"Are they really inhabitants of the stars?" asked a blonde woman as she watched one of the strangers everyone in the capital of the Nopay region was talking about.
"Indeed. However, they look different from the legends," her lover replied, observing a former member of the lower deck of Atreus's frigate.
The inhabitants of the city-state had recently seen "giant steel eagles" soaring through their airspace.
With each landing, a group of new faces appeared in the streets of their city.
These people had vacant, dazed expressions and even spoke strange languages unknown to the natives of Limnos III.
The city-state's inhabitants were confused at first, but Governor Santanas reassured them about the identity of the newcomers in their city.
At the beginning, the locals did not believe these individuals came from the stars.
An inevitable reaction.
Unlike the Space Marines, they looked more like refugees who had lost their homes.
A fair deduction.
Nevertheless, Santanas displayed great eloquence and managed to persuade the citizens to accept the interference of this foreign presence on their lands.
Atreus had not chosen to introduce the lower-deck inhabitants gradually to the local population because Zack lacked time.
The man had to instruct at least 30,000 natives.
Even though Zack had not complained about the overwhelming task, Atreus was not going to be completely unreasonable by offering him no additional help.
The Space Marine did not expect to find engineers or tech-priests among these lower-deck slaves, but many of them came from civilized worlds and spoke High Gothic.
Beyond this valuable aspect, they at least knew what a firearm, electricity, and promethium were.
These seemingly insignificant pieces of knowledge should not be underestimated, since the inhabitants of Limnos III did not possess them.
Zack needed these men to instill these basic concepts before moving on to more classical Imperial Army military training.
He could not transmit the experience of the Great Crusade to them, but they could gain a proper understanding of the Imperium's art of war.
If Atreus's group wanted to develop this world, they could not afford to waste time on insignificant details without exploiting the lower-deck slaves as makeshift instructors.
In the future, Atreus planned to raid even more populations to repopulate this world and hope to obtain truly talented individuals.
At worst, he would adopt policies to encourage birth rates.
After all, creating auxiliary armies or setting up factories required manpower.
There was also the recruitment of teenagers and children to identify potential Astartes candidates.
Perhaps this world would become a hive city in the future, but the current problem remained the severe underpopulation.
…
Six months later.
Facing the last major city in the Macedonian region stood a figure in carapace armor, similar to those used by the Administratum Arbites.
(Image)
This figure was none other than Zack, the former slave who had become a traitor to the Imperium.
The man stood before the imposing walls of the last rebel city on the main continent of Limnos III — Macedonia.
The patched carapace armor, repaired by Techmarine Filon, chafed his shoulders and caused constant pain, but he was far more concerned with the ongoing war.
"Damn it… where do these savages get such mental strength from?" Zack cursed, clenching his fists.
The Macedonian region.
It had become the last pocket of rebellion against Atreus's rule, despite Zack's skillful maneuvers.
This nation consisted of a pagan people, naturally warlike, ruled by a king described as a "barbarian."
Despite this, Zack strove to achieve the objectives set by his lord in the face of this unexpected obstacle.
Originally, he had set intermediate goals to ensure the overall success of Atreus's vision within the allotted time.
For example, he had quickly made contact with Planetary Governor Santanas.
A move that might have seemed strange to the Traitor Astartes, as they generally considered the help already provided to Zack sufficient.
Only Atreus truly understood the logic behind this decision.
The soldier had identified the most critical problem in executing Atreus's plan:
communication.
An apparently minor but fundamental issue. Many ignored it, yet information was one of the pillars of any war.
Unfortunately, the men of Limnos III could not communicate effectively with Zack.
He was not a Space Marine capable of devouring enemies to absorb their knowledge and facilitate his mission.
He needed help.
Of course, asking Atreus directly was out of the question.
Santanas had therefore become the most obvious choice.
Zack had negotiated with him using the only universal language of humanity since the dawn of time:
the lure of profit.
He promised to leave the pacified lands under the management of his family in exchange for men capable of speaking High Gothic.
As for learning the local language himself, that was not viable in the long term.
Low Gothic varied from planet to planet and even from region to region on a single world.
Thinking he could master all those variants would be arrogance.
And even if he succeeded, the communication problem would persist between his own troops.
High Gothic remained the only viable solution.
Fortunately, the agreement was concluded without difficulty with Governor Santanas.
The latter delivered the nobles stripped of their titles by Atreus, since they already had a foundation in High Gothic.
The politician also committed to sending scholars to instruct the army's elites.
Once the communication problem was solved, Zack spent three months teaching the natives the basic knowledge of Imperial weapons.
This had to be done simultaneously with language learning, as well as the accumulation and management of supplies.
On the last two aspects, Zack was cunning enough to delegate the task to smarter men.
He simply threatened them and set achievable targets.
The former nobles did an excellent job — management was one of their daily basic tasks.
Once all his intermediate objectives were met, Zack launched the purge in the fifth month of his arrival on Limnos III.
He called this act a holy war, then used Atreus's image and the emblem of the Iron Warriors to give his cause a religious dimension.
The political aspect and the lure of profit were useful, but Zack judged that hope was a better fuel for an army.
He mixed religion into his purge.
The idea quickly proved useful.
