Starting from the Planetary Governor - Chapter 51

Chapter 51: Phoenix is about to die

In the void of the universe somewhere infinitely far away in terms of physical distance, a fiery red spaceship is sailing.

It is scarred, it is not big enough, and it carries a dying chapter.

The Phoenix Chapter has ended their long crusade of atonement and has now restored their glory.

The Grand Inquisition of the Eastern Star Region announced this to the world in person on behalf of the Central Empire.

But so what?

“We have won the victory of the Hundred Years of Atonement Crusade and achieved the results we most wanted, but we are about to be destroyed.”

The Chapter Master of the Phoenix Chapter, Sarath Martins, always thinks so sadly.

He is the 64th Chapter Master of the Phoenix Chapter. This chapter with countless glorious history is likely to come to an end in his hands.

How did the chapter live before the Crusade of Atonement?

At that time, the Phoenix Chapter was glorious and powerful. They guarded their home planet and received the worship of billions of mortals. They selected the best young people from billions of people, and transformed them into one of them through gene seed.

The manpower and material resources of the entire planet were mobilized for them. In addition to being responsible for the defense of their home planet, they would also accept the Emperor’s call and go to all parts of the universe to participate in one glorious and great war after another. They either crushed the enemies of the Emperor into powder, or defended one world after another that was about to be destroyed.

He and his brothers were called the Emperor’s Angels.

This glory accumulated for thousands of years came to an abrupt end a hundred years ago.

Martins did not resent anyone.

In the “Bauhinia Scourge”, the Phoenix Chapter stood on the wrong side. The God-Emperor’s grace allowed them not to be purged as traitors, but they were still guilty. The Grand Inquisition sentenced them to a 100-year-long expedition of atonement.

The so-called Expedition of Atonement is to make the convicted warbands perform the most difficult and most casualty-causing assault missions without supplies, troops, or support. Once the mission is issued, it cannot be refused and must be carried out with all efforts until death.

Most of the warbands sentenced to the Expedition of Atonement often do not even last until the end of the punishment time.

But the Phoenix, as its name suggests, is tenacious and they miraculously survived the Expedition of Atonement.

One brutal war after another lasted for a hundred years. During these days, they still fought for the Empire, but there was no honor to speak of. They fought to atone for their sins and to die.

In the Hundred Years of Expedition, the warband leader changed six times, and finally fell into the hands of Martins, who thought he had no talent.

A few months ago, in the final battle of the Expedition of Atonement, the previous warband leader led the last elite of the warband and launched a desperate attack. They won, but the price was that no one survived 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 medal symbolizing the commander of the chapter before the charge. It was full of expectations and hope, and the future of the chapter was hanging heavily on his chest.

He was determined to rebuild his chapter, but he didn’t know how to do it.

Their home world had long been assigned to another chapter; the fleet had all crashed, leaving only the “Burning Feather”, a small spaceship that was not even a frigate; the power armor, the weapons depot, and the gene seed library were all lost with the crash of the flagship…

Perhaps no chapter has ever been in a worse situation than them.

They can only wander around in the universe in a daze, like a headless fly.

There are indeed many forces that want to “help” them. However, Martins can see through the sinister intentions of those people. They just want the Phoenix Chapter, which only has seven people left, to be their high-level thugs.

There is no glory, and there is no hope.

Martins is thinking about the opportunity to rebuild the chapter and the opportunity to continue to let the chapter fight with honor.

Unfortunately, when these things were mentioned, the people who tried to help them all shut up.

Some time ago, their spaceship warped through a spiritual network tunnel and came to the Pegasus sector aimlessly. Just like many of the star regions they passed by in the past few months, there was nothing special.

However, the chapter chaplain came to him at this time and claimed that he had received a revelation during prayer: the hope of the chapter’s rebirth lies here.

Martins’s heart arose with hope, like a straw for a drowning man.

Rationally, he shouldn’t believe it.

Is there anything special about the Pegasus sector? An unknown star region, with no special output, no glorious history, and no other chapters stationed here.

How could the hope of the chapter’s rebirth be here?

However, emotionally, he believed this almost without hesitation.

It was only a few months, which was nothing compared to the long life of the Space Marines after the transformation, but he felt that he had suffered too long. This feeling of emptiness was even more painful than during the Atonement Crusade.

If there was a chance, he couldn’t wait to grab it.

The chaplain of the chapter, who was also his most trusted battle brother, had been back in the prayer room for two days, and there had been no movement in the meantime.

Martins’ mentality gradually became anxious.

But all the anxiety had its results at this moment.

He heard heavy footsteps. He turned his head and saw a man wearing the black power armor unique to chaplains and a skull-shaped helmet. The huge shoulder armor was painted with the chapter’s fiery red color and phoenix pattern, symbolizing the identity of the chapter.

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.

“Reverend Rizzo, you finally came out. Did your prayer pay off?”

“Yes, Chapter Master.” Rizzo’s voice was tired and a little expectant. “I got a more accurate revelation. The opportunity for the Phoenix’s Nirvana is here!”

The priest’s finger tapped on the star map.

There was the Wrathful Owl.

Martins looked a little dazed. He searched his memory and couldn’t remember anything special about this world.

He couldn’t help asking, “Are you sure you didn’t make a mistake?”

“I’m sure.” Rizzo said frankly, “The God-Emperor revealed that the opportunity for the Chapter’s Nirvana rebirth is there, on the governor of that planet.”

Martins paced left and right and finally made a decision: “Okay, turn around and go to the Wrathful Owl!”

The revelation that Reverend Rizzo received 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 the Wrathful Owl, since it was a revelation from the God-Emperor, it must be a powerful governor who might be willing to help the Chapter complete its reconstruction!

(End of this chapter)