V2 Chapter 89: I Think Commissar Ibram Gaunt Would Serve Well
After Duvette came aboard the Absalom, two officers escorted him directly to the Marshal's office.
The atmosphere in the corridors was nothing like before.
The expedition flagship was still busy, vox operators and staff officers and aides and ship crew moving between compartments in their usual numbers. But as Duvette walked through, the junior officers who had been talking amongst themselves went quiet by instinct, stepping aside to clear his path and rendering salutes as he passed.
No one dared say more than necessary in front of him.
Some of the younger officers could not help looking at the dragon-skull staff at his hip, or at the battlefield dust still caught in the fabric of his greatcoat. Those glances never lasted long. They looked down quickly.
The ordinary officers watched him the way soldiers watch a figure who has moved outside the normal sequence of things.
The battle report from the Sveren campaign had already circulated through the expedition's senior staff.
The relief of Nev City. The encirclement formed. The Blood Pact's mobile main force destroyed. Thirty thousand Krieg, under his command, consuming an enemy force ten times their own strength. Nadzybar's counter-offensive plan for Sveren declared a failure.
If his earlier campaigns had been something they read about without witnessing, this one had happened in front of them. That was sufficient to change anyone's assessment.
Duvette paid no attention to the looks.
He followed the escort through several armoured bulkhead doors and arrived at the Marshal's office.
When the door opened, Marshal Slaydo was standing before a large strategic holo-projection. Macaroth, Chief of Staff, was at his side with a data-slate in hand.
Slaydo turned, and when he saw Duvette, his expression shifted into something genuinely satisfied.
"You kept your word."
Duvette stepped forward and rendered a salute.
"Marshal."
Slaydo waved the formality aside.
"Three weeks to finish Sveren." He said. "You did not even use the full three weeks."
He walked to the strategic projection and indicated the Nev City sector on Sveren.
"What you tore open was not simply a relief corridor. You broke the spine of Nadzybar's centre-line counter-offensive. Bleddin has already returned to offensive operations, and it will not be much longer before this theatre is concluded. Additionally, there is good news from the Cossiminus direction as well; the pressure there has begun to ease. The weight of the campaign has shifted to our side."
Duvette looked at the projection.
"I used standard tactics throughout. Nothing worth particular praise."
Slaydo laughed at that.
"Standard tactics?"
Duvette raised an eyebrow and said without particular inflection: "Everything I used can be found in the tactical manual."
Slaydo looked at him, and there was more genuine appreciation in his expression now than there had been a moment before.
"A commander who can follow the manual and apply standard tactics correctly is a competent officer." He pointed at the strategic projection.
"A commander who knows which tactic to apply and when is an excellent one."
He looked at Duvette.
"A commander who can make the enemy walk into it knowing full well what you intend to do is the kind of person worth remembering."
Duvette said nothing to that.
Slaydo continued. "And in my assessment your observational capability is exceptional. You see things on a battlefield that others do not see. You take scattered intelligence and reconstruct it into a workable operational path. Your analysis of a developing situation exceeds any commander I have encountered, myself included. And that is before accounting for the capabilities you carry that are not in any manual."
Duvette had no intention of informing the Marshal that some of that battlefield analysis also came from a map.
The office was quiet for a moment. Macaroth did not speak.
Slaydo walked to the desk and picked up a sealed encrypted report.
"Lord Inquisitor Heinz appears to have concluded that you are some form of miraculous vessel." He continued. "But I will not be assigning you a theological classification on behalf of the Ministorum or the Inquisition. I am the Warmaster. I am not a cardinal and I am not an Inquisitor."
He set the report back on the desk.
"But reality is what it is. What you demonstrated at Sveren has made it impossible for a great many people to continue looking away. Balhaut will be a larger stage. If you can produce something there sufficient to silence everyone who still objects, I can have the expedition's battle reports serve as your testament."
Duvette looked at him.
"You intend to push this forward yourself?"
"I intend for the expedition to have someone capable of winning it." Slaydo answered. "What title they choose to give you afterward is a separate question."
He paused.
"Sveren established that you are qualified. Balhaut will close the mouths of every remaining objector."
Duvette had already anticipated what the Marshal was about to say.
