RNGesus inserted the access card into the slot. The indicator light on the door chimed, glowing faintly green. The heavy metal door hummed deeply, accompanied by the hoarse sound of mechanical transmission, and slowly and heavily slid inward.
The scene behind the door instantly froze RNGesus's relaxed expression, his face changing abruptly.
"So it really is a space marines battle barge," RNGesus murmured, a hint of solemnity in his tone.
He said this because behind the door was an extremely long corridor, its end out of sight. Within RNGesus's field of vision, at least a dozen space marines in heavy power armor lay dead in this corridor.
Their postures varied: some lay on the ground, some knelt, and some were even pinned to the wall, each maintaining the stance of fighting to their last breath.
RNGesus cautiously walked up to the space marine nearest to him. This warrior lay on the ground, one hand still gripping his bolter, the other resting on his chest, as if trying to cover a fatal wound. RNGesus wanted to identify which Battle Group this space marine belonged to, but found it impossible.
The power armor's livery was predominantly deep black, with minimal decoration, appearing exceptionally solemn. The insignia on the shoulder pad was even more unique: it consisted of three elements—a crossed plow, a hammer, and an upright sword. The sword stood straight in the center, while the hammer and plow intertwined in a perfect "X" shape around the sword.
RNGesus had never seen such an insignia and livery in any known Wahammer setting; it was clearly an unknown space marines battle group.
RNGesus reached out, wanting to touch the fallen warrior, to personally feel the legendary power armor. However, just as his fingertips were about to touch the armor, the corner of his eye seemed to catch a glimpse of the helmeted head moving ever so slightly.
Though it was just a tiny movement, this sudden anomaly startled RNGesus, making him instinctively retreat several steps.
When he recovered, his heart pounding like a drum, he looked intently again, only to find the other party's helmet motionless, still in the posture of death. It was just his imagination, perhaps a trick of the light, or a hallucination brought on by tense nerves.
"Even indeath they retain their awe..." This thought flashed through RNGesus's mind. He then gave up the idea of touching it, choosing instead to observe closely. This time, he observed the wounds on the space marine's body.
"What kind of wounds are these? This is too bizarre, I can't imagine what weapon could have caused them..." RNGesus muttered to himself, his observation evidently a failure.
Since he couldn't understand, RNGesus gave up further observation and instead began to try and pass through the tunnel.
At first, he walked, cautiously avoiding the debris and corpses on the ground. But after walking for ten minutes, the darkness ahead remained bottomless, and he realized the length of this corridor far exceeded his imagination.
So, he began to jog, his footsteps echoing in the empty passage, sounding particularly clear. Finally, after another twenty minutes of running, he reached the end.
What greeted him was another door.
But this door was completely different from the one he had opened earlier. It was extremely tall, roughly ten meters high and five meters wide, with intricate bas-reliefs carved on its surface.
"In one corridor, I saw forty-seven dead space marines," RNGesus didn't rush to open the door, but instead began to recall the information he had gathered earlier.
"Not a single one alive. It seems this is indeed a Battle Group's battle barge, and most likely, the entire group has been wiped out..."
Space marines, the Emperor's loyal sons, each a superhuman existence, and a Battle Group typically consists of hundreds, even a thousand, space marines. For a battle barge full of space marines to crash here, causing such heavy casualties, was simply unheard of.
"What kind of enemy could wipe out an entire Battle Group of space marines..." Thinking of this, RNGesus's expression changed slightly. "Could it be warp daemons? It seems that's the only explanation."
Despite this, RNGesus wasn't too worried. Anyway... with the favor of fate, he couldn't die now. He reached out and tried to push the massive door.
"Screeech—Gaaah—!"
Amidst a harsh, sharp sound of metal grinding, RNGesus put all his strength into it, leaning his entire body weight against the door. With his push, the heavy door, slowly and painfully, finally opened just enough to allow him to squeeze through. He turned sideways and slipped inside.
The space behind the door opened up, revealing the bridge. However, this place, once the glorious command center for conquering the stars, was now a scene of utter devastation. The massive holographic display screen was shattered into countless crystalline fragments, scattered on the floor like broken stars.
The control console was torn beyond recognition, cables exposed, and sparks occasionally flickered on the charred circuit boards. The ceiling had a gaping, grotesque hole from a massive impact, through which twisted rebar and the desolate desert sky outside the ship could be seen. The air was thick with the pungent smell of burning and blood, mixed with an unknown stench of decay.
