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Chapter 44 – Return to the Oath of Rectitude
🕑 Added 2025-09-21 01:10:58 +0000 UTCChapter 44 – Return to the Oath of Rectitude
The soft blue glow of data-slate lights filled the chamber as Gaius reappeared aboard the Oath of Rectitude. Steel walls hummed with the low power of the ship’s heart. The air smelled faintly of machine oil and ozone. For a long moment he stood still, letting the quiet weight of the Strike Cruiser settle around him.
it's been days had passed since he was in Saeko's world. Yet when he looked at the ship’s internal chronometer, barely a handful of hours had slipped by. Time in that other world are much faster than in this Universe. He exhaled once, a calm breath that echoed lightly in the metal room.
Gaius stepped from his chamber. The corridor beyond gleamed under cold white strips of light. He passed crew-serfs who bowed or offered short salutes as he walked by. Each movement was practiced, respectful but without fear. He gave a single nod to each of them, the heavy steps of his armored boots ringing steadily against the deck.
The command deck opened before him like the heart of a great cathedral. Holo-projectors glowed with star maps and Warp charts. Pilots and servitors worked in quiet discipline, hands moving across controls with the precision of long habit.
“Greeting, Captain Gaius,” a junior officer said, voice sharp and clear.
Gaius moved toward the central display. “Report,” he said simply.
The senior pilot straightened. “A few more days to Terra, Captain.”
The Pilot continued “The Warp grew violent a few hours ago,” he said, “but then… it became unnaturally calm. It is stable now, at least That's what the Navigator Said.”
The assistant pilot nodded to confirm. “The Astronomican burns larger and brighter. The path to Terra is open and clear, according to the Navigator."
Gaius studied the shifting lights of the holomap. Such calm should not exist in the Immaterium. The Warp was chaos given form, a place of storms and shifting madness. Even after a storm broke, it never became this quiet.
“I see,” he said softly.
As the bridge crew continued their duties, Gaius let his mind turn inward. Few in the Imperium would dare think of the Emperor without reverence. Yet Gaius’s thoughts were steady and clear.
He was one of the first Primaris Marines forged by Belisarius Cawl, shaped from the very edge of science and gene-craft. Roboute Guilliman himself had overseen his training and education. To Gaius, Guilliman was not a distant godlike figure but a commander, a teacher, and, at times, a patient guide.
From Guilliman he had learned that the Emperor never wished to be worshipped. The Codex Astartes, the sacred text to so many Chapters, was meant as guidance, not holy scripture. Guilliman had told him more than once: Reason is our strength. Blind faith is a chain.
Because of this, Gaius could stand on the bridge of a starship and think of the Emperor not as a distant divinity but as the architect of humanity’s future. He could speak of Guilliman with respect, not trembling awe.
And now the Warp itself seemed to bend in his path, calm and bright as if pointing the way. Was the Emperor calling him? Was it the Emperor who summoned him through Guilliman? Or was it something tied to the multiversal system that had taken him to another world and back that the Emperor Notices it and summoned him?
He did not know. But the thought remained.
I will learn the reason on Terra, he decided. Until then, he would wait.
The next few days passed in a steady rhythm. Gaius inspected the ship’s armories, reviewed crew reports, and spent hours in silent meditation and reading. The Warp outside stayed calm, a rare mirror of still waters. No daemonic echoes whispered at the edges of hearing. No storms flared against the hull. Nothing was hitting the Geller FIeld.
For Gaius, it was almost unsettling. He had traveled through the Immaterium countless times and seen what lived there. Calm like this came only a few times in a lifetime, and never after such sudden turmoil.
When the final day came, the Oath of Rectitude slid from the Warp with a deep, rolling sound like distant thunder. The black of realspace unfolded across the viewing ports. Stars burned cold and sharp.
Before them lay the heart of mankind’s empire. The Sol System stretched wide, its planets turning in ancient silence around the sun. And ahead, Terra itself gleamed faintly behind the golden light of the Astronomican.
The strike cruiser moved forward. Colossal orbital defense platforms soon filled the void, steel and adamant as large as cities. Shipyards and void stations floated like vast continents of metal, each bristling with weapons capable of tearing a battle fleet apart.
The bridge was quiet except for the soft clicks of instruments and the low hum of the engines. Gaius stood at the central console, watching the homeworld of humanity draw closer.
A sharp burst of sound cut through the quiet. The vox crackled to life, a voice firm and commanding:
“Unidentified vessel, you are entering the Sol defense perimeter. Identify yourselves at once.”
Without hurry, Gaius took the mic. “This is Captain Gaius of the Ultramarines. We are ordered by the Lord Regent of the Imperium to proceed to Terra.”
The channel went silent for a heartbeat. Then the reply came, clipped and clear. “Authorization confirmed. Welcome, Captain Gaius. Proceed.”
Across the void, massive defense arrays shifted. The weapons that had locked onto the cruiser slowly lowered, their threat withdrawn.
Gaius turned slightly. “Pilot,” he said, “take us to the primary orbital dockyards and spires around Terra.”
“Aye, Captain,” the pilot answered, hands already guiding the ship into a slow descent.
Soon the great Thunderhawk gunship was prepared. Gaius boarded with a group of Ultramarines and a handful of trusted serfs. The engines roared to life, deep and powerful, and the craft separated from the strike cruiser.
Through the wide viewing ports, Terra filled their vision.
The planet was no longer a world of oceans and forests. Its entire surface had become a single endless city, a hive-world beyond imagination. Towering spires and fortress-works rose where mountains once stood. Manufactoria and forge-complexes burned like a field of stars. The few stretches of open land were nothing but ash deserts and poisoned plains. Green oceans had long ago given way to black smoke.
They plunged into the upper atmosphere. Thick black clouds of industrial smog rolled across their path. The Thunderhawk cut through them, engines steady. Below, the light of countless cities burned through the haze like scattered embers.
The airspace grew crowded as they descended. Gunships streaked by in tight formations. Heavy bulk lifters rumbled through the clouds. Pilgrim craft drifted under the guidance of Adeptus Mechanicus machines. Cathedral spires broke through the smoke like the blades of titans.
A sharp signal flared across the vox. An Adeptus Arbites vulture gunship swept into view, dark and bristling with weaponry.
“Thunderhawk, halt your descent,” the voice ordered. “Identify and divert to Custodian-controlled landing pad Delta-Seven.”
At the controls, young serf Marcus glanced back, eyes uncertain. “Sir?”
Gaius’s voice was steady. “Follow their instructions. The Arbites are the Emperor’s law.”
“Aye, Captain,” Marcus said, adjusting their course.
The Thunderhawk banked smoothly and descended toward the marked platform. Below, squads of Arbites waited in black armor, their weapons ready. Custodian Guard sentinels stood behind them like living statues of gold, silent and watchful.
The gunship settled onto the pad with a deep hiss of hydraulics. Engines cooled, the sound fading into the heavy air of Terra.
Gaius rose from his seat, the deck trembling lightly under the weight of his armor. Beyond the ramp, the Emperor’s world stretched in endless gray and gold, a place of unyielding power and ancient duty.
Whatever call had brought him here, the answers lay ahead.
End of Chapter 44
Comments
NoxVerna
i could see Gaius saying in the group chat something like "We're here."
grim artifact
Excited for the next chapter. Are the chat group going to watch gaius meet the emperor kinda wanna know what they'd think of earth in this universe
