Part II of the 40Krisis
Fung Long eventually tracked Fenrir down to the break room, where he was last seen with Marianne. What he heard from inside made him pause and listen.
"…know he was just trying to get a rise out of you," Marianne said.
"I know," Fenrir replied. "But really, who even says things like that? 'I hope that dipshit Fung Long knows what he's doing. He's so incompetent he got all his friends killed, and got kicked to the curb for some world disappear thingy.' That isn't even the truth! Everything was chaos back then, no one could figure out what happened to the other Jiu Ge, and Fung Long worked himself ragged trying to find them. And he's a real good guy; there aren't many beings here who would offer to help like that just because they could."
"At least you defended him to Ares. He can be a real ass; we try to keep a lid on him when we can, but getting his own loop went right to his head…"
Fung Long didn't hear what else was said, he was too lost in his own thoughts. Ever since the Event happened, Fung Long had become paranoid about how the other Admins saw him. He'd even gone so far as to sneak around corridors and hack security feeds to find out what was being said behind his back. He'd heard every bad thing that could be said about him. But to hear Fenrir had actually defended him...suddenly, the method he used to activate Rakszan felt like he'd returned kindness with ingratitude. He'd have to make sure he was available to help out the wolf god while he got used to his new looper. Bracing himself, he turned into the break room.
"Hello Fenrir! I've finished fixing the Dark Millennium branch, and managed to get Rakszan set up as a looper like you planned," he rushed out, trying to smooth over the fires as soon as possible.
Fenrir spat out his drink, thankfully away from Marianne. "What?! Are you insane? That was a list of possible code corruptions for important people!"
Fung Lung paled. His 'petty vengeance' suddenly tasted more like outright sabotage. He held his hands up in a warding gesture and exclaimed, "Wait, calm down! I didn't put him through without any failsafes. I used several code patches to ensure he would not become an MLE! Just follow me and see for yourself!"
Fenrir sighed, leaned over to give Marianne a kiss and got to his paws. "I better see what you have done before someone else does; hel knows what something like this could do to your temporary Admin status." Grabbing his cup of coffee and another bite of whatever he was eating, he started to walk back to his office as Fung Long began to share the details of what he had done.
Fenrir listened carefully, nodding as appropriate, as Fung Long told him the details of each code and patch he installed to the Dark Millennium branch, and Rakszan in particular, before finally calming down.
"Once again, I must thank you for covering for me and explaining what you did for Rakszan but really? A Necron?" He whined, rubbing his face with one paw, the other holding his decaf coffee. How he managed to continue walking was something Fung Long would later ponder for long time.
"I already said that I was sorry," Fung Long said for the nth time. "I thought you had that as a list of loopers. I thought they were there for a purpose. At least I only approved one of them," the temporary Admin of the Stargate universe defended himself to the large wolf.
"I had Tyranids on it, along with another Chaos God, and flipping Horus Lupercal! That should have been a red flag!" Fenrir snapped back. "I already had my tail chewed out by Skuld for letting the other four chaos gods loop thanks to someone hacking my terminal; she might kill me if I let another one start looping!" Fenrir shook his massive head, what little relaxation he'd managed to have on his break already becoming a faint memory. "Thank goodness you took measures to make sure one of my loopers was there after all your little codes and patches made Rakszan start looping."
"I'm not a fool, my good friend," Fung Long said, raising an eyebrow. "Besides, even if I knew who exactly all those people were, only an idiot would try to get them all looping before telling the Admin in charge."
"You're right," Fenrir's shoulders sagged as they turned around the corner to his office. "Still waiting for the other shoe to drop though…"
"Fenrir, let me say it again, you're being a worry-wort." Fung Long smirked, patting the wolf's back. "Your luck may not be the best and it's not good to tempt fate but you've got to have some confidence in yourself. I left the Dark Millennium branch fixed up and with a new Looper. Who knows, maybe Rakszan will provide some more stability to the universe and help speed up the repairs to the Warp."
"Maybe…" Fenrir drawled off, remembering that he had just got the repairs up to 0.00000000000002% to one sector of the Warp, with the Crash only setting him back a little. In all honesty, he was surprised by how steady and stable all his branches were, considering how bad his luck usually was.
Maybe Fung Long was right; that it was all in his head. With a smile on his face and promising himself to have a positive attitude for a change, he entered his office.
Blinking in surprise, Fenrir looked at the individual sitting at the seldom used chair in front of his terminal, with his large keyboard for his paws unplugged and off to the side.
The figure smiled at him, jumping to salute him. "Hello Mister Fenrir sir!" the figure cheerfully spoke. "My name is Le-Eyo and I want you to know that I saw your list of Loopers and I took it upon myself to get them going for you with my new automatic Looping approval program sir!"
"Wh-what?" Fenrir dropped his coffee to the floor as he rushed over to his terminal. The color drained from his face, barely visible through his fur, as he looked at the screen to see the list of Looping individuals.
"I wanted to show you, sir, my skills and hopefully train under you and one day-"
"YOU FUCKING IDIOT!" Fenrir roared, slamming a massive paw against Le-Eyo and pinning him against the wall. Fenrir ignored the blood coughed out onto his fur as well as the dust falling from the ceiling. "THOSE WERE NOT LOOPERS! I WAS FUCKING MAKING SURE THAT THEIR CODES WERE NOT DAMAGED! DO YOU HAVE ANY FUCKING IDEA WHAT YOU DI-" Fenrir looked back at the screen again, seeing that it was in the process of starting another Loop. It was late in the usual timeline for the Dark Millennium, and he glanced at the activation list to see who the next looper would be. His blood ran cold when he realized who it was. Howling in anger, he grabbed the quivering idiot in his mighty jaws and tossed him to the side. "YOU PUT A TYRANID ON YOUR PROGRAM!?" Fenrir swore, jumping to his terminal to try to undo the damage. Slamming his keyboard back in, he tried to fight Yggdrasil but it was too strong for him to overcome with the way the idiot programed these Loops. "FUCK!" Fenrir swore, trying to figure out how to prevent a Tyranid from Looping. If he did nothing, it would start Looping and bring knowledge to the entire race and create the first Malicious Looping Species in existence. If he tried to crash the Loop, Yggdrasil could count it as a successful loop for the Tyranid and he would be back at square one. He needed to make sure it would fail to meet the most basic Looping standards that Yggdrasil required: making it to the end of the Loop alive. He looked over the code before dismissing the notion of actually trying to change it mid-Loop; he had no idea what would happen if he tried to fight the code at this stage, nor did he have the time to examine it fully to pull everything out.
Running the separate, and isolated, program that allowed them to enter the Loops with minimal influence on the code and stability of the Loop, he jumped into the Dark Millennium with plans to fix this mess starting to form within his head.
Fung Long blinked as Fenrir leaped inside his terminal before he was aware of what exactly happened.
"YOU!" He grabbed the shoulders of the limp imbecile and pulled him to his feet. "You are coming with me and you will explain what you-CRAP!" Jumping back, he dropped the body to the floor as he noticed that Fenrir had caved the chest in as well as nearly broken the idiot's neck in his rage. Shaking his head as he did not have time to deal with the near dead fool, he ran off to get Skuld so he wouldn't be alone in trying to help Fenrir with this giant mess, as well as summon a medical team to treat the moron so they wouldn't have to fish him out of Helheim to stand trial. They could have a proper interrogation for Le-Eyo later, but he desperately needed the chief debugger of Yggdrasil now for this new crisis.
Damn Fenrir's luck.
Leman groaned as he Woke up in the Warp looking for that blasted Tree of Life once again. He always felt like a fool when he did; the Chaos Gods would never tell him if it actually existed and Fenrir always said he was too bu-
"Stop shooting at me you damn twits!" A familiar voice shouted, causing Leman to turn his head, moving past the same marines that followed him into the Warp whenever he had the vision in baseline. Looking behind his entourage, he saw both Jaghatai Khan and Corvus Corax riding on jetbikes, chasing a massive wolf towards them.
Before he could even act, one of his marines shot a Heavy Bolter at Fenrir, hitting his Admin square in the chest. Swearing in anger and then surprise as Fenrir seemingly went down, he ran through his men to reach his Admin and intercept his wayward brothers. He reached the massive wolf as his marines tackled the idiot with an itchy trigger finger, and shot his brothers a powerful look that made them both halt in their places.
Fenrir shook his head while sitting on his haunches, one paw to his chest and the other holding a massive datapad. Leman reached to check Fenrir's chest, only to be slapped away.
"Fucking hel," Fenrir swore before opening his eyes to look at the stunned 13th company of Space Wolves and three Primarchs. "Worse than that damn sword I had in my mouth that one time!" he growled.
"Are you ok?" Leman asked numbly, amazed that anyone would be able to shake off a hit like that, Admin or not.
"Yeah, yeah, be a bit sore in the morning, but there are more pressing matters," Fenrir began to tap away on the datapad, the image of a somewhat beautiful woman briefly visible on the desktop before massive lines of code appeared, giving Leman a headache just looking at it. "You've noticed that you've been getting a lot of new loopers, yes?" Fenrir didn't wait for Leman to answer as he typed away, drawing the attention of the marines and the other Primarchs, who were also wincing at the sight of code-oh sweet Hel, that must be their universal code! "The FUCKING MORON that started looping everyone on my damn list just put a Tyranid as the next possible looper." Fenrir's loud growl quickly devolved into a snarl at the thought.
Leman's eyes went wide as the Little Mother's; the possibility of a looping Tyranid was almost too horrific to think of, but the thought of the hivemind becoming Loop Aware sent a spear of ice through his very soul. "Wh- what can I do Fenrir? Is there anything I can do to help?" He asked in a quiet voice, the thoughts of a looping Tyranid still playing through his mind.
"Yes Leman," Fenrir shot him a thankful, but worried, smile. "I need you to gather your entire legion, as well as Sanguinius and Rogal Dorn's legions, mobilize them, and head to Ullanor."
"Leman, can you tell us what the fuck is going on here?" Jaghatai snapped with Corvus looking at them all cautiously, a hand resting on one of his Archeotech Laspistols.
"Brothers, short story is that the multiverse is broken, and the universe is on repeat until Fenrir here and his lot can fix the damages. But someone else got to the code to our corner of the multiverse, allowing them to royally screw things up. Now a bunch of space bugs called Tyranids are at risk of learning about it and that would be a very bad thing. Now shut up so the giant wolf god can tell us the plan," Leman ordered. "You do have a plan, right?" he grumbled so only Fenrir could hear.
Fenrir's ear twitched, focusing on the datapad in his massive paws. "We will need to kill them all. Because if even one survives, it may be the one set to remember everything and it will tell it's hive everything as they have that stupid shared mind thingy that would allow their entire species to loop-er, know everything if we fail. That's why I need you three to run some tasks for me if we are to be victorious before we go to fight them."
