Warhammer: Start with a dog

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Unnamed Triple Galaxy

Mandeville Point

Now-

The huge Indomitable star fortress lifted the veil of the warp like a queen and began to proudly reign over this nameless and remote galaxy.

Her crown was the complex spires and golden statues of the Central Cathedral that soared into the sky, her scepter was the ships of the navigators in front of her, the lace of her skirt was the more than six hundred tugboats around her and the thick iron chains behind them that towed her forward, and her long and gorgeous tail was the vortex and residual warp ion bubbles that were synchronously ejected by the many frigates and supply fleets surrounding her.

The queen in a blue and white and gold dress finally waved her mysterious and ancient plasma stance impatiently at the disturbing veil that blocked her, and the waves of the warp and reality broke in front of her like bizarre bubbles, and the entire Indomitable fleet completely jumped out of Mandeville Point and began to sail towards the orbit of the largest gas planet in this uninhabited triple star system.

The three stars here are completely uninhabitable. Due to their distance from other worlds, they do not have much mining value, so their names are simply ordered according to the inner, middle, and outer Escali. The orbit they are about to enter is around the giant planet Outer Escali.

The coordinates of this jump were marked by the current commander of the Indomitable Star Fortress, the fearless brother Artorion from the 5th Company of the Ultramarines. Not only is this place still right on the edge of the Ultramar sector, but also because this gas giant that constantly emits strong ionizing radiation and sprays high-energy steam fountains up to hundreds or even thousands of kilometers from the surface of its hydrogen ocean and the asteroid ring attracted by its gravity is a pretty good hiding place that can accommodate the entire fleet.

After staying here for a full nine standard solar days to rest, they can set off again, mark a random location, and jump into the Warp Ocean again for the next endless journey.

Now, the command center that just jumped out of the warp is busy. Sergeant Oranto of the Fifth Company of the Ultramarines is standing here, and beside him is the commander Brother Artorion. This Dreadnought uses his bionic instruments and electronic pipelines to connect the entire star fortress, and operates the entire fortress through sensory observation methods similar to those of a mechanical priest.

On the other side of Artorion is an Astartes wearing rust-red power armor. His chest and right shoulder are inlaid with black and white Mechanicus gear logos, but the edge of his shoulder armor is also the black of the Fifth Company, while the color of the left shoulder armor is the standard Ultramarines blue, with a white "U" symbol on it, indicating that he is a technical sergeant of the Ultramarines.

Due to the special nature of Artorion's body, a technical sergeant is usually assigned to work in places he often goes. Today, Brother Hestia is here. He stands next to the Dreadnought, responsible for issuing and cooperating with the work of the Dreadnought commander. There are also flashing spots on the helmet of the technical sergeant, sharing a large amount of navigation data with the Dreadnought synchronously.

"We have confirmed the direction of our jump with the navigator's Vision of Omen." He said, "According to the data sent back by the other party, our jump has almost no error, and the accuracy has reached more than 97%. It will take at most 33 seconds to complete the angle change and get in position on the orbit."

"Thank you, Lucian, you are still so efficient and reliable. Confirm the safety of the surrounding environment for the last time for us, and we can start the circumnavigation."

"Received. Confirming. I am not Lucian, commander." The technical sergeant replied dryly, "I am Hestiaan, Lucian is the technical sergeant brother who served you more than two centuries ago."

"Ah." Deep inside the Dreadnought, there was a sound of gearboxes, and the synthesizer made an apology and sigh-like sound, "I'm sorry, of course, Brother Hestian."

"Nothing, Commander." Oranto saw Hestian continue to check the various data indicators after the Indomitable jumped out. This technical sergeant was one of the best mechanical masters of the Fifth Company. He had served here for much longer than Oranto. As a member of the Fifth Company's rotating duty, Oranto was transferred from his tactical team to serve here for the ninth year, and he will be able to successfully return to his original team in a few months, allowing the other half of the Fifth Company to take over his position.

