V3 Chapter 38: How About You Take Full Command of All Ground Operations for the Crusade?
Macragge had four moons.
Tonight was an unusual night. All four hung in the sky at once, varying in size, and their light made the high walls, courtyards, and corridors outside the Fortress of Hera unusually clear. Cold white light fell across the stone and across Duvette's black greatcoat.
Duvette walked forward through one of the Fortress's inner corridors.
He walked and thought about what Guilliman might want to discuss. Lady Tarasha Euten. The Castalor campaign. Or perhaps some part of the future he already understood but could not fully speak aloud.
He did not know the answer.
But he was certain he was ready for whatever came next.
The Fortress of Hera was quiet even at night. Patrolling Ultramarines passed in the distance, their heavy footsteps absorbed by the walls until only the faintest echo remained.
Duvette reached the door he had come to know.
Two Honour Guard stood outside. When they saw him, they asked nothing, simply gave a silent salute and stepped aside.
Duvette gave them a nod, then raised his hand and knocked.
Guilliman's voice came quickly from inside.
"Come in, Duvette."
Duvette pushed the door open and walked in.
The tense, constrained atmosphere he had half-expected was not there. Even to an outside observer, Guilliman's mood at this moment was visibly better than it usually was. The Primarch was seated behind the desk, and a faint trace of something that was almost a smile remained on his face. He looked up at Duvette briefly.
"Sit. No need for formalities."
Duvette had already begun the motion of a salute. At those words, he let it go and sat down across from Guilliman as he had before, his gaze moving briefly over the data-slates and several unfiled reports on the desk.
Before Duvette could speak, Guilliman said: "I have had Lady Euten examined."
His tone was considerably gentler than usual.
"She is in good health. Exactly as I remember the Mistress of the Household."
Duvette gave a nod.
He understood. Guilliman had confirmed it. Tarasha Euten was genuine: not a xenos trap, not a Warp forgery.
The room went briefly quiet.
Then the faint trace of warmth in Guilliman's expression withdrew. He looked at Duvette and his manner became more serious.
"What I said on the docking deck was inadequate."
Duvette looked up.
Guilliman stood and gave him a formal bow.
"There are only the two of us here," Guilliman said. "I am deeply grateful for what you did and for this recovery. General Duvette."
Duvette had not expected this.
Even understanding how much Tarasha Euten meant to Guilliman, this was still a formal expression of gratitude from a loyal Primarch.
He stood quickly and returned the bow with a smile.
"There is no need to thank me," he said. "Finding out that Lady Euten existed at all had an element of fortune to it."
Guilliman looked at him.
"One thing at a time."
Something shifted very slightly in Duvette's thoughts.
Guilliman sat back down and indicated Duvette should do the same.
"I also want to ask you about something else," Guilliman said. "Why did you order the Resolute to change course without my authorisation?"
Duvette raised an eyebrow.
He had seen this coming.
He was not unsettled. He had thought through this long before and had a complete set of reasoning ready: xenos signal, urgent judgement call, time window, a target with possible connection to the Primarch. Every piece was defensible.
But Guilliman did not give him the chance to use it.
"I am not reproaching you."
Duvette paused.
Guilliman looked at him evenly.
"Your judgement proved correct in the end. What I want to remind you of is that in future you need to consider other people's perceptions more carefully."
He tapped the surface of the desk.
"You hold information others may not. You know your own reason for acting. Others can only see a powerful ground force unexpectedly break from its planned course."
Duvette did not reply immediately.
Guilliman continued. "A ground force equivalent in effect to fifty thousand Astartes is sufficient to conquer a planet before anyone else has registered what is happening."
That sentence kept Duvette quiet for a moment.
He had not expected that to be Guilliman's real concern.
From Duvette's perspective, he had simply taken the fleet to verify coordinates. From Guilliman's perspective, and from the perspective of every other Imperial commander watching, a mortal general with an anomalous combat force had taken a terrifying ground formation off its planned route without explanation.
Without the final outcome as justification, suspicion and alarm would have propagated quickly.
Guilliman did not ask what Duvette was thinking.
He picked up a data-slate and pushed it across the desk.
"Look at this."
Duvette took it.
After a few lines, his eyes contracted slightly.
It was an order that had not yet been issued.
Its content was clear.
For the duration of the coming crusade to Terra, all ground campaign operations were to be placed under the full command of Marshal-Commissar Duvette Erdmann.
Duvette looked up at Guilliman.
Guilliman was looking at him.
"What do you think?"
Duvette looked down and read the text again.
This was not an ordinary appointment.
The crusade to Terra would assemble an enormous ground force. Astra Militarum, Ultramar Auxilia, Knight houses, Titan Legions, and Astartes from multiple Chapters.