And in the center of this room, RNGesus saw a fallen space marine. His power armor was more decorative and darker in color than the other space marines RNGesus had seen along the way, with golden patterns inlaid along the edges, and the Battle Group insignia on his shoulder pad was more elaborate, clearly indicating a high-ranking commander.
He clutched a data-slate in his left hand, protecting it tightly even while lying on the ground. RNGesus, of course, wouldn't ignore such obvious information. He walked forward, muttering, "This must be the plot trigger point."
As he mumbled, he cautiously pulled the data-slate from the space marine's hand: "Bro, I'm very sorry, I didn't mean to offend you."
Fortunately, everything went smoothly this time, with no sudden reanimation or hidden traps.
RNGesus opened the data-slate. The previously dim screen suddenly lit up, and lines of text appeared before his eyes:
"Three months ago, when my guys and I sailed into the warp, we never would have imagined it would be our last journey."
"My Name is Hobbes Rotzpe, Chapter Master of the Martyr's Battle Group, a successor Chapter of the Ultramarines. I leave this as the last trace of the Martyr's in this universe."
"The warp is an extremely dangerous place, but as long as one maintains constant vigilance, acts cautiously, and observes meticulously, then traversing the warp is not impossible—or so we once believed."
"But in reality, this is false."
"The warp is not a controllable place, not a frontier that humanity has tamed. It is like a joke left by an unknowable entity for all sentient beings at the birth of this universe—vicious and deadly."
"Are you really a successor Chapter of the Ultramarines...? Instead of rigorously proving things with large amounts of data and tables, you're extensively expressing your emotions and subjective thoughts?"
"Our Battle Group encountered a sudden warp storm. Neither the Librarians nor the Navigators were able to provide any warning about this storm. We were like an unprepared vessel, smashed to pieces by the towering waves of the sea."
"The Geller field quickly became overwhelmed in this storm. First captain Kallen led his guys, ready to replace the psyker at any moment, only to find... warp daemons had torn through the ship's external armor and poured in through the breaches."
"How can you talk about replacing a psyker as if it's like, 'The remote control battery is dead, let's change it'? That's a human life, you know... Should I say, 'It's Wahammer, after all'?"
"Everyone resisted valiantly, fighting to the death against the Emperor's foes with everything at hand. When bullets ran out, they drew their blades. When blades broke, they used their fists. When arms were fractured, they bit."
"No one feared sacrifice. All Martyrs firmly believed that if everything in the world was unjust, then the only fair thing was that everyone would die. That was the unified finish line the Emperor drew for his subjects. And the Martyrs would sprint towards that finish line without stopping."
"I'm suddenly a little moved..."
"I am a member of the Martyrs, and I too do not fear sacrifice. What I fear is the glory the Martyrs created while running on this path, the brilliant things the Battle Group created in battle, the paintings and poems created by the elders of the past and the guys of the present—these beautiful arts, all destroyed in this catastrophe, never to be known again."
"Hey, hey, hey, you guys are definitely not Ultramarines! Definitely not! Your true guys were having a blast chopping us up a few days ago! Give me back my emotion, dammit!"
"So, whoever reads this message I've written... I only hope that you can pass on the Name of the Martyrs. If you walk three steps to your left, you should see what I've prepared. Those are the last gene-seeds of our Battle Group."
"Uh..." RNGesus squinted and turned his head, looking to the left as instructed. He only saw collapsed pillars, and beneath them, some shards of glass, unknown liquids, and unidentified chunks of flesh. These remnants, once culture vats or other containers, were clearly completely destroyed. "They're already shattered to pieces."
"Hail the Emperor."
Having finished reading, RNGesus placed the data-slate back into the Chapter Master's arms.
"Your level of bad luck is unprecedented, almost on par with the orks and bugs wiped out by the god dice... Hmm?" RNGesus's expression suddenly froze mid-sentence, his face changing. "Could it be that the god dice, to eliminate those ten thousand orks, got you guys...? In that case, wouldn't I be the culprit who caused your deaths?"
"No, not necessarily," RNGesus quickly thought of another possibility. "They entered the warp three months ago. My encounter with the orks, from start to finish, was no more than four hours. The Martyrs must have been finished by then... It must be that the god dice gave them a push, causing them to automatically exit the warp, and then crash onto Perditia due to loss of power. Yes, that must be it."
Thinking this, RNGesus felt a little better. He put his hands together and bowed slightly to Hobbes: "Anyway, Hobbes, you and your guys rest well here. Please don't reanimate due to warp psychic powers or anything... I'll go call my teammates right away to give you a proper burial."