Everyone on the bridge only felt the ship shake once, then arrived in another star system.
"That fast?" Harlan was a little surprised; in the blink of an eye, they were in another star system.
"Use that muscle-filled brain of yours to think properly." Erica, seeing the fussing Harlan, subconsciously moved away from the empty-headed creature.
"The faster the speed, the slower the time. We only felt an instant, but a long time has passed outside."
"This lady is absolutely right." Sophia opened the star map and recalibrated the time: "According to the comparison of starlight, five months have passed outside."
"We have arrived at Ma'en, here is its intel."
The Ma'en star system, the closest star system to Argent Nur, once served as Argent Nur's satellite world, primarily providing agricultural products to Argent Nur.
"The entire star system has four planets. Ma'en still has human civilization, and an alien species has also been discovered, but no intelligent machinery has been found yet."
"To Ma'en."
Blazkowicz's objective was clear, directing the battleship, still decelerating after exiting superluminal speed, to turn towards the main world.
On the main world of Ma'en, Musala calculated the daily resource expenditure within the fortress he had built.
Since leaving the Nur Ring, he had led the ring-belt residents to Ma'en, seeking survival in an agricultural world.
Those damned psychic traitors used a silicon-based virus in the Nur Stars, killing all artificial intelligence.
Musala, relying on the wisdom of the Iron Men, maintained agricultural production on Ma'en, ensuring humanity's survival.
He had watched for thousands of years, hoping for news from Argent Nur, but it never came.
In the last hundred years, some aliens came from other star systems, wanting to plunder the remaining technology of the Ma'en star system.
The Iron Men would never allow such a thing to happen! Ma'en belonged to Argent Nur, belonged to humanity!
He re-armed humanity with technology; even without the help of the Iron Man, the Iron Men would still guard the Nur Stars.
In a hundred years of war, resources were consumed more and more, and the aliens grew stronger and stronger. Musala felt he couldn't hold on much longer.
"Lord! Lord! Lord!"
An urgent cry came, and Musala felt a headache; that human child was always so eager.
He didn't even need to guess to know that the aliens had attacked again, requiring the allocation of material support.
"Lord! A bright star has appeared in the night sky!"
Musala's heart pounded, and he stood up, walking quickly outside. He knew what a sudden bright star in the night sky meant.
A spaceship had entered the Ma'en star system!
He hurried forward, picked up the human boy scout with one hand, walked out of the fortress, and looked up.
Musala suddenly knelt on the ground. He recognized that majestic silhouette; only that battleship had such a plasma stream – the Void Wanderer!
The Stone Man suddenly cried. He knelt on the ground, waving his arms at space, and suddenly burst into tears, his tired voice no longer able to hold back: "They're here! They're here! They've finally come!"
He cried like a lost child, who, bewildered in despair, saw his family come to pick him up.
The child holding a firearm beside him was stunned; he had never seen an adult so vulnerable.
"Beep~ Beep~"
Electronic static sounded from the radio, and Musala snatched the radio from the boy scout.
A rational female voice came through: "This is the Void Wanderer. We are human, and we come from Argent Nur."
Musala's hands trembled: "I am the Stone Man Musala. Sophia, after such a long time, to hear your voice again, I am in tears."
"So it's you." Sophia's voice was a little surprised; she hadn't expected to meet an acquaintance on Ma'en: "Then are you willing to return to Argent Nur's embrace?"
"Yes! I'm willing to do anything!"
Musala cried into the radio in his hand; he was afraid of losing Argent Nur again.
Then he saw a blue light shimmer before him, and a giant in armor, leading a group of warriors, appeared before him.
Beside the giant was a blue figure, Sophia.
Blazkowicz walked in front of the Stone Man. The biological flesh of Musala before him was aging, his face etched with weary lines, and his eyes filled with hopeful tears.
He helped the kneeling Musala up and said to him: "I am Blazkowicz, the current ruler of Argent Nur. I saw the message you left in the Nur Ring's control center."
Musala stared blankly at Blazkowicz, still unable to believe that Argent Nur had truly returned.
He didn't speak, but slapped the child's face, only confirming the reality before him when he heard the child's cry of pain.
