Dark Imperium Episode 4:Tested

by menofwarhide

Alistravia goes to meet Cawl on a remote forge world and finds herself being tested mentally and physically by not only Cawl's questions but her brothers training, whilst Kalia faces up to the truth of her intelligence

The fleet broke open the worm hole in orbit around the Mechanicum forge world, seven ships slid out in full view of the Mechanicum warships who took up a defensive posture for a moment before authorization signals were exchanged.

Two ships had joined Alistravia's fleet, after the encounter with the Necron she had Kyros dispatch two ships that were not vital to the front line. The first was the fighter carrier "White Gull" it's sleek sword-fish like shape while small held a lot of power, thousands of fighter and bomber drones sat in it's hold along with a special item Alistravia had ordered to be brought through the wormhole gate to add to fleets ground assault potential. Also joining the fleet was the "Invincible Cetacean" a massive sea turtle shaped battle cruiser whose every section bristled with guns, like some of the fleet it was an older ship but had gone through many upgrades in it's time and back in the crusades it had earned the "Invincible" part of it's name for always been first into the fight and last out but never being defeated and several Mechanicum ships had to make way for it's massive bulk as the fleet pulled into anchor above the forge world.

The planet it's self was a typical forge world of the Mechanicum, it's atmosphere was choked with clouds of smog and acid rain fell for most of it's slow long days as it rotated around the fairly uninteresting blue dwarf star at the centre of it's four planet system, two of the other worlds were gas giants and the Mechanicum had stations around each one harvesting the useful gasses of the planets for fuel and other things.

An Agri-world was the only other inhabited planet, it had a low level population of workers and one central capitol city that housed them, the rest of the land was all for farming but a small Mechanicum fleet sat in orbit along with the usual plethora of defence guns.

Alistravia looked out of the grand view port on the bridge and watched the Mechanicum vessels go back and forth as the admiral approached.

"I can't believe they would turn a potential in habitat world into mess of metal and machine, do they have no shame"

"The Mechanicum don't understand that as long as they worship their machine god they will never advance" Alistravia said as she stood lost in thought

"It sounds like you have some sympathy for them?"

Alistravia let out a breath and turned to face the admiral.

"I do, they could have been so much more but they chose to hide behind superstitious beliefs instead of evolving..."

The admiral looked out upon the world and then to the primarch, her family had served Alistravia as fleet commanders from the earlier days and loyalty to her was unquestioned, she had never met her ancestor who served under Alistravia during the crusades but tales of his victories were passed down through the generations. The eldest always become fleet admiral but as she and her brother were twins there had initially been a competition between them for the role, both had served as captains on other ships for years and when their father retired and it came down to them but her brother graciously stepped aside saying he would rather stick to commanding one ship than many, of course the truth was he had met an Estrellan woman whose research goals aliened with his own so he chose to settle down rather than pursue his careerer.

Elise's own son served as the ships helmsman, he was only a lieutenant right now but had already shown great capacity for leadership while her daughter had already reached captain even though she was younger but the crew she had joined had an older command team and they left to pursue their experiments in their retirement and she was given the role.

"penny for your thoughts?" Alistravia said

"Sorry I was just thinking about my brother. Hoping he's ok"

"Elise..." the primarch rarely called her by her first name and only did so when the mood was sullen "If you ever want to go home for a few months..."

"I don't" she said interrupting Alistravia "I mean... I appreciate the offer but my place is here"

Alistravia nodded and changed the subject.

"I won't be too long down there and I don't know what this item is that Cawl has but once I have given him the tech upgrades we have we will leave"

"you should know my lady we detected another fleet in orbit... ultramarines and Lord Guilliman's command ship" The admiral said

"interesting..." Alistravia said but she did not finish the thought keeping it to her self

The drop ship landed on a pad just out side the gates to a great ziggurat, smoke stacks of all shapes and sizes shot out into the toxic night and lightning cracked the sky above as if some great experiment was being preformed and the lightning was needed to bring some great monster to life.

Alistravia had brought a full retinue for her escort including a Cray-fish war drone that marched behind her clam-shell pattern terminator guard with their squid faced helms and power harpoons. The drone was a hunched back machine marching on six legs with two pincer like arms, it had a long tail that was armoured with heavy plating that ran all the way up to it's head and covered it so only the two small eyes could be seen in the shadow of it's great overhanging shell face, one of it's arms was just a massive power claw but the other was dual grenade launcher and heavy frag cannon.

The doors to the Ziggurat opened with out any need for request and they marched inside, there they found Guilliman and his escort in a lavishly built entranceway.

It had rather fascinating architecture, pillars made of what appeared to be reused Knight legs along with dark red walls and the marble floor was emblazoned with the image of the Mechanicum's skull and cog logo, a door in front of them remained sealed with the same iconography as the floor.
"Roboute!" Alistravia shouted as she waked towards him with her arms open wide "It is good to see you brother"

The thought she had on the bridge was of why Guilliman was here and if he was it wasn't to get his armour polished, he had something for her or to tell her to do with this meeting and either way it must be important because Roboute marched forward as well and embraced her with a bear like hug as they met in the middle of the cog shaped room.

"Alis we should meet more often" he said as Alistravia waited for what came next

She knew Roboute would never return the embrace like this unless something had to be going on, them came the whisper in her ear.

"No matter what he says do not make him fabricator general"

They broke apart the embrace and laughed as if sharing some private joke but Alistravia could not shake the feeling Guilliman had another reason for being here.

A large clunk came from the sealed doors and a machine stepped through the door way, it held a massive staff and and green eyes shone from underneath it's red hood that topped a robe of the same colour and passed over a hunched back that had a large machine on resting on it, two arms were visible from the sleeves made of machinery while a third came from around the back of the creature along with other strange tentacles. Around his waist was some kind of machine that held more arms and tentacles that were feeling the air and above his head strange robotic insects buzzed. Heavy machine wrought legs carried him forward into view of Alistravia and he glared down at her as if studying some insect, on his approach the sergeant of the maidens shield took a step forward and charged his weapon but Alistravia halted him from going any further with a glance.

Cawl stared down at her for an age, then in what came as a whining of gears and motors he bowed low and spoke.

"Greetings Alistravia Tempera daughter of the Omnissiah... I have been waiting a very long time to meet you"

Tested

"I didn't realise I was late?" Alistravia responded

"humour...interesting"

Cawl lifted his head from Alistravia and looked out at the retinue she had brought and moved towards the terminators who glared at him as he approached.

"what an interesting design" he said as he looked them over before his gaze moved past them to the drone that reared up in a defensive posture as he approached "now this is a masterpiece of science, AI I presume?"

"rudimentary combat AI, nothing special but it serves it's purpose"

"Cawl" Roboute said drawing the dominus's attention away from the drone that settled down as he moved away "I suggest we get on with things"

"of course, if you will follow me honoured primarchs your escorts may remain here"

"we will not leave our mothers side!" The sergeant of the maidens shield stated forcefully through his helm grill

Cawl stepped over to him cocked his head.

"you have no bushiness in proceeding any further inside this building so you will remain here"

"I will not allow our mother to go unescorted on a vile Mechanicum world, you are untrustworthy creatures"

Despite Cawl having no outward appearance of being offended there was certainly a sense of it as he stepped back from the sergeant and looked to Alistravia and Roboute before looking back to the terminator.

"you think harm would come to her?...from me?"

The sergeant was about to respond but Alistravia got there first.

"I think what Rabin is obliquely referring to is the Mechanicum's attempt to assassinate me" she said before turning to the terminator

"Roboute will be going with me so I'll be safe, stay here and await my return"

Rabin clearly wanted to say something more but clenched his fist and nodded.

"yes mother"

Cawl moved off through the arch of the door followed by Roboute and Alistravia just behind him as there was no room for them all to walk side by side. Rows of metal columns with cogitators lined the walls as they went and the lighting was a dull yellow from above from the ceiling lumens but a bright orange from those that decorated the walls. The smells of oil and burnt metal wafted down the corridor along with other associated manufacturm smells like sulphur, ash and a strange acidic taste that Alistravia knew she would need at least a week to wash out from the back of her throat.

"I am hoping you can answer my many question" Cawl said as the pistons in his legs hissed

"better start asking them now because I don't plan on staying long"

"I am sure once you see the item I have for you your mind will change and besides there is much to discuss" Cawl said and Alistravia rolled her eyes and looked over at Guilliman who said nothing

"Like what?"

"Like the very future of the Mechanicum and it's role within the imperium!" Cawl said with what sounded like a hint of emotion

This time Guilliman gave Alistravia a disinterested look as if he had had that conversation far too many times before with Cawl.

"but that can wait" Cawl said continuing "I must ask you a most pressing question that has been on my mind for many centuries"

"Fine... I admit it" Alistravia started "I set the fire alarm off in Fulgrim's theatre so I wouldn't have to suffer through the second half of that stupid opera... award winning my ass..."

She looked to Guilliman and could see the slight smile on his face.

"if Horus really wanted to wound my father he would of made him watch..."

"You have no respect for me!" Cawl said as he stopped and stamped one of his metal feet

Alistravia shrugged.

"and why should I have? Your just another Martian who stripped his humanity away so he could live forever and where has that truly gotten you?"

"I revived Lord Guilliman and saved the imperium" Cawl said as he resumed marching forward

"oh really, because from what I understand you allied with several xenos, one of which seeks to reimpose it's dominance and wipe out all other sentient life in the galaxy and another that's so far up it's own butt it can practically see it's own tonsils..."

"had I of not the imperium would have been destroyed and both the Necron and Aldari have as much interesting stopping the forces of chaos as we do!... and since you will probably continue to use humour to deflect my questions I will ask them anyway"

"Perhaps you would have more respect from Alis had the Mechanicum not attempted to kill her" Guilliman said bluntly as they turned into another narrow corridor that looked no different than the first except now there was the low humming purr of engines coming from all around them

"That action was done by a misguided group of individuals who saw you as a devil but I know you... you are like me... you wish to advance the imperium not leave it stuck in backwards religious dogma" Cawl stated as the humming got slightly more low pitched

"and yet you refer to me as the daughter of the Omnissiah, how can you escape the poison of religion if you do not forsake your god" Alistravia responded as they reached a set of metal doors that screeched as they opened

They stepped through into a large hall where many tech-adepts in robes were ministering to machines that seamed to be powering a large machine at the centre.

"You came from a time when the emperor hid his divinity so I understand you disbelief"

"No Cawl I come from a time when humanity reached for the stars to better it's self, not regress into superstitious nonsense..."

"while this debate is interesting it serves no purpose" Guilliman said

"fine!" Cawl said "then I will ask my questions but I would like serious answers not jokes at the expense of truth"

Roboute gave Alistravia a nod and she sighed.

"very well ask your questions" she said as the reached the far end of the hall and entered a less narrow corridor

"why do you have only sons?"

Alistravia was annoyed by the question, it was so irrelevant and something she had only been asked once before. She looked to Roboute who also seamed to consider the question odd from the look on his face.

"I don't understand the question"

Cawl didn't respond for a minute and he stayed silent like he was studying if Alistravia was being truthful or just refusing to answer but as they reached another junction he spoke.

"You are female therefore your gene seed could be used in females so why have you not done this?"

Alistravia actually understood the question now and took her time to laugh in her own mind at the stupidity of it and it reminded her of that female dominated world herself and Konrad Curze had brought into compliance so she answered it the same way as she did to the queen of that world.

"men are better at war, they are hardier and more resilient"

Cawl kept moving forward and again was silent as if considering his response.

"those of the adeptus sororitas would disagree with your assessment of the facts"

"But they are facts none the less and I never said women were incapable of fighting just that men are more aggressive and in war you need aggression not empathy"

Cawl said nothing as they entered a large library, many tech-priests where there reading of talking with each other. Some looked to see the intruders in their midst but most were too engrossed in their work and research to care as they continued talking.

"you are female so how is it you can wage war and others can not"

Alistravia sighed.

