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Chapter 16: Tenuous packts

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Part 1

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Victory Bay

Kronus

To my utter relief, Selene arrived happily riding on the back of a Necron Destroyer along with her mechanical bodyguard shortly before we retired to the HQ. Naturally, the first thing I did was to check on her and hug her. If her grin was anything to go by, she either wouldn't know what bullet she dodged or didn't care. She got a ride out of this mess after all. Her arrival did gather a moderately sized crowd, a few of the citizens even cheered uneasily until they saw me pick up the munchkin at which point the predictable rapturous screaming began.

The whole circus made the Propaganda Department in general and a Lieutenant Regina in particular very happy with the pictures they got. I made a mental note to check up on what insanity they were cooking later, however, for now, I had more immediate concerns.

"Bron, good you're here," I noted the surviving Ogryns shuffle slowly through the Guardsmen surrounding us. "I've got a job for you. You're to keep Selene here safe and tear to pieces the next thieving bastard who tries to take it. Can I count on you?"

The giant of a man beamed as if the Emperor himself stepped from the Golden Throne to give him orders and nodded vigorously. That's how Selene ended up on the Bonehead's shoulder, still wearing her armor and with Kneecapper in tow.

"This is precious!" The Propaganda Lieutenant was grinning too and directing a camera crew to record everything. She was giving Scipio a run for his money in the bouncing department.

"Leftenant Pickos, I want a heavy weapons platoon in Selene's vicinity at all times. I will no longer be accepting excuses from people who can't stand to be near her. Am I clear?" Recent events drove home the point that I had to straighten up my retinue status, not that getting shot wasn't something I had to necessarily worry about. In practice, that meant getting Selene as much protection as practical.

"I'll see to it, sir! We won't fail you!" The Leftenant promised and meant it.

"See to it that you don't."

With this hopefully handled for the moment, it was time to go deal with another headache. Politics.

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We gathered for a last-ditch brainstorming session before the next round of negotiations with the Necrons. At Amberley's suggestion, we included General Alexander, Captain Thule, and Scipio for a simple and obvious reason – so we could use them as a litmus test on how the Imperium at large might react to some of the so far proposed points.

Among the small group, only Scipio looked like he didn't want to be here. He could barely stay in one place and was ready to start bouncing off the walls in impatience.

"That's how it is." Inquisitor Vail summarized the Necron's proposals. Even that wasn't enough to keep the Magos steady, however now we had his attention.

"Necron suggestions will force various doctrinal issues to come into open conflict." Scipio began. "Some numerous elements within the Adeptus Mechanicus consider the study of profane Xeno technology a Tech Heresy, and those who conduct it Hereteks." He explained with distaste. "At the absolute best, they can be convinced to review Xeno devices to learn how to better neutralize them. This faction is large and numerous. Even just conducting a proper study on the Pylons, reverse engineering them, and building our own versions will be a tough sell no matter how useful they would be to the Imperium at large."

He didn't need to convince us. All but Amberley saw first hand how useful those Pylons were.

"Also, attempting to study and then build weapons and devices based on either Necron or Tau examples, will prove too much for too many traditionalists. This isn't technology recovered from a Holy STC. It hasn't been created by human hands with the blessing of the Omnissiah." Scipio elaborated.

"However, you disagree, do you not, Magos?" Captain Thule cut to the chase.

"I'm what you might consider Xenarite, even though I don't see myself as such. I am among those who see the blessings of the Omnissiah in all technology, human or alien. It's how the technology is used and to what ends that is the primary constant that divides Tech Heresy from the normal study of technology. While not quite a minority, our group, and our allies are outnumbered by the other Mechanicus factions. Not all of them are hostile to our ideas. Unfortunately, many are."

I was sure that this summary barely scratched the surface of the problem. However, it was good enough to illustrate what we would be facing if the alliance panned out.

"In that case, we should be careful how we present anything we gain from the alliance we're discussing. Will it help that we won't be actually building the Necron Pylons but our versions?" I inquired.

"Perhaps. It would be a distinction lost too many a Tech-priest. However, I must raise a different point. I heard no mention of Holy STC. I must request you make the return and recovery of any such relics of the Omnissiah a high priority during the negotiations."

"That is an oversight we'll repair with utmost haste. STC recovery will be the first thing we'll negotiate tonight." Amberley vowed.

"Praise the Omnissiah!" Scipio's Mechadendrites danced in glee.

