Chapter 349: The Navigator Problem
Lucan did not refuse Trajann's proposal. Why would he turn down free security guards? He couldn't find a reason to say no.
Lucan then led Guilliman and Trajann to the factory producing the warp drives. Cawl was currently debugging the drives, ensuring they could be properly installed on Warhammer-native warships. Once this technology was manufactured, it meant that the humanity of this universe would be truly reborn. They would no longer be subject to the whims of the warp.
After confirming with Cawl that the technology was real and effective, Trajann and his Custodes proactively took over the internal security of the entire factory. They had received a direct order from the Emperor to raise the security level here to be on par with the Imperial Palace itself. Trajann even summoned another 1,000 Custodes from Terra to come here.
Although invading Agathos was already an incredibly difficult task, the addition of these Custodes greatly increased its defensive capabilities, especially against covert infiltration. Every Custodian had undergone the Blood Games in the Imperial Palace on Terra; they were all experts in how to deal with infiltrators and assassins. (Though, not a few people had successfully infiltrated the Palace anyway...)
Lucan knew that as these warp drives became widespread in the Imperium, all the other factions in the galaxy would not want humanity to possess this capability. Chaos would not want to see it, the Eldar would not want to see it, and the Necrons would not want to see it either. Although the Imperium was always on the defensive, its sheer size was still the largest in the known universe. And all the xenos races would try everything in their power to destroy Lucan and his faction, who had made all this possible. They would not want Lucan to continue to produce more good things. Agathos and the entire Koronus Expanse might truly become the target of all in the future.
What Lucan needed to do was to develop his own strength as much as possible before that happened.
One after another, the Ultramarines' warships, including the Macragge's Honour, were immediately scheduled to enter the shipyards of Agathos for retrofitting. Guilliman, likewise, took care of his own people first. At the same time, he was summoning his other core fleets to Agathos.
"Lord Lucan, there are still too few warp drive production lines," Guilliman said. "This is not enough to meet the current needs of my fleet. Can you give me the manufacturing method for this technology? That way, I can arrange for other forge worlds to produce them simultaneously, to ensure we can produce a sufficient number in a short time."
However, faced with Guilliman's request, Lucan chose to refuse.
"Guilliman, in the future, yes. But absolutely not now. With the infiltration capabilities of Chaos, I really cannot trust other forge worlds with this production. If the Chaos Gods were to corrupt and infiltrate them, without regard for the cost, can you guarantee that this technology will not be leaked?"
Lucan's words left Guilliman speechless. After all, there were even cultists on Terra. He had no way to refute this.
The existence of Enigmatic Engineering meant that as long as the manufacturing technology was in Lucan's hands, Chaos could absolutely not crack it. But Enigmatic Engineering only prevented reverse-engineering. If they directly obtained the entire production process from another forge world, it would be useless. If all the factions in the Warhammer universe had warp drive technology, then it would no longer be an advantage. The Imperium, with its larger territory, would only have more trouble. Even with a greater number of fleets, they would just be playing hide-and-seek with Chaos. After all, the Chaos renegades rarely had fixed territories in realspace. If they couldn't win, they could always hide back in the warp.
"I understand what you mean... But what about the 'future' you spoke of? Won't we still have to face this problem then?"
"The 'future' I speak of is because in the future, I can have technology that restricts warp travel."
"Restrict warp travel?!"
Guilliman really wanted to know just how many good things Lucan was hiding.
"That's right. It's something called a Hyperspace Inhibitor. It requires a massive amount of energy and space to operate continuously, so it cannot be installed on a starship. But it can be built on a star or a sufficiently large void-base. It can amplify the gravity in a region to its limit, making it impossible for any warship attempting to travel at FTL or through hyperspace to do so safely or quickly, as if creating an impassable barrier in front of it. Once we have this, even if Chaos captures some of our warships, or obtains the warp drive technology through some means we don't know of, we will be able to deal with it calmly.
"But as I said, this thing is a fixed installation. It's difficult to move. If we want to protect every star system in the Imperium from this threat, we will have to build a Hyperspace Inhibitor and its supporting facilities in every single one of them. The amount of engineering and the scale is terrifying, Guilliman. After all, your crusade isn't even finished. Even if I gave you this technology, you wouldn't have enough manpower or resources to build them, would you?"
Hearing this, Guilliman temporarily gave up the idea of having Lucan provide him with the warp drive manufacturing tech. Just as Lucan had said, the resources consumed by the crusade were already giving him enough of a headache. The millions of Imperial worlds... even excluding the unimportant ones, there were still hundreds of thousands of important worlds. The amount of work was indeed too great. Perhaps only after his unification crusade was more or less complete would he have the spare capacity to do these things.
Thinking of this, Guilliman felt that retrofitting his core fleets here at Lucan's shipyards should be enough for the time being. The Ultramarines, who were skilled at mass-producing troops, would be able to solve many of his problems once they had rapid mobility.
However, Lucan then looked at Guilliman. Compared to these future troubles, there was a more severe, even urgent, matter that he needed Guilliman to solve for him.
"Guilliman, have you thought about how to solve the Navigator problem?"
The warp drive would definitely bring more benefits than harm, but the side-effects it would cause were also a headache. If not handled carefully, it could also lead to major problems.
Guilliman knew what Lucan was talking about. "I understand what you mean, Lord Lucan! But I haven't thought of a stable transition plan yet. Although the High Lord representative of the Navigator Houses has been replaced with a member of a house under the protection of the Ultramarines, allowing me to fully control them, the downside is that this person has no prestige among the other Navigator houses. In fact, I suspect that even this family under my protection might not choose to obey me once they learn of the warp drive's existence."