"as I said it is not that females are not capable of fighting in wars but I was built by my father from the ground up to be his ambassador and a primarch. A normal human female born naturally is more susceptible to the weaknesses that come with that gender which means it is unlikely they would even survive the transformation process if it was at even all possible which I doubt it is"

As they passed from the library into another corridor Cawl was silent until they had moved further down the corridor. Alistravia's systems had been slowly mapping the facility that was encased inside the ziggurat, the corridors were moving and rooms repositioning like a giant maze, it reminded her of Perturabo's maze but less complex and this one likely cold be solved fairly easily.

"so you would never consider it?"

"no!" Alistravia responded bluntly

They walked on through more sets of corridors, Alistravia had begun to understand the reason they never reached a destination or at least there arrival had been purposely delayed so that Cawl could ask his questions.

"Why have you not split your legion, the codex that lord Guilliman wrote requires it?"

"I have been considering it but for now the legion will remain whole unless Roboute has any objections"

Roboute was silent and looked over at her.

"the codex was designed to prevent anyone of us having command over a legion so that if another betrayal occurred no one person would have command over so many warriors but you are sitting on the throne sister not I and I do not believe you would betray any of us"

Alistravia nodded.

"I appreciate the trust brother but you wrote the codex for good reason and I must consider it an option"

They moved on through more corridors and rooms and Alistravia noticed many of the tech-priests, those who still had faces sneer in Cawl's direction.

"it seams your not too well liked around these parts dominus" She said

"They disagree with some of my forward thinking as some did with you before which leads me to my next question... why have you allowed the fabricator general to remain in his position when he is so restricted in his thinking"

Alistravia could see the road down which the question would take them, Cawl would state reasons why current master of the Mechanicum was a fool and should not be in charge and then push forward his ideas about what future the Mechanicum should be moving toward. Of course at no point would he suggest himself for fabricator general, that would be too obvious, no he would hope that she being wise would see him as the best option to take the imperium forward but Roboute had warned her for a reason and she would ask about that later, in private.

"I have not met him although I plan to when time permits it but as long as he serves the imperium he may remain in his position"

This seamed to anger Cawl and he came to a dead stop.

He holds back the advancement of the Mechanicum, he refuses to innovate and step away from the strict dogma that has held us back for centuries!"

"Well that maybe but I won't remove him simply because of his adherence to his doctrine" Alistravia responded as the dominus began walking forward again.

"surely you jest again, I though your people were against religion?"

"A common misunderstanding although there was a time when my people and myself hated religion but we moved past that and now, Estrellan's do not believe religion serves any purpose other than to lie to the masses so that they remain docile, like what the ecclesiarchy are doing right now... as long as people believe there lies they remain subdued... for the most part"

"then why not do away with them?" Cawl asked

"It would be chaos, religion so embedded into a society can not just be uprooted like a weed, nor can it be attacked like some monster that hides in the shadows...no..." Alistravia continued as they finally reached a large set of doors emblazoned with the Mechanicum's iconography "on Estrella before I waged the final war against the Kappa I freed peoples minds first, showed them the falsehoods and lies that had been fed to them and watched as they picked up arms against those who lied to them... it took twenty long years and only in the last few when people no longer believed their lies did we see full scale war but that was on a planet with a population of 12 billion... imagine how long it will take it could take with the trillions of the imperium"

Cawl said nothing in return and banged his staff on the floor, with the sound of a hundred locks disengaging the door slowly opened to a lab clearly of Cawl's use.

Several large tanks with unrecognizable bio-matter were present running down one of the walls along with a row of analysis machines that hummed and beeped as they monitored the bio-matter.

On the other side were banks of cogitators with blinking lights and monitors showing streams of data. At the back of the room was a large workbench with what looked like a dismantled power weapon resting on it's surface.

Alistravia examined the streams of data on the cogitators as they passed into the room.

"you appear to be working on some kind of particle manipulation..."

"it is a small project I have running along side many others"

In the centre of the room was an anti-gravity platform with an obelisk shaped box hovering in the wake of the anti-gravity pulse, Cawl motioned her over to it along with Roboute.

The obelisk box was tall and rotated slightly, it had runes etched all over it's surface that glowed green and it reminded Alistravia of the Necron.

Cawl used his many arms to pull the box out of the anti-gravity field and he held it high as he faced Alistravia.

"behold your gift" He said as the obelisk opened like a butterfly unfurling it's wings after emerging from it's cocoon

Inside was a trident as tall as, if not slightly taller, than Alistravia. The bottom was three curved spikes that looked as sharp as any sword and they were carefully moulded to form the end of the tail of a great serpent whose body coiled around the haft as an etching all the way to where it's head shown as opened looked as if it's tongue were the three prongs that sat atop the weapon, they were masterful as well with the two outer prongs curving outward then back inward before going slightly outward again, little spikes appeared closer to where they appeared from the sea serpents mouth, the central prong was not curved in anyway but it was long and deadly looking.

Cawl lowered the obelisk to the ground and Alistravia reached in and took the trident, it was a pure sliver colour and despite it's weighty look it was as light as a feather, she spun the weapon round a few times and noticed the weapon seamed to sing as it cut through the air. She tossed the weapon around in her hands a few more times before tapping it on the floor to suggest she was done with her examination and a burst of power shot across the room blowing objects around and even slightly moving bigger ones, cracks had also appeared in the glass of the bio-matter tanks as if the edge some great shock wave had hit them.

Alistravia looked over to her brother who remained stoic and then to Cawl who stared down at her awaiting her response.

"Alright Cawl" she said as she looked directly at him "now you have my attention"

Pequad

Talvin hat spent most of his life in the shadow of his great ancestors, from the very first admiral of the Ahab's rage right up to his mother who now held the position. His life had already been planned out in some ways, he would be lieutenant commander by next year then it would be either commander or straight to captain a few years later and he would have his own ship and crew and then eventually when his mother retired he would take her place but for now he was "The Pequad's" helmsman.

He had decided to come to the mess hall after finishing his shift on the bridge, it was late afternoon according to the ships chronometer and it was a fairly quiet time as the ship was not on any kind of alert status and most of the crew were likely engrossed in some research or getting ready for bed, his own research into the particle strings that littered the layer of space they used for travelling through wormholes was going well and he was getting close to learning why the strings didn't follow the flow of the intersecting waves of particles that was created when they travelled through that realm.

A laugh from the table next to him broke his train of thought, it was the primarchs assistant Kalia and some ensign from the bio-medical division. He had made some terrible joke in a desperate attempt to flirt and some how it had bee successful and even made Kalia blush. To Talvin Kalia was far too good for the ensign who was barley good enough to serve onboard a starship, he watched as they made little gestures and exchanged stupid flirtations that went no where up until the ensign stood up and made his excuses.

"sorry I have an early set of tests to run... I guess your free as long as the Arch-inventress is on the surface so I'll give you a vox tomorrow some time?"

Kalia nodded with a wide smile on her face.

"I look forward to it" she said as they made shy little signals with their body language about where this all was going

The ensign walked off and Talvin gave a loud sigh as the ridiculousness of it, Kalia looked over at him.

"what's your problem!"

Talvin looked at her for a minute before looking back down at his data slate.

"oh nothing" he said as he continued to review his recent findings "Just..."

"just what!?"

Talvin looked back over at her.

"you can do better than some lowly ensign whose IQ barley exceeds 140, you know his family is on the lowest run of the societal ladder right?"

Kalia got up in anger and stormed over to where he was sat.

"I like Phillep because he talks to me and doesn't treat me like an outsider..."

"No one here treats you like an outsider, in fact since Baal you've actually come out of your shell"

Kalia hated that, she was furious at how he could dare point out such a strong logical point.

"your just jealous and it doesn't matter anyway because I am not Estrellan"

Talvin sighed.

"but you are part Estrellan, you descended from Carin and he was one hundred percent Estrellan which means some part of your genetic structure is Estrellan"

"Who cares! I am still just an imperial citizen and not even close to being as smart as he is"

Talvin laughed a little and went back to the data slate expecting Kalia to storm off, it was odd though because she didn't and he found he was happy when she spoke more to him even if it was in anger.

"what's funny!?"

Talvin looked back up at her and realized just how pretty she was and could see why the ensign from the bio-medical lab was trying to court her. Her strange mix of dark and light blonde hair was short but framed her face nicely and her body was well proportioned.

"everything... you say your not as smart as your ensign..."

"Phillep!" she said interrupting

"Fine Phillep" Talvin responded with some condescension in his voice "but I bet you can remember everything you record and document in great detail"

"So what if I can!"

"That suggests an eidetic memory and means you would likely be above him in intelligence and if you really like him then why don't you take the citizenship test to become an Estrellan citizen then you can pursue each other... assuming you fit into the same bracket"

Kalia was taken back by this a little.

"what do you mean same bracket?"

"Estrellan society is divided up into IQ brackets to prevent short falls in the higher echelons, if your above you can't marry down and if your below you can't marry up... that way it keeps the balance" Talvin responded before going back to the original topic "but if you take the citizenship test you can find out and then if you pass the other tests you will at least be Estrellan"

"But my religious beliefs would prohibit me surely"

Talvin placed his left palm over his face so astonished her was at that last remark.

"First you pass the tests which your religion does not prohibit you from doing then a council of five would be assembled to decide whether or not you would be granted citizenship, that is more likely when the question of your beliefs would be brought to serious discussion"

Kalia looked around the mess hall for a moment as if looking for some kind of back up but the only other crew members where playing a four dimensional game in the corner and were paying them no attention. She struggled for words to object and carry more anger towards Talvin but she couldn't find any.

"well... I mean..." she took a deep breath "Tell me more about these tests" she said sitting down

Forge world

"This is not Mechanicum technology Cawl and neither is the obelisk so where did you acquire them" Roboute said as he looked over the trident

Cawl placed the Obelisk back on it's anti-gravity platform before speaking.

"I was gifted the obelisk by Tazyn... he told me it could be used to create a powerful weapon and when rumours of your sisters gate being discovered reached my ears it seamed fated I would make something for her personal use" Cawl took a few steps away from the primarchs but continued talking "it is crafted from a similar substance as the living metal which makes up a Necron's body and he told me any weapon it made would cause great pain to the demons of the warp"

Alistravia looked at him curiously as he passed around the anti-gravity unit.

"from the briefing I revived Tazyn is a collector so why would he part with this obelisk?"

"the obelisk was not part of his collection, it is simply a tool"

"Can it be used to make other weapons?" Roboute said as he looked over the now closed obelisk

Cawl shook his head.

"It can craft but one and then it's energy is gone however if a future opportunity to acquire one presents it's self I will not hesitate to get it"

Alistravia looked over to her brother, she could see he was not happy at the idea of xenos tech being used to craft her weapon. She understood but it wouldn't be the first time Alistravia had wielded weapons crafted by non-human hands and if the trident could indeed cause greater harm to the creatures of the warp then it was worth keeping.

"your a fool Cawl, who knows what bargain you may of entered into by accepting this item..."

Alistravia continued cutting Cawl off before he could respond to Roboute "...you realise it's things like this that is why your frowned upon by the rest of the Mechanicum and Roboute is right who knows if Tazyn won't come calling one day for something in return... you need to be careful who and what you trust when it comes to xenos... but I do appreciate the gift"

Cawl went about examining a couple of readouts from some of his cogitators and remained silent as the two primarchs looked at each other and shrugged as if confused by Cawl's sudden silence.

"Roboute" Alistravia started to break the silence "we should have dinner after we are done here for today, it has been too long"

"agreed"

Cawl suddenly turned around as if being left out of the conversation upset him and this drew the primarchs attention.

"I would be most grateful if I could see aboard your vessel, I hear is beyond anything we are capable of constructing"

Alistravia shook her head.

"I am sorry Cawl but no member of the Mechanicum has or will ever set foot on board an Estrellan ship"

Cawl cocked his head slightly in some appearance of confusion as he walked around still examining his cogitators.

"But Land visited your world did he not... why was he granted such a privilege?"

"Arkhan made a deal, I let him come to Estrella and he builds me a tank, simple but a fair exchange and he agreed to be put into stasis while we travelled too and from Estrella but at no point did he set foot on my ship"

Cawl seamed to chuckle to himself as he realised a mistake he had made.

"I should of offered your weapon as a similar trade then, yes?"

"perhaps though it's too late now but I will stay a few days longer since you seam eager for me to stay" Alistravia said in response

Cawl stood upright and seamed pleased by this.

