"I think we should have deployed the C'tan long ago."
"After the Brumm Campaign ended, they had just been sitting around doing nothing. Well, except for the one called the Void Dragon."
Upon hearing Qin Mo's suggestion to deploy the C'tan, Lion voiced what he had been holding back for quite some time.
"Previously, the Iron Ring had either pain-driven barriers or the Word Bearers' Obsidian Crowns. Deploying the C'tan in that environment would have put their lives at risk." Qin Mo sternly explained something he had said before. "I once judged that the Flayer's remnants should be banished into the Warp. The moment it entered the Warp, it dispersed. That was the consequence."
"That was a risk," Lion said. "It might not necessarily have gone wrong..."
"The C'tan are no good, but they are bound by me and fight for me, so I must be responsible for their safety." Qin Mo cut Lion off. "If the Dark Angels had joined the Defense of Tyran as the Ultramarines and Blood Angels did, I would also reject the formulation of any tactic likely to get them killed."
Lion stared into Qin Mo's eyes.
Qin Mo continued, "I cannot accept the possibility of the C'tan being destroyed by Warp energy, even if that possibility is infinitely close to zero. Whether from my personal standpoint, as one of the expeditionary force's three commanders, or from the standpoint of humanity and the Real Universe, I cannot accept it."
After hearing Qin Mo's resolute words, Lion fell silent for several seconds. Then he stroked his graying beard and smiled as he nodded. "I understand. I understand. Naturally."
Qin Mo nodded without saying more.
Lion slowly rose and walked to the enormous viewport on the bridge of the Glorious Humanity, looking down at the Iron Ring