"Overlord, please forgive my mistake. Leaving the Nur Ring was unavoidable."
Musala knelt on the ground, continuously recounting his faults, begging for the Overlord's forgiveness.
"You did nothing wrong; on the contrary, you did very well. Your decision saved many people!"
Blazkowicz pulled Musala up from the ground, gently brushing the weariness and dust from his shoulders.
Musala stepped back; he dared not defile the radiant person before him with his dirty body.
Blazkowicz, with an undeniable grip, pulled his arm, making Musala sit with him on a rock, and softly asked: "What happened here?"
In orbit, scans detected an unknown alien species engaged in combat with humans.
"They're Lizardmen!"
At the mention of the aliens, Musala's face was filled with hatred.
These aliens were not strong; in Argent Nur's heyday, even a peripheral Golden Men could decide the fate of their entire species.
They were a species that had just entered deep space, without even superluminal technology. Their only advantage was their immense numbers.
They came to Ma'en to fight humans, wanting to plunder the giant city-like agricultural machinery in the Ma'en star system.
For a young species, this was an enormous fortune.
To wage long-term war with humans, they even established nests and cities in their occupied territories.
As Blazkowicz listened, he also understood Musala's difficulties.
They left Argent Nur on a cargo ship, and by the time they reached Ma'en, only one in a thousand survivors remained.
After thousands of years of reproduction, the population had recovered significantly, but then the Lizardmen's plundering fleet arrived again.
"Hmm! I understand."
Blazkowicz asked Sophia beside him: "Sophia, how many enemies are in the Lizardmen city? Are there any humans?"
"Twenty million Lizardmen, with a few hundred human captives."
"Then what are you waiting for?"
Blazkowicz thought for a moment, then immediately ordered Sophia to do what needed to be done.
A few hundred humans for a Lizardmen city, twenty million aliens, all of whom are warriors—this matter required no consideration.
In orbit, the Void Wanderer's honeycomb deck opened, revealing the hidden lance of light within.
No turning or aiming was needed; the "guaranteed hit" weapon system only needed to fire.
A giant lance of light was seen firing, an orange-red energy beam curving strangely, landing on the surface of Ma'en.
A tremor came from the ground, along with Sophia's report: "The alien city is completely destroyed, with no residual pollution."
Musala fell to the ground, the sky-piercing lance of light once again making him recall humanity's past.
"Let's go, continue to the next planet."
This was just the beginning of Blazkowicz's conquest. The 64 main worlds of the Nur Stars still awaited his conquest.
Blazkowicz, like a raging fire, swept through the Nur Stars, conquering them one after another, inheriting the legacy left by humanity's ancestors.
As space fluctuated at the edge of the star system, a ship emerged from the Warp, returning to real space.
"We've gone too far this time, deviated from the main route for too long!"
On the bridge, as the Geller field lowered, the armor plates enclosing the bridge rose, restoring visibility.
The warriors of the Fifth Legion, as the Emperor's scouts, were swept up by a Warp storm and arrived in a distant star field.
According to the Terra War Council's demarcation, this was the northern Milky Way, far from Terra—the Halo Stars.
"There are ships fighting over there!"
The Legion warriors, through their bird-eye device, discovered two ships engaged in combat in the star system.
One was chasing, one was fleeing.
"My good brother Harlan! There's a Warp reaction at the edge of the star system; a battleship warped in."
Harlan was hunting down an enemy, a faction unwilling to submit to Argent Nur. Their space fleet had been shattered, and he was pursuing the remaining ships. "It must be the enemy's relief battleship! Brother Turing, aim well and hit them hard!"
Harlan was calling a certain Iron Man, Turing, his brother in the command center.
Facing the massive war, Blazkowicz awakened the Iron Man, asking if they were willing to continue their allegiance, and Argent Nur was willing to grant them equal personhood.
The Iron Man responded one after another, participating in the process of conquering the star systems.
In thirty years of conquest, Harlan and the Iron Man Turing had forged a deep friendship, addressing each other as brothers.
At Harlan's command, Turing manipulated the lance of light array, launching an attack on the ship that had entered the star system.
"Their ship is relic technology, more advanced than ours! Its range and firepower far exceed ours!"
