, just as Sid Nora said.
The situation in the steel belt is complicated.
The situation here is complicated because...
I don't know who the real traitor is.
Fu Qinghai reviewed the entire battle at the Zhelas Space Station. The enemy was fighting a war that was doomed to fail - they had sunk all the warships, removed the ship-borne weapon systems and installed them on the orbital defense facilities. So what? They had no reinforcements, they had cut off their own retreat, this was a desperate struggle.
Even if Fu Qinghai's infiltration plan failed, the fall of an isolated and helpless Forge World is only a matter of time. The only difference is how much damage it can cause to the Space Marines before the fall and how much cost the Human Empire will have to pay.
The five Astartes Chapters were told that the Zhelas Space Station was a rebel forge world and they needed to come and recapture it. When they arrived here, the Zhelas Space Station was indeed ready and prepared to fight to the end.
So a battle began. After a bloody battle and at a heavy price, the Space Marines successfully suppressed the rebellion, recaptured the Forge World, brought it back to the Empire, and returned to the path of Om Messiah.
I don't feel there is any problem.
But Fu Qinghai always felt something was strange.
If the Zheras Station belongs to the Dark Mechanicus, then why don't other Dark Mechanicus or Chaos Space Marines come to support them? Why don't they come to support them? Let them be besieged by five Chapter fleets.
Most of the Chapter Masters, as professional soldiers who are loyal to their duties and obey orders, have never thought about these issues. Immersed in the fierce battle and focusing on the immediate combat objectives, they have no time to think about these issues.
It was not until the vortex technician named "Protes" told Fu Qinghai the "truth of the matter": the Zhelas Space Station never wanted to launch a rebellion, and they did not care who ruled the galaxy. They just wanted to study the subspace without restrictions, without being disturbed, and at will. However, Terra and Mars did not allow it, and labeled their behavior as "technological heresy" and sent troops to suppress it, so they were forced to rebel.
Terra and Mars characterize the Tech-Priests of Zheras Station as "Dark Mechanicus" and "heretics", but they themselves do not see it that way, and this is where the disagreement lies.
Strictly speaking, essentially.
This was not an "act of insurgency".
Rather, it is an "academic dispute".
From Fu Qinghai's perspective, he could understand the decisions of Mars and Terra. It was not unfair at all that the technical priests of the Zhelas Space Station were declared "dark technological heretics."
Can humans study the subspace? Of course they can. Otherwise, how did they come up with technologies like subspace jump, void shield technology, teleportation technology, Geller force field, etc.? They are all the results of the research on the subspace. These technologies are of great significance, allowing the human empire to conquer the star sea, recover the human homeland, and restore the glory of mankind, instead of becoming one of the many technologically advanced but extremely small pocket empires.
However, the warp cannot be studied without restraint and limit, and must be studied under the constraints of the Way of the Ohm Messiah. This is just like in the real world, governments do not allow genetic cloning of humans, which involves ethical issues. However, for Warhammer 40K, the harm of chaos is far more serious than moral and ethical issues, so a simple "academic misconduct" issue can evolve into a war.
In Fu Qinghai's opinion, given the degree of mutation of Proteus' flesh and blood, the divination device requires an evil sacrificial ritual to answer the questions. Whether it is his appearance or his inventions, there is nothing wrong with calling the "Vortex Technician" the "Black Oil Man".
But, from another perspective.
The vortex technician was also wronged.
If the Divination Machine, a machine that needs to torture human souls and create psychic malice to operate smoothly, is the so-called "devil engine" and "destruction engine"...
So, what is the Star Torch?
So, what is the Golden Throne?
This is a double standard logic of "only the officials are allowed to set fires, but the people are not allowed to light lamps."
Moreover, although it is not explicitly stated in the original Warhammer 40K novel, it is implied in the words that it was the Emperor who invented the world's first demon engine.
Back in the Age of Strife, the so-called "Warlords' Age", when Terra was still called "Earth", there was an unknown wanderer who came to Mars from Earth. At that time, there was no Mechanicum on Mars, only a loose group of technical priests who quietly conducted their own research and watched the wars and unrest on the neighboring planet. The wanderer's technical level was very advanced, surpassing all the technical groups on Mars at that time. He invented a method to combine the demons in the subspace with inorganic machinery and created the world's first demon engine.
