Controller
Chapter 2
Manipulator
Okay, time to review the situation…
Jonathan had teleported into the middle of a forest on Typhon Primaris, gotten control of the Tyranids, discovered he could turn things invisible, and had also realized that none of that would help him if a bunch of Imperial warships jumped in and bombarded the shit out of the planet.
Good, that was the situation…now he really needed a way off the dang rock.
He sat down on a wet log, thinking. Several Tyranids had shown up as he sat there, forming a circle around him and facing outward. He recognized Warriors, Raveners, and Termagants among them. Only the Hive Lord continued to look at him steadily.
Finding a large ship was out of the question, he doubted there were any within light years of Typhon, aside from the Exterminatus fleet.
The Hive Lord stirred, grabbing Jon's attention. It turned slowly, facing away and pointing a claw.
Wait…there was a ship here? The Tyranid merely looked back at him, returning to its original position.
The teen stood and gestured forward.
"Lead the way."
Jonathan palmed his face with a sigh. How had he forgotten about the Teleportarium? How many times had he beaten the campaign in Dawn of War 2: Retribution? Yet he still forgot about it!
The blocky pyramid stood over the harsh forest and alien ruins. Apparently the uprising by the Lost and Damned had not happened yet. That was good. There was no way they could withstand a Baneblade...
...Maybe he should take that back. It could be possible.
A lot more Tyranids had met up with the teen, the Hive Lord, and the entourage that followed them. Venoms, more Warriors, Raveners, and even a couple Lictors had come. More than likely, even more were waiting near the Teleportarium. Of course, not all of the 'nids on the entire planet could meet, but that was irrelevant with the Hive Mind. Losses meant little to the Tyranids, so the losses to the Exterminatus would be inconsequential.
Here's hoping he could figure the damned thing out...No way he wanted to end up on the Judgement of Carrion.
Slowly, cautiously, the teen walked forward into the softly glowing doorway of the pyramidal structure. The host behind him followed, soon becoming a chorus of clawed clicks against the floor.
"Cool," Jon said as he looked around. The walls were gray and boring, but conduits of slowly pulsing blue light wound their way across them.
"Now just to-" he began, interrupted by a bright flash.
The blue light disappeared immediately, revealing what looked like an elaborate throne room. After a moment, seeing open space through a console before him, he realized that it wasn't a throne room at all, but rather the bridge of a warship.
Turning around, a remarkable sight met his eyes. Tyranids stabbed, slashed, and shot at a desperate group of Guardsmen, who fired back with panicked expressions and autopistols. The only thing odd about it was that both sides were frozen.
Jonathan spun slowly, scanning the room with growing suspicion. His footsteps echoed, and similar sights met his eyes wherever he looked. Commissars were in mid bark, Guardsmen giving frozen yells as they stabbed with a bayonet or shot at close range with their rifles or pistols.
The teen had no idea how to work a Teleportarium, so it certainly hadn't been activated by him, nor had time been frozen by him. Both had to have been done by an outside force.
Then he saw something certainly not natural for the scene. A Space Marine was standing in the corner, his arms folded across his thick chest; not something an Astartes would do in this situation.
Then the soldier moved his head, looking at the boy.
"You aren't a Space Marine, are you?" Jonathan asked, fully expecting that.
"No," he said simply in a warbled voice, an effect produced by his helmet-borne vox. But his voice sounded oddly...familiar.
With merely a pair of strides, the not-Astartes stepped out of the shadowy corner of the bridge, revealing a blood red suit of ceramite armor. Purity seals hung from the edges of the shoulder pouldrons, and his helm glared with glowing green eyepieces.
"Then what are you?" Jon asked, frowning. "And why did you send me here?"
The Marine cocked his head slightly.
"Sending you here was not my doing," he said. "Though I did freeze time, but that was for your sake."
"Oook," Jonathan intoned, confused now. "If you didn't activate the teleporter, who did?"
"Simple," the far taller man said with a shrug. "You did, without realizing it."
The teen did not say anything to this. He was starting to go into overload. As though it was not enough to be thrown into a video game universe, he found out that he was controlling the Tyranids, and now some being that imitated a Blood Raven was telling him that he had some other type of power too, something besides turning stuff invisible.
The Marine chuckled.
