The Emperor’s Angel of Death

Just as Sorkar was waiting on Mars for the Adeptus Mechanicus to awaken the ship's machine spirit, a small vessel marked as an Astral Knight suddenly arrived from Terra. Sorkar knew who it was without asking, as he had personally approved their communication request.

However, its arrival brought something else.

"Rozhim, what trouble have you gotten me into this time?"

As the doors to Cargo Bay 1 on the middle deck of the Eternal Loyalty opened, Sorkar, dressed in casual attire, walked in with a frown, muttering under his breath. Rozhim was already waiting there, accompanied by Loken, Isvin, Dogo, and others. As for his animal friends, Sorkar had forbidden them from boarding the flagship.

As for the short one, that was acceptable.

Behind them was an oversized alloy container, seemingly twice as tall as Sorkar and incredibly heavy, giving the impression that it was specifically designed for transporting hazardous materials.

"Chapter Master, it's not trouble! It's a good thing!"

"Anything you call 'good' usually gives me a headache."

Sorkar walked up to Rozhim, stared at the container for a moment, and then turned his head.

"Did you have fun this time?"

"Uh, it was alright."

Sorkar glanced at him and scoffed.

"You spent all the money, didn't you?"

"I did!"

Rozhim nodded earnestly.

"Can you be peaceful for a while now?"

There was a hint of helplessness in Sorkar's voice, but he could never bring himself to strictly restrain Rozhim. He was one of the very few people with whom Sorkar could speak freely, even joke around. He was someone with whom he could completely let down his guard and share his innermost thoughts. He was also one of the few remaining members of the Chapter who had joined with him. Perhaps he wasn't as capable as Talos, but his importance to Sorkar was no less significant.

"Of course, uh, of course."

As he spoke, Rozhim suddenly twitched his nose.

"Hey? Brother, that lavender scent on you is different from before. It smells like the Ecclesiarchy's churches, but with a hint of rose. Were you just at a church?"

Sorkar pushed him away with some annoyance, as if to keep him at a distance.

"Why is your nose so sensitive!? What's inside this thing?"

Rozhim rubbed his nose and muttered softly.

"It's normal for a cook to have a sensitive nose..."

Then he gave Loken a look. The Tech-Priest promptly directed a servo-skull to ascend and interface with the device on top of the container. The alloy plates on all four sides of the container slowly descended, folded away, and revealed what was inside—

Sorkar's eyes immediately widened.

"You—"

It was a terrifying being restrained by an invisible force field. Dark purple chitinous armor covered its torso, which was easily twice the height of a Space Marine. Its legs were as thick as tree trunks, and its claws resembled those of a savage reptile, with forked and sharp, massive toes. On either side of its torso were two arms, adorned with chilling bone spurs and blades. Its six fingers bore spear-like talons, and one could almost see the psychic energy swirling around their tips.

Above the torso was a neck with numerous vents revealing crimson muscle, connecting to a massive, grotesque head. The head was so large it was almost deformed, the skull stretched into a spherical shape by the matter inside, with visible folds of brain tissue on the surface. A row of sharp, uniform spines extended from the back of the head to a long, sharply barbed tail, protecting the creature's most vulnerable part.

Sorkar was no stranger to this thing; he had even killed one himself.

However, that didn't change the fact that it was an extremely dangerous alien. One could even say it was the most dangerous alien creature within the Imperium, because given enough time, it could even cause a planet to fall.

"Genestealer Patriarch."

His eyes twitched, and he turned to Rozhim, his tone more severe than ever.

"Have I really been too lenient with you, that you've become so audacious, Rozhim!"

Rozhim quickly explained:

"Chapter Master, I didn't go looking for it!"

"Then how did it get here?"

"Well, after the victory parade, a friend of mine happened to be in a bit of trouble, so I went to help—"

"A friend?"

Sorkar immediately interrupted him.

"You have friends on Terra? When did you meet them?"

"Uh, it's just that..."

Seeing Rozhim's hesitant expression, Sorkar knew it couldn't be anything good. The identity of that friend must be complicated.

"Tell me the truth!"

"She works for the Inquisition, a psyker."

"The Inquisition? A woman?"

"Yes."

"Wouldn't happen to be a follower of that Inquisitor from the Maelstrom, would it?"

"That's her."

Sorkar shook his head helplessly.

"I see. What happened next?"

"She has a long-time friend who works for the Ordo Xenos. He disappeared somewhere beneath Terra while on some mission. That Inquisitor's follower found her and hoped she could help locate him. She used her psychic powers to divine his location and determined that the Inquisitor was still alive but being hunted by something, so she decided to go rescue him herself. I was worried something might happen to her, so I went along."

"Where did you go?"

"The catacombs beneath the Eternal City. Wow, that place is really deep and huge. They call it a graveyard, but it's been dug up beyond recognition. They say the deepest parts are over ten thousand meters deep!"

"I'm not asking for your impressions, I'm asking how you got this thing."

"Oh, oh, we went down there, but the situation was a bit chaotic, especially in the Red Moon district we were heading to. Two underhive gangs were fighting—one called 'Blood Father Illuminate Me' and the other 'Dark Prince Screw You All'—both lacking any taste. But their scale was quite large, and there were no enforcers in that area, so we had to gather information while trying to pinpoint the Inquisitor's possible location."

"Why would he go to such a place? And with names like that, are you sure they're gang members and not cultists?"

"Well, there's not much difference between a cult and a gang, really. As for the Inquisitor, Sistina said it was because he had uncovered clues about a Genestealer cult beneath Terra."

Sorkar frowned.

Terra was the heart of the Imperium, and with both cultists and Genestealers, something didn't sound right.

"Genestealers on Terra?"

"I didn't believe it either."

Saying that, Rozhim pointed at the Patriarch.

"Until we ran into this bastard."

"What happened next?"

"After that, we searched for several days without any progress. Sistina and the Inquisitor's follower could only spend some money to buy information from informants. Since we had nothing to do, and the district we were staying in happened to have a very famous, ahem, health and wellness center."

Sorkar crossed his arms and tilted his head, looking at Rozhim.

"You went to a brothel, didn't you?"

"Ahem, that suggestion came from Loken."

Hearing Rozhim say that, Loken quickly shook his head in the distance.

"Old Roz, you can't just make things up! Who was it that said, 'Aiya, following a beauty every day without being able to touch or kiss, I'm about to explode from pent-up frustration, I need to release some steam quickly,' and then led everyone—"

"Shut up! It was your health servitor that broke down, and you were consumed by lust!"

"Alright, alright, I'm not interested in hearing about your sordid affairs."

"Easy for the well-fed to say."

Rozhim muttered, and Sorkar immediately glared at him.

"Too much talk! Tell me everything that happened next!"