Chapter 34(OB)
"So let me get this straight," Dr AA3 said patiently, "the 3 of you had a dream in which a xenos witch of the deceitful Eldar and a daemon of the chaos god of lies told you a bunch of conspiracy theories?"
"Um..." Seth replied.
"But we all had the same dream," Jen insisted.
"That is unusual but not unheard of, perhaps Seth is a latent psyker and you all got drawn into his dream?" Dr AA3 suggested.
"Wait a minute, I ain't no filthy psyker!" Seth exclaimed.
"You just used a double negative, meaning that you just admitted that you ARE a filthy psyker!" Dr AA3 said with an impatient sigh.
"Don't play that overly literal interpretation game! You know perfectly well that a double negative is merely evidence of poor grammar skills! The dream warned of terrible things!" Jen said crossly.
"I once had a dream that I was drinking gasoline with a baboon. The baboon could talk and told me that 1 plus 1 equals 3, when I woke up, I did not start questioning my arithmetic," Dr AA3 said irritatedly.
"But what if it really came from these creatures? What if what they say is true?" Seth insisted.
"The Eldar are the most deceitful of all the filthy xenos races, and the daemons of Tzeentch are the most deceitful of all the deceitful daemons of the ruinous powers. Both of these things are pathological liars and incapable of telling the whole truth. If they did indeed cause this dream then I would treat their testimony with extreme doubt, these creatures are known liars," Dr AA3 said reasonably.
"What if the spawn of MA7 are indeed coming here sir?" Z8C asked respectfully.
"Latest intelligence places the followers of MA7 somewhere in the Maelstrom, fighting against other heretics. They have absolutely no reason to leave the safety of the Maelstrom to invade this piddling little backwater planet months of warp travel away and in an entirely different Segmentum. What possible reason could make me believe that they would come HERE of all places?" Dr AA3 said persuasively.
"To stop the Eldar ritual?" Jen suggested.
"And apart from having a strange dream, what evidence do you have to corroborate that the Eldar are engaged in some bizarre ritual to kill all Wsuians?" Dr AA3 asked doubtfully.
"What about what the Eldar said about that DNA stuff? Could that be proof?" Seth asked.
"I can put your fears to rest right now then. I know the genome of every line off by heart, and I can categorically state that there is no hidden control gene to be used in some conspiracy theory, just some hacked up useless leftover fragments of DNA from other lines used to fill in the gaps as protective junk DNA as a standard safeguard against mutation, like Wsuioo does with all lines. The 679 line genome is freely published in scientific journals and was extensively reviewed by the Inquisition before Wsuioo was even allowed to export the 679 line. The conspiracy theory is patently nonsense and yet another classic example of racism against S99's! I would be offended but I have encountered so much racism already that I am no longer surprised by it!" Dr AA3 said with a deep sigh.
"Racism? How is it racist?" Seth asked flabbergasted.
"People are willing to believe even the most ridiculous things if it makes an S99 look like a villain. We are the most universally hated Wsuian line, we get constant prejudice and ill will just for being born S99's! It's utterly racist and I am sick and tired of it!" Dr AA3 said sounding sincere.
"But aren't you S99's all evil sociopaths?" Seth asked uncertainly.
"That is about the most offensive way you could have worded that question and is exactly what I am talking about! To answer your question, yes I was born a sociopath, I can't help being born the way I was, I was bred to be able to make difficult decisions without the limitations of a conscience. That doesn't make me automatically evil, just morally independent, I still have my reasoning ability to make sensible decisions, and I still have personal feelings which are currently offended." Dr AA3 said crossly.
"I didn't even want to come to this stupid planet! I didn't work my ass off through medical school just to be conscripted for life into the Imperial Guard! Do you even KNOW how short the life expectancy is for a regimental doctor in the Imperial Guard! I had such great dreams back on Wsuioo, I wanted to work my way up through the ranks of the medical corps on Wsuioo. I wanted to find a cure for the deadly Nurgle's Rot, that's why I went into medicine, I had it all planned out, I was going to work my way up through the ranks until I became head of a medical research division! It was to be my legacy!"
