Chapter 148: Now, Let Us Rectify This Mistake! |
After slightly pacifying the crowd, Romulus took the document Arthur handed him. His eyes fell upon the title: "Proposal for the Rebalancing of Power within the Dawn Wings and the Handling Plan for the Ultramarines Faction."
His mouth twitched slightly, a trace of helplessness flashing through his eyes.
It was simply unbelievable. These Adeptus Astartes only ever thought about slaughtering enemies on the front lines and enjoying the thrill of battle, proving completely unable to escape the dread of paperwork. Yet, the moment someone voluntarily took over the administrative duties, they would immediately be branded with the label of being "ambitious."
Romulus sighed inwardly. His fingers tapped lightly against the desk, a profound and inexplicable look gleaming in his eyes.
"No, I definitely have to find some work for these Dark Angels to do."
He muttered to himself, immediately jotting down a few quick lines at the bottom of the mental document: [Implement real-time tactical disclosure for the Dark Angels and draft personnel to participate in clerical work.]
After finishing and sending it to his companions, he took a deep breath. He spent a few seconds adjusting his expression to ensure no emotional fluctuations could be seen on his face before turning to Cawl.
"Archmagos, our side will dispatch some technical personnel to assist with the decryption."
He calculated the situation of the Fallen Angels under Arthur's command. There was a significant number of Ironwing members among the Fallen. Over the past few days, they had already sorted out their structural organization, so it was high time to pull them out and put them to work.
He opened his mouth, originally a bit puzzled as to why Romulus had not summoned these individuals earlier, but he swallowed the words before they could leave his lips.
He thought back to Romulus's previous maneuver of using Adeptus Mechanicus channels to stuff a relic cruiser into the Expeditionary Fleet, and sudden clarity dawned in his heart.
'Everyone is sneaking in their own people. Sneaking people in is good...'
A complex look flashed through his eyes before Cawl nodded.
"I accept."
His gaze swept across the people in the room, silently calculating the current state of the Expeditionary Fleet.
He had been secretly inserting Primaris Space Marine Chapters to replace the formations that had been wiped out.
Aside from the Firstborn Space Marines of the Crimson Fists, the other Space Marine Chapters, relying on their ample supplies, had already begun recruiting soldiers from the Schola Progenium along their route to replenish their ranks.
The most astonishing were the Black Templars. They were frantically constructing fortresses on Shrine Worlds along the way, amassing Chapter forces. Since the Dawn Wings were reimbursing the costs of their equipment production lines and gene-seed anyway, they naturally acted without any scruples.
And now, the leading Dawn Wings had begun to make their move as well...
Cawl knew that in the current era, there were still many Ancient Warriors scattered throughout the galaxy. It made no sense for Chaos to have plenty of ten-thousand-year veterans while the loyalists had none.
Warp travel had always been strictly impartial.
They must have gathered another batch of Dark Angels from ten thousand years ago.
"However, I demand to observe. Furthermore, I will transfer the Grand General Cannon to the surface. When that time comes, we will need to share data."
As a nation within a nation, the Adeptus Mechanicus operated in such a way that, much of the time, even Techmarines who had deeply studied the subject might not recognize the functions and purposes of the various instruments upon boarding their vessels.
Although Cawl sometimes forgot things himself, he could not allow this group from the Dawn Wings to keep snooping around.
He had his pride to maintain, after all.
"Agreed."
Romulus signaled his consent and then greeted Arthur.
——
[Notification: Real-time strategic data has been made public and is available for review at any time.]
[Order: The Ravenwing Order is to dispatch five individuals every three days to assist Romulus with strategic planning. No delays permitted.]
Aboard the relic cruiser, the "Silent Vow", Arthur issued the order and cheerfully made his way toward the encampment of the Dark Angels faction.
He was almost certain that within a day of taking over Romulus's tasks, these Fallen Angels would buckle under the immense workload. Yet, unable to abandon the mission, they would inevitably scheme to find scapegoats. When that happened, another storm of blood and chaos was bound to erupt within the Ravenwing.
Arriving at an optically camouflaged area, he stepped straight inside. The view before his eyes instantly shifted, revealing doors forged from white marble. As Arthur stepped forward, the Doors of the Round Table slowly swung open.
Apart from the two-thirds of the vessel dedicated to housing basic production lines, auxiliary forces, and various staff members, the remaining section served as a free-roaming space for the Fallen Angels.
Arthur had not made any specific divisions; the Fallen Angels were perfectly capable of organizing things themselves.
He observed the ciphers woven into the various decorations, mapping out a route in his mind. To an outsider, these might just look like elegant curves and lines, but to him, they were strikingly obvious clues.
