Warhammer: Empire Reboot

"The preliminary estimate for this round of subspace energy recovery is between 62 million and 67 million kilowatts. The exact figure will be determined after the cleanup is completed."

Lawson looked at the last batch of demons imprisoned on the real side, his tone tinged with regret.

"Khonored's reaction was faster than last time."

After the rift closed, the remaining demons lost their source.

The vampires are still charging.

The creatures of Khorne know neither fear nor retreat. But they are the last remaining stock in the closed slaughterhouse.

Ash leaned against a section of broken wall, twirling her long purple hair with her fingers.

"I chickened out, it's no fun."

Qianxian's purple eyes held amusement: "The Lord of the Skull has actually learned how to cut losses. How rare."

The crackdown is nearing its end.

The last Khorne was held down by its legs by three Flying Bear motorcycles with chains. The Bear Guard smashed its knee joints from the front. The moment it knelt down, the Xuanwu Battle Group's heavy firepower squad drove a Shattering Nail into its chest.

The explosion ripped open the entire breastplate.

The behemoth's upper body collapsed, and the White Tiger Legion's molten array burned through the still-roaring head.

All that remained on the battlefield was the crackling sound of molten embers.

The swarm report broke this gap.

"An unusual gravitational refraction was detected in the outer orbit, located on the dark side of Asasmoolo, 320,000 kilometers from the Battle Moon."

The target has no active identification code, extremely low heat source, and is using multi-layered optical and electromagnetic cloaking.

"The outer shell's reflective pattern is close to the standard of Imperial stealth cruisers, and its structural length is highly consistent with the Deathwatch's lost warship, the Sinister Signal."

Death watch, a ominous sign.

This is the real reason why Lawson initially came to the Viola system: two cornerstone assassin communications officers were instantly killed, the Black Watchers lost contact, and the possibility of internal betrayal was extremely high.

Crushing the Titans, reaping demons, and extorting technology are all done with ease.

This is the real issue.

Lawson's expression softened.

"Candle Dragon Battle Group, blockade the subspace channel on the side facing away from the sun, Black Tortoise Fleet deploys gravity net, Raptor high-altitude formation changes orbital interception posture."

……

The bridge lights on the USS Ominous were off.

The Alpha Legion doesn't need any ceremony.

Cyrus Weir stood in front of the captain's seat, watching the images projected back by the outer observation array.

Below Assamolo's atmosphere, the battlefield had already been shredded into pieces by the army of that human Handprinter.

The Demon Prince Ugalax is dead, and the Ark of Ominous Signs has been taken.

Commander Vision surrendered, and the warp gate in the temple was sealed by Khorne himself just minutes earlier.

Behind Cyrus, thirty-seven members of the Alpha Legion were positioned on the bridge, in the engine room, on the weapons deck, and in the communications core. Each of them wore the black armor of the Deathwatch, with old insignia of their respective chapters hanging on their shoulder armor.

The paintwork, prayers, battle damage, and personal habits all withstand close inspection.

They had been lurking in the Blackwatch for many years.

Some of them had carried out real alien hunting missions, fought alongside real Black Shields, submitted battle reports to the Deathwatch Inspector General, participated in the Purification Oath, and personally executed members of the Genestealer Cult.

Therefore, the cleanup of the ominous signal went smoothly.

The navigator and the communications officer died in the first round.

The second wave of deaths involved the ship's original Deathwatch warriors.

These veterans are vigilant enough that in a head-on confrontation, the thirty-seven Alpha members might not be able to take down the entire ship unscathed.

Therefore, Cyrus did not give them a chance to engage in direct combat.

During weapon maintenance, fire control delay parameters were changed; stimulant dosages were modified in the medical bay; a non-existent interface fault was left in the power armor maintenance log; and during prayers aboard the ship, three Alpha crew members simultaneously cut off gravity.

When the real Deathwatch realized something was wrong, they had already been scattered across seven modules.

Closed isolation gates, reverse pressure, poison gas, forged orders, and explosive guns behind them shredded them to pieces.

The last Blackwatch veteran died in front of the Relic Chamber.

