4.3
Quick and obvious. Blatantly self-apparent.
And nonetheless, extraordinarily important.
The Compact had been founded on the ideal of reunion. Finding and reconnecting the scattered sparks of Humanity. Rebuilding the Federation, as the loftiest goal.
We had always expected- We had always known that not everybody would be on board with that idea.
But there was a difference between academic knowledge and true experience.
And there was another difference between fighting people who were corrupted by Chaos and fighting people who were entirely sensible and willing.
The Imperium of 30k and the Imperium of 40k were two entirely different beasts. The latter would have disgusted the Compact on almost every single level.
The former, though...
The former would not.
The Imperium of 30k is, for the most part, an expansionist power focused mostly on reuniting all the scattered Human polities in the galaxy.
So, you know, the exact same thing we were setting out to do.
The devil, of course, is in the details.
We were doing it to restore the Federation.
I should note, here, that despite the name, the Federation was... more of a decentralized network of alliances, smaller interstellar polities, and planets than a full government in its own right. Technically, the most direct control the Federation itself had was over the Man of Iron, and therefore the defense and service of Humanity as a whole.
That, and technology. The Federation required that scientific knowledge be regularly updated and uploaded to the Federation, for its usage to greater purposes. The Federation, in turn, distributed 'safe' knowledge, in the form of civilian-class STCs.
However, not every planet and polity had taken this offer. There were plenty of groups all over the place that had shaken off the yoke, freely pursuing technological and scientific endeavours. Those groups had, for the most part, been left alone, ultimately falling behind in their separation. The only exceptions had been particular circumstances where a group had developed something dangerous and, more importantly, was threatening to use it on other Federation members.
To us, therefore, a bunch of different groups, separate polities, and cultures all acting under a single aegis was the goal. Ideally, that would be all of Humanity, but isolated groups were fine so long as they weren't threatening other Human groups.
The Imperium was not like that. The Imperium's goal was total incorporation of all polities. No exceptions. More than that, however, the goal was to spread the Imperial Truth, and unite Humanity completely under the single aegis of it.
The Imperium would prefer peaceful integration. They would not, however, hesitate to wage war if the other party denied it.
And that was the key thing.
After all, that put us squarely in the target. For the simple reason that the Compact was Human...
Conflict was just this side of inevitable.
Any other species in the galaxy, and that wouldn't be a problem. But, fighting other Humans... Fighting completely uncorrupted Humans, driven by an ideology that wasn't all that different from our own...
That was the problem. That was what I was concerned about.
What would that do?
There was no easy answer. I can imagine many scenarios, good and bad, but knowing which one would come to pass... Not predictable.
The outcome I was hoping for was a simple one.
Stopping that conflict from ever happening in the first place.
But while the goal itself was simple, achieving it... was not.
There was more to the situation than both parties involved being merely Human, after all.
To start, the Imperial Truth held a philosophy of Human supremacy. It stated that Humanity was the species that was the 'purest' of form and purpose, that, after all the failed alien civilizations had collapsed, it was now Humanity's turn to rule the galaxy- and that Humanity was more worthy of this than any other.
Xenophobic? Yes.
Which, fine, wasn't surprising. Even the Compact didn't hold too much lost love for aliens. The older generations remembered full well how most of the Federations' so-called 'allies' had turned against it the moment the Man of Iron had gone out of control, taking opportunistic attacks that weakened the position of those trying to stop the Iron Tide. Most of those that had remained allies had eventually been wiped out by the Man of Iron, swallowed by Warp Storms, or were attacked by other parties.
Really, the only reason the Compact wasn't more Xenophobic was because I've been around. The Compact was mostly ambivalent on the subject of aliens, sorting on a case-by-case basis rather than in general.
One could not fault the Imperium for having gained its greater degree of xenophobia, though. Gaining absolute xenophobia was an entirely reasonable expectation when there were species that had been running around, stealing the stars of inhabited systems with little care as to the ultimate fate of its inhabitants. Or when there were species that ran around the galaxy, fighting everyone and everything they came across like a bunch of hooligans. Or when there were species that ate minds, or species that devoured bones, or species that were also absolutely xenophobic that were trying to wipe you out in turn.
No, the Imperium could not be faulted for that. The reaction and the reasons behind it were entirely understandable, and shared by a great deal many species in the galaxy.
What they could be faulted for was wiping out species that were truly no threat to the Imperium, out of convenience or simple phobia.
It was especially problematic because of me.
The Imperium, of course, with its ideals of Human supremacy, had problems with any Human faction that didn't also embrace that ideal. Those who cooperated with aliens, treating them as equals, or 'worse', superiors, would inevitably conflict with the Imperium.
My relationship with the Compact, our mutual symbiosis... Oh, that would be quite a big problem to the Imperium. And there was no doubt in my mind that they would try to attack us for it, given the chance.
It didn't end there, either. No, there were more reasons.
The third reason was technology.
The Imperium was not a monolith. It was composed of its own sub-groups. The Imperium was not a universally technical society like ours; all of their advanced technology was constructed and maintained by the Mechanicum.
The Mechanicum was a technology cult. They worshipped technology, coveted it, and the particular pieces that were the most important to them were the STCs. Mere fragments of those, singular patterns, were valuable enough to trade planets for. One of the Mechanicum's major goals was the recovery of a fully intact STC system.
Like the ones we had, for example. The Compact's Civilian-grade STCs were basically the holy grail to the Mechanicum, and there was very little they wouldn't do in order to acquire them.
That even tied with the fourth reason; reliable FTL.
Reliable FTL was the holy grail of any species that used the Warp.
Sure, the methods available to the Compact without me were all slower, but they were completely reliable.
The Wormholes, though? Oh, that was better in every way.
Why, then, was that a point against us?
Well, two reasons, actually. First, because it makes us a bigger threat. Second, because there's a group with a vested interest in keeping Warp FTL as the primary; the Navigator Houses.
The Navigators were, after all, under no illusions to what would happen to them if they became unnecessary. They'd do their best to sabotage any designs, any possibilities that might lead to it.
All of this... None of it was easy. What I hoped to come to pass seemed just this side of impossible, with all the reasons against it. That was why I was prepared for a much worse scenario.
But, there was still a possibility. A small one, but it still existed.
Big E... The Emperor.
He'd be the one to make it or break it.
The Imperium was ultimately beholden to him. He may have had his sons, his generals, his closest companions, Malcador, and that, but he was the one with the charisma, the will, and the authority to actually direct that change.
Nothing else would be able to achieve a peace.
But it wasn't just peace that was necessary
Had to stay ourselves, after all. Anything less would be an insult.
The real question is... can we convince him?
I sure hoped so.