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

Chapter 345: Space Warrior, years old, can't avoid stealing feelings

Heselius stood on the bridge, frowning and looking out the observation window. A faint blue light was faintly visible in the eyes of the clerk under the psychic hood.

Sailing in the dark side of the empire was not pleasant, even though the Sanguinor, as a battle barge of the Sons of the Holy Blood, would navigate the waves for the Blood Ruler in the High Heaven. The mortal power of the navigator alone could not resist the turbulent waves of the immaterial world. They had just successfully jumped out of Mandeville Point two hours ago. Ruocelius's spirit still had the fatigue and pain brought by watching the warp, but he still did not rest. Instead, he watched the world of their destination without blinking at the reopened observation window on the upper bridge.

Sanctum II, the seat of the Archbishop of the Trolibo Subsector during his lifetime, is, of course, a shrine world loyal to the Empire. At least in theory it should be so.

A Shrine World loyal to the Imperium should not at least deny a Blood Angel Astartes a temporary stay in its orbit, whatever their reasons.

The sound array specialist in charge of communication was arguing with the other party, and the console area behind the think tank was buzzing. The Blood Dominator was still several million kilometers away from her destination. On a cosmic scale, this was a very close distance, but even for the naked eyes of Astartes, this distance was quite far. In the physical eyes of Joscelius, Sanctum II was just a dim bright spot that was easily ignored and reflected the light of the star, but in terms of psychic power, it was much more than that.

He didn't have the power of Mephiston to change the situation easily, but that was not because he was incompetent in his position. The chief think tank of the Blood Angels was exceptional in every aspect, and if Heselius, as an "ordinary normal person", was next to him, he would naturally look inferior.

"It's not the worst possibility." He retracted his "gaze" that was projected millions of kilometers away and turned to the captain of the third company, An Ta Ge, who was also in the control zone. "There are indeed signs of Chaos pollution and small-scale fighting on Saint Kthum II, but the situation is indeed under the control of the state religion. They refused our temporary stop, probably just because they didn't want to embarrass themselves in front of us."

If Mephiston were here in person, he might be able to cover the entire Sanctum II with his huge will, order everything on the surface to unfold to him, and understand everything that is happening in this world in detail. Unfortunately, there is only one Mephiston, and the real Joscelius can only interpret what is happening through the projection and metaphor of the real story in the subspace. But for the current situation, this is more than enough.

Captain Antargo, who was sitting next to the sound array specialist instead of the captain's position, obviously heard the results of Jorheselius's examination, and his response was just a sullen nod. The first expedition of this Primaris brother after becoming an Astartes was in the Indomitus Crusade, following the Primarch Roboute Guilliman. Some of the views of the Imperial Regent inevitably influenced his code of conduct. Specifically, he always behaved a little awkwardly when it came to matters related to the state religion.

Roheselius certainly didn't like them much, especially since the Baal Sector branch of the Ecclesiarchy always worshipped their Gene-Father alongside the Emperor, but true Blood Angels knew how to handle the relationship between the two with grace and thoughtfulness, while Antargo was often a little clumsy in similar situations.

But this was not a fatal flaw, because Antagu accepted his lack of seniority in the Chapter well, and never hesitated to ask: "Secretary, do you have any suggestions on how to deal with this matter?"

Joscelius shrugged. The Chapter Think Tank was indeed a position responsible for providing advice to the combat troops, but generally speaking it would not be this kind of advice. Although the clerk did not dislike the other party's respect for the Chapter's seniority, he was still somewhat embarrassed about this matter: "You are the commander representing the Chapter, you can do whatever you want."

Having hit a snag, Anta Ge looked back at the sound array specialist, his eyes revealing a bit of tiredness and melancholy. After weighing the pros and cons for a few seconds, he gave an order: "Contact the person in charge of the other party directly and tell them that I want to have a 'frank' talk with them."

He emphasized the word "frankly and openly", making it clear that he would choose "efficiency" over the "etiquette" that the Blood Angels always uphold. If Heselius had some complaints about this, they were not enough to drive him to speak out. He might be the one who proposed this "raid" to Lord Dante, but in the actual operation, the one who was responsible for making the decision should still be the captain of a combat company.

