Shirou POV - 120 years before the launching of the fleet

Many things happened, my magecraft is back, i´m working on so many projects that i´m with an almost permanent headache. Currently i´m on mars, the Emperor, wearing white robes, walk into the council of mars, with his eloquent speech about the imperial truth, about the destiny of humanity among the stars and all, it´s a eloquent speech, i confess, i´m not paying attention through, i´m distracted by so many cyborgs and machines.

Since we landed, my structural analysis addiction is stronger than ever, what i can tell is that the tech here is mostly advanced, and old. They remember the priests from the Terrawatt clan, but more hardcore, most of them barely have flesh left on their bodies.

The moment of truth arrived, the Emperor was claimed by Dumont to be the Omnissiah made flesh, they brought some sort of mecha for him to prove it, for him to restore, my structural analysis almost made me faint, not only by the advanced tech, i got used to it and become quite knowledgeable about human tech from the age of technology.

But because it has echoes of "souls" on it, the so-called "throne mechanicum" device inside the machine, or how the ancients called "ANCBS, or advanced neurolink connection and backup system." They connected with their war machines, and in case of accidents, they had safety backups, so in case of violent death, in case of brain damage, their destroyed synapses could be repaired by the medical staff, that's what the machine "history" tells me, what's really scary.

Last time i saw a mecha, i could not analyze it, it was fused with a demon, and i felt i´d faint if i tried. This time it was almost as bad, but i got an idea. They ask me to repair a pistol, it's rather easy i must admit. It´s a railgun it seems, it launches projectiles using electromagnetic fields, at hypersonic speeds, i quickly fix it, being showered with praises, not as much as big E of course.

It seems it was on purpose, they wanted to cement my position without undermining him, so they chose the less complex device for me to fix, so to set some kind of a pecking order i guess.

After the treaty of Olympus is signed, i call the Emperor for a private talk, big E, Diocletian and Valdor obviously are there, so is not really private, but as much as i can get out of blue with the boss.

" I will be brief… Like you already know, i am aware that the warp storms will end soon. I don't know how much you know about it, but making things short. A new entity of the ruinous powers will be born, it will devour more than half the Eldar race, kill their gods and become another curse on the galaxy." I say the surprise expressions on them are priceless.

"I see… How do you know this? I don't remember such knowledge when i…" The Emperor says.

"When you invaded my mind without my consent." I say, i can see Anger in Malcador and Valdor to interrupt him, the Emperor himself frowned, since i mostly said what he would say, but without softening it.

"Yes, when i made sure you were not a threat, in a more blunt way." Corrects the Emperor.

"Yes, i got new information. I know the Empire is not Xenos friendly, your purpose is to make humanity spread and rule the galaxy, yadda yadda…" I say as the Emperor frown, but his hand gesture says for me to continue, and go to the point.

"...I want to save them." I state, one of his eyebrows lifted.

"Excuse me?" Asks the Emperor.

"I want the Empire to avoid attacking the Eldar, if possible, and i plan to save them, or at least, as many as possible. " I state.

"Why would you do that? They would not hesitate to purge a human settlement if we had a territorial dispute." Says the Emperor, stating facts.

"For many reasons, starting by the fact i first plan to change that, second the fourth chaos became dangerous and powerful because it first ate more than half the Eldar souls in a single strike. Second, killed almost all Eldar gods, and absorbed their power. Third, the rest of the galaxy made it easier for it to feed, killing Eldar on sight and purging many craftworlds, the ones that lost their spirit stones, had no way to prevent their souls from being absorbed by the monster." I state.

"And why would that be our problem?" Malcador Asks.

"In short, it became powerful and a menace to us, because we allowed it to feed without trouble and even helped it. Yes, the Eldar are stupid, their lust and lazyness and self indulgence gave birth to the abomination in the warp, but we helped the thing to get worse. We as humans, should keep what we used to call humanity, we should be emphatic and benevolent and help the other sentient species, i don't know why we stopped, but if we won´t help them for the altruistic reasons, then do for the selfish ones, we help them, we help ourselves." I state.