"General, Captain, how do you see the consequences of a long-lasting alliance with the Necrons unfold?"

Lucas Alexander frowned mightily at us.

"Well, they're Xenos." He grumbled. "With this out of the way, I can assure, you that there are elements in the Guard who will appreciate not having to face them before we can get appropriate counter-measures to their technology."

Which went contrary to what elements within the Mechanicus would find acceptable. Upgrading what the Imperial Guard had as a standard kit with gear reverse-engineered from captured Tau stocks and anything the Necrons might offer would do nicely to lower the gulf of capabilities between the two sides. The damning thing was that I was sure the Mechanicus had the real nice toys, many more than they needed to, and kept hoarding them instead of offering the Guard better gear.

Now, I wasn't born yesterday and knew that at least in part the issue was

the fragmented and fucked up state of the Imperium industrial base. However, I had the nagging suspicion that this was less than an issue than the Mechanicus claimed. In that regard, trying to incorporate reverse-engineered alien tech on a limited basis might prove useful in judging how much the AdMech were fucking with the rest of us.

Needless to say, that was a suspicion I've been keeping to myself.

"Some of my peers would be glad we can preserve forces that would otherwise suffer greatly, in order to use them against other, more immediately dangerous threats. Others will find it hard to swallow not shooting at any

Xeno they could see. The presentation will matter a great deal. Open backing from the Inquisition as well." So no one shoots him out of hand.

"You'll have our backing in that regard," Amberley reassured him. "Captain Thule?"

"The Blood Ravens has had to ally with aliens in the past to combat greater treats. This is no different. My primary concerns are how long this alliance might last and is it a mistake to give our allies time to consolidate their position."

"Those are concerns we share," I told him bluntly. "However, we're all aware of the military realities that caused this alliance in the first place, and of the existing correlation of forces."

Thule wasn't happy at that but let it go. It might have been different if we knew about the Necrons earlier and could catch them early in their awakening. The Eldar and Tau ensured such a thing didn't happen, and then there were the Chaos forces. There was no use to dwell over what-ifs. We had to play with the cards we had.

"General Alexander, what are your thoughts about a few of your units field testing reverse engineered Tau war-gear? I'm aware that the troops who fought with us in the Deimos Peninsula will be under extreme scrutiny. Thanks to the Necron Pylons, we can avoid having to purge them out of fear of corruption, however, we'll have to keep a close watch on them anyway."

Because anything less would have our Hereticus and Malleus colleagues going ballistic. Amberley hinted at that much.

"I think that we can work out something." Alexander nodded, showing the barest hint of relief. He knew what the Inquisition often did to forces who survived encounters with Chaos. They either purged them or drew them in for their own use. Sometimes the Inquisition did both.

"That's good. Scipio? I'll be frank. The Pylons are a potential game-changer for the Imperium at large. I'll be doing my best to push for their accelerated testing, revere engineering, and widespread usage after any unpleasant surprises are accounted for."

I said bluntly, so there would be no misunderstandings.

"On that point, we're in complete agreement. This brings us to the second point. As you said, Magos Scipio, what we are proposing will be seen as Tech Heresy by elements of the Mechanicus. Because of that, we might as well go all in. We're considering agreeing on the Necron proposal for aid in capturing and reverse engineering Tau technology to use as our own if feasible."

Amberley added.

"Personally, I agree. Those of my faction will likely back you up. However, you must be ready for a serious backslash. That is the best-case scenario."

"Duly noted."

It was almost time to meet the Necrons and hammer down an agreement. Then we would have to figure out how to sell it to the Imperium at large...


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Part 2

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General Alexader's HQ

Victory Bay

Kronus

The Necron diplomatic party appeared in a flash of dazzling emerald light, which dissipated slower than usual. There was a time and place for pomp and circumstances, and this was it. The Necron Lord had their best regalia on display, awing the Humans. Tonight, they intended to conclude the bulk of the negotiations, and they had to observe proper protocol.

"Greetings Humans!" Zaa of Tomorrow proclaimed grandly. "I present you with Amarkun, the Gatherer, Nemestor of…"

Amarkun tuned out the Cryptek listing all his proper titles. He had to order his friends to act as a proper herald and general aide tonight. Herald of Victory similarly had dragged one of his own Crypteks to serve in the same capacity. Observation of the Human discussion that happened shortly before their arrival, was enlightening and forces some minor changes in the Necron strategy.

