High farseer Imisha ran as fast as her legs would carry her, witch blade at the ready. Her face told the tale of a woman pushed one step too far. Lush green grass rushed away under her feet as she raced across the maiden world. Her heart both soared and hurt at the same time as she took in the scenery. High blue sky and snowy peaks surrounded the valley she raced through. She lets breathed in the cold fresh air, letting it intoxicate her. Having breathed stale recycled air for so long it was like heaven to her.
And now the damned vermin would take it away from her. Their factories would cloud the skies, their machines cut the trees, their clumsy feet trample the grass. Imisha snarled at the thought.
The news that the exodites had laid down arms against the Imperial occupation force had come as a shock. How dare they surrender that which the had belonged to the Eldar since the dawn of time. Savage cowards with no concept of honor, all of them! Except for...no she did not have time for such thoughts. Yet mixed with the fury was a bitter aftertaste of shame. Deep down she knew she was as much to blame as anyone. It was her craftworlds lack of support that had forced them into this disgrace. Yet another failure to add to her ever growing list.
For decades she had been forced to retreat, reposition and reevaluate her strategies in this sector. Pushed around and bullied by the imperium and their superior numbers. Scrambling to conserve her scarce precious resources. Forced to concession after concession. If this continued the Eldar would soon become the beggars of the galaxy, picking scraps from the tables of others, scurrying between dark corners for refuge.
No! That would not happen as long as Imisha still drew breath. This maiden world would be where she drew the line. She would call in everything and everyone. Mass the entire fleet, call in all the rangers, raise all the wraithguards. As soon as she got back she would choose a young king and unleash the war god. Hell she had even petitioned the damned Harlequins if they for once could do something useful.
To her surprise they had actually agreed to help. On the condition that she first presented terms to the humans. On site in person. Oh she would present terms alright. Imisha smiled. That was what the drawn witch blade was for. Her bloodlust drove her forwards, almost flying up the hill in a burst of speed.
The exodite village where the surrender would be signed loomed into view over the crest. Imisha sprinted towards it. A chained dragon roared in surprise as she swept past it. All around her exodites called out to her, waving their arms. She ignored them, she didn't need them. She didn't even have to look where she was going. She could smell the foul stench of humans coming from a large dragonhide tent in the middle of the village. In an instant she was there.
A split second later she had he witchblade at the throat of the Inquisitor that stood bent over the rough wooden table inside.
"You will leave. NOW! And take all of your filth with you. Or by Khaine I will have the Hemlocks strafe every planet in the sector. I will reap your kin like ripe wheat."
Still holding her witchblade at his throat she pulled closer to whisper in his ear. Almost so close that her lips touched his ear.
"I don't even care if there are any military targets. I will dedicate my life to exterminating your vermin kin. You want all out war pest? Well you shall have it!"
Imisha started to build up a dark pain spike in the warp. Like a rusty nail of hate it formed in her mind, feeding of her fury. Enough to make a even an Inquisitor scream. She wanted humiliate the human. No, she needed it. See how he liked it on his knees. The spike built in the warp as she allowed her heart to fill with loathing for his kind. The warp raged and roared and she drew in waves of energy into her torture spell. Was it too much, would it kill him? She found it didn't matter to her. As long as he hurt.
But a split second before she pulled her psychic trigger the warp suddenly calmed. One second it roared and frothed and in the next moment it became mirror smooth. It was as if someone had pulled the rug out from under Imisha and it was all she could do to keep her witchblade straight.
"Is this how you craftworld eldar say hello?" a snarky voice noted from the shadows.
"I am sure the farseer has a very good reason for storming into my tent and threatening my guest" a deep voice responded.
