Encounter

The silence of the void was shattered as the Coalition fleet burst out of the Webway. After a week of travel, it had arrived above Nuceria. But some unusual guests had been waiting for them for quite some time.

The Blacklight had barely reentered Realspace when alarms went berserk throughout the ship. The Space Marines, trained to an exceptional standard, immediately activated the Void Shields to protect the forces behind them.

Brilliant lances slammed into the two Legion flagships at the fleet's tip. Their shields scattered the immense energy into streaks of light.

In less than a second, the two warships had endured enough firepower to melt a planet's surface into glass. But the enemy had achieved its goal: the entire fleet was surrounded. The Auspex picked up the enemy ships and projected them as holograms on the bridge.

The images were puzzling. The enemy had human warships, along with a Gloriana Class vessel they had never seen before. Some of the ship designs were unfamiliar, but most were clearly Imperial.

Hogg recognized the enemy at a glance. It was the "World Eaters' Chaos Fleet."

The profane Eight-Pointed Star was carved into every Chaos ship. Twisted, grotesque flesh grew across their crimson hulls, as if each vessel were alive. Profane Daemon Engines roared madly within them.

The sight made every warrior physically ill. The Coalition forces had no idea what they were facing, but the enemy had opened fire, so they had to be Xenos. War was what the Legion feared least, even when the enemy outnumbered them several times over.

Brilliant lances were humanity's most potent answer among the stars. Missiles and torpedoes poured toward the enemy ships. Most were destroyed by point-defense cannons, but sooner or later, a lucky round struck one of the vessels.

Intense heat melted armor. Unlucky crewmen could be flung from their ships by an explosion in an instant. Without life-support gear, they would soon become frozen corpses, boiling from within.

The first exchange of fire had already escalated into a full-blown battle. The Ultramarines had brought only a small contingent, but their vast resources let them unleash a saturation barrage. The Blackwatch, which knew well that overwhelming firepower was king, did the same.

Then something bizarre happened. The enemy Chaos Fleet neither dodged nor slowed; it kept firing as it charged straight toward them. The attacks striking its ships seemed feeble, leaving the gunners wondering if they were still dreaming.

The Chaos Fleet, which should not have appeared until the future, had shown up before him with all the signs of a carefully laid plan. Hogg felt the consequences of interfering with fate.

But there was no point regretting it now. Knowing he would one day face Chaos, Hogg had already built the Blackwatch with possible future enemies in mind. In their recreational games, he had made Chaos Daemons and Orks among the villains. Even the mortal warriors of the Blackwatch received a day of ideological instruction every week.

The Blackwatch might have plenty of little flaws in its day-to-day operations, but ideological discipline and order were two red lines Hogg enforced without compromise. So the Blackwatch already had a rough understanding of Chaos Daemons.

"The problem is, Emilia took some of our people to take charge of the territory before we left. I barely have any troops under my command right now! Khorne, you damn Kobold, what perfect timing!"

Seeing that their long-range fire was doing little damage, Hogg ordered the Blacklight to ram the enemy at close range. At the same time, through their still-active link, he shared the data with Guilliman.

"Guilliman! Our long-range weapons are ineffective against these Xenos. We need to hit them hard. There are too many enemy ships, and we're surrounded. Stay behind and provide covering fire. I'll leave you enough ships.

"Remember! Don't trust anything, don't listen to anything. Keep repeating our father's name, and if anything feels wrong, find my Legion Commander, Lynn.

"You've been wondering what the Blackwatch is for, haven't you? I'll tell you now: this is what they're for. The Blackwatch exists to tear them apart. We're boarding them. Watch our backs."

Guilliman had received the data, and he didn't hesitate. He used the Macragge's Honour's formidable firepower to provide cover while gathering the remaining troops. They formed a reverse-triangle formation to cover the counterattack.

As if by mutual agreement, the two fleets charged at each other. Their adamantium rams smashed together, and the ships opened fire at point-blank range. Then, landing craft swarmed toward vessels on both sides like locusts.

