Dante stood at the head of the long table, watching his company captains rise to speak one by one.
Yes, he thought this was good.
He listened quietly to each of them. Only when everyone had finished did Dante nod. "Good. We'll prepare to reinforce them."
Then he turned to the commander of Baal's defense fleet. "Commander, how many operational warships do we have in orbit around Baal?"
The commander stood and opened the Dataslate in his hand. "My lord, we've had few missions lately. Nearly all our Battle Barges and escort ships are fully crewed and combat-ready."
"How long until they're ready to depart?"
"Four hours. Fueling, loading ammunition, boarding personnel—four hours will be enough. We can finish quickly."
Dante glanced up at the clock on the council chamber wall.
Four hours was plenty of time.
"Good. Make preparations. We depart in four hours. The Blood Angels' First through Fifth Companies, along with every Successor Chapter along our route that has no current assignment, will form the Redemption Expeditionary Force and head to Ultramar to reinforce Macragge."
"The First Company captain will organize the ground forces; the Second Company captain, the fleet; the Third Company captain, logistics and supplies. The Fourth and Fifth Companies will handle overall coordination. The Chief Librarian will oversee psychic communications, and the Sanguinary Priests will provide medical care. If there are no objections, return to your posts and prepare to depart."
"Yes!" Everyone in the council chamber rose at once and answered in unison.
They took their orders and immediately dispersed, turning back toward their posts.
An adjutant brought Dante the deployment orders to sign.
After signing them, Dante remained at the head of the table, gazing at the sacred image of Sanguinius on the wall.
Only when everyone else had left did he