28. Silent daughters

Ovis looked out of the Bucephalus, he had been forced to travel to Terra on the Emperor's golden battle barge, despite not liking it, his own personal ship would not have been able to make the journey since it wasn't warp capable and no safe route had been mapped from Krake to Terra. He looked at the barren world with a mix of curiosity and disgust, he knew it was the cradle of humanity and filled with riches but the pirate emperor had a famous distain for worlds that lacked oceans.

"So what do you think?" the Emperor walked in to the observation deck, noticeably keeping himself outside of Ovis area of effect

"Looks like a dried-out ball of dirt, I'll learn what I need and leave" Ovis turned from the view port and made his way to the elevator, "I don't want to stay on this world longer than I need to"

The time Ovis spent on Terra was quite unproductive, he was rowdy and spent more time learning about the different alcohols of Terra than its history but despite that he knew all he needed to bring worlds in to compliance. He had conquered and ruled his own empire for over a century so little had to be taught to him about the ways of war but the benefit of bringing him to Terra was not for the Emperor or the Imperium as a whole but for one organisation in particular.

Luna had been one of the first objects in the solar system to have a permanent settlement placed on it, it had been the first stepping stone for humanity's journey in to the stars, in the 31st millennium it worked as the last line of defence before a foe made it to Terra, a great ring of defensive emplacements ran around the satellite's equator with great fortresses dotting the surface and docking yards for an armadas worth of ships. Taking up one of the largest craters on the poxed surface was a great citadel, it was made up of many domes and spires built in the classical gothic style the Imperium loved.

Ovis' transport swooped down in to the crater and pulled itself in to one of the many hangers around the citadel. The primarch walked down the landing ramp and was greeted by a group of women clad in golden armour, their heads shaven except for a tall top knot that stuck out of their head like the plumes of a custodes helmet. The leader of the group stepped forward and made several gestures with her hands before bowing to the primarch.

A young girl stood beside the leader, she was unarmoured and clearly a novice of some kind, "Welcome to the Somnus citadel Lord Ovis, I am Knight-…."

Ovis held up his hand and silenced the girl, "I understand your sign language" Ovis looked at the Knight-Centura who had identified herself as Lopone Krise, "Why have I been "invited" here?" the primarch put emphasis on invited, he had near enough been forced by the Emperor to travel here

"Follow me" Krise signed as she spun around and walked in to the silent citadel as Ovis followed surrounded by the squad of silent sisters

The Somnus citadel was completely silent, only the low hum of machines could be heard, a normal human would not even hear the footsteps of its occupants. Ovis was led through the citadel and in to a room where three women already sat at a table, they all stood and signed a greeting before bowing to the primarch. Ovis took a seat across from the women. The armour they wore were different from the standard sister, more ornate and detailed, they were clearly very high ranked in the sisterhood, possibly the highest ranked.

"I am Knight-Commander Jenetia Krole" the woman in the centre signed an introduction, she wore silver artificer armour with a fur cloak over her shoulders, her top knot was dyed blood red and reach down her back and almost touched the floor, "This is Nemesis Praxia Ebon Naroda and Mistress of the Black fleet Varonika Sulath" Korle introduced the women to her left and right

"I can guess why I'm here but please tell me sisters"

"We wish to know if the rumours we heard were true?" Krole signed

"I don't know what rumours you heard unfortunately I'm not psychic and even if I was…" Ovis gestured to his surroundings

"Do you rule an empire entirely made up of nulls?"

"The entire empire? No, the vast majority of my citizens have souls" the women seemed disappointed by the primarch's answer, "But if you're talking about Krake and the colonised worlds then yes, the last person with a soul that stepped foot on those worlds was the Emperor"

"So it's true, are the rumours of your daughters true as well?" Krole asked

"Yes, what are all these questions about?"