As expected, Slaydo pushed a second data-slate across the desk toward him.
"After Balhaut, I will formally confer the rank of Major General on you. Simultaneously, I will grant you special Commissar-General authority within the expedition."
Macaroth's gaze shifted slightly, but he remained silent.
Duvette looked down at the unfinished draft appointment before him.
"Major General and special Commissar-General authority together will make a great many people deeply uncomfortable with me. Some will actively resent it."
"I know."
"The Departmento Munitorum, the Commissariat, the Inquisition, and a considerable number of others will object."
"Let them object." Slaydo said. "If you continue to win at Balhaut and beyond, their objections will stay where objections belong: around conference tables."
Duvette allowed himself a brief smile.
"It sounds as though you have already decided."
"I have decided to give you a position that fits what you are." Slaydo said. "After that, I will give you a ground special mobile operations group under direct Warmaster authority, and a detached expedition fleet element to support your operations. Nominally under the expedition's supreme command; tactical operations are yours to direct."
Duvette looked up.
"Responsible for what?"
"A planetary assault. A campaign's planning and execution." Slaydo said. "I want to see what you can do when you are not simply responding to a crisis, but commanding a complete operation from the beginning."
Something moved briefly in Duvette's expression.
A name came to him without prompting.
Menazoid Epsilon.
The planet where the corrupted Men of Iron STC was originally destined to surface.
If he had a mobile operations group that genuinely answered to him, he would not need to wait for the canonical sequence of events to unfold around him like a spectator. He could bring his own forces, his own intelligence, and his own capabilities into that contest directly.
Slaydo noticed the change in his face.
"You already have something in mind. Is there someone you want?"
"Only a possible objective coming to mind." Duvette said.
Slaydo nodded. "Tell me. Which forces do you want?"
Duvette barely paused.
"The Krieg 1173rd Provisional Siege Combat Group from this operation. Colonel Holst is reliable, and Commissar Rein has the capacity to manage the Krieg's inclination toward costly sacrifice. I want them brought into permanent formal establishment."
Slaydo nodded.
"Go on."
"The Ash Watchers-Eisenmark 112th naturally accompanies me." Duvette said. "The Eisenmark armoured battalion, the 112th assault companies, and the existing artillery and engineer support elements are all to be retained."
"Agreed."
Duvette considered for a moment, and a different figure came to mind.
"Perhaps also... Ibram Gaunt."
Slaydo looked up.
"Gaunt?"
"I have fought alongside him." Duvette said. "He does not yet have a force of his own, but his judgement, his nerve, and the responsibility he carries toward his soldiers are all exceptional. If he is given independent command in the future, I would want him in my mobile operations group."
Slaydo looked at Duvette, and then produced a short sound of amusement.
"You have selected someone I have also been watching."
He walked back to the strategic projection and brought up the Cossiminus battle report.
"Gaunt has performed well in the Cossiminus direction. He is a fine commissar, and he has the potential to become a capable commander. Whether a fine commissar becomes a fine commanding officer is something Balhaut will determine."
Duvette gave a nod.
"Then let me fight at Balhaut alongside him."
"Agreed." Slaydo said. "I will arrange for you to operate in the same combat zone. What comes after that depends on both your performances."
Duvette made no further requests.
He knew that was enough.
At that moment, footsteps came from outside the office door. A vox officer entered quickly and reported something to Macaroth in a low voice.
Macaroth's expression shifted slightly.
He turned and looked at Slaydo.
"Marshal. There is an encrypted communication from a First Founding Chapter."
Slaydo's eyes narrowed.
"Which Chapter?"
Macaroth glanced at the data-slate.
"The Salamanders."
The atmosphere in the office went still.
Slaydo's gaze dropped to the dragon-skull staff at Duvette's hip.
Duvette also looked down at it briefly.
Entropy's Song remained silent. It looked like nothing more than a worn iron rod.
But he knew why the Salamanders would be sending a communication at this particular moment.
Slaydo and Duvette looked at each other.
A moment later, the Marshal spoke.
"Let me see it."
If you're enjoying the story, toss a Power Stone or drop a review — it helps more than you'd think.
Advance chapters → patreon.com/Eatinpieces