Chapter 426: Going Out

On the large desktop, the colorful, splendid and complex holographic projection of the secondary star region slowly rotated.

Fu Qinghai is carefully studying the specific conditions of the thirteen industrial worlds in the Ni Deline secondary star sector.

The two light cruisers escaped into the system, and the rebels must have learned that a fleet of the Astartes had arrived in this secondary star region. The two Indomitable-class light cruisers were transport units of the Untamed Lords Titan Legion on the Forge World of Uldish, and did not belong to the Chaos Fleet.

"Khan, the astropathic message has been sent."

Xia Long came to the bridge again.

"OK."

Fu Qinghai reached out and pinched Xia Long's face. Even though the young and immature graduate of the Psionic Academy had grown into an independent young lady, the chief astrologer of an Astartes fleet, with a distinguished status and position, Fu Qinghai still regarded her as the timid little girl who spoke in a low voice.

Xia Long's face, which was so pale that it was bleeding, was pinched by the cold and hard black hand armor. The blind girl pursed her lips in displeasure, but seeing that the Khan's eyes were still focused on the rotating holographic projection of the star map in front of him, it seemed to be an unintentional act, so she didn't say anything and retreated quietly.

The Iron Pagoda Chapter conveyed the news of the Tamer Titan's rebellion to the theater's highest command.

Even though they might already know it, Fu Qinghai still asked Xia Long to convey it again.

The wording of this astronomical message was very careful - "A part of the Titans of the Untamed Lord Titan Legion has rebelled. The reason for the rebellion is currently unclear."

The Tamer Titan Legion belongs to the Forge World of Udish. The rebellion of the Tamer Titan does not mean that the Forge World has also rebelled. Fu Qinghai is implicitly hinting to Marshal Hexu Luo that the current situation is unclear and it is not necessary to arbitrarily expand the definition and scope of the rebels for the time being. A decision should be made after the situation is clarified.

For many extreme Inquisitors in the original novel, if an Imperial Titan joins the Chaos camp, the entire Titan Corps will be in trouble, and the entire Forge World will be suspicious. The logic chain is very "clear".

Fu Qinghai is not that kind of judge.

He believed that conclusions should not be drawn hastily, especially given the current complex situation of the Iron Belt. Even if there were indeed problems with the Udis Forge World, it would not be appropriate to liquidate them immediately.

Hexu Luo is just an ordinary man, and Fu Qinghai is a space warrior, but the former is still the nominal supreme commander, Fu Qinghai's leader and superior, and the highest command of the theater must have its own information channels, so they don't need Fu Qinghai to teach them what to do, but Fu Qinghai still reminded him tactfully, hoping that Marshal Hexu Luo could understand what he meant.

…

The Forge World of Atar Median.

The highest command of the theater.

The white-haired old man in military uniform read the note in his hand carefully. This was an astropathic message sent by the Iron Pagoda Regiment, which came into his hands after being copied by the astropathic choir. The old man quickly noticed the conservative and cautious wording between the lines, and narrowed his eyes slightly, wondering what he was thinking.

"Gant Sage."

The old man said softly.

"What is it, Your Excellency Marshal?"

The red-robed technical priest next to him turned around and asked.

"I will send three Astartes regiments to the Forge World of Uldish to inquire about the situation. Regarding the rebellion of some Untamed Lord Titans, I think they need to give us an explanation. What do you think?"

The white-haired old man said.

In theory, each Forge World is directly under the jurisdiction of the Mechanicus and is exempt from special taxation. Therefore, as to how to deal with the Forge Worlds, Grand Marshal Hexu Luo needs to ask the Ruling Sage for his opinion, as a sign of respect for Mars.

"That's fine with me."

Hieronymus Gant said calmly.

"That's how we deal with it."

Marshal Hexu Luo was about to give an order.

The Sage Ruler suddenly spoke up:

"The situation in the Ni-Drina sub-sector is so urgent that the support of only one Astartes regiment may not be enough."

Marshal Hexu Luo turned his head and asked:

"So what do you mean?"

"Dispatch the Draconis family from the Orestes Knights world to the Ni Deline sub-sector for support."

Hieronymus said bluntly.

The situation in the Ni-Drina sub-sector was extremely bad, and all the industrial worlds and fleet anchorages had fallen. One Astartes regiment was not enough, so would adding another Knight family be enough? Grand Marshal Hexu Luo asked Qingshan Khan to "make his own decision". He did not expect that his regiment alone could turn the situation around. In his psychological estimation, the best result was to rescue the remaining imperial troops trapped in the hive world.

Grand Marshal Hexu Luo narrowed his eyes and began to think carefully about this decision. Suddenly, he thought that this "Draconis Family" seemed to be the knight family that was rumored to be leaving the Mechanicus system and serving Terra and the Empire.

