Thud!
Only when the sensation of gravity returned, along with the very real pain in his back, did his muddled mind wake.
Bona reached out to brace himself against the bed and slowly stood up.
He looked around. Everything appeared perfectly normal through his psychic sight, even in the room next door.
"Another nightmare, huh."
Wait.
Bona stopped in his tracks, his brow furrowing slightly.
What was I dreaming about again?
I can't remember.
Just then, the panel on the wall lit up with an incoming transmission.
"*...&%￥, the servitor system detected a change in your vital signs. Are you awake?"
"I'm awake, Archmagos Antonia. What is it?"
"*&%￥%..., a transmission arrived from Terra two hours and thirteen minutes ago, Terran standard. It requires your reply."
"Right, understood."
With the Necrons joining them, the Thunderhawk's communications and transport had finally escaped the influence of the Warp.
The fastest method of communication at present was to fill cargo holds with parchment, then have hundreds of vessels equipped with Inertialess Drives pass those cargo holds along.
On the military side, the Thunderhawk had also adopted a wealth of technology from the Aeldari, T'au, and Necrons. Necron gauss disintegration beams and Aeldari techniques for countering the Warp, among others, had been incorporated into its various military branches.
But the most important task today was to inspect the Dark Throne.
After a simple breakfast, Bona boarded a shuttle and headed for the Desq System.
Even with Captain Dakan accompanying him, he had to pass through multiple layers of screening upon entering the Desq System. Security was so tight that even the Alpha Legion would have struggled to infiltrate it.
Only after three Terran days of inspections and verification was Bona allowed to enter orbit around Desq II.
In theory, he still had to undergo