No one objected, and the sound array specialist was able to quickly carry out Captain Antagu's will. Ignoring the resistance and excuses coming from the radio waves, the Blood Dominator continued to move straight towards the direction of Saint Kthum II without hesitation.
-
Outside the Baal system, the "Lord Blood", the personal ship of the Blood Angels Supreme Priest Astorius, is quietly suspended in the dark void. This is a small and fast ship, shaped like a crimson dagger piercing into the darkness. Because of the special duties of its owner, it has long been alone in the starry sea, and few people are able or willing to visit the interior of this ship that symbolizes bad luck - but that does not mean that there is no space for the ceremonial procession.

At least, after welcoming Lord Dante, Chief Think Tank Mephiston, and the ten-man Holy Blood Guard combat team who came aboard from the Bloodcaller, the corridors on the Noble Blood did not seem crowded.

In contrast, the team was greeted by the fully armed Supreme Priest himself and five other Blood Angels battle brothers who were also in full armor. This seemingly weak procession was not because Astorius was deliberately negligent, but because there were only these few Space Marines on the ship. The Noble Blood was more operated by mortal officers and chapter servants rather than Astartes. On the one hand, this was because the tasks Astorius was responsible for were more suitable for handling by a smaller but more flexible assault force; on the other hand, it was also because the reputation of the Supreme Priest was obviously not very bright among the Blood Angels.

Unlike Mephiston, who was naturally hated for no reason because of his psychic nature, Astorius' bad reputation had a more specific reason: as the Supreme Chaplain of the Blood Angels, he was responsible for dealing with battle brothers who were entangled by the Red Thirst or the Black Rage and had no hope of regaining self-control. It was hard to say whether the blood on his hands came more from the enemies of the Empire or his own brothers, but for the descendants of the angels, such a position was very necessary.

In the distant past, among the Blood Angels of the Legion era, similar duties were undertaken by the Sphere Conclave appointed by the Primarch. From a macro perspective, the flaws of Red Thirst and Black Rage are not only a secret of the Legion, but also a shame. As long as the children of the angels will continue to be tormented by this curse, similar work must be done by someone - even if it is an undoubted test for both the executor and the executed.

This undoubted test has undoubtedly left an indelible mark on Astorius. Anyone who sees him for the first time will not first notice the sculptural handsomeness that the angel son inherited from his gene father. The gift of his father still exists on the face of the Supreme Priest, but it has been almost worn away by the long time and repeated torture of the soul. His face is gloomy and pale, and it is also terrifying, but the mechanism of action is completely different from that of the Chief Think Tank: Mephiston's horror lies in something he carries, which makes people intuitively feel the monster nature of the Lord of Death; Astorius is almost death itself. His existence can easily arouse the most primitive fear of any living creature around him - the fear of death. Moreover, the power armor he personally carved and polished, decorated with countless skulls and bones and other symbols of death, is also subtly reinforcing this to others. Now, Death itself bowed to his chapter leader, but he still had doubts in his heart. After the polite greetings, Astorius immediately expressed his doubts: "My Lord, the problem of the Blood Drinkers must be properly handled. We don't want it to become the next Scarlet Angel. So I have to ask this: Why do you refuse to let the Noble Blood return home? Why don't you convene the Holy Blood and Sacred Bones Council in the Arax Angel Fortress to rule on this matter?"

"This is just a temporary measure. Something has happened in the Chapter Monastery recently." Dante replied. Perhaps if the Holy Blood Priest Corbulo was here, he would be inclined to tell the "Grim One" the whole story as soon as possible, so that the Chief Priest could also be happy. Unfortunately, the one who appeared here was the Chapter Master Dante, who was thinking about completing the most urgent work first, and Mephiston, whose sense of humor and leisurely mood for joking had basically died along with Calistarius. Therefore, Astorius only got a vague explanation in the previous part.

"As long as we can confirm that the problems of the Blood Drinkers are not interfered by Chaos pollution, we will set off immediately and conduct deliberations according to normal procedures." The Chapter Master said this, and his tone sounded subtly like a boy who was about to "do something bad" without telling his elders at home. "But if they are contaminated, it is best to solve the matter quietly in the outer galaxy."

