Warhammer 40 Spring: Loyalty of the Multiverse

Chapter 76 The Frustrated Members of the Mechanicus
A strike cruiser of the Ghost of Death Legion silently remained in its strike trajectory above the planet.

In the distance, the fleets of the Shark Caravan and the Astral Knights Caravan, locked in fierce combat in the starry sky, were beginning to show signs of separating. However, the Shark Caravan's fleet refused to let them go, maintaining its relentless pursuit.

The commander aboard the strike cruiser glanced at the battlefield, then at the fleet that had already receded into the distance, where only the glow of the star engines could be seen.

He then immediately recalled the order issued by Ksharol: "Begin!"

In the distance of this starry sky, a huge and somewhat strange warship was silently watching everything that was happening here.

The warship's surface was covered in Mechanicus runes. Several Mechanicus members, whose mechanical modifications weren't too severe, stood in the bridge's command room, silently observing everything in the distance.

"Do you see those strange creations?" The member of the Mechanicus, whose body bore the most traces of mechanical modification, turned to look at the holographic projection beside him and pointed to the images within!
The other members turned to look at the sound, and saw the Mechanicus member who had spoken say, "New technology! They must have found new STC templates, and it looks like they have quite a lot of them!"

Praise be to Omnesia!

Suddenly, a devout voice rang out at the cabin door. Everyone turned to look and saw a figure draped in a long robe that seemed to glow with flowing blue light, like electrical circuitry, walking towards them. The massive, nearly four-meter-tall, hunched mechanical body was completely enveloped by the robe, with only a few mechanical tentacles dancing in the air.

Upon seeing this person, the group immediately lowered their heads and jogged over, each giving a standard gear salute.

The so-called gear salute involves making a fist with the right hand, extending the middle and ring fingers to form a gear shape, and then placing it against the Machine Soul emblem worn on the left chest. Finally, the head is slightly lowered.

It symbolizes serving the god of all machines with a mechanical body!
“Sage Huidan, once we can trade these STC templates, I’m afraid you’ll have to add a ‘greater’ before ‘sage’!” A tech priest whose entire left face had been modified into a mechanical prosthetic said with a smile on his other half.

Sage Huidan ignored it and instead pressed almost the entire optical sensor assembly against the continuously playing holographic projection.

Even though it had lost its normal human face and eyes, the surrounding tech priests could still sense the desire emanating from the optical sensor components!

"Will the Shark Legion allow this deal?" Sage Huidan reluctantly shifted his gaze, then looked at the Tech Priest beside him.

The technical priest was somewhat puzzled, but still said with some uncertainty, "According to calculations, the success rate might be as high as 67%. After all, they owe us so much!"

Sage Huierdan silently shook his head, seemingly disappointed, or perhaps disagreeing. "These canned goods aren't as easy to talk to as His Majesty the Regent's subordinates. Although they're all intelligent, they're reasonable!"

The technical priest was somewhat taken aback by the question and didn't know how to answer. He simply looked down at the bronze gear pattern on the dark gray robe covering his body.

To be honest, he didn't have a very good impression of these shark canned goods. Because these shark canned goods had been roaming outside the empire's borders for many years, their habits had become like those of barbarians.

To ensure their survival and supply, they often resort to underhanded tactics.

In particular, the conflict with the Mechanicus has happened more than once or twice.

For example, regarding their conflict... at that time, at the request of the Shark Canned Foods, they prepared a batch of bomb guns and some ship supplies. These guys said they had just fought a battle with the Eldar and needed some supplies, and they would give them some captured Eldar weapons or fragments for research and collection.

Then they heard this and exclaimed, "Wow, this is incredible!"
Although they were initially skeptical, given the reputation of shark canned food vendors, which wasn't exactly stellar, what was unusual this time was that the shark canned food vendors actually paid them a deposit first!
Dozens of Eldar dart guns and two Eldar jet motorcycles. Ah, although the damage was quite severe, the general internal structure and important components remained intact.

Then they happily prepared supplies for the exchange! After all, the Shark Canned Goods were actually willing to offer up some fairly high-quality items just to exchange for a batch of weapons, ammunition, and some supplies for their warships, which was a huge win for them.

After getting the weapons, the shark canned goods ran away in a flash. They did pay the balance, but the difference was that they paid with Throne Coins!

Although this was different from what was agreed upon, they still made a profit, so we won't pursue the matter further.

But who could have imagined that shortly after those shark canned goods left, news came from behind: the deposits they'd paid were all junk. Those star dart guns—not a single penny came out. They were just empty shells on the outside, filled with junk inside, just like they'd had before.

Those two jet motorcycles were cobbled together from damaged Eldar parts found on the battlefield!

This nearly made the entire top echelon of the Forging World grit their teeth in frustration. They'd been so careful to guard against these shark-like creatures, yet they still managed to slip up.

Fortunately, they had the Throne Coins, so they weren't completely at a loss. But who would have thought that those Throne Coins were fake too!
The Empire's main currencies and methods of exchange are either physical coins forged from rare metals or electronic transfers using the Mechanicus logic engine in the data panel.

They wouldn't have accepted the Throne Coins if they weren't afraid the court would investigate and find discrepancies in the accounts.

After reporting the incident to their superiors, the leaders were met with a barrage of profanities. These guys hadn't paid after receiving the goods! So when they later tried to collect their money from the shark canned goods vendors in a fit of rage, they were outnumbered and beaten up.

And then... and then that was it. After all, the crime of illegally reselling weapons, ammunition, and supplies can be serious or minor.

Almost every forging world and member of the Cult of Mechanics in the entire empire would do some research from time to time, since research is quite expensive!
Alas, things have come to this point, and we can only suffer in silence! But who would have thought that not long after, the higher-ups would send the Sage Hui'erdan to assist them in monitoring the movements of the Man-Eating Shark Legion.

Moreover, court personnel were with them!

This left them completely baffled. Had their falsified accounts been discovered? Were they just using this as an excuse to raid their property?

But the situation was beyond their control, and they could only stand trembling in the starport to greet everyone's arrival. Fortunately, it turned out to be a false alarm.

Subsequently, they followed closely behind the Shark Devourer Squad in a warship specially approved by the high-ranking leaders.

Although everyone had known over the years that they had been discovered, and that the ships and everything else were prepared just in case, those shark canned goods had stolen the ship!

But after waiting and waiting, nothing happened!

So let's keep monitoring them, and that's how it turned out like this!

……

(End of this chapter)