Despite having one leg blown off, he still managed to slash open the breastplates of two Alpha members with his chainsaw sword.

Cyrus ended his life himself.

The safest approach for the Alpha Group is always to keep the other side from knowing that they have asked the right question.

Now, only thirty-seven people remain in the "kill signal" category.

A stealth warship with its identification code turned off, all external connections severed, hidden on the shady side of Assamolo.

This was supposed to be a clean mission.

Vashtor prepared a visible fleet of calamities for Abaddon, but also left himself many unwritten contingency plans. The group on the Sinister Signal was one such hidden force.

What the Ark of Ominous Signs cannot do, the Alpha Legion will.

The Demon Prince failed, and the Alpha Legion came to clean up the mess.

While the Abaddon men fought amongst themselves for credit, the Alpha Legion was responsible for taking away what was truly important.

Until Lawson appeared.

Cyrus stared at the outline of the battle moon in the projection.

The reason he tracked them down here has been pieced together from the fragments of communications from the Tau prisoners.

For two messengers?

All 37 Alpha members found it absurd.

The Alpha Legion would also hunt down half a star sector if a secret operation was exposed.

Kolosen is different; he controls a large number of fronts on the dark side of the Empire and is simultaneously entangled with Abaddon, Vashtor, the Undead, the Eldar, the Orcs, and the Chaos factions.

He has Agrippina, and an entire expanding dark order.

This person was pursued from the dark side of the Empire to the edge of the Vision Enclave, all because two ship-borne communication nodes went missing.

The adjutant, Heraks, lowered his voice: "This is not in line with strategic gains."

Another member said, "It's also possible that we misjudged the situation; he already knew that Assamolo had the key."

Cyrus shook his head.

"If he had known earlier, he wouldn't have forced Foresight to surrender first, and he wouldn't have let the Demon Gate stay open for so long. He came after the ominous signal, and the key just happened to be there."

Herax paused for a moment.

"That's even worse."

Yes, it's worse.

If Lawson came for the key, it means the mission was leaked, the cause can be traced, and the vulnerability can be plugged.

If Lawson only tracked them down here for two missing nodes, it means his reaction rules are different from any of the Imperial commanders they've encountered in the past.

Normal Imperial generals would record the battle damage, wait for the inquisition to investigate, or attribute the loss of contact to a subspace accident.

Lawson won't.

The line broke, so he followed the break to find it.

Regardless of the value of that line.

These kinds of people are the most troublesome.

In the projection, the crack in the temple has completely closed.

Khorne sealed the gate to the warp himself.

The remaining demons on the real side were quickly crushed by the Bear Guard Shield Wall, Flying Bear Motorcycle, and Raptor Fighter.

The demonic tide, once its source is cut off, is nothing more than a pile of inventory waiting to be liquidated.

Almost simultaneously, the Black Stone Resonance Box in the deep cargo hold of the ominous signal lit up.

Seven key fragments hung inside the box, trembling slightly.

A clearer sensory line emanated from the depths of the planet.

An important fragment is indeed hidden beneath the Temple of Assamuro.

It was more important than the seven peripheral components they had.

Herax looked at the resonance data.

"After the door was closed, the interference decreased by 73 percent, and we were able to pinpoint the location."

Iskan immediately said, "We can also evacuate."

Herax turned to him: "We killed the entire Blackwatch, exposed Kill Signal, spent so many years infiltrating this location, and now the key is down here. You're going to leave empty-handed?"

"Lossen has locked onto Assamolo."

"He's targeting the battlefield, not us."

“His search area keeps expanding, keep waiting, he will sweep to the shady side.”

"Then we should act now."

Cyrus did not immediately stop the argument.

The goals within the Alpha Legion are not necessarily entirely aligned.

Herax advocated retrieving the key because he believed that bringing back the core fragments could be exchanged for more resources, while Iskandar advocated evacuation because he was responsible for forging the trail of the deadly signal and knew best that the stealth system had been pushed to its limit by continuous high-intensity operation.

The person in charge of the weapons deck remained silent.

Some people sought his opinion.

"Cadmus".