The Emperor’s Angel of Death

Hearing it was a communication from the Inquisition, Bakhram sighed softly, quickly walked to the communication station, and picked up the microphone.

Within seconds, his brow furrowed, and his expression grew increasingly serious, until, after half a minute, he finally said:

"I told you, it's not yet a situation where we've exhausted all options."

With that, he hung up the communication, walked back to the tactical display, and Talos looked at him.

"Those guys want to issue an Exterminatus order again?"

"Yeah."

Bakhram nodded with a helpless expression.

From the moment the Tyranid fleet appeared, the Inquisitor of the Ordo Xenos stationed in the Westeros system immediately concluded that the existing forces and fleet were completely unable to resist. Imperial forces should immediately 'relocate' to preserve their strength, as the Diocese's combat-ready forces were mostly concentrated here. If they were completely annihilated, the Diocese would be finished.

As for the planets within the system and the population that could not be evacuated in time, the Inquisitor was as ruthless as ever, signing the Exterminatus order in front of Bakhram, forbidding the Imperium from 'aiding' the Tyranids with even a single blade of grass, a drop of blood, or a shred of flesh.

But how could Bakhram allow such a thing to happen? He immediately rejected the Inquisitor's request, stating that the situation had not yet deteriorated to that point.

During the time the troops and fleet had been stationed here, the people had given everything they could to the Imperium. Everyone endured extremely low food rations, striving to provide the limited food supplies to the army in order to reduce the pressure on the logistics lines and evacuate more refugees.

Under these circumstances, Bakhram could not abandon them, either morally or rationally.

"Are we really going to fight the Tyranids here?"

Oscar suddenly said in a low voice, and Mark and Lothar immediately glanced at him, but their expressions were unreadable.

But sometimes, having no attitude is an attitude in itself.

The Inquisitor's idea was not a 'unilateral decision'. Many Space Marines also believed that the chances of winning this battle were too low. The enemy's numbers were too great, and they were completely unprepared. The system had no defense facilities, and the planets were completely exposed, not at all like the well-prepared state of the previous battle.

Including Metellus, Andar, and other Chapter Masters, they had all stated that this was not a suitable battlefield. If they were forced to fight here, even if they barely held on, they would suffer heavy losses and lose the ability to continue fighting. Fighting a war of attrition with the Tyranids was probably not a good choice.

There were dissenting voices outside the Chapter, and naturally, there were also dissenting voices within. Among the Legion's high command, Arash did not agree to confront the Tyranids head-on here. Within the Chapter, several company commanders were also not very supportive of exhausting the Legion's limited strength here.

Or rather, they didn't trust Bakhram's abilities.

If Sorkhayan was here, they would definitely support this decision without reservation, a fact that Bakhram himself was well aware of.

After a moment, Lothar said something meaningful.

"The Tyranid shadow hasn't completely blocked the Warp nodes yet, but if the interference continues to increase, the system's traffic may be cut off."

Logically, Lothar, as the Chapter's Master of the Fleet, should have been more qualified than Bakhram to be the fleet commander, but he was awkwardly not on the Triumvirate Council. When Talos proposed this motion, he could only comply.

Therefore, there was some 'blame' in his tone, or rather, this sentence was actually directed at Talos, not Bakhram.

Faced with this situation, Bakhram glanced at Talos, only to find that he was still observing the tactical display and made no indication.

At this moment, the pressure in his heart was also enormous. This wasn't just a company; this was the Legion that the Chapter Master had painstakingly built, as well as several other Chapters, millions of troops, and billions of people. He felt as if his hands and feet were filled with lead, and even moving a finger was extremely difficult.

However, thinking of the refugee camps he had visited, and the civilians in the churches who prayed day and night, hoping that the angels could protect their homes and families, Bakhram forced himself to muster his courage.

"We came here to fight for them, right here, in this place. Every one of them is worth protecting. I believe the Chapter Master would choose the same."

Then, Bakhram looked at Westeros IV. This planet was closest to the Hive Fleet and had clearly become the target. A tendril fleet stretched towards it from a very prominent position. At this time, the Imperial fleet was divided into three parts. After the previous series of battles, the total number of warships was less than 200. The core main force was still the Astral Knights' main fleet. The left-wing fleet was composed of the Lamenters and Flesh Tearers, and the right-wing fleet was composed of the White Templars, Mantis Warriors, Tiger Claws, and a part of the system defense fleet. Of course, these ships were basically old gunboats, which could be basically ignored.

Frankly speaking, this fleet strength was a drop in the bucket compared to the Tyranids. Even Malakin, who had annihilated a Tyranid tendril fleet not long ago, was shocked by the enemy's scale and even asked Bakhram if he wanted to make a tactical retreat—Malakin wasn't trying to run away, but as a fleet commander, he also thought the chances of winning were too slim.

"Our only goal is to stall, to stall until reinforcements arrive. The astropathic signal has already been sent. The Cardinal World is not far from here, as long as the Chapter Master arrives."

Although Bakhram tried to make himself appear confident, his words lacked strength.

"Considering the distance, the enemy will definitely attack Planet Four first. We need to delay the enemy on this battlefield to slow down their advance."

As he spoke, Bakhram gradually calmed his mind and outlined his plan on the tactical display.

"...Let part of the Hive Fleet approach the planet first. Their bio-ships are miraculous, but they also have weaknesses. They are very susceptible to interference from gravitational fields. Once they enter the planet's gravitational field, it will be difficult for them to escape quickly. At this time, the left and right-wing fleets will immediately move forward and encircle the Tyranid bio-ships entering the planet's orbit, while the central fleet will bypass the Hive Fleet invading the planet and cut off their reinforcements. After the Tyranid fleet in orbit is destroyed, all fleets will quickly disengage and wait for the second batch of Hive Fleets to approach, repeating this process..."

Looking at the plan formulated by Bakhram, Talos nodded, but quickly pointed out a problem.

"Once the Tyranids enter orbit, they will deploy a large number of biological weapons to the ground. Can the ground forces hold them off? This world is not developed, and it doesn't even have a hive city."

"I believe they can. Westeros IV has already gathered two million regular troops, eleven Space Marine companies, over four hundred thousand Adeptus Mechanicus troops, and nearly ten million local militia and defense forces. They should be able to hold on. I ordered everyone to move into the cities long ago and stepped up the construction of city defense fortifications. There is still some preparation."