65: Chapter 65: The first command issued by the Void Throat was for all Blackrock Engines to shut up.

The first command issued by the Void Throat after its full activation was not to open fire, nor to seal, nor any combat instruction a carbon-based civilization could understand—it was silence. On the base of the Talasta Void Gate, the cold green crown of light atop the Brood Queen's head suddenly flared the moment the Void Throat's triple rings synchronized, as a razor-thin quantum-state command was written directly into her Hive Mind node from the core of the Old One seal. The content of the command was to order all blackstone engines along the defense line to immediately terminate all spontaneous resonance broadcasts.

The Blackstone Cerebrate crouched before the Talastra main console, the runes on her forehead plate extinguishing for a brief moment the instant the command was issued, before relighting with a denser and more complex frequency. She translated the instruction into a format readable by The Swarm's Hive Mind, simultaneously forwarding it to the Overmind, the Eternal Echo, and the Wrath of the Emperor. When Marcus Aurelian received it, the line of cold green text popping up on the bridge's main screen slowly unfolded word by word. All blackstone engines across the entire defense line synchronized to shut down resonance broadcasts. The frequency of the original Old One seal at the base of the Void Gate would now be maintained solely by the Brood Queen's living neural random-transformation algorithm. All external communication bands previously suppressed or interfered with by the Blackstone Defense Line—including the psychic communications of the Imperial Astropaths—were instantly restored.

All Tech-Officers on the bridge turned their heads simultaneously to look at him. Bern sent a confirmation from the Void Gate position, his voice carrying a rare sense of confusion: his Psychic Talisman had begun to glow again after the command took effect—not the dim, flickering light from before when it was suppressed by the blackstone, but a normal, steady fluorescence of holy power. Marcus keyed the fleet channel and ordered the Astropaths to immediately attempt to send a test signal to Terra. For the first time after countless days and nights of silence, the Astropaths' psychic pulse pierced through the void without hindrance, and the reply from the Terra relay station returned in a very short time.

The Communications Officer projected the reply onto the main screen. It wasn't the usual officialese polished by the Secretariat of the Council of High Lords, but the raw words directly translated by the Terran Astropaths. There was only one line, its tone sounding like someone who had been holding their breath for a long time and could finally speak: "Ultima Segmentum still exists?!"

Marcus stared at that line for a few seconds before turning to the Brood Queen's quantum-state translator and asking a question he himself could hardly believe he was voicing: "Why did the Void Throat decide to open communications on its own?" The Brood Queen did not answer immediately. Her translator remained silent, which was extremely rare in all interactions between The Swarm and the Coalition. Then, the Overmind's quantum-state text directly took over the main screen, cold green letters surfacing one by one: "The Old Ones left a protocol within the core of the Void Throat. It was not added by the Necron Dynasty, nor modified by The Swarm; it is part of the Old Ones' original design—when the sealing device is successfully activated by a non-Old One civilization and completes its first practical combat validation, the core will proactively deactivate its passive suppression mode and instead evaluate the activator's war ethics."

Bern strode onto the bridge from the Void Gate position, carrying his Holy Hammer. He set his helmet on the conference table and sat down, resting the Holy Hammer across his knees. "Why would the Old Ones do such a thing?" The Overmind's answer was simple to the point of being cruel: "The Old Ones did not believe any civilization would never abuse a weapon. The Void Throat is not a lock—it is an exam. Once the activator completes practical combat validation, the core will proactively deactivate its passive suppression mode. If the activator uses it to crush a weak opponent, the Void Throat will self-destruct. If the activator uses it to fight a defensive war—like the one against the Tyranids just now—the Void Throat will enter the next stage of evaluation. Next, it will observe for a limited time how the activator deals with enemies after their means of interference have been removed."

Marcus's bionic eye rotated slowly in its socket, its cold red beam focusing on the line of text on the main screen. His voice was kept extremely low: "So you unlocked full-spectrum communications. Not because you no longer need the suppression—but because the Void Throat wants to see how you fight next." The Overmind did not deny it. He simply appended a very brief snippet of quantum-state text to the end of the evaluation protocol: "The opening of communications by the Void Throat means the Tyranid Hive Mind can now also use psychic broadcasts to relocate the defense line. Tzeentch of Chaos will laugh within the Warp and then attempt to infiltrate once more. Humanity will report everything to Terra, and then the Council of High Lords will once again initiate an inquiry. Now is not the time to ask why the Void Throat opened communications. Marcus, what will the Coalition do next?"

Marcus remained silent for a long time before pressing the War Council's all-channel button, his voice hoarse but each word driven like a nail into the air of the bridge: "Attention all Coalition units. The resonance suppression of the Blackstone Defense Line is switching from active mode to silent standby mode. The Void Throat remains activated and is still monitoring all sectors. The Titan-Eater is to remain on standby, the leviathan motherships are to maintain peripheral patrols, and the Grey Knights and Terminators are to be temporarily stationed at the Void Gate. The Third Assault Fleet will continue its blockade mission. Astropaths, send a status update to Terra and prepare to receive new instructions from Terra. Bern, your psychic powers have returned; I want you to sweep the entire defense line with holy power to confirm if Tzeentch has taken advantage of the communication unlock to infiltrate. If so—burn them out immediately. The Coalition is already undergoing the next exam."