Alex scrutinized the man before him; his words were nothing short of astonishing.
It is well-known that Orks are creations of the Old Ones, biological weapons created during the War in Heaven to combat the Necrons led by the C'tan.
Not only do they possess powerful reproductive capabilities, but their combat prowess is also quite astonishing.
At that time, Orks casually stood over ten meters tall, comparable to small Titans, and their weaponry and equipment were far more sophisticated than they are now.
Over time, Orks gradually degenerated, evolving into their current form.
Now, someone actually wants to restore Orks to their former peak state—they must be insane.
Imagine countless Orks, over ten meters, or even dozens of meters tall, shouting "WAAAGH!"—any faction witnessing such a scene would fall into an abyss of despair.
It's estimated that the Four Chaos Gods would have to pull the Emperor up to seek an alliance, or else they would be brutally crushed by the powerful Mork and Gork.
"What is your name?" Alex looked at the man before him and asked.
"I am Captain Sandkar of the Necromunda 119th Regiment, my Lord."
The man stood ramrod straight and saluted Alex.
"Captain Sandkar, thank you for your devotion to the Emperor."
Alex praised him, then changed the subject, asking with a serious tone, "How did you know someone was helping the Orks?"
"It's a long story, my Lord," Sandkar said, "We were originally ordered to go to Kals III to support the local defenders against the Orks."
"However, the local defenses didn't hold for long before they fell. I thought it was a dead end, but those Orks acted unusually; they didn't slaughter excessively. Instead, they treated us as slaves and made us work."
"While working, I unexpectedly saw several black-robed figures entering and exiting the Ork camp. The Ork chieftains treated them with considerable respect, which greatly confused me."
"Taking advantage of a pipe cleaning opportunity, I gained access to the vicinity of their room and even accidentally overheard their conversation."
"They seem to belong to multiple mysterious organizations, now united, operating across the entire galaxy, preparing a massive conspiracy."
"What did they say?" Alex asked.
"They said a new angel had been born, and the Golden Throne was trying to regain the initiative. Their actions had to be swift, to restore the Orks to their War in Heaven form, balancing the galaxy's powers."
"They also said a greater threat was approaching, and if no changes were made, then both the gods and the various races of the galaxy would be utterly destroyed."
"This Blackstone Scepter was given to the Orks by those people. It is because of its existence that the Ork Warboss was able to wield such powerful strength."
After all, Sandkar was just a prisoner, and he hadn't overheard much.
But he was absolutely certain that a group of mysterious individuals was helping the Orks.
Since that day, he had constantly sought opportunities to gather intelligence.
Unfortunately, those mysterious black-robed figures never reappeared.
Later, he was sent to the Eternal Dusk derelict, where he built fortifications for the Orks and witnessed the Ork Warboss who acquired the Blackstone Scepter grow increasingly powerful and intelligent.
"Oh, and I saw a symbol on the clothing of one of the black-robed figures; it should belong to their organization."
After explaining the whole story, Sandkar gave Alex and the others a surprise.
"Can you draw it?" Alex asked.
Sandkar nodded, "Yes."
Soon, someone brought paper and a pen for Sandkar to draw.
Sandkar drew a jagged symbol on the clean paper.
Alex frowned when he saw the Jagged Question Mark drawn by Sandkar.
"This symbol, the Jagged Question Mark?"
When he was in the Calixis Sector, Inquisitor Kadin had given Alex quite a bit of information about this organization.
The origin of this organization is a mystery, its members unknown. Even though the Inquisition expended a great deal of manpower and resources, they were unable to fully understand or destroy the organization.
Alex had thought they were only active in the Calixis Sector.
Who would have thought that their traces of activity could also be seen here?
Clearly, this is a galaxy-level secret organization.
The secrets of this galaxy are far more numerous than Alex imagined.
Alex looked at Sandkar, "The information you provided is very important. Now go and get some good rest. You look very tired."
"Yes, Saint."
After saluting Alex, Sandkar turned and left.
Logan looked at Alex, expressing his doubts.
"Saint, do you believe what this guy said?"
"Honestly, this is simply too absurd."
"A mysterious force is helping the Orks, thereby enabling those xenos to maintain the balance of the galaxy!"
"If such a force truly exists, then why don't they take action themselves to rule the galaxy?"
"The secrets of the galaxy are far more numerous than we imagine," Alex said, "Don't casually deny these things."
To be honest, Alex was also somewhat skeptical.
An organization capable of influencing the entire galaxy—why had he never heard of it before?
