V3 Chapter 42: The Blade Unbound — Golden Tarantula Joins the Crusade
When Duvette left the command bridge of the Macragge's Honour, the hololithic star charts were still illuminated across the entire bridge behind him.
He had just finished confirming an important document with Guilliman.
The document's formal designation was: Crusade Ground Force Unified Combat Awareness and Discipline Protocol.
The protocol would be issued under the Primarch's authority to all major combat groups, then passed down through battle group command staffs to regimental officers and commissars. Every regimental officer was required to brief their soldiers on the anomalous states they might experience before the crusade fleet reached the target system.
That included the sudden appearance of red outlines around enemy units.
The protocol did not use the words Chaos corruption anywhere. Instead it used hostile contamination threshold as the replacement term. The deeper the colour, the more dangerous the target; ordinary soldiers were required to immediately report to their direct officer and commissar, were forbidden from opening fire without authorisation, and were absolutely prohibited from executing fellow soldiers without an order.
If a soldier noticed similar outlines on a squad-mate, they were required to follow the same reporting procedure.
The relevant individual would then be assessed by a commissar, an Inquisitorial liaison, and an Astartes advisor. Duvette had emphasised this point specifically, because he understood very well what Imperial soldiers could do when fear and fanaticism combined.
For the record, the first engagement would be against Necrons, so this particular phenomenon would not arise immediately.
Beyond that, the protocol included explanations covering physical state enhancement, reaction speed changes, and battlefield awareness improvement.
A Mechanicus appendix noted that vehicle machine spirits might exhibit anomalously elevated response and that weapon calibration speed and power output might briefly exceed standard parameters. These circumstances had been authorised by the Primarch; no crew member or Tech-Priest was to classify such events as machine spirit corruption.
Duvette had been standing beside Guilliman while the Primarch worked through every page.
After reading, Guilliman stood before the hololithic star chart for a long time.
His expression was complicated.
Then he turned and looked at Duvette.
"I find myself somewhat regretting placing this ground force under your command as early as I did."
Duvette said nothing.
He understood what Guilliman meant.
It was not a question of loyalty, and it was not a withdrawal of the appointment. Guilliman had simply realised that once Duvette's capabilities entered a crusade-level force of a million soldiers, they could no longer be contained within the 112th Combat Cluster the way they had been before.
This would produce miracles.
It would also produce complications. Significant ones. Numerous ones. The kind of complications sufficient to give even a Primarch a headache.
But then Guilliman had simply said, in an even tone: "This order will be issued under my authority."
"Your name will not appear in any part of it."
"All rumours, challenges, and investigations I will handle personally. The two Lord Inquisitors will cooperate."
Duvette had looked at him for a moment, then given a single nod.
Then he turned and left.
Once he was out of the bridge, Duvette let out a long breath.
He understood. Guilliman was protecting him.
If these protocols had been issued under Duvette's name, someone in the crusade force would eventually invoke heresy, contamination, or unknown psychic influence against him. Even with Guilliman standing in front of him at that point, not every challenge could be completely shut down.
But an order issued under Guilliman's authority was an entirely different matter.
Even if someone suspected these capabilities were connected to Chaos corruption, it would be very difficult to publicly oppose a battlefield protocol signed by a gene-sire Primarch returned after ten thousand years. And those who had the genuine standing to challenge it on grounds of purity would have Juno and Heinz watching them.
This was only the first step.
Duvette understood clearly that if he ever wanted to put his capabilities fully on the table, this step was going to have to be taken eventually.
Any broader legitimacy would probably only become available after reaching Terra, when Guilliman could stand before the Emperor himself.
For now, Guilliman was willing to trust him and had taken the most dangerous exposure onto himself. That was already a significant concession.
Duvette continued down the wide internal corridor.
The inside of the Macragge's Honour was like a city of steel. Rows of Chapter serfs, servitors, and crew members moved past on both sides. Low logistical commands came intermittently from the bulkhead speakers.
In the waiting area outside the bridge, Evan was already standing by.
He came forward and saluted the moment he saw Duvette.
"Commissar."
Duvette gestured for him to fall in.
Evan walked beside him and offered a data-slate.
"Before the fleet completes its departure, the crusade ground force has now been organised into twelve primary combat groups."
"Over eighty Astra Militarum infantry regiments, twenty-five mechanised regiments, twenty armoured regiments, twenty artillery and siege regiments, along with Ultramar Auxilia, Mechanicus Skitarii forces, Knight houses, Titan Legions, and an Astartes combined strike group."
"Total strength: approximately one point two million."
Duvette took the data-slate and looked at it briefly.
Evan continued. "Fleet strategy will be managed by the Primarch. Specific fleet manoeuvres will be executed by the various Admirals, Astartes fleet captains, and Mechanicus fleet commanders."
Duvette gave a nod.
"What you are telling me is that they have dropped over a hundred completely mismatched regiments on me and expect me to turn them into a mutually coordinated force before the first engagement."
Evan paused.
"More precisely, an expeditionary force."
Duvette looked at him.
Evan's expression did not change. He appeared to have heard nothing remotely ironic in what had just been said.
Duvette exhaled and handed the data-slate back.
What came next was the two worlds almost certainly under Necron occupation.
According to the current transit projections, the crusade fleet would need close to three weeks to reach the target system.
Three weeks was not nothing.
But for Duvette, it might not be enough. He was probably not going to be sleeping again.
