Seraphs of the Emperor’s Judgment

Chapter 195: A Thirty-Year Plan

Just like war, banquets also eventually come to an end.

Once the Greenskin forces in the Vorenus System had been fundamentally crushed, the Imperial Navy and the Astra Militarum were the first to withdraw from the warzone.

The Navy had suffered heavy damages in consecutive battles; many warships were in desperate need of repairs, and they also had to replenish vast amounts of supplies and personnel. Leaving behind only a single patrol fleet in the system, they swiftly departed the sector.

As for the Astra Militarum, they left only several regiments within the system before setting off toward places that needed them more.

Having resolved the great threat in the Vorenus System, the Excoriators Chapter—as the initiators of the campaign—would also depart for the fringes of Segmentum Tempestus to deal with the increasingly severe Genestealer problem; the Excoriators intended to complete this mission alone.

On the other hand, the Greenskins on Vorenus Prime had not been wholly eradicated. Several strongholds were still putting up a stubborn resistance, but having lost their supreme command, the Greenskins quickly fell into infighting, possessing no time or capability to organize a forceful counterattack.

The Lamenters Chapter would ultimately smooth over this issue. They would temporarily garrison the Vorenus System, using the makeshift space station in orbit over Gathis as a base of operations. On the one hand, they would continuously suppress Greenskin activity within the system; on the other hand, they would protect the colony ships arriving from other systems—the Vorenus System still possessed some valuable mining worlds, and the Sector Governor already had corresponding development plans.

However, at the behest of Lord Magyar, the Lamenters' presence was largely erased from the records. It was publicly announced that they had already departed for other sectors on crusade—aside from a very select few, no one would know that this Chapter was currently remaining in the Vorenus System, and all their activities would be kept covert.

Meanwhile, the true mastermind—and the last to leave the system—Soshyan Alexei, Chapter Master of the Astral Knights, firmly established the Chapter's plans for the next thirty years.

Lay low, accumulate strength, and strive to gather any information concerning the planet of Ullanor.In concrete terms, this meant increasing the Chapter's fresh blood as much as possible, and restoring the Chapter's size to the strength of at least one Company.

After leading the Chapter back to Nathan IV, the very first thing Soshyan did was actively contact the neighboring Forge World of Gryphonne IV, attempting to repair that Vengeance-class Grand Cruiser they had seized from the Orks.

But the Adeptus Mechanicus on Gryphonne IV did not seem very enthusiastic about this project. Instead, they hoped Soshyan would just transfer the warship—which likely held certain ancient tech-relics—over to them.

The asking price was one squad's worth of Indomitus-pattern Terminator armor, or a certain number of armored vehicles such as Leman Russ tanks or certain Chimera variants, flying vehicles like Stormraven gunships, or a massive amount of individual infantry wargear.

It had to be said that the people of the Adeptus Mechanicus did business very solidly; the offered price was not low at all.

However, Soshyan's heart was set on strengthening the Chapter's fleet. Their numbers were currently sparse, so even if they obtained that combat wargear, they wouldn't have the spare manpower to use it anytime soon. As for the wargear used by the auxiliary forces, that held even less value.

Therefore, the plans to repair the warship had to be shelved, waiting for a suitable opportunity or the search for a new Forge World—there were a few other Forge Worlds in Segmentum Tempestus, but they were all located relatively far away.

As for the Starfire, according to Loken, based on current technological levels and industrial capacity, it would take anywhere from three to five years squatting in drydock for her to fully regain her peak combat capabilities.

This basically meant that for a very long period of time, the Astral Knights Chapter would be completely unable to undertake any crusade activities or combat operations, restricted to honestly staying put on their temporary homeworld—unless they wanted to go to war flying frigates.

With things as they were, Soshyan could only suppress his internal urgency and slow his pace.

From here, the Chapter entered a long period of tranquility. Having detached from intense combat, the warriors spent their days training, studying, and honing their martial skills, thoroughly preparing for the next battle.

As for Soshyan himself, apart from participating in daily training, what he did most was inspect the status of the recruits' augmentations.

Currently, the surgeries had entered the fourth phase, and only 35 surviving recruits remained.

The situation was not optimistic at all.

But aside from encouraging and comforting the Apothecary as much as possible, he had no better solutions.

Because this was simply the reality of the situation.

In addition to this, during his free time, he would also occasionally seek out Brother Zayd to inquire about old matters and questions regarding the Legions during the Great Crusade era, particularly concerning the Primarchs, the xenos who had struck deals with him, and the ways they used to fight.

Soshyan's desire to understand these things wasn't born out of simple curiosity. He was also somewhat perplexed; what exactly was it that drove the Primarchs to recklessly touch upon the Emperor's taboos? If it was merely the Webway, Soshyan felt that such drastic measures were entirely unnecessary.

There fundamentally had to be other reasons involved.

Yet whenever the topic broached this point, Zayd would choose to evade it, merely telling him that once he found the flagship, he would understand everything.

"Welcome back, my Lord."

Before crossing the corridor to reach his private chambers, Soshyan first had to pass through his personal armoring chamber, where the serfs serving him were already waiting.

"Thank you."

Soshyan sincerely thanked his servants. After a full day of training, his body also yearned for relaxation.

When he came to a stop before the weapon racks, the serfs stepped forward before he even said a word.

Three men removed the Holy Flame Sword from his waist and placed it on the weapon rack.

Another two men removed the bolter mag-locked to his left thigh, likewise placing it on the weapon rack.

Afterwards, Soshyan walked over to his armoring rig and brushed a hand over its touch screen.

In a flash, the red light above the glass door turned green, opening with a hiss as the air pressure equalized.

The candlelight flickered due to this brief and sudden draft of air, as the armoring dais extended out accompanied by an array of mechanical sounds.

It came to a halt, opening its securing clamps. Soshyan turned around and stepped back into it.

Subsequently, the rounded clamps gripped his backpack.

Then, he raised his arms, and other securing clamps seamlessly grabbed hold of his elbows.

The support racks rose up to cup his forearms, while securing brackets clamped onto the rear of his greaves.

He shut off the very last stream of data on his visor, and then powered down the generator supplying energy to his armor.

Losing power all at once, the armor pressed down heavily upon his shoulders, while the data interfaces connecting his nerves to the battlegear retracted.

The serfs stepped forward. They wheeled metallic carts up to the front, laden with various tools meant for dismantling armor.

While chanting the litanies of unarmoring, they began the process of dismantling Soshyan's armor.

Soshyan also closed his eyes, softly chanting the litanies of unarmoring alongside his attendants.

"The battle is over, but the war never ends."

They chanted:

"Rest belongs to the warrior, maintenance to the armory, praise the Machine Spirit that guards us."

The helmet was the first piece to be removed.

Among all the wargear, this piece was the heaviest, even though it wasn't the piece with the most mass.

As the helmet was lifted from Soshyan's head, he breathed in the monastery air, a mixture of incense and sacred oils, causing his lungs to involuntarily expand.

The hermetic neck seal collar was the second component to be removed.

This component peeled away from his sticky skin, releasing the humid air trapped between the gaps of the battlegear.

Intense training caused his body to produce a smelly sweat, leading Soshyan to involuntarily frown.

The body odor produced by Angels was not much better than that of normal humans, and contained amidst it were many pungent chemical odors—the byproducts generated by his enhanced physiology, excreted out of his body alongside his sweat.