Chapter 98: You Offended a Magos and You Think You Can Leave?
"Is it confirmed?" Omega shot up from his mechanical throne, hearing Fenni's warning.
The Inquisitor pointed to the fleet information on the holographic projection. "Many Inquisitors have devoted their lives to researching the origin of this Iconoclast-class destroyer. Its design is similar to various small frigates produced by the Imperium, but the Imperium has never produced this model. The main users are pirates and other lawless groups. Although a few Rogue Traders also possess them, they dare not use them openly in Imperial space. We have also issued a warning, notifying all merchant ships in the vicinity not to approach the planets on the trap route. The only ones who would dare to come to Barratt at a time like this are those pirates. Only these vultures would want to take this opportunity to make a score."
"Be vigilant. This destroyer is very dangerous. The reason it is favored by pirates is because it has a firepower that is disproportionate to its size, as well as extreme speed. They are like a wolf pack, using their speed advantage to cooperate and hunt targets much larger than themselves. With enough of them, they can even sink a battleship."
Fenni's words made Omega a little nervous. He knew nothing about naval combat. Faced with the sudden appearance of pirates, he had no confidence at all. Before leaving Teyedan, the Archmagos had wanted to assign him an experienced captain, but his idea had been to fire from a distance and run if he couldn't win. The ones who drown are the ones who can swim. With a capable captain, he might not be able to resist the urge to go head-to-head. But now, with the pirates here and his men on the ground, he had to fight, even if he didn't want to.
"Fenni, the pirates' speed... it's too late to evacuate the men on the ground. Can the Deathwatch deal with them?"
"Impossible. There's only a 10-man kill-team here. Their ship can't handle them."
Seeing that he couldn't count on anyone else, Omega was filled with regret. He slapped himself in the face. "Serves you right for being so arrogant!"
The Inquisitor, seeing him about to hit himself again, quickly grabbed his hand. "Omega, calm down! Don't forget you are their leader!"
At this point, Omega knew that regret was useless. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and then said, word by word, "Breathe in... breathe out... a Greater Daemon fell at my hands. I can still deal with these second-rate thugs." When he opened his eyes again, the Inquisitor found that the little cog-head she was familiar with was gone. In his place was someone with the same appearance, but with a blood-red glint in his eyes and an aura of killing intent that made her tremble. She asked, her voice shaking, "Omega, are you alright?"
Omega smiled. "I'm fine. It's been too long since I've had a fight. I've almost forgotten the feeling. Let's go and meet those vultures."
"Relay my orders! All hands to battle stations! Unlock all weapon limiters on the Cogboy! I will purify these heretics with the fire of the Omnissiah! Notify all personnel on the ground to assemble and take cover! Be safe!"
"As you command, Magos Omega!" x n
The Inquisitor's thought: Did he just say a Greater Daemon fell at his hands?!
"Captain Balthasar, are we going to make a fortune this time?"
The pirate captain stroked his well-groomed beard and said with a feigned elegance, "Haha. Look at you all. How much you make depends on how quickly you lazybones work."
"Heh heh, don't you worry, old man. We'll definitely empty the Planetary Governor's palace."
"Don't just think about the treasure. Haven't you heard it's all Genestealers up there now? Be careful you don't earn it and not have a life to spend it. If you get bitten by a Genestealer, don't say I didn't warn you," Balthasar reminded his overconfident subordinate.
"Understood, Captain. You won't have to lift a finger—"
"Enemy attack!"
The blaring alarm cut off the sycophantic pirate's words. The surprise on the pirate captain's face lasted for less than a second before he was already issuing orders. "Disperse immediately! Raise the void shields! I'd like to see who dares to attack our Skull Pirate gang!"
If Omega had heard the pirate captain's words, he would have surely told him that with such a generic name, he was destined for failure. And indeed, these pirates were not very successful.
"That's it? You wasted my emotions," Omega said, sitting on his mechanical throne, looking at the pirates he had wiped out with a single shot. Then he glanced at the Inquisitor, as if to say, Why were you so alarmed? Was it worth it for this level of trash? My face still hurts.
Fenni's face flushed. She was a new Inquisitor. She had never been in a naval battle. The only reason she could identify the other party as a pirate ship was because of the countless data-slates she had memorized. But who was to tell her that the Cogboy's augur-array had a much longer range than the pirates', and what was that "Empyrean Shroud" thing that could make such a large ship invisible?
