"What is this 'Faithless Plague'?" Horst asked, puzzled by the name. How could a plague have anything to do with belief or faith?
"Those who lack faith in the Emperor will eventually turn into mindless husks, though we haven't reached that stage yet," Qin Mo replied vaguely.
Horst nodded, though another of Qin Mo's statements confused him: "A crusade against the Cadian Gate?"
Qin Mo then explained the details of the impending Thirteenth Black Crusade to Horst.
Rather than worry whether Horst might question how he could foresee the future, Qin Mo's true concern was whether the defenses of the Cadian Gate could hold.
What weighed heavier on his mind, though, was the fear that even if Horst believed his warning, others within the Imperium might not, or that the Imperium's notoriously sluggish bureaucracy would prevent any meaningful action.
Regardless, Qin Mo informed Horst of the imminent Black Crusade.
"The Faithless Plague, the increasing number of derelict ships, and the frequent raids—this is just the beginning. It might last five or six years, maybe even seven or eight."
"There's one thing you must remember: never send small fleets to deal with these raiders, especially the fleet in the Agripinaa system. And whatever you do, don't let Quaren lead his fleet through any nebulae, or he will fall into an ambush."
Qin Mo spoke of the troubles the Imperium would likely face before the Black Crusade fully unfolded.
Horst was astonished. He had no idea how Qin Mo knew about Quaren of the Agripinaa system. Some of the details Qin Mo shared were beyond Horst's ability to verify since, at this point, he only had a vague understanding of the plague ravaging the Gloom Region and the area surrounding Talon. Full reports were still pending.
Moreover, Horst was not the primary investigator of the plague; he had merely taken time out from the Tribunal's focus on the Gloom Region to conduct his inquiries into Talon.
"I'll report everything you've told me," Horst said, rising to his feet. "Meanwhile, you handle the plague in the systems surrounding Talon. I'll continue my investigation."
"I've already been doing that," Qin Mo said.
He had tasked Captain Floros with plague-related missions, and had responded to the various pleas for aid from neighboring systems.
Wherever there was Warp corruption and the presence of Chaos, there was always a Talon fleet ready to intervene.
"Then it's settled," Horst said, placing a hand on Qin Mo's shoulder. "I hope you can save these nearby systems the way you saved Talon. These systems might be worthless in the eyes of the Imperium, but if you can unite them into a sector..."
"I know what needs to be done, but it's imperative that no one stabs us in the back while Talon is focused on doing the right thing," Qin Mo replied.
"Don't worry," Horst assured him with a nod.
...
Half an hour later.
Qin Mo stood in the metallic hall.
Every door and window was sealed, creating an absolute darkness, while the room's holo-projection displayed a star map with Talon at its center.
Though Talon and its surrounding systems had never been formally grouped into a sector, Qin Mo had made the designation himself.
The star map showed a cube roughly 200 light-years across, encompassing nineteen star systems, including Talon.
This sector map had been created with the help of Mimicry, saving considerable time that would have otherwise been spent deploying ships to explore and measure distances between the systems.
Had Mimicry not been intermittently unreachable as of late, its involvement in the upcoming actions would have made things much easier.
"Show me the systems that have previously sent out distress signals regarding the plague," Qin Mo commanded the air.
The ever-present central AI immediately complied, marking four red points on the holo-map.
Four systems had sent aid requests to Talon, and the plague had been temporarily eradicated from all the worlds within them.
But Qin Mo remained skeptical.
These four systems were fortunate enough to possess ships of their own and could manage to communicate with Talon.
However, the vast majority of worlds in the unnamed sector had no ships at all, making it impossible to contact Talon.
It was now necessary to send fleets to investigate every system in the sector, conducting thorough inspections of each world.
This reconnaissance mission should have been initiated long ago, but only now, with the Tribunal's issues settled, was the fleet able to gather in preparation for the looming conflict.
Thankfully, the meddlesome Tribunal had finally departed.
"Send a command to Adam to draft and implement a reconnaissance plan for every system in the sector," Qin Mo ordered the AI.
The command was instantly transmitted to Fleet Marshal Adam.
"And continue producing the serum I developed. When a fleet identifies a system with plague outbreaks, administer the serum to the major sources of infection. For the smaller, hidden pockets and underground sources, dispatch ground forces to cleanse them. If derelict ships are encountered, destroy them."
"After securing a system, relay my next orders to the governor of each world within it."
"This is a mobilization order: all adult males on each world must immediately register for conscription and train with the light weapons Talon will soon supply. When I call for them, they will be ready to enlist."
After issuing his commands, Qin Mo studied the star map. He had a nagging suspicion that the presence of the Faithless Plague near Talon was no coincidence. There could very well be Nurgle cultists spreading the plague nearby.
As was his custom, Qin Mo also considered the worst-case scenario: that Talon might face a direct invasion by Nurgle's forces, including Chaos Space Marines and daemons. In such an event, the mobilization order would be crucial.
These commands effectively deployed all of Talon's fleets and ground forces, but that was because there was no need to keep reserves.
Just as with ground warfare, when an army can instantly traverse vast distances via teleportation—journeys that would otherwise take months—enemy ambushes and harassment tactics become irrelevant.
Should Talon come under attack, the fleet could immediately jump back to defend.
Besides, Talon still had its space fortress.
Qin Mo also pondered the likelihood that some systems might contain "plague worlds"—entire planets where every inhabitant had been transformed into plague zombies, where even the soil had become corrupted.
For such worlds, Qin Mo had two solutions.
The first was the use of the Superdimensional Sky Dome. But if there were too many of these plague-ridden worlds to deal with swiftly, there was a second option.
"Prepare Leviathan to deal with those worlds beyond saving, the ones not worth my time or effort," Qin Mo ordered once more.
Over the past year and a half, Qin Mo had created many weapons, but none had consumed more of his focus than Leviathan.
This was not another Superdimensional Sky Dome—it was an army.