Chapter 377: Rogal Dorn's Method
Leaving the suffocating oppressive aura of the Emperor's audience chamber, they relocated to a relatively simple yet equally heavily guarded meeting room.
Heavy stone walls isolated them from the outside world; inside, there was only a massive long stone table and several chairs made of the same material.
Rogal Dorn sat at the head of the table, his gaze once again focusing on Ryo.
"His Majesty's will must be executed," Dorn got straight to the point, his voice deep. "But how to execute it requires a strategy. Ryo, you brought this technology; you have the most intuitive understanding of its impact. Tell me your thoughts."
Ryo's mechanical body adjusted into a more stable posture on the stone chair, his crimson optical lenses meeting the Primarch's gaze: "Lord Primarch, the power of the warp engine lies in redefining distance and connection.
"It can greatly alleviate the territorial fragmentation and communication delays of the Imperium caused by Warp instability. But precisely because of this, its promotion must absolutely not be overly radical."
He paused briefly, organizing his logically clear words: "It directly impacts the monopoly of the Navigator Houses and the Adeptus Astra Telepathica, indirectly affects the Martian Mechanicus' absolute control over interstellar navigation technology, and even shakes the power structure of the Senatorum Imperialis.
"The Imperium has just experienced the Horus Heresy and lost several Primarchs; the entire system is like a giant recovering from severe wounds.
"At this moment, it cannot withstand the violent turmoil triggered by technological revolution that would affect all old interest groups.
"Stability must be the primary consideration. Promotion requires time, requires steps, and more importantly requires... a strong hand to balance all factions, avoiding the Imperium falling into division and infighting before the technology has even been popularized."
Dorn listened in silence, his thick fingers unconsciously tapping the surface of the stone table.
Ryo's analysis hit the nail on the head, perfectly aligning with his own internal worries.
After a moment, he let out a nearly inaudible sigh, carrying a rare exhaustion inconsistent with his unyielding image.
"You are right. Stability overrides everything." He raised his eyes, his gaze seemingly piercing through the walls, looking toward some distant past or unreachable future. "If Roboute were still here...
"He knew better than I how to navigate these political quagmires, how to weave a web of words to make those factions with their own agendas maintain balance, at least on the surface. He was good at this."
Ryo's optical lenses flickered slightly.
He heard the imperceptible trace of reliance on his brother in Dorn's words, and the sense of powerlessness in facing this complex situation alone right now.
He responded calmly, his tone carrying a trace of insight that seemed to come from the distant past: "According to His Majesty's original planning and design, Lord Roboute Guilliman was supposed to be shaped as a 'Son of War'.
"His template leaned more toward a pure military commander and strategist."
Ryo's voice was steady, as if stating an objective fact. "It can only be said that his adoptive parents in Ultramar educated him... too well.
"So well that he possessed political foresight and management talents that exceeded his original design positioning."
These words were like a stone thrown into calm water, stirring ripples in Dorn's heart.
His sharp gaze suddenly focused on Ryo's expressionless mechanical face.
The information revealed in Ryo's words touched upon that dust-covered secret concerning the era of the Primarchs' creation.
Dorn remembered—about that long-purged ancient bio-gene cult, about that Lady Astarte who ultimately committed suicide in her laboratory, and about the... ancient origins this Magos before him might possess, far exceeding what his current identity displayed.
For a time, the meeting room fell into a deeper silence. Dorn did not pursue the matter, and Ryo offered no further explanation.
Some things only needed to be touched upon lightly.
The ghosts of the past and the burdens of the future intertwined at this moment within this simple, secret room.
—
Having completed his audience, Ryo was settled in a heavily guarded technical laboratory deep within the Imperial Palace.
The equipment here far exceeded his setup at the Death World base. A team of taciturn Tech-Priests, directly loyal to the Imperial Palace itself, was assigned to him as assistants.
They were highly efficient but lacked the almost fanatical desire for exploring technical details that their peers in Nexum or Mars had. They were more like a group of precision tools absolutely obedient to commands.
Rogal Dorn handed him a task that was clear and specific: design a plan to integrate the warp engine into the Imperial Navy's active-duty Lunar-class cruisers.
The key was that this was not meant to completely replace the existing Warp drives, but to serve as an additional propulsion system.
"We need it to be able to conduct rapid maneuvers in the material universe, or maintain basic navigation capabilities when Warp storms rage, not to immediately abandon the system we have used for ten thousand years," Dorn emphasized before leaving. "Produce a feasible integration plan and prove its practicality."
Ryo understood the considerations behind this.
This was a compromise—it could demonstrate the value of the warp engine without immediately subverting the existing order, giving the Imperium a process to buffer and adapt.
He immediately threw himself into work, pulling up the complete structural blueprints of the Lunar-class cruiser and comparing them with the warp engine core data stored in the cogitator arrays.
The laboratory was left with only the faint hum of data stream transmissions, the turning sounds of servo systems, and Ryo's synthesized voice issuing concise commands to the Tech-Priests.
—
Meanwhile, what Rogal Dorn faced was an entirely different scene.
The Emperor's will was like an irresistible oracle, but executing it specifically meant traversing the intertwined briar patch of the Imperium's bureaucracy and various factions.
Even though Ryo had suggested moving slowly, and Dorn also agreed on the need for caution, this did not mean he would tolerate endless arguments and feigned compliance.
He was not Roboute Guilliman; he was neither skilled at, nor did he care to engage in, slow political gamesmanship in the quagmire of politics to seek consensus.
His method was more direct, more fitting of his identity as the master of the "Imperial Fists".
In a meeting convening relevant members of the Senatorum Imperialis, Martian representatives, and spokespersons of the Navigator Houses, Dorn offered no opening remarks. He directly announced the Emperor's decree and the decision to first conduct technology integration testing on Lunar-class cruisers.
The expected voices of opposition immediately erupted.
The Navigator representatives fiercely stated the irreplaceable importance of their Houses; the Martian representatives questioned the technology's origin, reliability, and who would lead the integration work; some High Lords worried about the chain-reaction impacts this would cause to the Imperium's economic and military structure.
Dorn listened, his face carved like granite, without any ripples of emotion.
It was not until the noisy arguments had subsided slightly that he spoke. His voice was not loud, yet it carried a cold weight that suppressed the entire venue: "I did not convene you here to listen to dissenting opinions. The Emperor's will has been handed down. This is not a discussion; it is a notification."
He scanned everyone present, his gaze as sharp as a knife.
"The Imperium can only have one will, and that is the will of the Emperor. Any action that obstructs, delays, or attempts to twist this will shall be deemed a betrayal of the Imperium." He did not raise his tone, but the chill in his words made the air nearly freeze. "Understand it, accept it, and then think about how to execute it. This is the only choice I give you."
He left no room for bargaining.
The meeting concluded in an atmosphere of oppression and fear.
Dorn did not need political compromise. He forcefully unified the pace using absolute power and unquestionable loyalty.
He knew this would accumulate dissatisfaction in the dark, but at this moment, with the Emperor slumbering and the Imperium waiting to be rebuilt, he firmly believed that iron-fisted order was far more valuable than endless internal friction.
His mission was to sweep away the most direct political obstacles for Ryo's technological plan, even if the methods were rough.
(End of Chapter)