Chapter 96 Calvin the Scapegoat
"Praise to the Almighty Ohm Messiah! Ah...praise to the Holy Emperor!"
Sensing Calvin's intention to relent, Father Constantine was in a good mood and couldn't help but start praising the almighty God of all opportunities.
However, just halfway through the compliment he blurted out, Constantine realized that the object of his praise might be a bit inappropriate in the eyes of the other party.
So there was a temporary half-sentence added later...
After saying the prayer, he did not forget to look at the reactions of the Gray Knights. Unfortunately, their expressions did not change much from beginning to end.
Calvin is also very tired:
"We do the work, so what's the use of thanking you, the God of All Machines? Can your God of All Machines help you complete this task? How many divisions does the God of All Machines have? Wait, it seems like he really does. Forget it, just pretend I didn’t say it…”
After the inner drama ended, Calvin's face remained calm, maintaining the majesty of the Gray Knight, looking at the somewhat uneasy Mechanic Priest in front of him and said:
"Tell me about the specific mission situation, as detailed as possible. I don't want you to hide anything. This will cause a devastating blow to the already fragile trust foundation between us. Do you understand what I mean?"
"Your will, my lord." Constantine responded sternly, indicating that he understood the threat hidden behind Calvin's words.
He understood that what he said next would be carefully verified by the other party in the subsequent battles. If there was any difference from what Calvin saw later, the other party would probably walk away and permanently put them on the blacklist of the Holy Hammer Order. superior.
This kind of influence is actually not much of a threat to him and the factions behind him.
But considering the retaliation they would face from the entire Holy Hammer Order afterwards, that was something they were not willing to bear.
After all, there is only one casting director on Mars.
But under him alone, there are more than a dozen deputy foundry supervisors who are keen on this position.
Among so many candidates, the big boss of his own faction is just an inconspicuous one.
If he could easily become enemies with a force like the Holy Hammer Order, which had influence throughout the entire empire, then the other party might not be able to do it if he wanted to help him because of the huge cost, but if he wanted to harm him on the other hand, it would be easy to do it.
It is better not to offend this kind of privileged unit with strong capabilities and special location.
Constantine led Calvin and others to an office on the bridge, which was the private space of Inquisitor Mavey.
In this room, Mawei and Constantine told Calvin and others all the information they knew.
"STC?"
Calvin looked at Constantine in front of him and asked again with confirmation.
"Yes, a precious heritage of humanity in the Golden Age. A fragment of a standard construction template once appeared here. We found some clues in history, and these clues led us here."
"so?"
"A group of interstellar pirates have taken over this planet and the asteroid field near it. And there is evidence that there are traces of the activities of some Chaos warbands here."
"Chaos warband?" At this point, Calvin no longer felt sleepy.
These traitors to the empire are also within the scope of the Gray Knights' business, and the tasks related to this can also give this operation more legitimacy in Calvin's heart.
"Yes, a group of betrayers serving the Lord of War were spotted by a passing charter captain during a certain pirate raid."
Constantine spoke slowly and slowly as he told the details as he knew them. He continued to Calvin and his comrades:
"The charter captain heard some loud war cries as background sounds in the public frequency distress call sent by the plundered merchant ship, and after analysis and comparison, these blasphemous sounds were confirmed to belong to the names registered in the court. For the Chaos warband of the Skulltaker."
"Skull Snatcher? Let's compare." Calvin turned his head and said to Golden beside him.
"Received." Golden opened the data terminal in his hand and began to use his authority to log in to the Holy Hammer Order's internal database to search for intelligence information about this war gang.
"Found it. The Skull Reavers, suspected to be the name of the former Vraks Berserker Chapter after the rebellion. Contact was lost after 153.M34, suspected of rebellion. Later, the Skull Reavers war gang appeared in their original area of activity." Gore Den said to the information displayed in the database.
"A reorganized war gang that rebelled and transformed..."
Calvin digested the news he had received, and he frowned at Constantine.
The balance of power between the enemy and ourselves is obviously disproportionate:
There is a very large gap between the upper and lower limits of the number of people in a Chaos warband.
A small warband is equivalent to a company of Space Marines or even less; but many may be as large as a large company in the Legion era or even more.
He didn't know what happened to this Astartes warband called the Caradon Berserkers to rebel, nor did he know how much of the opponent's power was preserved in this disgraceful rebellion.
But no matter what, even a company of Chaos Space Marines would bring losses to Calvin's team that he was unwilling to bear.
Calvin does not lack the courage to face chaos, but he is not an intellectual disability who can be used as a weapon.
He suppressed his doubts and sense of absurdity, and patiently confirmed to Constantine:
"If I understand correctly, you expect the strength of our team to defeat a complete Chaos war gang for you? Huh?"
"Of course not!" Constantine quickly explained, of course he knew the absurdity of such a request.
