Chapter 618: War on the Gothic Sky (Twenty-Two) The Meat Grinder

"Go to the command hall!" Calvin said to Nicholas. This was not the time to hold people accountable. If there was a problem in Gothic, the first thing to be done was the safety of the Forge World.

He would not worry about the followers of the God of All Machines. Their martial virtues were among the best in the entire empire.

But under his command, such a loophole appeared in the war zone. This would not only hit the morale of the entire war zone, but also make the Forge World, which already had its own thoughts, more reserved.

The adjutant of the Imperial Fist walked directly in front of the team as a guide, and the captain of the Imperial Guard, Nicholas, followed Calvin. In just over ten minutes on the road, news came in that the defenses of various parts of the war zone were unfavorable and key areas were lost one after another.

The direction of Pesma:

After the first three layers of defense belts in the outer orbit were breached by the Death Guards, the surrounding defense system attached to them collapsed;

The fifteen Star Legions on the fifth guard were in a state of assembly, ready to support the front line, and a complete company of Taros was trapped.

Inner Ring Area:

Turab's troops, with the advantage of orbital control, were in a strategic position as the secondary core of the war zone, and used the main force of the Purifiers to deal with the threats on the Pesma continent;

Including himself, a total of eight teams, in the limit of 120 hours, used orbital strikes and psychic transmission to carry out nearly a hundred "scalpel" strikes on the Chaos pollution sources scattered in various locations of the continental plates.

The effect is obvious, basically fulfilling his promise to Calvin and Taros, and completely suppressing the possible disasters in Pesma in a short period of time.

But... everything has a price.

The price of the concentrated use of the Purifiers is that the orbital defense inner ring, which was also polluted by the Death Guard's early suicide attack, has become a victim of Turab's emphasis on the mainland.

Plague, subspace anomalies, the spread of Chaos beliefs, large-scale non-combat casualties...

In the defense belt of the inner ring of the Pesma orbit close to the mainland, the morale instability caused by many anomalies has become obvious.

With the Inquisition and the Grey Knights operating at full capacity and having no time to spare, Taros and the generals of the Astra Militarum who were in charge of the defense had no other choice but to send out the organized Astra Militarum Corps to suppress the order at each node.

But everyone knew that before the source of chaos and corruption was found out, this seemingly effective measure would only provide a breeding ground for a bigger rebellion in the future...

In this regard, both the decision-making level of Pesma and Calvin on the other side of the galaxy knew it clearly.

Even in the military command department of the Gothic galaxy, some permanent members of the Inquisition had already intervened in the military command system with the active cooperation of the military, and recorded every order to send those corps forward from the perspective of a bystander.

And this kind of order is the reason and basis for the Imperial officials headed by the Inquisition to let these legions go when they are purified if they are really polluted and rebel in the future...

They have already met the fate of these lives, and they have even prepared the ending for these people at the very beginning...

They all know the risks of doing so, but they have no other choice in the current situation.

They are all betting that in this cruel game, when the two unstoppable war machines of the enemy and us are running at full capacity and fighting to the death, it is not their side that collapses first...

Especially Calvin himself, after really stepping into a battlefield of such a scale, he finally understood what reasons or considerations those great men who can leave their names in history made those controversial decisions in the eyes of future generations.

This is war...

This is also the inevitable delay and inefficiency after the huge war machine is opened, under the mutual influence of countless people and things involved.

And Calvin knew that this was the inevitable period of weakness of the scorched earth strategy he had led before, after overdrawing the war potential of the defending troops.

The defensive situation of the entire battle situation was like a bowstring that had been out of battle for a long time but was stretched to the extreme. At this moment, the paint layer that was falling with the sound of the bowstring "crack, crack" and the bow arm that was trying to support it were the first line to withstand the attack of the Chaos Astartes Legion.

Without absolute defense, if the scorched earth strategy wants to achieve the expected effect, it must launch an effective counterattack at key locations to cause heavy damage to the enemy!

Without absolute loyalty, even the most determined soldiers need to know that their dedicated lives will not be wasted before they sacrifice...

To counterattack, and must succeed in one strike!

And this counterattack, even Calvin had already started preparing at the beginning of the war, when the scorched earth strategy was set.

The conceptual attack on the Death Guard Legion was the forerunner of this huge counterattack!

But the problem now is that he knows that this counterattack is brewing, and he also knows the necessity of perseverance and sacrifice at the moment.

But do the grassroots officers and soldiers at the middle and lower levels know?

Will the information isolation caused by the scorched earth strategy make these people mistakenly believe that the Empire has given up on them;

Will those soldiers who have been holding on for long enough on the front line collapse in the last darkness before dawn...

"My Lord!"

The crowd split to both sides, and people who greeted Calvin came one after another.

Feeling the aura emanating from them, especially the expectations of him, Calvin was reminded again in his anxiety that he was the only one who could not be impetuous among all people.

"Get up!" Calvin raised the corner of his mouth and raised his hand to signal the people on both sides.

Amid the cheers of the crowd, he reached out to help the representative of the Inquisition who came to greet him, and then at the moment when their eyes met, a subtle voice sounded in each other's ears.

