40k: Midnight Blade.

Chapter 709 2. Imperial Guards and Inquisitors
The Tears of Defiance has a total of four hangars, three of which are full of carrier-based aircraft, and the remaining one is used for other purposes.

This separate hangar has been specially designed. The cables and energy pipelines that were previously everywhere have been carefully covered up, and the ground has been replaced with pure white stone bricks.

The flags of the Imperial Navy and portraits of outstanding naval heroes hang on the walls, and even the lighting has been deliberately adjusted to a soft, warm color.
Kius Solani didn't care about this, he was busy with another thing. Through a porthole located on the right side of the hangar, he calmly observed the battleship still anchored in the asteroid belt.

After establishing communication, the other party did not communicate quickly and conveniently through voice or holographic projection, but only transmitted a message. This message forced the Tear of Resistance to continue moving forward without any defense after lowering the void shield, until the distance between the two ships was close enough, and then stopped.

By this time, the battleship named the Inquisitor could be observed in detail with the naked eye, and Kius was busy with this, and he found something interesting.

First, the model of this battleship was unknown, and Kius found that he could not recognize its specific model.

Secondly, its firepower was probably too strong. Just taking the right side of the ship facing the Tears of Defiance as an example, Kius saw ten live-fire macrocannons, two lance arrays and six standard torpedo tubes.

In addition, this battleship actually has a Nova cannon installed on the bow - the corporal couldn't help but ask, what tactical purpose did the designer have in mind by placing such powerful firepower on a battleship that is not much larger than a cruiser?
He stared at the Inquisitor symbol and the Imperial skull mark on the hull of the Inquisitor, and the eyes behind his helmet became more serious.

For some reason, he felt a slight chill.
The physical fitness of the Astartes is enough to allow them to withstand the worst environment in the galaxy, and the fourth hangar of the Tears of Resistance is even equipped with a very advanced constant temperature control device. Moreover, he is wearing power armor.

No matter from which angle you look at it, he shouldn't have such strange feelings at this time.

Kius pondered for a few seconds and decided to ignore the matter for the time being. After all, the shuttle sent by the Inquisitor was about to arrive outside the hangar.

However, when he saw Bastarar and Ramitz simultaneously making a serious tactical gesture to him with their right hands, he knew that something was probably not right.

Without hesitation, the corporal turned around and walked straight through the red carpet, the military band and the naval guard of honor, and found Gian Otar who was tidying up his appearance at the back of the crowd.

The captain was somewhat puzzled by his arrival, for the corporal's steps were very anxious, in stark contrast to the calmness he had always displayed.

A trace of doubt slowly emerged on the soldier's face, and he subconsciously asked: "Did something happen, corporal?"

The Emperor's Child was silent for half a second before replying, "Yes, Captain, but I don't know how to explain it to you."

"Why?" The captain's suspicion became more and more obvious.

"I can't explain it, but just now, my brothers and I felt that something was not right."

His words were interrupted by a sudden warning sound. The ground and walls began to tremble, and a violent buzzing sound quietly rose from the outermost layer of the hangar. The cold rushed in from behind the safety valve, forcing the originally suitable temperature to disappear without a trace.

In just a moment, the hangar became extremely cold amidst the continuously flashing yellow light and the harsh warning sound. The bodies of the military musicians and the honor guard, who were only wearing ordinary uniforms, began to tremble, and white mist surged from their mouths and noses.
The hangar door began to rumble, steel rubbed, and the walls could hear the gears and hinges turning. Kius heard everything very clearly, including the sound of the shuttle's engine that was still running - for some reason, the chill hit him again.

Moreover, the impact this time was even more severe, and he even had visual and auditory hallucinations.
Through the wall, he saw gears stuck with broken bones and flesh, and hinges stained with blood, at the end of which were tied countless swollen corpses hanged.

Their eyes gleamed deep within the iron hull of the Tears of Defiance, and their turbid blood dripped beneath their bodies, becoming fuel for the machinery.