But he did not choose to spread this technology, but sealed it in a cave. On the eve of the Horus Heresy, Warmaster Horus promised to unseal the cave in order to lure Kalbor-Hal, the Forge Master of Mars, in exchange for his support. Little did he know that the so-called "heretical technology" sealed in the cave, the so-called "forbidden technology" that Kalbor-Hal had been longing for and even started a rebellion for, was most likely created by the Emperor himself.
Because many clues suggest that the "unknown wanderer from Earth" is the Emperor himself.
What's even more ironic is that Fu Qinghai didn't know.
Two of the three "dark heretic technological creations" he obtained - the Umbra Mirror and the Perfidious Matrix - were later widely used by the three major Inquisitions and the Loyalist Forge World. The former was used to interrogate ghosts to obtain clues, and the latter was used to torture heretic technical priests. Although they were said to be unclean and forbidden technologies, the major forces of the empire used them more directly than anyone else.
There are no psychological barriers.
...
Orestes Knight World.
A local Mechanicus sect exists here.
They call themselves the sect of "data regulation."
Little did anyone know that the second-in-command of the Iron Belt War Zone, the Arch-Sage Hieronymus Gant, had not stayed in the safety of the Forge World of Atar Median, but had come here aboard a Mechanicus cruiser.
A Data Overseer's comm-servant slave had designated this dark chamber in a small forge temple, located far outside the Knight Family's Ebony Keep, as their meeting point.
As soon as the message was delivered, the Arch-Sage recorded that the synaptic fuses in the servitor's brain exploded, forever burning away any memory of the information.
In order to keep a piece of information secret, a servitor was completely destroyed, which was a very cautious measure. Although the ruling sage thought it was an unnecessary precaution, it was also completely consistent with some dark rumors about the data supervision sect.
The ruling sage stepped up the stone steps step by step.
This abandoned forge temple was a good choice.
This was close to the front lines, and every senior tech-priest had fled, leaving only a skeleton crew of expendable staff to oversee the final data transfers from its databases.
Towering dusty filing cabinets lined the room, whirring information-transmitting magnetic boards and humming binary choral chants. Gear-skull-shaped sprayers mounted on the wall filled the air with the scent of cooling incense.
The message from the Data Regulation Cult told him that he had to come alone, but Hieronymus was the Grand Master of the Adeptus Mechanicus, and priests of his status rarely came alone.
An elderly low-level technical priest named "Kork-R-41" is the only experienced monk left in this temple. This is a very common name form for low-level technical priests, a combination of short words + a few letters + a string of numbers. Their names are as unremarkable as their academic level.
Cork-R-41 welcomed the Sage Ruler to his simple temple, with a humble attitude, as if the Omnissiah himself had appeared before him. Like a loyal cyber mastiff, he led the Sage Ruler to the data warehouse behind the temple, where the six Spell Mechanics, a type of robot servants dedicated to the data warehouse, gathered, lined up like a guard of honor.
After this meeting, Hieronymus will erase the memories of these lexical mechanics without asking for any consent. This is his ability and his status.
The agreed time for the meeting has passed.
Where is he?
Hieronymus leaned forward and tapped impatiently with his fingertips on the black surface of a filing cabinet, and the tactile implant generated a stack of glowing internal status panels. Without opening it, he had a clear view of the database in the filing cabinet.
"Brother Hieronymus?"
Kirk-R-41 asked in a fleshy voice that betrayed his fear and lowly status.
I'm asking, Cork-R-41.
Hieronymus responded.
The Tech-Priest tilted his head to the side, and the Magus squinted, realizing that the auditory input port of the Cork-R-41 was not modified for the encryption ritual level of the Tech-language. The Magus squinted, and the Magus spent a moment rearranging the implant in his esophagus.
"Your superior, where is he?"
The Sage Ruler asked. Since he rarely used this mechanical voice cord, his voice sounded a little strange.
"Ah, he, uh, was here, about, about fifteen minutes ago, the Ruler of Sages..."
Kirk-R-41 stammered.
Probably? Approximately?
