40k: Midnight Blade

Chapter 148 9. War Prelude (3)

"Can you vouch for the truth of what you say, ma'am?"

"I can."

"Do you understand the special nature of this conversation?"

"I see."

"Do you know who you are giving evidence to?"

"I am providing evidence about the colony of Harkossus to the Eighth Legion of the Human Empire." Senior trader Tracy said numbly into the darkness. "I swear on the Emperor's behalf that I will be completely honest."

"Very well, please stay honest, Ms. Tracy. Next, I will ask you a few questions. Are you willing to answer them?"

"I do," Tracy said.

"very good."

Voices came back hissing from the darkness, and the language of the Nostramos sounded like poisonous snakes in the darkness.

Tracy hugged herself tightly and gasped in horror on the cold iron chair, waiting for the question - she had not been harmed in any way, nor any of them.

Strictly speaking, the senior traders from Harkossus were just on the verge of a mental breakdown.

"So, first question, Ms. Tracy. What kind of place is Harkossus?"

"It's a federation, made up of three planets. We call them by code names."

"What code name?"

"Number one, number two, number three."

"Why do you call it that?"

"Because. Because that's what they are called, my lord." The senior trader grasped the edge of the iron table with numb fingers to prevent himself from slipping to the ground.

She lifted her legs, not wanting her feet to touch the ground. The escaping mist was cold and like a living thing. They penetrated through the gaps in her leather boots and made every toe of hers numb.

"So, we will call them Harkossus One, Harkossus Two, and Harkossus Three. Do you have any better suggestions?"

"No, my lord."

"Very good. Second question, can you provide us with more information about the colonial Harkossus Federation?"

Tracey clasped her fingers together and answered the question quickly and clearly: "Yes, my lord, yes."

"Very well, then, how is the military strength of the Harkossus Federation?"

"I, I don't know, sir, I'm just a senior trader."

"What do you know?" the inquirer said patiently. "Anything is fine, Senior Trader Ms. Tracey, you can make any additions you wish."

".The Federation has many weapons and many soldiers, but we have no access to them. We are just senior traders, sir. We only have guards on board."

Van Cleef turned his head and nodded to Khalil: "It seems that Enric Barbatos's information is correct, instructor. These senior traders are indeed just abandoners, and they don't know that there is another ship full of soldiers. The boat followed them."

"They are abandoned children, but this does not mean that they themselves think that they are abandoned children. Let Ms. Tracy stay alone for a while." Khalil said expressionlessly.

Van Cleef obeyed this order. He turned around, lowered his head, and pressed a button on the console in front of him. The picture on the glass wall was immediately switched.

Another man, also wearing a gray uniform, sat horrified in a dark room that was empty except for him, trembling against the wall. The company commander pressed a certain button, and the dialogue unit was activated the next moment, and his voice reached the man's ears.

"Senior Trader Mr. Tartan, please be prepared."

"What, what preparations? Who is talking?!" the man shouted. "You can't do this. I demand the most basic human rights treatment! You can't let us stay in a dark room all the time!"

"We gave you the most basic food security, Senior Trader Mr. Tartan. You are now prisoners of the Empire, so we can do anything to you according to the law, especially when Harkossus attempts to attack the Empire." After committing war crimes on this planet.”

"In other words, you are now prisoners of war, Mr. Tartan. I will use the authority granted to me by Imperial law to ask you a few questions. Are you willing to answer them?"

"I--"

"Would you like to answer questions, Mr. Tartan?"

"I do." Tartan lowered his head dejectedly. The long period of imprisonment and the gloomy environment on the bottom deck of the Night Veil left him with no confidence to refuse.

"Very well, please describe in detail the specific information about the Burning Chamber of Commerce, the ruler of the Harkossus Federation."

Tartan raised his head suddenly, and the previous depression was replaced by panic again. He stuttered like never before, his facial features were distorted, and he looked like a frightened animal: "No, no, no I can't answer this question, I can't!"

"Why not?"

"I swore an oath!"

"What oath?"

"I swore an oath to our god!" Tartan stood up, his facial features alienated, but each exuded different fears. "I can't tell you about the Chamber of Commerce, otherwise I will be punished by the gods!"

