Compared to the Inquisitorial fleet dispatched to investigate, those who managed to translate from the warp amidst the daemonic tides were the fortunate ones. Across the surrounding sectors, countless Imperial vessels caught in the void were shattered instantly by the empyrean surge or claimed as trophies by Neverborn entities. At least dozens of fleets, ranging from minor flotillas to major battle groups, vanished utterly into the warp. Furthermore, over ten Imperial task forces holding the line against the Necrons near the Pariah Nexus were decimated by sudden daemonic incursions.
Meanwhile, Axion's mechanical fleet rapidly reached the borders of the T'au Empire.
News of Commander Shadowsun's failure and the collapse of the Sixth Sphere Expansion had already filtered back to the empire. Fragmented T'au flotillas lingered near the blast zones, desperately scanning for survivors. Though loath to admit it, their logic could process a tactical defeat or the routing of a fleet. The reality, however, was far more harrowing than their simulations allowed.
The missing ships had not merely been disabled; they had ceased to exist within the known universe. The search efforts of the remaining vessels were destined to yield nothing but silence.
On the sept world of T'au, Commander Farsight remained unaware that the personification of death was drawing near. The T'au Empire had undergone six expansions, four of which were deemed successful. It now encompassed twenty-one major sept worlds and nearly a hundred subsidiary planets.
Axion had no intention of wasting time on the periphery. The mechanical fleet made a direct translation toward the T'au homeworld itself: T'au.
As the birthplace of the species, its defenses were formidable, boasting a void-presence far exceeding that of an expansion fleet. The reason was simple: its proximity to Ultramar, the domain of the Ultramarines. Without a massive standing fleet, the sons of Guilliman would have purged these xenos long ago. Only the deterrent of a massive naval presence and the prospect of catastrophic attrition kept the Imperium from committing the resources necessary to eradicate this burgeoning xenos power.
Compared to the Orks who sought only ruin, the Tyranids who hungered for all biomass, the Necrons who desired the extinction of life, and the forces of Chaos who offered the galaxy in sacrifice, the T'au were an insignificance. Their threat profile paled in comparison to the Imperium's greater foes. Beset on all sides, the Adeptus Terra was forced to relegate such minor targets to the bottom of the ledger while addressing more existential crises.
Even Roboute Guilliman understood that the T'au were, in the grand scheme, negligible. Had the Imperium not been drowning in total war, the 500 Worlds of Ultramar alone could have scoured the T'au Empire from the stars, albeit at a significant cost.
But the state of the Imperium was dire. The 500 Worlds now shouldered the burden of nearly half the galaxy. The number of Ultramarines and their Successor Chapters active across the Imperium had swelled to surpass even the strength of the original Legion. During the Great Crusade, the XIII Legion had maintained a peak strength of roughly 200,000 Astartes. Today, the total number of Ultramar-descended warriors active in the galaxy exceeded 450,000.
Beyond the Ultramarines' parent Chapter, their Successors were as numerous as the stars. Chapters such as the Angels of Fury, the Avenging Sons, and the Obsidian Glaives. In essence, they were all Ultramarines.
Of the nearly one million loyalist Adeptus Astartes in the galaxy, the remaining 600,000 were comprised of the Imperial Fists, Dark Angels, Iron Hands, Space Wolves, Blood Angels, White Scars, Raven Guard, and Salamanders. The Space Wolves and Raven Guard were among the most depleted, their numbers hovering near a mere 10,000. The Blood Angels were still reeling from the Devastation of Baal, and the Dark Angels had seen their ranks decimated following the heavy fighting in the Somnium Stars. Had Guilliman and Axion not arrived in time, the scions of the First Legion might have lost another twenty percent of their strength. The sons of the Khan fared little better than the Dark Angels in terms of current deployment numbers.
The Imperial Fists, however, maintained a stronger presence. Although the Black Templars and the gilded warriors of the Imperial Fists often seemed ideologically irreconcilable, it was undeniable that the Templars' numbers had long since eclipsed their progenitor Chapter. While the official Black Templar rolls might suggest a standard Codex-compliant strength, they bypassed such restrictions through their unique crusading structure and an ever-expanding pool of gene-seed.
As one of the wealthiest and most idiosyncratic Chapters, the Black Templars possessed no Librarians and no dedicated Scout Company. Instead, their Neophytes, serving as a de facto reserve, wore full power armor and fought side-by-side with their mentors. Only when a veteran deemed his apprentice worthy, or when the veteran fell in battle, would the Neophyte inherit the elder's mantle and responsibility. The Chapter would then immediately assign a new Neophyte to the promoted Initiate. Any Black Templar who survived three or four years of service ensured a continuous cycle of recruitment. Consequently, the Black Templars were the only Chapter, alongside the Ultramarines, whose numbers actually increased despite constant warfare.
Beyond them, the Iron Hands, White Scars, and Salamanders formed the remaining pillars of Astartes strength. There were also numerous Chapters of unknown lineage, such as the Librarian-heavy Blood Ravens, the Carcharodons, suspected scions of the World Eaters, and the White Templars, often misidentified as Imperial Fists successors. Furthermore, the Blackshields of the Deathwatch held many warriors whose identities were shrouded in mystery, including those rumored to be loyalists from the Traitor Legions.
It was this million-strong force of Astartes, bolstered by the inexhaustible billions of the Astra Militarum, that barely propped up the crumbling edifice of the Imperium. Before Guilliman's return, this decaying structure relied almost entirely on miracles from the Empyrean. Living Saints appeared frequently across war zones, and the Legion of the Damned manifested with startling regularity to bring final hope to the most desperate sieges.
Now, the tide was turning.
Mechanical vessels of the Iron Men now accompanied the Imperial tithe fleets. Guilliman finally commanded a force that truly did not fear death. Faced with planets in critical condition, the Lord Regent no longer had to agonize over resource allocation. He needed only to notify the Black Ships and dispatch the tithe fleets; the mechanical escorts would provide autonomous protection.
According to reports from the Inquisition, these escort vessels possessed the unique ability to summon their own reinforcements. Several of the first mechanical squadrons tasked with tithe-escort duty encountered rampaging Chaos warbands or xenos raiders. In response, the escort ships autonomously called upon more of their kind. After drowning the enemy fleets in a simple, brutal deluge of firepower, the mechanical legions would descend alongside Inquisitors to the purgatorial battlefields below.
Vast numbers of automatons would darken the skies as they deployed. Whether facing Chaos Daemons, Traitor Astartes, Orks, Drukhari, or Tyranids, the result was invariably the same when facing these "Iron Reapers": the battlefield was scoured of life, and the remains were purified by high-temperature fire.
As for the Necrons, they had been too preoccupied of late to trouble the Imperium.
——————
If you want to read ahead of everyone, go to my pat-reon: pat-re-on.c-om/magnor (remove the hyphen to access normally)