The Emperor’s Angel of Death

Hearing Sage Ryza's words, Sotha Yaan revealed a smile.

"The Adeptus Astartes are the fist of the Imperium, its sword, its bolter, but certainly not its brain. Studying these matters can only be entrusted to you all. We are only responsible for how to eliminate the enemy, and eliminating such an enemy requires immense power and cost."

Then he raised his hand, and several huge screens in the conference room lit up, displaying images that made the Sages subconsciously gather around.

They depicted crescent-shaped warships, or rather, their wreckage. Some were fragmented, while others had only lost half of their hull. There were also half-destroyed giant obelisks.

These things were not something that fortune hunters could dig up.

"You all use your brains, we use our strength. I think that's very fair, isn't it?"

Sotha Yaan spoke euphemistically, and no one present was a fool. Naturally, they understood his subtext.

"Chapter Master, what do you hope to exchange them for?"

The Sage of Atar Prime directly stated his thoughts. This Forge World was located at the junction of the Storm and Pacific Sectors, and was the starting point of the famous Steel Road during the Great Crusade. Furthermore, they had deep ties with Phaeton—Phaeton, as the second largest Forge World only to Mars, did not want to accept Martian leadership when it was discovered. However, faced with the Imperium's powerful armed forces, it ultimately chose to yield and was forced to hand over one-third of its strength. As a result, Phaeton played a trick on Mars, sending one-third of its Titan Legions and armed forces, ships, and personnel, then directly announced that these forces were missing. In reality, these people had fled to the edge of the Pacific Sector and established a new Forge World in the Atar system.

Therefore, even now, the two Forge Worlds still frequently interacted, although the years had diluted many past connections.

"Lamenters Fighter-Servitors, Fury Interceptors, Lightning Fighters, Thunderbolt Fighters, and a series of other aerial weapons."

Hearing Sotha Yaan's request, the Sages exchanged glances. It wasn't that these things were so expensive—the Lamenters Fighter-Servitors might be considered relatively valuable, but the fighters were relatively cheap consumables. More importantly, they were usually ordered by the Imperial Navy, and no Adeptus Astartes Chapter had ever requested these.

The Sage from Gryphon IV cautiously inquired:

"Chapter Master Sotha Yaan, why do you need these, equipment rarely used by the Astartes?"

Sotha Yaan replied flawlessly:

"Because in the battle with the Necrons, their aircraft caused us...very serious damage."

As he spoke, he raised one hand, and another screen lit up. Occasionally, a flash of light revealed a somewhat blurry image. Crescent-shaped aircraft flew across the sky in groups of three at a slow frame rate, emitting dazzling arcs of electricity, and then several fighters fell apart.

The Sages stared at these aircraft, some surprised, some thoughtful, and some directly began to calculate.

"This is delayed footage. In reality, these things are so fast that even the Astartes' vision can hardly capture them, and they don't need to follow physical rules or biological pilots' limitations at all."

"Inertialess engines."

The Sage of Yellow Springs VIII uttered this term, staring intently at the aircraft.

"Necron flying vehicles are almost all equipped with this thing. It is not comparable to any existing human aircraft. Not only is it extremely fast, but it can also perform miraculous flight control with large-angle maneuvers at will, making its flexibility incredible."

→

"That's right, their infantry is very slow, but their aircraft are too powerful. We have almost no way to solve them, and can only rely on numbers, using numbers to overwhelm them. That's why I need to assemble a large fighter squadron. In addition, Lamenters Fighter-Servitors are also very suitable for dealing with their small constructs, which can save manpower."

"But this seems..."

The Sage from Grea gently rubbed the remains of a destroyed Canoptek Spider with his metal fingers, and emitted a low voice.

"...does not conform to the Codex Astartes you should abide by."

"Which of the Forge Worlds you represent is willing to obey the rules and regulations promulgated by Mars? The Codex was compiled in an era without the Tyranid, without the Necrons, and even without the Black Legion. Times have changed, and the enemies have changed. If we don't change..."

"Choosing to stagnate in the face of new enemies means chronic death and destruction."

Sage Ryza chose to support Sotha Yaan.

"It is fortunate for the Imperium to have a hero like Chapter Master Sotha Yaan who knows how to be flexible."

"Yellow Springs VIII wishes to take all the ship wreckage."

At this time, someone had already started bidding.

The Sage of Gryphon IV immediately said:

"Gryphon IV wishes to obtain this ship."

As he spoke, he pointed to a Reaper warship with its tail blown off, which was the most complete and largest of all the warships.

"And the remains of these constructs, 100 copies of each sample, as many complete weapons as possible, ah, and Blackstone deposits, do you have any here?"

Sotha Yaan raised an eyebrow, then pretended to be ignorant and said:

"The Exterminatus was very thorough. I could only barely collect a little pure black rock fragments afterward. I'm not sure if this is the Blackstone you're talking about."

"Yes, yes, we--"

"We are conducting important research on Blackstone."

The Sage of Grea stepped forward.

"Please be sure to sell these...to us."

"I will try my best to get this thing--"

"One kilogram of Blackstone for one Fury Interceptor or Thunderbolt Fighter."

The Sage of Yellow Springs VIII had already made an offer.

"Five hundred grams of Blackstone for one Lightning Fighter or one Lamenters Fighter-Servitor."

Soon, the scene fell into chaos, and Sotha Yaan had to raise his hand and shout loudly:

"Quiet! Everyone! Quiet! Listen to me!"

After the various disputes gradually disappeared, Sotha Yaan slowly said:

"My original intention in taking out these things was to hope that the various Forge Worlds could increase their attention to the alien race of the Necrons. Therefore, I will prepare a certain amount of Blackstone and alien remains and items for each Forge World for everyone to study after returning. So, everyone doesn't need to worry, no one will go back empty-handed. Of course, we also need strength to fight and hunt them. I will not publicly bid for these things. I have already listed all the items for sale."

Several servitors walked in and distributed a data-slate to each Sage.

"Please bid according to your needs. I will discretionarily choose a suitable party to sell the items to. Perhaps this is not transparent, but I also hope that they can play a greater role in a suitable place, and I don't want you to contradict each other because of this matter, so I can only do this. Please forgive me."

Thanks to APG9393 and Third Emperor Guilliman for their alliance!