It would be absolutely hypocritical to say that he did not spend his days looking forward to returning to his chapter and brothers, but Oranto had served the chapter as an Ultramarines for a full four centuries. His scarred face and graying flaxen hair showed his tenacity and sense of responsibility as a veteran, so he would still perform his duties and not let anyone discover his urgency until the day he handed over his shift.

On the other side, the technical sergeant, the Dreadnought, and other technicians in the command center were still checking and restarting the Indomitable in a tense and orderly manner.

"How long will it take for the void shield to be raised again?" Artorion checked the combat readiness and was not very satisfied with what he saw. "We should raise the defense as soon as possible after leaving the warp, regardless of whether the surroundings are quiet or not, Hestian."

"The void shield engine is fine and is on standby. The void shield can be raised in 410 seconds after the warp void and the aether pollution belt are completely neutralized from the surface of the Inflexible," the technical sergeant replied briefly, and pointed out to the Dreadnought, "Brother Artorion, I noticed that you haven't put all the weapon systems online yet."

"How could that be? The approval of the weapon system online is always the first step after the jump-oh." The Dreadnought muttered again as if he had reacted, and the gears clattered inside, "Indeed, some weapon systems in the fourth quadrant in the south are offline... How long will it take for the second quadrant to be ready?"

Hestian reported a number, and Artorion began to mutter Lucien's name again. Hestian reminded the commander again in a flat voice with his mechanical voice.

Oranto looked at the two reliable and loyal brothers who were verbally fighting and assisting each other under the rusty reflection of the planet outside the window, and unconsciously revealed a faint smile.

Artorion is much older than Oranto. He has been buried in the Dreadnought for more than 253 years. The power battering ram in the hands of this respectable ancient hero was given by Lord Calgar after the Battle of Macragge. The Dreadnought elder is sometimes a little confused because of his old age and lack of sleep, but it is not a big problem. Hestia is the best technical sergeant of the Fifth Company. He can assist Artorion in completing all the work on the Indomitable.

"Raise the shield in sixty-six seconds, and the weapon system will complete the preparation before going online... The color of this planet is still so simple."

The woman in armor standing next to the sergeant frowned slightly at this time. She seemed to have some questions about the situation of Brother Artorion and wanted to express them. Oranto knew what she wanted to ask, and this was her duty. Although the sergeant himself did not like her and the department she represented, since he was the monk responsible for connecting with this newcomer, he had to prepare a decent answer to such questions.

But a sudden sharp warning sound interrupted the woman's action of raising her head to ask Oranto.

All the alarm lights in the command center lit up glaringly, and the operators were panicked but still maintained order and efficiency to transmit new alarm data.

"Alarm! Enemy identification! Sixty... no... seventy targets!"

"Strengthen scanning! Report more specific situations!"

"It's like it suddenly appeared from the air! My lord!" The mortal officer stammered in response, "There was nothing here just now!"

"A very patient ambush." ​​Hestiaan's voice was as calm as ever, "The timing was very good. - The void shield still cannot be raised immediately."

"Where is their target position?!" A harsh metal friction sound came from Artorion's loudspeaker, "Where is the target position?!"

The mortals began a series of hasty calculations. Oranto pushed the people around him and hurried to the nearest auspicious instrument equipment table. He saw dozens of light spots representing the attackers heading towards the fourth quadrant dock of the Indomitable, "Southern dock." He said.

"That's too accurate," Hestian said, "whether it's the location where we jumped out, the timing of their ambush, or the target."

"No time to talk about this, brother." Oranto took off his helmet from the magnetic lock on his waist and strode out of the command center. "I have to hurry. You and the elders must immediately summon all the warriors and auxiliary troops to the highest state of combat readiness. I'm afraid this matter today can't be resolved peacefully."

"Why?" The woman who chose to follow him after weighing the pros and cons asked, and Oranto was also pleased to hear that she was summoning the mortal troops she brought with her on her channel to go to the southern dock. "It doesn't look like a big threat."

