The Emperor’s Angel of Death

#2207 - Breaking with tradition

After the Macharian Cross was awarded, it was time for the Storm Eagle, awarded to senior officers and commissars who continued to inspire their soldiers to fight even when their company had suffered over half casualties.

Arnie was among those awarded. When he came to the stage, his breathing became heavy, but he tried to calm himself down.

"You are the soul of the Astra Militarum, you are also the soul of the soldiers. Without your courageous fighting, there would be no glorious victory in this expedition. Your burning faith has become a beacon for the soldiers on the battlefield. Therefore, on behalf of the High Command of the Expeditionary Force, I hereby award you the Storm Eagle, in recognition of your outstanding and brave command strategies."

When Arnie took the medal, Trazyn even gave him a special nod, making the Badab 'acting' governor extremely excited.

After that, a series of medals were awarded to artillery officers, armor officers, combat engineer officers, and other technical arms officers.

The last officer medal was the Steel-Forged Aquila. Soldiers privately called this badge the 'Madman's Eagle,' because it was only awarded to officers who dared to face powerful enemies alone and win. It was also known as the Duelist's Medal. Yarrik had received such a medal for his duel with a Green Skin Warboss.

No more than thirty officers received this medal, including Arnie. His case was also written very clearly: he killed nearly two dozen Space Marines while equipped with a Huntsman armor, and defeated a rampaging Hellbrute and a warband leader.

After the soldier and officer medals were awarded, it was time for the unit citations.

First was the Double-Headed Eagle, awarded to companies that had achieved extraordinary victories. Most of the recipients were companies from elite regiments such as the Catachan Devils, the Cadian Shock Troopers, the Mordian Iron Guard, and the Brontian Longknives.

Then came the Triple Skull Sanctus, awarded to units with a casualty rate of over 60% that still maintained combat effectiveness. The unit that received the most of these medals was the Krieg Death Korps.

The last was the Golden Skull Sanctus, awarded to units with a casualty rate of over 90% that still insisted on fighting. Arnie stood on the stage for the third time to receive a medal, but this did not make him feel proud, and even made him feel somewhat sad.

After the Astra Militarum medals were finished, it was time for the Navy medals.

First was the Eagle Claw, awarded to ace fighter pilots who shot down more than 10 enemy aircraft. The most dazzling of these was Nikitovich of the Navy's 240th Lightning Fighter Squadron. This pilot was still a rookie a year before the start of the Great Crusade, but gradually grew into a super ace in several years of combat. He had a total of 101 confirmed kills of various aircraft, including large flying enemies such as Hell drakes, and had never been shot down himself.

Next was the Meteor Medal, awarded to bomber crews who dared to face dense enemy anti-aircraft fire and launch close-range raids.

Then came the Predator Medal, awarded to gunboats and transport aircraft crew members who performed outstandingly in ground support.

After that came the Duty and Loyalty Medal and the Fearless Medal for junior and mid-level ship commanders.

Finally, there were the medals for the captains.

The first was the Sea Wolf Medal, awarded to captains of small ships who performed well in combat.

The second was the Iron Fortress Medal, awarded to captains who sank 2-5 (depending on tonnage) warships of the same class and whose own ship survived.

The third was the Behemoth Hunter Medal, awarded to captains who sank enemy battleships or warships of the same class with lower tonnage ships (such as heavy cruisers).

The fourth was the Eagle's Nest Master Medal, awarded to captains who sank more than 3 warships with carrier-based air wings.

The last was the Leviathan Medal, awarded to legendary captains who sank more than 5 warships of the same class.

And Vaughn's bastard, Chinedu, was one of the eleven recipients of the Leviathan Medal. However, he was about to leave the Navy soon, but not because his cheap father had given him some new arrangement. In fact, after losing the position of Governor of Badab, Vaughn was not so interested in him for the time being. Perhaps he would stay in the Navy sequence of the Maelstrom as a cruiser captain for a long time, but not long ago he received a mysterious invitation, hoping that he would create a truly great cause.

After meeting with the inviter and talking for a long time, Chinedu finally understood what the other party wanted him to do, and he had long wanted to get rid of the control of that so-called father.

When Trazyn handed the medal to him, Chinedu immediately saluted him and replied meaningfully.

"I will do my best."

Trazyn smiled and nodded in response.

After the Navy, there were some medals belonging to non-combat personnel, mainly the Holy Eagle Servant Medal, which was awarded to the logistics departments of the Expeditionary Force and related auxiliary combat unit personnel to encourage their contributions to the expedition in the rear.

In addition, Trazyn also created medals belonging to the Adeptus Mechanicus.

One was a medal called the Gear of Glory, specially awarded to combat chaplains and tech-priests who were not afraid of artillery fire and stood firm on the front lines. The other was the Holy Circuit Medal, used to commend the tech-priests who saved warships with their technical abilities at the most critical moments of the ships. There was also the Mechanical Heart Medal, which was awarded to the Magi who commanded the Protector Guard and combat robot formations in major battles during the expedition. This was also the first time that the Imperial Armed Forces had awarded medals to members of the Adeptus Mechanicus.

Many people actually had opinions on this decision, especially the Department of the Army and the Ecclesiarchy, because the Adeptus Mechanicus was not included in the official armed forces of the Empire in most cases. Priests were more regarded as non-combat personnel. This separation was also a manifestation of the dual system of the Empire. However, Trazyn's idea was very simple. So many tech-priests sacrificed in battle, no matter what they believed in, there was no reason to obliterate their achievements because of tradition and convention. Even if there was a separation, efforts should be made to eliminate it, rather than deepen it.

Things that have always been the case are not necessarily right.

The Ecclesiarchy considered it more from the aspect of propaganda. They believed that the awarding of medals should highlight the power of believers and faith.

Of course, Trazyn naturally ignored them.

Trazyn's decision was unanimously approved by the Forge Worlds, including representatives from Mars. For those tech-priests and Magi, it was a very rare thing to go on stage to receive medals in full view of the public, and it was undoubtedly a great opportunity to increase their reputation. Therefore, they also attached great importance to this matter, so that there was a brief but fierce game within the Adeptus Mechanicus on the selection of award recipients.

When the priests and Magi walked onto the stage one by one, the music played by the cherubs suddenly changed from Ecclesiarchy hymns to binary prayers, which made the Ecclesiarchy people present frown, with no one looking happy.

But Trazyn didn't bother to care so much anymore, anyway, people would soon leave and the tea would be cold.

After handing the medals to everyone one by one, the award ceremony finally reached the last, and also the most critical part, the awarding of medals to the Astartes monks.