Stop, stop.
Kasjia took a deep breath.
"This is a request from the War Council on Terra. We Iron Hands lack mercy for civilians."
"According to Lady Ferris's request, she has decided to let me correct this trend."
Seeing this, the Iron Hands no longer retorted.
An order from the Primarch could not be disobeyed.
"So, can you, according to my current request, prepare a plan for our upcoming attack on the Gardiner main planet?"
First Captain Santar nodded.
The plan was not complicated. First, they would use the 52nd Expeditionary Fleet to seize air superiority and end the Gardinerians' air blockade of our remnants.
On this basis, with the cover of the Iron Hands' invincible firepower, a large number of ground fire support units would be deployed to the battlefield to occupy and gradually expand the base.
Next would be the invincible Ferris herself descending upon the battlefield and smashing the remaining, uncleared enemies.
Finally, they would push the front line bit by bit and complete the occupation of the ruins.
Perhaps this place was not a ruin.
But who cared? It would always be a ruin in the end anyway.
Unless the other side's surrender speed could be faster than Ferris's advance speed.
"Then what if the enemy defends against our first wave of artillery fire, and the losses are not significant? How should we adjust next?"
Huh?
Hearing this question, the eyes of First Captain Santar, hidden behind his MKII helmet, were a little dazed.
"I mean, like a backup plan?"
There was none.
Humans cannot imagine what they have never seen.
The Iron Hands naturally could not imagine a scene where the other side could remain intact under their invincible artillery fire.
Looking at their expressions, Kasjia also understood most of it.
"The Iron Hands do not fail."
"Ferris, even less so."
First Captain Santar's answer was full of confidence.
Really, my friend?
So you mean to say that there is no backup plan, and even if the artillery barrage is useless, you will still insist on the subsequent course of action? Just let Big Sister Fei rush into the enemy's camp alone, and then watch as she gets her head lopped off?
Kasjia held his forehead in silence.
He felt that compared to Big Sister Fei, he was about to lose his own head sooner.
This was bad.
This wasn't helping at all. This was being a preschool teacher for the Iron Hands.
"Perhaps. Now, my Emperor's Children, integrate with the Iron Hands."
"Next, you will be responsible for preparing backup plans for the Iron Hands' operations."
"The requirement is to be as close as possible to the operational requirements of Gardiner, and also to fit the combat style of our Third Legion."
"Everyone, do you have the confidence to do it?"
"YES!"
"For the Emperor's Children, we slay the Father's foes!"
The Iron Hands' brains were almost replaced with iron. It was too difficult for them to change their way of thinking.
Kasjia decided to think about it later.
Since things had come to this, let's save people first.
Gardiner III.
As the main planet of Gardiner, this place had been in constant turmoil ever since the negotiations between the Imperium of Man and the Gardinerian Empire had broken down.
Perhaps the ruler of Gardiner wanted to add more bargaining chips for himself through war, or perhaps he thought his pocket empire was strong enough to take this opportunity to counter-control the Imperium of Man.
In short, with each side having its own ulterior motives, once the war had begun, it would not end.
In the battle not long ago, according to the report of the Thousand Sons emissary, Amal, the other side's firepower might have been fierce, but the annihilation of Cicero's army was just a dirty trick with thermonuclear weapons.
They had not expected the ruler of Gardiner to be so insane as to release nuclear bombs even if it meant turning his own planet into a radioactive wasteland.
And having lost their ground forces, the 413th Expeditionary Fleet could only hang their ships high in space, in a standoff with the ground forces of Gardiner.
One couldn't go up, the other couldn't come down.
They were stuck here.
Until the called-for fleet support arrived.
"Ferris and her men are here."
In the clear sky, the iron-grey warship gradually appeared in everyone's field of vision.
One of the most meritorious legions in the Great Crusade, the Iron Hands, had arrived in the Gardiner system to provide support.
And not the Twelfth Expeditionary Fleet of the gene-father Roboute Guilliman, which the Ultramarines' Cicero had been most eager for.
Because the latter was still on its way.
"It's... it's all over."
