Infinite Metaverse

Chapter 24: The Scar

Personal Quarters, Washroom

Fu Qinghai held a sharp knife, dipping it into a bowl of black, viscous liquid. He stood in front of the mirror, carefully considering where to make the cut on his face.

'Where should I put it?' he thought, staring at his handsome reflection. He hesitated, reluctant to mar his features.

He tried to recall famous men with facial scars.

Franck Ribéry, the "Scarface" of football, had a scar running from the corner of his eye to his mouth. But that was from an accidental injury, and Ribéry wasn't exactly a model of conventional handsomeness.

Kakashi Hatake, the ninja with a scar running through his eye. But the eyelid was so thin—what if the poison blinded him?

Harry Potter, with his lightning bolt scar on his forehead. But what if he ended up in the J.K. Rowling universe and got mistaken for him by Voldemort's followers?

After much deliberation, Fu Qinghai finally decided to make a small, diagonal cut across the bridge of his nose.

As soon as the blade, coated in the black liquid, touched his skin, a faint hissing sound erupted, and white smoke rose from the wound. Despite the searing pain of the corrosive substance eating into his flesh, Fu Qinghai only frowned slightly. His hand remained steady, the knife precise and unwavering.

Once the scar was complete, Fu Qinghai looked at his reflection and nodded in satisfaction.

***

'The Next Day'

Ogotai frowned, clearly displeased as he examined the faint scar on Fu Qinghai's nose. "What, were you afraid of the pain?"

Fu Qinghai chuckled and scratched his head, offering no explanation. He knew Ogotai wouldn't dwell on such a minor detail.

Ogotai sighed in exasperation. "Come with me to the briefing room."

The two entered the small briefing room, which was empty. Ogotai casually took a seat and gestured for Fu Qinghai to do the same.

"Qingshan, you're now a full-fledged member of our team. I know you've been holding back a lot of questions about our mission. Now that you're one of us, I can fill you in on some of the details."

Fu Qinghai nodded.

Ogotai leaned back in his chair and began, "It all started when we…"

As it turned out, Ogotai and his company, the Falcon Brotherhood, had suffered heavy losses during the White Scars' internal conflict. Many of their Terran-born members had sided with the Warmaster, and the company was no longer at full strength. Primarch Jaghatai Khan had assigned them a secret mission: to break away from the main fleet and escort Magos Kurnos, the Biologis, to Mars aboard a single frigate. This was why there were no other White Scars fleets in the Cheslatan system.

After the Battle of Ullanor in 544.M32, large-scale conflicts between humans and Orks had become rare, with most engagements being localized cleansing operations. The White Scars, dispatched to a remote system by the Warmaster, were the last Legion to have a chance at large-scale combat with the Orks.

The Mechanicum of Mars had always been deeply interested in the Orks, a xenos species that had once posed a significant threat to the Imperium. They had been researching ways to curb the Orks' rapid reproduction. Kurnos Anastasio, an expert on xenos biology, had been specifically sent to study the Orks.

However, the outbreak of the Horus Heresy had disrupted everything. The rebellion and its suppression had become the top priority for all Legions, including those embroiled in the civil war on Mars.

As for why they were escorting Magos Kurnos to Mars, Ogotai wasn't entirely sure. Fu Qinghai, recalling the academic and research circles of his past life on Earth, speculated that Kurnos likely had his own network of students and allies within the Mechanicum. As a loyalist, Kurnos's influence on Mars might have been a factor in Jaghatai Khan's decision to send him there, perhaps to tip the balance slightly in favor of the loyalists.

'Whatever,' Fu Qinghai thought. 'Loyalty to the Emperor isn't my concern as a rookie.'

"And then?" Fu Qinghai asked, more interested in what happened next.

Ogotai took a deep breath. "As we traveled through this system, our auspex suddenly detected a signal from the Sons of Horus. A lone Firestorm-class frigate was heading toward an agricultural planet marked as 17-974 on the star charts…"

At that point, Ogotai had lost his cool.

The losses suffered during the White Scars' internal conflict had deeply affected him. The company had lost two-thirds of its members—more than they had lost even when facing ten times their number of Orks. What made it worse was that these warriors hadn't died in glorious battle but in the shameful act of rebellion.

Ogotai blamed it all on the Sons of Horus.

Taral had repeatedly urged him to prioritize the mission, but Ogotai was determined to teach the traitors a lesson.

The Firestorm-class frigate, being larger and more heavily armed than the Shortsword (a Gladius-class frigate), was clearly superior in a space battle. Even without considering the presence of Magos Kurnos, the Shortsword stood little chance against the Sons of Horus vessel in a direct engagement.

So, Ogotai made a bold decision. He handed command of the Shortsword to Taral and personally led a tactical squad in a torpedo boarding action—a high-risk, high-reward tactic often used by Space Marine Legions to turn the tide in space battles.

But torpedo boarding was extremely dangerous, far more so than orbital insertion or other tactics. It had the highest casualty rate of any combat operation.

An unarmed torpedo could carry two Space Marines. Once launched, it had to navigate through a gauntlet of laser arrays and macro-cannon fire to precisely penetrate the enemy ship. The boarding party then had to fight their way through the enemy's counter-boarding forces to destroy the ship's power core.

The entire process was fraught with peril.

It's worth noting that boarding torpedoes had no recovery systems. Unless the enemy ship was completely captured, torpedo boarding was essentially a suicide mission.

But Ogotai succeeded, though at the cost of the entire tactical squad and his own legs.

At the time, the Shortsword had used its early detection advantage to hide in the asteroid belt around Cheslatan, quietly approaching the Sons of Horus frigate. Just as the enemy was preparing to deploy landing craft, the Shortsword suddenly attacked, catching them off guard.

After firing a few shots and launching the boarding torpedoes, the Shortsword quickly retreated back into the asteroid belt, waiting to see the outcome of Ogotai's boarding action.

The White Scars' ships had been specially modified by the Mechanicum at the request of Primarch Jaghatai Khan. They sacrificed some firepower and ammunition capacity for increased engine output, making them faster than other Legions' ships—perfect for hit-and-run tactics.

After Ogotai and his squad destroyed the Firestorm-class frigate's power core, the ship, caught in the planet's gravity, began to plummet into the atmosphere. It crashed not far from the Cheslatan colony, leading to the events that followed.

Fu Qinghai finally understood. It had been a rollercoaster of events.

As they spoke, the other Space Marines began filing into the briefing room. Once everyone was seated, Ogotai, still in his wheelchair, spoke solemnly.

"Brothers, I've just received word from Marco van Lier. The Warp storm covering this region has weakened. We expect to be able to make a Warp jump within the next two weeks."

The White Scars were stunned for a moment, then erupted into cheers. After two years of drifting through the vast emptiness of space, they could finally pick up speed.

Ogotai smiled and continued, "Compared to the Warp storm engulfing the entire sector, this is just a brief window. But if we seize this opportunity, we can close in on our destination quickly. We're getting closer to the areas where the traitors are most active. Be ready."

The others nodded in agreement.

"Let's go," Ogotai said, patting Fu Qinghai on the shoulder as they left the briefing room.

***

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