Aboard the Shadow's Sovereignty, in the Primarch's Office, Arsena reported to the Black Emperor.
"My Lord, the Starlord reports that the Fifth Chapter has broken through the only corridor of the Vulpa Straits, creating the conditions for deploying the Ramillies-class Starfort."
"Once deployed, the Starfort will seal off the only route to the Gurgan system and Sak'trada Deeps."
"The Legion's chief Navigator, the esteemed Lord Wissel, reports that the flagship's transition will be complete in thirty-one standard minutes."
Marlena's tea-brown eyes flickered. Seeing the Primarch's Aide had finished, she spoke.
"My Lord, I have completed the experimental production of a construct based on Slaugth technology."
"Though I have not yet mastered necrotic weaponry, I used salvaged construct limbs to fill the gaps."
Nareth nodded slightly, instructing Marlena.
"Deploy it on Golghis. Position it in the ambush zone."
He had already explained his plan to the two, detailing Perturabo's stasis device, while selectively omitting parts involving the Kingdom of Disorder.
Then, he rose and walked with them towards the bridge.
After the Shadow's Sovereignty arrived at the Gurgan system, data torrents flooded the console of Shipmaster Diana.
The "Hypnotist's" transhuman mind spun rapidly, organizing the information into a report.
"My Lord, the Fifth Chapter has established a defensive line in the defile."
"The Simulus Chamber has received the Fifth Chapter's scan results, pinpointing the target planet, Golghis."
"The Death Lord reports the Fourth Chapter has completed its assembly as planned."
Nareth nodded. "Execute the predetermined plan. Attack Golghis."
"By Your will." Diana reviewed the Fifth Chapter's report, refining the operational plan she had developed based on the Primarch's briefing materials.
Hrud warships, overall, were no match for Imperial vessels.
They were a significant threat at close range. The Vulpa Straits, which the flagship was traversing, was their ideal environment.
At the same time, Techmarines were analyzing the compiled scan data in the Simulus Chamber.
Entropy field defenses. Spacetime shockwaves...
After Diana completed her operational plan, she looked up at the large hololith above.
The Shadow's Sovereignty navigated the narrow void zone, pushing through shattered rock and burning metal debris.
Her view gradually opened. Black ships, emblazoned on one side with Shadows of Order's emblem and on the other with the Fourth Chapter's green skull, converged on the flagship.
They deployed around the Gloriana-class Shadow's Sovereignty and the Chapter's flagship.
The black fleet, in the faint starlight, weaved among the stars.
Diana's gaze returned to the tactical display on her console. The Hrud fleet had deployed a defensive line ten to thirty thousand kilometers from Golghis.
The blurred runes, shrouded in layered time fields, were visibly becoming clearer.
"Shipmaster," the Gunnery Officer's gruff voice sounded. "Targets locked. aether cannons ready. Prow lances charged."
Diana rapidly marked two targets, then watched the screen. Colorful light lanced from the Shadow's Sovereignty and Chapter's Flagship.
Blazing white beams followed the colorful streaks, precisely striking the two grey runes.
The two grey runes vanished.
As Diana's hands moved, grey rune after grey rune disappeared.
The incoming entropy beams' grey light rapidly dimmed, dissipating before reaching the black runes.
After five volleys, the Hrud ships realized they were completely outmatched in long-range fire. Runes surged like a school of fish.
Diana grew busy, issuing orders rapidly.
"Shadow's Sovereignty, turn to three-six-eight, incline four, advance."
"..."
The black ships scattered, like an opening net, widening the distance from the Hrud ships.
The Hrud at Gurgan had lost most of their ships at Vulpa Straits. The remnants couldn't close the distance.
They burned in the fading entropy fields.
After the black fleet reached Golghis's high orbit, Diana compiled the fleet's auspex matrix scans and reported to the Primarch.
"My Lord, scans show no xenos life signs on the surface."
"As you said, the Hrud are a nocturnal race. They hide in their burrows during the day."
"Order the Fourth Chapter to land. Establish lines at the tunnel entrances. Do not enter the tunnels until the enemy is heavily depleted." Nareth instructed, then rose and walked to the strategic table.
Arsena followed the Black Emperor.
The "Polymath" knew the Black Emperor was choosing an ambush site. His blue eyes examined the hololith.
After a moment, he pointed at a location on Golghis's equator, dotted with natural caves.
"Natural caves are ideal Hrud dwellings. This area likely has the highest concentration."
