I own nothing of GW.
...
Now that Visius left the room he also left her mind, her thoughts were hers now.
Her hands were drying as the liquid soaked into her skin. She carefully rolled up her sleeves so as not to tear open the tender skin there and poured the rest of the phials contents onto her forearms. Deciding to not drink it, but to use it on the rest of her burns.
Her flight suit was dirty and burnt in places, mostly her knees and sleeves.
She wished for a shower and clean clothes. Her hair definitely needed a good wash. It felt greasy and wouldn't hold a braid very well. She tried to keep it braided behind her head but she had lost a pin to hold it secure. Now it was two braids wrapped together to keep it up. She was sure if she took it out she would lose so much hair from the stress. Perhaps she could request a shower?
Ugh, the humiliation of the thought of asking for such a leisurely thing made her sick. Maybe a blanket at least, it was rather cold on this vessel and sleep was accompanied with shivers. She could sleep on the cushions in the room but that felt awkward, judging by the artwork on the chair-throne she didn't want to know what took place on them.
She figured she had been here on this ship for a couple of days, she had begun to feel better, if grungy. How many days though, she couldn't guess. But she had slept a few times and her strength and energy had begun to return. She wasn't so tired and her headache had left a sleep cycle ago.
Still she only ate small portions of the fruit which was routinely brought in, deciding not to eat the bread. Not knowing what ingredients were used left her nervous. She mostly just wandered the two rooms when she was awake, looking at and guessing what things were.
But her mind went back to the conversation she had with Visius.
She had a good feeling he believed she was a relation to some dead god. Despite her protests.
Rolling her eyes, she began pacing the room. That accusation was ridiculous and terrifying.
But that's why she was still alive, fed and not in some boxed steel jail like before. Or worse.
Visius was the only one so far who has not tried to kill her or treat her with any hostilities.
Yet.
She wanted to keep it that way.
He's answered most of her questions. Whether or not they were true was undecided and there was no way for her to fact check them.
The history he laid out for her was mind blowing. Thousands upon thousands of years of..war. With literally everything one could fathom.
And Visius had the idea of aiding her in the growth of her powers to...do what? lead?
He literally said he would swear his allegiance to her if she became powerful enough.
"No." She answered out loud.
She couldn't lead herself out of a wet paper bag. Just look at the shit storm she was in now!
She had no intention of getting mixed up with this wanna-be-god or any other gods for that matter.
But the last thing she wanted was to stay in this time.
She sat the phial down on the table with the tray of food on it as she passed.
She wished Morrigan was here. Her sister always had answers. Morrigan was brave, talented, smart and funny. She was everything Isis wanted to be. A sad smile of remembrance crossed Isis' face before her eyes grew hot and threatened to form tears.
"Ugh."
She quickly wiped her eyes.
"Okay, Morrigan, serious question. What would you do?" She asked quietly as she passed the trophies.
What would she say?
She remembered one time when Isis first came to her fathers institute, all the other students there were older and more skilled at controlling their abilities then she was.
Isis had felt lost and completely alone.
She couldn't focus long enough without a spell going haywire. With the fear of failing, because no one wanted to fail at the institute, Morrigan came to her aid. They had grown close, even though her sister was 4 years older than Isis was.
Morrigan helped train her secretly, and in doing so, Isis learned a new way of honing her powers. Their father, when he found out, couldn't complain much because the training had worked with Isis.
It was at the beginning when Morrigan took Isis under her wing that she said.
"If you ever feel you don't fit into this world, it is because you were made to create a new one."
"Not helpful." Isis chuffed at her sister's statement that popped into her head.
"There is no way I can or want to make a life here, even if I could create it the way I want." She turned following the wall, bypassing a computer of sorts.
"The cursed ship got us here, It could take us back."
Her thoughts drifted to her brothers.
They would know more. Her brothers were with the crew that activated a large hovering ring that sent everything askew.
If they were still alive.
She banished the thought. They were, they had to be. She had to have some kind of hope.
She redirected her thoughts.
Biting on her thumbnail as she passed the throne for the 5th time. That ring, with the enormous floating stone in the center, had to be responsible for sending her and her brothers here.
Now, all she had to do was convince Visius to agree to take her there.
In doing so she was sure he would want to know everything she knew about this Hell-Ship. She would tell him what happened. But her plan must be hidden deep within herself. For if she happened to think of going back, or her fall back plan, even the smallest of thoughts, while speaking to him mentally, would seal her fate. He would never agree to anything again.
