There have always been voices that suspected that thirty silver coins would have some unexplained connection with the Red Pirates. However, everything was outweighed in the face of huge interests, and several investigations by the Ministry of Justice basically ended without success.
Even the boss of the Thirty Silver Coins Society is still a mystery. Everyone only knows that his name is Judas, but no one has ever seen his true appearance. It has always been a few deputies operating outside.
"Have you three made an appointment? Come to me together?"
George Chatel shook his head with a smile and took the half-filled wine glass from the maid's hand.
"No, we just happened to meet on the road."
"oh?"
At this time, Bartola Keita suddenly spoke, with a very gloomy tone.
"Earl, I came to you to tell you something. We are going to get rid of the Silent Fox. He has had several transactions with you before. Based on the principle of not hurting our friendship, we will inform you in advance of this. I hope you can keep it confidential."
"The Silent Fox..."
Stern recalled for a while, and suddenly the smuggler who provided him with a batch of high-quality electronic products, but only needed some rare minerals, rang out.
"You're talking about Sorge? Isn't he working in Santiaro? Why did he offend you?"
"His cheap electronic products of unknown origin have squeezed our market share in the Blackbird Star Cluster, and he has recently been involved in the drug trade in the Siniacs Galaxy. We have warned him three times, but he has ignored them. So, That leaves only one solution...war!"
Stern raised his eyebrows calmly, then raised his cup slightly.
"Then I wish you luck."
Obviously his attitude is neutral. He doesn't care who he cooperates with. He will pay tribute to whoever wins his glass of wine.
Bartola Keita obviously came to test Stern's tone. After getting the answer, the man didn't stay any longer, nodded and got up and left.
After he left, Georges Chatelier laughed:
"It's not peaceful. It's not peaceful. What's happened to everyone recently? Isn't it good to do business in peace?"
Stern sneered and shook his glass.
"Stop pretending. You have been cooperating with these rats. They want to kill Sorge. I'm afraid you also have a share in it, right?"
George Chatel did not answer this question, but suddenly turned his body and said softly:
"I just wanted to get some inside information."
"Um?"
"The Black Heart King seems to be extremely active recently. There are rumors that he seems to have reached an agreement with the one in the Eye of Fear. Will there be a new war in the Maelstrom?"
Stern still shook his glass calmly.
"You ask me about this? I am a loyal servant of the empire. You must know more than me. After all, you are all mixed up with those ghosts and monsters, and I only think about how to protect the country and the people, and be loyal to the emperor. Not that much Flowery intestines.”
"but--"
Admiral Busby Garrett, who had been silent until now, spoke, his voice a little weak.
"I heard that Terra is organizing an army to launch an expedition against the Maelstrom."
Stern stopped holding the wine glass in his hand and narrowed his eyes slightly.
If his information is correct, the Busby Garrett family is actually an ancient hereditary branch of Terra, and that lineage has produced several high lords in its history. What he said, then It must be dealt with seriously.
"expedition....."
Stern was also a little confused at this time. After the Badab War, the Empire failed to completely eliminate Huron. When Huron became bigger, the Empire consumed a lot of mobile troops just to defend against Huron. With the current size of Huron, The force required to conquer him must be at least the scale of the famous Sabat expedition - when Warmaster Slaido officially announced the start of the expedition in 41, the Empire had assembled nearly a billion Astra Militarum troops, six Asch The Space Marines of the Tate Chapter, as well as numerous Mechanicum troops, including Titans.
Moreover, what Slaido has to face are basically fallen Astra Militarum and mortals, with only a handful of Chaos Space Marines. But Huron is not a mortal Chaos Warlord entrenched in Sabat. He has tens of thousands of Chaos Space Marines under his command. , whose strength is many times stronger than that of the Chaos bandits in Sabat.
Stern felt that if we wanted to deal with him, we would need at least twenty Space Marine Chapters to have a chance, and they would have to be relatively strong Chapters, such as the Minotaur Chapter that had participated in the Badab War. and the Shark Chapter.
However, at the end of this troubled 41st millennium, where can the Empire mobilize such a large army?
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Not to mention the huge number of Astra Militarum, so many Space Marines are just a dream. Although some battle groups were indeed stationed in the Maelstrom area to defend Huron after the Badab War, many years of war did not Weakening the Red Corsairs actually weakened these war groups, the most typical of which was the Ranger Warriors, who were nearly destroyed after their home planet was attacked.
Is it just a smoke bomb?
Stern was not sure at this time, but the Maelstrom had indeed looked like a storm was about to come recently, but he did not show his worries on his face.
"It's too early to say this now, but if war really breaks out again, all we can do is be loyal to the God-Emperor."
"It is necessary to be loyal to the God Emperor, but -"
George Chatel smiled and pressed his ring-covered hand on the gauntlet of the opponent's chair.
"Wouldn't it be better if we could protect ourselves or even profit from the chaos?"
Stern glanced sideways at the other person, with a sneer appearing on the corner of his mouth.
"You can make money at any time, but your life cannot be guaranteed at any time. I suggest you close all your businesses. By the way, I would like to remind the big boss behind you that the recent situation is not peaceful. Please wait and see if anything happens."
"That's natural. We are very clear about the logic of preserving capital first and then making profits. We just hope that we can unite and watch each other so that everyone can be safe, right?"
"certainly."
Stern said this, but his thoughts drifted away. After years of war in the Maelstrom area, although the empire tried hard to maintain its fragile rule, in fact many galaxies and worlds have become de facto independent, or in other words, sitting on the fence. , the red pirates come to pay taxes, and the empire also pays taxes. Anyway, they pay, just a little more. In order to maintain their existence, some worlds have even become pirate planets, and the entire society revolves around pirates. But once a war breaks out, This fragile balance no longer exists, and everyone must take sides.
But now, how many planets will still support the Empire?
If the empire launches an expedition, it's easy to win. But if it fails, will the situation in the Maelstrom region completely collapse?
These are all things to consider.
Maybe he had to contact his old friends to see if they had any news.
Just as Stern was thinking, he suddenly found that there was no sound around him. He saw that the dance had ended long ago, the crowd had dispersed, and even the two people had left.
With a sigh, he shook his head, picked up his cane and stood up. At this time, the waiter girl had quietly come to his side.
Stern stretched out his hand and rubbed her delicate buttocks roughly, which was not yet fully developed. The painful girl just frowned slightly and did not dare to express anything else.
He is in his forties, and only such a "youthful" girl can arouse his interest. Every time he comes to the theater, the owner of the theater will carefully prepare such a girl for him.
Stern picked up a black leather collar from the table nearby, hung it around the girl's neck, and then tied a thin metal chain to the collar. The girl did not resist at all, but lowered her head slightly.
"What a troubled time."
With a sigh, Stern turned around, holding the cane in one hand and holding the chain in the other.
"Come on, baby, let's go home."
The girl silently followed Stern towards the open door. When she walked through the door, two tall bodyguards covered with black spiked carapace appeared in the shadows and left with Stern.
