V2 Chapter 84: Everything About Me Exceeds What You Can Imagine
Three days after the relief supplies reached Nev City, General Petrov had recovered something resembling his composure.
He had changed into a coat where the rank insignia were still visible. His colour was still poor, but at least he no longer looked like someone who had just pulled himself out of a pile of bodies.
Inside the inner city command post, vox operators and staff officers had returned to work. Supply manifests, casualty tallies, barricade repair schedules, and underground conduit blockade records were arriving at the table in a continuous stream.
The city was not safe.
But it was no longer simply waiting to die.
Petrov had just finished instructing his adjutant on distributing the newly arrived ammunition and clean water.
He had ordered ammunition to go first to the gate, the water station, and the east-side barricades, and clean water to go first to the medical points and the critical casualty sections. After the adjutant left with the orders, Petrov turned and looked at Duvette, who was standing at the strategy table with a frown.
Duvette was studying the map.
The line marking the temporary relief corridor was drawn clearly to the southeast of Nev City. Several red arrows were pressing toward it from the Colchis direction, the Lamerly outer positions, and Blood Pact remnant lines. For the past three days, the enemy had not stopped attacking.
Petrov walked over to stand beside him.
"What do you intend to do next?"
Duvette did not answer immediately. He looked up briefly, then pointed to the temporary corridor on the map.
"Over these three days, the attacks on the relief corridor have been intensifying."
Petrov looked down at the map.
Duvette continued. "The first day was still probing. The second day, siege gun remnants and armoured reserves began appearing. This morning, there was a clear redeployment of enemy forces from the Colchis direction toward this position. Bleddin's pressure on the other front actually eased."
Petrov gave a nod.
"Nev City's position determines all of this." He said. "As long as we hold here, we can threaten Colchis city and the Lamerly assembly point at any time. Bleddin holds the front face, we press from the flank, and whatever enemy forces remain get caught in the middle."
He paused.
"So they must take this back."
Duvette looked at the map, his finger stopping on the outside edge of the northwest corridor.
"Their outer commander was already killed. The sector should have been in disorder for longer, but they recovered organisation and discipline in three days. Someone has taken command..."
Petrov walked to the map and pointed to an old industrial zone and a stretch of abandoned blocks outside Nev City.
"I suspect it is more than just Blood Pact officers."
Duvette looked at him.
Petrov said, low and steady: "In the very early stage of the siege, I saw Chaos Astartes in the outer city at distance. Too far to identify the warband, but they were not ordinary cult fighters. They were consistently present near the siege guns, fire emplacements, and anti-armour positions."
His fingertip traced along the old outer city defence line on the map.
"The outer city perimeter was too large, and the defence framework we rebuilt after retaking it three years ago was incomplete. With Chaos Astartes guiding them, the Blood Pact bypassed the hardened nodes and used siege guns and infiltration teams to cut the district grid. We could only pull back step by step, and in the end we abandoned the outer city and withdrew everyone we could into the inner perimeter."
Petrov's voice dropped.
"A large number of people who did not make it in were taken. Most were driven off to dig earthworks. The rest were pushed toward the inner city defences as expendable bodies, and some were taken to rear labour camps."
Duvette listened to this and let his gaze settle on the fire emplacement markers on the map.
Iron Warriors, almost certainly.
He arrived at the answer almost immediately and without hesitation.
That siege tempo, those anti-armour dispositions, that method of layered progressive pressure: those were the iron-grey traitors.
He looked at the map, and produced a quiet sound.
Petrov frowned.
"What did you just think of?"
Duvette did not answer. He traced his finger along the temporary relief corridor from Nev City's outer edge toward the first two trench lines.
Then he traced it back the other way.
Petrov watched the gesture and his expression slowly shifted.
"You're not thinking of..."
"Drawing them in." Duvette said. "Yield the strategic passage between Nev City and the first two trench lines. Let them come inside. When they have packed that area, Nev City pushes outward and the trench lines push inward. Both sides close simultaneously and consume them."
Petrov stared at him for several seconds.
"In what sense is this viable?"
Duvette met his eyes.
Petrov pointed at the map, his voice kept low but carrying clear anger.
"This is against every principle of war. We have just established this relief corridor. You are proposing to voluntarily give it up? The enemy outnumbers us heavily. Once they retake this area and hold the geographical advantage, the numbers advantage, and potentially the equipment advantage, Nev City will be cut off again."
He pointed toward the first two trench lines.
"And a withdrawal that goes wrong becomes a rout. The Krieg can fight, but you cannot guarantee every single node stops exactly where you intend. At that point we would both very likely be facing a court martial."
Petrov paused and added one more thing.
"More likely, before the court martial, we would simply be killed by the cultists."
Duvette raised an eyebrow.
"First: the forces under my command are the Death Korps of Krieg. The soldiers maintaining this relief corridor are all Krieg. Measuring them against the morale standards of ordinary Astra Militarum regiments is the wrong frame entirely."
Petrov was quiet for a moment.
Duvette continued. "They will not break because they have withdrawn a few kilometres. They will stop at the designated position, turn around, and wait for the next order."
He looked at the map.
