The Coming to Macragge
(Warning: Contains minor spoilers for Godblight by Guy Haley)
Ultramar was the Jewel of the Eastern Edge of the Galaxy. An Empire within an Empire, built by Lord Konor Guilliman and completed by his adopted son, the Primarch Roboute Guilliman, it had stood strong for 10,000 years since the end of the Horus Heresy, despite the damage done to it by the Traitor Legions of the World Eaters and the Word Bearers. Even with the millennia long absence of its Primarch, it stood strong. With Guilliman's return and the Indomitus Crusade, now placed on hold while the Avenging Son planned for his eventual expedition to Imperium Nihilus, it celebrated. Even with the Plague Wars against Mortarion, it stood strong. And now two other Primarchs were visiting and celebrations gave way to jubilation.
On their way to the Ultramar system, a small fleet of the Raven Guard had rendezvoused with Vulkan and made their way through the final leg of the journey to Macragge. More and more ships joined them on their pilgrimage until a moderate sized fleet had formed. Vulkan greeted and thanked all the Captains and Shipmasters for their joining. Ultramarine ships, civilian vessels, and even Rogue Trader ships made up the retinue. Vulkan personally greeted Corvus Corax aboard his flagship and the two brothers embraced again with N'Bella hugging her uncle's leg. Soon, Macragge was in sight after many days of journey through Ultramar.
The last time Vulkan had been on Macragge, he had been quite insane. Months of torture at the hands of Konrad Curze had resulted in his constant deaths and rebirths until his escape from the Nightfall had resulted in his temporary death falling the atmosphere of Macragge. In the end, Vulkan had gone mad.
Curze had been brought to Macragge by Lion El'Jonson as a prisoner, but escaped. Vulkan, even in his madness, still had enough of his mental faculties to escape his captivity and to confront Curze one last time. After a long fight, Vulkan was seemingly slain for good by... Vulkan could not remember. He barely remembered much from that fight aside from grabbing armor from Guilliman's private armory and slamming into Curze before he could kill an old woman. Then it was just violence. He remembered a calming voice before the final blow was struck. It felt like... a kindred spirit. Someone trapped like he was. He shook his head at the thought. It did not matter. It had been 10,000 years. The person who gave him his peace was more than likely long dead. He hoped that person was at peace.
Curze... Of all his brothers, Vulkan loathed him the most. Curze was a complicated soul, but one that was filled in insane loathing of his fellow living beings. His constant visions of the future, one of which had apparently been of the Heresy, had turned him into a nihilistic being that felt there was no point to life and morality mattered little. He had trained his Legion, the Night Lords, in his ways of torture and butchery to bring planets under compliance through terror. It had seemingly worked for his homeworld of Nostramo until he left it to go on the Great Crusade and it devolved back into a dystopia of crime.
To Curze, this was the evidence he needed to prove that the Emperor's dream of a united Galaxy could not work and that this was mankind's true nature. To Vulkan, this was proof that Curze's method of compliance was flawed from the outset. Fear was not a valid method of compliance. All it did was present a monster that, once it left, had no way of knowing whether or not it would last. Having worked with Curze on several worlds, Vulkan knew it would never have lasted. Curze had been a boogeyman for Nostramo and once he'd left, there was nothing to keep them in line. Now Curze was dead and the Galaxy was better for it.
N'Bella was holding his hand as the two of them looked upon Macragge through the viewing oculus. She was bouncing up and down on her toes, excited to see her uncle Rob again after so long. She had never been on Macragge before and wanted to see everything. "I wanna see the Fortress of Hera," she said. "I wanna run through the hills where Uncle Rob's sons train! I want a gladius! A big one so I can chop the heads off Orks!" Her wolf, Skadi, looked at her mistress with puzzlement before yawning and laying down, ignoring the noise of the bridge around her.
"We will be here for a few weeks, N'Bella. We will have plenty of time to do all that. Except for the gladius. You are too young to have one."
"But you were making weapons when you were younger than me," N'Bella said, her cheeks puffing out with indignity.
"I am a Primarch," Vulkan said. "I was made for battle and war. You are a child. You are meant for playing and growing up. Perhaps when you're older."
"What if I promise not to hurt myself?"
"I know you will try to keep that promise, but I think it's better to air on the side of caution."
"Aw."
Vulkan turned his gaze away from his daughter as he looked back down upon Macragge. He was quite excited for this. He knew things would go well.
