Death Star Archaeology

Chapter 24: Death Star Archaeology

Hogg's Alicia Sector was in a truly bizarre location. This place, which Blackwatch had developed into a whole sector, was situated in an unbelievably awkward spot.

The entire sector was shaped like a cube, wedged right into the edge of the Solar Segmentum where three sectors met. The Fourth Legion's territory on Olympia lay to the right.

Above it ran the boundary between Imperium Nihilus and Segmentum Obscurus. If you kept exploring, you could reach the Lion's homeworld of Caliban. And the territory to the left was even more formidable: the Eye of Terror was right there.

You might ask, "Isn't the Solar Segmentum, the heart of the Imperium, just below it?" But here was the problem: if someone tried to attack Terra during the Horus Heresy, what do you think would happen to Alicia, standing in their way?

Why didn't the Emperor stop Hogg from cozying up to Xenos? Why had he never rushed Hogg, even when the fighting on the front lines grew brutal? Because as long as Blackwatch kept its center of operations in the Alicia Sector, any force that wanted to attack Terra would have to step over Hogg's corpse. In that way, Hogg was buying the Emperor time from another direction.

Once Hogg entered the Webway and raced through it, he immediately understood the Emperor's intentions after experiencing how convenient it was. Old Man Yellow was still gambling: expanding humanity's living space through the fires of the Great Crusade, trading space for time, all to serve the Webway Project. Once humanity built a Webway of its own, it would never again have to let the Warp choke it.

Even knowing how miserably the future would end, the gambler would still carry out his original plan. Hogg had once asked the Emperor why he didn't just kill all the Primarchs and change the future outright. Back then, the Emperor had been forced to reveal some of his secrets to Hogg.

At that time, the Emperor had already taken a seat at the table, but he was still the weakest player there. He wasn't the toilet ornament from Hogg's memories, bolstered by the faith of countless trillions of humans over ten thousand years. To enter the game, he had to draw on power from the future ahead of time. So the rebellion was inevitable. Otherwise, fate would go completely off the rails, and the result would be the Black King, threatened by the future, devouring Old Man Yellow and taking all of humanity down with him.

The future could only follow the general script. Hogg, who had stepped outside the game, became the key to breaking it. Back then, the Emperor hadn't told him what to do, only said, "Use your own judgment," before slipping away.

"Ah! Life isn't easy. Whatever. If he wants to play, I'll go all in with him. I've got a second chance at life, so I might as well enjoy it!" Hogg, who still hadn't received a psychic call from the Emperor, was itching for trouble.

Just as Hogg was thinking about finding something fun to do, the vanguard discovered a human world transmitting signals without interruption. Tests revealed that they used communication codes from the Dark Age of Technology. Hogg immediately decided to bring the ship in and go down to investigate. Finding an STC would make the whole trip worthwhile.

A transport ship broke away from the fleet and headed toward the planet ahead. As they drew closer, Hogg saw that it was a dead world. Their scans detected no signs of life whatsoever, which meant the archaeological expedition should go smoothly.

"Clunk! Clunk!"

The hatch swung open, and a group of Power Armor-wearing metal cans climbed out and began securing the area. Candice Laza, a seasoned archaeologist, activated her Auspex and started collecting data.

"Primarch, please don't dig around. That's just a scrapped mechanical component, not some priceless treasure." The Tech-Adept stopped Hogg from digging through the wreckage at his feet.

"Ah! It's worthless? Damn, I got my hopes up for nothing."

Riding in a Manticore troop carrier, they made their way through the ruins. Nothing surrounded them but crumbling metal, and years of oxidation and corrosion had left the scrap with no value even for recycling. The fallen Hive City resembled a ruined tomb, and human skeletons still littered the streets.

The exploration team charged ahead and soon reached the upper levels of the Hive City. The good news was that the buildings had protected the remaining power systems, which were still running. They started the elevator without trouble, but couldn't get past the security door without authorization.

Several mechanical tendrils emerged from beneath Candice Laza and plugged into the security door's control panel. As streams of machine code ran, they overwrote the main control system, granting the team access.

Inside, they found the same lavish decor as in the upper levels of any Hive City. Some areas had even been gilded. The place still reflected its former owner's taste, despite having gone unmaintained for so long.

Hogg was curious about what had destroyed this world. On the way here, he hadn't seen any signs of large-scale fighting. It was as if every human on the planet had suddenly died at some point, without anyone putting up a fight. It made no sense.

While he tried to remember what could kill everyone on a planet in an instant, the Aeldari Farseer in the party noticed something amiss.

"Holy Father, the Warp connection here is extremely unstable. I can't draw on Warp energy as smoothly as I used to." Naturally sensitive to psychic energy, the Aeldari Farseer felt an oppressive sensation in his soul, as if something were interfering with his abilities.

"An unstable connection? Could it be..."

Before Hogg could think it through, Candice sent a file to the system in his Raider armor. It was a planetary governor's log from a thousand years ago.

1,763,M29

Under my rule, Coral has flourished.

Since the Warp Storms came after the rebellion was put down, my family has protected this world for four millennia. We people of Coral have stubbornly survived on this planet. Though we still haven't received any communications from the Federation, the mighty Human Federation will surely return and reunite us all. All I have to do is continue my family's rule. But without the help of intelligent AI, rebuilding the planet is far too slow. We once sailed among the stars, but now we can't even escape this planet's gravity.

3,764,M29

Something strange is happening in the lower levels of the Hive City. It must be a plague. Many workers are too weak to work, and it's affecting the Hive City's operations. I've ordered the security forces to contain it. The good news is that the plague has been restricted to a very small area. At the same time, our medical experts have begun working around the clock on a vaccine. With the wonders of technology, I'm sure things will improve soon.

6,764,M29

Damn it! The plague has spread. People in the upper levels are starting to die, too. My poor little John didn't make it. Those medical experts are useless. They swore the plague would be contained within a month, but their vaccine is completely ineffective. I'll have them executed for crimes against the Human Federation.

8,764,M29

This isn't a plague. It's those damn Xenos scum.

We found a Xenos nest underground. I can't believe we've been living right on top of them all this time. We disturbed them while they were dormant. And to think I thought it was just an ordinary plague. There aren't many humans left. We can't just die out in silence like this. I have to seal them away again. I hope we can succeed.

9,764,M29

We failed, but we also succeeded. The Xenos underground were wiped out and sealed back in their nest, but the number of surviving humans is too small to sustain even the minimum population needed for development. We're doomed. There's no doubt about it.

All I can do is keep sending out distress signals, as required by Federation law. I hope the humans who come in the future can reclaim Coral. Long live the Human Federation!!!

Damn! They're Necrons.