Emperor's Bane

Chapter 1019 Undercurrent
"Greetings, Commander Locken."

"……Um."

Gavial Locken seemed somewhat distracted when his subordinates saluted him.

This member of the Council of Four Kings seems to have lost the agility and decisiveness he was so proud of on the battlefield: in recent times, Loken has been slow to react when facing his other fighting brothers.

It's the same this time.

He seemed to be thinking about something else, standing frozen in place for about two or three seconds before closing the door behind him and looking to his left and right.

"Is there anything I need to report?"

"No, Company Commander."

Loken's men replied.

“During your office hours, there were no visitors who warranted special attention.”

"Ok."

The company commander of the 10th Company nodded.

"I need to leave for a while to attend a private military meeting."

"You will stay here during this time."

"As always, no one is allowed to enter my office while I am away."

"No matter how valid his reasons may be, you must stop him until I return."

"Understood, Company Commander."

These two Shadowmoon Wolves, who were qualified to stand guard in front of Loken's private office, were both veterans of his company who had followed him for over a hundred years. If even their protection couldn't put Loken at ease, then there was nothing trustworthy in this galaxy: at least that's what Gavial himself thought.

Therefore, after receiving a resounding assurance, Loken was completely relieved, and his figure quickly disappeared from the sight of the two guards.

Only then did the two Shadow Moon Wolves, who were sitting upright, exchange a knowing glance.

"Still the same as before, huh?"

"Yes."

The warrior who had just responded to Loken nodded.

"Still the same old thing, he often locks himself in his office for hours on end, not seeing anyone, and even when the Primarch summons him, he drags his feet."

"On the bright side, at least he never delayed the documents that were his responsibility."

The other Shadowmoon Wolf nodded.

"But haven't you ever been curious?"

"What exactly is our company commander doing in his office?"

"do not know."

The son of Horus honestly shook his head.

“I once secretly peeked at the door and listened, but I couldn’t hear any other sounds.”

"The only sounds were the turning of pages, the writing with a pen, and the occasional sound of drinking water or taking a break."

"everything is normal?"

"Yes, everything is normal."

The narrator nodded.

"He's no different from any other company commander."

"If I had to say something, it would be that Company Commander Locken attends these private military meetings every morning."

“That’s normal.”

His companion countered with a question.

"After all, he is a member of the Council of the Four Kings. Although the current Society of the Dead is no longer the elite group that surrounds the Primarch, and all sorts of mortals and people from all walks of life can be recruited into it, it still holds real power."

"Moreover, even within this massive new Council of the Four Kings, Captain Loken's position is second only to Captains Abaddon and Seyanus: it's not surprising that he's qualified to attend private military meetings."

That's not what I meant.

The Shadow Moon Wolf who spoke first lowered his voice.

What I mean is: you may be new here and don't know what it was like before.

“Back when I was working as a doorman for Captain Locken with an old buddy, he wouldn’t have attended these kinds of meetings.”

“You don’t know, our Captain Loken’s duties in the Legion are not military-oriented. The Primarch prefers to place him in the civilian sector, letting him deal with mortals and planetary governors: at least in the fifty years since the Emperor left the Great Crusade, I have never seen Captain Loken attend any private military meetings.”

"Even if they attend, they are all public military meetings convened by the Primarchs themselves: in addition to the Council of the Four Kings, many company commanders are able to listen in and speak."

"what……"

His audience nodded.

"Then... what's going on in this situation?"

"Not long, actually."

The voice was lowered even further.

"The old comrade you replaced went to support the Haken front with Company Commander Seyanus."

"And just a few months before he left, Company Commander Seyanus made a special visit to Company Commander Locken. They talked for a full five hours in that office, and nobody knows what they were talking about."

"However, I vaguely heard that they seemed to be having a very heated argument."

"And after Company Commander Seyanus left, judging from Company Commander Locken's expression, he seemed to have lost."

"Well, then what?"

