Warhammer: Angron Training Manual

Chapter 385 Crisis Situation

As Kramer had expected, soon after Nuceria and Ultramar began to work together to take over Dawnstar, the Empire quickly stepped in to stop it.

The Mechanicus Skitarii seemed to have been created out of thin air, gathering in the hive areas controlled by the Empire.

The two sides tacitly divided the nest into two, drew a dividing line, and then set up defensive positions on both sides of the dividing line.

After this temporary emergency measure was implemented, the two parties, who had previously been working in silence, finally started their first formal communication.

The communication location was chosen to be at the top of the hive world.

Among the important figures Qin Xia had placed on Dawn, Theseus did not attend the meeting because he was coordinating the delivery of manpower and material resources from Ultramar and Nuceria to Dawn.

Only Kramo and Kamas, who was responsible for protecting him, arrived at the top of the hive tower, ready to participate in the communication meeting between the two sides.

When Kramo arrived at the lounge of the conference hall, he saw representatives of the armed forces deployed on Dawn Star.

One is Mago from the 2nd Chapter of the World Eaters Legion.

The other is Marius Gage, First Captain of the Ultramarines Legion.

After learning of Gage's identity from Theseus and knowing that he was a close confidant of the Thirteen Primarchs, Kramer was surprised that Ultramar attached so much importance to Dawnstar.

Because it was Nuceria who took the lead in occupying Dawn, it seems that Dawn will belong to Nuceria in the future. Although Ultramar has an agreement with Nuceria, the Thirteen Primarchs do not attach importance to this place to the point of sending a legion commander to Dawn.

"Margo."

"Cramer."

"Gage."

The two Space Marines and Kramer saluted each other and stated their names.

They just met today.

Although Nuceria's regular army and the 2nd Legion Space Marines had begun to occupy Dawn a few days ago, Mago and Gage had not arrived yet.

"What will we discuss at the meeting with those people from the Empire today?" Gage asked Kramo, who had arrived at Dawn Star a long time ago and knew the situation on Dawn Star very well.

"Let's talk about setting up the dividing line." Kramer spread his hands. "Although both sides have tacitly deployed defensive positions along the dividing line in the past few days, we still have to go through the formalities to establish the dividing line and then divide the management areas of both sides."

"I thought we were going to fight the Empire a few days ago," Mago said, "after all, we were setting up defensive positions at that time."

"Don't worry, there won't be a war." Gage smiled and patted Mago on the back. "No matter how serious this matter is, there won't be a war, at least not on the surface. No matter what interests you and the Empire have, you all agree on one thing, which is that you don't want to make things so serious that a war is needed to resolve it."

"What does Ultramar want to get from Dawnstar?" Kramo asked tentatively.

"I don't know what the Primarch is thinking. He just sent me to Dawn to represent him in fulfilling the agreement he signed with Nuceria." Gage told a lie naturally.

Kramo knew that Ultramar must have some agenda and certainly did not come simply to fulfill the agreement, but if Gage didn't want to say it, he would not be able to find out.

"Look." Gage looked at a local noble who walked into the lounge, "It's time to talk to them."

The three of them left the lounge and headed to the conference hall under the guidance of the local nobles.

When the three entered the conference hall, a woman from the Mechanicus and a man dressed in gorgeous Terran noble clothing were also brought into the conference room by local nobles.

Both parties sat down around a large round table.

Seeing that the other party had so few people and did not bring any entourage, Kramer felt that they might want to discuss something private and important.

But the nobleman representing the empire said something that disappointed Cramer.

"Nukeria should not continue to expand. You must leave Dawnstar, otherwise we will take strong action. The Imperial War Council has already held a meeting on your over-expansion and made a decision. Believe me, you definitely don't want to know the specific content of that decision."

After the noble had finished speaking, the Mechanicus lady in slim bronze armor spoke up: "I come on behalf of the Martian Forge-General. The Mechanicus is acting as an ally in this conflict, assisting the War Council in taking action against Nuceria after you refused to evacuate Dawn."

Cramer wasn't listening to what the woman was saying.

Fight against Nuceria's overexpansion, the Mechanicus is an ally of the Empire... these are all meaningless rhetoric.

The conflict between the Imperium and Nuceria was ostensibly about combating Nuceria's over-expansion, but there was also another, more dramatic reason: to enforce the Emperor's will and force the Lord of Nuceria to change his abominable decision to have superhumans rule over mortals.

"In addition, in accordance with the Emperor's will, you should immediately dismiss all Astartes governors and let the Astartes, these superhumans born for combat, engage in the war in which they should participate." The noble from Terra continued.

"Is this the Emperor's will?" Mago asked, "Are you a Custodian? What qualifications do you have to say 'the Emperor's will' here?"

"The Sigillite walks on the same path as the Emperor, and what he practices is the Emperor's will." The noble replied, "Besides, I am no more qualified than you cyborgs to declare and practice the Emperor's will. I was born in a mountain village at the foot of the Imperial Palace. I am a loyal subject who followed the Emperor when he was called the Lord of Thunder and took the first step in the cause of unifying Terra. When I practiced the Emperor's will, you were just a lowly creature in a barbarian tribe on Terra, serving as a slave to a warlord."

Hearing this, even a Space Marine like Mago almost stood up and decided to solve the problem the way of the World Eaters.

But Margo's calmness is comparable to Kiel's.

There was no expression on his face, he was just thinking about how to give this guy a powerful verbal blow.

But talking is really not something that Mago is good at.

Gage on the side was not good at it either, and Cramer was even worse. He had been pampered since childhood and felt that it was not decent to argue with others.

