V3 Chapter 71: The Sky Belongs to Guilliman, the Earth Belongs to Me
War in the void was always both brutal and beautiful.
Xenos vessels and Chaos warships, brought down beneath the Imperial fleet's guns, burned in silence under the light of a distant star. Shattered hulls drifted slowly through the void, and now and then some explosion, not yet fully spent, still flared from somewhere deep within.
These scattered, fragmentary fleets posed no real threat to the Imperial fleet under Guilliman's command.
But there were simply too many of them.
They buzzed and swarmed like flies around something already dying, loathsome to look at.
The Ork warships came charging in like madmen, hungry for the boarding actions they loved best. Great hulking Ork vessels bore straight on through Imperial gunfire, closing the distance even as their hulls were torn open, refusing to stop.
The Chaos fleets, by contrast, moved with far more direct purpose.
They tried to slip around the Imperial main line and drive straight for the worlds behind it, harvesting lives and matériel as they went.
Three battle groups, each built around a battlecruiser, had already committed everything to the intercept. Cruisers and escorts in great numbers moved alongside them, gunfire lighting the void again and again.
But the battlefield was simply too vast.
And the enemy simply too many.
In the end, a portion of the smaller Chaos vessels still slipped through the Imperial intercept, and past some of the defence installations Huron had built in advance.
Aboard those ships, Chaos cultists howled and screamed, hurtling toward the worlds they craved.
They had no idea that death alone waited to greet them.
Duvette had already stopped paying attention to the void war.
The sky belonged to Guilliman.
The earth belonged to him.
He left the main bridge and made his way to his own dedicated strategic command room close by.
Chief of Staff Evan and the other adjutants and staff officers were already waiting there. A great holographic star chart hung suspended at the centre of the room, with the state of the fighting across Badab Prime, Badab Secundus, and the orbital habitation station all marked out upon it.
The moment Duvette walked in, Evan came forward at once.
"General. We've confirmed both Badab Secundus and the orbital station have taken some degree of enemy incursion."
He pointed to two areas on the star chart.
"But between orbital defence and anti-air interception, the number who've actually managed to land isn't large."
Duvette nodded.
"Have the Lamenters stationed on Badab Secundus work with local garrison forces to clear them out."
"The Mantis Warriors take responsibility for the orbital station."
He paused briefly, then added, "Have two Imperial combat groups act alongside each of them, and clean out anyone who dared land, as fast as possible."
"Understood." Evan noted the order down at once.
Badab Prime itself had not yet faced any incursion worth the name.
That was not surprising.
The Macragge's Honour held station here, and the bulk of the Imperial fleet remained close by, waiting for the enemy's true main force to arrive.
But Duvette did not let his guard down.
He had already positioned Huron's forces, the crusade's Astartes companies, the 112th Special Operations Legion, and every other elite unit at their designated staging areas.
The moment the enemy truly began landing, they would be committed to battle at once.
Duvette understood the situation clearly.
If these enemies truly meant to summon Angron, then they would stop at nothing to break through the Imperial intercept and carry out slaughter on a large enough scale at Badab Prime itself.
Just then, another staff officer hurried over.
"General. An urgent report from Chapter Master Huron."
Duvette turned his head.
"Report."
"The under-hive of Dominus, the primary hive city on Badab Prime, along with the under-hive zones of three other hive cities, have all broken out in uncontrollable plague at once."
The officer's expression was grim.
"An uncountable number of infected have already turned into plague zombies, and they're pressing the lower-hive defence lines. Chapter Master Huron has already mobilised a large PDF contingent, and sent four Astral Claws companies to help contain it."
Duvette gave a cold laugh at that.
Interesting. Nurgle wanted a piece of this too. Classic Chaos clusterfuck, isn't it.
He watched as four red zones suddenly appeared on the strategic map before him.
The plague had clearly been lying dormant in the under-hives for some time now, only triggered to activate all at once after the Warp storm broke.
"Let's see just how far you people can push me."
Duvette's voice quickly turned serious again.
"Notify the 112th Special Operations Legion's own Second, Third, and Fourth Infantry Regiments, and the Krieg 1173rd Combat Group."
"Send the four units to the four hive cities respectively, to work with the Astral Claws and local PDF and hold back the plague zombies."
"Execute immediately."
"Yes, sir!"
Duvette had no fear that his forces would be corrupted by the plague.
His own abilities were more than enough to protect them.
What actually warranted concern was the sheer number of plague zombies, and the tangled terrain of the under-hives.
If the line collapsed and a mass of the infected surged into the lower hive, the situation would deteriorate fast.
Duvette had just turned to check the other war zones when a violent tremor suddenly ran through the entire Macragge's Honour.
The lights in the strategic command room flickered briefly.
An officer instinctively braced himself against a console.
"Enemy fire!"
Duvette's head snapped around.
The void battlefield on the holographic star chart was shifting fast.
Both sides' main fleets had now formally entered combat range.
Ships on both sides opened fire in great numbers.
And the massive fleet in the distance, whose identity had never been fully confirmed, finally began revealing more of itself.
Duvette watched as the data kept streaming in.
An ancient Twelfth Legion flagship.
A Gloriana-class battleship.
The Conqueror.
Besides it: a Repulsive-class Grand Cruiser, a Hades-class Heavy Cruiser, five Slaughter-class Cruisers, three Murder-class Cruisers, three Devastation-class Cruisers, and a great many escort vessels.
Duvette stared at the fleet data for a moment.
No wonder he was the single most powerful Chaos warlord among the World Eaters.
A fleet of this calibre, had Guilliman's own fleet not been here to stand in its way, could very nearly have crushed Huron's existing defences without effort.
Of course.
The situation now was different.
The Imperial fleet could no longer claim overwhelming, one-sided superiority, but it still outnumbered the enemy in ships.
And that was without even counting the Macragge's Honour itself, holding station here.
Duvette fixed his eyes on the marker for the Conqueror, and quickly began working through what tactics the enemy might use.
Winning the void war had never been Kosorax's actual goal.
What he wanted was slaughter. Blood.
He wanted a mass of Khornate warriors and mortal troops landed on Badab Prime itself.
The thought made Duvette turn at once.
"Evan."
The Chief of Staff looked to him immediately.
"Notify Huron. Have them prepare their highest level of anti-air readiness."
"The enemy will very likely try to force the blockade directly, with a suicide assault."
Evan did not hesitate.
"Yes, sir!"
The new order went out at once.
Duvette turned back to look at the holographic star chart before him.
Warships on both sides kept shifting position.
Gunfire had already lit the void.
The plague on the ground kept spreading.
More of the enemy still fought to break through the defence lines.
And that ancient vessel, the Conqueror, was closing slowly on the Imperial main line.
Duvette watched it all.
The Battle of Badab had formally begun.
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