Warhammer: In the Name of Ashes

"Augury shows space energy anomalies."

In the command deck cluster below, there was another sound coming from the direction of the detection array.

"Category? Nature? Which direction?"

Tabos immediately cut off the call and looked at the deck seat of the detection array.

"Large starship, space jump - standard Manzeville point, second quadrant direction."

Hiss... at least five points... Tabos weighed it in his mind.

The good news is that this is a distance that the fleet's firepower cannot reach at all, which also means that if the visitor is an enemy, it cannot attack the Silver Dawn;
The bad news is, if they are really enemies, there really won't be much time left for them to evacuate.

"The Emperor's blessing."

Tabers prayed in his heart,
Abaddon's fleet was already a problem they could not solve, and Mortarion's Death Guard soon entered the scene.

It was not easy for him to take advantage of the time window and get the holy object back.

If there are new enemies on the scene, if they are squeezed in the retreat direction, there is a possibility that they will be bitten and then annihilated.

+Don't worry... they won't come. +
The Calvinists hadn't arrived yet, but voices were already ringing over the psychic communication.

The original body was leaving the teleportation hall at this time and walking towards his palace.

The battle on the Vengeful Spirit was over, and Abaddon was unable to continue.

Even if he could suppress his injuries, it would take time to sort out the turmoil among the fleet.

Although Mortarion's behavior left him a little confused, judging from the fact that he did not pursue him, the leader of the Death Guard legion obviously also had some concerns.

what is it then?

What could make a Daemon Primarch keep his promise in front of his enemies and give up killing an important figure in the Empire?
Calvin had no unrealistic expectations for Mortarion, let alone that he would find out.

The only thing that can stop a demon prince from moving forward is the force that threatens his life.

who is it?

Calvin turned around in his mind, and then targeted the shadow lurking on him.

After all, the battle just now was still in front of him, and it was this guy who personally promised him that he could stop the threat of Mortarion.

Who is he?
Calvin's face was expressionless, and his mind was thinking rapidly.

But there was almost no warning for the shadow's appearance, and he didn't know where to start.

+Your battleship is good and very distinctive. +
The voice sounded in Calvin's head, showing great interest in the Silver Dawn.

+Tell me about it? + Calvin felt the message in the words, and it seemed that he was no stranger to the layout of the Queen of Glory.

+What is this, an energy hub? Your battleship seems to like energy weapons very much. Does it need so many auxiliary devices? +
+ Yes, due to the needs of the Legion, our plasma engines are required to exceed the standard configuration. In order to make good use of this energy redundancy, we also placed more nova cannons on the bow of the ship. +
Calvin kept walking, and he took the trouble to explain during the psychic communication.

Being able to communicate is a good thing, and the other party doesn't seem to refuse this exchange of information.

Calvin didn't want to use words to get information, but since the other party was willing, he was willing to treat them sincerely and exchange some useful information while communicating.

+Is that so? Then your fleet... No, you don't have a fleet yet.

But if you have one in the future, pure long-range combat will be a feature of yours. +
Shadow was sensitive enough to this special weapon matching scheme, and immediately pointed out the impact of the Silver Dawn on the style of the entire fleet.

Calvin was not surprised, and even deliberately slowed down to give him more time to observe.

+Oh...what is that? Psychic amplification array? Why is it so big? This is no longer an ordinary teleportation equipment... +
The shadow asked again. It seemed that it had never seen this arrangement of psychic circuits throughout the entire ship.

You must know that even the Thousand Sons, who are famous for their psychic powers and witchcraft, only use runes to complete this function.

As for a complete transformation from the bottom of the battleship?
That was impossible, at least not given the Empire's official attitude toward psychic powers at the time.

And then, the emergence of the "Nikaea Agreement" completely sealed this future.

+Yes, our use of psionics is quite aggressive. +
Calvin responded to the shadow's question and demonstrated his power to it.

The pure fire of order flowed in the hands of the primarch, and the coldness and silence in it silenced the shadows.