After bypassing a few checkpoints, exchanging a series of secret codes, and fending off the surprise attacks of several Fallen Angels...
Under the raised-hand salutes and watchful eyes of the "Vault Wardens," who were tasked with safeguarding the Legion's secret technologies, Arthur pushed open the heavy door to a concealed chamber.
Smelters, assembly lines, data centers, archives, and all manner of technologies that would be considered absolute taboos by the present-day Adeptus Mechanicus filled the space.
The vast cabin was divided into several distinct zones, giving off an immediate impression of flawless order and meticulous organization.
Arthur took a step back, boarding an elevator that had silently risen behind him. After a brief shroud of soundless darkness, an area entirely identical to the previous scene unfolded before him.
This was the true stronghold of the Ironwing.
"Lohr."
Arthur did not recklessly venture inside. Cloaked in white light, Kastelan Robot constructs, identical to those of the Adeptus Mechanicus, stood on high alert.
The Dark Angels possessed the vast majority of the technologies held by the Adeptus Mechanicus. Compared to other Legions, they did not rely on the Martian priesthood for technical support.
Tapping the surface of the battle automaton at a specific frequency, the machine finally lowered its weapons and began reporting to its superiors. Subconsciously, information regarding the Ironwing surfaced in Arthur's mind.
Among the five hundred Fallen Angels who had been recalled, nearly two hundred were members who had boarded alongside the Lion. The Ironwing accounted for half of this number. They were currently conducting technical integration work. The Dawn Wings could provide a large number of prototypes, and these technicians were needed to reverse-engineer their manufacturing methods.
Given an ample supply of resources and prototypes, the technological recovery speed of these Ironwing veterans was not in the least inferior to that of the Tech-Priest Magos.
"Your Highness!"
Less than two seconds after receiving the secret code, a Fallen Angel clad in a crimson robe materialized from the shadows.
"Bring a technical squad."
Arthur leaned his body slightly forward, issuing the command before immediately turning around.
Lohr nodded, sent out a message, and then strode forward to follow him.
Behind him, Fallen Angels seamlessly joined the advancing group one after another.
From Lohr's perspective, the position where Arthur stood only revealed the secret codes of the Terran-born and those from the faction that had boarded Caliban. Naturally, he knew exactly who to bring along.
"The mission is to decrypt a Grand General Cannon that has been encrypted by the Dark Angels."
Arriving at the transport platform belonging to the Adeptus Astartes, the personnel had already assembled. Escorted by Kastelan Robots modified to resemble medieval knights, Arthur led the group aboard a Stormbird, connected to the mission channel, and spoke.
"From which era?"
As the hatch sealed shut, a sudden wave of weightlessness hit them. Lohr asked the question, already beginning to formulate contingency plans in his mind.
"Ten thousand years ago. The era when the Lion recovered it from the Forge World of Diamat."
Arthur replied expressionlessly.
When communicating with the Fallen Angels, he chose not to wear his helmet if conditions permitted.
Since he intended to be entirely open and honest, he had to lead by example.
"."
The bodies of some Fallen Angels began to tremble faintly.
They already knew exactly what that thing was.
The members of the Ironwing also understood why Arthur had brought them along. After all, they were the very ones who had encrypted it in the first place.
At the same time, deep confusion gripped their hearts.
'Your Highness, how on earth are you managing to keep such a straight face?'
"In the future, default to assuming all similar issues date back to ten thousand years ago."
Arthur looked at the Fallen Angels, including Lohr, who were shivering by fractions of an inch, and decided to share a little secret to distract them.
"Why is that, my lord?"
Lohr played the perfect straight man right on cue.
Arthur gave a slight nod:
"The modern Dark Angels do not possess an Ironwing. Their Master of the Forge, who is responsible for maintaining all sorts of mechanical facilities, has to travel to Mars for training."
As his voice faded, a brief silence fell over the cabin. Lohr's lips, which had been twitching slightly just moments before, suddenly froze. The expression on his face became incredibly complicated and indescribable.
"Including those forbidden technologies?"
Lohr could not help but press the matter, a trace of urgency lacing his voice.
His fingers clenched instinctively until his knuckles turned pale, clearly demonstrating just how deeply he cared about this topic.
Arthur nodded, his gaze perfectly serene:
"After Caliban was shattered, the new Dark Angels built their Chapter monastery upon the foundation of its largest surviving fragment."
"This monastery is known as The Rock. It is used to store all the various technologies recovered after the war and operates as the core hub of the Chapter. The Master of the Forge is given the title Master of The Rock."
