Chapter 187 Helpless Walk Alone and Unexpected Letter.
After passing through layers of ruins and trekking on the muddy tundra for an unknown length of time, Calvin, led by Talos, arrived outside the ruins on the edge of a forest.
"It doesn't look like it's going to work."
Calvin said as he looked at the melted and twisted metal that was once the base of the main turret.
"Yes, but there's more than that here," Talos replied, walking from the edge of the tundra to the clearing in front of the woodland.
"Password!"
Following a vigilant shout, at least three scopes locked onto the figures of Calvin and Talos. Two for the former and one for the latter.
"Before dawn." Talos replied calmly.
Both men had long been aware of these mortal sentinels.
In Calvin's eyes, the warning triggered by this distance should be more of a ritual or respect in front of an Astartes like Talos.
Sure enough, three mortals wearing defense uniforms stood up from the bunker and the trees and greeted Talos.
"Sir! Lord Spencer returned three hours ago. You are the last one." The leader of the three reported to Talos.
"I understand, thank you for your hard work."
Talos gave the three sentinels a routine of encouragement. Where they couldn't see, Talos' vision was patrolling inadvertently.
The night breeze brought by the temperature difference between day and night blew gently, making the branches in the woods rustle. There is a dark red eyepiece nodding gently in the night a hundred meters away. That is the real warning force here.
Looking at the interaction between Talos and mortals and the coded communication with the body language of the Astartes in the distance, Calvin was not in a hurry to express his presence.
He observed these details carefully to adapt himself to the war atmosphere here as quickly as possible.
Although the duties of these mortals were of little significance in his eyes, they were still worthy of respect.
As for the Astartes' bolt gun locked in the dark, he pretended not to have seen it at all.
After finishing the exchange with several sentries, Talos turned and motioned to Calvin to follow.
As he continued on his way, he asked Calvin seemingly casually.
"While everyone is alone, I can introduce you to them. By the way, I haven't learned your name yet..."
"Gavin. Gray Knight Calvin."
Calvin answered with a smile. He could sense the other person's expression and breathing, and even the heartbeat rate and the relaxation of pores.
He remained curious about this Death Watch, which obviously had a story, but was not in a hurry to uncover the answer.
After passing through several ruins, the two came to the back of the abandoned sentry tower. In a hidden room, Talos opened a secret secret door.
The dark corridor opened in front of the two of them. Facing the poor quality of the air and the dim light in it, Calvin somewhat understood how these resisters maintained their existence.
Talos beside him had just stood up, and he whispered to Calvin:
"Welcome to Gabriel, this underground world that temporarily belongs to us..."
In the orbit of Amara, the capital of the central administrative region of the distant Orpheus sector, the gates of the battleship Supreme Decree are slowly closing.
Coming out of the Thunder Eagle hatch that had just landed, Aidan, the Silver Blade Master of the Gray Knight, stepped down the alloy steps with a gloomy expression.
"How did the meeting go?"
The seventh company commander Yule who greeted him saw his old boss and old partner looking ugly, and he didn't know that this was another meaningless quarrel.
But whether it was for the interests of the empire affected by the war situation, or for the Chapter's own rights, he had to ask such a hopeful question.
But Aidan didn't reply to him, he just gave him a cold look and continued walking towards the inside of the battleship with the accompanying champion swordsman.
"What the hell are you talking about!" Yule was anxious. He still couldn't do this, so I should give him something!
Jules was the first to arrive.
After the news of Calvin's disappearance was reported to the Grand Master Council, under the emergency dispatch of the Council, he had arrived in Orps within one month of the incident.
After taking over the authority of the existing troops and the nearby Inquisition intelligence node, he devoted himself to the work of retrieving Calvin.
Aidan arrived a little later.
Due to the deterioration of the war, the Gray Knights could not withstand the pressure of the Inquisition and had to shift their main focus to the Chaos infiltration incidents that continued to occur within the sector.
If no powerful figures enter the scene, they will completely lose their autonomy under the pressure of senior members of the Inquisition, and the secret search for Calvin will also come to a complete halt.
His portion is absolutely sufficient. As a member of the Grand Master Council, Aidan naturally has the authority to hold the highest seat in the Holy Hammer Order of the Gray Knights when he is away.
As the theoretically highest-ranking lord judge of the Demonic Tribunal, Aidan has absolute hierarchical suppression of the Tribunal here.
But legal principles are legal principles, and they can only work in most cases.
And this role does not include the Gray Knights blatantly refusing the call of the Inquisition and ignoring Orpheus's war.
Fortunately, the two senior Gray Knights did not come empty-handed.
Two batches of reinforcements, totaling 150 Gray Knights and five strike cruisers, not only eased the tension in the rear of the theater, but also finally gave them the ability to secretly carry out continuous searches on the basis of adjusting their mobile forces.
