{oOo}
...After quietly contacting him, she concluded Chaos was of no help whatsoever.
"Glass a few planets in his name, bring him tribute in skulls!" he had said, and she had wanted to rub her temples to ward off the resulting pain.
No. She needed SANE advice.
Now who could she possibly.. Oh. Oh.
But wait, he was an eldritch horror. Fulgrim wouldn't thank her for asking him for help or letting on that he had... problems.
Hm.. option 2 then?
Chaos boggled at her for a long while. "Let me get this straight. You wish to summon a healer from your own universe." he said slowly. "An Apothecary."
"There used to be an easily stressed fellow back home. Very skilled, but not.. very brave, if you know what I'm saying." Beryl pointed out. "And Fulgrim needs one. Even for an interim."
"...You don't mean that poor bastard who tended to shriek in terror and hide behind shrubbery, do you?" Chaos asked, almost feeling pity for the man.
"...Well, he was competent." She pointed out
"And easily terrified!" Chaos shot back. "But if you wish it, I can hardly stop you. You'll need a few corpses."
"Why on earth would I need corpses to summon anything?" she asked, puzzled.
"Energy." Chaos pointed out. "It's consumed by the process. Moving things between universes is tricky and expensive, and if you'd prefer life energy you could use that, but corpses are cheaper. Also, corpses can be broken down by the Gate."
"Sometimes I wonder about your methods." she said sourly. "and then I remember you're the enemy of all life and of course you'd suggest this shit. Fine. I'll.. see what I can do. He's fairly light, isn't he? Do I need more than 1 corpse? Does it have to be previously sentient?"
"You can use animal corpses or Xenos if you like." Chaos grinned. "But they have to weigh the same."
"Fine." she said bluntly. "I'll do it. Now give me the information."
"...I hate you so much." Nefer told her, point blank, the moment he was summoned, disheveled, eyes still in shock. "That felt like I was being raped in so many ways I cannot describe." he shuddered. "What the hells do you want with me, anyway? It's not like I'm qualified to handle Marines."
"You're sane, you know how to make good baked goods and you're a good counselor." she told him. "Also, you were somewhat of a genius in genetics."
"...You want me to work with Marine geneseed?" he asked, somewhat horrified. "That would get me killed!"
"Not if I hide you." Chaos grinned. "And don't worry, I promise you won't need your shrubbery. All you have to do, is figure out how to fix a few genetic problems for me, and I'll make sure you have a nice, safe place to hide, how about it?"
"Why didn't you just bring Darien here?" Nefer bemoaned. "I.. alright, I'm capable. But I'm not capable of combat. I freeze up when faced with Marines. Darien's much braver!"
"He's also problematic." Chaos pointed out, and refused to clarify, even as he 'arranged' for the accomodations needed.
In the end, Nefer was forced to agree to it, if only because he was
1. Surrounded by Marines. Out there. Beyond Chaos' influence.
2. Unable to go back.
3. In need of accomodations.
Beryl left him with slide-samples in the lab Chaos dumped him in, and, once beyond Chaos' influence of utter invisibility and silence, went back to her rest after a bath.
It had finally occurred to her that she might have more uses for this problem than she'd originally thought.
After all, couldn't this Terra have a Senshi too? Or. Be capable of supporting an imported one?
And hadn't it been theorized that Terra of her universe DID have a Senshi, only nobody had found her yet?
Hm...
Later, Beryl came by to visit Fulgrim with a tray of the results of her stress-baking with Nefer. Mostly cookies. She would have brought him skulls too, but cookies, as she well knew, would be easier to sneak in.
{oOo}