Saving Private Cicero (Part 2)

Stop, stop.

Kasgar took a deep breath.

"This is the demand of the Terra War Council. We, the Iron Hands, lack mercy towards civilians."

"As per Lady Philus's request, she has decided that I should correct this trend."

Seeing this, the Iron Hands stopped arguing.

A command from the Primarch cannot be ignored.

"So, based on my current requirements, could you prepare a contingency plan for our next attack on the Gardinal Prime?"

Company Commander Santo nodded.

The plan was not complicated. First, the Expeditionary Fleet No. 52 would seize air superiority and end the Gardinalians' air blockade of our remaining forces.

Based on this, and relying on the invincible firepower of the Iron Hands as cover, a large number of surface firepower units were deployed to the battlefield to occupy and gradually expand their base areas.

Then the invincible Philus personally descended upon the battlefield and shattered all the remaining enemies that had not yet been eliminated.

They eventually pushed the front line forward bit by bit and completed the occupation of the ruins.

Perhaps this place is not a ruin.

But who cares? In the end, it'll all be ruins anyway.

Unless the enemy surrenders faster than Philus advances.

"If the enemy manages to defend against our first wave of artillery fire and their losses are not too great, how should we adjust our strategy next?"

Ah?

Upon hearing this question, Company Commander Santo's eyes, hidden behind his MK2 helmet, seemed somewhat vacant.

"I mean contingency plans or something?"

No.

Humans cannot imagine things they have never seen.

The Iron Hands could not have imagined that the enemy could remain intact despite their overwhelming artillery fire.

Looking at their expressions, Kasgar understood most of it.

"The Iron Hands will not fail."

"Philus wouldn't either."

Company Commander Santo's answer was full of confidence.

Really, friend?

So you mean, without any preparation, even if bombarding the enemy is useless, you'll still stick to the current order of operations. You're just going to let our Senior Sister into the enemy camp alone, and then watch Senior Sister completely clueless?

Kasgar silently rubbed his forehead.

Compared to his Senior Sister, he seems to be more confused now.

Broken.

This isn't helping; it's giving Iron Hands early childhood education.

"Perhaps. Now, the Sons of the Emperor have been integrated with the Iron Hands."

"Next, you will be in charge of preparing contingency plans for the Iron Hands' operations."

"The requirement is to align as closely as possible with Gardinal's operational needs and with the fighting style of our Third Legion."

"Everyone, are you confident you can do it?"

"Have!"

"The Sons of the Emperor, the Enemy of the Father!"

The Iron Hands' brains are practically made of iron; it's incredibly difficult to change their way of thinking.

Kasgar decided to reconsider later.

Since things have come to this, let's save lives first.

Gardinal III.

As the main planet of Gardinal, this place has been embroiled in constant conflict ever since the negotiations between the Imperium of Man and the Gardinal Empire ended.

Perhaps the rulers of Gardinal wanted to gain more leverage through war, or perhaps they believed their Pocket Imperium was powerful enough to seize the opportunity to control the Imperium of Man.

In short, once a war begins, it never ends, given that everyone has their own agenda.

According to the report from the Thousand Sons Envoy Amar in the recent battle, the enemy's firepower may have been formidable, but the annihilation of Cicero's army was merely a result of being ambushed by the enemy using thermonuclear Nuclear Weapon.

They never imagined that the rulers of Gardinal would be so ruthless as to release nuclear bombs even if it meant turning their planet into a radioactive wasteland.

Having lost its surface-based weaponry, the 413th Expeditionary Fleet had no choice but to keep its ships suspended in space, facing off against Gardinal's ground forces.

One can't go up, and the other can't come down.

I'm stuck here.

Until the called-in fleet support arrived.

"Philus and the others have arrived."

In the clear sky, the iron-gray warship gradually came into everyone's view.

One of the legions with the most outstanding achievements in the Great Crusade, the Iron Hands Legion, has arrived in the Gardinar System to provide support.

Instead of the 12th Expeditionary Fleet that Ultramarines Cicero most desired, which came from Roboute Guilliman, the Gene-father.

Because the latter is still on its way.

"It's all over."

