Low-altitude airspace was just as deadly to warfare and communications. The apex of artillery shell trajectories was firmly capped below 6,000 meters, making long-range strikes impossible.
Long-wave communications could not be reflected either. Emergency information could only be relayed step by step from the fringes to the center through the construction of multiple shortwave communication stations.
That was how the Rhodes Island operators from Yan and Columbia described their homelands. Numerous messengers and shortwave communication stations formed a tightly knit network, allowing them to learn what had happened along the Imperium's borders within a few weeks, rather than needing several months—or even half a year—to receive news from the frontier like other backward nations.
The rampant Scourges made it impossible to establish a systematic transportation network on land. Trade could only be sustained by assembling enormous off-road vehicle convoys.
It could be said that unless these problems were solved, civilization in this world would never see a qualitative leap. It could only exhaust all its creativity and pioneering spirit upon the planet's soil.
This aircraft was also a product of compromise. Four ducted fans provided upward lift, allowing it to take off quickly without a runway. It was essentially an enlarged four-winged drone, and neither its speed nor maneuverability satisfied the two Primarchs.
Still, to Rhodes Island and indeed the entire world, this aircraft counted as a high-tech product.
Magnus and Leman Russ sat together. Across from them were Franka, Liskarm, Jessica, and Blaze.
Jessica still had not overcome her nervousness, anxiously fiddling with the corner of her clothes.
The enthusiastic Blaze had none of an elite operator's arrogant airs. With an arm around Jessica's shoulders, she told amusing stories from her missions.
"Cough, cough... Blaze, I heard your Originium Arts have something to do with heat. Is that right?"