Early 36th Millennium, dawn of the Plague of Unbelief
Onboard The Resolute
Medicae Deck
Basil informed the Navigators of the route they were to take, a destination within the Bennu Cloud, then quickly removed his armour and cleaned up. After that, he made his way to the Medicae Deck to seek Fynn's council and entered the lab where he knew the Apothecary was waiting.
Fynn sat at an enormous table, waiting for Basil in white tunic and pants, bolt pistol on hip. A single human-sized chair was also at the table, waiting for Basil. Beyond Fynn's shoulder sat the stasis box containing the geneseed. "Sit down, young Basil," Fynn said in his deep voice. "Let us talk. What is on your mind?"
Basil quickly sat down and then glanced at the Apothecary. Fynn towered over him, his bald head facing Basil and blue eyes locked onto Basil's golden ones. He cleared his throat and began to speak. "When I recovered the stasis box, I saw visions," Basil said.
"You saw that our genefather is the Arch-Traitor himself, Horus," answered Fynn. Basil nodded. "It took much to get that bit of information from Matthias," he added. "I repeatedly demanded he tell me what First Founding chapter our geneseed was taken from so that I could contact them, or one of their successor chapters, and ask for their help. But he repeatedly denied my demands to know."
Fynn grimaced and looked down at the table for a moment and then his gaze turned back to Basil and locked in place.
"The Inquisition wanted a source that was pure…and potent," Fynn said. "And they wanted one with no chance a traitor Primarch would turn them and no chance a loyalist Primarch would gather my chapter's loyalty if one were to be found still alive." He snarled and added, "They wanted to control us completely." Fynn took a breath and then continued. "Thus, the geneseed of Horus, a source that was supposed to have been destroyed during the Scouring after the Heresy, was demanded. Its existence carried a penalty of death for those in the Mechanicus who had preserved it and a similar penalty, even for an Inquisitor, of anyone else who kept that secret instead of destroying the stores." Fynn tightened his lips in what was almost a grin. "And that is why Matthias kept such a tight grip on that knowledge."
"Then one day…he told me," Fynn said. "One ten day before that Null killed him. I think Matthias had seen that he was about to die and did not want the knowledge to die with him."
"So much was lost when he passed," Basil said.
"I know, my boy," answered Fynn. "That is why I brought all this up instead of merely acknowledging who our genefather is."
"You never had a Father that you knew, or a Mother, for that matter. No siblings either," Fynn added. "As a psyker, most people are terrified of you, or follow your authority out of fear. Same with any young lass you may look at," he continued. "Many of those same things can be said about us, or that they are so far into our past as to be non-existent. But we have always belonged to a Brotherhood and you have never been blessed with that privilege either."
Basil pictured Matthias dying in his arms and a tear started to run down his cheek.
"What I'm saying is that Matthias was the closest thing to a Father that you ever had, and now he is gone," Fynn said. "And you have nothing else to fall back on save your Faith. That can be a powerful tool, but in all those recorded instances you can read about in the literature of the Ecclesiarchy, those others who held tightly to it had a strong foundation of other support that shaped their lives leading up to that point. Foundations like the Schola Progenium or a Convent of the Adeptus Sororitas."
Thoughts and flowed through Basil's mind as Fynn spoke. He pictured Mistress Ilronanna teaching him but Faith in the Imperial creed told him she was to be destroyed. He pictured Siân staring at him in anger through her featureless mask. He needed to speak.
"I'm a perpetual," Basil said.
"I know boy," answered Fynn. "You died before the Webway gate when Matthias first found you, but you came back with no help from me. I wanted to make you one of us when Matthias brought you in but he wasn't sure how your body would react to the geneseed and decided to make you his apprentice instead."
"I died earlier that day too," Basil said. "I know that now. My head blown off by an explosion. And I died in the Black Library a day or so before I called The Resolute," Basil added. Fynn's eyes opened wide at those words. "And I was killed today by a powerful Aeldari. So powerful that I think he would have ended me forever if I had not protected my soul from his strike."
"That's a lot to unpack," Fynn said. "But, you came here seeking counsel. Mu counsel is to act. Do not stand still. So, what will it be?"
"Boyana said that I must not let the Aeldari have the Condenser," Basil said. "But that Aeldari Farseer, Druthact, has the Condenser and is going to do something terrible with it," Basil added. "I directed the Navigators to take us to a point in the Bennu Cloud. A point where I know a gate resides that will take us to Scholomance, where Druthact took the Condenser. I saw the place. It appears to be a Blackstone fortress, one so large as to dwarf the ones we control in the Gothic Sector."
"We'll find him," Fynn said. "And take him."
"But we can't," Basil answered and stared down at the table. "He will have the support of many Aeldari warriors and Warlocks and he is too powerful for me to personally take. At least as strong as me psychically and as gifted as a Solitaire in battle." His eyes raised back up to Fynn. "What can we do?"
Fynn sat back and thought for a moment. "We can do something not done since Roboute Guilliman wrote the Codex Astartes in the aftermath of the Horus Heresy," Fynn said. "Something not done since the Great Crusade." Basil sat up; his attention captured by Fynn. "We have a complete set of organs and can install them at an accelerated rate, but first, we'll need to properly prep you for it to even have a chance of working," Fynn said.
"Properly prep me?" Basil asked. "How?"
"By using the seed reserved to created more progenoid glands," Fynn said as he glanced over his shoulder at the stasis box. "Use the reserve kept for creating the new supply of organs for implanting in aspirants to rebuild my chapter." He glanced back to Basil. "Injecting you with those samples will make your body less likely to reject the accelerated implantation of the organs. During the Great Crusade, the Primarchs were a font of genetic material that never went dry and it didn't matter if many of the chosen patients died. More genetic material was always available. After the Horus Heresy, genetic samples were limited and the slower process was adopted. One that did not waste so much material."
"But this is what you need to rebuild the Void Spectres," Basil said. "I can't take that from you."
"We accepted our destruction so as to prevent the Condenser from falling into the wrong hands," Fynn said. "It would dishonour their sacrifice not to do what is necessary to recover the Condenser from others of equal danger just so that we could rebuild the chapter now."
Basil nodded at Fynn. "When?" he asked.
"Now," Fynn answered. "When you returned from the Purgation, but without the Condenser, I had a feeling trouble was afoot," he added. "I planned accordingly."
"Did Matthias suggest this too, when he confessed to you what he knew about the source of the Void Spectres geneseed?" Basil asked.
"Maybe," Fynn answered with a small grin. "Maybe not." The Apothecary stood up and walked over to the stasis box. After entering a couple commands, the top door sprung open, and Fynn reached within. When he pulled his arm out, he brought with it a large syringe with a long, slender needle.
Basil stood and began walking over to Fynn but the Apothecary met him half-way.
"Turn around," Fynn said. "This must be injected into the Medulla, the bottom of your brainstem."
Basil turned his back to Fynn and proceeded to stare at the floor. He felt a sharp pain as the needle penetrated into the base of his skull and then a building pressure as the geneseed fluid was forced in.
"Finished," said a deep voice from behind Basil which took a moment for him to recognize as that of Fynn. "Let me put this away now."
"My head really hurts," Basil said, then his knees buckled and his face slammed into the deck. He felt large hands grab hold of him and flip him over onto his back. He saw Fynn's huge face staring at him with worry.
All went black.
