The Conscript 13th Guard Regiment could be described as a rather legendary Astartes Legion.
This was a small Astartes Legion of the Imperium of Man, numbering over two thousand, with an extremely poor reputation yet surviving for a hundred years.
This was an illegally formed Astartes Legion, supplied by the Astra Militarum with company-level provisions, and sent to various battlefields in an attempt to get them eliminated.
However, over a century, this Astartes Legion still existed, and had survived for a full hundred years.
This unit was the absolute bottom of the barrel among all Imperial Guard units, an Imperial Guard devoid of morale.
A thorn in the side of Imperial Commissars, the Emperor of Mankind's escape angels, the Conscript 13th Guard Regiment, abbreviated as the 13th Regiment.
The birth of this regiment was also quite interesting, originating from a purge of chaos cultists.
A large number of miscellaneous veterans from various regiments survived, and under the illegal operations of the Pacific Segmentum, they were combined into a single regiment.
Although, logically speaking, those who survived a hundred battles should all be veterans, in reality, this was not the case.
The only requirement the Astra Militarum had for the 13th Regiment was to get this bunch of completely unwanted rookies eliminated on the battlefield.
The old timers who initially formed the 13th Regiment were mostly suspected deserters, temporarily conscripted and surviving hive city dwellers.
A few human scumbags that even the chemical dogs of Savlar couldn't tolerate, two Ventrillian nobles who were despised to death.
A squad leader who had wandered the battlefield for two full months without seeing even a single leg hair of a cultist, and had lost 7 Kasrkin for various reasons, an unknown individual suspected to be Catachan.
Plus pure rookies from various worlds without martial virtue, who couldn't even properly use an autogun.
In short, these people were unwelcome in every regiment; the severely wounded and greenhorns among them would affect the average combat strength of any regiment they were assigned to.
Furthermore, finding a home for these remaining few squads was truly difficult.
So, the lords of the Astra Militarum at the time hoped to simply get rid of these unimportant individuals in the next war.
As for the supplies for this regiment, they were naturally defined as company-level, as this regiment was meant to be eliminated as quickly as possible.
The Astra Militarum, or rather, the Astra Militarum of the Pacific Segmentum, must not discover the existence of this regiment.
If discovered, the number of people who would obviously need to be executed would definitely be several times that of this regiment.
This was the formation model of the Conscript 13th Guard Regiment, yet this Guard Regiment was considered the Chosen of the Emperor.
The Astra Militarum repeatedly tried to get them eliminated, but they still survived, and not only survived in this throne of a world for a full hundred years, but also grew more prosperous.
Even at the most intense moments, they voluntarily launched a charge from the world of Cadia, and after House Yaeger and Zeke arrived, they successfully withdrew.
They had grown from their original few squads to now having over 2000 people.
The strength of this regiment was not in offense; their power lay in retreat.
Their formidable retreat capability brought them unparalleled combat power and keen discovery and observation skills.
After they were transferred here, other Astartes Legions had not yet discovered the movements of the necron, but they did.
During a routine patrol by soldiers of the 13th Regiment, still searching for their retreat routes, they discovered the already present necron Warriors.
The gentlemen of the Conscript 13th Guard Regiment's First Company engaged in a fierce battle with the necron Warriors.
After eliminating over 100 necron Warriors, they successfully retreated, leaving only an unseen presence for the enemy.
As for how those 100-plus necron Warriors were eliminated by the Conscript 13th Regiment, it was naturally because these necrons tried to block the 13th Regiment's retreat route.
Almost all necrons blocking the 13th Regiment's retreat route were wiped out by the 13th Regiment like autumn winds sweeping fallen leaves.
From this, one can see the combat power of the Conscript 13th Regiment; this regiment can be described as incredibly powerful.
They absolutely deserve to be called the Chosen of the Emperor's Astra Militarum.
However, their powerful achievements did not receive adequate recognition; even when they began to report this intelligence upwards, they were obstructed by the Astra Militarum.
But as mentioned before, once the existence of the 13th Regiment is known to the lords of the Astra Militarum, or even directly brought to the attention of House Yaeger, the governor of the Segmentum Obscurus, then there is no doubt.
The Conscript 13th Guard Regiment, this irregular regiment, will inevitably appear in everyone's view.
The Astra Militarum of the Pacific Segmentum will inevitably face severe executions.
Zeke, as the Omnissiah, will definitely personally inquire about this matter.
