Chapter 124: Arrival at Aiur
"You lost." Creed wiped the flag representing the Blue Army headquarters off the holographic display in front of him. He picked up a black coffee from the side and took a large gulp; he loved the stuff—it was even more stimulating than a cigar.
Brand frowned, staring fixedly at the holographic sand table. The voice of the tactical adjutant echoed in his ears: "Simulated combat concluded. Red Team vs. Blue Team score: 1:13."
"Do you know why you keep losing?" Creed asked, taking another sip of his coffee.
After a moment of contemplation, Brand replied, "Because of repeated command errors."
"No, it's not a matter of command technique." Creed pointed to the icons representing the Titan Legions. "You are unwilling to let the troops in your hands be sacrificed. Or rather, you are always trying to exchange victory for the smallest possible price."
"But unfortunately, a hesitant commander only causes more people to lose their lives." Creed looked at Brand and sighed. "You've stayed by his side for too long and forgotten that war, most of the time, does not rely on individual greatness—in fact, you often have to face the individual greatness of the enemy. All we can rely on is the sacrifice of ordinary men."
"Learn to calculate the cost, Brand." Creed walked over and gave him a heavy pat on the back. "Sometimes the greatest mercy is to decisively send a minority to their deaths."
Brand opened his mouth to say something, but the adjutant's voice rang through the room again: "Attention: The ship will exit warp in 30 minutes. Attention..."
"Let's go to the bridge. I want to see what kind of homeworld could produce an army like yours," Creed said, turning to walk out of the simulation room.
Brand stared at the holographic sand table for a long time, let out a silent sigh, and followed Creed.
Inside the bridge, Alexei and the delegation from the Adeptus Mechanicus were already in position. Cawl stood before the great observation window, gazing at the scenery outside. Over the past few days, he had scanned almost every inch of this small vessel. He couldn't understand it—the ship lacked any devices to suppress Warp corruption. Even if they weren't entering the Warp, what would happen if they encountered active corruption?
Cawl had asked the Governor of Aiur this question multiple times, but Alexei couldn't exactly tell him it was because of his own presence. He could only laugh it off with the Magos.
The lights in the bridge were currently dimmed to reduce the engine load during the transition. Starlight streaked across the room. Everyone stood quietly in the pale shadows, looking ahead without speaking; only the indicators behind them emitted steady beeps.
After about half an hour, the adjutant's voice returned: "Attention: Ship exiting superluminal jump in 30, 29, 28..."
As the countdown ended, the surrounding starlight returned to normal. Immediately, a massive, yellowish-brown planet entered everyone's field of vision. "So this is Aiur..." Creed remarked, looking at the planet topped by five massive Hives.
As the sub-light engines drew them closer, Cawl noticed a black ring. "That is..." A look of shock gradually appeared in his eyes. A massive steel ring encircled the planet's equator, rotating with it. Although it wasn't yet fully completed, it was enough to see the sheer scale of Aiur's ambition.
Before he could ask, his gaze fell upon a vast number of small warships near the space docks. Though they weren't as large as standard capital ships, their numbers far exceeded the total fleet strength of an entire sub-sector.
"Alright everyone, welcome to Aiur." The bridge lights flickered on. Alexei clapped his hands and addressed the Mechanicus members and Creed. The ship began its approach toward the nearest space dock. With a slight jolt, the vessel officially docked.
"Let's go. We're home." Alexei led them off the ship toward the spire of the Primary Hive. Along the way, Cawl's eyes never left the automated structures and massive engineering machinery.
Reaching the space elevator platform, they noticed the perfectly uniform architecture of the Upper Hive. Over the last ten years, the upper levels of the Primary Hive had been completely renovated with the help of massive amounts of $C. Now, dense clusters of silver-white buildings reaching into the clouds filled their vision. Streams of hover-cars from years past flowed through the air. Under the reflection of the sun, it didn't look like a Hive World at all.
It happened to be noon, and the great bells of the spire tolled. Amidst the melodious ringing, the state of the Upper Hive city left Cawl and his companions speechless.
"What the hell am I looking at?" Kran remarked from the side. He wasn't too surprised, however; the Upper Hive was usually the "face" of a world. There was no telling what horrors the Lower or Under-Hives held.
"Would you like to rest first, or go straight to the military district with me?" Alexei asked inside the descending elevator.
"Military district?" Creed asked curiously.
"Yes. Aiur's barracks are not inside the Hive; the experimental zones are there as well."
"Then the military district it is," Kran complained. "We've rested long enough on the ship; my internal frame is getting rusty."
When the elevator reached the bottom, an old man leading a squad of Aiur Guards in power armor approached. "Governor, you have returned."
"Thank you for meeting us, Colton. These two are Archmagi of the Mechanicus, and this is the Lord Castellan of Cadia. You will be working together often," Alexei introduced.
"My greetings to you. I am in charge of the global military command. I take full control of Aiur when Lord Alexei is away. Please come to me with any issues," Colton said with a polite salute.
"Then take us to the military district immediately," Cawl said, tapping his Axe of Omnissiah against the ground.
"Oh, right—speaking of which, Colton, when is the next live-fire exercise?" Alexei asked.
"Tonight. A simulated nocturnal group offensive," Colton replied instantly.
"Live-fire exercise?" Creed asked, highly interested. In his mind, this would be the Aiur army splitting into two groups for simulated training.
Alexei smiled. "I'll take you to see Aiur's training methods then. But first, let's get you a taste of Aiur's local delicacies."
"What in the name of the Machine God is that?!" As the group reached the Lower Hive, they encountered a convoy transporting Zerg carcasses. Seeing a truck full of frozen xenos corpses being pulled into a food processing plant, Kran shouted in terror. They looked exactly like Tyranid organisms.
"It's food."
"You eat this? Wait, you're going to make us eat this?" Archmagos Kran shouted again. "Actually, I don't really need to ingest organic matter."
"Don't be so dramatic. It's no different from canned Grox."
"That makes me want to eat it even less."