"well..."

Thinking of this, the white-haired old man sighed inwardly, rubbed his frowning brows and whispered:

"According to your arrangement, Ruler Sage."

Hieronymus Gantt nodded.

The Ruling Sage had no recollection that he had come into contact with a local sect called "Data Regulation" and that the future of the Draconis family had been decided. In his memory, he went to the Knight World of Orestes and wanted to contact the local Mechanicus sect secretly, but the other party stood him up and he returned without discussing anything.

As for the leak that had made him angry for a long time.

Still don't know where it came from.

......

"Through faith, one accepts fate. Through fate, one obeys orders. Through orders, one wins honor. Through honor, one is knighted. As a knight, glory lasts forever."

——The motto of the Knight's Squire.

Orestes Knight World.

Ebony Fortress.

"The pain never subsides."

"Communicate with your soul's other half."

These are the exact words Janiko told Zofia.

Zofia felt that this process should be easy, because she was perfect at the synaesthesia link of the Pons Bridge Device, but the combination of flesh and steel was not a trivial matter. Zofia felt that the cold metal of the mechanical throne was burning. Its umbilical iron cable drilled into her skull and spine, as if every blood vessel and every cell was filled with ice water.

The mechanical throne that Zofia entered was in the Ebony Fortress' echo chamber, a circular hall of black stone and towering iron beams. A surge of sound rose from the fortress's sanctuary and the depths of the dark ocean of the past.

A lot of sounds.

The souls of the past pilots of this Knight mecha echoed. Zofia recognized a middle-aged male voice, that of Janiko's dead husband, her nominal "father", with a stern and uncompromising voice. In addition, she also heard the voice of Janiko's father, her nominal "grandfather", a loud tenor, equally stern and uncompromising.

At least on this point.

The Draconis were united.

"The union with the Mechanical Throne completes me."

Mrs. Janiko's voice was still ringing in my ears.

Janiko always told Sophia that she once thought that it was her husband and her partner who made her more complete. It was not until she combined with the mechanical throne of the knight mecha that she realized that a warrior of the Draconis family is only truly complete when wearing knight armor.

Zofia felt the darkness surrounding her, her perception and awareness of the physical world beginning to fade away. The neural connections in her brain were rerouting to easily connect with the senses of the great machine below.

"Boom!"

The mechanical throne fell with a loud bang.

Rush towards the Knight Mech from the maglev track.

Zofia felt the movement and the fall, the rush of air against her face, the smell of grease and lubricant, and though it was far from her she could taste the sharp friction of hot metal and the crackling of electricity, and then it became dull.

As time passed, her heartbeat was speeding up.

Then, from darkness to light.

The Fury of Fire is waiting here.

The thirty-one remaining knight mechas of the Draconis family stood motionless, facing each other in two rows. Each one was a ten-meter-tall bipedal giant with a huge chain sword and various cannons hanging on its shoulders.

Their ancient bodies were wrapped in heavy dark blue and cold gray, and the proud gray-blue sky flag fluttered slowly in the cold wind. A two-headed sky eagle soared in one area, and the other half was painted with a majestic horse with a single horn on its forehead and its hind legs standing upright.

The mechanical throne quickly rushed into the patrol knight mech, and with the clang of metal and the hiss of latches, the armor locked behind Zofia. The light in her sight expanded, and when the mech's sensors and the throne's receivers engaged with each other, she once again felt the pain brought by the connection.

Sage Sexton led more than 300 hooded holy weapon guards, kneeling at the feet of the knight mecha, their voice implants and melodious binary hymns emitting from their melodious robot servants. Zofia felt the tension and hope of these skilled craftsmen trained on Mars.

"We are about to embark on a ride to the Ni-Drina sub-sector on orders from the Adeptus Mechanicus, but if the Arch-Sage believes that I am handing over the Draconis to the Lord of Mars, he will be greatly disappointed."

A man said in a deep voice.

Zofia knew the owner of the voice, Viscount Sunderland, patriarch of the Draconis family.

"I will not repeat the mistakes of the past."

Viscount Sunderland's voice echoed in the communication channel.

"I have removed the gear shape from the sigil, and it will once again bear the Terran Aquila."

"As long as I am the master of House Draconis, we will always remain like this."

Opposite to Fire Fury, the golden eyes of Sir Malcolm's Knight mech flickered due to the connection. According to Janiko's instructions beforehand, Zofia raised her arm, not her flesh and blood body, which was motionless on the mechanical throne, but a limb on the mech. Fire Fury raised his right weapon arm high, and the Reaper Chainsaw Sword shone with golden light to show respect.