Hieronymus glared in dissatisfaction. The imprecision in Cork-R-41's language offended him and made him a little angry. He once considered erasing the memory of this old priest and the lexical mechanic. It was very unruly to take such an extreme action against a fellow Adeptus Mechanicus, but he was sure that no one who heard this would condemn him.
"I have waited a long time for the Ruler of Sages."
A voice came from the darkness:
"I asked you to come alone."
Although the Ruling Sage's body had undergone extensive modifications and was very different from the baseline human template, he was still shocked by the sudden and unexpected sound.
"It is not easy for a ruling sage to travel alone."
Hieronymus said solemnly.
When the Sage of Domination travels, he cannot go without bodyguards. Just outside this small foundry temple, there are several of his subordinates. They are all intelligent cybernetic machinists, a type of technical priests who specialize in programming and controlling intelligent cybernetic mechas. They each lead a battalion of Castellan intelligent cybernetic mechas. Hieronymus originally thought that the Data Supervision Cult would be completely unaware because his information interference methods had already hidden it.
Hidden at the data level.
"That makes some sense."
The disembodied voice said.
"One person, a group of people? You can't hide your existence. For us, it makes no difference."
A figure disappeared between two filing cabinets. Hieronymus' row of bionic eyes buzzed, trying to focus, but still unable to capture the figure.
"Brother Nemonix?"
Hieronymus asked.
"Is there anyone else you want to wait for?"
The voice asked back.
"No, but I am connected to every system of this temple, and I did not find any registration." Hieronymus said, "And in fact, your existence is not recorded at all, at any level. Why is that?"
This figure had been hiding in the shadows, but the Sage Ruler had an uneasy feeling in his heart - even now, standing under the strong light of the sodium lamp, he could not see anything.
"Being a ghost in a machine has many benefits," said the Data Regulation Cult's technical priest, speaking casually, as if it was a small matter that the various auspicious instruments in every corner of the Foundry Temple could not see him clearly. "The most important of them is the freedom to wander without leaving any traces."
"How did you do that?"
Hieronymus asked.
"If I didn't tell you in Gorea or Spider Star, what makes you think I would tell you now?"
The Sage Ruler once again confirmed that the data disk in his brain was functioning normally, then shook his head and said:
"You and I have never met, Brother Nemonix."
"Quite the contrary," Nemonix said, in a feminine voice that Hieronymus interpreted as mockery. "We have met six times before this, Sage Ruler."
"You are wrong."
"No, you just forgot. You will forget again."
This time it was Hieronymus' turn to sneer:
"That's impossible. The Adeptus Mechanicus will not delete any data. We will always expand our memory storage."
"Really?" Nemonix smiled. He whispered something in binary code and suddenly asked, "What's the name of the technical priest next to you?"
"He is... He is..."
Hieronymus trailed off as he realized he could no longer remember the identity of this tech-priest. There was a strange aura surrounding this man, who stood there like an inorganic sculpture.
No name, no number, no history, no trace of ever having existed. In a split second, the entire life of this tech priest was wiped out from every nook and cranny of the data network.
For the technical priests.
He no longer exists.
Hieronymus suppressed his anger and began to suspect that he had had similar experiences many times before. For the first time in his life, the Sage of Domination wished that he could retain some biological characteristics - such as a pair of flesh eyes or a pair of flesh ears, as if this would allow him to see the true existence of the technical priest in front of him.
"This is a mind invasion, this is heresy!"
Sage Hieronymus said angrily.
"I know."
Sage Nemonix said calmly.
"What do you think you know?"
The other party's attitude of having everything under control made him a little angry, and Hieronymus asked back in a cold voice.
"More than you think, Magus Dominus." Magus Nemonix said slowly, "I can assure you that it is enough to have every achievement and title of yours stripped from Mars. But should we give up threats and counter-threats, revelations and counter-revelations? Every priest has secrets, every sect has secrets, and the dark secrets among the Mechanicus followers have been revealed, which will not benefit anyone. Do you agree?"
The Ruling Sage was eager to know more, but he suppressed his instinct to ask questions and decided not to talk about this topic for the time being. There were more important things that brought him to this place.
Hieronymus nodded.
"very good."
The technical priest of the Data Regulation Sect slowly walked under the light and continued,
"Now, let's talk business."
