How can a retired savior be considered retired if his price drops to 40,000?

Chapter 22 The Emperor’s Dream Broken?My turn, draw a card!

Lan Malok deeply felt that during this period, even by the standards of the Dark Angels, their experiences were a bit too thrilling.

The whole story started disgracefully: the Lion's Mane had an escape accident while escorting traitors - even though the only prisoner who successfully escaped was Argo Severtarion of the Night Lords, the Children of the Lion. I still think this is an unforgivable shame, because this thing should never have happened in the first place.

After a brief discussion, they unanimously decided to correct and erase the error before anyone discovered it.Naturally, they deviated from their original course and began to follow the fugitive's trail.They followed the traces of the crash of the Thunderhawk snatched by the traitors, investigated the world near the shipping route, investigated the merchant ships that had recently left the port on that planet, followed the route of Sevatar's smuggling into the subspace, and then, after it was said that "it has always been An unprecedented subspace storm was encountered in the "very calm and safe" channel.

The entire ship had been wandering around like a headless fly in this damn sea of ​​souls for more than a month, and Geller's position was also damaged. They had to be vigilant at all times on their ship.

Over the past month or so, too many things have happened that are beyond human reason and cannot be explained by science: screams rang out in a certain cabin at regular intervals, or monsters grinning through the walls and entering the hull were the most amiable category; Strange events such as invisible evil objects that can suck human blood from a distance, or the distortion and fusion of human bodies and metals are also endless.

But the Dark Angels somehow managed to survive, at the cost of losing most of their mortal crew, almost half of their battle brothers, and the "Lion's Mane" itself becoming dilapidated.But to be honest, this kind of "surviving" seems to rely mostly on luck: at the beginning, they were unlucky enough to encounter a subspace storm somehow, and due to various reasons, Geller's position was damaged. After experiencing all this; and at the end, they were lucky enough to be thrown into an excellent position by coincidence, just in time for the ship to seize the opportunity to tear open the curtain, jump out of Mandeville Point, and return to real world.

This is a glorious battle barge from the Great Crusade. The Astartes warriors who believe more in the truth of the Empire are more willing to regard this "luck" as the inevitable result of a series of favorable circumstances and favorable circumstances.They are more willing to appreciate the wise decision of the navigator and the speaker who accurately seized the opportunity in a hurry, rather than uneasily guessing whether there is something mysterious behind this excessive coincidence.

This may be a good thing or a bad thing, but it will never hinder them from sorting out the current situation.The Dark Angels reluctantly ordered the ships to deploy their void shields, and then began to place the wounded, count the losses, activate the positioning system and auspices, and connect to the Imperial network - the good news was that they were still within the Empire; the bad news was that they entered the warp within a short distance. After that, although they only felt that more than a month had passed, 1 years had passed in the real universe.

The difference in time is so huge that they even feel that it is more despairing than the horrific physical experience of drifting in the subspace for more than a month. The time span of 1 years has brought them Too many unknowns.They read too many terms and concepts they didn't understand in the information the Lion's Mane received from the Imperial network. Many of them made them feel deeply uneasy - especially one that appeared repeatedly and was praised repeatedly. word:

"God Emperor".

The Dark Angel read the blasphemies in confusion.As far as they knew, the Emperor, great as he was, was undeniably human.However, the empire they had glimpsed from the fragments of communication data clearly did not think so.They repeatedly read words with clear religious meanings such as "state religion" and "saints" from passages that may be outdated now, but were too new for people like them during the Great Crusade. , or "Imperial Navy", "Inquisition" and other institutional names that they did not know.

It is also worth mentioning that the communication in remote star areas is poor and information often lags behind. However, the Dark Angels still found the word "Imperial Regent" in the fragmentary words, and gradually realized it after a short period of comparison and verification. Yes, it refers to the Primarch of Legion No. 13, Robert Guilliman.

This caused some unexplainable ripples in the hearts of those who took the lead in exploring this information, including Lan Malok himself.After some brief discussions, the inner circle decided to temporarily seal this information to prevent it from spreading panic and doubt in various forms within the ship.

Ten thousand years is too long, and the empire may become anything. Before seeing the current empire with their own eyes, they should not make any arbitrary conclusions based on these illusory things.After encountering this level of upheaval, the Lion's Mane decided not to trust anyone but its own eyes.

