Kriphion made his way into the underbelly of the Icon of Sin. He knew leaving his post would draw attention to himself. But someone needed to be a go between. He didn't trust anyone to do it but himself, plus he would be the one to control the information received. The lower decks of the ancient ship granted him cover and shadows to move, as long as he wasn't killed by the whims of the others who dwelt here as well.
He snagged the garb of what looked to be of common dress down here. Stuffing his clothes in his pack.
As soon as Stygian's Beauty met up with the rest of the fleet, information spread like wildfire. Except for what Kriphion sought.
Luckily for him his informant on the Stygian contacted him.
As always it was sent in code to his dataslate.
Kriphion made sure no one followed and found a place to read it in seclusion.
"By Slaaneshes blessing I was in one of the squads to raid the Imperial vessels medical bay. A biologus was captured and interrogated. I was the one to find the clinical chart. I read it and copied the information quickly. It is dangerous yet extremely valuable information. THEY would greatly reward us for the information. I expect you to delete my part after reading, I will attempt to not be terminated for discovering said information. -END TRANSMISSION-"
Kriphion read the copy of the clinical. It was in Binary. He had painstakingly forced himself to learn it secretly several years ago.
The information was hard to believe and he about scoffed it off. But the way the Lord Captain kept the psyker extremely close to his side made him suspicious. If he was to pursue this, he'd need a scapegoat. Kriphion pinched his brows in frustration. Luckily he knew someone that could read binary, she was a psyker and was sent along with his group many years ago. He hated dealing with her, she was always undermining him and trying to control what was rightfully his to lead.
Kriphion smiled. Time to give her what she wanted.
Jigrinn agreed to meet with him. The prospect of demeaning Kriphion with his lack of experience with binary was too much for her to decline.
Though she understood why he had to pick this place, it would raise questions as to why she visited the lower decks. She had to be careful. Leaving her student psykers was frowned upon but the excuse to seek information on a spell component was enough to allow her to sneak out for a time. As long as no one sought her out during her absence she should be good. Her clothes would be tarnished down here and would need to be remedied before returning. Her gems and adornments were carefully covered to keep the grim away from her hair, if one could still call it that. Flesh from her scalp was warped into thin long threads that she wove gems into. It was pulled back and held up concealed under a hood.
Time was critical, she reminded herself as she picked up her pace.
By the time she reached Kriphion, Jigrinn was fuming with impatience.
"This had better be worth the shit I walked through." She hissed at him.
Kriphion snarled, "It's always a pleasure to see you, Jigrinn. I was sent this." he handed her the dataslate. Which she snatched impatiently, her elongated nails, flesh from her fingers that hardened into 3 inch long needles, flashing in the dim light from doing so.
Kriphion knew what she could do with those nails, and he shivered, tantalized at the thought.
Jigrinn read through the slate a couple times, her eyebrows giving her surprise away. "This is impossible." She said breathlessly.
"What's impossible?" Kriphion replied, putting on a mask of confusion.
Jigrinn looked at him for a moment, her face taking on a look of indifference. For his sake, Kriphion was sure.
"It states that the psyker that his Lordship has acquired is profound in the warp." She looked back at the dataslate.
Kriphion knew he had hooked her.
"Enough to send to Ankhar?"
She smiled at him, her eyes glinting in the shadows. "Yes, definitely. You did well. I'll get this sent. Let me know if you learn anything else, Kriphion." She transferred the data from his slate to hers before handing his back. Without another word she left him.
Kriphion smiled as he looked down at his slate, as he expected she had erased his data. He chuckled as he glanced back up, watching her disappear around the far corner. That went easier than expected.
—-
"I understand you are busy and I will try to keep it short." Isis started, hoping she could keep her mind straight, focusing was never a strong suit of hers. Her mind was always jumping around.
"I understand ...my brothers and I are from another time and our appearance would be a cause for curiosity. I also understand that I have the ability to...use certain spells. But, I'm not the only one here that has… abilities. In the short time since we arrived we have been met with fear, concern, hate, the need to be controlled or even outright killed. We had been taken by numerous people, treated like lab rats and separated. I have shown no means of escape or harming anyone here, yet you post guards." She sighed hoping she was making herself clear.