The roaring engine or motor greedily licked the bloody food, and the surface of the steel actually produced burning bubbles, which suddenly exploded from time to time, splashing out one sticky eye after another.

The corporal took a few steps back with a grim face, his left hand unconsciously pressing on the long sword at his waist - at this moment, a huge force suddenly attacked his left forearm from behind, and the force was so great that he almost drew the sword out of the sheath uncontrollably.

Kius subconsciously looked back and saw a twisted and deformed dead face, with blood coming out of all its orifices, grinning at him.

"Draw your swords," the dead whispered. "There are many wrongs to be redressed."

"Who are you?!" the Emperor's Son shouted, silently reciting the Emperor's Prayer.

Perhaps the Emperor was really watching this place, or perhaps that thing decided to make him look bad, for all these strange visions suddenly disappeared before he could finish his words.

The military music that had been playing suddenly stopped, the guards of honor looked at him in confusion, and Gian Otar looked at him with more shock than fear.
There was no one behind him.

Damn it. Chius swallowed the curse and almost broke his teeth.

At this point, he was 100% certain that there must be an evil creature from the warp behind this - but this conclusion sounded a little unbelievable. What kind of powerful evil creature could act so freely under the eyes of the Inquisition?
Or.
No, it's impossible. The corporal immediately refuted his own thoughts in his mind.

At the same time, the main door of the hangar finally opened completely, and the Skyhawk shuttle cast two pale cold lights. In this light, a tall figure was standing there, staring coldly at everything in the hangar.

Just one glance and Kius's thoughts froze.

The figure began to move, with a red tassel fluttering on its head. The pair of scarlet eyes on its eagle-wing visor looked extremely majestic. Its golden armor was gorgeous and simple, and its blood-red cloak billowed behind it like a flame.

People stared at him in amazement. The first person to kneel down appeared a few seconds later. He did not kneel down voluntarily, but because of extreme shock. However, everyone after him knelt down voluntarily, as if they had just woken up from a dream.
Even Gian Otar, a well-trained captain, was like this. His face was completely pale to another level, and the dress he had hurriedly changed into suddenly became ill-fitting, as if it was more than one size smaller.

"Sir, sir——"

The golden-armored giant quickly raised his right hand, palm up, with a small but extremely resolute movement. His will was fully reflected in it, but the captain did not realize what the other party was conveying to him until several seconds later.
He stood up with great difficulty, while the others followed suit, so slowly that one might wonder if there was something wrong with their knees.

"Are you the captain of the Tear of Resistance, Captain Gian Otar?" asked the giant. His voice did not change at all, but sounded powerful and hoarse, with an indescribable aura.

"Yes, yes, sir." The captain nodded repeatedly. "May I ask what you need?" The giant did not answer, but just turned slightly.

He didn't know what happened, but there was suddenly a person beside him, which even startled Kius so much that he moved. However, he just shook slightly, and the imperial guard immediately cast his eyes on him with an unusually cold look.

Judging from his appearance, this man had not undergone any transformation. He was tall and thin, wearing a judge's uniform. His face was even paler than those nobles who liked to apply lead powder. His eyes were pitch black under his wide-brimmed hat.

"It's not a demand," the man said slowly. "I just need a conference room, Captain Otar."

The captain stared at him blankly, as if he had lost the ability to think - until Kius coughed lightly, he let out a startled cry.

"Don't panic," the man said. "This matter actually has little to do with you."

He turned his head slightly and looked at the Emperor's Son, his eyes deep.
-
".Anyway, that's what happened."

Standing directly below the tactical projector in the conference room, the Inquisitor slowly straightened up and put his hands behind his back.

A document was flickering in the blue projection behind him. The content was completely inconsistent with the extremely verbose official document style of the Military Affairs Department. This document read clearly and was unusually brief.

