Chapter 270 — Questions of Inheritance
The workshop remained active as always.
Holographic displays floated above nearby workstations. Data scrolled across transparent screens.
This time, however, the group's attention wasn't focused on technology.
It was focused on a table.
Naruto, Mindy, Gaius, Tony, and Catherine Halsey sat around one of the workshop's larger worktables. Unlike the others, this table contained integrated holographic projectors capable of displaying recordings directly above its surface.
Tony looked toward Halsey.
"Since you want to know more about Gaius's world, we might as well show you some videos."
He leaned back slightly in his chair.
"You can ask whatever questions you have afterward."
Halsey's eyes brightened immediately.
The suggestion appealed to her far more than she expected.
The previous recording she had watched, the one involving Gaius, and Admiral Parangosky, had already answered some questions while creating many more.
If there were additional recordings available, then they might provide information that simple explanations could not.
Context.
Behavior.
Culture.
Reality.
Seeing something often revealed details that words alone could never fully capture.
"That would be helpful," Halsey said.
Mindy nodded immediately.
"Indeed. You need to watch these videos if you want to understand more."
A grin appeared on her face.
She had watched many of them countless times.
Some because they were informative.
Others because they were simply fun to watch.
Naruto nodded in agreement.
"Yeah."
He crossed his arms.
"They're pretty cool."
His eyes briefly drifted toward Gaius.
Tony raised a hand.
The table activated instantly.
Soft blue light expanded outward.
The holographic projector hummed quietly.
Then an image began forming above the center of the table.
Everyone's attention shifted toward it.
The first frame appeared.
A battlefield.
Daemon corpses littered the ground.
Broken stone structures stood half-collapsed around a scorched altar.
The ruins bore countless signs of battle.
Destroyed walls.
Blackened earth.
Scattered bodies.
And at the center of everything sat a lone warrior clad in blue power armor.
Silent.
Motionless.
Surrounded by death.
Naruto immediately recognized it.
"Oh!"
He pointed toward the hologram.
"This is the first video!"
"The one from when Gaius joined us!"
Mindy nodded immediately.
"Yep."
For Naruto, the recording was familiar.
For Halsey, it was entirely new.
Her attention locked onto the armored giant sitting amidst the destruction.
At first, she didn't assume it was Gaius.
The previous recording she had watched showed multiple warriors wearing similar armor.
Perhaps this was one of them.
Perhaps a subordinate.
Perhaps another member of whatever military force Gaius belonged to.
Her attention then shifted toward the corpses scattered throughout the ruins.
The creatures were unlike anything she had ever seen.
Twisted.
Distorted.
Some possessed horns.
Others had claws.
Many appeared to have anatomy that made little biological sense.
Their bodies resembled the demons found throughout ancient mythology and religious texts.
For a moment she considered asking if these were the entities they had discussed earlier.
The creatures from the Warp.
Before she could ask, Mindy spoke.
"Gaius really changed a lot."
She watched the hologram with a nostalgic expression.
"Back then, he only looked similar to Titus. His armor was blue."
She glanced toward the giant seated beside them.
"But now his armor looks like it's made of gold."
Halsey blinked.
Her gaze immediately returned to the recording.
The blue-armored warrior.
Gaius.
That was Gaius.
Now that she knew, the similarities became obvious.
The armor was different.
Smaller.
Far less ornate.
Nothing like the golden auramite armor he currently wore.
Yet the build was the same.
The posture was the same.
The sheer presence was unmistakable.
There was no doubt.
It was him.
Halsey's eyes narrowed slightly as the recording continued.
The blue-armored warrior rose and began moving through the battlefield.
He stopped beside one of the fallen warriors.
A compartment in the chest armor opened.
Carefully, Gaius removed a gland-like organ.
Then he moved to another body.
And another.
Repeating the process.
Halsey watched silently.
There was no visible grief.
No ceremony.
No mourning.
No emotional display.
Only duty.
The giant warrior recovered what he had come for and continued onward.
Nothing more.
Nothing less.
Eventually he reached the edge of the ruined shrine.
Partially buried beneath rubble sat a vehicle.
Immediately, Halsey's attention shifted.
The machine looked nothing like anything used by the UNSC.
It was massive.
Armored.
Built entirely for war.
Heavy plating covered its structure.
Twin exhausts sat toward the rear.
Every part of it looked engineered for battle.
Without hesitation, Gaius mounted it.
The engine roared to life.
A moment later the vehicle accelerated.
Halsey's eyes widened slightly.
It moved far faster than something that size should have been capable of moving.
The recording shifted rapidly.
Ruins flashed past.
Then enemies emerged.
Warp-spawned creatures.
Daemons.
They surged from the ruins.
One reached him.
The power sword flashed.
The creature split apart instantly.
Another appeared.
Then another.
And another.
Each died just as quickly.
Gaius never slowed.
Never hesitated.
Never stopped moving.
Within minutes he reached an extraction zone.
A large aircraft waited there.