Magna Macragge Civitas was alive with celebrations as the visitors from the stars marched through the streets. The Company of Salamanders that had been stationed on Terra marched, lead by the Brothers of the Blue Flame with Fan'drall at the head. Behind them marched the four squads of Blood Angels, proudly holding their heads high for all of Macragge to see, for them to know that the Sons of Sanguinius were alive and strong. Behind them marched the Raven Guard, 100 strong. Unlike their Blood Angel and Salamander brethren, the Raven Guard were fully helmed, glory and vanity sacrificed for the sake of security. Finally at the end, standing on top of a massive vehicle of unique design were the Primarchs Vulkan and Corvus Corax with Princess N'Bella on her father's massive shoulder while Valerian and Aleya walking right in front of it. The Primarchs waved to the crowds, a broad smile on Vulkan's face while Corax simply nodded and waved.
Corax had been to Macragge before during the Great Crusade. During his time there, he had done combat simulations of his style versus Roboute's. It had been educational for both Primarchs and they had gotten to know one another quite well. Corax hadn't been used to Macragge, having grown up in the prisons of the moon Lycaeus, but he had appreciated what Guilliman had built here. If he hadn't known Guilliman, he would have seen him as a wannabe tyrant like those he had fought with his fellow inmates on Kiavahr. However, Guilliman was a benevolent soul at heart. A bureaucrat, maybe, but he had worked hard to make the Ultramar System an empire nearly comparable to what the Imperium was meant to be. It wasn't perfect by any means. Inequality and poverty still existed in the Ultima Segmentum, but he had faith in Roboute and his vision. That was more than he could say for the Imperium itself.
Finally, the procession stopped in front of the dais where Guilliman and his Tetrarchs stood. The Space Marines knelt to the Avenging Son of Macragge and the two Primarchs stepped down and walked up to their brother with the Sister and the Custodian following behind them. Roboute Guilliman first embraced Corax and then Vulkan. He then picked N'Bella off her father's shoulder and gave her a gentle hug. He then smiled at Vulkan and Corax. "Welcome, my family, to Macragge."
Chancellor Jek scrutinized the board as she pondered her next move. "You have been staring at the board for five minutes," Rogal Dorn said with a smile. "You usually take half the time to make a move. Are you feeling alright, Chancellor?"
Jek nodded in affirmation and placed a white piece on the board. It was a game that had been gifted to Dorn by Jaghatai Khan before his final departure to Chogoris called Go. It was an ancient game from far in Terra's ancient past where the goal was to gain territory using black and white pieces of shale and shell. You could not move a piece once you put it down. Once your pieces were surrounded, you lost territory. Dorn had been teaching her various games he used to play with the Sigilite during the Great Crusade and the days before the Siege of Terra.
"I am fine, Lord Praetorian. I am simply pondering the game... and certain developments in the Government. Your appointment of an Astartes representative to the Council of Terra for example. I would be lying if I said that the other High Lords were happy with it. First you are appointed head of the Council and then you appoint Captain Tor Garadon to represent the Adeptus Astartes. Normal humans are generally mistrusting of Transhumans so having two in a position of power makes people wonder if you plan to... fully take over and replace them."
Dorn's face turned sullen for a moment as he looked over the board before playing a black piece. "I chose Captain Garadon simply because he didn't want it. An Astartes that truly serves the Imperium does not want power. He does not wish to command mankind. He simply wishes to defend it. And through him, my sons and nephews will have a voice to speak for them."
"And it is that unity that frightens them, Lord Praetorian. To this day, many fear another Horus Heresy taking place. That is why some former members and then-current members of the High Lords attempted a coup on Lord Guilliman when he returned."
"Tell me, Lord Chancellor," he said using her full title. "Do you know of the Celestial Lions?"
"Only in passing, my Lord. I do know they were one of the Chapters rebuilt in recent years after your brother's return. I heard they were nearly wiped out on Armageddon."
"That is the official report. But... the Inquisition had a hand in it. What I am about to tell you must not leave this room."
Jek looked around. The Praetorian's chambers were some of the few in the Imperial Palace that were not bugged and at the beginning and end of every day, he made sure that it was not. It was a tiny fortress within one of the greatest structures in all of history. "I promise," she said.
