Warhammer: The Time Traveler

Chapter 360 Cleaning Up the Navigators (Fourth Update)

Deep within the sacred Terra, in the secluded spire of the Navigator Clan, a secret meeting, never to be revealed to the outside world, is taking place.

The air was filled with the pungent smell of preservatives and the faint hum of psionic energy.

The number of attendees was small, but they represented the supreme power that controlled the empire's airspace.

Several enormous culture tanks were placed at the heart of the circular conference room, with distorted, inhuman shapes suspended in the murky liquid.

Those were the oldest and most powerful navigator patriarchs. Their bodies had long since crumbled under the erosion of time and the warp, but their consciousness and the crucial third eye were preserved in the life-sustaining vessel.

Surrounding the incubation tank were several clan representatives who still maintained basic human forms, but whose psychic eyes on their foreheads were still unsettling.

“The order of Terra is being broken.” A thought, coming directly from the psionic resonance, originating from one of the oldest vessels, was cold and undisturbed. “The Royal Guard has stepped out of the palace, the Black Templar’s ​​flagship is being mobilized, and what is driving all of this is Dorn. This is no ordinary matter.”

“We can all sense it,” a relatively younger representative said, his voice dry, “that beneath the currents of the warp, there is an undercurrent that we cannot decipher.”

It doesn't originate from any force we know... but the ending it points to is devastating for us.

They shared a vague premonition stemming from blood ties and psychic powers.

A cataclysmic upheaval is about to unfold, a storm is brewing, and the Navigator Clan, an ancient privileged class that has stood firm by relying on warp travel, seems to be placed at the center of this storm, foreseeing that they will suffer irreparable damage in the process.

“The crux of the problem is that we don’t know the source of this change.” A restless fluctuation emanated from the consciousness within another vessel. “It doesn’t originate directly from some evil god in the warp, nor from any known Primarch or Xenomorph…”

It's like a...technical disturbance? Something that could fundamentally shake the very basis of our existence.

It was this unknown that instilled in them an unprecedented fear.

They were used to anticipating danger by peering into the subspace, but this time, the threat seemed to come from the very system they depended on for survival.

“We cannot sit idly by and wait for our doom,” the original ancient consciousness declared. “We must find the source of this undercurrent. Use all resources to investigate all unusual technological research, especially those areas that may involve… alternative navigation theories.”

Any nascent threat to the navigator's position must be nipped in the bud before it escalates into disaster.

“But Dorne and the Guards…” one of the representatives looked worried.

"That is why the operation must be covert and swift," the ancient consciousness emphasized. "We must eliminate the lesions before the empire's official forces can react. For the survival of the clan, any potential threat must be removed."

Just as the members of the Navigator Clan reached a consensus and prepared to unleash their hidden power in the shadows of the Empire, the heavy doors of the conference room shattered with a sickening metallic tearing sound.

Golden figures surged in like a torrent.

The Imperial Guard—the emperor's personal guards, who should have been forever protecting the deepest parts of the palace—are now appearing in the core secret chamber of the Navigator's Spire.

They remained silent, yet the guardian spears in their hands gleamed with a deadly cold light.

What made the navigators even more desperate was that following closely behind the Imperial Guard were figures clad in black armor and exuding an aura of nothingness—the Silent Sisters.

Their very existence was like a vacuum in the warp. The third eye on the navigators' foreheads, which could peer into the warp, felt an intense burning pain the moment it came into contact with these soulless beings. The psychic connection was forcibly severed, and their precognitive abilities vanished.

“How dare you…” The oldest navigator, immersed in the jar, tried to let out a psionic shriek, but the thought vanished when it touched the negative force field surrounding the Silent Sister.

There were no warnings, no announcements. The Imperial Guard's massacre was efficient and ruthless.

The Guardian's spear pierced precisely through the Navigator representatives who still retained their human form, and the power field instantly turned their flesh and bones into charred fragments.

The Imperial Guard used energy weapons to directly vaporize the expensive life-sustaining jars along with the twisted flesh inside, which were soaking in the jars.

The Silent Sisters, like the shadow of death, roam the edge of the battlefield. Their presence ensures that no psionic signals can be transmitted, and no navigator can escape or transmit information through warp means.

Their silence was more suffocating than the sharp blades of the Imperial Guards.

This sudden purge was swift and thorough.

Just minutes later, the core members of the Navigator Clan were reduced to charred remains and shattered glass on the ground.

The golden-clad guards and silver-clad nuns stood silently among the corpses, as if performing a routine cleaning task.

When the last Navigator clan representative fell to the spears of the Guardians, the Guardian Tribunal who had commanded the purge reported to Roger Dorn without delay via encrypted communications.

"Primarch, the interior of the Spire has been cleared, and all designated targets have been eliminated." The tribunal's voice came through the communicator, calm and undisturbed, as if he had simply completed a routine patrol.

Dorn's projection stood in the command node, receiving the synchronously transmitted battle record data stream, and he was not surprised by the tribunal's efficiency.

He was more concerned about the subsequent impact.

"Tribunal," Dorn's deep voice rang out, "is this the extent of your jurisdiction?"

"Currently, it is limited to the attendees and their immediate family members," the Protector confirmed, then raised a crucial question: "Should we expand the scope of the cleanup based on the list? We have the capability to purge all registered core members of the Navigator clans in Terra and its neighboring sectors within a standard Terra day."

This proposal contains the seeds of a terrible bloodbath.

If implemented, the subspace navigation system upon which the Empire depends will be instantly paralyzed.

“No.” Dorn’s answer was firm and without the slightest hesitation. “Purge these representatives in order to nip their attempts to destroy the future of the Empire in the bud before they cause even greater trouble.”

Their precognitive abilities allowed them to perceive the threat, leading them to choose the wrong response.

He paused slightly, allowing his will to be clearly conveyed: "Our goal is not to eradicate the Navigators now. Until a reliable alternative matures and becomes widespread, the Empire still needs their eyes to see through the fog of the warp."

Expanding the purge will only trigger unnecessary panic and unrest, and may even push currently hostile clans to the opposite side entirely. Stability is paramount.

"Understood." The Imperial Guard officer immediately accepted the order without any questioning. "The cleanup will be completed soon, leaving no trace for investigation."

Communications cut off.

Dorn stood alone inside the command node, his massive body resembling a mountain in the dim light.

He knew that this precise decapitation operation was only a stopgap measure, temporarily removing the most radical spies who were the first to perceive Chen Yu's technological threat.

But this undoubtedly serves as a wake-up call for all navigator clans, forcing them to be more vigilant against any technological changes that could shake their position.

(End of this chapter)