Warhammer: Start with a dog

-

The shock wave of time slowly spreads along the river of time.

A stone broke the river surface reflecting the beautiful scene.

The ripples of the helium flash will flicker like butterfly wings in the universe ten thousand years later.

——————————

"Um?"

Honso, who was carefully staining samples on slides in the pharmacist's lab aboard the Destiny Steel, made a guttural sound of confusion.

Was he dazzled just now?

The vision in front of his medical goggles suddenly seemed to be double, as if due to astigmatism.

But that's impossible.

He blinked again and his vision was normal.

But out of professional caution, Hong Suo still asked the pharmacist's power armor to start self-test immediately.

The test results were as he expected. Both the power armor itself and his own health status were normal, except for one value.

“Hmm…?” Hong Suo frowned and tested it again individually.

"…My gene mutation level…has decreased? That's impossible."

————————

Gou slammed the table with gritted teeth. In front of him sat some of the ship's natural crew members and some people who shouldn't be here at all - the Iron Ring Mechas had been urgently released to every corner, carrying the orders of the Lord of Iron, to check every corner to see if there were any crew members or equipment that shouldn't be there.

And now the monitors on the ship are filled with wonderful scenes:

Six Belisarius Cawls were staring at three Galipo Decima in the armory. The main reason was that the blood and flesh ratio of these six Cawls was just right from more to less, which was simply a transition textbook between the biological mages and the ruling mages within the Mechanicus, indicating that they might have come from six different times or that they were simply the great mages of a certain time who divided themselves a little too much and still lived that long.

Captain Walter on the bridge reported that the bridge was now constantly flashing with the old distribution pattern of the past, and he could vaguely see the machines and operators of the past walking around on the bridge like ghosts. He also saw another captain on the mechanical throne;

The Twelve Temples Council Hall, which had become the Destiny Steel War Chess Game Club, was now filled with many warsmiths and company commanders wearing coarse linen robes decorated with patches of chain mail. These ancient warriors looked on unaware as strange Astartes wearing unprecedentedly beautiful and advanced power armor or white fine linen robes appeared beside them. They just minded their own business, talking or simulating fighting each other with chess pieces made of wooden blocks, while people ten thousand years later also observed them curiously;

Because different space folding schemes were used in many places during its construction, the space-time phantoms currently appearing in various places on the Destiny Steel are not the same - fortunately, this seems to be one-way at present, and only people now can see the phantoms of the past flash by, and there is no situation where they can stay, talk or have physical contact.

But it is hard to say whether this situation will continue to deteriorate.

"We can't let him mess around with time on that end! Look! This is what's going to happen! And he was only technically gone for a mere nine minutes!"

Perturabo BC bared its canine teeth and threateningly placed its long furry mouth against the Human Emperor.

On the neck of a pigeon in a cage.

Normal humans can't do this, but the length of the Border Collie's muzzle makes up for this distance very well.

This fearless pigeon still showed a little uneasiness when a Border Collie, a specialized airport bird-repellent dog, approached it.

It shifted its paws on the perch, making cooing sounds.

"Don't play dumb, old man! Hurry up and get him - get Ramizane Kalosini back! I can tell with my toes that it was you who did it! It was you who rang the Ishtar Bell that hadn't rung for a long time!"

"Goo-goo? Goo-goo?"

Perturabo BC cursed, looking dangerously at the huge laboratory crucible beside him - which now contained a large amount of clean water, some kind of shriveled red berries, ginger slices, spices and other suitable witchcraft herbs that could be found in the ecological dome and warehouse.

"See? Old man! If you keep acting stupid, that's where you're going to end up! I'm going to stew you and give a bowl of you to every wounded person here!"

“Gugu——!! Gugu——!”

So the next second.

The heat and aroma of the pigeon soup spread throughout the room.

“…”

Perturabo BC found himself surrounded by stacks of small purple clay steam pots emitting heat and fragrant steam.

Lord Steward Rilano happily began to use his fearless hands to serve bowl after bowl of steaming hot and rich pigeon soup carefully cooked according to ancient methods to each wounded soldier.

"Great, Your Highness! This nutritious delicacy bestowed by His Majesty will surely help our warriors recover faster!"

"...Old man, you've already started to use a purple clay steamer to make pigeon soup, why don't you bring 'him' back?! You did it on purpose, didn't you?! What's your conspiracy?!"

