The Emperor’s Angel of Death

"Sigh, who would have thought that such a big mess would erupt after only ten years of absence."

Having just dealt with the troubles of the planetary management, Sosiant finally returned to the battle group's monastery fortress, which he had been away from for a long time. As soon as the fleet docked, he didn't stop. First, he listened to Talos's report, then he went to see the remains of the gene stealers who had been eliminated and captured, and then he rushed to deal with the governor's family affairs and deployed and directed the planet's investigation. After more than ten hours of tossing around, it was already night at the monastery fortress.

Of course, if he wanted to, there were more things waiting for him, but Sosiant didn't continue to do everything himself.

He handed over the internal affairs after the battle group's return to Ustad, and let Rogris take full responsibility for the statistics and deployment of equipment. The worlds that the High Lords gave as rewards were left to the battle group's servants to communicate and hand over, at least to clarify the situation first, and the various companies also made their own arrangements internally.

So, after returning to his personal office in the monastery fortress, the first thing he did was summon Talos.

"It's a good thing you came back early, otherwise the consequences would have been unimaginable. The home star is full of gene stealers after returning from a distant expedition. If this gets out, others will probably laugh their heads off."

Talos, who was sitting cross-legged in a chair with his arms crossed, laughed when he heard this.

"This race is still small, and it won't become a major threat even if it's later. You don't need to worry too much. And to be honest, this situation isn't too bad compared to the surrounding areas. It wasn't until I came back that I learned that since two years ago, the distress signals from various star districts in the Tempest Zone have been pouring in here like moths attracted to light. Even the star language signals from the Baka Sub-sector have been transmitted. Everyone is looking forward to you, the great savior."

Sosiant picked up the data slate, he hadn't had time to look at these accumulated reports.

"Is the situation that bad?"

As he spoke, he began to browse. Talos didn't disturb him, but lit himself a cigar.

As a result, the more Sosiant read, the tighter his brow furrowed.

Half an hour later, he put down the data slate—if it were an ordinary person, it would take three to five days to read these massive amounts of information even without sleep.

"What's going on? Why have gene stealers and orcs made so many worlds restless? There wasn't such a strong reaction before. Even many battle groups in the Tempest Zone went to the Ultima Segmentum to carry out missions because there hadn't been any major disturbances in this star zone."

Sosiant's doubts were not without reason. Compared to other star zones, a significant feature of the Tempest Zone is that there are not many warp rifts. On the contrary, both the material and warp nodes in this star zone can be said to be scarce, and there are not many places where the warp and reality intersect. Although this also creates certain obstacles to transportation and communication in this star zone, and many star districts are very poor, it also means that the Tempest Zone basically has no large-scale Chaos threats. Most of the time, the threats come from aliens, such as orcs and Eldar pirates.

In other words, although the Tempest Zone is relatively closed and poor, it is also quite stable, at least much more stable than the Ultima Segmentum and the Halo Stars, where Chaos warbands have team-building exercises every day.

"Who knows? Anyway, the Tempest Zone is much more chaotic than it used to be. But this is not entirely caused by aliens. Because Terra hasn't invested much, the defense forces of the Tempest Zone have always been very weak. The naval fleets are also more inclined to focus on small fleet and anti-piracy tactics, rather than large fleet strategies. Therefore, compared to most other fleets, there are still a large number of older, smaller warships in the Tempest Zone fleet. For example, the Baka fleet, which was severely damaged in the First Tyrannic War, has not recovered to this day. Such a force can maintain the status quo, but once there are slight changes, there will be a chain reaction. In addition, the Astral Knights are now so famous that it is no exaggeration to say that the Astral Knights' fleet is already one of the most powerful fleets in the Tempest Zone."

"Is there no reaction from the Adeptus Mechanicus?"

"Ah? You're talking about them? Come on, don't you understand those half-machine people? It's okay for them to sweep the snow in front of their own doors, but it would be asking for their lives to wipe a little frost off someone else's tiles. Selfishness can be said to be the nature of 99% of the cogboys—or rather, not their nature. With their disgusting academic system, people who aren't selfish can't climb to high positions at all."

"Well, these sudden outbreaks of gene stealer plagues are definitely not normal phenomena, but why are the orcs also restless? Is there any connection between the two?"

Talos waved his hand.

"You don't need to worry. The people from the Covenant of Sorrow have returned and started to go out in all directions to deal with problems in various directions. It's quite interesting, actually. Before, the various forces in the Tempest Zone had a very ambiguous attitude towards the Covenant of Sorrow. But guess what's happening now? They completely treat the Victory Scar of the Covenant of Sorrow as a liaison station. Not only have various forge worlds sent representatives, but many star districts also have their own representatives there. Imperial institutions such as the Ecclesiarchy also have representatives. That place is very lively now."

When Talos started speaking, Sosiant was a little puzzled, but he immediately realized the reason.

It's not that complicated. The Astartes battle groups themselves are not that easy to contact. Ship-based battle groups are erratic, and no one knows which battlefield they will go to. Whether you can meet or find them depends entirely on luck. As for battle groups with home stars, due to the high degree of closure of the Astartes chapter, they will not easily allow outsiders to contact them. At the same time, the daily routine of most battle groups is that various companies are running around outside performing missions. Only one or two companies and recruits are stationed at the battle group monastery. Even if contact is made, it is difficult to quickly request reinforcements.

But the Victory Scar is different. It is not the territory of a certain Astartes. In essence, it is the administrative residence of the Covenant of Sorrow, a non-entity organization. It was also confirmed at the beginning of its establishment as a liaison point between the alliance and the Mechanicus. There is no exclusion. At the same time, it has the function of contacting all members of the Covenant of Sorrow. It is equivalent to a stable place where you can contact several battle groups and get real-time information on the surplus of troops in each battle group. It is no wonder that this place, as Talos said, has become a liaison station.

"Well, that's good. If the intelligence information of the entire star zone can be integrated, the deployment of various forces will be much more convenient, and various meaningless wastes of troops can be avoided."

Talos exhaled a smoke ring and shook his head.

"If something like this really happens, Terra will gossip again."

"Ha, that's right. Oh, speaking of which, let me show you something."

With that, Sosiant stood up, walked to the entrance, picked up a box from a shelf, returned to the table, and pushed it to Talos's side.

"Take a look."