"So you plan to save them from being killed and devoured by the monster? How?" Ask Valdor

"Informing them, helping the ones i know won´t leave fast enough, to leave earlier and faster, convincing them to load up as much of their people and culture on the ships before leaving, and myself, using my fleet to evacuate as many as possible, i have plans to increase my fleet. And, i have plans to maybe mitigate the first wave of death." I say trying to sound confident.

"One more of your crazy plans? On that scale? So many things can go wrong…" Says Diocletian this time.

"I know… To be honest, this will stay here in this room, but if the chance appears, if i see a possibility, i plan to maybe, kill the thing, or at least weaken it." I state.

"Are you insane? If killing one of them was so easy, the Emperor would have done it already." Malcador says frantically

"I know… It's just, if i convince the weaker gods to evacuate, and prevent most of the deaths… Billions still will die, billions still will have their souls devoured but… With less souls and without the gods powers… Maybe with Khaine help, i might…" I start

"Khaine… You believe that relic will help you? Why not team up with all of them?" The emperor mutters.

"As was said, if killing a chaos god was easy, it would already be done. I hope to convince all the gods to flee, the best and smartest course of action is to deny "She who thirsts" her food. But i doubt the proud gods will leave so easily. I believe there's a chance to convince the others but the proud god of war will try to "change his destiny" in battle, once he learns of his fated demise instead of avoiding it. If he fights, i might consider helping him, test how weakened the entity will be without the souls and the power stolen from the pantheon. If i can save one god, it will already be better than the timeline i witnessed, if the Eldar keep some of their gods, their souls won't be vulnerable too, not only the abomination first meal will be smaller, the sustenance through the millennia will be smaller too, protect the Eldar is deal with a fourth of the menace, hate it or like it" I state

My words made the room go silent, it was like i forced them to swallow a bitter pill, their distrust towards "Xenos" was obvious. It was not outward hatred like on the M40, like Taiga Said, but humanity was never truly "chummy" with aliens, at least not on Terra on M30, only some empires here and there through the galaxy.

"I will allow you to try, for now, we won't start aggressions on them like was probable to happen on the great we will still defend ourselves. We will focus and prioritize on reclaim territory that's not occupied by Eldar, but if time pass and your plan don't prove efficient, our policy might change, and you will have to do it with your own resources, i won´t spent a single crown from my coffers in help Xenos." The Emperor states.

"Thank you, fair enough." I say, already leaving with more than i expected, then i add as a compensation. "The Selenar cults, once you finish pacifying Luna, will even after surrender, try to get revenge two ways,they will try to steal the Magna Mater, and they will sabotage the III legion, poisoning their gene seed with an illness called the bight. This information might be outdated, since my changes on the timeline were high, but in the end, just reinforce the security of gene seed and main assets with Custodes, things like that, it might be enough" After i say this, the Emperor nods, surprised, he was not expecting a intel like that dropping from nothing..

A few years later, during a brief return of Burke to our space station, i call him for a private talk, as the cruisers he acquired and tons of debris were transported, all to be sorted, repaired or recycled on the space station, dragged by steel nets.

"Burke, i need your help with something… It's a special mission, with some danger, but i plan to pay you nicely, i just need someone that i can trust on it." I say

"Hey! Why all that formality with me? You are like a son to me, of course i´d help you after all you did for me, what's the deal?" Burke says.

"I need you to recover seven ancient ships… I have a rough location, so you will need to look after them. Six need a certain pair of artifacts to work, you will need a pariah to hold one of them safely. And you will need an army to recover and repair them in time." I say

"In time for what?" Burke asks.

"In time for the largest rescue operation in the galaxy's history." I say.

"...That got my attention… Spill the beans…" Burke says.

"We are trying to prevent the fall of an entire xenos race, or at least mitigate it." I say

"...Say what?" Burke blinks

"...Let me explain…" I started to explain to him.

