The kaleidoscopic scenery surrounding the vessel gradually dissipated, and a tear in the Immaterium, like a cursed scar, closed.
The Battleship Indomitable, its Geller Field shimmering, plunged into the reality of the material universe.
"The Calixis Sector? Is that... Pry?"
Looking out the viewport at the gas giant and the busy orbital station nearby, the Captain, who had served in Segmentum Obscurus for decades, immediately recognized the ship's location.
"Have we really travelled this far?"
The Navigator beside him looked equally bewildered.
Distance and time within the Warp are twisted and do not correlate with real space, but there is usually a predictable pattern.
The Captain checked the chronometer. Only a few hours had passed.
By all reckoning, they should have needed much longer to reach this location.
Yet here they were, as if the Warp itself had shoved them directly to their destination.
Though he did not understand what fresh mischief this warped universe had conjured, now that they were back in real space, there was less need to worry.
The Warp transit breach had already sealed, and stellar chart comparisons confirmed this was their intended destination.
It was no illusion.
Given the early arrival, the Captain ordered the Battleship to hold position and wait.
If all went well, a Lunar-class Cruiser would arrive with the Inquisitor and the Adeptus Mechanicus in a few hours.
As for what happened after that, he cared little.
This region, though distant from the Great Rift, was not far enough away to be truly safe.
The entirety of Segmentum Obscurus was rife with extreme chaos under the influence of that terrifying psychic wound.
It was only because his vessel was an Oberon-class that it dared to stop here alone; any Victory-class or other Battleship would likely need to travel in a full fleet formation.
Compared to other standard Battleships, the Oberon-class possessed a sufficient array of offensive measures, deploying Lance Batteries, Macro-cannons, and launch bays for starfighters, granting it exceptionally strong independent mission capability.
It was also equipped with ultra-long-range sensor arrays, which few other Battleships carried.
Unless the enemy performed a Warp-jump right into their face, like the Iron Hands traitors had done, a surprise attack was virtually impossible.
As the crew waited patiently, the signal of a complete small fleet appeared on the auspex.
A Servitor immediately reported the sighting.
"My Lord, detecting a small Naval fleet approaching. Flagship designated Cruiser Scythe."
The markings on the auspex were clear. Three Cruisers, two Destroyers, and five Frigates had just translated out of the Warp and returned to real space.
The Captain was somewhat astonished.
He retrieved the earlier command document and scrutinized it. The file only mentioned the Cruiser Scythe. Why was an entire fleet arriving?
The Imperial fleet was not far from the Indomitable and completed its formation in a matter of minutes.
As they drew closer, two Thunderhawk Gunships and one Aquila Lander detached from the Scythe and headed straight for the Indomitable.
The Captain gathered his personal guard and alerted the Black Templars in their quarters to join him in the meeting.
When the entourage arrived at the Hangar Bay, they finally discerned the markings on the Thunderhawk Gunships.
A winged sword.
Everyone present was surprised.
The Dark Angels?!
Here? Why?
This was the collective, unspoken question of all present.
Since the launch of the Indomitus Crusade, the most common Astartes they had encountered were the Ultramarines of Ultramar. This was the first time they had seen the Dark Angels here.
The Captain instinctively slapped his forehead.
The Black Templars were already a rare and often unwelcome Chapter among the Astartes. Now, the Dark Angels, renowned for their secrecy, had arrived.
Had he offended the Adeptus Terra or the Departmento Munitorum?
As the Thunderhawk ramps lowered, heavy footsteps echoed from the shadows cast by the bay doors.
Soon, two Space Marines in dark green Mark III Power Armour appeared.
Their armour was adorned with numerous gold decorations, making them look even more ornate than the Black Templars behind them.
Purity Seals, flowing Litany scrolls, and gold decorations on their shoulder pads and helmets gave them an appearance of complex solemnity.
Just as a palpable silence descended upon the Hangar Bay, the Aquila Lander also opened its hatch.
A figure in a grey trench coat and hood, a Bolt Pistol visible at his waist, descended the ramp. The insignia on his coat proclaimed his identity: he was from the Inquisition.
He was followed by two Adeptus Mechanicus personnel in robes of golden-hooded cloth. Their robes differed from the typical Tech-Priest vestments; they were more opulent and refined, embellished with further gold trim and intricate mechanical patterns.
Others might struggle to differentiate these mechanical-headed figures, but Farien, standing at the back of the contingent, instantly recognized the ornamentation, murmuring under his breath.
"What is this? Two Magos of the Mechanicus?"
Axion, who was also with the group, naturally overheard Farien's comment.
His bio-scanner swept across the two Magos and the Inquisitor, heedless of the onlookers.
As for the Dark Angels, they were unnecessary.
Their physique obviously placed them in the same category as the surrounding Black Templars: bio-augmented warriors.
The feedback, however, left Axion somewhat disappointed.
The genetic material of the Mechanicus Magos was also riddled with biological corruption. The Inquisitor had undergone some degree of biological enhancement, but his genome was equally impure.
Axion did not know whether this corruption was present before or after the biological augmentation. Regardless, none of these individuals met the parameters for 'human' in Axion's data records.
Even after he had consciously lowered the threshold slightly, they still failed to qualify.
Axion even cross-referenced the genetic data he had collected earlier from the planet's Hive City. The genes of those 'ordinary humans,' who could not possibly have undergone biological enhancement, were, surprisingly, more corrupted than these augmented individuals.
In contrast, the Astra Militarum and even the ship's crew members seemed to have less genetic corruption than the common populace. This gave Axion a strange sensation.
It appeared that identity within this so-called Imperium of Man was tied to the purity of the individual's genetic structure.
It seemed that the more exalted one's status, the higher the 'human' content within them.
As for the Astartes, the genetic corruption of these bio-augmented warriors was peculiar; they seemed to be biological entities constructed using another source of corruption to restrain and assimilate their original genetic contamination.
Their genomes carried numerous flaws, even risking genetic collapse.
Yet, this strange, cross-contaminated mix of genes had seemingly given rise to their current state.
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