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New chapter every 2 days starting now.
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"I am here to offer my assistance," Vanessa said respectfully, her voice steady as her head dipped in a slight bow.
Qin Mo said nothing, simply watching her in silence.
Seeing that he didn't inquire further, Vanessa volunteered the reason for her visit. "I possess knowledge of the High Lords of Terra, their movements, their politics. I also have contacts among some retired Custodians. I can serve as your link to the upper echelons of the Imperium... I was sent by the Voice."
Qin Mo frowned, thinking for a moment.
When Vanessa had first appeared, aiding in the battle against the Genestealer Patriarch and later serving briefly as a test subject, he had been uncertain of her allegiance. Later, encountering Saal of the Eldar resistance had almost led him to think Vanessa might be an Eldar in disguise, scouring Hiveworlds for lost archeotech.
But now he could be certain.
Vanessa was something akin to a Living Saint, an agent of the Emperor's will, like Saint Celestine. She exhibited no aging, no fatigue from Warp exposure, and wielded psychic influence with unnatural clarity. Unlike Celestine, however, Vanessa bore no weapons, only words. Words that compelled even the most hardened Imperial commanders to kneel.
After a long pause, Qin Mo said, "You mentioned you are guided by a voice. I need you to deliver a message to it."
Before Vanessa could respond, Qin Mo continued, "Tell it this: If there's an urgent matter, send the Adeptus Custodes. Don't send me another damned psyker. I hate psykers."
Vanessa winced and shook her head.
"I'm sorry. I can't," she said helplessly, and began to explain.
The "voice" was not something she could speak to.
It was a one-way channel.
She could hear the voice and see fragments of visions, but they were disjointed, appearing irregularly.
The esoteric knowledge she possessed, things no ordinary citizen of the Imperium should know, had been imparted by the voice. But she couldn't communicate with it directly. She could only listen and interpret.
She called these rare periods of contact "Revelation Cycles," occurring once per Terran year. Each cycle was a brutal experience, the voice's words searing into her mind with such agony that it drove her close to madness.
After hearing her explanation, Qin Mo fell into thought. Then he asked, "So why were you chosen, not someone else?"
"Because I have the ability to influence the minds of others," Vanessa said. "I can make the most belligerent man pause to listen. I can compel even the coldest, most selfish soul to give their life for the right cause. I can speak, and others will listen."
Qin Mo nodded thoughtfully. He had to admit, Vanessa's psychic talents were indeed useful. If he ever needed a messenger, she would be the ideal candidate.
Having someone like her to serve as an emissary was no bad thing.
"What's the current stance of the High Lords of Terra regarding the Talon System?" Qin Mo asked as he sat on the governor's throne in the grand hall.
"There are many differing opinions among the Lords," Vanessa answered, recalling what she'd observed on the Terran political landscape. "The Fabricator-General of Mars believes your region contains valuable STC templates, so direct conflict isn't wise. Others genuinely believe you're a divine emissary of the Emperor himself…"
"...but most of the High Lords see Talon as a useful asset that cannot yet be touched," she concluded.
"And the Navigator Houses?" Qin Mo added with a sharp glance.
Vanessa hesitated, then replied, "The Navis Nobilite are uneasy. Your innovations threaten their monopoly on Warp navigation. They've held dominion for ten millennia, and your Dimensional Engines... they make them irrelevant. House Belisarius and House Moravia have already begun petitioning the Senatorum Imperialis to restrict Talon's autonomous trade."
Qin Mo nodded. That aligned well with his own calculations.
After a moment of hesitation, Vanessa quietly asked, "So what's your plan?"
"I'm not telling you," Qin Mo replied, just as bluntly as when he had refused to share the secrets of FTL travel before.
Vanessa grew agitated.
"You told Creed you were fighting for humanity, didn't you? That's a lie. You fight for yourself. If it were truly for humanity, you'd share your vision, you'd give us the designs for the dimensional engines!"
Qin Mo, however, remained completely calm.
