Chapter 665: Prelude to the Killing

544.M32.

Solar Star Region, Adamantua Star Region, Diamond Star.

A war between Space Marines and alien monsters is breaking out on this planet. Space Marines wear ancient yellow power armor with a raised fist symbol on their shoulder armor. The defensive formation they form is tight and consistent, like a high wall blocking the group of alien monsters.

Imperial Fists.

One of the nine founding chapters.

"Swish! Boom!"

At this time, Mohan, the current commander of the Imperial Fists, was sitting in a Damocles-class Rhino command vehicle. Several cyclone missile vehicles around the Rhino command vehicle were "swish" launching ground-to-ground missiles. Fragmentation missiles exploded in the distant beasts, raising large pieces of soil, gravel and broken limbs.

"Advance, compress the space of the aliens!"

Chapter commander Mohan gave the order.

The horn of switching from defense to offense sounded, and the Space Marines of the Imperial Fists began to steadily advance their front after receiving the order. The high wall slowly pressed down on the enemy, compressing the space for the alien beasts to move bit by bit, and finally forcing them to the nests from which they emerged. The balance of victory was tipping towards the Space Marines.

However, there was no joy on Mohan's face.

He was observing the holographic projector in the Rhino command vehicle, looking at the messy red spots in the green star map, with a serious face and frowning brows, and said in the communication channel:

"We must speed up. These aliens are spreading wantonly throughout the star region. We have too few troops to stop them. We must destroy the alien nests on this planet as soon as possible, and then transfer to other worlds. All companies should hurry up!"

"Understood, sir!"

The captains of each company answered loudly.

Only one captain remained silent.

The second captain of the Imperial Fists, Kurland.

At this time, the second captain was sitting in a Thunderhawk gunboat, with a technical priest in a red robe standing beside him. Looking at the densely packed alien beasts running outside the window, Kurland looked a little worried. After thinking about it, he finally opened a private communication channel to contact his boss alone:

"My lord, I think we need support."

There was silence on the communication channel.

Mohan did not answer his suggestion.

Kurland continued regardless:

"The Chrome Star's combat effectiveness is vulnerable. We can easily defeat them, but there are too many of them. Our entire regiment has only a thousand people. We cannot cover the entire star zone. What we need is support in numbers."

Kurland finished his suggestion straightforwardly.

His meaning was very clear: the Chrome Star was not strong, the only problem was that there were too many people. The Imperial Fists, as a holy chapter, had only a thousand people, and the one hundred people of the "Wall Guards" had to be removed. More than nine hundred Space Marines were not enough to cover the entire star zone. As long as some Imperial Guards were called over, the enemy could be quickly surrounded and strangled.

"I agree with you, Kurland."

Mohan sighed and finally responded.

"Then why..."

Kurland asked puzzledly.

"Because it's not just a strategic issue."

Mohan said a word that was unfamiliar to Kurland:

"This is a political issue, Kurland."

Political issue?

As an Imperial Fist Space Marine and the second captain of the company for hundreds of years, Kurland had almost never thought about this issue. It was a very strange and strange word for him until it was uttered by the commander of the regiment.

Mohan slowly explained:

"The peace of the Empire has lasted too long. I heard some news that the Imperial Senate on Terra is even discussing whether it is necessary for the Space Marines to continue to exist... We can't call for Terra's support. We must win this battle alone and drive out these aliens to prove ourselves and prove that the Astartes is still the sharpest blade of the Empire and one of the most powerful military forces in the Empire."

Kurland was speechless for a while.

After listening, he just felt unbelievable.

The Imperial Fists, one of the nine founding chapters, were the descendants of the Seventh Legion that was fully responsible for Terra's defense and stood on the walls of the Imperial Palace to fight against the traitor army. Logically, they should be the Astartes Legion that impressed the Terran people the most. Now they need to take the initiative to prove the meaning and value of their existence to the Imperial Parliament. How absurd is this?

Kurland also noticed a detail.

When Mohan said "the most powerful military force in the Empire", he added a suffix - "one". What makes a proud Space Marine so cautious in his words? Aren't Space Marines the most powerful military force in the Empire?

"Execute the order, Second Captain."

Mohan hung up the communication after saying this.

Kurland sat in the cockpit in a daze.

"I have to correct a mistake you made, Captain Kurland."

The technical priest next to him suddenly said:

"According to my latest analysis and observations and the results of the dissection experiment, this half-mechanical, half-insect alien beast does not have the most basic advanced intelligence. It may not be appropriate to call them "Chrome Star People" because they are not strictly speaking human. The correct name should be... "Chrome Beasts."

"The name is not the point, Sage Laurentis."

Kurland waved his hand irritably.

He was stunned just after he finished speaking.

"Wait, you said, they don't have the most basic advanced intelligence... Then how can they travel across star regions? If they can't build aircraft that can travel across star regions, then how did they come to the Adamantua sector?"

Kurland asked a series of questions.

"You found the problem, Captain Kurland."

Sage Laurentius said meaningfully.

"What have you found, sage?"

Kurland looked at the technical priest with a serious face.

"Listen."

Laurentius's mechanical synapse pointed outside the porthole.

Kurland turned his head and listened attentively. The Thunder Gunship was passing quickly over the battlefield. In addition to the screaming of bombs and the roar of artillery below, the entire battlefield was always shrouded in a strange humming, which seemed to be composed of some simple syllables. Since the Imperial Fists entered the battlefield, this strange sound made by the chrome beasts has been accompanying them.

"I extracted this audio data for analysis, trying to find the patterns they contained, but found nothing. Then I compared the audio with several known alien languages ​​and found that the closest one was Orcish."

Sage Laurentius said.

"Orcs?"

Kurland frowned and asked.

So far, there has been no clue that this battle has any connection with the greenskins. Kurland did not expect to hear such an answer, and felt that it was not credible.

"It's a bit strange, but it's true."

Sage Laurentius said seriously:

"I have a guess: these chrome beasts may want to convey some information to us. I told this guess to the captain of the Mohan war group before, but he was not interested in what the aliens wanted to express. Thank you for your patience to listen to me, Captain Kurland, my work sometimes needs to be recognized."

The technical priest opened an old book.

"From the victory of Ullanor to the Horus Heresy to the present, although orcs have appeared sporadically in various regions within the empire, they have never posed any threat, so not many technical priests are willing to study them. The orc data in my hand is from more than a thousand years ago..."

Laurentis said ramblingly.

Kurland glanced at the cover of the old book.

"Alien Anatomy".

Author: Quinto Anastasio.

"Compared to High Gothic, Orcish is not a very precise language. After repeatedly comparing it with the data, I determined that these syllables may represent the following three meanings."

Sage Laurentis pointed to the book and said:

"Killing."

"I am killing."

"Or...beast."

…………