Blood of Crassus and Cooperation

Standard Terra Calendar .674.M31

Limnos System, Mandeville Point. Three ships emerged in succession from the warp-ravaged space.

It was Peter and his group, who had been away for nearly two years. After almost two years of travel, they had finally returned to their homeworld.

As he piloted the three ships back to their homeworld, Peter noticed that several more Dark Mechanicus vessels had appeared in orbit. A skeletal framework of steel had also taken shape up there.

Countless servitors and Dark Mechanicus Tech-Priests, clad in void-hardened gear, were methodically constructing the framework of a starport.

This was clearly the small starport the Mechanicus had promised. With it, rapid communication between the planet's surface and orbit would be possible. Planetary augur positioning, orbital surveillance of the ground, storage of cargo and fuel, docking between ships and the station—all of it would make the movement of personnel and goods between vessels far more convenient.

Peter gazed at the massive project, pleased with the Dark Mechanicus's efficiency. In less than two years, the starport had already grown this large.

The truth was, Peter simply didn't understand. The hardest part of building a small starport was never the basic framework. Welding together a fully mature technology like that required no real skill. If he compared it to building a house, they hadn't even laid the foundation yet—they'd just dug the hole for it.

As Peter's fleet returned to the homeworld's orbit, they immediately received a meeting request from the Dark Mechanicus sage, Morok.

In the reception hall of the Blackrock, Peter and Anthony waited. When the Biologus Sage Morok once again crawled into view, he was accompanied by another Dark Mechanicus Tech-Priest in a rust-red robe.

Peter cut straight to the point with the sage:

"Greetings, Sage Morok. May I ask why you wished to see me so urgently?"

Morok twisted his head, producing a low grinding sound as his emotional simulation circuits ran at full capacity:

"Greetings, Forged Steel Lord. First, I wish to discuss a transaction with you."

"Over this period, our technicians have conducted surveys on Limnos III, IV, and V. Mineral and Promethium deposits have been discovered on all of them. The Promethium reserves within Limnos V, a gas giant, are particularly astonishing."

"If you permit, we can extract these resources. All equipment, personnel, and technology will be provided by us. The resources will be split fifty-fifty: for every ten tons of ore mined, five belong to you; for every ten liters of Promethium extracted, five are yours. We will store them on your behalf, available for you to draw upon at any time, or to trade directly with us."

Peter was slightly surprised by the proposal—not by the abundance of resources in the system, since that was exactly why he had chosen the Maelstrom in the first place. What surprised him was how proactive the Dark Mechanicus was being, and how generous. A fifty-fifty split, with no need for him to contribute any manpower or materials—it was practically a gift.

Faced with such tempting terms, Peter stroked his chin, pondered for a moment, then replied:

"Sage, your proposal is excellent. I have a bonus to add."

"I've already reviewed the data on Limnos IV. That planet, aside from lacking an atmosphere and surface water, is quite decent. I hereby gift this planet and everything on it to the Daedalus Forge World, free of charge, as a symbol of our friendship with Daedalus."

Morok's tentacles and mechanical arms froze mid-motion. Then, from within his body, came another series of creaks and groans:

"I thank you for your generosity. There is one more matter."

As he spoke, the sage extended a tentacle toward his lower body—his abdomen? Or his chassis?—and retrieved a battle-axe.

It was a massive axe, roughly the height of a man. Both the haft and the blade were forged from adamantium. The blade was engraved with intricate, mysterious patterns, and the haft was wrapped in the leather of some unknown beast. The weapon looked solid and powerful.

"This is a master-crafted Power Axe. It is powered by a plasma battery in the base of the haft. In an emergency, it can also be connected to a power pack via a cable. A veteran warrior like yourself should be familiar with such a design."

"It was personally forged for you by Forge General Dorothy Frek of the Daedalus Forge World. Designation: 35931-C02. The Forge General instructed me to present it to you as a token of friendship."

Peter couldn't suppress the smile tugging at his lips as he listened. The Biologus Sage's words almost made him laugh. Was there a flaw in the sage's emotional simulation unit, or a gap in his logic circuits?

Peter was indeed not a professional Tech-Sergeant. But he was an Iron Warrior. Every Iron Warrior understood some technology. They might not be able to appease machine-spirits or repair giant war engines, but they could craft simple weapons and equipment, and perform basic field repairs on common vehicles.

Besides, the flaw was so glaring. A weapon designated 35931-C02—didn't that mean it was the second piece of work from Project C in Standard Terra Calendar .359.M31?

They hadn't even been in contact back then, had they? And it was supposedly made specifically for him. Either the sage's social skills and eloquence were remarkably high, or these gear-grinders were astonishingly dense in certain areas.

But Peter didn't call him out. He simply nodded, accepted the Power Axe, and said:

"Thank you. I have decided to name it the 'Blood of Crassus.' Please convey my gratitude to the Forge General."

The sage continued waving his tentacles and mechanical arms, producing more creaking sounds. He shifted his massive body, bringing the other Tech-Priest into prominence:

"One final matter. I will be returning to the Forge World. This is Tech-Priest Yamila Burke. She has extensive experience in construction. After I depart, she will serve as the Forge World's representative, liaising with you on all matters."

With that, the sage immediately shut down his emotional simulation circuits and turned to leave. But as he departed, perhaps due to some internal mechanical anomaly, he continued to emit creaking sounds—even louder than before.

Ignoring the departing sage, Peter turned his attention to Tech-Priest Yamila Burke. This priest appeared far less mechanized—just two legs, two arms, one head, with a few extra mechanical arms on her back. She even still had flesh on her face that could be called a face. Peter might not understand complex machinery, but he understood people.

Whether it was the Mechanicus or the Dark Mechanicus, only two types of people could serve as representatives. One was someone of high rank who could truly conduct diplomacy on behalf of a Forge World—like Sage Morok.

The other was someone permanently stationed in a region or with a faction, representing a Forge World, day after day, doing the kind of low-skill but necessary diplomatic work—like the person before him.

It could only mean that the Forge World considered this priest expendable, and that no one liked her. Either she had made a mistake, or her superior had, or they had simply picked someone at random and landed on her. This was practically exile. She would likely never return to the Forge World she belonged to.

Peter extended his hand:

"Tech-Priest Yamila, welcome aboard! Let's look out for each other from now on."

Yamila extended one of the mechanical arms from her back, briefly shook Peter's hand, and replied:

"Yes, my lord."

Then she stated that she had work to attend to and excused herself.

Once the outsider had left, Anthony immediately asked:

"Captain, you just gave away an entire world to them. And they said they'd store all the extracted resources themselves. So who do those resources actually belong to?"

Peter explained patiently:

"Resources buried in the ground aren't resources. They only count when they're dug up. With our industrial capacity, we probably couldn't even finish processing our homeworld's deposits in a thousand years. Since we can't dig them up anytime soon anyway, we might as well let them do it."

"Now that they own an entire world, they'll build resource collection points, then expand, set up refining and purification facilities, and construct a starport for transport. I believe they'll eventually find it too troublesome and just set up production lines on-site. Before long, we'll have a small industrial world right next door—maybe even a future Forge World. Anthony, what you see is us losing a planet in the system. But in the future, we'll gain far more."

"As for those supplies, building storage and distribution networks is a complex project. Trust me, brother, it's no easy task. Besides, our Bolter Guns are sitting right next to theirs. They wouldn't dare not deliver."