Daniel glanced at the data screen, momentarily stunned.
"Pretty cool, right, Master? Arale's got your back." Arale's voice rang in Daniel's mind. "Someone was trying to do you dirty, and Arale intercepted the news in a flash."
Daniel gave a silent nod. "Arale is the bee's knees."
He looked up at the guards behind Shalatath. Arale quickly helped him pinpoint the undercover agents. There were nine of them in total—a chilling match for the sacred number of the Lord of Change.
Daniel calmly tensed his muscles and nerves, ready to throw down. He immediately forwarded the intercepted message to everyone else in the meeting.
Before anyone could even bat an eye, he moved like lightning, going straight for the agents. Lothar was the first to react; he took one look at the message and instantly took Daniel at his word, joining the attack.
The nine undercover agents, disguised as ordinary guards, were elite operatives. They instantly knew the jig was up and reacted fast. Unfortunately, they were facing a Primarch-level Living Saint and a Chapter Captain who lived and breathed combat training.
In the blink of an eye, they were smashed onto the metal floor like rag dolls. The sickening sound of locked joints and desperate wails filled the room.
The rest of the security detail, scared stiff, quickly raised their guns and pointed them at Daniel and Lothar.
"Stand down! Drop your weapons!" Shalatath barked, halting her guards. Her face was grim. She approached the fallen agents. "Did the Machine Spirit tell you to do this?"
The agents remained stubbornly silent—a testament to their professional training.
"We're not going to get a straight answer out of them," Daniel said. "We need to focus on the next move." He played the conversation Arale had intercepted.
Shalatath's eyes went wide. "I don't believe this! They've gone off the deep end! This is full-blown treason!"
"Not if we're dead," Fax pointed out sharply. "They'll spin the whole thing and say the Valancius family murdered you to escape justice. Then they'll have their excuse for the Exterminatus."
"Damn, these guys are playing the long game and they are vicious as snakes," Shalatath muttered. She immediately turned on her communicator and tried to hail the Brass Sword, but the call was blocked. The enemy clearly wasn't going to let her call for help.
"I've got to get back to the ship, now!" Shalatath frowned.
Daniel shook his head. "If they're pulling a stunt like this, they're not operating alone. If you fly back blind, they'll blow your Valkyrie out of the sky and pin it on us, giving them the perfect excuse to launch Exterminatus. We can't let that happen."
Lothar nodded in agreement.
"I'll take a team to board the ship," Daniel announced, stretching out his hand to edit a mission on the data screen. "Once we take control of the comms shield, you can regain command. Your Chapter is too small; every life counts. We need to send in the Saints to minimize your casualties."
As he spoke, the new mission flashed across the players' data boards.
Limited Time Mission: Crushing the Conspiracy
Title: Limited Time Mission: Crushing the Conspiracy
Introduction: Followers of the Lord of Change (Tzeentch) are lurking in the Punishment Fleet, intending to assassinate Commodore Shalatath and frame the loyalists of Atomal, thereby sparking a civil war among the Emperor's forces.
Punishment Fleet Commander Shalatath: This act is an outrage. To leave it unpunished would be an insult to the God-Emperor's will.
Details: I require combat-proficient Saints to board and seize control of the enemy vessel. Find Captain Lothar of the Astral Knights to sign up.
Rewards: 15,000 Contribution Points, 80 Honor Points.
Bonus Reward: The Saint with the highest score on this mission gets a holy relic!
"The Saint with the highest score on this mission gets a holy relic as a bonus reward," Lothar added, upping the ante.
Daniel shot Lothar a surprised look. This guy was a natural at handling players! He was using a relic as bait to reel those guys in like fish! Daniel quickly updated the reward section with the relic's details and Lothar's current location.
"What in the Warp are you doing?" Shalatath asked, completely baffled.
"You'll see in a minute," Lothar replied with a smirk.
Moments later, the sound of heavy boots echoed as the players came running like a pack of wolves.
"This job is mine! Don't try to poach it, or you'll regret it!"
"Go ask around the Sector! Is there anyone whose treasure we don't dare to snag?"
"A Holy Relic! This limited-time mission is a must-have!"
"Watch this—I'm creating a portal right here to teleport directly to Captain Lothar!"
Shalatath unconsciously took a step back. She had just been told that these were Saints created in the Emperor's Holy Land, only recently exposed to the real universe, which explained their strange, out-of-left-field behavior.
Why do they sound so much like—dear God—demons? The thought instantly passed, and the next second, she instantly regretted the thought. How could I call the God-Emperor's Saints demons? That's blasphemy!