The ramp lowered.
A pilot stood inside.
The man offered a salute.
Gaius returned nothing verbally and simply boarded.
Moments later the aircraft lifted into the sky.
The ruined world shrank beneath them.
The recording continued.
The aircraft eventually entered a much larger vessel in orbit.
A warship.
Massive enough that even through the recording its scale felt immense.
Then a voice echoed throughout the ship.
Cold.
Emotionless.
"Exterminatus authorization confirmed."
The workshop grew quieter.
A brief pause followed.
"Planetary purge in three."
"Two."
"One."
Halsey's eyes narrowed.
Planetary purge?
Then the viewport filled with light.
Massive beams descended from orbit.
Lances of energy struck the world below.
Entire districts vanished.
Mountains collapsed.
Cities disappeared beneath expanding oceans of fire.
The surface cracked apart.
The scale was difficult to comprehend.
Even through a recording.
The shrine world was dying.
No.
It was being deliberately destroyed.
Nobody interrupted.
Nobody spoke.
The workshop remained completely silent.
The recording showed Gaius standing before the viewport.
Watching.
Motionless.
The destruction reflected across the armored giant's visor.
Then his voice finally broke the silence.
"The Imperium endures."
A brief pause followed.
"Not all who live are meant to be saved."
The recording ended.
The hologram vanished.
Silence lingered.
Gaius remained silent.
He offered no explanation.
No commentary.
No defense.
Nothing.
Naruto leaned back slightly.
Mindy did the same.
"No matter how many times I watch it," Mindy said, "it's still awesome."
Naruto nodded.
"Yeah."
He scratched the back of his head.
"Even if it's kinda... heavy."
Mindy shrugged.
"I wasn't even in the chat yet when that happened."
She pointed toward the now-empty projector.
"But the chat saved it, so I just downloaded it later."
Naruto glanced toward her.
"Still weird how casual you are about it."
Mindy simply shrugged again.
Tony didn't comment.
His attention remained fixed on Halsey.
And Halsey hadn't moved.
She continued staring at the empty space where the recording had been.
Silent.
Thinking.
The battlefield.
The daemons.
The recovery of the organs.
The military discipline.
The vehicle.
The destruction of an entire world.
And Gaius's final statement.
The images replayed through her mind one after another.
The implications were enormous.
Tony finally spoke.
"You can start asking questions."
A moment passed.
"If you have any."
The words pulled Halsey back to reality.
She slowly lifted her gaze.
There were many questions.
Far too many.
But one detail stood out more than the others.
Those organs.
The ones Gaius had recovered from the fallen warriors.
"Those... organs he removed from the fallen soldiers."
She paused briefly.
"What exactly are they used for?"
Almost immediately, another question followed.
"And are they always recovered after death?"
Her eyes narrowed slightly.
Focused.
Analytical.
Gaius answered without hesitation.
"I took the progenoid glands."
The unfamiliar term settled over the table.
"They are part of the gene-seed."
Halsey listened carefully.
"They carry the genetic material from which we are made."
A brief pause followed.
"Through them, new Astartes can be created."
Halsey's attention sharpened immediately.
The significance was obvious.
This wasn't merely battlefield recovery.
It was something much more important.
Gaius continued.
"Yes. We Ultramarines recover them whenever possible. It is one of our duties."
Halsey remained silent, listening.
"Some are harvested while a battle-brother still lives, once they have matured," Gaius said in the same calm, matter-of-fact tone. "Others are recovered from the dead."
He paused briefly.
"If a brother falls, his gene-seed is not lost unless we fail to retrieve it."
The explanation clarified the process, but not its importance.
Halsey folded her arms.
"Why is it so important?"
Gaius answered immediately.
"Because every progenoid is a future warrior."
The simplicity of the answer made it even more significant.
"It is how the Chapter preserves itself."
Halsey absorbed that as Gaius continued.
"The gene-seed of the Adeptus Astartes was originally derived from the Primarchs."
A new term appeared.
Primarch.
Halsey became still.
The organs suddenly carried far greater meaning. They were not merely biological tissue but an inheritance, a lineage and a means of preserving an entire military order across generations.
Every recovered gland protected the future. Every loss mattered. Every battlefield recovery ensured continuity.
Their strength was not merely trained. It was cultivated, preserved, and passed from one generation to the next through a biological legacy unlike anything she had encountered before.
She understood its importance immediately.
The implications were difficult to ignore.
If the underlying principles behind the creation of an Astartes could be studied, they might offer valuable insights for improving humanity's own augmentation programs. Even the possibility was enough to capture her interest.
But one word remained.
One word that seemed central to everything.
Primarch.
Halsey looked toward Gaius.
"Primarch."
She repeated the term quietly.
Her gaze remained fixed on him.
"What is that exactly?"
The workshop fell silent once more.
~~~
Enjoying the story? Want to support future chapters and help this world grow?
Check out my Patreon here:
patreon.com/ZanderLee
Every bit of support keeps me writing, thank you.