Chapter 26: Teyedan's Little "Catachan"
"What do you mean? What information do you have?"
"I don't have any specific information."
"Then you..."
"But we can make a logical deduction!"
"Oh? Let's hear it."
The surrounding priests, drawn either by their innate curiosity for knowledge or by the direct relevance to their own survival, couldn't help but join in and listen to their conversation.
"First, the habits of the Fire Scorpion indicate that they are predators in their ecosystem."
"Yes, that's correct."
"Second, Fire Scorpions are carnivorous. Their prey must also be animals, not plant-based producers."
"Oh!"
"I asked Magos Louis. The two Fire Scorpions we captured today were a male and a female. The female had immature fertilized eggs inside her."
Another priest added, "Animals don't have the desire to reproduce without a suitable environment and sufficient food!"
"Think about their size and territorial nature. The two Fire Scorpions we fought today already had significant injuries before we even engaged them!"
"Were they driven out of their territory?"
"Most likely. This means they are not the apex predators down there. There is something stronger than them."
"Not only do they have prey and competitors, but if you add in the producers, like plants or fungi, there's a complete ecosystem down there!"
"That's right! And don't forget, the underground cavern is said to be the size of a subcontinent. Teyedan is rich in geothermal energy, and this entire macro-clade has been dumping radioactive wastewater and waste for two or three hundred years. The life down there might be far richer than we imagine!"
Hearing this, some priests couldn't help but exclaim, "By my Omnissiah!"
"Why has no one noticed this before?"
"It's not that we didn't think there would be life, but we never imagined it could thrive so well and grow so large!"
"Why don't we just hide down there for a year or so until they finish fighting and then come out?"
"A good thought, but don't think about it."
"Why?"
"Because who the hell knows what's down there! In Priest Omega's words, 'Don't come to the galactic stage if you don't have a show to put on.' The biological samples of those Biologis Magi come from Death Worlds all over the galaxy. Can you guess what they've thrown down there?"
"Hiss... a Death World menagerie!"
"At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if Greenskins came WAAAGH-ing out of there!"
"That's... impossible... unlikely... you're just guessing..."
"Who said that?! What's with that guilty tone?! Seize him! Spit it out, you bastard! What have you been throwing down there?!"
After a bout of chaos and some light interrogation at the feast, the guilty-sounding priest insisted he hadn't thrown anything down there. No one believed him. They unanimously agreed that if a WAAAGH! ever did emerge from the well, they would disconnect his fuel line and use him as a "banner" for their last stand.
Omega wasn't at the feast. He was busy trying to convince Magos Laust to arm the able-bodied young men among the factory workers.
"Omega, why would you suggest such a thing?" Laust asked.
"We're not the only ones who will be short on food," Omega said, his tone grave. He glanced at Laust before continuing. "Conflict over food is almost inevitable. This Forge World's food supply relies entirely on the agri-worlds in the surrounding systems. Whoever controls the spaceport controls the food. And whoever has the food can command all the hungry people."
"The spaceport is still in the Archmagos's hands," Laust said. "The Temple faction's attacks have failed, and they have since withdrawn from that area."
"Magos, it doesn't matter to us who holds it. They won't give us food for free. It would be one thing if they only used food to control us neutral priests." Laust was a bit taken aback by Omega's words. What did he mean, "only control them"? "Omega, if you have something to say, just say it."
"Yes, Magos. I'm afraid the Archmagos will use the food crisis to recruit the workers, arm them, and throw them into the battle!"
Laust nodded, acknowledging the logic. "Yes, that is very much in Veyl's character. He would certainly do that to replenish his forces."
Omega's face fell. "But when armed workers appear on the battlefield, the only option left for the Temple faction will be to destroy the spaceport!"
"Hmm?"
"When the Temple is at a disadvantage, they will destroy the spaceport to cut off the Archmagos's food supply, then dig in and defend. If they can withstand the initial counter-attack, time will do the rest. The unarmed workers will become a bullet aimed at the Archmagos's own heart."
"This!" Laust was shocked.
