220: Chapter 221 Starport Deal

What drove Chief Librarian Asio to the brink of despair most was...

Once this splinter fleet of Tyranid tendrils gorged themselves on nutrients and converted all the biomass of those planets into forces,

and when they closed in once again to press toward Occludus,

the size of the swarm would undoubtedly experience a terrifying exponential surge!

By then, relying solely on the few Space Marine companies of the Death Spectres Chapter left behind to hold the line, even if every last one of them fought to the death, they would likely find it difficult to hold this final line of defense.

"We must secure reinforcements," Chief Librarian Asio muttered to himself, staring at the star map.

Just then,

the heavy blast door of the war room slid open.

The Chapter's communications specialist, Communications Expert Anticus, walked in with a hurried expression.

"Lord Chief Librarian!" Communications Expert Anticus bowed his head slightly in salute. "The Ashen Claws have arrived."

Hearing that name,

Chief Librarian Asio immediately raised his head, a complex light flashing in his eyes.

"Who is leading them?" Chief Librarian Asio asked in a deep voice. "Is it Narrat or Nehart?"

"Replying to my Lord, it is Narrat."

Hearing that Narrat was leading the delegation,

Chief Librarian Asio let out a barely perceptible sigh of relief.

The Ashen Claws—this was a dangerous entity classified as a renegade Chapter in official Imperial records!

Their progenitor Chapter was also the Primarch Corax's Raven Guard.

Yet, these fellows had broken away from Imperial control, spending the entire year on the fringes of the sector doing bloody dirty work akin to space pirates.

However,

in the dark, lawless wildlands of the Ghoul Stars,

the Ashen Claws, the Carcharodons Chapter, and the Death Spectres Chapter had secretly maintained a shady underground trade network.

This was, in fact, a choice born of sheer necessity.

The Death Spectres were located in a remote area, suffering constant casualties year-round, and desperately needed a large population to replenish their battle-brothers;

The Carcharodons roamed the void, needing professional Tech-Priests to repair their ancient armor;

And the Ashen Claws, as renegades, were extremely short of pure gene-seed to sustain their Chapter's lineage.

In short,

these three successor Chapters, all sharing the blood of the Primarch Corax,

though they looked down upon each other's doctrines and styles of operation, and even despised one another,

were forced by the pressure of survival to hold their noses and engage in dirty exchanges of interests.

Furthermore, the internal composition of the Ashen Claws Chapter was extremely complex.

It was primarily composed of three factions.

The first faction consisted of old-school battle-brothers led by Narrat.

Following the Horus Heresy during the Great Crusade era, they mistakenly believed their Primarch had died in battle.

Wanting neither to fall into corruption with the rebels nor to remain in the increasingly decaying Imperium, they chose self-exile.

The second faction was made up of madmen led by Nehart.

These were ruthless figures who had been personally exiled from the Chapter by the Primarch due to their excessively cruel and brutal combat styles.

The final faction comprised Space Marines who had escaped from other traitor legions.

Unwilling to turn to Chaos and not daring to join the Imperium, they could only band together for warmth and survive as one.

The reason Chief Librarian Asio breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing that Narrat had come to negotiate

was mainly because Narrat was relatively rational—an old fox who could sit down and talk business.

But if Nehart had come, that guy was practically a pure lunatic like Chapter Master Tyberos of the Carcharodons Chapter, devoid of all reason and ready to start hacking at the slightest disagreement!

There would be simply no way to communicate.

"Let's go," Chief Librarian Asio said, donning his robe. "To the spaceport, to meet this old friend."

Occludus, Monastery Orbital Spaceport.

A heavy Thunderhawk Gunship, its exterior scarred with craters and dark scorch marks, slowly touched down on the landing pad.

On the side of the gunship was painted an emblem of an ashen claw print, half-peeled away.

The ramp lowered.

The Ashen Claws' captain, Narrat, strode down the ramp accompanied by two fully armed renegade veterans.

Narrat's physique was a size larger than even an ordinary Space Marine.

He wore a patched-together, battle-scarred suit of ancient Mark III Power Armor.

His armor bore none of the purity seals representing Imperial honor; instead, it was hung with xenos skulls and various unknown spoils of plunder.

As a veteran who had truly lived through the Great Crusade era and survived the ancient seas of blood and mountains of corpses,

Narrat had not a shred of reverence for Holy Terra in his eyes, only the cunning and coldness of a space pirate.

