The Emperor’s Angel of Death

Whether the White Templars would respond to Terra's call was no longer the question. The problem now was that the White Templars' situation was also somewhat awkward. A large portion of the White Templars' companies were already deployed elsewhere. If they were to support the Crimson Fists, they would have to commit all their available forces, possibly even recalling some companies.

But for Sojash, no battlefield could be spared at the moment. The Grand Diocese itself was under immense pressure, and withdrawing the White Templars' companies from Ryza could also significantly impact its defenses. Fortunately, the call wasn't exclusively for the White Templars; it was also sent to the Red Angels, Blood Drinkers, Storm Lords, and over a dozen other Chapters. This was a characteristic of the High Lords' directives: they knew the Adeptus Astartes were difficult to command, so they would notify many Chapters at once. Even if each Chapter only contributed one company, it would still amount to a considerable force. As for whether mixing so many Chapters together would cause command issues, that was not their concern.

Under these circumstances, Sojash could only allow Arash to accept Terra's orders and lead the existing companies to support the Loki Sector. Fortunately, there was no immediate urgency, as other support forces were even slower and had to assemble at a fortress world in a neighboring sector before reinforcing together, otherwise it would easily turn into a piecemeal battle. Therefore, Arash still had time to rest and prepare. Since this was a support mission, the White Templars only needed to bring a portion of their ships and didn't need to bring auxiliary forces.

But as things progressed, Sojash suddenly realized he was facing something he hadn't encountered in a long time since becoming Chapter Master—

He was running out of men!

Without the White Templars, only the Star Knights could go to support Orpheus. So what was the situation with the Star Knights now?

The 2nd, 6th, 7th, 8th, and 10th Companies were fighting in the Grand Diocese, the 4th, 5th, and 9th Companies were operating in the Ryza Sector, and the secretly formed Saborn had gone to the Gryphon Sector. That meant Sojash only had the 1st, 3rd, and 11th Companies available to deploy.

Three companies might be a considerable force for an average Chapter, but in Sojash's view, it wasn't even enough to fill a gap between his teeth. Even if these companies had more members than normal, especially the 11th Company, which had 248 members after years of expansion, it was still far from enough.

But there was nothing he could do. A skilled cook can't make a meal without rice. Sojash's power could do many things, but it couldn't conjure people out of thin air.

In fact, he knew very well that the Imperium's forces would only play a supporting role in this trip to Orpheus. After witnessing the Necrons' extraordinary ship strength, Sojash understood that the Imperium could hardly defeat a Necron fleet unless it had a significant numerical advantage. His main reason for going to Orpheus was to utilize the power of the Flayed and the Bone Kingdom Dynasty. The reason he was so concerned about manpower was mainly because the High Lords had planted a nail.

This time, when they called Sojash for support, they deliberately ignored one thing: who was in charge.

Logically, as reinforcements, they should be under the command of the Sector Governor after arriving. But in fact, both the Minotaurs and the Star Knights had unusual political identities. The Minotaurs Chapter was the personal force of the High Lord of the Administratum, and the Star Knights' Chapter Master Sojash held the high honorific title of Lord Commander. Either of them could overrule the Sector Governor, but Sojash couldn't command the Minotaurs because he wasn't the Expedition Commander appointed by Terra. It seemed a bit convoluted, but politics was often hidden in these twists and turns.

If even the issue of who was in command couldn't be determined, Sojash had little confidence in this battle. Therefore, he had to demonstrate the strength of the Star Knights in order to suppress those dissenting voices and seize supreme command—this was also why the Imperium was frequently passive in strategy. Even the most basic thing like military command had to be determined by on-the-spot contention.

The battle of the World Engine was a mess for the same reason. Everyone had their own ideas, and in the end, each Chapter went its own way, causing huge losses.

In the end, after taking stock, Sojash could only bring 420 warriors to the Orpheus Expedition. Yes, according to the Codex size, that was only four companies, because he couldn't even take all of the 3rd and 1st Companies. After all, the Chapter Monastery Fortress in the Naison system needed someone to maintain it.

Since coming to the Naison system, he had rarely fought such a difficult battle. Whether it was the war on Pysanka, the Maelstrom, or the Grand Diocese, he had thousands of Space Marines under his command. This trip to Orpheus might really be a situation of few soldiers and few generals.

But there was nothing he could do. When you have a lot of people, you fight with a lot of people. When you have few people, you can only use the fighting method of few people.

In addition to personnel, the fleet had also shrunk severely. Some ships were assigned to the Grand Diocese, and the companies supporting Ryza also took some ships. The White Templars also had to take some of their own ships. After all this, Sojash could only use 36 warships, of which 12 were capital ships, not counting the Avesta and Landau, namely the Styx-class heavy cruiser Death Hunter, the Mars-class battlecruiser Mars's Child, the Vanguard-class strike cruiser Starfire, Blue Ice, the Pluto-class heavy cruiser Unbound Soul, the Retribution-class grand cruiser Black Frost and Red Blood, and 5 Lunar-class cruisers. The Death Hunter was a new ship, the fourth Styx-class modified by the Cardinal provided by Yomi 8 shortly after Sojash returned to Naison, and the 5 Lunar-class cruisers were completed by Naison 4 and Naison 5 after Sojash returned to the Naison system from the Grand Diocese, originally intended to be sent to the Grand Diocese, but now it seems impossible.

However, the 3 Lunar-class cruisers built by Naison 5 had just been completed, and some internal equipment had not been completely completed, and had not yet been test-sailed, which would take a little time.

In addition, Ulan Huda also had newly completed ships, namely 1 battleship and 3 heavy cruisers, which was the first time Ulan Huda had built ultra-large capital ships after the expansion of the new shipyard, but they had just left the slipway, and follow-up work would take time.

Sojash knew that time was tight, and the Necrons might launch a new attack at any time, but the situation was like this, and he could only wait a little longer, wait for the ships, wait for the people, and the troops dispatched by Terra would not arrive so quickly. Now he could only send some representatives to do some preliminary work and see how the unfallen areas were doing.

In fact, he had also thought about asking the Forge World for help, but Orpheus was too remote, even if Sojash offered many attractive conditions, it was judged to be unprofitable, and facing the Necrons, a high-risk enemy, even the Great Thorian League refused to do this deal. This was also a big problem for merchants. When there was no profit to be made, they would not talk about friendship.

If he couldn't borrow external forces, he would do it himself. Sojash made up his mind that no matter what tricks the culprit who created the War in Heaven had, he would have a good meeting with him, anyway, it was only a matter of time!

And just as he was actively preparing for battle, an unexpected surprise occurred.

Sol, who had been away for a long time, was back!

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