In her rage Imisha had not even noticed that there were two other people in the tent. The first was an exodite chieftain. Unlike the slender fragile figures stalking the craftworlds this man was built like a bear. And dressed to match. All except his bare chest that was crisscrossed when scars and tattoos, heaving with his slow deep breaths. His brow was high, his eyes deep, his gaze intense, his hair wild. Poised at the end of the table atop a huge throne made out of dragon bones, he sat looking straight at her. A vary look on his face. Imisha cursed silently as she started to feel the heat rise within her. Out of everyone why did it have to be him?
"Hail Imisha, it's been a while."
The second was a small veiled eldar girl wearing a silver crown on her brow. She was standing next to the Inquisitor, one finger on the witch blade as if that would stop it from spilling his life onto the dirt floor. She stared at the farseer with a smug defiant look and pushed the blade back. Still stunned from her failed spell Imisha lowered and sheathed her blade.
"I see you already know our dear chieftain" The girl continued. "And the gentleman you wanted to murder in Inquisitor Amaron of the Imperium of man." The inquisitor gave the smallest of nods, rubbing his neck where the witchblade has rested.
"And you are...?" The farseer left the question hanging and was surprised when no one answered.
"My niece?" The chieftain offered at last.
"Yes that is right! His dutiful niece. Haha that makes me a princess! Well yes of course it does!"
The 'princess' folded her arms and put on her most royal face.
"I'm a princess. You will address me as your royal highness"
"I will not. And why are you wearing a veil? A little young to be a bride aren't you?"
"Ah the veil. Ehhh...it's...a...hmmm..."
"Cultural thing?" Once again the chief came to the rescue. He didn't sound very convinced of his own suggestion though.
"Of course! My honor must be preserved you see! Uncle caught me having impure thoughts about a dungdragon." Over from the dragonbone chair came the sound of someone choking on his drink.
"And he said: 'Very bad girl'" The princess wagged her finger to illustrate the situation. "And I ended up wearing this. To keep my urges contained you see. Big BIG urges. I got hormones coming out the..."
"Yes thank you very much princess! I am sure Imisha understands perfectly well without need for further explanation" The chieftain wiped his beard to get the spilled drink out. He glanced over at the farseer and a spark flew between their eyes. They both quickly looked away.
"I thought Eldar didn't reach puberty until their mid-thirties" the inquisitor interjected and got rewarded with a pained look from the chief.
"Ah, but you see all the raw animal nature of this place have sped up my development. You know all the half naked chieftains as such. Why just last night I snuck in here after the celebrations to find the chief playing with..." The princess started showing exactly what she had witnessed but stopped as the chieftain bolted up from his chair with a roar, face red as blood.
"You see?" Then princess pointed up towards her steaming uncle. "Thus the veil!" Considering the matter settled she turned towards Imisha. "Now my dear farseer you had some...concerns you wanted to share?"
The sheer absurdity of the princess tale had left the the farseer speechless. As the tale about dungdragons and teenage urges had unfurled she had found it increasingly hard to keep hold of her anger and hate. But she quickly found it again.
"Some concerns? You have laid down arms and surrendered to these...beasts!"
The inquisitor snorted. "Surrendered? I wish..." The veiled girl shot him a glare before correcting the farseer.
"Laid down arms: Yes. Surrendered: No. Take a seat and let me explain."
Reluctantly the farseer sat down at the table. The princess served all the three adults goblets of strong drink as was customary according to exodite traditions. Imisha first looked suspicious at the clear liquid but when the chieftains downed his drink and raised his goblet in salute to her she followed suite. It burned but had a strange sweet aftertaste. The princess looked extremely pleased with herself. Then she picked up a rock lying on the table.
"This is a piece of Siraniel, or Astronomicum in the human tongue, an ore that is quite abundant on this world. Used by our dear guests in starships as a part of their warp navigation systems if I am not mistaken." The inquisitor acknowledged her with a nod. "And while plentiful here, it is quite rare elsewhere."
"Long story short this entire conflict boils down to mining rights for this mineral. Since the imperium opened their first mine here some eight years ago the exodites and the mining companies have been at each other's throats." Both the chief and inquisitor seemed to be ready to start arguing their case and list the many grievances committed against them but they were both silenced by a raised hand.