Chief Librarian Chief Librarian Asio went forward to meet him.

Neither side performed any of the Chapter protocols customary between Space Marines, skipping even the polite pleasantries.

In this dark, lawless territory, they despised each other.

The two walked straight into a signal-shielded chamber.

"To put it briefly, you've seen the scale of the swarm."

Chief Librarian Asio sat at the metal table, cutting straight to the chase.

"The Death Spectres need the Ashen Claws' fleet and fire support to help us intercept and destroy those Tyranid vessels trying to encircle us in the outer sectors."

"I saw it."

Narrat pulled out a chair and sat down, letting out a raspy sneer.

"Which is why I'm preparing to have my brothers fire up the Warp engines and Warp right out of this godforsaken grave! We are free raiders, not bound by your Imperium's foolish morality of fighting to the death. If the bugs want to eat the Ghoul Stars, let them. What does it have to do with me?"

Narrat leaned back in his chair, his fingers tapping on the tabletop:

"Chief Librarian Asio, give me a reason to stay. If you're just going to talk about the survival of humanity, you can shut your mouth."

Chief Librarian Asio's expression remained unchanged.

He knew the mercenary nature of these renegade veterans all too well.

"'When the lips are gone, the teeth will be cold'—you should understand this ancient proverb."

Chief Librarian Asio stared into Narrat's eyes, calmly laying down his bargaining chip,

"If the Death Spectres fall at Occludus, this sector will be completely reduced to a digestion pool for the Great Devourer. When that happens, you Ashen Claws will lose the only port in this sector that can provide you with a safe harbor."

"And more importantly!"

Chief Librarian Asio emphasized his tone,

"You will completely lose the only stable source willing to hold its nose and trade pure gene-seed with you!

Without gene-seed, how many generations can your already struggling, dilapidated Chapter endure? Are you going to raid the Departmento Administratum's Black Ships? Do you dare bear the cost of a full-scale purge by the Inquisition?"

Narrat's tapping fingers froze.

His experienced eyes narrowed slightly, like a venomous serpent weighing its prey.

Chief Librarian Asio's words had accurately struck the Ashen Claws' greatest vulnerability for survival.

As a renegade Chapter, they could not obtain gene-seed from official Imperial sources.

To prevent their numbers from dwindling to extinction, the underground trade with the Death Spectres was a lifeline they could not afford to abandon.

A brief, deathly silence fell over the chamber.

Only the howling of the wind in the ventilation ducts could be heard.

"I want thirty sets of the highest-purity gene-seed, plus two thousand rounds of specialized bolt shells and three hundred barrels of refined cesium fuel from the Occludus armory."

Narrat opened his mouth wide, demanding an exorbitant price and taking advantage of the crisis,

"Half as a deposit upfront. Once we get the goods, my fleet will immediately open fire to intercept the bugs."

The corner of Chief Librarian Asio's eye twitched slightly. These pirates were absolute vampires! Thirty sets of gene-seed were enough to train a full squad of initiates. But in the face of the Chapter's annihilation, he had no room to bargain.

"Fine."

Chief Librarian Asio gritted his teeth and nodded,

"Deal. I'll have the quartermaster deliver the goods to your gunship shortly."

A transaction of interests was thus agreed upon in just a few words.

The two had just stood up, preparing to end this uncomfortable meeting.

*Bang!*

The door of the chamber was violently pushed open by the communications specialist, Communications Expert Anticus.

Having rushed in too quickly, this usually steady communications veteran even bumped into the doorframe.

He clutched a freshly decrypted astropathic array battle report in his hand, his expression looking as if he had witnessed the most unbelievable miracle in the Warp.

"Lord Chief Librarian! Top-secret frontline intelligence!"

Communications Expert Anticus's voice trembled with excitement. "The Yuanwang Star System... has held!"

"What?!" Chief Librarian Asio spun around and snatched the parchment from Communications Expert Anticus's hand.

Beside him, Narrat also stopped in his tracks, frowning as he leaned in.

The two quickly scanned the contents of the parchment. Then, the two leaders, who had seen plenty of life and death, both showed deep shock on their faces that they could not conceal!

How was this possible?!

Over the past few days,

those places on the outer fringes of the Ghoul Stars, which had regular Imperial Navy forces stationed and even heavy fortress worlds, had fallen in less than a week under the onslaught of the swarm!