The two Primarchs looked at Fenrir with surprise and awe. The assembled Space Marines were left standing awkwardly around the massive wolf, not sure how to react.
"Sir, what do you need us to do?" Corvus asked, biting his lip. "I swore never again...but if Leman and you are correct, you will need all the help you can get now."
"My White Scars would proudly fight the Tyranids and eradicate their species if it would save the Imperium and the multiverse!" Jaghatai declared, slamming a fist against his chest.
"I know that boys, and I am counting on it, but before either of you two go gather your men, I need you to make some pit stops," Fenrir muttered, tongue sticking out as he typed some more code before letting off a howl of victory. "Found it!" Turning his head to the two Primarchs, he changed windows on the screen to show a set of Warp coordinates. "Go here gentlemen; you will know what to gather once you get there. Then you will need to go to here and here." Fenrir flashed them another set of coordinates. "Then you can go to your men and you then will take the entire forces you've gathered so far and join us at Ullanor. What little I can change safely in this loop will have the bugs converge there shortly so we can make one collective blow against them. I just need to make sure everyone is there and ready for them before they get there."
"Everyone, sir?" Corvus asked nervously.
"Yes; I will quickly pop over to Vulkan so he can get Konrad, then get the old bastard off his ass so he can get the Tau with us, and then I will grab Magnus to help me get the Necrons-"
"Wait, Magnus has long been corrupted by Chaos, why would he help us?"
"He's gotten better!" Leman shouted as he started organizing his men to prepare to leave the Warp. "Trust me, Fenrir knows what he is saying so GO!"
"Wait!" Fenrir shouted, typing something into his datapad. Suddenly Jaghatai and Corvus's bikes started to glow and change. "There, I used a tiny bit of power to overclock your bikes to get you where you need to be as quickly as I feel safe doing so."
Both Jaghatai and Corvus warily climbed onto their bikes and hesitantly revved the throttle before shooting forwards. Both of them began to roar in laughter, rocketing off to their destination with Leman shaking his head in amusement.
"Leman Russ, get your ass into your ship now as I have to make several jumps, it's going to play hel with my stomach, and I do not have time to stroke your ego!"
Ignoring his Admin, Leman leaned down and brushed away Fenrir's chest fur to look at his wound and winched.
"That looks like it hurts something painful." He eyed the bruised purple skin before Fenrir slapped his hand away again.
"I'm fairly sure it is a deep muscle bruise as well, but I will manage."
"At least let one of my medics bandage it or something. We're pretty experienced with wolf biology you know."
"I simply do not have the time to allow such frivolous waste of medical supplies; your men might need it in the upcoming battle at Ullanor and I will manage just fine."
Before Leman could protest anymore, Fenrir jumped away and left Leman alone. Shaking his head and swearing that his Admin was being an idiot, he ran back to his ship to do the bidding of his local God.
Grumbling to himself as his claws clicked on the floor noisily, Fenrir made his way through the Imperial Palace on Holy Terra to its innermost room, the Sanctum Imperialis, where the Emperor's corpse still sat upon the Golden Throne. Sparing what minimal power he could to hide his presence he easily snuck past the Ultramarines and Inquisitors outside, and the Custodes and servants inside. Unfortunately he couldn't just appear in front of the Golden Throne; the code there was as unstable as the rest of the Warp at the best of times due to the incredible power the Emperor funnelled through the room. He could have forced the issue with an effort of will and coding, but he was not going to place his comfort over the stability of the Loop.
Reaching the doors of the Eternity Gate -pointedly Not Looking at the oiled up Custodes in loincloths guarding the door -got enough of that back at Asgard thank you very much- he had to wait for the Chief Custodian to escort the Inquisitorial Representative, along with his retinue of awed and dejected Inquisitors, out of the way. He barely got his tail out of the way of that damn annoying robotic baby walker before it got crushed. The Allfather had liked the idea of the mobile throne so much he'd asked for a copy of the design so he could still get around when he went into the Odinsleep during one of his breaks...and to taunt Zeus without lifting a finger. Or, as designed for Zeus, just one finger.
When the room finally emptied, he stepped in front of the withered husk of the often reluctant God, but still proud Emperor, of Mankind, closed the doors with an effort of will, and made himself visible once more.
"Emperor, we are in a crisis and I need you to do several things for me right now!" Fenrir barked, keeping one eye on the skeleton and one eye on his datapad, typing away at speeds that should not be possible for those of the flesh. "Some idiot got to my terminal and set a dozen or so loopers to activate-with the latest being a Tyranid! I've already got the loyal Primarchs on the move to Ullanor; I was able to code a strong part of the Warp to make a choke hold to prevent them from spilling into the galaxy and becoming too isolated for us to get them all. I mean, there's only one candidate for looping status but if we don't get them all, it may loop and we'll have a fucking MLE species on our paws-HANDS and-"
[FENRIR, YOU ARE RAMBLING AND SPEAKING FAR TOO QUICKLY] the Emperor of Mankind said, his worry managing to translate through his new text-to-speech device. Though he had gained enough strength through the loops to be able to restore himself and leave the Golden Throne, the later he Awoke within a loop, the harder it was. His body was farther gone this loop than he had ever tried to recover from before. Regardless, he immediately began marshalling all of his focus and power from within the Warp. Whatever was dire enough to put his universe's Admin in such a state would require nothing less than everything he had to offer. [PLEASE EXPLAIN WHAT IS GOING ON. SLOWLY.]
Fenrir stopped typing on the datapad and placed it on the ground, taking a moment to take in a deep, calming breath of air. The Emperor noticed Fenrir twitch slightly, as if in pain, as he filled his lungs. On closer inspection, his coat looked ragged and unkempt, there were bags under his bloodshot eyes, he was slouching in his spot, and a myriad of other minute details that pointed to incredible exertion and exhaustion. It was obvious that Fenrir was pushing himself to great lengths, that something was worrying him enough that he would let this show to other people without notice.
What was happening on the upper levels of existence?
Fenrir sighed, shaking his head. "Some idiot, Leeroy or something, put you guys through an automatic looper approval program that made a bunch of people I was nowhere near ready to clear start looping. Fung Long and I just came into my office when he put a Tyranid into his damn program. Right now I am trying my hardest to make sure the damn bug doesn't start looping. I've already got Leman and Vulkan on the move to gather their forces, along with a few other players I ran into. I've told everyone to meet us at Ullanor, where the Tyranid forces will make their stand to breach into the galaxy. I need you to-"
Before Fenrir could finish, an army of Custodes and Inquisitors burst into the room with the Inquisitorial Representative Fyodor Karamazov, the Ecclesiarch Decius XXIII, and the Captain-General of the Adeptus Custodes at the head, all with weapons drawn and aimed towards the massive wolf in front of the Golden Throne.
Fenrir quietly swore at this sight, with all of them ordering him to stand down, die, burn, return to his Chaos Masters, and so much other crap that Fenrir blocked it out as he reached for his datapad so he could try and resolve this peacefully.
That single gesture earned him the sound of every single weapon cocking at once; an impressive feat considering most of the weapons had no hammer to cock, since, slightly amusingly, quite a few were actual hammers. Fortunately, they were clearly unwilling to fire on him incase they would hit their precious Emperor. Fenrir sighed internally, he did not want to waste all the excess power he had to get himself out of this mess.
[STAND DOWN.]
That caused everyone, Fenrir included, to stare at the being on the throne.
"The Custode was telling the truth!" The Ecclesiarch shouted. "The God-Emperor is with us once more and will lead us to glorious battle!"
"Starting with this daemon!" One of the Inquisitors declared.
No, you will not. The Emperor spoke, I have been in consultation and have been able to converse with Beings that watch our World, and other Worlds, and this Being is the one who shepherds our Reality. Somehow, everyone was able to tell that Emperor had shifted his attention towards the wolf. Please continue Fenrir.
"As I was saying, another Being was in control of your World while I attending other duties," Fenrir said, facing the crowd. "He made several alterations to your World that I did not approve of, and his actions have put all the Worlds of Yggdrasil at risk in the form of a Tyranid. If we do not exterminate all of them, then all the Worlds could be under siege by the Tyranids for eternity. Tyranids that will be able to use knowledge of other Worlds to forever harm all the beings of this World." He looked at the Emperor of Mankind. "This is something that you will not take lightly nor well, none of you will, but this is not a battle the Imperium of Mankind can win alone. This will require the combined forces of other races for us to be victorious, both Xeno and Chaos. You will be fighting alongside others that you will despise but I implore you to join under one banner for this most important battle of this World. After I assure certain factors here, I will be departing towards the Warp again so I can rally your waywards sons." Fenrir flicked his eyes towards the uncertain and glowering crowd before readying himself and thinking of battle plans for Ullanor, missing one of the enraged humans to his side.
The Inquisitorial Representative ignored the false words that the daemon was speaking in the name of the Emperor, incensed at the daemon daring to use the God-Emperor for its own perverted reasons. Pulling out his hold-out Stubber Pistol from inside his coat, he threw himself forwards and before the abomination could act, he fired a holy bullet at point blank range into the daemon's skull.
The monster rocked slightly on its haunches as the casing from the bullet fell to the ground. The mighty wolf pulled back his lips, showing his very long and very sharp teeth to the now scared Inquisitor. Everyone was shouting and arguing with each other, their weapons pointed at each other as those who believed in the wolf were close to fighting against those who believed that the only true God was the skeleton on the golden throne in front of them.
ENOUGH!
The psychic shout reached every sentient being within the Imperial Palace complex, from one end of the Himalayan Mountains to the other. None felt it more than those within the Sanctum Imperialis itself. Silence fell as, for the first time in a millennium, the Master of Mankind directly addressed all of his subjects.
The very Watcher who protects our Reality walks among us, one that has watched over Mankind since time immemorial, requiring our aid in this time of need. And, in your ignorance, you dare to try strike him as he addresses me‽
Before their eyes, flesh grew and mended on the Emperor's withered form, knitting closed old wounds like new and filling his mighty frame once more with great muscle, until finally he stood, proud and terrible in countenance. His divine power wrapped around his form with his descent, only enhancing his majesty. A Meinas, a divine wrath of old, shone upon his face.
Such ignorance might be forgiven. And indeed it must, for the circumstances are beyond dire. The very fabric of Reality itself, the Tree of Life spoken of in the Ancient Legends of Old Earth, will be in danger if the Tyranid threat is not wiped out.
As more and more he stood as the Golden Man of old, his Companions stepped forth, bearing the pieces of his golden Armor. Once his body was restored, dutifully they clad their Master in his panoply. At an unbidden signal, yet more Custodes arrived with vestments for their lord. Though only simple cloth, he wore it like his burnished golden armor. At last, his red and ermine cape was secured around his shoulders, and the Captain-General himself bore forth his Rune Sword. The Emperor stared for a moment at the sheathed blade, as if unsure of his right to bear it. Then he seized the hilt and drew it. Strength and certitude seemed to fill his frame once more.
