While the Leviathan Crusade was under way, Master Shrike and Primarch Corax asked for a meeting, so we soon had a pleasant chat, Canis and I on one side, and the Primarch and his guard dog on the other. We even had tea and cake, while Canis crunched a jawbone from a big Ork while listening with one ear up.
"Lord Lancefire, the Raven Guard needs to split off and help Sard_Gaeron , the Shadow Captain of the 6th Company, now defending Stanghalde system. Any troops you can spare will be much needed too." the Chapter Master of the Raven Guard said with a glance at his Primarch.
I sighed inward, but also understood the problem quite well. I wouldn't leave a hundred of my sons to face a Hive Fleet by themselves either. "Splitting our forces invites defeat in detail. And your tech-marines are too few and not equipped with flocks of Guardians like mine are." I said in a defeated tone.
The huge Primarch drank his tea in one gulp, then tapped the table. "Beside Formydire, there are also Pyremoat and Kastayl assigned as critical points by the Lord Commander. You have independence of command with this Crusade trick of yours, but the Deathwatch is not independent. Quite the opposite." he explained with a sad grimace.
I glanced at Canis, and we both let out a long sigh. Stupid Imperium!
"The ground war part is quite hard to win, even if I assign more combat servitors and Krieg regiments to your command, Master Shrike. It is the Hive Ships that need to be killed, or at least the Norn Queens on board. I read the reports of the Ultramarines at Regium, about that Harbringer assassin Tyranid which managed to infiltrate and then destroy the entire command center of the planet, by itself. They blew up the entire spire on top of it, killing a million troops and many more civilians." I countered with a grim tone.
"I can take on a Norn Emissary, Pef Lancefire. I have fought much worse in my life." The Primarch answered in a calm voice.
Canis nodded slightly, so perhaps the Primarch was right. He was quite a formidable fighter indeed.
'Perhaps convert some Krieg regiments into Raven Auxilia? I do have a Plasma Mortar Wyvern I wanted to test in combat. ' The Blade proposed and sent a new STC template to my implant.
I measured the new template with my rather expert eyes, fiding the Thanatos Wyvern completly different from the classic Chimera-chassis mortar platform. Now based on the Ragnarok tank chassis, it still had the Hydra turret and two autocannons, but also added a pair of Plasma Mortars powered by an internal plasma reactor. There was even a slot for an Ion-Flare Shield, if and when someone was able to provide it. Would it work? Very likely. The Blade created excellent machines, just like the Shield Sentinel or the Repulsor tank.
The Raven Guard also had their own special templates, like the quiet Whispercutter troop transport and the stealth Shadowhawk gunship.
It sucked, but I could split off some Mechanicus ships and provide tech-support and maybe orbital superiority...nah. Any ships I sent would be outnumbered at least 1000 to 1.
A dozen cruisers armed with Nova Cannons might surprise the Hive Fleet and destroy their gargoyles and other flying organisms, and possibly blow up a lot of Tyranid escort bioships. But the big Hive Ships were rather immune to most kinds of firepower.
"It is your choice, Primarch. I can spare a dozen Nova cruisers and 40 Krieg regiments, which you should convert into Raven Auxilia as to avoid the Guard's limits on equipment. Do you want a honor guard of Blank Thalax cyborgs? I can spare 40 of them." I offered with a careless tone. I already made the decission, now I had to live with it.
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Corvus Corax exchanged a silent glance with his Chapter Master. "Krieg Auxilia? Aren't they going to run towards their deaths at the first battle?" he asked in doubt. Damn stereotypes. The Death Korps were great soldiers, and even more resilient with their new cloneskein bodies. They just obeyed any order, sometimes too literally.
"If you order them so, they will. But the Krieg speciality is siege warfare. Quite good at it too, if they have the equipment and logistic chain. I'll throw in some new Wyvern vehicles, maybe 100 per regiment." I added with a generous voice.
"Add a billion combat servitors too. I have too few Ravens to afford a wide scale war like in the old days. The new Primaris clones you tested at Regium as well. And even the Thalax suits." the raven-haired Primarch decided, then ate the entire cake in a few bites. Have my cake and eat it too, why not?
'You have 4 days until the split off point, Lord Captain. This means 1000 Wyverns per day. And more ammo for the autocannons.' the Blade urged me with a counter ticking down on my implant.
I grit my teeth and stepped away, and inside the STC room under the Blade's control. The Constructor was already flash-forging logis-engines and other delicate systems which would take me too long.
Luckily, I knew the Ragnarok chassis inside out, and thus I barely need to check the template's material list. I did need to add a blackstone cover over the cogitator and auspex sensors, to prevent any psyker influence from damaging or distorting the targetting process. About 90 seconds later, I assembled the first Plasma Wyvern with a single Breath, while the Blade began scanning it for defects and other quality control issues.
Another pile of plasteel and copper fell beside me, and I began building the next. Hopefully I will get a bit faster with practice.
'Make the power conduits a bit stronger, Lord Captain. The drain of the Plasma Mortars is higher than a simple Las-cannon.' the AI woman warned me as the second Wyvern appeared inside the STC constructor printer.
Damn perfectionist AI! Give me more work now...
Sleeping 2 hours per day, I manged to finish the new Wyverns just in time. Then Primarch Corax and his boys went away, to save yet another world and gain glory doing so.
But before I could rest for real, my other wife appeared by magic in my bedroom, and shed her Battle Sister armor to climb into my bed. "What is it Ephrael, I am quite tired now." I muttered half-asleep.
"This dark Primarch and your glowing Primarch will meet soon at Stanghalde. Something bad is going to happen." Sister Stern whispered as she climbed to ride my lance.
Of course it will! This was a place where there was only war.
"We are keeping course towards Formidyre still. Sanguinius will be fine." I answered almost asleep.
My Primarch had a Blackstone Fortress too, and my son Patrocles with his own Tesseract. There wasn't much in this universe that could threaten him now.
I woke up much later, as the Singularity fired the Void Claw and shook the entire vessel, including my bed. The gravity beam crunched a million Tyranid bio-ships in front of the fleet, making a wide path.
The tesseract sense could already perceive half of the Formidyre system, with a huge Tyranid tendril coiled around it like a python strangling its prey. This must be Grendyllus then. A huge as it was, it was only a finger of its claw, and still small compared to the entire Leviathan. Creatures that ate galaxies were a bit larger than people imagined.
'You have time to shower and eat, Lord Captain. I'm just clearing a path for the fleet now.' the Blade notified me with her machine-woman voice.
I traced my holy wife next, finding her inside a chapel and praying, curiously side by side with my Inquisitor wife. I guess the prospect of being eaten by Tyranids made strange bedfellows.
Canis was chasing after that clown Mnemorach, with a silver bell still tied to his tail.
I laughed out loud, and entered my shower. Damn absurd place. At least Canis seemed happy.