The Magos had been a prisoner aboard the Dementor for three days when Palpus decided that patience had served its purpose.
During those three days, Rho-17 had been questioned by the expedition's intelligence officers, examined by its medical specialists, and introduced to technologies that contradicted much of what he believed about the limits of machine engineering. He had responded with the expected mixture of hostility, suspicion, and reluctant curiosity. Although he understood that he was a captive, he had not abandoned the conviction that the knowledge he possessed belonged to the Adeptus Mechanicus and could not simply be surrendered to outsiders.
His cooperation had therefore remained limited.
He had explained the basic hierarchy of the Mechanicus, the broad relationship between the forge worlds and the Imperium, and the general principles behind several of his augmentations. However, whenever questioning turned toward sensitive information, he retreated behind the language of sacred duties, restricted knowledge, and the authority of his superiors.
He refused to provide details concerning the most advanced manufacturing processes available to his forge world. He would not discuss the specifications of its orbital shipyards, and he had repeatedly declined to explain the principles behind several power systems used in Imperial vessels.
He was particularly uncooperative when asked about the construction of plasma reactors.
Palpus had given him opportunities to cooperate voluntarily.
Now he intended to obtain the information by other means.
The Sith Lord stood in the observation chamber overlooking the examination room. Beyond the reinforced transparisteel, Rho-17 sat within a chair designed to accommodate his unusual physiology. His mechanical appendages had been released from their restraints, although a containment field prevented him from accessing the chamber's electronic systems.
A medical specialist stood beside him, monitoring the interaction between his biological systems and the unfamiliar equipment supplying power to his augmentations.
Rho-17 was explaining the function of one of his mechanical limbs.
"These appendages are not independent machines," the Magos said through his vocal synthesizers. "They are integrated into my nervous system. Their movements respond to neural impulses, while internal processors assist with coordination and precision. The arrangement allows me to perform several tasks simultaneously."
The specialist studied the display.
"Your system contains multiple layers of neural interpretation. We have identified several interfaces that appear to translate biological signals into mechanical commands, but their operation is more complicated than our initial assessment suggested."
"Naturally. The system was designed by the servants of the Omnissiah."
The specialist did not respond to the religious assertion.
Rho-17 continued explaining the device, apparently pleased to have encountered someone willing to examine its technical characteristics.
Palpus watched silently.
The Magos was intelligent. That was becoming increasingly apparent. He possessed genuine technical knowledge, and although his education had been shaped by the rigid traditions of the Adeptus Mechanicus, he could still reason through unfamiliar problems when given sufficient evidence.
Unfortunately, his loyalty to his institution was stronger than his curiosity.
That loyalty would have to change.
Palpus turned toward the door.
"End the examination," he instructed.
The specialist looked up.
"My lord?"
"I will take over from here."
The specialist immediately stepped away from the Magos.
"Understood."
Palpus entered the chamber.
Rho-17's optical sensor rotated toward him.
"You have returned."
"I have."
"Will you finally provide an explanation for my continued detention?"
"That depends on you."
The Magos's mechanical appendages shifted.
"You have already asked me questions concerning my world, my work, and my institution. I have answered those that I am permitted to answer."
"Your definition of permitted is the problem."
"My obligations are not yours to dismiss."
Palpus stopped in front of him.
"Your obligations are to an institution that has convinced you that knowledge belongs to it. You have been taught to preserve information, not necessarily to improve it. You have been encouraged to treat ancient designs as sacred, even when you suspect those designs can be improved."
Rho-17's optical sensor narrowed.
"You know nothing of the burdens carried by the Adeptus Mechanicus."
"Then enlighten me."
"The knowledge of the ancients is precious. Much has been lost. Some technologies are dangerous beyond the understanding of those who would attempt to recreate them. The preservation of knowledge is not cowardice. It is responsibility."
Palpus regarded him for several seconds.
"That is a reasonable argument."
The Magos appeared momentarily surprised.
"Then you understand."
"I understand that preservation has value. I also understand that preservation can become an excuse for stagnation. The problem is knowing when to preserve and when to improve."
Palpus moved closer.
"Your civilization has survived for ten thousand years under institutions that appear to have become increasingly rigid. You worship the machinery that sustains you, yet many of your own people seem uncertain how their most important technologies actually function."
Rho-17's mechanical appendages tightened.
"That is an oversimplification."
"Perhaps. But is it entirely wrong?"
The Magos remained silent.
Palpus could see the conflict in him. Rho-17 had already encountered enough evidence to recognize that his captors possessed knowledge beyond his own. He had examined their diagnostic equipment and discovered that its underlying principles differed from those of the Mechanicus. He had watched their medical specialists repair unfamiliar systems without invoking sacred formulae, and he had seen how easily their technology integrated biological and mechanical functions.
He wanted to understand it.
But to do so openly would require him to acknowledge that the outsiders possessed knowledge his own institution did not.
For a Magos whose identity rested upon the preservation of sacred knowledge, that was not an easy admission.
Palpus decided to remove the obstacle.
"Leave us," he ordered.
The remaining specialist bowed and exited the chamber.
The door closed.
Rho-17's optical sensor followed the departing figure before returning to Palpus.
"What are you planning?"
Palpus did not answer immediately.
Instead, he extended his awareness through the Force.
The atmosphere in the chamber seemed to change.
The machinery continued operating, the diagnostic displays remained stable, and the environmental systems reported no abnormalities. Yet something invisible settled over the room, a pressure that had nothing to do with the physical environment.
Rho-17 felt it.
His mechanical appendages stopped moving.
"What is that?"
Palpus raised one hand.
"The Force."
The Magos examined him.
"An energy field?"
"That description is insufficient, but it will serve as a beginning. The Force connects living things. It can influence matter, perception, emotion, and thought. Through it, I can accomplish things that your technology would struggle to reproduce."
Rho-17's optical sensor brightened.
"You are a psyker."
"Your civilization has a word for everything it does not understand."
"Psychic phenomena are well documented. The Warp allows certain individuals to manifest abilities that defy conventional physical laws."
Palpus smiled faintly.
"You are already attempting to fit me into a category you understand."
"Because categories are useful."
"Indeed. But they can also become prisons."
He extended his hand toward the Magos.
Rho-17 attempted to move.
His body did not respond.
The restraint field had not activated. His mechanical limbs remained fully functional, and the diagnostic systems reported no abnormalities. Yet his muscles refused to obey him, while his mechanical appendages remained motionless despite the commands he sent through his neural interfaces.
The Magos's optical sensor widened.
"What have you done?"
"Nothing that will harm you physically."
"Release me!"
Palpus stepped closer.
"I gave you opportunities to cooperate. You chose to protect your institution's secrets, even when those secrets might be used to improve the machinery that sustains your civilization."
