Warhammer: Start with a dog

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Ramezane—or rather, at this moment he was playing the role of his beloved Perturabo's past—stood alone atop the Iron Blood's command deck.

This peeping position was very consistent with Perturabo's preference when he was relaxing in their 3K home, so as an owner who had observed him for a long time, Ramizarn almost immediately understood why Perturabo chose to build his private command room at this height and location.

Because this is a very cleverly designed point that allows people in the command room to observe the entire bridge operation and see everyone coming in from all entrances.

Or, in Ramizane's personal opinion, this is the best "audience" position.

Because anyone standing on the steel balcony extending from the height of this command room specially set up for the Lord of Iron can clearly see the entire scene in the bridge "theater" without being seen clearly by the observed objects.

It's like sitting here and watching other people's activities unfold.

The captain - the captain who is now almost integrated with the Iron Blood is not yet the half-mechanical, half-human Bakhte Water that Ramizarn knows and who now walks his new legs every day.

He had already determined from indirect hints that the poor man had no name, and that Perturabo and everyone else would only call him "Captain."

His degree of mechanization is also higher than that of Captain Water. He is almost completely embedded in the captain's command throne and has become the living hardware of the Iron Blood. In other words, the command throne is like an iron coffin that he places on the central stage of the "theater" for display to anyone who walks in.

And around the "captain" buried in the iron coffin, with their backs to him facing away from him, densely packed like the steps of an amphitheater with spectators, are the multi-layered instruments arranged in a staircase from high to bottom on the bridge, and the servitors and a few mortal officers working in front of these panels.

However, compared to what Ramezane saw ten thousand years later, there were still more living people here. The men and women working for the Iron Lord and the Fourth Legion were all wearing simple uniforms, with almost no additional decorations except the Fourth Legion's logo and rank badge.

He was multitasking at the moment, and a part of his thought flow was still connected to the Iron Blood - there was no other way for Ramizane to do this, as there were no large enough observation ports on the bridge of the Iron Blood. If he didn't want to just sit here and listen to verbal reports, he could only rely on the sensors and detection arrays on the outside of the ship to see the real-time situation on the ongoing battlefield.

"【Gutai swearing】, when people say that the machine gun position moves five meters to the left and the artillery moves five steps forward, it's just sarcasm, but when it comes to you, you're serious, Pepe..."

Just as he was talking to himself, his thoughts were interrupted by Fricks' request for an audience.

"Come in."

When the Chief Trident came in, he was accompanied by another Iron Warrior, who was wearing ordinary power armor and a helmet. The surface of the armor still bore traces of the battle with the Hrud - it was rusty, covered with dust, and showed signs of long-term lack of maintenance, looking fragile and old.

But Ramizarn's heart immediately leaped with secret anticipation: Is this the legendary warrior he had specified to meet immediately after the retreat was completed?

Fricks's announcement confirmed his thoughts.

"My Lord, Barabas Dantioch has arrived."

Following the introduction of the First Captain, the Iron Warrior staggered towards the tall Primarch standing at the edge of the balcony, then slowly knelt on one knee at a suitable distance and saluted him.

"Ahem. Get up quickly." He cleared his throat to show his caution, and then began to make small talk. "Dantioch, what's wrong with you?"

The voice of the Fourteenth Company Warsmith came from behind his breathing grid, sounding a little too hoarse.

"It was the Hrud who did it, my Lord. The apothecaries examined me and said I am at least fifteen hundred years older."

He paused, and chose to ignore Fricks' desperate glances at him. "I'm sorry, sir, but the Fulpa Star Gorge that you ordered us to guard has probably been completely lost. My judgment is that after we retreat, we will no longer be able to recapture this passage for you. I am willing to take full responsibility for this, but I hope you can listen to my last words and advice."

The Warsmith bowed once more deeply to his thundering Gene-Father, expressing his apology, and then he reached out his fingers and fumbled to remove his helmet.

A prematurely aged face appeared before Ramizarn.

The originally neatly combed black short hair has turned into messy gray, and there are deep and obvious wrinkles at the corners of his eyes and mouth. The skin on his lips and other bone tops has become thinner due to old age. The fat has disappeared in many places, highlighting the shape of the skull below. The skin in these places, like the bags under the eyes, has light brown spots and purple-red bloodshot. Dantioch's skin has changed from white like Perturabo himself to the light yellow of an old man, and the whites of his eyes have also turned yellow. Only his pupils still emit light, indicating that trapped deep in this aging body is a still young soul.

