The Emperor’s Angel of Death

#2204 - Terra Star (Part 1)

“Battles are fought with swords and guns, but on battlefields filled with challenges and desperate death, you alone fight with your souls. It is because of your presence that soldiers have their strongest support. To them, you are the embodiment of the Emperor's mercy, the remedy to recover from pain and continue to fulfill their duties. You are the most beloved and respectable people on the battlefield. Therefore, on behalf of the Expeditionary Force High Command, I hereby award you the Crimson Skull Medal in recognition of your great achievements in saving lives.”

With that, Sorshyan personally opened the gold-red boxes one by one and handed them to each person.

The second group to come on stage were the recipients of the Scarlet Medal, a common award given to veteran Astra Militarum soldiers. It is usually only awarded for performing the most difficult tasks and challenges, holding their ground after most of their comrades have fallen, or defeating enemies far stronger than themselves. Therefore, this medal is most often awarded posthumously.

However, nearly three hundred veterans still received the medal alive. Almost all of them were disabled, and many were disfigured. Only about twenty were complete.

In fact, more people should have been able to receive it, but the statistics were a big problem, and the Department of Munitorum's review standards became very strict at this time. Anyone with a record of 'misconduct' would be disqualified.

But this was, after all, internal work for the Department of Munitorum, and Sorshyan could not interfere too much with the details.

“Salute the heroes! It is you who charged forward with your ordinary bodies, paving the road to victory for humanity and the Throne. No matter how human-like those heretics may seem, they are all defeated by your fearless courage! Therefore, on behalf of the Expeditionary Force High Command, I hereby award you the Scarlet Medal in recognition of your extraordinary courage and amazing strength on the hellish battlefield. You are true heroes.”

Similarly, Sorshyan personally opened the gold-red boxes one by one and handed them to each person.

But the first veteran to receive the medal, who had lost both legs and one arm, only had one leg replaced with a prosthetic, so he still had to use crutches. When he received the medal, he looked at Sorshyan with his only remaining eye and said:

“Sir, I am not a hero. The real heroes are those who died on the battlefield.”

Sorshyan was silent for a moment, then nodded and said:

“Yes, but that does not diminish your merits. We mourn the deceased, and we also salute the heroes!”

The veteran heard this, held the medal in his hand, pressed it to his forehead, and sobbed uncontrollably.

Sorshyan didn't know what he had experienced, but at this moment he seemed to be able to do nothing but turn to the second person.

The third batch were the recipients of the Star of Terra, the highest honor a soldier could receive while alive, awarded by the Department of Munitorum. Even Sorshyan was stunned by the review process, because to meet those standards, frankly, even ordinary Space Marines would find it difficult.

However, there were indeed such individuals in this expedition.

There were a total of nine of them.

The first to come on stage were three Catachans, all of whom were famous: 'Stone Tooth' Hack, Mabo Rice, and 'Iron Hand' Stark.

Sorshyan had heard of all three of these names, and they were living legends, so legendary that most Space Marines could not match them. However, Stark himself was a Colonel, and as a senior officer, he should not have received a soldier's medal. However, the Department of Munitorum gave a seemingly reasonable and strange explanation: Colonel Stark received this medal because he repeatedly charged into enemy lines single-handedly during combat, and during the final battle of Destruction Moon, when the entire regiment was forced to retreat, he and the other two formed a special squad and actually counter-attacked into the Savage Crucible derelict ship, where they swept all before them with amazing combat power, destroying a Chaos portal and also dismantling a dozen Daemon Engines and two Hellbrutes along the way.

Okay, that was indeed ridiculous and legendary enough. Sorshyan had also asked about their combat experience, and he could only say that anything was possible for something that could kill a Chaos Space Marine with one punch. It was possible that those Chaos Space Marines in the Savage Crucible were running out like madmen to avoid these three.

And there was no need to introduce the deeds of 'Stone Tooth' Hack and Mabo Rice. The number of Chaos Space Marines killed by these two in combat was in the double digits, and there was no dispute about that. In fact, this was not the first time they had received the Star of Terra medal. Rice Mabo even held the record for the most Star of Terra medals for currently serving Imperial officers, with eleven.

Sometimes Sorshyan wondered what it would be like to turn Catachans into Space Marines?

But that was just a thought.

Of the other six, there were 2 Ogryns, 1 Combat Psyker, 1 Tempestus Scion, 1 Company Chaplain, and 1 Veteran.

Those two Ogryns were also very legendary. They both came from the Ocan Rockbreakers, an all-Ogryn regiment, and their award came mainly from their 'assassination experience'.

That's right, assassination. At first, Sorshyan thought he had misread it.

The Ocan Rockbreakers participated in the bloody Siege of Badab. During that battle, a Nurgle warband leader contaminated their regiment's field kitchen, causing all the food to spoil. The regiment was furious and organized an assassination attempt against that Nurgle heretic - a squad of four 'Bonehead' Ogryn veterans, without notifying any friendly forces or superiors, went deep into the underground city of Badab, and after a legendary battle, they actually managed to kill that Nurgle Space Marine, and two of them even came back out.

Frankly, Sorshyan thought he was already a person with a rich imagination, but he still couldn't imagine how four Ogryns - even so-called Boneheads - could 'silently' pass through the enemy's layers of defense, penetrate to the command post, and 'assassinate' a Nurgle Space Marine who knew dark witchcraft.

If the Department of Munitorum hadn't guaranteed that it was indeed true, Sorshyan would have suspected that someone was faking it.

And that combat psyker belonged to a relatively rare Astra Militarum regiment, the Anthos Tunnel Rats Siege Regiment, number 12 Siege Regiment.

Anthos is an ancient hive world. The planet consists of hives and barren wastelands. Due to its ancient history, the huge hive clusters have bottomless underworlds, consisting of layers of underground cities and complex tunnel networks, which have spawned a large number of underhive and lower hive gangs. They fiercely compete for territory and precious resources in order to survive, resulting in brutal and endless gang wars. This is the soil from which the Anthos Tunnel Rats Regiment recruits. When they are conscripted due to the Imperial tithe, these soldiers are already experts in underground warfare and street fighting, and can be regarded as the most steadfast close-quarters combat soldiers in the Astra Militarum.