"You have no authority to judge my duties!"
"Authority is not required to recognize a problem."
Palpus's expression hardened.
"Now we will discover whether your resistance is truly a matter of principle or merely the result of conditioning."
He reached into the Magos's mind.
And Rho-17 discovered that the human mind was not the only thing the Force could touch.
The first layer of resistance was instinctive.
Rho-17 had no formal training in psychic defense, but his mind had been shaped by decades of disciplined thought, ritual, and technical study. His memories were organized around established procedures, sacred formulae, and the hierarchy of the Adeptus Mechanicus.
When Palpus entered his consciousness, those structures became barriers.
The Magos's thoughts recoiled from the intrusion. He clung to the principles that had defined his life, repeating familiar doctrines as though they could protect him from an enemy who had bypassed every physical defense around him.
Palpus encountered fragments of those beliefs.
The Machine God.
The Omnissiah.
The preservation of knowledge.
The sacred duty of the priesthood.
The prohibition against unauthorized technological innovation.
They were not merely ideas stored within Rho-17's memory. They had become part of the framework through which he interpreted reality. His loyalty was reinforced by years of repetition, institutional expectations, and the fear that abandoning those principles would make him unworthy of his position.
Palpus pressed deeper.
Rho-17's consciousness resisted.
For a brief moment, the Magos's mind became a maze of overlapping thoughts, technical memories, and religious convictions. Palpus could have attempted to crush the resistance through sheer force, but that approach risked damaging the very memories he intended to examine.
He wanted information.
He also wanted the Magos to remain useful.
The Sith Lord adjusted his approach.
Rather than attacking every barrier directly, he began examining the connections between them. He identified the memories associated with the Magos's strongest loyalties and traced them to the experiences that had shaped his worldview.
He found his first breakthrough in a memory from Rho-17's early career.
The Magos had been younger then, possessing fewer mechanical augmentations and far more confidence in his own abilities. He had developed a modification to a standard industrial reactor, intending to improve its energy efficiency and reduce the frequency of containment failures.
The modification had worked.
It had also violated an established technical doctrine.
His superiors had ordered the work halted. They had confiscated his research and warned him that unauthorized innovation could endanger the forge world. Rho-17 had been forced to defend himself before a gathering of senior adepts, where his work had been treated as an act of arrogance rather than a legitimate scientific investigation.
The incident had not destroyed his curiosity.
It had taught him to conceal it.
Palpus examined the memory more closely.
Rho-17 had continued experimenting, but he had learned to present his discoveries as refinements of established designs rather than genuine innovations. He had accepted restrictions that he privately considered unnecessary because he believed that preserving his position within the institution was the only way to continue his work.
He had become loyal to the Adeptus Mechanicus.
He had also become afraid of what would happen if he openly challenged it.
Palpus understood the contradiction.
The Magos did not simply defend the traditions of his institution because he believed they were always correct. He defended them because his identity, his career, and his understanding of his place in the universe had become inseparable from them.
That made the resistance more complicated.
It also made it easier to manipulate.
Palpus allowed the dark side to flow through the connection.
He did not erase the Magos's memories. He did not destroy his intelligence or turn him into an empty shell. Instead, he began corrupting the emotional foundations of his loyalty, encouraging resentment toward those who had suppressed his research and strengthening the desire to pursue knowledge without institutional restrictions.
The process was subtle at first.
Rho-17 remembered the reactor experiment.
He remembered the humiliation of being reprimanded by his superiors.
He remembered the research he had been forced to abandon.
Then he remembered the advanced machinery he had seen aboard the Dementor, systems that accomplished tasks his own institution would have considered impossible or dangerously unconventional.
His frustration deepened.
Why had his superiors prevented him from improving the reactor?
Why had they treated innovation as a threat?
Why had they insisted that the preservation of old knowledge was more important than the creation of new knowledge?
The questions were his own.
Palpus merely ensured that they became impossible to ignore.
The Magos struggled against the intrusion, but his resistance weakened as the dark side amplified the emotions he had spent years suppressing.
Anger became resentment.
Resentment became distrust.
Distrust began to undermine the unquestioning loyalty that had once governed his decisions.
Palpus continued reading.
He found the Magos's technical education, his professional relationships, his knowledge of the forge world's hierarchy, and the secrets he had concealed from his superiors. He discovered which individuals controlled the most important manufacturing divisions, which facilities possessed the greatest industrial capacity, and which technologies were considered too dangerous to discuss outside restricted circles.
He found memories of ancient ship designs, plasma reactors, void shields, orbital defense systems, and the methods used to maintain Imperial warships.
He found information concerning the Adeptus Mechanicus's relationship with the wider Imperium.
And he found something more valuable than any individual technical secret.
He found the structure of the Imperium itself.
Palpus withdrew his immediate attention from the Magos's personal memories and began tracing the information that connected them.
The Imperium of Man unfolded before him.
The vision was not a perfect map.
Rho-17 did not possess complete knowledge of the Imperium, and his memories reflected the limitations of his position. He knew much about his forge world and its relationships with the surrounding sectors, but his understanding of distant regions was shaped by fragmentary reports, official records, and the doctrines taught by the Adeptus Mechanicus.
Nevertheless, the information was extensive.
Palpus saw a civilization that stretched across a million worlds, held together by an immense administrative and military apparatus whose origins lay ten thousand years in the past.
At its center stood Holy Terra, the ancient homeworld of humanity.
Terra was not merely a capital. It was the spiritual heart of the Imperium, the seat of the Emperor, and the destination of countless pilgrims who believed that their salvation depended upon reaching the world where humanity's greatest ruler sat enthroned.
The Emperor had once been a living being who united humanity during the Great Crusade. He had led the Imperium's armies across the galaxy, bringing human worlds under his authority and building an empire that aspired to reunite the scattered remnants of mankind.
Then came the Horus Heresy.
The rebellion of Horus and the civil war that followed had shattered the Imperium's golden age. The Emperor had been mortally wounded during the final confrontation, and his body had been placed upon the Golden Throne.
Ten thousand years later, he remained there.
His physical form was sustained by ancient machinery, while his psychic presence continued to influence the Imperium in ways that Rho-17 could describe only through religious doctrine and fragmented technical knowledge.
The Imperium worshipped him as a god.
Its institutions were built around his authority, even though the Emperor's ability to communicate directly with his subjects was severely limited.
Palpus examined the memories surrounding the Golden Throne.
The device was not simply a life-support system. It was a complex technological structure whose functions extended into the Warp, sustaining the Emperor while also supporting the psychic beacon that allowed Imperial vessels to navigate the galaxy.
That beacon was known as the Astronomican.