At that time, the number of Astra Militarum personnel who would need to be executed because of this matter would be more than hundreds of millions!
This cannot happen, this absolutely cannot happen!
Those Astra Militarum personnel from the Pacific Segmentum are now regretting it.
They regretted why they had transferred the 13th Regiment here?
The initial idea to transfer the 13th Regiment here was mainly because a major battle was about to break out.
In the Cadia War, they failed to eliminate the 13th Regiment, so they wanted to try if they could succeed here.
Getting rid of the 13th Regiment had become an obsession for the Astra Militarum of the Pacific Segmentum.
But now, the 13th Regiment has discovered such an important matter.
If they report it, then at least hundreds of millions of people in the Pacific Segmentum will be executed because of this matter.
To ensure such a cruel thing does not happen, and also to protect their own houses, personnel from the Astra Militarum of the Pacific Segmentum are now confronting Commissar Kyle, the commissar of the 13th Regiment.
"No, I said no means no! You are to pretend you never saw those necrons, do you understand?!"
A Lord General from the Pacific Segmentum slammed his hand on the table and stood up, looking at the commissar of the 13th Regiment before him.
"Commissar Kyle!"
"Do you understand what I mean? This information absolutely cannot be reported. If it is reported, where should your 13th Regiment be placed?
The 13th Regiment is an illegal Astartes Legion. It's already extremely difficult for us to tolerate your continued existence until now."
"I hope your 13th Regiment can be more understanding and forget about this matter."
"Or I will deploy another Astartes Legion to go and check over there. As for your 13th Regiment, you must remain silent in this incident, just pretend your Astartes Legion doesn't exist, understood?"
This Lord General of the Pacific Segmentum originally intended to simply conceal this matter and not report it, but at the very end, he still chose a compromise solution.
The existence of the 13th Regiment must not be discovered by the Astra Militarum, and the appearance of the necron also meant that some major event required this matter to be reported.
So, between these two matters, he chose a compromise solution.
If the reporting party is not the 13th Regiment, then the credit for eliminating over 100 necron Warriors would mean it has to be shared with other regiments.
Commissar Kyle originally wanted to say something to secure some benefits for his 13th Regiment, but just as he opened his mouth, he was forced to close it again.
The Lord General behind him didn't even bother to talk to him, just waved his hand, signaling him to leave quickly.
The Imperium of Man was never a clear political system; it was full of corruption, it was full of all kinds of corruption.
How could a Lord General be willing to give any rewards to a regiment that the Astra Militarum absolutely had to get rid of?
He wished this regiment would disappear immediately.
Several well-equipped Astra Militarum soldiers stood behind Commissar Kyle, their meaning abundantly clear.
Commissar Kyle turned and left in anger. This time, it was clearly the 13th Regiment's achievement.
Yet it had to be attributed to others. The 13th Regiment didn't even have the right to be angry.
Such treatment was something the 13th Regiment had long grown accustomed to.
But what was important was that this Lord General was actually unwilling to give the 13th Regiment any compensation, which was simply outrageous!
Commissar Kyle left, and the 13th Regiment still couldn't appear in the Imperial Army's order of battle.
Their only purpose in coming here, and the only expectation the military had for them, was for the 13th Regiment to be annihilated in this war.
The annihilation of the 13th Regiment was destined to be impossible.
The Astra Militarum's idea was bound to fall through, and after the commissar of the 13th Regiment left, the Lord General in charge of the matter once again dispatched another Astra Militarum regiment to the area the 13th Regiment had previously explored.
The 13th Regiment had already seen and engaged the necrons.
However, the 13th Regiment's objective was to retreat, so they had no evidence to prove that the necrons had appeared on this planet.
Reporting without evidence would certainly not do; the appearance of necrons was no small matter, so they at least needed evidence of a large-scale necron presence.
The Astra Militarum of the Nebulous Sector had repeatedly and emphatically stressed that once necrons were discovered, it must be reported immediately to the Nebulous Sector Astra Militarum.
Precisely because this matter was so rigorous and serious, they required substantial evidence of necron appearances.
Not just a few necron remnants, or even no remnants at all.
If it was merely a discovery, from the perspective of the Astra Militarum on Kaelthas, it was meaningless.
Therefore, a new Astra Militarum regiment was dispatched to the location where the 13th Regiment had previously discovered necrons.
But unfortunately, by the time this Astra Militarum regiment arrived at the place where the 13th Regiment had found necrons, the necrons had once again withdrawn their forces.
