182: Imperial Counterattack

After reading the battle report, Han Zhe stared intently at the star map before him, his thoughts racing.

The edge of the abyssal scythe had cooled at the fringe of the Extragalactic systems, and the smoke of the Soul Hunters had dissipated among the wreckage of the Aeldari Webway. The Human Federation's dual-front lightning strikes had once again demonstrated its cold, ruthless efficiency and ever-expanding power to the galaxy.

At this very moment, Guilliman—Primarch of the Ultramarines, Regent of the Empire, and leader of the Indomitable Crusade—sat upon the grand command throne of the macragges honour. His expression was as calm as ten-thousand-year-old ice, but the fire burning in his eyes was enough to ignite the stars.

Battle reports of the Far East Star Sector falling like an avalanche, news of the destruction of the Aeldari Craftworld Saim-Hann, and the Human Federation's increasingly blatant and fundamental denial of the Emperor's sacred order were like three red-hot iron brands, repeatedly searing the Empire's already battered dignity and patience.

"It can no longer be tolerated." Guilliman's voice was not loud, yet it carried a weight that silenced the entire command deck. This heretical tumor calling itself the Human Federation was no longer a mere irritation on the border.

It was tearing at the Empire's body, sucking its blood, and corroding humanity's faith in the Emperor and its own definition of existence with a systemic heresy far more dangerous than Chaos.

The loss of the Far East Star Sector shook the very foundations of Imperial rule; the destruction of Saim-Hann proved they had no bottom line or reverence; and the genetic overwriting they performed was the most naked desecration of the God-Emperor!

He stood up, his massive Primarch frame casting a shadow that loomed over the strategic star map. On the map, the Human Federation's dark-gold territories resembled two rapidly expanding cancerous growths: one in the southeast (the former Segmentum Obscurus and the edge of the Eye of Terror) and one in the east (the newly occupied Far East Star Sector), forming a pincer movement against the Empire.

"We have no room to retreat, and no time to delay any longer." Guilliman's gaze swept across every High Lord representative, Chapter Master, and Departmento Munitorum official present. "The main force of the Indomitable Crusade must immediately shift its strategic focus. While the threat of Chaos remains, the threat of the Human Federation is an imminent matter of life and death for the Empire!"

"I hereby declare: Initiate the Sacred Reckoning Campaign!"

"Campaign Objective: At all costs, contain and deal a heavy blow to the Human Federation's expansion momentum, reclaim key lost territories, and use thunderous means to demonstrate to the entire galaxy the Empire's determination and power to defend the faith in the God-Emperor and human orthodoxy!"

The campaign deployment was divided into eastern and western fronts:

"Eastern Front, Main Counterattack: I will personally command the elite of the Indomitable Crusade's main fleet, including over two thousand Imperial Battleships, fifty Adeptus Mechanicus arks, six Shrine World Fortress Ships blessed by Living Saints, and over 150,000 various warships, supported by over a hundred companies from the Astartes Chapter. We will strike directly at the most prominent and relatively weak junction of the Human Federation's Eastward Torrent front. Target system: the Fortress World of Indomitus. Here, we will fight a pitched battle to shatter the myth of the Human Federation's invincibility and use it as a pivot to launch a counter-offensive."

"Western Front, Containment and Harassment: Multiple special strike groups composed of the Inquisition, the Officio Assassinorum, mobile Astra Militarum formations, and loyalist Adeptus Mechanicus branches will be formed. Utilizing our familiarity with the terrain of Segmentum Obscurus and the remaining loyalist networks, they will launch continuous guerrilla warfare, sabotage, and propaganda campaigns against the Human Federation's controlled areas, logistics lines, and the edge nodes of the Eye of Terror Firmament Network. This will pin down their forces, create chaos, and destabilize their rule in newly annexed regions."

"Simultaneously, I request and authorize the Ecclesiarchy to launch the largest-scale faith mobilization and Penitent Crusade. We must let every Imperial world know that the God-Emperor's wrath has been ignited, and the time to fight for the Emperor and purge the heretic has come! Let the torrent of faith become our strongest shield and sharpest spear!"