Without it, long-distance Warp travel would become far more difficult and dangerous. Imperial fleets relied upon its light to orient themselves within the immaterial realm, allowing them to cross distances that would otherwise take far longer to traverse.
The system had limitations.
The Astronomican did not provide a perfectly reliable map, nor did it make the Warp safe. Its light could be obscured by immense disturbances, and its reach depended upon circumstances that even the Imperium did not fully understand.
Still, it was indispensable.
Palpus recognized the strategic importance immediately.
A civilization that relied upon a psychic beacon to guide its interstellar vessels possessed an enormous vulnerability. If the beacon failed, or if its light became inaccessible across large regions of the galaxy, the Imperium's ability to coordinate its fleets would be severely impaired.
He filed the information away for later consideration.
The vision moved outward from Terra.
The Imperium's political structure was a sprawling arrangement of overlapping authorities, ancient institutions, and powerful organizations whose responsibilities frequently conflicted.
The High Lords of Terra occupied the highest levels of Imperial government, acting as the ruling council responsible for administering the Imperium in the Emperor's name. Their authority extended across military, religious, economic, and bureaucratic institutions, although their influence varied depending upon the circumstances.
The Senatorum Imperialis did not govern every world directly. The Imperium was too vast for such centralized control. Instead, it relied upon a hierarchy of governors, administrators, military commanders, and institutional authorities who interpreted Imperial policy according to local conditions.
Planetary governors ruled individual worlds, responsible for maintaining order, collecting the Imperial tithe, and ensuring that their planets fulfilled their obligations to the Imperium.
Some governed entire hive worlds whose populations numbered in the billions. Others ruled agricultural planets, mining colonies, industrial centers, or remote frontier settlements.
Their responsibilities varied, but their obligations were clear.
They had to provide the resources demanded by the Imperium.
They had to maintain loyalty to the Emperor.
And they had to ensure that the institutions responsible for enforcing Imperial authority could operate without unnecessary interference.
Failure could result in punishment, replacement, or the destruction of the ruling administration.
Palpus observed the system with growing interest.
The Imperium's enormous size had created a political structure that depended upon local autonomy. The central government could issue decrees, establish broad policies, and mobilize vast resources, but it could not personally supervise every world under its authority.
That meant the Imperium was powerful without being perfectly coordinated.
It possessed immense resources, but those resources were distributed across a galaxy whose distances made communication and transportation difficult.
Its military could destroy civilizations, but its commanders often operated with incomplete intelligence.
Its industrial institutions could construct enormous warships, but the production process depended upon countless worlds and organizations whose cooperation could not always be guaranteed.
Palpus had discovered a familiar principle.
A vast empire could be vulnerable without being weak.
The distinction would matter.
The next memories concerned the Imperium's military.
The Imperial Guard, more formally known in many contexts as the Astra Militarum, formed the backbone of the Imperium's conventional ground forces. Its regiments were drawn from countless worlds, each possessing its own traditions, methods of warfare, and specialized equipment.
Some regiments were trained for urban combat.
Others specialized in desert warfare, jungle operations, armored assaults, siege warfare, or the defense of industrial worlds.
Their equipment varied, but their strength came from numbers, organization, and the ability to sustain campaigns across enormous distances.
The Imperial Guard could deploy millions of soldiers to a single war zone, supported by tanks, artillery, aircraft, logistics units, and vast quantities of ammunition.
It was a force designed to wage wars of attrition.
Its soldiers were not individually superior to the most advanced warriors in the galaxy, but the Imperium could replace losses on a scale that few enemies could match. A regiment destroyed on one world might be replaced by formations raised on dozens of others.
The Imperium's enemies often discovered that defeating one Imperial army did not end a campaign.
It merely forced the Imperium to send another.
Palpus found the scale of the system impressive.
Then he encountered the Adeptus Astartes.
The Space Marines were genetically enhanced warriors created from the Emperor's original gene-seed projects. They were organized into Chapters, each possessing its own history, traditions, and specialized methods of warfare.
A Space Marine was far more than an ordinary soldier.
His body had been modified through extensive biological procedures, giving him enhanced strength, endurance, reflexes, and resilience. Additional organs allowed him to survive injuries that would kill an ordinary human, process certain toxins, and function in environments that would be fatal to unaugmented personnel.
His power armor further enhanced his capabilities, protecting him from hostile environments and battlefield hazards while providing integrated weapons, communication systems, and life support.
Space Marines were trained from childhood and conditioned to operate under extreme pressure. Their combat doctrines emphasized speed, precision, and overwhelming force at decisive points.
They were not intended to replace the Imperial Guard.
They were intended to accomplish the missions for which ordinary armies were poorly suited.
A Space Marine force could strike a command center, destroy a critical installation, eliminate an enemy leader, or break through a defensive line before conventional forces had time to respond.
Their numbers were limited compared with the Guard, but their individual capabilities made them formidable.
Palpus considered the information carefully.
His Prima Superior soldiers had been designed with many of the same objectives in mind, although their biological and technological foundations were different. The Prima Superior possessed enhanced bodies, advanced armor, integrated nanite systems, and weapons capable of engaging heavily protected opponents.
In his assessment, they were superior to ordinary Space Marines in several important respects.
But the comparison required more than a superficial examination.
Space Marines possessed thousands of years of accumulated combat experience, extensive institutional support, and specialized equipment that varied between Chapters. Some Chapters employed ancient relics, unusual gene-seed traits, or weapons that could prove dangerous even to Palpus's elite troops.
The Primaris Space Marines, whose creation had expanded the capabilities of the Adeptus Astartes, represented another complication. Their enhanced biology and improved equipment had changed the balance of power within the Imperium's military.
Palpus would not underestimate them.
He would study them.
The vision shifted again.
The Imperial Navy operated in space, providing transportation, orbital bombardment, and the warships required to protect Imperial shipping lanes. Its vessels ranged from smaller escorts to immense battleships capable of engaging entire enemy fleets.
Imperial warships were heavily armored and armed with an extraordinary variety of weapons.
Macro-cannons launched enormous physical projectiles capable of inflicting devastating damage upon enemy hulls. Lance batteries focused energy into powerful beams that could penetrate armor. Torpedoes carried warheads designed to destroy or cripple enemy vessels, while attack craft operated from launch bays and supported fleet engagements.
Many ships employed void shields, defensive fields that absorbed or deflected incoming attacks. Their effectiveness varied according to the vessel, the shield system, and the nature of the assault.
Imperial ships were not elegant by Palpus's standards.
They were built to survive.
Their hulls were thick, their internal systems distributed across enormous structures, and their weapons capable of engaging targets across vast distances. Many designs had been maintained for centuries or even millennia, passing through successive generations of crews and technical personnel.