"We wish to ask you to allow the sisterhood to recruit from your worlds and for you to give you daughters over to the sisterhood" the Knight-Commander asked for exactly what Ovis expected

"I cannot give you my daughters, if I did they would stab me then my wife would stab me and I'm certain a few other women would as well"

"Your daughters would be a valuable addition to the sisterhood, Lusenkia…." Krole was interrupted as Ovis drew a knife from seemingly thin air and slammed it in to the table, almost splitting it in two from the sheer force of the strike

"What did you do with my daughter?" the Knight-Commander kept a neutral expression as she was faced with an angry primarch

"When we heard one of your daughters was on Mars we invited her here, she came of her own accord and we have not harmed her" Ebon Naroda signed, she was clearly cautious of the primarch's anger

"If anything she has harmed us more than we could ever harm her" Krole's ThoughtMark made the sarcasm in her comment clear

"Where is she?"

The three women took Ovis to the training wing of the citadel, it was filled with sisters duelling each other or practising their marksmanship, the primarch was brought to one of the duelling pits where sisters fought each other. It was a large pit set in to the ground so people could watch from above, the pit Ovis was brought to was filled with several armoured sisters wielding their signature greatswords and in the middle of it was the priamrch's daughter. The sisters moved with almost unnatural speed and grace, their blades cutting through the air in a whirlwind of silver that would overwhelm any mortal man, Lusenkia dodged with even greater speed, she held no weapon as she ducked and weaved between the blades. One sister thrust her blade, Lusenkia dodged the tip and grabbed the null maidens wrist, quickly flipping the woman over her and in to another sister, before the first sister's sword could hit the ground the primarch's daughter had grabbed it and gone on the attack.

Despite being surrounded by skilled sisters Lusenkia managed to hold them off and even make a few strikes of her own, even to the trained eyes of the sisters she looked like she wielded four blades and could find no way to penetrate her defences. Lusenkia might have looked like a regular human but she had the blood of a primarch in her veins and thus she possessed speed, power and senses greater than any human could ever hope to have. The fight between Lusenkia and the remaining sisters was short, the pirate princess even managed to force them to yield with minimal injury, she laughed as the sisters limped out of the pit with bruised prides and bodies. She was about to ask for more sisters to fight before she noticed her father looking down on her and her smile dropped.

"Aren't you supposed to be on Mars?" Ovis looked down on his daughter as she avoided his glare, "I had heard Mars was red but maybe I was mistaken"

"They kept inviting me and Mars is a weird place; I'm not sure who's a servitor and who is a techpriest, they have weird ideas about technology and they're constantly trying to give me cybernetic augmentations"

"Do you want to join the sisterhood?" Ovis asked his daughter as he reached in and pulled her out of the pit

"No way, I like talking too much besides I'm the worst with weapons out of all my sisters, they wouldn't want me"

Ovis sighed as he placed Lusenkia on the ground, "Just get back to Mars and don't leave the planet unless I tell you"

"I'm a grown woman you can't force me to stay anywhere"

"Well you're 'grown' to Mars, now get back to that red dust ball before I find somewhere worse to send you, just because you're my favourite doesn't mean you can do what you like" he pushed her towards the door before turning back to the three women who had brought him here, "I don't appreciate you skipping over me and going straight for my daughters"

"We are sorry if we angered you" Krole signed although her gestures didn't look entirely sincere

Ovis rolled his eyes, "There are many orphaned girls on Krake if they want to join the sisterhood then there is little reason to stop them but you will not be levying my citizens" the threat was clear in his voice

"Thank you, the sisterhood and the 11th legion have had a close relationship for a long time, we appreciate your understanding and hope our friendship will hold strong" the three women bowed to Ovis before Krole moved on to another subject, "Now we should ask you about any psykers born in your empire"

"Don't worry about them, the nobility make sure they are killed or put to some good use"

The empire of Krake was no place for the psychically sensitive, the ruling class and a large portion of the military was anathema to them, over the years Ovis had experimented with psykers to see if they could be put to good use in war but most psykers found in his empire were put down by local rulers before they could cause trouble.

"If your empire has no use for psykers then the Imperium does, would you be partial to handing over the ones you capture to the sisterhood?" Krole asked

"We still have use for some of them but the ones we don't need are better off dead before they cause some kind of catastrophe, the Imperium is large enough to tithe all the psykers they need"

The Knight-Commander didn't look happy with his answer but she had little power to insist, he had already given them enough for her to be happy with the meeting.

