Chapter 397 The Secret of the Eldar (Part 2)
The whispers continued, but a chorus of soft voices replaced the words and laughter, and everyone’s ears seemed to be covered with a thin layer of silk. Fog - even the sound coming through is hissing and distorted.
Valier had been listening for nearly half an hour, his casual interest turning into keen attention and soon into rapt concentration.
Septimus looked at the apothecary more often than at the holographic projection, and he noticed that Valier's pale lips never stopped trembling as he tried to translate the unfamiliar words in his mind.
"My lord——"
Septimus tried again, but was interrupted by a raised fist.
If he opens his mouth again, Valier will probably call him.
"Dietrian."
After a few heartbeats, Valek spoke.
"What's wrong? Skinner, what do you hear in the Eldar's voice?"
"The game has changed, let me go to the ground of Nathan No. 6."
As soon as these words came out, Dietrian's spectacle lenses immediately rotated in a circle and refocused in the eye sockets.
"I will take negative action against procedures that completely violate Talos' orders and plans, or require you to submit sufficient reasons."
Valiel did not answer immediately, still listening distractedly In the Eldar language, Septimus thought it sounded like some kind of song, sung by people who wanted their voices to be heard.
It was great but still gave him goosebumps.
"The game has changed."
A minute later, Valier repeated his previous words.
He turned around the simple podium and scanned everything with his cold blue eyes, but saw nothing.
Dietrian was indifferent to Valier's whispers in the distance.
“I reiterate my opinion, if you want to amend the clause, it becomes a requirement, then provide sufficient reasons, otherwise you have no authority to issue an order.”
Valere finally focused his eyes on something—specifically, Dietrian, who was wearing a red robe and had a skull face half hidden in the folds of his hood.
"The Eldar——"
Valier said softly:
"They whispered their prophecies, and the Eighth Legion in the following decades Bleed them mercilessly, do you understand? They don't pursue us because Talos's mind screams... They curse our stupidity, they need to cut their unwanted future from the shackles of fate."
Dietrian made a false abort sound, the equivalent of a contemptuous snort.
"Enough, the alien's witchcraft is irrelevant, and the alien's superstition is irrelevant. The order I received is the most important thing."
Valier's eyes turned to the distance again, and he listened to the alien Sing in their whispers.
“That’s it.”
The pharmacist blinked and stared at the bishop again.
"You don't understand, they're trying to prevent some future. Something that's not yet to come, where Talos leads the Eighth Legion in a crusade against their dying species, and they sing, like children do Pray, hope God has mercy on them, do you hear me? ”
Septimus stepped back, leaving a narrow path for the apothecary.
Valier walked over and stared at the sitting bishop. Septimus had never seen Valier with such a high temper.
The pharmacist was describing something almost through gritted teeth.
"They are out to kill a future that scares them! One that they won't allow to happen! It's a huge risk for them, so they corner us using the Ghost Piloted The ships are chasing us! That’s how they want Talos to die.”
Dietrian repeated the negative voice.
"Everything you say is pure speculation based on xenos."
"What if they are right? The Prophets of the Eighth Legion will rise at the end of the Dark Millennium and bleed the Eldar. Far more than their dwindling population can handle! Damn it, are you blind to anything other than work? Listen to me, you heretical sorcerers, in the future they see. , the prophet destroyed their craft world!”
Dietrian had to admit that he was trying to make a decision.
Talos had asked him to take a series of actions to get both the people and the cargo off the ship safely, but the apothecary came up with a persuasive reason - even if that reason could not be boiled down to practicality and possibility.
"To deal with the odds of this ship surviving a direct engagement with an enemy fleet requires the kind of calculations that few biological minds can comprehend, and suffice it to say, you understand, we The chances of winning are slim.”
Dietrian might have grinned right then and there if he had smiled sincerely, rather than as a natural byproduct of a metal skull.
He was extremely proud of his ability to understate things.
But Valier was neither moved nor amused.
"Adjust the gears that are ringing behind your eyes. If the Eldar are so afraid of this prophecy coming true, that means Talos may survive this war, and we have a chance... My brother's destiny is never to die miserably in this worthless world, and I intend to give him a chance and let him seize it." Dietrian's cold appearance did not even change.
"Talos's last orders are still in effect. This container is now the gene-seed repository of more than a hundred fallen soldiers of the Eighth Legion. This genetic material must reach the Great Eye. This is my oath to Talos. I swear this promise." .”
This last sentence made him very uncomfortable.
"You should run, but I won't."
Valier turned to Septimus.
“No. 7.”
"My lord?"
"Prepare your gunship and take me off Nessen-6."
Just when Valere announced that he was leaving the shuttle, Octavia She was doing something that she had not dared to do for a long time - using her talents to try to peek into the outline of the subspace.
It took her a long time to calm down her nerves before risking being Seeing the danger of the unnecessary presence, he closed his eyes and untied his hood.
The rest didn't take much time, in fact it was almost easy - similar to the feeling of falling halfway down a difficult climb.
Once the Eurydice of her family, Octavia may not have been born with the blood of a powerful navigator, but her experiences aboard the moody but determined ship of the Eighth Legion honed the skills she possesses.
As she stared into the endless black tide, she couldn't help but wonder where her and Septimus' path lay, and how they could escape the fate of entering the Eye of Terror.
This thought seemed less pessimistic than before, and she didn't know why.
Seeing the Sea of Souls was as simple as opening her third eye, and while she knew some Navigators would allow spirits to enter the Warp, she did not need to enter.
Her father could only see the warp with three eyes open, she never knew why, they both had their own personal habits.
When she saw it, she just watched the ebb and flow of the half-formed nothingness with mysterious eyes, shapeless but like a tide, shapeless but like a snake.
Shamans and witches from the primitive era of ancient Terra would think this is no different from their rituals of peering into the mysterious hell.
But as she searched, she couldn't help but hold her breath each time, until her beating heart and aching lungs forced her to breathe again.
She realizes that on some logical level she is projecting sights through the evil warp, perhaps even projecting fragments of consciousness into space - but Octavia is unconcerned with this concept.
What matters is what she can find with her second sight.
Not so long ago, they had run again and again through the Eldar blockade, following the path of least resistance through the tide, she guiding the cursed echo as best she could, riding the waves.
She has been caught between two states, looking at the broken subspace and feeling her hands on her swollen belly.
Now free from the stress of navigating the warp, she was free to gaze upon it.
Ottavia stared harder, her eyes reaching deeper, beyond the black shadows beyond the light of the star torch, searching for any source of light in the conflicting clouds.
For the first time she began to see what Talos had done.
The collision of demonic substances was torn by savage wounds and seeping into each other before her eyes.
She could hear her name in the stormy waves, a whisper, a scream, a howl...
Ottavia pulled herself back and opened her eyes.
The Warp is always changing, and it was reactivated in the hours after the Scream first sounded.
Now, however, she is preparing to guide a strange ship into unnavigable territory.
The navigator replaced her bandana, tied her ponytail back, and stretched on the uncomfortable throne, trying to relieve the pressure on her back.
She thought about the attendants standing outside the door. They must be crowded in the narrow corridor.
Missing Septimus in a distant manner is in itself a painful thing.
More importantly, no matter how reluctant she was to admit it, even to herself—she wanted Septimus to be with her.
How foolish to fall in love in the darkest galaxy, in the darkest corner.
As Octavia shifted in her seat, her eyes widened with sudden shock at the news she had just received.
This message was sent by Septimus. It was short, but it made her heart drop to hell.
Then she slowly put a hand on her belly and felt the new life moving inside her body.
(End of this chapter)