The ships were also extraordinarily large.
Some battleships measured several kilometers in length, while specialized vessels could exceed that scale considerably.
Their size reflected the demands placed upon them. A single Imperial warship might carry thousands of crew members, extensive weapon systems, large engines, armored compartments, and the machinery required to sustain long voyages.
The Imperium's naval doctrine relied upon the combined strength of these vessels, the coordination of their weapons, and the ability to bring overwhelming firepower against an enemy.
Palpus recognized the potential threat.
A single Imperial battleship would not necessarily match the technological sophistication of one of his advanced vessels, but a coordinated fleet could inflict severe damage if allowed to engage under favorable conditions.
The Imperium possessed experience.
It possessed numbers.
And it had spent ten thousand years fighting enemies that could destroy entire fleets.
Palpus would not give it an easy victory.
The Adeptus Mechanicus proved even more interesting.
Rho-17's memories contained extensive information concerning the organization, including its internal hierarchy, technical traditions, and methods of preserving knowledge.
The Mechanicus controlled the forge worlds that supplied the Imperium with much of its machinery. These planets were devoted almost entirely to manufacturing, research, resource extraction, and the maintenance of ancient technological systems.
Their industrial facilities produced weapons, vehicles, armor, starship components, power systems, and countless other devices required by the Imperium's military and civilian institutions.
The forge worlds varied considerably.
Some possessed enormous manufacturing complexes capable of supporting entire sector fleets. Others specialized in particular technologies, such as plasma reactors, advanced armor, mechanical augmentations, or the production of specialized vehicles.
Their rulers possessed considerable influence, and their relationships with the Imperial authorities were governed by a combination of ancient agreements, religious obligations, political negotiations, and mutual dependence.
The Imperium needed the Mechanicus.
The Mechanicus needed the Imperium's protection, resources, and access to the wider network of human civilization.
Neither side could easily abandon the other.
Yet the relationship was not without tension.
The Adeptus Mechanicus followed its own religious traditions and maintained a distinctive interpretation of technological knowledge. Its members viewed machines as more than tools, believing that technology possessed sacred significance and that the proper treatment of machinery required adherence to established rites.
Many of those rites had practical origins.
Maintenance procedures preserved equipment.
Standardized manufacturing methods reduced the risk of catastrophic failures.
Restrictions on dangerous technologies prevented inexperienced personnel from experimenting with systems they did not understand.
But over centuries, practical procedures had become intertwined with religious doctrine.
In some cases, the distinction between an essential safety measure and an inherited ritual had become difficult to determine.
Palpus found that particularly revealing.
Rho-17's memories included examples of technologies whose underlying principles were understood only partially by their operators. Some devices were maintained according to ancient procedures that had been copied for generations, while their original designers had disappeared into history.
The Mechanicus preserved the knowledge it possessed, but it did not always possess the ability to expand that knowledge.
That was the weakness Palpus had suspected.
Now he understood its extent.
The Mechanicus was not technologically primitive. On the contrary, it controlled systems that could challenge the best engineers of many civilizations. Its plasma reactors, energy weapons, void shields, mechanical augmentations, and industrial facilities represented substantial achievements.
Its weakness was not a lack of technological sophistication.
It was the uneven distribution of that sophistication, combined with institutional restrictions that could prevent its most capable members from pursuing promising ideas.
Palpus could exploit that weakness.
He could offer knowledge to dissatisfied Magi, provide tools that allowed them to investigate forbidden questions, or demonstrate improvements that their superiors had refused to consider.
He could also use the information to identify which forge worlds were worth approaching and which would be too dangerous to engage before his fleet had completed its preparations.
But he needed more than a single Magos's memories.
He needed a broader understanding of the Imperium's technology.
Palpus pressed deeper.
The Force carried him through the Magos's memories of the machinery he had studied, the systems he had maintained, and the technical manuals he had been permitted to access.
Plasma reactors appeared as immense devices built around magnetic containment systems capable of controlling extremely energetic matter. Their output was impressive, but their operation required careful regulation. Failures could produce catastrophic releases of energy.
Void shields relied upon technologies that manipulated energy fields around a vessel or installation, absorbing or redirecting incoming attacks. Their precise operation varied between systems, and the Mechanicus maintained numerous designs whose details were considered restricted knowledge.
Las weapons converted stored energy into directed beams, offering advantages in ammunition logistics and consistent performance. Their power varied according to the weapon's design and energy source, with larger systems capable of delivering devastating effects against both personnel and machinery.
The Mechanicus also possessed extensive knowledge of cybernetics.
Its Magi replaced biological organs with mechanical systems, integrating processors, artificial limbs, sensory devices, and specialized tools into their bodies. These augmentations could improve strength, precision, endurance, and the ability to interface directly with machines.
Rho-17's own body was an example.
Yet Palpus noticed that many of the systems were designed according to conventions that his engineers would approach differently.
The Mechanicus relied heavily upon established patterns and standardized components, partly because it had to maintain enormous numbers of machines across a galaxy where replacement parts could be difficult to obtain.
Its approach favored durability, repairability, and the preservation of known designs.
That made sense within the Imperium's circumstances.
It also created opportunities for a civilization with more flexible manufacturing methods.
Palpus could improve the systems.
He could produce better versions.
And with the matter extractor, he could manufacture the necessary materials on a scale that would make ordinary industrial limitations largely irrelevant.
The Magos's memories provided a map of the possibilities.
The real work would begin after Palpus understood which possibilities were worth pursuing.
The vision expanded beyond the Mechanicus.
Palpus encountered the Administratum, the vast bureaucratic institution responsible for processing the records, taxes, military levies, and administrative obligations that sustained the Imperium.
Its records were immense.
Its procedures were complicated.
Its operations were frequently inefficient.
Yet the organization remained essential because the Imperium was too large to govern without an administrative structure capable of coordinating resources across millions of worlds.
The Administratum collected information from planetary governors, military authorities, religious institutions, and countless subordinate organizations. It processed the Imperial tithe, recorded population changes, assigned resources, and transmitted orders through a system that had accumulated layers of procedure over thousands of years.
Its sheer size created opportunities for corruption, error, and delay.
A report could pass through numerous offices before reaching someone capable of acting upon it. Records could be misfiled, duplicated, or lost. Entire worlds might wait years for decisions that appeared simple to those outside the system.
Palpus almost laughed.
He had seen bureaucratic inefficiency before, but the Imperium had elevated it to an extraordinary scale.
A civilization capable of constructing kilometer-long battleships could still struggle to deliver a timely administrative decision to a distant world.
The Inquisition presented a different problem.
It was not a conventional military or administrative organization. Its agents investigated threats to the Imperium's survival, including heresy, corruption, alien infiltration, and the influence of Chaos.
