Seraphs of the Emperor’s Judgment

Chapter 37: Bloodbath (1)

"Is the communication still not connected?"

General Sola paced back and forth in the main control room like a caged beast.

Half an hour ago, their contact with the Voidsmens was completely severed. Also losing contact was the New Pharos. Although it was still gliding toward orbit, its speed had noticeably slowed down.

"Could the rioters have seized control of the bridge?"

General Sola immediately rejected his own thought. This was absolutely impossible. Feeble slaves couldn't possibly capture a fortified bridge with lead pipes, even if it was just a transport ship.

Loken, on the other hand, stood near a machine not far away. He was analyzing the static signals they had received previously, feeling he could find something.

Finally, amid a stretch of garbled static, he isolated a faint voice. It sounded like the final echo of a dying man, merely repeating two words over and over.

"...Traitor..."

By the Omnissiah! They truly bumped into a ghost this time!

Loken straightened up immediately, turned, and said loudly,"Sir, I found—"

"Sir!"

Another voice interrupted his words. The officer in charge of communications shouted excitedly.

"We've re-established contact with the Voidsmens, but the signal is experiencing some interference."

"Play it."

Soon, a low, indistinct voice drifted from the external speakers, sounding like that young officer from earlier.

"...Emergency... retreat... return..."

"What? What situation have you encountered?"

General Sola inquired nervously, but the other party only responded with a burst of indistinct static and words like 'retreat' and 'return' looping continuously.

"Sir! Detected the Hyena departing from the target and returning to orbit!"

"Strange?"

General Sola rested his pudgy chin on his hand, pondering what sort of accident could cause two hundred Voidsmens to return in defeat.

"Sir!"

Loken quickly ran to his side, his mechanical appendages twitching incessantly, seemingly quite nervous.

"We cannot let the Hyena enter orbit!"

"Ah?"

Sola looked at him and blinked, completely not understanding what Loken was saying.

"I just isolated the real voice of the New Pharos's Captain from the channel! Listen!"

A ghostly whisper floated out from the small speaker on Loken's mechanical appendage. General Sola's face instantly turned ghastly pale, large beads of sweat rolling down his wrinkled head.

"This... this..."

"Regardless of what is on that ship, what happened, it will definitely be nothing good! The Hyena has most likely been commandeered, and it's attempting to enter orbit!"

Before the dumbfounded bureaucrat could react, Loken immediately grabbed his shoulders and shook him forcefully.

"Sir! Sir! Do you hear me! Immediately activate defenses and shoot down the Hyena! Shoot it down immediately!"

As a result, that damn fat man simply trembled his lips, unable to say a single word.

"Go fuck your piston! Hanging around you useless trash is going to get me killed sooner or later!"

The infuriated Loken shoved General Sola aside, then walked over to the main screen in the center control room, inserting one of his mechanical appendages into the console below.

In the next moment, his voice echoed throughout the entire orbital station.

"Red alert! Combat Condition One! Red alert! Combat Condition One!"

Instantly, alarms rang out across the entire orbital station. The soldiers and staff above ran frantically toward their posts.

"How far is it from here!"

Loken looked at the group of auspex officers. After a flurry of panicked operations, the other party said,

"Still... still ten minutes away!!"

"What?"

Loken realized he had underestimated the Hyena's speed. The engine of this landing craft must have undergone modification, but he knew nothing about this.

"Activate laser arrays immediately! Stage One warmup! Lock onto the Hyena!"

He had already made up his mind. Regardless of whether his speculation was correct, he would destroy the Hyena, even if that idiot really was sitting on it.

Because that sense of threat was palpable. The Hyena's speed was too fast; it completely did not resemble the posture of returning, but rather an attack—a predator locked onto defenseless prey.

"Stage One warmup complete!"

Soon, the weapon arrays were the first to transmit good news, but just as Loken often mocked himself.

His luck had always been very poor.

"Sir! Emergency situation!"

"Speak!"

"The Hyena possesses a high-level security clearance code. We must disable the clearance code to be able to target it!"

Loken felt the world spin around him. He turned to look at the still-stupefied Station Master, truly wishing he could stuff him into a macrocannon and fire him out.

Why would he give a landing craft a high-level security clearance code?

Unless...

Loken suddenly recalled rumors he had heard previously, rumors regarding certain officers on the orbital station participating in smuggling.

It was truly as if every piece of bad luck had crashed into him.

"How long to disable the clearance code!"

"It... it will take at least ten minutes."

"You don't have ten minutes here! Get it done in five minutes!"

He said this, but Loken, as a Tech-Priest of the Adeptus Mechanicus, knew the nature of high-level security clearance codes better than anyone. Therefore, he immediately contacted the garrison forces inside the orbital station.

"Everyone assemble at the landing platforms! Once you see any target, prioritize firing! Remember! Prioritize firing!"

Under his command, thousands of soldiers on the defense orbit grabbed their weapons and headed straight for the landing platforms. But most of them had never seen blood, coming to orbit merely to support their families. Soldiers in the truest sense were very few.

Just as Loken estimated, the Hyena plunged headfirst into the defense orbit's landing platform before the security clearance code was disabled.

The autocannon turrets on the outer fortifications clattered as they tracked the flying object, but never fired. Subsequently, its landing skids deployed from underneath.

The landing platform's blast doors opened to accommodate the Hyena inside, then closed again. The air pressure within the platform returned to normal levels once more.

After the Hyena successfully entered the landing platform, a large number of soldiers also hurried to the area around the platform. They raised their shotguns and lasguns, using various makeshift barricades as cover, vigilantly watching this uninvited guest.

The engine noise diminished to an idling whine, and then all sound ceased.

That sudden silence seemed to press down on everyone. Some soldiers even felt as if insects were crawling across their skin.

The heavy front hatch directly faced the entrance and exit of the landing platform. There was also the pitch-black cockpit and the cannon with its underbelly gaping open along the upper spine.

The defense forces waited.

Finally, as the front hatch began to lower, the vibration of mag-locks disengaging and the whir of servo-motors drifted over.

An eruption of pressurized steam blurred their vision, seemingly obscuring whatever lurked within.

Suddenly, the bodies of some soldiers began to tremble, because they saw...