Even as Ramezane looked at Dantioch in surprise, the warsmith was also looking at the Primarch whom he had not seen for a long time.

Then he saw, somewhat as a matter of course and somewhat desperately, the familiar frown and gloomy expression appeared on his Primarch's face, and the gloomy ice-blue eyes burned angrily like flames, staring at him fiercely.

Just as he was about to tell the Primarch that he agreed with Sergeant Zoran's words and to give him further advice, he heard the sound of the servers working in the Primarch's extraordinary battle armor.

Dantioch knew very well what it looked like when the Primarch killed his men. It was inhuman, animalistic, fast and brutal, and could arouse the primitive fear in everyone.

He opened his mouth hastily, and an untimely itchiness surged up from deep in his trachea. Dantioch's whole body was convulsing as he tried to hold back a heart-wrenching cough, and he was unable to speak.

Is it too late...

"Not really! What last words? It's a Star Gorge, not a Lion's Gate or Saturn's Gate. Victory and defeat are common in the military. Hey! It's 1,500 years old! Oh my god! Isn't it older than that guy? I wanted you to try on your new Terminator right away and then take office--"

The Primarch came over and condescendingly helped his son, who was kneeling dazedly and unresponsive due to the great shock, to sit down on a seat nearby.

Then he turned to Fricks, who had regained his expression of wanting to say something, and asked, "Has the Terminator set of Dantioch been completed?"

After getting a positive answer, he turned to Dantioch, who was still in a daze, and said, "Well, it could have been delivered immediately, but now it seems that your physical condition cannot support it. I will have to install more boosters and medical devices on it later... So you have to wear the old one for a while. Is that okay? Nod if it's okay."

The Warsmith nodded subconsciously.

"Great, what about the others?"

Before Dantioch's mind could function normally, a series of ruthless facts and loss figures had already spewed out of his mouth without any twists or embellishments.

"...Captain Chalkus and Warsmith Korkon's troops are smaller than ours, and the Hruds have taken more routes through there, so they should all have been killed. However, I still have 400 members of the 14th Company, and I still have the last three members of my command group in Gorkis..."

"Four hundred people..."

By the time he realized that he had bluntly spoken bad news, the Warsmith could not help but look boldly into the Primarch's face.

There was an expression on Perturabo's face that Dantioch had never thought he would see before.

The Primarch was standing, leaning over him, looking genuinely concerned for his son's well-being.

What was shining in those ice-blue eyes was not anger, Dantioch suddenly realized, but joy, a joy that made his hair stand on end and his adrenaline began to surge rapidly because of the terror.

Perturabo, their fierce father, the merciless and unpredictable Primarch, was delighted at the fact that Dantioch had come to tell him that his original mission had failed, that they could no longer fulfill his mission on Terra after the loss of so many men and resources.

Why is he happy?!

This is so weird and unreasonable!

And what about that sentence just now... "Victory and defeat are common in war"...? Did the Primarch really say this? Did the Hrud attack age his Lemann ears to the point of causing hallucinations? Or was his brain broken? Was this really something that the Perturabo he knew could say so naturally?

The Warsmith felt his two hearts and two stomachs trembling with fear.

"We were able to bring back 400 people alive. That's great! That's more than...!"

What?

Dantioch blinked, noticing that Freex also looked confused.

"Alert! Highest level!"

Sharp voices came out one after another from the bridge theater.

"My Lord! The Hrud fleet has moved towards Gugan on a large scale as you expected! Gugan's crust is geologically active! The plates of their capital city, Hive, have begun to vibrate!"

The captain's mechanical report sounded from the center of the bridge, and Dantioch's heart tightened again. His flagship Iron Guardian had not been repaired after retreating...

The large holographic projection screens installed on all sides showed the bright red traces of tree-like growth on the surface of the distant planet they were ordered to capture intact. It was like the black ice surface cracked, revealing the hot magma underneath, or like someone had thrown an extinction-order earth-penetrating bomb at it, and more Hrud ships wrapped in time bubble fields gathered around it, and a rock main nest as big as a continent was being peeled off from the planet.

This was undoubtedly a scene that would make both mortals and Astartes feel trembling, but they had now been ordered by the Lord of Steel to stay away from the planet, so it was currently only an image appearing on the display screen. The technical officers and soldiers all seemed to be still calm, and everyone was in a hurry, being commanded by Fricks.