Guilliman's plan was no longer one of piecemeal defense or local counter-attacks, but a strategic counter-offensive that exhausted most of the strategic power the Empire could currently mobilize, aimed at turning the tide of the war and revitalizing morale. Its strength of determination and scale were rare in the Empire's ten-thousand-year history against a single heretical force.

The news spread across the Empire's territories like a prairie fire of holy flame. High Priests of the Ecclesiarchy stepped out of their cathedrals and into Hive City plazas and the fields of Agri-Worlds, preaching hatred for the Human Federation heretics and loyalty to the Emperor with the most fervent rhetoric, recruiting countless fanatical believers into the Penitent Army.

Mobilization orders from the Departmento Munitorum were issued with unprecedented efficiency, and countless Astra Militarum regiments began to assemble and board ships. The gates of Astartes Monasteries swung open, more Chapters answered the Primarch's call, and ancient battle standards flew once more.

The macragges honour led this massive fleet—a convergence of the Empire's final essence and fury—sailing like an ark carrying humanity's last hope toward the dark abyss of the Far East Star Sector.

Human Federation, Keystone-1 Command Center.

"Large-scale Imperial fleet assembly detected! Energy signature confirmed: Guilliman's flagship, the macragges honour! The fleet scale is massive and continues to increase! Target trajectory points to the Indomitus Fortress system in the Far East Star Sector!" providence's alarm sounded with a rare sense of urgency.

"Finally, they've come." Han Zhe looked at the cluster of light on the star map, as bright as a supernova, representing the Empire's main force. There was no surprise on his face, only a deeper, sunken coldness. "Guilliman leading the charge personally, going all-in... it seems the Empire has truly been backed into a corner."

"Alpha, status of the current defenses in the Indomitus Fortress system."

"The system has only just completed preliminary occupation. Defense facility repairs are under 30%. The garrison fleet is the 3rd Sub-Fleet of the Far East Conquerors, limited in scale, with the main force still clearing remnants further ahead." Alpha-01 reported quickly. If the Imperial main force attacked with full strength, the probability of the system falling exceeded 90%.

"Abandon the Indomitus Fortress." Han Zhe ordered without hesitation, commanding the 3rd Sub-Fleet to retreat in an orderly fashion toward the preset second line of defense, the Iron Wall Star Cluster, after dealing a certain blow to the Imperial vanguard.

Simultaneously, he ordered the main fleet of the Far East Conquerors to immediately abandon their current mopping-up missions and assemble at the Iron Wall Star Cluster at full speed! He ordered the Extragalactic abyssal scythe fleet to stand by for strategic mobile support after completing their refit. He ordered the Firmament Defense Fleet to raise their alert level against Western Front harassment but not to draw away forces for now, while garrison fleets in all Extragalactic sectors were to increase patrols to prevent sneak attacks.

He quickly sketched out new defensive lines and counter-attack routes on the star map.

"Guilliman wants a decisive battle, but we won't give him what he wants. We'll give him the Indomitus Fortress as a sacrificial offering for his victory to boost his pitiful morale. But our main force will wait at leisure in the Iron Wall Star Cluster. The star sector there is complex, our preset defensive positions are complete, and we have new defense modules shipped from Extragalactic space."

At the same time, a cold light flashed in Han Zhe's eyes as he activated the Western Front Purge Protocol. The Inquisition and those Astra Militarum guerrillas wanted to cause trouble for them in Segmentum Obscurus? He would make sure they never returned.

He ordered the Adjudicator Fleets and local defense forces stationed in Segmentum Obscurus to cooperate with the Diting Network and the real-time intelligence of the adjudicators to conduct a dragnet-style purge of the infiltrating Imperial special forces.

He authorized the use of any means, including environment-altering weapons and neural pulse broadcasts, to ensure that in a short time, the Western Front would become a graveyard for Imperial troops, snuffing out their attempts to pin them down.

"Finally, Social Integration Department, activate the Faith Counter Protocol. In areas affected by the Imperial Penitent Crusade and in newly annexed worlds under our control, fully strengthen our ideological propaganda. Focus on exposing the hypocrisy and oppression of the Imperial Ecclesiarchy, promote the efficiency and purity brought by the Human Federation's order, and use the Imperial dark history we possess to deconstruct the Empire's so-called divinity. We must completely dismantle the righteous foundation of the Imperial counterattack on the ideological front."

