"The XIII Legion's flagship is here, which means their primarch must be here as well, my lord. We have to tell the primarch about Horus's rebellion. The loyalists must rally."
Tassa spoke gravely. After the battles of Isstvan III and Isstvan V, the forces confirmed to have betrayed the Emperor were the Sons of Horus, Emperor's Children, Iron Warriors, Night Lords, World Eaters, Death Guard, Word Bearers, and Alpha Legion.
The Emperor-loyal Iron Hands, Salamanders, and Raven Guard had already been grievously devastated by the traitors' betrayal. Ferrus, primarch of the Iron Hands, had even been witnessed being slain.
The Imperium stood on the brink of collapse. Though they did not know why the Emperor's Wolf Lord had betrayed him, with such a great enemy before them, the remaining loyalist forces would be defeated one by one if they did not unite.
Lox, too, realized that the fate of humanity's Imperium hung by a thread.
Though he disliked this ignorant, backward Imperium, it undoubtedly sustained humanity's existence. Humanity had reached the point of drinking poison to quench thirst; only such powerful cohesion could allow the species to survive.
Just as he was about to order the Cogitator to land on Calth, Iron Father Wayland raised an objection.
"No! We cannot land now. We have already suffered betrayal by our brothers. How can you guarantee that the Ultramarines have not betrayed us too?!"
Before the massacre at the landing site, the loyalists who had come to purge the traitors could never have known that the planned assault of seven loyalist Legions against four traitor Legions would become eight traitor Legions stabbing them in the back and besieging three loyalist Legions.
Even the Emperor's Children, a Legion permitted to bear the Emperor's name and brand the Imperial Aquila upon their armor, could betray him. Who could guarantee that the Ultramarines—isolated in the eastern galaxy and virtually ruling the Five Hundred Worlds as their own domain—had not also betrayed him?
Among the Imperium's primarchs, most recruited only from their homeworlds. Apart from the progress of the Great Crusade, they scarcely concerned themselves with anything else.
But the XIII Legion was an exception. They recruited from every suitable world in the Five Hundred Worlds, so the Ultramarines possessed the largest numbers of any Astartes Legion.
According to publicly available intelligence, the Ultramarines possessed twenty-five Chapters—two hundred and fifty thousand fully armed Astartes.
Meanwhile, the Raven Guard and Salamanders behind Nykona and Tassa numbered fewer than a hundred thousand warriors each.
"My lord, I suggest that until we have clarified the situation, we must not tell the Ultramarines about Isstvan V," Wayland said loudly. Since the death of his genetic father, the Iron Hands' trust in their former battle-brothers had vanished as well.
Once suspicion and distrust were planted, they grew into towering trees.
"The Ultramarines' primarch, Guilliman, has always been an ambitious man! He once tried to win over our father, but wise Ferrus saw through him." The Iron Hand spoke with absolute certainty.
"We need intelligence." Lox made up his mind.
"The Cogitator can infiltrate that Gloriana-class Battleship's Cogitator System, or access the planetary defense orbit's control system. But doing so would expose our presence."
The Cogitator's voice sounded in Lox's mind. With its advanced intelligence, it could clearly sense something aboard that enormous warship which might be called its own kind.
It was the Cogitator of the Macragge's Honour, or what was known as its Machine Spirit.
"Until the final moment, we cannot use the Cogitator's infiltration capabilities. In fact, aside from observing the Ultramarines' warships, there are other ways to determine their loyalty."
If the Ultramarines had also betrayed the Emperor, their industrial worlds would surely be producing the materiel required for that betrayal without cease. A sudden surge in industrial data could reveal much valuable information.
An invisible, distorted force field swiftly enveloped the Red Alert, and it vanished from its original position.
Stealth technology from the Dark Age of Technology perfectly erased the starship's trail. On the displays in Calth's command center, the small point that had suddenly appeared in this region abruptly vanished again.
At that moment, on Calth's command Watchtower, the Adeptus Mechanicus servitors and technicians stationed there were processing the navigation data of countless transport vessels and warships in orbit. This prevented them from noticing the strange point that had suddenly appeared and disappeared.
Calth seemed to be conducting some important operation. The density of traffic presented before Lox and the others was enough to make one's scalp tingle.
"Let me enter the Ultramarines' warships. Under these circumstances, infiltration is more suitable. By combining different sources, we'll gain more comprehensive information."
With the starship anchored in Calth's low orbit, Nykona, having put his helmet back on, spoke.
Within the sealed environment of a space warship, the Raven Guard's stealth abilities could truly shine. These Astartes, skilled in infiltration warfare, could evade every pair of eyes and reach the heart of their target.
"Good. Keep this communicator with you. You can use it to maintain stable contact with us."
Lox said no more, merely taking out a specially made communicator. As long as it remained within a star system, this small device could ensure stable communications. Even amid powerful interference, information could still be transmitted intact.
The Cogitator had created it using matter-printing technology based on the STC in its database. It now came in handy.
Nykona sheathed his two power swords behind his back and took up his modified bolter. After nodding to his battle-brothers, he turned and disappeared into the Red Alert's teleportation matrix.
His armor was equipped with a teleport beacon. With a single activation, he could be teleported back aboard the Red Alert.
In an instant, extraordinary technology from the past sent this Raven Guard into the nearest battleship at the spaceport.
"There's no need to place a teleport beacon at the target. If our Legions possessed this kind of technology, boarding actions would not be so troublesome." Wayland spoke excitedly. At present, Space Marines could only board enemy vessels by relying on boarding torpedoes and teleport beacons.
But if something went wrong with a teleport beacon, the warriors being teleported could be embedded directly into the vessel's structure, their bodily molecules instantly mixing with those of the construction material and killing them.
The teleportation matrix flashed again. Lox, Wayland, and Tassa were sent down to the planet's surface, while the remaining Iron Hands stayed aboard the starship, ready to deploy in support at any time.
A concealed teleportation beam descended onto Calth's surface.
"This is the port on the southern bank of the Boros River. Numenas City lies across that broad river."
Wearing a combat suit, Lox studied the illusory projection before him. Beside him stood the Iron Hand and Salamander, their power armor altered to resemble Ultramarines armor.
"To be honest, I prefer dark green. On Nocturne, there are no sights in cobalt blue like this." Tassa's muffled voice came from beneath his helmet.
"I don't like those arrogant Ultramarine cousins either, but we urgently need their strength now." Wayland turned his helmet toward a distant barracks for mortal soldiers.
Within that bustling camp were large numbers of mortals operating engineering machinery and transporting equipment. Most were bare-chested, their powerful muscles covered in skin with the healthy bronze sheen of sun and labor.
"Then follow me, my lords." Lox joked. From this point onward, he would play the role of a mortal attendant accompanying the Astartes on their mission. "At least no one will question my identity."
The strange group of one mortal and two Astartes was quickly spotted by the mortal soldiers in the camp. An old veteran with the collar of his dark blue uniform open, smoking beneath the shade of a tree, swiftly straightened up and jogged toward them.
"My lords, Sergeant Bovi Herlock salutes you!"
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