Chapter 99: Rendezvous
The personnel composition of Omega's explorator vessel was unreasonable compared to those of other cog-heads. Although all cog-heads could fight, their body modifications were for enhancing their learning and research capabilities. In terms of actual combat effectiveness, the Skitarii were still stronger.
But because Omega himself was rather averse to the method of physically instilling faith in the Omnissiah, his ship, aside from the guards the Archmagos had given him, had no other Skitarii members. The only ones who could truly be considered armed personnel were the "Corpuscarii" Electro-Priests, who loved to zap people.
During his treasure hunt on Barratt, Omega had also discovered this problem. Without the conventional armed forces of the Adeptus Mechanicus, it was very inconvenient. Although he had revealed a portion of his Cybernetica Cohort, he couldn't just send out a large force of Battle Automata for every occasion. It would easily frighten others. The Cybernetica Cohort had been split up precisely because it was too powerful.
Magos Laust had also seen this and had proposed to convert the captured pirates into Skitarii.
For these scumbags, Omega, after careful consideration, finally agreed to Laust's suggestion. It was better to make use of the waste than to kill them. It was also a chance for them to start anew. Compared to other cog-heads, Omega was still too human. For example, after the fall of Cadia, many Forge Worlds had gained a strong Skitarii force. The Departmento Munitorum had not even uttered a peep about this. This also showed that the bad reputation of the cog-heads was entirely due to the many unscrupulous things the entire Adeptus Mechanicus had done.
The repeated torment of the pirate captain was partly due to Omega's vengeful nature, but more importantly, he wanted to get himself a captain who was familiar with naval combat. He had always believed in leaving professional matters to the professionals. The enemy he had encountered this time was weak. What if he encountered an opponent who could crack his "Empyrean Shroud" next time? So a captain who could offer advice based on the situation was what Omega urgently needed. Balthasar, who could raise a pirate fleet in the Far East, was undoubtedly the talent Omega needed. But to deal with this kind of desperado and scumbag, the method of "seven captures, seven releases" would not work. Only by physically engraving loyalty into his brain could Omega be at ease. The purpose of repeatedly tormenting him was to transform him into a special kind of Skitarii without damaging his intelligence and command experience.
The purpose of coming to Barratt had, of course, not stopped for Omega. The progress of the treasure hunt was gratifying. He had harvested a lot of treasures that had made even him's eyes light up. These technological relics or incomplete technologies all came from the collections of the ruling families. The reason they had "run" into Omega's hands so quickly was thanks to the "cooperation" of the Genestealers.
The Genestealers were not without intelligence. They had lurked in the human world for many years and knew the human society well. After suffering a few losses at the beginning, the Genestealers had quickly understood what these Tech-Priests with their Battle Automata were here for. So the Patriarch on this planet had directly abandoned the spires of the various hives, actively avoiding the priests who were treasure hunting in the spires.
This had also allowed many of the hiding survivors to come out of their shelters, and they were then discovered and rescued by the treasure hunting teams. To repay the Tech-Priests for saving their lives, these former nobles who had lived in the spires all took the initiative to reveal their family secrets, which had greatly improved the efficiency of the treasure hunt. Of course, gratitude was one thing, but on the other hand, they wanted to escape this ghost place with the Cogboy. Omega, of course, did not refuse. Since he had saved them, he couldn't just throw them back to the Genestealers. At the same time, the captured pirate ships also needed a large number of hands. The original slaves on the ships were not enough to sail these ships. But some things still had to be made clear to these former nobles.
"I am aware of your thoughts. Rest assured, I will take you with me. But from now on, you must give up your original noble status and join my explorator fleet. Of course, I am not forcing you to join. If you have people you can turn to, or have assets on other worlds, you can leave on a merchant ship after I rendezvous with the joint fleet. Once you sign this crew contract, there is no room for regret. I hope you will consider it carefully."
These words were projected by Omega via a holographic image to all the survivors. He gave them three days to think. The "Cogboy Explorator Fleet" officially began to recruit. The vast majority of the survivors chose to join the explorator fleet. These people were either the outcasts of their families, or their families had no strength to establish themselves elsewhere. A small number of people had other options, or perhaps they knew of the "fame" of the explorator fleet and had other plans.
For his own people who had joined the fleet, Omega arranged three dishes and one soup for them every day, as well as a change of clothes. As for the outsiders, he let them eat starch bars.
The spaceport on Barratt, which had no space elevator, was also utilized as a temporary dock. They repaired and modified the pirate ships. However, this modification was limited by the conditions. It could only improve the living environment of the crew and the automation of the ships. The pirates had not been human, but Omega could not do the same thing. Anyway, he had to wait here for the joint fleet to rendezvous, so he had plenty of time.
