Chapter 356: Manufacturing the Warp Engine
Sigismund did not linger. The sights in the canyon and the secrets Akira revealed were far too momentous; any method of transmission via the Adeptus Astra Telepathica or through messengers was fraught with uncertainty and the risk of leaks in his eyes.
He had to return in person to seek an audience with his gene-father, ensuring the information would not be distorted or intercepted during transmission, and also to observe Dorn's truest reaction firsthand.
The Black Templars' shuttle quickly lifted off, turning into a shooting star that plunged into the firmament, speeding towards the Mandeville Point on the outskirts of the star system where his flagship waited.
Watching Sigismund leave, Akira also immediately sprang into action.
Meeting a Primarch, especially Rogal Dorn, who was renowned for his rigor and pragmatism, could absolutely not rely on just a few empty promises and unverified theories.
He needed to produce tangible, phased results that could intuitively demonstrate the technology's potential and feasibility.
He first returned to the canyon laboratory and retrieved all the data records of the Genesis particle experiment.
He needed to organize a clear demonstration process: from the Death World's original harsh environmental parameters, to the rapid reconstruction of the geological structure and atmospheric composition after the Genesis particles were activated, and then to the rapid development and subsequent adaptive evolution of the ecosystem after the "Life Seeding Matrix" was initiated.
He specifically highlighted the data of those biological samples that stubbornly survived in the harsh environment and showed unique evolutionary directions; this proved that the technology was not creating greenhouse flowers, but could spawn ecosystems with genuine survivability.
At the same time, he ordered the Tech-Priests to accelerate the assembly of a mobile, small-scale Genesis particle demonstration device.
This device did not need to terraform an entire canyon, but it had to be able to complete an accelerated creation process from inorganic matter to simple lifeforms in a closed indoor environment, right in front of Dorn.
This would be the most convincing visual evidence.
As for the warp engine, Akira's original plan had been more conservative.
He had envisioned waiting until his flagship was built, actually installing the warp engine and completing preliminary testing, before finding an appropriate time to demonstrate this epoch-making technology to Rogal Dorn.
By then, a reliable finished product capable of physical demonstration would be far more convincing than any blueprint or theory.
Sigismund's sudden visit undoubtedly disrupted his pace.
But this was not entirely unexpected.
In fact, ever since the knights of House Lumina responded to the summons and arrived on the Death World earlier than expected, Akira faintly sensed that a pair of invisible, massive hands seemed to be pushing the progression of events behind the scenes, causing many things to develop at a speed that exceeded his initial estimates.
Sigismund's appearance was perhaps another manifestation of this driving force.
Akira could not be sure whether this originated from the will of some unspeakable entity, or if it was merely a coincidence.
But he knew very well that he did not have much room to choose at this moment.
Rejecting this opportunity might mean missing this precious chance to meet the Primarch directly, and could even cause unnecessary trouble.
He had to seize this opportunity, even if preparations were not yet fully complete.
However, without a physical starship as a basis, how to prove the feasibility of the warp engine to Dorn became a difficult problem.
Theoretical data and simulation analysis were certainly important, but for such a subversive technology, lacking physical corroboration would always seem insufficiently convincing.
After careful consideration, Akira decided to utilize a technology he originally intended to handle more cautiously, one he had just brought back from the Star Trek universe—the "Auto-Repair Technology."
He planned to use this technology, combining it with the Forge World's existing resources, to urgently build a small, fully functional warp engine core demonstration unit within the Death World base.
This unit did not need the capability to drive an entire warship, but its core principles, energy circulation, and the most crucial spatial distortion effects had to be real and observable.
Relying on the "Auto-Repair Technology," he could greatly shorten the construction and debugging cycle, ensuring the stable operation of this precise device during the demonstration.
This was undoubtedly a risk; prematurely exposing another key technology carried danger. But to win the trust of a Primarch, he had to produce evidence of sufficient weight.
He strictly encrypted the compiled Genesis particle experiment data, the Iron Guard project briefing, and the preliminary warp engine theoretical framework.
At the same time, he issued orders to mobilize all available resources in the base, fully devoting them to the construction of that small warp core.
This was a race against time; he had to complete this demonstration piece capable of changing the Imperium's future before Sigismund returned with Dorn's reply.
The core of the auto-repair technology Akira grasped lay in matter reconstruction at the molecular level.
As long as sufficient basic matter and energy, as well as precise design blueprints, were provided, this system could act like the most precise printer, directly "weaving" raw materials into preset complex structures, eliminating the tedious processing, assembly, and debugging stages of traditional manufacturing.
In his database lay not only the complete data on this technology, but more crucially, the complete blueprints of an engine from the Star Trek universe capable of theoretically reaching Warp 8.
Theoretically, as long as he successfully replicated the auto-repair system and ensured the energy supply, he could directly "print" a complete warp engine—one that might even surpass the Imperium's current technological level—or even an entire starship.
But right now, he neither had enough time nor the need to build a complete Federation starship.
His goal was very clear: a largely scaled-down engine core capable of stable operation, sufficient to prove the feasibility of warp travel to Rogal Dorn.
Deep within the Death World base, in an experimental cabin designated as a maximum-clearance zone, Akira activated the preliminarily constructed core of the auto-repair system.
Several large material reserve tanks were connected to the system via pipelines, filled with preliminarily refined metals, crystals, and other synthetic materials.
Massive energy conduits connected directly from the base's main reactor, emitting a low hum.
Akira extracted the key sections regarding the core reaction segment, the spatial distortion coil matrix, and the energy guidance paths from the Warp 8 engine blueprints, setting the output ratio and priority.
He did not choose to manufacture the complete thruster assembly and hull interfaces, but focused on replicating that most central, key component capable of generating a warp field.
"Initiate matter reconstruction sequence," Akira issued the command.
The auto-repair system emitted a soft operational sound as the raw materials in the reserve tanks were drawn into the system's interior.
On the invisible microscopic level, a powerful energy field guided the molecules through extremely precise disassembly and reconstruction.
In the center of the experimental cabin, complex metallic structures began to "grow" at a visible rate—precise coils, crystal conduits flashing with a bizarre luster, intricate energy circuits...
They were not welded or assembled, but like natural growth, started from a base point, rapidly extending and taking shape, gradually forming a warp engine core model that, while scaled down, was structurally complete.
(End of Chapter)