Warhammer: Black Emperor

Chapter 822 The Emperor's orders are meaningless; the Black Emperor's divine decree must be fulfilled.
The flagship of the Tenth Warband, the relic-class warship Stinger Rose, is located at the bottom level.

The pharmacists of the "Shadows of Order" habitually place their laboratories in the deepest part of the warship.

Lord Ramsay walked up the spiral staircase to the entrance of the laboratory where the spiral symbol was hanging. As soon as he stepped inside, his vision immediately went dark.

Unlike other legions, the "Shadow of Order" laboratory was not clean and bright, lacking gleaming walls and bright lights.

The light came entirely from the surrounding silos, illuminating the operating table where apothecaries supervised the Legion's medical servants performing the modification surgery.

The light shines through it, becoming dimmer the closer it gets to the central experimental platform.

Ramsey's gaze shifted, quickly adjusting to the dim lighting.

His high, straight nose trembled slightly. As the number one person in the field of biochemistry below the Primarch, recognized by Hathor Matt, the head of the "Bright Feather School" of the "Thousand Sons," he could clearly sense the bottles of blood sealed with stasis vessels and runes.

Ramsay knew that the apothecaries, who were granted magical powers by the Black Emperor, would develop a preference for blood-based foods after becoming barons.

They typically feed on the blood and flesh of Fenris beasts such as the Kraken, delivered by the "Space Wolves," as was the case with the Black Emperor after Duran crushed and beat Russ.

They would occasionally eat the beast of the same name sent by the "fire lizard," a testament to the friendship between Lord Vokan and the Black Emperor.

"My Lord." The warband's apothecary bowed in greeting, and Ramsey nodded in return, addressing the chief apothecary, Mikel.

“I captured thirteen of the Bone Drinker’s parasites.”

Mikel stared at Ramsey and, seeing that there were no containers or anything like that behind him, realized that he must have used some strange ability bestowed upon him by the Black Emperor to contain those parasites.

"Prepare the container."

The apothecaries of the Tenth Warband immediately sprang into action, inputting a series of runes onto the experimental table.

With a creaking sound, silos filled with different colored solutions were lowered by the robotic arm.

bang bang bang...

The hatch opened, and different colored liquids, such as yellow, green, red, orange, and purple, emitted different smells.

“They can briefly leave the host,” the master of the flesh and blood realm said confidently, having used bio-psychic energy to probe the Bone Drinkers.

“It’s alright, they’ll sleep soundly.” As “Crimson Scholar” Mikel spoke, a hazy moonlight appeared above his head.

The gentle moonlight spread out, covering the thirteen experimental modules.

In the moonlight, as gentle as water, Ramsey felt his two hearts slow down and his blood flow slow down.

The Master of Flesh and Blood's eyes flashed, and he looked up at the hazy moonlight with his obsidian-like eyes.

"Your ability is strange; it can make every cell seem to lose its vitality."

“The moon in each galaxy will show a different phase, this is what I saw in the Tek galaxy.” “Crimson Scholar” Mikel’s voice floated out from his black hood.

“Lunar phase.” Ramsey chewed on the word as he walked to a test chamber.

With a wave of his hand, a shadow rose, and a parasitic body silently slid into the experimental chamber.

Ramsey gazed at the dense spores, which seemed to be asleep, clinging to the parasitic body, neither escaping nor moving.

He then placed the parasites of the Bone Drinkers into the experimental chamber one by one.

As the hatch closed and the test module rose, the moonlight overhead gradually receded, only illuminating one of the compartments.

In the other test chambers, the bone drinkers began to move around.

bang bang bang...

Amidst the dull thuds, runes flickered within the experimental chamber filled with green potion, and the liquid rapidly vanished.

When the drug is completely absorbed by the parasite, the gray radiation detection rays hit the parasite.

Inside the orange experimental chamber, red runes flashed, and then, as if boiling, a series of bubbles rose up.