Its authority was extensive, and its methods varied according to the individual inquisitor, the nature of the threat, and the resources available.
Some inquisitors maintained large networks of informants and agents. Others operated with small teams, relying upon secrecy and personal judgment. Their investigations could involve anything from subtle political manipulation to the deployment of military forces capable of destroying entire populations.
The Inquisition did not always agree with itself.
Its members could pursue competing objectives, disagree over the nature of a threat, or interpret their duties in radically different ways.
That fragmentation made it difficult to predict.
It also made it dangerous.
If an inquisitor discovered evidence of the expeditionary fleet, the response might range from quiet investigation to an immediate attempt to destroy the perceived threat.
Palpus would need to ensure that the Imperium did not learn too much too quickly.
The Ecclesiarchy was another important institution.
It maintained the state religion, spreading worship of the Emperor across the Imperium and enforcing religious orthodoxy among its populations. Its priests, missionaries, and military forces played a major role in maintaining loyalty to the Imperial regime.
The Sisters of Battle served as one of its most prominent armed organizations, trained and equipped to fight enemies considered threats to the faith.
Their devotion could make them exceptionally difficult opponents to manipulate.
Palpus understood that the Imperium was not held together by force alone.
Its people believed in the Emperor.
They believed that humanity faced enemies who sought to corrupt or destroy it.
They believed that obedience, sacrifice, and faith were necessary for survival.
Those beliefs could sustain an empire through extraordinary hardship.
They could also make its people resistant to any outsider who challenged the foundations of their worldview.
Palpus would have to account for that.
He could not assume that revealing superior technology would automatically convince Imperial citizens to abandon their institutions. For many of them, technology was only one aspect of a much larger religious and political order.
To change their allegiance, he would need to understand what they feared, what they valued, and what they believed their institutions provided.
That was a task for the long term.
For now, the information was enough to establish a preliminary map of the Imperium's major power structures.
Palpus withdrew from the broadest layers of the Magos's memories and began organizing the information.
The Imperium was a vast, decentralized empire.
Its political authority rested upon Terra and the High Lords.
Its armies relied upon the Astra Militarum, the Imperial Navy, and the Adeptus Astartes.
Its industrial strength depended heavily upon the Adeptus Mechanicus.
Its religious institutions maintained loyalty to the Emperor.
Its intelligence and security apparatus sought to identify threats before they could undermine the regime.
Each institution possessed its own interests, limitations, and rivalries.
And every one of them depended upon the cooperation of the others.
Palpus had found the structure of the machine.
Now he needed to understand how to use it.
The next stage of the mind-reading proved more difficult.
Palpus had obtained a substantial amount of information, but Rho-17's mind was not an organized archive that could be searched without consequence. The memories were connected to emotions, beliefs, and experiences, and the deeper Palpus went, the more the Magos's resistance became entangled with his own identity.
The Sith Lord could force his way through that resistance, but doing so risked damaging the very knowledge he sought.
He therefore changed his approach again.
He began with the Magos's curiosity.
Rho-17 had always wanted to understand how machines worked. Even when his superiors restricted his experiments, he continued investigating the systems available to him. His loyalty to the Adeptus Mechanicus had limited his actions, but it had never completely extinguished his desire to learn.
Palpus encouraged that desire.
He showed the Magos memories of the Dementor's engineering systems, allowing him to glimpse technologies that exceeded the capabilities of his own forge world. He revealed the design principles behind advanced fabrication systems, adaptive materials, and energy distribution networks.
He did not provide every detail.
He provided enough to demonstrate that the technology existed.
Rho-17's resistance weakened as curiosity took hold.
The Magos began comparing the unfamiliar systems with the devices he knew. He identified similarities, noted differences, and attempted to determine which principles could be applied to his own work.
Palpus allowed him to explore those questions.
Then he introduced the darker side of the exchange.
The Magos remembered his superiors dismissing his research.
He remembered being ordered to abandon experiments that might have improved the efficiency of his forge world.
He remembered the restrictions imposed upon his access to certain archives.
Those memories acquired a new emotional intensity.
His frustration grew into resentment, and his resentment became a source of doubt.
Had his superiors truly been protecting the sacred knowledge of the ancients?
Or had they been protecting their own authority?
Had they rejected his research because it was dangerous?
Or because its success might have threatened the positions of those who controlled the institution?
Palpus did not need to invent the questions.
They were already present within Rho-17's mind.
He merely ensured that the Magos could no longer dismiss them.
The corruption spread gradually.
It did not erase Rho-17's technical knowledge or replace his personality with blind obedience. Instead, it altered the balance between his loyalties and his ambitions. The Adeptus Mechanicus remained important to him, but its authority no longer occupied an unquestionable position within his worldview.
His desire to learn became stronger.
His resentment toward restrictive superiors deepened.
His willingness to consider forbidden alternatives increased.
The dark side did not create those traits.
It magnified them, turning existing dissatisfaction into a powerful source of motivation.
Palpus continued working until the Magos's resistance had weakened enough for him to examine the memories surrounding the forge world's most sensitive technologies.
He discovered details concerning the production of plasma reactors, the maintenance of void shields, and the construction of several classes of Imperial warship.
He found information about the materials used in their hulls, the methods employed to reinforce armor, and the procedures followed by the shipyards responsible for their assembly.
He also discovered the limitations of the information.
Rho-17 was not the supreme authority of his forge world. He possessed extensive technical knowledge, but certain manufacturing secrets were restricted to other divisions. Some systems were maintained by specialized Magi whose expertise exceeded his own.
Other technologies were preserved in archives he had never been permitted to access.
Palpus could not obtain information that the Magos did not possess.
But he had obtained enough to begin planning.
When the Sith Lord finally withdrew from the Magos's mind, the examination chamber fell silent.
Rho-17 remained seated, his optical sensor dimmed and his mechanical appendages motionless.
For several seconds, he did not speak.
Then his head turned slowly toward Palpus.
"What... did you do to me?"
Palpus regarded him calmly.
"I examined your memories."
"You invaded my mind."
"Yes."
The Magos's vocal synthesizers produced a low, distorted sound.
"You have violated every principle of personal autonomy."
"Your civilization has its own methods of extracting information from those it considers enemies. I suspect the Inquisition would have rather different opinions about your objections."
Rho-17's mechanical appendages tightened.
"I am not an enemy of the Imperium."
"Not by your own definition."
Palpus stepped away from the examination chair.
"But you are now aware of something important. Your knowledge is not limited to the teachings of your institution. You possess the ability to reason, to investigate, and to question the methods by which your civilization operates."
The Magos's optical sensor brightened.
"You have altered my thoughts."
