The Loser Nest City world, in the northern reaches of Segmentum Obscurus, along the Nachmund Gauntlet.
Alvin had thought that was all the bad news. He hadn't expected another huge "surprise" today: Loser might actually have a Necron Tomb World.
The Necrons had an extremely ancient history. Billions of years before humanity was born, they used the power of the C'tan to turn their flesh into Living Metal. Though they lost their emotions in the process, they gained Eternity and immortality. After defeating the Old Ones in the War in Heaven and sealing away the C'tan, they became the undisputed rulers of the galaxy!
But defeating the Old Ones and the C'tan had cost the Necrons dearly, leaving them unable to fight the Aeldari who had survived the War in Heaven.
So, under the Silent King's orders, the Necrons chose to lie dormant, sinking into a long slumber.
But Alvin had never imagined that this godforsaken place would have a Necron Tomb World hidden in it!
Could it be that the Emperor Lord had noticed how well Alvin had been doing lately and decided to crank up the difficulty?
No, it probably wasn't the Emperor Lord. Alvin gritted his teeth and raised a middle finger in his mind. No need to ask. Something this damn twisted had to be Tzeentch's doing.
In the Warhammer Universe, there was an unwritten rule.
Whenever you thought something was a conspiracy, nine times out of ten, you could safely blame Tzeentch.
"Hey, you want this thing or not?"
The stall owner saw Alvin holding the disc without reacting for ages and couldn't help waving a hand in front of his face.
"I do, but there's something I need to ask first." Alvin took a deep breath, weighed the disc-shaped device in his hand, and asked, "Where did you find this? Can you tell me exactly what happened?"
Normally, Necron Tomb Worlds were hidden in hyperspace. They couldn't be discovered unless they awoke from their slumber.
How could a few bounty hunters possibly find a Tomb World?
Of course, there were exceptions. Certain unusual circumstances could cause a Tomb World to leave hyperspace and appear in realspace before the Necrons had awoken.
So the first thing he needed to find out was whether that Necron tomb had awakened.
That was crucial!
If the Necrons had awakened, Alvin would rather risk being sent to face Exterminatus than stay and take an Imperial Black Ship off-world.
Being discovered as a Psyker by the Imperium didn't necessarily mean death. But staying on a planet where the Necrons had awakened meant certain death. If he was unlucky, he might even find that dying was a luxury.
He didn't want the Necrons to capture him for experiments and implant Mind Trap Scarabs in him, turning him into a puppet.
"Of course, but..." The stall owner smiled, narrowed his eyes, and rubbed his forefinger and thumb together, giving Alvin a knowing look.
All right. That was very Warhammer.
Alvin pinched two ten-crown coins between his fingers and handed them over reluctantly. "That should be enough, right?"
"Praise the God-Emperor. May the God-Emperor bless you." The stall owner grinned as he pocketed the twenty crowns, then began his tale. "A few days ago, some of us bounty hunters took a contract. Our target fled into the wasteland outside the Nest City. When we chased him into the Paris Mountains, we accidentally fell into a cave."
As he spoke of the cave, a hint of fear showed in the stall owner's eyes, and his voice began to tremble. "It was pitch-black in there. We couldn't see a thing. At first, we didn't think there was anything dangerous about it. But while we were looking for a way out, people... people suddenly started disappearing!"
"Disappearing?"
Alvin's pupils contracted. Had the Necron Tomb World really awakened?
Judging by the stall owner's description, they had either stumbled into the Tomb World's hyperspace, or the tomb's Canoptek Scarabs had dragged them away.
Should he get in touch with the Imperium's Black Ship fleet right now?
"Yeah, exactly! One moment they were there, and then you'd turn around and they'd be gone!"
The stall owner swallowed, his face deathly pale. He glanced around, then leaned closer and lowered his voice. "That damned cave was like a Daemon. It devoured every living thing that went inside. There were more than a dozen of us, but only a few made it out. It was terrifying."
"That's all? Then where did you get this thing?"
Alvin eyed the stall owner suspiciously. Somehow, he felt there had to be more to the story.
If you wandered into a Tomb World, you wouldn't make it out—not as a bounty hunter, and probably not even as an Astartes. And this guy didn't look like someone who could have escaped a Tomb World.
"Ahem. I actually tripped over it while I was running away. Something felt off, so I picked it up and shoved it in my pocket." The stall owner rubbed his nose, looking embarrassed. "But I can guarantee this thing's no ordinary trinket. It's worth at least three hundred crowns!"
That was true. Anything made by the Necrons couldn't be ordinary.
Forget three hundred crowns. If he gave it to someone in the Adeptus Mechanicus who knew what they were looking at, it could be worth thirty thousand—or even three hundred thousand.
Alvin rubbed his aching temples and said helplessly, "First of all, nobody even knows what this thing is. Three hundred crowns is too much. I'll give you a hundred. I'm just curious. Otherwise, you can keep it. How about that?"
"Deal!"
Alvin had expected to haggle some more, but the stall owner agreed without hesitation. "It's yours. One hundred crowns!"
The speed of the man's change of heart stunned Alvin. He stood there, dumbfounded, for more than ten seconds.
In the end, he took the disc, paid the stall owner 250 crowns, and left the Black Market with the "Blessed Censer" and the "Necrotech Scarab."
After all that, he still hadn't figured out whether the Necron Tomb World in the Paris Mountains had awakened. Alvin sighed, another shadow settling over his heart.
The cultists were still a problem, and now there were Necrons too. This was enough to kill a man!
"Nothing but bad news. Can't there be one piece of good news?"
As Alvin complained, he suddenly heard the voice of the "Navigator System."
[Ping~]
[Respected Navigator, a new world has been discovered for you. Would you like to travel there?]
The exploration was over?!
At last, a ray of sunlight broke through the gloom that had hung over Alvin for days.
One of the few bright spots among all that bad news!
He looked down at his wrist, and his personal status panel appeared.
[Navigator: Alvin] [Race: Human/A-class Psyker] [Faction: Imperium of Man] [Occupation: Scavenger] [Anchor World: None] [Remaining Energy: 0 units] [Remaining Source Power: 3000 units] [Current Status: New world explored. Ready to travel at any time]
This exploration had taken about ten days. Would every trip take this long, or was this one an exception?
"Decline. I'm not going yet."
Alvin declined the Navigator System's offer. If he suddenly disappeared, who knew what Father Aruman would suspect?
From his last trip, he knew that the Time Flow Rate between the two worlds was 1:1. If he disappeared for a whole month, Father Aruman and Tuck would notice something was wrong, no matter how easygoing they were.
So he had to come up with a halfway believable excuse to get out of it.
He ran through possible excuses in his mind.
Besides, the gear he'd bought from Tuck at a steep price was still sitting in the chapel.
Today's read-through stats would directly determine whether the story got a recommendation on Friday. I really hope we can push them higher OTZ
Before you continue