In other words, the Lord General's action of sending another newly formed regiment to investigate was ineffective; the Imperial Army found no further traces of necrons.
Since there were no traces of large-scale necron activity, how could he report this matter, especially since the existence of the 13th Regiment had to be kept secret?
Moreover, the new forces he sent out also found no traces of death, so there was even less need to report it.
Even the necrons probably didn't expect this; they had clearly been discovered by the Human Imperium's army.
But to their surprise, the Human Imperium not only didn't mobilize its army because of their appearance but did nothing at all.
Of course, the necrons did not relax their vigilance because the Human Imperium took no action against them; the mobilization of necron forces began to accelerate further.
Large numbers of necron ground forces began to appear on this planet, and gradually, the traces of necrons became more and more numerous.
And by the time the Imperial Army finally discovered the necron forces, the necrons were already prepared for war.
Nearly 4 million necron Warriors and 600,000 Immortals, supported by Canoptek Constructs, launched their attack!
These necron forces, armed with Gauss Flayers and Tesla Carbines, began their assault on the Imperial Army!
The first Imperial Army unit to be attacked was the Cadian forces, the remnants of the Cadian army that had fought valiantly and were then rescued by the Yaeger family, receiving the first wave of necron strikes.
Large numbers of necron Warriors charged them, and the Cadian soldiers' heavy weapons could no longer be effective, forcing them into close-quarters combat.
The necron forces were terrifying; even if the Cadian forces destroyed them, they could resurrect thanks to the blessings of living metal.
The Cadian soldiers were engaged in a bitter struggle.
The powerful necron infantry units were an almost overwhelming blow to the Astra Militarum of the Human Imperium.
After all, statistically, the necron Warriors of the necrons were almost equivalent to Space Marines.
The 'skeletons' continuously emerged from underground, then launched large-scale attacks on various Human Imperium armies.
Among these Human Imperium armies, the first to react was the Cadian 13th Conscripts.
This 13th Regiment was worthy of the title 'Emperor's Chosen'.
They were the first Astra Militarum regiment to discover the existence of necrons, although this intelligence was not widely circulated within the Astra Militarum.
But the 13th Regiment would not idly watch themselves fall into danger.
The 13th Regiment was a legendary unit; they had participated in the Battle of Cadia.
And they had even survived the Battle of Cadia, completing their evacuation with the help of the Yaeger family.
They had survived an apocalyptic battlefield of that magnitude.
What's more, it was just a necron attack.
Therefore, when the necrons first appeared and attacked the IG, the 13th Regiment's reaction was the quickest.
The 20 companies within the regiment immediately mounted their human-powered bicycles.
"The wind is strong, let's run!"
Colonel Chris Strauss of the 13th Regiment shouted, calling for all the 'old men' of the 13th Regiment to retreat, with 'Dorm Number' at the very front of the retreating force, leading the way for all the troops.
The Cadian 13th Conscripts was a legendary unit.
And their regiment was equipped with a Baneblade tank, which had been modified by a Tech-Priest of the Adeptus Mechanicus.
'Dorm Number' was not a conventional tank or combat weapon; it was more like the 13th Regiment's command center, so 'Dorm Number' had to lead the way at the very front.
The Cadian 13th Regiment retreated all the way, and while retreating, they did not forget to lay down a large number of weapons such as landmines and set up numerous traps to block the necron army's advance.
In the initial period after the necron legion first appeared, the Cadian 13th Regiment was one of the few Astra Militarum regiments that had not encountered necron attacks, and their structure remained intact.
Of course, it might also be because the Cadian 13th Regiment was moving things in the Astra Militarum's warehouse at the time, as if the Astra Militarum didn't provide supplies to the 13th Regiment, then the 13th Regiment would just have to take them themselves.
But besides them, the other Astra Militarum units were not so lucky.
These Astra Militarum regiments at the transfer station had not expected a war to break out here; many Astra Militarum units were attacked by the necron army even before they had time to get their weapons.
Under the initial attack, the Imperium quickly lost an entire continent, and over 10 million Astra Militarum soldiers perished in the first wave of attacks from the 'skeletons'; the necron army was almost unstoppable.
"Reinforcements! We need reinforcements, we are under attack by necrons, we need reinforcements immediately, we need reinforcements!"
With the return of the Yaeger family, the Terran Dominion's communication technology once again began to be equipped in the Imperial Army.
