Warhammer: Empire Reboot

Abbott said calmly, "I want the key back where it belongs."

“Wrong.” Vashtor’s voice was as cold as a machine blade. “You want me to kill Lawson for you.”

Huron chuckled, his metal jaw rubbing gently against the metal.

"If it's convenient, why not?"

Vashtor turned to him.

"You lost the Great Whirlpool, so you want to use me to regain your dignity."

Then they turned to Abaddon.

“You lost your father’s belongings, so you want to use my war machine to wash away your shame.”

Finally, it looked at Agrippina.

“And Lawson was already there waiting for me.”

Vashtor raised a hand made of gears and black fire, and the star map changed accordingly.

Agrippina unfolds in layers around her.

One by one, red warning signs emerged like wounds.

“Agrippina was right for me.”

“Now,” Vashtor said, “it has been transformed by Lawson into a slaughterhouse to counter me.”

Huron squinted his one eye.

Abaddon looked at Vashtor: "The longer the fragment remains in his hands, the more variables there will be."

"Variables are not all bad."

Vashtor waved his hand, and dozens of red dots on the star map lit up one after another.

"The Empire cannot stop all the Arks. The Eldar cannot hide from all the Coordinates. The Necropolis, the State Relic Chamber, the Wasteland Dead Moon, and the Alien Ruins are all still emitting signals."

Vashtor continued, “Take the easy fragments first. Let the Ark continue to spread. Let the Empire divide its forces, keep Guilliman busy putting out fires, and let Lawson guard his armory and guess what we’ll do next.”

Huron said, "You put Lawson last?"

"The last door needs the last lock."

"The fragments in Lawson's hands will return to me. The only difference is whether we take them now at ten times the price, or wait for him to keep them for us until the end."

"I am not Khone."

Vashtor gave the two men a final, somber look. “Don’t use anger as bait.”

These words caused many Chaos Lords in the tactics room to lower their gazes.

…………

Vashtor's plan was correct.

In this chaotic invasion that spanned the galaxy, the Empire of Man's success rate in intercepting the Ominous Ark was not high.

Agrippina was an exception.

In most cases, a loyalist who can slow down an ark is enough to be etched into a stone tablet.

They had to first tear through the escort fleet, then, under the Ark's own firepower, send the boarding troops into the moving labyrinth stitched together from wrecked ships, alien ruins, and magic steel nerve plexuses.

Successfully boarding the ship is just the beginning.

The Ark's interior was crammed with Chaos Space Marines, traitorous mortals, Dark Mechanicus guards, daemon engines, and old compartments that even the Chaos warlords themselves couldn't decipher.

Some of the commandos died just outside the first gate.

Some have advanced for several kilometers, yet they still cannot find the true engine core.

Some loyalists sacrificed their lives to destroy key structures, but never had the chance to confirm their victory.

The empire will still send people.

Because a one-hour delay could allow for the evacuation of one more nest city.

Destroying a secondary engine could potentially save an agricultural world from extinction.

Such sacrifices were often recorded as victories in imperial records.

The Onnalpa Galaxy is one of them.

On one side of the Imperial Holy Face, the Onnalpa Galaxy.

Upon the arrival of one of the Ominous Arks, it immediately released several Chaos Raider fleets, which then attacked the Imperial worlds within the star system.

The Chaos Commander dispersed the fleet to plunder, forcing the Imperial defenses to keep on the run.

A unit of the Ultramarines seized the window.

They judged that if they continued to fight at the conventional defensive pace, the Onnalpa Galaxy would be gradually cut apart, crushed, and digested.

So they abandoned their efforts to reinforce the surface and headed straight for the Ominous Ark itself.

The Imperial Navy paid the price of two strike cruisers and four frigates to get the boarding boats onto the hull of the Ark.

Less than a third of the planned number of Ultra Warriors arrived.

They fought on the Ark for four hours.

In the final segment, the Ultramarines company commander led his remaining six brothers into the engine room.