"What possible risk can my brothers and I pose to everyone when we come from so long ago to be treated as such?"
There, she asked. But now a small feeling of fear grew in her gut. She wasn't sure she wanted to know the answer.
Visius tilted his head thinking, his long white hair falling about his shoulders. Then he gave a slight nod as if he had decided on something.
Isis couldn't prepare for the overload of information that flooded her mind.
A brief history of the Imperium of Man. How it was built by a man who had been alive for about as long as humanity existed.
Isis wondered about that. She figured it was another religion humanity had come up with.
This man was called The Emperor, and his 'psykic' power was unmatched or unparalleled. She realized the word psyker was the term they used for people like herself or the power they wielded.
This Emperor, sometime in the 20th millennium, wanted to reunite mankind across the galaxy after they went out exploring and had colonized other planets. Using the immaterium or warp to travel longer distances in shorter time.
In doing so the Emperor created the Primarchs, or sons, as they called them, with His own DNA also called the Gene-Seed. These Primarchs created their own chapters using the 'Gene-Seed' given to them to do so.
The humans were either initiated into the Imperium or destroyed if they refused to accept his ruling.
At some point in the 31st millennium some of the Primarchs turned on the Emperor, causing a great war. The Emperor was slain by Horus, one of the Emperor's own Primarchs. The forces of Chaos, now joined by some of the Primarchs and their chapters, including Visius', were eventually pushed back at a heavy cost.
The Imperium then interred the dead Emperor on a golden throne on Terra.
Isis scrambled to make sense of the information Visius delivered.
He continued.
"It is now the 41st millennium, and here you are. You are extremely apt in the warp, from a distant past and information gathered from the previous ship you were held on, suggested your DNA matched that of the DNA of the Emperor's Gene-Seed Himself.
You are either a valuable asset or an extreme threat.
To that I ask for your express permission to conduct a blood test, I guarantee it will be painless."
Visius leaned back on his throne, waiting on her answer.
Isis stared back at him stunned.
This was...impossible. No. Ridiculous. Her father hated religion in all forms.
He was a hardass, yes but..an immortal? Certainly not. Her father was very well versed in the 'warp', as they call it, yes. But so were others. Not many, but he was one of the strongest. If not the strongest, she honestly didn't know or care.
Her mind jumped to memories of her father. He was a military man, a general. He also trained the ones that showed any aptitude in abilities. She never knew him growing up, for she was raised by her mother until her own abilities took root at age 13.
Her father being a man of business and rather strict made it very difficult to forgive him for taking her away from her mother.
She redirected her straying thoughts.
He had never spoken of his family that she remembered. Other then they had passed when he was rather young.
A blood test would be insane to do. She couldn't deny nor confirm her lineage. This was ridiculous, there was no way.
But she did know, she didn't want to get mixed in with life here nor to be poked or prodded again.
"Why...Why would I want proof that I'm related to a man that fanatics made into a god?
And even before he was a 'god'," She thought with venom.
"He ran the Imperium as a regime. Not to mention I'd be drilling myself in the middle of a 'family' feud that has been going on for ages that spans the length of the galaxy! I Don't have time for a paternity test, I have to find my brothers and finish our mission." Her mind began to race with sudden panic as she realized her situation. Not being able to sit any longer she stood up and began pacing. She honestly had no say in anything, if he wanted her to take one she wouldn't have a choice and that scared her.
Visius studied her reaction for a long moment. He figured she was not used to being mind linked, for he was able to read her inner thoughts. Her turmoil was on the brink of panic, but he let her try and rationalize it herself. Once she was able to calm herself a bit he responded.
"Well then, you have few choices. Due to your power, you are going to ring out like a dinner bell, even to Xenos life. So, you could stay here and try to figure out how to escape this ship and attempt to complete your mission in a galaxy you do not know." He flexed his mutated hand on the arm rest, the black claws making a clicking sound off the steel chair.
"Or you can join me, and I will show you how to grow your powers.
Once you become powerful enough, I'll swear my allegiance to you." Isis bristled at that. Visius continued unfazed. "You will have the backing of my ships, I could take you to Terra, and through your proclamation, possibly take over the Imperium. In spite of the fact that they may worship you like a god, you will have their strength as well."
