The Emperor’s Angel of Death

The direct cause of the split between Andar and Huron was in 41M when, after crushing a failed coup, Huron draped the mantle of ruler over himself, proclaimed himself the Lord of Badab, and declared the Badab sector and surrounding areas as the private property of the warband. At the time, Andar strongly opposed Huron's actions, believing that such a crude and hasty transgression would provoke strong reactions from all sides. Those nobles and merchants seemed vulnerable, but if they united in opposition, the matter could easily escalate to Terra. Andar suggested that Huron proceed slowly, gradually expanding the warband's influence in the Maelstrom by supporting proxies.

Obviously, Huron wouldn't listen at the time. Extremely disappointed, Andar seemed to foresee the potential upheaval within the warband. Coupled with Huron's resentment towards him for this dissuasion, Andar chose to leave the warband and join the Deathwatch.

Andar chose to serve at the Ilios Watch Fortress, located in the Jericho Reach. Its main enemies were the Tau Empire's infiltration and the Tyranid Hive Fleet Dagon's attacks, and it was also the main direction of the Achilus Crusade.

Andar served in the Achilus Crusade until his return to the Maelstrom.

In the Achilus Crusade, Andar successfully gained the attention of the crusade commanders through his ruthless fighting style and keen political acumen. In particular, his private communication with the Supreme Lord Commander of the crusade, Sebiasco Ebongrave, was considered a valuable asset by the Watch Commander of the Deathwatch. Only he could navigate the complex political ecology of the crusade and manage Commander-in-Chief Ebongrave's increasingly insane behavior, ensuring that he would not affect the Deathwatch's operations in the Canis Salient.

"Loyal warriors should not be implicated by their past identities. The Imperium is strict enough in all aspects. As the Adeptus Astartes, we don't need to be even stricter."

Hearing Sotha's words, Andar looked at the expedition commander with his only remaining right eye, and said in a deep voice:

"I must say, Commander Sotha, in some ways, you are indeed very similar to Huron of the past."

"Andar, you are too rude."

Sartak's reprimand sounded clearly from the vox.

"Take back that inappropriate comparison."

Sotha raised his hand.

"It doesn't matter, more than one person has said that."

Then he asked in return:

"So in your opinion, Captain Andar, what is the difference between me and Huron?"

"Judging only from the style of doing things, you are better at utilizing and adapting to the rules than him. Although Huron had always acted like a political veteran in the past, he still had an extremely naive side. He was impatient to create his own rules, and would fly into a rage if things didn't go his way. At the same time, he couldn't hide his prejudice against mortals. Although Astartes are fundamentally superior to ordinary people, he, although he knew how to unite allies, his vision was too narrow, limited to temporary emotions and interests. The unpleasantness with the Black Templars was completely unnecessary, resulting in the warband losing a possible ally for nothing."

Sotha raised an eyebrow slightly. He had heard Sartak introduce this warband defector. Sartak's evaluation of Andar was that this person was almost the opposite side of the same coin as Huron. If he had become the Chapter Master, the Star Talons' ending might have been different, but it was also possible that they would have been destroyed in the war earlier. Andar's biggest problem was that he despised mortals even more than Huron. This person completely regarded mortal troops as expendable resources in combat, and any losses were completely tolerable, while Huron would at least treat the warband's auxiliary troops and the mortals who were willing to follow him well.

But without a doubt, Andar hid this contempt extremely well, which is why Sartak evaluated this person as a "political animal."

If there really wasn't anyone left in the Star Talons, Sartak wouldn't want to be on the same boat as him.

Sotha nodded.

"Captain Andar, although Brother Sartak said he was looking for you, I was planning to send a message to the Deathwatch after the expedition was over. But now you have taken the initiative to return to the Maelstrom. Do you have any plans? Or did you hear any news or rumors?"

Andar didn't say anything, but took out a scroll and handed it to Sotha.

Sotha took the parchment scroll, opened it and was stunned. Then he raised his head and said to Andar:

"You have been released from your Watch Oath?"

"Yes, now I am no longer Watch Captain Andar Scayre, I am Andar Scayre of the Star Talons."

"Then what are your plans for the future."

"Complete this expedition first, there will be plenty of time to talk about this later."

Since Andar said so, Sotha did not continue to ask, and let him temporarily serve as his tactical advisor. After all, he was also once a commander of the Star Talons, although there are not many Star Talons left in the Red Corsairs now.

While Sotha was making the final preparations for the decisive battle, he did not forget about another out-of-control warband, the Carcharodons.

According to the latest news, the Carcharodons warband has also been cruising around the Margo Cluster. When they did not show any target, they only attacked a few unimportant Red Corsairs-occupied worlds and took away a large number of residents from them. Sotha also knew the virtues of these people, so he was not surprised, but he still recognized the combat power of this ancient warband. He sent messages several times through the astropaths, hoping that Tyberos could join the battle sequence and at least contribute to this decisive battle.

But the other party did not respond. Sotha had no choice but to hope that the other party would not cause trouble. However, judging from the way the other party acted, he actually had some guesses. The Carcharodons warband was probably planning to attack Huron's last foothold in the Maelstrom, the Margo System, when Huron went all out for the decisive battle.

I have to say, this kind of peach-picking behavior is still very annoying, but the Carcharodons are like this. They don't care about honor, and they don't care about what others think of them.

But will Huron really ignore these "old opponents"?

You must know that the Carcharodons warband can be said to be one of the warbands that caused the greatest damage to the Maelstrom Alliance during the Badab War. Huron should also be very familiar with their behavioral logic. Sotha felt that Tyberos's plan might not be successful.

About half a month later, Okham sent a message that Huron was about to attack. Sotha also made the final adjustments to his forces. Considering that Azrael would be under greater pressure, he also transferred half of the Adeptus Mechanicus fleet to that direction. After that, he issued a general mobilization order. All senior commanders must be able to respond 24 hours a day. In order not to expose the intelligence line in advance, Sotha could not publicize that Huron was coming. He only claimed that abnormal fluctuations had occurred in the warp tides, which might be a sign that the enemy was about to launch an attack, although this might make people misunderstand that he was a bit alarmed.

As for Huron, although he also knew the information that the expedition force was on full alert, he did not change his plan. He also knew that it was almost impossible to hide the movement of such a large Chaos group like the Red Corsairs once they moved collectively. Anyway, this plan was simple, and it was not a "surprise attack" in itself, so there were not high requirements for concealment.

One day, two days As time went by, a tense atmosphere gradually permeated the Caracalla system and its surrounding areas.