The command center was utterly silent.
The water purification station was originally an asset of the Adeptus Mechanicus, so they could still control a large number of its cameras and transmit the internal footage back.
As more and more servitor skulls flew in, projecting images of the space elevator's interior from more angles, not only did the representatives of The Senate all stare dumbfounded, but even Calgar, who had previously focused only on the front lines and couldn't be bothered with Sith, had to direct his full attention to the screens.
"It's like... raining Genestealers in there..."
No one knew who muttered this in the crowd, but the words perfectly captured everyone's state of mind.
Everyone stared at the screens, eyes wide open, even forgetting to blink.
After all, in the footage, two thousand humans clad in Stormtrooper armor, with jetpacks on their backs, were using exaggerated, professionally trained movements—honed for who knows how many years—to continuously'slaughter' the endless, surging tide of Genestealers pouring down from above.
Almost every second, hundreds of Genestealers fell from the walls, plummeting down the massive space elevator from near-orbit towards the planet below.
Watching as even a single 101st Stormtrooper could wield a combat blade in one hand and a sidearm in the other, constantly hacking Genestealers off the walls, the only summary the command center staff could give this battle was 'raining Genestealers.'
The only ones with relatively stable expressions were the Astartes, who were also capable of achieving such combat results.
However,'stable' was only relative. After all, those currently in the space elevator weren't superhumanly enhanced Astartes, but a Planetary Defense Force that hadn't even been to space.
Even if it took two of these Mortals to barely match the combat efficiency of an Astarte in the same scenario, the mere thought that, from a combat power perspective, the space elevator now effectively held a thousand 'Astartes' made even Calgar watch silently for a moment before suddenly lowering his head to rummage through something. He then moved the banner representing Sith from the densely packed 'cannon fodder' column directly to the extremely sparse 'Astartes' column!
Just as Calgar carefully placed 'Sith' and before he could raise his head, the crowd below, already stunned into silence by the footage, let out another collective sharp intake of breath.
Calgar even frowned slightly. Even with his vast experience, he couldn't imagine how this battle could develop further.
He looked up with that frown still on his face, and upon seeing the screen, he could no longer maintain his composure, allowing emotions other than calmness to show before others.
Because when he too looked at the screen, a dark silver figure was transforming into a silver lightning bolt, sweeping down vast swathes of Genestealers!
This time, even Calgar finally couldn't help but widen his one remaining right eye, making no attempt to hide his astonishment.
An Astarte in Mortal form?
Calgar almost instinctively wanted to attach that description to Sith.
But watching Sith on the screen, soaring rapidly through the colossal space elevator—an elegant power sword in one hand, a master-crafted Bolter in the other—with dense clusters of Genestealers falling around him like rain, even Calgar couldn't simply describe him with the term 'Astarte.'
Because an ordinary Astarte truly couldn't achieve the exaggerated effect Sith was displaying!
Calgar just stared blankly for a moment before, like the others, he couldn't help but turn his gaze towards the nobles, whose eyes were also wide with shock.
Everyone looked astonished, shocked that the notoriously stingy nobles had been so generous this time, even gifting away such a treasure.
Only the nobles, under the collective gaze of everyone including Calgar, exchanged glances, their lips twitching several times as if to speak, yet finding themselves unable to utter a word.
In the end, they could only force out a dry smile uglier than crying, as a response to the crowd.
Then, they lowered their heads, brows furrowed deeply, racking their brains to figure out why that armor had never shown such effects in their hands???
The crowd fell silent. Everyone in the command center stared dumbly at the exaggerated scenes in the projections.
As Sith and his veterans drew closer to the top, and the increasingly noisy frontline communicators—having received no response from Calgar for so long—finally began to pull everyone back to reality.
The Astra Militarum Commanders couldn't help but look towards Calgar.
Their eyes kept darting to the tactical map, flickering with thoughts that were definitely not about continuing the fight.
Calgar also quickly snapped back to attention. He silently withdrew his gaze and, facing the looks from the Astra Militarum Commanders, his expression returned to its usual coldness:
"The assault must continue until the water purification station is definitively retracted!"