Hieronymus stared at him, but Nemonix flickered like a negative exposure on a film, an electronic ghost, gone in a heartbeat, as if he were just a Tech-priest-shaped hole in the real world.
The ruling sage no longer wants to be fooled by data.
The Sage Ruler really wanted to get his physical eyes back at this moment.
Nemonix looked so casual, as if he wiped out every trace of a Mechanicus member every day. Hieronymus had a terrible suspicion - this might be the case.
"The fall of the Iron Ring once again allowed the Draconis family to break free from their shackles."
Nemonix stressed the responsibility for this disaster:
"Viscount Sunderland of the Ebony Keep is very willful. He wants to completely break away from the Adeptus Mechanicus just because of some historical issues. The war in the Iron Belt has reignited, and the various Forge Worlds have ulterior motives, which has greatly weakened your position in Mars. If you let another Knight family slip away quietly, you will most likely be kicked out of the parliament, and even stripped of your title and property."
"Am I right, Sage Ruler?"
the flickering electronic ghost asked softly.
"You know too much!"
Hieronymus tried to conceal his surprise, but from the tone of Nemonics' subsequent words, he knew that his attempt to conceal his surprise had completely failed.
"Don't be so surprised, Arch-Sage. Your mind-data flood leaks like a sieve to a human like me. You might as well announce your intentions directly through an open comm link, which would be much easier."
Nemonix snapped his fingers and warned:
"If I were you, I would think twice about using unapproved STC fragments as a cranial firewall. Also, I would specifically advise against using proprietary interpolation code to fill in the gaps, which is a significant vulnerability."
In just a few words, he revealed his flaws.
Nemonix shook his hand to stop Hieronymus from staring in shock.
"But this is irrelevant. Let's get back to the current issue. The Draconis family is not a powerful knight family. They don't even have the Raging River Knights and the Watch Knights, not to mention the more powerful City Lord Knights and Giant King Knights. Cutting off the connection with Mars is irrelevant and inevitable. What you are worried about is that other families will know about this, right, Sage Ruler?"
"If the Draconis can get away with being free of the Adeptus Mechanicus with impunity, other houses may follow their lead, and when will it all end? This poor, dying Knight House may become a domino, leading other Knight Houses allied with the Adeptus Mechanicus to think they can survive without Mars's protection."
"Well, then..."
Hieronymus said,
"You fully understand my needs?"
"Let Viscount Sunderland know his mistakes and bring the Draconis back under Martian control."
Nemonix said.
"Yes, that's it."
Hieronymus said.
"What if that proves impossible? How far are you willing to go, to rule over the wise?"
Nemonix asked back.
Hieronymus raised his head and said:
"If Viscount Sunderland is determined not to surrender to Mars, you must ensure that the Draconis family can set an example for all other knight families in the Iron Ring, letting them know what a bloody disaster similar actions will bring!"
The ruling sage's voice was resounding.
The electronic ghost nodded, and at that moment, his blurry outline suddenly became clear. He spoke a string of extremely obscure coded words incessantly, and a trickle of static electricity washed over the mechanical prosthetic eye of the Ruling Sage.
The Sage Ruler blinked again, then looked around at the empty database.
A tech-priest he didn't recognize and a half-dozen lexical machinists stood with him among the humming file cabinets. The glowing status screens flickered with distorted ripples of gibberish, telling the Archmagos that every data file had been emptied.
"So, he didn't come?"
Hieronymus said to himself.
And wondered why I subconsciously used the sound of a mechanical vocal cord instead of binary code.
He glanced around the empty archive room one last time. There were still only the two of them. There was no sign that the tech-priest of the Data Overseer sect had ever existed.
Hieronymus frowned and shook his head, annoyed that he was forced to waste precious time.
He was stood up, and the ruling sage Hieronymus Gant was so angry at such a serious violation of etiquette that he turned and left the dilapidated forge temple.
The Sage Ruler led several of his men who had been waiting outside the Foundry Temple and left the planet in a shuttle.
In the empty foundry temple.
Suddenly a vague voice was heard.
Like a microphone humming noisily:
"Everything will be as you wish, Ruler of Sages."
"A family of loyal knights..."
"Hehehe, I guess..."
"My loving father will surely accept this great gift with joy!"
...
(End of this chapter)