Warhammer: Black Emperor

Chapter 449 The "Thieves'" Yard-type Hunter Suit
After Marlena Skala saw the Catachan warriors launch missiles as planned, blasting a rift in the bio-lab, she turned to look at the rats she was controlling.

The "biologist" pointed to the laboratory building, and the mice ran towards it on all fours.

The experimental building is 130 meters high and 15 meters wide, protected by four defensive towers inside and out, covered with firing ports, and gleaming gun mounts pouring ammunition at the Qatachan soldiers.

The missile blasted a gap the size of a fist into a concrete building protected by Adamantium alloy armor. No ordinary person could squeeze through it no matter how hard they tried, but it was enough for a driven rat.

They burrowed into the laboratory, climbed into the ventilation ducts, dropped the seeds they were holding, and then ran off to other places.

The vine seeds from Katachon stubbornly began to grow, and although they did not spread as quickly as they had on their home planet, their growth was still visible to the naked eye.

With the help of the turrets, the guards repelled the Catachan warriors while the "biologist" released a second batch of pets: various venomous snakes from Catachan.

The swamp mamba leaped into the air and was the first to enter the experimental building.

They landed on the guards, their sharp teeth piercing through the bulletproof armor, and venom was injected into the guards' bodies.

The guards trembled violently, and dark green blood trickled from the corners of their mouths.

After twenty-nine heartbeats, the guards stopped convulsing.

Marlena's brown eyes saw the outer guards dying one by one; it was time to launch the attack.

She was going to launch a lightning offensive and seize the entire laboratory before the guards realized they couldn't hold out and activated their self-destruct program.

Maria turned on the communicator and gave orders to the Katachon banshee.

"attack!"

The Katachan Banshees have expanded from two experimental regiments to five, and Malena brought four of them this time.

Banshees wearing banshee masks and with their hair dyed red attacked from four directions.

They all tilted their heads back and let out sharp shrieks, which, magnified by their masks, echoed in spiraling, invisible shrieks within the turret.

The Katachon Banshees seized the opportunity to swiftly break through the fire defenses, and the lead demolition expert pulled out a Talava-type molten metal bomb, quickly setting it to explode three seconds later.

They sped out of the ranks and slammed the thermal bombs against the exterior wall of the Adamantium building.

Boom boom boom!
The explosion was deafening, and the outer wall collapsed.

Malena rushed into the laboratory first. Wherever she went, plants spread rapidly in the corridor, and in an instant, they had spread to the entire first floor.

The plants grew rapidly, and the entire laboratory looked as if it had been abandoned and then invaded.

At the same moment that Malena stormed the Pap caste's biochemical laboratory, Tierney, along with several "thieves," also launched an operation against an ancient building that was over five thousand years old.

Tierney and Maria Kournikova faced the same choice when selecting outfits, but unlike the "Assassin's" choice, he based the "Thieves" on the Yard-type Hunter outfit.

Based on Tierney's requirements, "mechanical expert" Rosicky Cech designed the Yard model specifically.

The original Yard type could only change color to mimic the wearer's appearance when the wearer was stationary, thus concealing their presence.

The "mechanical expert" added Eldar color-changing cloak material to the Hunter's Suit, which was originally a lightweight yet tough metal composite material.

He connected the entire suit of armor by embedding the warp circuits of the space dwarf sage Grimnir at key nodes.

Tierney and the "Thieves" pressed the crystals on their waists, and as the runes lit up one by one, the subspace circuit activated the mimicry array, allowing them to remain invisible even while walking slowly.

Tierney led the "Thieves" stealthily toward the mechanical guards, their electronic eyes scanning the surroundings as they had for the past five thousand years.

Tierney and his colleagues slowed their pace to avoid triggering any signals that could be detected by the sensor array.

They are not afraid of the attacks launched by the mechanical sentinels. The conductive fibers connected to their neurocortex can be activated in sync with their consciousness, deflecting the enemy's attacks.

Tierney first slipped between the two mechanical sentries, and the metal structure did not react at all.

The "thieves" then followed and arrived at the foot of the metal tower.

The metal tower is tens of meters high, with a circular base and a diameter of several meters.

The "deciphering scholar" walked silently around the tower, his eyes scrutinizing the runes that were so different from those of Vostonia and the human empire.

The "deciphering scholar," combining the Gaddinar runes sent by Arsène Dunn, quickly analyzed the runes in front of him.

After circling around, he came to a rune.

The "deciphering scholar" observed during the detour that the runes at the bottom of the tower contained elements from one to eleven.

One day... four claws... eleven stars.

The "deciphering scholar" realized that when the building was constructed, the Gadinars did not control eleven planets; they initially colonized the third planet, Gadinar's leader.

