Chapter 43: Undercurrent

The Endurance, inside a Space Marine's personal quarters.

Now.

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In the dark room, the dim red light flickers, and the clock on the wall flashes "3:48."

Hades lies on the bed but does not sleep, his mind replaying the scenes from earlier. 

The giant scythe brought by the Custodes and Sisters of Silence still lingers in his thoughts.

One thing Hades is certain of: that scythe is undoubtedly related to the Untouchables.

His Black Domain had so easily flowed into the weapon. 

It must be a weapon specifically crafted for an Untouchable like him.

The scythe was enormous and heavy. 

Even for someone as large as Hades, it took considerable effort to wield it in combat. 

The Sisters of Silence, skilled warriors though they were, would clearly find this massive weapon impractical for their use.

Hades was also puzzled by the encounter with the Sisters of Silence. 

His Black Domain didn't seem to be the same as the "silent field" they created. 

But if he wasn't an Untouchable, how could his condition be explained?

Yet, the Emperor had given him a scythe clearly tailored to his unique abilities, suggesting that the Emperor understood his nature. 

So, Hades concluded that he must be some sort of mutated Untouchable.

Yes, that must be it!

Unable to think of a better explanation, Hades surrendered to this line of thought.

Unresolved questions nagged at him, but he forced himself to stop overthinking. 

The Emperor had bestowed upon him a scythe, giving Hades a sense of reassurance—he was not a danger, nor had Chaos corrupted him.

Hades could now use his Black Domain freely, confident that it wasn't some twisted Chaos scheme.

As for the scythe, Hades pondered how it might allow him to extend his Black Domain, breaking through its current limitations to suppress psykers and entities from the Warp.

Earlier, he had even considered the strange idea of expanding his Black Domain to envelop himself, grappling with psykers in close combat to neutralize their powers.

Too bizarre, he thought, shuddering at the image.

By 4 a.m., the lights in the room gradually brightened. 

Hades set aside his thoughts, got up, and dressed in his standard combat attire, preparing for the day's training. 

Although he had not slept, his genetically enhanced body felt fully rested, brimming with energy.

As he stepped out, he found an imposing figure standing at his door, clad in an MK2 power armor. 

The armor was white-green, crisscrossed with thin streaks of ceramic patches. 

These repairs blended seamlessly into the armor, though occasionally they caught the light, glinting in contrast to the rest of the suit.

The veteran before him was taller than most who passed by, though still shorter than Hades.

"Follow me. I'll take you to get your armor," the veteran's deep voice emerged from his helmet, with an inbuilt translator rendering the words in Barbarusian.

Without further explanation, the veteran led Hades down the corridor, following the flow of personnel.

He didn't even tell me his name, Hades mused, keeping pace. 

He glanced around and noticed that everyone in this section wore armor similar to the veteran's.

Am I the only recruit here?

Hades silently questioned the situation.

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The Endurance, the Space Marine armory.

Now.

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The once-bright armory was now dim, illuminated only by flickering candles held by the servitors. 

These candles cast a soft, hazy light across the room.

Servitors bustled around, moving in and out, while candles were placed in a circle around a low, round platform at the center of the room.

Soon, the new recruit would arrive to receive his armor.

In the darkest corner of the room, Captain Garro of the Seventh Company stood motionless in his power armor. 

He hoped the recruit he had chosen wouldn't disappoint.

Before the primarch's return, the ranks of the Dusk Raiders had been deliberately reduced throughout the latter stages of the Great Crusade. 

By the time Mortarion had taken command of the Legion, there were only about 70,000 of them left.

The recruitment and transformation of Barbarusian-born initiates had been proceeding rapidly. 

Using the stored gene-seed, around 30,000 recruits from Barbarus had successfully undergone the transformation.

In theory, each company would consist of two veterans overseeing one recruit. 

However, the reality was more complex. 

Excluding specialists like Dreadnoughts, Techmarines, Librarians, and Apothecaries, the number of recruits accepted by each company varied greatly.

Since Mortarion's reformation of the Legion, the Death Guard now consisted of seven main battalions, each divided into several companies. 

A company housed about 700 Marines, further split into squads.

Yet, the number of soldiers per battalion wasn't evenly distributed. 

It was far from a simple division of 70,000 Marines across seven battalions.

