The Astartes Family's Notebook

However, the company commander and his adjutants had all heard the battalion commander talk about the second half of the battalion motto that wasn't engraved on the wall.

Do not shy away from what is feasible and well thought out; do not shirk what is achievable.

The last two sentences were addressed to the leaders of the battle group.

The fighting brothers just need to enjoy the battle, but the battle group leaders have much more to consider.

Before doing good deeds within your capabilities, think carefully about whether they are truly good. If they are, don't be afraid, just do them.

For things you can do, even if they are outside your job responsibilities, don't be afraid of the trouble and do them bravely.

Motor Sich deeply agreed with this and consistently practiced it.

So when Judge Odachi handed over the virus bomb and the security key to him, the fourth company commander went to the prayer hall and knelt for three hours, praying for divine revelation from the God-King.

There was no divine revelation, but my heart calmed down.

Live up to our mission, go all out, why think so much?

Astartes only needs to fulfill his duties; the rest is up to His Majesty the Divine Emperor.

In the Warhammer universe, kindness is a luxury, and after mentally preparing himself, Desolation Wings Company Commander Mad Sich felt he was back to his old ways.

There are many ways to carry out the empire's extermination order, but most of them rely on whirlwind torpedoes.

According to regulations, a maximum of two Cyclone Torpedoes can be stored in a single star sector, meaning that the entire empire's five star sectors combined can hold a maximum of three thousand torpedoes.

The requisition or borrowing of any Cyclone torpedo requires the signature and seal of the Astartes Commander or Inquisitor.

So why would a company commander like Motor Sich dare to take the blame?

Don't ask too many questions about Astartes. The Chapter Commander has taken responsibility, and signing the extermination order is just a matter of a piece of parchment.

If some fool dares to question why the ink isn't dry yet, then don't blame the Space Marines for their bombs curving around, getting shot in the back, and committing suicide. The real universe also frequently gives the warp a little physical shock.

Returning to the Cyclone torpedo, this savage monster, with a diameter of thirty to fifty meters and a length of over three hundred meters, actually has little to do with torpedoes anymore; it's more like an interstellar strategic missile.

Warships smaller than heavy cruisers simply don't have the internal space to accommodate such a large vessel.

Even the Luna-class cruiser that Judge Odachi requisitioned had to have two macro gun bays opened up, steel plates cut, and gun mounts removed before the Cyclone torpedoes with virus warheads could be stuffed inside.

If it weren't for the teacher's influence and connections, Odachi alone wouldn't have been able to requisition even a single Cyclone torpedo. Just imagine how the captain of a Luna-class cruiser would react if he heard that his precious warship was to be used.

The surface-based Astronauts lack the means to acquire that kind of knowledge, so they couldn't possibly know that there are many types of Cyclone Torpedoes, including the most basic Cyclone Torpedo, the Bipolar Cyclone Torpedo, the Atmospheric Incineration Torpedo, and other special models that are even rarer than Emperor-class Titans.

However, these Star Guard rebels were once part of the group that followed Macarius in conquering the stars.

They don't understand the Cyclone Torpedo, but they do understand the Extinction Order.

One of the most well-known aspects of Saint Markarius in the Pacific Starfield is that the War Marshal is never stingy in issuing extermination orders.

Omidas II is nothing, just a virus bomb. Markarius was a ruthless man who recreated the spectacle of orbital bombardment.

Don't misunderstand, the previous statement was too general and could easily mislead the people of the Empire into thinking that only the Astartes Chapter and the Inquisitors are qualified to sign extermination orders.

This is incorrect. The Imperial Navy's high command can also requisition the Cyclone torpedoes, but they have no right to do so.

For the Imperial Navy, there's no need to use the Cyclone Torpedo. They can simply destroy the planet's defenses, lower the fleet to low or medium orbit, and then bombard it with naval guns. Isn't that what the Empire's various cannons and giant ships are designed for?

If that were all, it wouldn't fully capture Makarius's romanticism.

Besides conventional fleet artillery, orbital bombardment has even more extreme and romantic methods.

That is to select a suitable asteroid from the asteroid belt, and use a heavy cruiser or a professional large mining tug to tow this lucky star to a carefully calculated near-Earth orbit gravitational point, and use the gravity of the extinction-inducing planet to accumulate potential energy for the asteroid.

Then, a high-powered thruster is installed on the asteroid. Once the asteroid has accumulated enough potential energy through its rotation around the planet, the thruster is activated to release its kinetic energy, causing a devastating impact on the planet.

