Chapter 6
Epilogue
Great explosions illuminated the night sky in a multitude of colours. Spot lights exploded forth from the ramparts of the Imperial palace in their thousands, reaching up and hitting off the dull hulls of hundreds of starships. On the ground millions of human forms surrounded the palace, dancing and laughing in the twilight.
Besides the death and destruction visited upon them by the Necron a month ago the people were joyous, they had been celebrating ever since news of the Emperors return. This celebration did not just take place in the Sol system, every inhabited system of the inner planets had heard the news, and across the galaxy people were rejoicing. But for the outer systems it would be months, possibly years before this news reached them, still the celebrations would begin anew.
Crowds of people covered the courtyards and plazas of the palace, drunk in celebration of their resurrected leader. Bands played ancient ballads written by great artists of the Imperium. Stalls were erected to provide the celebrating masses with food and drink. Fireworks of untold number dotted the darkening sky with flashes of multicoloured light. In orbit cruisers and other capital-ships were firing their main guns in salute for the Emperor and his Primarchs.
The Emperor was too busy for such celebration. In many ways he did not expect such a welcome. He had never viewed himself as a god. He had often tried to dispel such references in the years leading up to the Great Crusade. But it was while imprisoned in the golden throne that he made a very real assumption. Humanity needed something to believe in. They needed to believe in a power higher than themselves. If they did not, then humanity would have died out long ago through self destruction.
The Emperor accepted this, but it didn't have to mean that he liked it. He was no god. He had never viewed himself as such. A god was a being who created life, a being that would blink and a million years would go by. A god would be a being who could wipe out the Chaos gods, the C'tan, the Tyranids, even the Sith in a single wave of his…or her hand.
He was no god.
But the people saw him this way, and trying to deny it would only make their belief stronger.
So he began what he knew he should, he began preparations to bring the Imperium back to dominance. There would be a number of reforms within his empires superstructure, the powers of the inquisition and the Ecclesiarch had to be reduced, the military needed to be given more say in their own campaigns, without inquisitors or cardinals being able to override them.
The Adeptus Mechanicus had taken serious casualties in the brief civil war which engulfed their order. The Martian shipyards and industrial complexes had taken grave damage and would take at least four months to repair, as well as all the buried knowledge which was probably destroyed. Terra herself had suffered an orbital bombardment which cost several city sized areas and ended with the deaths of hundreds of thousands, possibly millions of innocent people. The defences of the homeworld had taken serious punishment not inflicted in ten thousand years. It would take time for the centre of Imperial power to resurrect itself.
Technologies needed to be inaugurated into his empire, not just for military needs but also for economic purposes. Trade and technology agreements needed to be made with other empires, particularly their closest rivals, the GFFA. The Emperor was interested in not just their superior fighters and powerful shields, but also in their galactic communication system, the Holonet and their hyperdrive engines.
With these new technologies the entire Imperium could keep in contact with each other, worlds could send distress signals via a holonet which would reach the nearest military system in mere minutes and with hyperdrives large enough forces could be mustered and sent in a fraction of the time they could now. In short with these technologies the Imperium would be unstoppable. And with strong allies she would be invincible.
The Imperium already had a ceasefire agreement with the Tau. He was willing to turn this ceasefire into a proper peace with trade agreements to strengthen the surrounding sectors and a defensive alliance to help protect each other from the approaching shadow of the Tyranid hive-fleets and the constant threat of the scattered Ork empires. The Tau Empire was known for being logical, so he was certain that they would agree.
The Eldar were another matter, unlike the Tau they were the scattered remnants of a powerful empire, their trickery and suspicion was well known. The smaller Craftworlds would probably be more than happy to except peace, as well as severely weakened ones like Lyundan. It was the bigger ones he was worried about. Ulthwe was where the idea of the Eldar being deceitful came from. Others like Biel-Tan and Saim-Hann were the reason why the Imperium considered the Eldar dangerous and warlike.
In order to try and bring all this together the Emperor knew that the fledgling Galactic Coalition was crucial. Sure it was made out of necessity to combat the forces of Chaos in Corusca but it needed to remain. His military had already broadcast their discomfort in an alliance with such nations quite clearly. But times are changing and the Imperium could not go on as it was.
--
Imperial Palace
Terra
20 Years Later
Not in thousands of years had the Imperial palace of Terra been so alive with activity. Three regiments of the finest Imperial Guard alongside the Imperial Fists Space Marine Chapter guarded the perimeter. The palace itself was heavily guarded with warriors from every logical empire, a regiment of Imperial Guardsmen, a legion of remnant stormtroopers, a battalion of Alliance marines, Eldar Guardians, Tau fire-warriors, Chiss and Hapan commandoes.
All this security was to protect the delegations within, the main ballroom of the palace had not been used in millennia. Yet the legions of servitors had done their jobs perfectly. Every wall, floor, piece of furniture, even the ceiling had been polished to a shine. The hall was full of representatives, closely guarded by teams of Jedi Knights and Inquisition elites.
Eldar seers and warriors, decked in long flowing robes of colour were within the great halls for the first time in history, representing every surviving Craftworld in the galaxy, brought to the table because of Imperial help in protecting Exodite worlds, pulling Lyundan away from the approaching Tyranid splinter fleets and diverting Ulthwe from being plunged into the eye of terror.
The Celestial caste, leaders of the Tau Empire were also present alongside several well known commanders. The Emperors help in defending their worlds and defeating the Yuuzhan Vong had brought them to the table.