"There have been many treaties signed and broken, back stabbing, sneak attacks and the like. And at every step the situation has escalated. Our imperial friend here have now fortified their mines to such a degree that it is more of a military base than a mining operation. Both sides now seem to think that the only solution would be to remove the other completely." The princess looked gravely across the table. "As in genocide."
"But now comes the fun part. For you see while the Imperium can hold the mines, they are having some issues delivering the ore in any significant quantities. How much ore did your mines produce last year Amaron?"
"That is classified."
"Killjoy." She stuck out her tongue at him. "I will tell you. Less than a ton. Given the cost of mining AND all the resources needed to fight us you probably set a new record for most expensive substance in the universe! I am sure your budget meetings are quite the treat!" The inquisitor looked sour.
"The whole purpose of Astronomicum is that it warp conductive. However that does come with some...side-effects." The princess turned towards the farseer. "Imisha was it? Splendid! As a farseer I am sure you could enlighten us." All eyes turned towards Imisha.
She answered them all with a flat stare.
The princess looked back and forth between the farseer and the inquisitor with a resigned expression "You two are just awful." She then threw the piece of rock into the air. It vanished in a small flash of light to reappear on the other side of tent where it fell to the ground.
"As you see the net effect is that since the mineral continuously shifts in and out of this plane the veins are somewhat difficult to locate. In short: the ore moves. Thus our humans visitors need to continuously claim new ground, encroaching even more on exodite territory."
"And they need someone who is warp sensitive to locate the minerals in the first place. Now for them such people are in rather short supply. Using them as miners in the first place would be very costly. Using them as miners in a warzone..." She whistled.
Exactly how the princess had figured all this out the Inquisitor would never know. He still remembered the first meeting where she had laid it all out for him. She had known every detail of their operation, sometimes better than they knew it themselves.
"The Eldar on the other hand are all warp sensitive and if you forgive me for saying so have a somewhat more refined talent for it. Even a child could sense the veins moving from miles away. Someone like you farseer could probably cover half a continent."
The farseer smiled a smug superior smile towards the Inquisitor. At last the girl showed some racial pride.
"That is why we will be mining it for them from now on."
"What?!" Imisha spurted out. "You can't seriously consider sharing such a precious resource with the enemy!"
"Lie" The princess yawned.
"Excuse me?"
"Lie as in 'you are lying'. The mineral is worthless to us. Eldar craft haven't used Astronomicum for anything of value in what, fourteen thousand years? Wraithbone is superior in every way."
The farseer had no clue how the princess knew this. Or why she would share such an important secret openly among enemies. Eager not to betray her own reaction she changed tactics.
"I obviously meant important to them" she shot a look of pure spite at the Inquisitor.
"Well yes. That is the whole point. That is how I got them to sign this." The princess tossed a rolled up scroll over the table into the farseers lap. She unfurled it. As the princess had indicated it bore both the imperial seal and the dragon icon of the exodite colony.
The farseer started eyeing over the contact and once again almost screamed in indignation.
"For free? You are giving away the ore for free?"
The princess raised her eyebrows and made a nonchalant gesture. "Yes? Why not? The exodites have everything they want right here. We only limit the amount the are required to supply."
"This is treason." She looked up at the chieftain. How could he agree to this?
"Please Imisha. Keep reading" he urged her. For the first time since she entered the tent she allowed herself to look him fully in the eye. She was a woman grown for Khaines sake! But some fires do not cool over time, they simply burn hotter.
Swallowing the whirlwind of emotions that rose within her Imisha tore away her gaze and continued browsing the document. And then she stopped dumbstruck. How the hell had the girl managed this? She flew up from her chair and turned to the power armoured inquisitor.
"You there! Ape! Is this correct?"
"My name is Amaron, not ape. And to what are you referring?" the inquisitor responded pointedly.