"Now instead of working on a cure for the worst disease in history, I am drafted against my will into the Imperial Guard to just stitch up wounded soldiers and treat ungrateful civilians until I meet my early death in an enemy attack! I will probably be dead in a few years time, and I have to listen to this racist bullshit just for being born an S99! Dr AA3 griped unhappily.
"Oh boo hoo, S99's started the air wars, a third of the people round these parts died in those air wars when you stole everyone's stuff! Of course people hate you lot!" Seth snapped.
"I myself did not order the thefts of civilian property, the Colonel gave the orders not me. It may surprise you to learn that I am a slave too, I don't get paid and don't personally benefit from the looting, I work my ass off treating patients without compensation! I am a DOCTOR not a military officer, I didn't even personally agree with the Colonel's policy of looting for fuck's sake! Do not tar all S99's by the same brush," Dr AA3 protested.
"So you are saying that there definitely is no conspiracy involving hidden control genes in the 679 line genome?" Jen asked.
"Of course that is what I am saying. Think about it logically. If there really WAS a conspiracy, then wouldn't I just kill all 3 of you right now to keep it secret?" Dr AA3 said exasperatedly.
"Oh shit! Are you going to kill us!" Seth exclaimed horrified.
"No moron! I'm not killing anyone! Do you SEE me killing any one right now?! You 3 had a DREAM! It might surprise you to know that Wsuioo doesn't recognise the testimony of dreams as evidence for claims! How stupid are you people!" Dr AA3 shouted at the 3 of them.
"Emperor on his throne you 3 are MORONS!" Dr AA3 added in complete exasperation.
Jen felt a bit foolish by now to be honest.
"I will file a report for the Colonel just in case, and if you like then maybe the Inquisition will want to follow this up as well? Just to be safe?" Dr AA3 suggested.
Seth shook his head frantically and said, "fuck that! I don't want the Inquisition to torture us for information! No need to go that far! The report to the Colonel is enough, just protect my wife and child from the Eldar if it's for real."
"Good, then stop wasting any more of my short life expectancy with this nonsense. We have to keep going, you have already run us late for departure with this nonsense!" Dr AA3 said with an exasperated sigh.
The Doctor stormed off exasperatedly to order his men to get ready for departure, looking for all the world like a man who was exasperated from having to deal with idiots. Z8C said a quick goodbye to Jen and promised to look into the 679 line DNA just in case, before then following after the S99 as he was genetically compelled to. Jen said her goodbyes, still too confused by things to get weepy at his departure, and Seth bid him farewell as well.
Jen then had to stay in the tent with Christopher as no one wanted to miss the interesting spectacle of the blimps flying away. Jen knew that it was a woman's place to mind the babies while the men watched the interesting events, and she dutifully missed the entire spectacle of the blimps flying away. The blimps were extremely loud, and blew a lot of air into the shed, but Jen didn't catch more than a glimpse of gasbag above the tall sandbags outside the shed door.
Jen had so much on her mind, but as always, her duties as a woman came first.
***...
Jen and Seth were extremely confused about what story to believe as they told the entire account to the people of the town. This confusion was amplified in the people who heard the account, and was quickly distorted in details until it bore little resemblance to actual events.
"So the S99's are working with daemons to fight the Eldar?" Goldie asked.
"No I think that the Eldar are working with the daemons," Keith Anderson corrected.
"No, the S99's think that it's just a weird dream," Seth corrected.
This generated fresh discussion until Jen wanted to scream at all the confusion. Why was this story so hard to get right?
"So who exactly are these daemonic Wsuians?" Bobbie Plowman asked.
"I'm not sure, do you know anything about them?" Seth asked Jen.
"I do husband, but it is an unspeakable shame to all Wsuians that is never spoken about in polite conversation." Jen said with deep shame.
