Warhammer 40: Doom

Chapter 221 The Pointer of Doubt
Doom returned to the banquet, where Ruth, her face flushed, was relaxed and enjoying herself, her eyes half-closed, somewhat drunk.

Solas remained expressionless, sipping his drink slowly, seemingly without any sign of anything amiss.

The people at the round table gradually left their seats to chat with their colleagues in their respective legions or departments, making room for the three Primarchs.

Doom smiled, shook his cloak, and sat back down.

"Is everything settled?" Russ asked, half-awake and half-drunk, his speech slightly slurred and his mind hazy.

"Some contingency matters for the fleet," Doom replied politely, briefly explaining the reason for his departure.

When he left earlier, Doom did not explain much, only saying that he had some urgent business to attend to.

Now that he's back, Ruth brings it up, which can be seen as helping him explain the reason.

Solas's silver-grey eyes flickered, but he did not complain about his brother's sudden departure: "That's how fleet commanders are; if lower-ranking officers can't handle something, they'll report it upstairs."

"And they were all emergencies, the kind that had to be dealt with."

A smile spread across Doom's heroic face, a look of relief spreading across his face. He raised his glass and said, "Long live understanding."

"What's with all this talk about understanding? It's not too much to punish you with three drinks, is it?" Ruth immediately perked up, straightened his wolf mane, and was about to pick up the bottle to fill Doom's glass.

"That's how it should be." Doom drank it down heartily, handed over a glass to receive the wine, and didn't refuse in the slightest.

"Done!"

With a toast, he gestured to the two men, and they drank the wine one after another, then he turned the glass upside down to show that not a drop was left.

This commotion warmed up the already subdued atmosphere, and the three of them started sharing anecdotes from their own experiences.

The universe is vast and full of wonders, and the three of them learned a great deal from each other during their conversation.

Solas said he had traveled in the real universe and encountered strange space races in huge ships that traveled on a fixed course.

The alien race went into hibernation, leaving only their ships to operate automatically; navigation records show they had been sailing for three thousand years.

The warriors of the Second Legion boarded the warship and injected poison into the giant ship's hibernation cycle system, silently killing all the aliens.

When he led his legion to the alien homeworld according to the giant ship's navigation records, he discovered that the alien civilization had been embroiled in civil war and had already self-destructed.

The three sighed with regret; the Second Legion had accidentally destroyed the alien race and extinguished the spark of civilization.

Ruth, not to be outdone, recounted her own extraordinary adventures.

The Space Wolf Fleet discovered a massive entity in subspace, composed of abandoned space warships.

There were alien ships and human warships. The bizarre warships huddled together, generating a tremendous gravitational pull that continuously drew more and more debris to them.

Ruth personally led the landing team, encountering many twisted monsters in the wrecked shipwreck complex. They even discovered that the manufacturing dates engraved on the skeletons of several ships indicated that they came from ten thousand years in the future.

The wolf carefully searched the warship from ten thousand years in the future, but found no advanced technology. Instead, it discovered an "Ω" emblem it had never seen before.

Doom also briefly described the "Horanien," the strange race of black holes, and the unique culture of the aliens, to his brother.

The three men frequently burst into hearty laughter and expressed their feelings at the most exciting parts of their conversation.

As the atmosphere reached its climax, Solas changed the subject and asked, "What about Randan's threat?"

A glint of light flashed in Doom's eyes; he knew the conversation was getting to the point, and that his brother's purpose in coming here was Randan.

“They are a threat that the human empire cannot ignore.” He said solemnly, his face extremely grave. “The power that Randan has displayed is extremely strong, and we must eliminate them as a sign of respect.”

His words were resolute and without the slightest hesitation; the King of Warriors spoke with the determination to destroy the aliens.

There's no need to hide it; when the human empire rises again, the fight between it and the Xenomorphs will be a fight to the death.

During the Golden Age, humanity signed peace treaties with many aliens, only to be taken advantage of by them, leaving countless human worlds devastated by the aliens.

When humanity returned, it showed no mercy or tolerance toward aliens or anything that was not human.

An extermination order would be the greatest mercy to the aliens!

The Randan, this powerful alien race, has become a major threat to the human empire due to its scale and advanced warfare technology.

