Hello everyone, and sorry for putting up this particular note so late.

[DISCLAIMERS: DOES NOT OWN CHARACTERS, BELONG TO GW ETC.]

All right, now we're done with that let me introduce my role in this work a bit. I am the translator and the original author has already showed up in the reviews section, so if you have questions regarding spoilers feel free to contact him/her via PM.

The original Chinese version is at [never mind that, just PM me if you really bother.]

And the book's qq group is at 434113390.

Enjoy!

Part 1

Chapter 1: Return to Londinium

To: Lord Inquisitor Solaris Leonidas, Ordo Malleus

From: Inquisitor Antares, Ordo Hereticus

Arrival: 997, M41 4xx

Subject: Action report

My lord, since the missions on Tantalus V, I have been tracking the Dark Age of Technology Remnants who call themselves the Scitopian Federation. By the EMPEROR, my recent discoveries have given me enough reason to believe that most worlds on the Eastern Fringe have been approached by these Dark Remnants.

Of course, such contacts have not yet overthrown Imperial order, and it seems that these Dark Remnants have no intention to wage war on the Imperium. But these are just my suspicions, it remains that those Dark Remnants may have other purposes. I shall maintain my vigil for the EMPEROR to prevent any accidents.

In addition to my hasty previous report, a large-scale rebellion has broken out on Hive World Londinium. The local order has been destroyed by what was eventually revealed to be a full-scale Chaos invasion. Strangely, the Dark Remnants, who usually keep themselves away from Chaotic events, are heavily involved in the incident, and utterly crushed the invasion with Adeptus Astartes of the Keeper's Shield Chapter.

Although Scitopian forces have evacuated from the war zone before more Imperial reinforcements arrived, I believe that the Dark Remnants must have attempted to keep some things secrets on this planet, so that they risk the EMPEROR'S wrath to do it personally.

As this transmission is being sent, I am cooperating with Amberley Vail, an Inquisitor of the Ordo Xenos, on a mission to secure these secrets in His name.

By the EMPEROR, I hope we may find some evidence which would shed more light on those Dark Remnants.

Also, the former Planetary Governor Olivia has been confirmed to surrender to the Dark Remnants. The heretic, has of now, been taken away by the Dark Remnants' specter fleet. It is my fault that more intelligence on the Dark Remnants was not extracted from her. But now we are trying to find other sources of information among the rest of the senior officials.

Because of the neighboring Forge World Cagabul's enthusiasm in establishing the Neo-System Astra Militarum, I am afraid the worst assumption must be made - that the Mechanicus of this planet has already fallen to tech-heresy and had attempted to influence the entire Imperium.

Finally, Chaos activity had increased to remarkable strength, with hints of multiple Chaos legions fighting together with more coordination than ever before. I am afraid such developments are far from positive news.

++ "A narrow view sees better" ++

To: Inquisitor Amberley Vail, Ordo Xenos

From: Inquisitor Antares, Ordo Hereticus

Subject: Greetings

Lady Vail, thank you for agreeing to assist in my investigation. It is a great honour for an Inquisitor of your skills and experiences in unknown heresy and xenos tech to lend a hand in this investigation.

The hive world Londinium has just experienced a massive rebellion and Chaos invasion, with order just being restored, and reconstruction is still far from complete. To make matters worse, Chaos forces were not the only ones involved in the conflict. The Dark Remnants that you and I have recently been tracing also appeared there, and their numbers are not far from the Inquisition's previous estimates based upon their fleet. So, I believe there must be something planetside that they believe worth the effort to keep hidden.

Due to the ongoing Armageddon War, most of my acolytes must be stationed there to contain the vermin tide. Your support is crucial for this mission to proceed. Thank you once more.

++" Without Him there is nothing."++

Ps: Are you still editing Commissar Cain's memoirs? Most of my retinue, and me, are very interested and looking forward to a new series. And as far as I know, he is still alive, right?

To clarify, I am not interested in him personally. It is his ways of keeping morale afloat that I am interested in, and that is all I really want to learn. I hope you will let me know as soon as you finish the new book. Thank you very much.

+++++++Transmission Complete+++++++

The Inquisitor descended from among the clouds.

In the blink of an eye, Londinium, golden yet battered, materialized before his eyes, with spires that punch trough the heavy, dusty clouds.

The entire equatorial belt was surrounded by an orbital ring, housing the orbital segment of the space elevator "Tower of Babel" and industrial space stations that mine ore from asteroids. Whatever remains of them, to be exact.