"The Celestial Lions crossed the Inquisition. I know only of the details given to me by Reclusiarch Grimaldus of the Black Templars, but I trust his word. They had briefly aided Inquisitor Apollyon in putting down a cult on the planet Khattar. However, Apollyon declared the planet beyond saving, even after the cult was put down. Exterminatus was declared and the planet was wiped out. My sons were outraged and attempted to report him. However, you do not report an Inquisitor. Apollyon and his followers and allies in the Inquisition declared war on them and made an example of them. They were sent on missions that had high fatality rates and Armageddon was where they were all but wiped out. With the Great Rift's formation, their homeworld of Elysium IX has been wiped out, its population in exile, and I have no idea what happened to their previous Chapter Master Ekene Dubaku. I can only assume he is dead. The new Celestial Lions are sadly... an imitation of that once noble Chapter. However, I will not let another Chapter be punished for standing up for their principles."
Jek was surprised by this. She'd heard rumors of course, but to know that the Inquisition had conspired to wipe out an entire Chapter of Space Marines as an example was shocking. "Do you... do you mean to declare war on the Inquisition?"
Dorn shook his head. "No. I cannot. Like the Church... it has become too big. It is an entity in and of itself. One I helped Malcador the Sigilite create. Have I ever told you about Malcador?"
"Only in passing, My Lord. I know of him through my history. He was a brilliant man. Second only to the God-Emperor himself. Oh, sorry, Lord Praetorian. I mean... the Emperor." She had forgotten that the Primarchs did not consider their father a God and did not want to offend him. She was a believer in the God-Emperor, but she had learned that some things were not worth pursuing with a Primarch.
"Malcador was... complicated. He was indeed a brilliant man. He was also scheming. He was suspicious. He could be prone to paranoia and was a dangerous enemy to have. But he was also like an uncle or grandfather to me. He was a good friend. He did many terrible things and told many terrible lies... including hiding the truth of the Warp from me and my brothers. However, I do know his heart was loyal to the Imperium and my father's dream. He taught me the necessity of lies and subterfuge. He helped me grow. But I know he would not like what the Inquisition has become. It has become too separate. Too disorganized. Many of its members are renegades that believe themselves pure. It needs control. It needs centralization. I do not know how that will be done, but I do intend to find out. Malcador deserves a better legacy than this. The Inquisition must be made to see that we cannot work against one another. We must stand united against the darkness. That is why... I have devoted resources to finding and punishing Inquisitor Apollyon and his followers."
Jek's jaw dropped at this news. "You are... going to assassinate an Inquisitor?"
"Did I say that? No. I am going to punish him. There is a difference. The Inquisitors believe they speak with the Authority of my Father. I am going to show them that while they may speak with his voice, I act as one of the many hands of the Sigilite. This isn't about just avenging one Chapter. This is about putting a good man's soul to rest. If that makes me enemies... so be it. I have died once before." He smiled at that.
"Do you miss the Sigilite, My Lord?"
Dorn looked as if he was genuinely considering that before answering. "Every day. Him... and many other good people. People that I considered to be friends. People I wish were here now. Including... one of my sons."
"You mean... Sigismund?"
He nodded. "Yes. We were close once. But then he told me why he had disobeyed an order and I... You have to understand that the betrayal of Horus was still fresh in my mind and heart. It awoke something in me. Something that caused me to denounce and disown him as my son. Sigismund was my most loyal son and I denounced him. The Siege of Terra brought us closer together again, but there was always that divide. I don't think I ever told him how... How truly sorry I was. To know he died at Abaddon's claw hurts me still. If I can find a way to avenge him. To kill Abaddon for all the horrors he's unleashed... I hope that will put him truly to rest as well."
Jek was not certain, but she thought the Primarch was about to cry. Could a Primarch cry? Was that even possible? She decided that it was best to return to something simpler. "Shall we continue our game, My Lord?"
Dorn inhaled and exhaled before smiling down at her. "Yes. Let's."
As the people on the planet below the Chalice of Fire celebrated the coming of their ruler's brothers, eleven souls slept in the ship's hold. When the Blood Angels had come to join the Pilgrimage, eleven sarcophagi had been placed on one of the gunships. In them were warriors whose minds and hearts had been lost to the curse of their gene-father. A squad of Assault Marines of the Death Company of the Blood Angels lead by Chaplain Daenor.