The asteroid that wiped out the ancient Terran dragon race 60 million years ago was only one percent the size of the extinction event.

The purpose of equipping asteroids with thrusters for the stubbornly resisting planetary leaders is to provide these imperial rebels with the best viewing experience, watching the sun be obscured by stars, day turning into night, stars falling to earth as if the earth were reversed, with nothing else in sight, and inorganic rocks hundreds of kilometers in diameter burning and breathing on their faces.

From precise material selection to meticulous calculations, this asteroid orbit bombing is time-consuming, labor-intensive, and expensive; romance is synonymous with waste.

If one wasn't filled with intense hatred, who would be willing to do something so strenuous and thankless?

According to records in the Holy Terra Archives, the last time the Imperial Navy carried out such an extermination was back in the M37 era.

Spanning four thousand years, the War General pays tribute to the ancient sages of the empire in a classic replica. For the soldiers of the expeditionary force to witness such a scene, even death would have been worthwhile.

Saint Markarius, we love you!

There's no need to hide it. Revealing the fact that the expeditionary fleet has the means to exterminate its enemies will actually be very beneficial to our united front work.

Otherwise, if Omidas I were to put up a stubborn resistance, it would be difficult to quickly suppress the billions of rebels who were using the Hive City as a fortress and putting up a show, relying solely on a single company of Astartes and two expendable Astral Legions.

Even with the addition of the manpower that Nafar recruited after his surrender, it still wouldn't be enough.

It mainly relies on political promises and quid pro quo deals.

Motor Sich continuously dispatched his chapter brothers to the planet's surface, either to support or assassinate according to Odach's demands. Using Astartes' formidable reputation and the pressure of the Extinction Order, Omidas I's will to resist was rapidly crumbling.

The war situation was extremely favorable; an objective, conservative, and humble assessment led to victory.

Chapter 26 Life Will Find a Way

The greatest lesson history teaches humanity is that it never learns from its lessons.

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Unlike the wild world of Nafal, Omidas I is a world with a nested capital.

Although Makarius destroyed Omidas I's ecosystem with a single viral bomb, how many planets does the Empire have that rely on interstellar trade to import even oxygen?

Ecological collapse is no big deal for an empire.

Moreover, in order to facilitate recycling and reuse afterward, didn't they leave single-celled algae in Omidas I?

With water and algae, at least Omidas One doesn't have to spend money on oxygen.

You're so lucky!

The residents of Chaodu are blessed.

The essence of the entire planet lies in the Nest City, located near the planet's equator.

It's hard to verify what this nest was called before, since the indigenous people didn't even leave a trace.

Today, this nest is called Omidas.

The barren surface was formed when the viral bomb took effect, causing the disintegrating cells to generate heat and ignite the flammable flesh and blood.

After the massive collapse of the organic matter, the rebels who returned to Omidas I first fought each other for control of the hive city.

After seven years of intense combat, every star army legion in the expeditionary force is skilled in martial arts and ruthless.

This fight lasted for ten years.

Behind every Star Legion participating in the Great Battle of the Hive City lies an even larger military leader.

What kind of thing is it to only input without output?

So the leaders discussed it and decided to cease hostilities first; restoring the control system of the Nest City was the priority.

Imperial technology is awe-inspiring.

In Guterres, the factory has been abandoned for twenty years, and the high cost of maintenance could build two new ones.

However, the fact that the Empire's facilities have been running continuously for a thousand years is due to the Mechanical Cult cutting corners and taking kickbacks.

Being internal traitors themselves, the Astragalus, having made peace, quickly used the verification methods provided by their superiors to restart the hive city's air purification system, which had been shut down by Astartes.

Amidst the roar of machinery, the decaying and deteriorating virus was rapidly expelled from the hive through the ventilation ducts.

The Empire's biological sages are not benevolent fathers like Nurgle; even the Disintegration Virus designed by the Cult of Mechanics must adhere to basic biological principles.

After ten or twenty years, even the most powerful virus should die out naturally after losing its host.

The fact that the virus, despite its deterioration, still exists in Omidas indicates one thing.

The virus continues to survive tenaciously by using single-celled organisms in water as carriers.

What can we do then?

That's easy.

Ventilation systems are no longer the core facility that the rebels are fighting over; water purification equipment is now the top priority.

The empire had already completed the entire industrial chain and patent research and development of promethium ten thousand years ago.

This is a rare legacy from a non-dark age of technology.

Promethium is not a natural element that exists in nature, but rather any offspring of carbon after it has been processed by hydrogen and oxygen.

In layman's terms, the human empire has mastered the entire technological chain of carbon elements and acquired true C programming language.