With that Visius stood and walked into the next room, leaving her mind to allow her some privacy to think.
Isis heard some clinking of glass and liquid being poured.
She wasn't surprised by the ultimatums. Something deep down told her he was not just going to let her go. Whether or not she was related to this dead god.
In his explanation of the history of the Imperium he told her that his chapter had chosen a different path of the Imperium. She figured he would use her against them. But it was the Imperium that tried to kill her so sympathy for them was hard to gather.
She rubbed her face in frustration, her hands still hot and raw, sent burning pains up her arms. She knew she couldn't escape. She did not know how to fly one of their vessels, let alone navigate the damn galaxy. So escape was impossible.
For now.
Visius walked back into the room with a drink in one hand and what looked to be metal phial in the other. Sitting back down on his throne he placed the phial on the console table.
Isis looked back at him, reconnecting with his mind."You spoke of allegiance, do you not already have one?"
"Semantics more than anything. I would be following you. Being you are a blooded child of the Emperor you could be powerful, possibly more so than Magnus."
Isis' blood boiled at his accusation. " I am NOT a blooded child." Her thoughts hissed.
But she remembered him mentioning Magnus' name in the information he gave earlier, but there was so much, she doubted she remembered correctly.
"If this Magnus is so powerful, why not follow him instead?" Isis pushed.
Visius snorted at the thought. "No." he waved his hand at the absurd notion.
"Understand, I was built to be a weapon and only in the best hand do I serve to my full potential." He downed the drink he concocted.
It was Isis' turn to retreat from his mind and break the connection.
Visius didn't seem to be bothered by her wanting to be alone in her own head, as he allowed himself to be pushed out without a fight.
Isis knew now. He wanted her power.
He gave her the option of having power, making her think it was hers alone. That she would be the head of a powerful army.
But..a head needs a neck to be moved, and that would be Visius.
part of her said to come to terms that she would probably never see or know what became of her brothers. He would not take her to the Imperium to gather them until she was conditioned to his whims, and by then everything would be different, her brothers, if they still lived, and herself.
She refused to think she had lost everything. Her family, her home, her life. The only thing she had left was her mission. To get back at the Hell-Ship that took her sister and her everything and it was the only key to getting them back.
Isis grabbed hold of that thought like a lifeline.
Visius 'gave' her choices. If one could call them that. Well, she'd give him one back. There were always other options.
She took a deep breath and connected to his mind again.
"What you offer might be grand to someone else, but I do not seek power, I never have. All I want is to complete my mission." She couldn't help the feeling of vengeance lacing with the thought. "Nothing else matters now to me." She gritted her teeth, hating herself for the next sentence.
"If you aid me in that," She could feel her throat tighten, as if a noose of her own making was wrapping around it.
"I'll be beholden to you."
Visius was about to respond when his vox broke silence.
It was his lieutenant. "My Lord, your presence is requested on the bridge. The armada is advancing." Acknowledging the transmission he stood setting down his empty glass and taking hold of the phial.
He turned back to Isis who eyed the phial suspiciously.
Approaching her slowly so as to not alarm her,"You may not crave power, but it is exactly
what you need."
Isis having really nowhere to go stood her ground, her hands folding nervously in front of her.
Visius bent to a knee and gently took her burnt hands with his mutated one, bringing them together outward. Though his mutant hand was strangely soft and gentle, Isis held her breath, expecting pain.
He began pouring the tonic from the phial onto her wounds.
It was a blessed relief. It didn't take the entire pain away, but it soothed them enough to make Isis release her breath in a relieved sigh.
Placing the phial in her hands, Visius stood. "Drink the rest, it will aid with the healing. I am needed at the helm, I'll return shortly." With that, he turned, exiting the room and leaving her mind.
Isis remained in the spot he had left her holding the phial for what seemed like hours. She decided she would have to figure out a way to get him to agree to help her. But in return he'd expect her to join his cause. She didn't exactly know what that was, but she wouldn't need to. Because she decided that if he agreed to help her destroy the Hell-Ship, she would either use it to return to her own time or destroy herself with it.
Hope you enjoyed this chapter.
Let me know your thoughts, thank you for reading.
Hunter19941 Thanks for the review again, and I am sure others will take interest...Or maybe not..;)