Hammer 40k: Far East Storm

Although there was a turmoil in his heart, Li remained calm on the surface. He only raised his head slightly, showing a faint expression of surprise, but more of an indifference, and used his body language to say the following words: stc? Oh, it is indeed amazing, but what does it have to do with me?

Gustav seemed to have anticipated Li's reaction, and continued: "We, the Mechanicus, have been searching for stcs all over the universe. In most cases, the scribes of the Mars Grand Library collected them from the vast historical documents. Find out the clues, and then let the archaeological team go to explore and excavate. There has been evidence very early on that there is an STC hidden in a remote location in the Far Eastern Starfield. However, the scope is too large, and thousands of galaxies have been listed as suspects. Objects, among which the Reach star you control is one of the key suspects."

Li felt his heart begin to race on the track. It seemed that with just a slight jump, his heart would pop out of his throat. "There is an STC in my territory? Is there such a thing? Then what did you find?" ”

"No, no, no, you are mistaken, it is just a suspicion," Gustav explained: "It does not mean that there is really STC in your territory, and this unfounded suspicion was thousands of years ago. The thing is, before me, the Mechanicus sent a total of eight mechanical priests, and after thousands of years of exploration, they still found nothing. According to my personal judgment, although it is regrettable, your territory is so remote. , even the colonists of the Golden Age rarely reached such a distant place, there is no way there would be an STC here.”

Damn it, what are you doing? It makes my heart beat out. This damn spectacled octopus will one day tie a bow on your octopus tentacles. Let’s see what you do! He was thinking vicious thoughts in his heart, but his face only showed a little displeasure. Li showed one thousandth of the anger in his heart and asked softly: "Then what do you mean by telling me this?"

"Oh, that's the case. Although STC has not been found in your galaxy, it has been found in other places."

That's none of my business! Although I wanted to shout so loudly, I couldn't. "I'm sorry for interrupting you," Li said politely: "Please tell me directly, what does this have to do with me?"

"We need your help," Gustav said: "On the border planet, the 'Brownstone' fortress above 'Aion' suffered a fierce attack from the enemy. The Cadian 101st Regiment is stationed there. The entire regiment was suppressed by the enemy in the fortress. They were helpless, so they sent out a signal for help. For us, 'Aion' is a very important stronghold, not only the closest point for us to return to the empire. At the same time, there is a complete science station of our Mechanicum on the planet 'Aion'. Just a few months ago, the science station had spread good news. They discovered the ruins of an ancient underground city. This is most likely an ancient city built by early colonists on Earth, and according to reports from local priests, there are likely to be STCs there.”

"I'm not very interested in stc, but you said that is the shortest route back to the empire. What do you mean?"

Gustav explained patiently: "If we want to carry out fast interstellar navigation, then we can only return to the light of the star moment, and the planet 'Aiion' is the closest empire territory to us. It is built on 'Aiion'. The brownstone fortress above Weng' is a veritable border fortress. It is not only important to the empire, but even more so to your territory. This is the most important pass. If you want to return to the empire, then the way' Aion' is the most convenient and quickest. When you came here, you should have passed through the planet Aion. Of course, we can also take other routes, but opening a new route is only theoretically feasible. A new channel is a very dangerous thing, and even if we successfully open a channel, it will take more than half a year longer than the existing channel. "

"I see," does that mean that the life route to the empire has been cut off? So there's no place to escape? The situation cannot be ignored. Li nodded and said: "In that case, I should indeed act immediately, but I think you two should know that the Knights Templar are just a newly formed war group. This war group has not even set up an empty frame yet. , my think tank director is still inspecting several planets, traveling back and forth to prepare for deciding the location of the chapter's headquarters; the chapter's chaplain is busy completing the chapter's hierarchical structure and training new recruits; the chapter's mechanical priest is also I'm busy building his studio. I don't even have a qualified recruit, a veritable commander. You see, even if I want to help you, I can't do anything."

"If you are worried about combat power, then you don't need to worry at all," Elizabeth suddenly said: "This is also the reason why we are here. My squad and I will provide you with enough combat power!"

"Oh? That's true," Li nodded and said, "If there are judges, it would be easy to mobilize enough combat power. So how many people do we have?"

"Me, plus my fourteen retinues, and then you, the commander, and Gustav." Elizabeth counted them one by one: "Counting them together, there are seventeen people in total."

"What? You mean you can only provide fifteen combat power?" Li leaned on the chair weakly: "You two, you are not here to entertain me, are you? Are you kidding me? There are only seventeen of us in total. How many enemies are there to face an entire regiment or a company like Cadian that can't move in the fortress?"

