V3 Chapter 56: Cleanup
The fighting on the forge world Vulcantia and the agri-world Cereris had ended just as suddenly as the void engagement had.
On the command bridge of the Macragge's Honour, Guilliman listened to a staff officer's report, his expression unreadable. On the holographic projection, the orbital, surface, and subterranean fronts of both worlds continued to update.
From the moment the crusade fleet had arrived at the Mandeville point to the moment the Necron fleet was driven back from orbit above Vulcantia and Cereris, only twenty Terran standard hours had passed.
That was extremely fast.
Those xenos vessels possessed extraordinary manoeuvrability and unsettling weapon systems, and with the support of their silence nodes, they had inflicted no small losses on the Imperial fleet. But in the end, they had been forced out of orbital control and driven off in disarray.
What left Guilliman silent now, though, was the full ground offensive commanded by Duvette.
From the first wave of landing forces formally entering the theatre to the collapse of organised enemy resistance on the surface and underground, less than eight Terran standard hours had passed.
Guilliman knew part of this owed to the Imperial fleet's complete control of both worlds' orbits. Orbital superiority let the ground forces receive continuous fire support, and it also cut off the enemy's ability to redeploy across the surface.
But even accounting for that, the speed of the advance still left a deep impression on him.
More than that, what had happened during the battle had already gone well beyond the scope of an ordinary campaign record.
The Mechanicus had just reported that, during the final hour, several Titans of the Victory Titan Legion had remained in a state of nearly continuous fire. The Warlord-class Titan Iron of the End in particular had fired its two Belicosa Volcano Cannons against the Necron line at a rate far exceeding any safety protocol.
According to the Mechanicus report, Iron of the End's machine spirit had entered an unprecedented state of frenzy the moment it touched down. Its Princeps had been unable to fully restrain it, and could only direct that fury toward the enemy.
Guilliman looked at the wreckage of the Necron obelisk-fortress destroyed by the Volcano Cannons in the projection, his brow shifting almost imperceptibly.
On a conventional ground battlefield, the most reliable counter to a Titan-class unit was usually another Titan.
But what did one do against a Warlord-class Titan that had come close to never ceasing fire at all?
Short of an orbital strike destroying it outright, or several war machines of the same class coordinating to suppress it head-on together, there was little ground-based force that could withstand that kind of sustained bombardment.
The Necrons had fared no better.
Their constructs, their blackstone fortresses, and their surface defences had crumbled rapidly under Titan fire. Nodes that had still been holding out stubbornly lost contact one after another in that final hour.
Just then, the hatch of the strategic command room opened.
Duvette walked forward at a measured pace to stand before Guilliman, saluted, and spoke. "My lord, confirmed reports from the front line: enemy resistance on all fronts has ceased. Large-scale energy activity has been detected across multiple underground structures on both Vulcantia and Cereris, and some high-order units are breaking contact."
He paused, then looked up at the holographic projection.
"They are very likely preparing to withdraw."
Guilliman looked at the young General before him with a meaningful expression.
Duvette's own expression remained calm, as though bringing down a Necron defence line across two worlds in six hours was nothing worth remarking on.
"You truly do surprise me, General Duvette."
Duvette could not be certain whether Guilliman meant the outcome of this campaign, or the anomalies the battle had exposed.
Of course, it was possible he meant both.
He answered simply and evenly. "My lord Guilliman, all of this was within expectation. We held orbit, we held the sky, and we advanced from the surface and the depths at once with superior numbers. The cost of continued resistance for the enemy could only keep rising."
Guilliman did not speak right away.
Duvette continued. "There shouldn't be any major problems from here. But this was likely only a peripheral world for the enemy. What they showed us has already proven the technology poses a genuine threat."
"After this battle, the enemy's main forces will certainly take notice of us. We may well end up facing them again over the course of the crusade to come."
Guilliman fixed his eyes on Duvette's own.
"Did Cawl tell you that as well?"
Duvette gave a faint smile, and did not answer.
The command bridge fell briefly quiet. The officers around them kept their heads down over their own data, none of them daring to interject at that moment.
Guilliman let out a short laugh of his own.
The sound was light, but it did nothing to soften his gaze.
"What you are hiding now, we will come to understand fully, in the halls of the Imperial Palace on Terra."
Duvette lowered his head in salute. "I look forward to that day."
Guilliman waved a hand.
