V3 Chapter 40: A World That Goes Suddenly Silent
By the time Duvette reached the strategic council chamber at the heart of the Fortress of Hera, the hall was already full.
Senior Astra Militarum officers, Mechanicus Archmagi and priests, noble representatives from the Knight houses, high Ecclesiarchy Archbishops, Lord Inquisitors of the Inquisition, and Chapter Masters and senior officers from the various Astartes Chapters: very nearly every senior representative taking part in the coming Terra crusade had already arrived.
The tiered seating arranged in rings around the chamber was almost entirely filled. The whole hall had a solemn and quiet weight to it.
Every eye was on the centre of the hall.
There, a single brilliant beam of light fell from the dome above.
Roboute Guilliman stood quietly at the centre of that beam.
He wore the blue-gold armour of fate, the gilded inscriptions on the pauldrons catching the light in faint flickers. A laurel wreath, the symbol of Ultramar's honour, rested on his head. His eyes were lightly closed, still as a statue at the centre of the hall.
No one in the entire council chamber spoke.
Everyone was waiting.
Then Duvette walked in. Guilliman seemed to sense something, and opened his eyes slowly, giving a slight nod in Duvette's direction.
That small movement was enough to draw a significant number of eyes toward Duvette in turn.
Duvette looked at the tiers of seating rising above him in rings, then at Guilliman standing at the centre below the light, and felt the corner of his mouth twitch involuntarily.
Ancient Roman senate. Right. Space Rome through and through.
As long as nobody tried anything during the proceedings.
He paused for a beat.
Though that particular Caesar was not going to lose that fight.
Duvette shut down the tangent and walked to his assigned seat in the front row.
His seat was directly beside the Ultramarines Chapter Master, Calgar.
On the other side sat Lord Inquisitor Heinz, and beside him Lord Inquisitor Juno Karol.
He had barely settled into the seat when a familiar voice reached him.
"It has been a while, Duvette."
Juno leaned slightly toward him, wearing the same smile as always, her voice low enough that only the two of them could hear it.
"I am told you have been making quite a name for yourself lately."
Duvette glanced at her.
Then he gave her a pointed look and said nothing.
He no longer carried the wariness and unease he had felt around this woman at the beginning. In a setting like this, she was not going to do anything.
Heinz gave a quiet cough on the other side.
Juno heard it, smiled, and returned to her seat without the smile leaving her face.
Duvette did not engage further.
He brought his attention back to the centre of the hall.
Looking at the Primarch standing under that light, he noticed that compared to their first meeting, Guilliman's condition had visibly improved.
The weight in his brow had eased. The suppressed anxiety that had been there in those early days was mostly gone. Since Tarasha Euten had returned, Duvette had barely seen that heavy expression on Guilliman's face at all.
As it turned out, having a mother made a difference.
Several minutes passed.
The last representatives took their seats. The great doors of the council chamber swung slowly shut.
The hall went completely quiet.
Guilliman looked slowly around at everyone present.
Then he spoke.
"Honoured representatives."
The low, steady voice filled the chamber.
"I formally announce that in the near future, we will launch a strategic crusade to sacred Terra."
Every head in the hall came up.
Guilliman continued.
"This crusade will pass through the entirety of the Imperium's eastern domains."
"We will reclaim worlds of strategic importance that have been lost. We will restore critical transit corridors. We will destroy the xenos and Chaos forces threatening the Imperium."
"We will rebuild the order of the Imperium."
"All of you will be part of that."
As the last of his words settled, the light above him that had been illuminating him went out.
In the next moment, an enormous green hololithic strategic map rose slowly from the centre of the hall.
The full territory of the Imperium appeared before everyone present.
Countless stars, transit routes, sectors, and strategic nodes lit up in sequence.
Then a bright gold route line extended from Macragge, stretching across vast spans of the galaxy, until it terminated at the centre of the Imperium.
Sacred Terra.
More than a few people in the hall stopped breathing.
This was the full route of the crusade.
Guilliman raised his hand.
As he moved, one strategic objective after another appeared along both sides of the route.
Some worlds were under xenos assault.
Some were still caught in prolonged internal conflict.
Others were significant transit corridors that had fallen entirely silent.
Guilliman said quietly: "These places will return to the Imperium. This is an oath I once made. I will now see it completed."
The hall fell into complete silence. No one questioned what the Primarch had said.
Then the strategic map contracted rapidly.
The full galactic display disappeared, leaving only a single star system in the vicinity of the old Five Hundred Worlds frontier.
Two worlds were highlighted.
One was a significant Mechanicus forge world.
The other was an Imperial agri-world.
Guilliman continued.
"This is the first objective of the crusade."
"Not long before my return, these two worlds lost contact simultaneously."
