Chapter 445 Black and Red, the Plan in the Shadows (Thirty) A Small Shock

The war is still going on, and Lorgar's test also needs cooperation on the battlefield ahead. Although Erebus made full preparations in the battle of Moro to maintain his power, Calvin, the target of both people, was not on the battlefield front in the north of Janmoro at this time.

On the contrary, at this moment, the forge world Heper in the central star zone was already in a state of chaos and suddenly received a notice from the galaxy defense system.

"Relentless Crusade?"

The eyes of the master of the forge, Trinary Solan, flickered slightly.

And those who are familiar with his transformation experience know that this usually means that important information is skipped over the regular intelligence summary and directly triggers the emergency processing mechanism of his sub-brain.

In the war temple of Cabolet, all the high-level priests with different duties were in place.

The supreme leader of the forge world and his team - several forge deputy supervisors, have been arguing for dozens of hours about the things under the Serinde forge furnace:

The forge world has invested too many troops here, and it has even affected the forge world's response to the call of the Inquisition.

But this unexpectedly awakened and out-of-control Titan not only concerns some secrets of the Heper Forge World, but it is also a technological wealth monopolized by the top forge world.

Its recovery must be carried out as soon as possible, but the Titan must not be damaged in any way. Therefore, the troops were strictly ordered by the upper level when they were put into the battlefield, and no destructive weapons were allowed to be used.

This farce has lasted for several days, and given the current situation, there is no possibility of ending in a short time.

And the controversy among the top leaders of the forge world lies here.

Whether to continue to deploy new troops when the combat efficiency has been saturated is the dispute between the six school leaders representing the conservative forces and the forge deputy supervisors representing the new generation.

But this is just an appearance. The real struggle lies in the right to speak, the stubbornness of the school leaders, and the overly impatient pace of the forge deputy supervisors.

The status and rights between the two are not equal, even if the deputy supervisors are the nominal masters of this planet.

The position of the Academy in the Mechanicus is sacred and inviolable, enough to make the Director afraid, and the school leaders are even more dismissive of the nature of the deputy directors as "affairs officers".

Knowledge is above everything, so academic factions are naturally above everything. This is the rule of the Forge World for thousands of years, and it is also the truth based on the unshakable belief in the sacredness of the Ten Thousand Machines.

The Forge Director knows this truth well.

Because the various departments of the entire Forge World seem to be unified, the root cause is that there is a shadow of the school behind them.

Without the support of these schools, the craftsmanship of the Forge World cannot be preserved and improved.

Without the new blood provided by these schools, the knowledge of the Forge World will not be passed on.

Therefore, the school has no authority and does not need authority.

They seem invisible, but they are constantly affecting the learning and promotion of every member of the Mechanicus through countless technologies and complicated protocols.

And the fact that he was selected for this position by exception was the result of the common recognition of many schools.

If everything could continue, no, there is no if...

600 years have passed in a flash, and the once high-spirited foundry director Mayne has also entered the end of his life cycle.

The simple red robe that used to focus on technology and bury himself in the laboratory is now gradually submerged in the increasingly complex and huge mechanical structure to maintain life.

The external environment is also changing, the empire is declining, and chaos is becoming more and more active.

In Mayne's 600 years of life, the stability of the first five hundred years made him calm but unable to realize his ambitions;

But in his old age, the environment of the empire began to evolve in a turbulent direction.

The "school co-management" system has spawned countless technological crystals, which is undoubtedly the accumulation of wisdom of predecessors, but it is clumsy and rigid only for war.

Mayne tried to make some changes to the Heper Forge World before his death, but it was easier said than done.

The conservative forces are always unwilling to leave the stage. Although they are willing to give in and train newcomers, there are still too many experiences that need to be experienced by newcomers, and too much wisdom that needs to be refined and precipitated by time.

But newcomers cannot be trusted either. Their overly extreme ideas are equally dangerous in Mayne's view. If they are allowed to take power, the Heper Forge World will only go to destruction in madness.

They need time to grow, which is Mayne's awareness as the helmsman of Heper.

They want a slow and orderly handover, which is also the silent tacit understanding between Mayne and the leaders of the school.

