Warhammer 40: Starting as a Rogue Trader

Chapter 172 The Ark of Koror and the Sword of Twilight
A fleet consisting of five large transport ships and two escort ships has set sail under Rebecca's arrangement, their destination being a desolate planet on the edge of an already explored star system.

Various mining equipment, a large amount of living supplies, and nearly 10,000 workers disguised as soldiers were transported on these armed transport ships.

This planet has mineral resources that humans can utilize. The reserves discovered by the early-stage forces are considerable. Although it is not suitable for human habitation, it is qualified as a mining planet.

This planet was originally allocated by the Montgomery dynasty to a small merchant ronin dynasty, which was responsible for its independent mining and management.

All they have to do is hand over a certain amount of output.

Unfortunately, just a month ago, the initial construction team arrived only to be attacked by the Eldar pirates.

It seems these pirates knew in advance that the Imperial forces here were insufficient.

All the humans on the planet were captured and slaughtered, which led the small dynasty to temporarily abandon the planet.

At this time, the Alliance was facing too many attacks within its sphere of influence, and it simply wouldn't allocate a large force to defend this insignificant frontier mining planet.

As they approached the star system, the escort ships protecting the transport ship began to break away.

"Captain Burns, as per the Dynasty's orders, you will be on your own for the remainder of the voyage. May the Emperor bless you. Once you reach your destination, be sure to establish defenses as soon as possible. Pirates have been appearing there unusually frequently lately. I really don't understand why the Dynasty is sending you there in the first place; it's far too dangerous."

In case of danger, immediately send a message to the nearest star system; support will arrive quickly.

Burns could tell from the other person's tone that they were even speaking up for him, and that the other person might even think that they were doomed, since they were too few in number to withstand the pirate raids.

But only Burns and his crew knew their true mission: to wait for the enemy to arrive and deliver their cargo to them.

"May the God Emperor also bless you. Thank you for your protection. All we need to do is carry out the dynasty's orders. Nothing else is for us to consider."

As the two escort ships departed, the atmosphere on the bridge grew heavier. The escort fleet was unaware of their mission, but the people on this ship knew very well.

After the transport ship transported the equipment and personnel to the ground.

All that could be seen were the ruins left behind after the rampage of the Spirit Clan pirates.

A devastated pioneering camp has been established.

Burns, dressed in combat gear, led his team of soldiers to begin searching the remaining facilities and buildings.

The walls inside the building still bore large amounts of dried bloodstains, and even a month later, the building still reeked of blood. The facility, which was originally intended to be abandoned, had not been cleaned up by anyone.

Many cabins still contain corpses that have begun to decompose severely.

They were all workers here, with their stomachs cut open and limbs severed. Burns even saw some people whose intestines were pulled out and then strangled by those intestines that belonged to them.

The various horrific scenes made the members of the team swallow hard. Although they had heard of the cruelty of this group of dark spirits, few had actually witnessed it firsthand.

They were all wondering if they could really withstand such torture.

"These damn aliens! Captain, what do we do next?"

"Anderson, have someone clean up the bodies here first. Leaving them exposed here could lead to a plague."

"Yes! Captain!"

The team began transporting various collection equipment down to symbolically collect data from the planet. To convince the pirates that the planet had been reopened, some basic defensive structures were set up, and soldiers began patrolling and guarding the area.

Everyone waited anxiously for the possible appearance of the enemy.
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Meanwhile, the dynasty's forces had arrived on this mining planet by then.

A crew of Eldar pirates also took notice of them.

"Lord Karusin, news from Kolor has pointed us to another target, a human resource planet that we once attacked."

At this moment, aboard the light cruiser *Mourning Memory*, belonging to the Eldar pirates, Karusin, leader of the Twilight Blade, sat upon his throne of blades.

"These lowly monkeys, these worthless creatures are like a swarm of pests that can never be eradicated. They have no value in this world. They have already been slaughtered, yet they still try to come here to mine resources."

Have they forgotten the fear they caused them?

Karusin's expression shifted between anger and excitement, as if he were offended by the humans' disdain for him, yet also thrilled by the impending slaughter.

This warship not only carried the Dark Eldar, but also a large number of Ark Eldar warriors from Koror.

Karusin disliked these people who had once come from the same Ark world. He, who had also been born in the Ark world, was tired of that restrained life, but his pirate crew did need the help of these warriors.

Over the years, humanity's growing dominance in expanding its territory has continuously thwarted his raiding operations, especially those humans in combat suits, who have caused him significant losses.

After leaving Koror, although they gained freedom, they also lost the logistics of the entire Ark world, and had to rely on themselves to fight for everything.

But everything changed when the so-called Merchant Ronin Alliance and the despicable Montgomery Dynasty appeared. The human fleets that used to always arrive late would now appear shortly after their attacks began.

He couldn't understand how humans could react so quickly!

The lack of slaves to capture meant that the dark elves within the pirate crew would not receive a replenishment of their souls, which was a fatal blow to his rule.

Even he himself needed a large number of slaves to compensate for the soul that Slaanesh was constantly draining.

The sudden support from the Ark world provided him with more supplies and weapons, as well as more warriors.

Kalushin knew that it was Ella, the most powerful prophet in the Ark world of Corol, who was using him, but he couldn't deny that Ella's divination abilities and the warriors from the Ark world were indeed what he needed.

The price they wanted him to pay was to keep attacking those human monkeys, and he had no reason to refuse.

They were simply taking what they needed.

It was those clowns who attacked Gao Yi who came to the Koror Ark world, which had long been rooted near the expansion zone, and revealed the prophecy of the Laughing God to the Koror Prophet Council.

The expansion of the dynasty was bound to clash with the virgin world and outposts protected by the world of Koror's Ark.

Facing the armies of the dynasty and the alliance, the Eldar stationed there suffered heavy losses.

Kroll, who originally adhered to isolationism, gradually became unable to accept this situation. They already viewed humans as primitive beings, and the appearance of the clown gave them a final push.

Although the clowns hold authority within the Eldar, each Eldar is also an independent entity. How could the already divided Eldar reunite and throw themselves into a war without regard for the cost because of a prophecy?
Not to mention that the current human forces in the expanded region are far stronger than those in an Ark world.

Otherwise, if Laughing God were to raise his arms and shout, wouldn't the Dark Eldar and the Ark Eldar be forced to reunite and rebuild the Eldar Empire?

Kroll had no intention of engaging in a large-scale direct conflict with humanity. The Prophet Council wasn't stupid; the Ark Eldar weren't like the Dark Eldar, who possessed artificial wombs to produce as many offspring as they wanted.

The Kroll Eldar chose to supply the resources of the Ark Eldar with other Eldar pirates, letting them fight, and only directly intervening in the war when necessary.

"Lord Karusin, shall we take action against this planet?!"

"Of course! These monkeys will pay the price for their arrogance! They might fetch a good price if sold to Comoros. Compared to aid from Kolor, I'd much rather use slaves to buy the supplies I need!"

After all, people feel more at ease spending what they earn themselves, while Coror could cut off their supplies at any time, so they had to take their fate into their own hands.

The majority of the pirates in Twilight Blade are ambitious schemers and conspirators from the dark city of Comoros, and most of the pirate crew's resources also come from this dark city of Comoros.

Slaves were real hard currency there.

(End of this chapter)