Clunk.
The drop-pod hatch swung open and Zhou Ye leaped out of the Thunderhawk. He hit the ground and absently rubbed his wrist.
Alongside him came a sky full of shooting stars. Among them: Space Wolves Astartes. Two Imperial Guard formations. One was the eye-twitching Aestia Mixed Regiment. The other was the legendary Death Korps of Krieg.
One hundred thousand troops in total. A reasonable number, all things considered. But spread across this planet's surface, it looked slightly thin. Local PDF would still be needed.
That said, everyone knew the Imperial Guard were the elite. The main force holding the galaxy together for the human Imperium. Their cumulative contribution to the war effort exceeded even that of the Astartes.
After all, Space Marines were counted in the hundreds of thousands. The Imperial Guard was measured in billions, trillions — nobody really knew the true figure.
But PDF quality was almost entirely determined by planetary environment. And as everyone knew, Tillius was an agricultural world.
So....
"Haah...."
What appeared before him was a collection of soldiers in heavy medieval armor. And what they were fighting — equally medieval in every respect — were Orks. Plus plague zombies that had not yet mutated to any serious degree. Plus a badly deteriorated contingent of Wild Sprouts who were honestly in a comparable state of regression.
The situation had developed some complications, however. According to intelligence, Craftworld Aeldari and Drukhari had both become involved as well. And the Nurglite plague zombies were beginning to show early signs of mutation, which was limiting their combat effectiveness for now.
"Colonel, deploy your forces along the defensive line. Relieve the local PDF. And take me to your general.... wait. A Fallen Angel?"
Zhou Ye swore under his breath the moment he laid eyes on the figure approaching him. A man well over two meters tall, built like a fortress wall, wearing a cloak.
The sheer physical presence of the figure caught Zhou Ye's attention immediately. But what concerned him more was the intelligence brief he hadn't had time to look through before deployment. He scanned it now, then quietly and efficiently destroyed the document.
The photograph inside showed the armor the figure had been wearing when first discovered. Dark Angels black.
"Brother Gurest, he..."
"Never mind. Space Wolves brother — per the plan I've outlined, your role is to shore up the defense against the Nurgle-side threat. Our first target is the Dark Eldar."
At this moment, Tillius could only be described as the grandest possible free-for-all: humans, Nurgle, Greenskins, Drukhari, Craftworld Aeldari, and Aeldari Corsairs all tangled together in complete chaos. Every faction had their own agenda. The Wild Sprouts and Corsairs, having only small numbers present, were essentially maintaining a mutual standoff with everyone. But now that a major fresh force had arrived, that equilibrium was disrupted.
Zhou Ye's plan: eliminate the Drukhari first — they were the destabilizing element and were actively raiding for human slaves. Then assess the Craftworld Aeldari and Corsairs. In the meantime, hold the plague zombie front line and let them trade blows with the Orks for a while longer.
After that, reorganize, and go finish the Nurgle plague zombies.
"Mmh...."
The Space Wolves Astartes absorbed Zhou Ye's words and nodded once. Said nothing further. Fell in alongside the Krieg forces to stabilize the line. Though their eyes were very obviously broadcasting deep suspicion.
Zhou Ye could hardly blame them. For their own good he was not going to mention the Fallen Angel thing to them. And this Fallen Angel, of all things....
Apparently had married and had children on Tillius. Zhou Ye genuinely wondered whether Astartes were physically capable of reproducing at all.
He decided that was not a problem worth investigating. Instead he reached up and connected directly to the Hyperion, which was holding its concealed position in the orbital lane above.
"Drop all the Dreadnoughts except for the Ancient. Then print me a Dark Angels Dreadnought and slot in that particular Gene-seed. Hand control of all units over to you — have them operate according to the memories I pre-programmed in. Just make sure none of them accidentally give anything away."
He connected via his communicator and gave the orders. Ai-chan would handle dropping the units. Especially the Space Wolves one — that particular Dreadnought needed to go calm down those wolf pups and stop them from coming to unwarranted conclusions. Their suspicion of him was already running hot.
And it was only getting worse. At that moment, Volvok's eyes were brimming with active mistrust. He had caught a scent coming off this man — the distinctly unpleasant smell of cat. And watching Zhou Ye's reaction just now, he was fairly certain the man knew something.
They couldn't tell that Zhou Ye was an Astartes at all. And since they had already agreed to let him command, open defiance was off the table.
Zhou Ye quickened his pace toward the Fallen Angel, and then....
He spotted a squad of Yellow Peach Tins. Imperial Fists?
"Ai-chan, hold the Imperial Fists Dreadnought. Wait — those are Crybabies. Imperial Fists one can drop, hold the Blood Angels."
He caught the pauldron markings. Not a fist. Instead, a large red heart with a teardrop beside it.
Clunk.
Before he could finish the sentence, streaks of light cut across the sky and several enormous figures stepped out from their drop-pods.
"....."
Ai-chan sent back a single dot. Zhou Ye exhaled slowly. The Dark Angels Dreadnought was still being printed. The other four had all been dropped.
"Fine. Just keep your eyes open. Don't let this turn into a disaster."
True to expectation, the moment those four massive figures stepped out of their descent containers, the Space Wolves froze. The Fallen Angel froze. The battle-worn, ragged Lamenters froze. Every single one of them.
What in the galaxy was this Chapter. How many Contemptor Dreadnoughts did they have.
Even Bjorn of the Space Wolves slept in nothing but an ordinary Ironclad. And the Ultramarines — even they shouldn't have this many Contemptors. Had they called every single one of their Ancients out of retirement?
This Star of Trailblaze — were they secretly Ultramarines in disguise? And if so, then....
"All present — this planet's situation is grave. I need to bring you back on active duty. The Warp storm cost us dearly, but the Emperor's work is not finished."
Zhou Ye issued the orders to the Contemptor Dreadnoughts standing before him with calm authority — not even a token gesture of deference toward the Ancients. The heads of several onlookers began to short-circuit.
And then....
"Vlka Fenryka — we shall not fail the All-Father and Russ."
"Hm???"
The Space Wolves who had been quietly debating what to do about this bizarre and improbably powerful Chapter Master all simultaneously blanked.
In fairness, they had found something strange the moment the four Contemptor Dreadnoughts appeared. But the shock had been so complete they hadn't fully recovered their reasoning.
Now, hearing those words....