If the Humans were too busy killing each other over foolish reasons, they would be too busy to be useful allies. That wouldn't be a good state of affair. Now, finally, Amarkun was beginning to understand why his people preferred to enslave aliens, kill them or disregard them completely. Actually negotiating successfully was a chore at the best of times. Like now – his counterparts were willing to make a deal, even agreed that Amarkun's benevolence was stunning and great indeed! However, if they accepted his generous offer, their people might kill them. It was pure insanity!

Nevertheless, Amarkun was going to make this work. He wasn't a Nemesor just for show!

The exchange of tittles ended, amply demonstrating that the two Humans weren't experienced, diplomats. They were both still in awe and offered only their most basic and relevant titles. Those were the perils of working with primitives. Amarkun decided it was for the best to leave it at that.

"We understand that you will have certain conditions you need to hold onto and certain requests to make. Let us hear them, then we'll explain our lastest offer. As appropriate, we'll offer gifts in light of your service in combat defending this world from hostile incursion." Herald of Victory began.

It was an atypical and particularly bold gambit, not to mention blunt, however, it was one likely to serve them much better here than it might during negotiations between Dynasties.

The Humans looked at each other, and Veil nodded to the female to begin. Was this some odd mating ritual coloring the negotiations? Flesh, blood, and hormones made things needlessly complicated. Let's not forget sticky, Herald wondered briefly.

Amarkun barely paid attention to the expected request from the female Inquisitor. He was running predictions on the feasibility of tampering with an STC if they found one in order to provide the Humans with basic tech that wouldn't get his principal allies among them shot. It might work in theory, however, it wouldn't be feasible for said technology to be easily recognized as Necrons sourced. No modern weaponry, which went without saying. However, a few ancient models, not to mention Pylon tech, would go a long way if accepted. Which was a problem from what the Humans said. Their fanatics had trouble accepting technology not developed by the now lost human civilization to the point they were violent about it. Well, he had time to run more simulations. It wasn't like they had access to such a device to modify right now.

"We can agree without issue on this point. We'll hand over to you any of these STC devices we might stumble upon. However, we'll require a clarification, what exactly is an STC, and how do we recognize it?"

One of the new additions to the Human negotiation team began speaking. He sounded almost like some courtiers Amarkun knew, painting everything with long-winded meaningless words. Long story short, if he translated the rambling right, a Standard Template Constructor was an AI run library core containing the bulk of the Humans technological knowledge. Those were extremely rare and practically priceless these days. Reading between the lines, Amarkun concluded that they were artifacts from a precursor Human civilization, which might have been almost civilized, which had fallen ten to fifteen thousand years ago due to the Aeldari literally fucking and torturing the galaxy into ruin.

The only really useful thing this Scipio-Ro-11 did was sending a data burst containing images of previously recovered STC fragments. Now the Necrons could more easily recognize them.

That was the first point of agreement finished. Progress!

Point two concerned the Pylon anti-Warp technology, which actually sounded better than anti-trans-dimensional technology. It was shorter, to the point, and ensured the primitives knew what you talked about. He designated it so from now on.

For a second time tonight, the Humans didn't tell the Necrons anything they didn't already know. Overhearing their strategic meeting on the topic was useful like that.

"We humbly request more examples of your Pylon technology when they become available. Having access to multiple devices will speed up testing and help demonstrate their usefulness on a larger scale faster." Veil was saying.

It was a reasonable request. Amarkun could see how other humans might look at anything that happened in a world that was a Necron stronghold with justified suspicion. They would need to carry out tests at locations with no Necron influence. In that at least, the primitives were reasonable.

"We can agree. When we have enough Pylons to properly neutralize the Warp influence at the Deimos Peninsula, I will build more mobile Pylons for your study and use." Herald of Victory promised. "As a gesture of goodwill, I'll provide further information about the techniques used in the Pylon construction in order to facilitate your own efforts."

This meant that the Humans either weren't advanced enough to do it by themselves in a feasible amount of time, or they had generally regressed enough that simply relying on them was a moot point anyway. Why couldn't the damn primitives just take the offered technology and Cryptek assistance and build a proper infrastructure, instead of this dancing around? Right, crazy religious fanatics worshiping technology.

Amarkun couldn't even properly blame them on that part. Necron cults were worshiping C'tan still, and that was undeniably worse than any human not entangled with the abominations from another dimension could ever do.

