"It looks like time has been stopped here..."
Esdeath said as we were crossing over the empty corridors of the Araneus Prime Core Research Facility, and she was right... If one didn't include the occasional malfunctions of some equipment or some skeletons here and there...
It didn't really look much different from the places in the Terran Federation. For me, it was rahter surreal and nostalgic experience that I got to enter these places once more and walk through the areas of the long-lost Federal glory.
For Esdeath, on the other hand, seeing a place that was straight away from the Golden Age of Technology was something that she only heard from the legends. On the Fenran Rex IX, they had some tech-ruins from the Golden Age of the Terran Federation, but all of them were in terrible shape and state.
"Where are we heading right now?"
She asked as we continued deeper into the complex, because we were heading toward the Sigma Segment.
"Sigma Segment of the Araneus Prime Core Research Facility... It's basically a non-standard area that is separated from the rest of the Araneus Prime Core Research Facility and holds the most critical research projects for the Federation that were known only to the Federal Council... Anti-Psyker Knight Mechs and Human Webway Project..."
Another thing that was located within the Araneus Prime Core Research Facility's Sigma Segment was the Central Artificial Intelligence Mainframe's physicla servders. Even though the architect managed to take control over the large parts of the systems, due to the limitations of the hardware, he couldn't download data.
This was done in a specific way by the scientists of the Federation.
When it came to the Sigma Segments, not like the one at the Araneus Prime Core Research Facility, it was impossible to download the data on the Central Artificial Intelligence Mainframe without physical acess.
This was done to prevent someone remotely accessing the critical data... especially the technology species or the races like Necrons. Federation was very wary of beings like that, thus obtaining the data was possible only through physical connection.
"So the Federation indeed had acess to the Webway?"
She asked as I nodded, but only reluctantly... She was aware of the existence of Webway because I gave her rather extensive lectures on the War Travel and mysteries of the Immaterium, and she knew the importance of the Webway.
"Not entirely... the Webway is in a state of beyond disrepair, and even the Aeldari, despite their arrogance, couldn't claim to master the Webway as they were mere inheritors, and anyone could use the Webway as long as they knew how."
The Webway, also known as the Labyrinth Dimension, or the Labyrinthine Dimension in older texts, is an extra-dimensional space partitioned off from the Immaterium millions of Terran years ago by an extremely advanced xenos species known as the Old Ones.
The Webway has been described as an incredibly complex network of arteries and capillaries, a maze of glowing tunnels, and a mystic tapestry of hidden threads that spread across the veil between realspace and the Warp.
Aeldari had once in the past entire cities within the Webway, and they were technologically speaking the Inheritors of the Old Ones after the race disappeared and Krorks were...
Disposed of.
Or rather, they were devolved into a more primitive form called Ork.
"We found a part of the unclaimed Webway that the Federation started studying and fortifying against the incursions of the Aeldari. Despite everything, the Aeldari knew the Webway like none other, and the Federation could use it only in the most basic and primitive way."
The Webway was a hyper-dimensional construct that spanned the dimensions of Creation, primarily defined by the fact that it sits between the material realm and the roiling tides of the Immaterium, an interstice comparable to the fabric of a veil cast over something foul.
"The Webway was created by the Old Ones, an ancient and technologically advanced intelligent species who established an interstellar empire across the galaxy tens of millions of standard years before the development of most of the other self-aware species. They created the Webway as a conduit that allowed its masters to travel at will to countless far-flung worlds without risking the fickle tides of the Warp. Yet... after the disappearance of the Old Ones and War in Heaven sixty million years ago, the Webway is in a state of disrepair."
This much the Terran Federation was able to learn about the Webway and what dangers it brought with it.
Certainly, it was a much better alternative than the Warp and using Immaterium to travel the space, but traversing the Webway required its own form of knowledge and cautiousness.
"We are already here..."
I said while typing access codes on the console, as the path we had revealed in front of us, when the hidden doors were opened, and we entered the Sigma Segment of the Araneus Prime Core Research Facility.
"First, we are heading to the Central Artificial Intelligence Mainframe's Physical Mainframe to download the necessary data and all data within the entire facility... afterward, we are going to the place where the Human Webway Project was researched... within that place is one item, called a Webway Lexicon that would allow us to search for the functioning Webway Gate in the galaxy with a few spells."
I wouldn't really take the Anti-Psyker Knight Mechs with us, because I had no way of transporting them effectively to the Executor-class Super Star Destroyer Dreadnought, which was also the case with the Webway Gate that lay in the deepest parts of this facility.
But as long as I had the Webway Lexicon, then there was no problem at all...
The Webway Lexicon was something akin to a universal key that was used to activate and control the Webway Gates. There were not many of them, and the one that the Federation had ended in the Araneus Prime in this research facility.
As long as I had the Webway Lexicon, I could easily track some functioning Webway Gate on some nearest worlds and activate them to acess the Webway.
Another advantage of possessing the Lexicon was also the ability to navigate within the Webway.