When Guilliman pushed open the door marked: Governor Inside, Do Not Disturb, he saw the largest and most luxurious lounge on the warship.
Mimic had not yet returned from Chagatai, so Guilliman did not greet anyone first. Instead, he walked straight into the bedroom at the very back of the lounge.
Qin Mo lay on the sofa. In front of it sat the very old, primitive device he had custom-made for playing video footage. Its enormous screen, perhaps a thousand inches wide, displayed a first-person shooter game.
The game's UI showed Caldor's appearance, along with the various weapons and equipment that could be assigned to him.
"Caldor once told me that he kept inexplicably receiving large transfers from the Tyran Sector in the Bank of Macragge." Guilliman sat on the sofa beside Qin Mo. "Could it be payment for using his likeness in this game?"
"It was." Qin Mo equipped Caldor with a Heavy Bolter.
Guilliman watched for a while, then sensed Qin Mo's mood and asked, "Are you thinking about what the High Lords told me earlier?"
Guilliman then told him what he had heard from the High Lords.
Though Guilliman had only just learned of that disgusting affair, it had already happened. The Tyranids must have informed Qin Mo long ago.
"Yes." Qin Mo nodded.
"What do you intend to do? What do your people think?" Guilliman asked.
In that instant, the Primarch's mind came up with countless possible measures the Tyranids might take.
For example, assassination—slaughtering the Governor's family to the last.
Or using a fleet for armed intimidation.
But either approach would create "cracks" in the balance Guilliman had worked so hard to maintain.
"That Governor who threatened others by killing civilians registered an enormous corporation." Qin Mo stared at the game screen, controlling Caldor as