The Simulacrum Sanctum

The 33rd Expedition Fleet and 52nd Expedition Fleet assembled in the Cydonia System, near Vostonia.

Gabriel and Storm General Amad DuCaine travel together aboard the Stormbird to the Shadow of the Throne.

The war council then began, with Primarch's Attendants Arsena Dunn holding Data Slate and reporting to the two Primarch.

"According to intelligence provided by the Rogue Trader Lewis von Valancius and the results of the Auger Matrix scan, the Flao's fleet consists of eight battlecruisers."

"Given that the Flao's raiding fleets often appear in pairs of battlecruisers, and considering that my lord repelled the Xenos raids on the Vostonia System before returning to the Imperium, I deduce that they are once again amassing strength, seeking an opportunity to launch an attack."

Nimrod nodded slightly, acknowledging the "Deduction Cadets's" deduction. He looked at Ferrus Manus and lightly tapped the east and west sides of the holographic image of the Cydonia System with his fingers.

"Manus, within the Cydonia System, the two strongholds controlled by the Flao are located on the north and south sides respectively."

"Our fleet will launch an attack from both flanks."

Both fleets were stronger than the Flao, so the outcome of the battle was a foregone conclusion; the only question was the extent of the losses.

Nimrod himself was more concerned with what he could learn from "The Iron Hands" during this opportunity.

Manus's silver-coin-like eyes shone brightly, and his leaden voice rang out.

"Two sharp blades, plunged into the Cydonia System, will allow us to Purification the foolish Xenos."

After the war conference, Manus and DuCaine returned to the flagship of the 52nd Expedition Fleet first, while Gabriel stayed behind to brief Nimrod.

"My lord, I have joined forces with the Iron Hands to develop the Simulacrum Sanctum, which is expected to be used in the war against the Flao."

Nimrod nodded slightly. "Record the data used as a reference to study a suitable version of the Shadow of Order."

He knew that the Shadow of Order, unlike the Iron Hands, could not handle massive amounts of information after undergoing large-scale mechanical modifications.

Among the Shadow of Order of the Low Sequence, only a small number of "Savant" can barely handle this level of quantity processing.

Nimrod would not allow the Shadow of Order to become Iron Hands, as that would mean losing his advantage.

Whether it's equipment or tactics, what he wants is to learn from their strengths and integrate them into his own army.

"Following Your will," Gabriel replied, "I will develop our Simulacrum Sanctum for the legion."

He continued his report, "Through Your Revelation, the research on the Golden Garuda has made initial progress, and the thirty-one Tech Sergeant under my leadership have been equipped."

The Golden Garuda on Gabriel's left shoulder turned its head to look at Nimrod. The moment it saw the golden wings, its golden neck stiffened.

Its proud head immediately lowered and turned in the opposite direction.

"In the upcoming battle, conduct a practical test on the Golden Garuda," Nimrod ordered.

"Follow Your will," Gabriel accepted the order and drew a cast-iron scepter from behind his back.

"Adams, following Your command, excavated ancient ruins at Medusa. DuCaine and I, together, discovered ten of these scepters in the second ruins we explored."

"After our research, we discovered that it was named the Heart-Forged Staff."

"I, Medusan, the Iron Hands, and the Fourth Legion's Librarian, have all studied it, but none of us have been able to activate it."

Nimrod recalled his memories of the Heart-Forged Staff, a staff that was only suitable for those who were born with both Psionic Energy talent and mechanical body enhancement talent.

The "Iron Hands" had always regarded the Heart-Forged Staff as a relic weapon until the forty-first millennium, when the Chief Librarian, Lendrick, activated the staff and became its first master.

While Nimrod was pondering, Gabriel continued his report.

"Our only research finding so far is that it not only contains Psychic Circuitry, but also a rudimentary, sentient Machine Spirit."

The technology to achieve coexistence has now been lost.

Nimrod nodded slightly. "Send it to the Legion's armory and have each Librarian try it out. Whoever can activate the Heart-Forged Staff will be able to possess it."

He continued, "I've selected thirty members from the Honor Guard who will return with you to serve as the Iron Hands commander's attendants during this joint military operation."

"I have already spoken to Manus about this; you will take them with you."

Gabriel immediately obeyed the order, first instructing his men to deliver the seven Heart-Forged Staff to the armory.

Because "The Spirit Medium" Adams discovered the ruins and later joined the excavation, he had a larger share of the spoils.

Gabriel then led the members of the Honor Guard back to the 10th Legion flagship. When they arrived at the strategy room on the bridge, Manus had just finished listening to DuCaine's briefing.

Manus looked at Gabriel, and the sound of lead being poured rang out.

"You previously participated in the development of the Simulacrum Sanctum, demonstrating data processing capabilities comparable to the Iron Hands."