"You know very well. It says here you are giving up claim on not only this world but other three maiden worlds along the rim."
"Should have been four" The princess muttered under her breath.
"Could have been two. But to answer your question that is correct. The imperium will remove all current and future human settlements from these planets as long as the shipments keep coming. The princess is quite the negotiator."
The farseer didn't know how to respond. For centuries the Eldar had fought to keep the imperium off these worlds. With steadily decreasing success she bitterly admitted to herself. And now in one fell stroke they were gone. The princess spoke again.
"I am sure you see the beauty of the arrangement. The humans can't mine the Astronomicum at reasonable cost. Especially not while fighting us at the same time. We want to live in peace but the mineral itself is of no use to us. And we can supply them with a hundred times the amount they could mine themselves. None of the parties will break this treaty any time soon."
It should be noted that it isn't really standard imperial praxis to do make deals with xenos in this way. But the princess had found the inquisitors sore spot with pin point accuracy. The ore had to be delivered one way or the other, the constant delays was turning into a minor political crisis. And she was right, mining it for themselves would cost a not so small fortune. Besides three distant worlds on the rim without other strategic resources seemed like a small price to pay for the inquisitor. Who was in many ways a pragmatic man that knew how to use his tongue as well as his sword. His craftworld counterpart however did not relent.
"And exactly how do you think you will transport these stolen goods? The exodites have no ships of their own. And I will never dirty our ships in deals with these feces flinging tree climbers." A look of utter distaste on her face, chin held up high as if she had played a trump card.
"We will use the webway of course"
"Sacrilege! How dare you suggest we use it to shuttle goods like serfs! The webway is sacred!" The farseer was appalled.
"Meh, not so much. Actually it had very morally dubious beginnings. Yurk!" The princess sniffed the uncle's drink bottle through her veil, made as sour face and spat in disgust. Looking up again she found she now had everyone's attention.
"Oh very well. You see there was this kind of sport a long time ago. Sunsurfing. Basically you race between stars at breakneck speeds and then shim just along the chronosphere into a warp jump to the next star and repeat the same thing. Totally insane I know."
"In any case there was this sunsurfer. And he wanted to impress a certain maiden. And by 'impress' I mean...you know." She made a rude gesture with her hands and whistled. Her uncle glared at her.
"Well in any case he though winning one of the largest surf surfing races might be enough to get to..erm...impress her. But the problem was that it was a quite large sport at that time with many practitioners. And this particular surfer wasn't that good at it. But he was rather clever."
"So he cheated. He constructed gates just outside the stars in the race. Gates only he had the key to. Using these gates his warp jumps were always perfect, even if he made mistakes during his coronal wave breaking. Eventually the technology spread to other more practical uses and what you call the webway was born."
"Where did you learn such things?" the farseer blurted out, betraying her shock.
"School?" A very convincing lie to be sure.
"What happened in the race?" The inquisitor was inquisitive.
"Oh he won. And impressed his girl." She winked her eyebrows and turned to the farseer who was now white as a sheet. "So you see farseer your sacred network is really just the one giant trick for a clever engineer to get lucky."
"I don't believe it!" The farseer stammered. But she had read of sunsurfing from ancient records. And the timeframe did match.
"I know! Who goes to that much trouble just to get in a girls underpants? I have watched the girls around here and let me tell you they will..." The princess watched the farseer and chieftain intently, baiting a reaction.
"That is quite enough" The chief angrily cut the princess short.
"Yes of course with the purity and all. Forgive me uncle! Bad thoughts, bad!" The princess curtsied but banged her flat hand against her head as if trying to shake something out. She then draped herself elegantly in a chair next to her uncle and poured a cup of dragon milk for herself.
"Well I will not grant access to the webway for this travesty. And I will not sign this treaty. I will not pay for something that is rightfully ours." The farseer threw the treaty back on the table. She just could not stomach it. But why then did her insides feel so childish and petty? She looked over at the chieftain. He looked sad. And disappointed. It cut her up inside but she just could not back down at this point.