Hearing Lucan's words, Guilliman's joy turned to worry. The difference between reality and a game was once again apparent. In a game, you could just press a button to suppress opposing political factions, and even ignore the voices of the dissenters. But you couldn't do that here.
The entire Imperium was too deeply tied to the Navigator Houses. The fact that they had a seat among the High Lords showed their importance. Even on Terra, there was a large area dedicated to these major Navigator Houses, and every palace and building within it could be called magnificent. In the Imperium, apart from Lucan's fleet, no human fleet could be separated from these Navigators. This was true even for the Imperium of the past, and for the more technologically advanced humans of the Golden Age.
The Navigators as a group had existed for much longer than the current human Imperium. One could imagine how deeply entrenched they were. It could be said that if the Imperium were to be separated from these Navigators, it would completely collapse. Navigators from the various houses were present on almost every planet and in every corner of the Imperium.
The moment they learned that the Imperium no longer needed them for interstellar travel, they would certainly find a way to counter it in order to maintain their status and everything they possessed. They knew very well that their value to the Imperium was to maintain the warp travel of its warships. Once the Imperium no longer needed them, they would lose their reason for existence.
Value is generated from need. If the Imperium no longer needed them, then to the Imperium, they would be nothing more than ordinary mutants. It wasn't just a threat to their status, but also to their interests. The Navigator Houses lived in extreme luxury. With their importance to the Imperium, the industries of every major Navigator house were spread across all walks of life. Without the convenience of their status, they could never have achieved all this.
Even if Guilliman were to tell them that the Imperium would continue to provide them with great wealth even after they were no longer needed to navigate warships... Guilliman might believe that, but they would not be so naive as to believe him.
If they were just non-psychic mutants, it would be one thing. But they also possessed powerful psychic abilities. In Lucan's and Guilliman's eyes, if these Navigators were to become a destabilizing factor, with the methods of the Chaos Gods and their own desire to rebel, their fall to Chaos would be a foregone conclusion. And that situation was almost upon them.
Guilliman had already placed all the Navigators in his fleet who had come to Agathos under house arrest. Even though they were loyal, he had still chosen to do so. Although they did not yet know about the warp drive, the moment the warships completed an interstellar journey without them, they would know of its existence. And once they knew, they would inevitably spread the information.
Guilliman could not let the Navigator problem erupt immediately. Producing the warp drives would take time, and so would retrofitting the warships. If the major Navigator houses were to truly recall all the Navigators in the Imperium and go on strike, the existing number of retrofitted warships would not be enough to cover the entire Imperium. Most warships would be stranded in their own star systems. Some resource-poor planets might even fall into unprecedented chaos because they could no longer receive food from the agri-worlds in the surrounding systems.
"You and I both know the consequences of such a situation, Guilliman. If it comes to that, it might trigger a disaster on the scale of the Great Betrayal. I can increase the number of warp drive production lines as much as possible, but in the end, that will take time."
"I know what you mean... but this problem is almost unsolvable," Guillan said, his voice grim. "But at least we have already mastered this technology. If they really dare to betray the Imperium, then... we will kill them."
When he said this, Lucan could feel the killing intent from Guilliman. For him, the replacement of the Navigators was a certainty. It was what humanity and the Emperor had always striven for. If the Navigators really chose to rebel, then war was the only option.
"The price of such a war would be too great," Lucan said. "Chaos and the other xenos would not miss this opportunity. The favorable situation we have now would surely collapse because of it. And... perhaps it is not unsolvable."
Guilliman whipped his head around to look at Lucan. "Lord Lucan, do you have a way?"
As he said this, he paused. He looked at Lucan with a sense of real expectation. It was as if in front of Lucan, no problem was ever a serious one.
"Guilliman, can you find a way to gather the leaders or important members of the largest Navigator houses?"
"I can. In my name and the name of the Navigator High Lord, they should choose to obey. But what is the point of that? Are you planning to kill them all? If we use such a violent method, the rebellion will still be unavoidable. It might even push those Navigators who were unwilling to turn to Chaos to the side of our enemies. Just because you kill their leaders doesn't mean the Navigators will choose to submit. New people will soon rise to take their place."
"No, no, no. If it were just about killing people, I wouldn't have said it like this. But... my method is a bit... heretical. I'm afraid you might not be able to accept it."
"Heretical?! Is it related to the Chaos Gods?!" Guilliman said, frowning.
"Not at all. Although it has nothing to do with the Chaos Gods, it does have to do with xenos."
Hearing this, Guilliman did not relax. Xenos were just as dangerous as Chaos.
"You know of the Genestealers, right? And their related characteristics."
"The Tyranids?! What do you mean by that? Are you saying the technology you speak of comes from them?!"
"More or less. You must also know of the race under my command known as the Zerg, right? After the battle in the Cryptus System, my Zerg have also mastered a similar ability. If you can gather them and control them, perhaps I can use a special unit created by the Zerg to control them as well.
"Once the leaders of these Navigator houses are under our control and support us, even if a rebellion does occur, the impact will be much smaller. If it goes smoothly, we might even have a chance to peacefully take over these families! We can slowly, and secretly, control all of their important members!"
Hearing Lucan's words, Guilliman's eyes went wide. He had thought of 'heresy,' but he had never imagined it would be this extreme. To be honest, even he was a little afraid to go along with this. If Lucan's Zerg could parasitize Navigators, then could they not also parasitize others?
Guilliman, at this moment, had the urge to go back to the Imperial Palace and ask his father again: Can this human truly be trusted?!
He also immediately decided to secretly conduct a thorough screening of all the important people around him, to ensure that no such individuals existed in their midst.