"He is a faithful and wise servant of the Omnissiah, and the leading figure of the sect devoted to the teachings of Arkhan Land."
"It was he who led Ulizar and me across the galaxy, chasing after the other derivative creations of the Land Raider, one of the most valuable STCs ever discovered by the greatest explorer of all."
"By the Omnissiah, it was that expedition that left his brain with catastrophic damage that not even sacred circuitry could repair, forcing him to retreat from the forefront."
"And the other sects on Mars took the opportunity to seize our resources. Then, after Ulizar formally betrayed us, they simply drove us out altogether."
"The reason I came to Igor III and tried to establish myself here was so that, one day, I could return beneath the Omnissiah's roof with my mentor at my side."
"Unfortunately, if my mentor had not lost heart, and if he had been willing to stand with me, then most of the power systems of this ancient relic could certainly have been repaired, aside from its core component and central control system."
At that point, the Forge Lord let out a long sigh.
In his eyes, if such an ancient and rare humanoid machine could be mostly restored, then even if it did not qualify as a standard STC pattern, it would still stir no small uproar on Mars.
And when that time came, the members of the Adeptus Mechanicus, who always claimed to honor scholarship above all else, would have no choice but to welcome both him and his mentor back.
The truth was, he himself felt no attachment at all to that sacred mechanical world filled with factional scheming and suppression.
But his mentor had poured the work of a lifetime into that place.
If such a devout servant of the Omnissiah were to die without ever returning to the halls of the Machine God, then that would be far too cruel and far too unjust.
And yet, after all these years of effort, just when he had finally glimpsed a sliver of hope for clearing his mentor's name, that hope had been obstructed by his mentor's own loss of will.
He believed that if only his mentor could see this ruined machine with his own eyes, then the old fire of research would reignite immediately.
But simple as that sounded, it was the one thing this Forge Lord found hardest to accomplish.
Just as he was sighing to himself, a thought suddenly appeared in his mind.
His bionic eye shifted, landing on Solomon and Gaia in the distance.
Their surface identities might be able to help him...
And so, the Forge Lord moved forward on his four mechanical legs, stopping before the two of them and asking in a low voice,
"I wonder if you would be willing to do me a favor."
"You have seen this machine, and you know now of the history between Ulizar and me. Yes, I have always sought a chance to clear my mentor's name, and from what I can see now, repairing this machine is the closest I have ever come to achieving that goal."
"By the Omnissiah's lungs, but from the looks of it, repairing it will require my mentor's knowledge and experience."
"Yet after being driven from Mars into the Jericho Sector, he lost heart, left the core forge worlds of the Mechanicus behind, and instead went to a knight world to spend the remainder of his life."
"However, aside from knowing the specific world, I have no idea where exactly he is on it now, nor what he is doing."
"Knight worlds are notoriously closed societies, and that feudal world called Swuvi is especially so. The Magris family there, in order to ensure the stability of their rule from generation to generation, rejects all representatives of faith except for those of the Imperial Creed."
"Though I am now pushed aside by other branches within the Mechanicus, I still hold some status in the Cult, and because of that, the Magris family would absolutely view me as a religious figure who might threaten their rule."
"They need our technological support, yes, but at the same time they bear the responsibility of supplying us with food and military training, so they are not afraid of the Mechanicus."
"If I act rashly, I will inevitably anger the knightly nobility."
"May the Omnissiah forgive me, but as the Forge Lord of Igor III, I am constantly watched by the Fabricator-Governor here. If I do anything that might harm relations between the knight world and the forge world, then the other sects that have been waiting to bring us down will absolutely seize the opportunity to strike."
"At that point, never mind clearing our names. Those sects that have long resented the vast resources we once controlled may well demand our total eradication."
"But if it were you two, then it likely would not provoke that kind of reaction from the Magris family."
"Besides, the amount of time you have spent operating on Igor III has, so far, been extremely short."
"No one would suspect that two people who have been planetside for less than ten hours could possibly have any close ties with an old forge relic who has remained shut away studying here for more than a century."
At that, the Forge Lord fell silent.
But the meaning of his words was already perfectly clear to Gaia and Solomon.
Their mentor, the teacher of both him and Ulizar, had lost all heart after being expelled from Mars. And now, by sheer chance, the Forge Lord had discovered that the ancient mechanical relic, once cut off from them by the stasis field, might become the key to both their return to Mars.
The problem was that the relic's core was now missing and the body itself was badly damaged.
If it was to be repaired, they would have to go to the knight world where the old master had secluded himself, find that elderly forge-master whose present location and identity were both unknown, rekindle his hope, and then have him restore the relic.
But because the other Mechanicus branches wanted to crush their once-rising sect completely, the Forge Lord could not risk sending people to search for his mentor under his own name and give them a pretext to attack him.
Which made it obvious that Gaia and Solomon, two outsiders with no direct formal ties to him or the Mechanicus behind him, were the perfect runners for the job.
Gaia looked at the Forge Lord and had the strange feeling that a giant glowing quest marker had appeared above his head.
As for the request he had made, Gaia could not exactly be said to be overjoyed.
It would be more accurate to say that she wanted to accept it immediately.
Just moments ago, she had still been worrying about how to find Dushi a body so the riddle-speaking Men of Iron could finish telling her the rest of what it knew.
And now, the Forge Lord had practically delivered that opportunity straight to her.
But the problem now was that her willingness to accept did not mean Solomon would feel the same.
So she turned her eyes toward Solomon, who was currently stroking his chin in thought.
After a moment of consideration, he put away his teasing grin and shook his head.
"With all due respect, honored Forge Lord, your request reaches a little too deep into the dangerous waters of your Cult."
"My ship is small, my crew is thin, and I worry about getting swallowed by the waves."
A trace of disappointment appeared on the remaining half of the Forge Lord's human face, and he tried offering terms.
"If you agree to my request, then not only will I personally repair your badly damaged Cobra-class destroyer free of charge, I will also purchase your goods at three times the normal price, and..."
Before he could finish, Solomon's righteous voice rang out:
"Damn it, I can't believe bastards like Ulizar still exist in this galaxy. I, Captain Harlock, have never been able to stand injustice!"
"Honored Forge Lord, the affairs of the Mechanicus are my affairs. I, Solomon Harlock, cannot refuse!"
"This vindication, in the name of justice, is something I have to help with!"
(End of Chapter)
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