"It has been a pleasure meeting you my lord, I hope we'll get to fight side by side one day" Krole bowed her head and Ovis returned the gesture

"It has been a pleasure to meet you as well sister" Ovis left the Somnus citadel and made his way back to Terra

Ovis looked up at the great dome of the investiary, only three of the 20 plinths were empty, Ovis had never met any of his so-called brothers but from what he had heard of them he wasn't looking forward to meeting some. He looked over his brothers' statues as his own was lowered on to a plinth, as he watched menials guide it in to place the hunched over form of Malcador walked up from behind. The primarch had grown to like the Sigillite much more than the Emperor, if there was one thing he liked about Terra it was their weekly games of regicide.

"Finally leaving" Malcador looked up at the plinth as the tarp covered statue was set down

"I don't like being so far from the ocean for this long, my skin starts to dry out"

"I'm not sure that is possible" Malcador could feel his psychic might being drawn in to the primarch's aura, even the flame on his staff had gone out, "Do you mind?"

Ovis pulled his aura in and allowed the Sigillite's flames to come back in to existence, "You should not be too reliant on your psychic powers Malcador" the primarch imitated a lesson the regent of Terra would have given

"I am not a young man like you, I cannot rely on my body like I use to"

Ovis' eyebrow popped up, "Like you use to? I would give you my empire to see you fight with a blade or even a bolter"

Malcador chuckled, "My time fighting on the front lines has long since passed"

Ovis watched as the menials secured his statue and pulled off the tarp, revealing his form carved in stone, he held his sabre up as if to strike with it, his clawed hand out stretched and a grin carved in to his stone face, it reminded Ovis of the statues of his namesake god except his face was perfectly rendered instead of being shrouded.

"At least Imperial artists aren't inept"

"I wish you luck on your conquests Ovis" Malcador bowed his head slightly

"And I wish you luck in whatever you do" Ovis sincerely returned the gesture

"Although before you depart I must warn you to be wary of the warp"

"I am not effected by psykers or the warp even the Emperor can't influence me"

"That is true now, your power to cannibalise the power of the warp and add it to your own is entirely unique but the warp is ever shifting, it is a realm where one's mind and will are king and it is possible that a way to strike you with the powers of the warp can be found, so be careful and never let your guard down around things of the warp"

"I will keep your words in mind" Ovis took one last look at his statue before turning and preparing to take command of his legion

The entirety of the 11th legion stood in parade formation before their primarch, 50,000 soldiers with a combined null aura so powerful that all menials in the surround palace were forced to leave, the 11th legion had always been small since most normal humans had a good chance of dying during the implant process and their recruiting pool had always been small and unreliable but now with a much larger and more stable recruitment pool their numbers had rapidly grown and were still growing. Ovis stood before the legion, their armour now painted black and gold, he wore his black scale coat and his armoured claw behind him two of his sons held up black banners that depicted the krake circling a world it was about to consume, the same symbol that was now on every legionaries' left puldron.

"My warriors" Ovis projected his voice across the legion, "I have warred across the stars for a century, I have crushed worlds under my boot and ground empires to dust and I do not plan to stop any time soon, the worlds of this galaxy are no different to the islands of Krake, lone outposts ripe for plundering and rich with treasures that are ours by right of arms, you, my soldiers, will be like the world beast for no world will be safe from your greed. Now follow me men for the stars are all jewels…."

"AND THEY WILL ALL ADORN YOUR CROWN!" the Kraken recruits let out a deafening warcry

The Emperor watched Ovis speak to his legion, Malcador by his side, "Much about him is exactly as I made him and much is so different"

"Do you think he will turn?" Malcador watched the primarch psych his warriors up for war, "His greed is insatiable"

"My fault really but as long as he is sated then he should stand firm, I am more concerned about the power he wields"

"Quite powerful, a soul that is an extension of his greed, the great enemy will try to fell him"

"That is not his soul" the Emperor had a concerned look on his face, "It is a symbiote that live on his soul, placed by something of the warp"

"The great enemy?"