So the new generation of technical priests were won over by Mayne, and gradually united around him to form a faction represented by six deputy forging supervisors, and the leaders of the school also tacitly sang against Mayne, and gradually retreated in disputes and controversies.

But plans are always slower than changes. Two sudden events permanently affected the power structure of Heper:

One is that Kozyrev, the master of genes as an exchange scholar, also brought a top-secret project when he returned from the distant Mars.

The technology involved in this project is extremely high-level. Although it has not yet had a specific impact on Heper, if everything goes according to plan, then in Mayne's opinion, this technology will permanently change the strategic situation of the empire at some point in the future, thereby enhancing the status of Heper Forge World in the entire Mechanicus and even the empire.

This secret was known only to Mayne, and it was with Mayne's support that Kozyrev established his own experimental system that was almost independent of the Forge World.

And it was in this context that the trade policy of the Forge Master Fadin was adopted by Mayne.

On the surface, this was to support the idea of ​​the technology diffusion faction headed by Fadin, and secretly, it was this policy that gave birth to the key trade line, maintaining the close connection between Heper and a laboratory on Mars.

The second thing was the appearance of Inquisitor Margarita. This ambitious woman has been trying every means to seize power since she landed in Zhanmoro.

Unfortunately, the new generation of technical priests seemed to be the same.

The new generation, who felt that they had received external support, began to be unwilling to calm down, and the Grand Inquisitor Margarita, who was determined to use it, was constantly fanning the flames outside.

Kozyrev's laboratory was extremely conspicuous in this environment and became one of the key battlefields in the struggle between the two sides. But the gene master could not publish his own technological achievements, so the contradiction between the two sides could only intensify.

The turmoil reached its peak on the eve of Calvin's arrival, and after the arrival of the Primarch and the dethronement of the Grand Inquisitor, everything seemed to return to a brief calm.

But Mayne knew that it was not that simple.

Things would only get worse, because the deputy forge supervisors would only have a stronger sense of crisis after losing external support.

And the events under the Sedlin Furnace, and even today's tit-for-tat meeting between the two sides, seemed to Mayne to have a strong taste of conspiracy.

The wind and rain are precarious... Mayne recited the proverb passed down by ancient Terra.

At this time, he was like a paperhanger guarding a dilapidated house. He could only try to control the new forces in the late stage of his life and complete the difficult process of power transfer.

"Solan?"

Mayne Shaft on the Iron Throne finally spoke, and the priests immediately turned their eyes to the deputy forge supervisor in charge of defense and intelligence.

The latter felt the gazes converge, and only after getting the permission of the Foundry Director did he slowly break away from the sequence:

"The Lord of the Inquisition has arrived. According to the observations and calculations of the astropath and the outer orbital scanning array, his flagship has reached the outer edge of the star ring."

"…………It seems that we must welcome him." The servo on the Foundry Director began to hum, and the throne in the shadow began to slowly deform.

The body weighing dozens of tons slowly rose from the shadows and walked out of the hall with heavy steps like a knight titan.

The technical priests and slaves along the way bowed their heads in awe, and the red robes of the high-level priests were reflected on the cold floor.

"The possibility of being questioned is more than 50%," said the deputy supervisor of diplomacy, Sairen.

"That's better than breaking up with them completely." The Lord of the Forge, the leader of the school responsible for industrial production capacity, retorted Fadin.

"But we don't ask for anything from the Inquisition." Another deputy Foundry Supervisor joined the conversation, but his point of view was immediately refuted by Fadin.

"Unless you are willing to keep exporting low-tech products, and there is no better market in the nearby star regions, if you don't want to keep eating Riza's leftovers, then you will always have to deal with them for trade routes."

"But..."

"Okay." The Director of Foundry interrupted their conversation, and it was also a clear statement for this debate.

Trade is important, not just the resources exchanged, but more importantly the communication channels and technology diffusion maintained through trade. Heper does not lack resources, but it does need greater influence.

"How is the previous delegation?" The Director of Foundry asked the crowd behind him, and everyone turned their eyes to Fadin.

Those envoys had a little accident in their previous visit, and the Director of Foundry's implication was whether they were willing to ignore those "unexpected gains".

"Very calm, but I have worse expectations."

"Do you suspect they have means of long-distance communication?" The Director of Foundry paused slightly and then continued to move forward.

