Warhammer: Empire Reboot

Page 614

Serena was silent for a moment.

"They fired at the translation device."

The small hall fell silent.

The gray light from the tactical projection flowed slowly across the wall, making Serena's face appear somewhat pale.

She continued, "Many Eldar died. The survivors left a warning before retreating, saying that Vigilant Star would pay the price for this ignorance."

"In the years that followed, several noble transport convoys on Vigilant Star were targeted by precision attacks. Some believed it was the Dark Eldar, while others believed it was retaliation by the Ark Eldar."

"The Gear Council and the Aquilalia Council argued about it several times, but in the end, due to insufficient evidence, the file was classified as an alien harassment."

Lawson looked at her.

“You just said they appeared in Renkudi Nest.”

"Yes."

"More than ten years ago."

"Yes."

"And they had already been operating there before the stormtroopers opened fire?"

Serena nodded: "There were signs of a firefight. The files mention that when the stormtroopers arrived at the scene, there were already a large number of alien corpses deep inside the hive."

Lawson asked, "Gene thieves?"

Serena's face paled slightly: "Looking back now, it's very likely the Commoner Prince Cult."

"But the government of Vigilant Star back then didn't admit that the gene stealers had infiltrated to that extent. The report was changed to 'unknown nest variant'."

Lawson closed his eyes.

Many clues are rapidly rearranged in swarm intelligence.

The Ark Eldar infiltrated the Renkudi Nest more than a decade ago.

They are battling gene stealers.

They were subsequently mistaken for Dark Eldar by Imperial Stormtroopers and attacked.

The survivors vowed revenge.

More than a decade later, the Ark Eldar assassination squad arrived on Vigilant Planet, but their target was directly Lawson.

The stated reason is the Soul Stone and the ability to annihilate souls.

However, if we include the incident from over a decade ago, things would be different.

The Eldar had known for a long time that there was something in Renkudi Nest.

They risked being discovered by the Empire to infiltrate back then; it couldn't have been just to clean up petty thieves for humanity.

The Eldar of the Ark have never been this kind.

Unless something there threatens them.

Or perhaps there's something hidden there that they want to take away, seal off, or destroy.

Lawson tapped his fingers lightly on the table.

The swarm intelligence immediately retrieved all known data from Ren Kuchaodu's underground.

The Venerable Father, the Dragon Lord, resides in the lair.

Mother's Bone Sanctuary.

Creation Pool.

The spread of commoner princes' offspring.

The Stormtroopers' area of operation more than a decade ago.

Old Nest Map.

Traces of battle between the Eldar.

The documents were quickly piled up.

As Lawson stared at the point of overlap, his gaze grew colder and colder.

The area of operation of the Ark Eldar did not completely overlap with the final hiding place of the Venerable Father, the Worm Dragon.

They don't seem to be besieging the main base.

It's more like they're searching for another deeper passage.

A passageway deeper than the nest of gene thieves, older than the old sewage system.

Serena noticed the change in Lawson's mood and asked softly, "My lord, is this matter very important?"

Lawson did not answer her question.

He asked, "Are the stormtroopers who participated in that operation still alive?"

Serena shook her head: "Some perished in subsequent battles."

"Some were transferred."

"A small number also went missing in the early stages of the Vigilant Star campaign."

"The records are disorganized, and I cannot confirm them."

"Where is the person responsible for sealing the report?"

"Former Deputy Chief of Legal Affairs and Archives."

Serena paused for a moment.

"He was found to have genetic contamination during the screening of commoner princes and was executed by the Bi'an Warband."

Lawson sneered, "What a coincidence."

The suppression of the report back then was probably not due to ordinary bureaucratic shirking of responsibility.

If the commoner prince had already infiltrated the legal records system, that incident might have been deliberately distorted.

What the Eldar are looking for, the Genestealers may also know.

The Imperial Stormtroopers' accidental killing of Eldar only muddied the waters.

Lawson stood up.

"You step back first."

Serena immediately lowered her head.

"Yes."

She walked to the door and paused for a moment.

"grown ups."

Lawson looked at her.

Serena said softly, "The Eldar do hold grudges."

"Their sense of time is different from ours."

"For them, more than a decade or so may feel like just yesterday."

After the door closed, Lawson's face darkened completely.

"A swarm of bees."

"Retrieve all the files from the incident seventeen years ago involving the alien in the Dead Nest."

“Pull out all the public archives, military records, stormtrooper ammunition consumption records, medical records, lists of cremated corpses, terrain scans, communication fragments, and correspondence between local nobles.”

[In progress.]

A few seconds later, a large amount of footage was projected.

Most records are incomplete.

Some documents have been manually deleted or modified.

Some images are missing frames.

Several Stormtrooper Operation reports have mismatched timestamps.

The cornerstone sequence quickly revealed suspicious points.

The files were edited twice.

[Editing permission source: Former Legal Archives Department.]

[Related Personnel: Deceased; Genetic Contamination Confirmed.]

The original oracle recordings from the scene have been replaced.

[Ammunition consumption does not match the reported number of targets killed.]