So they moved the ship towards the nearest Imperial planet - in as stealthy a manner as possible.This order caused slight misgivings among the mortal officers when it was issued, but it was well executed and proved necessary for a short time: they had been asking the cogitator array to even out the computing power and combine the various computing power. All intel received by the quasi-sensors was cross-referenced with what was already in their database, and they succeeded in making the Dark Angels aware of their location:
On the star map they were more familiar with 1 years ago, this remote and barren galaxy had been ruthlessly marked by the Dark Angels. The crew of the Lion's Mane realized that they had been here with a large army before - but not in a peaceful and friendly manner.

It felt strange: not so long ago they had presided over a massive orbital bombardment of the only habitable planet in the entire galaxy (back then it was referred to by the Empire only by a patchwork of letters and numbers). , cleaning away all the buildings and living things on the surface.But for them, it only took a moment to turn around, and 1 years had passed. The ecology of this planet had... at least recovered to the point where it could be inhabited.

The Empire's plan for it seems to be an agricultural world, but this planet...

Lan Malok doesn't think so.

He didn't know exactly why, but he vaguely smelled a very familiar and disgusting scent.His suggestion was to observe closely secretly and then make the next judgment.This proposal was quickly adopted, but everyone knew that this was just a helpless move:
If the "Lion's Mane" hadn't originally been on an escort mission and they didn't carry enough extermination weapons, everyone would have thought it would be a better decision to throw another round of orbital bombardment - this time it had better not be a virus. bomb, they should probably just destroy the possibility of restoring the entire planet to a habitable environment.

Perhaps a more optimistic person would question the Dark Angels' motives for making such a decision, but the Dark Angels would not offer any explanation for their actions.The children of the Lion do not need the understanding of others. They think that they are just doing what any loyal person should do.

This kind of secrecy does sometimes lead to terrible consequences, but the Dark Angels don't care about these "inevitable collateral losses."They will do these things, they will be responsible for them, and time will prove them right.

——This time, however, before they could really decide what to do, they received a communication from the Emperor's Dream.
-
Warp teleportation makes you want to vomit.Fujimaru Ritsuka thought so.

In a sense, this was not her first time teleporting through the Warp: she had done so many times while commanding the Eighth Legion in Konrad Curze's vision of life.But perhaps there was a gap between fantasy and reality after all. When she was enveloped in blue lightning and moved to the bridge of the "Lion's Mane", she still felt like vomiting like never before.

Fortunately she only swayed slightly from it.Her ability to maintain balance must be attributed to the eagle scepter she holds in her hand.

After all, she was the one who proposed the negotiation method of "using her identity to suppress them" in the first place. Even if Ritsuka was unwilling to do so, she had to at least put forward the pretense of being "chosen by the emperor" on the surface.

In addition to this iconic item that symbolizes status, she also wears a cape with gorgeous patterns on top of the Ortenaus exoskeleton - because this armor is "really not decent" in the eyes of the imperial aesthetic. Because of this, Somny generously provided this fabric within 10 minutes, which made Ritsuka have to wonder whether the Emperor's Dream was equipped with an automated mechanism specifically responsible for tailoring.

...She knew that some of the Imperial Guards would weave tapestries as a pastime.But first of all, Somni is not a Forbidden Army; secondly, no matter how hard it is, 10 minutes to carry out a garment with exquisite embroidery is still too fast.The golden giant who had done machinist embroidery within 10 minutes without any expression was now poking at Ritsuka's back with his halberd without any expression on his face.Regardless, at least a Custodes background makes her "Emperor's Chosen" look more like that.

Fujimaru Ritsuka resisted the urge to sigh and looked up at the dark angel in front of him: black paint, winged helmet, and the logo on the shoulder showed that he was a company commander.There are still unrepaired scratches and damage on his power armor. Some of them can be seen to have been deliberately preserved as part of honor and history without affecting their functionality, while others are obviously simply unfinished. repair.His armor is dotted with many different markings and insignias, some of which are common insignia of honor among the Legiones Astartes during the Great Crusade, while others are secret symbols exclusive to the Dark Angels.And then the most important thing——

The Dark Angels' Astartes were clearly filled with doubts and consequent hostility.

If Somni was really a forbidden soldier, he would definitely have something to say when faced with such an attitude.But he's not.So he was still just a golden background board, silently watching the imperial greetings and brief exchanges on the current situation between the two sides - of course, the Dark Angels only said that they were "hunting fugitives" and refused to provide further details.

Fujimaru Ritsuka doesn't care much about this - there will be many similar things when facing the Dark Angel.Rather than digging into their little secrets one by one under numerous obstacles, it's better to let yourself go and trust that they can handle their own problems.

So she just said: "I find that you still have doubts, which is normal. You have the right to ask questions, and we will answer them as much as possible within our authority. Considering the possible cooperation in the future, I think it is appropriate to be open and honest It’s good for both of us.”

