"Korax, don't you think this is what it means to truly live like people? Before this, everyone in the camp was like walking corpses." Sandman watched his cheering, jubilant companions and spoke to the Primarch beside him.
"Yes. Only at this moment did I truly feel the longing and hope for freedom in their hearts.
"Although everyone's lives had improved greatly before, I could sense their unease. They were afraid—afraid that the lives they had finally begun to look forward to would suddenly return to how they had been before. Now, that fear has completely vanished." Korax also watched the cheering brothers and sisters as he spoke.
"So, boss, The Saviors will still need your leadership in the future," Korax said.
"Let's work hard together. Individual strength is limited; only by gathering the strength of the collective can we improve the current situation as much as possible.
"Nekser, take your people and join the celebration. You've worked hard these past years too. Korax and I will handle the camp's watch tonight," Sandman said.
"Boss, things like enjoying the light should be left to the brothers and sisters. Shadow Kill is destined to be the blade you keep hidden in the dark." Nekser glanced at Arendi, An, Neff, and the others atop the city wall. The envy in his eyes vanished in an instant, replaced by resolve.
As the earliest-established unit, Shadow Kill's methods had long since taken shape. Too much exposure would be detrimental to their future operations.
"Go. Even those who walk in darkness need to bask in sunlight from time to time. This is my order." Sandman issued the command to Nekser and the other Shadow Kill members with utmost seriousness.
"Yes, boss." Nekser gave Sandman a deep salute, then led his unit away into the darkness. Tonight, there would be no Shadow Kill—only ordinary members of Saviors Camp. When the sun rose again, the new Shadow Kill would be even deadlier!
"Korax, we've achieved our goal of changing the material exchange rates. What are you planning next?" Sandman asked Korax, who was sitting with him on the highest rooftop in the camp.
Although the miners' joint action had caught the Tower off guard this time, Agamemnon would undoubtedly refuse to let the matter rest. The two sides had merely reached a compromise over their respective interests. Class struggle was often exceptionally cruel, and every advantage lay with the Tower.
"I plan to merge those small camps into the larger camps nearby. Small camps are far too weak at withstanding risks. They may be full of passion, but in the face of reality, that little courage won't accomplish anything." Korax voiced the plan he had prepared.
"Disbanding them? That's not bad. Ideally, each area should have only one or two large camps. That would greatly improve their ability to withstand risks. Then, when the Tower retaliates, those overseers won't dare go too far either." Sandman strongly approved of Korax's idea.
"The remaining task is to train the miners freed from labor in the other camps into a real army. One year will be enough." Korax revealed a confident smile.
"Yes, one year really will be enough." Sandman looked up at the dome of Lycaeus, his gaze seeming to pierce through its barrier and fall upon Terra. That was where their true rise would begin.
The miners' celebration gradually came to an end with a hearty meal. Calling it hearty was perhaps an exaggeration; everyone simply received an extra ration and a small piece of dried meat. The miners, who had always lived alongside hunger, understood the value of food well. Besides, supplies on Lycaeus were indeed scarce. A reward like this was already very good.
As the sun rose again, the miners' lives returned to their normal rhythm. Korax also left Saviors Camp when the first rays of morning sunlight fell upon it. He needed to inspect the casualties in the other camps and propose the camp mergers to their other leaders.
The Saviors had won a great victory here, but neither Korax nor Sandman yet knew much about the losses suffered by the other camps. To prevent miners from contacting one another, every set of communicators provided by the Tower had a fixed operational range and a limited number of units. One main unit could only be paired with several communication devices, and once they left the ten-kilometer range covered by the main unit, they could no longer communicate.
Miners from different camps could only rely on human messengers to pass along information.
The communication device Korax had designed in his mind would still take some time to manufacture. Once completed, it would be distributed to the different camps. After the communication problem was solved, many things would become much easier.
"Communication is a major problem." Sandman looked at the communicator produced by the workshop. Rather than easing, his frown deepened.
"Boss, hasn't the communicator already been made? Could there be some safety issue?" The burly An looked utterly confused.
Ever since Korax had saved him with Psychic Power, An's physique had become increasingly outrageous. Sometimes, Sandman even wondered whether An had Ogryn blood.
"There's not only nothing wrong with the communicator—it's extremely good. That's not what I'm talking about," Sandman said.
What concerned him was naturally not the communication problem on Lycaeus, but the issue of interstellar communication that would plague the Imperium for tens of thousands of years to come.
After the Iron Rebellion, the Imperium of Man's technological development had become fragmented, with pieces missing everywhere. The ability to communicate across star systems had long since been lost.
The Imperium's long-range communications relied on Psychic Power. Yet all important Psychic Power communications had to pass through the Warp, soaking in that cesspit before reaching their intended targets.
That meant most of the Imperium's intelligence was transparent before Chaos, while the Imperium knew very little about what happened within the Warp. For a vast race and Imperium, that was exceptionally fatal.
"Boss, I'm a rough man. I don't understand things from your perspective, but I think, so what? We'll always find a way to solve it when the time comes." An patted his chest as he spoke.
To An, when the sky fell, the tall people would hold it up. His tall people were his boss and Korax, who had saved his life. Those two bosses were omnipotent anyway. Just because they could not solve it now did not mean they could not solve it in the future.
"I was overthinking it." Sandman smiled. Indeed, if the sky fell on the Imperium, the Emperor would hold it up. Why was he worrying about it?
Beside him, An also smiled when he heard his boss using such profound words again. He did not understand them, but that did not mean he could not sense what Sandman's tone meant.
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