Therefore, the Human Imperium's military command here quickly began to request support from the Yaeger family in the Nebulous Sector.
The appearance of necrons was no small matter; this issue had to be brought to the forefront for serious study.
Thus, this request for aid quickly passed from the Astra Militarum and was transmitted to Zeke.
As the current leader of the Yaeger family, as the ruler of the Terran Dominion, and the highest commander of the Human Imperium at this stage.
Zeke was naturally the highest-ranking individual.
And the appearance of necrons meant the arrival of a larger-scale war; Zeke had to be clear about this.
When the news of the necron attack reached Zeke, even though the Imperium had demonstrated its highest administrative efficiency, it was already the fourth day.
"???"
"So, an urgent intelligence report like this took four days to reach me?"
Although Zeke was well aware that the Imperium's administrative efficiency in delivering this urgent military intelligence to him within four days was already commendable.
He still felt a bit like laughing out of anger, having grown accustomed to the efficient methods of the Yaeger family and the Terran Dominion.
Encountering the operations of the Imperial Astra Militarum again made him a little unaccustomed.
"Never mind, I'll deal with your problems later. Now, tell me immediately, have you dispatched troops to that location for support?!"
"No."
"Regarding whether to provide support, several veteran generals in the Astra Militarum are currently holding a meeting and discussing whether to dispatch troops, which units to send, and how many."
Although he knew that answering this way would undoubtedly incur Zeke's wrath, the head of the Astra Militarum still answered truthfully.
After all, the consequences of lying and telling the truth are entirely different, and if he lied, the consequences would be more than he could bear.
"..."
Zeke fell silent.
Alright.
This was indeed the usual style of the Imperium, and there was nothing more to say about it.
"Now, directly relay my order. Tell the Astra Militarum to stop their discussions immediately and dispatch troops for support.
Tell me which space marine Chapter is stationed on Kaelthas and tell them to hold on!"
The officer from the Astra Militarum who came to report to Zeke thought for a moment before giving an answer that even Zeke had not expected.
"The space marine Chapter stationed there is the Blood Ravens Chapter, and their entire chapter is there now."
??????
Blood Ravens?
Good, good, good!
Among so much bad news, there was finally some good news.
The Blood Ravens Chapter was definitely good news. No one could fully comprehend the combat power of this chapter; they could achieve a one-for-one trade with orks, or they could suffer no casualties at all.
"Issue an order in my name: the Blood Ravens Chapter is to remain in place and must ensure the planet is not lost!"
"Yes!"
The head of the Astra Militarum quickly went to relay Zeke's order. This was an Emperor who was on equal footing with the God-Emperor, so they had to obey the command.
After the head of the Astra Militarum left, Zeke opened his communication channel and issued a new order.
"Order the Ninth Patrol fleet to proceed to Kaelthas now. The transport fleet will bring the 69th Attack Legion."
"Depending on the situation, if the necron forces are more numerous, request support at any time."
Zeke had not yet figured out the exact number of necron forces, so he decided to send an attack legion to test the waters first.
At the same time, he also hadn't clarified the strength of the necron fleet, so he only planned to send a patrol fleet to assess the situation.
At this moment, Zeke's attention was still drawn to the tyranids; his focus remained on the tyranid scourge.
After issuing these two orders, Zeke turned his gaze back to the Great Devourer, far beyond the Milky Way galaxy.
Others might not be able to see the existence and trace of the Great Devourer, but Zeke could. He could clearly see the speed of the Great Devourer's advance in the Warp.
After Zeke's order was issued, the Astra Militarum immediately reached a conclusion, and they began to mobilize 60 million Astra Militarum troops, preparing to head to Kaelthas.
This place was an important transit hub and could not be lost. These 60 million Astra Militarum were only the first wave of support, and soon, support from other parts of the Imperium would continuously arrive.
The Blood Ravens Chapter, which was already stationed there, also received a direct order from the Emperor, transmitted jointly by the Astra Militarum and the Adeptus Astartes.
"Hold Kaelthas until Imperial reinforcements arrive. You must never abandon this planet, even if the entire chapter perishes here, it must be so!"
"This is a direct order from the Emperor. You must hold out for four days. After four days, support from the Astra Militarum and reinforcements from the God-Emperor will arrive!"
Chapter Master Gabriel Angelos looked at the document in his hand, which explained the military order, and didn't know what to say.
The Blood Ravens Chapter, also known as the "Sticky Fingers" Chapter, was stationed at this transit planet precisely because there were many good things there.