"Tell us about them," Seth asked.
"Yes husband," Jen said obediently and steeled herself to begin the shameful tale.
"The heretics in question are an organisation known as the Sevenson Cartel, a rogue Wsuian Cartel syndicate sworn to the forces of chaos. They are traitors to Wsuioo, and Wsuioo has placed a massive bounty on the heads of every member of this blasphemous criminal organisation."
"The Sevenson Cartel are known associates of the Night Lords traitor legion, and many of the male Cartel members have been turned into Night Lords chaos space marines. It is so shameful for a Wsuian to become a chaos space marine! Sorry I can't go on!" Jen said, bursting into tears of shame for her people.
Jen was so ashamed, but Seth soothed her into continuing the account.
"They are all the children or descendants of a 1 line worker model kidnapped by the forces of chaos called MA7, that's why they are called Sevenson, they are the sons of MA7. MA7 is a vile traitor who worships the vile chaos god Slaanesh, she is a whore to the forces of chaos. She found some unholy way to reverse her 1 line worker model infertility, and became able to bear children. Rumour is that she had unholy orgies with depraved men of chaos, and bore many many children to these villains."
"She had so many children. Her sons became Night Lords, I don't know how, and her daughters became chaos whores who had yet more sons to become Night Lords. Oh husband this is so shameful to even speak of!"
"It's ok Jen, we don't need to know all the horrible details. Tell us about this TigerLily," Seth urged reassuringly.
"Yes husband. TigerLily is not a Wsuian, but is a known associate of the Sevenson Cartel. She is a chaos witch of terrible power who serves the Sevenson Cartel, and is the personal psychic enforcer of her master, a very dangerous Cartel member known as Luke Sevenson." Jen explained with a shudder.
"She said that someone called Luke was her husband and had gotten her pregnant 13 times?" Seth asked gently.
"Well I wasn't told about the personal aspects of the lives of these heretics. I wasn't even sure if space marines could father children?" Jen admitted uncertainly.
"I guess that even chaos men take wives? If this TigerLily and this Luke are already thick as thieves together then it's not that big of a stretch to imagine that they fuck," Seth suggested.
"She said that she was coming here to protect her kids from the Eldar," Seth prompted.
"I don't know much about TigerLily to be honest. In the stories she was always only mentioned in relation to the Cartel Members as a minor side character in the stories. I know very little about her life. I know that she is a follower of Tzeentch and a gamma level psyker, I know that she is always connected to her master Luke Sevenson in the stories, and is his servant." Jen explained.
"So is she a witch or a daemon?" Bobbie Plowman asked fearfully, making superstitious gestures as he did so.
"In the stories she is a witch of Tzeentch." Jen said uncomfortably.
"The thing in the dream said that she became a daemon very recently," Seth remembered.
"I guess it's possible, I don't know much about her." Jen allowed.
"Ok, so assuming that this is her in the dream, and assuming that this Luke has fucked her lots of times and gotten her pregnant, would that make her kids Wsuian?" Seth asked.
"Yes husband, if Luke is indeed the father then those kids would be part Wsuian. Luke is the son of MA7, and MA7 is a 1 line worker model," Jen explained.
"Doesn't that mean that this Luke and his mother would have to obey an S99?" Seth asked suspiciously.
"Yes husband, that is why the Sevenson Cartel members themselves never attack Wsuioo or other planets with known S99's on the planet. They are very very cautious about where they raid, because the moment they encountered an S99 they would be compelled to obey him and would be finished. They are cowards who use non-Wsuian servants like TigerLily to strike at Wsuian targets." Jen agreed.
"So then they WOULD send TigerLily to a place like 1D8V-44?!" Seth said in alarm.