If he desperately made and insisted on such an outrageous request, then I am afraid that the Gray Knight in front of him would not consider solving the problem of the war gang in the desert world.
The other party is more likely to simply weigh the pros and cons and then directly resolve the person who raised the issue.
He continued what he just said:
“All we want is a piece of information, a clue as to whether this STC exists on this planet.
We just need to lurk in and confirm whether the clue exists in the ruins we suspect. No matter what the result is, you can withdraw directly after the search is completed.
And if this piece of information really exists, then Mars can do the rest. "
After saying this, he looked at Calvin, waiting for the other party's decision.
"I remember that Mars has its own expedition fleet. Why didn't you wait for them?"
Constantine seemed to have anticipated Calvin's question. He explained to Calvin:
"It's too late. It will take at least 3 years from the time Mars receives this news to the time the Foundry Director mobilizes forces from the fleet currently undergoing an exploration expedition in the nearby star sector to go here."
He pointed the scepter in his hand in the direction of the distant world of Grea and continued:
“But they live in the forge world of Grea above the Crown of Miracles, and their roving exploration fleet centered on their own star sector. According to the latest intelligence, they are only less than a year away from here.
And until there is no detailed and reliable information to prove the value of this planet, Mars will not send me an army that can shock the small people. "
"Understood." Calvin understood everything now.
It turns out that these oil guys also have their own interest groups.
And STC, a strategic resource that can directly drive the systematic progress of science and technology, is naturally a good thing that can make these forging worlds fight for their brains.
Although I don’t know how the news about this STC in the Storm Star Field was known to Mars.
But just by looking at Constantine's cautiousness in front of him, we can tell that once the owner catches him digging for treasures at other people's homes, the consequences will probably not be much better.
A clean and tidy secret execution probably shows that the other party has a conscience. It would be really miserable to lock him up and interrogate him for hundreds of years to squeeze out the last drop of profit and water, and then turn him into a servitor and send him back to Mars for demonstration...
Judging from the various aspects of competition between these forging worlds that have begun since the Great Crusade, if there were an envoy from Mars who came to the Storm Star Territory openly, I am afraid that they would be politely but firmly controlled at the first opportunity.
As for STC archeology, don’t even think about it.
After thinking about this, Calvin looked back at the mechanical priest and the alien judge in front of him.
There was one final question in his mind:
Could it be that the mechanical priest in front of me smuggled all the way here on the black ship of the Tribunal?
What is the role of the Alien Tribunal in this?
He turned his attention back to the fat man Ma Wei next to him, and the other party seemed to understand what Calvin meant.
He quickly clarified himself:
"Don't get me wrong, I just take a part-time job occasionally. It will never violate any imperial interests!"
At this point, he rubbed his hands in embarrassment:
"You see, it's not easy for me. After all, I have a big family to support on the ship. The business is not shabby..."
That's it, a mechanical priest who risked his life for the STC and dug graves in front of other people's homes to die, plus an alien inquisitor who dared to take on any part-time job in order to support his family.
When these two weirdos stood together in front of Calvin, a previous doubt was finally answered:
"So, the signal we received before was not a incomplete error message after being attenuated by the subspace, but you didn't summon the local Death Watch and Astartes battle group at all, right?"
"This..." The two looked at each other and chose to tell the truth.
"Yes, my lord, the relationship between the local Death Watch and Astartes warbands and the forge world here is deeply intertwined. We really cannot bear this risk..."
"So you just send public frequency information to the channel of the subspace channel? Local people don't dare to look for it, so you just look for passing holes?" Calvin asked.
"Yes." Having said this, the two simply stopped denying it.
"Is there any other hidden information?" Calvin gritted his teeth and said this while looking at these two scammers.
"No more..." By now, the two of them had revealed all their plans. It was completely ruined without any consideration.
"Hiss..." Calvin bared his teeth and looked at the two people in front of him. He really wanted to turn around and walk away.
But after thinking about the Chaos warbands on that planet and the STC that might fall to the Chaos side, he finally gritted his teeth and took on the task.
Calvin, who had already paid attention, looked at General Hengha in front of him and thought to himself:
Now that the blame has been taken, there is no need to be polite with these two scammers.
"Find me a war room with a full set of battlefield holographic equipment! Send the specific coordinates and information as soon as possible! Also, give the soldiers under my command the best supplies! And! After this battle, Mars must pay the price!"
"Yes, sir!"*2
Please vote. . . Have a meal. . .
PY wave:
Have you ever thought that there is a real world hidden deep in Bo Yun's strange dreams?
Have you ever thought that behind every major disaster reported in the news, there is an unknown truth?
…
On the night of his eighteenth birthday, Leo had a dream.
There were dark dungeons and bloodthirsty monsters in the dream.
He picked up the iron sword beside him and cut off the monster's head.
Then he woke up.
Standing in front of the bathroom mirror, the corners of his mouth raised slightly.
Because in the mirror, his eyes were scarlet and bright like the monster in the dream.