The Inquisitor had only seen Omega order the "Empyrean Shroud" to be activated, and then all the ship's systems, except for the power system, had gone silent. They had silently crept up on the pirate fleet, and then, while the pirates were eating hot pot and singing, had fired a Nova Cannon. The near-light-speed projectile had given the pirate fleet no time to react. The massive explosion had enveloped more than half of their ships. "Deactivate the Empyrean Shroud! Raise the void shields! We're moving in," Omega commanded.
"Yes, Magos Omega."
Fenni, afraid that the little cog-head would get carried away, quickly advised, "Omega, isn't it a little dangerous to go in now?"
But Omega just waved his hand dismissively. "It's fine. A wreck like that is no threat to us. Don't worry, I'm not being arrogant. This is based on an objective analysis of their ships' performance."
"Alright..."
Balthasar's flagship was, of course, the strongest ship in the Skull Pirate gang, which was why it had not been completely destroyed by the explosion. The pirate captain, who had been awakened from his unconsciousness, clutched his bleeding head and roared, "Who was it?! Who attacked us?! Fire back! I'll skin them alive!"
"Captain, we should just try to escape. We've lost contact with half the fleet after that attack. There are only four ships left that can still move!"
"What?!" The horrified Balthasar knew he had run into a tough one. The vengeful pirate had no thoughts of revenge now. He just wanted to escape. As long as he could get away, with the treasure he had hidden, even if he couldn't make a comeback, he could still live a life of luxury in another sector for a few generations. "Quick, quick! Have them come and get me! What are you waiting for, you idiot?!"
Seeing his subordinate holding the comms unit and not sending out a distress call, the anxious pirate captain snatched it and was about to call for help. But his movements froze when he heard the sound coming from the comms. He knew they were finished. Because the sound coming from the comms was: "011011011011..."
The pirates surrendered. It wasn't that they didn't want to fight back or run away, but that they couldn't. The Cogboy's broadband canticle projector had flooded all their communications with the hymns of the Omnissiah. The jamming system had created a fierce and ever-changing energy field that had directly burned out the augur-arrays of any ship that had intentionally or unintentionally scanned the Cogboy. Deaf and blind, the pirate ships had no choice but to surrender. These were all preparations Omega had made for his journey through the stars. It wasn't that there were no ships that could defend against these methods, but they certainly did not include these pirate ships.
"You're the pirate captain?" Omega asked, looking at the kneeling Balthasar.
The pirate captain was silent. He knew he was going to die. But the next words from the child-like little cog-head made him feel that death might be a luxury. A fate worse than death was his end.
"Hmph, a tough guy, huh? I, your Magos, appreciate tough guys. Someone, take him away and turn him into a servitor. Let this tough guy serve me well in the future. Remember not to use any anesthetic. Otherwise, it wouldn't be worthy of a tough guy's status."
Hearing this, Balthasar's face changed drastically. He immediately begged for mercy. "My lord, I beg you, give me a quick death!"
"In your dreams! If you get a quick death, I won't be happy."
"Someone, take him away!"
"Magos, I beg you, spare me! I have treasure! I have treasure!"
Ignoring the struggling and shouting pirate captain who was being dragged away by his guards, Omega left the interrogation room with a satisfied expression. But he had only gone a few steps before he ran into the Inquisitor. He was about to greet her, but she spoke first. "Magos Omega, how long are you going to continue this boring charade?"
"How is it a boring charade? I am saving a sinful soul," Omega retorted.
Fenni didn't know what to say to him. It had been a month since the pirates had appeared. In this month, whenever Omega was bored, he would drag the pirate captain out to play with him. Why "play"? Because Omega would wipe the pirate captain's memory each time, making him only remember that he had been captured by a cog-head. Then Omega would use all sorts of wicked ideas he had come up with to scare the pirate captain.
Was he cruel? He only talked, he never did anything.
Was he merciful? He did it over and over again.
The Inquisitor, after searching her mind for all the adjectives she knew, could only find "boring" to describe Omega. How bored must a person be to use such a precise memory-wiping technique on an unpardonable pirate, and just for the purpose of tormenting him?
"Here's the data on the pirate's treasure."
"Oh, thank you. By the way, do you want this Balthasar?"
"No. The Inquisition doesn't take in such trash. Why the sudden question? Have you had enough fun?"
"Err... it's a waste to kill him, but it's useless to keep him. So I thought I'd let the Omnissiah purify him."
"Purify?"
"Yeah."