It used to be the premier landmark of Londinium, making it outshine other ordinary hive worlds, and perhaps represents the twilight of humanity's golden age.

That is all, however, history. All that still orbits the scarred arcology is only charred debris, fragments and other space junk. The rest light up the atmosphere without end.

Away from the "Tower of Babel", there are some artificial cylinders. They are 12 to 14 kilometers in diameter and 60 to 80 kilometers long. Rotating once every 120 seconds, the cylinders' centrifugal force is used to create 1G of artificial gravity on the inner wall to create a comfortable environment like Terra's surface.

These space habitats place solar panels on their external surfaces, using artificial sunlight inside. They can house 10 million people and have enough facilities to provide maintenance for all Imperial Navy warships in the sector.

As the residential area furthest from the planet's surface, it appears to be more fortunate compared with the Tower of Babel, which is connected to the ground. Rebellion broke out from the underhive, and spread across the whole world, and its defense systems kept out the Chaos fleet. As a result, they had survived.

A ship sped past the orbital factories filled with smoke and crystalline fog, deposits of its exhaust gas.

Its sudden jump into the porting lane caused an uproar in the radio. But experienced captains soon realized that spaceport administration kept its strange silence for good reason. Even the more hot-headed or rigidly-minded captains decided against barging into the trespasser with their larger ships, for waiting an extra three and a half weeks at the end of the queue is not worth the brief pleasure.

How about activating weapon systems? There are few ideas worse than this. If a queue-cutter didn't cause an accident, punishment will be, at most, a fine. Port defense systems, however, will make quick work of any ship that had weapon systems powered on.

Upon the focus of all that hate, the Black Ship "Immortal Oath", Inquisitor Antares stared out of the porthole, standing with his hands behind his back.

His eyes penetrate the dusty clouds and see the hives which reach miles above the sky, staring at all creatures living on the world, be it human, human pets, or human parasites.

And, never absent, enemies of mankind.

Colorful plaques stack clustered on the landing dock, yachts for upper-middle-class people. Even the Emperor can't let them pause in their pursuit for such luxuries.

Antares touched the side of a controller, and detailed images of the port jump out, and as he zoomed in, previously unseen nanomachines were crawling into grooves, using their brushes and tentacles to protect the orbital structure from dust.

"Omini, keep in mind that this mission is not just a smuggling case and not just about a single world. Londinium is the beating heart of the Mandiz Sector. It is the core of the Astra Telepathica's choir and houses the largest logistics center in this sector, whose output is more than quadruple of the entire Tau Empire."

"You know how fragile an unprepared world would be when it is faced Chaos or xenos threats. The Inquisition's existence is made necessary due to the need of managing such matters."

Omini shook his head in feigned confusion, "I am all ears, my lord, but I am afraid I do not understand."

"The order of Londinium has not been restored yet, but gangs, brotherhoods and cults have sprung up. Most of them are harmless, never having much influence, and petered out in a single month."

Antares handed a sheet of paper to the writing servitor.

Just a few seconds later, Omini had a paper roll filled with information about every esoteric cult in Londinium.

The writing servitor is scratching his head with 4 free hands.

The cults spread like wildfire. Men and women were naked in broad daylight, eating human flesh, participating in mad ceremonies, and refusing to serve the Emperor. Foul heretics were worshipped and protected as gods.

"The Imperium will never tolerate such a thing, and they were purged with extreme prejudice. Within a few days' time, the Londinian Ashmen regiments have destroyed the most aggressive one 锟紺 the Cult of Harmony, and driven the survivors into the underhive."

"That was just the situation up in the spire. Now you can understand how terrible the rebellion was. But the planet is still too valuable to declare Exterminatus upon."

"Just like Armageddon?"

"Just like Armageddon."

"Of course, but it's not just that."

Antares tried to squeeze this horrible noun out of his mind.

"There were some of us who believe that distress can regenerate a nation."

Few people will welcome an Inquisitor, so that Antares and his retinue would be disguised as Tithe officials of the Adeptus Administratum.

Watching the Inquisitor feed the paper roll little by little into a power shredder, Omini sighed, "What are we supposed to do? I mean, can we just walk up to a heretic, tell him, or her, 'Sorry, actually I don't even have any right to speak to you, but I have some reasons to suspect that you did not fulfil obligations to the Emperor? ' "

At last, Antares' mood became cynical.

"We shall meet up with Lady Vail first, and then decide what to do next.''

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