Deathwatch, a medal of honor outside of the standard livery, a winged sword emblem floating brightly on a dark green background on one shoulder plate, a primordial Space Marine, and a member of the kill team aboard the Shadow Hammer.

At that moment, Sahar, who was hiding in the shadows deeper, had put his hand on the handle of the blaster at his waist in as unobtrusive a way as possible. And, he bet, the other party must have done something similar from an angle he couldn't see. There was no real sound like that around him, but in his auditory hallucinations, the plasma pistol had begun to accumulate energy for the fire.

Astarte's reflexes are quick, and Sahar knows this first-hand; Ten thousand years later, their newborn big cousin reacted faster, and Sahar had been forced to figure this out for some time before. Theoretically, it only takes another 0.2 seconds for him to hit the opponent in the head with the gun in his hand at this thirty-meter distance, but theoretically, the opponent is faster-

- Actually, he doesn't have this 0.2 seconds.

"'Why am I here?'" Rika Fujimaru—Inquisitor Verchak, who sounded entirely ridiculous and impatient with what was happening right now, was exactly the same as himself—reacted quickly enough to cause the other two present to hesitate a little in their hands on their guns, "Did I think this was a question that could be seen at a glance, or did I have too many so-called 'useless ornaments' on me to attract your attention, and you didn't see the large, hard-to-recycle piece behind me, And then surprisingly reappearing on my ship's garbage? ”

Sahar suddenly felt that it seemed to be a very tempting option to dispel the hesitation that had just arisen, and to draw a gun and just shoot it at the back of this babbling little girl. But he did his best to restrain the urge and did nothing. In contrast, it was obvious that the other party was more confused by the smooth and logical response of "Verchak" in front of him. Sahar could smell this in the dark, but he wasn't naïve enough to think that the alarm could be lifted.

His hand was still on the handle of the gun, and he thought the same would be true for the other party.

"I have no offense, honorable lord inquisitor. I apologize if my wording is unpleasant to you. The Death Guard from the Dark Angel said this, in a polite tone, but not letting his guard down, "I just didn't react for a moment - shouldn't you be on the bridge of the ship, consulting with representatives sent by the Imperial Saints?" ”

This is a sign of obedience, but it is also a further temptation. Sahar thought that he might take advantage of the other party's wavering temptation to take advantage of the opportunity to physically eliminate this hidden danger for the whole plan, but to his surprise, in the next moment, the power armor on his body locked the joints without his intention and automatically turned on the mute mode.

Immediately afterward, a signal automatically connected to his communicator, and Sevita's voice came from inside: "The eldest lady can't speak to you in the current situation, she desperately needs to know who the name of this person in front of her is." ”

In a hurry, Sahar did not think much about the sight before him, and he replied obediently: "Curran Cadmus." We may be 'colleagues' in name, but unfortunately, our friendship ends there. ”

If Rika Fujimaru wanted more specific information from him, Sahar couldn't help it. Although he had been stationed on this ship for a while as an imposter member of the Death Watch killing team, he was an enemy to be watched out for at every turn. He might be able to secretly study where there are hidden passages on the black ship within the scope of his permitted activities, but it will be difficult to produce any significant results on this subject, let alone his colleagues who know him more often as overseers.

And at the same time as he answered Sevita, Vilchuk, played by Rika Fujimaru, was also answering the only uncertainty present: "It should be like this, and it looks like it should be like this now." Through the wireless signal, the Hastings kids couldn't tell the difference between a real person and a hologram, and Eliud and Rosalyn would take care of everything on the bridge for me. ”

Sahar knew both names. These were the two most relied upon inquisitors under Inquisitor Verchak, and she would take at least one of them with her in whatever she did. If Rika Fujimaru's so-called transformation technique could indeed make her read Vilchak's current superficial thinking, then it was only natural that she read these two names at the same time that Vilchak was arguing with these two trusted assistants for long-range communication.

It is not only words that can be faked by her, but now, the impatience on Riika Fujimaru's face, which is not at all like herself, but the unhappiness that is suppressed because she has to do it is exactly the same as Verchak himself: "As for this loser who should have died but did not die...... I admit that my decision to come here without informing anyone was a not-so-good decision made in a hurry. But I'm fortunate that your arrival more than makes up for it, Brother Cadmus. If you're not on a more important mission, I hope you can accompany me next. ”

"Of course, sir. As in duty bound. There was no emotion in Deathwatch's tone, and he didn't take his hands off his weapon, but he adjusted his stance and posture in the hallway, and began to make it clear to the others.

There is no doubt that this is a threat that has been put on the table. And this is to threaten who is present, obviously self-evident.

Sahar's power armor lock was lifted in an instant, again without his own will. It was impossible for him not to notice that his power-armored mech-soul didn't listen to him now, but he didn't pay too much attention to it - because he didn't expect Rika Fujimaru to suddenly invite Cadmus to accompany him, and now he really had to think about Mita to desperately restrain himself in order to control the desire to draw a gun and shoot.

"I advise you not to act rashly, I'm staring at you." Sevita's gloating voice came from the communicator, and he was completely locked in his armor with the mute mode turned on, "If you want to do something bad, I'm afraid the power armor on your body will rebel." ”

"I'll have a good 'talk' with you when I get back." Sahar said through gritted teeth in his armor.

They all knew that the "talk" between the Midnight Lords developed to the end and rarely ended with the premise of not seeing blood.

"Then I'll wait, if you come back with all your tails." Sevita sounded rather gloating, and his light-hearted attitude in the face of threats was also one of his arrogance, "I sincerely hope that you haven't changed your mind by then—by the way, I should have recorded your words so that you can hear for yourself how stupid you sound when you say it." ”

Sahar quietly tried to turn off the channel in the communicator, but unfortunately to no avail. No matter how many times he tried, his efforts were only reflected on the eyepiece: the servo persistently projected a few big words "insufficient authority" to him again and again, and nothing else changed. His power armor must have been somehow taken in the hours he had lost consciousness. He didn't know that there was such a technique, so it was a surprise to him, but given his status as a prisoner, it should make sense.

