40k: Midnight Blade

Chapter 198 23. Return Journey (2)

Van Cleef stared at the holographic display in front of him, feeling calm in his heart. He was immersed in his own thoughts and accurately captured the movements of the outside world through his senses. The First Company Commander has long been accustomed to using this method to review the past and pass the time.

Fel Zalost stood beside him, with a cut scar on his forehead that was oozing blood. This kind of bleeding injury is a common occurrence for the Night Blades, but it is still quite surprising to see it appear on the body of a chief think tank.

They stood side by side on the bridge. As for the second company commander Fata Uselun, the fourth company commander Augusto, and the sixth company commander Yarod, they had already rushed to the hangar. At this moment, the crew on the bridge was extremely busy.

The captain at the time, Ms. Talsi from the Lostalonian family, stood among the cold instruments, urging and scolding her crew members to be more agile. She is about forty years old, strong-willed, and very good at getting along with people like the Night Blades.

Thirty seconds later, the sound of rapid footsteps made Van Cleef voluntarily withdraw from his thoughts. The first company commander turned around and happened to see their instructor wrapped in human skin jumping out of the darkness.

——He certainly didn’t come here with the help of an elevator or anything.

Van Cleef was amused by his own thoughts, and he allowed himself to temporarily ignore the darkness when Khalil appeared, and the sound of footsteps that was obviously used to remind them. He began to erase everything, leaving only a focus on what was.

"How's the situation?" Khalil asked simply.

"The Nightshade has received an emergency broadcast signal from a ship." Van Cleef made a gesture, maintaining his usual expressionless expression. "It's coming from right ahead. They've attached an identification number and our crew is parsing it."

"If our equipment can be updated, they should be able to do it faster." Feier took over. "However, the emergency broadcast signal has been analyzed. Do you want to listen to it completely?"

"Just repeat the details to me, Fell." Khalil shook his head at their chief think tank. "Also, how on earth did you scratch your forehead?"

The third company commander turned his head and glanced at Van Cleef, who was standing side by side with him. The latter still had no expression on his face, but nodded slightly, as if he was admitting something.

"In short, the matter can probably be simply analyzed as an unlucky Rogue Trader cargo ship, the three frigates he lost, and a large group of orcs." Fair answered straightforwardly.

Khalil frowned.

The Night Blades are now located in the Stormwind Star Territory. It is not unusual to meet Rogue Traders here. In fact, it is not unusual to meet them anywhere. But orcs are on another level.

Khalil has not yet met them face to face, but he has read a lot of information. These green things were described as "silly and ferocious biological weapons" in the library on the Emperor's Dream, and the information inside the Night Blade also proved this.

However, the stupidity of orcs is actually limited to certain narrow aspects, and they are not stupid at all in combat. And, most importantly, they always appear in groups. If you see one orc, you will definitely see more.

"Have there been any reports of sightings of orcs in the Storm Star Territory before?" Khalil asked.

"At least not in my mind, instructor." said the first company commander. "But these things are cunning beasts. They can fight and escape. It's not uncommon for them to appear anywhere."

"And he is also a rare idiot among aliens." The chief think tank said with a hint of sarcasm.

Khalil looked away, looking down at the instrument in front of him. On the holographic display, dense runes were flashing one after another on the desktop, and a fuzzy progress bar was beating behind the runes.

That was the progress of the identification code analysis. The crew members were already familiar with their work, and they were progressing very quickly even if they were using old-fashioned equipment. However, this matter is no longer Khalil's primary concern.

orc

He narrowed his eyes and turned to look at the female captain. The latter seemed to have expected his gaze, and looked at him impartially, with a serious look on his face. Khalil did not hesitate and gave the order directly: "Go at full speed towards the ship, Ms. Talsi."

The female captain nodded slightly, turned around and began to urge her crew with a louder voice. The ship's engine roared to life after a slow wait, and the walls and floors around the bridge began to tremble.

The Night Veil is never quiet when traveling at high speed. If sound could be transmitted in a vacuum, everyone would probably be able to hear its weird announcement that was almost like a war cry.

Fel Zalost slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air. The wound on his forehead had already stopped bleeding, and now there was a strange itching sensation.

He spoke in a murmuring tone, with obvious sarcasm: "I hope they won't be too many. We only have five thousand people."

"You might as well hope that Fata Uselun and Augusto join forces." Van Cleef retorted calmly. It took less than two seconds from the word to the end of this sentence, while their instructor It has disappeared from the bridge.

