After the Empire's heavy troops besieged the Black Legion Lord Erquessos in Fortress No. 7, the ground battlefield of Pai Mao quickly fell into an eerie silence.
The Black Legion stopped attacking the various explorer fortresses, and after the Astartes warbands evacuated the residents from the fortresses and settled them in camps in the Red Sand Mountains, they no longer held on to those fortresses, but quickly moved towards 7
Gather at the location of the fortress.
In the following days, there was no more fighting between the two sides. As soon as Soshyan Alexey, the chapter leader of the Astral Knights, arrived on the planet's surface, he facilitated the leadership of the White Templar, Dark Angels and Gray Knights.
The reporter held a strategy meeting, which was also attended by the inquisitor and Colonel Stryker, a representative of the local garrison.
The three-hour meeting quickly decided on the subsequent deployment of the empire.
Each Astartes Chapter will be responsible for the defense of a certain aspect of Fortress 7, while the Astra Militarum and the local garrison will build a large number of fortifications, bunkers and trenches within a radius of 35 kilometers around the fortress, posing a long-term siege.
attitude.
Obviously, this was a conspiracy, and Soshyan gave the choice to Abaddon.
Should we send all our troops to rescue the surrounded troops, or should we cut off our tail and survive, suffering a double loss in strength and reputation?
But there was no further reaction from the Black Legion, and both sides seemed to sit quietly on the battlefield.
However, the calm on the surface does not mean that the waves in the shadows have decreased at all. Although the Black Legion has not made any major movements for the time being, their reconnaissance troops and small groups of raiding troops are becoming more and more active, constantly attacking the mortal defenders under the cover of night.
Garrison, massacre and plunder the defenders inside.
This was a morale-destroying tactic commonly used by the forces of Chaos. Soshyan, who became the commander of the coalition forces, also took advantage of this tactic and deployed equivalent anti-harassment forces.
On the eve of the war, a war in the shadows has quietly begun——
"Here it is, company commander."
Bahram crouched beside a puddle, scraping his fingers at the scorched earth on the jungle floor.
"More traces."
Talos stopped searching the nearby bushes, walked to Bahram, knelt down on one knee, and stroked the bumps and grooves he found.
"Sablin, Li Lin, come here. I want to know what you think."
The two nearby teams immediately gave up their detailed searches and obeyed the company commander's orders.
"From the pattern, it looks like some kind of tracked vehicle. This is only part of it, but the ground here is slightly sunken, indicating that it will leave a pool of rainwater during the planet's rainy season. This is why the traces here are so strong and completely disappeared elsewhere.
.”
Sabourin's powers of observation were as accurate as ever.
"These marks were made three days ago, you see, so that the lichens had time to grow on them."
Sabourin pointed to where Bahram had chopped down dense foliage with his battle dagger to reveal the mark beneath.
"If the missing team's vehicle passed through this road, it would not be a recent incident."
From the corner of his field of vision, Talos noticed that another scout had diverted his attention, as if searching for further traces, so he glanced at the four people huddled on the blurry mark on the tactical indicator.
"Nias, do you want to make any comments?"
The young man who was walking away strode up to his superior. His enthusiasm could be seen from his gait.
Nias's deep eyes and black hair always made Talos think that he was a younger version of Markushen.
Arriving next to Talos, Nias also squatted down.
"I'm guessing it's a Chimera. Even though the traces are almost completely worn away, I see extended traces over there. You can tell by the width and shape of the traces. See those two raised areas? That's it. Here, wet mud passes through the gaps in the tracks that join together, and here's another one."
He pointed at the almost invisible mark, then scratched it with his hand, wagging his finger every once in a while.
"There's another one, there's another one..."
Nias continued to describe that although Talos had come to this conclusion before Nias participated in the discussion, he was still pleased with the untrained and enhanced speed and accuracy of the new recruits. In a sense, he really Much like Markusen.
Talos was equally impressed with Nias's discovery of the first signs of wear and tear on the bark, which brought them back on course less than a second after their discovery.
"There's another one."
Nias suddenly stood up, his big dark eyes staring into the distance.
"The Chimera is heading this way."
he added, raising an arm and pointing to the thick green leaves to the south, in anticipation of the company commander's next question.
"Company 11, line up behind me, in single file."
Talos stood up and ordered. In combat situations, he would give orders with hand signals.
So far this is just a training session,
Nias tried to squeeze past Talos to regain his position in the formation, but the commander of the 11th Company stretched out a strong arm to block the recruit's way.
"Where are you going, brother Nias?"
Talos said with a smile, putting down his hindrance and taking a position behind the confused scout.
"Lead the way."
When the sun completely broke through the horizon, the 11th Company had penetrated five kilometers into the jungle and reached the emerald darkness hidden under the towering trees.
Some twisted and mutated animals screamed and sprinted through the bushes in the day cycle, starting their ruthless hunt for food.
The communication beads in Talos's ears were still active, filled with tactical reports from the nearby area, while the Storm Crow patrolled above the clouds, trying to maintain detection of enemy infiltration units as much as possible.
As the jungle grew denser, the Chimera's tracks became clearer and clearer, so much so that the recruits were able to follow a pair of complete tracks over the past few kilometers.
Nias maintained his focus in front of the group, a scout's eye was sharp, and he would sometimes slow down to pay closer attention to some mark or deviation in the road without stopping completely.
Behind him, his battle brothers trained their guns on the dense foliage that lined the path created by the troop carriers, alert for local wildlife and any potential ambush.
Talos also drew his weapon, though it was his deactivated power sword in his fist instead of his pistol.
As he walked through the bushes, something gnawed at his mind, and he felt like he was missing something obvious, something that was right in front of him but not quite right.
Nias suddenly stopped in front of him and interrupted his meditation.
"They're gone."
Nias turned to his company commander and said:
"Traces. They just...disappeared."
Confusion was clearly written on the recruit's face.