Aboard the Shadow's Sovereignty.
Nareth watched a tall figure with golden hair, a fur cloak draped over his shoulders, enter the office.
"Nareth, you shouldn't be here. Ynniu is the Wolves' hunting ground."
"I am here by the Emperor's command," Nareth said impassively. "Clearly, your Wolves are too slow."
With a snort from Russ, the communication bead in Nareth's ear buzzed.
Russ glanced at Sanchez, who wore the Russ Wolf Helm forged by the Allfather's artisans and carried at his waist the blade forged from the Kraken's fang.
As Nareth's hand left the communication bead, Russ bared his teeth in a smile.
"Jorin's hunt has begun. The Wolves will have their prey."
Nareth leaned back on his throne, the corners of his mouth curving slightly upward.
'Jorin, not bad.'
'If the Wolves weren't going to participate in the Dulan Campaign, how could I get leverage?'
'If you can't find Dulan, I wouldn't mind telling you where it is.'
Though Nareth knew the 13th Great Company's Canis Helix would mutate, he couldn't simply force his way in.
He could only get evidence from the Dulanians, who would capture the mutated Space Wolves as a propaganda weapon.
Russ scrutinized Nareth. Seeing his calm expression, his fists itched, and a shadow of foreboding passed through his eyes.
He reached back and tore off the cloak made from the pelt of the great wolf Black Mane, which he had personally slain.
"Yours." Russ shoved the cloak into Sanchez's hands and turned to leave.
"A fine cloak. Wear it." Nareth's annoying voice sounded behind Russ.
At the same moment Russ left the Primarch's palace, Jorin, on whom he had pinned his hopes, launched a full-scale assault on Ynniu III.
Massive cylindrical space stations orbiting the planet bristled with disruptor guns on their firing platforms.
They, along with the surrounding Dulanian ships, poured dense beams at the dark grey warships.
The Space Wolves 13th Great Company, supported by the 1st, 3rd, 8th, and 10th Great Companies, launched a frenzied assault.
To quickly clear a path to Ynniu III, the Wolf ships unleashed an offensive that was, even for them, too ferocious.
Dark grey warships disintegrated under the terrible beams. Wreckage drifted in the planet's orbit.
Four days later, the Nidhogg finally reached the space station's orbit.
The Wolf Lord launched a bloody boarding action against the carbon-steel fortress held by nine battalions of Skarbyn soldiers.
The Falcon also caught its prey: a Hunter-class Dulanian warship.
As the deck shook, Shipmaster Ossaga gave the order: "Activate the ram array."
"Array activated." Captain of the Guard Ingeld reported loudly.
Navigator Eileen's voice followed: "Entering designated trajectory."
Ossaga looked up from the tactical display to the observation port above.
The Hunter-class destroyer was directly above them. Its cannons hammered the Falcon's shields with continuous laser fire.
A heavy hum came from the ship's underside, the modified weapon Ossaga had personally overseen, activating.
Two heavy, hammer-shaped impact claws, twenty meters apart, were retrofitted with shock-absorbing materials from large Wolf ships that had been destroyed.
The boarding hatch between them had been converted into a massive explosive device. Melta charges were plastered on both sides of the hatch's bulge-like doors.
The Hunter-class destroyer suddenly dove at a sharp angle, then turned left.
As the Falcon dove from beneath its prey's shadow, warning klaxons on the bridge screamed.
"Position locked," Ingeld reported calmly, locking the beacon onto the Hunter-class destroyer's lower flank. "Prepare for impact."
At the moment of impact, the deck shook violently. Static hissed. The observation port went dark.
Cracks appeared in the armored glass, but it didn't shatter.
Alarms shrieked. A series of explosions like firecrackers erupted on the Falcon's top deck. Debris rained down inside.
Engines screamed. Shrapnel laced with plasma flew through the control room, tearing Tech-Priests, mortal attendants, and servitors to shreds.
The instant the melta charges detonated, the Hunter-class destroyer's compartment walls collapsed.
The Wolves roared, charging into the explosion zone. They leaped and bounded agilely between the shattered hull and deck.
As the alarms sounded, thirty Skarbyn soldiers emerged from behind bulkheads.
They raised their double-barreled weapons and aimed at the Wolves. Their rate of fire was remarkable, especially compared to their other sluggish movements.
Dense barrages struck the front ranks. Air shuddered. Explosions roared.
Mark II power armor turned to dust. Torrents of blood erupted from the Wolves' transhuman bodies.
Jorin swung his great axe two-handed, slamming it into a Skarbyn soldier.
"Move!" he roared and charged forward.
The Wolves found their signature close combat was most effective against the slow Skarbyns. Their clearance speed increased dramatically.
Six hours later, Jorin stood before a two-meter-diameter cylinder and gave the order.
"Find the data storage containing Dulan's coordinates. The Wolf King wants to crack it personally."
The Wolves exchanged glances. 'The Primarch had never shown interest in such mechanical things before. Now he wanted to crack it himself?'