Feier groaned and rubbed his eyebrows: "You are really mean, Mr. First Company Commander."

"To each other," Van Cleef said. "Get ready for battle, the orcs hope we won't be killed by them."

Fair laughed.

——

Generally speaking, being a pirate is easy. However, it is difficult to be a pirate with official connections and official permission.

The former can take other people's things without having to pay in most cases, but the latter cannot, although the profits have also become high.

However, for Navarro Delkunas, I am afraid that he will never be able to get used to being kind and doing business with people normally in his life.

Of course, he never expected that he would be robbed today.

And it was not robbed by any bold colleagues, nor was it robbed by greedy governors using reasonable and legal means. He's being robbed by a bunch of goddamn, goddamn, fucking xenos.

Orcs.

Navarro sighed and began to wonder if he had not been wearing his lucky trinkets as he was accustomed to when he went out recently.

He checked and found that his lucky ring, lucky necklace, and lucky bracelet were all where they were supposed to be.

Then another thought was born - was it his behavior of abandoning the goddess of luck and switching to believing in the truth of the empire that angered the goddess who didn't know whether she existed or not? Why is he so unlucky?

But anyway, it's too late to regret now.

Captain Navarro sighed, raised his automatic gun, and began firing ferociously down the corridor. They are being ganged up on, the enemy is coming fiercely, and the beasts are numerous.

Fortunately, most of the money Navarro has earned over the years has been spent on weapons and equipment. He has a 600-strong personal guard regiment. Their weapons range from heavy short-handled guns to hand cannons, all of which are the best. goods.

You can even find four Navy pistols under Navarro's coat. These four smuggled treasures are what he sleeps with. Therefore, although the orcs were extremely numerous, they still could not gain the upper hand for a while.

After all, this is a gang trip - the cabin is small and the corridors are cramped. A machine gun or a dozen automatic guns can easily fill a corner, let alone something like a shotgun.

Navarro smiled happily, and while he opened fire to repel the greedy green-skinned bastards, he started joking with his adjutant: "I said, Mayon, do you think these bastards made a mistake in choosing us to join the gang?" Got someone?"

His bald adjutant glanced at him and shook his head angrily. He had a bullet in his mouth and spoke unclearly: "I think you are a bastard, captain. All three frigates have been destroyed." You bastard have no more fun."

"How did I know they were orcs?" Navarro exclaimed, and retracted behind the bunker to start changing the magazine of the automatic gun. His adjutant continued to fire, and his two automatic pistols continued to fire. This was the benefit of the oversized magazine.

"Can't you fucking see there's something wrong with their ship?!" Mayon angrily retracted behind the bunker and muttered at him. "Which imperial ship would paint its hull shit yellow?!"

"What if it's rusty?" Navarro retorted thoughtfully.

"Do you still have any common sense as a former navy?!" His adjutant looked at him in disbelief. "Can a ship whose surface is rusted and turns shit yellow be sailed into the universe?!"

"Okay, okay"

Captain Navarro rose again, showed the greatest indulgence to his adjutant, kicked the latter with his boot, and opened fire with satisfaction amid the curses.

He was not panicked, and could even be said to be relaxed and contented. After all, this is the Storm Star Territory. Although it cannot be said that there are as many imperial ships traveling in all directions as there are in the Sun Star Territory, there are definitely a lot of them.

The broadcast signal has been sent, and he has promised a valuable shipment. As long as someone comes to help, these orcs can't make any trouble.

but

He retreated into the bunker again, bumped his adjutant's shoulder with his elbow, and asked amidst the gunfire: "Where is our secret?"

"Which one are you referring to?" the adjutant stared at him. "Is it the one under your bed, or the one in your arsenal? Or the one in the stern of the boat?"

"None of that," Navarro said. "It's a diary with some very important names in it."

"Why are you bringing it up now?"

Navarro shrugged: "You have to be prepared. Who knows who is on the ship that comes to support us? I don't want those big guys' butts to be inexplicably stained with the shit they have wiped off. This is not good for you and me." No good."

"You bastard"

His lieutenant cursed again, but quickly left with a group of men. They would go to protect the diary, and Navarro began to pray sincerely.

He hoped that the people who came to support him would be rogue traders who knew the rules like him. Otherwise, the imperial army would be fine as long as they did not bring ships with officials.

He smiled, stood up and fired again. He had no idea what fate he was about to face.

I overslept during the day and am only updating now, sorry. Just one update today, and more updates starting in September.