Chapter 51, The Phoenix is Dying
In the void of the universe somewhere infinitely far away in physical distance, a fiery red spaceship is sailing.
It's scarred, it's not big enough, it carries a dying Chapter.
The Phoenix Chapter has concluded their long crusade of redemption and is now restored to glory.
The Grand Tribunal of the Eastern Star Territory, on behalf of the Empire Central Committee, personally announced this to the world.
But so what?
"We won the Hundred Years Atonement Expedition and achieved the results we wanted most, but we are about to be destroyed."
The Chapter Master of the Phoenix Chapter, Salas Martins, always thinks sadly like this.
He is the 64th Chapter Master of the Phoenix Chapter. This war group with countless glorious histories will most likely come to an end in his hands.
What was life like for the Chapter before the Crusade of Atonement?
At that time, the Phoenix Chapter was glorious and powerful. They guarded their home planet and were worshiped by hundreds of millions of mortals. They selected the best young people from among hundreds of millions of people, transformed them with genetic seeds, and turned them into one of them. .
The human and material resources of the entire planet are mobilized by them. While they are responsible for the defense of their home planet, they will also accept the Emperor's call to travel throughout the universe to participate in glorious and great wars one after another. They either crushed the Emperor's enemies to dust, or defended worlds that were about to be destroyed one after another.
He and his brothers are known as the Emperor's Angels.
This glory accumulated over thousands of years came to an abrupt end a hundred years ago.
Martins doesn't resent anyone.
In 'The Redbud Scourge', the Phoenix Chapter was on the wrong side. Thanks to the God-Emperor's grace, they were not purged as traitors, but they were still guilty, and the Grand Inquisition sentenced them to a century-long atonement expedition.
The so-called atonement expedition is to allow the convicted battle group to carry out the most difficult and difficult mission with the highest casualties without supplies, troops, and support. Once a task is given, it cannot be refused and must be carried out with all one's strength until death.
The vast majority of battle groups that were sentenced to the Redemption Expedition often did not survive the end of the punishment time.
But the Phoenix, as its name suggests, is tenacious and they miraculously survived the Atonement Crusade.
One cruel war after another lasted for a hundred years. These days, they are still fighting for the Empire, but there is no honor to speak of. They fought to atone for their sins and to die.
During the Hundred Years' Expedition, the Chapter Leader changed six times, and finally fell into the hands of Martins, a man who thought he had no talent.
A few months ago, in the final battle of the Atonement Crusade, the previous chapter leader led the last elite of the chapter to launch a desperate attack. They won, but at the cost of leaving no one alive except Martins and six others who were left behind.
He would always remember the look in his mentor's eyes when he handed him the Chapter Master's medal before charging. It was full of expectations and hope, and the future of the war group hung heavily on his chest.
He is determined to rebuild his Chapter, but has no idea how.
Their home world has long been assigned to another war group; the fleet has all crashed, leaving only the Burning Feather, a small spaceship that is not even a frigate; power armor, weapons arsenal, and gene seed bank , with the crash of the flagship, everything was lost...
Perhaps there has never been any war group that has been in a worse situation than them.
They can only wander around in the universe at a loss, like headless flies.
There are indeed many forces who want to 'help' them. However, Martins can see through the sinister intentions of those people. They just want the remaining seven Phoenix warriors to serve as their high-level thugs.
There is no glory in that, and there is no hope at all.
What Martins wants is an opportunity to rebuild the Chapter, an opportunity to continue to fight with honor for the Chapter. It's a pity that when these are mentioned, the people who try to help them shut up.
Some time ago, their spaceship jumped through a spiritual network tunnel and arrived at the Tianma star area aimlessly. Just like many of the star sectors they passed through in the past few months, there was nothing special about it.
However, the chaplain of the chapter came to him at this time and claimed that he had received a revelation while praying: the hope of the chapter's nirvana and rebirth was here.
Hope rose in Martins's heart, like a straw to a drowning man.
Intellectually, he shouldn't believe it.
Is there anything special about Tianma Star District? An unknown star sector with neither special output nor glorious history, and no other battle groups have ever been stationed here.
How could the hope of the Chapter's rebirth be here?
However, emotionally, he believed this matter without hesitation.
It was only a few months, which was nothing compared to the long lives of Space Marines after transformation, but he felt that he had suffered for too long. This feeling of emptiness is even more painful than during the Atonement Crusade.
Given the opportunity, he couldn't wait to seize it.
The chaplain of the chapter, also his most trusted battle brother, has been back in the prayer room for two days, and there has been no movement at all.
Martins' mentality gradually became anxious.
But all the anxiety came to fruition at this moment.
He heard heavy footsteps. He turned his head and saw the priest wearing the unique black power armor with a skull-shaped helmet. The huge shoulder armor was painted with the fiery red color of the battle group and the phoenix pattern, symbolizing the battle group. identity.
He is Rizzo, the oldest of the seven still alive and has been fighting in the Chapter for four hundred years. He was supposed to participate in the final battle to the death, but was forced to stay by the previous Chapter Master. The Chapter needs his experience to assist Martins.
"Pastor Rizzo, you are finally out. Are your prayers paying off?"
"Yes, Chapter Commander." Rizzo's voice was full of fatigue and a little bit of expectation, "I have received a more accurate revelation. The opportunity for the Phoenix to reach Nirvana is right here!"
The priest pointed his finger on the star map.
There, is the angry owl star.
Martins looked a little confused. He searched his memory and couldn't remember anything special about this world.
He couldn't help but ask: "Are you sure you didn't make a mistake?"
"I'm sure." Rizzo said calmly, "The God Emperor revealed that the chance for the Chapter's nirvana and rebirth is right there, and it should be with the governor of that planet."
Martins paced around and finally made a decision: "Okay, change direction, let's go to Raging Star!"
Pastor Rizzo's revelation was the only opportunity that Martins had been looking forward to in the past few months.
Although he had never heard of anything special about the world of Raging Owl Star, since it was a revelation from the God Emperor, it must be a powerful governor, and he might be willing to help the Chapter complete its reconstruction!
(End of chapter)