Livingston Galaxy, on Raven.

A ten-man squad of the Astral Army assembled under the orders of Sergeant Bernal.

As the backbone of the Imperial Guard, the non-commissioned officers were responsible for the leadership of each squad, and most of the day-to-day operations of the troops fell on their capable shoulders.

"Grab your weapons!"

Sergeant Bernal looked at the unfinished appearance of these soldiers, and couldn't help but reprimand. And under his order, these soldiers immediately adjusted their posture, and finally had some elite appearance.

Although Bernal was still a little dissatisfied, he also knew that he could not rush the training of these soldiers. After all, not so long ago, these soldiers were just civilians on Raven.

They were recruits who had joined the Imperial army not long ago out of faith in the Living Saints and devotion to the Empire.

This kind of conscription clearly does not comply with the Astral Army's conscription rules.

As the elite troops of the Empire, after the Regent implemented the military reform, except for some Astral Army units such as the Katachan Legion and the Kadian Legion, most of the Astral Army troops are no longer recruited directly from civilians as before.

Only those soldiers who have served in the Planetary Defense Force for a certain number of years and have passed various examinations can be given the position of Holy Astral Army.

However, the current state of the Hazy Star Domain is extremely bad, and many Imperial worlds need military support.

After connecting with the Empire, the plight of other Imperial worlds has been made known to the Empire's higher-ups in the Livingston system. And they have an obligation and a responsibility to support other worlds.

But the problem is that most of the troops in the Livingston system have long been transferred to the edge of the Empire, and there is already a shortage of soldiers in the various imperial worlds, and these troops still have a lot of casualties in the previous Chaos invasion.

Therefore, in order to train enough troops with combat effectiveness as soon as possible, under the orders of the Living Saint, a huge conscription operation began in the Livingston system.

Out of faith in the living saints and loyalty to the Empire, these Imperial citizens chose to become glorious Imperial soldiers without hesitation.

In this dark hour, every loyal member of the empire must give his or her part.

Although the Imperial world in the Livingston system still does not have enough strength to support the outside world, under the leadership of the Living Saints, they are actively preparing for this.

The captain of these soldiers, Sergeant Bernal, has proven his dutifulness, loyalty, and valor in a series of previous battles against the forces of Chaos in the Livingston system, becoming an experienced veteran non-commissioned officer.

As a non-commissioned officer, he was assigned as the leader of each squad. In addition to leading by example, inspiring courage and awe on the battlefield, and instilling their wisdom and battlefield experience in their subordinates, they are also responsible for coordinating their own squads for daily training and other team actions in the Astral Legion.

That is, in addition to being their leadership role, Sergeant Bernal is also their instructor. A non-commissioned officer's tasks generally include training and educating his subordinates.

In situations like this, where the number of soldiers needs to be increased quickly, they will recruit enough recruits in a very short period of time to transform them from inexperienced civilians into professional Astral Army soldiers who are ready for battle.

However, at this time, the Livingston system is not only missing soldiers. In the Chaos Invasion, in addition to the heavy casualties of the soldiers, the deaths and injuries of hundreds of millions of Imperial subjects were the even more staggering number.

Whether it's post-war reconstruction, wounded care, or policing, all walks of life need people to carry out the work.

When the imperial officials around the Living Saints approached them for solutions to these problems and situations, the Living Saints proposed to let some of the soldiers support the reconstruction of the project, participate in the protection of key facilities, and participate in rescue and disaster relief operations.

So at this special moment, the Imperial troops, who had recruited a lot of manpower to train, also took on some of the responsibilities of all walks of life.

For example, the engineering corps repairs facilities, the medic treats the wounded, the chaplain cleans up the remaining chaos power, the Astral Army squad patrols the city, and so on.

The Empire's military not only trains its own professionalism in this diverse military mission, but also provides a precious sense of security to the Empire's citizens who have just endured a nightmare.

The team led by Sergeant Bernal assembled at this time in response to the call of the living saint and was preparing to carry out an inspection of an important facility.

Armed with his subordinates, a chaplain, and a senior engineer, Bernal made it through inspection and came to a row of huge buildings.

That's what they need to inspect – the Faster-than-Light Communication Forum, a huge facility equipped with advanced interpersonal communication devices.

The faster-than-light communication forum is not like those astral whisperers who can conduct interstellar communication with a single "miniature psionic biological computer", nor is it like the communication equipment that the Astral Army's communication soldiers carry on their backs.

It is a very large building, and many imperial officials worked here.

In the past, when everything was normal, they were responsible for the connection between the planetary capital Raven and the other imperial worlds, as well as Holy Terra. And its communication room is an extremely important infrastructure.

Due to the consideration of environment, management, security and maintenance, communication equipment is usually concentrated in the computer room of these specific environments, and the construction of a scientific and reasonable communication equipment room is the basis for the normal operation of faster-than-light communication.

There are many kinds of communication rooms, including access rooms, convergence rooms, and core rooms...... The equipment in each room is also very different. The core computer room can also be classified according to the type of equipment, including transmission room, exchange room, data room, power room, ......

For those soldiers who don't know anything, the computer room of the faster-than-light communication forum is like a huge and complex labyrinth.

However, Steve Jobs, a senior engineer who accompanied Bernal's team, would lead them on a tour of the large piece of machinery.

He had been involved in the construction of this important facility, so he was familiar with the place.

In fact, he is the central character of this mission.

Bernal's team was only here to take care of his safety, and let the engineers in his squad follow this Jobs to learn about engineering and maintenance.

"Are you ready? You will see the masterpieces of Imperial science and technology in communications! ”

Standing in front of the door of the computer room, Jobs looked at the twelve soldiers behind him with a proud face.

