Griya's technical team arrived at Mai Mai and Twilight's Sword-Class frigate shortly after.
Leading them was a female Sage with long golden hair, a rare sight for a Tech-Priest. Seeing her, Mai Mai and Twilight couldn't help but inwardly grumble that Huang Lao Han must have a thing for porridge, as this taste was too strong.
Regardless of their inner thoughts, Mai Mai still stepped forward to face the group of red-robed figures and bowed to them, saying, "Greetings to the servants of the god of machines. May the omnissiah bless you. Welcome to the Gabbro. I am Rogue Trader Mailin."
"Greetings to you too, Rogue Trader Sir."
The leading female Sage performed a gear salute to Mai Mai before introducing herself, "You can call me Wise One Christen. These three are my attendants: Sage Seleya, Sage He Mo, and Sage Muirsaith.
Although, according to the Adeptus Mechanicus' internal titles, you should refer to me as an Archmandrite, this title is too complex for you, so just call me Sage.
Also, please properly accommodate the Adeptus Militarus we brought. While it's not a lack of trust in your esteemed party, this is a necessary security escort."
The internal titles of the Adeptus Mechanicus are incredibly intricate. Unless one is an internal member of the Adeptus Mechanicus, outsiders trying to understand their changing titles are truly making things difficult for themselves.
"Understood, Wise One Christen." Mai Mai naturally wasn't willing to try and remember those titles that only the Adeptus Mechanicus themselves meticulously differentiated. He smoothly called her Sage as per Kristen's request and said to them, "I have already prepared rooms and a welcome banquet for you all. May I ask if the Sages would prefer to enjoy the banquet first, or rest in your rooms first?"
Facing Mai Mai's invitation, the Sages exchanged data briefly, then Kristen spoke, "Since you have prepared a banquet, we would not want to decline your kind intentions. Sage Seleya and I will attend the banquet. Sage He Mo and Sage Muirsaith need to rest first."
"Very well, this way please." Mai Mai led the way, guiding the four towards the upper deck.
—
That night, in the ship's captain's quarters, Mai Mai was discussing the matter of Kristen and her team with Twilight.
"Archmandrite, if I'm not mistaken, isn't that a title for the Adeptus Mechanicus's Praetorian Guard?" Although Twilight wasn't an Adeptus Mechanicus player, she still had some understanding of this.
Mai Mai simply nodded at Twilight's words: "A figure of real power on a Forge World, second only to the Forging Supervisor and Deputy Supervisor. It seems that even when the Chief Executive changes worlds, the style is off, but he still holds power."
"Sounds like a high-ranking official, but do you think this group of theirs is really just for technical exchange?" Twilight looked at Mai Mai, voicing her doubts.
Mai Mai just shook his head at this question, offering no reply.
They both knew that the Sages of the Adeptus Mechanicus were highly influential figures; it was rare enough to see one or two, let alone several Sages appearing together.
Although an Orbital Ring order was a big business, it wasn't important enough to warrant deploying an entire technical team composed of Sages.
Especially with an Archmandrite leading them, a top-tier figure of real power, second only to the Forging Supervisor and Deputy Supervisor.
"The Adeptus Mechanicus's technical exchange... I'm afraid they'll be speaking with General's Cannons and Titans." Mai Mai grumbled, but then said, "I actually think they might be more interested in the Stellar Orbital Ring I mentioned."
"You mean they're going there to repair the Stellar Orbital Ring?" Twilight was momentarily stunned, but then asked doubtfully, "But we don't have the capability to construct a Stellar Orbital Ring! Even if we dismantled the entire Sub-Sector, we wouldn't have enough mineral resources to build such a Stellar Orbital Ring, would we?"
"Dismantling the entire Sub-Sector certainly wouldn't be enough, but if we could extract matter from a star, then it wouldn't necessarily be insufficient." Mai Mai had some conjectures about this. He explained to Twilight, "The Tech-Priests have unearthed a technology called the Spaceborne Particle Excavator. Although they don't possess this technology themselves right now, once they find it, they'll be able to dismantle stars and refine mineral elements from stellar resources.
While a significant amount of material is needed to build a ring, it's nothing compared to the star itself."
"But they still need to have that technology, right? From what you're saying, they don't have it, do they?" Twilight was a bit confused. Since the Tech-Priests didn't have this technology, why were they making such a large investment?
"That's the problem. What exactly is the purpose of Kristen and this team?" Mai Mai was also undecided and could only furrow his brows in thought.
If the Adeptus Mechanicus had already found this technology, then Kristen's grand display wouldn't be surprising.
But if they hadn't found the technology, their continued grand display was truly suspicious.
"By the way, is this Spaceborne Particle Excavator something GW has written about?" Twilight suddenly became curious about this technology that could be used to build a Stellar Orbital Ring.
Mai Mai nodded, then explained, "GW itself mentioned this in the Leagues of Votann's description. This is human technology from the Dark Age of Technology. The Squats of Votann brought it to the galactic core, specifically to dismantle nascent stars to obtain elements and energy."
"Holy crap, that sounds incredibly awesome! A mining machine that can dismantle stars!" Twilight immediately became interested in this thing and couldn't help but imagine, "If we had this thing, dismantled stars to build Stellar Orbital Rings, wouldn't that be like turning into Stellaris?"
"Humans in the Dark Age of Technology probably really did play the Stellaris script, but we probably can't do that. This kind of technology should only be with the Space Dwarves and the Mars Mechanicus headquarters now. The Imperial Palace perhaps..." At this point, Mai Mai paused, his eyes showing a look of shock and sudden realization as he looked at Twilight.
Twilight also understood what he was saying and likewise showed a shocked expression.
The two seemed to have reached some consensus and both chose to 'log off'.
Back in the 3k era, the two opened their eyes and saw Luka and 32 chatting nearby. Gutierrez didn't seem to be out yet, so the two directly checked the exchange list on the servitor skull.
"What's wrong with you two? What are you looking for?" Luka noticed their strange expressions and behavior, so he asked curiously.
"Spaceborne Particle Excavator, Luka, see if you can exchange for this thing!" Twilight said to Luka with a hint of urgency.
"Why are you looking for that?" Luka was a bit confused but still opened his own exchange list and started searching.
--+--
T/N: While I am an inexperienced Translator, I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, webnovel will get 2 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
patreon.com/TripleCrown07
If you guys wanna check it out.