Chapter 449: Audience with the Primarch
The shuttle departed from Mars orbit and entered the stable route heading to Holy Terra.
Inside the ship, Ryo's processor was running at high speed, analyzing the data provided by the future warrior, Reid, and cross-referencing it with the fragmented information about the Eldar prophecy from Illyndiel.
Catherine maintained the vigilant posture of a Sister of Battle, silently monitoring the security status within the cabin.
The voyage proceeded with absolute secrecy and high efficiency.
Relying on Ryo's special clearance and the Adeptus Mechanicus internal identification codes, the shuttle carrying these unconventional passengers encountered no excessive interrogation. It arrived smoothly at Holy Terra and was permitted to land at a designated pier in the Imperial Palace sector.
Stepping onto the soil of Terra, although Reid and Catherine tried their best to remain calm, their souls from ten thousand years in the future could not help but react. When witnessing the palace defenses and the atmosphere of the Imperium in this era, the subtle physiological reading fluctuations captured by their power armor sensors were still accurately recorded by Ryo.
This was the shock of facing "history," even though they themselves were the future defenders of this historical period.
Without delay, guided by Ryo, the group passed through layers of heavily guarded cordons and headed directly to Rogal Dorn's command center. The heavy adamantium doors slid open silently after identity verification, revealing a vast, cold, pragmatic space filled with tactical star maps and data streams.
The massive figure of Rogal Dorn stood with his back to the entrance, towering in front of the largest dynamic star map, which marked several threat nodes urgently requiring resolution within the Imperium's borders.
He did not turn around, but his majestic presence already filled the entire hall, awe-inspiring like a mountain.
"Magos Ryo." Dorn's voice was like grinding stone. He slowly turned around, his sharp gaze sweeping over Ryo before landing on the three people behind him.
His gaze lingered on the Eldar, Illyndiel, for a moment, cold as physical substance, carrying undisguised scrutiny and natural hostility. But upon seeing Reid's unusually tall, clearly marked Black Templar power armor, and the Imperial Aquila on Catherine's Sister of Battle uniform, that hostility slightly retracted, transforming into a deeper inquiry.
"Lord Primarch," Ryo's synthesized voice steadily broke the silence. "The incident is urgent, involving the future safety of the Imperium and a major xenos conspiracy. Therefore, I brought them directly for an audience without prior notification."
Dorn's chin lifted slightly, signaling Ryo to continue.
Ryo concisely explained the process of being ambushed by elite Dark Eldar assassins on Mars, emphasizing the scale and targeted nature of the attack, and pointing out that if not for the timely assistance of the three people before him, the consequences would have been unpredictable.
"And then," Ryo's optical lenses turned to Reid and Catherine, "they claim to be from the Imperial year 782.M41, accidentally stranded here due to a warp storm. This is a High Knight of the Black Templars Chapter, Reid; this is Catherine, belonging to the reorganized Sisters of Battle forces."
Finally, he pointed to Illyndiel: "And this Eldar, Illyndiel, is from Craftworld Ulthwé, dispatched by its Seer Council. She claims to be here to protect me, and because of a 'fate disturbance' concerning the survival of the Eldar race."
Dorn listened silently, his face expressionless, but the air pressure inside the command center seemed to drop a few degrees.
Imperial warriors from the future? Cooperating with an Eldar? Any single element was enough to raise a Primarch's highest vigilance.
"Evidence." Dorn's voice was cold, hard, and unquestionable.
Reid took a step forward. Even in front of Dorn, his tall body, enhanced by future technology, still stood straight and tall.
He opened the cogitator interface of his power armor once more: "Lord Primarch, my armor records the complete voyage logs, with anomalous time coordinates. Furthermore, it contains some summaries of combat information regarding... the Twelfth Black Crusade, as well as some key node data of the 'War of the Beast'. These should be unknown in the current era."
Catherine synchronously provided her data interface, adding: "There are also details regarding the reorganization and expansion of the Sisters of Silence, and draft tactical manuals for responding to large-scale xenos wars, the formulation time of which is far later than the present."
Dorn did not personally check. He tilted his head slightly, and a Custodian silently stepped forward, plugging a portable data terminal into the interfaces provided by Reid and Catherine for rapid verification.
A moment later, the Custodian gave a slight nod to Dorn. Although the expression under his metallic mask could not be known, this action itself indicated the anomalous nature and potential authenticity of the data.
Dorn's gaze returned to Reid, this time carrying a more intense scrutiny belonging to a Primarch examining a creation of his own sons: "Your physique, Brother Reid. It far exceeds the Astartes standard of the current era."
"Yes, Primarch." Reid's voice carried absolute respect, yet was neither humble nor arrogant. "This is... the universal physiological standard of the new generation of Astartes in the future, benefiting from the success of the systematic optimization and standardized improvement project of the gene-seed led by Magos Ryo.
"Bone density, muscle strength, neural reaction speed, and organ efficiency are all significantly improved, with an average height reaching 2.8 meters.
"More importantly, under the premise of maintaining absolute loyalty and rationality, psychic resistance is enhanced, and controllable, low-level psychic potential development is achieved, used to assist in defense and battlefield perception."
As he spoke, the soft blue psychic halo rose again in his palm, steady and restrained, without the slightest taint of Chaos. Instead, it carried a precise, controlled technological beauty.
Dorn's brow furrowed imperceptibly.
He always held suspicion toward psychic powers, and the Emperor's warnings about psykers still rang in his ears.
But what Reid displayed was not uncontrollable sorcery, but more like a bio-energy application that had been tamed and instrumentalized by technology.
This was different from any form of psychic power in his cognition.
"Comprehensive physiological enhancement... controllable psychic potential..." Dorn repeated in a low voice, his sharp gaze seeming to pierce through Reid's power armor, looking directly at the biological structure beneath. "What is the price? Stability? Is the faith in the Emperor still pure?"
"Stability has been strictly verified, superior to current gene-seeds," Reid answered without hesitation. "And loyalty to the Emperor and humanity is the deepest core directive implanted in the gene-seed, never wavering, and it will not in the future. Lord Primarch, we are still the Emperor's Angels of Death, just... more efficient."
Dorn was silent for a moment, his gaze turning to Illyndiel. "So, Eldar. Why is your race interfering in human affairs? What specifically does this so-called 'fate disturbance' refer to? And what is the root cause of the Dark Eldar's attack?"
Illyndiel maintained the unique elegance and composure of the Eldar under Dorn's gaze, even though she could feel the power to destroy stars contained within that look.
"Lord Rogal Dorn," she used a relatively neutral honorific, "explained in human concepts of time, at a certain point in the future, an exploration discovery by Magos Ryo will indirectly cause a change in a key variable affecting the destiny of the entire Eldar race.
"For the Craftworld Eldar, who pursue order and revival, this indicates that we might be able to break free from the eternal curse of Slaanesh and find a new path of survival.
"But for the Dark Eldar, who rely on pain and fear to eke out a living, this means the foundation of their existence will be completely shaken. The Lord of Excess will no longer 'shelter' them, and their souls will be instantly consumed.
"Therefore, the rulers of Commorragh will eliminate Magos Ryo, this 'variable', at all costs before the crucial discovery occurs."
Her words were clear and calm, laying a trans-species struggle for survival on the table.
"The Seer Council of Ulthwé foresaw the actions of the Dark Eldar, and also foresaw that only by cooperating with you," she looked at Ryo, "and specific forces of the Imperium of Man in this era to a limited extent, can we ensure that the future favorable to us is realized. Protecting Magos Ryo until he completes that crucial exploration is my core mission."
(End of Chapter)