Chapter 2: Politicians, Warmasters and Plots…Oh My!
EAS Farragut: Sol:
It had been
two days since First contact with the "Imperium" and at this
moment the President, several generals, and a number of senators were
coming up to Admiral Jameson's flagship. From here they would
travel to the Fist of Horus and meet the three highest ranking
officers of this fleet: The Warmaster Horus, Lord Magnus the Red and
High Magos Talus. The most recent reports from both Psicorps and
naval intelligence were troubling. Naval intelligence estimated that
any single one of those ships could blast Jameson's entire fleet to
hell and back, and those estimates had only gotten worse when the
other of the massive Primarch class battlebarges, the Sword of
Prospero, had run a system check and activated huge "shields",
shields had been considered a total impossibility by every Earthforce
scientist out there. After the shields had come online the Earthforce
sensors hadn't been able to detect anything other then a void, but
what worried him most was the omega level report filed by the
Psicorps, it had only three words: No information obtained.
That meant that something or someone on those vessels had teep
powers, powers strong enough to protect 50 ships, and everyone,
especially Psicorps, hoped it was the former.
What the good Admiral didn't know was that onboard those ships were two of the most powerful beings in any galaxy, as well as a literal legion of high level telepaths and telekinetics, known throughout the Imperium as the Thousand Sons.
Thousand Sons Flagship, IBB Spear
of Prospero, Sol:
Magnus the Red sat brooding in the
command centre of the Sword. Normally this room was only used
during planetary assaults to coordinate attacks, but it seemed this
Terra had decided to use its Psykers to obtain information about the
fleet. That initiative had been neutralized very quickly, since the
most powerful psyker this Earth seemed to have was barely theta
level. "Pathetic", thought the Primarch. The weakest of the
Thousand Sons psykers was delta level, orders higher then Theta. So
now he sat listening to his Captains outlining defence plans against
psyker assault by Terra.
Truly the fates were testing their resolve, for now he was to shuttle over to the Fist to meet the President and dignitaries of this "Earth Alliance". His brother had outlined a parade reception for the visitors. It would apparently be one hell of a show since his brother had requested that Magnus bring the entire 1st Company, which of course included 120 Terminators. He had also heard Horus request that the High Magos bring the two Warhounds currently on his vessel. Magnus the Red smiled lightly and hoped the Terran dignitaries were not faint of heart...
2 hours later: Fist of Horus: Sol
As the six Earth Alliance Marines stepped out of the shuttle to make bodyguards for the President, the Admiral and the senators, they realized quickly that any form of fighting would be over before it had a chance to begin. The shuttle was parked between two of the largest pairs of legs any one of the marines had ever seen, legs that belonged to a pair of Warhound Scout titans
"Astartes of the Luna Wolves and Thousand Sons of the Warships Sword of Prospero and Fist of Horus!" A voice rang from above. "ATTENTION!"
The 10 figures stopped in their tracks.
Thousands of silver-grey and blood-red armoured men stood in serried lines of hundreds on both sides of the Earth Alliance delegation. The huge figures in the first line of each side suddenly drew large swords, half of them flickering with ghostly blue light, and slammed the blades tip first into the deckplates. The sound of this action travelled the hangar like a roiling explosion. As one the first line knelt while the second line stepped forth, lifting huge eight barrelled rotary cannons into 45 degree position, creating a semi arch of deadly power down the waiting Lords.
Comoros told himself that the chill running down his spine was due to the couple of degrees of temperature difference between the Farragut's shuttle and the hangar bay of the Fist, not his sudden case of cold sweats.
The path of metal lead through the middle of the arch, off towards the gigantic gleaming winged skull mounted on the wall ahead. The wings alone on the emblem must have measured at least 30 feet each, around which hung four large banners. The first depicted a large wolf's head biting a crescent moon, the second a huge emerald green eye trimmed with gold on a blood red background, the third banner depicting a two tone black and bone yellow skull on what appeared to be a cog, but the final banner, hung directly above the skull, caught the eyes of the EA humans. It depicted a huge golden double-headed eagle with its wings flared above Earth on a backdrop of the Galaxy. A line of text stood in bold two foot high letters below the skull, reading In Nomine Humanitas.
