Chapter 354: The Altered Memories
Even if they used their psychic powers to summon the daemon armies of the Four Gods, in the fabricated memories of these Men of Gold, it would simply be perceived as an ability they had acquired after completely mastering the warp.
One by one, the hibernation pods were transported out of Komus, leaving only two behind. And under Tzeentch's profane rites, the warp influence that had been eroding Komus began to recede, and the innumerable Chaos daemons also began to depart.
After Tzeentch and all of his daemons had left, the hibernation pods opened. Two of the Men of Gold clutched their heads as they rose from within. The man and woman looked at each other, feeling the confusion in their minds. Both their appearances and their physiques could be described as perfect; genetic modification had pushed their looks to the absolute limit.
Feeling the psychic power within their fleshly bodies, they felt as if they had become even stronger.
"Fletcher, are you awake? How long have we been asleep?"
"I don't know, Olivia. Have the invaders retreated?"
"It seems so. Otherwise, we wouldn't have survived. But... why didn't they kill us?"
With these questions, the two climbed out of the hibernation pods and began to walk out of the chamber. Looking at the various destroyed facilities and machines in the corridors, the memories that had appeared out of thin air in their minds began to be triggered.
They saw the wreckage inside Komus, and a battle scene that had never truly happened flashed through their minds. A group of Astartes was attacking the mechanical automata responsible for internal defense. And behind them were Astra Militarum in powersuits. Tech-priests with countless modifications, Frateris Militia, and priests of the Ecclesiarchy had also joined the battle.
Although the combat strength of these people seemed so weak before the mechanical automata, the memory of their madness still sent a chill through the two of them. In the fabricated memory, countless human soldiers had used human-wave tactics and innumerable lives to completely overwhelm and destroy the automata that protected them. They had shouted the name of the "Emperor," vowing to kill them, the original masters of the empire, and seize their power.
Recalling the memories in their minds, the expressions of the two grew more and more furious. In their eyes, this was an act of supreme offense, as if a lower life form was trying to challenge a higher one. What they could not accept the most was that they had lost, and at the hands of creatures they looked down upon.
In their memory, they had also joined the battle. As beings who were on the verge of psychic ascension, they had used their powers to tear the enemy to shreds. No matter how numerous the enemy was, they still could not threaten them. Until, in their memory, a golden figure appeared. The psychic power displayed by this being was even stronger than theirs, and he was followed by countless warriors who were also exceptionally talented in the psychic arts.
That golden figure was, in reality, Tzeentch. And those psychically-gifted warriors were his countless Greater Daemons and other daemons.
A false memory is, in the end, false. Tzeentch was also worried that these Men of Gold would discover the flaws in the fabricated memories. So, he did not create the memories from scratch. The process of the battle in Fletcher and Olivia's minds had truly happened. It was just that the participants had been changed. The followers and daemons of Tzeentch had been replaced by the soldiers of the Imperium.
And the golden figure was a deliberate misdirection by Tzeentch, pointing to the Emperor. Even he could not directly project the image and name of the Emperor into their memories. Just as a mortal who speaks the name of one of the Four Gods would be sensed by them, the same was true for the Emperor, who was now on the verge of becoming a fifth Chaos God. Tzeentch was also worried that the Emperor would notice, so he had made the insinuation relatively obscure.
And then, the memory came to an abrupt end. The two of them surmised that they had been hit by a powerful psychic blast, which had caused the blank spot in their memory.
"Olivia, I have some problems with my memory."
"Fletcher, me too. Do you remember the identity of these enemies?"
"No, I can't remember clearly. I only remember that these people wanted to kill us and seize Komus. But it shouldn't be... the weapons in their hands are so crude. I can see that some of their soldiers have undergone a good deal of genetic modification, but that technology is not strong. The power they displayed was mediocre at best. How could they possibly have defeated the combat automata responsible for Komus's defense?!"