As for the slaves on the pirate ships, their composition was much more complex. There were merchants, soldiers, plundered civilians, and even slaves bought from the black market, and even other pirates defeated by Balthasar. There were all sorts of people. Omega made the same promise to them. He couldn't distinguish between them one by one, so he let them choose for themselves.
When the joint fleet had completed their respective missions and had come to Barratt to assemble, what they saw was a true Adeptus Mechanicus explorator fleet, with 2 supply ships, 8 frigates, 1 grand cruiser, tens of thousands of Skitarii, and all sorts of forbidden technology.
"You mean you just waited here for us and you got a fleet?" Ventris asked, incredulous, after hearing Omega's explanation.
The little cog-head proudly stuck out his nose. "Yep!"
"Was the damage from intercepting Gorgon great?" Omega asked, concerned.
"Overall, it was acceptable. Sacrifices were inevitable."
"As long as the plan went smoothly. But why did you remove the electrodes on the hilt of your sword? Is the Weapon-Bug having problems?" Omega asked, his eyes level with the sword at the Ultramarine's waist.
Ventris patted the Weapon-Bug at his waist. "Nus doesn't like the feeling of being electrocuted, so I had a Techmarine help me remove them."
"Err—Nus?" Omega pointed at the Weapon-Bug, uncertain.
"Yes. The name I gave it."
"You've grown attached to it?"
"Of course. Nus is my good partner. You don't know how popular the Weapon-Bug is now. Even the Grand Inquisitor got one. He wears it every day." As he spoke, Ventris didn't forget to gently pat the sword at his waist.
Hearing this, Omega was a little confused. To find out what was going on, he quickly asked, "What's going on? It's not like the Grand Inquisitor doesn't have a good power sword. What does a psyker need a Weapon-Bug for?"
"You don't know?"
"I don't. I've been separated from you for so long. How would I know what's happened?"
"The Weapon-Bug can form a psychic resonance with a person. You, the designer, didn't know?" Ventris asked, surprised.
Omega looked at Ventris with a blank expression, then at the sword at his waist. He, a psychic-immune muggle, could sense a psychic resonance like hell he could. "Telepathy? Psychic resonance! Gyrinx!" Rubbing his chin and thinking about why the Weapon-Bug had an ability he didn't know about, Omega figured it out. When he had designed the Weapon-Bug, to prevent it from being influenced by the Hive Mind, he had specifically removed the Tyranid's psychic genes and replaced them with another psychic creature. To ensure that it was not affected by the Chaos Gods, he had screened a circle and had finally chosen to use the genes of a Gyrinx. But this psychic creature was too rare. Omega had not been able to find a living specimen and had only obtained some cell samples from another Tech-Magos.
Seeing that Omega had figured it out, Ventris asked, "Well? Did you figure it out?"
"Hmm. When I designed the Weapon-Bug, I used the genes of a Gyrinx, so it has the ability of telepathy. You only discovered it after using it for a while, right?"
"That's right."
"Do you feel that your thinking and reaction speed have actually improved?" Omega asked again.
"Of course. Otherwise, how could it be so popular?"
Omega was now very jealous. He was psychic-immune, so he naturally couldn't get a psychic bonus. He poked the Ultramarine's "Nus" with his finger, annoyed, and in his heart, cursed this "ungrateful wretch" who was not filial to its creator.
After chatting with Ventris for a while, the Captain of the 4th Company left the Cogboy. Calgar had left him a pile of paperwork to deal with. He had to go back and work overtime. Omega had nothing to do now, so he decided to go and see the gift Ventris had brought him—a biological sample of Hive Fleet Gorgon.
The moment he saw the gift, Omega was sure that Hive Fleet Gorgon was no "proper bug." What kind of proper Tyranid creature was all green?
Omega had seen his fair share of Tyranid biological samples on Teyedan. Although his biological father was unlearned, for some reason, he had put a lot of effort into studying Tyranid creatures. For a hundred years, he had been studying how to quickly and accurately identify Genestealers. Although he had not achieved any results, he had accumulated a lot of Tyranid samples. These samples had all ended up in Omega's hands in the end, so Omega knew what the color scheme of a proper Tyranid was.
"With this color scheme, aren't you afraid the Great Devourer will suspect you've been infected by the Greenskins?"
Complaining was one thing, but with the sample, Omega had a new project. He had to study Gorgon's "poison" and see what it was about. If he could create an antibody before the final battle, he could reduce the number of sacrifices. In the final battle, a face-to-face ground battle was inevitable. Whether they could hold Gorgon on the ground would directly affect the final outcome.