For all his matchless combat skill, Marneus Calgar is also a brilliant tactician with a keen head for logistics – just like his Primarch. Now the Chapter Master must direct his forces across the entire Bastior Sub-sector, and rally the generals who await his command.
Clustered around the strategium’s central table, Bastior Sub-sector’s keenest military minds gazed upon a rotating hololithic display of the war zone. System markers hung suspended before them, those blinking red vastly outnumbering those lit in green. A general, his face drawn and eyes ringed in shadow, tugged at the collar of his starched uniform, conveying in monotonous tones the latest status reports from the region’s designated Anchor Worlds. They made for grim reading indeed.
‘Tyranid numbers continue to increase. Chapter Master Stavro reports purgation operations proceeding slowly on Sanctum. Ystrad is no more. Our efforts against Grendyllus are beginning to bear fruit. Lord Solar Leontus has begun an offensive with the aim of sealing the Regium Breach. Nautilon and Promethor tendrils continue to gather momentum. We have also lost contact with Solblades Magnifa and Kommenos,’ the general said, laying his dataslate down and looking to the head of the table.
Marneus Augustus Calgar nodded as he drank in and processed the data before him. The sheer scale of the Tyranid invasion was horrific to behold. Kamishphar, Berenix, Josue’s Rest, these systems and dozens of others besides had been stripped clean by Hive Fleet Leviathan. A single wrong decision, a single failed deployment: such errors would doom further systems. Such was the burden of command.
‘Thank you, General Dravik,’ said Calgar. ‘Avarax holds, for now. Captain Acheran and the Second have repelled the heretics, but the Tyranids remain in great numbers. The Cadian 8th will be hard-pressed to hold their positions, let alone begin offensive operations. Reinforcements will be required if the system is to be purged.’
The Chapter Master looked up, his gaze coming to rest on another exhausted-looking officer.
‘General Malvolion. You will lead the relief force. Coordinate with the 8th. Avarax must hold, lest our work be for naught,’ the Chapter Master said, ‘Mars has already dispatched cohorts to secure the manufactorums. You will aid them.’
The general snapped a salute and left his position at the table. As he exited the chamber, he was already barking orders to an adjutant. Several junior officers turned to follow their commander, hustling to muster their forces.
‘Canoness Erenice. I would have you deploy to Derenis IV. The garrison there is ill-prepared to meet Leviathan’s advance. They will need your resolve if they are to resist Nautilon.’
The stern-faced Canoness nodded and clasped her arms across her breastplate in the sign of the aquila. She and her entourage filtered out of the chamber, red robes fluttering, censers trailing a cloud of incense. They had barely left the room when the strategium’s vox-station flared to life. An ensign scrambled to answer.
‘Lord Calgar,’ the young officer said, forcing himself to meet the Chapter Master’s intimidating gaze. ‘Priority astropathic message from the Recidius System. Vermillion-level encryption.’
Calgar frowned and stood tall, glancing down at the officers and dignitaries who remained. He dredged the deep stockpiles of his eidetic memory, calling up what little he knew of the Recidius System.
‘This missive is for my ears alone. Divert it to my quarters. The rest of you return to your troops,’ he said, gesturing to the two members of his Victrix Guard, currently guarding the chamber’s entrance. ‘Maintain combat readiness.’
Striding towards his sanctum, Calgar allowed himself a moment of weariness. The burden of command was heavy, even for shoulders as broad as his. Yet Guilliman had placed in him his trust, and Calgar would die before he disappointed the Primarch. Still, at moments such as these, he longed for the simplicity of the battlefield and for a single enemy upon which to focus his wrath. Perhaps the missive from Recidius would provide him with such an opportunity.
Marneus Calgar’s new miniature is available to pre-order this weekend, alongside Cato Sicarius, the Victrix Guard, and a host of other Ultramarines releases.