"I want a holographic sandbox in Gothic, do you have one? If not, build one for me temporarily!

Also, establish long-distance communication, and then connect to the headquarters of Tindaros and the representatives of the Astra Militarum. Remember! Don't make too much noise!"

"As you wish." The Inquisitor was stunned at first, and then reacted.

He lowered his crossed hands from his shoulders, then bowed and stepped back while answering Calvin.

"The sand table is in front of you on the left, near the porthole."

After giving the information, the Inquisitor left immediately. At the same time, in the Star Army headquarters that had arrived at the Gothic Central Defense Hub along with the Blackstone Fortress, an Inquisitor on standby suddenly opened his eyes from his meditation in a corner where no one noticed.

The crowd in the center of the hall was bustling, with hundreds of messages coming in and out every moment. The low-ranking officers of the General Staff held the data board in one hand and the headset in the other hand to confirm the received messages;

And under their orders, the servitors carrying heavy beacons updated the signs representing the life and death of countless soldiers on the huge sand table in real time.

In front of the sand table of a small star fortress in the corner, 11-25 was having a fierce debate with his temporary partner, Lieutenant General Moore of the Star Army.

"I don't care! I just want this star fort!"

11-25 tugged at the tie on his military dress shirt, and the cracked corners of his mouth were exactly the same as Calvin's.

"But the battle loss of that regiment has exceeded 60%! It's impossible to hold on until the reinforcements arrive!"

"Then don't support them, just order them to counterattack!"

"But it's already an isolated island! There's no value in saving it!"

"Whether it's valuable or not... it's not up to you and me to decide!"

"Yes! I don't have the final say! But five regiments! Just for this star fort, we have already invested five regiments!"

"So what?"

"Not much! But it's not worth it!"

Moore was still arguing, trying to change the other party's will, but 11-25 on the opposite side was unmoved, even though Moore's saliva splashed on his face.

This was the countless quarrels since the war began. The two people had completely opposite styles of using troops, which made Moore, as a deputy, miserable.

A star fortress and ten attached weapon platforms almost destroyed Moore's six reorganized star legions.

Although the Astra Militarum is the Emperor's money bag, this kind of cost-free and life-saving dismissal still makes Moore feel heartbroken.

He is also a person who climbed up from the grassroots officers. Although his noble birth made his promotion smoother than others, he believed that he was no worse than anyone in his service record in the lower units.

And treating all his subordinates equally is the biggest reason why he can reach his current position.

Wars cannot be fought like this! People can die, but they must be valuable!

Moore's eyes were wide open with anger. When he saw the rose knot on the other's chest, he shrank for a moment, but when he thought of the countless soldiers in the entire galaxy, he gave himself up in the next moment.

"I don't agree!"

"Okay! Then keep your opinion and execute the order!"

"I will appeal to the Primarch!"

"Okay! Of course!" 11-25 still had a smile on his face, but the action of touching his waist was full of murderous intent.

The atmosphere between the two was almost approaching the ignition point, and only Moore's rebuttal was needed again.

The adjutants watching the battle had no doubt that if Moore continued to disobey orders, the general of the Tindalos Legion would not hesitate to draw his gun!

However... "General."

The Inquisitor with the Primarch's order appeared at the edge of the crowd, and without waiting for their reaction, he squeezed through the crowd and walked behind 11-25.

11-25, whose sleeves were pulled from behind, was slightly stunned, and then heard the prompt from the Inquisitor:

"The Primarch wants to see you."

"Me?"

He gave up the confrontation with Moore and subconsciously swept his eyes across the sand table. The battlefield that could use Tindalos at this stage must be extremely critical.

But the focus of the previous argument between the two - the orbital defense outside Pesma, although important, still did not meet this requirement.

Then there must be something wrong in Goth's homeland!

11-25 pursed his lips with a serious expression, and subconsciously touched the rose knot on his chest.

That was the last gift given to him by his fourth former commander before his death after the entire regiment was wiped out;

It was also with this token that he was able to stand out from the broken and rebuilt legion, and after training in the Titan II Fortress Group, he took up his current position.

The Inquisitor to whom this thing belonged had long died on that battlefield with his brothers.

And he knew that more than once, he saw fear in Moore's eyes towards it, but he never had the idea of ​​threatening him with it, nor did he have the intention to explain to him.

And this time, will he have a chance to send it out again?

"General." The Inquisitor urged, and 11-25 glanced at Moore opposite, raised his hand to adjust his appearance, and turned to leave.

As the inhuman guy walked away, Moore, who had just relaxed, had no time to catch his breath, and saw the Inquisitor look at him again after watching 11-25 leave.

"The Emperor bless you!" Moore still had a fluke, trying to get confirmation from the other party's eyes again.

However, when the Inquisitor nodded to him again, he finally couldn't help but pray to the Emperor.

There is no doubt that only extremely important circumstances have occurred to transfer 11-25 at this time;

And if he is also on the Primarch's meeting list, it can only mean that - in addition to the already tragic ground battlefield outside, the fourth-class maruns of the Astra Militarum will have another place to bleed.

Update.