Warhammer 40: Doom

Chapter 326 Target: Tomoe
The Imperial Guard's shuttle went straight to the inner palace. The group, returning from Mars, looked somewhat travel-worn.

After leaving the shuttle, the group parted ways to attend to their respective duties.

The Emperor and Waldo had been gone for three years, and with many things to attend to, their departure was naturally hasty.

Sintra also left with them, to fulfill its promise and create some web-based tools to provide the Emperor with some references.

Doom traveled to the Doom Legion's Terra base—over three years later, more than thirty new members had joined the Legion.

Fortunately, the Doom Slayer's base was located within and around the palace, so his appearance did not cause too much of a disturbance.

From a distance, Doom was already standing at the gate of the base, welcoming the arrival of the Father of Genesis.

The leader was Hippocrates, the Legion's apothecary, who was easily recognizable by the medical backpack on his back.

"Why are you here?" Doom was surprised. Why had the Legion's apothecary left the fleet and appeared at the Terra base?

"We've come to escort the genetic seed." Hippocrates bowed and explained why he had come: "And to deliver a message."

"Oh."

Doom then remembered that several years had passed, and another batch of gene seeds had matured. Once a certain quantity had been accumulated, they needed to be sent back to Terra and handed over to the Guardians.

The person in charge of this crucial task was none other than Hippocrates, the Legion's apothecary.

"What other news did you bring?" Doom beckoned his offspring to disperse the ranks, indicating they should talk as they walked. He frowned slightly and asked, "Is it news from Ran Dan?"

No matter what, he always cared about Ran Dan and kept track of news about the alien race.

“It’s not an alien.” Hippocrates raised his left hand, a piece of his golden armor popped open, and a holographic image was projected onto the screen: “The reconnaissance ship has discovered an artificial death world called ‘Baal’ in the Eastern End Starfield.”

Doom listened as he walked, nodding to signal him to continue.

"Barr has two satellites. On the second satellite, we discovered some humans."

“We have also discovered its existence.” Hippocrates stopped in his tracks, raised his arm, and projected a holographic image taken from an extremely long distance.

Doom looked down and saw a humanoid creature with pure white wings on its back and golden hair, resembling an angel from human legend.

In the still image, an angel holding a long sword leads humans in protective suits in an attack on the mutated group.

Hippocrates’ voice was calm and soothing: “We did not disturb it, after all, it looks very much like a Primarch.”

“This is the right thing to do.” Doom nodded, his offspring’s caution was not inappropriate.

"Don't rush to inform the Emperor." He pondered for a moment, then said as he walked, "Report this news a week later."

"I will obey your command." Hippocrates accepted the order, unaware of its deeper meaning, but without any questioning.

Doom naturally had his own ideas.

He did a quick calculation and found that it would take the ancient sage about a week to craft the tool, and he had to wait for it to finish.

After finishing its work, Sintra took it away from Terra and headed to the Eastern End Starfield. First, it went with the Emperor to Bavies II to investigate the angel-like creatures.

If they are Primarch brothers, they can reunite and communicate. If they are not Primarchs, it depends on the Emperor's attitude. Whether to erase them or let them coexist is entirely up to him.

Finally, the Doom plan rendezvous with the First Fleet and return together to the Nur Star System.

The fleet returned to rest and resupply, allowing Cintra and Prima to reunite and fulfill their promise.

After disbanding his heirs, Doom washed himself in the camp, then put on a long robe and left the camp alone.

He left the palace and entered the complex city of Nest.

The robes had a shielding force field, and because Doom walked in the shadows, many mortals did not notice the Primarch.

It was nighttime, and the city was dimly lit with few people on the streets.

Doom moved swiftly through the shadows as silently as an owl.

Finally, after wandering around the city for a long time, he found his target: a hidden Hydra mark, concealed under gangster graffiti, which was difficult for ordinary people to discern.

Following the guidance of the Hydra mark, he arrived at a door, took out the Hydra emblem, and gently knocked on the door.

"Thum! Thug! Thumb!"

A knock sounded, and the heavy iron door banged loudly. The legionary soldiers who were whispering in the room suddenly jolted, their eyes quickly exchanging glances. The person who came in was definitely not one of their legionary brothers.

Four Alpha warriors, in perfect unison, raised their explosive pistols and aimed them at the iron gate of the stronghold.

With everything prepared, a soldier in a long robe walked to the door, a dagger hidden in his sleeve, and opened the observation port of the iron gate.

