Warhammer: Hail to the Void Lords!.

Chapter 1061 09.1060: 'First Visit to the Colonial Governor's Mansion'

The engines of the Valkyrie assault transport aircraft emitted a piercing shriek, and the scorching exhaust plumes crashed against the ornate dock.

The fighter jet landed first, its heavy landing gear colliding with the ground with a muffled thud.

The belly hatch suddenly sprang open, and the fully armed Hellfire Special Forces squad filed out, stepping on heavy metal footrests.

Their movements were swift, efficient, and ruthless. Under the concise and powerful hand gestures of a sergeant major wearing a red beret, this elite unit, with impeccable tactical skills, completely controlled all the key points of this berth within just a few seconds.

This cold military scene, so out of place with the bustling and lively atmosphere around it, immediately stirred up a wave of suppressed commotion and uproar among the well-dressed nobles and servants entering and leaving the governor's mansion.

"Ground reconnaissance radar is online," Captain Valina's voice came through the communication channel. "Identification Friend or Foe function activated."

On her tactical helmet visor, a data stream flashed rapidly, marking and filtering all known sentries around the Governor's Mansion—those guards of the Governor's Mansion hidden behind the ornate statues and the shadows of the dome.

The other Hell Soldiers remained on high alert, their weapon systems already locked onto potential sniping positions on higher ground, ready to respond to any unusual activity.

After confirming that there were no unidentified suspicious persons, Valina said in a cold, electronic voice over the communicator, "Everything is normal, you can land."

Only then did the hovercar, bearing the imperial double-headed eagle emblem and painted in elegant black, slowly descend onto the heavily guarded ground.

The car door opened, and a tall man stepped out.

When his dark blue power armor stood upright in the sunlight, his imposing figure even briefly blocked out the sunlight, casting a very oppressive shadow.

Because of prior diplomatic negotiations and ground guidance, the local guards surrounding the Governor's Mansion merely watched all this with tension, without stepping forward to investigate this group of menacing and mysterious military personnel.

Surrounded by his guards, Horatio stepped off the berth and, with the humble guidance of a governor's servant, proceeded to the VIP passage at the side entrance.

As he descended the metal staircase, Horatio's gaze caught sight of several "not unfamiliar" figures—or rather, figures he had seen just the previous night.

A group of guards, their faces still bearing obvious bruises and swelling, stood timidly in a row in the shady corner of the wall.

Their uniforms were wrinkled and crumpled, and their bodies bore varying degrees of signs of beatings. Some even had their faces distorted by bruises and swelling, making them look both comical and pitiful.

Before them stood a female officer wearing a yellow and red feather headdress and a uniform of the Sintira flintlock regiment, with delicate grass-green trim around the edges, who was loudly reprimanding them.

Her voice was clear and stern, loud enough for Horatio to hear clearly from a great distance.

"Look at you bunch of cowards! Your pay was just issued yesterday, and you knew you had duty shifts today, yet instead of being on standby, you dared to go to the tavern to gamble and fight! You started fighting, and you ended up getting beaten up like this!"

Her face was cold, and her eyes held a chilling rage.

Most of the soldiers in front of her were taller and more robust than her, especially the few enormous Oglin apes, whose mountain-like bodies cast shadows that almost completely covered her.

But no one dared to confront her anger; they all lowered their heads in shame, not daring to utter a sound.

“Battalion Commander Desai de Vigu,” Yadviga called out to the angry female officer as she stepped forward. The woman, still seething with anger, took a deep breath and turned sharply.

The moment she faced Yadwiga, the anger on her face vanished, replaced by her usual icy indifference.

“Greetings, Captain Yadviga…” she greeted instinctively, but quickly realized that things were different now. The two were no longer captain and sergeant in the 17th Elite Regiment, so she immediately corrected herself, addressing him as “Colonel Madam.”

"What happened? Why were your soldiers beaten like this?" Yadwiga asked, looking at the row of inhuman leaping soldiers.

She was completely unaware that Horatio, walking behind her, had a faint, amused expression on his face.

When the group of Tengyue soldiers who were being disciplined saw the man behind Yadwiga who was like a giant steel tower, their faces instantly showed extreme terror.

Some people even couldn't help but shrink back, trying to hide behind their companions and escape that scrutinizing gaze.

"Stand still! I'd like to see who dares to move again!" The female officer's angry roar rang out again; she had clearly misunderstood the reason for her subordinates' commotion.

Then she turned to Jadwiga and whispered, "They went gambling during their standby period. When I checked on them today, I found them in this sorry state." Her brow furrowed. "Shameless..."

Then, she stepped past Yadwiga and turned her gaze to the man in power armor behind her: "...Lord, I wish you good health. We have done our best regarding the Church of Enlightenment..."

“I should thank you, Battalion Commander Desai.” Horatio softened the slightly awkward atmosphere with a touch of humor. “If it weren’t for your shot hitting the enemy’s weapon so precisely, I would probably be reporting my unfinished work to the Emperor.”

Then, his gaze slowly swept over the group of "acquaintances" in front of him.

No one dared to look up at him.

The Lightling ratman, who had just been beaten up and then had a bottle smashed in his face by Poniatovsky, was desperately keeping his head down. His oversized helmet almost completely covered his face, and he hid his eyes and face in the shadow of the helmet. His body trembled with fear, and he dared not look directly at anyone.

He probably never dreamed that the "drunkard" he had plotted against in the tavern yesterday would turn out to be such a powerful figure in Sintila.

What's worse, he actually knew their battalion commander, and he knew him as a high-ranking officer.

"Is there something important that Lord Horatio has come here today?" Desai turned his attention back to Horatio.

“Yadwiga, distract Desai,” Horatio whispered in Yadwiga’s ear.

Her long horse ears twitched slightly, allowing Horatio to easily convey his instructions in a volume inaudible to ordinary people without making any suspicious moves.

"The Colonial Governor invited Lord Cochrane to visit."

Yadwiga cleverly and naturally took over the conversation. She took out the letter from the planetary governor, showed it to Desai with the sealing wax mark, and continued, "This matter is of great importance because the Lord himself was recently assassinated."

"Could we find a place to discuss the details of the upcoming security measures in order to prevent similar incidents from happening again..."

(End of this chapter)