"Agreed," Osiris' synthetic voice resounded, making a decision. "I accept your invitation, Captain Kirk. I also wish to witness firsthand the heights that human civilization in this dimension has reached."
He turned to Maine's crew and Valerie, giving a brief command: "Prepare for transfer."
Soon, under Kirk's arrangements, the group, accompanied by the familiar light of decomposition and recombination from the Enterprise's transporter system, vanished from the cavern of the Genesis Test Site.
The next moment, they appeared in the Enterprise's spacious and brightly lit transporter room.
Even Maine's crew members, who had experienced the desolation of a Death World, the grandeur of a Forge World, and the oppressive atmosphere of a Hive City, were deeply awestruck upon seeing their surroundings.
The mirror-smooth metal walls, the soft yet bright lighting, the precisely filtered clean air, everything exuded efficiency, precision, and order, completely different from any environment they were familiar with.
And when they followed Kirk and Osiris into the Enterprise's iconic bridge, even the most composed Maine could not hide his astonishment.
Beyond the massive main viewscreen lay the deep starry sky and slowly rotating nebulae; on the control panels, various instruments they couldn't comprehend flickered with soft light; the bridge crew performed their duties in an orderly fashion, creating an atmosphere of professionalism and exploration.
Osiris' massive mechanical body stood somewhat incongruously on the bridge, but his crimson optical lenses scanned everything with extreme efficiency—from the navigation control panel to the science station, from the display methods of tactical readouts to the subtle details of the ship's structure.
His data processing core was greedily recording and analyzing every detail. The Warp drive, transporter system, shield technology, sensor network... this starship itself was a colossal, mobile treasure trove of technology.
"Welcome aboard the Federation starship Enterprise," Kirk said, standing by the captain's chair, with a hint of pride in his voice.
Osiris' mechanical head rotated slightly, facing the boundless starry sky on the main viewscreen, and his synthetic voice calmly replied: "A... remarkably impressive creation. The spirit of exploration it embodies is indeed commendable."
His words sounded like praise, but beneath that calm synthetic voice was a tsunami-like surge of curiosity and calculation.
This Federation, this Enterprise, and the technological system it represented, he was determined to acquire.
And traveling to Terra would be the crucial first step in obtaining all of it.
—
Facing this exploratory starship, revered as a legend in another dimension's human civilization, Osiris' thought core, usually dominated by absolute rationality, was uncharacteristically filled with a fervent thirst for knowledge.
His massive, dark-red mechanical body turned to Kirk, his crimson optical lenses shining steadily, but his synthetic voice revealed an unmistakable, almost "eager" tone: "Captain Kirk, I have an extremely high research interest in this... 'Enterprise.' It is not only a crystallization of technology but also embodies a unique spirit of exploration.
I hope to conduct an in-depth tour and understanding of its internal structure, especially its core propulsion system."
His request was direct and clear.
Although in the Warhammer Universe he came from, a ship of the Enterprise's size might only be classified as a light vessel or even a large dropship within the Imperium's vast fleet hierarchy.
However, the mature faster-than-light technology system it represented, entirely independent of the Warp, and its almost "golden" pure exploration philosophy, born in a relatively peaceful and prosperous era, held a value far exceeding any Imperial battleship for Osiris.
What he was most concerned about was undoubtedly the Warp drive.
Safe faster-than-light travel technology in the real universe!
This realization resonated repeatedly in his logical threads, triggering a series of intense priority re-arrangements.
In the Imperium of Man, there were indeed faster-than-light methods that did not rely on the Warp, such as plasma thrusters or certain ancient gravity manipulation techniques, capable of achieving several or even dozens of times the speed of light.
However, in the face of the Imperium's vast territory, spanning tens of thousands of light-years, such speed was tantamount to a snail's pace.
A long journey from Holy Terra to the Ultima Segmentum's Macragge, relying on conventional faster-than-light travel, would take hundreds of years, with several generations of crew members passing before arrival—a common and despairing reality in the Imperium.
Warp travel, while bizarre, unpredictable, and fraught with danger, was the only lifeline keeping the Imperium from disintegrating.
And the Warp drive?
According to the limited information he had just accessed from the bridge's shallow database interface, and the few words revealed by Kirk and others, combined with his deductions from memories before his isekai, the Federation' Warp technology could even stably reach thousands or tens of thousands of times the speed of light!
This speed, while still incomparable to the insane speeds of Warp travel under certain specific "downstream" conditions, was safe, reliable, and predictable!
For the Imperium, which needed to maintain communication, mobilize forces, and implement administration across the vast galaxy, its strategic value was immeasurable.
Even if it only served as a supplement to Warp travel during unstable times or as a means of short-range maneuver, it would be enough to change the strategic situation in many regions.
Moreover, for Osiris' personal grand plan of future dimensional exploration, the Warp drive's significance was irreplaceable.
Warp engines relied heavily on the unique and corrupted Warp existence of the Warhammer Universe and would likely be completely ineffective in other dimensions where the Warp did not exist.
However, the Warp drive, as long as the target universe's fundamental physical constants—such as the speed of light and spacetime structure—did not have fundamental conflicts with the baseline reality, could theoretically be universally applicable!
This was a critical technology with extremely high potential for cross-dimensional application, another master key to open his future path of exploration.
Its value was simply immeasurable.
Therefore, when Kirk, after a slight hesitation, considering that Osiris had previously allowed them to observe dimensional transfer, and out of diplomatic courtesy and the principle of reciprocity, finally nodded in agreement and signaled Saavik and Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott to accompany the tour, Osiris' heavily mechanically modified face remained expressionless, but his optical lenses' focal length instantly adjusted to the sharpest analytical mode.
His massive body, guided by Engineer Scott's slightly nervous and scrutinizing gaze, began to move through the Enterprise's clean and brightly lit corridors, each step accompanied by a low and regular sound of hydraulics and treads.
Every one of his sensors was fully active, greedily recording details of the hull structure materials, energy pipeline distribution, environmental control systems, and even the design of door locks on bulkheads.
And his core processing threads had long since locked onto a final target—the Warp drive compartment.
He was determined to acquire this technology.
Whether through cooperation and exchange or through other means of "technological borrowing," he had to firmly grasp this treasure, capable of breaking dimensional barriers and achieving faster-than-light travel in the real universe, in his own hands.
The Explorer Magos' journey would undoubtedly advance to new stars because of this technology.