"you will not regret it I assure you"

Cawl moved around the room examining a few devices then moved towards the door.

"I will show you more of this ziggurat and you will answer my questions yes?"

Roboute growled as if annoyed by Cawl's impolite tome towards Alistravia who looked at him and then to Cawl who took a few steps back from Roboute.

"don't be so frightened Cawl, Roboute would never kill you... just wound a little but as he said to that priest on Terra... a politer tone would be appreciated"

The door began to open and Cawl stepped back into a position to lead them out.

"Lord Guilliman does not seam the type to strike out at me for being impolite"

Alistravia laughed as they made their way back down the corridor.

"Your right he does not seam the type and neither does Rogal but my quieter brothers are usually the most dangerous"

Cawl was quiet as they made a few turns and then spoke.

"So I may ask my questions"

"yes but..." Alistravia said looking at Roboute who was clearly keeping a closer eye on Cawl that she thought originally "...How about an exchange, you ask me something and then I will ask you so we have a fair exchange of information"

At this Roboute gave her a look as if to say this is a bad idea but Alistravia mouthed back in silence "trust me" and he seamed to be some what reassured, Cawl on the other hand stayed quiet as if pondering the deal. They passed through into a hold for vehicles of all kinds from basic trucks and transports to land raiders and repulsors, some where complete and ready to be dispatched but a fair few were still undergoing ministrations from tech-priests and had yet to receive any iconography.

"I agree to your suggestion but I will ask my question first and it must be answered appropriately"

"Agreed" Alistravia responded as she examined a half built predator

Cawl watched carefully as she moved around the bay and went from vehicle to vehicle and examined their construction, when she seamed to be done he spoke.

"have you not considered having another child?"

"not really, it would serve no purpose" Alistravia said as she ran her hands over the hull of a repulsor

"They would make for strong warriors and while they would not be true primarchs they could bolster our forces" Cawl said drawing an aggressive look from Roboute

"So you would have me have several children! who would the father be!?" Alistravia exclaimed in a way that hinted at irritation of the question

"Another primarch" Cawl said as his gaze fell on Roboute

"I am not having another child and certainly not with my own brother!" in far angrier tone that was expected

"it would be a donation of genetic material, no physical contact would be necessary!" Cawl responded in an attempt to clarify his idea

"Cawl there is no way this is happening!"Alistravia exclaimed

"then what about a clone of those loyal primarchs who perished?"

"It won't be the same and besides Estrellan's don't believe in cloning a full a complete person, it's wrong"

"why?" Cawl asked as he watched her wander around the tanks some more

"Cloning an organ to save someone's life or cloning an animal species to prevent it's extinction is one thing but a human being is a complex life form that goes through many stages in their short life spans but no matter what whether it's through growing old or some earlier intervention they do eventually die and sometimes... dead is better... although full disclosure I did offer to try and clone my fathers body if he so wished"

Cawl was moving and looked as he was about to say something until Roboute interrupted him.

"you have asked two questions Cawl so now it is Alistravia's turn"

Cawl waved one of his many arms as if in apology though it was more likely in annoyance at being stopped in his asking of more follow up questions.

"Alright" Alistravia started as she moved back towards the two "what would be your first move should you ever become fabricator-general?"

This drew a warning look from Roboute who was watching Cawl carefully as he responded.

"I would begin by doing away with many of the current STC models and replacing them with my own or yours, I am sure you can imagine how much stronger we would be had we starships with the design philosophy and weapons of your vessels"

"go on" Alistravia said as she looked to Roboute who had now realised Alistravia's plan

By letting Cawl speak of his plans should be given control of the Mechanicum she could asses his thinking and discover more about the dominus and his methods of working.

"I would remove the locks on the forbidden AI and begin developing it more so that we may create drones such as the Tau or yourself has to assist us in war, I would also look to allowing for more innovation with our current technologies!"

Alistravia was impressed by Cawl's passion on the subject but was also starting to recognise why Roboute was having concerns about the dominus and his requests to become fabricator-general.

"why are you so intent on developing AI?"

"Why would you ask that question when your own people have developed it?... why should we ignore it's advantages?" Cawl asked as a group of tech-priests passed by them

"we have only one full sentient AI and that is EST, he is in many ways the planet it's self and was developed long before I arrived but all other AI is basic and designed to assist in tasks such as the drone you saw earlier, in many ways it is just like a servitor but with no organic parts whatsoever but developing AI has to be done carefully less you bring destruction upon yourself"

Cawl was about to respond but Alistravia cut him off.

"Since you asked two questions I will ask another I think that's only fair, don't you?" She said to Cawl who seamed to nod reluctantly

Alistravia wondered around the the empty chassis of a rhino as she pondered another question and she thought back to something Kalia had mentioned off hand about the Primaris and how they related with the standard astartes.

"The Primaris are an interesting development in terms of astartes but I am concerned as the question of weather they are replacements or just reinforcements has yet to be answered and the longer that takes to be clarified the more resentment between them may grow so perhaps you can illuminate me with that answer"

Cawl waved a dismissive hand and then stormed off over to a tank his many arms clenching in what appeared to be frustration at a question he likely he assumed he would not have to answer.

"Alis makes a good point Cawl, the Primaris were needed and I applaud the success in the task I gave you but many astartes see them as their replacements... this could result in anger which may lead to mistrust and eventually violence" Roboute said adding more pressure to Cawl who remained silent

He looked to Alistravia then spoke as if confused by her questions insinuation.

"New technology replaces old why is that a bad thing?"

Alistravia shot him an angry look back.

"Because these are not star ships or servitors, they are real people who have their own thoughts and feelings, you can't just replace them with a better model simply because you consider them obsolete!"

"The Primaris are stronger and do not have the genetic flaws found in the older chapters, apart from your warriors of course" he said responding to Alistravia

"Cawl like my brother I applaud your success and you have done remarkable work but we must be careful and create a balance..."

"You wish to limit the deployment of the Primaris?" Cawl asked with some concern and even Roboute threw her a questioning look

"No!... We need them as much as we need every astartes and guardsman but you need to watch your words in relation to them, do not infer to anyone else they are replacements or you may find yourself targeted for their creation" Alistravia responded in a calm but stern fashion

Cawl tilted his head to the side slightly as he looked to her.

"curious... is this an order?"

"yes!"

"shall I continue producing only those of loyalist legions"

Alistravia looked over at Roboute who had an interesting look on his face.

"for now yes"

Surprisingly Cawl gave a bow in obedience as if realising Alistravia was no longer playing the role of primarch and had put on her Empress's hat and there was no lie in her words.

"As you wish"

Caw fell silent for a few moments, he almost looked as if he had lost some kind of advantage at this new development of having to answer questions himself which was Alistravia's plan and she knew that and allowed her self a little smile as he the dominus wandered around the room for a few minutes. Cawl was a clever person and had staged this whole situation to work to his advantage and gather information on Alistravia but now it had been turned against him and he would have to give up his own knowledge to get some of hers back but Alistravia knew he would agree because he was so desperate to be acknowledged as the greatest dominus in all the Mechanicum he was willing to do anything.

"How have you managed to prevent the genetic degradation in your own legion?" Cawl asked eventually

"We have kept a close eye on the gene seed and and it's stability and then when necessary we have taken steps to make sure it remains pure, I suppose it's easier when you have a primarch you can regularly take samples from to make sure the variance is minimal"

"perhaps it would be possible for you to correct the degradation done to those legions still in existence?"

Alistravia shrugged.

"I could certainly take a look but I've had time to research my own gene seed and have grown to understand it but the difference between two primarchs is night and day so I could not guarantee any success" Alistravia seamed to be lost in though for a moment then asked her next question

"do you know where any of my other brothers are?"

Cawl shook his head.

"there are rumours and supposed sightings but nothing concrete, the lion's body rests on "the rock" but the location of the others is unknown but surely you can find them?"

"I have a technology that can scan for a specific primarch signature but using it requires a substantial amount of power, if I could narrow down the location to a star system or even a planet then it may be worth using but until then it's use would be too costly"

Roboute took a few steps forward and spoke.

"I have not heard much mention of these rumours, what do they say?"

"There are rumours of Lord Dorn still being on Terra"

"were that the case Sankara, my Chief Librarian, would of told me as soon as he sensed a third primarch"

"perhaps not" Roboute said "If Rogal did not want to be found then he may of found a way to hide himself from psychic detection"

"But why hide from you Roboute?"

"we will ask him, should he ever show his face" Roboute then looked to Cawl "the others?"

"disappeared, although Lord Vulkan supposedly provided assistance during a great conflict with the orks recently but disappeared shortly after however if I locate him or the others I will gladly inform you"

"that would be much appropriated Cawl" Alistravia said "but I do have need of the lion, can you revive him as you did Roboute?"

Cawl put his hand to what appeared to be his chin and rubbed it as if in thought.

"I would need to examine him, also the Aldari assisted me before and I doubt the Dark Angels will allow me that privilege of even landing aboard their prison although they may allow you access and your medical knowledge is great, surely you can revive him?"

Alistravia shook her head.

"not after death, that's impossible but my Chief apothecary did develop a way to recover severely wounded primarchs though it's only been used once because I never had to use it again"

"some kind of extension of your nano technology?"

Alistravia again shook her head.

"no... are you familiar with the Rangdang Xenocides?"

"of course, but again records are sketchy"

Alistravia sighed and rubbed her head as if this was something that was bothering her.

"I do not understand how so many records across the imperium have become so corrupted or completely lost... it's baffling and I would understand why this has happened"

"it has become a concern for myself as to how the imperium could of forgotten you and all the good you did, many of the worlds that are proud to be imperial you brought into compliance through diplomacy and the promise of peace" Roboute said

"I will endeavour to find out but I might suggest if you can locate a powerful enough broadcast system you update the imperium's records with your own"

Alistravia smiled as she was impressed by Cawl's suggestion.

"an excellent thought Cawl, I will keep an eye out for such a device but to get back on topic...during the war with the Rangdang I was ambushed, lucky Angron was en route to reinforce us already and when he arrived I was trapped behind enemy lines and hounded by their kill squads but Angron was able to push through their lines and get to me but not before I was badly wounded so Nev, my Chief apothecary, came up with a way to regenerate my wounds extremely fast... well he was shouted at by Angron until he found a solution"

"which was?"

"It was for Angron to act as a life support device, his body supported mine for forty eight hours until I was strong enough to heal the rest of the wounds on my own"

Roboute let out a low chuckle.

"he must of hated sitting around and not fighting"

Alistravia smiled.

"you didn't know Angron like I did, he would of cut off his own head if it meant protecting me and he was stood by my bedside when I finally awoke..." Alistravia let this hang in the air

Roboute saw the twinge on her face knowing there was sorrow at what Angron was now, Cawl was about to speak but Roboute gave him a little wave as to say "give her a minute"

Alistravia looked over to Roboute and rubbed her head.

"If you don't mind Cawl I'd like to retire for the day, we can continue this exchange of ideas tomorrow"

Alistravia was a little surprised when Cawl offered no resistance to this and began moving towards the exit.

"of course, if you would follow me I will take you back to your escorts"

Cawl led them down one straight corridor and then turned down another before they arrived at the entrance which cemented Alistravia's understanding about how the maze like ziggurat was working as it moved rooms. Their respective escorts were waiting and the two sergeants seamed to be engaged in some discussion which ceased as they stepped through the archway.

"Alis I will return to my flagship first then join you for dinner in a few hours" Roboute said ass they steeped out into the cold air

"I will see you soon brother"

Pequad

Elise was sat at her desk reviewing the latest round of of system reports. The admirals office that had belonged to her predecessors had not been changed much since they had departed from the imperium. Bookshelves of all types of literature span one wall holding everything from books on military strategy to the great works of the authors from Terra's past. She had vowed to read them all when she first was promoted but she had barley managed half a shelf so far. The other side of the room was covered in star charts and models of ships as well as portraits of family members some of which she had been lucky to know. Behind her was a door to a secondary room that held her own lab for her research when she had the time. The oldest piece in the room was the ornate wooden desk she sat at, all kinds of cravings were wrought into it and each admiral since the first had had their own carving embedded in the table to create a tapestry of history and link the family together for all eternity.

