The Emperor’s Angel of Death

Chapter 2837: Mobilizing Troops and Ships

Having already sent the message back via Wang Ting, the Administratum Council had completed the preliminary preparations by the time Sochoyan returned to the Brakato system.

All companies were ready to depart, including the newly enlisted recruits. Currently, both the White Templars and the Star Knights were theoretically at their full strength of 10 companies each. However, the actual strength of the entire legion consisted of 1,461 Star Knights, 860 White Templars, 932 reinforcements from the Naysen system, and 450 reinforcements from the Brakato system (facilitated by the White Templars Apothecary, as mentioned in Chapter 2426), totaling 3,703 troops. This meant that the Eleventh Legion now had 37 companies, which, according to Sochoyan's latest military reform plan, after removing the Eleventh Company, was equivalent to 12 composite battalions.

This force was already quite formidable by Imperial standards. Huron, in his Badab War rebellion, had relied on only three to four thousand Astartes.

Since Ulan Huda and Wang Ting were present in the Brakato system, Sochoyan decided not to leave any defensive forces behind, essentially deploying everyone. This was an opportunity to train the new recruits. Additionally, all the knights of the DuPont-Dering family would participate in this expedition. Based on the situation of the already integrated mortal forces within the system, Sochoyan decided to draw 40 regiments of Pushtiban and 200 regiments of Vashtii, totaling 2.5 million auxiliary troops.

It is also worth mentioning that there were 15 new armored regiments fully equipped with Project 520 tanks, the Ulan Huda-type Sochoyan main battle tank. Furthermore, new tank formations at the company and platoon levels were also equipped in other regiments. Due to the relatively simple structure and manufacturing process, the production of Project 520 could be described as astonishing. When Sochoyan inquired, he learned that Ulan Huda had already built over 60,000 such tanks, and production was still increasing.

Therefore, a standard Sochoyan armored regiment had 340 tanks, a scale far exceeding that of a normal Imperial armored regiment. For example, a standard Talarn armored regiment of over four thousand men typically had around 180 tanks, along with a number of self-propelled guns, armored vehicles, and a small number of tank destroyers. A standard Sochoyan armored regiment, in addition to its 340 tanks, was also equipped with a self-propelled artillery battalion and a reconnaissance battalion, but no dedicated destroyer battalion, as Sochoyan believed that this task was more suitable for the air force.

Of course, so many troops required a large number of transport ships. Fortunately, Sochoyan now had 10 Galaxy-class transport ships, giant transport ships from the Great Crusade era, which he had accumulated bit by bit through various channels and over a long period. Some were sealed ships purchased from the Adeptus Mechanicus, and others were quietly transferred from the Imperium to the Chapter's name using some tricks during the Great Maelstrom expedition.

In addition to this, Sochoyan also had three Colossus-class giant transport ships, which Zorg, who had established a Rogue Trader dynasty in the Great Maelstrom area, had acquired. These ships were large transport ships used by Rogue Trader fleets. Sometimes, the Imperial Navy would use them as rear supply transport ships. They were among the largest non-military ships in the Imperial production line, with a length of over 15 kilometers, capable of carrying 500,000 passengers for long-term living in the void, or transporting the basic supplies needed to sustain a world. If long-term residence was not considered and only temporary personnel loading was carried out, they could even transport more than two million people at a time. Only the wealthiest Rogue Trader families could afford the time and resources required to build these giant ships.

Originally, the purpose of these three ships was to establish a long-term and stable logistics line between the Naysen and Brakato systems, allowing the efficient flow of output and supplies between the two systems. Considering that large-scale personnel evacuation operations might be involved this time, Sochoyan drew one of them to join the expedition fleet.

As for the fleet that made up this expedition, it could be described as unprecedentedly large. Having witnessed the scale of the Tyranids, Sochoyan dared not take it lightly, essentially going all out. There were 27 capital ships alone, including:

Mars-class battlecruiser [Mars's Heir], [Expedition's Glory], [Triumph]

Oberon-class battleship [Abyss Hunter]

Battle Barge [Soulbringer], [Heart of Light], [Remembrance]

Sacrifice-class battle barge [Storm]

Hades-class heavy cruiser [Unbound Soul], [Intangible Dread]

Styx-class heavy cruiser [Serpent King]

Dictator-class heavy cruiser [Spinel]

Avenger-class grand cruiser [Eternal Loyalty]

Executioner-class grand cruiser [Silver Redemption]

Vanguard-class strike cruiser [Spark], [Pandora], [Blue Ice], [Tornado]

Lunar-class cruiser [Rogue], [Dangerous Hunter], [Naysen's Edge], [Jade], [Moonstone]

Tyrant-class cruiser [Greatsword], [Foe Cleaver], [Fire Spear], [Hammer of Light], [Holy Shield]

Non-capital ship Roggon-class high-speed light carrier [Cobalt Stone], [Ruby], [Ice Crystal]

Among them, the Mars-class battlecruiser Triumph, the Tyrant-class cruisers Fire Spear, Hammer of Light, and Holy Shield were all transferred by Mars after the auction. It must be said that the Fabricator-General was very efficient, delivering the goods very quickly, getting everything done in a year. The Ruby and Ice Crystal were two Roggon-class ships subsequently built and commissioned by Ulan Huda. Because of previous experience and the simple and inexpensive nature of the ship itself, they were manufactured relatively quickly and commissioned quickly. The Styx-class Serpent King was the first Cardinal-class ship modified by Yellow Spring Eight for the Star Knights. With such speed to be able to modify one, Sochoyan highly suspected that Yellow Spring Eight actually hid a Styx that was not "handed over", but no matter what, they did manage to do one ship a year. Facts proved that the Mechanicum was like a sponge, squeeze it and there would always be something.

In addition, the Abyss-class was not completely completed. It was only in Sochoyan's battle plan, but would not be involved in the early battles. According to the Hearthguard engineers, it would take at least another year to ensure that all weapon systems could operate safely and normally, and Sochoyan would also judge when and where to deploy this warship depending on the development of the battle, so the Abyss-class would not follow the fleet.

As for small ships, there were as many as 128, including 6 Mamba-class missile destroyers, 5 of which were built in a hurry, and 26 Nova-class frigates. This number naturally benefited in part from the previous auction, with some Forge Worlds with "stock" sending them directly.

In addition to this, there were 6 Goliath-class forge ships, and 1 Goliath-class factory would accompany the expedition fleet.

This fleet was already alarmingly large for a normal Astartes Chapter, but if Sochoyan was willing to wait a little longer, until the remaining 2 Retribution-class grand cruisers and 2 Styx-class heavy cruisers from the auction were in place, and until another 12 Cardinal-class ships were converted into Yellow Spring-class, then his fleet would be even larger.

Unfortunately, military intelligence was urgent, and he had no time.

As for Ulan Huda, Sochoyan, considering the distance and the needs of system defense, did not ask the other party to provide military support this time, but he planned to take the Myriad Minds, on the one hand, perhaps it could be used to deal with enemies of the scale of the Tyranids, on the other hand, it had not summoned the so-called Hope for so long, and Sochoyan was a little worried about leaving it in Brakato without supervision.

With an order, the entire system immediately moved like a machine. Organizing and mobilizing so many personnel, supplies, and equipment naturally took some time. Taking advantage of this gap, Sochoyan returned to Wang Ting to see if the Drukhari had any new gains, and to spend time with Veronica, but upon returning, he received an unexpected surprise.

This unexpected surprise came from the reconnaissance team sent to the Pacific Stars region to investigate the lost Blackstone Fortress. They did find the Blackstone Fortress, and during the reconnaissance, they discovered something interesting.