——————————

Of course, the people on the Iron Blood ten thousand years ago had no idea about what was happening on the Destiny Steel.

After observations of other planets in the Gugan and Gorkys systems confirmed that all the Hrud on this planet had migrated, all surviving ships of the 125th Expeditionary Fleet began to regroup, rest, count losses, and perform emergency repairs on site under the command of the Iron Blood.

"Alas, in the end we still lost 12,000 soldiers..."

When the Primarch's sigh after reading the report floated under the open dome of the Mason's Hall, which was composed of many graceful steel buttresses and ribs, every Trident, warsmith or company captain present lowered their heads in shame and clenched their fists.

The trace of sadness and fragility contained in the Iron Lord's words that they had never heard of before tugged at their souls like the sharp teeth of a poisonous snake gnawing at their hearts.

Many people have turned their unfriendly eyes to Captain Urdek, the commander of the Sublime Steel - the latter's face is flushed.

The captain had requested an audience as soon as the crisis was resolved, and now he was kneeling before the Primarch's throne with his head bowed, declaring that he was willing to accept any punishment or any death squad mission, otherwise he did not know what to do - if there was a way to make up for the loss of the Primarch with his own life, he would be very happy to endure any pain of life being extracted.

"But, Urdek."

The company commander bowed his head again, ready to accept any cruel fate that might befall him.

"…Is there a possibility, Captain, that I saved you and your crew not to save you and then chop off your head and hang it on the bridge."

LOGOS's gun steel-colored combat boots moved in front of Urdek, and a large hand covered in iron armor lifted his chin with a sigh.

"Look, you have no responsibility in this matter and you didn't do anything wrong."

He raised his voice so that all genetically or mechanically enhanced ears in the hall could hear, "Every Primarch is the father of his Legion. Therefore, Urdek was only protected by his father once. He should not bear any criticism or attack for this. I want you all to know this. Iron Warriors."

The calm, indifferent and resolute mask on the face of the kneeling company commander shattered.

He looked like Dantioch a few days ago, with a stunned, unbelieving expression.

The captain stammered with his scarred lips, as if he was trying to form some words, perhaps to express his gratitude or to express his gratitude, but in the end he could not say anything, only a few dry words, "Sir... I... am an Iron Warrior... your son, I, am honored."

"That's enough."

Ramizane told him.

Fricks looked around and for the first time was surprised to find that this familiar bow hall was so solemn and spacious.

This devastating defeat, which resulted in heavy casualties and almost no results, does not seem to have caused the expected blow to the morale of the Iron Warriors. On the contrary.

Chief Trident saw many of the toughest faces that had gradually become cold and numb during the siege in the past few months looking here. These faces now regained a human complexion, and there was light flashing in their eyes.

Those were definitely not tears. The Iron Warriors were made of steel inside and out, and they couldn't shed tears.

"Lord Perturabo."

An abrupt mechanical sound interrupted the silent atmosphere in the Masonic Hall.

The dangerous gazes of many Iron Warriors immediately focused on the speaker who dared to break the moment.

The speaker at the door was wearing a black Odense Forge World Mechanicus robe, with his head completely covered by a hood. From any angle, all that could be seen was darkness.

But he was not the two leaders of the Mechanicus delegation on the Iron Blood. His body shape was different from theirs. The hem of his robe covered the densely packed multi-legged mechanical crawling mechanisms on his lower body. Although his hands exposed from his sleeves were mechanical, they still maintained a human form.

The Mechanicus Magus, who was hurriedly walking towards the Lord of Steel, stretched out his hands to show that he did not pose any threat or weapons.

"Who are you?"

Ramizane narrowed his eyes and raised his hand to stop Fricks from stepping forward to reprimand him for entering the hall reserved for the legionnaires and their father without notice.

"Magos-Temporis Tzurin Four, my lord."

The sage introduced himself, and Ramizane began to slowly remember who he was.

"What is it that requires you to come to see me alone and in such an impolite manner?"

He asked straight to the point. At the same time, he had already decided how to deal with this guy who had sneaked out. He made a gesture to Freex and Dantioch, who blinked and went down to make arrangements silently.

