Warhammer: In the Name of Ashes.

Chapter 135 The Eve
"You can spend more time elsewhere than on these mortals."

This was a suggestion from the Inquisition's resident representatives on Titan II long ago, when these mortal forces were first being formed.

This is not a discriminatory suggestion, but the heartfelt words of these time-honored Inquisitors.

After undergoing high-level mechanical transformation and life-extending surgery, their lifespan has broken away from the [-]-year limit of mortals, but it is difficult to reach the nearly infinite lifespan of the Astartes.

Being unable to enter the Qingyun at the top, and unwilling to go back to the mundane world at the bottom, is a sad and true portrayal of this group of people.

They can't give up their mortal feelings and memories like the Astartes, but they have to endure the doomed separation of love and hate.

So when this lonely elderly judge who lost all emotional sustenance in time saw Calvin's behavior, he couldn't help but give him this advice:
"Since you have reached the top of the sky, please don't have too much contact with mortals. It is not good for you or them."

The old man's suggestion was of course well-intentioned, but unfortunately Calvin was not as simple as he imagined.

Calvin, who has been a man for two lives, has a more thorough understanding of himself, and he may not know how he should deal with these people who are destined to leave.

But since they are on the edge of the order where there is no Ming Dynasty today, he is obliged to let these mortals who fight against chaos for the sake of the order behind them know that their efforts have always been remembered, and their existence will not be easily dismissed. forget.

"I could do that, but I'd rather be with them."

This was Calvin's answer at the time, and it was also what he had been doing since he took over the position of castle master and received the first batch of mortal auxiliary troops.

No matter where they came from before, no matter what abilities they have, since they are willing to take up arms again after living a peaceful life, they deserve Calvin's respect.

You must know that once they respond to the call of the Gray Knights, it means that they must face Chaos in the next battle, and the price is that they are destined to be treated as consumables on the battlefield.

This black and gold uniform representing the Order of the Hammer of the Judgment looks luxurious and solemn, but the heavy fate behind it is really not something everyone can bear.

The old man did not persuade Calvin again, he knew that in this country with too many smart people, there must still be some fools.

The empire needs Prometheus-style wisdom and courage, but Sisyphus-like burden and perseverance are equally valuable...

"My comrades in arms, you should know that what we are facing will be a war with no retreat."

This was the first sentence Calvin said to all the officers present after he entered the command room.

No slogans, no passionate mobilization.

Calvin believed that these fighters who were still willing to respond to the call of the Inquisition after living in a mediocre way for more than ten years did not need this.

All he has to do is clarify their mission and meaning, and point out the worst situation they will encounter.

And these people did not disappoint him. What he said deliberately at the beginning did not catch any shaken eyes from these veterans.

These soldiers in the black uniforms of the Inquisition are survivors of the battle against Chaos.

Since they are still willing to stand here, there is no need to doubt their will, and their determination has never changed.

They were just asking Calvin with silent eyes where the enemy was.

Calvin was content with such a response, what he needed was this attitude:

Not a bloodbath, nor an angry declaration.It was the firmness of knowing that he was going to die without changing his face.

With Calvin waving his hand, the biggest screen behind him was lit up, and the goal of their trip—the map of this nameless and desolate world was displayed on the screen.

"The map comes from the latest feedback from the front. Considering the time difference in interstellar communication, the error is about one week. Our goal is to prevent these chaotic debris from causing damage before the naval fleet led by the Imperial Army withdraws from the Orpheus battlefield and arrives. More destruction..."

Calvin stood in front of these veterans who were mostly over a hundred and a half years old, and talked about their combat goals and timeline.

The video receiving equipment under the podium was working in the rustling low-frequency noise, transmitting his body and words to the barracks in the cabin below in real time and synchronously, and all the soldiers who were preparing for the mobilization also stopped. Work joins the ranks of listening.

They are either bending over their backpacks here, or sitting on the camp bed and counting their ammunition, or following the platoon to assemble on the playground, or praying for relatives who are far away and whose names are unknown.

But at this moment, each of them stopped their work and listened to the voice from the bridge.

