After ending the call from Carl, Fane looked at the Cadian commander before him.
"It seems Carl is thinking along the same lines as you. If possible, we'll try to bring back a larger ship. But if luck isn't on our side, you may have to make some difficult choices."
"Whatever these xenos do, we will fight to the end. If there is no other choice, please take as many of the young Cadians as you can. They will one day restore the glory of the Cadian Legion. For the glory of the Emperor, Cadia stands."
Looking at the resolve shining in the Cadian commander's eyes, Fane nodded silently, then murmured with a touch of emotion.
"For the glory of the Allfather."
Even the Astartes could not deny the loyalty of these tenacious mortals.
Fane had missed the Battle of Vigilus, but he was not ignorant of the outcome of the battles that followed.
The entire planet of Cadia had been torn apart, and the Cadians had lost their home. Yet they still fought across the Milky Way as one of the foundations of the Imperium. Among all the stones in that foundation, the Cadian Regiment was a particularly brilliant one.
Its radiance was no less than that of certain lesser-known Chapters.
The Wolf Pack respected strength, but admired loyalty even more.
Looking at these mortals, Fane inexplicably thought of another Imperial institution that the entire Wolf Pack loathed.
If only those vermin in the Inquisition could be like these loyal souls.
With mixed feelings, Fane turned and left the battlefield command post, then vaulted onto the trench bank and began gathering the many Battle-Brothers scattered along the front.
In a huge crater nearby, remnants of Promethium fuel still burned fiercely. A Battle Barge with only half its hull remaining