-1Journal entry of Brother Lavidean Atar, Ultramarines 6th company.
If a loyal servant of the Emperor is reading this, then it means I have survived long enough to return to the Imperium and record the journal I have diligently kept in my mind. I have found myself aboard a Dark Age vessel surrounded by the STC technology that the Tech priests worship so. I have always viewed Tech Priests and their ilk as straying too far from the path the Emperor laid out for us. They scurry about caring little for his word and more for the machine spirits they tend to, but this is a necessary sin for they allow the Imperium to function. These people are much the same as the Priests, but from what I see of their reactions to the Imperium I suspect they may never fully embrace the Emperor's word.
My ultimate plan is to set these people against as many enemies of the Imperium as possible. When they are at their most distracted I will commandeer a ship and return to Macragge with the most powerful STC technology that can be found.
Just as it was in Millennia past, so shall it be again that the Ultramarines restore Order.
For the Emperor.
+
The small three ship Alpha Fleet flotilla reverted from the Warp in the heart of the Orion Nebula. Even though the nebula was only some three hundred light years from Earth, the flotilla had spent days on their trip there. More than one cargo fleet or group of warships belonging to the Imperium of Man had to be bypassed to avoid detection. The lengthy course corrections were almost beginning to annoy the crew.
Already waiting deep inside the nebula were fifty other ships of the Alpha Fleet. Many of them were four hundred meter long Frigate type starships like Sinite and her escorts, but others were larger and more powerful. The largest were the pair of two kilometer long Manufacturing and Refinery ships. Any remaining ships from the fleet still not present were scouting for potential locations to establish a base of operations.
"Hail the flagship and bring us along side." Instructed Parek as they closed in on the fleet.
Both of the escort ships broke off
and took up positions at the edge of the fleet as Sinite
edged
into position next to the twelve hundred meter long Battle Cruiser
Horatio.
The communications officer spoke up. "Signal from Horatio sir, it's the Admiral."
"Put it on my viewer." replied Parek. Five seconds later a holographic screen faded into view in front of the Captain's chair.
Without preamble the Admiral spoke up. "Captain, were you successful? Did you make contact?"
Parek inhaled deeply before
replying; "No sir, our mission failed-"
"Dammit!"
"-but we have been able to recover information that may
allow us contact."
The older man paused and considered
the young Captain's statement.
"What do you have?" he
asked at length.
"It would be better to brief you in person sir. I'll need teleport landings for a party of five and access to our ship's AI."
"You'll have it. I want you over here within half of an hour Parek."
The screen
winked out then faded away after the Captain tapped a button on the
arm of his chair.
"Bridge to Medbay."
"Montoya
here Captain."
"Get two soldiers and escort Brother
Atar to the main teleporter landing. I'll meet you there. Try to
look somewhat presentable."
Admiral Thorin Saacronal sat at the head of a large oval table that filled much of the briefing room. Behind him was a large viewport that showed the brightly glowing gasses that made up this stellar nursery. The Admiral, who had allowed himself to go bald with age, tossed his data slate onto the table.
"This is a God-damned disaster." he exclaimed. "We can't fight these Tyranid by ourselves. With the help of our other two fleets we could take down perhaps a dozen hive fleets by ourselves but we'd die in the attempt. Our fleets will disappear and that'd still leave more than eighty hive fleets that we know the galaxy's inhabitants cant stand up to. I want options."
"Sir we do have a plan." Parek reminded. "It was down towards the bottom of the page."
The
Admiral picked up the data slate again and paged down.
"...Fleet
grade factory ships and Von Neumann Machines..." Read Thorin out
loud. "These would still require tremendous natural resources
to construct enough ships, let alone crew them. Those sorts of
materials disappearing arn't likely to escape attention." He
looked over at the younger Captain awaiting an answer.
"The man we recovered from a destroyed ship, Brother Atar, mentioned that some worlds have already been stripped clean by Tyranid hive fleets. Not many so far, but enough to build up forces equal to the other return fleets given time."
Saacronal leaned forward in his chair. "Time is something we're going to start running out of rather soon Captain."
"We're still looking at other options sir." Parek raised a communicator to his lips. "Doctor?"
The doors to the briefing room parted
and in walked four others. Three fairly average looking men being
lead by the weathered looking Doctor.
"Admiral this is
Brother Atar." Said Montoya, gesturing to the center most man as
he lead the Space Marine into the room. The Admiral stood and
offered the man a bow which Lavidean returned. The Admiral sat back
down and Atar was given a seat at the opposite end of the table.
Parek resumed the briefing. "Another plan we have started looking at is inserting some of our people into the general population of this existing human Empire. They would be tasked with contacting the 'Tech Preists' whose capital is on Mars and then providing some of our technology to them. We could use this initial 'gift' to open a dialogue with them."
Lavidean spoke up. "The Adeptus Mechanicus builds the majority of all technology in the Imperium. They control the Forge Worlds and have dedicated their very existence to preserving any of the holy relics that contain knowledge. They would be greatly tempted to do nearly anything if you were to provided them with higher level STC weapons and technology. With the lost knowledge you could provide, we could wipe away the enemies of the Imperium in the Emperor's Name! Even the Tyranid would fall before us!"
The Alpha fleet officers looked among each other somewhat nervously.
The Admiral was the first to break the silence. "That's certainly one option worth exploring."
007