"Preliminary estimate is more than three and less than ten." Elizabeth said: "In any case, the number of enemies will not exceed ten. The enemies are the rangers of the Eldar tribe. They used precise sniping from a long distance to completely suppress the Brownstone Fortress. . If I really want to describe it, it is that the group of soldiers they fought could not show their heads at all. The Spirit tribesmen beat them as easily as hunting wild ducks. "

"How could it be? A fortress was completely suppressed by a few snipers? What on earth are the Imperial Guard doing? That's Cadian! Where are the fortress artillery?"

"Before the battle began, an unnatural explosion occurred in the fortress' ammunition depot, and all the artillery ammunition was destroyed in the explosion." Elizabeth said: "There is no doubt that it was the work of the Eldar Rangers. But the border fortress allows the enemy to access the ammunition depot to cause trouble, and all the artillery and ammunition are placed illegally, which shows how weak the defense there is. It is simply dereliction of duty by the Imperial Guard who lack faith and are cowardly. It’s worthless. Mr. Li, since you have become the leader of the Knights Templar, you should not have any expectations from those weak defense forces.”

"Okay, I accept your criticism. But wait, if that's the case, why do you have to drag me in?" Li asked strangely: "You have enough firepower and a clear purpose, but why do you want to Pull me up?"

Rarely, Elizabeth's face turned red. She hesitated for a while, and seemed to have gone through a hard ideological struggle before saying: "Ahem, how should I put it? In terms of combat strength, my followers and I are completely Enough, but those cunning Eldar will not confront us head-on, and my followers are all battle nuns. Of course, I am not saying that they are bad, they are all my sisters, no matter how they treat the emperor. Their faith and combat power are both top-notch and the best. There is no doubt about their ability, but they are not very good at facing this situation, not to mention that we have to capture those rangers alive, so we urgently need you. ”

Oops, that’s it, it turns out that we want to capture those rangers alive.

What do you mean by not being very good at it? It's obvious that he is helpless. In an instant, Lee fully understood what was bothering Elizabeth. To put it bluntly, the Battle Sisters are a group of dangerous fanatics who have been brainwashed and driven half crazy by religion. If it is "Regardless of sacrifice! Capture the high ground in front of me!" or "Hold this position until all the blood in your body bleeds." "Do it!" The Battle Sisters will happily complete these tasks, and they will often do them well.

But if it is "secretly sneaking into a certain place." or "capturing someone alive." they will become at a loss. Of course, the battle sisters can also complete the task, but their methods are very different from ordinary behaviors. Far, if it is "secretly sneaking into a certain place." Under normal circumstances, the battle sisters will kill all the people in that area first, and then walk in openly, so that no one will discover them. Entering is a kind of secret infiltration. Among such relatively troublesome tasks, the most difficult one is the task of "capturing someone alive." This is because whether the mission can be successful or not is not determined by the Battle Sisters. It depends on the fate of "someone". If you are strong enough, your life will be hard enough. Under normal circumstances, the Battle Sisters will go to the corpse-strewn battlefield to look for survivors after the battle is completed. If "someone" who must be captured alive can survive, then everyone will be happy.

"It's a little strange," Li looked at Elizabeth suspiciously and said slowly: "Does the matter of capturing the Eldar Ranger alive have anything to do with you?"

"Under normal circumstances, it doesn't matter. If there are no special circumstances, neither the Heretic Tribunal nor the Demonic Tribunal will intervene in wars against foreign races. Traitors and demons from other dimensions are the targets of our hunting. , but this time is different," Elizabeth explained: "It was not a large army that besieged the Brownstone Fortress, but a group of Eldar rangers. We know very little about our neighbor, which is very important to the empire. It is extremely dangerous. We cannot allow unknown dangers to exist around the empire, and the Eldar have extraordinary knowledge of the demons in other spaces. Their knowledge will be invaluable to the Inquisition. "

No, Li doesn't think so.

The Inquisition may indeed want to attack the Eldar, but it will never leave this task to Elizabeth, who has only a group of Battle Sisters as retinues. Now it seemed that Elizabeth was probably doing the work herself.

Li looked at the two people sitting in his living room. One was worried about the safety of the STC that might exist on the planet, and the other was worried that her Elf child had just left without saying a word. Both parties are extremely eager to quickly go to the planet "Aion" to launch rescue operations, but neither party cares about the life and death of the Earth Defense Forces trapped there.