"Then the next day, Company Commander Seyanus took Company Commander Locken to attend one of those private military meetings."

“After that, Company Commander Locken went there regularly.”

"Especially after Company Commander Seyanus led the support troops to the front lines of the Solar War, Company Commander Locken's attendance at these private military meetings increased rapidly, and now they are held almost every few weeks."

"Well, that's it..."

His audience squinted and pondered for a moment.

Then, he suddenly spoke.

"Don't you think this is a bit like a warrior's society?"

"It's the thing that was canceled by the Primarch."

"really."

"Why was it canceled back then?"

"Hey, according to the Primarch: such warrior associations are prone to fostering cliques and...rebellious plots."

"Ha! A rebellion plot?"

"Targeting whom? Targeting the Primarch?"

"Isn't that a bit of an exaggeration?"

"Who says it's not?"

"After all, how could Astartes possibly be anti-antibody?"

"correct."

"I'm afraid they can't even find a reason why."

……

Of course, it's for the emperor and the empire.

Standing before the hidden door, Loken closed his eyes and took slow, deep breaths, trying to convince himself.

Then he knocked on the door.

As he felt an electronic scanner scan his face to confirm his identity, followed by the click of a lock opening, a wary face appeared less than two meters from Loken: it was another Shadowmoon Wolves warrior. And a veteran of Terra.

"Company Commander Locken."

Upon seeing Loken, the Terran veteran quickly sized him up and down. After confirming that the man before him was indeed the 10th Company Commander of the Legion, the probing look in his eyes turned into respect and invitation. He stepped aside, guiding Loken through the door, then quickly glanced around before gently closing the door behind him.

Before closing the door completely, he gave a wink to someone in the distance.

As soon as he saw a glimmer of light, it was as if someone was sending him a signal that he was safe.

Then, the veteran nodded in satisfaction and retreated back inside the gate.

Just like that, in a matter of seconds, Loken disappeared without anyone noticing.

Of course, he wasn't worried that this would cause panic.

After all, the gate was not located on the upper deck of the Cerbolus, but rather in one of the lowest sections of this ancient warship.

This place is safer than any hidden corner.

Almost no Astartes warriors would care about the underground kingdom beneath their feet.

This was due to both their arrogance and the sheer size of the Cerbolos.

Although this giant ship is not the Queen of Glory, it is still one of the highest-spec battleships in the Empire. Its history is no less sparse than that of the Queen of Glory. In many cases, it is even mistaken by some foolish narrators as the Soul of Vengeance, which has long since become history.

This battleship is simply too huge. Although it is far smaller than many of the Glorious Queens, and even smaller than one of the largest warships in the entire empire, the Aurora: even by the standards of the Glorious Queen class, the Aurora is a completely oversized monster, while the Cerbolos represents the limit within a reasonable range, representing the pinnacle second only to the Glorious Queen.

For this massive warship, the millions of people living between its bridge and decks are even more than the total population of some undeveloped civilizations, yet this is still not enough to fill the behemoth.

Especially with the presence of Astartes warriors, which concentrated a large population on the upper decks as subordinates and service personnel for the former two, the lower decks, which had been dark and damp since their establishment, had a much larger area than the upper decks, but the population there was relatively small.

Apart from a very few unfortunate ship-dwelling clans who were ordered to live here for generations, only those who had offended important figures on the upper decks or those who couldn't survive would try to make a living here. The vast majority of Shadowmoon Wolf warriors who were qualified to reside on the Cerbolos for a long time would never set foot here with their noble iron boots.

For them, this was a completely different world from the Cerbolos, a world they could never have any connection with in this lifetime.

In fact, even Loken, if it weren't for these current matters, would often forget that there were so many lower decks on the Cerberus, where he lived.

After all, not every Primarch is like the Spider Queen of Avalon, who regularly organizes a thorough cleaning of the lower decks.

At least to others, Morgan's actions served no practical purpose other than periodically harassing her offspring and incidentally keeping the previously neglected lower decks cleaner.