+I get it...this is why you exist...and this is what makes your legion special. +
Just like its ultimate mastery of the concept of "shadow", when Calvin's power was displayed in front of it, it also understood Calvin's "special place".

The flowing platinum flame was enough to make it feel instinctively uncomfortable at the first sight.

It is the extreme opposite of chaos, and it is a power that is enough to completely destroy everything.

+What's the price? +
It asked subconsciously, and soon realized that its friendship was shallow and deep.

+No, you don't need to answer me, let me see for myself. +
+As you wish...+ Calvin replied slightly disappointed.

Transactions are two-way, as are cooperation and coexistence.

Calvin was not afraid that it would ask, but he was afraid that it would not ask.

And just now, he was only a moment away from knowing its true identity.

shuh...

The thick armored door opened to both sides, and after nodding with the Honor Guards, the original body entered his palace alone.

The entire team of Templars looked at each other and resumed their previous duty sequence.

The large group of people left in silence, and only two people on duty continued to stand in front of the door amidst the sonorous sound of the Fury's halberd.

"The Astropath sent a contact signal! Reinforcements from Lucius' side have arrived!"

Tabers' excited figure appeared in front of Calvin's desk, and at this time Calvin had just disarmed.

Against the background that the two fleets belonging to Chaos began to evacuate, the appearance of this fleet finally gave Calvin real confidence.

And when the Black Legion temporarily retreated, the fleet belonging to Mortarion also disappeared into the subspace.

He started again but where the enemy went next... well, there was Eren.

The end of a thousand years...the separated roads...the king who never gave up...and the original place of fusion.

The message Mortarion left could be called a riddle, but it has to be said that the time, concepts, characters, and places are all complete.

Apart from not being able to understand human language, I have no other shortcomings...

But where to start?
Calvin was not good at this kind of prophecy, so he could only let it go temporarily after thinking about it.

And this is also related to Mortarion's words. Listening to the implication of his words, Allen's whereabouts seem to be closely related, but it is indeed not life-threatening for the time being.

Thinking about the present, Calvin decided to contact the Titans as soon as possible after this battle. After all, this kind of work is the professional scope of the Prophet Brotherhood. What he can do here is very limited, so it is better to leave professional issues to professionals.

The Chaos Fleet has left, but Farr beneath his feet has become a problem for Calvin.

More than a dozen cities, including Zerita Hive, were not spared from the successive contaminations of Khorne and Nurgle.

The population here was already very low, and after two huge sacrificial ceremonies, there was no longer any value in saving it.

"Communication access request!" the servo skull reminded in Calvin's ear.

"Allow access." Calvin looked up and looked forward. After the projector flickered slightly, several figures appeared in front of Calvin.

"In the name of the Emperor! Salute you, Master of the Imperial Eye!"

The giant at the head was wearing pitch black MK IV power armor, and the crest on his body felt familiar to Calvin.

Silver-gray imperial wings and a skull, symbolizing purity, are sculpted on his breastplate, while lightning and explicit sigils emerge on his pauldrons.

"Abuser? Which company are you in?" Calvin asked with interest.

What concerned him even more was that when the Astartes warrior appeared, he felt something strange in his shadow for a moment.

"Fifth Company! I am Company Commander Isaac Arnida."

"Oh? I remember your defense area is at Saipramundi? What is the status of your company?"

Calvin asked softly. It was an unexpected joy to meet them here.

Calvin knew that as a fleet supporting a fallen sector, there would definitely be an Astartes Chapter among them.

But to be able to encounter a battle group belonging to the Krieg Alliance here can only be said to be the blessing of the emperor.

"Relying on your help." Arnida first expressed her gratitude to Calvin, and then continued:

"Our company is in good condition. The equipment distributed by the alliance has been of great help to us. Now the entire company only has 15 vacancies and can handle any combat mission!"

"Very good!" Calvin replied to Arnida while paying attention to his own shadow.

That mysterious existence fell into silence again after a moment of emotional fluctuations.

And Calvin was curious about what would make it break its best hiding place.

