The Emperor’s Angel of Death

After the complete destruction of the main star of Badab, this disaster-ridden star system was left with only one habitable world. That world, too, was ravaged by war, with only half of its hive city remaining. The population had been completely evacuated, and if it weren't for the atmosphere, it could be considered a dead world.

But even so, its value remained immeasurable.

Because the location of the Badab system destined it to always be the center of the Maelstrom trade routes. As long as the system's orbital shipping facilities were restored, it could quickly become one of the most prosperous worlds in the Maelstrom.

Also, due to its crucial location, the emissary from Terra had repeatedly told Saul Tarvitz that the High Lords of Terra had other plans for this place and hoped that he would respect their wishes.

Saul Tarvitz certainly wanted to respect the wishes of the High Lords, but considering the long-term stability of the future, he did not think that the High Lords' arrangements would be beneficial. He bluntly expressed his thoughts to the emissary, stating that Badab was still a key node in the Maelstrom Expedition and that someone must be in charge. It would be too late to wait for the High Lords to make a decision. Anyway, this appointment was only "temporary," and they could replace him whenever they wanted.

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The Terran emissary could only remain silent in the face of Saul Tarvitz's remarks.

Another reason why Saul Tarvitz was so concerned about Badab was Zorg's opinion. He elaborated to Saul Tarvitz on the importance of the star system and the benefits it could generate. This former spymaster was now a leading dark leader in the Maelstrom. His Gray Fox Group had, in the past few years, relied on "official" protection and the transfer of benefits to expand to over a million core members, possessing more than three hundred ships of various sizes, and had ventured into finance, agriculture, industrial production, hive city real estate, contraband smuggling, arms trading, and many other fields, becoming a behemoth. Now, even the smallest gang in the lowest levels of the most remote hive city in the Maelstrom would be respectful when they saw someone carrying the gray fox symbol.

Some even jokingly said that the biggest winner of this expedition was not the Imperium, but the Gray Fox, because it had completely devoured the gray network that the former Red Corsairs had operated in the Maelstrom for so long.

Zorg persuaded Saul Tarvitz to appoint someone he could control as the governor of Badab. That person should also have a deep background so that Terra would not easily replace them when Saul Tarvitz left. But these conditions were inherently contradictory, after all, people with deep backgrounds were naturally difficult to control.

But it wasn't entirely impossible.

So, he deliberately released the news that he was going to appoint a temporary governor of Badab to see which "applicants" would emerge.

And there were quite a few. Not only did old Morales enter the fray, but Count Von also began to take action, trying to push his illegitimate son to the forefront, or rather, in front of Saul Tarvitz. The various methods used were endless, and some people could even find their way to Veronica. One day, when she went to inspect the work of the statistics department and returned to her private office, there was an unadorned gift box on her desk. When she opened it, inside was a "Phantasm Stone."

The Phantasm Stone is a legendary gem said to be produced in the Eye of Terror. It resembles a drop of water in shape, and is usually colorful, but when close to the human body, it turns into a hazy light blue. It not only has ornamental value, but more importantly, it has extremely magical effects, namely, it can allow people to control themselves in dreams. That is to say, when a person carries it into a dream, they can maintain the same clear consciousness as in reality, which in a sense allows people to travel in their own dreams. This sounds almost like a paradox, because a conscious person shouldn't be dreaming.

Because of this bizarre effect, the Phantasm Stone is priceless in the Imperial black market, literally priceless, and there are no stones available for purchase.

But Veronica didn't know whether to laugh or cry, because the so-called Phantasm Stone of humans actually came from the Eldar Maiden Worlds. It has another name—

Lilith's Tear, which is similar to the gem used to open the Lilith Shrine earlier, both being props for the priests of the Dream Goddess to communicate with the goddess.

Afterwards, she told Saul Tarvitz about this and suspected that her identity might have been exposed, but Saul Tarvitz didn't think so and told her to accept it first without showing any signs. Since the other party was giving gifts without leaving a name, they must be testing her, testing whether she liked these things. Obviously, the other party must have put in some effort, knowing that Veronica usually liked Eldar ornaments, and also knowing that the Phantasm Stone was an Eldar creation.

Sure enough, two days later, another gift box appeared on Veronica's usual route. Inside was still a Phantasm Stone. To be able to take out two such treasure-level items at once, it was clear that the giver was very powerful.

Veronica immediately found the giver, who turned out to be a mid-level battle-brother servant whom she trusted quite a bit, a female clerk in her forties.

Facing Veronica, the other party did not hide anything and directly confessed to her that the Von family had contacted her. At first, she refused, but her son, a young man who was currently a low-level battle-brother servant, had run up a large gambling debt while stationed on Sagan because he was ignorant. At that time, people from the Von family came forward to solve it. Now that the favor was due, and considering her son's future prospects, she had to accept the other party's arrangement.

The Von family also knew that she would be found, so they specifically left a message, they asked for nothing else, they only hoped that Veronica could say a few good words for their family's candidate.

Through the mid-level servant's few words and Veronica's occasional appearances to handle some important affairs, Count Von judged that this beautiful woman probably had a special status among the Astral Knights, and immediately judged that this was the best breakthrough point.

In fact, he didn't choose the wrong person. When Veronica told Saul Tarvitz about this, Saul Tarvitz was indeed a little moved, mainly because of the skills and wealth that Count Von demonstrated, which in a sense was what his illegitimate son could rely on to secure the position of governor of Badab, and it was also the capital to get through to Terra. As for how to control the other party, Saul Tarvitz had a way. Count Von's dirty tricks were good handles to hold.

However, the infiltration of the battle-brother servants by others also reminded Saul Tarvitz. This was not Veronica's problem. Her powerful psychic abilities could prevent this kind of thing. These things happened precisely because she was not in the battle-brother during that time, and no matter what difficulties the clerk servant had, the final outcome was still the stripping of all titles and status, and her family would struggle for survival on the lower decks.

However, Veronica's side was not over yet. One day, when the accompanying Yarrick was reporting on the situation of the Astra Militarum, he suddenly said that Colonel Arnie Morales of that regiment was quite good. Although he was of noble birth, he dared to fight and was good at fighting. At that time, Saul Tarvitz was a little strange, how could Yarrick notice a cannon fodder regiment's colonel?

Afterwards, Yarrick told him that someone had compiled a list of recently outstanding commissars, including Commissar Ayi of Arnie's regiment, and he was on the first page. The stories included, but were not limited to, assisting the colonel in slaying a Chaos Space Marine, following the colonel in a night raid on a garrison of hundreds of enemy soldiers with only a dozen people, and successfully beheading the enemy commander, and also raising the regimental flag with the colonel and launching a desperate charge at the moment when the battle line was about to collapse. These events added up to a legendary name, but everything in it was attributed to that colonel, and Yarrick naturally had a deep impression.