He needed to memorise the structures of all twelve combat groups, become familiar with the personalities of each regimental commander, establish the primary assault axis, prepare tactical contingency plans for Necrons, and ensure that a force of one point two million soldiers could begin adapting to his capabilities before they arrived.
If any one of those elements was handled poorly, the first campaign could go wrong at the point of contact.
At that moment, Duvette saw a figure coming toward him from the far end of the corridor.
The figure was very tall, and very thin.
Duvette and Evan both stopped.
Evan stepped forward to place himself between Duvette and the approaching figure.
The person stopped without coming closer.
He lowered his head slowly and rendered a formal noble bow.
Only then did Duvette get a clear look at his appearance.
The man wore an old-pattern noble dress uniform. The fabric had yellowed with age, but every clasp and cord had been carefully maintained. He looked extremely old, well past a hundred by any measure, and multiple burn scars were visible on the exposed skin.
His short hair was grey-white.
One side of his skull was missing a large section of skin and hair where a neural interface surgery had been performed. The neck bore the insertion ports left behind by years of direct neural cable connections. Half the face near the ports carried deep compression marks, and the other half was set with a deep-red augmetic eye.
In Duvette's field of vision, the man's status panel was visible.
Being visible in his panel meant he had already been integrated into the crusade ground force sequence.
Duvette looked at the name and position displayed, and spoke first.
"Sir Aurek Arachnus."
"What brings you to find me?"
The old man paused visibly at hearing his name spoken with precision.
Then he allowed a somewhat stiff smile.
"It has been a long time since I heard anyone address me that way, Marshal-Commissar."
His voice was rough, like someone who had spent years in a cockpit with little need for conversation.
"Most people now know only Aurek Arachnus the Blade Unbound."
"Very few still remember that I was once also a family's Knight."
Duvette did not interrupt.
Aurek straightened.
"My house is gone."
"I continue to fight as a Freeblade."
"On this occasion, I am hoping to be assigned an important assault position in the campaigns ahead."
His augmetic eye shifted slowly, fixing on Duvette.
"I will not disappoint the Primarch."
"I will not bring shame to the Emperor or to my Knight throne."
Duvette had already suppressed an internal sigh before the last sentence landed.
Of course.
What had to come eventually had come.
The Astra Militarum senior officers had already found him. Now a Knight had arrived.
And this Freeblade was considerably more difficult to deflect than a conventional noble.
Duvette raised a hand.
"If you have no objection, perhaps we could walk and talk."
Aurek Arachnus gave a nod and fell into step beside Duvette.
Evan moved back to Duvette's other side, maintaining his distance.
The three of them walked on down the corridor.
After a brief silence, Aurek said: "In truth, I heard your name a long time ago."
Duvette glanced at him with mild surprise.
"I also fought in the Battle of Macragge," Aurek said.
Duvette raised an eyebrow.
Honestly, he did not remember a Freeblade having been present in that campaign.
Aurek continued. "I was part of the grinding engagement against the swarm at Cold Steel Ridge as well."
"There, the tide of organisms came close to overrunning the entire line."
"Afterward I heard that a mortal Astra Militarum formation had voluntarily stayed behind to buy time for the withdrawal."
"And later I heard that they had successfully coordinated with Lord Calgar to complete the counterattack, and brought down the Tyranid Hive Tyrant."
Aurek paused.
"From that moment, the name Duvette Erdmann was fixed in my memory."
Duvette was quiet for a moment.
Then he said: "That was what we were there to do."
"Many say that," Aurek answered. "Very few are actually among those who stayed."
He continued. "I was present at the investiture ceremony that followed."
"I witnessed the birth of a legend with my own eyes."
Duvette shook his head slightly. "You are a legend in your own right, Sir Arachnus." He had located the Freeblade's epithet in his memory: the Golden Tarantula.
At that, something like a smile appeared on Aurek's face.
It was a faint smile, and a somewhat stiff one.
"I am only an old man who lost his house and could not bring himself to stop."
"After the Battle of Macragge, I spent years hunting the residual Tyranid swarms through Ultramar's outlying systems."
"Until the Primarch's return."
His voice grew quieter.
"When I learned that you had become an unprecedented Imperial Marshal-Commissar, and that you had brought about the miracle of waking a Primarch, I knew you would hold a critical position in this crusade."
"Events have confirmed that."
"You are the overall ground commander."
Aurek stopped walking and rendered his bow to Duvette again.
"So I am asking for the chance to fight alongside this legend once more."
Duvette looked at him and allowed a small smile.
"Fighting alongside me would be somewhat difficult."
"For most of the campaign, I may not personally go down to the surface."
Aurek said nothing.
Duvette stopped walking as well.
He looked at the old Freeblade in front of him.
After a moment, he said: "However, if you are willing, I can give you a position."
Aurek raised his head.
Duvette continued. "My direct formation, the 112th Combat Cluster, will serve as the crusade force's primary assault element."
"They will be sent to the most dangerous positions, the most critical ones, the ones where the enemy line needs to be torn open."
"If you want an important assault position, fight with them."
Duvette looked at Aurek's deep-red augmetic eye.
"There will be no shortage of enemies there."
"There will be no shortage of honour either."
Aurek Arachnus was silent for a long time.
Then he lowered his head slowly.
"I accept your arrangement, Marshal-Commissar."
Duvette gave a nod.
"Good."
He started walking again.
"Prepare yourself then, Sir Arachnus."
"The first engagement will very likely be a hard fight."
If you're enjoying the story, toss a Power Stone or drop a review — it helps more than you'd think.
Advance chapters → patreon.com/Eatinpieces