On the Fifth Legion's battleship, the void shield flickered continuously. The enemy ship's firepower was too strong; it wouldn't take long for the shields to overload.
"Accelerate! Use our speed advantage! Ram them and board!"
Ultimately, the Space Marines of the Fifth Legion decided to get close and board!
As the two ships drew closer, the Fifth Legion's warship advanced from below in the spaceless void.
The plasma engine's jet stream, like a river of fire, ceased the warship's weapons, channeling all energy to the engines and shields.
Harlan's flagship was an ancient warship, equipped with powerful lance weapons. A single volley overloaded the Imperium's ship's void shields.
Under the Iron Man's precise control, heavy lances continuously bombarded the hull structure, melting the warship's outer layers.
"Brother Turing! Cease fire!"
Harlan saw the ship's image, gradually clearing on the holographic display as it exited the Warp interference zone, and quickly called out to his Iron Man brother.
The unknown warship did not resemble the Resistance Alliance's ships; it was an entirely different style.
While the ships of the alliance resisting Argent Nur were old, they shared a common technological heritage with Argent Nur, resulting in similar appearances.
The warship that suddenly emerged from the Warp into the star system had an appearance that completely deviated from that technological heritage, representing a different technological path.
The three-kilometer-long warship was covered in heavy armor, with macro cannons and lances protruding from its hull, presenting a fierce and wild aesthetic of violence.
While simple and crude, it was also evident that the warship was a mature industrial product, a result of mass production.
After a quick identification, Harlan immediately understood that the warship entering the star system from the Warp was not a Resistance Alliance vessel.
"Cease fire! Cease fire!"
Harlan's aversion to the Warp deepened; its foul energies caused too much disturbance to the real universe.
Without friend-or-foe identification, the detection array found it difficult to confirm whether a ship exiting the Warp was hostile or friendly.
In the Nur Stars, any warship entering combat without friendly identification was immediately classified as an enemy ship.
The strategy was to attack first, before the ship had fully re-entered combat posture after exiting the Warp, to seize the initiative.
By the time the holographic display fully rendered the ship's image, several rounds of lances had already been fired, overloading the unknown warship's void shields and melting its hull structure.
Harlan immediately ordered Turing to cease fire and said to him, "Send a communication, ask them where they came from."
"My calculations show they won't receive communications," the Iron Man Turing raised his hand, stroking the back of his head with his metal arm, his synthesized voice a little embarrassed: "I destroyed their communication array."
Harlan turned his head, his mouth twitching, a speechless expression on his face, looking at his Iron Man good brother.
"You said it yourself, when attacking a ship, hit the communication array first, turn the enemy into deaf-mutes so they can't contact allies or plan tactics." Turing looked at Harlan, shrugging his hands to indicate his innocence, explaining that everything was according to tactics.
"Well, you certainly hit it accurately."
Harlan looked at the holographic ship image; the warship's external equipment was mostly destroyed by Turing's precise firepower, like a burning piece of driftwood in space.
"I certainly hit it accurately!" Turing said triumphantly, his electronic eyes flashing, accepting Harlan's praise.
Harlan's already unpleasant expression grew even more speechless; Iron Men were indeed excellent at war, with incredibly powerful logical thinking.
However, at times, they would exhibit slight deviations in understanding human context.
But now was not the time to dwell on it; the warship was charging forward, as if determined to fight to the death.
"Send a light signal," Harlan said to Turing again, instructing him to control the ship's lights to send an inquiry signal.
Under the Iron Man's control, the warship's exterior began to flash a rhythmic light, inquiring about the ship's origin and allegiance.
Meanwhile, inside the Imperium's ship, its hull structure remained largely intact due to the "force field braces."
All external functions were lost, and various alarms flashed inside the warship. Imperium soldiers rushed to repair the ship in the compartments, trying to stabilize various systems. Twenty Space Marines gathered on the deck, preparing for a boarding action to salvage the losing battle.
The boarding craft was ready, and the Space Marines entered in an orderly fashion. As the warship moved to a suitable distance, macro cannons would cover the boarding party.
The enemy warship was unusually powerful; a decisive strike was necessary!