"But they haven't undergone the necessary modifications and are unable to process the data from the Iron Hands."

"I have just discussed this with DuCaine and have selected a commander to accompany them."

"Thank you, Lord Manus," Gabriel replied.

Led by the Iron Hands, the members of the Honor Guard went to their respective companies and squads.

Gabriel, along with Manus and DuCaine, went to the Simulacrum Sanctum. They removed their Power Armor, changed into comfortable robes, and then walked into the transfer deck, which resembled a wall of big data equipment.

Gabriel sat in a seat surrounded by cables, resembling Drop Pod, amidst a buzzing sound.

The runes in the niche shimmered, and the electronic devices activated, flashing with blue light.

Gabriel had just connected to the neural interface that ran directly to his spine when he was immediately thrown into a daze, swallowed up by a sea of data.

Trillions of data points, including the position and speed of every warship in the 10th Legion, surged through his mind.

Unlike reading data on a video screen in the past, there was no reading process; all the data appeared in his brain in an instant.

Previously, he didn't need to access the data of the division commanders; they handled that, simply passing the critical data to higher levels.

This is true for most Imperium fleets, but not for the Iron Hands and the Adeptus Mechanicus.

Manus demanded that his descendants incorporate all data into their calculations, mechanical modifications granting them the corresponding computational power, and the Simulacrum Sanctum providing them with the technological means to achieve this.

The Iron Hands were immersed in a sea of data; though seated in their chairs, their thoughts reached every region of the entire fleet.

Unlike the Iron Hands, Gabriel did not undergo mechanical modifications and had no implants to assist him in processing massive amounts of data.

But he is an "Archaeologist," and two enhancements to his Mental Body abilities have given him Superhuman Brain that surpasses most Astartes, giving him greater data processing capabilities.

Meanwhile, Gabriel's Brainy Cat curled up at his feet, further amplifying his computational abilities.

After a few breaths, the "Archaeologist" adapted to the massive amount of data and began to keep up with the pace of the Iron Hands.

At the same time, the "Savant" on other warships only underwent one Mental Body enhancement, which was much more difficult than for Gabriel.

Fortunately, the "Iron Hands" also follows the basic laws of war, with different levels having different data permissions.

For non-flagship ships, the data ocean containing the Simulacrum Sanctum only includes this part relevant to them, and the surging data is several orders of magnitude lower than that of the flagship.

The 52nd Expedition Fleet, like a precisely operating gear, "rotated" without the slightest error, precisely inserting itself into the center point of the north and south planets of the Cydonia System.

The data captured by the Auspex flooded into the Simulacrum Sanctum and entered the mind of the Iron Hands.

All members of the Simulacrum Sanctum have access to information on the status of warships of both friendly and enemy forces within the star system.

Enemy ship AJ, distance 507,429 kilometers, phase 8-0-5, angle of repose 2...

...}

Within ten breaths, they modified the battle plan based on the real-time situation.

The hundred members of the flagship strategy team were working at lightning speed, conducting deductions in a virtual Thought Space.

The plans devised by everyone are passed on to each other, and each person evaluates each plan in the virtual Thought Space of the Simulacrum Sanctum.

Ultimately, Lord Manus's solution was evaluated as the optimal solution in the virtual four-dimensional space of almost everyone.

In the process, Gabriel realized that this was not based on the authority of the Primarch genome, but on absolute, cold calculation.

Furthermore, every member of the Simulacrum Sanctum had a profound understanding of all the details of Lord Manus's plan.

The battle plan was transmitted to the other Simulacrum Sanctum of the fleet within twenty breaths, and understood by all the Iron Hands within ten breaths.

The 52nd Expedition Fleet, like interlocking gears, was rapidly "rotating".

Decoy warships lure the Flao's Aether Cannon to attack them, while the main battleships deliver precision strikes against enemy ships.

Gabriel discovered that Manus and the Iron Hands' battle plans were calculated down to every reaction of the Flao fleet.

The Flao's fleet was like Marionette on a string, destroyed by the perfectly coordinated 52 Expeditionary Fleet.

Even if a warship accidentally falls outside the budget, the Iron Hands can iterate new combat plans in a matter of seconds.

It was as if all unexpected events on the battlefield were stifled by the cold logic and calculations of the Iron Hands.

Gabriel discovered that, apart from the destroyers and frigates that drew the fire of the Flao cruisers, which could not avoid losses, no capital ships were hit by the Aether Cannon.

With the destruction of the first Flau battlecruiser, the "Archaeologist" felt a large chunk of the data ocean had vanished.

While observing and recording, he also had the capacity to pay attention to the battle situation of the 33rd Expedition Fleet, which he had previously overlooked.