Alnabil sat upon her throne, her closest necron deathmarks guarding her as she sat and thought, she looked down onto her hands. They, painted with her royal color purple screamed to her like a mockery of her past, before the great sin. She remembered when she used to wear the fine purple gems found upon her homeworld, she remembered how she ruled over her people of the great Murtazian Dynasty with nobility yet excess, like her parents before her. She wished things were that simple again. Abruptly the door to her chambers opened, and in walked her second in command. His name, Kal'Jaban, a cowardly lord who despite his nature served his Phaerakh well enough to keep his position. The deathmarks guarding Alnabil locked their eyes onto the second in command, watching him to make sure no harm came upon their queen.
"Kal, you said you needed to speak to me, so, speak." Alnabil said, her head resting on her hand while her black long tail of hair drooped off of her back.
"Yes Phaerakh, I, I am afraid I have both good and bad news to bear witness unto you." Kal'Jaban said, his hands resting by his side with a slight tremble. Alnabil's eyes quickly shot from her hands to Kal standing a few meters away from her throne, she then placed her hand back onto the arm rest of her throne and sat up straight to gaze the lord into his sunken red glowing eyes.
"Well, tell me the good news first Kal, don't keep your queen here waiting." She said with a hint of sarcasm in her voice, if she could smile, she would be grinning ear to ear over the sheer amusement she received from seeing her second in command tremble before her might.
"The good news here, my queen, is that our scouts have recently discovered a habitable world on the far reaches of our sector."
"Good, any known inhabitants?"
"Yes Ma'am, humans, they seem cut off from their wider imperium, however it has been noticed that despite this they still readily worship their god emperor."
Alnabil chuckled slightly. "Even when abandoned by his light these humans still worship their god. That doesn't mean it wouldn't be impossible to incorporate them into our venture though, it just means we will have to employ similar tactics to their god in order to win them over." Her eyes then shifted back towards Kal's. "In any case, make sure you keep harm onto these, creatures, down to a minimum, you know how much humans delight me. If you kill anyone of these creatures without due cause, you will have to deal with me directly. Understand?" Alnabil said, despite her status as a tyrant and absolute ruler over her insignificant slice of the larger galaxy, she still had a sense of compassion, a sense of warmth for those who she ruled over.
No one really understood why she decided to, unlike her more common brethren, rule over the lesser race of humanity who she found squatting upon her worlds instead of out right massacring them. Maybe it was the cheap labour they provided for her empire, maybe it was the way they reminded her of the times before the great sin, or maybe she saw herself in the strange bipedal apes. However, whatever the reason, for all those under her command, she had one rule. Never harm humans unless there is a clear, logical reason to do so.
Kal's voice trembled slightly before he continued. "My lady, that isn't all though…"
"Oh yes, the bad news. Well, carry on with it why won't you." Alnabil said with a slight chuckle.
"It appears through data analysis of the immaterium that there is a relatively small war band heading towards this world which we just discovered, I am unsure if this world is well worth our investment." Kal said, his eyes darting around towards his queen.
"Come again?" Alnabil said, a hint of frustration in her voice.
"I'm, I'm sorry ma'am, but there is a war band heading towards this planet, I hope it will better sooth your worries however when I say, that this world is very close to the great rift so they-" Kal blabbered on before being cut off with a simple point of the finger by Alnabil.
"How well armed are they?" Alnabil asked, a hint of frustration in her voice.
"A small fleet and garrison strong, ma'am, it's a local force to the planet, what the humans call a PDF."
"And who is in this warband?" Alnabil's eyes fixed on Kal's.
"A… A force of what the humans call Heretic Astartes. Chaotic space marines who worship a minor chaos god, known as the Scarlet King." Kal said, his voice shaking. Suddenly Alnabil stood up, she then grabbed her bright red glowing void scythe and resurrection orb from the sides of her throne. Quickly, she called upon her fleet and ground force commander, a royal warden of her dynasty named Samita.
"Samita, get the fleet and a garrison ready, the servants are here." She then strided over to her second in command, her bright red eyes piercing his gaze. "What's the name of the planet."
"I'm, I'm sorry ma'am but with all due respect this seems like a misplaced venture, sure this world contains a small tomb of our brethren but we can always-" he frantically spoke before being cut off by the great Phaerakh standing over his bumbling self.
Alnabil slouched her back, her head went down slightly to meet the relatively lower height of her second in command. Her eyes narrowed as her scythe drooped towards the neck of her lowly servant, as she did this, she slowly placed her other hand upon his shoulder, making sure to emphasize his place below her in the ancient hierarchy of the dynasty.
"Kal, I'll ask again, please answer me this time, or else I might have to, say, slice your chasie open, use your remains to repair our glorious warriors out in the field, or maybe, throw you to the shard we have below our fine base here, or maybe I might just have too-" she said, slowly tapping her finger on his shoulder, she felt the sheer fear running through his metal exoskeleton, the fear that she knew all well as the fear of punishment from those who rightfully rule over you. However, she was cut off by Kal's answer, wishing to avoid certain death for his insolence to the crown.
"The planet is what the humans call Triticum 5." Kal answered abrasively. Alnabil slowly lifted her scythe away from his neck and lifted her hand off of his shoulder. Straightening her back and turning away from the man, she gave one last look at him before setting on her way towards this world at the edge of her empire.
"Thank you, Kal. Guard the throne while I am gone." She said before walking towards the newly entered Samita, his multiple eyes gazing upon his queen.