Warhammer: Start with a dog.

Chapter 661: Colorful Parrots... I mean the Thousand Sons
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"How is this possible?! What on earth happened?!"

Not long after the tragic news came that Amon, the captain of the Ninth Society and the Primarch's attendant, was taken away for "cooperating with the investigation" by the Iron Warriors who suddenly broke in but held a warrant issued by the Emperor and their Gene-Father, the Thousand Sons who were already feeling extremely uneasy on the ships waiting in the system received a new instruction.

According to this instruction, each of their ships will be boarded by one or two mixed teams of Iron Warriors and Space Wolves, who will be responsible for monitoring the operation of key departments, and then their mixed fleet will "return to Prospero as quickly as possible to cooperate with the Lord of Iron to carry out work."

As for this order, "No one shall shirk or delay execution under any pretext, otherwise they will be charged with treason." The wording was extremely harsh, and the psychic wave mark on it could not be mistaken, but sharp-eyed people could see a line of small words below, "If any problems or frictions arise during the handover or during the interaction, please immediately seek help from the Iron Warriors. The mediation hotline is at XXX-XXXXXXXX, available 24 hours a day."

Because this line of words did not conform to the format of any imperial documents or notices, and the so-called "telephone" mentioned in it was an ancient term from tens of thousands of years ago, many people were confused and did not take it seriously.

Their minds were mainly distracted by even more surprising events.

In the originally empty Nikea galaxy, two fleets appeared as if by magic. Judging from their size, they were obviously two expeditionary fleets capable of exterminating an entire race. Judging from their identification and communication codes, these ships all belonged to the 124th and 125th Expeditionary Fleets of the Iron Warriors.

The unique and easily recognizable flagship of the Queen of Silver Glory in front of the fleet also indicates that the owners of these fleets are most likely here at the moment.

Where were they hiding before?

Why didn't anyone notice?

Why didn't they receive any relevant notification?

Why was such a large expeditionary fleet allowed to come here to participate in this gathering?
And why did the Emperor and the Gene-Father take Amon away and give such orders to the Thousand Sons?
At this time of panic, what was even more unfavorable to the Thousand Sons was that their Primarch was not on the Vortep. At the same time, in order to attend the Council of Nikea and meet the Emperor, Magnus also took away the Vortep's navigator Invenos and their First Society Captain and Chief Librarian Ahriman. Now, even the Ninth Society Captain and the Primarch's aide-de-camp Amon were taken away.

It was almost like a group of dragons without a leader, and without Invenos's guidance, even the most arrogant Hathor or the most impulsive Carlophis among them did not dare to say that they could replace the navigator to lead the Fhotep.

This group of warriors who were both scholars and mages were somewhat confused to find that they now lacked someone who could convince each other to temporarily take over here, control the situation, and appease everyone - Magnus liked to ask others to do things for him directly from the mind, because using psionics to spy on minds and understand thoughts was so convenient and quick that the Thousand Sons and even the Tizcans had been accustomed to that kind of unspoken tacit understanding and the convenience of completing a task before words were spoken.

And when all the head nodes of the entire huge network lost their psychic presence in the network and were temporarily unable to link and coordinate them, they suddenly found themselves surrounded by their debate partners, academic competitors and people who could not understand each other's ideas.

Although they were still reliable battle brothers and could still use their psychic skills to communicate with each other and observe the location of everyone in the Sea of ​​Souls, Magnus's order strictly prohibited them from doing so before he returned to the flagship. He required them to only communicate verbally like ordinary people and "turn on all of your recorders and keep all communication records for review after I return."

To make matters worse, in addition to the large fleet of Iron Warriors that suddenly appeared here and surrounded them, another fleet rushed in urgently from outside the system, carrying three Grand Companies of Space Wolves, as well as their many escort supply ships, auxiliary troops and servants. These noisy Fenris barbarians claimed in the communication that they came to reunite with the Wolf King.