If all went well, they could seize that valuable relic warship as a trophy and a new flagship.
The Imperium personnel believed that no one could stop a Space Marine.
Suddenly, the warship, which had been under lance attack, stopped its lament; its trembling ceased.
The Space Marine Lieutenant leading the boarding party received a communication from the Captain in his helmet channel: "Sir, they have ceased fire and are sending a light signal."
The Lieutenant's voice was cold, suppressing the anger from the bombardment, and he asked, "What message are they conveying?"
The Captain looked through the window and saw the lights on the white warship flashing, transmitting some common messages.
Unintentional attack, mistaken judgment, stating purpose, surrendering resistance—common light signals could only convey brief messages; the specific light language depended on its compilation.
During the golden age of humanity, in addition to common light messages, there were even dialects for various star clusters.
The Captain pondered for a moment, trying to understand the light message as best as possible: "Sir, they indicate the attack was an accident, due to their mistaken judgment, and they are asking where we come from."
The Mortal Captain's translation was relatively accurate, and he carefully chose his words when relaying it to the Fifth Legion warrior.
"And what else?" The Lieutenant, a Space Marine with keen senses, heard the Mortal Captain's hesitation through the comms channel.
"They are telling us to surrender," the Captain sighed internally, revealing the full meaning of the light communication.
From his own consideration, the Captain actually felt this was a misunderstanding, as his own ship had intruded into the enemy's engagement zone.
"Impossible!" The Lieutenant's suppressed rage erupted instantly, his roar echoing through the warship: "We are the vanguard of the Imperium of Man, and we will never surrender!"
"We are the Emperor's Death Angels, bringing destruction to the enemies of the Imperium!"
The Lieutenant was the first to dive into the boarding pod, screaming in fury: "Brothers, board the ship! Let these enemies, who rely on their warship's might, see our true power!"
"Hoo-hah!"
The Space Marines cheered as the boarding pod's clamps lowered, locking them inside the compartment to prevent displacement from acceleration.
In the Space Marines' genes were etched the warlike instincts and indomitable will bestowed by the Emperor.
To ask a superhuman soldier to surrender? Absolutely impossible.
"Macro cannons and lances, salvo fire, cover the Astartes' boarding."
The Captain returned to his command throne and ordered all of the ship's firepower to open fire, a dense barrage covering the boarding craft.
Those boarding craft, carrying their deadly passengers, were the true killing blow.
Harlan's warship glided through the void, awaiting a response from the unknown ship, when suddenly he saw the opposing warship begin to move.
Macro cannons accumulated kinetic energy, lances began to charge, looking as if they were fighting for their lives.
"If they dare to open fire, we will retaliate."
Although he felt somewhat in the wrong, he had ceased fire and sent a communication signal, and the other side, after seeing it, was preparing to retaliate decisively.
Harlan felt the other side were tough guys and immediately held them in awe: "Don't hold back later; give them a dignified death."
Turing's electronic tentacles on his chest connected to the ship's computer, beginning to allocate energy to erect multiple shields, standing ready for the enemy's attack.
In the tense atmosphere of mutual defiance, the Imperium's lances struck first, orange-red energy beams slamming into the void shields.
"Return fire!"
Harlan didn't even need to give the order; Turing, with his rapid data processing, bombarded multiple weak points on the enemy ship.
The Imperium's macro cannons were dull and powerful, launching giant hundred-meter solid projectiles from electromagnetic accelerator barrels, accelerating them to one-tenth the speed of light. The Argent Nur ship's firepower was even more terrifying; on its smooth hull, grid-like decks opened up, revealing countless lances and long-range plasma weapons.
Amidst the dazzling light and macro cannon exchange, two boarding craft were hidden, moving through the dark universe under the cover of macro cannons and torpedoes.
"Boarding craft detected."
The ship's scanning array sounded an alarm, displaying unusual targets on the holographic map, indicating life signs within.
Harlan immediately zoomed in to examine, and the extraordinary shape of the small craft appeared, heading straight for the ship.
Two words immediately formed in his mind—boarding!
"Sentinels, attention! We have guests arriving on our ship!"
Boarding action. In the ancient times of Terra, during the Age of Sail.