And what was that dilapidated peripheral system called Farlook?

In their minds, it was nothing more than a backwater where even the light of the Astronomican could not reach, populated only by Hive City underbelly gangs and a ragged Defense Force!

Such a garbage system, completely marginalized by the Imperium, had miraculously held out against a direct assault by a hive fleet?!

In a war where everything was lost, this battle report of the sole successful defense seemed incredibly precious and striking!

After a brief moment of shock,

an uncontrollable wave of excitement and fanaticism quickly surged across Chief Librarian Asio's pale face!

"To withstand a direct assault by the swarm solely on the strength of a local Defense Force, without any Astartes support..."

Chief Librarian Asio quickly pictured the scene in his mind and subconsciously came to a conclusion,

"The people there must be fierce and tough! That place must breed a class of perfect native warriors who are skilled in combat and possess wills of steel!"

For the Death Spectres, who were constantly short-handed and suffered high casualty rates among their initiates,

what did this mean?

This meant that the Yuanwang Star System was absolutely a prime, untapped recruiting ground, one in ten thousand!

If they could recruit the youths from there into the monastery for augmentation, the Death Spectres would undoubtedly experience a leap in combat capability!

"Once this wave of the swarm's offensive recedes, I must personally assess the strategic value of that system,"

Chief Librarian Asio resolved silently.

"If the quality of the recruits is truly that exceptional, even if it costs us, we must send a company to station there and keep that recruiting ground firmly in the Chapter's hands!"

Meanwhile, the space pirate Narrat standing beside him

had a completely different attitude and train of thought.

Narrat looked at the battle report, the corner of his mouth curving into a sneer full of disdain.

As a veteran who had experienced countless brutal betrayals,

he utterly despised the Imperium's current decaying Defense Force structure from the bottom of his heart.

"What 'native warriors skilled in combat'? Pure nonsense!"

Narrat scoffed in his mind.

"A bunch of Hive City trash armed with scrap metal, using their heads to fight a hive fleet commanded by a Norn Queen? This is sheer luck!"

He quickly arrived at another, far more reasonable deduction.

"It must be those lucky locals who dug up some STC Standard Template Construct left behind from the Golden Age in some ruins! Only by relying on such powerful ancient technology could they possibly keep the bugs out of orbit!"

At the thought of the terrifying value of an STC template, enough to buy an entire sector,

a red light of greed flashed in Narrat's single remaining eye, impossible to conceal.

"This choice piece of meat cannot be missed,"

Narrat plotted silently.

"Once this battle is over, I'll take the Ashen Claws' fleet to the Yuanwang Star System under the guise of a supply trade to test the waters.

If the other side has exhausted their foundation fighting the bugs and is just a paper tiger... then don't blame me for being ruthless. I'll just plunder their ancient tech and leave!"

The two men, each harboring their own hidden motives, were on completely different wavelengths, yet both had developed a profound interest in the Yuanwang Star System.

Just as they were lost in their respective calculations,

the communications specialist, Communications Expert Anticus, cleared his throat and dropped another bombshell.

"My Lord, there is one more thing."

Communications Expert Anticus swallowed and reported in a low voice,

"We just received a Warp transmission. The Chapter Master of the Carcharodons, Chapter Master Tyberos 'the Red Wake', has expressed his willingness to answer our call for aid. He is currently leading his main companies to Occludus to reinforce us!"

Hearing this name,

the expressions of both Chief Librarian Asio and Narrat instantly became incredibly colorful.

Chief Librarian Asio felt a wave of headache.

Chapter Master Tyberos, that bloodthirsty madman who was as massive as two iron towers, possessed formidable combat strength, but he made absolutely no distinction between friend and foe on the battlefield. Once he went into a killing frenzy, he would even hack down his own allies!

Meanwhile, Narrat's face instantly turned as black as the bottom of a pot, the corner of his eye twitching wildly!

"That damned shark bastard dares to come?!"

Narrat gritted his teeth.

Years ago, the Carcharodons Chapter had used the shameless pretext of an honor duel

to forcibly plunder a sacred Primarch relic that had been enshrined for ten thousand years from the Ashen Claws' vault! This was a debt these renegades had kept close to their hearts ever since.

Now, these three Raven Guard successors, who despised each other, held grudges against each other, and had even robbed one another, were actually going to fight the bugs back-to-back under the same sky!