Under orders from Dante, Rafen had smuggled the Death Company aboard the Chalice of Fire. "A great terror is coming to Imperium Sanctus," Dante had told him. "Lord Vulkan will need all the weapons we can give him. Even our own fallen brothers. Chaplain Daenor knows that there is a chance he may never return. Nevertheless, he is willing to make that sacrifice. Watch over him and his squad until the time comes, Sergeant."
In his sarcophagus, Daenor slept and dreamed. He dreamed of fire and blood. He dreamed of a Terra screaming in fear of daemons. Daemons in black and white. Daemons that fed on terror. Daemons that slaughtered without reason. Daemons that turned on one another simply because they could. Daemons that did it all for their God. For Malice.
Daenor stirred in his sarcophagus at this. He'd hardly ever dreamed in his life and he'd never had dreams of this clarity before. A piece of the Primarch Sanguinius existed in all his sons and sometimes there were Blood Angels that had experienced visions of the future. This was the first time for Daenor. And he did not like it.
As he dreamed, Daenor tried to control his dream-self to look for one particular warrior. A warrior he had fought upon the fields of Amethal. A warrior that went by the name of Kharn the Betrayer. The Betrayer had wounded him gravely in combat and Daenor had sworn that he would one day take vengeance upon the Traitor, even if it cost him his life in the process. But Kharn was not in sight. Instead, a bright light caught his attention.
Even as he adjust his helm's viewing lenses to compensate, the light overwhelmed him. The light was so intense that it drove him to his knees. The light began to form into a shape that towered over even him. It was a giant in golden plated armor. He could not see his face, but Daenor could make out the shape of voluminous wings of pure white. Daenor had seen those wings in many paintings and carved from many statues in the fortress monastery on Baal. Daenor felt blessed as he gazed upon his Primarch, Sanguinius. Then he heard the Angel speak.
"My son, you must get word to my brothers. Terra is in danger from a threat from the Warp that we have not faced before. An Entity of the Warp that has been biding its time has awoken. It has found its avatar. You must awaken. You must tell Vulkan. You must tell him to protect the Dreamer. Protect her for she is the living portal to the Emperor and the Enemy will use her to get to him! Awaken, my son!"
Daenor's eyes snapped open. He should not have been able to wake up on his own until one of his brothers had made preparations to release him. His body was still locked in place, but his mind was free. He blink-clicked a beacon in his armor, hoping that Brother Rafen would be able to pick it up. He had to get word. He had to warn the Primarchs. His gene-sire had commanded it.
The Princess is excited as she runs through the halls of the Fortress of Hera. Her arms outstretched like she's flying while the wolf follows her. She is wearing a dress colored in Macragge Blue and has a golden laurel upon her head. Gifts from her uncle. She is laughing as she looks around at the gigantic statues. I am three paces behind her at all times. I am her shadow. I have been her entire life. The Primarchs are behind us, talking as brothers are wont to do. We are going to see a new memorial that Guilliman had made when he returned to Macragge.
I remember my first meeting with Guilliman. I still have the Somnus Blade he gave me. It belonged to a great hero of the Sisters of Silence. I asked him not to tell me as I did not want to have to live up to her legacy. He is... diminished somewhat. The Indomitus Crusade has taken much out of him. His battle with Mortarion has left him shaken. But more than that, there is a sadness to him. He has talked with the Emperor himself and he does not see him as a father anymore. The mask of fatherhood has been stripped away. He has seen what Horus Lupercal saw, but has remained true to the Imperium. It proves one thing to me about Guilliman, he and those that remained loyal to the Imperium were always stronger than Lupercal and those that betrayed the Emperor.
We enter a courtyard where a pair of statues have been erected in the center. Two women, one old and one young, stand back to back. They are the same person at two points in her life. A plaque at its base says 'Tarasha Euten: Seneschal and Mother.' I do not remember my mother. I have no memory of her or my father. I was probably gladly given up by them when it was revealed what I was. That I have no soul. I have sisters now. Sisters that I would willingly die for. No... that is not true. There are two more that I would die for.
N'Bella wants me to marry Valerian. She thinks I would be happier. She is a child with a child's ideal of happiness. In truth, I do not feel that way for Valerian. He is closer than a lover, I believe. He is the little brother that I never had before in my life. In many ways I am so much more older than he. I have seen sights of the Galaxy that he, in his limited time among the stars, has never seen. I remember his reaction to seeing snow for the first time on Fenris. Understated, but still full of a childlike wonder. We have fought together. We have bled together. I would die for him as a true friend would. And I would die for N'Bella. I have known her for her entire life and I would die for this child.
