The Emperor’s Angel of Death

Sorkar was a little surprised by the other party's words, but he did know who Trajann was, the current leader of the Adeptus Custodes.

"Huh? I don't quite understand what you mean."

"In the past ten thousand years, the Imperium has stagnated in many ways, but it has reached expert levels in the application of violence. The bad thing is that more and more things are difficult to solve with unrestrained force. The biggest enemy and strongest weapon of an expedition is never violence. You have the ability to think about solving problems in ways other than violence, which is very important."

After saying these meaningful words, Valerian nodded to Viletts.

"Welcome back to Terra, Abbess Viletts."

Then came Faysal.

"And Envoy Faysal, I won't disturb your journey any further, but we will talk again in a more appropriate place."

Valerian looked at Sorkar and put his helmet back on.

"Goodbye."

With that, the Custodes turned and left.

After they left, Sorkar chuckled and looked at Faysal.

"The Custodes are quite surprising. It seems I've been a bit stereotypical about these palace guards."

The other party shrugged.

"Lord Valerian is actually quite special. He has always been known for his gentleness, although only relative to the Custodes. He is also one of the Shield-Captains who appears in public more often."

"Now that you mention it, I'm even more looking forward to meeting Marshal Trajann Valoris."

"That depends on the decision of the High Lords."

Afterward, with the assistance of the escort ships, the fleet passed through one void checkpoint after another, heading towards the desolate Pluto. During this process, Sorkar sat in a relatively casual chair, chatting with Viletts about Terra and the Custodes. Because the Ebony Chalice Convent of the Order Hospitaller was located on Terra, Viletts had a relatively good understanding of the Custodes.

"Trajann Valoris is the seventeenth and current Captain-General of the Adeptus Custodes. He is also a member of the High Lords of Terra, but he rarely appears at the High Lords' meetings. There is also a rumor about the Custodes that the fifteenth Captain-General, Galahote, and the sixteenth Captain-General, Andros Loestrad, served for very short periods, and their deaths were somewhat strange, possibly involving internal power struggles within the Custodes, but there are also rumors that the fifteenth Captain-General, Galahote, did not die but was sacrificed."

"The Custodes reportedly do not leave the Imperial Palace most of the time because of the confinement order. There are rumors that Marshal Trajann has been trying to break this confinement, but there has been no actual action shown so far."

"Rumor has it that the number of Custodes may have returned to the ten thousand strong of the Great Crusade era, but there is no actual evidence."

Sorkar suddenly chuckled.

"The Custodes are truly mysterious. Are there any interactions between the Ecclesiarchy and the Custodes?"

Viletts nodded slightly.

"After the Reign of Blood, it was the then Captain-General of the Custodes, Exesor, who persuaded Saint Sebastian Thor to become the new Ecclesiarch. Even now, the murals in the cathedral still show the Captain-General bestowing the scepter and crown upon the saint."

At this moment, the bridge's broadcast sounded.

"Approaching Pluto and Charon."

Sorkar stood up from his chair and walked a few steps with Viletts, gazing at the silent Pluto and its binary satellite Charon. They were like two pearls, one large and one small, connected by invisible threads, hanging in the void. However, if you looked closely, you would notice that the surface of Charon had many huge impact craters and terrifying cracks that spread in all directions. The interconnected routes made the surrounding space crowded with various ships, tugs, and void stations. You could even see many small Adeptus Arbites patrol boats speeding through the ship traffic. (Just a side note, after looking at GW's setting for the solar system, I realized how many errors there are, and some are quite outrageous. It was understandable to write like this in the 80s and 90s, but in the 21st century, after so many updates to the setting and after reading so many books, they are unwilling to update the solar system setting. First of all, Pluto was confirmed not to be a planet in 2006, but a dwarf planet, and it is not even the largest dwarf planet. Eris is even larger than it. Could it be that the GW people basically don't pay attention to any astronomical news and information?)

As a dwarf planet on the edge of the solar system, Pluto not only has a relatively small mass, but also a very low temperature. Charon is the same. Strictly speaking, this satellite is even considered a dwarf planet. Its volume is more than half that of Pluto. Due to its harsh environment, the two dwarf planets are not suitable for direct human habitation, but even so, they still have populous underground cities.

In addition, Pluto originally had four other smaller satellites, which were not much larger than the Imperial Navy's large starships, with limited populations, mostly used for military defense facilities.

But now, Sorkar could only see two satellites, so he subconsciously asked:

"Pluto seems to be missing two satellites?"

"During the Horus Heresy, Pluto and its satellites became the main direction of attack for the Alpha Legion. The first large-scale battle of the War of the Throne took place here. Later, in the final stages of the war, Pluto once again became a battlefield. Sigismund, the greatest champion of the Imperial Fists and the first High Marshal of the Black Templars, defended against a large-scale rebel attack here. During the battle, the fourth moon of Pluto, Kerberos, was completely destroyed by a trap set by Sigismund, destroying a large number of traitors and hundreds of ships, but it also destroyed the third moon of Pluto, Hydra, and caused irreversible damage to the first moon of Pluto, Charon. Pluto and its remaining satellites were subsequently reclaimed by the Imperium during the Scouring. You see, there is a memorial built on a huge rock fragment, which is used to commemorate the Battle of Kerberos. That rock is also the largest surviving fragment of the fourth moon of Pluto. The Black Templars send new recruits to this memorial every once in a while to commemorate their great first leader."

This time, Viletts served as Sorkar's "history teacher." Listening to the origin of Pluto's missing two satellites, Sorkar nodded slightly, his eyes fixed on the memorial built on the huge rock fragment that Viletts pointed to.

It floated next to the fragments of the third moon of Pluto, away from the shipping lanes, fixed in the void by gravity devices. The memorial on it had a very unique shape, a cross that was wide at the top and narrow at the bottom, like a sword inserted into the rock.

But it didn't seem like any ships were going there.

"Is it usually closed?"

"Yes, because it contains top-secret historical data and information, the Kerberos Memorial is a special memorial, and only certain groups of people or those who have been specially approved are allowed to visit."

Sorkar looked at Viletts and smiled:

"Then I wonder if it would be convenient for us to take a look?"

Viletts returned a warm smile.

"Of course, our Imperial hero."