"I have no intention of striking you, Sage Jobs. But this "pride", it may have a problem, we are here to overhaul it. Now let's get the job done. Sergeant Bernal said with a blank face.

And Jobs, whom Bernal called a sage, felt very useful.

The Sage is a high-ranking member of the Order of the Mechanics and a true believer in the Creed of the Mechanics. These people are constantly improving and perfecting themselves in their field of expertise, making themselves masters in a certain discipline.

However, now that the Mechanism has become history, the sage does not represent an official position or title. It is simply an honorific title for a scientist and a recognition of his abilities.

But Steve Jobs only agreed with the first half of Bernard's words.

What do you mean "something may be wrong"? "One of Jobs' eyes was as big as the other mechanical prosthetic eye he had fitted." Yes, absolutely no problem! ”

"I haven't heard back from Terra in months, but it's definitely a matter of time flow! How could the machinery I designed fail inexplicably! ”

Seeing that Jobs still wanted to reason with him, Bernal pursed his lips and motioned for a soldier next to him to open the door. He didn't want to waste his time on this pointless argument.

"Of course, Jobs Sage. I hope that's the case, so let's go in and take a look. ”

Bernal walked around Steve Jobs, who was in front of him, and followed the soldiers who went to open the door.

"! I'm going blind! ”

A scream made everyone present immediately fall into a tense state.

Bernal, who had experienced the brutal battlefield, immediately rolled tactically, avoided the open door, and hid aside. Tempered by the melting pot of chaos invasion, he is wary of any possible crisis.

He even pulled the soldier in front of him who was covering his eyes in pain.

Although the soldiers behind Bernal failed to react at the first time, after seeing Bernal's reaction, they also immediately made tactical dodge moves.

A good non-commissioned officer can keep a squad united in the most terrible of situations, using his command skills, innate prestige, and earned trust to calm the fears of his soldiers and regroup the wavering ones.

Although this group of recruits is still a long way from elite soldiers, there is no problem in saying that they are qualified soldiers at the moment.

"What's that?" Bernal told the soldiers to dodge, thought.

Just now, through the cover of the soldiers in front of him, he also vaguely saw a dazzling dazzling light, but he couldn't fully recognize what it was.

"Could it be... Is it a demon? Bernal guessed in his mind.

Although the Livingston system has generally ended the invasion of demons, due to various reasons, there are still some demons who re-enter the imperial world through the subspace rift from time to time.

This is also the reason why the Empire sends troops to patrol the cities. On the one hand, it is to prevent rioters, and on the other hand, it is to guard against these demons who are still undead.

If a demon appears in the faster-than-light forum, then it would explain why no news from Terra has been received lately.

These demons must have destroyed some of the facilities in the computer room!

It's very possible.

You know, almost no one in the computer room usually comes, and routine inspections only check a part of the area at a time, and if there is a demon hiding here, it is really difficult to find out.

Moreover, Bernal recalled the previous demonic war, the crazy colored afterimages that swept through the chaotic battlefield.

It was Tzeentch's low-level demon, the Demon Dread.

The Dreadnode does not have a stable physical body, it is essentially a manifestation spell.

They always gather together in a cheerful, colorful horde of little monsters, jumping briskly, spinning in joyful circles, and when they are reduced to an afterimage in the middle of the battlefield, they will utter crazy words and jokes that are incomprehensible to themselves, and let out wild shrill laughter.

The dreadnoughts felt more joy as dazzling primordial sorcery leaped from between their outstretched fingers, screeching as flashes of magic swirled above their heads.

"There's a good chance there's a group of demons in the engine room!" Bernal was aware of this horrific fact in his mind.

He looked at the chaplain to the side, trying to get a definite answer from the other party. But Bernal suddenly found that Steve Jobs was still standing stupidly in place.

"It's broken! Jobs the Sage did not have military training, he did not have the consciousness to protect himself in the face of danger! "Bernal has just realised the situation.

It only takes a single spell for those fears to knock Steve Jobs to the ground. And without the help of Sage Jobs in this mission, then even if Bernal clears out the dreadnosaurs, he will not be able to get the faster-than-light communication forum back to work.

And just when Bernal wanted to risk being attacked and dragged Jobs behind cover, Jobs made a move that made him want to lash out.

He walked defenselessly to the door of the engine room, exposing himself to the enemy's view. Bernal could even see the dazzling colors of magic shining on Jobs.

But the imaginary attack was not presented.

I saw Jobs stick his head into the computer room to look left and right, and then swaggered out and came to Bernard's side.

"What are you doing? There's nothing in there, huh? ”

Hearing this, Bernal even suspected for a moment that Jobs had been blinded by the forces of chaos. But the chaplain told him that he didn't feel the demonic breath.

Ready to attack, Bernal poked his head out and looked inside the room.

Colorful lights pierced his eyes, but he didn't dodge them this time, because he could see that the lights were coming from the chassis and the various facilities inside.

"What is this? Some kind of heretical cult? ”

After carefully confirming that there was no danger, Bernal asked Jobs, who knew the facility best.

After hearing Bernal's words, Jobs jumped up and down angrily.

"You know what! This is the most advanced RGB technology! ”

"According to my calculations, it will increase the performance of these facilities by at least fifty percent!"

"Oh?"

After hearing Jobs's words, Bernard's face, which had been expressionless, finally showed a hint of surprise.

"How does this work? If this technology is so powerful, how is it that I have never seen it anywhere else? ”

However, Steve Jobs was a little embarrassed at this time, saying that everyone should still focus on the task.

"For now, let's focus on the task and check that the equipment is working properly."