The solemn atmosphere of the cathedral was sharply contrasted with the luxury of the Governor's mansion. The air was thick with censer smoke and the scent of ancient scripture. However, this reverence was quickly shattered.
Robert had just stepped inside when Calibron Laan, the tormented Sector Governor, practically lunged at him in a state of frantic disarray. His silk garments rustled on the floor. His expression was twisted and frenzied, his eyes bloodshot, and his lips cracked, as if he hadn't slept for days.
He grabbed Robert's vambrace, his fingernails almost digging into the hard Ceramite armor, his voice shrill and urgent: "Governor Robert! I know who you are! I know the Helldivers! You are experts at fighting xenos! Be it Orks, Chaos, Eldar, or the recently appearing Tyranids, they have all been defeated by your hand. You can definitely deal with this new xenos threat, right!"
He was incoherent, begging with a childlike hysteria.
Robert was momentarily caught off guard by the man's state, but he quickly regained his composure. He subtly withdrew his arm, assessing Laan—the picture of someone on the brink of a nervous breakdown.
He spoke in a tone reminiscent of a psychiatrist: "Of course, Governor Laan. We are here precisely to solve this problem. Please calm down. Can you tell me exactly what trouble you have encountered?"
Laan found his outlet and frantically poured out the memory of his nightmares. He was rambling, his thoughts jumping incoherently, describing whatever came to mind: from the cold stone chamber to the metallic skeletons, from the foul-smelling raw flesh to the silent threats. Every detail was magnified by his terror. However, Robert, familiar with the original lore, mostly understood what he was describing.
Having heard on the way that the cause of this man's madness was a series of nightmares, Robert was mentally prepared. But when confirmed by Laan himself, his mood shifted subtly, and a sense of gravity settled on his brow: "The Necrons actually awakened early... but why?"
Robert, unaware that the Necrons were still dormant and that the entire situation was a planned maneuver, began brainstorming. He frowned and asked Laan, "Have the Binary Stars shown any recent anomalies?"
Laan, mid-ramble, was confused by the seemingly irrelevant question. He stared blankly, a hint of confusion in his eyes, clearly unable to follow Robert's line of thought. He made an effort to think, however, and replied, "No anomalies at all—if anything were wrong with them, it would certainly be delivered directly to my desk, and I would be sure to be informed."
"Send a task force over to collect detailed data," Robert said, his gaze already turning toward a nearby aide of Laan's.
Laan nodded. Though he didn't understand the reason, he had come to view the Helldivers as his last straw. He immediately recovered a fraction of his gubernatorial authority and forced himself to order his subordinate to execute the request. The aide departed to carry out the order.
Robert continued to think. The premature appearance of the Necrons must be related to the variable that was the Helldivers, but the Helldivers had never intersected with the Necrons before. His frown deepened; the chain of logic seemed broken.
Just then, a flash of inspiration struck Robert. He suddenly remembered that the Helldivers and the Necrons were not without intersection—to deal with the Dark Eldar in the past, a player had intentionally provoked a Greater Daemon of Slaanesh. The players were subsequently mistaken for Necrons by the Greater Daemon, which even believed their Flayer Curse had deepened, taking on a madness-inducing form of cosplay.
Could it be that—Chaos was behind this? Robert's expression turned volatile. If so, it made sense. He knew Chaos wouldn't just sit idly by and not sabotage humanity during the battle of Plantidium; they were waiting for him here!
The more Robert thought about it, the more troublesome the situation became. He had initially assumed this battle would be a straightforward confrontation between humans and Necrons, like a knightly duel.
But with Chaos inserting itself, the situation instantly became complex, and Orpheus turned into an unfathomable cesspool. The intervention of Chaos meant that everything could become twisted and unpredictable.
Moreover, such a secretive conspiracy must be Tzeentch's handiwork—was that blue-feathered bird finally unable to suppress its urge to stir the pot, now moving to disrupt the Astartes Legion reconstruction plan and the Macragge-Perditia agreement?
Tzeentch, who had done nothing in the Warp and was inexplicably being pinned with a grand conspiracy, was unaware that he had become Robert's suspected mastermind. If he had known, he would certainly have shouted, "Yes, this is part of the plan!"
"This matter..." After much deliberation, Robert's gaze swept over the devout believers in the cathedral, finally settling on Laan. He spoke in a deep voice, "Has the Ordo Malleus come to investigate?"
Robert was not, of course, hoping for the local Inquisitors of the Ordo Malleus; while they were experts in counter-daemon operations, they were slightly underqualified to deal with such a massive conspiracy. He intended to use the Ordo Malleus to bring the Grey Knights into the fray.
"The Ordo Malleus?" Laan was surprised, blinking blankly. He clearly didn't understand why Robert would ask this. "Does this involve psychic matters? But Master Vera said my problem has nothing to do with psykers."
Robert's eyes, which had been drifting due to thought, instantly locked onto Laan with the sharp intensity of a hawk. He subtly reached for his bolt pistol at his waist, gripping the handle, while using his peripheral vision to gauge where the suitable escape routes were in the cathedral: "Excuse me, who is this Master Vera?"
The pampered Laan did not realize that his position in Robert's mind had just shifted from "pitiable man on the verge of collapse" to "potential Chaos cultist pending execution."
He answered earnestly, with a hint of reverence for the Master: "Master Vera is a Psyker Master I found. Although he only recently gained prominence on Amarah, his psychic attainment is virtually master-level."
Robert mentally cursed the Inquisition of Orpheus for being so incompetent as to allow an unknown Psyker to cause trouble around the Governor. Yet, he spoke calmly: "Is that so? I will personally pay him a 'visit' later—now please excuse my departure, Mr. Laan. I need to leave for a moment to arrange the Helldivers' deployment area and defense planning."
He had made his decision.
"Uh, alright," Laan was uneasy, feeling that something was wrong but unable to place it. "It shouldn't take too long, right?"
"Haha, of course not, speed is of the essence, Mr. Laan," Robert had already retreated to the door. "I will be back in one Terra hour. In the meantime, you must not go anywhere. Just stay safely under the light of the God-Emperor."
One Terra hour later, the cathedral doors were violently thrown open. The Helldivers, Inquisitors, and Battle Sisters rushed in.
They immediately pressed Laan against the wall, and before the Governor—who was utterly unaware that his palace had been turned into a cult headquarters by that Tzeentch follower—could even react, his head, filled with terror and confusion, was blown off with a single bolt, blood splattering, ending his miserable life.
Having uncovered the conspiracy and backed by the Helldivers and the Ultramarines, Robert logically took command of Orpheus' defense. He quickly issued concrete orders, no longer allowing the forces gathered on Amarah Prime to simply sit around and rot.
To the disappointment of the people of Orpheus, however, the command was not to return to their posts across the sector and restore the order ruined by Laan. Instead, it was to begin deep and extensive excavation of trenches and tunnels on Amarah Prime, seemingly intending to turn Amarah into a Fortress World.