"And Man shall answer his plea without doubt. This is beyond Order or Chaos. The existence of All is at stake. Be it my faithful Sons or those who rebelled, Man will stand against the coming Darkness. And indeed we will fight and die to defeat it.
"This is my decree. I, the Immortal Emperor of Mankind, order all available Imperial forces to converge upon the world of Ullanor. Upon reaching this world, they are not to fire upon either Chaos or Xenos forces unless fired upon. They are to fortify this world to the best of their ability with the aid of all non-Tyranid forces there. They are to coordinate all defensive efforts to the best of their ability with said non-Tyranid forces.
"Let all be ready, for our foe will be none other than the full might of the Tyranids. Never before has such might descended upon the Galaxy, and never before will such might be assembled in its defense. Send forth all the Imperial Guards, they must secure Ullanor until the full might of the Imperium is present along with the Chaos and Xenos forces arrive. Go forth and prepare your men for this Final Battle. Go forth in the defense of Reality itself. Go forth in the name of Yggdrasil itself!"
There was a mighty shout echoing this order, as the men began to leave the throne room, bowing at their god emperor and the wolf god.
His eyes turned to the Captain-General of the Custodes as he was on his way out. "Ready the Custodes, Captain-General. I shall march to war as well."
His ever faithful Companion seemed unsure at this new command, the sea of soldiers halting at the prospect of a restoration of the glory days of the Imperium, unashamedly weeping at their prayers being answered at long last. "My Lord, the defense of the Warp Breach-"
"Is already handled. The Chaos Gods will prove their support to this endeavor by sealing it for us. We cannot afford to leave such assets as the Custodes and Myself behind for this battle."
"What of yourself, My Lord? Before, at Ullanor, your strength was diminished by the distance from Holy Terra. If that were to happen again-"
"I will bear that weakness. There is too much at stake for me to remain on Terra."
"And the Astronomican?"
"Already covered," Fenrir replied. "I have assured that it's light will not waver until such time as the Tyranids are dealt with and you are here to maintain it." He turned to face the leader of Mankind. "I have a task that I need you to do, Emperor, before you go to the battlefield yourself," Fenrir said, trying to shake off the growing headache as he went back to his datapad. "I need someone to go to the Tau, gather their warriors and support, and I can only trust you to do it."
"The Tau? Their empire is small, their strength weak compare-"
"THERE IS NO BLASTED TIME FOR YOUR XENOPHOBIA!" Fenrir roared, deafening all those present.
"- I was about to say I would defer to your judgment on this, Fenrir," the Emperor muttered. "I do not see why we would need them, but if you deem it necessary, so shall it be."
"Whatever!" Fenrir snapped as he produced a scroll from his datapad, the headache from the shot proving difficult to banish. "Make sure this is given to Ciaphas Cain, Amberley Vail, and Sebastian Yarrick. They will need to travel quickly if they are to gather our other allies."
The Emperor nodded, taking the scroll from Fenrir. "I will reach out to the Tau and have the scroll delivered to Commissar Cain. I assume that the scroll itself matters and not the message written on it?"
"Yes, those three will be able to read it and get the directions to Kaptain Bluddflagg. He'll be in charge of the Orks this loop so hopefully we'll have little trouble getting them to fight alongside us." Fenrir placed the datapad on his side before giving the Emperor a grim look. "If you will excuse me, I need to jump back into the Warp, grab Magnus, then take him to get the Necrons firepower behind us." Fenrir stood to his full physical height, dwarfing everyone in the room. He then placed a mighty paw on the Emperor's shoulder, making the Emperor of Mankind feel small for the first time in an eternity. "Go now, and we all might win." And then he jumped and was gone.
After Fenrir departed, the Emperor turned to the Chief Custodian, handing him the scroll. "Ready our fastest ship. This scroll must reach Commissars Cain and Yarrick, and Inquisitor Vail as quickly as possible. I entrust this task to you. I will take the Bucephalus and ride to muster the Tau."
The Captain-General accepted the missive with a salute. "It shall be done as you command, my Emperor,"
"Now Go."
In the Warp, on Sortiarius, the Planet of the Sorcerers, the master of the world and the Thousand Sons was in his private chambers, in his favoured chair with a tome in his hands.
Magnus flipped the page of the latest book he gathered from the loops; he was glad that his Pocket was expanding so he could grow his own personal library to at least a few hundred shelves long now, along with the other important stuff he had in there. Tzeentch claimed he was getting close to have the entire Black Library in his own pocket at this point, with the other Chaos Gods boasting of unsavoury things. Of course, Leman's own pocket was the size of Terra last time he was in there, with the actual planet in there. Leman claimed he was waiting for a chance to swap out for Fenris but Terra was almost always empty enough that his brother could do it morally without anyone or anything being brought along to the next loop opposed to the fact there was almost always some tribe on the half frozen, half magma Hel of a world he called home. Or second home, as with these 'ponies' and 'Equestria' that always caused his Anchor to blush horrendously was the first home to him. Magnus truly longed to meet the fabled 'Little Mother' to tease Leman for a few millenniums, if not to shut up his barbarin of a brother at long last.
Tilting his head, he heard distant shouting, cursing, the rumble of gunfire and the thunder of pysker blasts outside his chamber. He briefly thought it could be the Blood Ravens fighting with the Thousand Sons again, but his dismissed the notion as he had made sure that his marines were cooperating this loop. He looked at Gabriel Angelos, who was with him this loop and going over some of the books he gathered for his Space Marine looper as he wanted his soldier to be far more experienced than Bjorn, and asked the idiotic question of 'Did you hear that?' was out of his mouth before he could think better of it.
Without warning or a chance for Gabriel to answer him, the doors exploded open as a massive ball of fur slammed into one of his bookshelves, raining books down as several of his Thousand Sons, including Ahzek Ahriman and the Blood Ravens Librarian Isador Akios, stormed into his private chambers, Force Staves blazing psyker bolts and Bolt Pistols spitting bolter rounds and warpfire alike at the groaning beast.
"My lord, we found this daemon of Khorne lurking around, trying to breach the Tower of the Cyclops. We have no idea of how it managed to get onto Sortiarius; we were monitor-"
"Enough!" Magnus shouted, rising to his feet, before looking at Gabriel, throwing him a test of sorts. "What is wrong with statement that Ahzek presented?" The Blood Raven closed his own book, still a bit hostile being around the traitors, but it was part of his training as a looper of the fifteenth legion to be the best he could on either side of the divide of the Imperium or the Ruinous Powers.
Gabriel did his best not to roll his eyes though. "The fact it was sneaking and lurking will more than likely disprove the fact it came from Khorne's barbarous kind; it is not rotting of death and sickness nor is it mounting everything and anything within sight or reach so it would not be one of Nurgle's or Slaanesh's. That would default to being one of Tzeentch's, if it were able to get to the planet without notice. Something that only Tzeentch could grant for a good reason, one that you have just psyker blasted into Lord Magnus's personal and private library."
The two of them paled at this dressing down before Magnus rose to his feet.
"This goes beyond the fact that I know this daemon and it has gained my trust. Now begone as I interrogate it."
The two marines bowed and left the room, pulling the doors shut. Magnus rolled his eye and turned to face Gabriel, who was staring at the stirring beast.
"I suppose I have distinct privilege of introducing our Admin to you," He reached down to brush off several of the books, with Gabriel still standing in confusion. "Usually, our dear Fenrir has a bit more foresight in communicating with me. He usually knows that we're not on Fenris nor are we that found of canines of most breeds but I do suppose one can forget that sort of thing from time to time."
"Magnus," The wolf spoke, causing Gabriel to pull back slightly as the wolf lifted his head out of a pile of books. "I've got a headache already due to being shot in the face; I've got enough crap to worry about already that pissing me off is a real poor choice!" He snarled, standing straight before his left side twitched, sending him to the ground in a crash and curses.
"Mind telling me what has required you to drop by in person so you can take care of yourself then? Then we can both get back to more favou-"
Before Gabriel could even react, the wolf slammed his paw into Magnus's chest, his jaw inches away from his Lord's face.
"NOT. NOW." He growled loudly, pushing a bit more into the Primarch's chest with the wall behind them starting to groan in protest. "We have a crisis on our hands, and I am NOT in the mood for your smugness. The reason why he, and about seven or eight other people are now looping is because some moron got to my terminal that held your world and decided to use the list of people I had out as a guide to set looping." Sighing angrily, Fenrir dropped Magnus to the floor and stalked over to Gabriel, his left side twitching involuntary. "Right now, gentlemen, I am doing my best to get everyone to Ullanor to stop the Tyranid he set looping from looping."
Magnus froze at that piece of information. "Ho-"
"How did I let an idiot get to my terminal?" He turned his head to glare at Magnus, before staring hard at Gabriel. "Once we have some time, I will explain everything but I need you and your DAMN CHAOS LORD WHO SHOULD STOP LISTENING IN AND GET HIS BLUE FEATHERY ASS IN HERE BEFORE I THROW HIM INTO A FEW DOZEN-"
"FINE!" The Chaos God appeared in the room, glaring hard at the wolf before breaking eye contact. "What, by my name, do you want me do?"
The wolf god bared his teeth at the Chaos God before shaking his coat. "I need the Thousand Sons, Emperor's Children, Iron Warriors, World Eaters, Death Guards, and Word Bearers to Ullanor. Get Fulgrim, Perturabo, Angron, Mortarion, and Lorgar to lead their marines to Ullanor, and I need you, Tzeentch, to get your and the other three's daemons there too. You are to support the forces of the Imperium, the Orks, the Tau and the Eldar. Magnus, you and me are going to get the Necrons… Gabriel, you are coming with us. Tzeentch, after you organize the other three and send your troops to Ullanor, I will need you to contact Eldrad and make sure he knows what is going on too and get him to organize his race's forces. After that, you're to join the Emperor and starting making war plans. And tell Slaanesh to make doubly sure that those Dark Eldar behave around everyone else at Ullanor."
Tzeentch grumbled before nodding his head. "And I suppose you have a reason for why-"
"TZEENTCH!" Fenrir thundered, causing the Chaos God to pause. "I WILL loop you in as Discord when he gets turned to stone, a weeping angel in front of a fucking mirror and other, still, unchanging people if you do not shut up and do what I tell you now!" Fenrir snapped his head back to Magnus, eyes crossed for a moment. "Magnus, Gabriel, let's go NOW!" Magnus blinked before leading the way out of his library for the fuming wolf and startled Blood Raven, closing the door behind him.
Tzeentch sighed, rolling his eyes. "I was still here, you asses!" He shouted before going back into the Warp to do his Admin's bidding.