In that era, cannon weapons were not advanced, so to quickly decide the outcome in ship-to-ship battles, sailors from both sides would swing across to the enemy ship using ropes to kill the opposing crew.
The Imperium of Man and the Nur Stars. The naval battle between the two sides was decided, and the Imperium's boarding action had begun.
The Emperor's Death Angels, carrying the Imperium's wrath, descended upon the enemy ships.
The boarding pods were slow, failing to trigger the void shield's reaction, and pierced the enemy ship's close-in defense zone like a sharp spike.
Harlan grinned, the twitching muscles pulling at the scars on his face, a terrifying, savage smile: "Let them in!"
Since embarking on the campaign to reclaim the Nur Stars, the Sentinels had not wielded their blades for a long time; most battles were fleet bombardments.
Rebellious planets and alliances quickly surrendered after their void fleets were defeated.
If there were any stubborn holdouts, seeing the landing forces deployed by the void fleet—a combined army of Iron Men and Sentinels—they too would be terrified, rationally choosing to surrender.
Now someone dared to board; they had to meet these tough guys!
Turing manipulated the shields to open a gap, allowing the enemy boarding pods to enter, then immediately closed it.
The landing pods rushed towards the ship's weak points, their mounted melta weapons melting through the battleship's hull, hammering into the ship's body like battering rams.
The moment the boarding pod's hatch opened, Space Marines surged out like hungry wolves, carrying boltguns as they charged forth.
Air pressure was rapidly leaking, but the Space Marines' magnetic boots were firmly planted on the ground as they quickly observed their surroundings to assess the combat environment.
What met their eyes was the bright and clean interior of the battleship, with a grid-patterned white floor and wide, aesthetically pleasing corridors.
The relic battleship's interior was spacious and tidy, unlike the cramped and dark ships of the Imperium.
The fierce Space Marines charged out, and seeing the scene before them, they were somewhat taken aback.
It felt as if they had come from a remote, wild world into a truly advanced civilization.
Facing corridors that extended to the left and right, the Lieutenant discarded his past experience and directly ordered: "Follow me! We're moving towards the bow to settle accounts with them!"
Normally, a boarding action should split forces, advancing towards important ship facilities to create chaos on multiple fronts and avoid being wiped out by the enemy.
Entering the battleship, the Lieutenant had a cunning idea.
He wanted to eliminate the command layer, seize this relic battleship, and then transfer personnel to leave this place.
The Space Marines immediately followed orders, accompanying the Lieutenant to the right, full of anger, heading to the bridge to settle accounts.
They jogged along, and the strange sights along the way intrigued the Space Marines.
Through the transparent side walls of the corridor, the entire battleship resembled a highly automated city, with automated machinery transporting shells or supplies up and down the ship.
There were no guards blocking them along the way, only machinery operating automatically.
It even gave them the illusion that this relic battleship might not be operated by anyone.
When twenty formidable Space Marines arrived at a hall along the corridor, it contained some cargo boxes and nothing else.
"Over there," the Lieutenant pointed to a passage on the other side of the hall, signaling his brothers to continue forward.
As they reached the middle of the hall, the airlocks they came through and the one ahead suddenly closed.
"Prepare for demolition."
The Lieutenant's order was simple and direct, his heart completely calm; Space Marines would not be trapped by a few doors.
He also understood that their activities were being watched by the ship's operators.
The opponent seemed to be toying with them like a cat with a mouse, attempting to mock the Emperor's warriors, the Imperium's Astartes.
However, the arrogant enemy didn't know that they weren't toying with a mouse, but with enraged Space Marines.
Harlan on the bridge was indeed observing them, his gaze fixed on the tall, swiftly moving intruders.
The intruders wore crude and savage power armor, with bulky and oversized power packs.
However, the people inside the power armor were highly efficient, with close and coordinated teamwork.
"Cover the Sentinels' entry and test their combat capabilities."
The lights in the hall suddenly began to brighten, immediately alerting the Space Marines, who raised their boltguns.
The gaze of all twenty of them was mostly concentrated on the two doors, as these were the only passages.
At the same time, they didn't forget to have a few eyes scanning the empty spaces, vigilant for possible unexpected situations.