Outside the viewport, the Stormbird was plummeting into the atmosphere. The violent friction dyed the sky a bloody red, and searing light spilled through the portholes, painting a faint crimson hue across everyone's armor.
"They are the finest elites and leaders among the Techmarines. Every Master of the Forge must forsake their life as a living being, integrating themselves to become a physical component of The Rock's control system."
"From the plasma reactors to the void shields, from the most fundamental assembly lines to the most taboo technologies, from the fortress defense arrays to the private security systems, everything falls under their absolute control."
The more the Ironwing members grasped the sheer importance of this Master of the Forge from Arthur's words, the more speechless they became.
"Then what about the Icarus Protocol..."
The Dark Angels possessed vast numbers of Standard Template Constructs directly bestowed by the Emperor for safekeeping, as well as the Icarus Protocol, which granted them 'the authority to independently judge and prioritize the extermination of Adeptus Mechanicus worlds.'
They originally sat higher on the technological food chain than the Adeptus Mechanicus. All of their equipment was entirely self-produced, and they were designed to be the Emperor's ultimate failsafe against the Martian priesthood.
During the Great Crusade, they had executed this very protocol against eight distinct Forge Worlds.
"In all recorded history, the protocol has been activated exactly eight times."
'Doesn't that mean it hasn't been activated a single time since?!'
The Ironwing veterans screamed in their minds. At the same time, they clearly understood that there were likely very few among the modern Dark Angels who even remembered the existence of this protocol.
"How did our Legion end up like this?"
An Ironwing member muttered under his breath.
"Following the conclusion of the Horus Heresy, the Dark Angels endured a period of chaos before choosing to comply with Guilliman's Codex Astartes and split apart. Currently, they only maintain the Deathwing and the Ravenwing."
"Their successor Chapter, the Star Phantoms, aligns with the Dreadwing. The Consecrators Chapter aligns with the Firewing. The fates of the Ironwing and Stormwing remain unknown."
Arthur replied, not bothering to explain where he had obtained such highly classified secrets.
'It's that damned Guilliman again. Why was it The Angel who died during the Heresy instead of Guilliman?!'
"The Ironwing has vanished."
While fiercely cursing a certain Primarch of the Thirteenth Legion in his heart, Lohr was keenly aware of an undeniable fact.
If the Dark Angels had fallen so low that they needed to send their Techmarines to Mars for training, how could the Ironwing possibly still exist?
'Wait a minute...'
The Fallen Angels suddenly came to a collective realization.
They had spotted a glaring blind spot.
'So the modern Dark Angels can't even piece together the six wings?'
The Ironwing members exchanged pointed looks. Their group of over five hundred veterans alone could practically reconstitute all six wings and the nine orders.
'It seems this issue of branding rights is actually negotiable.'
'You don't even know your own duties, you've dissolved the command structure left by the Lion, you have no Caliban, and you have no Lion.'
'That hardly even counts as being the Dark Angels anymore.'
Instantly, several pairs of eyes fixed intently upon Arthur.
"We have arrived."
Arthur stood up and took the lead, stepping off the aircraft.
The Ironwing members immediately followed suit, bringing their war machines and equipment along.
Together, they arrived at a massive firing platform protected by ground-based void shields.
There, aside from Rameses, who was responsible for screening for Chaos corruption, and Cawl, who was tasked with decryption, the Grand General Cannon had also been waiting for quite some time.
Whispers rippled among the Ironwing ranks. It truly was one of the two original Grand General Cannons from all those years ago.
This universe was always filled with the most bizarre coincidences.
The very same Grand General Cannon that had been commissioned by Horus, successfully intercepted and recovered by the Lion, swindled away by Perturabo, and ultimately used to punch several massive holes in the defensive walls of Terra—
After spinning in circles for ten millennia, it had finally returned to the hands of the Dark Angels from ten thousand years prior.
"Archmagos Cawl."
Arthur was the first to speak, prompting Cawl, who had been engrossed in observing the database, to stand up.
The Archmagos took a few steps backward. A visible barrier designed to isolate information materialized around him, causing the overall color palette of his backup chassis to noticeably dim.
"Arthur."
After retreating to what he deemed a safe distance, he nodded toward the Dark Angels.
"I will leave the decryption in your capable hands."
"Understood."
Arthur waved his hand, and Lohr, who had quickly composed himself, stepped forward with several Ironwing veterans.
Arthur subsequently moved closer, positioning himself just outside the range where he might interfere with the Ironwing's work, and began to scan the data matrix of the Grand General Cannon.
The Archmagos backed away a few more steps, as if avoiding a harbinger of the plague.
"Is there any Chaos corruption?"
Arthur asked.
