40k: Midnight Blade.

Chapter 708 1. Daily Trivia
Young Corporal Gius Solani of the Emperor's Children meticulously maintains his suit of power armour.

The maintenance workshop was extremely hot, and due to the narrow space, the temperature even made Astartes feel hot. Therefore, the corporal decided to complete this boring job with his upper body naked.

The flames flickered, illuminating his back and revealing many crisscrossing scars of varying sizes. They had taken over this young body, who had only been in the army for nineteen years, completely destroying the originally well-proportioned muscle shape and eliminating all beauty.
And he enjoyed it.

He believed that a warrior's scars meant honor.

In the past, Kius was an apprentice winemaker. He was already famous before being taken away by the "Righteur" Saul Tarvitz, but this was not because of his superb craftsmanship, but because of his overly handsome face.
After passing the selection test, due to the implantation of gene seeds, he has become more noble and handsome, with a pair of tearful eyes that can seduce the soul. Although this makes him very annoyed and he has been teased a lot, it also makes him top the list of candidates for certain diplomatic activities.

Of course, he hated this, or these things, with all his heart. He did not want to be subjected to unnecessary enthusiasm at those banquets. Everyone in the Third Legion knew that young Kius Solani had no other thoughts but to uphold the honor of the Third Legion.

The repair tools banged and sparks flew from time to time. Soon, the corporal completely repaired a dent on his left arm armor that had been left not long ago. He looked at it for a few seconds, put the armor back, and began to oil and maintain the entire power armor.

This was also a tough job, but he did it with ease and even had a sense of enjoyment in it.

Sixteen minutes later, he finally completed today's armor repair and maintenance. After making sure it had been restored to its best condition, the young corporal immediately put on his training shirt and strode out of the maintenance workshop.

He walked quickly, reducing the journey that would have taken at least eight minutes to five minutes, allowing him to arrive at the training grounds of the Tear of Defiance ahead of his team members. For a moon-class cruiser that was not an Astartes battle barge, the size of the training ground was very satisfactory.

Of course, if you expect it to provide training servitors, it is not necessary, as this is beyond the scope of what the Imperial Navy can afford. Although you can ask them to prepare in advance, forcing others to do something is definitely not what a true son of the Emperor would do.

Kius slowly closed his eyes, took a few deep breaths, adjusted his body and mind, and cleared his mind. Only after he was sure that he was in combat mode did he start his daily practice in an open space.

He set very high standards for himself, and therefore had already learned and mastered the use of four different melee weapons - and, considering the self-requirements of the emperor's sons, this standard of mastery should not be underestimated.

But he did not want to stop there, he did not want to live up to the glorious name of the Emperor's Son. Driven by this strong sense of honor, he was determined to learn more skills.

At this moment, he was working hard for this goal. Driven by this strong will, a heavy two-handed sword burst into a dazzling and deadly dance in his hands.

The agility and strength of Astartes were fully demonstrated in this. Under the control of Kius's slender arms, the giant sword smoothly cut through the head of his imaginary enemy, and then rose again, fell again, rose again, and fell again.

The simple series of slashes were incredibly fast and accurate under his sword - a total of twelve slashes fell like a waterfall in less than two seconds, and each sword slashed at the head, neck or abdomen.

He concentrated on swinging the giant sword, working hard to improve his skills under such simple conditions, and ignored the two people who appeared at the side of the training ground out of nowhere.

However, they had actually just arrived.

Like Kius, the two were also wearing the training uniforms of the Third Legion. One had gloomy eyes, a serious face, and a tall and strong figure. The other was slightly shorter than him, but looked much kinder, but his left eye had been replaced with a scarlet artificial eye, which was a souvenir left from the last legion tournament.

Without a word, they stepped into the field, picked up their weapons, and began training.

The weapon chosen by the tall man is extremely simple, a combination of a one-handed sword and a battle shield. But each move is very sharp, and the steps are extremely steady. The man with prosthetic eyes uses two swords, and his speed is extremely fast, and his steps are constantly rotating, like a flexible dancer.
They were equally focused during training, with only their imaginary enemies in their eyes. Their breathing was steady and long, their eyes were bright, and sweat was constantly dripping, which showed that the intensity was extremely high.

Kius, who had finished his training without knowing when, stood aside and observed their skills. He nodded from time to time, frowned occasionally, but remained silent. He did not speak until the two of them finished their training.

"Bastarar." He spoke to the tall prince first. "You can adjust the interval between attack and defense appropriately."

"Please enlighten me, Captain."

"In combat, the purpose of a shield is to restrain the enemy, not to let you give up the offensive opportunity that could cause harm. Defensive counterattack is a strategy that will never go out of style, but offense is the best defense."

Bastarar thought for a moment, nodded slowly, and hammered his chest with his left hand holding the sword.

"Next is you, Ramitz..." Kius shook his head. "Your problem is exactly the opposite of his. You focus too much on attacking. Some enemies can see this, and once they see through you, the advantages of the dual swords will immediately become fatal flaws."

"I will try my best to correct it." One-eyed Ramitz replied, with only respect and seriousness on his face.

"Very good, then the training ends here. In ten minutes, change into your power armor, put on your weapons, and meet me on the bridge."

The two answered in unison: "Understood."

They saluted each other and left. Ten minutes later, they arrived at the main bridge of the Tears of Defiance with precision and met with Captain Gian Otar. He was an experienced Imperial captain and the fourteenth captain of the Tears of Defiance. He had served for thirty-three years with outstanding achievements and almost never made mistakes. He was a role model among role models.

The young corporal liked and was eager to deal with such people. Although he had only been in the service for nineteen years, he had already been on four patrols like this one.

