Chapter 366: Praying to the Emperor
Deep within the heavily protected laboratory of the base, Ryo showed Sigismund the fully assembled warp engine core.
It was quietly secured on the testing platform, its structure precise and its lines smooth. But compared to the Imperium's magnificent plasma reactors or Warp drives, its volume indeed appeared inconspicuous.
Sigismund scrutinized this device. His face, tempered by the flames of war, did not reveal much emotion, but the scrutiny and a trace of skepticism that could not be completely concealed in his eyes were clear.
Was this the thing that claimed to be able to achieve travel at a thousand times the speed of light and break free from the reliance on the Warp and Navigators?
This still sounded a bit... too good to be true.
"I know it is hard to believe, Lord Sigismund," Ryo's synthesized voice broke the silence, the light from his crimson optical lenses steady. "But please look at everything we have paid for this meeting."
He raised a mechanical arm and pointed outside the laboratory, as if able to pierce through the walls, pointing to the battlefield where the flames of war had just subsided.
"The Greenskin Orks, they were precisely dropped at my doorstep, and evolved abnormally in an extremely short time, as if an invisible hand was catalyzing them from behind, solely to strangle me and my research in the cradle."
"The traitor fleet of the Death Guard set an ambush precisely on your inevitable route, attempting to stop you from arriving here."
"And that Warp storm that perfectly blockaded the star system..."
His voice was steady, yet carried an unquestionable logical force.
"And what just concluded was the fleet from the Martian headquarters, the 'orthodox' of our Adeptus Mechanicus. They did not hesitate to declare us heretics just to forcefully seize this technology. Why?"
Ryo's optical lenses firmly locked onto Sigismund: "If this were merely an insignificant or illusory technology, would it be worth so many factions—from Chaos to xenos, and then to our own internal forces—mobilizing such massive forces and coming to stop it at all costs? Are they afraid of me, Ryo, personally, or this barren Death World beneath my feet?"
He paused slightly, allowing Sigismund to digest these words.
"No, what they fear is the 'possibility' it represents. They fear that the Imperial armies will no longer be subject to the treacherous storms of the Warp and the scarcity of Navigators. They fear the will of the Imperium being able to project to any corner of the galaxy with unprecedented speed and certainty; they fear human civilization gaining a more stable, more autonomous interstellar route. What they fear is the power the Imperium might consequently gain to break the current deadlock."
"All these obstacles, Lord Sigismund, do not prove the unreliability of this technology. On the contrary, they prove, in the cruelest and most direct manner, the true and undeniable potential and value of this technology, which is sufficient to shake the existing paradigm. They are afraid of Lord Rogal Dorn seeing it; they are afraid of the Imperium possessing it."
Ryo concluded, his tone certain: "Sometimes, the thing your enemies desperately try to stop you from obtaining is often exactly the thing you need the most."
Sigismund was silent for a moment. Ryo's logic was impeccable.
The more frantically the enemies obstructed them, the more it confirmed the value and threat of this technology.
He looked at that inconspicuous warp engine core, the last trace of doubt in his eyes dissipating, replaced by ironclad resolve.
"Your words are like a pre-battle horn, dispelling the fog." Sigismund's voice was deep and firm. "Then, Magos, how should we safely deliver this... creation capable of reshaping the Imperium's future to Holy Terra?"
He scanned the laboratory, his gaze seemingly piercing the walls to see the wreckage of those warships in orbit.
"On the way here, we experienced Warp storms, the blades of traitors, and..." He paused, not mentioning Mars directly, but the meaning was clear, "internal obstructions. The journey back will only be more perilous. The enemy already knows our objective; they will absolutely not sit back and watch us reach Terra."
He looked at Ryo, raising the most practical questions: "Must this item be escorted by our fleet, or is there another, more covert and safer method? Do we need to split up to confuse potential interceptors? Or..."
His gaze sharpened, "Do you still have any treasured collections capable of directly... 'clearing' the navigational route like before?"
Sigismund was already prepared to pay a massive price, whether it be fierce combat or precious resources.
Ensuring the warp engine technology was safely presented before the Primarch Dorn was the current, overriding supreme mission.
Sigismund's questions pointed straight to the core, but Ryo's response exceeded his expectations.
"Do not always keep your mind on my treasured collections, Lord Sigismund." Ryo's synthesized voice carried a trace of almost human-like helplessness. "They are indeed keys capable of opening up the situation in desperate straits, but each one is a solitary item; using one means having one less. They are the swan songs of the pinnacle of human wisdom from before the Dark Age, their value far exceeding your life and mine. Even if they must be used, they should be saved for the moment that truly determines the survival or extinction of civilization, not consumed on the return journey."
He changed the subject, the light of his crimson optical lenses flickering slightly: "We have a more realistic choice. First, I can use this core as a basis to urgently build a light spacecraft capable of carrying it. We can board this ship, activate the warp engine, and head straight for Holy Terra at a thousand times the speed of light."
However, Ryo immediately pointed out two fatal, almost unsolvable flaws in this plan:
"Firstly, although the speed is fast, the distance is objectively present. The Death World is over eight thousand light-years away from Holy Terra. Even maintaining a thousand times the speed of light, we would need a full eight years to arrive. Eight years—there are too many variables. We cannot afford to wait, and the Primarch cannot afford to wait either."
"Secondly, and this is the more crucial issue—star charts." Ryo's mechanical fingers swept through the air, bringing up a complex data stream of star charts. "The Imperium has relied on the Astronomican and Warp travel for ten thousand years. All star charts are essentially mappings of Warp routes, and their coordinates and paths heavily rely on the psychic perception of Navigators to decipher. For purely material universe faster-than-light travel, most of these star charts only mark the relative positions of neighboring sectors and are filled with subjective distortions. We would find it difficult to even determine the precise position of Holy Terra in the material universe, let alone plot a safe route spanning eight thousand light-years. Blindly making faster-than-light jumps is tantamount to suicide."
He paused, allowing Sigismund to fully understand these two insurmountable obstacles.
"Therefore, the first choice, as it currently stands, is impractical."