The command centre was silent.
The water purification station had always been an asset of the Adeptus Mechanicus, so they could still control many of its cameras and transmit footage from inside.
As more and more Servo-skulls flew over and projected views of the space elevator's interior from additional angles, not only did every Senate representative stare blankly, but even Calgar, who had previously focused solely on the front line and had not bothered to ask about Sith, had to turn his full attention to the footage.
"It's like it's raining Genestealers in there..."
No one knew where in the crowd that speechless remark had come from, but it captured what everyone was thinking.
Everyone stared dumbly at the footage, their eyes so wide they had even forgotten to blink.
After all, on the screen, two thousand humans in carapace armour with jump packs on their backs were using exaggerated movements that looked as though they had practised them full-time for countless years, constantly "slaughtering" their way upwards through the endless torrent of Genestealers pouring down from above.
Almost every second, hundreds upon thousands of Genestealers fell from the walls, plummeting towards the ground along the enormous space elevator from low orbit.
Especially when they saw how any trooper of the 101st could wield a sabre in one hand and a pistol in the other, constantly cutting the Genestealers around him off the walls, the only description anyone in the command centre could give this battle was "raining Genestealers."
The only people present whose expressions remained relatively composed were the Astartes, who could achieve the same results themselves.
But that composure was only relative. After all, those inside the space elevator were not Astartes who had undergone superhuman augmentation, but Planetary Defence Force troops who had never even been to space.
Even if it took two of these mortals to barely match an Astartes' combat efficiency under the same circumstances, the thought that, in terms of fighting strength, a thousand "Astartes" had entered the space elevator at once made even Calgar watch in silence for a while. Then he suddenly lowered his head and rummaged around, moving the military standard representing Sith straight from the densely packed cannon-fodder section into the extremely sparse Astartes section!
Calgar had only just carefully put "Sith" in place and had yet to raise his head when the crowd below, already stunned into silence by the footage, drew another sharp breath.
Calgar even frowned slightly. For all his experience, he genuinely could not imagine how else this battle could develop.
He looked up with that frown, then, at the sight of the footage, forgot everything else and openly displayed an emotion other than composure.
For when he looked at the screen, that dark silver figure was turning into a streak of silver lightning, bringing down great swathes of Genestealers!
This time, even Calgar finally widened his sole remaining right eye without any attempt to hide it!
An Astartes in mortal form?
Calgar instinctively wanted to give Sith that description.
But as he watched Sith speed through the enormous space elevator, an antique Power Sword in one hand and a master-crafted bolter in the other, with dense masses of Genestealers falling like rain around him, even Calgar could no longer describe him merely as an Astartes.
An ordinary Astartes truly could not produce results as outrageous as Sith's!
Calgar stared blankly for a while before, like everyone else, he could not help turning his gaze towards the nobles, whose eyes were also stretched as wide as they could go.
Everyone looked astonished, shocked that the miserly nobles had been so generous this time, even giving away a treasure like this.
Only the nobles, under everyone's gazes-including Calgar's-looked at one another, the corners of their mouths twitching several times as they tried to speak, yet found themselves unable to utter a word.
In the end, they could only force out dry chuckles uglier than tears as their response to the crowd.
Then they lowered their eyes and knitted their brows, racking their brains without being able to understand why this suit of armour had never produced such results in their hands???
No one spoke. Everyone in the command centre stared blankly at the outrageous scenes in the projection.
As the veterans led by Sith drew ever closer to the top, the front-line communicators, growing increasingly clamorous after receiving no response from Calgar for so long, finally began to draw everyone back.
The Astra Militarum commanders could not help looking at Calgar.
At the same time, their eyes kept straying towards the military map, various thoughts that certainly did not involve continuing the battle beginning to flicker in them.
Calgar soon came back to himself as well. He silently withdrew his gaze, and as he faced the Astra Militarum commanders, his expression returned to indifference.
"Until the water purification station has been confirmed retaken, the offensive must continue!"
Everyone lowered their eyes, but they understood Calgar.