10 years later, he departs from the station, loaded with extra workers, soldiers and a massive amount of supplies and technicians. I walk towards a hangar, in the massive, and growing space station. His fleet was already made of 1 battleship, 1 grand cruiser, 7 cruisers, and now with two cargo ships, acquired for the mission.

In a hangar from the space station, i remain working on my pet project, using what i learned from Gilgamesh's Vijmana, a attempt to work with a FTL system that does not depend on the warp, even if was slower than warp travel, would reduce to near zero the risks on short distance travel. Besides that, a black and red giant metallic humanoid silhouette can be seen in the background, another of my pet projects, based on what i witnessed on mars, on the other side of the hangar, many boxes filled with shining gems can be seen.

Back to year 740 M30

We are in mid warp travel, i can hear the sound of the gellar field generator humming as i walk through the metallic corridors of the ship. All windows sealed, all external cameras shut down, the view of the warp is not for the mortal minds, except for some rare exceptions, like Tersius, our navigator bred and raised for this his entire existence.

Diocletian calls on the intercom, he wants to speak with me in private, it's probably about the details of my plan i did not share with the others. He is for obvious reasons, tense, or as much as a mighty custodes can be, since the plan was announced.

"Ki… I mean, Lord Emiya, are you sure about it? I know you are used to me already, but i am a custodes, and i was serving the emperor before you were born. I fought greater demons before and i will tell you this, you have no idea about what the abominations above them truly are. They cannot be killed so easily, even if you have a sound plan… That's insanity." He says.

"...I know, but there's a chance we will never, ever, meet that creature as weak as now, newborn, and if all work as expected, denied most of its nourishment and the power of an entire pantheon. If it can't be defeated on it´s most vulnerable state, it cannot be killed after all."

"Let's assume the plan works, and even with everything it still survives our assault." Diocletian says.

"Then i will call upon Saber's power." I say

"What if even if the mighty king of Britain fails, what if she dies?" He asks, i widened my eyes, i had not considered the possibility of her death, maybe mine, not hers.

"...Then i´m not calling out her pow…" Before i finish my sentence, he grabs my shirt and lifts me.

"If you won ́t do your all, you won't do it after all. You don't go with a mission like that half assed. Kiddo. Not calling on her power just because you are worried about her, is an insult to her vow towards you, she still is a proud king, and knight." He says.

"I… You are right." I say "If we both fail, if everything fails, then we retreat, if we save some Eldar or any of their gods, it will already be a massive victory, compared with the usual timeline." I say.

"...Better, so we keep the damage to that Eldar to a minimum, and leave. Do you have an escape plan? And how will you deal with the psychic shockwave you talked about?" He asks

"...That's the tricky part. Most of the deaths, and the destruction of many worlds and craftworlds, were caused by her birth scream. It blew away all remaining warp storms and made warp navigable again. We can´t keep using "reasonably better routes and short jumps forever, so her scream has to happen, it will make space travel viable again but…" I say

"But?" Diocletian asks

"...It will be an attack on 4 dimensions, all 3 dimensions of space, and will level the warp itself." I say as i show him the galactic map, and the core of the Eldar Empire, then i make the simulation, using the worlds described on the wikia as the edges of the eye of terror, like cadia and others, emulating the size of the eye of terror, and use the register of destroyed worlds to use the furthest one as predicted maximum reach of the psychic scream.

"That will be cataclysmic… So many star systems swallowed by that creature scream" Diocletian says as he watches the simulation.

"I cannot defend on 3 dimensions, even with what i have planned." I say

"Do you have a plan to defend against the explosion?" Diocletian says

"Yes, me, all worlds and craftworlds i manage to get behind me, in one vector, will be protected, if my plan works, if i pick the right concentration of populated worlds, the right position, and take advantage of their orbits… On the right alignment…"

I show the starmap, simulating the orbits, and showing several star systems, with Eldar worlds aligned, their estimated populations, and closest craftworlds.