"Nothing severe. It will be quite simple to cleanse. The core systems have not been tainted, and this machine has rarely been fired,"
Rameses replied.
Thanks to the meticulous maintenance of the Iron Warriors, this machine had managed to evade total Chaos corruption.
Had it fallen into the hands of the Death Guard, they wouldn't have possessed even the slightest interest in recovering it.
After having their brothers from the Order of the Pentagram conduct a thorough screening, the Ironwing veterans finally interfaced with the Grand General Cannon's systems, unlocking the encryption they had installed ten millennia ago.
They prepared to overwrite it with a brand-new encryption protocol.
This Grand General Cannon had to remain firmly in the grasp of the Dark Angels.
"Hey, I have an idea."
Rameses suggested, "How about we make the new password for the general cannon 'Let the Lion be Warmaster!'? What do you think?"
Lohr's hand slipped mid-operation, barely managing to force his arm to a dead stop in midair.
'This damned Thousand Son knows far too many secrets.'
'It was bad enough when he posed as a Deathwing member to mess with us earlier, but now he is spouting nonsense without a filter.'
He took a deep breath, silently reminding himself that this sorcerer was a close confidant of His Highness. Information sharing between them was perfectly normal. With that thought, he suppressed the overwhelming urge to deliver some swift loyalty to this Thousand Son.
[Sonic Quake-004, Diamat Pattern Mark II Grand General Cannon. Affiliation: Dark Angels Legion.]
[Command Directive: Override existing permissions and input the new encryption protocol.]
Tens of seconds later, accompanied by the thrumming activation of its power systems, a stream of data cascaded across the Grand General Cannon's highly advanced control panel. Among the lines of code, the distinct signature of the Dark Angels stood out prominently.
Cawl cast a long look at Arthur from afar.
Arthur briefly compiled the structural schematics and performance data of the Grand General Cannon and transmitted them over.
The Archmagos immediately turned and walked away, concurrently adding another order of technological provisions for the fleet prepared by the Dawn Wings.
To the vast majority of Magos within the Adeptus Mechanicus, knowledge was synonymous with wealth. Hoarding and preserving it was far more crucial than actually putting it to practical use.
This was because knowledge kept locked away retained its absolute value, whereas utilizing it meant exposing it to various factions who would reverse-engineer, crack, and ultimately devalue it.
Cawl had already experienced this profoundly firsthand.
Yet, upon discovering that the Dawn Wings also intended to disseminate this technology, he actually found himself not caring much at all.
This was precisely the greatest difference between Cawl and the other Magos of the Adeptus Mechanicus.
He placed far more value on the process of unearting and synthesizing knowledge. As long as the ultimate destination of this information did not lead into the clutches of Chaos, he was largely indifferent.
He was even quite pleased to see such technologies popularized. The only issue was the lack of someone willing to take the blame for breaking tech-heresy taboos. Since he abhorred unnecessary trouble and was already burdened with a far more vital mission, he simply couldn't be bothered to involve himself so deeply.
Therefore, Cawl was a figure well worth maintaining a friendship with. The Dawn Wings were more than welcoming of the technical sharing initiatives he proposed.
"When can it be officially deployed for combat?"
Having concluded the transaction with the Archmagos, Arthur exchanged a glance with Rameses before turning back to ask.
"At any moment."
Lohr replied.
"Then commence the warm-up sequence. Interface with the tactical command center in thirty seconds."
Arthur commanded, then stepped up to the control console.
He had already fully grasped the operational procedures.
"Understood."
Ka-clack!
An Ironwing member pushed a heavy lever forward. The general cannon's reactor ignited, roaring to life as immense energy was expertly guided by the shunt systems, flowing flawlessly into every metallic vein of the colossal war machine.
This machine, which had lain cold and dormant for countless millennia, finally resumed its thrumming, violent heartbeat.
"Back then, Perturabo promised the Lion that he would deploy this weapon in a fitting and honorable location. But clearly, Perturabo failed to honor his oath."
Arthur spoke softly as his gloved hand traced the cold metal of the general cannon's interface.
Lohr and the others wore solemn expressions. They glared at the distant fortress occupied by the Iron Warriors, raw murderous intent erupting from their eyes.
Although the Lion had his fair share of flaws, he was ultimately loyal. He merely wished to be the Warmaster, and all the Dark Angels had eagerly anticipated the day the Primarch of the First Legion would claim that title.
The Iron Warriors, on the other hand, were a Legion entirely devoid of honor—true, irredeemable traitors.
They had deceived the Lion, betrayed the Dark Angels, and utterly defiled a hard-won trust.
They would be made to repent!
"Now, let us deploy her in a truly fitting location."
"Yes, Your Highness."