The players swarmed Lothar:
"I'll take the mission!"
"Me too! Sign me up!"
"Hand it over! As a Raven Guard successor, I'm the perfect fit!"
"For the honor of Dorn, please, Captain Lothar, give me the mission!"
Shalatath was gobsmacked by the Saints' enthusiasm. She was especially taken aback to hear they bought their equipment with personal loans. They were working so hard, so fanatically, that they were running up debt just to equip themselves! That kind of dedication makes a Death Korps Guardsman look like a slacker!
The chosen players scurried off to the boarding deck. The rejected ones were visibly down in the dumps.
"Why only Astartes? Wouldn't a Knight player be way more powerful on a boarding action?"
"You're going to squeeze a Zaku into a ship corridor? You wouldn't fit in a straight hallway!"
"Seriously, when is the Dev Team going to roll out Iron Man suits or nano-gear? Knight players need a melee option too!"
"Hold up, Battle Sister Llama got in! Why don't you just go whole hog and be a Knight-Nun? Just grab a sword!"
"Whoa, that's just gross, man."
"This is cold. If the Sisters of Battle get a pass, why can't I, a Mechanicus? We have Skitarii units!"
Lothar selected fifty combat-ready players and divided them into five teams. Under the guidance of the Astral Knights, they were dispatched to seize control of the Punishment Fleet vessels.
With Arale's real-time assistance, they bypassed the ship's auspex sweeps, used melt-cutters to breach the hull, and entered the interior.
On the bridge of the Brass Sword, Redel leaned in. "Any word from the operative?"
"Not yet. It's taking too long." Anjido felt a knot of dread in his stomach. "Those agents are the best of the best. They don't fail missions. We should have heard something already. What's the hold-up?"
"Why don't we just cut to the chase and announce Shalatath is dead?" Redel suggested.
Anjido hesitated, then nodded. "Then I'll immediately send men to eliminate any potential loyalists who might stand in our way. As soon as you take command, launch the attack on Atomal and issue the Exterminatus order."
Anjido immediately called off the communication.
Hostile target data is being transmitted to the cogitator inside the armor, mission information updated
Mission 1: Eliminate the rebels, capture the rebel leader, and minimize the casualties of the loyalists.
Mission 2: Go to the communications center, remove the signal shield, and allow Commodore Shalatath to establish contact with the fleet.
Mission 3: Disrupt the sacrificial ritual and prevent the followers of the Myriad Changes Cult from summoning the Warp Demons.
Arale had been keeping a close watch on Anjido's rebels. When the players and the Astral Knights successfully boarded, she immediately shared this intel.
Sam, the Night Lords successor, took the lead, acting as the vanguard. He moved among the shadows like a bat out of hell. The mortal crewmen were knocked unconscious before they even knew what hit them. He expertly managed his strength, only rendering them unconscious, not killing them.
"Moving like a ghost and Invisible Stalker—these two skills are money when combined with the Night Lords gene-seed." Sam's voice was low over the comms.
"Well done, son," Lothar praised.
Sam's voice was full of delight. "It's all thanks to your training, Captain Lothar."
"This is all your hard work paying off. Keep it up, and that relic is as good as yours."
When Sam heard this, he became even more excited and full of energy. "No worries, Captain. I'll get the job done."
The value of holy relics was through the roof compared to mass-produced gear. If the machine spirit was happy, it might even grant a special bonus—a bolter that increased critical hits and stole ammunition from the Warp, or Power Armor that reduced the enemy's hit chance and boosted the wearer's will.
"Man, this guy's trying to steal the spotlight," Warmaster grumbled.
"Can't be helped," WrongHammer replied. "That's their wheelhouse."
"Warmaster, you've actually got an ace up your sleeve," OneHand reminded him.
"Oh yeah? What is it?" Warmaster asked.
"You're a natural born civil engineer. When we build fortress walls, you're the undisputed top dog for the masonry work."
Warmaster rolled his eyes so hard it was a miracle they stayed in his head. The helmet, unfortunately, hid the reaction.
"Wait, wasn't Perturabo the one who was supposed to be the master mason?"
OneHand laughed. "BaldCustodian, know what Perturabo really hated about Dorn?"
"That Dorn was the Emperor's favorite?"
"Nope. He hated that Dorn was better at building than he was."
WrongHammer mused, "So the Battle of Terra was basically a Civil Engineering department turf war."
BaldCustodian looked thoughtful. "Well, that explains why the Imperial Fists and Iron Warriors have been in this love-hate relationship for millennia. It's all just bad blood between two construction crews."