Chapter 389 Dismissal
“Have you really decided that way?”
After hearing the prophet’s words, Octavia looked surprised,
Taros did not look directly at her. , he walked around her throne, looking across the pool, thinking of the previous owner of this room.
The man died in filth, torn to pieces by the First Claw.
Although Talos remembered it vividly, he could not remember the name of the creature now, which was rare.
"Are you listening to me?"
Ottavia raised her voice a little higher, her voice so elegant and polite, attracting Talos' attention.
“Yes.”
“That’s good.”
The Navigator sat on top of her throne, one arm wrapped around her swollen belly.
She appeared unusually thin, which made her pregnancy appear even more prominent.
"What are the chances that Dietrian's ship will escape the encirclement safely?"
Talos saw no point in lying to her, and he stared at her for a long time, letting the time pass. The rhythm of her heart beat slowly.
“Your chances of surviving are almost laughably small, but there is still a chance.”
"With Septimus?"
"He is our pilot."
"But he is more of a father-"
Talos immediately raised his head —A hand as a warning.
"Be careful, Octavia, don't make the mistake of thinking that I can be swayed by emotional appeals... You know, I've also skinned children in front of their parents."
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Octavia gritted her teeth, but was never willing to compromise.
"So he...he will always follow me. You can't leave him here. I know him better than you."
"I haven't decided his fate yet."
"What about you? What is your 'destiny'?"
"Don't talk to me in that tone, I don't take issue with arrogant tones, so save it."< br>
"I'm sorry."
The navigator lowered his head.
"I'm just angry."
"Understandable."
"Then what do you do? Do you let those aliens kill you like this?"
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"Did you see what happened when we tried to escape, saw how we broke through blockade after blockade and smashed the ship's bow to pieces? They wouldn't let us run to the Great Eye, and as soon as I fired my psychic tip The noose began to wrap around us. Their prophet was too powerful. It kept staring at me. I couldn't leave...Ottavia, if I delay any longer, I will lose the choice of the location of the war. Last chance."
"You didn't answer my question."
"I must die."
Talos said to her bank of monitors. With a gesture, each monitor showed a different angle outside the ship - each monitor had an eye staring at the flying star floating in the lower orbit.
"How can I make this clearer? Beyond this planet, alien warships await us... We are doomed, Octavia, that's it."
As he spoke, the prophet sighed, but there was no regret on his face.
"Get ready to leave the spacecraft. Take whatever you want. You have 11 hours before I never want to see you again."
After saying that, he turned around away, and pushed away the two attendants who did not disperse quickly enough.
The navigator watched him walk away, tasting freedom for the first time since being captured, but she wasn't sure if it was as pleasant as she remembered.
“Taros, you often say that the primarch is the creature that values itself least in the galaxy, so why don’t you do the same?”
Talos paused for half a second, then disappeared out of the hatch without looking back.
A few minutes later, the door to the pilot's maintenance room opened.
A giant appears in the archway of the doorway.
Septimus looked up, still holding Talos' helmet in his hand. He had been making final repairs to the lens of his left eye.
"Master?"
Taros walked in, and the simple room echoed with the sound of joints like wolf howls and the buzz of armor.
"Ottavia will leave the spaceship in 11 hours."
The prophet stared at each other.
"Your unborn child goes with her."
Septimus nodded, keeping his eyes on Talos' face.
"Dear Master, I have already guessed it."
Talos paced around the room, looking left and right, never staying on one thing for too long.
After that, he picked up the half-repaired pistols on the table, Octavia's charcoal drawings, and some toys that were only the size of his thumb - maybe for some little life.
The most important thing is that there is a breath of life, a breath of personality, and the breath of a specific soul flowing in this small space.
This is a human room.
Taros suddenly realized how empty and lifeless his own room was - except for the prophecies scrawled on the iron wall, there was no trace of personality.
The prophet closed his eyes, trying to retrieve something in his mind, something that he had forgotten for a long time... At the end of the Great Crusade, the last group set foot on the surface of Nastrum The Night Lords are the warriors of the 10th, 12th and 16th companies.
Homecomings are very rare, as few Astartes ever see their homeworld again, and Nasturm are rarely known for the honors their children bring. .
The parade was humble and sincere.
When the expedition fleet was refueling and making routine repairs at Nastrum's dock, the company commander leading the three companies made a gesture.
Fifty Astartes from each company will planet-land and march from the spaceport along the main avenue of Quintus.
Talos remembered that even then it was a strange emotional gesture.
He was blackened all over, along with the other nine Astartes in the already full First Claw.
During the parade, amid the formidable crowds, young Talos clutched his bolter to his chest and joined his brothers in removing their helmets and marching into battle.
The experience was dazzling, and although there was almost no sound at first, with almost no one cheering, the applause soon turned to thunder.
In the presence of the children of Midnight Haunter, the conflicted people of Nastrum put aside their indifference and welcomed their warriors home.
It got worse when the crowd started chanting their names.
That's not an insult, that's a real name.
The scene was not chaotic, but the crowds on both sides of the street were shouting the names of the Astartes for reasons that even Talos could not figure out.
In several places, the thin lines set up by the law enforcers to block the crowds were broken, and small arms fire was fired violently, killing several of those who wanted to go with the Astartes. The people were shot down, and only a few people squeezed into the ranks of the marching soldiers.
Those people who squeezed into the queue looked around as if they were lost, looking up at the faces of the walking soldiers like drunk, frightened and feverish animals.
Ciel is harassed by an old woman, less than half his height.
“Where is he?”
She screamed, her thin hands clutching the armor of the advancing warrior.
"Char! Where is he? Answer me!"
As Char continued on, Talos could see the uneasiness in his brother's face, the old woman His gaze was seen beneath her disheveled white hair.
Taros immediately turned his head to look forward, but the old lady had already grasped his motionless arm with her weak hands.
“Look at me!”
she pleaded.
“Look at me!”
Talos didn’t, he just kept going.
The old woman cried and wailed behind him and fell behind him.
"Look at me! I know it's you! Talos, look at me!"
Soon, an enforcer ended her request with a gunshot.
Taros hated the relief he felt.
When the parade was over and he returned to the Dark, Ciel was sitting on the sofa next to him.
Never before had Talos seen such a hesitant expression on his brother's face.
"It wasn't easy for any of us, but you did a great job, brother."
"What did I do differently?"
Ciel swallowed, and a light seemed to appear behind his eyes.
"That woman, the one in the crowd, didn't you recognize her?"
Talos tilted his head and looked at Ciel carefully.
“I barely saw her.”
"She called your name."
Ciel continued to ask.
“You seriously didn’t recognize her?”
“They were reading our names from our armor scrolls, and she called yours too.”
Charr stood to leave, and Talos stood with him, his gauntlets clutching his brother's pauldrons.
"What did you find? Tell me, Charles." The changes brought about by the gene seed, Throne, Talos... you must have recognized her."
"I didn't, I swear, I only saw an old woman."
< br>Ciel shook his hands and got rid of Talos' control. He did not turn around but his breathing became disordered. His words were as decisive as the gunshot that silenced the old woman's plea.
“That old lady——”
Ciel, who had his back to Talos, said slowly:
"She was your mother."
For a moment, Talos suddenly opened his eyes, and then took a decisive step He walked towards the door at a fast pace and said loudly:
"Mortal Septimus, I don't need you anymore, get out of here, take your woman and your child with you, get out of here" Far away, to a place that is not so bloody.”
Under Septimus’s stunned gaze, Talos’s back disappeared behind the closed gate.
(End of this chapter)