Danat Lysander always believed that all the praise he received was simply because he survived the hell of Talador.
The naked truth meant nothing to him, preservation of life itself had never been a concern to him, the idea was a complete blasphemy - one of the few things he still believed in.
For the same reason, even after being captured by the Iron Warriors, he was not self-indulgent enough to seek martyrdom along with his brothers.
Grief and pride were equally foreign emotions to him.
But now, this incident is no small matter.
It is like an iron chain hanging on the shoulders of those who return.
Physical injuries can still be healed and most recover quickly, but the stress is not a physical injury.
Although no one uttered the word "doomsday," one could still faintly hear it in the echoing silence of the Phalanx, feel every whisper in the faded dark red fabric on the cold stone, and witness every glance.
See.
At the end of the 41st millennium, not only did Chaos become more active, but aliens also began to attack cities and territories. Every battle group was struggling to survive, and every soldier could feel the huge sense of oppression before the coming rain.
Lysander walked down the long corridor. The lumen lights hanging in the tower had been turned off, reflecting a certain atmosphere - the interior of the place was almost empty now, and already smelled musty due to the foul air.
The empire's fragile bones can no longer support its bloated and decaying body.
Even the Phalanx, which had survived the Horus Heresy, looked more and more like an old man at the end of the forty-first millennium.
The Phalanx is a huge movable interstellar fortress, which is also the current home of the Imperial Fists. It is said that the Phalanx was built more than 10,000 years ago, and the secrets of its construction have long been forgotten.
When Dorne and the Emperor first met, Dorne, the Primarch of the Imperial Fists, dedicated the Mountain Formation to the Emperor, who later returned it to Dorne, and it has been proudly serving the Empire ever since.
Since then, it has circled the solar system, its orbit synchronized with the divine Terra, a vigilant golden sentinel to guard the cradle of humanity in these increasingly dark times.
But when necessary, the Mountain Formation will also be an extremely powerful battleship. In the past era of great expeditions and the current era of heresy, its figure has appeared in hundreds of worlds, followed closely by the Empire.
The warriors of the Fist and the wrath of the Primarch.
The Phalanx itself is huge, the largest space vehicle known to have been built by humans, and is as large as a small satellite or a large asteroid. An interstellar fortress of this size has not appeared again since the Dark Age of Technology.
In appearance, the Phalanx is a regular polyhedron. Its huge spire extends towards the stars, making it look like a huge hive. Because it is so big that it can reflect light in many places like stars.
In this regard, it is also the only ship built by humans that approaches the scale and complexity of the Eldar's Craftworld.
The shell of the Mountain Formation is covered with weapon arrays and detection arrays. Every area is covered with solid armor, and every angle is covered with more torpedo launch tubes and light spear arrays than any Imperial warship can equip.
At the same time, its external foredeck can also accommodate a dozen cruisers. After entering the dock, you can see a huge atrium covered with ornate panels, and four large, decorated corridors, which are generally accessible through the corridors.
on board.
Leaving the pier, you will enter a square. This square is very large, more than 100 meters high, and the domed ceiling is decorated with legionary emblems and victory badges.
There is a 30-meter-wide diamond on the top of the dome, beautiful reliefs on the walls, and a mosaic of the Imperial Fists emblem on the marble floor.
At the other end is a massive staircase that leads to a kilometer-long hall filled with all kinds of loot.
Adjacent to the Hall of Honor is another corridor, with an equally grand but smaller staircase and connecting corridor containing all the damage sustained during the Beast Wars.
At the end of this small corridor is a dining hall for Space Marines and a meeting room surrounded by ordinary glass. In the center of the room is a black round table and an elaborate Space Marine statue.
Some people say that Phalanx is essentially a hive city in space, and to a certain extent it is true.
However, ten thousand years have passed, and the current situation of the Phalanx is not optimistic. Constant vigilance operations and wars have caused inevitable losses.
Although the Imperial Fists continue to work hard to maintain the Mountain Formation, each year more powerful fortress systems fail, and the skills required to repair them have long faded from human memory.
Once upon a time, the mountain formation shone among the stars like a giant, but now its peak has long passed.
It has not left the solar system for a long, long time, and Lysander sometimes wonders whether the Phalanx can ever return to battle.
Perhaps its next expedition will also be its last, like a dying old warrior wielding his last sword and dying of exhaustion.
Lysander didn't hope he would see that day.
But this mission left him shaken.
He didn't believe it at first, but after witnessing the horrific scale of the Hive Fleet's killings at close range, he was truly shaken.
Not long ago, Lysander led two companies, as the commander of this mission, to the Far Eastern Star Territory to investigate a newly confirmed Hive Fleet - the Kraken Hive.
No one believed that since the main force of the Behemoth Hive Fleet was wiped out, the Tyranid Hive would still be able to piece together a large main fleet, but the fact was a cruel slap in the face to those biological sages.
Although there are only outpost tentacles of the main fleet of the Hive in the Far East Star Territory, its scale has exceeded that of the average Tyranid squadron. Lysander also led the Imperial Fists to fight bloody battles, and finally broke out of the siege and brought the news to them.
Return to Terra.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click the next page to continue reading the exciting content! In order to prevent large-scale panic and chaos, the High Lords Council has kept the news of this hive fleet named "Kraken" at a high level.
In a confidential state, subsequent reconnaissance and defense will be the responsibility of more than a dozen chapters in the Far East Star Territory, mainly the Raven Guard and a series of their sub-groups.
But at present, only Lysander and his warriors are the only ones who truly know how terrifying the Zerg are.
When the exhausted survivors stumbled back to the armory, with their cloaks shattered and swords broken, people could get a glimpse of the brutality of that battle.
Those souls who were sent into the path of the Hive invasion and have not returned are all lost on the other side, and the loss is almost unimaginable.
He didn't know if the empire still had the strength to deal with such a powerful enemy. Just dealing with the black legion that was ready to move in the Eye of Terror had already exhausted the empire.
Lysander approached a pair of gates. He had no idea why his Chapter Master had summoned him this time. For the first time in many years since he began serving, Lysander found the other party so unpredictable.
It was a sobering discovery, to realize that even he was affected by the cold influence of a pessimistic future, the slow poison of hesitation - which until then had not been obvious.
As he approached, a guard in an ornate helmet opened the door, and a pair of brass plates turned inward on the exposed stone floor.
Twenty people stood in the hall at the far end, fourteen of them veterans and advisors of the Chapter's command, wearing various armors and ancient fabrics.
Five others, like Lysander, were company-level officers of the Chapter.
Their helmets have been taken off, revealing their scarred faces. One of them is Tor Galadon, the commander of the special force "Terran Sentinels", Lysander's past enemy and current best friend.
That man carried many wounds, some of them physical and some of his soul.
The one in the middle, Vladimir Pugh, the master of the mountain formation and their chapter leader, was standing there quietly.