78: Chapter 78 The Allied Forces No Longer Wait for the Enemy to Come to Themselves. The Combined Fleet Deploys and Clears the Star Sector.

The briefing room doors slid shut slowly once all members of the War Council had arrived. Marcus Aurelian stood before the holographic star map, his right hand resting on a dark region of space between the Ultima Segmentum and the Cadian Ruins, labeled as the "Cleanup Zone." He set a freshly refilled cup of coffee on the edge of the projection and surveyed everyone present—Bern had just returned from Terra, his Holy Hammer still carrying the scent of the Inquisition Military Court's holy oils; Sebastian's power armor breastplate had been refitted with Allied Forces universal armor plating, its composite layers of adamantium-chitin and living metal shimmering with a cold green light; Oldenburg and Heinrich stood side-by-side beneath the Joint Fleet Command's holographic projection, the two Imperial Navy officers, one old and one young, both having the Allied identification codes embedded into their pauldrons. The Brood Queen's quantum-state translator breathed steady pulses of cold green light on one side of the main screen, Nephilak's quantum-state communication was synchronized, and the spectral blue light of the Iyanden Farseer's wraithbone staff merged silently with the Brood Queen's Photonic Crown in the projection.

"The phase of passive defense for the Allied Forces is over," Marcus said, getting straight to the point as he projected the newly authorized offensive order from the War Council onto the main screen. "The next evaluation window from the Old One has been confirmed. The joint scanning teams of Canoptek-7 and the Blackened Brain-Bug have discovered several unactivated Old One protocols within the sealing logs of the Void Throat. These protocols still have residual validation nodes in regions where the Warp rifts have not fully closed. What the Old One is evaluating is not just whether the Allied Forces can activate the sealing protocols at the Star of Judgment—he also wants to see if the Allied Forces can proactively purge the residual Chaos rifts and Tyranid-contaminated dead zones after the protocols are activated. This is a mandatory task within the Old One's evaluation cycle. The Allied Forces will no longer wait for the enemy to come to us."

Oldenburg and Heinrich exchanged a look before standing up to project the United Fleet's organizational chart next to the star map. The Third Assault Fleet and Heinrich's main fleet had completed their integration; the leviathan mothership battle groups were deployed on both flanks, Iyanden's wraith cruisers were responsible for vanguard reconnaissance and psionic masking, and Canoptek-7's living metal regeneration pods had been loaded onto the Metallis base ship to serve as a mobile repair fleet accompanying the entire armada. He reported that the universal Void Shield coordinators for all ships had completed their sixth round of redundancy testing within the Psionic Void Network, and the fleet-wide fire coordination latency was far lower than any previous Imperial Navy standard.

Bern tapped the handle of the Holy Hammer with his knuckles and said in a low voice, "The Grey Knights have recalled all personnel from the Terran Military Court and assigned them to the Void Throat Defense Assault Group. The trial of the Severus treason case allowed the Inquisition to clear out most of the behind-the-scenes protectors of the radical factions, but some unindicted supporters of the Hammer of Purification are still active in the shadows. These people have no fleet and no relic authorization, but they still possess a copy of an old version of the Inquisition's encryption protocols. If the remnants of Tzeentch or Chaos pirates intercept this copy, they could use the old protocol keys to deceive remote Imperial outposts during the Allied sweep."

The Brood Queen nodded, translating the Overmind's tactical suggestions onto the main screen in real-time. The Overmind suggested dividing the Allied sweep's main fleet into two strike groups, advancing simultaneously from the north and south sides of the Cadian Ruins' shipping lanes. All lost Imperial outposts along the way would first be sent an Allied standard identification request via the Psionic Void Network; those that failed to respond or were confirmed to be contaminated by Chaos would be immediately 'sanitized' by the leviathan motherships and Strike Cruisers, with a civilian evacuation window provided before the sanitization. Meanwhile, residual activity signals from the Chaos Hulk Fleets had already been marked by the Iyanden Web of Prophecy.