"I don't think a worker rebellion could truly defeat the Archmagos, but by then, he will no longer be able to command them. The unfettered, starving, armed workers will set the entire world on fire!" Omega let out a long breath. He had been holding these thoughts in for a while. There was no point in telling the others, "We're all going to die horribly." But now, the Omnissiah had given them an unknown path. And in their current situation, "unknown" was infinitely better than "certain doom."
That afternoon, while modifying the discharge well, Omega had sent his servo-skull on a risky dive deep into the fissure. He had seen moss. He had seen insects. He had seen plants. He had seen mushrooms. Of course, the servo-skull had also detected high radiation and toxins, but the people of Baal were tough, and the people of this Forge World weren't exactly delicate. There was no reason the people of Baal could survive and they couldn't.
Laust looked at the small, precocious boy before him, his analysis sharp and to the point. Then he looked at the four stunned male priests and one female priest still holding a plate of Fire Scorpion steak behind Omega. How can the gap between people be this vast? he wondered.
"F-f-father, we..."
Laust silenced the trembling Rhea. "Let Omega finish. If he's bringing this up, it means he already has a plan."
"Oh! Omega, hurry up and say it! I always said you were the smartest!"
Omega's thought: Hmph, as if I need you to tell me. I still remember the humiliation you dealt me.
"Therefore, I propose we prepare for two scenarios. First, we closely monitor the war. Perhaps things won't get as bad as I imagine. Second, we arm the workers and have them take over some of the duties currently handled by the priests. We will then dispatch some priests and armed workers to explore the underground fissure. If the situation becomes irreversible, we will retreat underground and wait for the storm to pass before planning our next move."
"Underground?"
"This is the data from my exploration this afternoon. Magos, all of you, take a look."
"Hiss..."
"The Omnissiah has not abandoned us!"
Laust and the others marveled at the data Omega presented. They never imagined that what they had thought was a pleasant surprise would turn out to be their lifeline. They didn't yet know that at the feast in the main hall, the other priests had already pieced together a rough picture of the situation below.
However, an exploration and personnel deployment of this scale could not be kept secret in their small district. Omega also suggested they contact some reliable individuals to join them. In the current situation, there was strength in numbers, as long as they were reliable.
Laust ultimately agreed to Omega's plan and intended to announce it at the end of the feast. They had expected a discussion, a debate. They had not expected a riot.
At the feast, after one of the priests had listened to Omega's analysis and subsequent plan and had carefully reviewed the exploration data, he leaped to his feet. He pointed at another priest who was furtively inching towards the main hall door and yelled, "Seize him! Don't let him escape!"
"Hey! Trying to run, you son of a squig?!"
"It wasn't me!"
"Not you? Then why are you averting your eyes?!"
"My augmetic eye is faulty! It gives me a constant lazy eye."
"Is that so? Well, your photosensors aren't faulty, are they? Does the color of this mushroom look familiar? Does it jog any of your forgotten memories?!"
"..."
"Everyone, calm down! We can talk about this! Don't be rash!" the uninformed Omega shouted.
"He threw a Greenskin down the well!"
"He threw what now?!... He threw what?!"
"I didn't throw a Greenskin! I just threw a dead Squig!"
"A dead one, you say! A Squig, you say!"
"Ow! Don't hit me! Ow! Don't..."
Omega, in a fit of rage, lost his composure. It wasn't his fault; even Magos Laust had lost his. In fact, everyone who understood Omega's plan had lost their composure. The priest being strung up by the door of the hall might have been innocent, but his predicament made one thing clear to them all: he was not the only one who had done something similar. Omega's original plan of "wilderness survival" was now likely, probably, almost certainly, going to become "wilderness war."
To escape one war only to join another. Omega once again felt the malice of the Warhammer universe. There was only endless war here. Every time you climbed up to a window, someone would kick you back down, and before closing it, they'd toss you a primed grenade for good measure.
Why such a strong reaction from Omega? Because of the happiest, most carefree race in the entire galaxy—the Greenskins. All Greenskin-oid races have a symbiotic relationship with fungi. In fact, they all grow from the same spores. Depending on the conditions, these same spores can grow into various kinds of mushrooms, Squigs, or Greenskin Orks. Thus, the Greenskin-oid races do not consist of a single organism, but form a complete ecosystem.