It demands that the Emperor's Children provide any form of assistance to Grand Inquisitor Khalil Rohars, for any length of time and at any location. At the end are the seals of the Ministry of Military Affairs, the Inquisition, Regent Sanguinius and the Sigillite, printed in bright red.

And at this moment, the Grand Inquisitor mentioned in the document was standing before them.

The young corporal couldn't help but feel a little dazed. His calmness disappeared briefly, leaving only a dizzy shock - what on earth could have happened that could make Terra sign such a powerful document?

'Any kind of help', 'any duration', 'any location'.
By Chemos, this is a disguised message to every Emperor's child who reads this document: you must obey his orders, and you must obey them no matter what they are.

Within the III Legion, before this document was issued, the only person with such power was probably the Primarch Fulgrim.

Kius gritted his teeth again to calm himself down. Then, he stood up deliberately to attract the attention of the two team members sitting beside him, so that they could also get rid of the violent shock and wake up.

He began to speak: "Please forgive my brothers and me for our misconduct, sir. Also, please forgive me for being frank - if you are here to kill traitors or thwart Chaos's conspiracy, the three of us alone are probably far from enough."

His implication was clear: I needed to return to Chemos to inform my Legion and the Primarch.

He had a good idea, this was a very legitimate request, and there was no reason for the Grand Inquisitor to disagree with it.
The man smiled, took off his wide-brimmed hat and shook his head.

"No, you misunderstood, Corporal." He spoke slowly in a gentle tone that shouldn't appear on an Inquisitor. "The area around Chemos is peaceful. There are no traitors or Chaos to kill here. We just happened to encounter the Tear of Defiance."

"What about you?"

"I'm just going to Chemos."

The Grand Inquisitor continued, his eyes suddenly becoming thoughtful. Then, he suddenly moved to the edge of the long table in the conference room, very skillfully pulled out a chair, and sat down.

Going to Chemos?

Kius clenched his hands on the table into fists, and countless thoughts that should belong to darkness flashed through his mind in an instant.

Did a noble from Chemos do something he shouldn't have? Or did the Inquisition uncover a conspiracy? Was it a rebellion? A demonic invasion? Someone who shouldn't be here is hiding here?

damned!
The corporal's face flushed instantly. He ripped off his helmet, raised his left hand, tapped the eagle wings on his chest, and shouted hoarsely in his original voice: "In the name of the Emperor, please--"

"——Calm down, calm down, Corporal." The Grand Inquisitor raised his hand to signal him to sit down. "I don't mean anything else. Please believe me. I am different from my colleagues. I don't use many metaphors in my words, and I am used to doing things directly. Calm down, okay?"

Gasping, Kius sat upright, causing the sturdy chair to hum.

"Also, Corporal, has anyone ever told you that you actually look a lot like your Primarch?"

For a moment, the meeting room suddenly fell into silence. Kius was stunned, almost unable to believe what he heard. He didn't understand why the Inquisitor suddenly talked about this matter that obviously shouldn't appear in the current conversation.

"Hmm," the Grand Inquisitor paused for a few seconds. "Forgive me, but I haven't seen your Primarchs for a long time. I know what I said just now may be a bit abrupt, and I'm sorry if I offended you."

Once again, the young corporal was in shock: Has this man met my Primarch? No, that's not right. Judging from his tone, he has met him more than once. Is he kidding? How dare he joke like that?

His thoughts gradually fell into an unknowable abyss, but the Inquisitor seemed to be unaware of this and continued.

"Oh, right!" As if to liven up the atmosphere, he suddenly raised his right hand and pointed to the ceiling. "If I remember correctly, you were all selected to join the Chapter by Chapter Master Sol Tarvitz, right? Can I ask him how he is doing?"

"You, you..." Kius looked at him in astonishment and shock. For a moment, he didn't know which question to answer first, or whether he should answer it at all. "I, this--"

The Inquisitor looked at him in confusion and blinked.

(End of this chapter)