The Eternal Seeker slipped into its designated trajectory, beginning its return voyage to Nexum.
The warship initially engaged its advanced warp drive, entering superluminal travel within realspace to bypass several known volatile regions and potential threats along the standard Warp lanes. Following a stretch of smooth warp-drive navigation, the vessel, guided by its Navigator, transitioned out of realspace at a relatively stable jump point and cut into the Immaterium.
During the transit, Osiris spent the majority of his time within the captain's quarters or the primary laboratory, processing streams of data from various sectors via his data slate.
His second avatar at Nexum base transmitted an update: the preliminary screening of Squad Maine's dimensional exploration logs had concluded, isolating three worlds that potentially fit the testing criteria. The detailed dossiers had been compiled into a secure package, awaiting Osiris's thorough review upon his arrival at the base.
Meanwhile, Validation Task Force - Alpha had arrived at the targeted mining world and completed its integration with the local Planetary Defense Forces.
The task force commander sent back an initial intelligence briefing: the Ork warband was estimated to number between 150,000 and 200,000 individual combatants. They had seized dozens of massive mining complexes and auxiliary installations across a vast mountainous region to use as strongholds, rallying a substantial contingent of crude armored vehicles, artillery, and even a small number of rudimentary aircraft.
The local topography was extraordinarily complex, encompassing massive open-pit mines, deeply interwoven subterranean tunnel networks, dense mountainous woodlands, and abandoned industrial towns. The PDF had mobilized over 500,000 troops into the defense. While their equipment aligned with standard Imperial baselines, they severely lacked heavy armored assets, air superiority, and veteran elite formations, leaving them on a strategic defensive footing across the entire planetary front.
The task force had drawn up an initial testing itinerary: they would commit different units in phases, gathering data across distinct terrains and varied combat intensities. The first round of trials would deploy all twenty experimental subjects alongside one hundred Titan Guard warriors. Operating in tandem with a PDF regiment-scale force, they would launch an assault against a cluster of large perimeter outposts on the fringes of the Ork-controlled zone, testing their foundational coordination and tactical execution in mid-scale contact engagements.
Osiris reviewed the operational plan, authorized its execution, and demanded the most granular recording of all combat data possible—including unit reaction times, weapon efficiency metrics, tactical coordination fluidities, and systemic stability parameters.
He then cross-referenced progress reports for other ongoing projects aboard the Eternal Seeker. The cultivation of the third batch of gene-seed subjects was proceeding smoothly, production metrics for the Titan Guard warriors remained normal, and the assembly lines for the EVA Titans maintained a stable tempo.
On the thirteenth day of the voyage, the Eternal Seeker's Navigator reported detecting exceptionally violent turbulence and energy vortices within the immediate Warp currents ahead. Osiris promptly ordered the vessel to translate out of the Immaterium and re-enter realspace. Once back in the material universe, the Eternal Seeker re-engaged its warp drive to bypass the hazardous sector at superluminal speeds before slipping back into the Warp at a suitable jump point to resume its course.
Throughout this period, Osiris continuously monitored the status of the STC system. Every metric read normal; the system operated smoothly across the warship's varying navigational states, its functional modules responding exactly as expected.
On the fifteenth day of the voyage, the Eternal Seeker translated out of the Immaterium on schedule, returning to realspace at the outer fringes of Nexum star system. The warship immediately engaged its warp drive to complete the final leg of the transit, settling into a stable orbit around the planet.
The view of Nexum system filled the command deck viewports. The barren planet hung silently in the void, with the newly claimed resource moon visible in the distance. Along the orbital tracks, the orbital stations of Nexum base and the patrolling vessels of the Skitarii fleet drifted past.
Following successful biometric verification, the Eternal Seeker was cleared for approach. The warship docked with the primary orbital station, its docking gantries extending to lock the vessel in place.
Osiris stepped off the bridge and onto the familiar metal decking of Nexum base. The atmospheric scrubbers carried the base's distinct scent—metal, ozone, coolant, and a faint hint of dust blown from the desolate world below.
His second avatar was already waiting within the arrival sector. The moment their optical sensors locked onto one another, their consciousness synchronized, weaving their data streams together seamlessly. Osiris's main body absorbed every memory and observational metric gathered by the second avatar during his absence, while the avatar received all recent experiences and strategic decisions from the prime persona.
"The base is fully prepared to receive the STC system," the second avatar reported through the shared neural link.
"Attend to routine matters first," the primary persona replied. "Schedule a brief briefing with the departmental heads of the base to receive their logs. The relocation of the STC system will be executed thereafter."
Over the following hours, Osiris received detailed briefings from each sector of the base.
The biological laboratories reported on their continuous research into the Yautja captives, noting that their study of the secretion mechanisms for the "Yautja Prime" substance had hit a bottleneck, requiring higher-precision physiological regulation arrays. The engineering division detailed the status of the base's expansion: the deep subterranean facilities had finished excavation, including a heavily reinforced vault engineered specifically for storing massive infrastructure—the exact chamber designated for the STC system.
The dimensional research team presented follow-up observational data on the Genesis Particle experiments, alongside preliminary results from the control tests executed within the "Genesis Valley" of Night City, verifying the "purity" of that dimension's environment. Meanwhile, Squad Maine remained deployed on Pandora, collaborating with the Aeldari representative Erandil to maintain diplomatic relations with the local Na'vi cooperative factions while overseeing the operations of the "Seeker" security detachments at the RDA facilities.
Everything was functioning as intended.
With the routine briefings concluded, Osiris initiated the relocation of the STC system. The system would be moved directly from the core vault of the Eternal Seeker into the deep subterranean facility of Nexum base. This procedure demanded absolute precision, yet required no overly convoluted physical manipulations. Having been extensively repaired, the system was a structurally unified mechanical unit that could be relocated as a single piece.
He commanded his Tech-Priest team to utilize heavy anti-grav platforms to extract the STC system from the warship's core vault, guiding it through secure corridors into the depths of the base. Skitarii squads lined the route, securing the entire transit corridor.
The transfer proceeded without incident. The spherical core of the STC system floated stably atop the anti-grav platforms, the intricate patterns across its chassis emitting a soft, white luminescence. Its mechanical arm arrays were retracted and its holographic projectors deactivated, holding the system in a low-power operational state.
The system was ushered into its new deep subterranean vault. Nestled far beneath the surface, the chamber was encased in dense, reinforced alloy rock strata and outfitted with an independent power grid, multi-layered void shield generators, physical blast doors, and a dedicated environmental control matrix.
The Tech-Priests connected the system's power and data lifelines to the vault's interfaces. Once the connections settled, Osiris initiated a full-power operational diagnostic.
As the energy draw surged, the system responded smoothly, every functional module coming online perfectly. The holographic projectors flared back to life, casting a comprehensive schematic of the system's operational status into the air.
"System relocation complete. All functions operating normally," the lead Tech-Priest reported.
Osiris inspected the readouts. The STC system had suffered zero degradation during the transit; all data banks remained pristine, and its functional integrity held at its established baseline.
He ordered the system to remain online while beginning a secure bridge between the STC data vaults and the primary cogitator arrays of Nexum base. Under strict permission protocols, the base's research teams would be granted access to select non-core data segments via isolated networks, accelerating their localized technological research.
However, he instituted ironclad access restrictions and encryption protocols. Only his prime persona retained absolute master control over the relic.
With the containment procedures finalized, Osiris verified that the relocation was complete. The STC system was now safely secured within the deepest vaults of Nexum base.