Andrew's Company

719.M41, Palatos Hive, Deep Hive.

As the company commander of 2nd Company, 3rd Regiment, 2nd Brigade, Sixth Special Operations Division, Andrew had been assigned to seal off the abandoned waterway leading deeper into the Deep Hive.

This had once been where the Hive City discharged its wastewater. After it fell out of control, the nobles chose another waterway for disposal and blocked this one off.

The nobles did it to reduce the resources sent into the Deep Hive, hoping to starve the rioting mobs to death.

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This waterway was enormous, nearly a hundred meters in radius—wide enough for ten Chimera Armored Vehicles to pass side by side with room to spare. Thousands of years of filth had settled on the walls and floor, giving off a pungent stench.

Numerous branching pipes lined both sides, ranging from half a meter to several dozen meters in diameter, forming a densely packed underground network.

This place had been occupied by remnants of the old Ecclesiarchy, an extremist cult known as Purifying Fire. The Sixth Special Operations Division's mission was to wipe out this extremist cult.

To prevent an annihilation battle from turning into a pursuit, the 6th Division had deployed troops in advance to defend every possible route, completely cutting off the cult's escape.

That was why Andrew had been stationed here.

His 2nd Company's main field of fire faced deeper into the Deep Hive, where they were responsible for intercepting any new enemies that might emerge.

Such things had occurred many times during earlier purges and had practically become routine.

Behind him was 3rd Company, whose main field of fire was directed at the Purifying Fire Cult, preventing them from fleeing deeper into the Deep Hive.

Half a day had passed since Andrew led 2nd Company into position.

The 6th Division's general offensive had already begun, but aside from the rumbling artillery fire, everything on his end remained quiet.

With nothing to do, the company headquarters' sergeant major and quartermaster sergeant began chatting with Andrew. "Company Commander, I heard you used to serve in the Astra Militarum. Is that true? How do the Astra Militarum compare to us?"

He looked at the three Chimera Family Vehicles assigned to company headquarters, then at the dozen or so Sapper Exoskeletons set aside nearby, and shook his head.

"There was no comparison. The regiment I served in was an infantry regiment. Only regimental headquarters had a few Chimeras; everyone else ran on their own legs. Nothing like this."

Thinking about his company's capabilities and training standards, he would have bet that, at equal strength, ninety-nine percent of Astra Militarum Regiments could not beat his company.

The Special Operations Division had a Chimera from the squad level onward, serving as both transport and fire support. Every squad's nine dismounted infantrymen wore Exoskeletons and carried Bolters, with a Heavy bolter as squad heavy firepower.

How many Astra Militarum squads would dare fight them with that kind of equipment? And he had heard that the Heavy bolters would eventually be replaced with Plasma Weapons that had even greater armor-piercing power. When that happened, the Astra Militarum would stand even less of a chance.

A platoon had three squads. Including the platoon headquarters' Chimera, that made four Chimeras in total.

At company level, it became even more outrageous.

Besides the twelve Chimeras of various types belonging to the three platoons, company headquarters also had a Chimera Command Vehicle, a Camelot Fire Support Vehicle, and a Salamander Scout.

On top of that, company headquarters had a directly attached support platoon.

It included a Heavy Firepower Platoon with three Camyudons. The Battle Cannons mounted on the Camyudons could engage both vehicles and fortifications.

There was an Anti-Aircraft Platoon with two Camelotox vehicles. Their Quad-barrel Light Autocannons were not much use against high-altitude aircraft, but they were extremely effective against light infantry and low-flying vehicles.

There was a Mortar Platoon with three Griffin Self-propelled Mortars. Mounted on Chimera chassis, these heavy mortars could provide artillery support.

Finally, there was a Maintenance and Supply Platoon with two Trojan Support Vehicles, responsible for battlefield repairs and ammunition transport.

His company alone had twenty-eight vehicles from the Chimera Vehicle Family.