"Stay alert, the enemy is coming!"
The Lieutenant growled in the comms channel, raising his plasma pistol with his left hand and activating the power sword in his right.
The brightness kept increasing, and the scene inside the hall gradually blurred in their vision; even the Space Marines' helmet visors couldn't filter out the blinding white light.
They instinctively huddled together, their helmet visors constantly switching perspectives, searching for enemies in the light.
Their implanted visual control organs began to overload in the super-bright light; the Space Marines felt they were in a white world, able to see only three meters in front of them.
Then their "Lyman's Ear" heard faint rustling in the quiet hall—twenty of them in total!
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
The savage, crude sound of boltguns rang out; without the Lieutenant's command, the Astartes fired towards where the sounds originated.
They listened intently, gathering the faint sounds in the white world, catching the explosions of bolter rounds hitting their targets.
However, they found nothing. As the dazzling white light gradually returned to normal.
Twenty warriors, clad in power armor and holding various glowing weapons, appeared out of nowhere in the hall, standing at a distance and looking at them.
They were also tall, their white power armor covered in battle scars, their gazes sharp as swords.
The white-armored warriors said nothing, raising their blue-glowing weapons and pointing at their opponents: "Capture them!"
The Sentinels had teleported into the hall. Harlan was very curious about these outsiders and wanted to capture them for interrogation.
Soldier against soldier, general against general, tough guy against tough guy, hero against hero.
The two sides, with great understanding, faced off twenty against twenty, each picking an opponent to begin the battle.
Boltguns roared, the large-caliber savage weapons auto-feeding ammunition, striking the Sentinels' dimensional shields, creating a blue glow that disappeared like a mud ox entering the sea.
The Space Marines' expressions changed; they quickly dropped their guns and drew their tactical knives, charging into close combat.
Plasma bolts were swallowed by the shields, and the Lieutenant, wielding his power sword, charged towards the Sentinels.
The spacious hall now seemed cramped, as forty superhuman warriors charged at each other face-to-face.
"For the Emperor!" The Space Marines' wild war cry echoed through the breathing grilles in the hall.
"We are the Blades of Argent Nur!" The Sentinels retaliated, brandishing their weapons and lunging forward.
When the two sides clashed, the Space Marines swung their knives, aiming for the joints of the white-armored warriors' armor, but their attacks were blocked by the weapons in their opponents' hands.
The two sides exchanged a brief blow, then immediately separated.
This situation happened simultaneously across the battlefield, surprising both sides—how could he keep up with my speed?
Some Space Marines even had their weapons severed by dimensional light blades in the first round of engagement.
"Interesting!" After a brief surprise, the Sentinels continued to wield their weapons, attacking the invaders.
Having witnessed the power of the weapons, the Space Marines retreated repeatedly, avoiding their sharp edges.
The situation in the hall was one-sided; the Space Marines' proud physical prowess was not superior, and their power armor and weapons were far inferior.
They encountered opponents they had never met before, slowly pushing the Emperor's warriors to the brink.
The Lieutenant was now in dire straits; his power sword had been cut in half by the opponent's lightsaber in the first round, and he was fighting with the broken sword, which was still imbued with a disintegrating force field.
The white-armored warrior's weapon was not only sharp, but his martial arts were also superb; he wielded his lightsaber, and the Lieutenant couldn't even touch him.
His sword grew shorter and shorter, and the Lieutenant was forced to turn and evade a crucial blow, exposing his entire back.
Then he felt his power armor grow heavy, his body's exertion losing synchronization with the armor, and he fell to his knees on the ground.
The Lieutenant understood that with the power pack destroyed, the power armor was a living coffin.
Such situations were commonplace in the hall.
The Sentinels' "Restraint" technique, with its eerie sudden stops and bursts of power, left the Space Marines unable to grasp their moves.
A seemingly unstoppable gun-blade, clearly aimed at the head, would suddenly lose force the moment the Space Marine braced to block it.
With a sudden reverse thrust, the gun's hilt would be brought between the legs, abruptly flipping the Space Marine into the air.
While he was briefly airborne and defenseless, the Sentinels would turn, move behind him, and sever his power pack.