"What nonsense! Do these Fenrisians really know what they are talking about?!" said Fusis Taka sternly. This Thousand Sons warrior with shaved head is the Templar Lecturer of the Falcon School and the Captain of the Second Society. In the absence of the First and Ninth Societies, he undoubtedly has a front row seat on the bridge of the Foltep. "Three Grand Companies of Space Wolves! How could they think of that! Such a fleet is enough to reduce an entire sub-sector to rubble and wasteland!"

"I must say, you should calm down first, Hathor. It will be good for all of us to raise your state of mind to two higher levels." The speaker at this time was Baleko Ushizar, the captain of the Fifth Academy and the temple lecturer of the Sky Owl School. This Thousand Sons warrior has always been very popular in the legion, so although Taka was indignant, he still shut up as he said.

"Besides, we actually have the entire fleet here as well." Baleko shrugged. "Of course, I would say that scholars like us are indeed not as fertile as those illiterate wolf cubs. This is also normal."

Everyone present unanimously revealed a secret smile on their faces, a kind of secret smile that only appears when a group mocks the same target: although the Thousand Sons had some cooperation with the Wild Wolves in previous battles, there was no doubt that the prejudice and dissatisfaction between the two sides was the main theme of the emotions circulating in the Legion.

The Thousand Sons had seen the attacks of the Space Wolves and their determination to destroy the inheritance of knowledge, and they had also seen the crude and primitive use of the power of the vast ocean by the Rune Priests. No matter from which aspect, the Space Wolves were very incompatible with them - very incompatible.

"Although I must obey, I still find it incredible." Fusis Taka sighed again, "The idea of ​​letting any Space Wolf put his feet on our ship sounds like putting a wolf in a delicate and fragile antique library. Not to mention more than one Space Wolf! I bet they will soon turn all the ships here into doghouses full of bones and hay!"

"Oh." Eku Annan made a sound between fear and annoyance - this was normal, as the captain of the Fourth Academy and the guardian of the Prospero Great Library, he really had no resistance to this metaphor.

"But we cannot go against the decision of His Majesty the Emperor and the great Magnus." Baleko's gentle voice slid through their hearts. The captain of the Fifth Academy was extremely skilled in telepathic communication and was also very proficient in conveying various emotions. "Besides, from what we can see so far, there is no problem with the Primarch's command wording habits and code. He was not forced or wrote down the order under other circumstances. Obviously, this is his arrangement for us."

"Besides, the most important thing is that the order also said that he would then 'return to the Vortep with his two brothers, and then set out to the assembly point to reorganize the fleet.' We will meet the Primarch, this cannot be false."

The bridge fell into a brief silence as the captains pondered the meaning behind the orders. The psychic power of some people swirled around them like a naughty breeze as they thought. Their guardian elves curiously poked their heads out and appeared and disappeared in the waves of bright thoughts.

"Then how do you explain Amon being taken away?" Hathor Mat played with his long golden curly hair with his porcelain-white fingers and frowned slightly. Even so, the wrinkles were formed in just the right places and would not affect his beauty in the slightest.

This Thousand Sons warrior with a delicate and beautiful face and a style that is out of tune with the others is the Templar lecturer of the Bright Feather School and the captain of the Third Academy. "I don't think they are as polite as they say when they took Amon away for the so-called 'cooperation investigation'." "At least it wasn't the Space Wolves who took him away. And they took him to the Iron Blood, old Amon! At least they didn't take him to the Hrafinkel!" Eku Annan said, "The Iron Warriors at least make me feel much better than the Space Wolves."

"That's also very unusual." Hathor Maat thought. "According to common sense, His Majesty the Emperor is also on the ground in Nicaea. Wouldn't it be better to send the Imperial Guards to bring him to the emperor? The Iron Warriors - oh, forgive me, I don't have any prejudice against their plain appearance. In fact, their metal color should be quite good after being polished and coated with bright oil - but even if a representative of the Imperial Fists or the Emperor's Children is sent to announce this matter, it feels more reasonable than sending the Iron Warriors."

