The Jericho Sector lay in the eastern reaches of the Segmentum Obscurus. Reaching this place meant the Spear of Destiny had officially left the Veiled Region behind.
However, because the entropy chronometer at the prow had been damaged in an accident, Gaia had no idea how much time had actually passed in realspace before they arrived here.
Time in the Warp was chaotic. After a single Warp voyage, the actual time spent in the material universe could be anywhere from a few days to several years.
Sometimes, people could even depart in July and arrive in June.
But once they reached the forge world called Igor III within this sector, they would be able to learn the exact date from the great clock of the Court of Time.
Forge worlds were special planets colonized and developed by the Adeptus Mechanicus, allies of the Imperium of Man.
On those worlds, standardized creations wrought by Tech-Priests covered both the surface and the deep subterranean layers, while countless flame-belching foundries worked day and night to supply the Imperium with weapons, ships, and all manner of support.
In truth, planets like these were less planets and more spherical composite factories.
At the same time, these places were centers of academic research. The scholarly factions of the Adeptus Mechanicus formed branch sects of their own, each carrying out its own private studies.
Gaia knew Solomon intended to sell off the cargo and stockpiled resources that had been sitting on the Spear of Destiny for ages, then hire a large number of new crew members.
Still, she had one question.
"Aren't you an illegal captain? How are you planning to dock?"
Gaia glanced at Solomon and asked in confusion.
"You don't need to worry about that. That's a forge world. The ones really in charge are the Tech-Priests, and for those research addicts with machine oil running through their veins, as long as we don't cause trouble, nothing will happen."
Seeing how confident Solomon looked, Gaia could only choose to believe him.
"I'm planning to stock up on more servitors and have Priestess Lena set their programming properly so there'll be enough hands to handle the ship's routine maintenance."
"I don't know if it's because this ship is too old, but I always get the feeling she's especially prone to accidents."
As Solomon stared ahead beyond the prow and spoke of his plans, he completely failed to notice the faint flicker of embarrassment that passed over Gaia's face.
At that moment, as the Spear of Destiny glided forward at sublight speed, a red, barren world appeared faintly at the edge of the view beyond the observation port, illuminated by the brilliance of the giant gas planet beside it.
That gleaming ruby set against black velvet was Igor III.
After entering the tidal capture range of the massive gas giant nearby, Solomon ordered most of the engine arrays shut down and began relying on the pull of the gravity net to slow their approach toward the forge world.
Following the harmonic communications guidance from the starport, they altered course midway, arrived at Berth Three, underwent a scan by the divination array there, and formally docked outside the atmosphere of Igor III.
"Our ship's badly understaffed, and most of the sailors and crew have been through a lot. Let them all take some leave first."
That was Solomon's decision, so in the end, he chose to bring only Gaia and Priestess Lena down to Igor III.
But to his surprise, Priestess Lena refused his invitation.
"My branch sect has a tiny little ideological conflict with those stiff old fossils. May the Omnissiah have mercy on those rotten, stubborn fools, because I have no intention of dealing with them."
"By the Omnissiah, there are still wounded aboard the ship, along with biological materials that need my care. I'll give you the names of the reagents. You can purchase them for me."
"As for the ship's engines, I'll try using the resources and equipment at the starport to repair them, but don't get your hopes up. My specialization is biological research, after all."
And so, the landing party was reduced to just two people.
Solomon, however, was not worried in the slightest. He believed that with Gaia around, everything was manageable and every problem could be solved.
To avoid being recognized on the forge world, Gaia thought it over carefully and decided to put on a cloak.
...
With the thunderous rumble of the orbital elevator, the two of them formally set foot on this forge world, where even the air itself carried the scent of metal.
In fact, before boarding the elevator, they had passed through a security corridor made up of servo-skulls.
Those skulls, enhanced with penetrating scans and facial recognition capabilities, were used specifically to identify enemies of mankind who might threaten the planet's safety.
In reality, though, judging from the outcome of most Warhammer incidents, that kind of security check seemed utterly useless.
After Gaia passed through the inspection corridor without issue, she even began to suspect that the skulls and the personnel behind them were nothing more than decorations.
And so, the two of them took the orbital elevator down into the inhabited zone of Igor III.
The moment they stepped out, scorching air mixed with drifting dust rushed straight at them.
Gaia raised her head, her eyes beneath the cloak silently watching the layers of heat-distorted air above the hive city.
The environment on this planet was visibly awful.
Seeing it, she could not help but sigh to herself.
God knew what the humans of the Golden Age had stitched into their genome for a place like this to still count as a habitable world.
She was starting to wonder whether humanity in the Warhammer universe had really descended from spacefaring humans of Old Terra, or from cockroaches on Old Terra that had evolved far enough to take human form.
Gaia shook her head and turned her gaze toward the local residents around her.
Even though this was only the middle level of the residential district, most people living here had mechanical augmentations that would be considered extremely expensive on other planets, and the workmanship was quite refined.
Gaia's expression immediately turned a little strange. Was this some kind of bizarre internal promotional strategy used by the Adeptus Mechanicus?
Solomon had not visited any colonies outside a few familiar planets in a very long time, so he looked unusually excited now.
But at the moment, one small problem stood in the way of their grand Igor III adventure.
They were complete strangers here and had no idea where anything was.
Gaia's expression became odd.
This scene reminded her way too much of beginner RPG players on Old Terra trying to do the main quest without opening the map.
Being the sort of person who feared no social interaction, Solomon immediately began dragging people over and asking for directions.
But oddly enough, most of the people he questioned took one look at him, turned away, and left, with open disdain written on their faces.
Solomon was baffled. He turned back toward Gaia with a blank look and spread his hands.
Gaia found it just as strange, so she shook her head and spread her hands back at him.
Refusing to accept defeat, Solomon tried again.
As expected, he returned in total defeat.
Out of options, Solomon could only come back to Gaia's side and say with a wronged look,
"Looks like nobody's willing to give directions."
(End of Chapter)
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