No, there was one other force that achieved this previously.
That was the Cult, that mysterious organization capable of creating immortal beings.
The Cult was a multi-racial mysterious organization dedicated to fighting Chaos.
They first appeared in the Imperium's sight during the Horus Heresy.
That rebellion involved too many factions.
The Cult wanted humanity to be extinguished, thereby starving Chaos.
Later, for some reasons, this organization was destroyed.
Now, a new organization has emerged.
Its influence is so great that it appears even stronger than the Cult.
"You all go and handle the aftermath of this war. I need to seek the opinions of some elders."
Alex sent Logan and Bjorn to deal with the Eternal Dusk derelict.
Although the war was over, the aftermath work was not yet complete.
Alex returned to the battleship with the Pharos device.
He ordered Cortana to establish a communication channel to contact Trazyn.
As the projection flickered, Trazyn's figure appeared before Alex.
"Saint."
Trazyn saluted Alex.
During this time, Trazyn had been staying in the Sol System, operating under the dual supervision of Cortana and the Custodes.
Trazyn was very dissatisfied with this supervision, but he quickly found something he wanted to do to distract himself: observing the rising humanity.
The rising humanity was very similar to the ambitious Necron who wanted to conquer the galaxy, giving Trazyn a feeling of dreaming back to before the War in Heaven.
Alex nodded, "Trazyn, I have something I need to seek your wisdom on."
Such a humble attitude surprised Trazyn.
With the Imperium of Man's xenophobic ideology prevalent, individuals like Alex who were willing to treat xenos with equality were very rare.
Trazyn quickly regained his composure.
"What is it?"
"How much do you know about the Necron?"
Alex's question made Trazyn laugh.
"I once fought them and personally dissected their corpses. Nowadays, my museum still houses many live specimens."
"I can say I know them inside and out."
The Necron were one of the main forces of the War in Heaven.
Once the Webway gates opened, Necron poured out like a tide, vast in number, countless.
If it weren't for the help of the C'tan, the Necron alone could have routed the Necron.
"Someone intends to restore the Orks to their War in Heaven form..."
Alex explained the whole story, and Trazyn also showed a solemn expression.
"To restore those Orks to their former state! These guys must have obtained the legacy of the Old Ones, or there are Old Ones among them, otherwise, it would be absolutely impossible to make any changes to such biological weapons."
Trazyn had dissected Orks.
The reason this race became what it is today is because they were originally produced as expendable cannon fodder,
without fear of death or war, only joy.
But a weapon that is not maintained for a long time will certainly have problems.
The same is true for Orks; their physical and technological decline is due to the Orks losing the guidance of their creators and a lack of self-maintenance.
However, the Ork biological weapon is not something just anyone can modify.
Unless one possesses the biological legacy of the Old Ones, they cannot reshape the Orks and restore them to their former appearance.
"Perhaps it's the good work of those pointy-eared ones." Trazyn's words pointed to the Eldar.
As inheritors of the Old Ones, there is a very high probability that they obtained the knowledge left by the Old Ones.
Reshaping the Orks is not impossible.
Alex did not believe Trazyn's accusation against the Ark Eldar, as the conflict between this guy and the Ark Eldar is well-known.
Trazyn would certainly not miss an opportunity to slander his opponent.
After discussing the Necron for a while, Alex asked Trazyn to find a way to collect more relevant information. He wanted to study the data of various races during the War in Heaven.
"Okay, then I'll find a friend to explain it to you in detail." Trazyn vowed, already planning how to catch Orikan.
Don't say your brother doesn't remember you. Now that I'm thriving in the Imperium, I have to help you, Orikan.
"Then I'll trouble you."
After thanking Trazyn, Alex cut off the communication.
Necron, Eldar, and an unknown organization.
"Can't the troubles of this galaxy just calm down for a while?"
"Master, Dante has sent you a communication request, should I connect it?" Cortana appeared before Alex.
"Connect it," Alex said calmly.
"Saint, I've received some astonishing news here."
As soon as the communication connected, Dante spoke excitedly, like a machine gun.
"What news?" Alex rubbed his brows and asked.
"My Astropath received an Astropathic message in the Warp saying that Lion El'Jonson has returned and is calling on nearby Imperial forces to find him."
Hearing Dante's words, Alex's eyes widened.
This timeline was much earlier than he knew.
The battles of Vigilus and the Red Wastes hadn't even begun yet! Sleeping Beauty Lion was about to return to the Imperium?