He was also 10 millennium old, she reminded herself, and a lot smarter than she was. He will more than likely see right through her idea. But what choices-
Her thoughts were interrupted by rumbling. The sound of unmistakable massive cannon fire reverberated through the ship.
She could feel the vibrations to her core.
Isis looked around her, expecting to see the bulkheads warp or crumble.
She scrambled to her corner, crouching down, as she felt the ship tremble from a hit.
They were in a battle, she realized. With whom or what or how many. She had not a clue.
The ship seemed to roar as she felt it return fire. Placing a hand on the wall beside her as if to gain some sort of comfort from its structural fortification and integrity; The coldness of the ship seeped into her bones, giving her a slight shiver.
Isis concentrated, she wanted to see what was happening. In the darkness of her mind a small light flared. She instantly knew there were others on the ship with powers like herself, she even recognized Visius. His power was emitting throughout his area.
Reaching outward she saw so much more. Ships were packed with tiny lights moving around, up, down and intertwining. It was like watching clusters of stars dancing in the dark. It was beautiful, even if their dance was deadly.
...
On the bridge Lord Visius and his crew were in a dogfight. The Aeldari ships were fast and highly maneuverable, their sleek design made them difficult to target.
Sorek's armada had met with the Aeldari with vicious intent. The numerous ships advanced in their fleet groups.
Their orders were simple: destroy the fleet and invade the craft world.
It was executing those orders that set the challenge. Visius' six ships attacked on ordered coordinates. Spreading out to separate the Eldar defenses.
The Icon of Sin was uncannily agile for its bulk and size, a gift given by their patron.
The ship's bridge crew was invigorated, fueled by Visius as he emitted psykic energy to goad them.
Connected to the ship, Visius was able to perceive read outs and reports. But he also relied on his lieutenant.
They managed to destroy one of the three battlecruisers, light and medium cruisers dove in and around nimbly in the void. Taking shots and moving out of range.
A Phoenix Cruiser, her hull glinting in the system's sun came about, firing its pulsar cannon.
The Icon of Sin rocked and shuttered from the hit. The bridge crew remained unfazed.
"Roll under them! Hit them with broadsides!" Visius commanded quickly.
Voices in his vox relaid reports.
"Hull fractures on decks four and five, teams have been dispatched to rectify." Came one of many reports.
"Accelerate! Lean to port!" Barked Sithal to the pilots.
Visius leaned forward, his focus changed from the pic-feed to the two windows in the front of the bridge, their large shutters locked to the sides.
The stars in the void moved upward as the Icon of Sin nose dived, her plasma engines flared and her body rumbled, seeming to contain excitement of the attack as she descended.
The Phoenix craft already moving towards its target attempted another attack, but did not anticipate the deft maneuver of its enemy's bulk. Its pulsar cannon missed, the deadly beam cutting through an empty void.
The ancient craft twisted as it brought its broadsides to bear at the underbelly of the Eldar ship.
The Phoenix craft was agile, like its crafters. But overconfidence is a weakness in its own right. They wasted valuable time to evade and paid for it.
The sound of the broadside cannons was heard throughout the ship, music to the ears of the crew. The underside of the Eldar craft took the full brunt of the cannons.
Bits of hull fragments scattered throughout space, some even ricocheting off the Icon of Sin as she passed and turned to come about.
"Auspex reports significant hull breaches on the Phoenix, my Lord, but she still has weapons." Reported an officer.
As the Icon of Sin came about, a Vaul cruiser, tagged by the Blade of Bliss, sent the smaller vessel careening straight at the Visius' flag ship.
In his helm he saw the read outs before anyone could report, the small vessel charged all of its weapons, which would explode on impact.
The cannon operators attempted to destroy the Vaul with lances and bombardment cannons, but their aim was wide or missed. With the Eldar craft's chaotic advancement, it left their aim a mere guess.
It was then Visius felt a flash of warp energy from the area of his chambers.
Through his pic-feed he witnessed the Vaul smashing into an invisible bearer.
Instantly, intense hot white light, spider webbed across the area in front of the small ship as it exploded on impact just off starboard. The bearer quickly sizzled the fragments into dust before dissipating rapidly. The concussion blast was all that was felt as it rumbled the hull of the Icon of Sin.
What was left of the Phoenix attempted to come about, her belly ripped open from the barrage, sending plumes of oxygen and gasses billowing into the void.
"Finish that battle cruiser!" Visius roared. He stood now, pouring his full might of the warp into his ship and crew.