After this battle, the Human Empire must reassess the Randan. It must prepare its forces and, until its home planet is discovered, guard against a potential Randan resurgence.

The next conflict will likely be a direct battle between the two races, escalating into a full-scale war.

“I suppose Randan feels the same way about us,” Doom said, taking a small sip from his glass. “They crave to enslave humanity.” “The Xenomorphs retreated this time, but they’re preparing to return,” Ruth said, a cold glint in his eyes, his face utterly ruthless. “They want revenge, revenge for those dead scum.”

Solas nodded repeatedly, his serious expression accompanied by a heavy voice, and slowly said, "The Xenomorph threat is enormous, and we must unite to deal with them."

“That’s for sure.” Doom nodded in agreement, agreeing with his brother.

Ran Dan's threat was indeed very obvious. Even before it was fully revealed, the oppressive force it displayed made the empire uneasy.

Solas is right. Randan cannot be dealt with by any single legion or fleet alone. The Empire needs to unite all forces to defeat this unprecedented adversary.

"How much did you lose?" Soras asked hesitantly, a hint of apology in his voice. "I'm sorry, that's a very presumptuous question."

Inquiring about the legion's losses is, to some extent, presumptuous.

This not only relates to the honor of the legion, but also allows others to deduce the combat strength of both sides and the specific exchange ratio of warships from the information.

During major battles, this information is kept strictly confidential, and participants are not allowed to disclose it to anyone.

Only the Emperor and Macardo have the right to know everything.

The people of the empire only knew that the empire had won one victory after another and defeated countless powerful enemies.

Ruth waved his hand dismissively and said, "No need to apologize, we brothers naturally speak frankly with each other."

Doom nodded, indicating that Solas didn't need to worry: "Knowing the losses on both sides will also make you more cautious. You'll likely be involved in the next battle."

coming!

Despite this, the probing questions made Doom and Ruth wary.

"Our fleet, including the First Army Fleet, has lost more than half of its strength."

Doom's expression darkened as he spoke, and he put down his wine glass on the table, his mood instantly dropping considerably.

"Besides the fleet, the wolf pack lost more than 20,000 soldiers." As Ruth spoke, his golden eyes reddened, revealing his true feelings.

Although the actual combat losses were not that many, the Great Wolf was still saddened.

Doom continued, "The First Legion has lost more than half its men. They need to halt the Great Expedition and conduct conscription and reorganization."

Alpharis, who was listening intently from a distance, twitched his lips slightly, inwardly cursing.

Doom Norwick and Lehman Russ.

One has thick eyebrows and big eyes, and lies without thinking; the other seems barbaric, but is a better actor than himself.

If I hadn't learned the news from my children beforehand, I might have been misled by their coordinated rhetoric and their claims.

He shook his head and continued to savor the food on the table, rewarding his taste buds.

Nuerqunxing has a lot of good stuff, and the food is quite exquisite. I must ask my brothers for some when I have the chance.

Unaware that he was being targeted, Doom continued to talk about the battle losses, his heroic face tinged with sorrow, a sight that broke one's heart.

"Such severe losses?" Solas frowned, his face tense, and said incredulously, "Is Randan really that powerful?"

Doom and Ruth nodded heavily, their faces filled with apprehension and lingering fear.

Currently, information is being circulated from various sources, but not much will be revealed, and Ran Dan has been wiped out and there is no way to verify the facts.

“Their power is one thing,” Doom nodded again, leaning closer to him cautiously, “but the Empire’s intelligence has also been leaked.”

"Randan knew our military intelligence, which caused us huge losses. If it weren't for the heroic fighting of the Imperial soldiers, we would most likely have lost the war."

Solas shuddered, his silver-gray eyes looking at Doom in disbelief, as if asking his brother—"Is there a traitor in the Empire?"
Doom nodded silently and said to him, "Don't spread it around. I'm investigating a spy and I've made some progress."

Hearing his brother say this, Solas breathed a sigh of relief and nodded silently, digesting this explosive news.

Seeing his brother's expression, Doom wondered if he was overthinking things.

He suspected that Solas was the one who leaked Imperial intelligence, catching the Empire off guard.

He deliberately leaked information about the traitor, throwing out this bait to see how his blood brothers would react.

Solas's behavior was normal, making Doom wonder if he was overthinking things.

(besides)
(End of this chapter)