From the personal logs of Wrathe Daemonfoe,
' The Imperials dispatched the new governors to the Homeworlds.
Or so we thought.
The troops landed without warning. Wholesale slaughter ensued.
We were caught offguard. Another betrayal. Another in a long line of them. More death to
be avenged.
The Homeworld Counsel was vaporized. League and Guild strongholds were leveled. They
attacked the strongest leagues and guilds first.
In this one case we got lucky. The Avengers holds in the Silver League were considered a low priority. And we were home.
The reports from other worlds drifted in slowly. It took a while to figure out just what was happening. Then we readied the defenses and called in the fleet. I personally contacted the guild houses. All information was to be transferred to the fleet. Thats when I got what turned out to be a pleasent and interesting surprise.
Guildmaster Bertaud Bitterrock summoned me to his private quarters. When I arrived he opened a panel hidden on the wall. The space behind was huge, filled with all types and configurations of computers, all in some sort of working order.
"Here is the sum and substance of all thet the guilds know. Here are machines here that were brought to the Homeworlds at the time ot the Founding. Here is information that was anchient when your Grandsire's Grandsire was young. To the Imperial Technarchy these are only fables. These are the Legendary Standard Template Construct Systems Computers. Everything that the Imperial Army uses in war is here. Everything the Imperium IS, is in here."
At this point he pulled a detonator from his pocket. Then I noticed the massed
explosives attached to the machines.
He continued...
" It is my solomn duty to destroy all of this. However, ( his eyes seemed to twinkle at this point) all will not be lost. The information is contained in the computers on each ship in the fleet. If even one ship survives to escape, the information survives."
As I considered this I noticed something on one of the many monitors attached to the
machines.
"What's this?"
"Something useless that one of my interns thought was important. It's nothing, just some old historical file."
I very nearly choked on a laugh. I was looking at something that could destroy the Imperium.
I now knew where the true power of the Imperium was.
"Pack your bags, Bert. We're going to Mars."
.....To be continued....
Wrathe