Warhammer: Start with a dog.

Chapter 845 The Wolf's Advice and a Classic Opening -
The meeting between the six Primarchs and one Imperial Pigeon proceeded to the next stage of the specific plan in a dull and tense atmosphere.

Pallas was not at all surprised to find that his prediction had come true.

When Ruth sat back down and the pigeons no longer intended to chair the meeting, their main task was to listen to Peturabo BC speak and the pigeons occasionally chime in.

However, in theory, he is indeed connected to Ramizann, and if we're talking about who would least want Ramizann to have an accident, it would definitely be him.

"The person is definitely alright."

Peturabo BC concluded, "But I just received a scan report for the last sector, and LOGOS's location signal was not within the scan range of the Ironblood or the planets under our control."

“That’s a huge area,” said the pigeon. “I believe you’re talking about the other 93.75% of the Milky Way.”

"Wait a minute, our single-handed scanning range actually covers 6.25% of the Milky Way?!"

Pallas exclaimed, and Ruth also suddenly raised his head.

"So we need to cooperate in the investigation. One of the frustrating things is that searching for subspace trajectories is probably much more targeted than scanning beacons in the material universe, which becomes like looking for a needle in a haystack once they are out of our scanning range."

“Perhaps,” the pigeon mused. “I can have Diocletian use his code to mobilize the avian arrays of all the Imperial Guard watchtowers near the Solar System to scan the surrounding starry sky, including activating four fortresses, including the Golden Eagle's Nest…”

"The names you gave them are really unlucky."

"I said it when I was choosing the name."

"How large an area can be covered by a full-power scan of the four fortresses?"

"We might be able to sweep through parts of the entire Solar System, except for Terra, and also around the borders with other star systems."

"Great! Now we can scan more than 10% of the Milky Way. Let's go, what are we waiting for?"

Diocletian seemed to be engaged in a fierce internal struggle—ten thousand times faster than a mortal's—again, regarding this command issued by the rebellious Primarch, but what he ultimately showed was...

"As you wish, sirs."

He bowed, walked out, and, with a bitter taste in his mouth, went to the bridge to issue a new secret order to the sleeping machinery deep within the ancient fortress of the Imperial Guard.

Peturabo BC turned and glanced at Magna Dorn.

“I have projected my consciousness onto the bridge,” the latter replied immediately and smoothly. “I will guide him and keep an eye on his every move.”

The Demon Border Collie finally nodded in satisfaction.

Nearly a million light-years away from the Roaming Harbor, in the outer reaches of the Sun Starfield, in an ancient Imperial Guard watchtower, a receiving device that had been dormant for thousands of years suddenly began to function beneath its casing, which was gleaming with incense and grease.

As the light on its panel changed from red to a steady, pulsating green, the ancient device, meticulously maintained by servants who had been reciting scriptures for generations—for reasons unknown but devoutly performing rituals—quietly illuminated itself.

The long-dormant machine spirit coughed up the ancient dust accumulated on the fan, and the bearings began to creak and turn. After the command code was verified, currents began to flow on the lost ancient technology chip pattern.

For the first time in centuries, these equally ancient oracles arrays were reversed, shaking off the cosmic dust and dry ice that had accumulated on their antennas, and began high-power scanning in all directions.

The pigeon puffed out its chest triumphantly amidst the varied gazes of the six Primarchs (?), though at least Pallas held a hint of reverence (?).

"..."

"..."

"..."

"It is known that our scanning array takes 120 minutes to scan the maximum range of spatial domains."

Perturabo BC banged angrily on the pigeon perch with his chopsticks, "And we're already eating lunch for the next day while your precious golden array hasn't even finished scanning yet!"

"That's because your equipment is too advanced!" The pigeon was knocked and jumped onto the head of the Imperial Guard, causing the latter to be quite alarmed.

"These devices were the best at the time! And they are still the best today!"

"...Don't you feel ashamed to say that out loud!" the Raven Guard, possessed by Clarkes, muttered.

"What's there to be ashamed of?" the pigeon said proudly. "Those red-robed men don't even have the technical skills to surpass mine, yet they dare to talk about becoming the second eagle-headed empire!"

