Chapter 85: Mutual Acquaintances
Upon entering the living room, Omega saw Alpharius staring at him with a strange expression. He touched his face, speechless.
Omega immediately realized what was happening. "You have people who know about my time with the White Scars, too?"
"You're asking a question you already know the answer to." Alpharius's tone held a note of amusement. "I never knew you had such a magnanimous and generous side. It's the first time I've heard of it."
"People are multifaceted. There's nothing strange about that."
Omega was used to ignoring the intelligence network Alpharius maintained throughout the Imperium.
Though Alpharius was the genetic prototype of the Alpha Legion, the template from which all his sons were fashioned, Omega refused to alter his conduct because of the surveillance. He chose to do what he wanted, when he wanted.
A few days later, Omega and Alpharius led their legions to rejoin the Great Expedition. The homecoming celebrations proved a temporary spectacle; the Imperium's expeditions and constant operations remained the norm.
The Medias Sector
The Forge World
The starport of Medias world sprawled across the landscape, a casting facility that had already grown to continental scale. More than a dozen spaceships were docked to its expanded frameworks.
Omega stood on the bridge of the flagship and regarded the world through the void.
The foundry continued to develop at a staggering pace, with new details and industrial structures added daily. Progress advanced steadily, methodically.
Given Medias World's rapid expansion of industrial capacity, Omega understood the logistical constraints perfectly. The entire Medias sector lacked sufficient population to support the resource demands of the growing Forge World alone. This foundry had been established with remarkable speed, but only through direct Alpha Legion assistance.
Furthermore, considering that Rex served as the facility's first director without formal Mechanicus training, establishing even this starport was a considerable achievement.
Upon arriving at the director's massive steel fortress, Rex greeted Omega with visible excitement, his fully mechanical body and four articulated mechanical tentacles extending in a gesture of welcome.
Dr. Hermo, standing behind him, went rigid the moment he saw Omega's face.
The two old acquaintances regarded each other for a moment in silence.
Omega stepped forward to assess the current situation and understand how the sector had developed.
The extensive records available to Omega proved remarkable. He examined the development of a hundred worlds across the Medias sector and discovered the intelligence was very detailed.
Rex had been diligent, investigating and recording the current state of each planet every time a civilian transport arrived. He monitored emerging problems while tracking the sector's development.
A week later, after both Primarchs had reviewed vast amounts of data, Alpharius asked in confusion, "In the past ten years, we imported nearly one billion criminals and refugees here. This includes individuals who caused countless social problems in various star sectors. Soo, why has the vast majority become law-abiding citizens in the Medias sector?"
"Ten cities operating across more than a hundred worlds," he continued. "There's been no chaos, no large-scale conflict, it's... bizarre."
Rex, now more confident and composed after his decade as director, began his analysis of the situation. "I've done the research. Aside from a very few genuinely vicious individuals, most people actually want a stable life. The major cities provide exactly that."
"Furthermore, the officers we've trained maintain exceptional standards with a strict stand against corruption. Their discipline extends to the soldiers under them, ensuring the cities remain safe and continue developing properly."
Alpharius nodded. Genuine evil was indeed rare. What surprised him was the billion-plus individuals' complex composition, including populations brought by civilian transport ships from other star sectors.
Given such variables, why did Omega's strategy succeed instead of collapsing into rebellion?
At this moment, Rex represented Omega's ideal: a trusted administrator capable of executing complex plans. Together, they had transformed a billion "problem citizens" from other sectors into the foundation for rapid expansion of the Medias sector. It was nothing short of remarkable.
'Pherphas, this was the truth, corruption travels from top to bottom, and in the media sector, the administration under Rex was a disciplined, work-focused machine and thus produced remarkable results.'
...
Alpharius and Omega decided to travel together to a planet within the sector to observe conditions firsthand. However, Rex, as director, remained too occupied to accompany them.
In a mechanical chamber deep within Steel Fortress, Dr. Hermo, now encased in a mechanical body, and Omega, clad in power armor, stared at each other. Seeing the doctor's shocked expression, Omega smiled.
"You seem surprised by my identity, Doctor."
Hermo's mechanical prosthetic eye rotated as memory surfaced. "Over seventy years ago, I was repairing a power armor set when an Astartes warrior watched me silently before leaving. I felt certain that person was you. Is that true?"
