Knights

To keep the group stable, Calando had no choice but to take Heiman aside and explain, lest certain remarks provoke some other reaction from Iax.

Although the Primarch had ordered them to treat Iax kindly, allowing these matters to tear their alliance apart would do the Chapter no good.

Even the Ultramarines would not lightly give up the support of a Knight House. After all, knightly lords were unlike the Imperium's other noble lords.

They actually had to take to the battlefield, and could turn the tide of battle to some extent.

Especially now, with fighting erupting throughout the Milky Way.

The Imperium's battlefields never fell quiet.

And the Imperium's order of battle could be seen from the way its troops were deployed.

Regular Astra Militarum troops entered first, followed by elite formations to reinforce the battlefield, then came the long advance or defensive struggle.

The troops responsible for breaking a stalemate were usually the Astartes.

These demigods of the Imperium were deployed in squads across the battlefield, striking the enemy hard both physically and psychologically.

They then worked with the regular Astra Militarum to storm strongholds and seize positions.

When they encountered heavily armored targets that even the Astartes could not easily handle, the most convenient option, apart from the Imperium's heavy equipment, was to call for these knightly lords to make an orbital drop.

The large and heavy weapons mounted on their machines offered a better solution beyond Melta Cannons and Melta Bombs.

There was no point asking why they did not simply blast the enemy away with Basilisks or Earthshaker Cannons. Fast-charging Chaos Knight walkers, Wraithknights, Gogernauts, and a whole host of units whose names defied recollection either possessed tremendous speed or had Void Shields and various other defensive systems.

Of course, they might simply have thicker