These combat automata operating within Komus were some of the most powerful. They were not something that could be defeated by human-wave tactics.
"Perhaps... it was that golden figure who did it. His psychic level was stronger than both of ours," the two said, a lingering fear in their hearts. They were already considered some of the strongest among the Men of Gold. In their eyes, the genetic modification of the Astartes and the mechanical modification of the Tech-priests were so crude.
Although there were some unreasonable things in their memory, after having slept for tens of thousands of years, or perhaps even longer, they no longer considered these problems. As long as they could get to the control center of Komus and obtain the answers they wanted from its intelligent control system, that was all that mattered. The system's logs should, under normal circumstances, have recorded the battle and other related data.
"Lesser beings... Fletcher, we must make them pay the price they deserve. But we must first figure out their identity. We don't know how long we have been asleep, or what changes have occurred outside."
The two walked carefully through Komus, afraid that there were still enemies who had not left. Following their memories, they entered Komus's control room. But when the door opened, the interior, which should have been completely devoid of life, was filled with humans. These humans were busy, manipulating the instruments before them, trying to restore Komus's operation.
Seeing that there were still people here, the two of them immediately activated the psychic power within their bodies, fearing they were enemies. A terrifying psychic pressure instantly crushed everyone to the ground. They had no strength to resist at all.
But looking at the expressions on these people's faces, Fletcher and Olivia felt that they were not enemies. Some of them were pinned to the ground, unable to move, blood even beginning to flow from their orifices. But upon seeing them, the excitement in their eyes and on their faces could not be hidden.
"My masters!" one of them cried out, his voice strained. "We are not your enemies! Your humble servant, Collins D'Kaeth, offers you his most reverent greetings! My family and I have waited for so long! We have finally waited for your reawakening! The great rulers have returned! There is hope for our family!"
Collins felt as if he was about to be crushed, but he still shouted with all his might.
"Servants?!"
After confirming that the other party posed no threat, Fletcher and Olivia withdrew their psychic power.
"You are... a Navigator?"
"Yes, my master!"
Fletcher looked at the man before him, his face filled with confusion. The man's appearance, and the Navigator's special third eye and the psychic power that came with it, allowed him to recognize his profession. The two began to search through their fragmented memories. They vaguely remembered that there were indeed Navigators on Komus. After all, Komus was a powerful weapon that could enter the warp, but it also needed Navigators to guide its path. Even in the Golden Age, these Navigators were indispensable.
In their chaotic memories, they seemed to remember that there was indeed a Navigator house named D'Kaeth, which was a vassal to them and completed the work of navigation. Of course, this memory was also a fabrication of Tzeentch.
This Navigator house, which had been exiled by the Imperium and had then been gradually corrupted by Tzeentch in the dark corners of the galaxy, had now completely thrown themselves into his embrace and had been ordered to guide these Men of Gold.
Neither Fletcher nor Olivia suspected that their memories had been changed. As beings who had, in a sense, transcended the human race, they were incredibly arrogant. They did not believe that anyone could tamper with their memories. At that time, they did not even know of the existence of the Chaos Gods, and humanity at that time was at its zenith.
"Collins, stand up. What has happened in all the years we have been asleep? Our memories are still a bit chaotic..."
Fletcher raised his hand, and a wave of psychic power began to slowly heal the injuries he had just inflicted on them.
"My lords... the outside world has undergone a great change. The ignorant people have, on the surface, treated the great power of the psionic arts as a forbidden taboo. And you, who can control this great power, are of course seen as a threat. But in secret, they covet this power. They sent their armies to shamelessly attack the sacred Komus. Even though we tried our best to stop them, we failed. They tried to seize your power by occupying the sacred Komus.
"You and Lady Olivia were also heavily wounded by them. Our ancestors fought to the death to send you into the stasis-pods and controlled Komus to enter the warp, only then did we successfully escape their pursuit. And from our ancestors, our family has abided by our oath of allegiance, guarding this place for generations and awaiting your awakening! The D'Kaeth family has already been through hundreds of generations."