The princess on the other hand had barely sat down again when she exploded in a fit of rage, throwing her cup at the floor and racing out of her seat. Milk splashed all over the table.
"I have just about had enough of you, you snooty stuck up bitch!" She pointed towards the inquisitor. "At least this one has the decency to just be greedy. He doesn't care how he the get the ore, just that he gets it. But for you it's a matter of 'honor'. Or ego more like it! Well for us this is about the future." The princess thumped her finger hard in her own chest.
"I will not let you would deny these people that just because you can't swallow your pride! So you will do it or by Isha I will take you over my knees and spank you right here and now in front of everyone. And shove your pride right up your arse for you while I am at it." For a split second the farseer let show exactly how much that prospect horrified her.
"Inquisitor have you ever seen the naked bottom of a high farseer?"
"That would be a new experience your highness"
"Well you are in for a treat then" She pulled up the sleeves of her robe while still keeping her veil on and grabbed a sturdy wooden board from the table. She gave the table a loud whack and wearing an evil grin started climbing over the table towards the farseer.
Quick as the wind her uncle rushed to the Imishas side blocking his niece in an attempt to avert the incoming spanking.
"I am sure we can work this out if you both just..." he started.
"Traitor to your own race is what you are! You even speak like a human!" The farseer sneered over the chiefs shoulder at the princess as she let her bitterness flow freely.
"Oh you think that is the ultimate insult do you?" The princess threw the wooden board straight at the farseer but her uncle incepted it. With his forehead. The board broke in two but he didn't so much as flinch. After that the princess settled for spitting insults through every opening she could find.
"Do you know the irony? For thousands of years have you known the other races. And what have you learned from them? I tell you what. You have learned nothing. Oh yes you learned how to kill them, how to beat them. But which of their strengths did you try to make your own? Which of their philosophies and teachings did you study? None. So confident that you were superior. So afraid that your path might not be the right one."
The two women stared at each other, raw fury in their eyes. As chance of a response from the farseers side was lost as wave after wave of relentless screaming hit her head on.
"But what have you discovered over the last ten thousand years? How have you grown? These exodites you look upon as savages are moving forward. But you lot? Ork society have advanced more than yours! All you do is scavenge of your ancient history. You are stagnation incarnated. I look at you and see a senile touthless hasbeen who keep repeating her kindergarten accomplishments. Meanwhile the rest of the universe moved on, leaving you behind."
At this the princess stopped, panting. Just as the farseer opened her mouth to retort the princess pushed the air out of her with one last insult.
"So you can gladly call me human, oh great and wise farseer. At least I am not a bitter old dried up craftworld hag!"
White faced, teeth gnashing the farseer stood shaking on the spot for a second. The she raced out of the tent just before the first tear fell from her eyes. The chief tried to stop her but she slapped his outstreched hand aside in anger. He threw a resigned gaze in the direction of his niece.
"That was...not constructive"
"She started it!" The princess pouted.
The chief took a deep breath.
"I will see if I can't calm her down" He paused, deep in thought. "And it would probably be a good idea for both of you to be gone when we got back" With those words he left the tent.
The princess and the inquisitor were left alone in the tent watching the exodite chief as he hurried after the fuming farseer. Night was starting to fall, the sun kissing the horizon with a few last scarlet rays.
"I think you might have made a powerful enemy princess."
"She needs that spanking. Just not from me." The princess exploded in a fit of giggles, her good mood suddenly back. After calming down she turned away and started cleaning up the table, separating important treaties from leftovers.
"What if she doesn't give you access to the webway?" The inquisitor still wasn't convinced.
"Oh she will. But it doesn't really matter. We already have access. It is just so she can feel some measure of control. She has as much to gain from this as anyone. Her forces are stretched thin, not having to engage you across in these sectors will free up precious resources for her. And save a lot of lives. Deep down she knows that."