"Very well. You may go and prepare for the campaigns ahead. Vulcantia and Cereris were only the crusade's first engagement. Ground cleanup, the sealing of the spoils of war, Mechanicus recovery, and Inquisitorial oversight will all continue to require your direction."
"Yes, my lord."
Duvette saluted once more, then turned and left the strategic command room.
Guilliman watched him go, and said nothing for a long while.
This young Marshal-Commissar was no longer merely an anomalous mortal officer. At first, Guilliman had believed his abilities could only affect flesh and blood. But this battle had now confirmed that war machines on the scale of Knights and Titans could be affected as well.
This was, on balance, good for the Imperium.
But any power that could not be explained had to be recorded, analysed, and have its boundaries confirmed.
Guilliman turned to the officer beside him.
"Compile every anomaly from this campaign for me."
The officer straightened at once.
"Include the Mechanicus report on the Titan machine spirits, the Knight formations' combat records, the casualty ratios of the Astartes assault forces, the advance rates of the Astra Militarum and the Ultramar Auxilia, every anomalous vehicle machine spirit response, and every case of a weapon continuing to function after exceeding its safety limits."
Guilliman paused for a moment.
"And every order General Duvette issued."
"Yes, my lord."
Guilliman turned back to the holographic projection.
"I will handle this matter personally."
After leaving the strategic command room, Duvette walked on down the wide internal corridor of the ship.
He was, of course, well aware that Guilliman must harbour a measure of suspicion and doubt about the abilities he had shown.
This campaign had gone too smoothly. He had not even needed to unlock a new skill for it.
Under his enhancement, the Knight formation had performed in a state of overexcitement, and the Titan Legion had gone to an extreme dramatic enough to alarm even the Mechanicus itself. A state like Iron of the End's continuous firing was something even a fool could see was not normal.
If, before the campaign, everyone, Guilliman included, had still harboured some doubt about what was described in the Crusade Ground Force Unified Combat Awareness and Discipline Protocol, then after this battle, most of them would come to believe the protocol was no fabrication.
Guilliman especially could not overlook it: under Duvette's enhancement, xenos whose technology far exceeded humanity's own had been driven into a panicked rout across both Vulcantia and Cereris within six hours.
Those combat personnel who had personally experienced this power firsthand would likely stir up even greater waves of their own. The crusade still had a long way to go, and he could only hope Guilliman would be able to hold the situation together.
Still, to earn Guilliman's full trust, it would likely take some form of confirmation given personally by the one seated upon the Golden Throne.
Just then, a new line appeared in Duvette's field of vision.
[Successfully drove the Necrons from Vulcantia and Cereris. Emperor's Wrath +2000]
Duvette raised an eyebrow.
"Perfect timing."
He stopped walking and glanced at his remaining Emperor's Wrath.
He had been considering whether to keep strengthening the expeditionary force's overall combat capability, or to prepare instead for the journey to Terra ahead. Guilliman's attitude just now had already made clear that the latter mattered just as much.
Duvette opened his skill tree again, his gaze settling on a branch within the Sacred Rites tree.
That branch was connected to Iron Crusade, yet no longer served the entire Legion.
Where Iron Crusade let the warriors under his command endure long marches, sustained combat, harsh environments, and Chaos corruption, this new skill before him took that same adaptability and focused it entirely on a single target.
[Spend 1000 Emperor's Wrath to unlock the single-target Sacred Rites skill: Soul's Adaptation?]
Duvette did not hesitate.
"Confirm."
[Soul's Adaptation, Beginner]
[Designate one target. Grants their soul a powerful adaptation to the veil of unreality, high-order psychic will, divine pressure, or Warp echoes.]
[For the duration of the skill, the target's sense of self-identity is significantly stabilised, and the risk of being assimilated, corrupted, mentally contaminated, or overwhelmed by an information deluge is markedly reduced.]
[Duration: 24 hours.]
[Cooldown: 30 days.]
[When His voice falls, the weak will shatter, and the strong will kneel. Only the chosen may yet try to make out the words.]
Duvette looked at that final line and was silent for a moment.
The purpose of this skill, in truth, was quite clear.
It should let Guilliman hear what the Emperor was saying.
At least, more clearly than before.
Duvette shook his head and continued on toward the strategic command centre.
The fighting on Vulcantia and Cereris had ended. But the truly troublesome part had only just begun.