The armor was covered in dust and blood, and some parts of the Power Armour were even blasted apart with fragments and cracks. Chapter Master Cicero sat wearily among the bricks and rubble, even though the place was not suitable for the time being due to the radiation.

But what does it matter? He's a man who's about to die anyway.

The 10th Legion shows no mercy.

Most of these remaining soldiers will likely be used as cannon fodder for the upcoming landing of the 10th Legion, and will be wiped out by enemy or friendly fire.

It's no exaggeration to say that if he hadn't lost all of his Titan Legion deployed on the ground, he might have had a slight chance of receiving aid from the enemy.

After all, Philus has a deep connection with the Martian Mechanicus, and compared to the lives of their own people, they would definitely do everything in their power to protect the Titan Legion.

But who told him he couldn't even save a single one?

"Chapter Master! It's reinforcements!"

"Our reinforcements have arrived!"

The soldiers around him, also bearing the marks of battle, cheered him on.

"Yes, reinforcements have arrived, but the 10th Legion will show us no mercy."

"Sigh, it's all over."

It wouldn't make a difference if we went out and killed a few more Gardinalians now.

After all, they were about to be reduced to ashes by the gunfire from the Iron Hands—

"It's Drop pod and landing craft!"

"Chapter Master, we have reinforcements!"

Ah?

The Ultramarines looked up at the sky with a puzzled expression.

Yes, there really is!

I don't know if Philus suddenly changed her gender (actually, she did change her gender), but she actually sent reinforcements to help the remaining front-line troops before the first wave of artillery fire!

Is this really Philus's ship?

Or was it Guilliman, the Gene-father, who suddenly had the idea to paint the Macragge's Honour black and gray?

"Thousand Sons, can you contact the remaining forces of our Ultramarines?"

Operating the laser cannon from inside the landing craft, Casgar asked Amal, the Thousand Sons Think Tank, a question.

As Space Marine who previously fought alongside the Ultramarines, his perception of the remaining forces will be more precise.

"Difficult to detect. We may need to land on the ground to obtain anything."

In the complex battlefield environment, the Ultramarines' ground forces had long lost contact with their surroundings.

The Ultramarines are now engaged in urban warfare with the enemy in the ruins after the nuclear explosion, and it is unknown how many Ultramarines are left.

It's even possible that the entire army could be wiped out.

"In that case, let's release the assembly signal after our troops have deployed."

In this large-scale battle, Kasgar carried his Purple-gold shield and Power spear.

Of course, there was also an Ignition pistol tucked into his waistband.

"Nice equipment."

As soon as he boarded the landing craft, the Iron Hands beside him practically swallowed hard as they spoke.

This outfit is something everyone envies.

Not to mention the Iron Hands places the greatest emphasis on firepower and weaponry.

What are all these?

As the landing craft Stormbird descended into the atmosphere, various flying objects from outside the craft gradually came into Kasgar's view.

They weren't very big, and their appearance was quite different from the Imperium's current fighter jets.

But the number is just too many.

The sky was covered with countless flying machines, as dense as flies, which directly shrouded the sky in the sky blue of the Gardinalians's paint.

These aircraft were poorly manufactured, but their quantity made them a significant advantage.

The almost endless array of flying machines became the first line of defense against ground troops landing.

Even though Kasgar was firing laser cannons continuously, it was only a drop in the ocean.

"Unable to break through enemy blockade, requesting support."

Before he could send the message, more iron-gray aircraft descended from above at a speed faster than the Stormbird.

They are automated Automated Flying Mechs from the Iron Hands.

Or rather, they are autonomous Automated Flying Mechs developed by Kasgar and implemented in the Iron Hands.

When this Automated Flying Mechs was first developed, although the inventor was Kasgar, his first version was not very user-friendly.

It will take continuous improvements from Philus and other Adeptus Mechanicus sages to modify it and make it usable on the battlefield.

No matter how many aircraft Gardinal had, they were still helpless against the unreasonable and massive swarm of automated Automated Flying Mechs from the Philus fleet.

With a series of dense explosions, the encirclement in the sky was cleared away in an instant, leaving only a few scattered aircraft still fighting with the Automated Mecha.

Boom!

Immediately afterwards, several orange-red beams of light descended from the sky, instantly turning countless military facilities on the ground into dust.