Since the Imperium was basically a civilization under Zeke's command, Zeke also began to provide them with military equipment.
Batch after batch of military equipment had already begun to be supplied to the Imperium's armies, including Null-element power armor.
This top-tier equipment was not something ordinary soldiers could be equipped with; at least, with Zeke's current production capacity, it was not enough to achieve this. Therefore, only a small number of elites, high-ranking generals, or officers could be equipped.
Only those recognized by the God-Emperor could be equipped with such weapons, and almost two sets of such high-level armor were transported out of this transit hub every month.
For these Null-element armors, the Sticky Fingers Chapter remained here. So far, their chapter had already "acquired" 12 sets of Null-element power armor.
Their gains were quite substantial, but despite such rich rewards, they were now forced to remain on this planet, preparing to engage in battle with the necrons.
Gabriel Angelos looked at the increased supplies and equipment within the chapter.
Then he looked at the request and order sent by the Astra Militarum, and he didn't know whether this was a loss or a gain.
For the God-Emperor, this planet was too important; even the Blood Ravens Chapter could not retreat.
However, with only one chapter facing such an endless stream of necrons, they didn't know what to do.
"Chapter Master, the scout squad reports that the necron Immortal legions are advancing towards the Mechanicus forge world."
Chief Librarian Diomedes's voice rang out on the comms channel, "Their phase shields are interfering with our orbital scans, so we cannot accurately estimate enemy numbers."
Angelos's fingers tapped on his data-slate, his brows furrowed.
Although the Blood Ravens Chapter had "collected" many good things, they were still at a disadvantage against an enemy of the necrons' caliber.
"It doesn't matter. The Astra Militarum' order is for us to hold this planet until their reinforcements arrive, so we must hold it. This is the duty of a space marine Chapter."
"This order comes from the Emperor, so we cannot disobey it.
Order our battle-brothers to prepare. This battle will be tough."
They had to hold out for four days, but the number of necron forces detected so far was well over a million.
"Have the battle-brothers bring out all our good stuff. Have everyone get ready; we're in big trouble now."
"Don't you dare wear all the Null-element power armor. Bring me a set; I need one too."
"As for my Terminator armor, I'll leave that to you."
Alright.
No matter how powerful the necrons were, the most important thing was to put on the best equipment first.
There were only 12 sets of Null-element power armor in the chapter, and these 12 sets virtually meant invulnerability.
No weapon could harm them, so this equipment had to be worn by someone like him, a Chapter Master, to act as a spearhead.
As his command was given, 1,000 Space Marines of the Blood Ravens Chapter were ready for battle, with the company captains, clad in null-matter power armor, standing at the forefront.
The Blood Ravens Chapter was distinctly different from other space marine Chapters.
Among their many distinctions, the most notable was that every soldier in the Blood Ravens Chapter carried a sacred relic.
For example, they now held Dorn's Hammer, Rogal's Fist, Sister of Battle's Bane, a complete set of Custodes armor, and Custodes Terminator armor.
They also possessed the Emperor's Will Custodes Bolter, a set of Grey knights Purifier Armor, and Skarbrand's Hammer of Fear.
Furthermore, they safeguarded relics for other Chapters, such as the Flying Loriman's Doomhawk Claws, the Heretic Executioner Iktaka War-Steed, and the Purgatory Armor.
They also held the Ascended One's Sacred Bolter.
This bolter was once carried by Marneus Calgar during his service in a Tactical Squad.
Additionally, there was a Thunder Hammer from the Age of Apostasy, once wielded by High Marshal Sigismund of the Black Templars.
And these were just a few examples.
Indeed, the Blood Ravens were known to pilfer anything, and these were merely some of the more conspicuous items in their collection.
Almost every Blood Ravens soldier carried various sacred relics, acquired from numerous Chapters.
No one knew how the Blood Ravens had amassed these items.
And this was the first time the Blood Ravens had brought out all of these treasures.
Perhaps it was due to the overwhelming pressure of this war, with countless necron forces continuously emerging, leaving the Blood Ravens with no choice.
Legions of necron Immortals surged forward like a tide, their gauss weapons flashing with deadly green light, instantly disintegrating any matter struck into molecular dust.
"Fire!"
The Blood Ravens' bolters unleashed a volley, but ordinary bolter rounds had limited effect against the necrons' living metal. However, it was different for the warriors wielding sacred relics—
The "Emperor's Will" Custodes Bolter struck the Immortals' chest plates, directly tearing apart their quantum cores.