"How much has the evacuation of ground personnel and the fleet's evacuation jump been completed? Fricks, go downstairs. I will pass the requirements to you here, and you will be responsible for the specific distribution and calculations!"

Chief Trident responded curtly, immediately leaving the command deck.

"Thanks to your calculation warning and advance retreat order, the ground retreat has been completed, my lord!"

"Very good, and what about the fleet?"

"The Iron Guardian has just started its jump and has gone to the rear. The retreat jump of the entire fleet has been basically completed. Your order is very clear. It is time for us to start the jump, sir." There was a hint of habitual reservation in Fricks' words, but the Lord of Iron was still as meticulous as ever.

"What do you mean by basically completed? Completed is completed, not completed is not completed. What does basically mean? I won't leave until you explain it clearly."

"I mean, sir, the Sublime Steel has not yet arrived at the designated location. According to calculations, they may be affected by the time surge caused by the actions of the main Hrud fleet in the hypothetical scenario you provided, and lose at least one-third of the rear..."

"Losing at least one-third of their tail means that they will immediately age into a pile of rust and dust in space the next moment they are affected by the tidal surge. In other words, they are in danger. Can you speak more directly? Fricks, you are good in every way except that you always speak in a roundabout way and are unwilling to speak straightforwardly."

Is that a habit I'm willing to develop?! Dantioch swore with his old eyes that he definitely saw such a meaningful expression on the face of the Chief Trident for a moment, but it disappeared just as quickly, as if it had never existed.

"You are right, my lord. I will correct it." The captain accepted the criticism quietly, and continued to command the hundreds of orders in the bridge in an orderly manner with extremely high efficiency. The orders were continuously issued to hundreds of different ships inside the Iron Blood and outside.

"The commander of the Sublime Steel is..." Ramizane manually searched the list in LOGOS, "Captain Urdek. Lord of the Sound Array, connect him for me!"

With the operation of the servitor at the post, the communication was connected.

"Urdek. What are you doing? The order for you to prepare for the jump was issued a long time ago, and you have not yet moved to the specified position."

"Primarch." Captain Urdek said without any panic in his voice, "There is a group of Hruds that invaded earlier in our engine room. We have not yet been able to completely eliminate them, so the reactor cannot operate at full power. We can only move forward at half speed and cannot make a jump."

"Damn it." Ramizane cursed, "How far can you drive?"

"Even at top speed, we can't completely escape the range of the time surge you informed us of." The commander's voice was still calm. "You should leave now, my lord. It looks like the time surge will erupt as you warned. You don't need to stay at such a dangerous distance for us. I will launch a lifeboat in the opposite direction later, and then I will stay here and try my best to let the Sublime Steel turn sideways to block the impact for the lifeboat."

The Lord of Steel was silent. He did not thank his offspring, nor did he say any words of encouragement or farewell. Captain Urdek did not show any resentment or fear.

The Iron Warriors deserved to die for their Lord without complaint, just as they had before, just as they did now.

In his heart, Dantioch silently expressed his condolences to his brother in advance.

"no way!"

The Warsmith looked up suddenly.

"The Iron Blood has much stronger defenses than the Sublime Steel, and I'm here." He saw the familiar expression of gnashing teeth on the Lord of Steel's face, but this anger was not directed at his sons or mortals. This anger came from the spirit of an ancient nation he did not know, from the determination of man to conquer nature time and time again, and from the fortress walls that he was trying to "protect".

"Fricks! At this distance, there is still hope to escape the main impact of the shock wave," the Lord of Steel said quickly, "We are closer than before... I mean, the Sublime Steel is already the closest ship to Gu Gan, but it also started sailing at least five hours and twenty-one minutes earlier. It is entirely possible! There is hope!"

"What are you going to do, sir?" Captain Urdek's voice finally wavered, "You can't put yourself in danger! We are not afraid to die for you!"

"Shut up! If you want to help me, try to turn your ship sideways and hide behind the Iron Blood!"

"Can……"

"Urdek! There is no time! Do not let my determination with the Ironblood go to waste!"

"My Lord," Urdek said before the communication was cut off, "May the Litany of Iron never die and always protect you."

"Fricks! Report the defense situation and the countdown to the impact!"

"Five minutes and twenty-one seconds until contact!"

"Iron Blood! Prepare to withstand the shock wave!"