They know that this is the one who revived them from the remote abandoned planet; this is the one who did not deny their existence because of their mortal status.

This is the person who is willing to explain the meaning of his battle to those who are destined to be cannon fodder most of the time before the battle; this is the person who is willing to call them comrades-in-arms.

"I will lead my compatriots to land first, and open the basic landing field for you after finding the target. After that, the task of defending on the spot will be your responsibility."

After Calvin finished explaining the complex environment on the planet and the corresponding combat equipment suggestions, he put down the laser pointer in his hand and said to everyone present.

"You need to hold the predetermined line of defense until the last second before zero o'clock. There are no reinforcements and no follow-up supplements. Is there any problem?"

"no!"

"Okay, then get the weapons and equipment according to the predetermined plan." Calvin looked up at the huge mechanical timer on the wall, thought about it and said:
"There are still 16 hours before the start of the operation. I hope you will come up with a specific action plan as soon as possible. What do you want to say?"

During the eye inspection, the leading commander whose number was 1 said:
"Since this battle is mainly based on defense, we want to take away all the automatic firepower turrets in the arsenal."

"approve!"

"We also have a huge demand for landmines and kinetic energy weapons." Another officer also said,

"Approved! Anything else?" Calvin continued to ask.

"The first batch to land is best armored units, and their tanks can be used as fixed turrets."

"Melta and Molotov cocktails! Those sons of Nurgle will love this!"

"It's better to temporarily add a front cutting edge to the tank, which will allow us to build fortifications as soon as possible!"………

With Calvin's encouragement, everyone expressed their suggestions, and Calvin accepted them all and approved them all.

After summing up the specific material list, he looked around the entire headquarters and said:
"Materials, I'll give you all the weapons and equipment, as long as there are in the warehouse on the battleship, I will give you all. So in the next operation, I don't want to see the request to retreat, and I don't want to see the data of casualties and losses reported. , I just want the result! Can it be done?"

"Your will."

After a simple response and a sea of ​​eagle salutes, Calvin turned and left the command hall.

There are still complicated pre-war preparations waiting for him in the gray knight's barracks, which is his main battlefield.

"How's the choir getting ready?"

Communication with his compatriots was much simpler. Calvin omitted his worries about their morale and combat effectiveness, and directly asked the questions he was most concerned about.

"The psionic choir has just rested from the active intervention in the warp, and can now enter the ritual preparation stage."

This is the news that Gavins just got from the direction of the bridge.

"It's not fast enough. Urge it again. You must be in place within three hours. We only have twelve hours of ceremony time at most, so we can't waste it here."

Calvin said without thinking, and he ordered Gavins to urge the direction of the bridge again, so that the choir staff could be in place as soon as possible.

"But that would cause permanent damage to the choir members..." Gavins said awkwardly.

"Injury? That's better than death. If the ceremony I want is not in place, I will ask them to pay ten times the price for every additional death list! Tell the lead singer, it's time to die! As long as you can't sing, you will die I sing to my death!"

"Yes!" Gavins turned and left, and began to communicate with the bridge while walking out.

"How many 'baby carriages' were brought out in this operation?"

Turning his gaze to Golden, Calvin picked up the topic just now.

The 'baby' he refers to is a weaponry unique to the Gray Knights, a humanoid war machine made of adamantium, ceramite, and a compact but powerful plasma reactor.

Or you can also understand it as enlarging the size of the Holy Shield Dreadnought Power Armor to a state beyond 10 meters.

In the Armed Order of the Gray Knights, its official name is positioned as "Knights of Fear of God's Wrath".

With a weight of 45 tons and a height of more than ten meters, it can barely compare with the smallest human incarnation of Mechanism Ohm Messiah—the Knight Titan.

But the actual combat direction is different from that of Knight Titan. This humanoid weapon is controlled by a gray knight wearing a full set of power armor through nerve guides. It has far faster reaction speed than Knight Titan and a more violent and powerful melee ability.

Its positioning was not the opponent's large vehicle from the very beginning, and its original intention was to effectively kill those huge demon individuals far beyond ordinary people in size and size.