"I excluded all known craftworlds that are already beyond reach or that historically will be away from the blast in time… Some will almost escape and be hit, i want to hurry them, convince them to leave earlier. So they might not be there. These are the ones too deep into the Eldar systems to escape."

I show him all detected craftworlds too deep to be saved, some of them have notes, that if informed in time and move in time, might escape. Others are too deep. Then i show the orbits alignment with the craftworlds.

"This system here, if i mount the most powerful barrier ever made here… They are the furthest ones from the psionic blast, far enough that if i mitigate the blast, their own shields might survive the impact… And they might somehow survive enough to leave. And this world here… Can be evacuated by my evacuation team. It must be made in the last moments, since if we arrive too early, we might be attacked by Eldar defense forces, yet, i convinced some of my friends to do exactly that with several worlds."

"You did what?" He asks, trying to understand.

"They will mass abduct Eldar, tell civilian ships to flee the blast zone, if they refuse even knowing the reason, for not believing or something, intimidate them to do it, under threat of open fire and hail all Eldar military ships nearby, provoking them, then flee… Harass them in pursuit, get them out of the blast like a few cases, this will be the easier way to save them, skip all diplomacy and complications. Once they are out of danger and their own sensors detect the explosion and the eye opening, the captains will inform them they were trying to help, that it was all on purpose to take them out of the blast, and they might work together to evacuate the civilians."

"Your plan can end badly, you know? Too many variables." He says.

"Yes, everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face, i know, but the thing is, deal with the Eldar already out of the blast, still less catastrophic than watch them being turned to shreds." I say as i point to all rescue mission points.

"Many Eldar died because their webway gates got destroyed by the blast, one craftworld was damaged mid crossing. If i could shield this warp gates, the survivors of the first blast would be able to evacuate through the gate, before seal and destroy it, to prevent pursuit by the demons."

"There are too many variables, but i can see now… If only one of these plans worked, many Eldar might survive. Do you have plans like this to help the Empire too?" Diocletian looks at the map, thoughtful, squinting.

"This plan already might help the empire in the long run, you know? But yes, i have some issues on the Empire i might try to fix beforehand. But according to the Emperor, the main one it seems, cannot be avoided apparently. But i will try to mitigate it." I say

"I see… So where will you be during the operation?" He asks.

"First, i will shield this area from the first blast… And protect these two warp gates, this might protect these seven worlds and these 13 craftworlds… Give them enough time to evacuate to the webway."I show him on the map.

"Then i will see Khaine's actions, if he flee as i request, we will haul ass and leave as fast as possible, saving all gods, and keeping the Eldars hope after death, if he is stubborn as i imagine he probably will be, and he decides to fight her alone, i will land… Here…" I show him the world at the center of the future Eye.

"Here is where the newborn abomination will be, but if it reaches that point, i will have to give Khaine support, prevent his death, and if he dies anyway… Lock his fragments with my teleporter and send them away from "her"... No matter what happens, i might try to stop her from feeding, i will not allow her access to any divine essence or Eldar soul, not without a fight." I say.

"Let´s assume everything goes wrong, how bad will it be?" Diocletian asks, i ponder for a while.

"They don't listen to me, some of them change their minds and stay… And i fail to shield the worlds… In the worst case, some extra craft worlds die, and i save just a few kidnapped Eldar. The slightest better version of this "bad endings", means i save just a few more Eldar than the usual timeline. Any extra craftworld or god saved, it's already a big victory." I say

"...Alright, let's do this." Diocletian sighs and give up.

During the trip, i worked on my three pet projects, and performed sparring with Bazett and Diocletian. My skills reached a point where i can almost match his, without any magecraft enhancement. His two short swords style, that all Custodes learn for when their "halberds with guns" are being reloaded, it's similar to my dual wield, i mastered it and fused it with my style, that become even more lethal than before.