The younger Eueten is holding a bundle in her arms and looking at it with an affection I don't think I've ever seen from another person. Then I realize with actual surprise that it is Guilliman. The features are rendered so perfectly in the infant that it is unmistakably him. Same with the woman holding him. She is beautiful. A maiden that has been entrusted with the safety of a demigod from ancient myth. The elder Euten is more distinguished. Where her physical beauty has faded, it has been replaced with spirit. It looks ahead with determination and focus. It is implacable. I wonder if she would have liked it.
Corax looked at the woman that had helped to raise his brother. Being raised in prison, he'd never had a singular mother. He'd had an extended family, but never one singular person. He remembered his visit to Macragge and his first meeting with her. He'd been sitting in the palace garden when she'd sat down on the bench next to him, a smile on her face.
"It is good to have you with us, Lord Corax. Lord Guilliman is glad to have you here. Since his return to Macragge, he has been... shall I say... lonely? Yes. That is the right word. I fear he misses the company of his brothers. There are some things that the company of mere mortals like myself cannot give him. He is able to relate to you better."
Corax pondered that. Guilliman's childhood had been far different than his. "Perhaps on a genetic level, but our experiences have made us different people, mamselle."
Euten had nodded in understanding. "Was it hard in the prison?"
Corax shook his head. "Not for me personally. I had been able to evade detection by the guards for years thanks to my gifts. But it was hard for those that had been made prisoners. I could do nothing openly until the time for rebellion had come. So I could only watch."
Euten asked an interesting question at that. "Could you have left at anytime you wanted, Lord Corax?"
"I could have. However, I would have been abandoning them all to suffer at the hands of the tyrants of Kiavahr. I could not do that to them."
"They were your family."
Corax paused before answering that. "Yes. They were... and still are my family. They taught me as you and the late Lord Konor taught Roboute."
"Then you do have something in common. You are both foundlings, raised by those not of your blood and of different stock and you both built something great. The only difference is that he finished what Lord Konor started while you made something new. You two are more alike than you know." She smiled and patted his massive knee before standing up. "I will miss you when you are gone from here, Lord Corax. Do come to visit sometime. I would like to meet with you again."
Corax had not returned again. That had been the last time he had set foot on Macragge until today. The Great Crusade had called and personal visits to the homeworlds of the other Primarchs were not a priority. He wondered what Lady Euten had thought of the war. Had she met Horus herself before his fall? Did she hold the same level of disbelief in the Warmaster's betrayal as they all had at first? Who could say? He looked at Guilliman who stood eye to eye with the elder version of Euten. He wasn't certain, but he thought it looked like Guilliman was holding back tears.
"Do you know how she died, Roboute," Vulkan asked, breaking the silence.
Guilliman nodded. "She passed away on the way home to Macragge after the Heresy. She'd been targeted by Traitor Marines while I was on Terra. Luckily they did not take her life. Instead, she passed away of natural causes after the assault was repelled. I was not there. I was unable to say goodbye." He gently put a gloved hand on the statue's wrinkled cheek. "This is how I remember her best. The younger statue of her honors her role as my mother, but I will always remember her as my advisor and confidant. She once chewed out Phratus Auguston after an assassination attempt on my life barely failed. She was one of the few baseline humans I knew that had no fear of people like us. She even stood up to Konrad himself as he threatened her life. I just wish I had been able to say goodbye."
Vulkan knew how Roboute felt. He had been absent when his adopted father N'bel had passed away. He'd failed to keep his promise to return to see him in time. The price of being reborn in this new era to help guide humanity back on the path the Emperor had envisioned had been all they had known and cared for. He placed a hand on Roboute's shoulder.
"She would be proud of you, Roboute."
Roboute shook his head. "After what I have done... I am not sure. Certain things about my past almost came to light and nearly undid all that I had been working for."
Corax turned to look his brother in the eye. "Not one of us has lived a life that can be considered pure. Not even Sanguinius himself. Do not place pressure on yourself."
"There is a difference between hiding a genetic flaw and... and what I did during the Heresy, Corvus," Roboute snapped. "And the fact it involved Sanguinius himself made it all the worse!"
Vulkan narrowed his eyes before turning to N'Bella. "Daughter, I am going to talk to your uncles. Remain here with Aleya."
