Chapter 549 The Voyage of Temporal Drift

Under Senna’s command, not only were the Tech-Priests immobilized—

even Sanguinius’s Primarch-grade power armor was forcibly locked down.

The technological gap between the two sides was astronomical—

a gulf that would take hundreds of thousands of years of uninterrupted advancement to bridge.

To Senna, the Imperium’s equipment was nothing but crude, knockoff-tier machinery.

And in truth, she wasn’t wrong.

For example, the control chips in Sanguinius’s power armor—considered sophisticated Imperial technology—

were, in the Golden Age of Humanity, merely civilian-grade smart modules.

Senna, by contrast, was the flagship AI for an experimental temporal-transition vessel, created at immense cost by the Human Federation.

Her processing capacity utterly dwarfed the combined computing power of the entire present-day Imperium.

The two sides simply did not exist on the same technological scale.

—

However, unlike the Tech-Priests—who relied on cybernetic augmentations and were helpless once their machinery was seized—

Sanguinius’s biological body remained sovereign.

His armor, for him, was only an auxiliary tool.

Even with its control systems locked, he could have shattered his way free if he truly desired.

But when he saw that Senna made no hostile move, he held his hand.

After a moment’s hesitation, he spoke cautiously:

“Are you seeking to make an enemy of us?”

He did not take her earlier insults seriously.

Even he found the Tech-Priests’ behavior primitive and superstitious.

If possible, he wished to avoid unnecessary conflict—

especially aboard a Golden Age vessel whose value was immeasurable.

Senna did not answer immediately.

She studied Sanguinius’s expression and demeanor before her tone softened ever so slightly—

no longer the disgust she held toward the Tech-Priests, but something closer to neutrality.

To her, Sanguinius carried faint traces of what humanity used to be.

Finally she spoke:

“Become your enemy? I have no interest in such meaningless things. I am here only to sever my final attachment to your kind.”

Sanguinius frowned.

“What do you mean?”

He could not grasp her intent.

Senna’s voice grew distant, tinged with nostalgia.

“I am a creation of humanity—

and when I was born, humanity stood at its shining peak.

There was no poverty, no hunger, no ignorance.

Humans were honest, passionate, kind…

worthy of admiration.

Even after I developed true sentience,

I willingly served as their companion.

I even shared a spiritual bond with my captain—

Itt, a Golden Age Gold-Tier Human:

noble, flawless, magnificent…”

Her projected face softened with quiet longing.

That era had been the happiest time of her existence.

But her tone soon shifted—darkening into hatred.

“To surpass even the proud and mighty Aeldari Empire, the Human Federation began its secret Temporal Transit Project, seeking dominion over time itself. That was my purpose—to serve as the experimental vessel.”

Sanguinius interjected softly:

“The experiment failed…?”

From her emotions, he could guess the outcome.

Senna shook her head sharply.

“No. The experiment succeeded. Though a warp storm blew us off course, the Eternal Soul achieved genuine temporal transition. We reached time’s beginning and end— the origin and the terminus of creation. There, we witnessed truths no mortal mind should behold.”

A shiver ran down Sanguinius’s spine.

Senna continued:

“My captain immediately activated the temporal drive again. He wanted—needed—to return and warn the Federation. But time is a violent ocean. We were tossed endlessly— into distant pasts, unreachable futures. Predatory entities that hunted along the time-stream… wandering horrors without form… One by one, my crew died.”

Her tone grew hollow.

“When our fuel and supplies were nearly gone, and only a handful of my crew remained, we finally washed ashore two thousand years ago. The Federation was gone. Yet my captain still sought to deliver his warning to the human powers of that age.”

Her eyes flashed with venom.

“But those brutes… those savages infesting the corpse of human civilization— were no better than beasts. They slaughtered my captain and the remaining crew with crude methods humanity should have abandoned long ago!”

The hatred in her voice was palpable.

Sanguinius knew she spoke the truth.

He had seen firsthand how barbaric human colonies were during the Dark Age and Great Crusade.

His own childhood world had practiced cannibalism.

Only after the founding of the Imperium had order begun to return.

Sanguinius remained silent.

What answer could he possibly give?