Van Cleef turned his head and frowned at some point: "His words are very suspicious. We have not found any traces of faith among the civilians. Those civilians have even smoothly accepted the propaganda of the Empire's truth. Instructor, this is not right. "

"The fact that the ruler of a federation is a chamber of commerce is already very wrong, and the weapons and armor they use. These things can actually appear in a world without long-distance navigation."

Khalil smiled intriguingly: "Let him be quiet for a while first. Mr. Tartan, the senior trader, has obviously seen what their gods look like when they are angry, otherwise he would not be afraid of being like this. Continue to ask That lady."

Van Cleef nodded, and the glass curtain wall changed again. Senior trader Tracey looked around uneasily in her chair, a woman completely gripped by fear. Every movement she made betrayed a nervous tic.

Press the button for a long time and speak again.

"Senior Trader Ms. Tracey, we need you to describe in detail the ruler of the Harkossus Federation, the Fire Chamber of Commerce. Please provide any information you think you can provide."

The trader turned his head sharply and looked at the wall, obviously frightened. She was silent for a while before answering Van Cleef's question: "There are three powerful people in the Chamber of Commerce, and they all come from the same family."

"Ms. Tracey, please continue."

"I" the senior trader stood up unsteadily, Khalil narrowed her eyes, her face had turned purple.

Van Cleef frowned and immediately pressed another button on the console.

The door to the room was opened, and two soldiers of the Eighth Legion immediately approached and began to check her vital signs. But it was of no avail. Five seconds after uttering the only message about the Fire Chamber of Commerce, senior trader Tracy died.

"Instructor?" The company commander turned his head seriously and looked at Khalil, who had already walked to his side. "Are we going to continue?"

"Skip the question," Khalil said. "Send the body to the medical hall and ask Jairzinho to come too. It seems that my paperwork tonight will be delayed again."

He sighed.

——

Jairzinho Guzman looked at the corpse in front of him seriously and put down the scalpel in his hand.

"There are no toxins left, instructor." the medical officer said over the communication channel. "We did not detect any possible toxins in the air samples from the room where she died or from the woman herself."

"Is it possible there are other means?" Khalil asked. "For example, a machine placed inside the brain that will be triggered as soon as the relevant message is spoken, thus forcing her to die immediately?"

"If it's that kind of thing, you should probably find a priest of the Mechanicum for testing. Furthermore, I don't think there is really such a small and powerful thing that can not only exist in the human brain, but even It can also detect whether every sentence of the host touches the red line.”

Jairzinho Guzman sighed and walked out of the isolation room. After going through a series of complicated disinfection measures, he finally appeared in front of Khalil.

"To be honest, instructor, I think this time it may not be in the scope of medicine." The medical officer said. "It seems that every time something has something to do with you has nothing to do with medicine."

"Although I appointed someone to bring this corpse to the medical hall, it had nothing to do with me during its lifetime."

Khalil looked at the medical officer in amusement, and heard the obvious resentment in his words-this is not incomprehensible.

After all, it is indeed a great shock for a doctor to watch the deceased turn from scratch into a living person. The reason why Jairzinho Guzman has not begun to doubt the world is probably just because of his trust in the original body and Khalil.

"But her death has nothing to do with medicine." The medical officer turned his head, glanced at the body on the iron platform through the laminated glass, and shook his head.

"The cause of death was suffocation, but logically speaking, five seconds is far from enough for a person to die from suffocation. Her body was also very healthy, and there were no similar, possible weird illnesses. I didn't find any possibility. Reason, instructor. I have to say, if this continues, I'm afraid I'll have to find one of those theological books issued by our cousins."

"Word Bearers?" Khalil raised his eyebrows.

"Yes. I have actually read some of their books. The writing is indeed very high-level, but it requires a certain reading threshold." Guzman shook his head. "Anyway, that's the way it is. I'm afraid you won't be able to find any truth about her death from me."

Khalil nodded thoughtfully, then spoke softly.

"It's okay," he said quietly. "Then let the dead rest in peace."

Two more chapters