"Is that really your technical skill?" Peturabo BC said sinisterly. "It's clearly your archaeological and modification skills that are stronger than theirs, isn't it? The bolder you are, the more you dare to modify, that's you."

"...I dare to think it, and I dare to change it! Do you dare?"

"Don't compare your 'strengths' to others' 'weaknesses'!" Peturabo BC looked like he wanted to bite the pigeon. "Is it even uncertain how long it will take to complete the scan?!"

"No way! We haven't received any Star Language messages from them yet!"

“Didn’t Diocletian quickly activate the fortress scanning array over there after sending us the code?” Pallas also found it strange. “Why didn’t we just have them send us the new developments and estimated timelines? Why has there been no movement for so long?”

“Ha, arrogance, Peturabo, arrogance, you don’t even realize where the problem lies.”

Lehman Russ sipped his third glass of homemade wolf mead in front of him—this stuff was taken from deep within the wolf barracks where the Ironblood was now stationed. It was said that the pack of wolves had secretly brewed quite a lot of "new-style mead" in abandoned fuel barrels using mushrooms from the hydroponic farm, fruits from the garden, and drinks from the mess hall, which the wolf king was very fond of.

"Oh? What's your opinion? I'd like to hear it in detail."

“No comment.” The Wolf King shook his head, the small bone ornaments at the ends of his reddish-gold hair brushing against his storm-cloud-like armor. “You’ve been too comfortable in this protected port, forgetting that in most parts of the Empire, communication still relies on the Star Speakers. They mostly need to bathe and burn incense, perform rituals, and encrypt the information to be transmitted into something else entirely, which is then deciphered by the recipient using their own occult books. That’s why it takes them so long. And, the Great Rift.”

Riemann Russ pointed to the magnificent view of the universe outside the floor-to-ceiling window behind his desk.

"Since it interferes with navigation, it must also interfere with interstellar communication. You can't expect other mortals with abilities like yours to meet your standards. Peturabo, the ship of destiny is now drifting in the direction you desire. You must steer it carefully, lest the hidden currents carry us in a direction from which there is no return."

Everyone else at the table held their breath, ready for anything to happen. But Peturabo BC looked at Russ with his dark eyes for a moment, then nodded.

“That is indeed true,” he said. “I will be careful not to get lost again. You, on the other hand, are as devoted to protecting the old house as ever, Ruth, as always.”

“I told you, the position of bard in Fenris is a very good tradition.”

The wolf king shrugged and swallowed more mead.

The chief steward quickly cleared away everyone's plates and began serving desserts, wine, tea, and coffee.

"Let's address one of the most pressing issues before we receive a reply from the Solar System. First, there's the matter of the Black Sanctuary Expeditionary Fleet not leaving after the war, but instead sending secret communications to their Grand Marshal Helbrecht's fleet..."

--------

After the Valkyrie gunship brought Ramizane and Colonel Fedorak's group back to the heavily damaged city of Adulim, Ramizane discovered that the situation might be much more serious than he had thought.

"You're saying you've been here... for three centuries?"

Standing before the now-unattended altar of the Adulim Central Cathedral, Ramizan and the Colonel were talking. This cathedral was an ancient building from the time Adulim was founded, and its history may be more than a few thousand years old. However, now that it has been requisitioned as a command post, the exquisite murals depicting emperors and other figures on the walls are cracking and falling off.

“Yes, sir.” Colonel Fedorak instinctively reached for a cigarette, then remembered who he was in front of. He smiled nervously and stubbed it out.

"Lupiana, the messenger of hell, that's the name of our legion. We've been stationed here for 359 years to be exact... uh, after this month, it will be exactly 360 years. Anyway, I've spent most of my life in the jungles around the delta."

"Does the Ministry of Military Affairs regularly send ships to resupply or pick up retired personnel?"

"Generally speaking, resupplying medicine is the most important thing, followed by ammunition and food. But, retirement, sir?"

Colonel Fedorak grinned, revealing his teeth and gums, which were yellowed from smoking. The whites of his eyes were also yellowish, and his tanned skin had an unhealthy yellowish-white waxy appearance.