Arnida's report is over, and according to the sequence, the commander of this fleet will speak next.

"In the name of the Golden Throne! I salute you! I am the Lord of the Imperial Navy, Admiral Vasilev."

A bearded man in a red military uniform spoke, but his voice gave off an unusually weak feeling.

The mechanically modified prosthetic eye that occupied one-third of his face attracted Calvin's attention.

This is not a simple organ modification, nor is it a common body organ enhancement.

Calvin knew from the cables extending from the back of his head that he was a high-ranking officer who had undergone parabrain information integration and embedding surgery!
"Salute to you too! The empire's most loyal sword!"

Calvin responded in a deep voice. The other party's mechanical transformation had proved his loyalty.

This kind of huge equipment access is undoubtedly the best solution for using the human brain and human body to deal with the huge flow of information when commanding fleet operations;
But this solution also requires huge energy. Once the transformation is completed, it means that he will not be able to leave the mechanical throne of the battleship.

Embed yourself into the battleship and communicate directly with the machine soul of the entire battleship.

This kind of behavior for the well-paid Imperial Navy not only means that he has given up a stable and wealthy retirement life, but also means that he has decided to integrate with the battleship after death.

To his left, another figure in red robe also spoke at the right time, but judging from the completely anti-human word order, this person obviously had little experience in contacting the outside of the forging world.

"Praise be to Om Messiah, the God of All Opportunities! According to the ancient agreement... I... Keizer-7909-θ-Fermat... the Lord of the Forge... the Ruler of Sage... from Lucius... Forge World, hello!”

"...Praise to the God of All Machines, and say hello to you, my dear..."

Calvin's eyes turned slightly, and he finally found the most suitable one among the other party's lengthy titles.

"Honored Lord of the Forge."

Well...this is the experience Calvin learned in Titan, and it is also the teachings of the veterans of the Grand Master Council.

When dealing with people with dual academic and political identities, try to ignore their administrative titles and give priority to addressing them by their highest academic titles.

Sure enough, this set of words is particularly useful to the mechanical priests.

After receiving the correct feedback from Calvin, the tall red-robed priest's eyes flashed (in a physical sense), and then he used his synthesized electronic voice to rarely greet Calvin a second time:
"Praise be to the incarnation of the God of All Opportunities...it is a pleasure to work with you."

It was a pleasure...to work with?
Does that mean you are unhappy?
Subtle emotions appeared in Calvin's mind, and under his observation, there was indeed a slight embarrassment on the faces of the other representatives.

Okay...this is still a patchwork unit!

Even from their greetings, it can be seen that they may not even have unified command authority!

Fortunately, Calvin is old enough to fight, and any headwind situation is within his psychological tolerance.

He decisively eliminated the brewing embarrassment and looked at the last person on the screen.

Feeling his gaze, the strong man in a gray-green military uniform with bare arms did not hesitate and gave Calvin a standard military salute:

"According to the order of the Tribunal of the Misty Star Territory, the 91st Corps of Catachan reports to you!"

Catachan? That makes sense...

Calvin withdrew his gaze with satisfaction, and the entire fleet also began to confirm contact with Tabos on the bridge.

The fleet that was temporarily pulled up by the Hazy Star Territory finally found someone who could unify them after arriving at the edge of the war zone.

At this time, Calvin, who learned about Lucius's direction from the fleet, finally calmed down his heart that had been worried.

After all, it still belonged to the empire, and at least it didn't fall into war.

A solid line of defense would give Calvin more confidence to take risks when facing the entire Gothic fog of war.

And the appearance of this company of the Reviled gave him a new sharp sword in addition to the thousand Astartes warriors under his command.

"Hmm...did I forget something?"

Calvin, who was finally free, had an instinctive doubt, as if there was something he had overlooked in the meeting just now.

But after thinking about it, he still couldn't find the source of that weird feeling;
And just on the other side of the Far world under his feet, among the dense asteroid clusters, there was a fierce argument about him going on.

Update, please vote! Time is too tight, so post first and change later.