There was nothing wrong with the order itself, but the emotional reaction in it confused Astorius. For a moment, the High Priest even suspected that "the interference of Chaos pollution had already invaded the Chapter Fortress", but after he glanced at the Chief Think Tank, he immediately gave up the idea and instead suspected that the mess hall of the Bloodcaller had mixed some hallucinogenic additives into the food, because Mephiston's face also flashed a momentary expression that could be called "embarrassed and guilty".

Or maybe the mess hall incident actually happened on the Noble Blood, and he was the one who was wrong. Astorius shook off these unrealistic distractions and asked, "Why? What happened in the monastery?"

"Good things, generally speaking," Mephiston said. "So good that we're not even sure they're good things."

Astorius frowned, expressing his silent dissatisfaction with the Chief Librarian's vague words, and Dante took over the conversation in time: "We briefly discussed this matter on the way, and we think the more efficient way to deal with it is to return to the fortress directly after answering your questions in detail and give you a few days of vacation. But before that, please let us finish the work we should do here: who did you bring back from the Blood Drinkers?"

The High Priest was still confused by the question, but since he had been promised an answer, he did not continue to dwell on it: "The Chapter Master, Librarian and Hermit Master of the Blood Drinkers, as well as the Captains of the Third, Fifth and Tenth Companies. The Captains of the Fifth and Tenth Companies are the Primaris Brothers."

Dante glanced suspiciously at the procession that came to greet him - including Astorius himself, a total of six Space Marine combat teams assembled through secondment and rotation. These were all the Astartes originally on the ship. "Did they volunteer to come with you?"

"That's the only way to judge. That's why I'm more optimistic about the Blood Drinkers than I was about the Vermillion Angels." The Supreme Priest knew what his Chapter Master was doubting. "After all, with only six of us, we can't capture so many important people from the other Chapter's base and bring them to our ship."

This is indeed unusual: unlike the Ultramarines, who are still widely regarded as the patriarchs of all the Ultramarines Chapters after 10,000 years; the Blood Angels do not have such great control over the Chapters of the Holy Blood. Dante's title of "Lord Commander" is not a real title, but a nominal title given out of respect for his qualifications and achievements, and does not give him real control over other Chapters - this problem has already appeared once when fighting against the Leviathan Hive: the Chapter Masters of all the Chapters of the Holy Blood are theoretically equal to Dante, so after responding to the call of the mother chapter, this huge force in the era of the Chapter immediately fell into a considerable dilemma in the command chain.

Dante had met with the Blood Drinkers' Chapter Captain Orlok before. He thought that he was not someone who would easily yield (in other words, not so easy to talk to), but the Blood Drinkers' obedience was indeed good news at this time. At least, it showed that both sides believed that the matter could be negotiated, rather than having to resort to force from the beginning.

Astorius's judgment on this matter was exactly what Dante and Mephiston would make after listening to the situation. The three high-ranking officials of the Blood Angels nodded to each other and prepared to move forward with their work in a tacit understanding:

"Without further delay," the High Priest said, "perhaps we should go meet the Blood Drinkers' Chapter Master first. During the voyage, I did find that their Red Thirst symptoms were somewhat more severe than those of other angels' offspring."

Dante nodded without refutation, and used body language to signal the other party to lead the way: "Speaking of this, before leaving, Corbulo gave me a few Red Thirst Suppressants that are said to be effective. I say 'said to be effective' because this drug has not passed all the tests and cannot be officially put into use, but if Orlok's regiment has serious problems in this regard, perhaps this can help them."

Astorius paused. It was the chief priest's turn to look his chapter master up and down with suspicion.

If his sense of humor was still alive, the head priest would probably point out that we are just about to start work, not return to the fortress for vacation as the Chapter Master just announced. But unfortunately, no one can maintain a relaxed and cheerful state of mind in such a position, so what really came out of Astorius's mouth was a question: "What trouble has Corbro made this time?"

"Our dear High Priest didn't blow anything up this time, nor did he allow anything to invade the Angel Fortress." Dante patted his Supreme Priest and sighed half tiredly and half relieved. "You just left for a long time and didn't notice what happened on Baal recently. Believe me, this is not the most fake thing at all."

(End of this chapter)