Seraphs of the Emperor’s Judgment

Chapter 202: Saphonius

The great hall of the Saphonius Mining Guild was submerged in an uproar of voices. Every single guild master and administrative official was competing to speak at the exact same time.

The presiding guild speaker furiously smashed his prosthetic left arm against the side of the lectern several times before the hall returned to a basic semblance of order.

"Panicking will not help matters."

He shouted sternly:

"Perhaps there is another explanation for this."

"What other explanation could there be for a warship of the Adeptus Astartes appearing in our orbit without any warning whatsoever?"

One of the guild masters yelled back in retort.

"What explanation is more reasonable than the Imperium preparing to launch a massive planetary war on this world?"

Beneath the hall's vaulted ceiling, the noise erupted into chaos once again. Ever since the augur arrays detected an unidentified vessel breaking into the system, the masters had been hastily summoned together in an emergency meeting.

Once the astropaths identified it as a Space Marine warship, the meeting completely devolved into bedlam."They are the loyal servants and emissaries of the Emperor."

A guildlord spoke up loudly:

"They represent absolute, supreme authority. We should greet them accordingly."

"Are you insane?"

The guild master who had spoken earlier retorted.

"Do you have any idea how many assets we stand to lose daily if our home becomes a battlefield? Not to mention the infrastructure that will inevitably be destroyed in the crossfire!"

"But everyone already knows the mining sectors below are crawling with monsters."

At this moment, the presiding speaker suddenly sneered:

"Or do you wish to rally the Enforcers, the local Planetary Defense Force, and the mining militias to fight a war against those monsters?"

He looked at the other man with unadulterated contempt.

"Tell me, which plan sounds like absolute madness?"

The other masters fell silent, realizing the horrific truth hidden within his words.

Seeing this, the speaker decided to strike while the iron was hot, stating calmly:

"There is still a turning point in this; we can seize it. Gentlemen of the Guild, we must stand united. We cannot allow Saphonius to become a warzone. As long as we demonstrate our stance and strength—proving we are fully capable of resolving the subterranean threat ourselves—these angels will soon depart."

"And what about the Departmento Justitiae?"

Another guild master spoke up. He had been smoking his pipe the entire time, shrouding himself in a cloud of swirling smoke.

"If the Space Marines support them, there is absolutely nothing we can do to stop it."

"It doesn't matter, we still have one ally left... The Bishop will take over everything."

These words made everyone's eyes light up.

"That's right, I almost forgot about that useless Bishop. If it's him, the situation will at least remain controllable."

The Space Marines arrived amidst a torrential downpour.

The pouring rain washed over the main landing platform and the surrounding wasteland above the deep-shaft mining settlements. The rain sizzled against the protective shielding, while water danced across the platform's rocky surface.

A massive behemoth descended from the near pitch-black sky, with sheets of water cascading down its broad flanks. An insignia of crossed swords reflected a wet sheen against its grey ceramite hull.

As the mighty machine roared overhead, the gathered guild masters cowered even closer together, shivering violently in their soaked, opulent finery.

The aircraft's afterburners lashed the embroidered hems of their robes, tearing a shawl from a noblewoman's shoulders and tossing it into the blinding curtain of rain.

When the Thunderhawk finally settled onto the platform, the agonizing howl of its engines finally diminished to a low, idling hum.

The pitch-black muzzles of the craft's numerous weapon systems gleamed coldly in the downpour.

For a moment, everything seemed to stand perfectly still.

The anxious guild members looked up, and eventually, a loud, resounding thud made them nearly jump out of their skins.

The Thunderhawk's forward assault ramp began to lower, unleashing a billowing cloud of mist.

Seven giants emerged through the vapor, their armored strides leaving a crisp, rhythmic echo against the plasteel decking.

Every single one of these giants possessed a stature far beyond the reach of any mortal. They were clad in varying shades of silver-grey battle armor, with their black occulari gleaming intensely under the harsh emergency strobes of the landing zone.

Streamlined etchings depicting thunderclouds and flames adorned various sections of their armor.

Immensely powerful bolters and close-combat weapons were gripped firmly in their gauntlets; the only slight comfort was that the power fields on their melee weapons were not yet activated.

The seven giants formed two column lines as they marched down the ramp, creating a towering human wall directly in front of the guild masters.

With one final clatter of ceramite, they halted in place, simply letting the rain wash over their armor.

For a moment, they remained entirely motionless and entirely silent.

Until one of them took a step forward. His armor leaned more toward a pure silver hue, and the thundercloud scrollwork upon it was so lifelike it felt as though devastating power could pour forth from it at any given moment.

The entire guild delegation cowered before him.

"Who is the Planetary Governor?"

The giant asked, his voice broadcasting from the curved grille of his helmet's vox-caster. It sounded as if it echoed from some bottomless abyss, and his words, woven in High Gothic, felt stiff and unnervingly formal.

The guild members offered no response, and the giant did not speak again.

Finally, the director of the planet's Departmento Munitorum office could no longer bear the agonizing silence, responding with subservient humility:

"All edicts and governance here stem from the Mining Collective Assembly, my lord. Aside from the Emperor on Holy Terra, there is no other singular leader here."

During the earliest days of the Great Crusade, Saphonius had functioned as a planet directly governed by the Terran government, managed by a Planetary Governor dispatched by the Imperium's Departmento Munitorum. However, during the Horus Heresy, the Planetary Governor turned traitor, tearing the planet from the Imperium's embrace.

Although the planet was brought back into the Imperial fold after the rebellion ended, its liberators were not the Imperial Army, but rather the Adeptus Mechanicus.

Due to concerns regarding the stability of its energy supply, the Forge World Gryphonne IV dispatched troops to reclaim this resource-rich planet at the tail end of the Horus Heresy, fully intending to keep it in their own pockets.

Naturally, this decision met severe opposition from the Departmento Munitorum. After centuries of intense bureaucratic tug-of-war and a literal war of paperwork, the final result was that Saphonius became a semi-autonomous world. Both the Adeptus Mechanicus and the Departmento Munitorum dispatched personnel to jointly oversee it, with local production quotas coordinated between both parties.

It was a strictly compromised solution, yet undoubtedly the only way to resolve the massive conflict.

Thus, the administrative body of Saphonius was a council jointly formed by the local mining guilds. Precisely because ninety-eight percent of the planet's population consisted of miners, this system functioned without major issue.

For a long while, the giant offered no response whatsoever.

Then, the guild members heard a burst of clicking static—some recognized it as an internal vox-transmission, private messages passing through the Space Marines' helmet communication channels.

Finally, the leading giant spoke once more.

"Well met. I am Soshyan Alexei, Chapter Master of the Astral Knights Chapter. I have come in response to the Departmento Justitiae's call for aid."

He then removed his helmet, revealing a resolute, practically divine face as he swept his gaze across the assembled crowd.

Hearing his full identity, many of the guild masters let out suppressed gasps of shock, some even trembling involuntarily.

At that moment, only one thought dominated many of their minds:

For a Chapter Master of the Adeptus Astartes to arrive in person, the situation must truly be utterly catastrophic—