This is the Warhammer universe, this is the human Empire, which always manages to reveal its terrifying truth in the most unexpected corners.

Although the surface of Omidas I's planet has become desert, the oceans are still there, the water is still there, the algae are still there, and there is no shortage of biomass.

Using C language and C+/C++ technology, synthesizing starch to feed 3 billion people is far too simple.

This is how the Empire's famous delicacy, corpse starch, came about.

Corpse starch can be made from recycled corpses, but this is generally only the case when replenishing the mass of small and medium-sized interstellar ships is difficult.

For the professional factories in Chaodu, using corpses to make starch is a thankless and laborious task. Humans have mastered the C language, not the periodic table of elements. Human corpses have such complex chemical components that decomposing them is very troublesome. Even if quality control is not a concern, the wear and tear on the machines from bone fragments poses a great operational risk.

This is the Warhammer universe, where human life is the least valuable thing.

For the planet Omidas I, in the absence of Imperial support, the most valuable asset on the entire planet was its hive capital.

Other population settlements on the planet that arose from mining are essentially serving the hive city and cannot exist independently.

This is the situation that Astartes and the Imperial Navy prefer.

This is also the situation that the Astronauts hate the most.

Fighting to the death in the capital city, who knows how many lives will be lost.

Nafar surrendered, and men, women, and children were roughly divided into 130 temporary Astral Legions according to their original organizational structure.

Nafar, from the 1st to the 130th Regiment.

Each regiment has 20,000 men. The regimental colonel is selected by himself, the regimental political commissar is appointed by himself, the company commanders are left to their own discretion, and the company sergeants are free to do as they please. It is common for the whole family, including father-in-law, mother-in-law and brother-in-law, to be in the same squad.

It's quite amazing that the bombardment from the Victory Balance did not destroy Nafal's core of power.

The rebels knew exactly what kind of empire it was. The savvy outsiders had already fled. The 200,000 people who died under the bombardment were all the kind who thought they knew everything.

People can't, they won't, they should, they can still talk...

Wake up! This is the Empire's punitive fleet!

Those who survived were all seasoned veterans who knew something about this hellish galaxy.

Even though Judge Odachi's arrangements were inhumane, Nafar accepted the fact that he would become cannon fodder once he arrived at the 130th Regiment.

Staying in Nafal is a slow death; with only two million people, they'll be wiped out by the green-skinned orcs sooner or later. Coming to Omidas to make a living is the proper way out.

Intraplanetary transport involving a million people is no big deal to the Imperial Navy.

Why did Odachi bring two regiments of regular Astral Army soldiers? It wasn't to be the main force for attacking, but to guard against any inappropriate ideas that might arise from the unruly civilians of Nafar during the transport process.

An Imperial frigate typically has 50,000 to 60,000 crew members, so for a short-haul transport of about a week, they could easily fit in two additional regiments.

The real problem is how to transport Nafar's population and their cherished bottles and jars to the planet's synchronous orbit.

Normally, the Empire's solution would be to build a space elevator, directly constructing an orbital tower over 10,000 meters high to connect the ground base with the space station in geosynchronous orbit.

Or they could simply build the tops of those nest-like structures to the height of planetary geosynchronous orbit and use them as space stations.

So, if there's nothing there, how do we solve the crucial problem of the last ten kilometers from the planet's surface to geosynchronous orbit?

The answer is the Averrucan barge.

The Thunderhawk and Stormhawk gunboats are military equipment, and in pursuing protective firepower, it is natural to sacrifice effective payload.

The Skyhawk shuttle is a luxury item for the wealthy and powerful; when pursuing speed and comfort, load capacity is never a necessary consideration.

The barge that actually served as a packhorse for transporting goods was the Averus barge, which held a similar status to the great cargo ship that made a fortune during the ancient Terran period.

Unlike the Skyhawk shuttle, which has a top speed of 1,900 kilometers per hour but a standard capacity of only six people, the Averus barge is the best of the best, the most outstanding among the best.

The 1,200-ton carrying capacity is merely a disclaimer from major foundries; 2,000 tons is no problem, 3,000 tons is no cause for alarm. The vibration of the main beam is simply a technical adjustment. The limitation of transporting only three Leman Russ tankers at a time is a problem with the Leman Russtank, not the fault of the Averus barge. With the addition of a layered frame structure, the seven-meter-high interior space can be efficiently divided into three sections.

Judge Odachi came prepared, with thirteen Averus barges, plus two seized by Nafar, which was barely enough to meet the transportation needs of the population transfer.