As soon as she nodded in understanding, Vulkan and Corax took Roboute aside. This time Vulkan look his brother straight in the eye before speaking. "What happened, Roboute? Tell me."
Shame clouded Roboute's face before he spoke. "During the Heresy... When Ultramar was cut off from the rest of the Imperium, I did not know if the rest of the Imperium lived or not. In the end, I enacted Imperium Secundus, the creation of a second Empire. The Lion, Sanguinius, and myself were the heads of state. I only meant it as a safeguard, but when I found out the Imperium and the Emperor still lived, I realized what I had actually done. I had begun to set myself up as a usurper. What's worse, I had convinced Sanguinius to place himself as the figurehead. I used our brother, Vulkan. I used him."
Vulkan and Corax looked at each other at this news.
"And you disbanded it," Vulkan asked.
"Yes, but-
"Then what is the problem," Corax asked.
"There was a record of it. It was discovered and it nearly brought the Indomitus Crusade to ruin. If it was my own name that was to be ruined, I could bear it. But it was Sanguinius' name that was in peril. Him being the standing Emperor made him even more complicit. The Inquisition would have punished the Blood Angels, the Dark Angels, and the Ultramarines. I could not let that happen."
The three Primarchs looked back at their companions and began to speak in tones so low that only they could hear. "Who else knew?" Vulkan asked. Judgment for their brother's past would wait.
Roboute exhaled before answering. "Tribune Actuarius Maldovar Colquan, Sergeant Racej Lucerne of the Black Templars, and... Fabian Guelphrain of the Logos Historica Verita."
Below the Fortress of Hera, in a cell guarded by a single Space Marine in black armor, Fabian Guelphrain sat at a desk with a stylus in hand, recording and reviewing the current events of the Imperium as was his duty as a historian. Even in self-imposed imprisonment, his duty did not end.
He had been there for several years since the... incident. No, not an incident. A betrayal. A coup against Roboute Guilliman. He had been lead to a book detailing the lost history of the briefly lived Empire of Imperium Secundus, created by Roboute Guilliman himself. The revelation that Guilliman would even think of making a new Imperium in a time of great war and betrayal had horrified him to the point where he'd contacted the Inquisition about it.
It had been a trap of course. A plan by Chaos to destroy Guilliman's dream of a reunited Imperium in the wake of the Great Rift's creation. But it had nearly destroyed the Indomitus Crusade and the unity of the Imperium. Several Inquisitors who were suspicious of the Avenging Son had answered Fabian's call and had gathered a small army to dethrone the Primarch in case he would attempt to create a new Imperium again. It had been defeated in the end and the last piece of physical evidence of the Unremembered Empire had been destroyed.
There were consequences however. Maldovar Colquan had almost killed Guilliman in a fit of rage, his fears about Guilliman seemingly justified. Indeed, the coup would have succeeded with his Custodes, had the true culprit of the plot, the Daemon Rotigus, not been exposed. Colquan had remained with Guilliman for the remainder of the Crusade in Imperium Nihilus, but a wall between the two had been erected and Fabian had no idea if it had been amended.
Fabian, for his part, surrendered to Guilliman willingly. He begged the Primarch to end him for his part, but Guilliman had decided to be merciful. Both agreed to Fabian being imprisoned in a psychically warded cell for the remainder of his days until Guilliman deemed him worthy of return into the light. His duties as remembrancer would continue, but he would never see history being made. He would only transcribe and review. His friend, Sergeant Lucerne of the Black Templars, had asked to remain as his friend's guard. Daily he stood outside his cell, occasionally telling Fabian of current events on Macragge or telling him of the God-Emperor's forgiveness and how it could be achieved if Fabian forgave himself. Fabian didn't believe that was possible. He was tainted. His reputation had been tainted. His soul was tainted. He was damned.
"Fabian?" Lucerne's voice startled him out of his sour mood. "Are you awake?"
"I am, Racej. What is it?"
"I have received word that Regent Vulkan and Lord Corax of the Raven Guard have arrived on Macragge. Three Primarchs walk above us, my friend. Isn't that amazing?"
Fabian sighed and smiled. Lucerne was one of the friendliest Space Marines he'd ever met. In his previous life nearly 10,000 years ago, he was a child slated for the priesthood. That had changed when he'd been found to be compatible with the Primaris Program. Fabian remembered his excitement when he'd been selected to join the Black Templars after the Unnumbered Sons were given their Chapter assignments. It had been his dream and he had fulfilled it. Now, instead of being on Crusade with his new brothers, he was Fabian's guard.