"Forgive me, sir," the sage's attitude showed that he was well aware of Perturabo's views on the Mechanicus members on the ship. It's not that the high-level sages can't learn how to please higher-level authorities, but most of the time they don't need to adapt to the rule of authority. "I regret the losses you suffered in this battle, but considering that time and its derivatives are my areas of expertise, my views on the Hrud, I personally think, may be helpful to the tactics you are going to use against them next."

"Oh? Then, Chulin Four Sages, what can you bring to me?"

"A solution for the Hrud, my lord. Om Messiah bless this machine, I have prepared the appropriate incense, prayers, and holy oils for it, and it will reveal itself to us."

"Uh-huh... so you guys really believe he's the Ohm Messiah, right?"

The Lord of Steel was acting out of character today. He did not use those blatant and outrageous remarks to refute the Mechanical Magos' praises of Om Messiah again, nor did he ridicule the Martian sect's rituals for his father Om Messiah and the Machine Spirits blessed by him. On the contrary, while Chulin the Fourth Magus was making his preparations, he noticed with a hint of uneasiness that the Fourth Primarch was watching him carefully and with relish every step of the sacrament.

The conversation of the Unbound came to his mind again: perhaps there really was something wrong with the brain of this Primarch who, despite his genius that they envied, had stubbornly refused to join the Mechanicus and worship the Omnimessiah with them?

But the desire for his research goals and living samples once again overwhelmed the uneasiness in Chu Lin Si's heart.

He prepared his instruments, turned on the holographic image, and began to explain his ideas and goals to the Lord of Steel.

——————

"…So after all you said, it all boils down to one sentence: 'I can help you make a stasis field bomb to immobilize the Hrud for a while, but the condition is that I also have to go with you to capture live Hrud samples.'"

"..." Chu Lin Four Sages seemed to have a short circuit, "No, no, sir, how dare I ask conditions from someone like you, I just... I designed an instrument that can monitor the cumulative effect of this alien's time force field, on page 5... and the stasis field can work, I swear to Ohm Messiah."

"Don't beat around the bush. Just tell me, you wanted to capture a few living Hruds during the chaos, but you couldn't do it on your own, so you could only go with the Legion when it attacked. That's why you came to me to show me the blueprint? In other words, you want the Iron Warriors and I to sacrifice our lives to protect you from capturing a few living specimens. As for whether the stasis field can work, I have no doubt that it can work normally, but."

The ice-blue eyes were fixed on the hood of Chu Lin Si. It was pitch black underneath, and even with the Primarch's eyesight, he could not see anything.

"But first of all, it is designed to be brought to the center of the battlefield by my warriors and activated during the battle, which means that there will be huge sacrifices in the process, but I don't see any point in running to the depths of a rat's nest where there is no bomb nest and throwing super-large firecrackers into it - it would be strange if we don't get hit by a wave of rats; secondly, you said so much, but since the Hruds are time creatures that have not been studied as you said, you simply cannot correctly assess the consequences of throwing a bomb that stops time among them, which means that you concealed the risks in order to facilitate this; finally, even if you don't catch the sample, the effect of this equivalent time bomb on the time race can still become your experimental data. Sage, I don't like to let my warriors become other people's experimental data or experimental data transportation units, especially when you are coaxing them very poorly."

"...Sir, my personal goal is not important, but I believe that completing this capture will be of great help to the goals of His Majesty the Emperor, your father. For example, through the study of living samples, we may be able to create a time positioning device that is more stable in the subspace, or..."

"Is that so?" said the Lord of Steel. "Finally, have you brought forth your Om Messiah? That is well, but I have no concern for you, you see. For I have resolved not to launch any assaults upon any of the remaining Hrud worlds."

As Chulin Four Sages' robes trembled and he looked around in panic, Ramizarn smiled and looked up at the gate.

"Well, do you want to inform the Unbound? It's okay. Look, Fricks has already brought people to invite them over."

Chu Lin Si turned around hurriedly, and what came into his sight was Kyros and the others whose walking machines had been roughly melted away, leaving only the glass water tank that sustained them.

“You, you can’t…”

"I can."

"This is the edge of the universe. These are my warriors and my flagship. Sage, I will decide whether to attack or retreat." Ramizarn tapped the armrest of his throne.

"Come on, kids! Tear these oil guys apart until only their brains are left, then weld their life support pods to the steel floor here as decorative statues!"

Captain Urdek stood up suddenly, picked up his melta pistol and rushed forward, his face full of satisfaction that "this tyrant's words are so right, father".