"I have altered the weight you give to certain thoughts. Your memories remain yours. Your technical knowledge remains yours. You still possess the ability to make decisions."
"Then why do I feel... different?"
"Because you are no longer as certain as you once were."
Rho-17 fell silent.
Palpus could feel the changes within him. The Magos's loyalty had not vanished, but it had become less rigid. His curiosity was stronger, his resentment more pronounced, and his willingness to consider alternatives considerably greater.
The corruption would continue to influence his decisions, especially when confronted with opportunities to pursue knowledge that the Mechanicus had forbidden.
Palpus intended to reinforce those tendencies over time.
For now, the Magos was useful.
"Rest," Palpus ordered. "Your systems require time to recover. We will continue our discussions later."
He turned toward the door.
Rho-17 watched him leave.
The Magos's thoughts were no longer entirely his own in the way they had once been, but he did not yet understand the extent of the change. He knew that something had happened to him. He could feel the difference in his emotions, the new intensity of his curiosity, and the growing doubts that had begun to challenge his most deeply held beliefs.
He could not determine which thoughts had been present before the interrogation and which had been strengthened by the Sith Lord.
That uncertainty would prove useful to Palpus.
The Magos would question himself.
And every time he did, the dark side would have another opportunity to deepen its influence.
Palpus returned to the command chamber.
The hololithic display had been updated with the information obtained from Rho-17's memories. The Imperium's political structure was now represented in greater detail, with connections linking Terra, the High Lords, the Administratum, the Imperial Navy, the Astra Militarum, the Adeptus Astartes, the Inquisition, the Ecclesiarchy, and the Adeptus Mechanicus.
The system was complicated.
It was also comprehensible.
Palpus stood before the display while the intelligence officers continued organizing the information.
"Begin with the industrial network," he ordered. "Identify the forge worlds with the greatest shipbuilding capacity, the largest known manufactorums, and the most important sources of strategic materials."
An officer entered the instructions.
"Should we prioritize the nearest systems?"
"Prioritize them for surveillance, not necessarily for exploitation. I want to know which facilities are close enough to threaten our operating zone and which possess technologies we might benefit from studying."
The officer nodded.
Palpus continued.
"Establish a database of the major Imperial vessel classes. Separate the information by role, tonnage, weapons, propulsion, and defensive systems. We need to understand the differences between their escorts, cruisers, battleships, transports, and specialized vessels."
"Understood."
"Do the same for ground forces. I want detailed profiles of the Imperial Guard, the Adeptus Astartes, and the major organizations responsible for their support. Identify their standard equipment, logistics requirements, and known limitations."
The officers worked quickly.
Palpus watched the information accumulate.
The Imperium possessed enormous military resources, but those resources were distributed across a vast network of worlds and institutions. Its fleets could be formidable, its armies numerous, and its industrial output immense.
Yet it was not invulnerable.
Its ships required maintenance.
Its armies required supplies.
Its forge worlds required raw materials.
Its political institutions depended upon cooperation.
Its military commanders relied upon information that could be incomplete, delayed, or distorted by the immense distances between worlds.
Palpus intended to exploit those limitations if conflict became unavoidable.
But he did not intend to begin a war simply because he possessed the ability to win one.
There was too much to learn.
Too much to gain.
And too many unknowns.
He expanded the display to show the surrounding star systems.
"The universe is vast," he said.
Sidious stood beside him.
"An understatement."
Palpus's gaze moved across the star map.
"This galaxy alone contains more resources than we could use in a lifetime. Its planets possess minerals, rare elements, and industrial materials that could support the construction of additional warships and battle stations. Its forge worlds have accumulated technologies that we have never encountered, and its ancient civilizations may possess knowledge that could improve our own systems."
He highlighted several uninhabited systems within the expedition's operating zone.
"We will not depend entirely upon captured facilities. Our automated mining operations will extract the resources available in these systems, and our fabrication networks will process them into useful materials. The Death Star will serve as the central industrial and military base, supported by the fleet and the new facilities we establish."
Sidious studied the display.
"How quickly can we expand production?"
"That depends upon the materials available and the number of fabrication units we deploy. Our existing facilities are sufficient to begin constructing additional escort vessels, reconnaissance ships, and support craft. Larger warships will require more extensive industrial capacity, but we can establish that capacity over time."
"And battle stations?"
Palpus smiled faintly.
"We already possess the necessary designs. The challenge is producing them efficiently within this universe while maintaining the secrecy of our operations."
He brought up a schematic of the Death Star.
The enormous battle station appeared in the center of the display, surrounded by projected industrial modules, support vessels, and defensive installations.
"Our first priority is to expand the local industrial network. Automated mining facilities will gather raw materials from uninhabited systems. Fabrication platforms will process those materials into components. Those components will then be transferred to the Death Star or used to construct additional shipyards."
"And the forge worlds?"
"We will study them. Some may eventually become valuable sources of information, materials, or specialized machinery. But we will not attack them until we understand their defenses and the political consequences of doing so."
Sidious nodded.
"A measured approach."
"A practical one. The Imperium is not a single fleet that can be destroyed in one engagement. It is a civilization with immense reserves of manpower and industrial capacity. Even if we defeat a local force, the wider Imperium could eventually respond."
Palpus turned toward the galactic map.
"We need to build our own position before we challenge theirs."
The following hours were devoted to planning.
Palpus ordered the creation of a dedicated research division responsible for studying Imperial technology. Its initial personnel would be drawn from the Death Star's engineering staff, supported by specialists from the expeditionary fleet and the advanced manufacturing teams responsible for the matter extractor.
Their first task would be to compare the technologies identified in Rho-17's memories with the systems already employed by the Empire.
The goal was not simply to copy Imperial designs.
Palpus wanted to understand their underlying principles, identify their advantages, and determine whether those principles could be incorporated into his own technology.
The Imperium's void shields were an obvious subject of investigation.
Although Palpus possessed advanced defensive systems of his own, understanding the Mechanicus's methods could provide useful alternatives, especially when constructing large vessels or fixed installations intended to operate within the Warp's sphere of influence.
Plasma reactors were another priority.
The Mechanicus had developed numerous reactor designs, some of which were capable of producing immense amounts of energy. Their maintenance requirements and safety limitations would need to be studied carefully, but even a partial understanding could prove useful.
The Imperium's weapons also deserved attention.
Its macro-cannons relied upon physical projectiles, while its lance batteries used concentrated energy. Both approaches offered advantages in certain circumstances, and Palpus saw no reason to dismiss a weapon merely because his own empire possessed more advanced alternatives.
A projectile weapon could remain useful when energy systems were disrupted.
A lance could deliver concentrated damage against a target whose defenses were vulnerable to that form of attack.
Different weapons served different purposes.
The same principle applied to industrial systems.
