Chapter 62: The Inquisition Stereotype

Chapter 62: The Inquisition Stereotype

A perfect void battle.

An overwhelming victory.

And in Romulus's eyes, such a void battle was quite boring.

Of course, boring was a good thing. It meant low stress, low casualties, and competent allies. At first, he had thought they would need to launch a boarding action in melta-cutters and get into a melee with Word Bearers. But in the short time the Inquisitorial fleet had spent pinning down the enemy, the Explorator fleet's dense plasma fire had overloaded their void shields, and a few volleys from the Nova Cannons had turned their warships into space junk. The final Desolator-class battleship had its core quickly overloaded by the boarding assaults of the two Astartes Chapters. Then, after the brothers had withdrawn, it began to disintegrate under the continuous barrage of the Holy Edict's lance batteries.

As for the Word Bearers who had boarded their own ship... let's just say they had died with a certain flair, at the very least providing Romulus with some practical case studies for the countless firing-solution simulations he had run.

It had been, perhaps, a little too easy.

The shattered wreckage of the warships drifted through space. The metal, thoroughly corrupted by the forces of Chaos, was of no salvage value in the current situation.

Romulus, who had been hoping to learn a thing or two, looked at the battle report. He then looked up at the Inquisitorial cruisers in the distance, which were now hunting down the scattered escort frigates. His mind was filled with nothing but the doctrine of superior firepower. He was convinced that the best way to win a naval battle was to produce a massive fleet, equip it with the strongest cannons, and staff it with the best computer-adepts.

As long as your fleet was bigger than the enemy's, your range was longer, and your computational power was sufficient, you could win with ease.

And hadn't this all been a bit too smooth? To gain orbital supremacy so easily... wouldn't the ground war be a cakewalk?

But reality is rarely as simple as one hopes.

Arthur and Ramesses, having finished the interrogation and cleanup, returned to the bridge together.

"Got everything," Ramesses said, uploading the interrogation logs through their internal channels and tossing a physical backup to Romulus. He then casually swiped a handful of cherries from Karna's fruit platter. "Mmm, these are sweet."

"You just grabbed a third of a Nurgling," Karna said, narrowing his eyes.

"..." Ramesses's throat moved. Suddenly, the cherries were very hard to swallow.

Romulus just shook his head and began to read the interrogation report.

[Word Bearers]: A joint force composed of four warbands. 1,218 Chaos Space Marines (369 KIA). Fleet assets (destroyed).

[Objective]: To set a trap, lure the Nemesis Chapter's patrol group, use Chaos sorcery to possess the members of the three companies, and reclaim the Gloriana-class battleship, the Chronicle of Ash.

[Planetary Control]: Insufficient. No control over key surface installations (e.g., ground-based void shields, anti-aircraft facilities).

[Strategic Deployment]: Unknown. After the fleet successfully hijacked the cruiser Pride of Terra, a large-scale conflict erupted on the surface. They have lost contact with their ground forces. Last known contact confirmed ground forces were located in the ruins of the Upper Hive's Munitorum sector.

[Cooperation with Inquisition]: Yes. A unilateral non-aggression pact was made with an Inquisitor calling himself "The Seeker."

"These Word Bearers are pretty useless," Romulus said after finishing the report. Besides their own internal plans, did they know even less about the planet than the joint fleet did?

"Right? I'm starting to regret it. Had to destroy a batch of hard-won Pokémon just to get rid of the evidence," Ramesses said with a look of pity. He had spent a long time "taming" those daemons, the kind that would have permanently dissipated if they didn't contribute to the Four Gods' KPIs soon. And he had wasted them on this paltry amount of information. After all, everyone knew what daemons and Chaos traitors were like. Even after the work was done, you couldn't just let them go. They had to be killed.

"This is the result of our interrogation of the Word Bearer," Romulus announced, sending a redacted version of the report—one that obscured the Word Bearers' true objective to a simple desire to possess the Nemesis Chapter warriors to cause greater destruction—to the rest of the joint fleet.

Aglaia was the first to speak. "Lord Kybal, respond." Aglaia was self-aware. As the instigator of this operation, it was natural that the forces under her command should bear the risks.

"Lady Aglaia, Captain Kybal was unfortunately killed in the recent engagement. I am his temporary successor. You may call me Ashton."

"..." Aglaia felt the gazes of everyone on the bridge converge on her, and she felt as if she were sitting on pins and needles. She really hadn't intended for anything to happen to Kybal. The workplace bullying she had endured back in the Great Library had been far worse than this, and those rivals of hers were still living comfortable lives in the Administratum on Terra.

But you just couldn't account for the paranoid, divergent thinking of these Inquisitorial zealots. For these noble scions, a captain who had openly defied an Inquisitor who held their entire family tree in her hands could not provide them with even a sliver of security.

Hmm... I guess I can understand it. If I were in their shoes, I would have had him eliminated too.

Aglaia rubbed her temples. The time she had spent on the Dawnlight seemed to have made her soft. But then she felt the gazes behind her, which now seemed to say, 'Oh, so this is what the Inquisition is like,' and her face darkened again, a new resentment welling up for the people who had secretly executed their captain.

Damn it. It's people like them who ruin the reputation of the Ordo Originatus.

Cursing silently, Aglaia spoke. "Captain Ashton, how long until the fleet cleanup operation is complete?"

As her words fell, the Inquisitorial fleet, which had been mechanically hunting down the remaining resistance, suddenly entered a high-speed cruise, beginning to annihilate the enemy with a complete disregard for their own damage.

About fifteen minutes later, a nervous report came through. "Lady Aglaia, the fleet has completed the cleanup operation. Please provide your next instructions."

"..." Aglaia felt the gazes behind her shift to, 'Just as I thought. This is exactly what the Inquisition is like,' and she let out a weary sigh. She could handle anyone looking at her like that, but she didn't want these four ancient warriors to see her in that light.

"Verify the operational status of the planet's orbital defense platforms. Prioritize the use of Chaos warship wreckage, and test the identification codes of both," Aglaia said, glancing at the transmigrators. "You are authorized to move the decoy ships."

"Thank you for your mercy, my Lady."

Captain Ashton breathed a sigh of relief. He silently passed a list of names that needed to be secretly dealt with to his subordinates, then dispatched a shuttle to the decoy ship.

About an hour later, two empty hulls, one Chaos and one Imperial escort, were released into the planet's orbit.

"Report. No high-energy plasma reaction detected."

"Continue," Aglaia said, her expression numb as she felt the vibration from the device on her wrist.

(End of Chapter)