“We don’t have your full-body power armor for protection. You’ve seen the local natives, those tailless, ape-like mutants, their entire bodies have turned green, and they have slime protecting their skin. My soldiers and I opted for large doses of medication over jungle malaria, which will keep us from dying here immediately, but our livers aren’t doing so well. Normally, if I feel I’m not going to make it, I’ll request that the next Fedorak be sent before I die. My eldest son is about the same…”

He paused for a moment, then said, "I've reached the age where I should graduate from military academy and serve in the military."

Ramizam felt a heavy gloom sweep over him, and then he realized that it was Zao's mood.

After the boy made that suggestion and was given a serious ideological and political lecture by Ramizan, he has remained silent except for necessary conversations and has lost the enthusiasm he had when he first discovered his power.

Don't worry. Ramizam tried to think this to Zao in his heart, we're here, we're not going to leave like this.

……Um.

I'm more worried about other things. If you feel anything is wrong here, please tell me immediately, okay?
Okay. Actually, I just thought those mountains we saw when we flew over were... kind of strange, sir.

"A mountain?" Colonel Fedorak looked up from the holographic map in front of him and asked, somewhat surprised. "You mean this mountain?"

He pointed to the green holographic contour map in front of him, which clearly showed the terrain around the entire delta.

Just a few miles outside the city of Adulim stands a green mountain that stretches straight up to the sky like a withered arm.

Ramizann and Zao, whom he was holding, exchanged a glance and both saw the surprise in each other's eyes.

"Uh... Colonel, you can see him?"

Colonel Fedorak seemed to want to say no for a moment, but he eventually frowned and nodded.

"Wasn't he just hallucinating?" he asked, pointing at the boy. "Why can't my adjutant and the others see him?"

“No, Zao is… uh, someone I’m protecting… a mission target who is very important to the Empire,” Ramizane’s brain, if it had a CPU, would be spinning like crazy right now.

"So I usually activate the concealment device so that people can't see him. It's because of this mission that you see us here alone. We got separated from the others during the mission."

“Oh.” The colonel nodded understandingly. “Lost in the line of duty, yes, that’s common, sir. Then why was I able to see him through your concealment device?”

—How do I know why you can see him? Did you just hear our internal dialogue?

—He was the kind of psionicist who was suddenly elevated.

Zan'ao hurriedly reminded Ramizann.

—After the Great Rift opened, Eisenhorn observed a significant increase in the level and number of awakened psionicists. The Colonel was likely one of those psionicists whose level was originally so low as to be imperceptible, but who suddenly experienced an upgrade. Eisenhorn himself had experienced such a psionic upgrade, as had I.

Ramizam pondered for a moment, then told Colonel Fedorak the gist of the matter, focusing on the parts that were easier for him to understand. This surprised the colonel and also caused him some concern.

"No wonder I've been seeing human faces or other strange things growing on the trees lately! This damn crack! I don't want to suddenly turn into one of those madmen and explode or be burned to death in the square one day. Sir, is there any way to reverse this?"

"Don't worry too much. As long as you don't stray too far from us, there won't be any major problems. We'll make further plans after we've resolved the immediate issues."

As long as they could make contact with the Destiny Steel, there should always be another way to resolve this matter, Ramizam thought to himself, which wasn't exactly lying through his teeth.

"Where is your highest-powered communication device? I need to get in touch with my...our ship so that the situation can be improved immediately."

"Communicator, sir?" The colonel pointed to another set of dusty instruments on the corner of the table. "Right here. Theoretically, the long-range transmitter can contact our other units on the other side of the planet, but it has been malfunctioning for several days."

"Ah this."

“It can’t get any worse, sir,” Colonel Fedorak continued, his tone suggesting that things couldn’t get any worse. “You saw the destroyed houses and craters in the road when you arrived. We’ve been on a minimum food ration for weeks, except for ammunition…”

The colonel glanced at Ramizan's still-giant physique, even under his disguise, as if assessing how much food he could consume. "...We'll soon be facing a siege and running out of ammunition and food."

...What the heck? I thought things would be fine once we got into the city, but I didn't expect this classic opening?!
(End of this chapter)