After much discussion, the Iron Hand and the Red Dragon Warband still couldn't understand the logic of the Plague Apostle's actions, and didn't know how to connect the Poison Saint's corpse with the Plague Apostle's invasion of Medusa. They began to wonder if the head of the think tank hadn't actually been inspired by the Golden Throne at all, and that he was just dreaming.

Thinking about it day and dreaming at night, it was really normal for adolescent Astarte to dream of the Golden Armor Emperor.

Putting the Poison Saint on hold, the 5th Expeditionary Fleet began negotiating with the Iron Hand Wargroup and the local Mechanics to build the L-Star Gate in Medusa.

Even of all the Astarte warbands, the Iron Hand is the most maverick.

A standard canonical warband is generally composed of 1,000 men, and every 100 men are organized into 1 company, for a total of 10 companies.

The 1st Company is the Veteran Company, where the most elite and veteran Space Marines of the entire warband gather, and they have access to the best resources in the group, both in terms of weapons and armor. In principle, only veterans of the 1st Company are eligible to wear the precious Terminator armor.

The 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th companies are regular combat companies, and these companies all use similar tactical formations, dividing soldiers into different types of tactical squads to face different combat missions in different situations, and they are the backbone of the war group.

The 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th companies are reserve companies, and these junior soldiers are used as backup substitutes for regular combat companies, and the commander will dispatch the fighters of the reserve company according to the specific situation on the battlefield, mainly for tasks such as mobile support and weak point breakthrough.

The 10th Company is a recruit company, and Astarte recruits who have just completed the transformation operation and have not yet been officially awarded armor will serve in the 10th company as scouts until they pass the recruit inspection period before they can put on the power armor and become a true Star Marine.

The above is the framework for a standard canonical warband in the Astarte Canon written by Robert Killman.

However, as we all know, not all warbands are 'then' to abide by the Astarte Holy Codex, for example, the Space Wolf is completely devoid of Kiliman, and still maintains the Dalian configuration of the Legion period, and the Astarte Holy Code is slightly harder than toilet paper for them.

Although the Iron Hand, as a start-up group, also has a standard combat group of 10 companies, its company is not divided into a recruit company, a veteran company, a combat company, etc., as stipulated in the Astarte Holy Codex, but corresponds to the human clans and tribes on Medusa.

Medusa's harsh environment does not allow for the birth of a stable planetary government, and the planet is ruled by at least 10 different human clans in a tribal fashion, which are in competition with each other, corresponding to the 10 companies of the Iron Hand Warband. Their soldiers do not communicate with each other, and specific companies are only recruited in certain clans.

For example, the soldiers of the 1st Company of the Iron Hand are all from the Avini clan, and the soldiers of the 4th Company are all from the Kalgur clan...... Each clan represents the source of a company of Space Marines, and in this way the Iron Hand binds itself to its home planet, Medusa, forming a de facto military monopoly, and outside forces cannot penetrate Medusa at all, not even the slightest.

Thus, unlike other sectors controlled by the bloated bureaucracy of the Imperial aristocracy, Medusa is a planet that is almost entirely controlled by space marines.

The 5th Expeditionary Fleet did not encounter any political stumbling here, and the Iron Hand, who advocates machinery and technology, quickly reached an agreement with the 5th Expeditionary Fleet after learning about the function of the stargate and the fact that the other sectors of the empire were already connected to the stargate network.

It can be said that since the launch of the Terra Expedition, this was the smoothest negotiation of the expeditionary fleet.

While the construction of the Medusa Star Gate was in full swing, in the Eye of Fear, a badly damaged fleet that had not been effectively repaired slowly came to the sky above an inconspicuous barren planet and anchored.

They are the 'Apostles of Plague' repelled by the Iron Hand, a rabble of people who have lost their faith in their gods and gathered on the planet of the demonic world of Nurgle, chasing the non-existent hope of the lies of the Lord of Change.

A humanoid monster covered in blue-purple bird feathers stood on the bridge of the broken battleship, staring at this lifeless patchwork fleet, and shook its head helplessly: "After all, it's just a group of rabble, and it is still difficult for some strong people to rely on you to capture the home planet of the Iron Hand." ”

If a high-ranking monk of the Order of Truth was here, he would be able to recognize it at a glance, and this humanoid monster covered in bird feathers was none other than the Tzeentch Demon 'Drowned Asker' who had appeared in the Battle of the Solar Flare Galactic System, and every feather on its body had a bloodshot eyeball growing at the root, which was the most striking feature of the drowned Asker.

Behind the drowned Asker, stood a burly giant in a human-skin cloak, the titular leader of the plague apostles, the leader of the Nurgle Warband 'Bacteriophage', Duke Zakharov of Decay.

The Phage Gang is a war gang that is not very favored by the loving father, although they believe in the loving father, but because their war style is too radical and cruel and disgusted by the loving father, the soldiers of the bacteriophage war gang have never been able to get the blessing of Nurgle - this has made them a blessing in disguise, because they have not been blessed by the subspace, they were not killed on the spot when the loving father died, and became the only remaining Chaos Gang of Nurgle who believed in Nurgle.

Today, the Phage Warband is at the heart of the Plague Apostles.

Zakharov's posture at this moment was humble, and he stood respectfully behind the side of Tzeentch the Great Demon Drowned Aske, and said cautiously: "Please give us another chance, although this invasion of Medusa has not succeeded, the Iron Hand has also been severely damaged by us, and it will take time for them to recover." As long as we find a suitable fighter to strike again, we will be able to ......."

"Surely we will succeed in capturing the corpse of the Poison Saint?" Arsk, the Drowned, asked playfully.

"Uh......" Zakharov had a look of embarrassment on his face.

He really can't guarantee that he will succeed next time, Medusa is the home planet of a start-up wargroup after all, and this planet has long been made into an iron bucket by the hand of steel, and there is no place for needles, so he can only attack head-on.

The Drowned Asker giggled, "See, that's all you have for your Father? Such a rabble, even with the guidance of the Lord of Change, would be a fantasy to resurrect the gods you believe in...... You can't even pass the first hurdle in front of you, so how can you talk about the future? ”

Zakharov bowed his head in shame: "Yes, the Lord of Change has shown us the way, but we can't even cross the first step of this path......"

Yes, it is the Lord of Change who unites the remnants of the Nagel believers and unites them into the Apostles of the Plague.

Tzeentch had made a promise to the followers of the Father-loving through the mouth of Arsk the Drowned. The Lord of Change claims that if the followers of Nurgle are able to successfully collect a few specific artifacts in the galaxy, the Lord of Change will have a way to resurrect the dead Nurgle and re-establish him as an eternal god in the High Heavens.

The treasures were: the Poison Saint's Throat, Javo Rash Sample, Plasma Core, Infinity Root, the Last Bao, Perpetual Spinning Top, Plague Cauldron...

Despite Tzeentch's reputation as a god of trickery and deception, the Plague Apostles chose to follow the advice of Arsk, the drowning demon of Tzeentch, in order to resurrect their gods. But to their despair, they couldn't even get the first of these treasures, the poison saint's throat.

The Medusa line of defense of the Iron Hand is desperately strong.

(End of chapter)