Melta charges blasted open the way as the landing craft began darting through the ships to board and seize them. Hogg led the charge, storming into an enemy Chaos ship that was also a Gloriana Class vessel.

The scene that greeted the First Assault Company was utterly profane. Countless bones and mangled limbs were piled throughout the compartments. A profane, chaotic Eight-Pointed Star had been painted across the deck in blood.

A squad of World Eaters, who had been waiting for them, charged with savage roars. Bolter rounds tainted by Chaos Corruption thundered against the bodyguard's shields as they let out a tremendous Waaaagh, followed by a frenzied melee.

One berserk World Eater Space Marine picked out Hogg, the flashiest figure in the middle. With a leaping blow, he soared halfway across the cargo hold, trying to split the Primarch's head open. But a roaring plasma blast gave him no chance. It blew the World Eater apart in midair, scorching half his mangled remains.

"?You're really brave, aren't you?"

Power Klaws snapped out, and the bodyguards charged after the Primarch. Their standard-issue Power Swords tore through Plasteel armor, but the fearless World Eaters went straight for a mutual kill.

The Blackwatch soon began taking casualties. The first Blackwatch warrior was caught off guard when an enemy drove a Chainsword into his shoulder, ripping away a mass of flesh.

The enraged Hogg blocked a veteran's slash, drove his Power Klaw into the man's chest, and hurled him away. He used the corpse as a projectile to save the wounded Blackwatch warrior.

As more troops arrived to reinforce them, the small battlefield was cleared. They killed the last Chaos warrior in their way, and the assembled forces launched a counterattack.

Hogg transformed into a monstrous seven-meter-tall beast. Raider weapons platforms fused into his flesh emerged from his chitinous armor. Each squad received two high-yield nuclear bombs. Their mission was to blow up the largest enemy ship.

Hogg led the way, charging straight ahead with his enormous bulk. Four claws wreathed in Dimensional Lightning tore apart every enemy in his path, opening room for the forces behind him to advance.

The upgraded Tactical Dreadnoughts poured out ammunition without restraint, laying down suppressive fire.

The Chaos counterattack came swiftly. Hogg had charged so far ahead that he was now separated from his troops. Profane machines began appearing among the enemy ranks. Daemon Engines unleashed a fierce barrage at Hogg, but the next moment, plasma fire from the beast engulfed them. No enemy could withstand a single blow from Hogg. His claws swung at supersonic speeds, able to rip through thick adamantium.

But there were too many enemies. Countless bolts and blows struck his chitinous armor, slowing his advance. Even with the forces behind him providing overwhelming covering fire, enemies kept pouring in from every direction.

Cracks appeared in his thick armor. Hogg, utterly enraged, began to swell, and countless fleshy tentacles erupted around him.

Dark-red lightning flickered along the tentacles. They coiled around the flesh and mangled limbs on the ground, breaking them down and absorbing them into Hogg's body as nourishment.

The beast began growing at a tremendous rate: seven meters, nine meters, then an astonishing twenty. Its grotesque spikes rammed into the metal ceiling. The enemies before him seemed to shrink into ants.

Now nearly three times his former size, Hogg finally heard the report he had been waiting for—the First Company Captain's voice.

"Father! The nukes are in place. We've retreated to the landing point."

"Copy! Go support Guilliman and kill those rats." Hogg's frenzied roar burst from his tooth-lined maw:

[Scum! Take my 110,000 Horsepower Flesh Rotation—Grave Point Extermination!!!]

A torrent of surging tendrils tore through everything. The colossal beast began to shrink. Nothing could stop the tentacles' advance. From the outside, the ship would have looked like it had been pierced by tentacles, transformed into a grotesque sea urchin of flesh.

Ah, I've just heard that the next round of recommendations starts tomorrow. It's sink or swim, brothers. Please follow and vote! (ง •̀_•́)ง