The first time, I was lucky, I met a strict female captain, and that patrol ended with the annihilation of a group of orc space pirates. However, the second, third and fourth times were not so good, people can't always be lucky.

On those three occasions, the naval captains who were responsible for cooperating with them were either alcoholic bastards or violent maniacs who beat, scolded, physically punished, or even shot their soldiers all day long. The last one was particularly despicable, even to the point of being unbearable.

This captain was a nobleman who was manipulated into the navy by power and wanted to retire immediately after a few years of gilding. He was empty-headed and only knew how to indulge in pleasure all day long. Not only did he not know how to read the star map, he even did something like playing and fighting with others on the deck without clothes.
However, this was also bad luck for him. His family had paved the way for him, and if this accident had not happened, he could have enjoyed his career in the navy until retirement.

However, since the Munitions Department had assigned him to station near Chermos, he and the unfortunate ship to which he had been assigned were listed.

This list comes from a tradition: every year, the Third Legion of the Emperor's Children, based on Chemos, sends a three-man team to cooperate with the Imperial Navy in the sector for a year-long patrol. During this period, the team members will board the ship and act with the fleet to resist any danger, detect and eliminate all potential crises, and forge honor together.

This is a good thing that kills two birds with one stone, especially for the emperor's sons - their current combat methods are extremely suitable for this patrol mode.

However, in order to ensure fairness and prevent factionalism, this patrol is conducted by lottery, which will try to ensure that every prince and every fleet stationed in the Chemos sector conducts at least one patrol to gain experience, victory and honor.

This is a good thing for ordinary soldiers. Who in the empire doesn't know that the emperor's sons are all elite? And they always charge at the front. Just imagine, how can a soldier refuse such a comrade? How can he let go of such an opportunity?
But how could that noble boy ever think of making great achievements? He was almost frightened to death at that time - but if he really died suddenly, it would probably be a good ending for him.

The reason was simple. After the patrol, the Imperial Prince immediately filed a complaint against the incompetent captain. Just two weeks later, he was shot for dereliction of duty by the military commissioner who heard the news. Many people were implicated behind the scenes.

As far as Kius knew, at least a thousand people died as a result, four families were expelled, and a major purge took place within the Military Affairs Department.

"Good day, angels."

Gian Otar solemnly touched his chest and saluted, opening the day's events with thoughtful etiquette.

"It's been four months since the patrol began, and you're still punctual. Don't you get bored coming to the bridge with me every day, staring at these radars, auspexes, and star charts?"

"It's my job, how can it be boring?" Kius asked. "Isn't it the same for you every day, Captain?"

Jian forced a smile, which seemed to be the greatest outward kindness that his stiff face could show: "It is my honor to cooperate with you - then, let's get started."

He raised his hand and pressed a button on the edge of the long command table in front of him, and a light blue projection immediately rose.

The Thinker Array operator on the side of the bridge began to work doubly busy, fingers constantly tapping the keyboard, the sound of beeps was endless. One by one, data was collected and summarized, and finally presented on the command table, becoming part of the projection.

Kius watched intently, and even though the data analysis process was extremely boring, he never lost his focus for even a moment. His concentration certainly did not let him down, and soon, an abnormal data caught his attention.

And the next second, a voice began to echo on the bridge: "Report! We received an identification key!"

The captain frowned, turned his head and looked at the three princes, thought for a few seconds, and waved his hand: "Unlock, identify, and search for the location of this ship. Preheat the artillery and get the frigate ready."

The issuance of a series of orders brought more busy sounds. For a moment, the main bridge was as noisy as a street, filled with the sounds of instruments and shouts directed to communication equipment.

But Kius was not affected by them. He still stared at the center of the command table, where a data representing the unlocking process of the identification key was changing.
However, even he did not expect that this process, which should have been quick and concise, actually took the Thinker Array of the Tears of Resistance a full ten minutes.

By the time they finally figured out the answer in the high temperature caused by excessive calculations and presented the name and origin of the ship on Commander Gian Otar's desk, a sword-shaped black shadow had emerged from the asteroid belt on the right in front of them - the distance was so close that the torpedoes did not need to be aimed very carefully.

"Report! We received a communication request! From, from——"

The operator's voice suddenly stopped, as if he didn't know how to continue. This was an extremely rare situation for Jian's subordinates. These days, Kius had already recognized their professionalism in his heart.

But he understood the operator's shock at the moment. He understood it from the bottom of his heart, not for anything else, but for the ship whose identification key had been resolved.
It is named 'Judge', and there is only one line of explanation in the information of Tears of Resistance: It comes from the Inquisition.

The young corporal heard the captain beside him taking a deep breath.

".Don't accept it yet." Gian Otar said slowly. "Pass my order, have all artillery fire immediately stop warming up, cancel the alert status of the escort fleet, and -"

He turned his head to look at Kius.

"captain?"

"I want to lower the void shield." Gian Otar said in a low voice, his face pale. "Otherwise, I'm afraid it will cause some unnecessary trouble."

The young corporal frowned, "Why, Captain?"

He asked sincerely, because it was unwise to do so, as void shields were like armor to ships. Secondly, he had never dealt with the Inquisition before, and he only knew that these people were arbitrary, had great power, and had a bad reputation.

Thinking of this, a trace of anger appeared on his face. Gian Otar saw it clearly, but he could only sigh.

"Believe me." He said heavily. "The Inquisitors are not easy to talk to. There are good people among them, but the most I have seen are lunatics and bastards."

The Emperor's Son snorted coldly, took off the helmet from his waist and put it on. The eagle emblem shone, and the noble purple was dotted with golden majesty.

When he spoke again, his voice had become low and strange.

".We shall see what happens, Captain. Remember, the Emperor's Children stand behind you."

Gian Otar was speechless and could only smile bitterly.

(End of this chapter)