The Mechanicus had developed methods for maintaining machinery across a galaxy where supply lines could be interrupted for months or years. Its emphasis on repairability and standardized components had practical value, even if some of its traditions had become unnecessarily restrictive.
Palpus intended to study those methods.
He also intended to improve them.
The matter extractor would provide the raw materials. The Death Star would provide the industrial foundation. The expeditionary fleet would protect the growing network while the research division identified technologies worth incorporating.
Over time, the hidden base could become an industrial center capable of supporting a much larger military presence.
It could construct additional ships.
It could manufacture weapons.
It could build orbital defenses and battle stations.
And it could do so without depending upon the Imperium's supply networks.
That independence was essential.
Palpus would not build his new empire upon resources that his enemies could deny him.
He would build it upon a system that could sustain itself.
The first serious disagreement arose when the intelligence division presented its assessment of the Imperium's potential response.
The report estimated that the disappearance of Rho-17 would eventually attract the attention of higher authorities within the Adeptus Mechanicus. If the local investigation failed to identify the perpetrators, the forge world's rulers might request assistance from neighboring systems or initiate a wider search.
There was also a possibility that the incident would attract the attention of the Inquisition.
An inquisitor investigating the abduction might discover evidence of unfamiliar technology or unusual sensor readings. If the investigation expanded, the expedition's concealed operating zone could become vulnerable to discovery.
The report recommended relocating the task force farther from Imperial territory.
Palpus rejected the recommendation.
"We are not abandoning the system merely because the enemy has begun asking questions."
The intelligence officer stood before him.
"My lord, the probability of discovery will increase as the investigation expands."
"Then we will improve our concealment."
"The forge world's authorities may deploy additional reconnaissance vessels."
"Let them. Our ships are already operating beyond the range of their ordinary sensors, and the Death Star remains concealed within a system that has little strategic value to the Imperium."
The officer hesitated.
"If they discover the dimensional gate—"
"They will not."
Palpus's tone left no room for argument.
"The gate is protected by multiple layers of containment and dimensional shielding. Its operating cycles are restricted, and the surrounding installation is designed to minimize detectable emissions. If the Imperium somehow identifies the location, we will have sufficient warning to close the connection and relocate the anchor."
The officer bowed.
"Understood, my lord."
Palpus dismissed him.
Sidious, who had been listening from the side of the chamber, approached.
"You are confident."
"I am prepared."
"There is a difference."
"Yes. Confidence is a belief about the outcome. Preparation is what allows us to influence it."
Sidious gave a quiet laugh.
"You have learned something from our old master after all."
Palpus's expression did not change.
"Darth Plagueis taught us many useful lessons. He also made the mistake of believing that his knowledge entitled him to control every outcome."
"And you intend not to repeat his error."
"I intend to avoid unnecessary assumptions."
Palpus returned his attention to the display.
The Imperium would eventually discover that something unusual was happening in its territory. The abduction of Rho-17 had created a disturbance, and the local authorities would continue investigating until they found an explanation or were forced to abandon the effort.
But discovery did not automatically mean defeat.
Palpus had the resources to defend his position, and he had no intention of engaging the Imperium before his preparations were complete.
The hidden fleet would continue observing.
The industrial network would continue expanding.
The research division would continue studying the technology of the forty-first millennium.
And the Magos would continue providing information.
The operation had succeeded.
Now its consequences had to be managed.
Rho-17's next examination began after a period of rest.
The Magos had been given access to a controlled workshop within the Dementor, where he could examine several pieces of unfamiliar machinery under supervision. The workshop was isolated from the ship's primary systems, and all devices within it were connected to a separate network.
Palpus had authorized the arrangement for a specific reason.
He wanted to observe how the Magos responded when given an opportunity to pursue his curiosity.
Rho-17 stood before a compact fabrication unit, studying its internal mechanisms through a transparent diagnostic panel.
The machine was producing a small component from a prepared material feed. Its manufacturing process differed from the methods used by the Adeptus Mechanicus, combining automated assembly, precision manipulation, and continuous quality control.
The Magos watched the process twice.
Then he asked to see the schematics.
A technician provided a limited technical diagram.
Rho-17 examined it in silence.
"This system integrates several functions that would normally be performed by separate machines," he observed.
"Correct," the technician replied.
"The material feed is monitored continuously, and the fabrication process adjusts according to the measured properties of the output."
"Yes."
"That should reduce the need for repeated manual calibration."
"It does."
The Magos's optical sensor brightened.
"How does the system compensate for variations in the raw material?"
The technician explained the process.
Rho-17 listened carefully, asking several increasingly detailed questions.
Palpus watched from the observation window.
The Magos was fascinated.
He was also beginning to recognize how much of his own knowledge had been constrained by the limitations of his institution. The fabrication unit did not violate the laws of physics. It employed familiar principles in a more integrated and flexible manner, allowing it to accomplish tasks that would have required considerably more equipment in his own forge world.
The implications were obvious.
A similar system could improve the efficiency of certain manufacturing processes within the Mechanicus.
It could reduce production time, improve consistency, and simplify the maintenance of equipment.
Rho-17 looked toward the technician.
"Who designed this system?"
"Our engineering division."
"How long did the design process take?"
"Several months for the current configuration. Earlier versions were developed over a longer period."
"And the design was approved without authorization from a religious authority?"
The technician hesitated.
"Our engineers follow the safety and operational requirements established by the Empire. They are not required to obtain religious approval for every technical modification."
Rho-17 fell silent.
The statement challenged one of the assumptions that had governed his professional life.
He had spent years navigating a system in which technological development was intertwined with religious doctrine. Every significant modification required consideration of established traditions, and the most sensitive designs were subject to restrictions that could prevent experimentation.
Here, the engineers had developed a new machine through a process that appeared to rely primarily upon technical evaluation.
The difference was not absolute. Palpus's own empire maintained rules governing dangerous experiments, and no responsible civilization allowed every engineer to modify every system without oversight.
But the principle was different.
The emphasis was on whether a design worked, whether it was safe, and whether it provided a useful improvement.
Not whether the act of changing it violated an inherited tradition.
Rho-17 looked back at the fabrication unit.
"I would like to examine the system's control architecture."
The technician glanced toward Palpus.
The Sith Lord nodded.
"Provide him with the authorized schematics."
The technician complied.
Rho-17 began studying the design.
Palpus watched him for another minute before turning away.
The corruption was taking hold.
The Magos had not abandoned the Adeptus Mechanicus, but his loyalty was no longer unquestioning. He had begun to see his captors as potential sources of knowledge rather than merely enemies who had violated his freedom.
That shift would have consequences.
The more he learned, the more he would compare the two civilizations.
The more he compared them, the more he would recognize the weaknesses of his own institution.