The precise, surgical strike from Primarch Philus landed instantly on the Gardinal aliens' proud surface air defense system.

Everything was just right.

"Philus's computational abilities."

He also had some shortcomings, which is why the Iron Ten Legion's individual combat tactics were weak, and why no super Space Marine like Sigismund or Abaddon emerged during the Great Crusade.

Because Philus handled all the battles by herself.

From developing new weapons and conducting long-range artillery strikes to clearing away debris on the ground, the main force relies entirely on Philus's calculation and combat capabilities.

From then on, with the assistance of Automated Flying Mechs and long-range artillery, they regained control of the skies.

The Stormbird's landing will no longer be hindered by anything.

"What a terrifying War Machines."

Kasgar couldn't help but sigh.

"Under the command of the Mother of Iron, the Iron Ten Legion was invincible."

"Company Commander Santo said to Kasgar with a hint of pride."

Even though Philus was extremely strict with them, everything was handled by the Primarch himself, which is why the Iron Hands's abilities have become so powerful.

The Mother of Iron Philus, is invincible, absolutely invincible.

They are invincible!

No one could stop Philus and her Iron Ten Legion.

Although they might be considered Tile Junior Brother, they certainly have the right to be proud.

"But friends from the Iron Hands, have you ever thought about something?"

"What will you do if Philus is gone one day?"

Stormbird fell once again upon hearing this.

"We won't—"

"Of course I know you are determined to protect your Primarch," Kasgar interrupted, "But in any case, we should try to think about the possibilities of the future."

"Because we can never predict what will happen in the future."

Kasgar sighed softly, sensing the Stormbird gradually descending to the ground.

"We've arrived. Get ready, it's time for us to go down."

With a dull thud, the hatch on the back of the Stormbird opened, and dozens of Space Marine rushed out.

They chose to land in the suburbs of the satellite city where the Ultramarines had once fought.

After being struck by thermonuclear Nuclear Weapon, there might still be survivors in this relatively remote location.

"Teams one through ten will guard the landing zone and construct defensive facilities as originally planned."

"The rest of the teams, disperse and search the surrounding area. Be careful."

The Space Marine, having landed on the ground, immediately dispersed like water, following their previous squad divisions.

As Santo's heavy steps treaded the land strewn with smoke and ruins, a pair of eyes lurking in the shadows fixed their gaze on him.

That was the Assassin Caste from the Gardinal Empire.

Gardinal assigns people to their caste before they are born and performs corresponding genetic modifications.

The Assassin Caste, within the warrior caste, undergoes genetic modifications that include a host of enhancements that make them more sensitive, quicker to react, and more explosive.

Holding a poisoned dagger, he rushed towards Company Commander Santo.

When!

His full-force attack only produced a burst of sparks at the point of impact with the armor.

His first attack missed, and he was instantly captured by Santo's speed, which was inconsistent with his heavy armor.

At that very moment, he let out a strange smile.

Its body expanded rapidly, like a balloon about to burst.

Warriors who have undergone special assassin gene modification, the modifications made by the Gardinalians are not so simple.

He activated the self-destruct program inherent in his body.

Bang!

With a loud explosion, he was completely enveloped in a gray-green toxic fumes.

When the smoke and dust cleared, only Santo and his towering armored figure remained standing in the same spot.

Unharmed.

Ironclad Terminator Armor.

A small-scale internal beta version from the Iron Hands.

As the legion with the closest ties to the Adeptus Mechanicus, the Iron Hands was also getting its hands on this new gadget for the first time, Company Commander was naturally excited to put it to use on the battlefield.

And its effects are immediate.

Terminator is so useful!

"The Gardinalians probably can't even break through my defenses."

The Company Commander to himself with a hint of smug satisfaction, while the miniature Thinker array on his shoulder continued to search for nearby survivors.

Well, just as Cicero reported.

Aside from thermonuclear Nuclear Weapon, the Gardinalians were nothing special.

Boom!

The next instant, he saw the walls of the satellite city beside him blasted into dust by a Titan-sized Gardinal quadrupedal mech.

Then, their eyes met.

"Cicero!"

"I--"

He was shouting a word in Medusan, but judging from his tone and the context, he was probably cursing.