He then walked to the position corresponding to the three, which was a rune composed of two patterns, with three legs, one above and two below, nested in an intricate ring.

Tierney raised his hand and pressed it. With a rumbling vibration, the gray door slowly opened. The "thieves" filed in, and Tierney was the last to enter. He casually pressed the rune inside and closed the door.

"Scatter and search." Tierney glanced at the huge gray statue at the bottom and gave the order through the sealed communicator.

The "thieves," concealed within their Yard-type Hunter suits, bypassed the towering mechanical guards resembling fearless mechs and began their search.

A "thief" climbed to the fourth floor, removed his gauntlets, and ran his "nimble hand" across the wall, when suddenly his fingers retracted.

He tapped his finger lightly, and the hidden door opened.

The "thief" entered the dark room, his gaze sweeping over the numerous hundreds of art sculptures.

His "exceptional observation" allowed him to identify the most precious statue in the dark room: a lifelike sculpture of a man in gray armor holding a long sword.

When the timer inside Tierney's black armor completed two revolutions, all the "thieves" reported their discoveries: they found artworks from different periods, but none related to the High Lord.

The "deciphering scholars" spent an hour reviewing the unusual aspects reported by the "thieves."

He found two new secret chambers, but still found no information related to the High Lord.

The "deciphering scholar" frowned, thinking to himself.

Could this tower simply be an artwork storing historical records of the development of the Gadinal people?

Does such a place really need so many mechanical guards?
Why aren't these mechanical guards being used now that the capital is in chaos and other fortresses and strongholds haven't been able to reach it in time?
The "deciphering scholar" glanced around, his gaze landing on his feet, when a sudden inspiration struck him.

[If not inside the tower, what about underground?]
Tierney crept down to the bottom level, bypassed a mechanical guard wielding a large axe, and climbed up the massive granite statue.

Behind the statue, "deciphering scholars" discovered an eleven-star pattern arranged horizontally.

He raised his hand and pressed it on the third planet. A beeping sound rang out above his head, accompanied by the sound of machinery turning, and deep within the dark muzzle of a gun.

With a thought, the "deciphering scholar" rotated hundreds of independent metal plates connected to the hinged frame via microfiber bundles.

The flying wing carried Tierney backward through the air, its dazzling particle beams shooting into the ground and creating a dense network of craters.

Tierney's expression remained unchanged. As a "thief" who had infiltrated countless defense facilities, he had already realized that if the particle weapon from earlier had hit him, even if his suit could deflect most of the beam, the remaining beam would still be enough to kill him.

Even the Black Emperor's Shadow of Order can be penetrated by power armor.

Tierney heard the heavy footsteps and quickly snapped out of her shock.

He knew he had alerted the mechanical guards, and more would arrive soon.

"Hold him!"

The "thieves" spread their wings and flew from all directions toward the mechanical guards wielding axes.

The multi-tube laser emitter unleashed a dense beam of laser light, bombarding the gray metal body.

The laser struck the adamantium alloy armor, turning the gray armor completely black, but the mechanical guard continued its actions, its electronic eyes flashing red as it raised its large axe.

The locked-on "thief" flapped its wings and took flight, attracting the mechanical guard's attention.

Another "thief" took the opportunity to fly from behind to the mechanical guard's neck, and the sharp wings of the Yard-type Hunter quickly closed.

The metal wings not only allow them to fly, but also to launch attacks.

A flash of black light, and dozens of metal plates from the tips of the wings pierced the mechanical guard's head, eyes, cheeks, and shoulders.

With its wings spread, the mechanical guard's head was ripped apart.

At the same time, the "deciphering scholars" were rapidly tapping on the third and eleventh planets.

[Three marks the beginning, from which the Gadinar people began.]

The eleventh is the final stage; their goal is to conquer all eleven planets.
The rune array on the granite statue lit up, revealing a passage amidst the tremors.

Tierney leaped down first, while the "Thieves" spun and flew, dodging the barrage of bullets fired by the mechanical guards, and flew downwards.

The "deciphering scholar" flew for more than ten kilometers along the narrow passage, when suddenly the view opened up, revealing a platform that seemed to have no end.

Above the platform, there was a metal wreck, the part of which he could see was as large as a frigate.

The "secret scholar" controlled the flying wing to slow down, while thinking to himself.

Is it the wreckage of a ship? The ship that early colonists of Gadinal arrived on?

That's why the art museum was built on it.

The High Lords used consciousness matrix technology to prolong their lives from the very beginning; it's possible they brought it to Gadinal, or perhaps it's on the colony ships.
(End of this chapter)