"Then send them back to the Inquisition."

"Your will."

The figures of the crowd disappeared outside the tower. A few hours later, Calvin met with Mayne and others under the largest starport in the forge world.

"Praise the God of All Machines, praise His incarnation in the world."

The moment Calvin stepped on the apron, he heard the praises from the guides on both sides.

The heavy bells and the whistles echoed throughout Calvin's vision, and under the dim sky, all he could see were iron, steel, and gold and stone creations.

The representatives of the local knight families and the governors of the nearby mining planets all stood among the crowds of people watching the ceremony on both sides. Their bodies with obvious signs of transformation were covered with precious metal medals inlaid with gems and their luxurious dresses.

The sleeping Titan was awakened and stood under the starry sky under the guidance of the pilot, and at the end of the field of vision was the magnificent star ring of the planetary shipyard and the unfinished imperial warships.

What a magnificent scene, and this grand welcoming ceremony was just because of the visit of one person.

The visit of a Terra lord is indeed worthy of the goodwill expressed by the servants of the machine god who always prides himself on independence.

Calvin stopped and looked around. The Purifiers and the Imperial Guards were lined up in two rows behind him. The Director of Foundry in the distance was walking slowly with the welcoming team. The leaders of the two forces looked at each other in the etiquette, and the appearance of both sides also gave each other a lot of information.

"I thought you were no different from the previous representatives of the Inquisition." Mayne led the priests to greet Calvin, and behind him was the Honor Guard who had not been seen for a long time.

"Oh? What's the difference?" Calvin also led the Purifiers to greet the crowd.

He did not look at his guard members at the first time, but walked side by side with the foundry director after walking to his side.

"The Inquisition does have a record of Grey Knights becoming representatives, but you are obviously more than that."

Mayne's voice came from Calvin's side, and the meaning of his words just reflected the current situation of several mechanical priests.

Heper did not pay much attention to Terra, and had no motivation to verify the rumors about the Inquisition in recent years.

But Calvin's appearance was undoubtedly very shocking. His iconic figure made the people on Heper's side finally realize that this Supreme Lord Inquisitor was not the spokespersons who had been on duty in the past, but an unknown existence that confused and shocked them.

This perception completely overturned their assessment of Calvin. After rejecting Calvin's call, the visit of this suspected Primarch made the rulers of Heper feel direct pressure.

"I also serve that great existence." Calvin smiled and responded to the words of the Forge Director, and the implicit denial was equal to a kind of recognition at this moment.

In the brain of the Forge Director, the current and waves were transmitted frantically:

They could ignore the questioning of an Imperial Inquisitor, as long as they compensated from other directions afterwards. Anyway, although the Inquisition is powerful, its specific members are also famous for their complex factions.

But what about the questioning of a Primarch?

Especially when this Primarch appeared as the Supreme Lord Inquisitor, does it mean that this theoretically the most powerful organization in the Empire has been completely incorporated by the Emperor's Children?

Impossible! Mayne subconsciously excluded this option because it was a feat that no one had ever done.

But even if it was not completely incorporated, could the Forge World where he was really withstand the pressure from Terra?

Will Mars help him? It should be.

But this is based on the assumption that he did not explicitly refuse Calvin's call, and it is also based on the condition that his secrets here have not been leaked...

"I apologize to you very much. We do have our own difficulties, so we refused your call."

The humble tone of the casting director formed a huge gap with his physique, and before the staff and school leaders behind him reacted, Calvin's understated words were a heavy blow to everyone's heart.

"Because of the Emperor-class Titan?" The Primarch stopped with a smile.

"I'm curious, your place is not qualified to station a first-class Titan Legion in the record of the Imperial Government Council. So how do you explain this Titan?"

Sure enough! What is coming is coming!

Since Calvin's last sentence, several high-level priests have stopped, and when his next question was uttered, the murderous intent in the air has solidified like a substance.

But this giant just stood there quietly, completely ignoring the malice emanating from the people around him.

It was when they saw the Imperial Eagle emblem on the giant's breastplate that they realized why the other party was so unscrupulous.

A Primarch... at this distance, should... be able to easily kill anyone who dares to threaten his safety?

Update.