"Yes husband, TigerLily and other dread servants of the Sevenson Cartel would be dispatched to hit a planet with a lot of S99's like 1D8V-44 on behalf of their Cartel masters. But without the direct support of the Sevenson Cartel Night Lord Chaos Space Marines, these sort of attacks are always limited in scope. The Imperial Guard forces on 1D8V-44 would be able to handle them until the reenforcement regiments arrived a month from now, at least so long as they don't call on any allied chaos space marine warbands to help them," Jen said with what hope she dared.
"What would happen if these heretics invaded?" Seth asked apprehensively.
"They would probably just steal heroin and then run away before the Imperial Guard caught them. They are a criminal cartel, they fight only for material gain. They are never interested in grand schemes of domination, they are pirates who fight for wealth." Jen explained.
"What do we do?" Seth asked in alarm.
"Hopefully they won't hit us at all. Dr AA3 is right in pointing out how far away we are from their usual hunting grounds. They mostly hang around the eastern border of the Segmentum Solar where it joins the Ultima Segmentum. They almost never go this far west, it's too close to Wsuioo. The only reason they would come here is to steal heroin, unless the Eldar really are up to something that harms them," Jen explained.
"So this Sevenson Cartel deals in drugs? Are they a drug cartel?" Joe Plowman clarified.
"They are opportunistic pirates and heavily involved black marketeers. They do dabble a bit in the Necromundan Spook trade as their primary drug trafficking endeavour, but drugs have always been a very small part of their total criminal business enterprises. Mostly they make their money from selling gold, precious metals, metal ores, and other bulk commodities to the black market without paying imperial tariffs or other taxes. They funnel wealth between the daemon worlds of the Maelstrom and criminal elements of the imperium of man." Jen began.
"Dodgy imperial traders buy the gold and other commodities from the Sevenson Cartel much cheaper than from imperial mining worlds that have to pay taxes, and the traders then double their profits reselling this black market material to legitimate buyers with the aid of falsified first sale paperwork. It's a massive interplanetary tax avoidance scam that costs the Imperium quadrillions of credits worth of lost tariffs," Jen explained unhappily.
"Where do they get the gold?" Joe asked curiously.
"From the daemon worlds in and around the Maelstrom. Heretics, mutants, and traitors use slave labor to mine the daemon worlds for anything of value and sell it to the Sevenson Cartel very cheaply in exchange for imperial items from the black market. The Sevenson Cartel themselves control a number of mineral rich daemon worlds that they mine themselves with legions of slaves. They are a two way funnel for black market contraband both into and out of the Maelstrom." Jen explained.
"So they are unlikely to attack 1D8V-44 to steal heroin?" Joe pressed.
"They are not above opportunistic raids against isolated planets if they happen to already be in the area, but they wouldn't go this far out of their way just to raid 1D8V-44, it's not their style. It is possible that some business dealings brought one of their warships to do business in a much more important planet in the sector, and 1D8V-44 is just a target of opportunity along the way, but why warn us they are coming first? It's very strange," Jen admitted.
"But if they knew that an Eldar witch was trying to wipe out all Wsuians?" Seth suggested.
"They would then simply nuke the planet 1D8V-44 to oblivion without pause if they thought that it was the site of some threat against them. They wouldn't warn us, we would just be nuked without warning from orbit," Jen said puzzled.
"Then why did they say they are coming?" Seth asked.
"There is a very simple answer husband, daemons lie. It is also still possible that it was indeed just an extremely bizarre dream. Until Z8C looks at the 679 line DNA to confirm about the hidden control gene, we have no evidence that this was more than a strange dream. If we get more dreams then maybe that would be evidence, but at the moment we have no proof," Jen suggested humbly.
"So we should do nothing?" Seth asked.
"I will do anything you like husband. In this case I am not sure what we can do at any rate. We are civilians in an isolated farm town, we have no control over events. We just grow crops and never leave the farm, come what may, it's not a fight we will be fighting in. We are civilian farmers," Jen pointed out humbly.
This generated a lot of murmurs.
"So let's hear all the facts and details again, I'm still confused about so many things," Seth requested.
