When Old John's family and other immigrants arrived at Zaporozhye, Alex also came here.
The Inquisition Black Ship he was on was moored in near-orbit, and it was his first time on this cruiser assigned to him.
The dark hull glowed with a cold luster under the starlight, like a giant beast lurking in the void, silently awaiting its master's call.
As a vessel specially assigned by the Inquisition to high-ranking Inquisitors, this ship carried many good things due to the meticulous efforts of the previous Inquisitor.
Powerful firepower, advanced ancient technological creations… every detail highlighted its extraordinary nature.
Alex stood on the bridge, his gaze sweeping over the flickering control panels, a hint of admiration rising in his heart.
Alex had to admit, this was a good ship, even though he knew it.
But knowing and personally experiencing that it was a good ship were still different.
Especially when he was the captain.
The Imperial void ships all required complex certification to bind a captain.
The captain of the Gabbro was Twilight, and the captain of this Inquisition Black Ship was Alex.
When Alex sat in the captain's chair and connected his consciousness to the entire ship, the feeling of being one with the entire ship was truly indescribable.
It was as if the entire ship had become an extension of his body; every engine's roar, every flow of energy was under his control.
His consciousness roamed every corner of the ship's hull, sensing the precise mechanical structures and complex energy circuits, as if he himself was the soul of this ship.
Alex also understood why Twilight loved to command a ship so much; this feeling was indeed addictive.
However, Alex did not get lost in it. Although he had completed the captain's certification and bound this ship, Alex still delegated daily management and combat command to the deputy assigned to him by the Inquisition.
This deputy was an experienced captain who had served in the Imperial Navy for many years before being transferred to the Inquisition.
Strictly speaking, this person was actually the captain. According to the usual practice of Inquisitors, they would appoint a captain to handle daily management and combat command on their behalf, while the Inquisitor themselves usually did not take charge of specific ship command.
After all, an Inquisitor had too many things to be responsible for and simply didn't have that much energy to specifically command a ship.
Alex was naturally the same. As a Planetary Governor and Inquisitor, he had many daily affairs.
He was able to come out this time only because he used the pretense of inspecting new immigrant planets.
Otherwise, as a Planetary Governor entangled in government affairs, it would be difficult for him to easily leave the planet he was on, from any perspective.
Moreover, according to Imperial law, a Planetary Governor was responsible for defending his territory, and leaving his planet without a proper reason was not something that could be easily explained away.
Fortunately, in addition to the title of Planetary Governor, Alex also had the identity of a Lord Inquisitor.
This identity, in the Empire, meant imperial authorization and no taboos.
An Inquisitor possessed extremely high autonomy and could move freely within the Imperial territory, even mobilizing the Imperial Army in certain circumstances.
And as a Lord Inquisitor, a rank higher than an Inquisitor, Alex's power would only be greater.
So, after Alex dumped his government affairs onto his Chamberlain, he left Rostov in his Black Ship, using the inspection of the immigration plan as an excuse.
Of course, Alex could not leave the planet he managed for a long time.
This trip was only for inspection; after visiting the current two planets that had begun initial immigration, he would have to go back to his office.
—
Old John shielded his youngest child's ears with his calloused hands. The sudden shriek made all the immigrants at the temporary spaceport crouch down, cowering.
He squinted his blurry eyes at the sky and saw a red and black shuttle cut through the clouds like a sharp sword. The Inquisition's emblem on its fuselage made anyone who saw it tremble with fear.
When the descending shuttle kicked up dust on the temporary spaceport's landing platform two hundred meters away, Old John's old work trousers flapped loudly.
The electronic whistles of the temporary spaceport guards rose and fell, and the immigrants squeezed towards the edge of the fence like startled gerbils.
A woman holding a baby stumbled and bumped into Old John's shoulder; the cry escaping from the swaddling clothes was swallowed by the wind as soon as it emerged.
Old John shielded his wife and children, squeezing into the corner as much as possible.
He didn't want his family to be dragged out and executed for offending some important figure.
From the reaction of the temporary spaceport guards, one could tell that there was an important figure on this shuttle.
Especially the Inquisition emblem on the fuselage—that was truly enough to stop a child's night crying.
The shuttle's hatch opened, and a young man in standard Inquisition attire stepped out, followed by a squad of Battle Sisters in Power Armor.
Old John couldn't help but shrink his head.
Although as a Lower Hive worker he shouldn't have any connection with the Inquisition, Old John had witnessed the Inquisition's purges of Lower Hive cults.
Therefore, he had a very deep impression of the Inquisition's emblem and their terrifying nature.
By the Emperor, they had once directly slaughtered an entire block because of a single flyer, not even sparing the children.
Of course, Old John also knew that those were apostates who had betrayed the Emperor.
Such behavior was the most profound betrayal and the most intolerable depravity for the Empire.
However, usually, it should have been the Hive City Enforcers, meaning people from the Department of Justice, who handled such matters, not the Battle Sisters called in by the Inquisition.
"Papa, look, a big bird in the sky ate the sun!" A shadow fell, and the entire temporary spaceport suddenly darkened, while Old John's youngest son innocently pointed at the sky.
Old John quickly pressed the child's hand down forcefully. He clearly knew that it was not some big bird, but a warship, a warship many times more terrifying than the transport ship that brought them here!
Although Old John was just a Lower Hive dweller, his original work was related to the Imperial Navy.
Therefore, he had seen some propaganda posters about Navy warships, which enabled him to recognize that the object casting a shadow in the sky was a cruiser.
Just as Old John was wondering why an important figure from the Inquisition would come to this planet, Alex, who had already stepped off the shuttle, scanned the area where the immigrants were located.
His sharp gaze made Old John instinctively shrink back; it was exactly like the gaze of the Inquisitor he remembered who had slaughtered an entire block.
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