As the Chaos Veterans pressed in from both sides, they manually detonated the plasma cores they carried.

The explosion destroyed several engine rooms inside the Ark.

The Ark was forced to shut down.

The Onnalpa Galaxy thus had more time to evacuate.

This was enough for the locals to erect a monument for them on the ruins.

Another war zone was equally devastating.

Imperial Holy Face, edge of the Helios sub-sector.

The ominous ark, temporarily named "The Riftbone Pilgrim" by the Empire, lies across the mining star belt.

Its hull was blasted open by the Imperial fleet, leaving several gaps; the outer propulsion structure broke, and the port side fire control towers went out.

The Chaos escort fleet was just repelled, at the cost of the Imperial defenders having almost wiped out all their available ships.

On a broken deck of the Ark, Manus Augustus Calga stood before the makeshift command post.

The blue power armor was covered in scorch marks, and the honor emblem on the chest was corroded by acid with several gaps, while the inverted Omega on the shoulder armor was still clearly visible.

Beside him was Varo Tigurius, the chief strategist of the Ultramarines.

Tigurius had just completed his psionic detection of the ark's inner layer, and the light on his staff had not yet completely gone out.

The ark was forced to stop.

A thorough cleanup will take time.

Calgar is currently short of time, Helios is still pleading for help, and the defenses of the three industrial satellites are on the verge of collapse.

A detachment of the Black Legion is moving toward the shipping lane node.

If the main force of the Ultramarines remains inside the Ark to slowly eliminate the remaining enemies, the outer defenses will lose their strategic foothold.

If they are evacuated immediately, the remaining threats inside the Ark may reawaken within days.

Calga abhorred leaving unfinished dangers behind.

But the battle group leader can't just focus on the deck he's standing on.

Tigurius began, “Three high-risk areas.”

"There is a vertical structure below the bridge that is obscured by a spell, possibly connected to the main nervous plexus. There are a large number of life reactions in the ninth cargo hold, but their numbers are being obscured by interference. There is also a psionic echo in the inner port side, which doesn't resemble a demon, but rather a spontaneous aberration resulting from long-term closure."

"How long would it take us to clean it up?"

"It's confirmed that restarting is not possible in the short term, at least three days. Eliminating the main threats may take three weeks. As for completely taking control of the entire Ark, I cannot give a timeframe."

Calga said in a deep voice, "We don't have three weeks."

Tigurius said, "We can ask the Dark Side Master to take over."

“We’ve seen his delivery capabilities and his efficiency in handling complex battlefields. If he’s willing to send cleanup forces, this Ark won’t continue to hold back the main Ultramarines force.”

Calga remained silent.

During the Battle of Vigilant Star, Calgar witnessed that efficiency firsthand and admitted that without Lawson, Vigilant Star would have paid an even more devastating price.

But Lawson's approach was too sharp.

Tigurius noticed his hesitation.

"Commander, this is not about handing over responsibility. It's about letting the right people handle the right battlefield."

The chief think tank stated, "Helios needs you. This ark needs cleaners."

In the distance, the pharmacist was kneeling beside a power armor torn apart by a bomb, retrieving the gene seed of his fallen comrade.

These soldiers have already sacrificed enough.

Continuing to throw them into the Ark labyrinth might complete the cleanup. But the main planet Helios would pay a heavy price in lives.

Calga finally nodded: "Have the combat sequence brothers accompanying the team contact Lawson."

One of the assassins stepped forward and saluted.

A few seconds later, he looked up.

"The seal has been received by the Lord in charge."

"Agreed to take over."

"The chaotic resources, recyclable hull structures, anomalous technology samples, and usable materials recovered from within the Ark belong to the Marker. The remains of fallen Ultramarines, gene seeds, chapter relics, and combat logs are all returned untouched. If any relics belonging to Ultramarines or other loyal chapters are discovered, please notify us first."

Calga said, "I accept."

The next moment, a silver-white force field unfolded in the center of the shattered deck.

The first batch of White Tiger combat units stepped out of the light curtain.