The Neophyte's heroic sacrifice was classified as disobedience. His deeds would never be recorded in the Iron Hands' Hall of Honor. Cold logic reduced his entry in the Borgus Clan's records to a few scant lines, all of them negative assessments intended as a warning.
Why waste a precious Primaris Warrior when they could simply have waited for the Fellblade to load another shell?
Although some within the Iron Hands Chapter believed his actions had merit, the vast majority of its leadership agreed that such battlefield heroics in defiance of orders could not be encouraged.
We are not the Ultramarines, those fools who only know how to increase their numbers, yet prefer to win victories through the heroic acts of "exceptional individuals."
To the Iron Hands, the Ultramarines were merely nouveau riche who accumulated more chips only to squander them at whim.
This Neophyte would have fit right in there.
The Iron Hands were a precision instrument, a machine of war in the Omnissiah's hands. Every warrior was a component, and before taking any unnecessary action, they first had to ensure that their assigned task was complete.
This Neophyte had utterly violated that inviolable principle.
Such behavior could never be allowed to take root.
Elsewhere, the Morlag Clan's assault cut through the enemy fleet like precise surgery.
"This is a combat data model."
The Morlag Clan Chief's holographic image did not waver in the slightest. Large numbers of Adeptus Mechanicus Skitarii and warriors of his clan were carrying out the raid, but the Clan Chief himself had not deployed.
The other participants in the holographic conference were puzzled. "You mean what we're seeing isn't a projection of the current battle?"
"I mean it matches our predictive model perfectly."
Six enemy ships were marked in conspicuous red. Pointing at these