The crowd's eyes lowered, but they understood Calgar.
After all, although Sith and his veterans had displayed astonishing, exaggerated combat prowess, even launching a threatening assault on a Genestealer-infested water purification station with just two thousand men—far exceeding everyone's expectations—
even having watched this far, no one dared guarantee this operation would succeed.
In fact, as they got closer to the top, the equally shocked Genestealers gradually began to exert their full strength. With large numbers of purestrain Genestealers joining the fight, human figures also began to appear among the corpses falling down the giant space elevator.
Given this rate of attrition, it would be very difficult for Sith and his men to fight their way through the entire space elevator.
By now, the crowd had recovered from their initial shock. Apart from the nobles still eyeing the armor on Sith with visible pangs of loss, only the Astra Militarum lamented the two thousand sets of Stormtrooper armor.
In the entire room, only Calgar felt a twinge of regret for sending only two thousand jetpacks.
The crowd gradually began refocusing on their own duties. Only the Adeptus Mechanicus continued calculating the probability of Sith's mission success.
Amidst the renewed busyness of the crowd, it was the Mechanicus, who had been closely monitoring the screens, that suddenly emitted a loud 'ZERO' through a mechanical voice box!
Everyone looked over in confusion. As the last bit of flesh on the Tech-Priest's face twitched with an utterly incomprehensible emotion, everyone's gaze was drawn back to the projection by the Mechanicus.
Then, their eyes widened as they understood the meaning of that 'zero.'
Zero. The probability of mission success.
Because even Calgar, looking at the sudden massive fall of shattered human corpses and the distorted, 'transparent' figure amidst the swarming Genestealers in the passage, knew that this operation—which he had held no expectations for—had encountered an unforeseen variable.
Because when a 'Lictor' appeared on the battlefield, even Calgar didn't believe Sith's force, composed entirely of Mortals, could retreat alive.
Just retreat alive. As for the mission, Calgar held no expectations whatsoever.
The expressions in the command center were varied. Not all were gloating; many held pity.
But regardless of the emotion, not a single person present still believed Sith could succeed.
After all, as an elite bioform of the Tyranid Swarm capable of assassinating Astartes, in such a situation, only fear and death awaited Mortals.
With this tacit understanding, even the Tech-Priest began recalling the servitor skulls.
But as the images grew fewer, when that dark silver figure also began to fall, the Tech-Priest abruptly halted.
Then, several bionic eyes on its body instantly fixed on the scene.
The elegant power sword swung, the master-crafted Bolter roared. The falling Sith did not cease his fight.
Around Sith now were dense masses of Genestealers covering the entire inner wall of the space elevator. Beneath him was the endless abyss stretching for hundreds of kilometers.
The self-detonations of veterans dying around him occasionally breached the inner wall. The massive pressure differential blew both the veterans and surrounding Genestealers into near-orbit. In the dark blue depths of the towering sky, limbs and wreckage were violently ejected.
And during this fall, the Tech-Priest was certain: Sith was not alone!
"Quiet!"
Even without the Tech-Priest speaking, Calgar barked the order at that moment.
The surrounding crowd was startled, staring blankly at Calgar. After only a very brief moment of thought, everyone abruptly pinned their gazes back on the projection.
The dark silver 'armor' fought while falling, until the power sword suddenly plunged downward. Where there had been transparent emptiness, a massive Tyranid Lictor materialized!
Sith's jetpack ignited, halting him mid-air, covered in blood and with a few scratches on his power armor. Meanwhile, that Lictor—which even Calgar believed was enough to crush all Mortals—plummeted towards the planet below.
"Win... won?"
An Ecclesiarchy Priest couldn't help but exclaim in surprise. No one around answered. Only the Tech-Priest, after a flicker of its eye-lenses, gave a number.
"97.75 percent."
The crowd glanced at the Tech-Priest. Instead, it was Calgar above who suddenly activated the communicator:
"Retreat!"
"I repeat, all units withdraw immediately!"
"Additionally, announce to the entire army: Commander Sith and the 101st Regiment, through their supreme loyalty to the God-Emperor, have retaken the water purification station for Alert Star!"