Horus, and Loken, thought so too.

This resulted in the lower decks of the Cerbolos, or rather most of the Shadowmoon Wolf warships, being like empty, complex labyrinths, rejecting all outsiders amidst the ever-growing decay and filth.

There were even rumors that in the years before Vengeful Spirit sank in the Terra Crisis, some people saw giant aggregates of junk that seemed to move and breathe like humans on the lower deck of the ancient Queen of Glory; but these were ultimately dismissed as nonsense.

However, this also illustrates how suitable these bottom decks are for brewing conspiracies: if someone really wants to do something secretive here, the probability of them being discovered by the outside world is extremely low.

After all, no one guards this place, no one patrols it regularly, and there are no cameras or detectors in those maze-like passages: people carrying out clandestine activities can move freely here and make plans that cannot be exposed to the light of day.

For the small group that Loken joined, this was the best hiding place.

After all, what they are doing now is indeed something they are trying to hide from their genetic father.

They also had to keep it a secret from the entire legion.

To put it more bluntly.

Every Shadow Moon Wolf present.

They are all potential traitors to Horus.

Thinking of this absurd reality, a smile involuntarily appeared on Loken's lips.

Fortunately, no one in the room noticed.

Most of them had their heads down or remained silent, as if they all had their own worries.

But Loken knew that these people who had taken their seats were simply using their silence to mask their inner unease.

Just like him.

They knew what they were doing, and they knew how rebellious it was for an Astartes warrior to be here. But it was precisely because they knew that they persisted in sitting here, trying their best to dispel their inner worries and resistance, and using their strong will to walk the path they believed was right.

They were a group of willing suicide warriors.

And Loken was their leader.

Or, to put it another way: a temporary leader.

"Everyone."

Gavial spoke, his voice echoing rapidly in the spacious yet quiet meeting room.

In a split second, everyone in the room looked up and focused their attention on Loken.

Taking this opportunity, Gavial quickly counted the number of people in the room again.

He nodded with satisfaction.

Seventy-two people: including himself, and the few companions who were on guard outside the door.

They were the offshoots that he and Seyanus gradually developed during this period: of course, the vast majority of members were brought in by Seyanus.

Including Loken himself, he had been a member of the organization for no more than a year.

"Thank you for coming all this way."

Loken strode towards the simple platform.

He stood there, and only when everyone in the room had their eyes on his face again did the tenth company commander clear his throat.

"As always, the purpose of this meeting is for us to exchange intelligence with each other to help you better advance our overall plan in your respective positions and to further explore the nature of this war: to ensure that we can act immediately when necessary."

"For certain reasons, the organization's supreme leader, Company Commander Seyanus, is unable to come here to organize the meeting, so I, as the company commander of the 10th Company, will temporarily act as his representative."

"During this period, in order to be fair and democratic, if any member raises objections to my acting position, we can hold a collective debate and vote to determine whether I should continue to act as the company commander of Seyanus and preside over the meeting."

Loken spoke slowly and deliberately, very seriously.

He carefully observed every face in the room, looking for any sign that might waver or back down.

He was answered by silence.

Everyone has a different opinion.

Loken nodded.

"it is good."

"So before the meeting begins, please allow me to reiterate our organization's position."

……

"We respect the original."

"I would die for it."

"But we are loyal to the Emperor, loyal to the Empire."

"The latter is better than the former."

"Loyalty is more important than personal feelings."

"The emperor is superior to the wolf god."

"If the father of genetics' purpose is as noble as he claims, then we will fight to the death in this war."

"But what if the truth is not so, what if our father has long been blinded by his ambition, what if he is not satisfied with his position and power, what if he is the one who is the one who turns his sword against the emperor."

“Then we will abandon him.”

"To be his enemy, to wage war against him."

"Until death do us part."

"I only hope that when this end of the world comes..."

“We will not be the sons of Horus, we will only be the last Shadowmoon Wolves.”

(End of this chapter)