"What other type of person can do these things, in this universe?" he asked, amused. Great, he could read minds?
"A psyker," Jon said automatically. "It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that out. I had an inkling of that from the very beginning."
"Ah, but you are much more...unique," the Marine continued, holding up a hand to stop the teen from continuing. "You will find that many things are open for you that you never knew. I suggest you experiment with what you can do. As I'm sure you know by now, things happen in this universe that no one expects, including to those who do not originate from it."
"Whoa, hold on a sec, here!" Jon exclaimed, seeing the Marine turn around and begin to walk away. "That's all you're gonna say? 'Experiment,' that's it? No explanation, no reason I was brought here, nothing?"
"Correct," the being stated, continuing to walk.
"Could I at least know your name?" he shouted, but it was too late. The being disappeared, though the scene remained frozen.
Oh, joy. So he knows he has power, but how much? What can he (or can't he) do? What the heck would happen if he tried something that he couldn't do.
Ok, calm down. Panicking isn't going to help. So calm down, and review the situation.
Well, for one, the bridge was still frozen. That meant one of two things: either the being was still around somehow, watching, or he had queued it to Jonathan. It seemed likely that the latter was the case, since he had left without explanation, leaving him here.
Let's see, the guy had said that Jon had power. From what he had seen, psyker powers seemed to revolve around a certain theme. So far, everything he had done demonstrated control somehow: controlling visibility, the Tyranids, and (he assumed, though it was hard to be sure) time. Were machines exempt from this? He did need a ship, after all...for what, not even he knew, at least not beyond being able to move. Staying put in this universe seemed to invite disaster. Maybe he could control the ship, and then "control" the position of the Guardsmen on board, sending them someplace other than here.
Damn, did that sound far-fetched. Then again, the fake Blood Raven guy told him to experiment. Sure, Jonathan had no reason to trust him...but he also had nothing else he could do. Merely turning invisible wouldn't help much.
The teen walked over to a console, lightly touching it with his hand. Almost immediately, he felt...something. He wasn't sure what. It seemed almost like the ship was reaching to him, wanting something.
Guidance?
The word reverberated through Jonathan's head like a ringing gong. Had the ship said that? Could it (or would it) respond to his thoughts? He hoped it wouldn't be the way it was with the Tyranids. Mute followers were what he did not need.
We will follow, give us a command.
...Was the ship sentient?
In a sense. We are the spirit of this body. The...enginseers within this body understand us only in a minimal sense. We have waited for long, far too long, to feel this presence. What are you?
"I wish I knew," Jon said with a wry smile, hoping that the thing would still be able to respond.
We would help if we could, but we only feel...instincts of you. We know some things about you, but not by our own knowledge. It is as though we were constructed to follow you.
"Helpful," the teen said sarcastically.
We are sorry that no further help can be offered. If we discover something, we shall alert you. For now, may we know your name, that we may know who we serve?
"Jonathan," the teen responded, blinking with surprise. "But isn't this a little sudden? I mean, I just contact you and you're dedicating yourself to follow my orders?"
As we said before, it is instinctual. We sense something in you...We cannot explain it, only that we know that you are of great importance.
"Great, more questions," Jon said with a groan. "Do you have a name, at least?"
We do, but it was given to us by these other humans...
The ship seemed to pause.
Strange, we have never been able to experience dislike for them, but now we do. They are not evil, but they possess so many flaws, it is hard to recognize that we did not notice them before...but anyway, they gave us the name Battle Barge Luminous Ascension. Though you may rename us, if you so wish to do so.
"Too much to think about, right now, Luminous," Jon said, letting go of the console to rub his temples, looking around as he did so. "What are you being used for, anyway? I don't exactly want to take you without notice or anything, if you're vital to defend a planet or something."
Defend? the ship scoffed. We are being sent to destroy. In less than an hour's time, our Lord Admiral will order us to jump into a place called subsector Aurelia. There, we are to eradicate all life upon the entire area.
"The Exterminatus fleet, how ironic." Had this happened earlier, he would have had a much different reaction. But all of the excitement in the last few hours were sort of numbing to Jonathan.
"Well, that settles it, I'm taking you. Now I just need to decide how to take care of the Guardsmen..."
