Laur Lancefire was a Captain of the 1st Lamenters Company, a Veteran Primaris Astartes and the bearer of a valuable Cantic_Thrallnet mind implant gifted by a grateful saved Forge World. One of the many Forge Worlds they have saved.
But now, he was second in command of a major Crusade, and because father was incapacitated and Primarch Guilliman also quite busy with his own internal rebellion, he found himself in command of the Crusade.
As he sat in the now-empty Command Throne, he sensed the Custodes join him at the side. "Are you able to solve this mess, Acting-Commander?" the Emperor's bodyguard asked with a mild voice.
Laur's mind linked with the tesseract he had just received, while the Blade Machine Spirit acknowledged his credentials. "Most likely, I can." he decided with a heavy heart.
Sending a flurry of light-speed orders via the las-comm network, the Crusade Fleet split off into 40 elements containing Drop Cruisers to support the besieged worlds of the Boros System, and he began to deploy the troops and other assets on board the fleet. Titans to counter the bigger threats like Great Daemons and the foul demonic engines, the Knights and heavy armor in support, while the corvettes and starfighters emerged from their carrier bays to escort the capital ships, just in time as more flying daemons and assault boats filled with traitors launched towards the near-defenseless civilian targets below.
The Eldar and the C'tan who were supposed to help were fighting each other, while the System Governor of Boros was hiding with his jewels and paintings in a secure room inside his spire.
"This is Commander Lancefire of the Lamenters Chapter. All loyal Imperial citizens in this system are now under my command and protection." Laur proclaimed with a system-wide vox cast, and began sending Astartes Companies to each Hive City under attack.
Luckily, father had probably foreseen some of this, or simply expected Imperial incompetence, so he brought billions of Krieg Death Korps Guardsmen to hold the line.
Made things much easier than relying on fearful, and possibly treasonous, local PDF units.
On the plus side, his actual brother that became a Fabricator-Colonel on Forge World Idumea had also sent his Iron Korps, their damage greatly increased by the use of a wide-area Transonic_Emitter which paired perfectly with the autocannons and the heavy stubbers they used.
And since father had also deployed a thousand heavy artillery pieces and Tarantula turrets on Boros Prime, the Capitol Hive City should be safer.
That left the ancient star fort called Kronos, the linchpin of the local defenders network, and a monstrous construct the size of the Phalanx. And just as decrepit as the Phalanx had been before Father took care of it.
The Void Pirates Chapter and two Centurion cohorts to secure that starfort, and no more long-range displacements. Even a Primaris Marine like himself was feeling the strain of using the tesseract, which made Laur appreciate even more the effort his father made to move the troops around with seeming ease.
'Angel Net the ships, Captain Laur?' the Machine Spirit asked in a melodic female voice.
'Agreed. With most troops deployed, we would be exposed to counter-boarders.' he answered on the implant, then opened his eyes to see the Custodes observe the main screen with glowing eyes. Steel wire screens dropped all over the fleet, as to entangle teleporting boarders.
Stolen novel; please report.
"You're doing fine, Laur Lancefire. Might need an upgrade for that dimensional device, when you return to Mars." The Custodes spoke in an alien voice, that Laur took a second to realize it was the Emperor himself, using his Custodes as a vox box, and possible a pict-recorder made of flesh.
The two special Silent Sisters were chasing Nurgle Shards and other Great Daemons all over the system, with Sister Ordella even using father's own daemon lance with great skill. They should be fine.
That left... Sitting in the Command Throne and overseeing the battle.
Not as glorious as leading his Battle-Brothers on the ground, but rescuing injured Astartes or providing extra power packs and munitions for the fighting troops was just as important. Maybe more. And quite tiring, since it also meant using the tesseract.
A golden hand sat on his shoulder, filling Laur with new energy and washing away the sores on his mind. "An upgrade, as I said." the same voice continued from the Custodes.
Then the auramite-armored giant vanished, and reappeared beside Primarch Guilliman on board the Plus Ultra Fortress.
'Uh. That golden presence erased the data-daemons in my network...' the Machine Spirit spoke with a surprised tone.
'That was the Emperor, Blade. We are now within the Astronomican's range.' Laur answered with a serious voice.
'The Emperor Protects!' the Machine Spirit chanted with a convinced voice.
Laur sank into his dimensional vision, and saw the real truth. Billions of dead already, and growing in number by the second. A Primarch betrayed by his own sons, while their alien allies ignored the threat of Chaos to fight each other, for grudges older than humanity itself.
There was no protection for the human inhabitants of Boros, nothing but the Lamenters and their Auxillia forces. His heart bled for them, knowing that he did all he could, but it was still not enough.
Father could fix this sooner and probably more effectively, but whatever he did to stop Malice must have been pretty hard.
The battle went on for weeks, long after the Eldar retreated, chased after by a pack of angry wolves.
Casualties mounted, mostly among the PDF and the Krieg Korps, but not even the Astartes were spared.
As the last embers of conflict died down, and pyres began to burn the bodies of the fallen, Laur read the casualty report on his implant with a sad heart.
About 80% of the PDF, 50% of Krieg and Iron Korps, and the same for the Ultramarines purging each other. Of the Crusade ground forces, almost 20% were lost, and nearly a hundred capital ships and 10000 corvettes. Father will not be happy. He always lamented about losing a single ship.
A single C'tan wolf returned to sleep at base of the Command Throne, the one father called Lash.
"How long did I sleep? What a mess in this system!" Laur heard his father grumble as he appeared on the bridge with a mug of steaming recaff in hand.
"I told you not to faint, Lancefire. And why do you have 11 fingers now?" the alien wolf spoke out loud, making father stare at his own hands for a long minute.
"Must have eaten something bad." Pef Lancefire answered with a careless shrug.