At that point, the negotiators stepped back and left the Crypteks and the part-human, part-machine in red robes get the details straightened out. In fairness, a lot of the negotiations should have happened that way, below the level of the Nemesor and Planetary Overlord, and beyond the direct intervention of the Human Inquisitors. However, the situation was anything but typical, and they couldn't risk their minions without close supervision. And at that point, they might get the important parts done themselves.

While the technical discussion was going on, the four of them could tackle the next part of the negotiations. What to do with the blue aliens.

"I propose that we ask them kindly to pack up and leave while abandoning all industrial facilities and military gear." Veil suggested. "If they agree, it will be for the best. If not, we would have tried talking and can remove them forcefully."

"We can engage their primitive ships in orbit if it comes to that. Their loss might force surrender without the need of ground combat that might damage useful infrastructure." Amarkun suggested.

Such a live-firing exercise would help gauge what the navies of this era were generally capable of. If the Humans had a significant technological advantage in space, they would already neutralize the Tau presence in orbit.

"With their mobile forces crippled, the Tau Ethereals in charge might be more willing to negotiate in good faith than usual. I must warn you, they'll suggest you join their Empire so you can all serve the Greater Good together. Under their wise guidance of course." The female human rolled her eyes as she said that.

Amarkun wasn't sure what to make of that. From what he could gather, the Tau were at best a little less insane than the Humans. Their madness simply manifested differently.

He might send an envoy anyway. He was curious to see if the Tau would really make such a hilarious offer to the Necrons. As if they would willingly serve anyone or anything but themselves ever again!

"Your offer has merit." Amarkun eventually agreed. "We will send an envoy. If the Tau does not follow up on our ultimatum, we'll neutralize their naval assets and demand unconditional surrender. If a ground campaign is necessary, we'll provide military support."

"After discussing the situation with General Lucas Alexander, who is the current Military Governor of Kronus, we can agree with your offer of dividing this continent as we discussed earlier." Veil changed the topic. "However, it must be noted that upholding that part of the deal will be dependent on our potential success in convincing the Imperium at large to honor the bargain."

"That much is understood. While we can respectively speak for the Nepheru Dynasty and the Necron presence on Kronus, you can't necessarily speak for the Human Imperium at large." Amarkun conceded.

"Technically we can. What we can't guarantee is that other Imperial authorities won't declare us traitors and the agreement we are negotiation, void, and null." The female elaborated. "We'll need to get into contact with the Subsector, Sector, and at possibly Segmentum leadership and get their agreement to guarantee that local authorities will follow through."

In some respects, this sounded as bad as the Necrons themselves while the Silent Kind wasn't around. On second thought, it sounded almost the same, which gave Amarkun a new appreciation about what he was dealing with. He would need to prepare envoys to deal with the Humans, perhaps send one or more with Veil to keep him alive and monitor the situation. As a bonus, any such envoys will be able to gather precious information about the galaxy at large, the Human Imperium, and any new threats.

"Next on the agenda is the relationship between Imperial forces and authorities and their Necron counterparts." Inquisitor Vail decided that it was for the best to push through with the negotiations.

"The alliance we're negotiating is between the Necron Lord of Kronus, Herald of Victory, and myself, Amarkun the Gatherer, Nemesor speaking for the Nepheru Dynasty. We can offer codes that will designate you as potential allies to our own allied Dynasties and facilities, thus potentially avoiding unprovoked hostile response. We are in no position to speak about other Necron Dynasties. You should keep in mind that being identified as our allies will force a hostile response from several rival Dynasties." Amarkun explained carefully, trying his best to put it in such a way the primitives would understand.

"Our alliance isn't with all Necrons across the galaxy. It is with your groups in particular." Once again, Veil proved why Herald deemed him almost worthy of friendship. Granted, considering that the Inquisitor was primitive with all that entailed, the bar was much lower than usual, but it was still notable.

"One of the things we will require in exchange is military aid in neutralizing hostile Dynasties or Tomb Word who had been crippled beyond repair by the passage of time. We agree that you can recover any human technology and artifacts found in such locations, while we will take possession of ours."

"That's acceptable, provided that we have adequate forces in the area. And that the rest of the deal is approved by other Imperial authorities." Veil agreed without blinking.

Amarkun had to give the Humans this much, negotiating with them was quick and to the point. If this was a typical affair between two Dynasties, they would still be arguing useless trivia surrounding the first point of discussion and continue doing so for a long time to come.


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