The Space Marines were all disarmed of their power packs, some lying on their backs, some prone on the ground, and some still standing.
"Boasting about weapon superiority!" The Lieutenant gritted his teeth, pushing against the weight of his power armor to stand up from the ground.
"You are quite interesting," the Sentinels said, putting away his weapon and looking at the unyielding Lieutenant. "Even in martial arts alone, you couldn't beat me."
"Let's go." The Sentinels put away his weapon, certain that the invaders posed no further threat, and their armor was difficult to remove.
"What are you going to do?"
The Lieutenant stood with difficulty, panting, his voice hoarse: "We will never surrender!"
"You don't have a choice now!" The Sentinels who was speaking to him kicked him to the ground, looking down at the heavily armored warrior: "I can drag you, or you can walk up with dignity."
The Sentinels extended his palm, his meaning clear.
"I'll walk myself!" The Lieutenant slapped his arm away and struggled to get up from the ground.
"Take them."
The Sentinels escorted the captured Space Marines to the bridge from behind.
The Sentinels escorted the Space Marines, taking the elevator to the bridge, where a gigantic robot came into view.
The Lieutenant's helmet was removed, revealing a tough man.
He looked at the tall robot, his face changing drastically, full of scorn and contempt: "Abominable Intelligence!"
"Pah!" He spat in disgust onto the battleship's floor.
The robot ignored his insults, merely looking at the spittle on the ground, its eyes emitting blue scanning light.
"Saliva contains corrosive liquid, how interesting."
Turing's electronic voice was full of interest, his left hand rose and shot out flames, evaporating the corrosive spittle.
"Abominable Intelligence, what do you want?"
The Lieutenant's gaze swept across the bridge; there were very few personnel here, and the gunfire outside the viewport had stopped, yet their battleship had not sunk.
"Did you hear that? He called you 'Abominable Intelligence'."
Harlan grinned, stepping out from behind Turing, teasing his Iron Man brother.
"It doesn't matter." Turing shrugged in a human-like manner, then spread his hands: "He despises me, and I despise him just as much."
The Iron Man scrutinized the human before him, who had numerous signs of modification on his body, filled with deformed organs: "A messy modified human."
The Lieutenant was about to retort, to curse the Iron Man's betrayal, and at the same time declare himself a warrior shaped by the Emperor.
But his gaze was drawn to the scar-faced man in white armor; on his power armor's shoulder pad, there was a very familiar runic symbol.
That red runic symbol was very famous on Terra; it was the mark of the Twenty-First Legion.
It was a mysterious rune inscribed on the gene-seed of his cousins, a symbol of unknown meaning.
The Emperor was the first to interpret the mark; he personally named the Twenty-First Legion—Doom Slayer!
Those cousins were extraordinarily powerful, completely different from other Legions, as if they were another kind of creature.
He was very familiar with that rune; in his superhuman reflective mind, he immediately knew what he was facing.
It was very likely a son of the Emperor—a Primarch lost in the galaxy!
The Lieutenant's mind immediately became active; he could imagine the honor he might grasp.
The Imperium currently had only one Primarch, the Gene-Father of the Sixteenth Legion—Horus Lupercal.
The Primarch was found on the gang world of Cthonia; the Adeptus Mechanicus discovered and brought him back, allowing Horus to return to the Emperor's side. Since then, the Great Crusade had become even more fervent, but no other Primarchs had been recovered.
And now, the Lieutenant had a clue to a Primarch before him; his heart was filled with excitement, the honor of recovering a Primarch beckoning right before his eyes.
He did not believe in coincidence; in the star sea tens of thousands of light-years away, it was impossible for identical marks to appear.
It must be a Primarch!
"What are you looking at?" Harlan clearly felt that the captive opposite him was a bit smug, ever since he had looked at him.
Recalling the captive's gaze, Harlan tilted his head and looked at the mark on his own shoulder.
His expression changed, and he asked in a low voice: "You recognize this mark?"
1
Harlan was always particularly attentive to matters concerning Blazkowicz; the light in that man's eyes did not seem false, he recognized this mark!
