't hold back anymore.

Didn't Company Commander Motor Sich say that the Astartes of the Raptor Squadron are all rather introverted and taciturn, and don't speak unless necessary, and that the squadron members shouldn't try to get too close to each other unnecessarily?

Why does this fifth company commander seem so sunny and cheerful?

Those with mediocre acting skills become actors, while those with good acting skills go into politics.

Motor Sich showed no change in expression and took the initiative to shake hands with her.

"Hey, stop talking about me. Where are your Fifth Company's strike cruisers? Why did you send two frigates instead?"

This time, it was the combat brothers of the Raptor Fifth Company who couldn't hold on any longer.

Company Commander Yesford, is this the old acquaintance, the good brother you mentioned?

The two company commanders exchanged a smile, not minding the discomfort of their breastplates, and released their hands, opening their arms to play a chest-touching greeting.

The Victory Balance was, after all, a combat barge, easily accommodating three companies of Astartes.

"Don't even mention it. The plasma reactor on the strike cruiser had a problem, and it's currently undergoing major repairs at a naval dock. If it weren't for that, we wouldn't have been able to get here so quickly."

Jesfer explained to Maddich.

The Raptor Squadron inherited the tactical style of the 19th Legion. The entire squadron was basically scattered throughout the galaxy in company units. The Pacific Sector was the fixed patrol area of ​​the Raptor Fifth Company. It was precisely because the company's main warship needed major repairs that the entire company was almost out of commission, which is why Motor Sich's interstellar communication was answered so quickly.

how fast?

Less than a year later, Katz had just completed ten years of service in the company last month.

Please stop using dark humor in the comments; it's really coming soon.

This is because the subspace routes within the Taiping Starfield are relatively mature and stable. In other starfields, if troops could be assembled so quickly, it would depend on whether the Emperor would provide special protection.

The two squads from the Second Company were the first to arrive, and the brothers from the Twentieth Company squeezed onto a Cobra-class destroyer to get there.

The Sixth and Seventh Companies were a bit slower. After receiving the interstellar communication, the main forces of the two companies first joined up, and then went to the star sector capital world where the Eighth Company was carrying out a patrol mission. They transferred all the frigates and destroyers of the two companies to the Eighth Company for use, and borrowed the light strike cruiser Shining Star from the Eighth Company before rushing to join them.

And as soon as they arrived at the Victory Balance, the sixth and seventh company commanders started arguing fiercely about who should take over the light strike cruiser, the Dreadnought Star, which had been replaced by the second company.

Motor Sich's head was throbbing. "We, the Desolate Wings, are just pretending to be the Holy Order. You two really take my title of 'Fleet Master' seriously, the fourth company commander? Who gets the Fearless Star is a decision for the warband commander. Why are you arguing with me about it?"

Instead of rushing to cause trouble for the Shadow of Death faction, the Wings of Desolation found an industrial world in a star system near Garland Gordon and patiently waited for reinforcements to arrive.

Although replenishing the Chaos Warband is more difficult than recruiting loyalist Space Marines for the Imperium, no one dares to gamble on how many Astartes the Lionguard Chapter had left when it defected, let alone guess how many members the Shadow of Death Warband has now, or how many have been deployed.

Therefore, the size of three Astartes companies is a reasonable and necessary force configuration.

The two escort ships of the Raptor Fifth Company were clearly unsuitable for the Astartes monks to live on for an extended period. Therefore, during the process of replenishing promethium and ammunition in planetary orbit, the Fifth Company moved all the relevant equipment to the Battle Barge Victory Balance of the Desolate Wings Fourth Company.

This action opened Katz's eyes.

The relationship between the two factions is really good.

This trust relationship even extends to many subgroups within the same lineage.

At least judging from the cases that Motor Sich told Katz and the others when he gave them a private lesson, the fragile trust between the battlebands was even worse than that between the gangs.

Due to the uncertainties of subspace communication, coupled with numerous historical issues, when the fleets of the two warbands meet, sending a "hello" is usually enough. If they really have something to discuss, they might at most send a "are you there?".

If the other party reads your message but doesn't reply, then it's like passing by without a word; your hand is merely on the trigger.

The idea of ​​"a king not meeting a king" is not about maintaining one's status, but rather an objective choice to leave room for maneuver in all matters.

In particular, we must call out those bastards in the Alpha Legion. The tense relationship between the loyalist Astartes Chapters of the Empire is partly due to these Alphas.

Alpharis has done this countless times: pretending to be an allied force, building relationships, then boarding ships for friendly gatherings, and finally stealing their equipment and ships.

Therefore, despite being loyalists, the Astartes Chapters rarely engage in friendly exchanges, and even joint operations require a lord general from the sector government or a renowned inquisitor to take the lead.

The root of the problem lies in the fact that the Astartes Codex destroyed not only the organizational structure of the Astartes Legion, but also the relationships of trust.

Who will stand by me through life and death? Who are my true brothers in arms?

The friendly relationship between the two factions needs to be tested by iron and blood.

The Wings of the Wasteland feared the Birds of Prey would hijack the ship, and the Birds of Prey feared the Wings of the Wasteland would lure the dogs in to kill them.