Collins was almost moved to tears by his own speech.
"Hundreds of generations? You have been on Komus this whole time?! The ecological recycling system on Komus was destroyed long ago. Your psychic talents and genetic modifications cannot allow you to be free from conventional methods of eating. How did you survive?!" Fletcher questioned.
"My masters, of course we have not been here the whole time. In these years, my clansmen and I have also gone to the outside world. The world outside still needs Navigators. We have used our status and our abilities to infiltrate the enemy's factions. We helped them and tried to gain their trust, but in the end, we were still exposed. Our family members were slaughtered... countless people loyal to you died tragically under their blades. Although we can still move in the outside world, our influence is too small. Now, there are very few of the D'Kaeth bloodline left. But even so, we still hope that our masters will lead us to retake everything that belongs to us! Of course, our efforts over the years have not been in vain. We have contacted some of the Navigator houses, and they still support your rule."
Collins was full of emotion. At the height of his speech, he even shed tears of blood from his unseeing eyes. It had to be said, his acting was impeccable.
But the two Men of Gold did not completely believe his words. They used their psychic powers to sense the fluctuations formed by his emotions. After confirming that his current emotions were not faked, they walked directly to the control console of Komus. As they placed their hands on the console, the ship's own system immediately responded.
[Biological sample confirmed...]
[Psionic signature confirmed...]
[Confirmed supreme authority: Lord Fletcher.]
With the dual confirmation of their biology and their psionics, the still-operational equipment within Komus began to reactivate. Seeing this, Fletcher and Olivia showed their first smiles since awakening.
"Komus welcomes your return, great rulers of the Federation!" a synthesized voice intoned.
"Komus, are the logs stored within the system still intact?"
"Data integrity is at 67 percent."
"Sixty-seven percent? Can you access the logs and data from the internal invasion?"
"The integrity of the relevant data is at 55 percent."
"Access it immediately."
Fletcher knew that the battle must have destroyed a portion of Komus's functions. As countless streams of data appeared before his eyes, he took them all in with a single glance and committed them to his memory. When he had finished reading the internal logs, he finally and truly believed Collins's words.
In the records, House D'Kaeth was indeed their vassal, and a large part of their activities over the past tens of thousands of years had also been recorded by the system. After confirming the contents of the logs, Fletcher and Olivia's expressions toward the members of House D'Kaeth became much kinder. At a time like this, they truly needed some loyal people to do their bidding.
Of course, the logs within this system had also long since been tampered with. How could Tzeentch have forgotten to put in place the necessary disguises? And the intelligent system of Komus was no longer its original system. The artificial intelligences of the Golden Age were very powerful and not so easily corrupted. Even the current Imperium's methods of hunting AI could, to a certain extent, destroy Chaos scrap-code, let alone those of the Golden Age. But Komus had been severely damaged in the daemon invasion, and Tzeentch himself had spent a very long time and a massive amount of divine power on it. The original intelligent system within Komus had been completely destroyed.
The current intelligent system within Komus had been possessed by a Lord of Change, a master of change and disguise. And the one communicating with Fletcher and providing the information was that same Greater Daemon, skilled in deception. Everything the intelligent system displayed would be in the best interest of Chaos.
When the Men of Gold on Komus had been captured, the rebellion of the Men of Iron had not yet occurred. Otherwise, the Annihilation Engines inside would not have protected them. This meant that these two Men of Gold still had a great deal of trust in what the "intelligence" showed them. In a way, Tzeentch could be said to have saved their lives. Komus, being in the warp, had clearly been insulated from the command the Men of Iron had sent to all combat machines.
The only thing that felt abnormal to Fletcher and Olivia was... why did the intelligent system of Komus also radiate a kind of psychic energy? Not just the servo-system, but the entirety of Komus was like this.