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Chapter 246: The Last Fortress World
🕑 Added 2025-08-26 14:49:29 +0000 UTCChapter 246: The Last Fortress World
Within Cadia, on the fortress world of Vigilantum, the last two Cadian infantry regiments were stationed in the planet's final bastion.
"Quick! Soldier! Bring up another box of bolts! Are there any tech-priests still alive?! The auto-turrets here have stopped working! By the Emperor! If we don't get these turrets repaired, we won't be able to hold off the next attack!"
"Captain! The ammunition is gone. The remaining two tech-priests are repairing our last two Leman Russ tanks. There are only some lasgun magazines left!"
On the fortress walls, soldiers were starting fires and throwing their lasgun power packs directly into the flames to recharge them. This crude method was very inefficient, but the power generators in the fortress had long been destroyed. There was no extra energy to charge their ammunition and weapons.
These two remaining regiments were just remnants. All their formations had been crippled. The Cadian Captain, Anderson, had been just a sergeant ten days ago. Ten days later, he was now a captain. And the fortress they were in was once this planet's Schola Progenium.
Anderson looked up at the orbit. He could see the wreckage of a large number of warships with his naked eye. The small shipyards in orbit had been the first to be destroyed, and the small defense fleet could not possibly withstand the Chaos offensive. Now, he could still see the traitors' fleet in orbit with his own eyes.
The place they were in was already the last Imperial position on the entire planet. And in this Schola Progenium, a large number of survivors and refugees were also gathered.
Anderson knew very well why Chaos did not directly conduct an orbital strike here. They needed the living people here for a sacrificial ritual. Anderson, who had retreated all the way from other positions, had witnessed many of the traitors' atrocities. And that was the reason they could continue to live on, clinging to a precarious existence.
Sighing, Anderson walked down from the position on the fortress wall and headed for the final command post.
"Report!"
"Enter!"
Anderson walked directly through the door. At this moment, there was not even a single guard outside the command post. Everyone who could still move, who could still breathe, had already been sent to the front line. The instructors and the not-yet-graduated cadets of the Schola had also been incorporated into the infantry regiments. Some of these cadets were only eleven or twelve years old. And the refugees had also been distributed anything that could be used as a weapon.
"Colonel Ferguson! The soldiers are out of ammunition! Those traitors are gathering. They also have Astartes from the Iron Warriors. I request ammunition and soldier support! Otherwise, we cannot hold off the enemy's next attack! The north wall will fall!"
But faced with Anderson's request, Ferguson just put down the map in his hand and looked at him.
"Soldier, there is no more ammunition. I will arrange for the civilians to go to the front line as well. To die in battle is better than to be tortured by those traitors. This may be our last battle. Without ammunition, use your daggers, use your bayonets! I will also go to the front line with you.
"Kaelas, Kasr Partox, Kasr Sonnan, Fornax Fortress... in these three days, they have all lost contact one after another. Their last communications were all shouting 'Cadia Stands.' Anderson, you know what this means. In the entire system now, besides the fortress world of Cadia itself, we may be the last planet still in the hands of the Imperium. I do not mind dying in battle. This is the fate of a Cadian. What I am worried about is Cadia..." Ferguson's face was also filled with unstoppable worry.
"Colonel... Cadia will not fall. The Imperium will not abandon us. The Phalanx, the great Custodes, and the angels of the various Astartes Chapters... you also heard the communication from Cadia. We are worried about Cadia, and Cadia is also worried about us. It is telling us to hold on!"
However, Ferguson was not as optimistic as Anderson. Vigilantum was not as important as the other worlds in the Cadian system. The reason they could hold on until now was not because they were strong enough, but because the planet they were on was not a resource planet. The most valuable thing on the planet was the Schola Progenium. It was not a primary target of the offensive.
But he could not say it out loud and shake the morale of the troops.
A huge explosion sounded at the wall of the academy-fortress. It meant that the traitors' final attack had begun.
"Abandon the walls. Without heavy firepower, it is meaningless to hold the walls. Have the remaining two Leman Russ tanks get ready. Their targets are the Iron Warriors among the enemy! Fill them with explosives. As long as we can take a few more Chaos Astartes with us, it's a win! Have the soldiers fall back into the fortress. Let every room, every corridor, every area become a position to block the enemy."
Ferguson gave his last order as a colonel, then he also picked up his laspistol and power sword.
"Let's go, Anderson."
But just as the two of them had walked out of the command post, the vox-caster in the communication system behind them suddenly crackled to life. They both couldn't help but look back. The astropaths had all been dead for a long time, and communication with Cadia had been completely blocked by Chaos. There were no other surviving planets in the system. Who could be sending them a communication at this time? Or had Chaos invaded their communication system?
"Vigilantum, report your status. Are there any surviving Imperial soldiers?"
The suddenly sounding voice made Ferguson immediately pick up the communication device.
"I am Colonel Ferguson of the Cadian 173rd Infantry Regiment! Vigilantum is still in the hands of the Imperium! We have not been completely conquered! Who are you! Report your identity!"
"There are still people alive? Hold on! Reinforcements have arrived! Send us your identification signal and your location. Don't want any friendly fire."
As Ferguson sent the signal, the communication was cut off.
"Colonel? Reinforcements? Did I really hear that right?"
"Who are they?!"
And when they arrived near the city wall, the Chaos traitors, disregarding their own casualties and the sacrificial materials they were about to capture, were trying to take this fortress at the fastest speed.
At this moment, in the orbit of the planet, the fire of an explosion was clearly visible. The Chaos fleet had turned into wreckage in just a short while. And a golden, never-before-seen xenos warship had already closed in on the orbit.
"Xenos?!"
Just as Ferguson was trying to figure out the situation, two Gorgon-class battlecruisers had already jumped to a position above them and had begun to clear the Chaos army that had not yet broken into the fortress with their firepower. And one drop pod after another was descending directly toward the fortress.
He had never seen the insignia on the Gorgons and did not recognize them. But when the drop pods and the azure-blue Thunderhawks appeared, he knew the identity of the newcomers.
"The Ultramarines?! By the Emperor! It's the Astartes of the Ultramarines!"
At this moment, Calgar was using the power fists on both his arms to smash all the enemies before him. The two under-slung bolters on his gauntlets were firing continuously, and several Iron Warriors were killed directly. At this moment, he was venting his suppressed anger. He had not been present at the first moment when his primarch was in danger, and now he was pouring this anger onto the Chaos traitors here.
However, Ferguson couldn't help but rub his eyes... He could understand the soldiers in combat suits. But what was with those Templar, and the creatures that came with them that looked like Tyranids? Since when did the Ultramarines start cooperating with xenos?!
And the speed of the charging Templar far surpassed that of the Astartes. Their efficiency in cleaning up the enemy was even faster. And the Zerg were like a swarm of locusts passing through. All resistance in the face of absolute numbers seemed like a joke.