A Chimera came equipped with a fixed Heavy bolter, while its turret could mount different fire support weapons such as an Autocannon, Twin-linked Heavy Bolter, Flamethrower, or Multi-laser.

And the Special Operations Division did not rely on equipment alone. Its training intensity, organizational discipline, and fighting spirit were all exceptionally strong.

With this one company alone, Andrew could have beaten the Astra Militarum Regiment he had once served in until they howled. He was even confident he could wipe out and capture the entire regiment.

The quartermaster sergeant was somewhat doubtful. "Really? Didn't they say the Astra Militarum often fought alongside Astartes Brothers? Our brigade drilled against one company of Astartes Brothers before, and they nearly shut us out. If someone hadn't gone all out and rammed a Melta-loaded vehicle into them, our whole brigade would probably have been sent for extra training."

Remembering that exercise, Andrew could not help feeling speechless at the quartermaster sergeant's newborn-calf fearlessness.

A brigade of barely six thousand men had encountered one company of Astartes in a complex underground environment. Their ground-air forces had become useless, they had no friendly support, and the Astartes had their own dedicated vehicles.

Under those circumstances, the entire brigade had held the Astartes at a stalemate for more than a day.

In the end, their communications had been intercepted, exposing brigade headquarters' location. The entire command post was wiped out in one stroke, and the enemy then reverse-tracked the locations of every battalion and company, causing them to be defeated one by one after losing command and communications.

And even under those circumstances, some madman had used a heavily modified Chimera, charging an entire vehicle full of Melta weapons right up to the Astartes under friendly cover and trading one for five.

Andrew did not know what others thought of that result, but it had certainly given him a fright.

At that casualty ratio, even in that absurd close-quarters meat grinder where artillery and ground-air forces were completely disabled, one Special Operations Division could trade for an entire company of Astartes.

Ah, that scared the hell out of me.jpg

So Andrew tended to believe the Astartes Brothers had gone easy on them and given them some face.

Still, he now looked down on his old unit somewhat. In an old-fashioned tone, he said, "When I was in the Astra Militarum, we didn't have conditions like yours. Vitamin Pills whenever you wanted, Gene-seed for Tempestus Scions, everyone riding in vehicles, everyone carrying Bolters."

"Back then, most Astra Militarum troops were cannon fodder used to fill the line. Only a small number of elites were qualified to shape the battlefield. Nothing like you lot now."

"Damn, a real veteran!" the sergeant major teased, handing Andrew a small Protein Block. "Here, veteran. A toast to you."

Andrew accepted the Protein Block with the newly installed prosthetic on his left arm and tossed it into his mouth. As he chewed, he saw the sergeant major and quartermaster sergeant grinning wickedly.

He raised a brow. "Why are you two grinning like that?"

The two exchanged glances. The quartermaster sergeant said mysteriously, "Company Commander, do you know what Protein Blocks are made from?"

"As long as it isn't human flesh, why should I care?" Andrew looked speechless. These little brats had seen so little of the world that they thought he would lose his composure over something like that?

Their lives really had been too good. They had not been tempered by the harshness of the battlefield.

"Uh..." The quartermaster sergeant choked on Andrew's response.

Protein Blocks now came from two sources: chemical synthesis and animal farming.

The farmed variety was made from a genetically modified animal resembling a cockroach. It could consume almost any organic matter—Promethium, plastic, cellulose, or anything else. As long as it was organic, it could eat it and convert it into meat.

It could serve not only as livestock, but also as a garbage disposal system.

The quartermaster sergeant had visited the farms several times. All he could say was that it had given this Underhiver a taste of industrial-scale shock.

To the point that he had begun wondering, Can this thing really be eaten?

But judging by company commander Andrew's calm demeanor, he had clearly known all along.

The quartermaster sergeant could not help feeling respect. "As expected of a veteran!"

But just then, something stirred deep within the Deep Hive.

"Waaagh!"