Captain Barasine's 1st Battalion was the largest, boasting over 20,000 Marines.

The 2nd Battalion had significantly fewer soldiers, with only around 7,000 Marines.

The remaining battalions, too, had varying strengths.

But Garro's Seventh Company, the one he commanded, was the smallest of them all.

With just two battalions, the Seventh Company had only around 1,400 members.

When it came to assigning recruits for training, Mortarion had given full control to Barasine, the First Company Captain.

The recruits undergoing training wouldn't necessarily serve in that company afterward. 

After their probationary period, they would be granted the right to choose their own company, though it was highly likely they would remain with the unit that trained them.

Mortarion's decision was a subtle test to gauge the attitudes of the different company commanders.

The captains understood this well.

Barasine, captain of the First Company, claimed 15,000 recruits right off the bat, while the Second Company requested only 500.

Then came:

Third Company: 4,500 recruits,

Fourth Company: 4,500 recruits,

Fifth Company: 2,500 recruits,

Sixth Company: 3,000 recruits.

By the time the list reached Captain Garro of the Seventh Company, all the recruits had already been divided.

Garro was fully aware of the goodwill behind this maneuver.

The Seventh Company, once a highly elite unit of the Dusk Raiders, had always been composed of battle-hardened veterans who had crawled from the deadliest battlefields, approved to join only by their former units after proving their loyalty to the Emperor.

Many of the older veterans in the Seventh Company had reacted strongly to the Primarch's return, with some even submitting requests for suicidal missions.

To the other captains, the idea of assigning new recruits to such a company seemed impossible, so they preemptively divided the recruits among themselves and then offered Garro apologetic smiles.

But Garro was not, as they believed, opposed to the Primarch's return.

He saw himself as the Emperor's sword, and if Mortarion could make him more effective, Garro would gladly offer his loyalty to the Primarch.

For the Emperor.

Graro silently repeated this mantra to himself.

For the Emperor, Garro needed to ensure that the Seventh Company would remain a potent force even after Mortarion's return.

If he were to admit weak recruits who disrespected the veterans, the company would undoubtedly grow dissatisfied. 

But if no new recruits were brought in at all, future recruitment would face difficulties, and the company would wither without fresh blood.

Garro had closely followed the performance of every recruit during their transformation procedures on Barbarus, tracking their battlefield accomplishments.

"The Seventh Company, two recruits," Garro finally said.

The other captains looked at him in surprise.

When Barasine later submitted the numbers to Mortarion, the Primarch, who had been reviewing war records, seemed barely interested. 

The numbers were more or less what he had expected.

Until—

"The Seventh Company, two recruits."

Mortarion raised an eyebrow.

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Additional Notes:

Before the Horus Heresy, the Death Guard had an estimated strength of around 95,000, making it one of the smaller Legions. 

This was due in part to their tendency to engage in grueling attrition warfare, which took a toll on their numbers.

During the latter part of the Great Crusade, Legions that had not yet found their Primarchs often deliberately reduced their troop count, while preserving gene-seed for future recruitment.

I estimate that at this point, there were roughly 70,000 veteran Death Guard and an influx of about 30,000 new recruits, resulting in an average ratio of two veterans for every recruit. 

However, this ratio was not evenly distributed due to the presence of specialists such as Dreadnoughts, Techmarines, Apothecaries, and Librarians, who couldn't take on recruits.

The distribution of Barbarus-born recruits also varied across companies, a detail supported by canon. 

Historically, the First Company had the highest number of Barbarus-born, while the Second, Fifth, and Seventh Companies had the fewest.

In the Seventh Company, almost no Barbarus-born recruits were admitted, and the company was filled with some of the most brutal veterans, many of whom hailed from Terra. 

They were also known for being the most insular.

The Death Guard structure before the Heresy was organized as:

Legion > Company > Battalion > Squad.

Mortarion had eliminated the top two tiers, setting the full strength of each company at 7,000. However, this number was never fully achieved.

As for the specific numbers within the Death Guard before the Heresy, I've taken some creative liberties, as concrete details are scarce.

For comparison, other Legions like the Ultramarines and Word Bearers boasted forces of over 200,000, while the Death Guard remained around 95,000, largely due to the harsh and costly nature of their warfare and the limitations of their recruitment worlds.

I'll be introducing some original characters moving forward, so I hope you enjoy the additions.

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