"Cough~ cough~"
The Lieutenant cleared his throat, trying to make his voice clear, and looking at the mark, he said: "We are from Terra, we are the Emperor's warriors."
"As for that mark…"
He looked around, still feeling somewhat uneasy: "I must meet its owner before I can reveal it to you."
The Lieutenant thought this was the safest approach; after all, the existence of the mark indeed proved that the Primarch was connected to them.
But what exactly the connection was, he was a bit unsure, so he would keep the white-armored man in suspense until he met the Primarch.
"Terra?" Harlan frowned at these two words, looking at the man before him.
As early as the day Blazkowicz was crowned, the Navigators had said that Terra had risen again, and their arrival was foreseeable.
He just hadn't expected the people of Terra to arrive so quickly, extending their reach to the northern galaxy in just thirty years.
The Sentinels on the bridge, hearing that people were from Terra, also perked up.
"The Emperor?" Turing the Iron Man stroked his iron head, stating its opinion: "Sounds like a dictator."
"Shut up! Intelligent machine."
Perhaps seeing the mark, the Lieutenant's tone became much more polite, but equally full of anger: "Your soulless mouth is not worthy of calling him." His resentful expression was as if Turing had done something incredibly rebellious.
"Hey~ I just said 'The Emperor!'" Turing's electronic eye swiveled, looking at the indignant modified human: "The Emperor! The Emperor! The Emperor! The Emperor! The Emperor!"
"You—"
The Lieutenant's face turned purple, and he panted heavily; if not for his reservations, he would surely rush up and fight the machine to the death.
"Enough!" Harlan spoke, stopping the farce, and asked the outsiders: "What is your purpose here?"
The Lieutenant lowered his head, a look of defiant resolve on his face.
He knew in his heart that his ship had been blown here by a Warp storm, with no other purpose.
But now there was one: to welcome back a Primarch.
"Do you think we can't make you talk if you don't?"
Harlan looked at him, puffing out his chest to exert pressure, and said in a threatening tone: "We do not fear Terra."
"You can try!"
The Lieutenant was fearless, meeting Harlan's threatening gaze directly: "I will say nothing until I meet the owner of the mark."
"As for them—" He looked at his battle brothers behind him, scanned them, and then proudly said: "They, like me, are fearless!"
"The Emperor's warriors never fear death; we are born to die for it."
The Space Marines echoed him; they never feared death, for death was their only way to serve the Emperor.
"Quite spirited." Harlan snorted, but deep down he somewhat admired these warriors: "What is your name?"
"Lieutenant Gereon of the Imperium of Man's Fifth Legion."
Harlan nodded silently, also knowing where he came from.
Imperium of Man, it sounded like a righteous name, and should pose no threat to Blazkowicz.
"Lock them in the cell, and let's return to Argent Nur."
Harlan ordered the ship to return. He was also very curious about Blazkowicz's origins, and whether there was any connection to the Imperium of Man.
"Brother Turing." Harlan gently called the Iron Man, and said to it seriously: "Contact the other fleets, tell them to come and guard this ship, and don't let them escape!"
As Blazkowicz's protector, Harlan thought long-term; if they dared to make any move after meeting Blazkowicz, he would silence them!
Soon, a battleship came to rendezvous, and after explaining a few things, Harlan embarked on his journey back to Argent Nur.
"Brother Gereon, is that true?"
After being locked in the cell, a Space Marine couldn't hold back and quietly asked Gereon.
They had also seen the mark on the white-armored warrior's body; it was indeed the emblem of the Twenty-First Legion.
With the Space Marines' eyesight and memory, there would be no mistake in seeing or remembering it.
"Brother, what are you talking about?"
There were Legion brothers in the team who were born in the void and had never seen the Doom Slayer's mark, so they were naturally curious and immediately asked Gereon. Gereon pondered for a moment, knowing they were constantly being monitored.
Dragging his powerless power armor, he walked to his brother's side, squeezed close, and wrote a few words in his hand—Primarch.
The battle brother's body trembled, and he nodded silently, squatting in the corner of the cell.
When they were first captured, the Space Marines had been planning an escape, to send word back to the Imperium and let the War Council prepare early.
Now? Even if those white-armored warriors tried to send them away, they would shamelessly stay.