It was around noon on Holy Terra when the wondrous word came out about the return of the God Emperor to the Imperium and His promise to lead them all once more in glorious battle.
Any celebrations that were about to take forth were stopped when the orders came out that all of the Imperial Guards were to set out to Ullanor immediately, to stop a xeno invasion of unimaginable proportions with the aid of other xenos and the traitors, according to the words that a Greater God than the God Emperor Himself, a God in the shape of a beast that ordered the Emperor to fetch those xeno cow primitives!
According to the rumour mill, the whole reason for this was that the Greater God had Watched and Maintained their world, and that another Greater God had caused some damages to their World and that their Greater God, Fenrir if the rumour were anything to go by, was trying to prevent a greater risk from spreading to the other Worlds.
The implications were nearly overwhelming, but for the privates of the Imperial Guards it was something quite literally beyond them and all they had to do was hold the line until the Space Marines came, along with all the xenos, traitors and possibly even daemons!
The private began to nervously fiddle with his gear. If he'd heard right, they were fighting Tyranids, the whole lot of them. Being a relatively new recruit, he'd yet to go up against anything more than a few rebels and feral Orks, but he'd heard stories from shell-shocked veterans, of how they'd watched close friends be dragged off and eaten, of their weapons barely scratching the carapaces of the beasts, of platoons getting ripped to shreds by Warrior beasts…
Realizing he was hyperventilating, the private took several deep breaths to calm himself, folded his hands to say a quick prayer, and-
"Guardsman!"
"Ahhggghhh!"
Flailing in shock, the private tripped over his own feet and landed in an undignified heap on the floor. Groaning, he looked up and blanched when he saw the face of his unit's Commissar.
"Explain yourself," the Commissar demanded.
"Uhm…" the private said, getting to his feet and snapping a quick salute, "I...was concerned about the upcoming battle...given the stakes...so...I decided to take a moment to say a quick prayer to...remind myself that the Emperor protects."
The Commissar stared.
The private felt sweat form on his brow as he tried to maintain a confident expression.
After several uncomfortable moments, the Commissar simply nodded and went off to inspect the rest of the unit. Waiting until he was sure the officer was out of earshot, the private relaxed and heaved a sigh of relief.
Tzeentch grumbled as he returned to his spot in the immaterium. "And of course I get saddled with all the work. Definitely not as planned...KHORNE! NURGLE! SLAANESH! MESSAGE FROM THE BIG BAD WOLF!"
A presence of red revealed Khorne easily enough, and annoyed at the summoning. "Another of your tricks, Tzeentch?"
A solid mass of green showed Nurgle's presence. "Now now, Khorne, if it's from who it really is, it must be something very upsetting the status quo."
A wild writhing something of pink announced Slaanesh. "Considering you're the one showing excessive emotions, Tzeentch, this is gonna be good, isn't it?"
Tzeentch sighed and held up a hand to stop any additional quips. "You wish it were that good, but it's gonna threaten or empower all sides equally. Remember those annoying space bugs and that oppressive mind presence? Someone on the same level as the big wolf set one of them to be like us, which probably won't end well for anyone given their singular drive. Now the wolfie's running around trying to get everyone else in our corner of the multiverse to work together against the bugs this run so that the activated guy is killed and won't start looping. Before you start, Khorne, think of how much bug juice is gonna be flowing from both sides of the battle. Nurgle, if the bugs get through, you won't have fun with those diseases of yours if the only thing left to experiment on is the bugs. Slaanesh, the big guy had extra orders for you to keep the Dark Eldar in line. Gather everyone aligned to us and get to Ullanor, and yes, that includes the bloody hikki that is Lorgar, so drag him out to lead his legion if you have to. And no, hurting the others is not allowed, orders from the Big Wolf. That goes for your stealth sicknesses too, Nurgle. Now if you will excuse me, I have an additional errand to run."
Tzeentch's deep blue seemed to fade elsewhere, leaving the other three to get to their orders. "I still think it's one of his tricks!" Khorne shouted.
"Oh, put a sock in it, Khorne. Those bugs really do cramp us up more so than if the Necrons win in baseline. Better we get rid of them then deal with them forever." Slaanesh muttered as shi began to fade out as well.
"Agreed," Nurgle spoke up, acting as a middleman for the two other Chaos Gods. "I'll go get Mortarion to dig Lorgar out. You two remember to get Angron and Fulgrim, and remember to knock on Perturabo's fortress to get his attention proper." He faded out too, leaving Khorne alone.
"And I suppose," Khorne muttered to himself, "Fenrir would want the Black Legion there too."
With that, Khorne faded out too, do the bidding of his Admin.
Commissar Ciaphas Cain sat nervously in his office: His palms had been itching incessantly all morning. Seeing as his instincts had yet to mislead him and were currently screaming that something was seriously amiss, he had ordered the regiment to be ready to deploy at a moment's notice. While some had shown mild displeasure in having their leisure time cut short, no one questioned his actions: Given the state of the galaxy, it was always better to err on the side of caution, and all veterans understood the benefits of a healthy sense of paranoia.
Cain was broken out of his reverie as the door opened and his aide, Jurgen, poked his head through.
"Visitor for you Commissar," he called.
Understanding that Jurgen would not refer anyone to him unless it was important, Cain simply nodded for him to let their guest in. Deciding that some tanna would help calm his nerves, he poured himself a cup and quietly took a sip, a sip he promptly spat back out as the Captain-General of the Adeptus Custodes stepped into his office.
"Message for you from the Emperor Himself," the man stated, holding out an ornate scroll.
Ah, the other shoe drops, Cain mused to himself. Realizing he was still staring in abject shock, he quickly schooled his expression and accepted the scroll with all due reverence. Unsealing the scroll, he read through its contents, then did so several more times as the blood slowly drained from his face. Trembling, he resealed the scroll and handed it back to Captain-General.
Taking a moment to calm himself and holding onto the lingering hope that the Emperor had simply developed a rather twisted sense of humour, Cain asked, "This is accurate?"
"Yes," was the succinct response, and that hope was mercilessly snuffed.
A Looping Tyranid, Cain thought to himself as gave instructions to Jurgen to muster the regiment, The situation is truly dire if our Admin is stepping in to take action.
"I assume I am to go to meet Kaptin Bluddflagg with all haste?" Cain asked, sighing: He had hoped to avoid having to deal with the Ork Looper for at least a few hundred more Loops, but alas, it seemed fate was not so kind.
"No, I have instructions to deliver this message to Commissar Sebastian Yarrick and Inquisitor Amberly Vail as well: We will be collecting them first."
Cain's response was a simple nod. As the Captain-General left, Cain began making final preparations to depart himself. Well, he mused, at least Yarrick's reaction to having to work with an Ork is going to be amusing. It will make for good blackmail material at any rate.
"Uggghhh..."
The Stormtrooper Captain groaned and glanced down at his chronometer.
Fifteen hours. Fifteen. Frakking. Hours.
Fifteen hours of standing guard in the sun on this miserable backwater while the Emperor negotiated with those filthy xeno—Tau, he corrected himself. It didn't help that the Tau liked their cities austere: Everywhere he looked, he saw the same blocky building copied and pasted ad infinitem. An Imperial world would at least have had something interesting to look at.
Seeing a patrolling Stormtrooper passing by, he flagged one of the man down.
"Soldier!" the Captain called.
"Sir!" the man in question said, stopping and snapping a salute.
"What are we still doing here?"
"Sir! Regulations state that all delegations must be accompanied by at least one officer and a full squad!"
"At ease," the Captain belatedly said upon realizing the soldier was still saluting.
The Stormtrooper gave a quick nod and lowered his hand back to his rifle.
"Alright then," the Captain continued, "I know what the regulations say, but...it's the EMPEROR that's in there. He doesn't NEED to be guarded, and even so, why aren't the Adeptus Custodes the ones here?"
"Not sure. Rumor has it that one of them managed to lose his kit and the Acting Captain called for a review of all security procedures."
"Are you serious?"
Meanwhile in the Warp...
A Thousand Sons Marine felt his jaw drop as he watched one of the Blood Ravens tend to a suit of golden power armor and an accompanying bolter.
"Where did you get that?!" the former demanded of the latter.
The Blood Raven spun around in shock.
"...we found it..." he said, glancing around shiftily.
"That's what I've heard," the Stormtrooper responded, "At any rate, it seems like we're stuck here until they get things worked out."
He shrugged.
The Captain sighed and turned to the Fire Warrior standing guard on the other side of the door.
"Do negotiations usually take this long?" he asked the Tau.
The guard shifted slightly.
"Not...usually..." he said, a slight hint of frustration tinting his voice, "I'm sure there's a good reason for the delay, but it isn't like the Ethereals to dawdle."
"Well, whatever it is, I hope it gets resolved soon," the Captain responded, shifting his grip on his rifle, "It's getting hot out here."
The other two simply nodded their agreement.
The Inquisition was the most feared organization in the galaxy, and while there were some who would say it faced competition from the Kabal of the Black Heart and the Black Legion, those people had a tendency to suffer unfortunate accidents shortly thereafter. An Inquisitor's will was absolute and the organization answered to no mortal authority: Only the Emperor had the power to command it. Most Inquisitors took the fact that no objections had come from the Golden Throne in ten thousand years as a sign they were doing a good job; those who pointed out the Emperor had been in no state to complain soon found themselves to have unknowingly committed numerous capital crimes.
Thus, there was understandable anxiety when the Captain-General of the Adeptus Custodes entered an Ordo Xenos fortress claiming to bear a message from the Emperor Himself. While there were many who believed it to be a hoax, none were willing to risk the Emperor's wrath on the off chance the message was legitimate. When it was further revealed the message was for a certain Amberly Vail, many had sighed in relief while those less heartless muttered a quiet prayer for their comrade's continued well-being.
On her part, Amberly was confused: she was quite certain she hadn't done anything to warrant the Emperor's attention this Loop. Aside from investigating some abnormal Tyranid activity, there had been nothing she had done that had been out of the norm. Leading the Captain-General to a side chamber, she accepted the scroll and quickly read through it. As she finished, a look of horror spread across her face before she quickly composed herself and handed the scroll back.
"Out of curiosity," she said after taking several moments to process the situation, "was there any given reason why I was requested as opposed to one of the Primarchs? The Orks respect strength after all."
"They were all occupied, and I believe there were some claims that you were one of the most stable and competent agents that could be called on."
At that moment, an interrogation could be heard taking place on the floor below.
"I am only going to ask this once more," a voice, presumably that of an Inquisitor, said, "What did the Eldar tell you?"
"I-I-I don't know w-what you're talking about," the unfortunate prisoner responded, "I-I've never met any Eldar in my life."
"Wrong answer!"
There was a crackling of electricity and a scream of agony.
"B-b-but...I'm telling the truth!"
Another zap.