"Why did you think that?"
Hermo analyzed the data from his memories. "Balsavor was designated a recruitment world, so your strength would be considerable. It would be impossible for you to remain unknown within the Legion, especially considering your height. I've never seen anyone that tall among the Astartes. You could only be a Primarch."
"What I never expected was that you would not only be a Space Marine, but the Primarch of your Legion. It's simply unbelievable."
Omega smiled slightly. Hermo might be the last familiar face from his old life on Balsavor. All the others had perished long ago, seventy-six years of mortality claiming them all. This was likely one reason Alpharius had delayed the return for so long.
For more than seven decades, secrecy demanded that Omega's identity remain known only to the Alpha Legion's high command. He had necessarily avoided contact with Hermo and all other faces from his past.
Two old friends, separated by seventy-six years, recognized each other anew. Seeing the changes wrought by time, both felt the weight of ages passing.
Omega, familiar with the Mechanicus and its work, asked Hermo how conditions stood in the foundry world. Hermo, who loved mechanical study, responded with a rational smile. He was having a fulfilling time; there seemed to be endless knowledge and technology to master.
Hermo understood perfectly that Omega was the power behind the Medias Sector, the figure Rex admired, and the architect of recent developments.
Yet Omega did not publicly reveal their connection. Instead, he encouraged Hermo to continue his pursuit of mastery and aspire to become a true Magos of Mechanicum.
Watching Omega depart, Hermo, his form entirely mechanical now, spoke softly to himself.
"Once I become a Magos, we can exist as we did before. I'll be able to help you someday."
....
Omega was pleased to see Steel Fortress again. It felt remarkable to encounter familiar faces; the reunion stirred complex, indescribable emotions within him.
At that moment, he truly understood what Erda had meant when she spoke of beings like him who lived for tens of thousands of years. She was right... Age was a mindset, and he was beginning to understand what immortal life truly felt like.
This shift in perspective represented a transformation of his soul. Omega had officially transitioned from mortal thinking into the mindset of one who lives forever.
His mind no longer carried the weariness of a mortal nearing eighty years. It felt as though he had shed a heavy shell, becoming light and renewed.
His age was only youth when measured against a lifespan of tens of thousands of years, and he could very well live that long or longer.
The youthful spirit manifested as rapid mental refinement. His consciousness seemed to sharpen and clarify with each passing moment, his thoughts becoming more precise. The rate of growth accelerated; what might once have taken centuries now seemed to occur in mere seasons.
His heightened mental clarity enabled him to think more deeply and precisely. While nothing specific changed physically, when he opened his eyes, the colors around him appeared more vivid.
All five senses registered an indescribable enhancement.
The improvement continued without pause... no ceiling, no limit yet reached.
This was the transformation Erda had spoken of, a true immortal's philosophy.
"Erda never instructed me in psyker development, yet she had spent tens of thousands of years developing her current level," Omega reflected quietly. "That path is worth understanding."
He considered the nature of mastery. Any skill can be learned, fundamentally, within ten years of study.
He had believed himself the original genetic template, a demigod-like being with a mighty mind, so rapid learning was natural for him. From nuclear technology to force-field systems, from gravity theory to space-faring mechanics, the physical sciences are vast and complex.
Yet, he had integrated them within a century.
So why did Erda require tens of thousands of years to approach her current mastery of the psyker arts?
Two possibilities suggested themselves.
The first: the psionic system was fundamentally larger and more complex than all physical sciences combined. The second: true advancement in the psionic system was unrelated to psionic techniques themselves.
Omega immediately discarded the first theory. He knew from the Alpha Legion's own psykers that they could master psionic techniques within a few years. Even accounting for complexity, this timeline contradicts any claim that the psionic system required tens of millennia to comprehend.
This aligned with what Erda had said: the widely taught psionic systems contained fundamental flaws, particularly in their understanding of the mind's connection to the Warp.
The actual path of psychic power, he speculated, was not spellcraft or technique. It was a gradual, continuous transformation of the mind itself, a process that demanded centuries, perhaps millennia, to unfold naturally.
Growth of that nature could not be rushed. It required the accumulation of time itself.
[End of Chapter]
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