The Iyanden Farseer drew a spectral blue arc on the star map with the wraithbone staff. The Web of Prophecy showed that the remnants of the Chaos fleet were hiding behind an incompletely closed Warp rift codenamed the "Lead-Gray Abyss." In the Crystal Labyrinth, Tzeentch was still using divination pools to repeatedly simulate the Allied sweep routes, attempting to find a crack where He could shove in one last Error-correction code. Marcus nodded and then signed the sweep order.

The United Fleet took off from Metallis and Griffin IV simultaneously the following day. Heinrich's Shield of the Emperor and Oldenburg's Strike Cruiser detachment advanced along the northern entrance of the Cadian Ruins' shipping lane. Standing on the bridge, Heinrich completed the final fire control synchronization with the leviathan mothership on his left flank through the Allied universal Void Shield coordinator and hoarsely ordered the fleet to prepare for Warp jump. Almost at the same time, Sebastian's assault detachment cut in from the southern entrance with the leviathan mothership battle group, forcibly evacuating over three hundred miners from a small Chaos-contaminated Imperial mining station before sanitizing it. Bern's Grey Knight squad discovered a set of Error-correction codes left by a surviving sorcerer of Tzeentch deep beneath the station; he slammed the Holy Hammer directly into the core of the Error-correction code, shattering the Chaos contamination along with the sorcerer's pinkish-purple crystal altar hidden in the mine shaft into fragments.

Under the quantum-state fire control coordination of the Blackened Brain-Bug, The Swarm launched simultaneous sanitization strikes against all residual Warp rifts marked by Chaos. The Titan-Eater deployed from the Metallis base ship, suppressing three still-active rifts along the central axis of the shipping lane using void-level resonance. As the final rift was suppressed, a burst of pinkish-purple luminous fluid erupted from it. A Keeper of Secrets, before being completely banished back to the Warp, used its last residual psychic energy to interfere with the Allied channel, sneering, "There is still a Hulk fleet I specially left behind in the Lead-Gray Abyss; it is all your fault." The transmission then dissolved into unrecognizable static.

The northern and southern flanks of the United Fleet met at the main shipping lane, completely clearing the Chaos signals within the deep space region. Upon his return, Sebastian reported that the final remnants of the Chaos Hulk Fleets had been torn apart ship by ship by the Titan-Eater, and all rift suppression procedures had been written into the United Fleet's standard operating manual. Standing on the bridge of the Shield of the Emperor, Heinrich used the newly learned Allied communication format to send a brief battle report to Marcus: "We did it—captured the captain of the Chaos Hulk fleet's remaining flagship alive; currently transporting him to the POW camp. All mining stations have been cleared." He paused for a moment after speaking, then added as if having made a great resolution: "The entire crew of the Shield of the Emperor requests the Joint Fleet Command's approval to replace the Imperial Icon on the ship's prow with the official Allied Forces emblem."

Marcus forwarded the original text of Heinrich's request to all members of the War Council. Bern was silent for a while before slowly speaking: "The Shield of the Emperor is the flagship of the Imperial Navy's Lunar-class Cruisers. Replacing its prow icon means the Allied Forces are no longer a temporary agreement—the Allied Forces are now an army." Oldenburg then added that he had already signed the permanent organizational chart for the Joint Fleet Command, and the integration plan for the Third Assault Fleet and Heinrich's main fleet had been officially approved. He also reminded them: "Although the rift in the Lead-Gray Abyss is temporarily silent, Tzeentch's Error-correction codes are still running deep within the Crystal Labyrinth, and some Tyranid hive ships have yet to be purged."

Marcus nodded and keyed the fleet channel once more: "United Fleet, the first phase of the sweep operation is concluded. All units are to regroup at the Gravity Reef Anchorage. Transship the wounded to the Aeldari Spirit Network and hand over damaged ships to the Necron living metal regeneration pods for repairs." His voice was hoarse but steady. "Let Terra see this battle report as well—the Allied Forces are no longer an experimental framework; the Allied Forces now represent the highest and sole military defense authority in this sector."