Chapter 157: Salamander (1/2)
The forces I had brought with me were seemingly small, if you consider classic organization in the Imperium.
Merely 5 Auxilia regiments, only one of them armored, plus 4 Astartes Companies and our pilot techmarines.
But when the drop-pods began falling in the defense of my Salamanders Brothers, then kept coming and coming, and then still kept coming.
I had 20 Drop-cruisers now, each able to launch 80 thousand small drop-pods containing mostly Tarantula turrets, but also light vehicles like Armed Sentinels and Guardian walkers.
They also carried attack drones, fighter squadrons, and a bomber squadron, plus the normal capital ships weapons, mostly lance and plasma batteries.
The Heavy Cruisers and the Battlecruisers provided the main long range fire, with both torpedoes and lances, while the Battle barges brought the slow rear with ground invasion forces, plus thousands of techpriests and millions of servitors for battlefield repairs or rapid conscription.
Gone were the days when my ships' lower decks were filled with malnourished indentured serfs, prone to revolts and chaos infiltration. Servitors could do the same jobs without complaints, and were very unlikely to revolt.
In an anvil and hammer tactic, our faster cruisers struck from the flank while the battle barges took the brunt of the invasion fleet head on, while fighters and bombers struck at the more vulnerable escorts with missiles and bombs.
It seemed these Chaos traitors lacked numbers and filled their ranks with xenos, mostly corrupted Kharateg hunter-packs from the Maelstrom zone.
Well then, ugly bastards, you made my shit list now and your small stellar kingdom will soon suffer nine deep-strike with nicely inscribed torpedoes in High Gothic.
Yes, I admit I cheated a little at the end, when the last 5 ships of the traitors were about to escape in the Warp. Couldn't chase after them, especially with warpless engines, could I?
So, those ships didn't enter Warp, but instead vanished into system's sun, fueling the star with more atoms.
Chapter MasterTu'Shan welcomed me with some suspicion, despite an Ordo Hereticus Inquisitor at my right side, a giant space wolf to my left, and a bodyguard of Blood Angels, Silent Sisters and even a lone White Scar Captain named Khan.
”Hello Brother. You seem displeased at our timely rescue?” I asked in a teasing voice.
”...There are a million drop-pods on my world, Master Lancefire, plus Knights and tanks and a legion of combat walkers. Makes me feel a bit anxious.” the black-skinned man muttered while his red eyes measured Canis with some surprise.
I shrugged and didn't comment on that. It was true. ”We're inducting only Blanks now, so we have to compensate for low numbers of Battle Brothers with other types of troops. You have to admit the turrets are effective, right?”
”...Only Blanks? And those Silent Sisters provide fresh recruits, I suspect?” the Master of the Salamanders wondered with a curious glance towards the Pariah women.
I avoided the delicate subject, at least for now.
”It is an effective solution for the constant traitor problem that plagues all Astartes Chapters. I'm also providing some Blank recruits to the Blood Angels and the Blood Ravens, as Blanks are immune to certain mutations.” I explained patiently as I examined the big holomap of the star system.
It seemed the Salamanders were constructing a warpless transceiver relay, as well as outfitting a battlebarge with warpless engines. I didn't ask where they got the STC templates from, but Forge Angstrom was quite close as was Accatran.
The man nodded slowly and gestured for another Space Marine to come closer. ”This is Captain Jorn_Tanna, from the Black Dragons.” he introduced his ally.
”Captain Tanna. I sense you have a problem?” I asked in a soft tone.
The black-skinned man nodded politely and shook my hand, then and pointed at a side door. ”If you have some spare time, Master Lancefire?”
Sure enough, the Black Dragons had a small mutation problem and were willing to test a Company of Blank Dragons.
”Helping your parent Chapter here, Captain?” I asked instead.
”...my ships were in this area, and we simply did our duty, Lord Lancefire.” he answered in a gruff tone. Fine, don't admit it then.
”Yours is a fleet based Chapter, correct?” I asked to make sure.
”Just as your Lamenters.” Captain Tanna answered curtly.
”What I propose is this, Captain. Meet your boss, and have your Chapter travel to Machine Forge in the Fringe. Try to bring something to trade, derelict cruisers or large hulls that can hold warpless engines. We'll outfit your ships with the best technology of the Mechanicus, including blackstone armor. Then, we'll conduct a series of tests to find a suitable bloodline that accepts your gene-seed.” I offered with a large smile.
”So it's a compatibility problem. Bloodlines?” the Black Dragon mused in deep thought.
”Yes, not every Blank is an accepted recruit. Some get poisoned during implantation. Mostly wild Blanks, dragged from slums and lower decks. My own children are much more resilient, but there's a hard limit of how many kids a Blank can have. Also, I do have a hundred Blank daughters training to become ship Captains. In time, they will also give birth to more Blanks.” I said with a thin smile.