The Dark Angels were caught off guard, but when an opportunity was right in front of them, no one with sufficient tactical skills would let it slip away.The dark angel in front of Ritsuka immediately asked after a brief pause: "We received communications from the 'Emperor's Dream', but we have not successfully observed the existence of this magnificent creation in any form."

This was obviously a veiled accusation, otherwise it was an obvious question, but Fujimaru Ritsuka simply pretended not to realize it: "In fact, he is right in front of you. Somni, maybe you want to explain this part yourself?"

This counter-intuitive statement confused the Dark Angels, but this was not within the scope of Somni's consideration.He just asked his current only direct superior: "The Emperor has classified this matter as highly confidential. Is there any risk of information leakage by disclosing it to people outside his authority?"

"It doesn't matter. I believe in the ability of the Dark Angels to keep secrets. If they also leak secrets, then there will be no information security in the entire empire."

"Since you have decided..."

Somni took a small step forward slightly, still not crossing Fujimaru Ritsuka, but this small movement made him look more or less like a living creature:
"The 'Emperor's Dream' was sunk at the end of the Great Heresy." He narrated mechanically and flatly, as if he was talking about something that had nothing to do with him. "During the Siege of Terra, this ship was responsible for the attack on Terra. The cover mission of the Dark Angels forces led by Coswayen successfully broke the rebel army's blockade on Terra, guided the target ship "Wrathful Advent" to Terra's gravity well, and used the ship's hull as a bunker to cover the Dark Angels. The troops' landing operation was eventually sunk by the traitor's artillery fire."

Even though it was just an emotionless and mechanical narration, the content in this short paragraph was enough to shock the Dark Angel who heard about it for the first time.But the listener's emotional reaction was not considered by Somny. He just continued to explain his origins according to the instructions he received:
"In an actual physical sense, the 'Emperor Mirage' has indeed been destroyed, but the relevant records are still preserved and passed down as part of history. His Excellency Ritsuka Fujimaru took advantage of this and willed ' The story, concept and symbolism of the Emperor's Dream are brought out, and the ether is constructed to give it form, and it is brought back to the real universe - the result is 'I'. Because the Emperor's flagship is related to the 'symbol of imperial power' , so the homogenized Imperial Army with similar imagery was selected for the shell part of the humanoid terminal, but the ship currently maintains a fully functional state and can attack again at any time."

In the universe of mankind's No. 30 millennium, there were far less monsters and monsters than there are now 1 years later, and the visions caused by subspace were not common, so Somni's narrative really challenged the Dark Angel. sanity - even if they are Astartes.

Perhaps it would be better to give them some time to digest at this time, but Fujimaru Ritsuka knew that the Astartes had a much firmer mind than ordinary people, so it was not a big problem not to give them this time.Besides, she didn’t feel that she had more time to waste:
"If you don't have any other questions, can it be my turn?" She admitted that she deliberately took advantage of the stunned silence to speak first, "About this thing now known as 'Jestal' The imperial planet, I really need to talk to your person in charge about its current situation."

"Then please tell me." The Winged Helmet Dark Angel Captain who was standing at the front and responsible for contacting Fujimaru Ritsuka said.

"...Well, what I mean is, talk to the person who is actually in charge on the ship alone." Fujimaru Ritsuka added, "If you still have the position of think tank in your establishment, or if there is a trustworthy person on the crew, 's psykers, and adding them--"

"Everyone currently remaining on the bridge is credible to us." Dark Angel's tone became dangerous, "Mortal, you'd better watch your words."

"Okay, but you're not the real person in charge on this ship, are you?" Fujimaru Ritsuka pointed out in a natural manner, "Weren't you originally organized to 'hunt down fugitives'? Then as the commander-in-chief of this mission, The person in charge should be at least a Ravenwing or a Firewing, but you are obviously a Dreadwing Captain. I can't tell more about it, after all, I'm just a 'mortal'."

If she had three or four more hours to waste, Ritsuka would be quite willing to have fun guessing the Dark Angel.Unfortunately, she really didn't have time.

The company commander wanted to continue talking, but a voice came from the corner of the bridge: "Okay. We can barely let her pass."

An ordinary battle brother with so plain armor that only had company markings came forward from the end of the inconspicuous team:

"You are familiar with the way we do things." He said, "I am very curious about it, but now, please allow me to introduce myself: I am the 'talker of this ship' you are looking for, Grand Master of Firewing Ranmallock.”

Fujimaru Ritsuka nodded: "Hello, you are from Caliban, right?"

Ranmarok narrowed his eyes under his helmet in confusion and alarm.

(End of this chapter)