They reacted instantly, some snarling, some screaming from the exhilarating experience. The ship seemed to respond in kind, listing her nose to the side, whether from the pilots guidance or otherwise, no one questioned, putting the Phoenix right in target of their lance cannons. Melta cannons fired their torpedoes as her lances finished their prime.
The Phoenix's pulsar cannon began its deadly glow once more, as the two ships faced off.
Blasts were seen through the port windows, ripping through the hull of the Eldar ship as the melta torpedoes punched through its body.
"Lances!" Visius bellowed.
The site was fierce, the energy from the lances cut through the space between the two ships just as the Phoenix finished coming about. The Eldar battle cruiser erupted in flames and fragments. Its pulsar cannon fired its built up charge, just grazing the Icon of Sin.
"Report!" Visius ordered, already looking for a new target on his readouts in his helm. He knew Isis stepped in, he felt her energy and grew curious, wondering why and wanting to investigate her powers further.
"The Savage Marionette has taken moderate to severe damage from the last battle cruiser,"
Savage Marionette was the name chosen for the Imperial vessel they had captured recently, it came as no surprise it had taken such a beating when they hadn't had time to refit her completely from commandeering it.
Lieutenant Sithal continued, "Eldar ships are regrouping, one battle cruiser, two Kurnous class cruisers. The rest of the fleet is pursuing."
"Pursue, lieutenant. Let's finish this." Visius ordered.
...
Isis retracted her power after the ship exploded on her shield. Body shuddering at the thought of the lives she ended, whether they be human or alien, plus the feeling of the impact on the energy she used. She did not wish to be a killer but she desperately needed Visius' assistance.
Her vision of the dancing lights faded. Feeling the cool damp of sweat doting her forehead, she swiped a hand across her face.
Well, she was making her bed. The metaphor felt correct describing her actions. She saw the ship heading for theirs, watched it till the last possible second till she decided to step in. She was hoping to use that as an incentive to get Visius to aid her. Not to rule out that being killed in a battle was not high on her list of things to do. Staying alive long enough to find her brothers was priority.
She also thought, if she could get to the Hell-Ship, so would her brothers. She could only hope. If not she'd find another way of searching for them.
A small thought, possibly even a stupid one, came to her mind. If she could make it back to her own time, she can change the way the future was now. And all the lives she took...
"Just one step at a time, Isis." She said out loud, interrupting her own thoughts. She also reminded herself. "If you're not careful, you'll find yourself stuck in a time loop, and then you'd really be in hell."
She hadn't considered that. Her mind came up with factors of going back. Issues like the 'Grandfather Effect', or 'causal loops'. Creating a time paradox was definitely not on her list of things to do. The longer she stayed the more she risked if she went back. It didn't help that she was given an unexpected history lesson either!
Unwanted, a thought bursted to the forefront of her mind. If she went back, for it would have already happened, it WAS the past, and attempted to change the outcome of this future, the time she was in now would ultimately be altered.
But if she had succeeded to go back, her attempts apparently didn't work, for it is like this now, still like this, made like this? Maybe she was already in a loop!
Her heartbeat peeked as she began to panic. She had studied a bit of time as she learned the repercussions of the time spell she knew. Time is something one does not mess with without taking in the consequences first. She didn't think she would ever have to think farther than freezing a room in time!
Her stomach clenched, "Just breath, you're just getting worked up, and your mind is going down the deep end." She attempted to calm herself, reeling in her stray mind.
Her mind wouldn't be reeled in.
What if she was able to go back before they approached the hell-ship? She could stop them. Destroy it before anyone boarded it?
That would cause a paradox. Two of herself in one timeline for one. Not allowing herself to go, would not allow herself to return to warn them.
Maybe after the Hell-Ship left? Everything she knew would compromise her being here now. Putting everything at risk.
She could keep quiet. Not tell anyone of what she saw or knew.
Kind of hard to do that when father and others could read your mind. She would be held under lock and key..again! Or worse, killed. She had been introduced to environments outside of earth. They would open her like a lab rat.
The thought of her brothers and her being dissected made her sick.
The major factor, how would she figure out how to go back to a pinpointed time?
The sound of multiple small thuds resonated over the background sounds of the ship and turned her thoughts back. Breaking the momentary silence of cannon fire. Hundreds of hammers seemed to be banging all over the hull. The return fire was just as insane.
She sucked in a breath, they weren't finished in their battle.
Then, a familiar presence filled her mind. Unannounced and unexpected, her mind flipped, attempting to clear her thoughts in a rush.
Visius' thoughts were calm, as always.
It was a request, but in his manner, it came out as a statement.
"Isis, lend me your power, channel it through me, so that I may direct it at enemy craft."