But the results are still disappointing.
In the past ten years, they have searched a total of three political districts, one large and two small, that Orps still controlled. Even the seventeen semi-independent small star areas on the periphery have been searched over and over.
But the trace of Calvin disappeared without a trace, just like a soul thrown into the subspace.
Neither the Inquisition nor the prophets within the Chapter have any conclusions about Calvin's whereabouts.
There is no other valid information other than that he is alive.
Living is the only comfort in Aidan and Yule's hearts.
But if they were just alive, the two of them would not be able to imagine how the first batch of legion recruits would view old people like them three years later.
How to explain to them? Could it be that I was lucky enough to witness your father's disappearance?
What do the recruits think?
What do the veterans think?
What will those Inquisitions who have chosen to sit on the sidelines think of their massive expansion in recent years?
What is the future of the Chapter?
What about the "Legion Plan" that has taken the battle group nearly ten thousand years to accumulate and is being intensively planned?
Is it possible that it was stillborn like this? This is the last hope left by the Emperor for mankind!
A mountain of pressure rested on their shoulders, but they did not dare to complain.
It's not that there aren't other high-level officials who want to come, it's just that the empire has so many war zones.
Today, when only apothecaries are left on the home planet Titan, mobilizing two senior leaders of the battle group and nearly one-third of the mobile forces for a mere Orps battle zone is already beyond what the Gray Knights can do. To the extreme.
"As usual, now the governor has been confirmed to be extinct. The Orps family, which has no future, can no longer suppress the people below. The nobles and bureaucrats are endlessly wrangling, and the central and local governments are "risking their lives." They are fighting for power, but they are still afraid of death and insist on catching us..."
Seeing Yule who was about to become furious, Aidan stopped and sighed and said to him.
"So, our infiltration reconnaissance plan has been denied again?" Yule reached out and grabbed his hair and said feebly.
"Yes, the two high-ranking judges threatened each other with death. If we leave, they will commit suicide and die for their country." Aidan said helplessly.
With his rank, he can actually ignore the orders of the Inquisition. As for the local nobles, he can't even see him in person.
But the war situation was like this, and he was not blind.
Today, Orpheus is like a centipede, with a huge body that is eccentric and has constant problems.
The nobles in the center are full of greed and have no regard for the life and death of local political districts;
The local governor is like an independent king, clinging to the power in his hands and spending every penny.
Aidan sometimes wonders how this place has survived to this day and has not been exterminated, and what is the reason for warriors like him to travel thousands of miles to come to the battlefield here to sacrifice their lives and shed the last drop of blood.
Empire! This is the empire!
I don’t know what the emperor’s expression would be like if he saw the current empire...
"What is this!"
Yule grabbed the few hairs he had left and shouted angrily at Aidan.
"I don't care! We have already searched through the existing star areas. If there is nothing, there is nothing! The only thing left is the enemy-occupied area! I must go there, even if I die, I will die there!"
He almost begged and looked at Aidan's old face covered with white hair:
"Imagine it! If Calvin is surrounded by enemies and waiting for our rescue, how desperate he will be! I can die, but he cannot die! The hope of the Chapter and the Empire lies in his Body! Are you just watching this happen and not taking any action?"
"I..." Aidan looked at Yule's plea and finally sighed.
He calculated the strength of his troops with difficulty, and then said to Le:
"You can go, but not too many people. One cruiser, 50 people, that's all. Don't bargain with me! There won't be one more bullet!"
"You said it! It's a deal!"
Yule jumped up from where he was overjoyed, and then gave Aidan a fierce hug regardless of the eyes of the crew in the passage.
"You guy..." Aidan smiled helplessly, feeling the strength of his comrades in his body.
How many years have passed since they partnered in the Eighth Company Silver Blade.
The guy in front of me is still the same as the first day I saw him, full of inexhaustible enthusiasm and sincerity like a little sun.
After landing on Aidan's body, Yule's excitement was beyond words.
As he turned around and walked towards the barracks to gather his troops, he turned his head to say goodbye to Aidan.
But as soon as he took two steps, he faced Gavins who was running all the way.
Boom!
Two heavy powered armors with equally heavy bodies collided hard.
"Hiss" Yule rubbed his forehead without a helmet. The red mark on his forehead clearly showed that it was a masterpiece of a Crusader helmet.
The initiator was still sitting on the ground in a daze.
"Speak!" Aidan reminded Gavins with a serious face.
It is definitely not a small thing to allow this champion swordsman to run all the way.
The latter was reminded by Aidan after a period of dizziness, and finally recalled his mission.
He grabbed the support on the wall beside him and stood up, then said loudly to Aidan and Yule:
"I received an urgent notice from the Brotherhood of the Prophet! Calvin's location is secured!"
Update, please vote.