……

The "Potion Professors" of the Tenth Battle Group immediately spread out around the control panel, examining the experimental data and reporting to the Chief Pharmacist. "Physiological function, individual diameter 1.5 millimeters..."

"The alien individuals exhibit obvious characteristics of group parasitism, and will instinctively develop a physiological need for biological bones... Each feeding provides enough nutrition to ensure their survival for 49.2 standard days..."

"Those who drink bones must exist in association with a host; once separated from the body, they will die five and a half hours later..."

Ramsey listened to the apothecaries' reports until the runes in the twelve experimental chambers stopped pulsating.

A "potions professor" was the first to suggest, "Katachan's Spikeweed?"

"Crimson Scholar" Mikel pondered for a few seconds, "It's worth a try."

Ramsay immediately noticed and suggested that the pharmacist and another person go to the workbench.

A servo robotic arm was placed on the moonlit experimental chamber. With a slight suction sound, the parasite's left shoulder, along with a tuft of fluff, was lifted up and slid into an experimental chamber that had been rinsed with a medicinal solution.

At the same time, a spherical object about two meters high, covered with thick, hair-like leaves, was launched into another test chamber.

The experimental chamber spun rapidly, and the spiked grass seemed to be stimulated, ejecting countless spikes from its spherical surface, which crackled against the chamber walls and splashed out drops of liquid.

The droplets flowed down, were collected by the bottom collector, and then injected into the experimental chamber containing some of the parasites through the conduit.

Drop drop!
The chemical sap produced by the thorny grass dripped onto the parasite's shoulder, and the fluff quickly turned black before drifting and falling off.

"It's a success!" the "Potion Professor" who made the suggestion shouted excitedly.

“No!” Mikel interrupted his cheers.

“This will only lead to their extermination; the decree of our Lord is to take them.”

“That’s right,” Ramsey said, exchanging a glance with the chief apothecary, both reading the same thought in each other’s obsidian eyes:
The Emperor's orders are meaningless; the Black Emperor's oracle must be carried out.

The pharmacist who had just spoken, along with the other "potions professors," looked at the lord, gazing at the face that was exactly the same as the father of genes.

He also snapped out of his brief moment of success and began to think about how to carry out his father's orders.

The "Potion Professor" offered suggestion after suggestion: the paralyzing toxin for the catcher Katachon Miler, the anesthetic for Nukelia...

After repeated failures, the parasite was left with only its legs.

"Crimson Scholar" Mikel suddenly spoke up, "Since the Bone Drinkers are special and a single drug cannot achieve the goal, then we will use a compound drug."

"Catcher Mikel, Nukelia tranquilizer... 3.3 to 1.1..."

The "potions professors" suddenly realized what he meant and immediately prepared according to the proportions he had given them.

More than a dozen solutions, including dark green, beige, and gray, were injected into an experimental chamber.

The experimental chamber pump rotated, round and round.

When it finally came to a stop, it had mixed into a black solution.

The parasite's right lower leg was cut off and moved to another experimental chamber.

drop!drop!drop!
As the black solution dripped down, the trembling spores suddenly stopped, and strands of fluff hung down.

"It worked! Lord Mikel's advice was indeed effective."

"All thanks to my Lord!" Mikel said devoutly, silently in his heart.

Praise be to our Lord!
Ramsey frowned slightly and asked, "We have the capture potion, but do we need to use people to lure them?"

“Our lord would not want to see so many people sacrificed.”

“No need,” said Mikel, the “Crimson Scholar.” “Oviga of Attila will suffice; we’ll add a trapping agent to it.”

"Those who drink bones within 500 kilometers will swarm in like wild dogs that smell bones."

“That’s good.” Ramsey smiled. He had witnessed the apothecaries’ research process firsthand and was completely convinced that their abilities far surpassed those of the apothecaries of other legions and the bio-sages of the Cult of Mechanics.

(End of this chapter)