Vulkan: I'm Just a Recruit Before Him, the Era of Technological Explosion

The drop pod of the research vessel descended.

Talon and the two Salamanders Shield Guard brought by Vulkan stepped out of the drop pod deployed by the Imperium.

The battlefield had already entered the cleanup phase.

Transport ships whistled through the sky, and the soldiers aboard were clearing the planet of the remaining Chaos forces. On the ground, Ceramite tanks rolled over the terrain, with infantry following behind to sweep the battlefield.

The planet was polluted, littered with the wreckage of Chaos.

At the center of the battlefield, Talon spotted Cisrain.

He was a towering silhouette against the setting sun.

Vulkan also noticed Cisrain, who was conversing with Brown. Cisrain wore silver-white Power Armor inlaid with gold trim, and his blood-stained cape was a badge of victory.

It seemed he was the Governor the Blood Raven Chapter had spoken of.

Looking at the fragments of Chaos Space Marines scattered everywhere, one could simulate the scene of the battle.

One man, standing against an entire Chaos Warband and countless Chaos minions, yet remaining unscathed.

He was truly worthy of being recognized by Space Marines and by The Emperor himself.

Among the debris, there were even Daemon Engines still being consumed by flames.

"Replicate this in large quantities, equip it as quickly as possible, and then purge all the Chaos abominations hiding on this planet."

"Understood, Governor."

Cisrain handed the Warp Distortion Detector in his hand to Brown.

Once powered on, the Warp Distortion Detector suddenly began to wail.

Before anyone else could react, Cisrain stomped on a Chaos Servitor that had clearly been dead for a long time. The Chaos Servitor let out a shriek, and something seemed to shatter within the scream.

"Hmm?"

"The device in his hand can detect hidden Chaos entities?"

"Governor." Seeing a valuable piece of tech, Talon followed Vulkan to Brown's side. "Master Brown, what is this in your hand? May I take a look?"

"..."

"Talon, why are you back? Did your captain, Cyrus, take those two planets?"

"Uh..."

Talon wanted to say he had come to help, but it appeared that wasn't necessary; the Governor could handle it alone.

"..."

"Governor Cisrain, I am Vulkan, a Captain of the Salamanders Chapter."

Cisrain walked toward the factory district, with Talon and Vulkan following. "Greetings. I have heard about the Salamanders' betrayal, but we have no time for mourning. I recorded some things at the Warp gate opened on Ozrax. Brown, transmit the footage I recorded to them."

"Yes, Governor."

Brown transmitted the footage Cisrain had recorded on the battlefield to the two men.

Upon seeing what was inside the Warp, Talon was instantly shaken by the recording.

Vulkan, seeing the "Blood Host" gathered by the Slaughterfiends, was equally shocked. Such a massive number of Slaughterfiends was equivalent to thousands of Dreadnoughts.

And behind the control of the "Blood Host," there was someone else.

This person appeared to be the greatest traitor of the Imperium.

"You have one hour to handle your own affairs. Gather here in one hour, and someone will lead you to the conference room. We are out of time."

With that, Cisrain strode away, leaving Talon, Vulkan, and the others behind.

"Captain."

The traitor Vulkan had been dwelling on now seemed insignificant.

He had more important things to do; there was no time to wallow in the sorrows of the past.

"Captain."

"Xiuen, Bulun, go and assist them in clearing the battlefield."

"Yes, Captain."

"Talon." When Vulkan looked toward Talon again, the man had already left.

The post-battle cleanup was driving the logistics soldiers insane.

A group of logistics soldiers from Gamma World were trying to figure out how to pull a tank out of a deep crater. The soldiers who had fought the battle had it easy, but the logistics team was miserable. These tanks were built with Tier 2 Alloy, making them incredibly heavy, and without the tools from their homeworld, it was difficult to drag them out. They could only tie steel cables to them and have another tank pull them free.

"Danger!"

A scream rang out.

The cable holding the tank suddenly snapped.

If the whipping cable struck anyone, it would likely cut their body in two.

The logistics soldier who was about to be hit instinctively closed his eyes. When he felt he was unharmed, he opened them to see the tall Salamander, Xiuen, holding the snapped cable.

Another Salamander was pulling from the rear of the tank.

"Whew!"

The soldier let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you, thank you."

Working together, the group moved the tank. As the Salamanders Bulun and Xiuen walked past them, they said, "Be careful, soldier."

"Yes, my lords."

Vulkan looked at the burning corpses and the destroyed industry and battlefield.

If this had been under the control of the Imperium, everyone here would likely be dead.

The Imperium's approach to dealing with Chaos was extreme and effective, but it also caused the deaths of countless innocents.

After receiving the news, Talon had gone to investigate the site of the Warp rift.

There, among the piles of corpses, he found traces of the Blood Raven Chapter's missing Fifth Company.

He used a Gauss Ray to incinerate the figure whose head had been crushed.

Even within their own Blood Raven Chapter, there were traitors.

He wondered how many people could still be trusted.

"Lord Talon."

Talon snapped out of his thoughts as a new courier trotted over.

"You are Lord Talon, right? Great, I have a letter for you."

"Didn't I say? Why are you sending it to me again?"

"You must mean the previous courier. Sorry, sorry, my brother just passed away on the battlefield, and I've taken over his duties."

"Forget it, give it to me."

Talon took the crumpled letter.

After opening it, there were only a few short sentences.

"I received what you said from the courier Diego. Honestly, I was really, really angry when I heard it. I wrote so many letters, and you didn't even read one, and you even said I was too idle. Forget it, you were right, so I have joined the Osrax Defense Force. This should be the last letter I write to you before I leave the training camp. I know you still won't read this letter, but I will keep writing to you. Also, one day, I will stand before you with a rank higher than yours, and I will make you read every single letter I've written."

Talon looked at the courier.

"Only one letter?"

"Yes, my lord."

"..."

"..."

"Lord Talon?"

"Lord Talon?"

Someone nearby whispered a reminder, "Lord Talon, Lord Vulkan and the other two lords are waiting for you on the skyship."

Looking at the ruined battlefield, Talon let the letter slip from his hand. The wind blew, and the letter and his thoughts drifted away. He walked toward the skyship without looking back.

"Coming, coming!"

"Why are you so slow?"

"It's nothing." Talon boarded the skyship and watched the hatch slowly close. "Who are we going after?"

"Chaos."

After a brief moment of darkness inside the skyship, the lights flickered on, and under the power of the engines, it ascended rapidly.

In the conference room.

The lights came on.

Cisrain sat at the head of the table, with Brown on his left. The other seats were occupied by important ministers from the Gamma homeworld, and in the center was a star map of this Far East Frontier.

Gamma World existed in the cracks between the encirclement of Chaos, Orks, the Tyranid Hive, and the Tau Empire.

"Our population is far from sufficient. We need to establish contact with the human world at a faster pace."

Cisrain continued, "And the only place we can establish contact with is the Five Hundred Worlds of Ultramar, but that is conditional on breaking through the Chaos blockade."

"We need to take the initiative," Brown analyzed calmly.

An Imperial citizen was taking a stroll down a street in Macragge after the war.

He sighed, "Even the Five Hundred Worlds are like this; this Imperium is truly terrible."

Sicarius was furious upon hearing this, grabbed the man, and asked, "Which one are you talking about?"

"My lord, isn't there only one?"