After completing the trade for all the Overlord heads with Mortarion, Nareth spoke.
"You have liberated Barbarus, brought new life to this world."
"Now it is time to face a new challenge. You must come with me to meet someone."
"Who?" Mortarion asked solemnly.
"The Emperor, the weaver of your gene-code. He sent me to bring you to him."
"The Emperor? Who is he?" Mortarion exclaimed. Someone capable of commanding such a powerful outsider?
Though they had never crossed blades, Nareth possessed abilities not inferior to his own.
That an entity called the Emperor could command him...
The name Emperor reminded him of the Overlords who enslaved humanity. Mortarion felt no goodwill towards it.
"You will know. Come with me."
Mortarion gazed at Nareth's retreating figure, then followed.
The Stormbird rose, piercing the toxic cloud layer, landing on the deck of the Emperor's flagship, the Bucephalus.
Scribes sent by Malcador held pict-recorder, data slates, or parchment, recording this glorious moment.
"854.M30, the Monarch of Vostroya, by the Emperor's command, journeyed to the feral world of Barbarus in the Segmentum Tempestus, retrieving the Fourteenth Primarch, Mortarion, the fourteenth to return..."
Five days later, as the Dusk Raiders fleet arrived at Barbarus, Nareth also gave the order to set sail, returning to Vostroya.
Shadow's Sovereignty, Primarch's Office.
Nareth listened to Arsena's report.
"...The Second Chapter, after receiving reinforcements three months ago, currently numbers fifteen thousand two hundred warriors..."
While listening to his aide's report, Nareth contemplated preparations for the Gardinaal campaign.
Although he knew Gardinaal's entire society was based on a caste system and he planned to use mortal beyonders as the decisive force, Astartes would still be needed to intimidate the enemy and buy time for the operation.
'I recall, in the first phase of the Gardinaal War, the 13th Legion suffered nearly a thousand Ultramarine casualties. Five hundred thousand auxilia, core being the Serranic Peltasts and Marnean Armsmen regiments, and half the strength of the Legio Atarus, failed to achieve decisive results.'
'Afterwards, Ferrus Manus led seventy thousand Iron Hands, six million Imperial Army and Skitarii, along with several Titan Legions, swiftly achieved victory.'
'At a minimum, I must deploy one hundred thousand Shadow of Order, one million auxilia, and at least one Titan Legion to intimidate Gardinaal's ruling castes and secure time.'
"Muster partial forces from the First, Second, Third, Sixth, Eleventh, and Twelfth Chapters. Assemble at the Kalium Gate by the last solar month of 855."
"..."
"Dispatch the Legio Fureans. Assemble House Mordred and House Vyronii."
After recording Nareth's orders, the silver-haired Arsène asked curiously:
"My Lord, is there a formidable objective?"
The Shadow of Order Chapters were spread across battlefronts in the Obscurus and Ultima Segmentums. Most enemies encountered did not require large-scale mustering. The last time was during the war with the Squats.
"Indeed."
"Ancient travelers called it the Astrid's Necklace. After five millennia of development, the system's population exceeds one hundred billion."
"Gardinaal will be a significant addition to the Legion's domain, a radiant world."
Nareth thought silently, 'Gardinaal was the most brilliant crown jewel among the many industrial worlds conquered by Manus.'
12th Month 855, Nareth entered the Kingdom of Disorder, confirming the Dice of Prophecy was fully charged and ready for a new divination.
Information about Gardinaal flashed rapidly through his mind.
'Gardinaal, Segmentum Ultima.'
'The Gardinaal system comprises eleven planets, from the searing fifth gas giant to the eleventh planet of nitrogen-ice mountains.'
'The system also contains over a hundred moons and thousands of large asteroids. The entire system is heavily industrialized...'
Nareth's knowledge of Gardinaal, its numerous castes, and its ruling High Lords was quite detailed. After several breaths, all the information had flashed through his mind once. He silently recited internally:
'The star chart from the Kalium Gate to Gardinaal.'
'The star chart from the Kalium Gate to Gardinaal.'
'...'
After reciting it eleven times, he extended his hand and cast the Dice of Prophecy.
It tumbled through the air several times before falling, landing in Nareth's open palm. At that moment, a scene like a holographic projection unfolded before him.
...
First month, 856. William Wood, clad in a patchwork leather armor, traversed a mountain of chemical waste.
The chemical waste came from various sources, but after reacting with each other, it mostly appeared a muddy brown.
The boots on William's feet were mismatched, one larger than the other, both ill-fitting. He had stripped them from the feet of different slave-caste individuals.
Fortunately, the two boots were originally for left and right feet, and not both for the same side.
Few creatures lived in the waste mountains. William hunted dog-like creatures with more flesh.
William couldn't remember where he learned of dogs. The factory where he was born had no dogs.
An image of a red-furred, dog-like creature flashed in his mind. He immediately began tracking based on the mental image.
William held a gun in one hand, a short blade in the other. He avoided sludge pits, moving nimbly through the waste mountain, throwing the short blade forged from metal scrap.
To avoid alerting others, he didn't use his gun.
The short blade whistled through the air, embedding itself in the red-furred dog's skull.
William walked to the carcass. He withdrew the blade, skillfully beginning to process it.
He had just skinned it when another image flashed in his mind: bullets fired from behind.
'More scavengers trying to steal the prize.'
Food in the waste mountains was a scarce resource that people fought desperately over.
William abruptly rolled forward, raising his gun and firing. The bullet struck the scavenger's left eye with precision.
He quickly walked to the body, searching for loot.
William's movements suddenly halted. His mind was suddenly overshadowed.
Like the toxic exhaust clouds that shrouded Gardinaal's void.
William's body trembled. He didn't know what it was.
At the same moment, a Ramilles-class Starfort was projected into the Gardinaal system via the Kalium Gate.
After repairing the fourth pair of space stations, travel time through the Kalium Gate was further reduced.
In only five solar weeks, the Ramilles-class Starfort and the Shadow of Order fleet were projected from the northeastern Obscurus Segmentum to the eastern reaches of the Ultima Segmentum.
On dozens of moons and hundreds of asteroids, numerous orbital defense installations blared piercing alarms.
The defenders were not panicked. Over five millennia, they had repelled countless xenos and pirate attacks. Only once in their long history had they faced a substantive threat.
The people of Gardinaal believed they could repel the enemy's attack, just as in the past.
Forests of gun turrets swiveled, targeting the massive object that had suddenly appeared in the void.
The High Lords issued a warning to the intruders: leave Gardinaal immediately.
.....
If you enjoy the story, my p@treon is 30 chapters ahead.
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