In the few tens of seconds he has been battling with his communicator and Sevita on the other side of the airwaves, Rika Fujimaru, who is a fox and a tiger, has relied on the little information leaked from Vilchak's superficial mind to finalize a course of action with Cadmus that sounds like this: go to the middle deck, go to Vault 44 to take out some things that must be used for the rest of the trip, and then head to the special prison where Mita Asane is being held - considering the existence of Sahar as an unstable factor, It's best for them to avoid people as much as possible during the process, and the fewer people who know about it, the better:

The man must have died, at least Verchak assured the Chaldeans that he did. Theoretically, this should be the end of the matter, but the Emperor's Dream is still quietly hanging over Baal's orbit as a pilgrimage icon. For an organization that has the power to operate the legendary Imperial Throne ship, no one can afford to bet on how powerful its members are. If the other party finds out that he is "lying", it will definitely be a bad debt again.

Verchak is indeed a powerful lord inquisitor, and has been operating in several nearby sectors for more than two hundred years, but that doesn't mean that she can automatically win a battle with other departments of the empire without a single soldier. It is a rational choice to avoid conflict in such situations, but ......

The moment he confirmed that the mute mode, which was not under his control, was still on, Sahar hurriedly spoke: "Verchak doesn't think so, that old witch is a woman who is completely arrogant and arrogant when she doesn't pretend—"

"You're thinking very carefully about it." There was no praise in Cadmus's assessment. He behaved like any dark angel should be, and it was difficult for others to figure out his mood and thoughts with just a few words.

Sahar wasn't sure if Rika Fujimaru had heard his alert. So far, the only voices coming from the communicator belong to Sevita. But apparently, even if Fujimaru didn't hear it, she realized the suspicion that still lurked stubbornly beneath Cadmus's calm words.

"Verchak" raised a brow, showing a contrived fuss, exactly like she would do in a social situation: "Oh my God, I thought you would be happy about it." I've finally listened to Brother Publius's annoying advice to me, haven't I? I know that you dark angels have a penchant for delving into all sorts of secrets, but Emperor Lord, Brother Cadmus, don't you have a better place to release this nature of yours? ”

Obviously, Inquisitor Verchak's thinking during the negotiation was a little more divergent than most people think, or maybe Rika Fujimaru was really good at searching for useful information in the empathy of séance. All in all, the girl was learning more than Sahar had expected at first.

In saying this, her tone is aggressive, and the weight of the condemnation is heavy. This makes her sound "Verchak", but not very "Rika Fujimaru". If it weren't for Sahar himself watching the incident of "Rika Fujimaru turning into Verchak after wearing a strange-looking exoskeleton armor", and being sure that he hadn't staggered his gaze for a period of time afterward, even he would have doubted that the inquisitor in front of him was genuine.

Cadmus apparently confirmed something, no longer questioning the decision of the "Verchak" in front of him that was not quite in line with his character, and bowed his head in obedience, and the three of them in the shadow of the black ship finally began to move according to the route they had planned.

Of course, Sahar, once again caught in the middle of the formation, watched out behind by the dark angels who were eyeing him, was not in a good mood. In addition, the mute mode on his power armor has not been lifted. Fortunately, he didn't have much to say to anyone other than Mita in the past on this ship, so Cadmus probably didn't realize that there was something wrong with his silence.

"I don't think it's a good idea to have this prisoner visit." Their path wasn't very silent, at least Cadmus was still trying to figure out the whole thing, "I don't want to criticize your decision, Inquisitor, I'm just thinking about your safety, and I'm going to have to seek advice on what will happen after that." ”

This gave Sahar some bad premonitions, but he couldn't ask without saying anything. And Vilchuk, played by Rika Fujimaru, just smiled at the front of the group: "There is no need for 'disposition advice' here - after he reappeared, he begged me once again to meet his fellow travelers on the road of betrayal." Considering that he did bring me some information related to the little girl's film, I thought it would be clear for him on the last journey. ”

This is an explicit statement that does not require any emotional intelligence to understand. Even knowing that the person who was speaking was not the real Inquisitor Verczak, Sahar stopped in shock. And in the next second, the sensors built into the power armor faithfully transmitted the touch of his back against the muzzle of the gun to his brain through the neural interface.

"I can understand you think it's funny, sir. Honestly, I thought so too. Cadmus's calm voice revealed a kind of helplessness that he had known to be, "But I still hope that you don't provoke this prisoner in the current situation. That's not smart for your safety. ”

The ultimate authority of the power armor is not in his hands, and Sahar still can't make a voice to the outside world. The plasma pistol against his back also prevented him from acting rashly, and he could only resist the desire to take physical violence with the last bit of sanity, shouting excitedly and angrily within his armor: "What does this mean?!" ”

"Be quiet, I'm not deaf. You ask me, who do I ask? Sevita's calm voice was particularly annoying at this moment, "Reminder, if you really want to see the person you want to see again, it's best to cooperate and play this scene to the end." And now, I'm going to unmute your mode. ”

Sahar took a deep breath and shouted out almost in retaliation the next moment after the corresponding light went out at the edge of his sight:

"What the hell happened to the witch?!"

Before anyone else could react, Sahar noticed but didn't notice that the communicator's volume had been significantly lowered. After the mute mode was lifted, Sahar's laughter and eating over the airwaves was still audible only to Sahar:

"Seriously, in the premise that the word 'last ride' suggests so obviously, you should worry more about yourself."

(End of chapter)