"Skarbrand's Hammer of Fear" slammed into the ground, its shockwave shattering dozens of necron Warrior constructs.
The psychic barrier of the "Grey knights Purifier Armor" even deflected gauss weapon beams, causing the necrons' attacks to rebound upon themselves.
All of this demonstrated the immense power contained within these sacred relics, which the Blood Ravens had been entrusted to manage.
However, even with the Blood Ravens fighting with all their might, they still couldn't change the overall situation.
Endless necron forces continuously launched attacks in their direction, almost unstoppably.
The Astra Militarum forces were no match for the necrons.
Even the Cadians were steadily retreating under the necron onslaught, and among the Astra Militarum, the 13th Regiment was arguably the fastest to withdraw.
After engaging the necrons, the soldiers of the 13th Regiment immediately began a new round of retreat.
As they retreated, they left behind numerous traps, which inflicted heavy casualties on the charging necrons.
Unlike other Imperial armies, the Cadian 13th Regiment had thoroughly mastered the art of escape during their recent deployment.
Relying on their understanding of the terrain and a series of contingency plans, the 13th Regiment was virtually unstoppable in their retreat.
After a day of fierce fighting by the Blood Ravens and Imperial forces, when everyone wanted to assess the battle's outcome, the Imperial Departmento Munitorum regrettably discovered that the 13th Regiment had achieved the best results.
In a day of fleeing, they had eliminated over a thousand necron Warriors!
However, this was only one day of conflict.
When the second day of fighting dawned, the situation became even more critical.
The skies of Kaeltharos were torn by the green light of gauss weapons and the fiery tongues of bolters, and the Blood Ravens' defensive line wavered under the necrons' surging assault.
Gabriel Angelos stood at the very front of the battle line, the energy patterns of his null-matter power armor flickering in the smoke, each swing of "Dorn's Hammer" accompanied by the pulverization of an Immortal.
"Chapter Master! The left flank has been breached!" the roar of the Third Company Captain came through the comms channel.
Angelos turned his head to see dozens of necron Warriors had already torn through the Astra Militarum's defenses.
The Astra Militarum were still too strained when facing the necrons; they simply couldn't fight against the necron armies.
If even the Blood Ravens' strongholds were breached, what about those areas defended only by regular Astra Militarum?
Naturally, entire sections were collapsing.
These terrifying necron legions, when launching their attacks, left almost no hope of survival for the armies of the Imperium of Man.
They mowed down Astra Militarum forces like grass.
And even Space Marines, even the Blood Ravens' Space Marines, would often suffer heavy losses when facing swarms of these necron Warriors.
The necrons truly lived up to their former title as masters of the galaxy.
Compared to the eldar, a race that stumbled upon galactic dominance after the necrons' slumber, the necrons were the true powerhouses.
Their forces possessed both quality and quantity, and the sheer size of their army provided an irresistible fighting force against the Imperial armies.
On the second day, another continent was lost, and they had only held out for two days so far—
But just when the Imperial forces had given up hope of lasting until the fourth day,
A turning point suddenly appeared in the battle on the third day.
For some unknown reason, the necron ground units suddenly began to withdraw.
Large numbers of troops started to evacuate from the second continent, subsequently yielding many positions for the Imperial forces to reoccupy.
No one knew why this was happening.
The Lord Generals of the Astra Militarum dared not immediately issue orders to attack; they all gathered at the Blood Ravens Chapter Master's position to inquire.
Everyone discussed in the command post, but neither the Astra Militarum Lord Generals nor the veteran commanders could obtain definite intelligence; they couldn't understand what the necrons were planning.
The Imperium of Man rarely dealt with the necrons because of their overwhelming combat power.
The few times they did interact ended in a crushing defeat for the Imperium; at that time, the necrons were incredibly formidable.
They had decisively pushed back the Imperium of Man.
And what was the situation with the necrons' current maneuver?
Logically, the necrons should have seized the opportunity to continue their offensive; the Imperium of Man could at most hold out for two more days before the entire planet would be lost. So why did the necrons retreat instead?
The Imperial generals did not understand this; it seemed illogical to them. Were they waiting for Imperial reinforcements to arrive?
To fight a war of attrition?
The generals of the Imperium of Man had never considered this, because in their view,
It was always the Imperium fighting wars of attrition, wearing down others, never the other way around, with someone else fighting a war of attrition to wear down the Imperium.