Nareth nodded. He magnified a section.
"Here."
At the same moment Nareth selected the ambush coordinates, the Fourth Chapter's heavy transports unloaded their cargo.
Oliver, Captain of the 1st Company, landed without any anti-air resistance.
The "Spirit Medium," encased in his armor, strolled down the ramp and looked up at the dim starlight.
'The Hrud despise sunlight even more than we do.'
He turned and strode towards the rune-marked tunnel.
Passing through ruins, he examined his surroundings.
Obvious dragging marks. As the Black Emperor had said, the Hrud were a scavenger race.
By the time Oliver reached the tunnel entrance, his company had methodically established defensive lines, following their drills.
Techmarines, leading servants recruited from Necromunda's tech-guilds, deployed rings of Tarantula sentry guns around the entrance.
The Shadows of Order, instead of bolters, which would be weakened by entropy fields, carried new shock weapons, based on Squat technology, just issued to the Chapter. They stood among the sentry guns.
Oliver looked up. The starlight was now as faint as a candle.
The "Spirit Medium" activated his witch-sight, staring into the tunnel.
Pale, flickering light entered his vision.
They darted and trembled. Red killing intent was reflected.
The moment a sentry gun was set at the tunnel entrance, Golghis's long night began.
"Prepare for combat!"
Oliver shouted, his shock weapon raised, striding forward.
The Tarantula sentry guns' machine-spirits, sensing the Hrud, roared to life.
Even to the keen eyes of the Shadows of Order, the Hrud were nearly invisible shadows.
But the sentry guns' thermal imaging systems could detect environmental heat leakage caused by entropic effects.
The sentry guns turned. Their twin-linked lascannons screamed.
Laser light, unhindered by physical limits, pierced the enemy's entropy fields, tearing two Hrud apart.
A dozen Hrud surged forward. Their entropy fields stacked, bending and distorting the air before them like a curtain.
They moved swiftly, propelled by one long arm and two legs, leaving their free hands to wield plasma flintlocks.
In the blink of an eye, they raised their weapons, swift.
Plasma flintlocks, crude combinations of melta and plasma technology, fired jets of fire hotter than stars at the Tarantulas.
Las-fire screamed again, killing another Hrud.
Fire jets swept, engulfing the Tarantula's metal bodies.
Machine-spirits roared, their twin-linked cannons firing a final volley, shredding two more abhorrent xenos.
The "Spirit Medium" watched the xenos shriek as they surged from the tunnel. He raised his shock weapon and slammed it down.
The shock weapon, a technology lost to the Imperium, struck at the tunnel entrance.
The ground shook. The invisible shockwave tore apart the Tarantula's wreckage.
The shockwave raced into the dark tunnel, striking the surging Hrud.
It pierced the twisted fields enveloping the Hrud, roaring through their muscular columns.
Their interconnected spines were torn apart, scattering on the ground.
The "Spirit Medium" watched the tunnel. More Hrud surged.
He swung his shock weapon again and again, slamming it down when the Hrud reached within ten meters.
The tunnel shook. Rocks rained down, falling on the Hrud corpses torn apart by the shockwaves.
After countless strikes, the tunnel collapsed.
Oliver retreated as the ground shook. In the "Spirit Medium's" sight, the collapsed tunnel was filled with pale light.
In a second, the ruins were twisted to dust by the entropy field condensed by countless Hrud.
As the dust settled, forty-one Tarantula sentry guns roared.
Their machine-spirits had identified the xenos' entropic zones. Eighty-two beams, none aimed at Oliver.
Dozens of Hrud were torn apart by the screaming beams, but the shadow did not diminish.
Shadows of Order not of the Court, on the man-made slopes, raised incendiary and flame weapons.
Their helmet displays switched to thermal imaging.
Aiming at the heat signatures, they fired. Molten streams turned the area before the tunnel entrance into a sea of fire.
Hrud surged into the inferno. Their free hands raised plasma flintlocks, firing at a Guard member in Saturnine-pattern Terminator armor.
As if the conversion field did not exist, the rounds, traversing between reality and the Warp, bypassed the defense, blackening the armor.
Amidst the leaping flames, the 1st Company's Honor Guard raised their shock weapons, slamming them down.
The combined shockwaves created a storm, clearing a vast area of Hrud.
Through the long night, the Fourth Chapter fought before each tunnel, facing millions of Hrud.
Tarantula sentry guns screamed. Seas of fire churned. The ground shook.
.....
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