Then his pupils contracted sharply, and he quickly flicked his hand behind him in a riddle to indicate that there was no threat. The Legion soldiers saw a Hydra insignia and immediately knew who the newcomer was. They did not kneel down in worship, but turned to their Legion brothers and said, "D2-M30-M31 intelligence file."

The legion members quickly took out the intelligence file and handed it to their brother, who respectfully passed it to the door.

A large hand took the file bag and, with a flash of light, disappeared into the darkness before the Space Marine could react.

After a long silence, the legionary warrior in the room trembled and asked in a low voice, suppressing his excitement, "Is it him?"

"It's him." The person at the door gently closed the iron gate, his leg muscles still trembling from the spasms. "The King of Warriors!"

Only by facing the Primarch can one realize the terror of the Emperor's offspring. The moment the observation port was opened, everyone in the room was locked in place.

If there is any unusual movement, let alone firing a shot, there will be no survivors in the room and no gunshots will be heard before the trigger is pulled.

The alleyway returned to its tranquility, as if nothing had happened.

With the parchment document bag in hand, Doum returned to the inner palace, his figure once again appearing before the Imperial Guards.

When the Imperial Guard saw him, they asked on the communications channel when the Primarch had returned, only to receive a three-word reply: "I don't know."

When he left, he swaggered around without deliberately avoiding the gaze of the Imperial Guards, but when he returned, he appeared directly in the inner court of the palace.

How long was the Primarch away? What could he/she do? How did he/she return?
The Imperial Guard knew nothing about it.

They were helpless. Primarchs could not be expected to be understood by common sense, and the defensive network woven by the Custodian Army was full of loopholes for Primarchs.

Doom returned to the Doom Slayer base, opened the parchment file, and poured the top-secret documents inside onto the table.

His fingers traced the parchment, his expression grave, as he read the intelligence about the Second Legion, compiled by Alpharis himself.

As he read on, Doom frowned.

Since the Ministry of the Interior sent an investigation team to various legions to investigate the leaks, a major investigation has begun within the Second Legion.

There were no abnormalities within the Legion, but the Inquiry Council had no way to deal with the Primarch.

For whatever reason, the censorship commission had no authority to investigate an imperial heir.

On the surface, things are at a stalemate, but behind the scenes, AlphaRes isn't making much progress either.

Solas remained unchanged, waging insignificant battles and reclaiming some peripheral worlds, completely unconcerned about external opinions.

They did not resist the investigation team, and even took the initiative to appease their offspring and fully cooperate with the Imperial Ministry of the Interior's investigation.

All indications suggest that he is indeed innocent.

However, Solas also sensed that there were spies within the Legion and strengthened the Legion's internal investigation in an attempt to find Alpharis.

The person in charge of the inspection operation was none other than Alpharis, disguised as a Primarch Guardian.

Doom glanced at the footnote; it was intelligence from a year ago. Flames erupted from his arm guard, burning the secret intelligence to ashes.

Solas is alright? He absolutely doesn't believe it.

That thin, slender, and gloomy man seemed approachable, but only he knew the anger he suppressed inside.

De~ De~ De~
Doom tapped the table lightly with his fingers, mentally calculating the time; nearly ten years had passed since the first Randan War.

Now they are hiding in the shadows, not revealing anything, observing the human empire from the shadows, collecting data and intelligence, preparing to launch a thunderous attack.

After ten years, the empire has recovered considerably and is still actively preparing for war.

And Ran Dan should be the same; within the next five years, no matter what, a major battle will inevitably break out between the two sides.

When the time comes, it will be a life-or-death struggle. Will Ran Dan be reduced to ashes, or will humanity be enslaved by him?

Doom stopped pointing, got up from the chair, and walked out of the quiet room, feeling that he needed to take the initiative.

How can we expose Solas's true colors and clarify his role in the leaks?
Time waits for no one. The next five years are a critical juncture. We must eliminate pre-war risks and prevent the human empire from suffering even greater losses.

We need to lure the snake out of its hole.

Doom sighed and walked toward his room at the camp, intending to rest for the night.

Within a week, after the Emperor had finished dealing with the backlog of matters, Hippocrates seized the opportunity and delivered information that appeared to be about the Primarch.

As expected, the Emperor asked Doom to go with him to the Eastern End Starfield to investigate the angel.

(End of this chapter)