Therefore, it is different from those knights who undertake firepower strikes on the second line most of the time. Long-range firepower support is only an occasional task for Tianfa fear knights.

But you can't underestimate the intensity of its firepower. After all, this is a platform that can theoretically carry heavy incineration weapons that can only be used by tanks and Titans.

Any foe who underestimates his long-range firepower will pay the price with the heavy incinerating weapons in his arms.

Not to mention that this level of ion reactor can already bear the burden of the psionic power amplification device. The psionic power of the high-level gray knight it carries is more effective against demons after being amplified.

Yes, every gray knight who is allowed to drive this kind of equipment is at least a high-level member above the paladin.

So whether it's melee or long-range psychic strikes, he can show the demons who confront him what true destruction is.

In a sense, it is not an exaggeration to call it a gray knight special edition humanoid Gundam.

Whether it is melee or long-range, it has no hard shortcomings.Even the natural bulkiness of large weapons has been fundamentally solved by the unique precise teleportation ability of the Gray Knights.

Calvin is very satisfied with its combat capability, but the only thing is that Calvin is really powerless to complain about his outer armor layout:
The cockpit of the front torso of the God's Punishment Dread Knight is exposed.

Because of the compact space, after a fully equipped Gray Knight has been installed, there is really no room for additional armor in his limited space.

In other words, any gray knight driving this thing can enjoy a 180-degree panoramic view of the front while being completely exposed to the enemy...

"Isn't this just a big baby carriage?"

Calvin often laughed at the designer of this thing in private, and this "nickname" quickly spread to the entire honor guard under his vigorous promotion.

This is also the origin of the previous conversation.

"Three, one for each strike team." Golden held back a smile as he answered Calvin's question.

Calvin, who glanced at Golden, did not pursue the details, he raised his hand to contact the bridge:

"When will the internal structure diagram of the hulk I want arrive?"

"Soon." Tabers' voice came from the earphones.

"The power of the intelligence gathering ship's auspicious instrument is still not enough, and there is only one ship near us. Among the detection results at a safe distance, only the outermost structural diagram has been confirmed to be valid."

"Send me as much as you want, and we'll talk about it when the follow-up ones come."

After Calvin finished speaking, he cut off the communication and refocused his attention on his side.

"How is the team's preparation status? Report the status of the power armor!"

"It's in good condition! Only Brother Fell's shoulder armor has a problem, and a new part has been replaced."

"Where's the ammunition?"

"Maximum conforms to six bases. Psionic bullets, armor-piercing bullets, and conventional warheads are 2: 0.5: 0.5. The psionic circuit is in good condition, and psionic ammunition can be switched at any time."

It was Tariq's voice.

"Hormone reserve?"

"A full load of 15 sticks, all members confirm that the replenishment is complete."

"A power pack?"

"All staff confirm that the charge is more than 90%"

........................

Every detail was checked in Calvin's mind, but Calvin still took the trouble to confirm each one, just like the eve before the exercise in his previous life, this feeling of being a father and a mother made him kind and familiar .

What is different from the previous life is that what they will face is a real and more cruel battlefield.

His sense of security didn't increase with the availability of supplies and equipment, but rather diminished as the items on the list dwindled.

How many brothers can be brought back safely?Calvin didn't dare to think about it, and he didn't want to think about it.

He knew full well that for their profession, worrying about casualties was a luxury.

These experiences have been selected repeatedly, and the comrades who have stood in front of him after a hundred years of battlefield experience don't need him to think like this.

In this universe, sacrifice is no longer a rare thing for human beings, and it is even more so for this group of people. In the eyes of the Gray Knights, sacrifice is a beautiful destination.

For that meant they could finally stop the eternal crusade, and thus stop to enjoy their own sleep in the stillness of the long night.

But he was still worried, but he couldn't tell anyone about this extravagant and funny-sounding emotion.

This is the biggest difference between him and the people here, and it is also a certain embodiment of the goal he has been pursuing all along.

This empire, this race, has shed enough blood. If he wants to change such things, he will start now.

　Two in one, update and ask for tickets.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)