Just as Jorin strapped his axe onto his back, his comm buzzed with the voice of Wolf Priest Ulbrandr.
"Harald..." Ulbrandr hesitated. "He's not right."
"Not right?" Jorin asked, puzzled.
"Please come immediately."
Jorin strode towards the rune-marked deck. Harald was a member of his Honor Guard.
He wasn't part of Russ's brotherhood, but had passed the trials of Asaheim after the Allfather's arrival on Fenris.
He was well-liked by the pack. Jorin had even considered promoting him to higher rank.
In every way, he was a model son of Russ.
When Jorin saw Harald, he immediately noticed he was completely different from before.
He was panting heavily, covered in bile. His matted fur and elongated fangs were exposed.
His right claws were dug into the skull of a Dulanian soldier.
He crouched, one hand on the floor, his animalistic, mad eyes darting around, as if surrounded by enemies.
Wolf Priest Ulbrandr, clad in obsidian plate armor and adorned with bleached animal skulls, had his bolt pistol trained on Harald, as if guarding against a Fenrisian beast.
His pearl-grey hair was streaked with black. Fenris's mark had frosted on his face, making the strands hard as ice.
"Wolf Lord, there was another, Bjorn the Hook. He died in the battle."
Jorin looked at the mutated, corroded Harald, guessed what had happened from the Wolves' wary and complex expressions, and asked, his voice low and sorrowful.
"How many brothers did he kill?"
"Three," Ulbrandr pointed to three suits of power armor around them. "He tore them apart, one after another."
The creature that had once been Harald suddenly stirred. Mutation stretched its face. Its nostrils flared, sniffing like a wolf.
"Harald," Jorin roared. "Don't move!"
Harald froze. He growled, dark yellow saliva dripping to the floor.
Jorin pushed Ulbrandr aside and shouted at Harald. "You can defeat it. You have overcome it before."
Jorin had witnessed the Canis Helix's mutation before, but never a fall so close to wolf form.
Harald disgusted him, but also filled him with sorrow.
Harald arched his back, lowered his body. His Legion emblem fell from his clattering armor.
He bared his fangs, suddenly straightened, stood on his hind legs, and howled at the ceiling.
Amidst the clicks of bolt guns being readied, Harald charged his Wolf Lord, his face twisted with madness.
He raised his claws. Bolt guns fired. Bloody holes exploded across his body, but he didn't slow.
Jorin looked into Harald's eyes and saw only the pain of an animal.
"Forgive me." He drew his bolt pistol, pulled the trigger, and blew Harald's head off, ending his suffering.
"Find the cause of their fall."
"We should tell the Wolf King." Ulbrandr suggested.
"Not until we find the cause," Jorin looked around at his Honor Guard. "That is my order."
Two days later, aboard the Hrafnkel, Russ had what he wanted.
He stared at the cogitator, newly installed on a brass stand in the Wolf's Den, and said to the red-robed Tech-Priests around him.
"I will work with you to find the route to Dulan."
Silent binary signals surged through the Den:
"The Wolf King is actually going to crack it with us?"
"Can he understand Dulanian technology?"
"Begin." In the stifling heat from the braziers, Russ's rugged face was flushed with warmth.
The Tech-Priests soon discovered the Wolf King was grasping everything at an astonishing speed.
It was as if an inexhaustible wellspring of energy was pouring from his body, fueling his every action.
Six solar days later, his hair disheveled, Russ laughed heartily.
"I haven't had a drink in days. Bring it all!"
As Russ downed his first barrel of Fenrisian mead, Nareth, having extracted some secrets of the Warp Spider Aspect from Slau Dha's mind, returned to reality. His communication bead buzzed.
"My Lord, the Space Wolf fleet has set sail."
'Hmm? Faster than my sons.'
'Even with them distracted by studying Dulanian technology, it seems unlikely.'
Nareth's eyes deepened. A flash of insight struck him.
Russ's learning ability was quite remarkable, quite different from his rough exterior. He had learned High Gothic with a speed that even Horus admired.
'Did he participate in the cracking?'
Thinking this, he couldn't help but admire.
'Russ, you're quite capable.'
With this thought, he willed himself to the Kingdom of Disorder again.
Entering the third layer, he picked up the newly recharged Dice of Prophecy. Information about Dulan flashed through his mind.
'Dulan, capital of the Dulanians.'
'A highly industrialized planet. A massive ring-like orbital station and numerous smaller stations orbit it.'
'Its surface is red as blood, interwoven with steel and iron, interspersed with jagged rock.
'...'
Information about Dulan flashed rapidly through Nareth's mind. He silently intoned.
'Star chart from Ynniu to Dulan...'
After intoning it eleven times, Nareth tossed the dice.
The triangular pyramid tumbled through the air several times. A holographic scene unfolded before his eyes.
.....
If you enjoy the story, my p@treon is 30 chapters ahead.
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