"YOU WILL SPEAK WHEN SPOKEN TO!"
"Point taken," Amberly said dourly, silently vowing to give the idiot downstairs a stern talking to: It was people like that him that gave the Inquisition such a bad name.
Inside the fortress-monastery on Nocturnean moon of Prometheus, Vulkan was having a lesson regarding the technological differences between the Branches of Yggdrasil with his fellow looper He'stan. So far, aside from some issues of applying Xenos technologies on their existing equipment, He'stan had been a fast learner, which made Vulkan glad that there is someone shared his enthusiasm on technological advancement.
Their lesson were interrupted by the sudden appearance of Fenrir in his worse day, Vulkan immediately shown his concern while He'stan was confused by the situation.
"What's going on, Lord Fenrir?"
"I will be fine, but just listen!" Fenrir was irritated, "There is an idiot on my level set up an auto-looping programme while I was away. And the next one in the waiting line right now is one one the Tyranids, and the consequence of having an hive-minded looping race is too great for the Yggdrasil to withstand. Now gather all your men to Nostramo to get Konrad's Legion before heading to Ullanor to exterminate the Tyranids, that it all you can do to prevent the Tyranids looping! Now I am going to get the rest of the forces to Ullanor, and you should expect yourself fighting side by side with the other factions."
After that, Fenrir left without hesitation, with Vulkan thought about the situation.
When Vulkan realized the consequence of Tyranids being the MLE race, and the combat doctrine or gears of the Night Lords would be less effective in the upcoming battle, this could not be delayed any longer.
"He'stan! Gather all our Legion and all other necessary equipment, and tell them we are going to Nostramo provide any help or upgrades we can to my brother Konrad! I will explain the situation once you are ready." After He'stan left, Vulkan searched for his Subspace pocket, hoped that he had what his brother would need in the upcoming battle.
He saw the vision of his foreseeable future, where all sentient life were replaced by some biological terror that he had only saw in those materials provided by his Father. One by one, be it Eldar, Mankind, Orks, and many others, were nothing but fuel for the insatiable hive-minded beasts, not even the mechanical terror could be spared from their claws. Hopeless echo, fearful scream, meaningless groan, all the future could offered were emptiness devoid of true life.
Then the vision switched to several unfamiliar places, which presumed to be the other worlds mentioned by his Father. For those places which used to be the harmonic haven, there were still peace, but replaced by a sickening biomass instead of the lively prosperity. For those places which used to be the daemonic hellhole, there were still chaos, but exchanged by a terrifying hordes instead of the thrive havoc.
Konrad Cruze's train of thoughts about his vision were interrupted by his first Captain Zso Sahaal.
"My lord, the Salamanders were landing on our planet and Lord Vulkan demand the audience for both you and myself. He said we must discuss the upcoming battle against the biological terror known as Tyranids!"
"Send them in!" He had to have his answer now if he don't want his vision became true.
When the looping Salamander, Night Lord, and their respective Primarchs sat in the private chamber, Vulkan explained the situation with serious tune to emphasize the graveness of the situation. With the Night Lords understood the consequences and their difficulty on fighting the Tyranids, Vulkan offered his gifts for both of them.
"I know your combat doctrine would not be that effective in this battle, so here are the gifts I can offer to you and we shall have our Legions ready with their new upgrades." He motioned for Konrad to watch the ebony-coloured ship, "This is Ebony Chariot I intended to give you as a gift when you have more experience of the time loops, but dire time comes dire measures. Please consider it as your first gift from your brother if that could ease your mind at the moment."
"Thank you, my brother."
"Hey! Angron!" Khorne called, materializing before the Daemon Prince in question, "A bunch of people including the Corpse Emperor are meeting at Ullanor to fight the Tyranids. I need you there to help them kill all the bugs."
"...what?" came Angron's response.
"Everyone's gathering at Ullanor to kill off the Tyranids. I want you there as well."
Angron was silent for a few seconds.
"...how many Tyranids?"
"All of them."
Angron considered this for a moment.
"Okay."
Khorne blinked: He had expected more resistance than that. Deciding not to look a gift horse in the mouth, Khorne shrugged and headed off to address other matters as Angron went to inform the World Eaters there was killing to be done.
Commissar Sebastian Yarrick looked over Hades Hive from the balcony of his estate, reviewing his actions thus far this Loop. As usual, he had Awoken too late to prevent the devastation of the Second War for Armageddon, but as consolation, he had managed to get the idiot von Strab executed for treason and incompetence: The man's expression as he faced the firing squad was something Yarrick would forever treasure.
Upon driving the Orks off of Armageddon, he had neglected to give chase as he had in baseline, having labeled the action as futile after a few Loops: No matter what he did, Ghazghkull would always manage to slip away to invade Armageddon again. After an Exterminatus he'd convinced the Lord High Admiral to launch had failed to eliminate the Warlord, he had quickly given up on killing the Ork before the Third War.
Rather than futilely trying to track down the Ork Warlord, Yarrick had this time elected instead to use his time to bolster Armageddon's forces in preparation for the Warlord's return. Using his knowledge of Ghazghkull's tactics and strategies, Yarrick had set off to create an intricate defense network that even the most powerful and determined of foes would have trouble penetrating. As Yarrick headed back indoors, he allowed himself a small smile: Even if Ghazghkull managed to get past the orbital defenses, he was sure the ground forces would be more than sufficient to halt the invasion in its tracks.
Yarrick was shaken out of his gleeful musings by his aide informing him he had a visitor. Nodding to let them in, he was slightly surprised when the Hero of the Imperium entered the room.
"Commissar Cain," he said in greeting, "I wasn't aware you were even in the Sector. Make yourself at home."
"Well...you see..." Cain began, "...they didn't want to cause a spectacle...and you don't exactly say 'no' to an Inquisitor...so..."
At this, Cain trailed off, wordlessly offering an ornate scroll to the aged Commissar. Frowning, Yarrick accepted the scroll and quickly scanned its contents. As he finished, his face became inflamed with rage. Before he could berate his fellow Commissar for playing such a sick joke, rage quickly gave way to horror as the other part of the message registered.
Cain watched as Yarrick appeared ready to explode before suddenly slumping and taking several deep breaths.
"This isn't some kind of trick?" Yarrick quietly asked, holding onto some last, desperate hope.
Cain slowly shook his head.
Yarrick sighed.
"Alright," he said, "Just give me a few hours to tell the forces here to relocate: We're going to all the firepower we can get."
Taking that as a dismissal, Cain turned to leave. He couldn't help but feel sorry for the man. As he left the room, he heard Yarrick quietly invoking every malediction he knew against whoever was responsible for the current situation: Misery loves company after all.
It was chaos, controlled chaos, on Ullanor as the pure human army of the Imperium of Mankind began to build the defense line against upcoming xeno invasion. Buildings were converted and raised, as the army began to settle in for their toughest battle yet. In one section of the massive line of men, a sergeant looked over his soldiers. The sergeant nodded his head in approval of the flags being raised of the different sections of the Imperial Guards, flying under the Imperial Aquila which was flying under a tree, of all things. He was not particularly pleases about that one, but considering the ongoing rumours and talks about the truth of their world and this Yggdrasil, it was deemed important for moral by his superiors.
That and he wasn't sure if the orders he received were actually from his superiors but he was not going to be the one to question them.
Frowning, he noticed something out of place, which would not do well for an army that would soon be tested unlike ever before. "Guardsman!" the sergeant called out, annoyed that there were not others of lower rank to do this job properly but he needed to present a certain air to keep everyone else from panicking.
The man in question, a certain private, looked up in response.
"Help me unload some of these crates would you?" the sergeant continued, gesturing towards a shipment a Valkyrie had recently dropped off, "Command's dropping in munitions to set up a proper supply depot."
Nodding, the private put aside his lasgun and went to grab a crate. As he helped to move the supplies, the private's mind began to drift once more toward the coming battle. He tried to reassure himself, the tales he'd heard of battles against the Tyranids, of veterans watching helplessly as their friends were ripped apart and consumed before their eyes, did little to soothe his nerves. Shuddering, he took several deep breaths to try and calm himself. He suddenly yelled out in alarm as he tripped over a rock he had failed to notice in his musings, the contents of the crate he was carrying spilling all over the ground.
Spitting out a mouthful of dirt and quietly muttering a curse, the private dusted himself off and went to collect the scattered items. As he reached for a long-las and several power packs that had fallen onto a small ledge in a nearby ravine, the sergeant stopped him with a strong hand.
"Don't bother," he said, "There's another dozen boxes of those in this load alone. Just try to more careful in the future soldier."
Pausing for a moment, the private simply nodded in response, repacked the crate as best he could, and moved it into the designated building.
"I's Kaptin Bluddflagg! I's da Supreme Ultimate Warlord General of dis here WAAAGH! I's da Biggest! I's da Badest! I's got da most awsum Hat!" There were thunderous cheers from the gathered Orks as the sole looping space fungus murder machine shouted as he inflamed their Orkish love for WAAGH. The message he had got from the three hummies was so tantalizing and would enshrine his place as the Supreme Ultimate Warlord General for a dozen or so loops that it made the next bit seem so small and pointless. "Now, we's gonna take dis here WAAAGH, da biggest WAAAGH since ol' Urrlak Urruk's WAAAGH'd wit de Emprah himself, all da way to Ullanor, and den we's gonna join da humies-"
"Wat you mean join em'? Ain't we gonna foight em'?" An Ork shouted, causing the massive crowd to pause and think, a dangerous thing for any Ork to do.
"Yeah! Crunch da hummies! Steal dere stuff! WAAAGH!"
Bluddflag pulled out a helicopter minigun and swept through the rabbling Ork's before they could start a riot, or worse, think. "Now where was I? Oh, right. As I was saying, we's gonna join up wit da hummies -Not Fight Em'! Yet, anyways- and den we gonna grab da pointy ears, da chaos-boyz, and da Necro-bots, and dose pansy Tau boys, and we's gonna WAAAGH the biggest WAAAGH dat's ever been WAAAGH'd against ev'ry last Tyrannid bug in da universe wit all dem guys!" The thunderous shout before was nothing compared to this cry of joy and WAAAGH and for a moment Bluudflag was certain he did his part when the previous Warlord spoke up.
Ghazgull stepped up to the stage, glaring at him. "Why should we's listin to you!?" He was silenced when a bullet tore through his shoulder. It did not do much damage to the Ork but it did draw attention to the two men climbing the stage behind Bluudflagg, the woman standing back to cover them if things went nasty...er. Plan Y it was then, to get his boyz to Ullanor.
"It's Old Man Yarrick!" An Ork shouted with awe and reserve as the fabled Commissar stood in the middle of the stage as some of the Orks actually started to bow down to him. "Da Orkyest Hummie Dere Was!"