"Yes husband," Jen said obediently.
***...
The town was on edge but the dreams did not return that night. Nor did they return the nights after that. The townspeople all kept dream diaries, but TigerLily and Aliriel were absent from every dream in the town, not counting obviously normal natural dreams about these two that were so different in details and focus from the original dream that they could be safely disregarded as just normal dreams.
The longer it went on, the more it seemed that it was just a dream. Z8C had been keeping in touch by radio and had so far been unable to locate a hidden control gene anywhere in the artificial chromosomes. The areas of junk DNA between the genes were apparently quite large, and it would take a lot of work to check the entire code, but so far it all looked perfectly innocent. Maybe it was just a dream?
The days went by, and absolutely nothing happened. The plants grew, the baby cried, the farm work continued, and everything was extremely ordinary and unthreatening. Slowly they all relaxed.
The air got drier and drier over time, and the autumn season was in full swing. Some days it rained, most days it didn't, the days were extremely hot, and the soil got dry. It was exactly like the weather when Jen first arrived on 1D8V-44, the local equivalent of nice weather.
It was all so comfortingly normal.
***...
Two extremely normal and unexceptional months passed without incident. Jen was a cheerful doormat to her husband Seth, Seth tried unsuccessfully to get her to stop being a human doormat to him, the baby cried at inconvenient times like the middle of the night, and everyone went about their lives.
The bliss grass from the abandoned farms was all completely stripped away now, and the drug lab workload was far more leisurely as they had less bliss grass to work with.
In wider 1D8V-44 news, the 5 additional regiments of Imperial Guard had arrived over a month ago as promised and were making slow but steady progress in capturing ground from the Eldar invaders on Continent One. The other continents were more problematic to reclaim, as the Eldar aircraft kept sinking troop transport boats that tried to reach the other continents.
On Continent One at least, Imperial victory was certain, it was just a matter of time.
The townspeople barely saw any evidence that the war was still even going on anymore these days. The nearest front lines were now hundreds of miles away, and even the sound of the fighting didn't carry this far. The nights were no longer lit by explosions and gunfire, and apart from the occasional convoy of Wsuian supply blimps, they saw no sign of the military at all.
The official radio news about the war effort was limited for military information security reasons, but the unofficial radio gossip on private frequencies told of a methodical advance with moderate imperial casualties. The Eldar air superiority was the main cause of the casualties, the cowardly xenos almost never fought on the ground, content to fight most engagements with high altitude bombing runs.
The Wsuian 302nd Light Infantry Regiment was acting in a support role according to snippets of radio gossip, providing logistical support for the 5 other regiments, and fortifying captured ground with crude locally made antiaircraft gun emplacements to grant some measure of protection against the Eldar aircraft.
The civilian farmers were not privy to the more strategic level military information, having nothing more than gossip from civilian witnesses to know how the fighting was unfolding. Z8C would be privy to this information, but he never discussed military information over a radio as a matter of principle, as the enemy might be listening.
Z8C had hinted to Jen over the radio that Colonel A1A was less than pleased with the news from Dr AA3's dream report, specifically the bit that mentioned that Z8C had been telling Jen and Seth the sensitive military information he had shared face to face with them already during the blimp visit, and Z8C had hinted that he was being punished somehow, but hadn't said anything more specific than some vague hints.
Z8C was still alive, and still roaming around in blimps for Wsuian business. He radioed Jen and various other people from the blimps during flight, and was obviously very busy. He had spent 40 years on 1D8V-44 building relationships with people and getting a good reputation, meaning that he couldn't be simply killed and replaced. Killing Z8C would be disruptive and counterproductive to Wsuian business interests on 1D8V-44, meaning that Colonel A1A couldn't afford to simply execute Z8C for blabbing about military information. It had saved Z8C's life.
Life was just going on as normal, it was weird just how normal it was.
It was normal right up until it suddenly wasn't. A radio announcement from the space port came, and suddenly life changed.
***...