"Shua——"

The knight mechas standing in two rows facing each other followed the family's chief knight to repeat the action. They raised their weapons in unison and used the barrels of their left arms to slam the emblem plate armor on their shoulders and blew the whistle. In an instant, the entire hall was filled with guns and blades and the sound of horns was deafening.

"I heard about the loss of Ni Deline. All the industrial worlds fell. A terrible loss. A heartbreaking loss. It was a brutal battlefield, enough to strangle a Titan's forge. It could have ended a small family... However, the Draconis family is not a small family."

Although the words were so heroic and ambitious, Zofia vaguely felt that there seemed to be some unspeakable sadness and desolation in the Viscount's voice.

"Banners of mourning still hang within the echoing halls of the Ebony Keep, and many of the dead still walk with me, data ghosts haunting the circuits of my armor. Now, more than ever, I see their names, and I feel the weight of my responsibility. I am sure you will feel the same. The impulse of honor they bring is rooted in every fiber of our being. It has been so since I was qualified for the ceremony."

Viscount Sunderland continued his impassioned speech, but suddenly changed the subject and asked by name:

"What do you think, Chief Knight?"

"Uh, I..."

Zofia was suddenly called out and was a little overwhelmed. Mrs. Janiko had never taught her this.

"I can sense each of my warriors. You are not the chief knight. What about Janiko? Where is she?"

Viscount Sunderland asked calmly.

"I'm here."

A familiar female voice sounded in the communication channel:

"I'm sorry, Lord Viscount, I asked Zofia to attend this expedition ceremony in my place."

There was some commotion among the surrounding knight mechas.

In the communication channel, Viscount Sunderland's voice was full of gnashing teeth and helplessness:

"Janiko, you dote on your adopted daughter too much. She is just a knight's squire. She is not qualified to pilot the 'Fury of Fire', nor is she qualified to participate in the pre-war ceremony."

"I don't see any problem with that."

Mrs. Janiko's voice was nonchalant:

"And this is Zofia's first time sitting on the mechanical throne. Didn't you notice? She can easily complete all the movements I taught her. She is a genius, a perfect candidate to drive a knight mecha!"

"You regard the battle ceremony as her qualification ceremony?"

Viscount Sunderland asked incredulously.

He soon realized the problem:

"You said this was her first time?"

Viscount Sunderland carefully recalled the movements that "Fury of Fire" had just displayed. While other knights were still trying to establish a neural connection with the knight mecha, it had already raised its arms first, with quick and decisive movements without any delay.

"That's impossible. Absolutely impossible."

The Viscount shook his head and said, "I didn't even perform so well in my qualification ceremony.

"It's true, this is her first time."

Mrs. Janiko emphasized.

Just like medieval knights were often followed by two squires, the knights in Warhammer 40K also have squires.

The squire-class knight mecha is the smallest knight mecha. There is no space for the mechanical throne in the body. Instead, there is an operating device called a mechanical crown, a simplified version of the mechanical throne, worn on the driver's head, and the neural connection between the knight and the mecha is achieved through the connection with the interface of the prefrontal lobe implant. Since this connection method does not require the driver to complete the qualification ceremony commonly used by the mechanical throne, the requirements are lower, so the knight squire is usually considered to be inferior and is often ordered around by the official knight.

The sources of candidates for knight squires were complex, most of them came from the aristocratic branches and the lower classes of society in the knight world, and some families even selected candidates from their own planetary defense forces and family guards. Therefore, it was very common for the entire family to not express any objection to the chief knight choosing an orphan from the city's poor as his knight squire.

However, entering the mechanical throne, driving a knight mecha, and even participating in the expedition ceremony on behalf of the master, this is a bit of an usurpation. Faced with the trouble caused by the chief knight, the surrounding knights were somewhat dissatisfied. They did not speak, but the emotions were clearly spreading in the neural links.

"alright."

Lord Sunderland interrupted:

"This farce ends here."

"Zofia, leave your mother's mechanical throne immediately and return to your broadsword squire. The family has its own rules. Even if you are truly gifted, you still need to go through a formal qualification ceremony before you can become a knight."

Viscount Sunderland delivered his verdict.

"OK."

Zofia obediently disconnected the link.

Mrs. Janiko did not stop her.

She was very satisfied. Through today's extraordinary actions, she had achieved her goal.

Introduce your adopted daughter in front of the patriarch.

…

All the knight mechas were lined up neatly, forming a shield wall and a marching formation, passing under the arch and coming to the elliptical platform suspended on both sides of the steep mountain plateau. The knights of the empire bent bundles of electronic fibers and expanded auditory sensors, becoming restless and eager for the upcoming battle.

Dozens of inter-orbital landers were waiting to take the knights to the cruisers in orbit. Most of the combat supplies had been prepared. Only the knights were left.

"The target is the Ni Deline sub-sector."

"Set off!"

......

(End of this chapter)