The chair she sat on though was not the original extravagant leather chair her predecessors had sat in, it had been placed in the corner next to a reading table as Elise had found it too uncomfortable to work in but fine for leaning back and enjoying reading.

The doors hissed as they opened and Talvin walked in and placed a data slate on the desk.

"My helmsman's report Admiral"

"uh oh" Elise responded

Talvin who had stood to attention looked confused.

"what?"

"You never call me Admiral unless there are non family members near by, you haven't brought a report to me personally in months and the last time you stood to attention so sternly was at your graduation so what's going on?"

Talvin immediately dropped his stern stance and shrugged.

"I don't know what you mean mother"

Elise picked up the slate and began reading through it.

"see the way I see it there's three possibilities" she said as she kept her eyes on the slates displayed information "Either you've done something stupid, are going to do something stupid or you've met someone I won't approve of"

"you assume too much mother, I simply thought it would be nice to deliver the report in person and see you outside the confines of the bridge"

"So I shouldn't put too much stock in the fact you were sat talking to that uneducated imperial girl?" Elise said as she looked up over the pad towards him, they locked eyes and Talvin's realisation that his mother knew he had been talking to her made him look away for a moment.

"She's interested in some low IQ bio tech and did not realise she could take the citizen ship test so I simply told her how to get started and said I would help her study... not that she needs it with her eidetic memory"

Elise lent back in her chair and tossed the slate on the desk.

"You are interested in her, I can see it your face... you don't want her to pass the test so she can date the bio tech, you want her to out score him so she might be in our bracket and I highly doubt she could score as high as you or me"

"you really don't like her do you?... you know she is a descendant of Carin!?" Talvin said as she sat down on the short couch near the door

"Tal her presence on this ship is the will of the arch-inventress but that doesn't mean I have to like her personally, I appreciate she has been making an effort to fit in more but descendant or not she is an imperial who believes in fanciful things like Gods and Demons" Elise said as she walked over to her ornate glass jug and poured herself and Tal a glass of wine each

"Do you want to make this interesting?" Talvin asked

Elise walked over with the two glasses and handed one to Talvin.

"I am listening"

"We treat this as an experiment, a sort of can an imperial make the grade test, I will do my best to help her get the highest grade and if she gets into a higher bracket than her bio-tech and/or into our bracket then I have permission to continue with the experiment and help her become a citizen"

Elise sat down beside her son and took a small sip of the sweet wine.

"And if the experiment fails?"

"then I wil marry that neurologist, Rena... even though her research is basically amounting to nothing"

"Rena? You hated her over methodic research methods... you have yourself an experiment but you should consider one other variable"

"and what is that" Talvin said as he drank the wine

"what if she falls into her bio techs bracket and they live happily ever after..."

Talvin looked down at his glass and stared at the deep red wine.

"well then I suppose the experiment is a success but as she did not achieve the goals I set I would lose... But I assure you mother she will do better than you expect"

"we shall see" Elise said as she finished her wine

Alistravia's quarters

Roboute stared at the holographic image being emitted from the mapping orb for a long time before he picked up from the hololith and it shut off.

"you and Leaman assured father you had destroyed them all"

"Apparently we missed a few" Alistravia said as she took the orb from her brother and placed it back in her safe

It had been several hours since they left the surface, Roboute had spent a few hours aboard his ship then come across to the Pequad. He had dressed down into less heavily armoured suit knowing Alistravia would not appreciate him coming to dinner all armoured and Alistravia had dressed down too. She was wearing a light blue and green dress she had bought on Macragge when she had visited there, the vendor had almost had a heart attack when she approached him and asked him to make her a dress in honour of her visit there. Roboute had found her the finest dress makers in all of the five hundred worlds but she had refused all their designs saying... "let it be someone from Macragge whose fingers are blistered from work and puts every ounce of their life into the craft make me a dress, not some pompous rich outfitters who will simply throw something together in a few days and call it a master piece"

In many ways this had humbled Roboute as he agreed and sent the others away who were rather upset, the dress had taken longer at the hands of the man in the market but it was perfect and simple as Alistravia like her dresses to be.

Dinner was still cooking and Roboute wondered around her room examining data slates and other items, Alistravia's ever watchful guardian had moved away to the furtherest point in the room knowing Roboute was of no threat to her and she needed no guardian as long as another primarch was in the room.

The master of Macragge picked up a data slate and read through it.

"I see the high lords have sent you a schedule... they do understand you are empress yes?"

Alistravia shrugged.

"That matters not to them" she said taking a breath and pouring two drinks "they have allegedly been interpreting our fathers will for ten millennia so why would they give up that control now"

"father made you steward of the throne and you have every right to demand their obedience" Roboute responded

"and I do... you forget my equerry and chief librarian remains on Terra and Sankara has made my feelings on certain matters quite clear but do not worry yourself brother I plan to enforce some new rules quite soon but you should know well enough timing is everything when it comes to dealing with arrogant individuals" Alistravia said holding out a glass towards her brother

Roboute strode over and took it.

"you should know there are murmurings on some worlds that your appointment is not welcome and this may lead to rebellion"

"I know... in fact I am counting on it"

Roboute narrowed his eyes.

"You want them to try and rebel..."

Alistravia nodded as he continued speaking as he realised her plan.

"...because it will make things difficult for the high lords, if they allow the systems to fall into rebellion they will have failed to do their jobs and you will have leverage over them... but what if they suppress those systems and they don't rebel?"

Alistravia smiled and patted her brother on the shoulder as she passed him going towards the dinning table.

"then they will be safe... for now, but while they are distracted else where I will push through my rule and make it so it is rather difficult for them to fight back"

"and that's why you need the lion!" Roboute exclaimed turning around and following her

"or Rogal... either one would suit me fine, I will make them first lord and then I will have control"

"but Alis Rogal and the Lion have disagreed with you in the past so they may not accept everything and might even argue against your ideas" Roboute said

"Exactly!" Alistravia exclaimed as she spun round "If I made Sankara first lord it would cause them to rebel almost instantly as he will always obey but Rogal or the Lion will not and thus keep the balance"

"Clever sister, I should of know you would be willing to play the long game to assure victory"

Roboute paused for a moment as he drank his wine "Do you think Rogal is really on Terra?"

Alistravia sighed.

"If he is then he has hidden himself well and I can't ask Sankara to search for him as dealing with the high lords is a lot of work as it is so we will have to wait and see if he reappears on his own"

"Do you really think all our loyal brothers will return?" Roboute asked

"Father said they would and while he lied to us about many things I sense on this he was telling the truth" Alistravia said as she looked her brother over as he studied another data slate that had been left on a near by table "I know you came here to warn me about Cawl but that was only a half truth wasn't it, I suppose I should ask why you are so weary of him"

"you heard what he said he would do if he became fabricator general, it could cause a split in the Mechanicum and lead to another civil war between them and we don't have legions to spare on crushing it this time... in fact had the rebels not tried to assassinate you their war could of lasted longer"

Alistravia nodded.

"yes well when you try to bombard me from orbit in front of Horus and Ferrus you are asking for trouble, not to mention once Angron got wind it was basically game over"

"you and the others obliterated every Mechanicum fleet you came across that had even one ship allied to the rebels and you wiped out several forge worlds that took centuries to recover..." Roboute said starting his point

"...and then they tried to replicate my wormhole technology and blew up their own capitol world" Alistravia said finishing his sentence "rest assured brother I agree with you on Cawl and have no intention of making him fabricator general"

"good"

"but I would like to know the other reason you are here..." Alistravia said

Roboute looked over an old portrait of himself before answering.

"Your chief apothecary said you had gone through some kind of accession and that your strength and healing abilities had grown in potential so I was hoping to test those and since you have not seen actual combat since the days of the crusades I thought you might be a bit... rusty"

Alistravia nodded in response.

"yes you are correct, I haven't fought in a real fight since the crusades, everything since then has been a minor skirmish and I had to hold back against Celestine in a big way but as for my new found healing... watch"

Alistravia grabbed a small knife for cutting fruit and pushed it through her hand before pulling it back out. Roboute watched as the hole it had created sealed so fast only a small amount of blood showed and the skin that had been severed knitted back together in matter of moments.

"Impressive" he said taking her hand and examining it

There was not sign of any wound or blood and the only evidence that anything had occurred was the blood on the fruit knife.

"I don't know the limits of my new strength and healing but why come simply to test those?" Alistravia asked as a little drone disintegrated the bloody knife then replicated a new clean one

"Because our brothers have bonded with those things in the warp and at some point you will likely cross swords with one of them, testing your new strength and retraining you in melee combat will give you a better chance should you find yourself face to face with them"

"A fair point brother and I agree but why here and not somewhere on Terra?"

"because when I mentioned this element to Cawl he suggested to me he could build a room capable of handling two training primarchs"

There was a bell and several drones brought food on plates to the table and the two moved to take their seats.

"hey wouldn't it be funny if after it turns out I am stronger than you..."

Roboute looked back at her with a very displeased look.

Alistravia leaned forward in her seat.

"is that a little smile I see forming..." Roboute's face didn't change as she tried to look for some sign of a sense of humour "... fine lets just eat" she said giving up and leaning back in her chair

"Might I make a suggestion in regards to your choosing a first lord from our brothers Alis?" Roboute said as one of the drones filled his wine glass

"Please"

"If Corvus returns make him first lord"

"but I never met him" Alistravia responded as she used a shaker to cover her food in some Estrellan sea salt

"yes and he has not met the current high lords either so he would be a neutral party to both sides and not favour one or the other"

Alistravia had taken a bite of her kelp steak and swallowed it before responding.

"If he returns first I'll consider it but the Lion or Rogal are still my primary choices... oh and one more thing" she said as Roboute was gathering a few different vegetables on his fork

"what?" he asked before shovelling the collected veggies into his waiting mouth

"are the blood ravens your sons?"

Roboute shook his head as he swallowed his food and took a sip of his wine.

"No, I know not who there primarch is"

"interesting" Alistravia responded as she she shoaled another piece of her steak on to her fork "there not Blood angels or Ultramarines and this thing I hear they have about collecting other chapter relics is interesting"

"they are loyal Alis so what does it matter" Roboute responded

"Loyal or not brother I would know who their father was but anyway enough business... tell me more about what I missed when I was away"

IQ Testing Lab

The lab for the testing was rather plane, several computers were set up at individual spots throughout the room each capable of being sealed off so no person could pass answers or give hints to another about answers.

Kalia entered as Talvin was at one of the computers preparing something, he turned to face her as she approached.

"Good your early so I can go through some things with you first"

"Like the fact you didn't tell me about how even if I get through this I have to complete a research assignment and write a thesis based upon that research!"

Talvin held his hands up as if to suggest she should remain calm.

"I am sorry I didn't tell you about that part but I didn't want to scare you off taking the test but if you pass this then I can help you with the research assignment... did you read all the material I gave you"

Kalia sighed and looked over the blonde haired strangely handsome helmsman in irritation at his question, she had spent the past twelve hours reading books on everything from basic anatomy to quantum astrophysics and she was stilling seeing the dizzying array of numbers that had flown out her from the pages of the books.

"yes but it was so broad how will this transfer over to the test?"

Talvin stood up from the seat and urged her to sit down which she did.

"the test comes in multiple forms and the question types will change depending on the subject, some will be visual and others will require an essay of sorts"

Kalia nodded and looked to the monitor.

"so is this the practice test?"

"practice test?" Talvin responded in a confused tone "why would there be a practice test that makes no sense"

Kalia looked shocked but then regained her composure a little.

"well I guess I can take it again if I fail the first time"

"Oh no you only get one chance to pass" Talvin responded casually

"What!" Kalia exclaimed "so if I fail that's it game over!?"

Talvin again looked at her and sighed.

"this is why I didn't tell you about the research assignment or the thesis, you panic too easily... stay calm and you will pass this stage with no problems trust me"

Kalia looked at him with suspicion.

"why are you helping me so much?"

Talvin found himself nervous and unable to respond, he rubbed the back of his neck which was something he often did when he was feeling the pressure.

"Well... Estrellan's are natural problem solvers so it's in our mindset to help others solve theirs"

Kalia looked him over and smiled.

"your a terrible liar... but I do appreciate your help"

Talvin just nodded and returned the smile.