His armor was covered in dust and blood, and there were even some fragments and cracks that had been blown out of his power armor. Chapter Master Cicero sat tiredly among the bricks and rubble, although this place was currently not suitable due to the radiation.
But what did it matter? He was a dead man anyway.
The Tenth Legion has no mercy.
These remaining soldiers of theirs would most likely only serve as cannon fodder for the Tenth Legion's landing, and would be sent off in a wave of either the enemy's or their own fire.
It's no exaggeration to say that if he hadn't sent all of his Titan Legion on the ground to their deaths, he might have had a slight chance of getting some help from the other side.
After all, Ferris's relationship with the Mechanicum of Mars was very deep. Compared to the lives of his men, they would definitely do their best to save the Titan Legion.
But who told him not to save a single one?
"Chapter Master! It's reinforcements!"
"Our reinforcements are here!"
The soldier beside him, also covered in battle scars, cheered at him.
"Yes, the reinforcements are here. But the Tenth Legion will have no mercy for us."
"Sigh, it's all over."
Now, even killing a few more Gardinerians has no meaning.
After all, they were about to be turned into—by the artillery fire from the Iron Hands.
"It's drop pods and landing craft!"
"Chapter Master, we have support!"
Huh?
The Ultramarines looked at the sky in confusion.
There really were!
Could it be that Ferris had suddenly changed her nature (actually, her gender)? That she would actually send reinforcements to rescue the remaining front-line troops before the first wave of artillery barrage!
Is this really Ferris's ship?
Or is it that his gene-father Guilliman had a sudden whim and painted the Macragge's Honour in black and grey paint?
"Thousand Son, can you contact the remaining forces of our Ultramarines?"
Kasjia asked the Thousand Sons Librarian, Amal, beside him, while operating the laser cannon in the landing craft.
As a Space Marine who had previously fought alongside the Ultramarines, his perception of the remaining forces would be more accurate.
"It's difficult to sense... I might need to land on the surface to get anything."
In the complex battlefield environment, the ground forces of the Ultramarines had long since lost contact.
Now, the Ultramarines were engaged in street fighting with the enemy in the ruins after the nuclear explosion. It was unknown how many Ultramarines were left.
It was even possible that the entire army had been wiped out.
"In that case, release a rally signal after our troops have deployed."
A large-scale legion battle. This time, the weapons Kasjia had brought were his purple-and-gold, door-sized shield and his long power spear.
Of course, there was also a bolt pistol at his waist.
"Nice gear."
When he had just boarded the landing craft, the few Iron Hands beside him had said, almost drooling.
This setup was the envy of everyone.
Not to mention the Iron Hands, who valued firepower and weapons the most.
"What are these?"
As the Stormbird landing craft descended into the atmosphere, various flying objects from outside the craft gradually came into Kasjia's view.
They were not large, and their appearance was very different from the various fighters currently in the Imperium.
But their numbers were truly too many.
A dense swarm of flying machines, like mosquitoes, directly covered the sky in the sky-blue color of the Gardinerian paint scheme.
Although these aircraft were crudely made, their strength was in their numbers.
An almost endless number of flying machines directly formed the first barrier to prevent the ground troops from landing.
Even though Kasjia was constantly sweeping with the laser cannon he was operating, it was just a drop in the bucket.
"Unable to break through the enemy blockade. Requesting support."
Before he could even send this message, more iron-grey aircraft descended from above at a speed faster than the Stormbird.
It was the automated aerial servitors from the Iron Hands.
Or rather, the automated aerial servitors that had been developed by Kasjia and implemented in the Iron Hands.
When this aerial servitor was first developed, although the inventor was Kasjia, the first version he had invented was not very good.
To modify it and make it usable on the battlefield, it still required the constant improvement of Ferris and other Mechanicum Magi.
And no matter how many Gardinerian aircraft there were, they were still helpless in the face of the ridiculously large automated aerial servitor swarm from Ferris's fleet.
With countless dense explosions, the encirclement in the sky was instantly cleared, leaving only a few scattered aircraft still entangled with the automated servitors.
BOOM!
Immediately after, several orange-red beams of light descended from the sky, instantly turning the numerous military facilities on the surface into dust.
