The Emperor’s Angel of Death

Sorskyan's silence brought an invisible and pervasive pressure, but all Mikael could do was lower his head and wait for the "sentence."

After a long while, Sorskyan slowly said:

"I understand everything. You are still responsible for coordinating the local garrison. The Adeptus Mechanicus has begun to counterattack the Orks infiltrating the mountain defense line and is about to launch a counter-offensive. If you need supplies and reinforcements, send me a request and I will coordinate it. Go back."

Mikael saluted again and then turned to leave the bridge.

"Talos, what do you think of this person?"

Hearing Sorskyan's question, Talos, who was standing not far away and polishing a claw from a Tyranid Hive Tyrant, turned his head slightly, pondered for a moment, and said:

"Alert and cunning, smooth and sophisticated, but too young. He is intoxicated with petty cleverness, and lacks the presence and bearing to command respect."

Kayan, who was standing with his arms crossed, then joked:

"He's quite handsome. I suspect his rise to power has something to do with his face. Many hive world nobles have a taste for that sort of thing."

Sorskyan thought for a while and said to Talos and Kayan:

"I'll trouble you to go down and assist the Adeptus Mechanicus in dealing with the Orks attacking the Koprov Mountains. Intelligence indicates that there is a very special group of Orks among them, seemingly imitating human behavior and exhibiting a certain degree of discipline. We've seen these Orks on Armageddon, and they are quite difficult to deal with. Try to find them and their leader and eliminate them as soon as possible."

Without any special reply, Talos put down what he was holding, and Kayan nodded. The two then tacitly left.

Sorskyan then stood up and walked to the right side of the bridge, entering a smaller side room through an open doorway. The layout here was relatively warmer. Against the right-hand wall was a simple stone throne, and in the center was an oval conference table, which Sorskyan used for private meetings or secret rendezvous.

Wearing a loose white robe with gold trim, Viletz, with her golden hair in a bun, was holding a small celadon teapot with her slender hands, pouring hot tea into a large cup—when she made this movement, the robe outlined the graceful curves of her waist and hips.

Sorskyan walked over, took the teacup from her, took a sip, and asked softly:

"What did those people say?"

Viletz smiled slightly, covering her whole being in a maternal glow.

"What else could it be? Just the usual flattery, power struggles, and vying for benefits."

"Oh?"

"The Ochinka and Volga families both suffered heavy losses in this Ork invasion, especially the Volga family. Their properties and territories are mostly in the South Mountain Territory. They spared no effort to defend their ancestral Black Bay Fortress, but due to the activity of Ork aircraft and the interference of electromagnetic signals, they don't know the situation of the resistance personnel remaining in the South Mountain Territory. Their first request is to send troops to rescue their clansmen and territories, and secondly to accuse the Pechinka family of failing to defend their territory and only caring about themselves when retreating, even forcibly requiring the armies of other nobles to hold the rear, causing them to be unable to withdraw in time and being trapped in the occupied area."

Sorskyan smiled after listening.

"That Mikael is indeed very cunning. He knows that to control the situation, he must weaken the military power in the hands of the nobles."

"The head of the Volga family also stated that he is willing to be your most loyal servant from now on."

"Anyone can say that, the key is to see the action."

"The Ochinka family retained relatively more strength. Most of their territories are located in Rantona and Verkhnernaya in the North Mountain Territory. After the Ork invasion, they also withdrew some strength and supplies from the South Mountain Territory and recruited a large number of soldiers in the name of self-defense. The total number is now estimated to be five or six hundred thousand. They nominally accept the Governor's command, but in reality, they are only stationed in a few key fortresses and have not accepted any deployment orders from the Governor. When the Koprov Mountain defense line was at its most tense, they only sent a force of one hundred thousand troops to assist in the defense. Their ambition is obvious, and they don't hide it much. The head of the Ochinka family is already one hundred and thirty years old, and limited life extension surgery cannot maintain him for long. He has seventeen sons and eleven daughters. The eldest son, second daughter, and sixth son were sent this time. They also came to accuse the Pechinka family, and brought a lot of gifts, all kinds of things. They also said those words of loyalty, and also wrote you a letter."

After Viletz finished speaking, she turned and walked to the table, picked up a folded letter.

Sorskyan took it, opened it, looked at it for a few seconds, then smiled and crumpled it into a ball in his palm, then gently threw it, accurately landing in the burning brazier.

"Being in a high position, blinded by profit, no wonder they are being played around by a young servant."

"What did they write that made you so emotional?"

"They said that as long as they become the Governor, they are willing to provide the Space Marines with a tribute equal to the Imperial tithe every ten years. In addition, if the Space Marines need soldiers, they can also recruit them from the planet at any time. Hehe, an agricultural world, how much tax can there be? Will these nobles bear the doubled tithe from their own coffers? It's just shifting it to the common people, using the people's fat and blood to buy the crown on their heads. This group of people can indeed be called beasts in clothes."

"By the way, according to the collected intelligence, the internal situation of this Ochinka family is not very good. The current old patriarch spent most of his time in women's bellies when he was young. It is said that he actually had hundreds of children, but it is said that this person is very soft-hearted and has no opinion on doing things. He can't even deter the wives and concubines around him, which leads to a very cruel internal struggle in the family. Many children died inexplicably before they reached adulthood, and he never really investigated who did it. He was able to become the head of the family entirely because his father was very unlucky not to have several sons and most of them died in conspiracies and assassinations, which allowed him to finally sit in the position of head of the family. After he got old, he was even more of a coward. Now the successor has not been decided, and the remaining sons and daughters are forming factions to fight for the inheritance. It is also because of this reason that although the strength of this family has actually exceeded that of the Pechinka family, they cannot immediately replace it. They are very disunited and internally constrained."

After listening, Sorskyan shook his head, with a look of disgust on his face.

"I don't think this guy is really that incompetent, otherwise he wouldn't have lived so long and would have been killed by his wives, concubines, and sons long ago. But even if he's pretending, he's a complete waste. I'm really not interested in this kind of waste. What about the Hilenko family?"

"The head of the Hilenko family came in person. He originally hoped to be summoned by you. After learning that he would not see you for the time being, he kept begging me and promised to send a lot of gold and silver jewelry, just hoping to see you once."

Sorskyan sneered upon hearing this.

"Is he also afraid?"