"Second: if numerical advantage and geographical advantage could by themselves determine combat power and outcomes, I would not be standing here right now."
Petrov produced a cold sound.
"And how do you ensure the enemy steps inside?"
"Because they have no choice."
Duvette's answer came immediately.
He pointed to Nev City, then to Colchis city, then to the Lamerly assembly point.
"Once this relief corridor is fully secured, the subsequent artillery, armour, medical assets, and supply columns will all flow into Nev City. At that point, whether we advance toward Colchis city or toward the Lamerly assembly point, the enemy will face simultaneous pressure from both sides."
"That means the core of this continent falls under our control. And once we have consumed that core completely, combined with the fleet's orbital superiority, the shape of the campaign will no longer be theirs to decide."
"If they do not act now, within one month at the fastest and two months at the latest, they will be forced into pure defence. We will close on them until they have nowhere left to go."
Petrov looked at the map without speaking.
Duvette continued. "So their only opportunity is to retake the strategic advantage in the Nev City direction. When we show signs of defensive fatigue, even if they suspect a trap, they must step into it. They have no other option."
"And if they want to lock down a decisive outcome, they will very likely pull their main forces from the Colchis and Lamerly directions and concentrate against this corridor."
Petrov said: "What if the Chaos Astartes commander sees through your intent?"
"Seeing through it changes nothing." Duvette said. "If he wants to preserve their overall strategic position, he has to cut this place off."
Petrov drew a slow breath.
He looked at Duvette, then at the corridor on the map surrounded by red arrows.
"I have one question."
"Say it."
"Are you certain you can use under thirty thousand Krieg remnants to consume ten times that number in Blood Pact elite, when those enemy forces have heavy carriers, siege guns, fire emplacements, and possibly Chaos Astartes advisors?"
Petrov's voice was heavy.
"You have rather a large appetite."
Duvette laughed.
He rapped the strategy table once, not loudly, but the sound made the nearby staff officers all look over instinctively.
"Petrov. We have known each other for a while."
Petrov looked at him coldly.
"Do you still not know me?"
"What I know is that you always bring trouble with you."
"This time as well." Duvette said. "The difference is that this time, the trouble will be standing inside our lines."
Petrov said nothing.
Duvette pointed toward the trench line direction.
"The Krieg 1173rd Combat Group handles the outer closure. They will conduct an organised withdrawal, relinquishing the outer corridor positions and leaving behind minefields, remote demolition points, and observation beacons. Once the enemy enters the corridor, they close from the first two trench line directions."
He pointed to Nev City.
"The inner city side is handled by the 112th, Nev City's PDF remnants, and the Black Shields. When the enemy pushes in, you drive outward from the gate and seal the end closest to Nev City."
"The Eisenmark armoured battalion holds on the flank. When the enemy's heavy carriers enter the corridor, Kleist cuts their armoured column from a pre-set route."
His finger settled on the underground network markers.
"Stroud and the assault company go through the underground passages. They destroy the enemy's vox nodes, ammunition stockpiles, artillery positions, and withdrawal routes. And Markus and the Black Shields find the Chaos Astartes advisors."
Petrov frowned.
"You intend to activate all of your abilities at once?"
Duvette looked at him.
Petrov knew he had asked something he probably should not have asked, but he did not pull the question back.
Duvette said: "Once they are all inside."
Petrov's expression became considerably more complex.
"That is what you are basing this on?"
"Only part of it."
Duvette looked at the red arrows on the paper map.
"The enemy will believe they have retaken the strategic corridor. What they will actually have done is packed their mobile main force into a passage that we have sealed at both ends."
Petrov said again, heavily: "There are hundreds of thousands of them."
"They will still break. They will still feel fear." Duvette said quietly, his eyes narrowed. "I will teach them that personally."
"And they cannot deploy simultaneously." He continued. "The terrain will force them into segments as targets. Artillery hits their rear. Armour hits their flanks. The Krieg grinds through the front. And Nev City bites them from behind."
He paused.
"Their numbers will become congestion."
Petrov studied Duvette's face, looking for a trace of hesitation.
He did not find one.
Duvette still carried that particular confidence that made people around him uncomfortable.
"Do you understand how dangerous this is?"
"Yes."
"If you make an error, Nev City will be cut off again."
"Then I will not make an error."
Petrov suddenly produced a sound that was partly a laugh. It was a tired sound.
"You are still this arrogant."
Duvette smiled in return.
"Usually only when I know I am going to win."
The command post was quiet for a moment.
Outside, the sound of distant artillery came through. Dust fell from the ceiling. Nev City had been pulled back from the edge of death, and now it was going to become the bait for a larger battle.
Petrov turned slowly and looked at the temporary relief corridor. Then he let out a quiet breath.
"I will have the garrison cooperate with you."
Duvette nodded.
"As expected."
Petrov said: "But if this plan fails, I will drag you to the court martial myself."
"If it fails, you probably will not have the opportunity."
Petrov looked at him.
Duvette put the smile away and said quietly: "Watch closely, Petrov."
His palm pressed flat against the strategy table, the broad hand covering the enemy markers on the map.
"What you have seen is only a part of what I can do."
"This time, I will let everyone understand: everything about me exceeds what you can imagine."