After all, Sith and his veterans had displayed jaw-dropping fighting strength, and could even mount a threatening attack on a water purification station teeming with Genestealers with only two thousand men. All of this had already far exceeded everyone's expectations.
Yet even after watching this far, no one dared guarantee that this operation would succeed.
In fact, as they drew closer to the top, the equally shocked Genestealers gradually began committing their full strength. With large numbers of Purestrain Genestealers entering the battle, human figures began appearing among the corpses falling down the enormous space elevator.
At this rate of attrition, Sith and his men would struggle to fight their way through the entire space elevator.
By now, everyone had recovered from their initial shock. Apart from the nobles, who still cast all manner of pained looks at Sith's armour, only the Astra Militarum regretted the loss of those two thousand suits of carapace armour.
Of everyone present, only Calgar felt some regret over having given them just two thousand jump packs.
Everyone gradually returned their attention to their own affairs. Only the Adeptus Mechanicus continued calculating the likelihood of Sith's operation succeeding.
As everyone resumed their work, the Adeptus Mechanicus, which had been watching the screen all along, suddenly boomed out a great "Zero!" through mechanical vocal cords.
Everyone looked over in confusion. As the last patch of skin on the Tech-Priest's face twitched with an utterly unreadable emotion, they could only follow his gaze back to the projection.
Then their eyes widened as they understood what that zero meant.
Zero meant the operation's chance of success.
For even Calgar, watching the sudden mass of mangled human corpses falling through the shaft and that distorted patch of "transparency" amid the surging Genestealers, knew that an unforeseen variable had appeared in an operation he had never held any hope for.
For when a "Lictor" appeared on the battlefield, even Calgar did not believe Sith's entirely mortal force could retreat alive.
Merely retreating-Calgar had abandoned all hope of completing the mission.
The people in the command centre wore all sorts of expressions. Not all were taking pleasure in their misfortune; many felt regret.
But whatever they felt, not a single person present still believed Sith could succeed.
After all, against an elite organism of the swarm capable of assassinating Astartes, all that awaited mortals in such circumstances was terror and death.
With everyone's tacit acceptance, even the Tech-Priest began recalling the Servo-skulls.
But as the images grew fewer, when that dark silver figure also began to fall, the Tech-Priest abruptly stopped.
Then several pairs of augmetic eyes on his body all snapped wide towards it.
The antique Power Sword swung and the master-crafted bolter roared. Sith did not stop fighting as he fell.
At that moment, Sith was surrounded by densely packed Genestealers covering the space elevator's entire inner wall, with an endless abyss stretching hundreds of kilometres beneath his feet.
The dying veterans around him detonated themselves, intermittently blasting holes in the inner wall. The immense air pressure blew the veterans and the surrounding Genestealers out into low orbit, sending streams of limbs and wreckage bursting into the deep blue darkness high above.
And amid that fall, the Tech-Priest was certain that Sith was not alone!
"Quiet!"
The Tech-Priest did not need to speak. Even Calgar barked an order at that moment.
The people around him froze and stared blankly at Calgar. Then, after only the briefest moment of thought, everyone abruptly fixed their eyes on the projection.
The dark silver "mech" fought as it fell, until its Power Sword suddenly plunged beneath it, and an enormous Tyranid Lictor appeared in what had been transparent emptiness!
The jump pack on Sith's back fired, leaving him hovering in midair, covered in blood with a few scratches on his Power Armour, while the Lictor, which even Calgar considered capable of routing all those mortals, plummeted towards the ground.
"He... won?"
A Ministorum Priest could not help exclaiming in astonishment. No one around him answered. Only the Tech-Priest, after a flurry of flickering augmetic eyes, gave a number.
"Ninety-seven point seventy-five percent."
Everyone glanced at the Tech-Priest, but above them, Calgar suddenly activated his communicator.
"Retreat!"
"I repeat, all forces are to retreat immediately!"
"Also, inform the entire army: through their supreme loyalty to the God-Emperor, Regimental Commander Sith and the 101st Regiment have reclaimed the water purification station for Vigilus!"