If all of those forces were placed under his operational command, he would hold the largest authority he had ever held.
Duvette was quiet for a few seconds.
"Are you not concerned something might go wrong?"
He chose the words carefully.
He did not say aloud the full extent of what he was thinking. On a crusade, hundreds of thousands or even millions of mortal soldiers enhanced by his skills could approach the combat effectiveness of the old Legions in a short time.
Given the nature of Guilliman, the man who had written the Codex Astartes specifically to prevent such concentrations of force, that kind of centralised power should by rights have been something he restricted severely.
Guilliman had read the concern.
"They will only be answering to you temporarily," Guilliman said.
"I will ensure that under my orders, they follow your command."
Duvette understood.
The formation would be under his operational authority, but that authority would derive from Guilliman's direct mandate. If anything went wrong, Guilliman could retract that command at once simply by virtue of who he was: the Lord of the Thirteenth Legion, the returned son.
Duvette looked at the data-slate and thought that this was very Guilliman.
He offered very large trust, and retained a complete system of balance alongside it.
Guilliman watched the change in Duvette's expression and allowed himself another trace of a smile.
"I see you understand."
He reached over and took the data-slate back.
"The campaign you commanded on Castalor satisfied me greatly. I had originally estimated that even with those capabilities behind you, you would require close to two months to resolve the greenskin problem there."
Duvette leaned back in the chair and said nothing.
"But you cleared the main greenskin threat in under three weeks."
Guilliman glanced at the data-slate.
"The main force was destroyed. The battlefield division was effective. The follow-on clearance handover proceeded without significant disorder."
Duvette listened without speaking.
Guilliman looked up.
"It appears you were still concealing some part of your capabilities."
Duvette's fingers tapped his knee once, lightly.
Guilliman appeared unsurprised.
"That is understandable. I recognise why you are cautious," he said.
"Which is why, during the crusade that follows, I will see everything you actually have with my own eyes."
The room went quiet.
Duvette and Guilliman looked at each other in silence.
A loyal Primarch newly returned from ten thousand years of stillness. A mortal Commissar pushed step by step by fate and the System into the centre of this crusade.
After a moment, Duvette gave a quiet laugh.
"The last person who said something like that to me was Warmaster Slaydo."
Guilliman did not interrupt.
"I proved it to him as well," Duvette said. "It seems I will need to do so again."
Guilliman looked at him and did not press further.
"This order will be formally communicated to all parties afterward," Guilliman said. "Go and rest for now. There is a great deal ahead."
Duvette gave a nod, stood, and walked toward the door.
He had taken only a few steps when Guilliman's voice came from behind him.
"One more thing."
Duvette stopped and turned.
"During the time you were away, the two Aeldari came looking for you," Guilliman said.
"They indicated they had other matters and needed to leave ahead of the fleet. They said they will find you again."
Duvette understood immediately.
Yvraine and Sylandri had left on other business.
That was no surprise.
Gathering the five remaining Croneswords was not something that could be done quickly, and the Ynnari could not continue travelling with an Imperial fleet indefinitely. Yvraine had her own objectives, and Sylandri would follow her.
Duvette gave a nod.
"Understood."
Guilliman looked at him and added: "I have agreed to pursue a limited cooperative arrangement with the faction that calls itself the Ynnari for the time being."
Duvette showed no surprise.
He had anticipated this.
Guilliman understood clearly what role Yvraine had played in his own revival, and equally understood that the Ynnari and the Imperium could never extend each other genuine trust. Limited cooperation was the most reasonable outcome available.
"A sound decision," Duvette said.
Guilliman did not comment on that.
Duvette rendered a salute, then left the room.
The door closed quietly behind him.
Moonlight still fell into the corridor through narrow windows overhead. All four of Macragge's moons hung in the night sky, their light making the outline of the Fortress unusually clear.
Duvette walked back the way he had come toward his quarters.
He looked up at the bright night sky while his thoughts ran over the order that had not yet been issued.
He was about to take command of the full ground force of a crusade fleet.
Titan Legions.
Knight houses.
Astartes.
Astra Militarum.
Ultramar Auxilia.
And the Chapters, noble armies, and various Imperial forces that would continue answering Guilliman's call as the crusade progressed.
This was the largest concentration of power Duvette was about to hold.
And that was before the Soul of the Legion.
Duvette's pace slowed for a moment at one of the windows.
Moonlight fell across the brim of his cap and across the shoulder of his black greatcoat. He looked at the mountains of Macragge in the distance and felt a clarity rise in him that he had not felt before.
Nothing in this galaxy could face him on the ground and hold.
He would break through everything.