"All astropathic communication was severed entirely."
"The entire system fell silent."
On the strategic map, every communication node surrounding the two highlighted worlds went dark.
The atmosphere in the hall grew heavier.
Guilliman continued.
"I dispatched reconnaissance vessels to investigate."
"They also lost contact."
"To this day, they have not returned."
"Based on the information currently available, our initial assessment is that this location has come under xenos attack."
Duvette, who had been leaning back in his chair, slowly straightened.
Lost communications. Reconnaissance vessels gone. The entire system silent.
That description.
The more he heard, the more it sounded like Necrons.
Specifically, the kind of Necrons who had already begun deploying something like a Deathmark exclusion around tomb worlds.
Duvette's brow came together slowly.
By standard reckoning, at this point in the timeline, the Silent King should only just be returning from his long exile. Any fully coordinated Necron activity at scale would still need time to manifest openly.
Most dynasties were still in dormancy or internal conflict.
He looked carefully at the star chart. He ran through what he remembered of the galactic map.
Then a name surfaced.
The Sautekh Dynasty.
Duvette's pupils contracted slightly.
If he had the location right, this was already close to the outer edge of Sautekh influence. Though accounting for the timeline, the Stormlord should not yet have awakened at this point, and the Sautekh were still in internal conflict following the loss of the Phaeron.
While he was working through it, Guilliman had noticed the change in him.
"Duvette," the Primarch said, looking at him. "Do you know something?"
Every eye in the hall moved to Duvette at once.
Duvette was quiet for a moment, then stood. He chose his words carefully.
"I believe," he said.
"This may belong to the same race of xenos that attacked me not long ago."
Several people in the hall frowned.
Duvette gave a brief account of the Necrons.
"They have slept for long spans of time in underground tomb complexes."
"They possess technology well beyond current Imperial understanding."
"They maintain fleets of considerable scale and firepower, with unknown faster-than-light transit capabilities."
"Their bodies are composed of living metal that continuously repairs itself."
"Conventional destruction is very difficult to make permanent. They can remotely recover bodies that have been rendered non-functional."
As he spoke, the hall gradually went very quiet.
Several Mechanicus priests had begun recording rapidly.
A number of Chapter Masters exchanged glances.
When Duvette stopped, one Mechanicus priest finally could not hold the question back.
"Marshal-Commissar."
"What is the source of this intelligence?"
Duvette's expression remained composed and grave.
"This is intelligence that Archmagos Belisarius Cawl accumulated over millennia of travel through the galaxy, through contact with this xenos race."
At the mention of Cawl's name, a number of Mechanicus priests immediately took on expressions of quiet consideration. Some gave slight nods. Others continued recording in silence. Several exchanged glances without pressing the question further.
Beside Duvette, Juno narrowed her eyes slightly.
She looked at Duvette's entirely serious face and allowed a slow smile to form. She gave a quiet sound that was almost a laugh.
Duvette appeared not to hear it, and maintained his serious expression without change.
Guilliman paid no attention to the side exchange.
He gave a slow nod.
"Noted, and thank you for the intelligence." He looked back out across the full hall. "Regardless of what enemy we are facing."
"This strategic supply node must be retaken."
"It will be the most important logistical anchor for the entire crusade fleet."
He paused briefly, then continued. "Additionally, I will now formally announce one further command."
Every eye in the hall moved back to him.
"From the day the crusade commences."
"Marshal-Commissar Duvette Erdmann."
"Acting under my direct authorisation, will serve as overall ground commander for all surface engagements of the crusade's main fleet."
The hall did not break into significant commotion.
Many of the senior officers had already known this was coming.
Those who had not heard it beforehand had spent recent days reviewing Duvette's record and career.
Most simply turned their gaze to Duvette and took stock of the young Marshal-Commissar in quiet assessment.
Duvette, who had just sat down, stood again.
Facing the full hall, he gave a bow.
"I am grateful for the Primarch's trust and for the confidence of everyone present."
"In the crusade ahead, I look forward to completing this mission together with all of you."
A low murmur of response moved through the hall.
Then the meeting moved formally into its next phase.
Over the hours that followed, Guilliman demonstrated a breadth of operational thinking that was genuinely difficult to absorb.
Fleet formations, supply routes, logistics scheduling, astropathic communications, Knight house integration, Titan Legion deployment, Mechanicus forge quotas, Astartes Chapter responsibilities.
Nearly every aspect of the crusade's structure was resolved under his direction in rapid sequence.
People rose to respond to their assignments, then sat back down.
Commands were recorded.
Strategic nodes were filled in one by one.
Duvette sat quietly and watched the whole operational framework taking shape around him.
By the time the meeting began to draw toward its close, he had understood something fully.
A crusade of unprecedented scale was about to formally begin.