Warhammer 40k: Starting as a Rogue Trader

Chapter 162: The Chapter of Unclean Hands

Harald was furious, but he had no concrete proof. The Techmarines of that other Chapter had altered the markings on the power armor and weapons with incredible speed. They were clearly repeat offenders! What self-respecting Techmarine would spend time practicing that?

Harald had already begun to hold a grudge. When he returned to Fenris, he would definitely report their actions to his Chapter! Stealing from the Wolves themselves—how could he tolerate that?

Still sitting in the mess hall, Harald suddenly saw squads of Raiders mustering inside the warship. He walked out of the hall and stopped an officer.

"Soldier, what's happening?"

"Sir! Intruders have appeared in the Dynasty's warehouse on the starport! Lord Damon has ordered us to assemble!"

"Intruders?!"

Without another word, Harald grabbed his power axe and hurried along with the Raiders.

When he arrived at the assembly point, he saw the Night Sentinels in a standoff with five Astartes clad in red power armor.

"Blood Ravens?!"

Harald emerged from the crowd and stood beside Damon. The other side was equally surprised to see Harald standing with the Mongorte Dynasty, and looking so familiar with them. The lead Blood Raven felt a little troubled. After all, they had just stolen his battle-brother's equipment, and now they had run into these wolves again.

Lucan was also observing this squad of Blood Ravens through Damon's eyes. Among the five-man squad, there was actually a Librarian. The number of psykers among the Blood Ravens was as high as the rumors said. Their numbers of Librarians were so great they couldn't even fit them all in the standard organizational charts.

"Could it be that these guys really trace their lineage back to Magnus? A large number of psykers, a pursuit of knowledge... but the existence of the Thousand Sons makes it seem unlikely."

But no one knew what the genetic origin of this Chapter was. Their origins had been completely erased by the Inquisition. For now, the Blood Ravens' Librarians were formidable, but an excess of psykers would also bring disaster to the Blood Ravens once the Great Rift opened.

And just look! Look at how dirty their hands were. A suit of Marine combat armor, a suit of Medic combat armor, and they were even carrying two C-14 rifles. Did they think those things belonged to them?

Lucan even saw a component from the warship's ecological circulation system, as well as a large box of fresh fruits and vegetables. Are you really treating my Dynasty like a grocery store?

But then, Lucan was suddenly drawn to an Eldar soul stone on the Blood Raven Librarian's belt. The soul stone was hanging there as if it were a trophy.

That familiar sense of craving came again, just as it had when he encountered the Shadowseer. Could a powerful soul stone from a Craftworld Eldar also grant him the ability to unlock a new race?

Lucan remembered that although the Blood Ravens had a history of cooperating with the Eldar, they had also fought in a massive free-for-all against the Eldar, Orks, and Chaos. In the cold trade of the Koronus Expanse, Craftworld Eldar soul stones appeared from time to time, and Lucan had handled quite a few. In recent years, as the Dynasty expanded in the Expanse, there had been some scattered conflicts with the Craftworld Eldar, but they were only small-scale skirmishes. Their more frequent enemies were the Dark Eldar, but they did not use soul stones to protect their souls.

However, the soul stone on this Librarian was clearly different from the ordinary ones. It was obviously from an Eldar of sufficiently high status who had died.

"Blood Ravens! As Angels of the Emperor, is it not somewhat inappropriate for you to take our equipment without permission?"

But faced with Damon's questioning, these Blood Ravens were clearly old hands at this. They didn't offer the explanation Damon expected, nor did they immediately attack. Instead, they walked calmly toward Damon.

"Astra Militarum, your technology can be put to better use in our hands. I am requisitioning this equipment in the name of the Emperor!"

Damon wanted to laugh. To invoke the Emperor's name right off the bat... Have you ever even met the Emperor? Our boss is a Living Saint.

"You shameless bastards! Your actions defile the name of the Allfather!"

Before Damon could speak, Harald stepped forward directly. He could tolerate it once, but now they were stealing directly from his allies. The explosive temper of the Wolves could no longer be suppressed.

The lead Blood Raven, seeing the charging Wolf, showed no fear. The five-man squad immediately formed a battle line. Psychic energy surged from the Librarian, and their boltguns were aimed at Harald. So what if you're from a First Founding Chapter?

Although the Blood Ravens' combat record was inconsistent—ranging from fighting Greater Daemons to trading one-for-one with Ork Boyz—their list of victories was long. They had fought Greater Daemons, Tyranids, Warbosses, Eldar Farseers, and even other Imperial forces.

As their clandestine activities were exposed, more Blood Ravens began to rush to the scene. As a fleet-based Chapter, the Blood Ravens had no homeworld; wherever their warships were, there was their fortress-monastery. This meant that most of the Chapter's strength was concentrated around their Battle Barge, with no need to divert forces to guard a homeworld.

The Blood Ravens Chapter had recently gone through a series of brutal battles and had lost a full five companies. The entire Chapter had lost more than half its members. The remaining companies were also understrength, forcing them to search everywhere for usable recruits to replenish their numbers. The Blood Ravens had no stable source of recruits, and the high failure rate of their Astartes creation surgery only made the problem more acute.

The Blood Raven company present here had originally just been making a simple resupply stop after assisting the Imperium in destroying the space hulk. But when the nano-healing gun of the Medics came into their view, they immediately realized the value of this piece of technology. To some extent, it could reduce the death rate of new recruits undergoing the augmentation surgeries. The combat suits were also unique enough to be worth "acquiring" for study and inclusion in their own knowledge base.

The trade goods the Dynasty offered to the public only included basic StarCraft equipment. The healing gun, produced by the Barracks, was never part of their trade offerings. After all, why sell the nano-healing gun outright when you could charge on a per-use basis? A single fee was nowhere near as profitable as a long-term business.

Faced with an Astra Militarum unit that possessed this technology, and after discovering there was no other way to obtain it, the Blood Ravens chose to play to their Chapter's specialty.

Not only were they discovered, but now they were planning to take it by force. Under normal circumstances, an Astra Militarum unit that was "requisitioned" by Astartes had no recourse. But the Raiders were clearly not an ordinary Astra Militarum unit.

The scene was instantly filled with tension. The Blood Ravens' reinforcements had also arrived. An entire company of Blood Raven Astartes, seeing the Raiders' raised weapons, also raised their own boltguns. Several Librarians even began to chant psychic incantations.

The Raiders showed no weakness, chambering rounds and aiming at the Blood Ravens. The Night Sentinels also raised their heavy bolters. We've fought a daemon legion before. And there are only a few dozen of you. What's there to be afraid of? You call for backup, so will we!

Swarms of fully-armed Raiders rushed to the scene. The Viking and Banshee squadrons within the warship also took off. Even the Thor pilots entered their cockpits; if needed, the Medivacs would deploy them directly into the battle.

In their combat suits, the Raiders were no smaller than the Astartes. Damon and the Night Sentinels, wearing their Praetor suits, were even taller. For a moment, a force of mortals actually overwhelmed the Emperor's Angels in sheer presence.

The Blood Ravens present had not expected the situation to become so tense over a few pieces of equipment.

♧♧♧

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As promised, here's your well-deserved bonus chapter for the week.

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