Senator Cole's reaction was by far the most succinct, Comoros thought, with his low muttered prayer summing up the little group's sentiments. "Please God, let them be friendly."
"Looks like they want us to walk boys," Admiral Jameson pointed out.
The group started walking, Comoros acknowledging that the blatant attempt at intimidation was working very well. There was something daunting, something gigantic and terrifying about it, which awoke something akin to primal fear in every one of the humans making the walk towards the three armoured figures in the distance.
The presence of the large number of obviously armed men was oppressive, and stifled any conversation within the Alliance ranks.
For the last dozen metres, the arch of heavy weapons gave way to huge, heavily-armoured eight to nine foot armoured Giants, one the marines could be heard muttering about "walking tanks". Comoros took as much in as he could without looking directly at anything or moving his eyes. He could feel the gaze of the huge armoured men upon him, and as he approached the three standing in front of him, now looking far taller, wider and more imposing than the rest of the Astartes, even the "walking tanks" had on the way through the ranks. In fact, more than that, two of them were huge, easily nine or ten feet tall. It took all his political training not to stare at the red armoured figure, a Cyclops, myth become real.
"On behalf of the Imperium of Man, welcome to the Fist of Horus, President Comoros," the figure in immaculate grey armour spoke.
"On behalf of the Earth Alliance, I thank you, Warmaster."
"Allow me to introduce to you my brother, Magnus of the Thousand Sons."
The President's gaze drifted to the massive Cyclops. His single eye appeared to see straight into the President's soul. He bowed his head but remained silent.
"I believe we have much to discuss President Comoros," Horus said, casting a disapproving look towards Magnus. "Please, follow me."
As the President and the two Primarchs headed off the rest of the marines received permission to disperse. As the bay emptied, one figure remained.
…
High Magos Talus was a very unusual man, even for one of the Omnissiah's own; he was a Tech priest with only one bionic replacement, an arm. Still, he wielded huge powers over the Manufactorums of Mars and Forgeworlds throughout the Imperium. But now he was not just a man with great power now. Now the sum total of the Adeptus Mechanicus rested within the Sword of Mars. His devotion to the Omnissiah was being tested, but he would prevail. These alternate humans would swiftly agree to the proposals laid out by the Warmaster, and the Imperium would start anew in this place.
He had already spoken with the two primarchs and they had given him assurances that once the Earth Alliance had seen the Emperor's Light and joined the Imperium, Mars would once again belong to the Adeptus Mechanicus.
He called one of his attendants, a Techmarine turned priest, and the man known as Menjus was instantly at his side and had begun taking notes about what was to be prioritized when they reached their red world.
President Ilja Comoros was having a very good day. After several hours of talks it seemed these Primarchs, as they were known, wanted to ally with the EA and not just conquer them as most of the military feared.
But their story was incredible! This Emperor of theirs, a literal god that had walked the Earth since before Christ. The two Primarchs were his sons, demigods easily. It was all so incredible. Now he just had get approval for sanctuary by Earthdome, but that was a mere technicality. Soon Earth would be in space, not just in Sol.
Terra: Geneva: Switzerland
A group of the 20 most powerful people on Earth sealed their cabal. The alien ships of this Imperium, along with any crew belonging to that fleet, would never be granted sanctuary on their Earth. It was theirs since at that very moment troops loyal to the cabal was taking Earthdome and seizing the planet's governing body, as well as over half of the ships surrounding the Astartes fleet. Earth belonged to them and no Xeno would put its feet on Terran soil. Bureau 13 would see to that. Activating a hidden explosive, they watched as the President's shuttle exploded in space.
The Senators had all heard about the disgusting Xeno Warships, but none of them had believed it and that would be their undoing, because nobody could build ships that massive, could they?.