"No, this denied them his soul, not them but something of the warp has tampered with him, clearly weather they wish to help or hinder time will tell"

Malcador was surprised the Emperor didn't have a contingency in place and then he realised something, "You cannot see his future either, it is shrouded from you"

"His power makes it impossible but of all the primarchs he is the least of our worries"

The entire fleet of the 11th legion hung in orbit around Luna, the Imperial ships had been bolstered by several dozen Kraken ships and chief among them was Ovis' personal battleship, the Krake's tooth. It was over twice the size of a normal battleship, painted black and gold with the bow styled like the head of the krake, it was a terrifyingly potent ship that had scuttled fleets and scoured worlds of life by itself. The captains of the 11th legion gathered on the ship, sitting around a long table that accommodated them all, they silently waited for their primarch.

"How long is going to keep us waiting" Lorn Feran, the veteran captain of the 10th company, complained obviously agitated

"As long as he wants" Herist Kerson, one of the newly appointed Kraken captains, glared at Feran

The Terran and Kraken marines had been kept separate, the fundamental differences in their culture making integration impossible, veteran Terrans hadn't been appointed to lead the newly formed companies and chapters and instead commanding officers were raised from their own ranks on the insistence of the primarch. Many of the Terran captains could tell that the differences between them would be a problem for years to come, maybe until all the Terrans were gone.

"Calm down you lot the primarch will be here as soon as he can" Zaruthel Garth was one of the few Terrans who made an effort to try and get along with the Krakens and tended to act as arbitrator and diffuser when the two cultures would clash, he could only do such a thing thanks to the respect he earned from both

Ovis entered the room, his children right behind him, and all the captains stood to attention. Ovis took a seat at the head of the table as he looked at the captains arrayed before him. He had read over all the information available on all of them; he knew where they fought, in what battles and how many foes they have bested, his children had taken the time to talk to and secretly evaluate each of them while Ovis had been on Terra and based on that he had decided how he would reorganise the legion.

"There will be a reorganisation" Ovis nodded at his eldest daughter who stood to his right wearing the battle plate of the legion, she went around the table and handed several of the captains dataslates, all of them Terran

"What in the name of the Emperor is this?" Karth Orarth shot up as soon as he saw what the dataslate said

Ovis had decided to split off several chapters from the legion and had given command of them to the Terran captains, it should have been an honour but the 11th had always fought as a single legion and only rarely split off companies for very short support missions, all Orarth and the other Terran captains could take from this action was that their primarch was sending them off so he didn't have to bother with them. They were to be exiled from their own legion.

"What will happen to my first company?" Orarth saw that the veteran 1st company would stay with the primarch

"I will command them" Atris stood behind his father glaring at the former legion master, "Maybe I can make them warriors worthy of my father"

Orarth ground his teeth as he restrained himself from lunging at Atris, the pirate prince's face showed he was hoping for such a reaction, Orarth turned back to his primarch.

"My lord the 11th fights as one, our brothers never leave our side"

"Well they do now"

Orarth used all his willpower to stop himself from speaking against his primarch but not all the Terran captains had such restrain, "I cannot stand by and let this happen!" Lorn Feran stood, bringing his fist down on his dataslate, smashing it, "The 11th is one legion we are not the Ultramarines or the Iron hands, our warriors have no place but here with us"

"Feran calm down" Zaruthel stood up and tried to calm his battle brother

"That is easy for you to say you're not being sent away, you got friendly with those damn savages and get to sta…." Lorn's rant was cut short as his head exploded, splattering several of the captains, his headless body dropped on to the table with a thud

"That's one more chapter I can use" Ovis holstered a smoking bolt pistol as the Terrans looked at him in surprise, they had no more complaints

Orarth and the Terran captains clamped their jaws shut as the primarch and the captains discussed several other things, all without the original members of the legion saying a word.

Next time: The promised tithe (part 1)