The inquisitor was a little taken aback by this. Gossip was one thing, tactical info and troop movements another.
"Why are you telling me all this?"
The princess snorted.
"Please. Like you don't already know." The inquisitor suspected that in reality the princess was a very skilled liar. One that liked mixing truths, half truths and all out lies. What scared him was that he could not tell the difference.
"Fine. So I are telling me I don't have to worry about her? She seemed to hate all humankind."
"Oh she hates you all right. She is still a racist, pure and simple. But she would never harm her own. So as long as you keep these people happy you don't have to worry about her. Here take this." The princess handed the human a tray of dishes that he dutifully placed in the opening of the tent. He stopped there for a while, looking out over the village. He then turned back and started walking back towards the princess, who was now bent over the table wiping it clean with a wet cloth.
"Good. Because I would have no qualms about slaughtering her and all of these people if this deal turns sour." Hard words in a hard voice from a hard man.
The princess stopped in her movements, her head bent over the table. She did not respond but straightened her back.
"Just so we understand each other."
"I understand you quite well Inquisitor. But I am not sure you understand me." Her answer came in a tight, suppressed voice. She still had her back against the Inquisitor.
"Imisha, for all her flaws, is still family. She is my kin. So is every person around here. I will chastise them as I see fit when needed. But I love them. All of them." She made a small pause, dropped the washcloth and traced a hole in her roughspun robe with her finger. "Sometimes so much I can't feel anything else."
You don't become an imperial Inquisitor if you have any fear left in your body. But at this point that didn't matter. The imperial delegate took a few shuffling step backwards away from the princess, tripped and fell down. She had started to slowly turn around. And the room started to dim.
"Every person but you that is. You are...a business partner. A diplomat if you wish. I aim to be open and polite towards you. My plan is not to cheat you, rather see to it that you genuinely prosper from every arrangement. And I will try my best to protect you from the foolishness and prejudices of my own kin."
Her voice was still, betraying no emotion. It was the stillness of a polished steel mirror. For the inquisitor it was as if the world had stopped and the only thing that existed was the her form slowly turning towards him. Faeries of white mist had started dancing all around him as he grasped for breath.
"I prefer to keep peace with humanity. If I have an enemy at all, it most certainly isn't you. Both your military and your protector are immensely powerful. I will at any turn encourage my kin to try to come to terms with your rather than fight. Actually my wish is to try to keep you out of what must happen altogether."
The side of her veiled face was starting to become visible. The inquisitor whined and raised his hand as if to shield his face from her gaze. He made a few feeble attempt to scramble backwards towards the opening but his legs would not carry him. A warm liquid was running down his legs inside the power armor.
"But understand this: When the time comes, if left with no other option, I will pull all of this galaxy down with me through the veil. That includes you, your kin, all of your enemies and friends. Everything that takes a breath or thinks a thought. Man, daemon, god or mouse it will make no difference. I will wipe the slate clean. And I will do it with a smile on my face it I think it will help those I call my own."
The princess had now turned fully to face the Inquisitor who was now laying flat on his back on the floor, genetically modified eyes pinched shut. Smoke had started to fill up the tent and nothing could be seen but two angry black suns that raged in the mists. She bent down beside the prone human so that their faces lined up. As his head twisted from side to side trying to avoid the alien gaze directed at him her voice shrunk to a whisper. And with every word veils of smoke shot out from her mouth like caged snakes, pushing against the veil. Seeking a way through towards their prey.
"So if you think you can threaten me with your little ships and soldiers you are sorely mistaken."
The princess retracted from the human and the world righted itself again. The smoke retreated and the black suns set behind the princess eyelids. The poor Inquisitor rolled over to his side and retched unto the ground. He lay there for a while panting and then stumbled to his feet with a small sob.
"Now by the deal you just signed humans are no longer allowed on this planet without our explicit consent. And you just revoked your consent. So get out. And never come back."