The Emperor’s Angel of Death

On the bridge of the battle barge Light of the Heart, Sotha watched a series of reports coming in. Just a few minutes ago, orbital-to-ground communications had been almost completely severed, with most channels reduced to crackling, distorted static. But Sotha had anticipated that the Necrons would start with this kind of disruption – all Imperial records of Necron encounters mentioned severe interference or even complete shielding of astropathic and long-range communications.

Knowing this, Sotha wouldn't make the mistake of forgetting past lessons. He had the forge world deploy a communication network that could effectively resist electromagnetic or anti-psyker interference – laser communication.

To ensure the stability of communications, the forge world had deployed tens of thousands of floating laser relay beacons in the atmosphere, serving as relay stations and dispatch points for orbital-to-ground and ground-to-ground laser transmitters and receivers. This meant that unless the enemy created smoke or physical light-shielding measures in the atmosphere, they couldn't sever communications. It was thanks to the forge world's industrial capacity that a complete global communication network could be established in two weeks.

So, when the ground detected an abnormal energy burst, Sotha immediately received a report.

This meant that the Necrons of the Ryzahk Dynasty were preparing to clash with humanity. This was good; Sotha had been waiting for this moment. Meanwhile, the Eldar fleet lurked in the dark void at the edge of the sector, awaiting the Phoenix Lord's command.

"The Necrons' first wave of attack will certainly come from their aircraft. All field anti-air defenses of the Cinder Furnace's forward forces are to be on full alert. At the same time, all city air defense arrays are to be at maximum readiness. Avoid launching slow-speed aircraft like the Stormhawk Interceptor whenever possible. The Necrons' primary air superiority fighter is the Doom Scythe, an extremely fast aircraft with tremendous firepower and self-repair capabilities. Any current human aircraft engaging it will suffer heavy losses. Their only disadvantage is that their numbers are likely small, generally operating in formations of 3-5. Therefore, the counter-strategy is to use small, high-speed aircraft as bait, luring them into the ambush zone of large laser arrays and quickly destroying them with ground fire."

From the bridge, Sotha transmitted a series of combat plans and instructions to the ground's integrated combat command center, where logic-engines and data-sages would quickly expand them into specific orders.

Also transmitted to the command center were the appearance and partial data of the enemy aircraft. Sotha's detailed knowledge of Necron weapons and capabilities was, of course, thanks to Eldar assistance.

Especially the Frozen Stars Troupe.

The day after returning to orbit, Sotha met with the Troupe Master of the Frozen Stars.

Perhaps indeed prompted by Veronica's reminder, Sotha was met by the Troupe Master of the Light Troupe (this troupe was unique in having two Troupe Masters). He came to meet Sotha mainly to bring three messages –

The first message was accurate intelligence about the Necrons, especially regarding weapons and personnel equipment, essentially filling in the numerous blanks in the Mechanicus's nonsensical research. In the past, the Imperium faced Necron attacks with little to no information, often being attacked without warning, and even after the battle, they might not know the specific equipment and weapon types of the enemy. Therefore, whether in victory or defeat, losses were enormous. This was the problem of missing intelligence. The Ordo Xenos claimed to be studying the Necrons, but Sotha genuinely wondered what they had been researching all these years, as they hadn't even produced a specific weapon parameter report. He had to go to the Eldar for it.

The Dynasty had some Necron intelligence before, but it was far from detailed. This time, the Frozen Stars brought extremely detailed intelligence, thanks to their long-term cooperation with the Aeldari of Craftworld Alaitoc in "troubling" their ancient enemies. The troupe even had the heads of three Dynasty Overlords as stage props.

The importance of intelligence for the outcome of war is self-evident. For example, without the Frozen Stars' performance intelligence on Necron aircraft, Sotha might have simply thought their fighters were just "a bit faster" and would have still chosen to send Stormtalons and other aircraft to fight them, resulting in huge losses. Only Eldar fighters with their equally unreasonable inertialess engines could compete with the Necron fighters' incredible engines. Human aircraft, even if they could win, couldn't even catch up.

The second message was an ancient prophecy called "The Night of Sorrows." This prophecy came from the ancient ancestors of Alaitoc. It was said that their goal in building the Craftworld and leaving their homeworld was very different from other Craftworlds. A significant portion of the Craftworld's inhabitants were rare military personnel, a secret unit of the ancient Eldar Empire. Before the Fall, they received a mysterious order from high command and entered the already completed Alaitoc.

The so-called "Night of Sorrows" was the "prophecy" or "instruction" left behind by those ancient ancestors, revealing the true goal of Craftworld Alaitoc – to weaken the strength of their former nemesis, the Necrons, as much as possible during the decline of the Eldar race, to prevent the ancient enemy from destroying the Eldar race when they inevitably returned. The superior combat skills of Alaitoc's "Pathfinders" came from the military legacy of the ancient empire, which is why only Alaitoc has Pathfinders.

Originally, the Seer Council of Alaitoc understood the Night of Sorrows to be triggered by the awakened Sautekh Dynasty, the strongest Necron dynasty, which led to the rash battle of the Star Scourge. However, after interpretation, the Frozen Stars came to a different conclusion. They believed that the warning of the Night of Sorrows should target the true leader of the Necrons, the so-called Silent King and the dark conspiracy he was weaving, and judged that the long-lost Silent King would return.

Originally, this was just a guess, but during a conversation with a Troupe Player, Veronica inadvertently revealed Sotha's hostility towards the Silent King (in fact, Sotha and Veronica had long planned this strategy to test the Harlequin Troupe's reaction to the Necrons). This was immediately captured by the Player, who then launched a powerful verbal offensive, eventually "persuading" Veronica to talk about some of the connections between the Silent King and Sotha – mainly the conflict between the two on the Eleventh Legion. This immediately led the two Troupe Masters to judge that the true enemy of the ancient prophecy was the Silent King Szarekh!

This was also why they urgently expressed to Veronica their desire to communicate directly with Sotha.