The stalemate at the negotiation table was broken by an encrypted communication from Terra.
Just as the two sides were locked in fierce debate over technical patents and production licenses, Osiris, during a recess, made public a message confirmed by Sigismund.
"Chief Archmagos, Esteemed Archmagi," Osiris' synthesized voice was notably clear in the temporarily silent council hall, "I have just received the latest dispatch from Terra."
He paused slightly, ensuring all attention was focused: "Lord Primarch Rogal Dorn is deeply concerned about the test progress, and he has decided to personally visit the orbit of Mars shortly to observe the first live demonstration of the Warp drive."
At this announcement, the background humming of all binary data streams in the entire council hall seemed to stall for an instant.
The personal attendance of the Primarch meant that the nature of this dispute had fundamentally changed. This was no longer a technical disagreement over doctrine within the Mechanicum, but an issue that had escalated directly to the highest authority of the Imperium, touching upon the principle of adhering to the Emperor's explicit will.
Any excuse to delay or obstruct, especially in front of a Primarch—and one renowned for his pragmatism, tenacity, and absolute loyalty like Dorn—would become utterly untenable.
The Chief Archmagos' metallic face, covered in intricate patterns and embedded with ancient processing units, remained devoid of any visible emotion.
However, his three-second silence, and the clearly exacerbated noise from the processor cooling vents in his torso, which labored to cope with the sudden spike in computational load, revealed his internal turmoil.
He could not refuse, at least not publicly, the request for "observation" from a Primarch, especially one who carried the explicit decree of the Emperor. Any such attempt would be tantamount to directly challenging the authority of Terra.
"...If that is the case," the Chief Archmagos' vox-caster finally transmitted code that was precisely modulated but still conveyed complex calculation, "preparations for the live demonstration must indeed be expedited immediately, without delay."
This was both an acknowledgement of reality and a concession forced by overwhelming pressure.
The test location was ultimately confirmed as a strictly cleared zone in high Martian orbit. The specially constructed test vessel, its lines distinct from traditional Imperial ships, appearing remarkably simple and even somewhat peculiar, hovered silently in the void.
Its specially designed, visibly enlarged, and reinforced engine section at the stern was utterly empty, like a chest cavity without a heart, awaiting the implantation of a vital organ.
A dense network of high-precision observation probes, multi-functional sensor arrays, and observation ships carrying Archmagi and their technical teams from all factions surrounded the test vessel like metallic fish drawn by a magnet, forming a near-perfect spherical observation network.
All optical lenses, energy detectors, and spatial fluctuation monitors were locked onto the empty engine bay exposed to the vacuum.
Osiris' massive dark-red mechanical body passed through the docking port and entered the test vessel, proceeding directly to the empty core chamber.
High-resolution real-time footage transmitted from the observation ships allowed all Archmagi and representatives in the council hall to clearly see every detail inside the chamber—apart from Osiris and the mounting base structure beneath his feet, the space was bare. There were no pre-fabricated engine parts or complex assembly facilities.
"Commencing installation of the Warp drive core," Osiris announced calmly, his voice echoing through the internal communication system to all observation channels.
He did not summon waiting Servitors, activate any mechanical arms or assembly platforms, nor did he retrieve any components from a dimensional storage device. He simply raised one of his finely structured mechanical arms, extended his palm, and precisely aligned it with the center point of the engine base.
The next second, a scene that caused every observer to hold their breath unfolded.
In front of Osiris' mechanical palm, space itself began to visibly warp with subtle ripples, like water struck by a pebble. Countless minute, brilliant white particles, seemingly composed of pure energy, emerged from thin air.
As if precisely guided by an invisible force field, they began to rapidly converge, stack, and self-organize, using the center point of the engine base as their origin.
Initially, it was a hazy, amorphous ball of light, but it quickly, with astonishing speed, began to delineate a clear and extremely complex multi-dimensional geometric structure.
The cold luster characteristic of metal, the contours of thick conduits designed to transport high-energy plasma, the intricate, nerve-plexus-like energy lines and control systems...
Everything was being constructed ex nihilo, in violation of known laws.
The sight was as if an unseen artisan god was drawing a colossal and precise faster-than-light engine directly from design blueprints into reality, using pure energy as the raw material and space itself as the canvas.
The entire process was heart-stoppingly silent, broken only by the low hum of Osiris' internal energy core operating at full speed, faintly audible despite the shielding of the hull, and the minute rustling sound of the countless energy particles coalescing in orderly fashion, like a billion dust motes flowing in absolute silence.
"This... this is impossible..." a Martian Archmagos on an observation vessel reported, his complex optical lens assembly frantically changing focus, attempting to find any trace of fabrication. His internal data stream showed chaotic waveforms and error signals due to momentary overload.
"Matter reconstruction... direct energy-to-matter conversion..." another Magos from Lucius, known for his calm precision, spoke, his usually steady synthesized voice carrying a distinct tremor of disbelief.
"This technology... is only mentioned in the legends of the most ancient, mythical STC fragments... a supreme achievement of the Golden Age of Humanity... long believed to be utterly lost..."
Archmagos Vox stared intently at the real-time footage. His sole remaining human eye widened slightly in extreme astonishment, while the bionic eye aligned beside it recorded every physical parameter and energy fluctuation at maximum rate.
He instantly realized that the ability Osiris was demonstrating at this moment carried implications and a disruptive impact on the existing technological system that were perhaps even more profound and revolutionary than the Warp drive itself.
Under the gaze of countless "eyes"—mixed with shock, fervor, greed, and disbelief—a complete, flawless Warp drive, shimmering with cold metallic luster and featuring an internal structure so complex it would dizzy the most veteran engineer, completed its miraculous leap from void to reality in a matter of minutes. It settled perfectly and steadily onto the test ship's engine base, without a seam.
The entire structure was monolithic, its surface smooth as a mirror, with no visible signs of welding, riveting, or assembly. It looked as if it was naturally meant to be there, having "grown" out of the very structure of space.
With the engine installation complete and the spatial ripples smoothed, the light fully subsided. Osiris casually withdrew his arm, as if he had merely conducted a routine equipment check.
He turned to the internal communicator, his voice as steady and unruffled as before: "Warp drive core installation complete. Preparing for energy connection and system initialization."
The entire observation area fell into a near-frozen, information-dense silence.
The preceding fierce arguments over technical patents, production licenses, and profit allocation seemed instantly trivial, short-sighted, and even ludicrous in the face of this near-divine, "creation-level" technology.
All the Archmagi, whether from Mars Headquarters or the Alliance worlds, had their logic cores and processing units running on overload, frantically attempting to analyze, comprehend, and re-evaluate this spectacle that utterly transcended their current technological understanding.
Osiris, the mysterious Explorator, not only held the key to a new era of interstellar travel, but he also seemed to wield a fraction of the authority that rightfully belonged only to the legendary "Creators" of humanity's Golden Age.
The dimension and foundation of this power struggle concerning the future direction of the Mechanicum were, at this moment, thoroughly and permanently altered.