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Chapter 210: Repairing the Phalanx
🕑 Added 2025-08-09 15:11:46 +0000 UTCChapter 210: Repairing the Phalanx
After providing aid to Cadia, Lucan didn't have many SCVs left on hand. And upon truly seeing the Phalanx, he realized he had still underestimated its size and the extent of its damage. Even though this star-fortress was built using a Golden Age framework combined with later Imperial technology, it was still one of the most powerful war machines in the Imperium.
Perhaps the only things that could compare were the Ark Mechanicus vessels of the Adeptus Mechanicus, which were truly designed and built during the Golden Age.
Countless massive gun barrels and sensor arrays dotted its surface. It was difficult for any single warship to withstand a full salvo from the Phalanx. But the Phalanx was powerful enough, even in its severely damaged state, to go toe-to-toe with a Blackstone Fortress with damaged shields, and even destroy it in the end.
This was the important reason why Lucan had asked the Emperor to help him contact the Phalanx and bring it here for repairs. A fully operational Phalanx could greatly compensate for the Imperium's disadvantage in high-end warship capabilities at Cadia. With the early addition of the Phalanx, it could also share Cadia's pressure and buy Lucan more time.
"It seems there's still a bit of pressure to repair this warship at the fastest speed possible. I don't have enough SCVs on hand."
Fortunately, the Dynasty's forces cleaning up the Chaos influence on Lorysia and around Agripinaa were constantly harvesting Psy-crystals for Lucan. This gave him a little extra money in his pocket.
Lucan temporarily warped in three thousand SCVs and threw them directly into the repair work on the Phalanx.
Faced with the Custodes' proposal, although Garadon did not believe it, he still ordered his Techmarines and the other tech-priests on the Phalanx to open the corridors that had been completely sealed due to hull breaches. They collected all the repair reports and provided them to the priests of the Cult of the Holy Machine. One by one, the SCVs were led to the most severely damaged areas of the Phalanx.
The SCVs didn't need to completely repair the Phalanx. The most important thing was to repair its outer armor and the missing critical sections. The interior could be repaired slowly later. Otherwise, to complete the work entirely, even with this number of SCVs, it would take a great deal of time. The Phalanx was simply too large.
Seeing the repair reports, Lucan also knew that this warship was not just facing physical damage. The residual warp corruption was still affecting many of the facilities and chambers inside. However, the Purity Seals could also solve this problem. The machine authority that Lucan shared began to take effect. The Chaos scrap-code was devoured and absorbed under the divine power of the Purity Seals, turning into Psy-crystals in Lucan's pocket. These Psy-crystals just happened to offset the cost of summoning the SCVs.
Garadon stared in disbelief at the prompts on the Phalanx's system interface. The warship's hull integrity was increasing at a rate visible to the naked eye, and systems that had been down were beginning to operate again. The reawakening of the machine spirits caused a large number of previously inoperative facilities on the Phalanx to come back online.
That Rogue Trader and the Custodes had not deceived him. At the current rate, it might only take a few days for the exterior armor and important sections of this Phalanx to be repaired. Those seemingly crude engineering machines were indeed displaying something that surpassed the laws of physics. It was not at all an exaggeration to call it a miracle.
As an Imperial Fist, a master of positional and defensive warfare, Garadon was already thinking in his mind: if these things could be acquired by the Chapter, then their ability in positional warfare would be infinitely amplified once again. Imagine, the fortifications that the enemy had painstakingly destroyed would be repaired again before they could even launch their next wave of attack. How desperate would that be?
And the residual Chaos corruption within the warship was being restored at an extremely fast rate. The chambers that had been corrupted and even turned into flesh were returning to their original appearance. The machine spirits in various mechanical creations that had been eroded by Chaos scrap-code were also being revitalized.
"Captain Garadon, these engineering machines called SCVs will remain on the Phalanx. They can repair the warship's damage even during combat. And these Purity Seals, they can not only purify corruption but also please the machine spirits."
This sudden surprise also made Garadon understand why the Legion of the Damned had had them exit the warp and come here. He had originally been thinking about how to obtain these SCVs, and Lucan had generously gifted them to him. He transferred the authority to Garadon. Lucan also hoped that these SCVs would provide the Phalanx with more advantages in the coming war.
"Thank you, Lord Lucan!"
Now he could understand why the Custodes would stay by the side of a Rogue Trader. Perhaps this was also a grace and guidance from the Emperor.
And it wasn't just these engineering machines. The Phalanx had not only lost Astartes of the Chapter; a large number of mortal auxiliary troops and tech-priests had also been severely hit in the previous invasion. Although the Legion of the Damned was still on the ship, they were only focused on combat and could not provide help in other areas.
Lucan then proposed to station the two Raider corps he had brought with him on the Phalanx to assist Garadon in its defense and to act as a combat force to support Cadia.
Garadon had originally wanted to refuse, but he was moved when he saw this force, fully equipped with combat suits. And the various StarCraft equipment included in their combat organization forced him to admit that even if all the forces of his Third Company were gathered together, they could not possibly do as well as this force. Some of the internal corridors and chambers of the Phalanx were even large enough for a Thor to operate in.
Garadon immediately agreed to have this fresh force join the Phalanx. With the addition of these two Raider corps, if Chaos wanted to board the Phalanx again, they would have to think twice. Even a daemon facing the saturation fire of a Thor in a narrow corridor would be banished. Apart from possibly destroying the internal defensive facilities of the Phalanx, there were no other downsides.
Ten days passed quickly. The damaged hull of the Phalanx had been completely repaired. This allowed the Gellar field to operate at full power again, and its speed of travel in the warp was greatly increased. The time they had been delayed here had not affected the Phalanx's original speed; it might even allow it to arrive at Cadia earlier. And the internal repair work was still being continued by the SCVs, which could be done while in transit.
After bidding farewell to Lucan, the Phalanx set off again.
"Emperor, can you tell me if the Legion of the Damned is really formed from the Astartes who have died? Was Ferrus really also turned into a warrior of the Damned by you?"
The beheaded Primarch, Ferrus Manus, had once appeared in the form of a warrior of the Damned. Watching the Phalanx leave, Lucan asked the Emperor with curiosity.
The Emperor also gave Lucan an affirmative answer. However, creating these warriors was also a burden for the Emperor. They were just like the Living Saint, Celestine. These warriors who had become the Legion of the Damned were essentially no different from daemons. The Emperor had no choice. This was the easiest way to use his power to help humanity. Otherwise, he would not have transformed these most loyal warriors of humanity into this form. Every time he created and maintained the existence of one of these warriors, he would take a step closer to godhood. This was done through the Emperor's warp-essence, or "divine power." If the Emperor chose to become a god, then these dead human warriors in his domain would also become his daemonic legion.
"How tragic... they still have to work after they die. But if these people exist in a state similar to souls, perhaps my Protoss can let them continue to exist in another way. The Purifier project might be able to do it. A mechanical life is better than existing in a warp form, right? It can let them continue to fight for humanity and also reduce your pressure. Wraithbone can contain souls, and Karax's research on this new material shows that perhaps the Purifier technology can not only upload memories but also souls."
Hearing this, the Emperor was also a little tempted.