"Not fast enough, and the reflective mass is too small." Oranto put on his veteran helmet, and the airlock clicked and locked it. His voice came from behind the visor dully, "This is not like a normal torpedo, it is likely to be a boarding torpedo. If you are lucky, it is not all Chaos scum, but just pirates and aliens, then half of the Fifth Company and 6,000 well-trained Ultramar auxiliary troops are enough to deal with them."

"What if it is unfortunate?" She asked, and began to deploy her troops. Oranto knew that she was allowed to take a whole "Datian Lizard" squadron on board the Indomitable to perform her duties, but she had been here too short, and they were still full of doubts.

"If it is unfortunate, then 600 to 700 of our fallen cousins ​​will jump onto our dock without shields and defensive weapon systems."

The Inquisitor immediately understood what Oranto meant.

"Your chapter has only fifty guards here."

"That's right, but the design of the Inflexible from ancient times will help us. Come, take these traitors as an example, and let me show you its exquisiteness."

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Unnamed Triple System

Outer Eskari Planet

600 seconds before the attack begins

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"Are you sure this is a good idea?"

Adalic Vannus reviewed the plan of a master potion master who was also a war blacksmith. "I know you never really liked the berserkers left to you by Uluvent, but..."

"But no matter how high their individual combat effectiveness is, it is useless to me, Vannus."

Hongsuo sat on his command throne. The bridge deck of his flagship Zhanzi was now cleaned by the order of the returning war blacksmith. Forty slaves worked together to not only polish the floor to a shine, but also the equipment panels now revealed their true brass and walnut patterns. The eight-pointed star or similar symbol decorations were removed, and then the walls and other places where some suspicious phrases and slogans praising the dark gods were painted before were also repainted.

"There is not much room for warriors who cannot obey orders in my strategy, and it happens that here, in this carefully constructed battlefield, the position I left for them can make them play the greatest role."

"But they are still very valuable combat forces. We finally won them in the skull harvest. They were also our brothers."

"Adalic, Adalic." Hong Suo shook his head. He seemed to be amazed by the Shadow Master's stubbornness in keeping every soldier's life. "You still attach too much importance to the friendship and glory of the past. In today's universe, to win, you have to abandon some things that have been adhered to for thousands or tens of thousands of years... The battlefield will not remain unchanged. The same is true for people and gods. Victory is more important to me because it is my gift."

The Shadow Master's eyes looked at the hybrid inquiringly, but the Potion Master's face now looked calmer. The wrinkles that were always from worry, struggle, anger and pain that were almost engraved into the facial skin are now only faint lines. He has both the ancient and noble features of the Iron Warrior and the graceful and upright posture of the Imperial Fist. No one in the entire fleet could see his thoughts from behind his increasingly peaceful but dangerous expression.

It has been like this since he returned from the world where he was looking for the prophetess. It seemed that something there strengthened his confidence and made him begin to transform some of his rebellious thoughts into tempting venomous whispers to poison the minds of those around him.

At least he persuaded Katya Salongba and her frenzied pirate fleet to immediately join Tucker and Atasiya's fleet and retreat back to the Maelstrom after completing the next mission. This alone is enough to surprise people, not to mention his next daring plan.

Daring to attack the core world of Ultramar is an incredible feat for a Chaos Lord, but this master of potions who is deeply appreciated by his gene father undoubtedly wants more.

Finally, the former Raven Guard sighed.

"If everything goes well, how do you plan to deal with the Blackheart King in the end? Aren't you afraid that Huron will think that you are more powerful than him?"

"Watch me." Hong Suo smiled. "If I was facing a purely selfish person like Ezekyle Abaddon, I would never plan such a bold action, and I would try to run far away so that he couldn't find me, but Luft Huron is different. Since he really has some rules, he will not be more difficult to deal with than any other Primarch."

"... Considering that the purpose of our attack on the Indomitable is to find a demon prince like M'ka the Three-Born... You don't really want to destroy a few planets in the Macragge system to make a name for yourself and a great achievement in the Great Vortex, do you? Or Calth? Talasa?"

The smile on Honso's face became more unpredictable.

"Step by step." He said, "The time has come, let's launch the Blood Skull Warband's boarding torpedoes as planned."