Everything was going well.
Zack had pacified all the small tribes of the arctic and southern continents using the single Land Raider at his disposal.
He sealed political agreements with the representatives of reluctant cities through political marriages, using his authority as Atreus's representative.
Was it wrong to have a harem by borrowing authority? Yes, but Zack didn't care.
He never told them that his position was permanent or that it was a test phase.
The cities and regions that refused to yield through diplomacy were destroyed with the help of the Land Raider's air support and ground cannons.
He easily dominated all the nations that wished to oppose him.
But now, the single Land Raider had soon become unavailable due to lack of ammunition.
The wall of the last city of Macedonia was far more resistant than normal, and the pagan people of this place reminded him of his former fanatical comrades.
It was clear that this people would not surrender without fighting to total extermination.
Something possible for Zack, but he lacked time and resources.
"Lord Atreus demands the task be completed in one year, but logistics took more time than expected, not to mention moving such a huge weapon without a large number of vehicles," he muttered, sighing at his misfortune.
Zack had few vehicles, and above all no armored units to breach the solid gate of the rebel city.
"Should I play the card of a prolonged siege? No… I don't know the internal situation of this city, and Atreus's deadline is approaching every month," he thought, analyzing his options.
"M-my lord, the King of Macedonia has declared he is ready to hear your conditions for obtaining peace," reported Matheus as he arrived with a letter.
Zack received the letter and sketched a wicked smile.
He had been worried about another refusal of negotiations, but that idea now seemed stupid.
The Macedonian king had refused his first demand because Zack had asked for total submission.
Unlike the first time, Zack had proposed peace talks through a lasting blood union.
The idea was to make Macedonia a sister nation through marriage.
Perhaps exhausted by the endless conflict, the King of Macedonia was considering handing over his only daughter to Zack for peace.
However, he demanded a conversation with him at a safe distance.
"Typical of a primitive people… they think this distance keeps them safe? I'm going to make him regret not having a sniper on his side," Zack declared as he burned the letter with his cigarette.
Zack did not need peace, but total submission from this region.
"Anyway, Macedonian women are too muscular for my taste. I prefer educated girls," he thought while gazing at the starry sky.
Soon, the war would come to an end.
Not with honor.
Nor with sacrifice.
But through betrayal.
…
While the war was about to take an unexpected turn, Space Marines observed the situation from the stratosphere of Limnos III.
Aboard a Storm Eagle combat craft, Atreus, Anthony, and Barnaby contemplated the images displayed on the screen.
(Image)
Barnaby spoke first:
"Is that the last city in the Macedonian region? That slave is talented," he said in an approving tone.
Zack had one year.
Yet he had exceeded their expectations by almost completing the task in six months.
Anthony nodded.
"Indeed, the task itself is simple. Nevertheless, he had very little to work with," he added.
"We can also confirm that these primitive peoples no longer possess any artifacts from the Age of Technology."
Atreus nodded at Anthony's words.
During the early stages of pacification, Zack had often wondered why Atreus had sent him.
Why waste time on such a long cleanup when he could simply carry out an orbital strike with his frigate?
The answer was simple.
To test the terrain.
Atreus had sent Zack, the natives, and the lower-deck slaves to check for any undeclared technology.
The former planetary governor's attack had put Atreus on guard.
He had even discovered technologies too advanced for this medieval world in the old governor's safe.
Thus, he did not want to risk the life of a battle-brother in an occasional campaign.
"Thank you, Zack. You've already done good work," he thought.
"Do you think the slave will finish this war in time? He will soon run out of ammunition," Barnaby asked, frowning.
Even in a position of absolute disadvantage, the Macedonian soldiers remained formidable.
Technology and numbers were on Zack's side, but they had contained his weapon so far.
Anthony scoffed:
"They are still primitives. If he gets desperate, Zack can request reinforcements from the conquered regions and launch a full invasion."
Anthony's words were correct.
Zack lacked resources, but he still held the advantage of numbers.
A full invasion would guarantee victory. However, the cost would definitely be high.
Atreus pondered.
"No. I intend to ask Zack to withdraw soon."
The answer surprised the others.
Atreus decided to enlighten his subordinates on his decision regarding the rebel peoples.
"They are true warriors. They have remarkable discipline… we could make Astartes out of them," he explained.
Barnaby spoke again:
"My lord, they worship a local god of war," he said with contempt toward the natives.
The image of the barbarians of Fenris resurfaced in his mind. Nevertheless, Atreus ignored his subordinate's contempt.
He simply asked the most urgent question about this superstitious people.
"Any signs of Chaos?"
"None."
Atreus nodded.
He was now resolved to tame these wild beasts.
"Then they can be preserved," he said, ending the conversation about the fate of the Macedonian region.
Barnaby let out a sigh at his brother's stubbornness but decided to yield.
Shortly afterward, Atreus's communicator crackled to signal a message.
Atreus listened, then smiled.
"Very well."
He turned to the others:
"We have an important guest. Anthony, take two brothers and secure Macedonia. Tell Zack to withdraw and await orders," he commanded as he walked toward the command post.
"Understood… but who is coming that makes you act so urgently?" Anthony asked.
"The Dark Mechanicus," he replied simply.