"just place your hands on the holographic interface and the test will start" he said as he began to exit the room

"your not staying!?"

"I can't I have a shift on the bridge but when the test is done just let me know and we can check the results"

"I suppose it won't be a long test?" Kalia asked

"no, only eight hours... see you" Talvin said as the doors shut and Kalia was left alone

Surface

Alistravia and Roboute had made their way down to the surface together the next day, Cawl had met them upon landing and guided them through to a large cube shaped arena with plane white walls and a tall ceiling.

"This room should be more than adequate for your training, you can adjust setting such as the gravity and atmosphere as well as summon combat servitors and if you don't mind I would like to watch to better understand your power"

Roboute nodded as Alistravia examined the walls before walking back to the centre where Roboute and Cawl stood.

"very well Cawl you can stay but I would put yourself a good distance away for your own safety"

Both Alistravia and Roboute had stripped down to the basics upon entering the room, Roboute was wearing a short top with no sleeves that showed off his muscular toned body fairly well with the emperors sword in a secure box against a wall along with Alistravia`s trident. Alistravia had stripped down to something similar and Cawl was surprised by how dainty she looked out of her armour, she had the stature of strength and her muscles did look strong despite the fact her arms were not bulging with much mass. It was when she stretched that Cawl could somewhat see the power that was hidden inside her small frame as she extended her arms to loosen her muscles they seamed to harden and resist as if their very strength was fighting to be unleashed. Her legs seamed to be of the same attitude and again looked thin and delicate compared to the tree trunks for legs Roboute had but Cawl could not get past the fact that her small stature seamed to be hiding tremendous power, he looked up on the two demi-gods and realised had he still the capability he might of wept at such magnificence.

"Alight Alis I want you to punch me with your full strength, do not hold back"

Alistravia looked a little concerned and hesitated, she had spent the night while analysing the trident thinking about this training and had become weary about doing it with not knowing how strong she truly was.

"Brother maybe we shouldn't... I could hurt you seriously" she said as she walked away from him

"Typical Alistravia" Roboute started "walking away from responsibility"

Alistravia stopped and clenched her fists then turned to him.

"I know what your trying to do but it's not going to work" she said as she resumed walking towards the door

"That's right Alis run away like you did before, it's your fault billions died and continue to die over your inaction and..."

Cawl knew all the primarchs were fast, some faster than others and Alistravia appeared from what just happened to be one of the fastest, before Roboute could Finnish his sentence she had turned and leapt across the room so fast Cawl could of sworn she teleported and hit Roboute square in the chest.

He went flying before landing and rolling over several times. Alistravia was seething and rage rolled over her like a thick fog that made Cawl take steps back to be even further away just in case her anger focused on him, Roboute pushed himself up and wiped a bit of blood that had trickled from his mouth.

"That's better, now I have your attention" he said as he charged forward in an attempt to tackle Alistravia and to Cawl's surprise she took the hit allowing Roboute to knock her across the floor before she stood up and the master of Macragge continued his assault as she deflected hit after hit yet allowing several to land, then with a move so swift Cawl wished he had been recording this training session, she preformed an uppercut on Roboute who went flying up so high it looked as if he would be shot into the roof and through into the atmosphere outside. That was when Cawl realised why she had not struck back sooner and had allowed several blows to land, her whole strategy was based on retaliation and as Roboute attacked she built up strength for one finishing blow... at least it might have been a finishing blow had she not been fighting another primarch.

Roboute landed on his back and slowly rolled over picking himself up as Alistravia approached.

"maybe had you more sense and not blown up Monarchia and just executed Lorgar then billions wouldn't of had to die" Alistravia said before starting to walk away again

Roboute stood up and charged after her, he leapt into the air throwing a fist forward, in response Alistravia spun around and threw a fist back out, as the two connected a shock wave shot out from the point their two fists connected.

Cawl felt as if trapped at the edge of a hurricane as the force nearly blew him off his feet, he felt several servos blow as his mechanical arms attempted to hold him in one place along with the straining pistons in his legs, as he looked around he could see the very walls of the room bending as if reality it's self struggled to hold fast at the impact.

Both primarchs stepped back and yet neither seamed tested by each others attacks as if this was the warm up and the real fight was yet to come.

"impressive Alistravia, your strength has vastly grown and had you unleashed that power on the living saint she would of been turned into a bloody pulp at your first strike" Roboute said as he stood down a little from his aggressive stance

"You got me angry on purpose and that was not fair brother... but you are right, perhaps had I of stayed I could of stopped Lorgar"

"I do not blame you sister, we all failed to see the threat and let ourselves be blind-sided by our own kin but... I needed that rage of yours because when you are calm you are clever and take care to stay at range but angry you are as bestial as Angron and as fast as the Khan and you know Mortarion and Magnus are not stupid they will not allow you to simply attack them from a distance, they will close in and then you need to be ready" Roboute said and Alistravia's aggressive stance fell a little

Alistravia looked up at her brother and she knew he was right, the chances of her being able to snipe any of her traitor brothers was low, even if she was able to get a shot off it likely would not kill them and then they would pursue her to engage in melee as it was not her speciality. She nodded to Roboute who relaxed a little sensing her anger subsiding.

"my apologies Roboute, I should of trusted your wisdom on this matter but as I had not tested my new found strength I was concerned it would take over and consume me making me blind to hurting you"

Roboute walked forward and and placed his hand on her shoulder.

"Alis if you injure me here it will be a simple matter of a few days recovery but if I failed to train you and you died at the hands of one of our traitor brothers then that is a wound I would never recover from"

Cawl was desperately trying to analyse what was going on, the human emotions on display were all but removed from his mind save the personality nodes that he kept close yet here in a moment that no one else may ever witness he yearned to feel what the two primarchs felt towards each other, it was as if it transcended love into something so powerful the very dark god themselves would weep at it's sight.

Alistravia nodded in response to her brother and the two parted a few steps and raised their fists into a fighting stance.

"let's start with the basics of hand to hand combat before we draw weapons" Roboute said looking towards Alistravia's new trident that rested against the wall

Roboute stepped forward throwing a punch and Alistravia pushed it aside with her right arm before throwing a wide punch with her left aiming for Roboute's side but he spun aside and came round to hit the back of her head but she rolled forward just dodging the blow and swept his leg with her own. He managed to jump in time to avoid the hit but that left him open and Alistravia barrelled into him knocking him onto his back, he grabbed her and threw her over his head before she could attack. She spun herself round and stood up quicker than Roboute who was still on on knee and with one arm extended she ran into him knocking him on to his back. He rolled away as she leapt into the air attempting to jump on his exposed stomach but this left her open to attack now and Roboute capitalized on this. He roared and charged forward grabbing Alistravia and preformed a surplex throwing her over his back and slamming her into the ground causing it to crack a little from the impact. Roboute stood back as Alistravia rolled out from her position to stand back up, several bruises on her legs and arms were disappearing and Roboute had a slight cut on his arm that had already clotted but despite the exchange in blows neither had broke a sweat.

"good Alis your strong and quick but your weakness is your technique, you rely too much on your opponent to make errors and when they do you over commit causing yourself to be left vulnerable"

"and what would be your suggestion then Roboute?" Alistravia asked as she rolled her shoulders in preparation for the next series of exchanges

"focus, use your speed advantage at the right time and don't leave yourself open, remember your dealing with those who know you and may be expecting an easy victory" The lord of Macragge said in response

"then maybe it would be best to appear weaker and allow them to make that mistake and attack me"

"a valid strategy against some but I doubt our brothers will let themselves forget that the more the attack you the stronger your retaliation will be so we must make it so you are not reliant on that strategy alone"

Alistravia nodded and readied herself as did Roboute.

Roboute came in throwing a punch forward and Alistravia deflected it to the side as she had done before but this time instead of punching back she she crouched and punched his knees. He responded by stepping back and reading to tackle her but she side stepped him as he charged before jumping and preforming a flying kick square into his back as he slowed him self down, he fell forward and stopped himself from crashing to the ground with the palms of his hands but Alistravia capitalized on his sudden open defence and brought a heavy kick down on the centre of his back which pushed him face down to the floor. He rolled away after she got back up but she pursued her attack and as he tried to get up kneed him just below the jaw before spinning around delivering a final kick to the side of his head knocking him to the ground before he could retaliate.

Roboute coughed up a little blood and smiled.

"good Alis much better" he said before roaring back into attack

Then the two primarchs began exchanging blows each eventually over powering the other, Roboute would try a different tactic each time looking for an area where Alistravia was weak and would eventually be victorious until he tried it a second or sometimes, third time and Alistravia would learn and beat her brother down again before he stood up and would try something more unusual, as was his legions doctrine he stuck to the practical and theoretical ideals of combat getting her to a level where he was unable to do anything she could not see coming, of course he couldn't replicate the fighting style of her brothers but she was improving and Cawl could see this and he also believed she was getting faster each time as she seamed to predict Roboute's attack before they came although this was likely due to her becoming familiar with his fighting style.

They paused after several hours and Cawl approached as they rested, not that either seamed tired the break was more for theoretical discussion than regaining strength.

Alistravia looked at her brother as he drank from a water bottle as if he actually needed to rehydrate and then looked down at the ground.

"I guess I disappointed you"

Roboute turned around as if offended by the statement.

"What! no, never... how?"

"well not just you but Rogal and all the others who remained loyal"

Roboute walked over to her and sighed.

"I won't pretend there were not times when we felt... shunned by your choice to leave... but you made a decision to protect your people and we respected that but no one was ever disappointed by you, if anything we were the ones who failed and it is you should be disappointed is us"

This time Alistravia was confused and seamed a little offended by the statement.

"why!?"

"When Horus turned against us we should of all united and fought together yet we were still divided by our own ego's and even when father died we refused to cast those divisions aside and work together, if we had we would all still be here fighting as one... Malcador was right about one thing... you anchored us all together in some sense but still even with you gone we should have been better"

Roboute seamed upset after this short speech and Alistravia sighed and placed her hand on his shoulder.

"Brother we can't change the past... it's something I have to keep reminding myself of, on Baal I was so ready for the past to cause conflict between the legions I never thought that we would be so unified" she looked down to the floor again and then up at Roboute who smiled "Horus's mistake may of created a unity that wasn't there before and we mustn't squander that by blaming each other... the past truly is the past and while we may still not always agree we can be better now"

Roboute nodded as Cawl came within speaking range.

"perhaps you would consider fighting some combat servitors, I could replicate a battlefield and send an army against you to see how you fair"

Alistravia and Roboute looked at each other and nodded.

"a good idea Cawl but we should spend the second half of today training with our weapons first" Roboute said

"It will take a day for the army to built and programmed, I will attempt to make them as strong as possible but perhaps it will allow you to test your skills a little"

Alistravia nodded.

"that seams reasonable" she said as the two approached their weapons and prepared themselves

Pequad

Talvin walked into the admirals office and fell face first over the end of the couch with a data slate in his hands. His mother who was sat on the leather chair in the corner smiled and stood up as she moved over towards him.

"So she didn't pass then?"

"no, she passed" a muffled response came

Elise started laughing.

"oh so she's just smart enough for her bio-tech then... oh well I'll talk to Rena's mother and start arranging things, do you want to have the wedding back on Estrella or do you want to do it aboard the ship"

"I am not marrying Rena" came another muffled response

Elise sighed and became a bit frustrated.

"Alight lieutenant listen up, coming into a superior officers office and acting like you are is completely unprofessional" as she said this Talvin righted himself to sit normally on the couch "and secondly you made a deal when we set this experiment up"

Talvin shook his head and held out the data slate with the results.

"you don't get it mother I didn't lose, she did better than either of us though she would"

Elise took the slate and looked over it, her eyes grew wide as she read the final result.

"this can't be correct" she said shaking her head "did you run diagnostics on the systems, make sure it was calibrated correctly"

"I did all those things and more, I even lied to her when I saw the result and told her it takes a couple of hours to process just to buy time"

Elise handed him the pad back and turned to lean on her desk facing away from Talvin who stood up and walked to stand beside her.

"I won't, I won't accept it... no, never!" she exclaimed

"Mother you don't have to accept it but the fact is she passed and finished at the highest point in our IQ bracket, her IQ is two hundred and ninety nine..."