But there is really nothing to worry about. In such a turbulent era, who can control their own life and death?

For Li, the battle is ahead of him. Can he escape because of the possible death?

cannot!

"I see, whether it's because of the smooth shipping routes, the interests of the empire, or the imperial soldiers who are still fighting in the Brownstone Fortress, we should take action immediately." Moreover, the battle will also receive merit evaluation. This battle The development of the group is crucial. The most important thing is that it will completely focus the attention of the Mechanicum on the ancient underground city. This will more or less increase the safety factor for himself and his sister. Li stood up: "Then what are we waiting for? Do you need to prepare anything?"

Both Gustav and Elizabeth wanted to leave immediately. Time was tight, so the sooner the better.

"Then one last question before departure, who will lead this operation?"

Gustav remained silent. He was just the manufacturing director on a planet. No matter how he said it, it was not his turn to command.

"Of course it is you, you are responsible for leading us to capture those little bean sprouts alive, and there is no need for the Inquisition to get involved in such a small dispute," Elizabeth said cheerfully: "The merit is yours, but the prisoners after the battle are all mine. "

"This is natural, then I will tell the captain and we will set off immediately."

The new destination was quickly conveyed to the bridge. The Silver Wings made a light and quiet turn in the dark universe. The propeller at the tail spurted red tongues of fire and headed towards the stars in the dark distance. .

"Seeing that you have decided to accept this mission," Jacob blew the tea leaves in the cup leisurely, took a sip, and then asked casually: "What do you think of this matter?" of?"

This is Li's room. Nowadays, this room seems relatively empty. Apart from some sofas and a wine cabinet, there is nothing else.

"My think tank director asked an interesting but not very smart question." Li walked to the wine cabinet, took out a large beer glass, filled himself with a cup of golden beer, and blew open the milky white beer. After taking a big sip of beer foam, Li Cai said: "Want to have a drink? This is really good beer, obtained from the most famous beer house on the 'Autumn Star'."

"No need, I'll just drink tea."

"Okay, it's your loss." Li sighed, and then said: "We are the canaries now."

"Canary?"

"Yes, canary, it looks very beautiful, has golden feathers, and sings very sweetly." Li leaned on the bar and said: "It is a very weak bird, and we have it now. Did you know that on some planets, if miners want to explore those abandoned mines, they often drop a canary in a cage on a rope and then lower it into the mine for a period of time? Then, pull the rope up again. If the canary is safe, then this section of the mine is safe. No one will ask the canary, "What do you think?" This kind of annoying question, because the canary is safe. The idea of ​​a bird makes no sense.”

"No matter what, this is what we should do. Even if there is no Inquisition and Mechanicum, we should still help those poor defense forces." Jacob lowered his eyelids and concentrated on looking at the things floating in the tea. "And every moment, countless warriors sacrifice for the empire. If this glorious moment is our turn, we should accept it with honor."

"It's true, dying in battle for the empire is our final destination," Li smiled, "But some people don't think so. It's no wonder that a dignified judge only brought her retinue with her. , she was kicked out of the empire. She installed several monasteries on Reach and went to hide in the Winter Solstice galaxy dozens of light years away. What was there in the Winter Solstice Galaxy? There were not even savages. I feel pity for her. And she doesn't hide her intention. Isn't it just to use us as a canary? Once we are attacked, she can escape in time. But for her superiors, Elizabeth can't. Also a dispensable canary? Look, at the critical moment, the only force she can mobilize is her retinue. That woman has a cold face all day long. No wonder some people don't like her. If she can catch a few lively Eldar at one time, it is considered a great achievement. Maybe she will be transferred because of this. Even if it is to monitor me, there is no need for an inquisitor. It seems that she is in that inquisition. Lee is very unpopular."

"According to my speculation, it is unlikely that she will be transferred." Jacob said: "There are very few women in the group of inquisitors. It is inevitable that she will be excluded, and the higher-ups of the inquisition will not like it. A former Battle Sister has too much power. Few people will believe that a Battle Sister can look at problems rationally and make correct judgments."

"I think so too. She might have to stay in my rural place for the rest of her life and never be able to go back. She's really pitiful. That's why I want to help her. As long as there's a slight chance, it's worth my efforts." Li shook his head and said: "I feel uncomfortable just thinking about someone from the Tribunal around me. I would rather deal with the enemy's guns. All the green-skinned orcs are cuter than her. It would be best if she could be promoted or kicked. Even to the other side of the galaxy.”