The Emperor’s Angel of Death

Eckwaria had also been anticipating Sosiian's arrival for a long time. After Orpheus was invaded by alien forces, they became highly nervous. After all, they weren't too far from that sector. If the sector fell, they would definitely be next. They had personally experienced the terror of the Necrons and knew that with their current strength, they couldn't possibly withstand a Necron force capable of sweeping through an entire sector. Therefore, they could only place their hopes on Sosiian.

Upon arriving at the forge world, Sosiian appeared very leisurely and content, as if he weren't heading into a war at all, but rather on a routine inspection.

He first inspected the recovery of the forge world's production facilities, then went to see the Titan factories and Titan fortresses under preparation. After touring around, he finally held a meeting with the Forge Director and the forge world's high-level officials.

The purpose of doing this was simple. Sosiian's numerous expeditions had made him very aware of the Imperium's problems in terms of warfare, such as fragile production levels and poor transportation, which often led to famine and material shortages in a war zone. Orpheus was no exception, especially since it had lost most of its territory. Supplying even the capital system with food was likely to be a problem, and with the inevitable expansion of the army due to the war, the logistical pressure would only increase.

Moreover, he had made a rough judgment about this war on the way here.

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Given the current strength and military power of the Imperium in Orpheus, it was almost impossible to quickly defeat the enemy, unless he directly used the Flayer avatar to take out the Maynarkh Dynasty. If that were possible, that would be best, but Sosiian had to prepare for the worst – that is, if the Flayer couldn't solve the Maynarkh Dynasty, then the only way was to bring the war into the area where humanity was most proficient and familiar – a war of attrition.

The Necrons had their technological advantages, but they also had their weaknesses. No matter how many times their cannon fodder warriors could be resurrected, their numbers could never match the rapidly reproducing humans. This was also a weakness that their entire race had difficulty overcoming after undergoing the foolish bio-metal conversion. Their numbers compared to humans were not much better than the Eldar, merely a drop in the ocean. Therefore, the most suitable tactic was a war of attrition, or a messy war.

To put it bluntly: you have gauss rifles, I have skulls; we can drown them by sheer numbers.

The only problem was that humanity's numerical advantage was not easy to exploit, requiring a stable front line, and the Necrons' ultra-high mobility and destructiveness could easily break the front line. For example, the 'Hundred Days Blitz' saw the Necrons kill perhaps thousands of times more humans than themselves in a very short period, a typical example of concentrating forces to prevent the dispersed opponents from concentrating their numbers.

What Sosiian had to do next was to create an environment for a war of attrition.

A quick victory was impossible, so he could only fight a protracted war. It was precisely around this idea that Sosiian had to focus on logistics and production, because this was the core factor determining the victory or defeat of a war of attrition.

Therefore, he emphasized from the beginning that Eckwaria would be a key part of this Orpheus campaign and the core support for the war, not only contributing to the production of weapons and equipment, but also responsible for the supply of key survival materials. Of course, this was not without reward. The Orpheus sector would be completely open to Eckwaria in the future, and its manpower and resources would provide impetus for the forge world's expansion.

So he was very concerned about Eckwaria's production situation, choosing to come here first before going to Orpheus.

As for Sosiian's request to make the forge world a rear production center, the Forge Director did not object. After all, they were counting on Orpheus to withstand the alien pressure. However, he also explained some difficulties, mainly in transportation. The forge world did not have many transport ships now, which might not be enough to meet Sosiian's requirements for supporting the entire war zone.

Sosiian had already prepared for this. Among the fleet he brought, there were more than two hundred large transport ships. These ships were pieced together from various sources. There were hired Squat transport ships (mercenaries were unwilling to come, but those who ran transport were willing, which Sosiian found puzzling), as well as ships rented from other forge worlds, such as Graia and Gryphonne IV, and some ships from Rogue Traders.

With these large transport ships, a transport chain from Eckwaria to Orpheus could be established. Upon learning that Sosiian had made arrangements in advance, the Mechanicus praised him for being meticulous and calculating.

But this was not meticulousness at all, but rather experience accumulated from fighting many battles. The only difference was that Sosiian had more experience as a battle commander, which was lacking in most Astartes Chapter Masters.

Of course, in addition to checking the production situation, Sosiian also paid attention to the defense situation, because the Necrons were not as brainless as Orks or Tyranids. As a former civilized race, they must have some military strategies. In the course of the battle, they might choose to attack human logistics and production bases, so Eckwaria's defense work must be done well and be vigilant at all times.

After arranging a series of preparations, Sosiian began to inquire about the situation in Orpheus, and the Eckwaria Forge Director, who had been paying attention to the area, also informed Sosiian of the information and intelligence collected during this period.

The situation in Orpheus was very bad. The entire south and east had fallen into darkness. The actual number of planets that had fallen accounted for three-fifths of the sector's inhabited planets. Now, the front line had become the capital, Amara, located in the central part of the sector. However, Decapolis, located on the west side of the sector, was safe, which was the only good news, meaning that Orpheus's first and second economic and industrial strongholds had not fallen, and the sector still had enough manpower and material resources to maintain resistance.

However, the impact of the 'Hundred Days of Blood' was too great. Although the authorities had been trying to cover up the news, rumors inevitably spread to the people, causing great confusion and disarray in the military and civilian populations. Many people chose to risk boarding unknown immigrant ships and transport ships to escape their homeland, but most people could not leave, which only led to the proliferation of various doomsday theories and conspiracy theories. The governor's subsequent deployments exacerbated this turmoil.

Although the aliens had stopped attacking, no one knew how long this pause in the offensive would last. Under an almost paranoid defensive mindset, the sector governor's office ordered all available mobile units to take all their heavy weapons to the capital, Amara, for assembly, including local forces from various worlds in the eastern part of the sector that had not yet been touched by the war. This weakened the protection of those worlds, which in turn caused riots to break out continuously. The Adeptus Arbites could only run around trying to put out fires but could not completely replace the role of the garrison. In this case, the governors of those worlds could only recruit additional troops and began to resist the sector governor's subsequent orders, which in turn led to an increase in the opposition between the local governors and the sector governor.