A series of orders followed—calm, thorough, and highly targeted. The Human Federation was not intimidated by the Empire's all-out counterattack; instead, like a master chess player, they quickly adjusted their layout, prepared to trade space for time and local sacrifices for overall advantage, and launched counter-strikes on multiple fronts simultaneously.

Eastern Front, Indomitus Fortress system. The golden torrent of the Imperial fleet swept in with the force of a collapsing mountain. The remaining Human Federation 3rd Sub-Fleet put up a heroic but doomed resistance. After inflicting some casualties on the Imperial vanguard, they retreated in an orderly fashion according to orders, utilizing the complex asteroid belts and preset interference fields within the system. Guilliman's fleet reclaimed this Fortress World almost without shedding blood. On the planet's surface, the remaining Imperial defenders and the fanatical Penitent Army let out earth-shaking cheers, as if victory were already in their grasp.

But there was no joy on Guilliman's face. He keenly sensed that the Human Federation's retreat was too orderly, and the intensity of resistance was lower than expected. Reconnaissance reports from the Iron Wall Star Cluster showed that a staggering scale of Human Federation fleets was rapidly assembling there, the glow of defensive fortifications forming a cold wall of iron across the stars.

They want to fight the decisive battle with us here. Guilliman stared at the star map and ordered the entire army to establish a forward base at the Indomitus Fortress, but not to advance recklessly.

He sent out high-speed reconnaissance fleets to probe the defenses of the Iron Wall Star Cluster in detail. He ordered the subsequent Penitent Army landing forces to stabilize the planet's defenses as quickly as possible and clear out remaining heretics, but warned against scattering forces deep into the star cluster.

He knew well that the true test had not yet begun.

Western Front, Segmentum Obscurus. Elite Inquisition assassins and Astra Militarum special forces had just slipped into several industrial worlds under Human Federation control, attempting to sabotage key facilities or incite rebellion, only to find themselves caught in an inescapable net. The Diting Network monitored their movements almost in real-time, and patrols from local defense forces and Adjudicator Fleets always appeared exactly where they least expected.

More terrifyingly, the Human Federation employed asymmetric means. On one important energy refining world, they directly released mass sedative aerosols modified from Aidilus Biomass Body pheromones, causing the infiltrating Imperial troops and their potential sympathizers to fall into a state of sleep and compliance lasting several days, after which they were easily captured. On another Hive World, they modified the parameters of the atmospheric processing plants to release non-lethal but extremely uncomfortable neuro-stimulants, triggering large-scale panic and social collapse, leaving the Imperial agitators with nowhere to hide.

The containment actions on the Western Front quickly evolved into a unilateral purge by the Human Federation. Imperial special forces suffered heavy losses yet failed to cause any substantial damage to the Human Federation's rear.

On the ideological front, the media networks and information nodes controlled by the Human Federation began to broadcast carefully edited Imperial truths: footage of the Inquisition massacring entire cities in the name of purification; comparisons between a High Lord's extreme extravagance and the famine of the lower worlds; and the collateral damage and cold-blooded decisions made by certain Astartes Chapters during wars.

Simultaneously, they vigorously promoted the orderly production, efficient and fair distribution, and pure, safe social environment under Human Federation rule.

Although the Human Federation's interior was equally harsh, its external propaganda cleverly cast itself as rational, progressive, and a liberator, forming a sharp contrast with the image of the Empire as decayed, superstitious, and oppressive. The minds of many people on newly annexed worlds, especially the lower classes, began to waver subtly under the contrast between long-term Imperial exploitation and the relatively efficient rule of the Human Federation.

Guilliman soon received reports of the collapse on the Western Front and the disadvantage in the propaganda war. He realized that the Human Federation's counter-strike was all-encompassing, lying not only in military might but also in social control and ideological infiltration. The Empire's traditional modes of warfare appeared cumbersome and inefficient in this confrontation.

"We can delay no longer." Guilliman made his decision. "We must launch the main assault before the Human Federation completely solidifies its Iron Wall Star Cluster defenses and digests its victory on the Western Front! Order: All forces, advance toward the Iron Wall Star Cluster! For the Emperor! For Humanity!"