When it comes to talking, the Space Marines who fight every day are no match for the mortals who practice oral gymnastics on the Terran War Council every day.

But Margo's thoughts suddenly stopped.

Then a smile appeared on his face.

A confident and somewhat arrogant smile.

"Well, sir," Mago spoke slowly, using a tone that made Gage beside him feel like he had become a different person.

"When I became a Space Marine and chopped off the heads of technological barbarians or warlords for the Emperor in the Unification War..."

"You are probably squandering the power given to you by the Emperor in a safe corner. Only when you have solved the problems in your mouth and in your crotch, you will probably recall: Oh, I am an administrator appointed by the Emperor, and it is time for me to do something."

"But Lords of the War Council, let's be honest. From what I saw and heard while fighting during the Unification War, your only achievement in terms of personnel matters was to think about it as I said, and then continue to squander the power and trust given to you by the Emperor. Otherwise, the Unification War could have ended at least a few years earlier."

When the noble on the opposite side heard what Mago said, the corners of his mouth trembled, but he was not angry and still maintained a decent demeanor.

After all, he was a member of the war committee who did oral gymnastics every day in Terra, so he had some composure.

"The War Council can give you some time to make a decision." The noble changed the subject and stopped mocking Mago. "During this period, a dividing line will be drawn along the places where we each deploy our lines in the hive world, and the spire of the hive world will be the neutral zone. If you truly repent, no matter how things develop, we can still talk like we are now."

"Okay." Mago nodded. "Also, no matter what conflicts we have, at least we didn't fight a few days ago, thanks to your restraint and rationality. If the situation gets out of control in the future due to a series of stupid actions by the Imperial War Council, and you are dismissed by the Sigillite, at least you can come to Nuceria. Although we can't give you your original status, it's still easy to give you a few buckets of rice to support you."

The nobleman stood up and left angrily.

The Mechanicus followed suit.

"That was not very decent, Chapter Master," Kramer whispered.

"They ridiculed us first," Mago responded calmly. "When they are disrespectful first, we either act like a bastard and take the insults silently, or we fight back."

Kramer nodded with a complicated expression, then looked at Gage who represented Ultramar.

Gage looked serious and nodded silently. "Mago is right. If he hadn't become eloquent just now as if he was possessed by the Lord of the White Knights, I would have scolded him for the bad things that the early members of the War Council did during the Unification War."

“That makes sense,” Cramer said.

The three of them gradually fell silent.

"How will the situation develop next?" Mago looked at the two and took the initiative to break the silence. "I think it will be a long-term stalemate."

"I think so too. We will be stuck in a stalemate," Kramer speculated, "until something comes out to speed up and break the stalemate... We may have to stay on Dawn for a long time."

Gage nodded silently, agreeing with Cramer's opinion.

The three of them said goodbye to each other and left, returning to the area jointly managed by Nuceria and Ultramar.

Take a look at the defensive positions near the dividing line facing the Imperial administration area.

Issue some orders that can change the people's livelihood in the management area.

Perhaps in the eyes of others, it was a very serious and terrible thing that Nuceria and the Empire established positions and confronted each other directly along the dividing line.

The three top leaders were extremely confident that this confrontation would never turn into a war, so they spent a fairly leisurely time thereafter.

……

"My lord...please!"

"Please let me pass!"

The boy knelt before a Skitarii officer, kowtowed and begged.

The officer looked down at the boy until only crying came out of the boy's mouth. He could only hold his boots and look at him with begging eyes.

Then he spoke.

"You are the umpteenth person who has tried to find an excuse to leave the Empire Administration Area this month."

"Well, I'll teach you."

The officer pulled the boy up from the ground and pointed to a place not far away: "There is a material distribution point over there. Go there and tell them how many people are in your family. Then they will give you food, clothing and other necessities, just like the one in the management area next door."

After saying this, the officer subconsciously glanced at the front of the defense line.

That was the Nukeriya Administrative District. It was mealtime and a tank distributing food was driving on the street. The mortal soldiers of Nukeriya took out the food and medicine from the tank and threw it to the people waiting on the street.

"I don't want food... Sir!" The boy continued to hold the officer's boots and cried, "My home is across the street... My mother was sick and I went to buy her medicine... When I came back, I saw guns everywhere... I have to go back!"

After saying that, the boy took out two pills from his pocket.

The officer took a look at the medicine, put it back into the boy's pocket, and then said, "You are such a clever storyteller, but I'm sorry, your story may impress me but it won't impress the defense deployment here. It's not that I won't let you go, but once you go there, you will be shot to pieces."

The boy cried anxiously.

When the officer was about to persuade the boy to stop pretending, he suddenly saw a man approaching and immediately saluted: "Father!"

A Mechanicus priest, who was bloated with various prosthetics, came over, looked at the boy, and then ordered the officer: "Tell your men to let him go, and then fire into the sky."

The officer was confused, but finally decided to do as he was told.

The lights on one section of the line were turned off.

The boy glanced at the priest, then immediately ran to the other side. He was frightened by the sound of gunfire behind him and fell to the ground, but he still crawled towards the Nukeriya Administrative Area.

Finally, a Space Marine stepped out of the position, picked up the boy, and ran back to the front line with him in his arms.

The priest stood on the position on the side of the Imperial administration zone, everything reflected in the scarlet electronic observation mirror of his right eye. He thought that if this incident was used properly, it would accelerate the development of the conflict.

"Send someone to investigate across the street." The priest turned to the officer and ordered, "Give me any excuse, no matter how ridiculous it is."

(End of this chapter)