The Galactic Alliances chief of state and supreme commander, as well as the grand Jedi master were also present alongside high ranking military and senate officials. They had been allies to the Imperium since before the Emperors reincarnation, and the help they received in defeating Chaos in both the Chaos Wars, then the Sith incursions were invaluable.
Finally there was the Imperial delegation including military, religious and political leaders. The beginning of this was a little rough edged, ten millennia of war and attrition wouldn't just disappear in a few decades and, naturally the Tau, Eldar and human delegations were weary of each other. That all changed.
It all started when Joseph Halos, recently made supreme commander of the combined Alliance Starfleet asked Lord Inquisitor Robyn Vallace to dance, something which she gladly accepted to get her away from the bristling Imperial bureaucrats. Then Lord Admiral Halcyon asked High Jedi Master Alema Rar to the floor, which she accepted. The selection was as much political as it was by choice, an Imperial lord admiral dancing with a Twi'lek high Jedi master showed how far the alliance had come, plus the lord admiral wanted to see a Twi'leks dancing skills in action.
Slowly the delegations began to mingle and talk, and before long the hallway became a bustling place. Imperial military leaders were talking strategy with Tau, Eldar and Alliance military leaders. Jedi, Inquisitors, Seers and Ethereal's were talking off how to coexist. The Emperor watched this from the balcony, the reason for this party was to bring them all together, let them get to know each other and be more at ease. It was working.
"You will eventually have to let go of me and mingle with the other delegations" Ishta Taldeer-Sabbath cooed as she and her husband, Gabriel Sabbath danced in perfect synchrony to an ancient and beautiful Mon Calamari ballad.
All the other Jedi were doing just that, even the Grand Jedi Master, Luke Skywalker and his wife Mara-Jade were speaking with the Eldar seers of Lyundan on how they were going to relocate them out of the coming Tyranid invasion path. Although Luke was set to step down as the Grand Jedi Master by the end of the year his successor Anakin Solo was more than suited for the job.
"I am mingling" Gabriel replied sheepishly.
"Oh a High Jedi Master dancing with…a Jedi Knight" Ishta replied to his ear, a seductive purr "Sorry my love, but that…doesn't…count"
And with that she pushed him, sending him stumbling back slightly, bumping into the back of another couple. He turned around to make apologies only to find that he wasn't the only one trying to duck out of politics. Han Solo stood before him, dancing with his daughter Jaina.
"Hey" Gabriel whispered "You know that we're supposed to be mingling?"
"Do I have to?"
"If I have to withstand this torture so do you" Gabriel replied, his voice a hiss.
"He's right dad" Jaina replied, pulling out of her fathers arms and moving across the floor to a lone Imperial commissar, who happily excepted her offer. Across the way Ishta was dancing with a duke of the Hapes Consortium and Han was moving off the floor with a pout, only to be assaulted by a bunch of young officers who were wondering if he was the legendary smuggler turned hero.
Smirking Gabriel moved across the way to the Tau supreme commander. It was rare to see Commander Shadowsun without her battle-armour, but it turned out that under the modified crisis suit was a slender woman who would catch a young mans eye.
"Commander Shadowsun" Gabriel greeted with a bow "A pleasure to meet you again"
"Master Sabbath" Shadowsun replied with a bow of her own "The pleasure is all mine"
Eventually the evening had to come to the end, the delegations needed their heads clear for the important events of the next day.
--
The day had come. The leaders of the GC had taken their seats, with hundreds of aides and guards sitting in large spectator stands around them. As the Emperor finally entered the chosen chamber for the first grand meeting of the Galactic Coalition he took a moment to inspect his surroundings.
The chosen arena was similar to one of the ancient Terran senate or parliamentary buildings of the twentieth century. With a large central platform in the centre, this led to row after row of pews and stands to hold the delegations and aides. In the centre of the chamber was a large round table made of solid oak, high backed chairs surrounded it and sitting in these seats were the elected leaders of each empire in the alliance, great and small.
"My friends of two galaxies" the Emperor began, clearing his throat as he spoke "Today is the beginning of a new era for us all. An era of peace and understanding between our respective nations, an era where we set aside our differences for the common good, an era where we can begin to understand each other. The time of single empires and unnecessary battles is over…as of this day we come together under a single banner to unite against the forces of injustice and evil. We come together as the Galactic Coalition!"
The End
Writers Note
I hope you all have enjoyed this story as much as I have in writing it. I consider this to be the beginning of a few workings on Sci-fi crossovers which I have running around my skull, battering my brain to mush.
But before I slap a very proud completed on the front I would just like to thank a few people who have stuck with me and helped me through this from beginning to end. So wherever or whoever the following people are I would just like to say thank you.
And unofficially, you are my advisors and design team.
Ravenor (For being an encyclopaedia of knowledge for me since the start)
Long Live Warhammer40K (For constantly being there to read my work from the moment I put it on until now)
Sparks4 (For being the co-leader behind the Warhammer 40K/Star Wars argument) (Warhammer leader)
Karlydee (Also for being the co-leader of the Star Wars/Warhammer 40K argument) (Star Wars leader)
Although you argued about this on my review panel…I have a forum for this thing so in future…USE THAT!!
Doom Dragon (A latecomer but his opinions were solid and he placed his own ideas on the table)
Dangams (For constantly pointing out my spelling and grammar errors)