"It would take the Adeptus Mechanicus a millennium to grasp the workings of the Dimensional Engine, even if I dumped the knowledge directly into their skulls. This isn't classroom theory, it's raw mathematics. If the Imperium cannot understand how to construct it, then I'll simply deliver a finished Dimensional Engine as a tithe, rather than hand over the schematics and printer tech so the Tech-Priests can spend centuries mumbling rites and praying over it."
Vanessa wanted to refute him, but when she thought about it, she realized he had a point.
Given the Talon Sector's industrial capabilities, even power armor was produced in abundance like it was mass-producing paintings. Why not Dimensional Engines?
But even if the Imperial Navy miraculously accepted this unknown, possibly heretical technology, would the Navis Nobilite, the Navigator Houses accept being rendered obsolete?
No. Not without a fight.
The Navigator Houses ancient, gene-warped dynasties bred over millennia to guide ships through the Immaterium, were among the most jealously guarded power blocs in the Imperium.
She had seen firsthand what the Navigators were willing to do to preserve their grip: assassinations, warp sabotage, whispered heresies. For all their mystique and deformity, they were political animals, ambitious, cunning, and as brutal as any noble house.
"This galaxy is too cruel, too dangerous," Qin Mo said as he slowly approached Vanessa. "The Imperium is like a frightened feline, ready to lash out at anything unfamiliar, no matter the intent. If I didn't rule Talon with fleets and armies, the first ones to kill me wouldn't be the Inquisition, it would be the Navigators and the Mechanicus."
Vanessa nodded in silence.
Qin Mo stopped in front of her, then shifted the topic. "But that's not your concern. You're here to be a bridge between parties. So be that bridge."
Vanessa nodded reluctantly.
"What exactly do you want me to do?"
Truthfully, Qin Mo hadn't yet decided. After a moment's thought, he gave her a trial task to test her capabilities.
"From this day forward, the Talon system will be reorganized along with a dozen nearby systems into a new Segmentum Minor, the Talon Sector. I shouldn't need to tell you who its Sector Governor will be, right?"
"Oh, I understand. Once the sub-sector is formed, we'll have the Departmento Munitorum assign a Sector Governor?" Vanessa joked lightly.
But seeing Qin Mo's expression remain unmoved, she immediately turned serious. "But you'd better ensure you truly control these systems. Don't let dissenting nobles or rogue governors turn against you."
"You don't need to remind me. I've already begun that work," Qin Mo nodded.
In fact, it had been months since he'd last seen his Thunderborns, because they had been busy.
Because they had been systematically… removing obstacles.
....
Talon Sub-Sector
System No. 15 – Forge World #7
In the hive city of this grimy forge world, crowds lined the streets, packed shoulder to shoulder, their faces gaunt and smudged with soot, standing in eerie silence. Ash drifted lazily through the acrid air, falling like black snow, a byproduct of the endless forges belching smoke into a rust-colored sky.
Troopers from the Governor's Household Guard and the Planetary Defense Forces paraded through the streets in a display of martial grandeur. Atop a gilded palanquin carried by slaves, the Planetary Governor made theatrical gestures, waving grandly to the masses.
Behind him, servo-skulls half-machine, half-corpse drifted in formation, their embedded speaker systems blaring propaganda.
"When plague and undead horrors ravaged our world, it was our noble Governor who saved us! He protected every soul under his care!"
"Glory to the Governor!"
"Obedience is salvation!"
"…"
And so on.
Atop the capital's clocktower, fully armed and camouflaged, Grey watched the Governor with steely eyes, calculating his plan.
This wouldn't be an assassination.
It would be a public execution, a spectacle.
A brutal, unmistakable warning carried out in the heart of the city, in broad daylight.
When this Governor was struck down, right here, at the center of his capital, with every lens and eye upon him, it would send a message to every other Governor in System 15, those still hesitating, bargaining, or refusing to comply:
To reject the aid of the Lord of Talon, to disobey his mobilization orders, or worse, to resell weapons provided by Talon to hostile forces… such treachery would carry only one consequence.
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