Surface

"Ok Alistravia we should try to see just how strong that trident of yours is" Roboute said as he held out the emperors sword in front of him with both hands

Alistravia chuckled as she observed him.

"what?"

"your holding your sword like the Khan and it looks out of place because that's not your style"

Roboute returned to his normal stance and relaxed but he looked over Alistravia who held her trident with the fork at the front aimed down.

"and you are wielding your trident as Alpharius would wield his spear"

"well I'll take your word for that brother since I never met the man"

The two primarchs stood in the centre and spun their weapons in their hands as they circled each other, then Roboute stuck forward and Alistravia used the bottom of her trident to flick Roboute's attack aside then thrust the fork forward but Roboute grabbed the head of the trident and used it to pull Alistravia and swing her around, she lost her grip on the trident and rolled along the floor.

"I expected better from you sister" he said but then he felt the pull from the trident as it shot him towards the wall and he was forced to let go before he collided with it. The trident stopped and shot back towards Alistravia.

"I expected better from you Roboute did you forget I can recall my weapons using the electro magnetic systems inside my clothing"

Roboute chuckled.

"I didn't believe you would of made the connection so quickly"

"it was the first thing I did after you left, as well as running this thing through the anti-mass spectrometer" she said as the trident hovered beside her "by the way Cawl you do know this thing is literally made from a c'tan shard, which is why it can likely damage the beasts of the warp... I hope you understand the possible dangers of xenos weapons especially those made of beings from before the dawn of human history!"

Alistravia was clearly angry at the discovery and wanted Cawl to know she was concerned about his alliance with the Necrontyr even if it wasn't active at this time

"So that's why it can only create one but those creatures are large how does that work!?" Roboute said showing his concern "perhaps it would be better to lock the weapon away and not use it"

Alistravia shook her head.

"the weapon is simply a by-product brother, it has no will or mind of it's own as the shard would have been fully consumed in it's making... my guess the shard is perhaps a smaller version of it's full sized counterparts which is literally forced inside the obelisk and while I understand your misgivings we need all the advantages we can get... but my question is did you know Cawl?"

"I knew nothing about the obelisk and how it worked beyond what Tazyn told me about it, but had I of known it would not of changed my desire to use it"

Alistravia narrowed her eyes as she looked at him and made her way back to the centre of the room to continue training.

"know this Cawl, desire like all emotion can be abused by others so be careful no one uses it to take advantage of you...now where were we brother"

Roboute was glaring at Cawl who had moved as far away as he could partly because the two primarchs were still training and partly because he knew neither were happy about his dealings with Tazyn. Eventually Roboute broke his gaze from Cawl and focused on Alistravia, he lunged forward and this time Alistravia threw the trident fork first at him, he had to swat it aside with his other arm and in doing so Alistravia was able to land a kick to his midsection knocking him away from her as the trident flew back to her and she swung the weapon round in time to block the emperors sword coming down. As they held together Roboute smiled.

"good your learning quickly but you should never let your weapon leave your hand" he said as they broke their lock and stepped back from each other

Before Roboute could speak Alistravia shot her trident forward in her hands and he deflected it with the emperors sword but Alistravia spun around and brought the back end of her trident along the floor clipping Roboute's legs causing him to stumble, she tried to follow it up with another thrust with the head end but Roboute had seen through her strategy and used his stumble to move out of the way and draw the tip of the emperors sword up along her side cutting her a little expecting her to simply heal from the wound as quickly as it had been made but surprisingly she didn't and the wound bled for a few moments before her advanced healing kicked in.

"my apologies Alis I did not think you would take so long to heal"

Alistravia was examining the wound which had now disappeared just as the one she had caused to her hand with the fruit knife had.

"Who knows what that sword can truly do but perhaps that lethal edge will make me learn quicker"

Roboute nodded and readied himself again.

"this time sister don't rely so much on your trident's reach, while it is long it will leave you open and vulnerable"

Alistravia nodded as she lined up again with Roboute.

Roboute lunged in with the blade from the side and Alistravia stepped aside and gave a short thrust with the head of the trident, initially it looked as if she had made the same mistake before and over extended her self but she was holding the haft loose enough that when Roboute spun round to strike her from behind she shot the bottom of the trident back catching her brother in the chest and knocking him back and drawing blood.

"better Alis" Roboute said as he recovered "now, again..."

Pequad

"how can this be possible" Elise said as she downed her second glass of wine

Talvin was still sat on the couch and again looking through the data slate with Kalia's test results wondering if he had missed something, he knew he hadn't but still even he was still having trouble believing the results. He put the slate aside and looked over to his mother who was pouring herself another glass of wine.

"I don't know... her father owns a small trading company and her mother was his accountant, they were fairly wealthy and when she reached twelve they sent her to Theadras IV to study and eventually return home, marry and join the family business but the ecclesiarchy found her first which is how she ended up here, there must be some random genetic conversion that occurred in the womb causing her IQ to grow exponentially"

"yes yes we've all read your fathers research it's very compelling but still I am struggling to believe an uneducated imperial woman is smarter than us, how did she never get noticed!?"

Talvin shrugged.

"we are tested from an early age and driven to find our maximum potential IQ on Estrella but imperials are not, as long as you work and fight for the emperor no one cares about your intelligence so that's likely why she never got discovered but I bet the signs were always there, faster learning speed, eidetic memory and I imagine she often solved problems that were difficult for others but mere child's play to her but again without someone to recognize her inelegance it never got picked up on"

Elise hadn't really been listening but clicked her fingers and got a wicked smile on her face.

"I've got it, we tell people she used a drone to fix the results"

Talvin narrowed his eyes and shook his head in snotty derision of his mothers idea.

"so your plan is to say she had the inelegance to reprogramme a drone bypassing it's security systems which then bypassed the security systems of the test apparatus, both of which were designed by the arch-inventress I might add, to fake the result which would in return prove she has a high IQ as to do that you would literally have to know not only the ins and outs of the drones security subroutines but that of the ships as well!?"

Elise threw her hands up in the air in surrender.

"well when you put it like that it does sound absurd"

Talvin stood up from the couch and grabbed the slate.

"look mother face it you lost the experiment and I need to go give her the news and then help her decide on a research project"

"How about we extend the experiment to cover her research?" Elise said with a evil smile on her face

Talvin sighed.

"Alright" he said sitting back down "what do you have in mind"

Surface

Alistravia and Roboute were now fairly equally matched, the two fought back and forth similar to how they had when going hand to hand, each time Roboute would attack in a new way and keep doing that until Alistravia learned to beat it in some way.

The two had been battling for hours without rest apart from short moments where Roboute would stop to impart some advice to Alistravia which they would discuss for a moment before returning to their fight. Cawl had collected a lot of data so far and knew he had probably barley scratched the surface of what they were capable of considering they were not aiming for any kind of lethal blow.

Right now they were circling each other and make short exchanges to test each others defence and they spoke as they did.

"I am curious to know why Abbadon has not struck out at you, I find it interesting as he must be aware you and your advanced technology is a threat to his crusade" Roboute said as he charged in with a thrust from the sword which was parried by Alistravia who spun round brining her weapon to bear only to have it parried in return

"it is a long story brother but I assure you Ezekyle is well aware of the danger I represent but for personal reasons he has chosen not to attack yet although I imagine that will change in time" Alistravia said in response as she pushed forward and deflected Roboute's strike earlier than he expected knocking him off balance and forcing him to retreat a little

"you seam to know more than you are letting on, does it have something to do with Horus?"

Alistravia surged forward and swept her weapon low forcing Roboute to jump slightly then she shoulder charged him knocking him over "so that's a yes then" he said getting back up

"It's not any of your business brother and Horus is dead so it matters not"

"I know how close you were to him Alis and some might of said it was much closer than any brother and sister should have been"

Again at this Alistravia charged forward in anger and Roboute side stepped her hoping to strike at her side but she was focused and not as angry as she appeared, she ducked low and spun around thrusting the fork end towards Roboute who deflected it but not enough to avoid a cut to his leg. They stopped as they waited for the wound to clot and Alistravia paced about.

"I realise to an outsider we may of appeared closer than normal but I was no more fond of Horus than I was of any other brother who took his time to understand me"

Roboute stood back up to his full height after the wound had clotted and nodded to her.

"perhaps I am wrong but after that six year campaign you two waged together you seemed... different"

"That war was a meat grinder and should of ended earlier, in fact it would of gone on much longer had Konrad not of finished his campaign so early and come to our assistance, it wasn't just us who became closer Roboute, both legions became intertwined, that war solidified an already strong alliance" Alistravia said and readied her weapon

The two clashed again and exchanged blows but this time neither one injured the other.

"Alis Abbadon is no longer your friend, remember that because I believe he will try to use that to his advantage and what ever relationship you had with Horus must also be put aside or he will find a way to manipulate you"

Alistravia spun her trident around her body and parried back and forth with Roboute for several minutes before they broke off.

"Ezekyle is a traitor to the imperium and that is all that matters, our friendship ended when he turned his back on our father as it did with Horus"

"Then why do you continue to call him by his first name, I appreciate you forged bonds with many of the first captains in effort to build alliances but many of those betrayed us, Ahriman, Kharn and Abbadon... all traitors" Roboute said as Alistravia paced around him

"yes it's a strange irony that the legion first captains who shunned my attempts at friendship remained loyal but those who did accept my casual approach were mostly traitors"

After she finished speaking she attempted to attack Roboute from behind, he quickly spun round and managed to deflect her first attack but she struck home with her second clipping the back of his head with the end of her trident.

"good you not letting your anger control you now, your focusing it into a controlled weapon" Roboute said as they circled each other

"is that what this is a way to improve my skills or are you just trying to dig up dirt?"

Roboute let his arms slump and he stopped pacing.

"I am not after any kind of dirt Alis, I simply wish to understand something's that concern me... If we are to forge a better future please give me something"

Alistravia stopped pacing as well and looked her brother over and then to Cawl.

"If you repeat what you are about to here I will kill you myself is that clear"

"I will delete it from my memory if necessary"

Alistravia nodded to him and then looked to her brother.

"The scientific method is a curious thing and at times in human history science has led to grave consequences, the discovery of the atomic bomb, the first fusion weapons and many others... all led to the darkest times in human history... it's ironic really, we say those things in the warp are our greatest enemy but the truth is were are own worst enemy"

Roboute looked confused.

"What are you trying to say Alistravia?"

"Ezekyle was dying... Horus was distraught and he seamed lost without him so I suggested something that gave him a chance but it wasn't guaranteed to work and yet it did, I warned Horus he may not be the same man but when he awoke he was just Ezekyle... he could barley even remember being hurt but when we returned father realised something was wrong so we told him what we did, of course he was not entirely happy but he was also impressed by my ingenuity then he forbade me from trying it ever again "

"so it was classified?"

Alistravia nodded.

"I warned Horus that unusual personality traits may appear and it seams I was right... or maybe Ezekyle was always like that and like Horus it simply took a little push to set him off but I have told you far too much already so can we please now drop the subject!"

Roboute nodded and looked at Alistravia, it was clear from her body language whatever happened this line of questioning had upset her in a different way to making her angry. He placed his hand on her shoulder and she looked up at him.

"I am sorry sister, I did not mean to force you to relive painful memories I only wanted to understand, forgive me?"

Alistravia nodded.

"Brother there are things about the past better left there and I will deal with Ezekyle when the time is right"

Roboute nodded back.

"perhaps we have trained enough for today and this would be a good time to call it quits and recover" he said before turning to Cawl "I trust your army will be ready for us when we return tomorrow"

"I will make sure of it"

Alistravia addressed Cawl and Roboute as the dominus prepared to escort them out.

"If I am fighting an army then I should at least be allowed to bring my pistols"

"Fair enough Alis but I hope you will concentrate on your melee capabilities rather than your already excellent marksman skills"

Alistravia nodded as Cawl led them out.

"don't worry brother they will only be there to assist in thinning out the herd"

Pequad

Elise was waiting in Alistravia's quarters when she stepped in.

"I hope this is important Elise, I am really not in the mood!" Alistravia said snapping a little

Elise looked down at the data slate and then bowed.