"An Canny Cane!" As the other Commissar stood in the light, with the man groaning as shouts of "DA HERO OF DA IMPERIUM!" was being shouted throughout the crowd.
"We's all gonna die!" An Ork shouted, showing something of intelligence at the two most famous Orkest human was near them. The crowd now seemed to pick up on the possible danger of unending slaughter from those two hummies, and the crowd seemed close to panicking.
"Oh shut up you stupid mounds of green sludge!" Yarrick yelled, causing the warband to panic even more. It took another sweep of Bluudflagg's minigun to quell the noise with minimal success, but it quieted them enough for Yarrick to be heard. "Now listen up you great lumbering nimrods! The God Emperor of Mankind has risen from the Golden Throne, and has himself declared open war upon the Tyranid invasion fleet that threatens the galaxy. As these worthless xenos bugs are a threat to every being in this galaxy -nay the universe!- The Emperor has extended an invitation to all sentient species of the galaxy, to join him at Ullanor and have a hand in the complete eradication of the entire Tyranid armada. Including, much to my chagrin, you insane green dolts."
"Old Man Yarrick's goin' to lead us on a WAAAGH?" An Ork shouted the question with many others, Ghazgull included, looking up in awe at that possibility. Before any of the humans could protest, Bluudflag saw the chance to solidify the Ork's part in this WAAAGH with da Emprah.
"With Old Man Yarrick and da Hero of da Imperium, this WAAAGH will be unstoppable!" His shout was barely heard now, the roar from the Orks nearly deafening by this point. If Old Man Yarrick, Candy Cane, and that hummie female were anything like those punny humans their ears would have bursted a long time ago. "Let's kick some bug ass!"
With that, all the Orks raced for their bikes and ships, with the humans sadly leading the charge to Ullanor.
Asdrubael Vect looked on in mild amusement as what appeared to be a manifestation of She Who Thirsts materialized before him, interrupting a meeting, and began to rant about a massive imminent Tyranid invasion and the need for him to gather his subordinates join forces with his Craftworld brethren and the lesser races to combat the threat. While he applauded the perpetrator's originality and audacity along with their ability to set everything up unnoticed, he was quite disappointed that any imbecile was willing to believe such a juvenile plot had even the slimmest chance of success.
"Right," he said, turning his attention to his Hierarchs while making sure to keep the fabrication in sight, "Which one of of you fools was responsible for this? Seeing as this was perhaps the most amusing attempt on my life to date, if you step forward now, I may make your death relatively swift and painless."
The fabrication began protesting its being referred to as such and being ignored. This only elicited a bark of laughter from the Archon.
"On second thought, considering the amount of effort you must have put into this, if you step forward, your death will be relatively swift and painless."
Upon seeing the confused look among the Hierarchs, Vect was officially impressed. Either the perpetrator had managed to browbeat the others into cooperating all the while evading his notice or was in fact a lower ranked Kabal member with an excessive amount of ambition and little in the way of common sense.
As the Archon continued to ignore hir in favor of grilling his subordinates, Slaanesh mentally groaned. Why, oh why, couldn't Tzeentch have been the one assigned to this? He was the Lord of backstabbers and manipulators after all. Shi continued to wallow in self-pity as Vect's mood transitioned from amusement, to pride, to anger, and then back to amusement.
"Very well then," he said, turning back to address hir with a slight, unsettling grin, "Perhaps you will be more forthcoming with information. To start with, who are you and who are you working for?"
Slaanesh resisted the urge to show any sign of frustration; this was going to take some time.
After almost a full day, Slaanesh finally departed Commorragh. Suffice it to say, it had not been easy to convince the Archon that a) This was not an elaborate plot by some upstart to seize power, b) Neither was this a plot by the Craftworld Eldar nor anyone else to get him to cease his raids on them and perhaps neutralize him permanently, and c) The Tyranid threat was very much real and he really should get moving. Even a promise not to feed on the Eldar's souls any longer had not helped matters: If anything, it had only invited a further round of interrogation.
As shi headed to meet with the Dark Eldar's less sadistic and rather boring cousins, shi made a note to apologize to Tzeentch for giving him such a hard time over his antics. If these were the kinds of people he dealt with on a daily basis, the bastard had the right to be somewhat eccentric.
On an uncharted planet in an unknown sector, two men looked up from their reports as a scout came into the room with a scroll in his hands. As the man on the left waved him over, the one on the right continued to examine the others.
After a period of reading, the one on the right sighed. "It is as the others report said."
"Indeed," the other said rubbing his chin. "A great danger to our World is present in the form of a Tyranid."
"Are we in agreement to what we must do?" one said gathering his helmet, looking at the other.
"Yes, I do believe so." the second man responded, as he prepared himself. "We march towards Ullanor."
"Agreed." As the two of the opened the doors, they stood above the legion of similar looking men in similar looking armor.
"The Alpha Legion moves out in full!" Alpharius shouted to the cheering crowd.
"For the Emperor!" Omegon yelled out to their gene sons, gearing themselves up for battle
"For Chaos Undivided!" Alpharius roared, as their legion was nearly ready to depart in full.
"FOR YGGDRASIL AND LORD FENRIR LOKISON!" They shouted in unison as the twentieth legion departed towards the planet where the Great Crusade ended to make sure the end of all would not happen.
As Slaanesh materialized in Craftworld Ulthwé, shi quickly became aware of several things: chiefly among them panic and screaming. From a cursory glance, shi was aware of Warriors rapidly mustering their forces and civilians making a mad scramble for the nearest armory. Slaanesh sighed. While getting a rise out of the normally stoic Craftworlders was an activity that had entertained hir for many a Loop, now was not the best time.
Watching the Eldar running around like headless chickens and making fools of themselves, Slaanesh admitted to hirself that a more tactful approach would have been preferable seeing as no sane Eldar, in particular those of Ulthwé given the Craftworld's proximity to the Eye of Terror, would ever consider sitting down with The Great Enemy for a cup of tea and a friendly discussion. As battle lines formed and Wraithlords began pouring out of the woodwork, shi considered the merits of simply going home and Shanghaiing someone else into breaking the news to the Eldar.
Eldrad Ulthran was troubled. Ever since he Awoke this Loop, he, and every other Seer of any merit, had been aware of a great cataclysm about to descend upon the galaxy, yet despite all his efforts, even the meanest details of the event continued to elude him. Coming out of his latest failed divination attempt, Eldrad sighed. While he had learned to unwind and relax somewhat since learning of the Loops, his primary concern remained ensuring the survival of his race, something he was unable to do unless he could solve this latest mystery.
A sudden awareness of a disturbance on the Craftworld shook him out of his musings. Fearing the worst, he immediately grabbed his staff and rushed out to investigate and if necessary, render assistance.
Eldrad emerged onto a scene of what could only be described as pandemonium. Snipers lined the terraces while a battle line of Warriors and Wraithlords had formed with Guardians setting up force-fields and moving furniture to create a makeshift barricade. When he noticed a pair of Exarchs dragging a struggling Guardian towards the Avatar's chamber all the while shouting insincere promises that their sacrifice would long be remembered, Eldrad decided it was time to intervene.
"What is the meaning of this?" he demanded, psychically enhancing his voice so all could hear him.
The crowd froze at the displeased voice of their de facto leader. After a few moments, one Guardian pointed a shakily at a particular corner of the courtyard while doing his best to look the other way. Looking over to see what had terrified the Guardian so and brought the Exarchs and half the Craftworld to arms, Eldrad let out a slow sigh as a certain Chaos God lazily waved back. Despite all pretenses of superiority, it seemed his race was just as lacking in basic common sense as any other.
"Yes," he said slowly, as if lecturing a particularly dimwitted child, "I am well aware that that is Slaanesh."
The crowd twitched at this.
"However," he continued, "had any of you taken a moment to think clearly, you would have noticed she has not acted, or even moved, in response to your actions."
Most of the crowd had the decency to look sheepish at this.
"Now then, seeing as we do not appear to be in immediate danger of eternal damnation, perhaps we should see why the Great Serpent has decided to grace us with her presence."
With Eldrad's assistance, it was a simple matter to deliver the news and convince the Eldar of the gravity of the situation. As Slaanesh headed back to the Warp, the denizens of Ulthwé quickly and eagerly prepared to contact the other Craftworlds and march off to war, unwilling to trade one Devourer for another.
Offhandedly pushing the Craftworld away from the Eye of Terror, shi set to drag Fulgrim, kicking and screaming if necessary, off to Ullanor. With any luck, it would a simple matter to convince the Daemon Prince; however, given the way things were progressing, it did not look likely.
As Tzeentch approached a different part of the Immaterium, his area of control seemed to compress slightly as a laughter closed in on all sides. Tzeentch sighed as it was a sign that he was in realm of Cegorach, the Eldar Laughing God. Clearing his metaphysical throat, Tzeentch hoped to get Cegorach's undivided attention, as unnecessary the gesture was, considering most warp beings did not wander into the laughing god's area of control due to the need for all four chaos gods having their forces to marshal against each other.
"Now that I have your attention, you're welcome to have your Harlequins come join us at Ullanor against the upcoming threat. The more the merrier, they say. Supposedly, the one the craftworld and harlequins call Gabriel of the Hidden Heart will be among them as well."
Tzeentch fluctuated momentarily to get a read on the other chaos gods.
"And it seems that both your craftworld and dark progeny have been informed by hir, which partially moots this 'incursion' into your zone. I'll go make myself scarce now since there are many plans to lay down."
As Tzeentch figuratively turned around and passed through a weakened portion of the laughing perimeter surrounding him and continued on back to his own territory when the laughter increased in volume for a moment and then stopped, a sign that Cegorach's presence had left the immaterium to supposedly gather the myriad bands of travelling Harlequins.
"Well, I hope it all goes to plan, Fenrir, because I don't want things to be like that variant loop where I needed to deal with those obscenity yelling Space Marines who make it their job to mess up my plans...come to think of it, Fenrir didn't mention any strategic planning. That won't do. Oh, that won't do at all...now where is that shriveled corpse of a leader of man at now… Ah, there he is. Thankfully his mark in the warp is like looking into a freaking lighthouse, after all."
And at that Tzeentch himself vanished from the Immaterium.
Mortarion knocked on the door of the Templum Inficio. When no response came, he did so again. When still nothing happened, he began bashing the door with his scythe.
"Lorgar!" he called, "Come out! There's something urgent I need to talk to you about!"
By this point, Mortarion's actions had begun to attract a crowd, with many wondering what it was the Daemon Prince hoped to achieve. As Mortarion continued to abuse it, the temple door suddenly opened just wide enough for a single eye to be seen through it.
"What do you want?!" Lorgar demanded.
"Hello Lorgar," Mortarion responded, "I-"
"I thought I made it clear that nobody was to disturb me!" Lorgar interrupted.
"Yes, but-"
"NOBODY! Now piss off!"
