Chapter 5: Blood Resonance from the Primarch
Omega found the behavior strange. Military personnel would have searched his bedroom directly. If they were his subordinates, they would have called before knocking.
"A thief?" The absurdity of the thought left him speechless.
He flashed to the door and opened it, using the dim light from the hallway to scan the area. No one. After switching on the lights, he inspected every corner but found nothing missing. Even the power armor and Pale Spear in the locked storage remained intact.
Nothing taken. Omega mulled it over. "A very interesting thief... or is it?"
He grabbed a small light and shone it at the entrance, soon discovering unusual dust patterns on the floor. Based on the proportions, he was surprised to find that the footprints were exceptionally large.
After estimating the visitor to be over two meters tall, Omega also discovered they hadn't exited through the main door, they'd simply vanished from the hallway.
After searching thoroughly, he found fresh marks on the window ledge. He looked down at the street hundreds of meters below and wondered what the intruder had intended.
Breaking in at such risk just to... leave? What was he even trying to do? Show off? Hmph, in front of him.
"Maybe it was a greeting?" Omega returned to the sofa, turning the mystery over in his mind.
At that moment, in a brightly lit corridor elsewhere in the tower, three Alpha Legion Astartes in blue-gray power armor stood facing each other, bolters in hand. They realized no one was pursuing them.
One whispered, "Brothers, you felt that strange sensation in your blood just now, didn't you? Like facing our...?"
Silence fell over them, then another suddenly interjected, "You mean like facing our Primarch. But the Primarch isn't on this planet right now. Who is this Omega? Why does he give us the same feeling of gene-kindred closeness as our Primarch? It is impossible."
"His appearance matches our Alpharius exactly, and there's that blood resonance," the first continued.
"This is a sensation one only experiences when facing a Primarch. Either this Omega is an imposter, or..."
The third spoke with shock, "Are you suggesting our Legion has two Primarchs? That's wishful thinking, impossible. There are only twenty Primarchs in existence. This is a fact. Our Primarch has always been with us; he just didn't make a public return to the Crusade yet."
"Then how do you explain that all three of us felt this Omega, even through a closed door?"
The three were bewildered. They'd never encountered anything like this. All their knowledge told them that an Astartes Legion had only one Primarch. The Imperium had twenty Primarchs total.
Then what manner of existence was this Omega? Another Primarch or something worse?
One Alpha legionnaire pondered for a long time before speaking seriously, "The gene-resonance cannot lie. No matter how advanced the Rangda's technology becomes, they lack the capability to create something like this. If it's genuine, we must address this immediately; otherwise, it poses a devastating threat to all Astartes."
"This Omega can easily kill Rangda Cerabvore elites and destroy their war-beasts," another added. "His strength cannot be questioned. He has also been protecting these lines for a month. We must contact our Primarch and have him handle this personally."
"Yes, the Rangda don't have what it takes to recreate Emperor's Miracle," the third replied. " I shall not lie, brothers, but I'm actually looking forward to this. The possibilities alone if they favour us will be worthy of a great feast."
The three Alpha Legion warriors had initially assumed Omega was one of their own operating covertly on this world.
They'd come immediately to greet a brother. What they hadn't expected was to encounter Primarch-level gene-resonance, which shocked them into immediate withdrawal.
The three Space Marines didn't hesitate. They swiftly returned to their warship to transmit intelligence directly to their Primarch, Alpharius.
The Next Morning
Omega stood by the window in full power armor, gripping the Pale Spear. He'd been awake all night, but his extraordinary stamina meant he felt no discomfort. The mysterious visitor hadn't returned.
Recalling what he'd done over the past month and his conversation with the doctor, he realized a third-party force had intervened; otherwise, the military wouldn't be acting so strangely.
Through his armor's vox-link, he reconnected with his subordinate, Royce. The connection was established shortly.
"Boss, we worked half the night but still haven't found any trace of Doctor Hermo. His family, however, is still at their residence. The research institute also shows no signs of military intervention...it's as if he vanished into thin air!"
Omega frowned. "Vanished? Our agents assigned to protect him at the institute didn't notice anyone either?"
Royce replied hesitantly, "N—no , Boss. This method doesn't seem like something the planetary military or official intelligence would do. It's impossible to leave no trace and evade our surveillance unless... unless...!"
"Unless what? Are you sauggeting Imperium? Are they already here?" Omega replied casually, though he suspected in his heart that only the Imperium possessed such capability.
"Yes, we just received information that an Imperial Navy Luna-class cruiser docked at the spaceport yesterday afternoon. We suspect an important figure may have arrived on our planet, but the authorities are maintaining strict secrecy!"
"Understood. Keep monitoring the cruiser's movements. Notify me immediately if you get any information."
"Yes, Boss!"
Omega disconnected and reviewed the intelligence. He estimated that Imperial military personnel had been sent to investigate the power armor he possessed. Technologies like refractor field defenses couldn't be researched by even the technologically advanced Balsavor, nor any other world he'd encountered.
Don't let the refractor field's appearance fool you; what seemed to be merely an energy shield mounted on power armor represented technological sophistication that couldn't be researched by a single star system alone.
Any civilization capable of developing void shield technology was a galactic power. The emergence of such shields represented a new tier of civilization entirely.
Warships equipped with energy shields dramatically increased their survivability, deflecting las-fire and macro-cannon attacks. Similarly, if a city possessed a void shield, its defensive capability rose exponentially.
Without breaching the shield, there was no way to harm the city beneath.
Refractor field technology required advanced energy manipulation; without powerful energy sources, shields couldn't sustain themselves. Currently, the Imperium's energy shields were typically equipped only on warships and Astartes power armor.
Shield technology represented a higher-tier civilization, enabling the development of power weapons with devastating destructive capacity. Tanks, artillery, power armor, warships, aircraft, Titans, all could be cleaved through with a single strike from a power weapon.
How could the Imperium allow such devastating high-level technology to spread and be researched by xenos or other human worlds?
Yet the miraculous achievements of the Astartes over the past century had made countless xenos and lost human civilizations envious. Whenever they had the chance, they hoped to acquire power armor for study, even salvaged fragments from battlefields.
The technologically advanced world where Omega resided couldn't crack refractor field technology, but they could repair power armor for reuse. Even Omega coveted this shield technology, but apparently, the Imperial military had sent investigators rather than reinforcements.
Omega's thoughts returned to the present. Without hesitation, he quickly packed and took a transport flyer. Half an hour later, he arrived at a backup apartment.
After settling in and hearing the urgent alarms outside, Omega still chose to go out and assist the planetary military against the Rangda.
At that moment, in the core city, the tallest and most magnificent structure, the Governor's residence, stood over a thousand meters tall, surrounded by numerous patrol craft.
Within one of the hundreds of floors lay a resplendent and spacious office, red carpets covering the floor, exquisite decorations adorning every surface.
[End of Chapter]