The precise and accurate strikes from the Primarch Ferris instantly landed on the Gardinerian's proud surface anti-aircraft system.
Everything was just right.
"Ferris's calculation ability..."
He was also a bit... This was also why the Iron Tenth Legion's individual tactics were poor, and at the same time, they had not produced any super Space Marines like Sigismund or Abaddon in the Great Crusade.
Because the battle was all handled by Ferris alone.
From new weapon development, to long-range artillery strikes, to the cleanup of surface remnants, the main force was all relying on Ferris's calculation and combat ability.
From then on, with the assistance of the aerial servitors and long-range artillery fire, the sky was once again under their control.
The landing of the Stormbird would no longer be hindered.
"What a terrifying war machine."
Kasjia couldn't help but exclaim.
"Under the command of the Iron Mother, the Tenth Legion is invincible."
First Captain Santar said to Kasjia with a hint of pride.
Even though Ferris was extremely strict with them, but everything was handled personally by the Primarch, which was how the Iron Hands had become so strong today.
The Iron Mother Ferris was invincible, absolute.
She was invincible!
No one could stop Ferris and her Tenth Legion.
Although there was a hint of being a bootlicker, they did indeed have the capital to be proud.
"But my friends from the Iron Hands, have you ever thought about one thing?"
"If one day, Ferris is gone, what will you do?"
As soon as these words were spoken, the Stormbird fell silent again.
"We will not—"
"I know you are determined to protect your Primarch," Kasjia interrupted the other's rebuttal. "But in any case, we should all try to think about the possibilities of the future."
"Because we can never predict what will happen in the future."
Kasjia sighed softly and felt the Stormbird gradually descending to the surface.
"We've arrived. Get ready. We're going down."
With a muffled thud, the rear hatch of the Stormbird opened, and dozens of Space Marines rushed out.
Their landing site was chosen in the suburbs of a satellite city where the Ultramarines had once fought.
After being hit by a thermonuclear weapon, this relatively remote location might still have survivors.
"First to Tenth squads, guard the landing site. Build defensive facilities according to the original plan."
"The rest of the squads, disperse and search the surrounding area. Be careful."
The Space Marines who had landed on the surface immediately dispersed like water according to the previous squad division.
As Santar's heavy steps set foot on the smoke-filled and ruined land, a pair of eyes lurking in the dark stared at him.
It was an assassin caste from the Gardinerian Empire.
Gardiner would divide its people into castes based on their birth and carry out corresponding genetic modifications.
And the assassin caste in the warrior caste classification had undergone a large number of genetic modifications that could make a person's senses sharp and reaction speed fast, and at the same time, have stronger explosive power.
And with a poison-coated short knife in his hand, he rushed towards First Captain Santar.
CLANG!
His full-strength blow only produced a shower of sparks on the armor.
Missing the first blow, he was instantly captured by Santar's speed, which did not match his heavy armor.
And at that very moment, he showed a strange smile.
His figure expanded rapidly, like a balloon about to explode.
A warrior who had undergone special assassin genetic modification, the Gardinerians' modification was not so simple.
He had activated the self-destruct program contained in his body.
BOOM!
With a strong explosion, a grey-green toxic smoke completely enveloped him.
When the dust cleared, only Santar and his tall iron armor still stood in their original position.
Unscathed.
Gorgon-pattern Terminator armor.
An internal, small-scale test version from the Iron Hands.
As the legion with the closest ties to the Mechanicum, the Iron Hands were the first to get their hands on this new toy. The First Captain was naturally excited to use it on the battlefield.
And judging by its effect, it was immediately apparent.
Terminators are so good!
"The Gardinerians probably can't even break my defense."
The First Captain said to himself with a hint of pride, while the miniature cogitator array on his shoulder was constantly searching for nearby survivors.
What's the big deal? Just as Cicero reported.
Apart from thermonuclear weapons, the Gardinerians are nothing special.
BOOM!
Until the next moment, he saw the wall of the satellite city beside him being blown to bits by a Titan-sized, four-legged Gardinerian machine.
And then, their eyes met.
"CICERO!"
"I—"
He was shouting a certain word in the Medusan language, but judging by the tone and context, it was most likely a curse.
-------
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