With that the door slammed shut once more.
Mortarion sighed. Despite being the one who had first opened their eyes to the truth of their father's Imperium, Lorgar could truly be a child at times. Realizing that there was nothing he could do, Mortarion decided to head off to see if Perturabo was willing to help him dig their brother out.
"Pull!"
At the call, a rocket shot up and across the city skyline. Moments later, an iridescent orb of plasma raced after it. Quickly catching up to its quarry, the plasma bolt barreled into the missile, the pair detonating in a spectacular explosion which drew applause from the spectating crowd.
Smiling softly, the Stormtrooper Captain lowered his gun.
When negotiations had the 34 hour mark, even the most disciplined of soldiers had broken. There was simply no point in guarding a building containing automated defenses covering all hallways and access points, a platoon of Crisis Battlesuits, and the Emperor of Mankind. Anyone mad enough to assault such a bastion was welcome to try: their idiocy would no longer taint the gene pool.
Stepping back, the Captain watched as his sole remaining competitor, a veteran Fire Warrior, stepped up to the plate. There had been an ongoing debate among the crowd over which of the two would come out ahead. Unsurprisingly, votes were split cleanly across racial lines.
"Pull!" the Tau called.
After realizing that they really weren't contributing to the defense of the facility, the Stormtroopers and Fire Warriors standing guard had decided to make better use of their time and had staged an impromptu trapshooting competition. That they were frivolously using munitions capable of destroying heavily armored targets never occurred to their sleep-deprived minds.
As the Fire Warrior lined up his shot, the crowd held its breath. The Tau fired. The shot clipped the missile, shearing off one of the fins before continuing on into the upper atmosphere, sending the missile careening off on a spiraling trajectory.
A cheer went up among the Imperials while the spectating Tau sighed in disappointment. After a moment, congratulations were exchanged before the crowd broke to find more ammunition for a second round.
The cheerful mood quickly evaporated when the out-of-control missile crashed into the compound they were supposed to be guarding.
Taking a moment to get over their shock, the group made to scatter, hoping that the blame would be pinned on someone else, when the door to the compound suddenly opened and the Emperor, followed by a stream of soldiers, poured out.
When the klaxons had gone off, the Emperor had anticipated anything from a preemptive Tyranid attack to a simple raid by a Chaos or Ork Warband that had yet to get news of the ceasefire. What he found when he got outside, the soldiers that should have been on guard standing around like deer in headlights, was not within expectations.
The soldiers stared.
The Emperor stared back.
A rocket launcher slipped out of a Stormtrooper's hands and clattered to the ground.
The Emperor narrowly resisted the urge to facepalm.
"Uhm...my Lord?" an Iron Warrior said hesitantly.
Perturabo looked up from the plans for his latest fortress.
"Hmm?"
"Uhm...Mortarion just showed up. He says he wants to see you."
Perturabo frowned, thoughts racing as he tried to figure out a reason for his brother to attack.
"He's alone."
Perturabo blinked as his mind screeched to a halt. The animosity among the Daemon Primarchs was no secret: For one to intrude on another's territory without an army at their back...
"Show him in then."
At least Mortarion was relatively easy to get along with. The less said about certain individuals (*cough*Fulgrim*cough*) the better.
"Brother, you are needed," Mortarion began without preamble, "Lord Nurgle informed me that the Tyranids are descending upon the galaxy in force. Somehow, their bulk has been diverted to Ullanor: the various factions have called a truce and are gathering there to fight the swarm. The Ruinous Powers have put aside their differences to combat the threat and wish for us to gather our forces and depart for Ullanor to aid the defense."
Perturabo simply stared: That was the most he'd heard out of Mortarion since...ever. Taking a moment to process what he'd just heard, Perturabo sighed. While he hated having to work with his "Father", he would gladly do so if the alternative was having the galaxy devoured by Tyranids.
"...Alright," Perturabo finally responded, "but why are you here telling me about it."
"Lord Nurgle said that he and the others have their own matters to attend to, and...well..."
Mortarion trailed off.
"Yes...?"
"...and I was told to fetch Lorgar, but he's barricaded himself in his temple..."
"...and I suppose you want me to help you break in," Perturabo finished for him.
"...yes..."
Perturabo stared for a moment before ordering the Iron Warriors to move out and motioning for Mortarion to lead on. Lorgar could be a prick at times: It would be good to put him in his place for once. That that temple of his was an insult to architects everywhere had nothing to do with it.
The sergeant walked past the line of shaking soldiers, standing in their trench lines, bunkers, tanks and other varied methods of protection, and pointedly not at the approaching line of thundering carnifexs, threatening to break upon them any second. He did not think of the reports from the other sergeants, where their part of the line was being tested and they were doing poorly. If this was truly 'Lord Fenrir's' master plan, then none of them would live through this.
But they had their orders, from the Emperor himself. They were to hold xeno bastards back, and make sure that the Tyranids did not leave Ullanor until everyone was assembled.
"Men," he stopped in front of the Guards he was given charge over, looking at the private he meet earlier. "You know the truth of our purpose here. We are not expected to be the heroes of the day, we are not expected to be ones that slay all of the xenos, we are not going to be the grand heroes that save the day at the last minute." He saw them begin to shake at this, begin to doubt themselves. "We are expected to be the wall that holds them back, we are expected to be the ones that stop them until the true might of the Imperium," he did his best not to pause while he spoke the revolting words, but there was a tiny hiccup. "The Eldar, the Tau, the Orks, the Necrons and the Chaos Traitors. We were given this task by the Emperor himself and the one that claims to the true god of this world. We were given this task, as if those xeno bugs were to escape from Ullanor, all would be lost on such grand levels I do not even begin to understand." He paused, turning around to stare straight at the Tyranids, roaring and shouting at them, almost upon them. "We were given this task of the greatest importance by the greatest of beings that we know because they knew no one else could do it but us." Pulling up his lascannon, he moved into the line with his men. "By the Emperor and Yggdrasil herself, let us prove that they chose correctly!"
With a shout of defiance, the Imperial Guards stood straighter and stronger. Their fear was gone and replaced with tranquility, that if they were all to die today, it would not because they broke under the weight of their fear but because their foes simply killed more of them then the other way around.
All the Imperial Guards earned their places in Valhalla that moment as the first wave of carnifexs broke upon them.
Returning to Sicarus with his fellow Daemon Prince, Mortarion watched as Perturabo analyzed Lorgar's fortifications before pointing out a number of weaknesses. Wasting no time, Mortarion smashed his way into the temple through one of the points indicated and quickly made his way to Lorgar.
"Listen up Lorgar," Mortarion said, pinning his brother to the wall before he could complain or run off, "As I was trying to say before, Lord Nurgle sent me with a message for you: You are to gather your followers and make your way to Ullanor and assist the Imperium, Eldar, Orks, and every other significant galactic power in exterminating the Tyranid race. Nurgle made it very clear we are not to antagonize any of the other forces present and are to focus solely on eradicating the Tyranids. Do I make myself clear?"
Lorgar didn't respond.
"I said," Mortarion hissed, leaning closer, "Do. I. Make. Myself. Clear?"
Lorgar grumbled and reluctantly nodded.
"Good, I'll take my leave then. Don't dawdle."
Exiting the temple, Mortarion nodded his thanks to Perturabo who was currently busy fending off an increasingly hostile crowd. As Mortarion headed off to rally the Death Guard, he stopped as he was treated to the bizarre sight of Slaanesh dragging along a pouting Fulgrim followed by the latter's sheepish Legion.
"Not! A! Word!" Slaanesh hissed as shi took notice of Mortarion.
Mortarion raised his hands in surrender and let the God and his reluctant retinue pass: He had no interest in angering one of the Ruinous Powers after all.
On their way to Zantragora, Necron tomb world dedicated for the cause of Apotheosis, Fenrir and Magnus were having a conversation while Gabriel piloted their ship.
"Are you sure Rakszan would be there? You can't be sure after he left the planet where he was in the Great Sleep."
"He told me he was sharing the tomb world with his rivalry dynasty, and move away with his remaining legions would be safer for him to think about what he should do in the rest of the loop. And Rakszan believed Zantragora is the place where he would be welcomed."
"Fair point."
Gabriel Angelos of the Blood Raven, along with his Primarch and Fenrir, soon found Rakszan lead his legion of Undead guarding the entrance of the tomb world. Decided not causing too much commotion from the other Necron Warriors, Fenrir signaled Magnus for attracting Rakszan to a much covert place for the meeting.
Despite the feel of cautious by their presents, the Necron body showed no reaction, or any facial expression at all. So after a brief moment, Rakszan greeted them as he lead them into the tomb, "Human, what are you doing here? And why bring a beast with you? Some sort of companion?"
Fenrir stared at Mangus, shaking his head slowly. "Did you not mention my existence to him as well?"
"My apologies, I did not realize that informing others that our Admin was a giant wolf was something required in a Welcome Speech." Magnus snarked back.
"I must confess that the new information I am being forced to accept in these 'Loops' is hard enough, but the fact that our 'True God' is a filthy beast is one too mu-"
Fenrir's growl cut off the Necron, as his right paw placed his datapad on the floor, stepping forwards as he began to change in size and form, somehow becoming enormous enough to devour entire worlds and suns in a single gulp, but at the same time remaining the exact same size. His appearance changed as well, blinding everyone with His glory.
He opened His mouth and spoke to Rakszan in the ancient tongue of the Necrontyr, a sentence that caused the mighty warrior to fall to his knees and tremble in shame.
"I-I- my apologizes, oh great one." He could not weep but he still felt his body react to the old fears and reactions of such splendor and awe. "I did not know and I-"
"It is fine." Fenrir denoted, before returning to his normal un-deity form, placing a paw on his shoulder. "If I had my way, our meeting would be under far better terms. Not with all of Yggdrasil at the risk with the Tyranids possibly looping."
"T-Tyranids?" he asked, tilting his head as he stood up. "What is exactly going on here?"
"A friend offered to give me some leisure after working on your loop after the lost of that Branch, and when he went retrieve me, another person broke into my office and began to force people to start looping without any knowledge of who they were or what dangers they could posses. There are about eight or seven new loopers because of him and his damn program, thankfully none that overtly dangerous to Yggdrasil as a whole, but when I came back to work, he had put a Tyranid into his program. I'm still trying to decode who it is, I was actually working on it before I left for my break, but even if we knew, we must kill them all in order to prevent it from looping due to their hive mind possibly spitting it back out." Fenrir shook his head, placing a paw on his forehead. "If it were allowed to loop, it would bring that to the loops, and there is no way I could prevent it from becoming a MLE species. But since I have no way of knowing what the moron's program code could do if I tried the normal methods of prevent it from looping, like unleashing a Warp storm on the entire race," Fenrir snarled, pacing back and forth, "we have to go with the most basic of ways of preventing it from occurring. That means killing it before the loop ends or Leman dies. And since it is a Tyranid, it means we have to pull off a complete genocide on them until I am sure it failed to activate as a looper. I've already used what few powers I have in this loop to have them invade Ullanor and that is where all of us; humans, eldar, chaos undivided, tau, ork, and you necrons, will smash the majority. If, for some damn reason, it is a genestealer, the follow up will be much easier as I should be able to pinpoint the location of the last Tyranids and which one is the potential looper, if it comes to that. Now I need you to gather your races forces and follow us to Ullanor to support everyone else."