"Well..." Fer Toren of the Seventh Academy laughed dryly, looking at the large screen in front of them. The dense dots of light representing the 124th and 125th fleets around the galaxy and the dots of light representing the Space Wolves fleet in one corner, "Perhaps having a large number of people is sometimes useful in terms of the right to speak. I mean, if the Fourth Primarch is willing to condescend to say a few more words for his descendants in front of the emperor."

"Lord Perturabo is actually quite knowledgeable, brothers, you shouldn't look down on him like that." Eku Annan said with a hint of reproach, but the others obviously thought that the captain of the Fourth Academy was trying to ease the atmosphere, and no one actually believed what he said.

"What should we do now?" asked Carlophis, the captain of the Sixth Academy and the Templar Lecturer of the Fire Phoenix School. He seemed to have been holding back his anger for a while. "According to the time on the order, the Scarab King and other Stormbirds will soon be carrying our father and the other two 'honorable' Primarchs to this place! Are we still here just making noise?!"

"Carlophis..."

"No matter whether you have come to any conclusion here, I will go to the hangar to gather the remaining Sekhmet Terminators," said the captain with the hottest temper. "No matter whether the ones following the Primarch are wolves or dogs, at least let us line up the guards to welcome the Primarch and his brothers in a decent manner!"

"Wait! I'll go with you!"

"I am coming too!"

"Who's staying on the bridge?!"

"Someone has to stay here!"

"Well, why not let Sobek come?"

……

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Sekhmet Terminators, Scarab Hermitage, Magnus' Elite Guards, these titles are exactly what the Terminator veterans of the First Society Company call themselves.

These veterans, clad in heavy, shiny ruby-red Terminator power armor, are the most experienced and powerful members of the Thousand Sons Legion, apart from the officers. Each of them possesses a psychic level of at least "philosopher", a term that refers to the highest level of psychic skill that a Thousand Sons warrior can achieve in his own school before he is qualified to cross the mental realm limit (Note: this means that most of them will turn to ashes once the scarlet letter comes).

Their minds have become so unified through countless trainings, and their hearts are so calm that their fighting style is more like a whole composed of teams of individual units working together than individual single combat. When they are all united as one, immersed in such a unified heart and fighting together, they are the most solid yet extremely flexible living walls and firepower turrets, and at the same time they are calm without sadness or joy, fearless, able to obey all orders given to them, and automatically fill in the position of fallen brothers when there are no orders and unanimously eliminate the opponent towards the gap with super high efficiency.

Leman Russ once disdainfully called the members of the Sekhmet Guard "automatic puppets with no fighting sense at all", while the Primarch of the Iron Hands described them as "robots", and Jaghatai Khan described them as "not much better than machines", but none of this affected their pride in their martial arts and duties, and their loyalty to the Legion and their Primarch.

Now, except for the nine people taken away by Magnus, the remaining seventy-two Sekhmet Terminators are lined up in the hangar at the belly of the Vortep. Everyone's power armor has been derusted and oiled with psychic energy and newly painted, making each of them look like a large scarlet ruby ​​dotted with ivory, gold, and green emerald, shining brightly under the light, and arranging on both sides of the luxurious carpet created by psychic energy, there is indeed a kind of desert ethnic style of jewels and gems.

——This is what Ramezane saw when he, Perturabo BC (and his vehicle), and Magnus himself walked out of the hatch of the Scarab King.

"Welcome to the Vortex!" As soon as he returned to his flagship, Magnus' mood became much better.

The red-haired giant walked down the ramp, counted the number of people with satisfaction, and began to introduce his offspring, each of which looked like an oversized jewel box, to his brother.

"This is from the Second Society... This is from the Third Society..."

The man and the dog began to mutter to themselves.

[For some reason, these offspring of Magnus make my teeth and claws itch.]

[Uh.] Ramizarn glanced at the Thousand Sons, who were very gorgeous and for some reason seemed to be crowded around Magnus even though they were standing in an orderly manner. [Maybe it was because they looked like a group of colorful parrots?]

(End of this chapter)