Seraphs of the Emperor’s Judgment

Chapter 67: Volistad

Volistad, an unremarkable habitable planet in the Draconis Sector.

As an Agri-World, its prominent colors were massive, unbroken blocks of azure blue and vast, unconnected patches of verdant green. The agricultural products it produced supplied several massive hive cities within the sector. It also served as a settlement planet for retired officers and soldiers of the Astra Militarum.

Officers and soldiers originating from this sector, upon the highly fortunate occurrence of safely concluding their service, would receive a plot of land or a manor on the vast, fertile grounds of Volistad.

This estate was tax-exempt for ten years. Following that, by simply paying a sufficient tithe, they could farm it for generations.

For many soldiers and officers hailing from the lower levels of a hive city, this temptation was undoubtedly immense. However, considering the exceedingly low survival rate of the Astra Militarum, the lucky few who actually received this gift were few in number.

On the other hand, even with the slimmest of probabilities, given the massive baseline population, the absolute numbers still reached an unprecedented high.

For a long time, the primary producers on Volistad were large, privately-owned farms. The farm owners, holding their respective privileges, drove millions of serfs to till the land for them, earning considerable profits, yet they had no intention of investing in construction. The planet's overall level remained merely at a basic stage of industrialization.

What the serfs received in return, most of the time, was only a half-portion of standard food rations. However, compared to the one-third ration received by ordinary workers in a hive city, it at least prevented them from going completely hungry.

Thus, this planet had always been very peaceful.

The most recent war dated back three hundred years, when a small force of Orks invaded the planet. However, the sector defense forces reacted promptly, nipping the danger in the bud.As for other threats, most were uninterested in such a worthless world.

Recently, however, this planet was anything but peaceful.

Five months ago, due to the continuous piling on of tithes, a portion of the serfs, unable to endure the exploitation any longer, rose up in rebellion under the leadership of a retired soldier named Herni. They killed the farm owners and burned down their manors.

Their demands were simple: to become independent farmers, and they would still pay taxes to the Imperium—a reasonable tithe.

Many of these people were formerly independent farmers themselves, but due to bankruptcy and numerous other reasons, they had been forced into serfdom.

Naturally, such a demand would never gain the approval of the planet's Agricultural Federation. As the primary council members, the great landowners immediately passed a resolution to mobilize the planetary defense forces and their respective families' private guards, clamoring to hang every single rebel.

During this process, the Astra Militarum garrisoned in the sector remained unusually silent, taking no action whatsoever.

In a sense, the Astra Militarum was pleased to see this rebellion happen.

Although the Departmento Munitorum had originally signed an explicit agreement with the Sector Governor that settlement lands could not be arbitrarily changed, as time passed, those greedy landowners had been constantly devising ways to encroach upon the settlement lands designated for veterans by the Munitorum. Meanwhile, the Sector Governor, as well as the Departmento Justitiae, either turned a blind eye or found various excuses to evade responsibility.

The local Astra Militarum had long since grown extremely furious over this.

This rebellion happened to be an opportunity. If they could intervene, the Munitorum could heavily strike at the landowners who had encroached upon the settlement lands and reclaim the stolen territory while suppressing the rebellion.

However, deploying troops to quell a rebellion required the consent of the Sector Governor, because the reports from the Volistad Agricultural Federation merely referred to this uprising as a "disturbance."

If it was merely a disturbance, the Astra Militarum had no justification to step in.

As a result, a highly bizarre situation unfolded on this Agri-World. On one hand, the rebellion was growing increasingly intense; on the other hand, the local authorities refused to call in the Astra Militarum to suppress it, and the Astra Militarum simply acted as if nothing was happening.

It was against this backdrop that Warp disturbances suddenly appeared in the high orbit of the planet Volistad.

"Prepare to translate from the Warp. Five, four, three, two... one! Warp engines deactivated!"

Accompanied by a strange vibration in high orbital space, two warships, one large and one small, slipped out of a resplendent Warp rift like fish leaping out of water, bringing ripples with them.

"Engines operating on low power. Activating long-range communications. Auspex arrays online."

Under Loken's bustling efforts, various instruments and equipment that had been shut down in the Warp awakened one after another. At the same time, massive amounts of data rolled from all kinds of sensors into the cogitator arrays, appearing as highly concise and clear code in the memory banks and processors of different Tech-Priests.

"Chapter Master Soshyan, all equipment is functioning normally."

Loken briefly gathered the data, then turned around to speak to the tall figure before the command throne, while simultaneously casting a deliberate yet seemingly accidental glance at the other figure beside him.

The rumor that there was suddenly an extra Space Marine on the ship was indeed true.

"Good, we will hold position here for now."

Soshyan nodded, gazing at the crystal-clear planet out the viewport.

Even now, he did not understand the purpose of this trip.

"So this is the Draconis Sector..."

Beside him, Sol, who had changed into silver-grey power armor, trimmed his hair to his shoulders, and cleanly shaved his face, was also observing the planet. However, his focus differed from Soshyan's.

He was sifting through his memories of this sector and quickly found a crucial point.

"Is this the place?"

"What is?"

Soshyan turned his head.

"The Draconis Sector... Mmh, a major event once occurred here."

"What event."

"If my memory is correct, it was in this sector that the Imperium fired the first shot against the Ork Empire of Ullanor."

Soshyan stared blankly for a moment. He hadn't seen this record in the historical scrolls of the archives. Sol shot him a glance, seemingly knowing what he was confused about, and continued:

"The commander of that battle was Horus."

At this moment, the doors to the bridge suddenly opened. Accompanied by the pumping of pistons and heavy footsteps, the sacred Dreadnought entered the bridge.

Instantly, besides Soshyan and Sol, the other mortals on the bridge, including Loken, bowed in salute to him.

"Have we arrived at Volistad."

Brother Zayd's deep voice emanated from his vox-caster.

"Yes, Venerable One."

Soshyan tapped his right hand on the console of the command throne a few times, and a massive holographic projection of the planet subsequently appeared above the bridge.

"We have reached Volistad's high orbit and are ready to drop at any moment."

As he spoke, he paused.

"However, I still must ask, why exactly are we here? This seems to be a completely unremarkable planet."

"And it's currently experiencing a riot."

Loken suddenly interjected.

"I just received a public sector broadcast. Due to the escalating disturbances on Volistad, the vicinity has been designated a military control zone. Any vessels entering or leaving require registration and inspection."

"Ignore them."

Brother Zayd said firmly:

"Soshyan, take a squad and make a drop to the surface. I have a locator here; follow the direction it indicates to search."

As he spoke, a silver, disc-like object appeared in Brother Zayd's palm. Loken craned his neck to get a look, then exclaimed in astonishment:

"This is a high-precision, long-range teleportation coordinate beacon!"

"You know about this?"

Brother Zayd turned toward the Tech-Priest below the bridge.

"I... I heard my mentor mention it. It is a very rare crystallization of ancient technology. Generally, it serves as a medium within two massive teleportarium arrays, circumventing complex rituals and data streams. As long as the correct coordinates are inputted, it allows the two massive teleportarium arrays to be used freely within a very short timeframe."

Upon hearing Loken's explanation, realization seemed to dawn on Soshyan, who said:

"Venerable One, the treasure you are looking for... is within a massive teleportarium array?"

"Indeed. Make it quick. Deploy the drop as soon as possible."

"Understood."

Then, Brother Zayd turned to Sol.

"Company Commander Sol, if I may trouble you to accompany them on this trip as well."

"No problem."