Rakszan nodded his head as listen to what the True God told him and what Lord Fenrir needed done. There was some issues with his plans; a bit bare boned and lacking detail but something told him not to provoke the Wolf God. Instead Rakszan asked, "How can I help you gain the firepower of the Necrons when I have such little influence on my fellow nobles? Not to mention I cannot order them without proper chain of command. Speaking of that, I just received word from the local Phaeron that he's sending the Canoptek Scarabs to where we are standing, as the detectors sense the intruders."
He then added, "Your appearance doesn't help the situation as my host decided to attack all of you and capture any living specimens for Apotheosis research right now."
Fenrir held up his datapad, "Not a problem. As I said before, I can alter the loop's history that you are in charge of all Necrons by altering the chain of command, but I will need time to make sure I use what little power I brought into this loop is used properly and efficiently. I'm running out of wiggle room to change things here and I need to make sure that my back plans can work if things go south on Ullanor. Magnus, Gabriel I need you two hold them off and Rakszan, I need you to command your army to hold them off from us as well while I get the coding alternated. And no, only your Necron Warriors would do the job, I know you don't want your dynasty's Immortals suffering any losses." Fenrir did not wait for any confirmation from them, already plowing through his datapad, lines of code causing Rakszan to feel physically ill from observing it. Turning his head away, he began to rally his own forces to support the two humans, already prepared to hold the invading forces
As the swarm of Canoptek Scarabs entered the scene, the Necron Warriors and the Primarch of the Thousand Sons and the possible splinter chapter Space Marine of the Thousand Sons were ready to face it with power they could not possibly expect. Emerald energy flash through the air by the Gauss bolts and the melee weapons. Psyker bolts and other out-worldly power flow across the rank of the Scarabs. Behind the defenders' line, ethereal codes flashed and vanished in the blink of the eyes. Rakszan, on the other hand, carefully commanded his Warriors eliminate the offender effectively while keeping the casualty rate in a lower scale.
In return, the Canoptek Scarab swarm used everything they had to disable anything stand on their path. And the number was increasing for every seconds.
Magnus was too busy hitting the hostile Necrons with the pokémon moves he kept from his first fused loop that he failed to notice that he had been spun around as he knocked around foe away. Still in the midst of attack, he was unaware of the fact the next target in the line of fire happened to be a certain giant wolf and necron looper, setting them both on fire.
"ARRRRRRRGHHHHH!" Fenrir roared in pain, dropping the datapad as he dropped to the ground, trying to the put out the flames.
"! # !%$^#&*%^ Mangus the Human, was that you again?!" Rakszan shouted, his processing slightly damaged by the fire he already put out thanks to installing fire dampening attributes when hade had woken up from the long sleep, trying to fire back into the crowd, with his bolts being in flux. "My processing units are now trying to compensate for that raw power your damnable fire just gave me!"
Fenrir, after putting out the flames and ignoring his poor abused tail, gained an idea for how to crack the chain of command. He had been working on the code that would allow him to change the information with his own powers to no avail. But if he used another source, one outside his own, it could probably trick the stubborn code that it was not an Admin doing it but something natural to the loop itself. With that in mind, he yelled at the Daemon-Prince Primarch, "Magnus, I need you to apply low-powered lightning bolt on me between every minutes so I can finish the damn reprogramming. Otherwise, I wouldn't get the command code going!"
Magnus raised an eyebrow, but he decided against arguing with his Admin right now, especially after setting him on fire and singening his tail. Therefore, the weirdest part happened on this battlefield began: the defender was electrocuting the other member of their rank in the middle of the fighting, while the later was focusing on its datapad .
After what felt like an eternity, Fenrir yelled, "Done, now order the Necron to stop!"
Within seconds, all the Necron ceased fire, arms frozen and stood motionless as per order from the highest chain of command, Rakszan. He looked at the two humans and the True God that was shaking his fur out. "It is time to gather our forces and move onto the Final Battle." He spoke, nodding his head as the Necrons began to depart, going forth to the other Tomb Worlds as well as several offering support to Magnus and the other human. Standing beside the True God, Lord Fenrir, he issued one more command. "We march to Ullanor, and we shall support all races present to defend Yggdrasil from the threat of the Tyranid menace." With that, the three loopers and their god walked out of the tomb and into the open sky.
Ezekyle Abaddon, widely known as Abaddon the Despoiler, looked on in mild shock as the Blood God, Khorne, materialized before him. Understanding his Lord would not appear before him personally unless the matter was particularly important, Abaddon listened intently as Khorne succinctly explained that a great force was gathering at Ullanor to meet a Tyranid invasion.
"...and from what I've heard, the Corpse Emperor Himself even got out of his Golden Chair to join the fight. So anyway, I'm going to need you there as well." Khorne finished.
"I understand," Abaddon responded, "I am to meet the Corpse Emperor in combat and slay him. I will gather the Black Legion and depart at once."
"Uhm...actually," Khorne spoke up as Abaddon turned to leave, "I need you there to help him."
Abaddon stumbled upon hearing this.
"I'm sorry," he respectfully responded, "I must have misheard. Why are we to lend assistance to our greatest foe?"
"Well...because..."
At this Khorne trailed off. Dammit, his area of expertise was glorious battle and putting chainaxes to faces, not explanations and diplomacy.
"SLAANESH!" he bellowed, "GET IN HERE!"
"What is it?!" the Prince of Excess hissed, materializing, "I have had a very trying day what with that Vect character and the Eldar, and don't even get me started on that Fulgrim bastar-"
"Yeah, yeah yeah," Khorne interrupted, "Look, I'm going to need your help explaining the situation to Abaddon here: I'm no good at that kind of thing and Nurgle and Tzeentch are both busy with their own stuff."
Slaanesh suddenly became very still at those words. At that moment, both Khorne and Abaddon could swear they heard an audible snap.
Slaanesh's screams of rage echoed throughout the Warp.
The Emperor struggled to maintain an even expression as he watched the Ethereals performing some ceremony to finalize the alliance. The talks had proceeded smoothly after the trapshooting snafu (the Tau wanted to avoid further property damage), but it was truly baffling that they would take the time to draft a full legal document with the threat of universal annihilation hanging over their heads. It was probably just a formality, but the Emperor suspected the Ethereals were simply taking one last opportunity to snub him.
Seeing that the Ethereals had finally finished speaking, the Emperor stood to say his part, the sign the treaty and end this charade. Before he could so much get out of his seat, there was a sudden flash of warpfire and the appearance of an all too familiar and entirely unwelcome visage.
"Hello Emps!" Tzeentch called, "How's it-"
Tzeentch cut off as the sound of several dozen plasma and pulse weapons being primed registered.
He glanced around at his surroundings.
"Uhm...is now a bad time...?"
The Emperor bashed his head against the table.
The private frantically worked the trigger of his lasgun, firing bursts into the densest pockets of Tyranids he could see. When the power pack ran dry, he hastily ejected and took a moment to glance around the battlefield while reaching for a replacement. All around, positions were being overrun, the sheer weight of the Tyranid forces pushing back the defenders. As a general order for all forces to fall back the next perimeter sounded over the vox, he noticed a Carnifex charging in their direction.
Doing some quick mental math, the private came to the sobering realization that the Tyranid would overtake his company long before they could reach safety. At that same moment, it appeared their Captain had reached the same conclusion, drawing his saber and ordering them to affix bayonets: If they were to die, they could at the very least do so while buying their forces just a little more time to fall back and regroup.
As the monster neared their position, the Captain climbed atop the fortifications and roared at it in defiance, the banners of the Imperium and the World Tree still whipping in the air mocking all the threat and danger the monsters possessed. Watching as the Tyranid reared to eviscerate the hapless officer, the private closed his eyes to mutter a quick prayer, an action mirrored by a number of his comrades.
The Imperial Guard had done all they could to hold back the Tyranids. If this was where they fell, then they would make sure that the monsters paid dearly for every last inch of ground.
With a cry echoing the weight of all that was on their shoulders, the private shouted with his comrades, "FOR THE EMPEROR AND YGGDRASIL!"
Magnus stared at the battlefield, currently dominated by the faltering forces of the Imperial Guard that were now being supported by daemons and the scouts of several of various Chaos Space Marine forces. He turned to Gabriel and Rakszan and nodded his head. Bowing his head towards Fenrir who was still working on his datapad, he prepared himself to give a speech as it was often the role of the man in charge.
"I suppose this where we part ways, Fenrir," he started, changing into his Daemon Prince form for the extra power it gave. "I suppose you have some way to comuinica-"
Fenrir let out a bark of laughter, shaking his head. "Parting ways, perhaps, but I am staying here." Tapping the ship with his paw, the mighty wolf shook himself and stood tall, placing the data pad onto his forehead where it vanished. Blinking with strange green eyes-by all things holy, it was coding!- Fenrir looked deep into Magnus' very soul.
"I am many things Magnus: the devourer, the one that will kill Odin in the end, the one whose presence was destined to bring the end of the world, the one would will swallow all of it whole. I am also a single father of two, the second child to the most wonderful and crazy family, and boyfriend of the most beautiful woman I have ever met. I am an Æsir, the nephew of Odin Borson himself. I am an Administrator of several Branches of Yggdrasil, and I will not stay behind when one of my Branches is in the greatest danger any have ever known."
Facing a mighty hoard of Tyranids, he bared his teeth as he lowered his body, his jaw seemingly growing to impossible sizes. "I need not armor nor sword, for I have my fangs and speed. I have yet to fall in any battle I have been in, and this day will not be any different." Howling as he leaped into the Tyranids, slaughtering between his mighty jaws all that were not crushed when he landed. Pointing his head into the sky, he let out a mighty howl that was heard throughout the universe. "I am Fenrir Lokison and this Ragnarok will end with us victorious!"
With a mighty cry echoing Fenrir's, the Imperial Guard pushed back a wave of Tyranids as the sky opened up before them and the Imperium of Man and her new found allies began to rain down onto the planet in drop pods, roks, and all manner of aircraft. The prelude was over: at long last, the true Battle for Ullanor, and Yggdrasil itself, would begin.
TO BE CONTINUED
IN PART THREE OF THE
WARHAMMER 40KRISIS:
THE BATTLE FOR ULLANOR AND YGGDRASIL