Warhammer: Start with a dog

After everything was orderly ordered by a soft but firm voice, the bridge lights of the dark ship were once again lit in order for combat considerations.

The Night Lords who were waiting here silently put on their helmets so that their pure black eyes, accustomed to darkness and extremely sensitive to light, could enter the field of vision of the soft light red power armor.

As many mortal technical officers and servants as possible were urgently and roughly pulled out of their shabby lairs or cabins in the lower living decks and slave decks, filling every seat in the multi-story command hall of the bridge. From the perspective of the members of the 10th and 11th companies, this place has almost restored its bustling appearance ten thousand years ago when the Legion was still conquering new worlds in the void.

The grizzled mortal officers, many still wearing the uniforms of the former Imperial Navy whose insignia had been removed, and some who had replaced their dead predecessors, wore their clothes, though much of their flesh had been damaged by the long-term effects of the Eye of Terror and the Infernal Iris. Weird and twisted, but it did not prevent them from using their deformed fingers to serve again for a new victory for the Lord of the Eighth Legion. Everyone entered their command positions or began to nervously supervise the key work of the servitor team.

The Master of the Oracles loudly announced the distance, and the Navigator Hall responded that they would be ready in a few minutes for the first ultra-close warp jump.

To use an analogy with the case of Terra during the 2K period, it is probably the Lord of the Night who asked young navigators with no experience in void warfare to guide their severely damaged warships to rush towards the new cruiser of the Origin Chapter with all their strength, carrying a whole ship of people on their backs. The soul prepared the subspace engine in less than an instant, propped up a Geller force field by herself, and then opened a gap between reality and the supreme sky again, like a cat smoothly Squeeze through a torn screen—and then complete a scalpel-level void battle in the Barents Sea the next second.

Generally speaking, such an order in any legion, warband, or navy is very likely to be questioned or even start a rebellion on the spot - just this kind of ultra-close subspace in a galaxy full of planets and asteroids The command to jump is enough to make people think that the captain is crazy and wants to kill the navigator first and then throw the entire ship into the warp to feed the demons.

But when your captain is sitting on the command throne with Konrad Coates, who seems to be in a much better state of mind, and he tells you in a clear and encouraging tone that in his opinion this thing will definitely work, Well, the Broken Eagle warband, from Talos to the mutant slaves, all felt warm in their hearts, and even the fingers that pushed the joysticks and buttons became a little stronger.

"Octavia."

A slightly nervous but calm female voice came from the open mouth of the gargoyle sculpture on the bridge. "Your Highness."

"Dietrian reported that the reinforcement of the void shield has been temporarily completed, but they will not last long. I need you to start jumping when the void shield is raised."

"Yes, Your Highness, this jump will be very, very, very short. We need to cut off power to the engine immediately before charging is completed. I -" The young mother seemed a little shaken again.

"Everyone is here on the bridge. They are listening to you. You will guide them in the navigation hall. Octavia." The Night King's voice was like a soft dark dream, "Lead us to the Crown." Crowned beside."

She sounded like she was taking a deep breath, and everyone heard the rustle of clothes rubbing against the small bag of tools and weapons on her belt beside her. It seemed like someone had come to her side and held her hand.

"As you wish, Your Highness, this will be a very rare experience."

The Cursed Echo's thrusters began to roar silently.

——————

The Cursed Echo's hull groaned from the pressure, and the void trembled like a patch of colorful black jelly.

As Octavia said, the subspace engine was only activated for less than a second, and even the charging was not completed at the end. When the back of the ship could still be seen in the universe where they started, in a few seconds Thousands of kilometers away, the curtain of reality was torn open and the heads of battleships were spitting out.

The sensors of the Origin's crimson cruiser showed that she was smaller and newer than the Cursed Echo, and Dietrich could be heard as everyone on the bridge safely watched her glide through the black void. Bishop An made a sound similar to human praise.

"Navigation hall, report the status of the navigator."

An unsurprising man's voice answered the bridge on behalf of the navigator, "My lord, please forgive me, Octavia is vomiting, but she just said she is fine."

"Take care of her, and the next step will be carried out soon. Charles and Valier have already gone to your place with the equipment and the soldiers I ordered. They will tell you what to do next."

"As you wish. Long live the Lord of the Night."

——————

(*How could you just say that! What do you mean by crowning me! I just want to dismember everyone who has heard this sentence here into the smallest pieces and throw them into the engine power furnace!)

"You're really inexplicable. What's there to be angry about? Why don't you guys crown the soul in my head? And don't just feed the Cursed Echo some strange organic fuel, okay?"

Dietrian, who was assisting in the power distribution operation, used 0.01% of his computing power to make an expression of agreement with the Lord of Night's self-talk on his metal chrome mask.

(*No! Humph!)

"Let me see... um, this bitter and sweet... um is actually embarrassing? Good news, you will be embarrassed, but, um, I don't think it will be more embarrassing than what you said before."

(*Don't always talk about some past bad accounts! - What you said just now sounded too high-sounding, like what a triumphant king who grew up in the sun would say, such as that abominable Guilliman - it made me feel uncomfortable all over, as if there were lice from the Throne of Lies crawling on my skin.)

"The metaphor is very progressive. But your idea is too weird, don't you think? I mean, when A person is born in the night and wakes up in the night, so is it stipulated that he cannot speak the words of people in the sun? Can't he return in triumph to receive glory? Can't he become a person wearing a crown? Can't rule openly or be allowed to live a happy life? - If you first admit that we are all human beings, then there is no such reason in the world. "

Just as the Lord of the Eighth Legion's gentle soliloquy began to echo on the bridge, I don't know when, the mortals and mutants on the bridge tightened their faces, pursed their lips, and seemed to have never been so focused on the affairs or battles in front of them. Everyone tried to prick up one ear and blinked hard, pretending that they were very focused so they didn't hear what the Primarch said.

All the human voices or the sounds that were not completely human voices disappeared for a while, and only the ticking sounds of instruments and automatic servants and the mechanical reports were still echoing.