And the more he recognized those weaknesses, the easier it would become for Palpus to direct his ambitions toward the interests of the expedition.
Later, Palpus convened a meeting of his senior commanders and technical officers.
The Death Star's command chamber was filled with holographic displays showing the expedition's current position, the surrounding systems, and the preliminary industrial network. The forge world remained highlighted in red, while several nearby uninhabited systems had been marked as potential mining sites.
Palpus stood at the center of the room.
"We have obtained our first meaningful intelligence on the Imperium of Man," he began. "The information is incomplete, but it confirms that this galaxy possesses an industrial and military infrastructure on a scale that warrants careful study."
He gestured toward the galactic map.
"The Imperium controls an enormous number of worlds. Its armies are numerous, its fleets are heavily armed, and its industrial institutions possess technologies that could be useful to us. However, its size creates logistical challenges, and its institutions are not always coordinated."
The display changed to show the major Imperial organizations.
"The Adeptus Mechanicus controls much of the Imperium's industrial production. Its forge worlds manufacture warships, weapons, armor, vehicles, and the machinery required to sustain the Imperial military. Its members possess extensive technical knowledge, but their methods are constrained by traditions that can discourage innovation."
Several officers examined the display.
Palpus continued.
"We will not assume that the Imperium's technology is inferior simply because it is unfamiliar. Its systems have been developed to meet the demands of a civilization that fights wars across an enormous galaxy. Some of its design choices may be more effective than our own under particular conditions."
He highlighted the Imperial Navy's vessel classes.
"Our engineers will study its propulsion systems, void shields, weapons, armor, and power generation. They will identify technologies that could be incorporated into our designs and determine which systems can be improved using our existing manufacturing capabilities."
The display changed again, revealing the Death Star and a series of projected industrial platforms.
"The second priority is expansion. We will establish automated mining facilities within uninhabited systems and use the extracted materials to increase our local production capacity. The Death Star will serve as the central industrial base, while additional fabrication platforms will support the construction of escort vessels, reconnaissance ships, and eventually larger warships."
An officer raised a hand.
"My lord, should we begin constructing a second battle station?"
Palpus considered the question.
"Not immediately. The current Death Star is sufficient to defend our initial operating zone, provided it is supported by the fleet and adequate reconnaissance. Our first priority is to ensure that we can sustain the expedition without relying upon a single installation."
He expanded the projected industrial network.
"We will construct distributed manufacturing facilities, redundant power systems, and concealed supply depots. If one facility is discovered or destroyed, the rest of the network must remain operational."
The officer nodded.
Palpus continued.
"The third priority is intelligence. We must learn as much as possible about the major powers in this galaxy. The Imperium is only one of them. The Necrons, Aeldari, Orks, Tyranids, and other civilizations may possess technologies or capabilities that will influence our strategy."
He paused.
"And we must continue studying the Warp."
Several officers exchanged brief glances.
Palpus noticed.
"The Warp is dangerous, but ignorance will not make it less dangerous. Our researchers will investigate its effects through controlled experiments. They will not attempt direct contact with its inhabitants, and no one is authorized to conduct experiments that could expose the dimensional gate to uncontrolled psychic influence."
The officers acknowledged the order.
Palpus looked around the chamber.
"We did not cross into this galaxy merely to observe it. We came because it contains knowledge and resources that can strengthen our empire. But we will not rush into a conflict before understanding the forces we face."
He gestured toward the Death Star's schematic.
"The universe is vast. Its resources are not exhausted, and its civilizations have accumulated knowledge that we have yet to discover. We will use the materials available here to build more ships, more defensive installations, and additional battle stations. We will study the technology of this galaxy and incorporate whatever proves useful."
His gaze hardened.
"Above all, we will remain independent. We will not allow the Imperium, the Adeptus Mechanicus, or the powers of the Warp to dictate the conditions under which we operate."
The commanders bowed.
The meeting concluded.
The orders were transmitted throughout the fleet, initiating the next phase of the expedition.
Automated mining vessels began preparing for deployment.
Engineering teams reviewed the specifications for additional fabrication platforms.
Reconnaissance ships received new assignments, directing them toward industrial centers, shipyards, and regions where unusual technologies had been reported.
The Death Star's production facilities shifted toward the manufacture of components required for the expansion of the hidden base.
And the Magos continued his examination of the machinery aboard the Dementor, increasingly absorbed by the possibilities it represented.
The expedition was growing.
Not through conquest, but through preparation.
For now.
That night, Palpus stood alone in the Death Star's observation chamber.
The stars beyond the armored transparisteel appeared cold and distant. The surrounding system was quiet, its uninhabited worlds turning slowly around the dead star. The fleet maintained its concealed positions, while the dimensional gate remained stable within the protected installation.
Palpus reached into the Force.
The veil of the dark side remained intact, obscuring his presence beneath layers of carefully maintained concealment. Beyond the material universe, the Warp continued to churn with the emotions of countless living beings.
He could sense the four great powers at a distance.
They had not abandoned their interest in the intruders.
Their attention moved through the Warp, searching for signs of the unfamiliar presence that had crossed into their domain. At times, Palpus felt the faint pressure of their scrutiny against the outermost layers of his concealment.
Each time, the veil held.
He did not respond.
There was nothing to gain from provoking them before he understood their capabilities.
Instead, he turned his attention toward the material galaxy.
Somewhere beyond the stars, the Emperor of Mankind continued to rule from the Golden Throne. His psychic presence remained immense, and Palpus suspected that the ancient ruler would eventually discover more about the newcomers.
The Imperium possessed vast resources, but it also faced enemies on every side.
Palpus intended to make use of that fact.
He would not attack Terra.
He would not challenge the Imperial Navy without reason.
And he would not attempt to conquer the forge worlds before understanding the industrial and political consequences.
He would learn.
He would prepare.
He would expand.
The Death Star's internal systems hummed quietly, its enormous fabrication facilities beginning work on the components required for the next stage of the expedition.
Beyond the station, automated vessels moved toward the surrounding asteroids, preparing to extract the resources that would support the construction of new ships and defensive installations.
The first foundations of an independent industrial network were being laid.
The Imperium did not yet know what had entered its galaxy.
The Adeptus Mechanicus did not know that one of its Magi had revealed secrets to an enemy from beyond the stars.
And the powers of the Warp did not know whether the unfamiliar intruders represented a threat, an opportunity, or something entirely outside their understanding.
Palpus intended to keep it that way for as long as possible.
He looked once more at the stars.
"Let them keep their secrets for now," he murmured. "We will have plenty of time to discover the rest."
Behind him, the Death Star continued its work.
The expedition had found its first source of knowledge.
Now it would turn that knowledge into power.