"That is amazing. I will make a note of it." He looked up at the windowless wall. No outside stimulation would be allowed to reach him. He had not objected to this. He deserved this. It was his just reward. But hopefully Lord Guilliman would be happier now that he had family visiting. The Primarch of the Ultramarines had little reason to be happy these days.
N'Bella looked away from the twin statues of her Uncle Rob's Mama and looked at her Papa and Uncles talking. Uncle Rob looked sad today. Why was he sad? Wasn't he glad to see her? She had to talk to him. Uncle Rob shouldn't be sad. She hitched up her skirt and ran over to the three Primarchs and tugged at Uncle Rob's cape. The Primarch looked down at his niece and gave her a smile that didn't reach his eyes.
"Uncle Rob, why are you sad?"
The Avenging Son seemed surprised by his niece's question and knelt down to her, still towering over the child. "I am not sad, N'Bella. I am just remembering something sad."
"Is it your mama? Do you miss her?"
Roboute smiled and looked up at the twin statues. "Yes, I do, N'Bella. I miss her and my father, Konor."
N'Bella took her uncle's and led him to the statue. "What was she like?"
Roboute looked up at the statues before answering. "She was stern as my advisor, but she was nurturing when I was a child. Of course, I was a fast growing child so that did not last." He touched the cheek of the older Euten while looking wistfully into her stony eyes. "I often wonder what she would think of me now. Would she be proud or ashamed of me? I don't know."
"I think she would be happy to see you. Mamas aren't supposed to hate their children. That's what Papa said."
Roboute smiled down at his niece. "I would like to think so too, N'Bella. I would like to think so too." He picked up his niece and placed her on his shoulder before turning to his brothers. "Come. It is time for us to feast!"
At the Mandeville Point at the edge of the Ultramar System, a Warp Rift opened and a strike cruiser emerged from the Warp. It bore no markings upon its hull which was covered in scorch marks. As it drifted through the system, it broadcast a message on Astropathic and Vox Relays to any who could hear it.
"This is Former First Captain of the Eighth Legion Zso Sahaal of Strike Cruiser Midnight Son. I have prisoners of war on board in need of medical attention. I surrender myself to the authority of Roboute Guilliman and only to him. I have urgent news of an imminent attack upon the Imperium." The message repeated itself for days and days until finally, the Strike Cruiser was taken by a ship of the Ultramarines and its Night Lord Master escorted to Macragge in chains.
Author's Notes:
FINALLY! I GOT! IT! DONE! I finally make progress. These last couple months have been exhausting work wise and I thank you guys for your patience. I have been told not to stress myself and to go at my own pace, but I always feel like I'm letting people down when I sit down to write and don't get much done. This chapter is a bit spread out, but it does finally get us to Macragge where Roboute Guilliman welcomes his family with open arms. It's also where we get a bit more with Rogal Dorn and his plans to do a little reversal on the Inquisition and its tendency to sometimes flaunt its power for the sake of showing it has power. Now, you may think that's out of character, but Dorn is the kind of guy who likes to know where everything is and if he can somehow control it, even if he doesn't have direct control.
Guilliman himself is a character I know a lot of people in the fandom hate. Honestly, I love the guy. I like the Dark Imperium Trilogy and I love his character arc in that and his integration into the main timeline (BTW, this chapter contains spoilers for a small subplot in Godblight so if you haven't read that book, I do recommend you do for the full context). I gave that subplot a supposed ending. Obviously it's fanfiction so it's nowhere near canon, but it's more or less an idea I have of what might happen. I also brought in the Imperium Secundus mention because I had the idea that Guilliman would want to confide in someone about it since it was pretty much his biggest mistake during the Heresy.
And now... for the big reveal at the end. I know some people, when I brought up the "First Captain" were thinking/hoping it would be Jago Sevetar. I wish I could say it was always going to be Jago Sevetar, but nope. From the first moment I brought that plot point up, it was always going to be Zso Sahaal. His reason for being on the Strike Cruiser will be explained next time. Suffice to say that next chapter is when the plot really gets going. Oh, it's gonna be big.
Thank you all for your patience and I also have plans to do a rewrite of an earlier story arc in this book. I will be doing a writer's cut of the Leman Russ vs the Red Corsairs story arc to better fit the overarching story.