Upon hearing Jaghatai Khan's words, both Guilliman and the Lion stared wide-eyed at the syringe in Vulkan's hand. Observing the flicker of temptation in Guilliman's gaze, Vulkan was perplexed.
"Brother Guilliman, why do you look at me so?"
Guilliman hesitated, then asked, "Could you try giving me a dose?"
The Lion, however, was filled with skepticism. "Are you certain this trinket will have any effect on us?"
Without a word, Vulkan jammed the injection device against the side of the Lion's neck. The pressure-activated mechanism immediately drove the Panacea into the Lion's system. It caught the Primarch off guard, and though he did not believe Vulkan would harm him, he could not help but tense up.
The effects were instantaneous. A familiar, surging sense of power flooded through the Lion. The subtle decay brought about by ten millennia of dormancy was smoothed away; his features reverted to how they had appeared ages ago, and his physical condition returned to its absolute prime. More curiously, an ethereal, unnatural psychic aura began to swirl around him.
Vulkan wore an "as I expected" expression, while Guilliman's eyes gleamed with anticipation. Jaghatai silently resolved that as soon as he returned to Chogoris, he would ensure he received a dose as well.
Vulkan watched the drug take hold and reached into a side compartment of his power armour to pull out another injector. He handed it to Guilliman. The Regent was exhilarated, yet he did not inject it immediately. His situation was far more complex; he needed to be in the presence of his Chapter's apothecaries before experimenting. If possible, he even wanted to recall Belisarius Cawl, who was still busy tinkering with Blackstone technology. After all, no one wanted to spend their entire existence entombed in power armour, not even a Primarch.
Axion had previously delivered a batch of Panacea to Ultramar, but Guilliman had been far too occupied to study its properties, let alone know if it would affect a Primarch. But seeing the proof before his eyes, he was moved.
He had once asked Eldrad whether he would ever be able to remove his Armour of Fate. After a long, winding soliloquy, the Farseer had arrived at a meaningless conclusion: he could, and yet he could not. To avoid catastrophe, Guilliman had been forced to cautiously attempt brief periods out of the armour. He had gradually learned to use his willpower to withstand the discomfort of detachment, but that did not mean his body had truly healed. Every attempt had only reinforced the realization that his wounds were tethered to his very soul and will.
Since the miracle of the Emperor had descended to ignite Nurgle's Garden, Guilliman had not felt such discomfort, yet he remained wary of his own physiology. But this was the Panacea. For a moment, Guilliman looked at the vial in his hand, filled with expectation.
Axion, having assumed direct control of the automata, observed the four Primarchs' stabilized emotional states. He projected a supply manifest, the Aeldari's "ransom," while continuously scanning the Lion, who was now wreathed in that strange, swirling psychic energy. It appeared to be a form of enhanced biological componentry, yet the psychic state remained volatile.
Guilliman, in high spirits, waved a hand and declared that the Ultramarines would cover the cost of these supplies, promising to have Marneus Calgar personally oversee the delivery. Axion nodded in acknowledgment.
The Lion nodded as well, then suddenly lashed out with a kick, knocking Guilliman, armour and all, flat onto the deck.
Vulkan and Jaghatai simultaneously covered their faces with their hands.
Caught completely off guard, Guilliman crushed the injector in his hand. His expression froze, staring as the glowing tonic dripped from his gauntlet, mixing with the shards of the shattered syringe as they fell to the floor. The metal decking seemed to come alive; nanites emerged from the surface, converged, and swallowed the spilled liquid and debris, decomposing everything until not a trace remained.
Axion watched Guilliman's stunned expression, then controlled the machine to slowly help him to his feet.
"Analysis of facial micro-expressions suggests Imperial Regent Guilliman desires the Panacea. Does he require a ration of such medical supplies? As an assisted party, the Iron Men can provide various forms of aid, including basic emergency care."
Guilliman shook off his stupor. "Can the Panacea be provided as basic medical supplies?"
Axion did not hesitate. "The synthesis cost for such medical supplies is negligible. As low-value consumables, they can be provided as a complimentary allotment."
A holographic projection appeared before Guilliman. It displayed a numeric box marked with cubic volume, accompanied by a footnote: [Volumes under 10,000 cubic metres, including storage containers, are provided free of charge. Amounts exceeding 10,000 cubic metres require payment for container construction materials.]
Guilliman's eye twitched inexplicably. How much was in that last syringe, thirty millilitres?
He reached out, entered '10,000' into the input box, and pressed confirm. His mood began to recover. He turned toward the Lion, who had just ambushed him, prepared to vent his anger, but upon seeing the Lion's now-youthful face, he faltered again.
Satisfied that the two would not come to blows, Jaghatai turned to the Iron Man by Guilliman's side.
"The Aeldari's behavior is bizarre, yet they did reveal certain intelligence. Iron Man, what is your decision?"
Axion tilted his head toward the Khan and re-projected the content of the Aeldari prophecy.
"Based on historical records, the Aeldari are adept at deception and fabricating narratives to obscure their true objectives. Furthermore, prophecy itself is not absolute. During the age of the Federation, repeated empirical evidence proved that their prophecies are unreliable and lacking in accuracy."
"The credibility and precision of these predictions are highly suspect."
"This unit advises against adoption."
"The Crusade of Retribution faces only one core issue: how to locate the lairs of those so-called Chaos Gods."
Hearing Axion's cold logic, the four Primarchs fell into a reflective silence. The Warp was infinitely vast and profoundly anomalous; Chaos corruption was ubiquitous, and the Imperium possessed no means to study it thoroughly.
After a moment of hesitation, Jaghatai offered a suggestion. "If Russ can hunt for the Tree of Life in the Warp, he must have his own unique methods. Perhaps by finding Russ, we can find a way to locate those Dark Gods?"
"Furthermore, as far as I am aware, Corax has also gone missing in the Warp. If we could encounter him, perhaps we would find even more avenues of approach?"
Jaghatai's proposal was sound. Axion's myriad calculation arrays immediately began to simulate the possibilities. The Federation's research into the Warp had been based on foundations established before the birth of the Ruinous Powers. After such long eons, Axion could not be certain of the current state of the Warp; much of his data was obsolete or invalidated. This was a severe disadvantage for the war to come. Star maps were useless within the Warp, and the reflections of the cosmos shifted randomly from moment to moment.
However, Axion had made highly specific preparations. Across the galaxy, he had scattered Warp-energy separation devices throughout the Imperial borders. These devices permeated the galaxy, providing the Guardian-class vessels with the destructive energy required to power their Ectoplasmic Dissociation weaponry. At the same time, these nodes formed a vast, latent network upon the surface of the Warp.
By utilizing the transit trajectories of the Guardian-class ships that constantly escorted the Imperium's Black Ships, Axion possessed a dynamic, shifting map of the Warp's surface layers.
The only issue was that it was a map of the shallowest layer of the Warp, and it was perpetually unstable. The distances between nodes in realspace meant nothing within the currents of the Immaterium. Axion had indeed failed to find any targets resembling the lairs of the Chaos Gods, forcing the Iron Man to consider Jaghatai's proposal: finding the Primarchs lost in the Warp might be the only way to effectively increase their efficiency, treating the Aeldari's prophecy as nothing more than a secondary reference.