77: Chapter 77: The Ten Thousand Year Empire's Admiral is to Join the Allied Forces; Van Strauheim Reports for Duty on the Flagship

The communication panel on the bridge of the Wrath of the Emperor lit up again shortly after the emergency meeting on Terra concluded. As Tech-Officer transferred the signal to the main screen, Marcus Aurelian was signing the War Council's trial authorization for the Severus case page by page. The sender was the Imperial Navy flagship, the Shield of the Emperor, and the captain was Imperial Navy Admiral Van Strauheim—the old Heinrich whose entire orbital fleet had been seized by The Swarm during the early stages of the Dead Silence-42 campaign, and who was subsequently recalled to Terra for questioning.

The communication request was not text, but video.

Marcus set down the data slate and pressed the receive key. A face appeared on the main screen, mechanically reconstructed after being scorched by Warp radiation; the red beam of a mechanical bionic eye shone like an unquenchable navigation star in the dim bridge lighting. General Heinrich von Strauheim stood before the command dais on the bridge of the Shield of the Emperor. Behind him were the iconic adamantium dome and the icon of the Emperor belonging to his Lunar-class Cruiser, which had been in service for over six thousand years. He was not wearing a dress uniform, but the same old combat gear that had been corroded by creep digestive fluids at Dead Silence-42, with char marks clearly visible on his left pauldrons.

"Inquisitor Marcus," Heinrich's voice was raspy, every word sounding as if it were being ground through a naval exhaust pipe. "The High Lords of Terra have sent the official authorization from the Coalition War Council to my ship. In addition to the Imperial Navy Third Assault Fleet, another Imperial main fleet under my direct command will be incorporated into the Joint Fleet Command as a member of the Coalition. I myself—in my capacity as an Imperial Navy Admiral—will report to the Coalition's Joint Fleet Command."

Marcus leaned against the command dais. The bone fracture in his right hand had completely healed, and his fingers tapped lightly on the communication panel. He remembered this old naval officer. Back in orbit over Dead Silence-42, he had ordered an orbital bombardment of The Swarm's hives, only to have his retreat cut off by a leviathan mothership and a Brood Lord that had just burrowed out from underground. After that battle, the wreckage of his fleet was dragged away by The Swarm and repurposed as spore mine calibration coordinates for Orbital Defense Platforms. The reason he was able to return to Terra alive was that Marcus had written a line in the after-action report: 'The command decisions were not a dereliction of duty under the intelligence conditions at the time.'

"Admiral Heinrich," Marcus said, "I accept your report in my capacity as Chairman of the Coalition War Council. Your fleet will be incorporated into the direct command sequence of the Joint Fleet Command, alongside the Third Assault Fleet. How much time do you need to complete fleet departure preparations?"

"Already in the channel." Heinrich stepped aside from the screen, revealing the panoramic viewport at the front of the Shield of the Emperor's bridge. Outside was not the starry sky of Terra, but the entrance to the Gravity Reefs channels on the outskirts of the Ultima Segmentum. His fleet—two Lunar-class Cruisers, four Strike Cruisers, and eight Escorts—had already formed a standard marching column, their bows all pointed toward the Coalition's defensive line. He said that before leaving Terra, he hadn't intended to wait for approval and had simply set out with the fleet first, because the only time in his life he had lost an orbital battle to xenos was against The Swarm, and he didn't intend for that battle to be the last of his service career.

The Brood Queen's quantum-state translator lit up on one side of the main screen. Her tone was as steady as when she had previously reported on the battle situation—Joint Fleet Command had confirmed that the Coalition identification code for the Shield of the Emperor had been registered, and the universal Void Shield coordinator data package had been sent to the Shield of the Emperor via the Psionic Void Network. Welcome, the main fleet of the Imperium of Man's Navy, to the Coalition.

Heinrich's mechanical bionic eye suddenly brightened. He had his first officer project the Coalition identification code sent by The Swarm onto the main screen and personally traced the cold green characters—interwoven from the Necron Dynasty's quantum encryption protocols and The Swarm's Hive Mind node addresses—stroke by stroke on the projection. Then he said to the screen, "Thirty years ago, I fought Chaos at Cadia; twenty years ago, I fought Orks in the War for Armageddon; over ten years ago, I had my fleet seized by you at Dead Silence-42. Now I'm using the same fire control protocol as you, and even when my Void Shields recharge has to be synchronized with your Brood Lord. If I said this wasn't the Emperor's arrangement, it would be irreverent." Then he added—the Shield of the Emperor would arrive at the outskirts of the Coalition's defensive line in one hour to enter the United Fleet assembly anchorage, requesting the Coalition flagship to send a liaison officer for docking.

Marcus incorporated Heinrich's fleet into the Joint Fleet Command's direct command sequence and assigned Sebastian to lead a squad of Terminator veterans as the Coalition liaison team, carrying universal Void Shield coordinator calibration equipment and samples of Coalition universal armor plating for docking. Oldenburg, commander of the Imperial Third Assault Fleet, would concurrently serve as the Deputy Commander of the United Fleet, responsible for coordinating with Admiral Heinrich for the first large-scale deep-space cruise after the merger of the main Coalition fleets. Then he keyed the War Council's all-channel, announcing the addition of Heinrich's fleet, the expansion of the Coalition fleet organization, and that the main United Fleet would execute its first proactive deep-space cruise mission after merging to search for Tyranid remnants and unregistered Chaos Hulk Fleets. Finally, he switched back to Heinrich's private channel and said, "Admiral Heinrich, the Coalition does not currently have a crime called 'Xeno Alliance.' You don't need to write an after-action report for me this time; write it for yourself." Heinrich was silent for a moment on the other side of the screen, then raised his hand in a standard Imperial Navy salute, his aged but straight back casting a sharp shadow under the light of the Emperor's icon.

Sebastian clipped his Power Sword back onto his waist, picked up two cases of newly manufactured universal Void Shield coordinator prototypes from the hangar, and led four Terminator veterans onto a Thunderhawk Gunship. Before takeoff, he said over the War Council channel that this was the first time he had boarded an Imperial Navy flagship without having to first ask if the other party intended to arrest him for treason. The Brood Queen's translator replied for him—Coalition liaison officers boarding ships are not subject to unilateral Imperial accusations, with an added reminder that there is a reserved creep pipe interface next to the captain's quarters of the Shield of the Emperor, laid by a leviathan mothership relay station during the previous Metallis campaign, though she didn't know if it was still usable. Sebastian laughed and slapped the hatch shut.