There is a nearby Battleship, the ship intoned. It is one of the fleet's main ammunition carriers. Assuming that you have teleportation abilities, which we believe you do, you may be able to procure the supplies for us, and transport the men inside. We will not need any crew, our communication with you will provide everything necessary to replace them.
"That sounds good," Jon answered, his lips beginning to curve into a grin. Finally things were starting to work out in a way that made any sort of sense. Then the smile froze like the bridge around him.
"If time's frozen, then how are you still able to talk?"
We do not know. The first thing that we perceived was the sudden mass of Tyranid forms aboard us. Then, the next was your mind touching ours in the midst of it, and everything was frozen. Perhaps it was your mind that allowed us to be unfrozen.
Well, that was nice to know. Ok, no more procrastinating. It had to be done sometime.
Jonathan focused his thoughts. If this was anything like the invisibility trick he had done earlier, he only needed to think about it to make it so, and not much actual concentration.
In an instant, there was a chorus of growls, clacking claws, and splattering acid. Then it all halted, and all the Tyranids looked intently at the teen. All of the Guardsmen were gone.
The humans have been offloaded and supplies fill the holds, the ship said, now sounding a bit urgent. I am monitoring vox transmissions fleetwide. It will only be a matter of minutes until they realize that one of their Battle Barges has been hijacked. Considering that it will be an entire fleet against one ship, I do not see the outcome as being very positive.
Oh shit, that could be a problem.
"Crap, we gotta move!" Jonathan shouted looking around frantically for a second, then realizing that he didn't have to do anything. "How soon can you make a Warp jump?"
Now.
The teen flew from his feet as Tyranid claws desperately scraped at the metal floor, trying to find purchase. His head smacked the floor, knocking him senseless for a few moments.
When he came to, he was greeted with the sight of a Hormagaunt sitting on his chest, staring into his eyes. Other Tyranid forms crowded around him, looking down at him.
"Alright alright, I'm fine," Jon said. The 'nids backed off, and Jon picked up the hormagaunt, tucking it under his arm as one would a small dog.
"Bit rough there, Luminous," he said, setting down the gaunt.
Our apologies, Jonathan. It could not be helped, given the situation.
"Ah well, no real harm done," the teen responded with a shrug. "Where are we going, anyway?"
Now checking Astronomican charts...hmm, ironic. We were forced to jump straight forward, given the time constraints and the lack of maneuvering room. Barring any major in-flight maneuvers, we will arrive in subsector Aurelia within a week and a half.
A week and a half? That seemed a bit long...maybe it's time for another experiment.
The ship's response was immediate.
Jonathan...did you do something?
"Yeah," he said. "Why do you ask?"
The entire area before us, the path leading to the subsector, has become clear. I have never seen the Warp array itself in such a stream before.
"Really? Sounds cool to me."
The ship paused again. When it continued, it's voice seemed to hold a note of apprehension in it.
I fear that you do not understand the gravity of this situation. First, you teleported hundreds of Guardsmen and tons of equipment simultaneously. Then, you were able to clear a steady stream through hundreds of light years of the Warp, a dimension that abhors and resists order of any type. Though you did both in the span of less than two minutes, you do not show the slightest sign of fatigue. Nor did either stunt appear to require more than an offshooting thought.
Oh, yeah...that certainly put things in perspective...
"Then, that means..." Jonathan began.
You are powerful, the ship said. More powerful than any human we have yet encountered. Perhaps powerful enough to resolve some of the Imperium's greater problems that would otherwise require hundreds, even thousands or millions, to do the same.
"I suggest you experiment..."
The words said by the fake Marine flowed through his mind.
"...things happen in this universe that no one expects..."
Aw hell, why not? It's not like he could go into this any more blind.
"Luminous, I think we should continue on to the subsector. It's time I did a few more...experiments..."
A/N: Hey ho, readers!
...Ok, I'll say it now. I realize that this story seems to be going WAY too fast, but there is a reason (though it is partially my own incompetence with story beginnings). As for those wondering as to who the random false Blood Raven is...all in good time, my friends.
Again, I apologize for how fast the story seems to be going, but the sudden rapid emergence of Jonathan's powers, the origins of Luminous Ascension's sentience, and said teen's control of the Tyranids will be revealed in due time.
Reads and reviews are welcome.