"I'll come back later" she said heading for the door

"No wait" Alistravia said calling her back "my apologise Elise I should not of snapped it is not your fault... It's been a long day and our conversations led me to some upsetting memories but that is no excuse to be snappy with you"

Elise fiddled with the data slate for a moment wondering if she should actually leave and if Alistravia would be angrier with her if she did, eventually she held out the pad to her.

"I wanted to show you this"

Alistravia took the pad that held a copy of Kalia's test results, she looked it over getting a surprised look on her face. Elise expected it to be the same surprise at the score as she had but it wasn't.

"To be honest I thought she would do better than two ninety nine" she said as she flicked through it

"You knew she could possibly be that intelligent?"

Alistravia shrugged and put the pad down.

"She has an eidetic memory and picks up most things faster than any normal imperial would so I knew she had to be smart... to be honest I think much of her intellect is hidden by her faith, were that not a factor she might have been picked up early... but why is this of concern to you?"

Elise took a deep breath and let her shoulders slump in embarrassment at what she was about to say.

"I think Talvin has a thing for her, he was the one who suggested she start the process or becoming a citizen"

"and you don't approve of her?"

"no of course not, she's has maybe a little Estrellan DNA in her but she's still just an imperial who believes in a bunch of lies about gods and daemons"

Alistravia took a seat and a motioned Elise to take the one opposite.

"So why did you come here?"

"Well I was hoping you would speak to her and prevent her from going any further" Elise said as she took a seat

Alistravia leaned back in the chair and sighed.

"I can't do that, she has every right to make the attempt but explain to me why Talvin suggesting she take the citizenship test means he is some how attracted to her?"

Elise wanted to avoid the question but given the primarch had snapped at her earlier she decided to be honest.

"I am his mother I can read him like a book...and we made an experiment out of it and if he won he would get to continue to help her with the next steps, maybe I am silly but I truly believe he has some underlying attraction to her"

Alistravia let out a long sigh as if she was mitigating some anger through a long breath out.

"Elise you might not want to forget that she is my very great granddaughter and I certainly don't like the idea of two senior officers using her as some kind of tool in an experiment which I am going to take a stab at and say is still in effect?"

Elise nodded and Alistravia continued.

"I see, well then I will add an addendum as is my right as arch-inventress of Estrella... should she make it all the way to the final stage and be passed through as a citizen and should she and Talvin choose to have a relationship you will not object"

"and if she fails"

"then I will tell Talvin he is to marry who ever you have chosen for him or his sister will be next in line for the admirals position"

Elise stood and smiled, she knew Talvin was coveting her position and was well on his way to becoming admiral when she retired so the threat of losing that would force him to marry who ever she choose.

"I agree to you addendum"

"good, now if you don't mind I'd like some time alone"

Elise nodded and left the room.

Alistravia activated a hololith that was built into the ceiling and shifted through a dozen files until she found a picture, it was of her, Ezekyle and Horus celebrating a won battle. She stared at the image for an hour before shutting it off and making an isolated instant transmission link to Terra. After a few moments the image of Sankara appeared, at first smiling as he was pleased to see her but when he saw her expression his demeanour changed.

"what's wrong mother?"

"I had to give up some information regarding the incident with Ezekyle during the paxin campaign"

Sankara nodded now in clear understand of why she called.

"how much did you say?"

"enough to satisfy Roboute and I don't believe he will push any further for now but it brought back a lot of memories and I thought... if I hadn't of done it would we be in such turmoil now!?"

Sankara sighed and smiled.

"Alis, you and I go way back and we were bound together as friends long before the emperor arrived at your door so I say this to you not as your equerry but as your friend... you did the right thing and to worry about what ifs is pointless, you saved the life of someone you considered a friend and that is what's important... if all good deeds in the universe were with out consequence then there would be no primarchs and then we would never of met and that would be a great tragedy"

Alistravia smiled and nodded.

"thank you Sankara, you always help me clear things in my mind"

"I will always be here for you Alistravia"

Mess hall

"so this would mean I can't see Phillep any more?" Kalia asked

Talvin shook his head but could see the upset on Kalia's face.

"No you can still spend time with him but should you pass all the tests and be approved by an assembled council of your peers then you would be unable to pursue a relationship with him as he is in a much lower bracket"

Kalia slumped back in her chair.

"then maybe I won't continue with the attempt" she mumbled

Talvin sighed.

"If you stop you still won't be able to pursue a relationship with him because your not Estrellan"

"Maybe I can talk to Alistravia, she is arch-inventress so maybe she can make it so I can see him"

Talvin shook his head in frustration.

"you read our history, after the kappa arch-inventor abused the position to assist in their invasion much of it's power was stripped away so it couldn't happen again and given to the council because of the damage it caused to our society"

Kalia gave him a curious look.

"So Alistravia is just a figurehead with no real power?"

"Not exactly, whoever holds the position can still guide the research in whatever direction is necessary and can make decisions on what new research can be approved but the council has the complete say over the social structure and how it works" Talvin said in response

Kalia sighed and looked up at the chronometer, Phillep would be coming soon to have lunch with her and she would have to tell him about her results and she wasn't looking forward to it.

"So what's next?" she asked reluctantly

"You need to decide on a research project that requires six months of data accumulation and then present a thesis on your findings that will under go review by the arch-inventress although given you are in a way related to her someone else may need to review your work... now I can help you choose a research project from a variety of topics but you might want to choose something that's personal to you" Talvin said as a couple further back in the hall began a heated exchange of correct analysis protocol

"what if I am just doing the same research as someone else?"

"that won't matter as long as you present your findings and thesis that doesn't just directly copy theirs" Talvin said as the exchanged dies down

"So come at something from a different angle" Kalia responded

"Exactly!" Talvin said as Phillep walked in and waved to Kalia

She gave a timid wave back as Talvin stood up and a drone came to remove his plate and left overs.

"I'll leave you two alone" he said as he walked past the bio-tech

"Lieutenant" Phillep said as they passed

Talvin gave a curt response.

"Ensign"

Talvin hung around the entrance to the mess and watched for a few minutes. At first between the two things were polite and a laugh was exchanged but then Kalia showed him the results and things quickly changed. Suddenly Phillep was looking down at the pad in despair and asking questions, Talvin heard his name mentioned a few times and then heard some accusation of Kalia being involved with himself. She dismissed this and seamed to be pleading for him to calm down and listen but he stood up in anger and marched off, Talvin didn't notice it at first but a big smile had crept upon his face, Kalia was now holding her head in her hands and looked to be crying a little. He wanted to go over and speak to her but then she might get suspicious as to why he was still close by, he hadn't wanted to upset Kalia and he had thought Phillep wouldn't take it as badly as he did but it was done and he just had to hope Kalia wouldn't give up because of this or he was going to end up marrying someone he really hated.

Surface

Roboute was already in the training room when Alistravia arrived escorted by Cawl. The lord of Macragge walked towards her in his full battle suit. Alistravia was in hers as well and it's green and gold markings combined with the shark mouth at the front gave it an imposing feel.

"Alis I must apologise again for the way our conversation went, I had no intention of upsetting you nor do I wish to make you feel guilty for Abbadon"

Alistravia smiled back at her brother, she had spent much of the night thinking about the situation and had come to a decision about how to deal with this subject. She had gone back on forth on whether to tell him the truth about the whole event or simply leave it alone and it had annoyed her, maybe even irritated her but it didn't upset her partly because of what Sankara had said but also because she held no real fault for what Ezekyle was now, his decisions were his own and she held no fault for those choices.

"Roboute I am not upset, I saved the life of someone who I respected and dealt with as a friend, I know you and Rogal always disliked my casual approach as did Sanguinius, and maybe that was a mistake but I can't predict the future and Ezekyle will pay for his betrayal along with everyone else, including our brothers who turned their backs on the imperium because come hell or high water we will end this war and if I have to take back the life I gave Ezekyle then so be it!"

Roboute smiled, this was the Alistravia he had been waiting for, cold, calculated and direct.

"We will crush the life out of the traitors together Alistravia"

"We will brother and the imperium will be great again" she said before turning to Cawl "So where is this army"

Cawl moved over to a control cogitator and pressed a few keys then the walls began to open up and out marched thousands of Skitarii, Castellax, Taghmata and other Mechanicum units ready to do battle with the primarchs but then the whole room started to shift, plat forms and buildings erupted from the ground as the walls fell back to a distance and an entire city like scape was produced. The warriors of the Mechanicum began to spread themselves out taking different positions, snipers moved to high points and infantry moved into flanking positions while the heavier support units moved to the back and finally a knight rose from the ground.

"I am impressed Cawl this is a nice force you have arranged for us to fight, shame were about to tear it to pieces" Alistravia said as her fish faced helm snapped shut over her head.

Roboute pulled his helm over and clamped it shut.

"just like old times"

"they will attack on my command so when ever you are ready I will activate them"

Alistravia nodded to Cawl who began the activation sequence.

The two primarchs exchanged a glance and as las fire began to shoot out towards them they charged forward.

Alistravia dived through an open window in what appeared to be some replica of a standard imperial office building, the Skitarii there targeted her quickly and shots rained down on her armour but none penetrated, she threw her trident at the sergeant and it pinned him against the wall as she drew her pistols and exchanged fire with the rest killing them in quick succession as a larger machine came crashing through the wall charging at her, she recalled her trident and spun round blocking the falling power-fist of the machine. It was a heavy thing and it tried to use it's wight to push through Alistravia's block but she used that against it by pulling her trident away at the last moment letting the thing crash to the ground and then ending it's life with a quick stab of her trident as three more of the things came charging in shoulder cannons blazing. She dived out of the way letting the munitions do nothing but tear up the ground, in the distance she saw Roboute battling a group of the same machines and smiled to her self at Cawl's ingenuity, he had layered the fight to get progressively harder with the knight at the end being the final hurdle to over come.

A spay of bullets nearby reminded her she had three of the things to deal with, she charged towards them and targeted the one in the centre throwing her trident directly into it's face, it reared back flailing as it tried to recover from it's damage. The other two charged towards her with their fists swinging and she dived under their arms but was forced to take a hit to allow her self the momentum to be carried forward and grab her trident from the dying one. As she ripped it from it's face it shut down and died, then she spun around narrowly avoiding a crashing power-fist. She stabbed the head end of the trident through the machines arm and ripped it clean off before throwing it at the other which did noting but anger it further. The one armed one attempted to bring it's other power-fist round to attack but Alistravia spun underneath it's attack and cut it's legs from underneath it, it jerked around as it's sister machine charged into Alistravia knocking her back through a wall into a group of waiting Skitarii who turned their guns to face her as the machine charged at her. She dived out of the way and the larger machine was hit by the fire from the Skitarii group that was meant for her, it didn't do much damage but the machine was stunned and while it was still facing the other way she stabbed the tridents head through it's back killing it. The Skitarii were repositioning but Alistravia did not give them much chance as she charged at them with a pistol in one hand and her trident in the other killing them all in the space of a few seconds. A sniper shot ricochet of her shoulder pad and she shot back in one swift manoeuvre killing the sniper with little struggle as from around the corner hundreds more Skitarii and larger war machines readied to attack her. Alistravia smiled beneath her helm, this was actually turning out to be a lot of fun.

Pequad

Rebus found Kalia stood looking out a view port in one of the quieter corridors, he came and stood beside her in quiet for a few moments.

"You didn't come to your combat lesson, we were going to start on rifles today"

Kalia didn't look at him and kept her eyes on a passing Mechanicum warship.

"Sorry I've been a bit distracted" she said as the captain of the 7th glanced at her

"I am aware you took the test to begin the process of acquiring Estrellan citizenship but why has that cause you such distraction?"

Kalia looked up at him and thought about how the marines must feel unable to have a family and any resemblance of a normal life stripped away from them.

"you wouldn't understand"

"try me" came a rather dry response

Kalia took a deep breath.

"I though if I took the test and managed to get through and accepted I could be with Phillep and we could see if there really was something there but I ended up being much smarter than him and now he hates me plus he thinks Talvin is attracted to me which is absurd... this isn't how I expected my life to go..." she said trailing off

"go on" Rebus said nudging her to continue

"I thought before I came here that I would pick one of the suitors father sent me then I would live a nice comfortable life with lots of friends and family but then I came here and everyone hated me..."

