The direct reason that led to the separation between Andal and Huron was that in 718.M41, after Huron crushed a failed coup, he put the ruler's coat on himself, proclaimed himself the Lord of Badab, and announced that Badab would be conquered.
The surrounding areas including the Dabu system were all turned into private property of the war group. At that time, Andal strongly opposed Huron's move, believing that such a rough and hasty crossing of the border would cause a strong backlash from all sides. The nobles and merchants seemed vulnerable.
But if they unite to oppose, the matter will easily go to Terra. Andal's suggestion is to let Huron slowly take advantage of it and slowly expand the war group's influence in the Maelstrom by supporting agents.
Obviously, Huron couldn't listen at all at that time. The extremely disappointed Andal seemed to have foreseen the drastic changes that might happen to the war group in the future. In addition, Huron was disgusted by his dissuasion. Andal chose to leave the war group and go to the Death Watch.
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The place where Andal chose to serve was Ilioch Watch Fortress, which is located in the Jericho sector. Its main enemies are the infiltration and invasion of the Tau Empire and the attack of the Tyranid Dagon fleet. It is also the main direction of the Achilles expedition.
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Until his return to the Maelstrom, Andal served in the Achilles Expedition.
In the Achilles Expeditionary Force, Andal successfully gained the attention of the expeditionary force commanders through his ruthless fighting methods and keen political sense, especially his relationship with the expeditionary force's supreme lord commander Sebiasco.
Ebongrave's personal contacts are considered a valuable asset by the Lord of the Death Watch. Only he can control the complex political life of the expeditionary force, control the increasingly crazy behavior of Commander Ebongrave, and ensure that he
Will not affect Deathwatch operations at Canis Salient.
"Loyal warriors should not be implicated by their past identities. The Empire is strict enough in all aspects. As the Adeptus Astartes, we do not need to be more strict."
After hearing Soshyan's words, Andal looked meaningfully at the expedition commander with his remaining right eye and said in a deep voice:
"I have to say, Commander-in-Chief Soshyan, in some ways, you do look a lot like the Huron of the past."
"Andal, you are so rude."
A clear rebuke sounded from the Sartak loudspeaker.
"Withdraw that inappropriate metaphor."
Soshyan raised his hand.
"It doesn't matter, more than one person said that."
Then he asked:
"So in your opinion, Captain Andal, what is the difference between me and Huron?"
"Just judging from the way he behaves, you know how to use and adapt to the rules better than he does. Although Huron has always behaved like a political veteran in the past, he still has an extremely naive side. He is impatient and wants to create his own rules. Once
If he doesn't get what he wants, he will become furious, and at the same time he cannot hide his prejudice against mortals. Although Astartes is indeed fundamentally superior to ordinary people, and although he knows how to unite allies, his vision is still too narrow, limited to temporary emotions and
In terms of interests, the initial unhappiness with the Black Templar was completely unnecessary, causing the war group to lose a possible ally."
Soshyan raised his eyebrows slightly. He had heard Sartak introduce the company commander of the fleeing battle group. Sartak's evaluation of Andal was that this man and Huron are almost the two sides of the same coin. If
It was he who became the Chapter Master. The outcome of Star Claw may have been different, but it may have been destroyed in the war. The biggest problem with Andal is that he despises mortals even more than Huron. This man completely failed in battle.
Treating mortal troops as expendable resources, any losses are completely tolerable, and Huron will at least be kind to the Chapter's auxiliaries and the mortals willing to follow him.
But there is no doubt that Andal hid his contempt very well. It is no wonder that Sartak evaluated this man as a "political animal".
If it weren't for the fact that there was really no one left in Star Claw, Saltak wouldn't want to be in the same boat with him.
Soshyan nodded.
"Captain Andal, although the Sartak brothers said they were looking for you, I planned to send a message to the Death Watch after the expedition was over. Now you have returned to the Maelstrom on your own initiative. Do you have any plans? Or are you talking about it?
What news and rumors have you heard?”
Andal didn't say anything, but took out a scroll and handed it to Soshyan.
After taking the parchment, Soshyan opened it and was stunned. Then he raised his head and said to Andal:
"Have you lifted your oath of watch?"
"Yes, now I am no longer Captain Andal Skarian of the Watch Company, I am Andal Skarian of the Star Claw."
"Then what are your plans in the future?"
"Complete this expedition first. There will be a lot of time to talk about it in detail later."
Since Andal said this, Soshyan did not continue to ask further questions and asked him to temporarily serve as his tactical advisor. After all, he was once the commanding officer of the Star Claws, although there are not many Star Claws left in the Red Pirates now.
Even as Soshyan was making final preparations for the decisive battle, he did not forget about another uncontrolled battle group, the Man-Eating Sharks.
According to the latest news, the Man-Eating Shark Chapter has also been swimming near the Magg Star Cluster. Although they did not show any target, they just attacked a few unimportant red pirates to occupy the world and captured a large number of residents above.
Soshyan also knew the virtues of this group of people, so he was not surprised, but he still recognized the combat effectiveness of this ancient war group. He used astropaths several times to send messages, hoping that Tiberian could join the battle sequence, at least in this decisive battle.
Put some force in the middle.
But there was no response from the other party, and Soshyan had no choice but to hope that the other party would not cause trouble. However, judging from the way the other party acted, he actually had some guesses. The Man-Eating Shark Chapter might be planning to attack Huron.
During the decisive battle between the main forces, attack the opponent's last foothold in the Maelstrom, the Mago Galaxy.
I have to say that this kind of peach picking behavior is still very disgusting, but that's the case with sharks. They don't care about honor or what other people think of them.
But will Huron really ignore these "old rivals"?
You must know that the Shark Chapter was one of the groups that dealt the greatest blow to the Maelstrom Alliance in the Badab War. Huron should be familiar with their behavioral logic. Soshyan felt that Tiberian's calculations may not be possible.
As wished.
About half a month later, news came from Occam that Huron was about to attack. Soshyan also made final adjustments to his troops. Considering that the pressure on Azrael would be greater, he transferred half of the Mechanicum's fleet to
It was also transferred in this direction, and then issued an order for all-army preparations. All senior commanders must respond 24 hours a day. In order not to expose the intelligence line in advance, Soshyan could not make a big announcement that Huron was coming, but only declared that there was an abnormality in the subspace tide.
Fluctuation may be a sign that the enemy is about to launch an attack, although this may lead people to misunderstand that he is a bit weak.
As for Huron, although he also knew the information that the entire expeditionary force was on alert, he did not change his plan. He also knew that once a large chaotic group like the Red Pirates started to move collectively, it was almost impossible to hide the plan.
It's simple to say the least. It's not a "raid" per se, so the concealment requirements aren't very high.
As time went by for one day and two days, a tense atmosphere gradually filled the Kara galaxy and its surrounding areas.