"not true but continue" Rebus said interrupting for a moment

"then I get a glimmer of hope hope in Phillep and now that's been take away from me, nothing ever goes right for me"

Rebus took a breath and looked down at her.

"Kalia only a few people in the galaxy truly get everything they want and the rest of us simply have to make do because that is life, you think your life is bad right now... what about the child living on the street in some hive city because his parents threw him out because they couldn't feed him or the imperial guardsman sent to face death everyday and they can not question it... life does not revolve around you but you can help yourself by stepping up and taking responsibility" Kalia opened her mouth to respond but Rebus cut her off "and don't say you can't because I know you can, you have grown since you first came aboard but still every time life gets hard you act like there's no point and it's only you that has suffered but you know that's not true"

"is this what you wanted, to be an astartes?" Kalia said and Rebus nodded

"I was six when the Mechanicum fleet attacked our colony... this was before the emperor found Alistravia"

Kalia looked up at the marine as he spoke.

"After the victory against them Alistravia came and spoke and I stood in the crowd with my father and mother" he took a deep breath that seamed to be filled with emption before continuing "She gave a speech that set a fire in my heart and from that day I wanted to fight for her, a year later and the emperor arrived and when I was old enough I took the trial and succeeded... barley, this life I choose and that I do not regret it" he turned to her "you need to make a choice, you either do or do not pursue the citizenship but I believe if you don't you will regret it, however the choice is yours"

Kalia nodded and sighed.

"thanks Rebus, you want to do that training now?"

The marine nodded and smiled.

"we can talk about possible research projects while we train"

Surface

At least seventy five percent of Cawl's army was in pieces and Alistravia was tearing apart a Thantar siege automaton when the knight finally entered the fray, it's heavy stubber tore up the ground and shattered lighter buildings as it marched forward towards her. She dived into a heavy stone building before it could get any true sight on her and found Roboute killing a group of Skitarii, a dead iron strider was half visible through a window. Some of the skitarii were approaching Roboute from behind and Alistravia charged into them killing two instantly with the shear force of her hit, the last two opened fire at close range and she swung her trident around cutting them in two as Roboute cut the head off the last of the foes facing him.

"you know I've really enjoyed this brother, but these machines don't offer much in the way of challenge"

"the knight will be a problem" Roboute said as he turned to face her

Alistravia nodded and then noticed a frayed piece of wire coming from the ground, she moved over and began pulling it out.

"That wire looks strong but if your plan is to trip the knight it won't be strong enough"

Alistravia began wrapping it around the end of her trident and tying it tight before ripping out the rest of the wire and wrapping it around herself.

"Back in old Terra's history there were people who hunted large whales because their oils were valuable along with other components... barbaric and uncivilized but one can not fault there method"

Roboute rubbed his chin in thought.

"Did not those people not use harpoons?"

Alistravia turned took at him and sighed.

"yes but Cawl made me a trident instead so it will have to suffice, now I need you to lure it's guard away and then keep it busy"

"and where will you be while I endanger my life?" Roboute asked concerned

"we need to remove it's head so I am going up there" she said pointing through a gap in the ceiling to high tower "once I am in position bring the knight towards me and we can bring it down"

Roboute nodded and moved towards the door.

"You know Alis, it's good to be fighting alongside you again"

"you took the words right out of my mouth Roboute" she responded as he opened the door to step out on to the street

"good luck Alistravia"

Alistravia chuckled in response as he stepped out and ran off towards the knights escorts, she didn't believe in luck and he knew that but she couldn't help but smile at the thought of it.

She moved in the opposite direction to Roboute exiting through the window with the dead iron strider and ran towards the building, the knight was several blocks back and she could hear it firing it's guns at Roboute who was drawing it's escort away little by little and destroying them once they were out of the covering fire provided by their charge. The building Alistravia had chosen was a high rise office complex and the ground floor was littered with the bodies of skitarii and what looked like the broken hull if a doom crawler which blocked the stairs up so she pushed the button for the lift and tapped her foot as it slowly came down. When the door opened a squad of skitarii was waiting but before they could fire she drew her pistols and blasted them apart before stepping in the lift, the door wouldn't shut initially and she had to throw one of the bodies that was blocking the door out of the lift before it would close. she pushed the button for a fairly high floor one that she had calculated would be high enough to be in line with the knights head.

As the elevator started to rise a soothing music began to play and Alistravia found herself humming along to it as the lift continued upwards, after a few dozen floors a vox signal cut off her humming.

"ALIS!" it was Roboute

"hello brother how are things" she said casually

"Bad Very Bad!, the knight is chasing me towards the tower so I need to know you will be ready!"

As Roboute said this the doors of the lift opened to a large room with desks and other office style items but the thing that stood out was the forty or so skitarii that stared at her.

"Can you hold Roboute I need to deal with something"

"Alis!no don't put me on hol..."

She cut him off as she ran out of the lift and the skitarii opened fire, she slid under a table drawing both her pistols and she swung back up shoot a few of the skitarii before they could turn. A few more opened fire from the back and she dived behind a column letting off a few shots at some of the machines that tried to box her in. she stood behind the column and concentrated as her visor sent out a short pulse scanning the room, thirty six skitarii were left but Alistravia could hear the approaching foot steps of the knight that was desperately trying to hit Roboute. The skitarii were circling round and she didn't have much time so she leaped out from behind the column into the path of several skitarii who she quickly dispatched, the group that had been coming up behind her fired and she rolled away behind a mobile separation wall, she stood up behind it and her visor targeted the skitarii as they moved behind it so with quick efficiency she blasted through the cheep partition and killed them.

"Alis I am at the tower now what?"

"bring it as close to the windows as you can and I'll do the rest" she said as the last ten skitarii came round the side to get a shot on her

She no longer had time to deal with the skitarii so she barged through them towards the window, gun fire followed her and she took a few shots where she could killing a few of the skitarii but the knight was now visible and she kept running with the Trident in one hand and a tight grip on the wire with the other, the knight turned to look in her direction and she could see the shoulder mounted stubber taking aim.

She launched the trident and it hit directly between the knights eyes causing the stubber to go wide as it reared back and kill the last few skitarii that were attempting to get at her, she saw Roboute heading to the bottom of the building and she pulled back on the wire attempting to drag the knight closer but it resisted and brought it's massive chain sword in for an attack, quickly she ran round one of the solid pillars and then dived out the window. The knight despite it's size and strength could not avoid the pull as the wire reached length and it stumbled forward into the building as Roboute arrived in the lift. He charged into attack it's face as it tried to remove it's self from the building as Alistravia pulled her self up and climbed on to it's back, Roboute buried the emperors sword deep within the face of the knight as Alistravia pulled the trident free and used it as a lever to slowly pry the knights head from it's body then as soon as the cockpit became vulnerable she drew a pistol and targeted the explosive joints that were designed to remove the head in an emergency, they went up with a bang and the head came loose which allowed Roboute to leap in and kill pilot with one swift strike.

Alistravia dropped down to where Roboute was standing and retracted her helm as he removed his.

"that was easier than I thought" she said before she head back towards the lift

Roboute turned to follow her as the battle field started to shift and reshape back to just being a cube shaped room, by the time they reached outside most of the ruins were gone and Cawl was waiting.

"A most impressive display of both your skills perhaps you can stay longer and I can make adjustments to make this a harder more interesting fight"

"no Cawl" Roboute started "Alistravia both have prior commitments and I am satisfied Alis will be able to handle her self"

Cawl bowed as Alistravia approached.

"Cawl I will have the tech upgrades I promised transferred into your cogitators and I hope we can meet again sometime but for now I must get underway but this has been a most interesting experience"

Cawl made another bow and guided them back to the entrance hall where there escorts waited and Alistravia turned to Roboute wanting to leave on good terms.

"My apologies for my anger and upset yesterday brother, there is still much for me that is difficult but in time things will change"

"Alis you need not apologise, I became over zealous in my need to know things that in reality should be none of my concern" the master of Macragge said

Alistravia walked over to him close enough so only they could hear.

"For better or worse brother Ezekyle and I are bound together by our past and I would like to know more so I will tell you one more thing"

Roboute turned his head towards her so that she could mouth the words so quietly only the powerful hearing of a primarch would be able to hear the words.

"In order for Ezekyle to live I had to combine two gene seeds"

That was when Roboute realized why Alistravia had become so upset at the questioning, in a way Abbadon was as much her son as he was Horus's and while this did not answer the true question of how this was accomplished he felt like the knowledge helped him understand Alistravia better and why Abbadon has not gone after her.

"I understand now sister" he whispered back "To you his betrayal must seam like a great stain on your honour but you were not responsible for his choices after you left but he will regret those choices when you meet of that I am sure"

"don't worry brother, it won't stop me from killing him if I get the chance"

Roboute Nodded and the two stepped back from each other.

"Good journey sister, take care"

"and you brother, just don't go ending the war without me" She responded smiling

Pequad

Alistravia walked back into her quarters to find Kalia sat on the couch drinking a rather weak alcoholic beverage as she looked over some data sent by Cawl. Alistravia was out of her armour and walked straight over to her command desk and quickly reviewed the most recent tactical logs as she looked towards Kalia, some might question her allowing her to have access to her quarters so freely but Alistravia had allowed her the freedom to work here at times as it was her way of keeping her only link to her son close but while maintaining some emotional distance.

"you did well on the IQ test, I was impressed"

Kalia emptied the contents of the glass down her throat before responding.

"Yeah and it only cost me to lose the person who might of actually wanted to have a relationship with me and made me feel like crap for just trying"

Alistravia sighed as she moved away from her command desk and opened up a huge cabinet that had bottles of all types of spirits and wine, some were stood alone others had hundreds of other bottles of the same type. She pulled one out that was deep blue had a long curvy thin neck and walked over towards central pit where Kalia sat.

"Seams like we've both been put to the test, emotionally and physically, over the past few days" Alistravia said as she went to sit down

"Really! didn't think primarchs had many emotions" Kalia responded sarcastically

Alistravia stopped her self from sitting down and gave Kalia a rather displeased look.

"Was that really necessary when I am trying to empathise with you?"

Kalia shook her head although she was surprised Alistravia wasn't angrier as her remark.

"Sorry I just came here to work in peace and drink my sorrows away" she said looking at the bottle Amasec

"not with that pig swill you won't" Alistravia said sitting down and then pulling two glasses out from under the stone table and placing them down before placing the bottle next to them and uncorking it

A sweet smell with a bitter after scent wafted up Kalia's nostrils, the strength of it almost cleared the taste of Amasec from her throat it was intoxicating enough just from it's aroma so the taste must be something truly wicked.

"what is it?" Kalia asked as Alistravia poured the deep blue liquid out into each glass

"Calibanian vodka... the Lion gave it to me when I visited Caliban, this is one of the last few bottles remaining"

"is it safe?"

Alistravia smiled at her.

"not the way he drank it but yes, humans can consume it... but I wouldn't have too many as I have no idea what long term exposure would have on your more mortal frame...cheers" Alistravia said holding out her glass

Kalia picked up hers and gently knocked it against Alistravia's, she downed the drink and almost coughed it right back up, it had a heavy kick but the after taste was so sweet and smooth it felt like her body was next to a cosy fire on a cold night. She looked over at Alistravia who was pouring another glass.

"Will this even affect you?" Kalia asked and Alistravia shook her head

"My body is already distilling out the negative effects before they can even take hold" Alistravia poured Kalia another glass full "I owe you an apology"

"you do!?" Kalia responded rather surprised by Alistravia's admission

"I have some what been neglectful of who you are but in truth you should be as deer to me as all my sons but I placed a wedge there when I should of tret you better"

Kalia shook her head and downed the drink I one as Alistravia did.

"If anything I owe you the apology, I have been ungrateful in the position I have been given and I sometimes act like a... spoilt brat... there are people in the galaxy who are far worse off than me"

Alistravia took a breath and smiled.

"It seams despite our tests being positive we both still have much to learn... so to the future and becoming much wiser!" she said holding out her glass

Kalia banged her glass against Alistravia's and the both drank

"to the future!" Kalia responded after drinking

"may it wash away the sins of the past" Alistravia thought before pouring another drink

The End