The Chariot of Retribution Bridge, In Orbit over Solemnace, 999.M41 Four days after 'The Saint's awakening'
Velds Martanis, Lieutenant of the 17th Indigan Praefects Imperial Guardsmen Regiment
It had been a tiring twenty four hours, Velex thought to herself as she and the other leaders of their disparate group gathered on the bridge of The Chariot of Retribution, though definitely a profitable one for the Imperium.
Dealing with the foul Xenos robot that had dared to imprison them was infuriating to the extreme, especially as any thought of violence against it caused her to freeze in place and her emotions to drain away like a dam whose gates were opened prematurely.
But Lord Potter and The Saint had shown patience and cunning, as well as a good use of the psyker's strange powers, to garner some very powerful allies from the Xenos in exchange for feeding it's almost childlike desires.
"I realise you still don't trust me Lieutenant, but I promise I'm not going to do anything on the bridge of my only way out of this place." One or those 'gifts' was the suit of light Power Armour Lord Potter was now wearing, which included in it a translation program for whatever version of Gothic he spoke to High Gothic.
Though she hadn't actually been staring at him on purpose, or at least she didn't think she had been, so her seeming continued lack of trust was accidental. Not that she would be able to convince him of that now, given the way she had acted previously.
"Apologies Lord Potter, I was musing about the additional forces you were able to trick the Xenos into giving you and got lost in my thoughts, I didn't mean to offend you." While she wasn't completely sold with their 'leader', something the Saint had declared him after finishing his third serving of the strange 'break fast' Lord Potter had served them yesterday, Velex could very clearly remember the man's destructive power.
Not someone she really wanted to piss off without significantly more back up, preferably a few Adeptus Astartes and a full armoured column at least.
"You will tell us how you gained our release now, and how you speak the language of Terra yet are clearly no sanctioned psyker. Our patience is not for testing, and our grace is finite." Speaking of Astartes…
Three of the Emperor's Angels of Death stood to one side of the bridge, their leader a giant in Black power armour apart from the single shoulder painted crimson, the shoulder mirroring the general armour colour of the two stood behind him.
They were seemingly the leaders of the seven Astartes that had returned still frozen with The Saint and Lord Potter from the Xenos' lair, and despite the demanding and abrupt tone, Velex felt they were being remarkably calm about things so far. Based on the stories she had heard, Astartes made the fervour and zealotry or even the most dedicated Ecclesiarchy Priest seem like a candle placed next to a bonfire, and they tended to solve most of their issues with bolt shell and chainsword rather than words.
Even though they weren't focused on her, their mere presence seemed to make the air in the room heavy and difficult to breathe.
"We'll discuss that when we've decided where in the Cadia sector we are going, given the whole "End of the Imperium" type threat you all seem to think is going to be waiting for us." Her respect for Lord Potter's bravery went up a notch, though whether it was bravery or insanity at this point she wasn't entirely sure, as he merely smiled back politely and waved off the Giant Astartes' demand as if they had asked about his health or the weather.
Though the fact he still had two hulking Astartes of his own stood behind him probably helped, they certainly seemed to throw off the Crimson Astartes now, though the black armoured one seemed able to keep his temper and pointed firmly towards one of the planets in the sector being shown by Octus' command console.
"Then we go to Cadia Secundus. If the threat of Chaos is as real as you say, then the traitors and heretics will want to take that world above all others." Despite this assertion, the Giant Astartes didn't immediately go back to demanding answers about the Xenos that had captured them.
"Straight into the heart of a space battle without any information or idea as to the Great Enemy's strength or focus?" Chief Ragni seemed to take the pause as an offer to dispute the semi-order, which seemed to take all three Astartes by surprise even as Ragni used the shaft of his rifle to point at one of the other planetary clusters on the map.
"I realise you Umgi enjoy jumping straight to your deaths, but we will do more good striking at the edges of whatever force awaits us, bleeding the Flugriwurm before a decisive strike. I remember one of the 'Black Crusades' launched by Abaddo…"
"Do not utter that Traitor's name! The only thing that should be said about Heretics and traitors is how we intend to slay them." One of the Crimson Astartes interrupted Ragni at this point, the bile in his tone so strong it was almost choking.
"And that is why you are always on the defensive, always reacting, always losing…" If the almost shouting of the crimson Astartes had caused the tempers in the room to ignite, the soft spoken but firm words of Lord Potter were the equivalent of pouring promethium onto an open flame.
"Heresy!" The Crimson Astartes to the left of the giant Astartes charged across the room, so quickly he became a blur to Velex.
The speed of the attack clearly surprised Lord Potter as he flinched backwards, though he had no need to move immediately to his own defence as the two Astartes behind him moved.
The first intercepted the Crimson Astartes with the same astonishing speed, the Crimson Astartes' fist slamming into the blocking forearm with such force that Velex winced, even as she and the other normal humans in the room scrambled away from the rampaging giants.
The second didn't move to engage the other two Astartes, who while obviously angered by Lord Potter's words were able to restrain themselves for now, in fact it didn't move to even stand in front of Lord Potter defensively. It was only as it stopped in front of Velex and Octus, who had shifted back to the nearest bulkhead, that Velex realised it was instead protecting them.
"You are not the first to claim that our lack of understanding of Chaos is the reason we struggle to combat it effectively… Though, given I have been forced to personally cleanse three of those who thought to combat fire with fire when they became servants of the Dark Gods themselves, your reasoning is obviously flawed to say the least." As the Giant Astartes spoke, his voice remarkably measured given the grinding sounds his armour was making as his hands tightened into fists, the Crimson Astartes and Lord Potter's protector continued to exchange blows.
Each strike sounded like that of a hammer smashing into rock, each movement so fast that every time she blinked Velex knew she missed at least one attack, though a moment later Lord Potter threw an arm up in their direction, not only both Astartes but the bridge crew behind their position freezing in place like that of statues.
"I do not know much of the details of these 'Dark Gods' or Chaos in general, but I do know something about the nature of humanity and the lure of 'forbidden' knowledge and power." Suddenly the area behind Lord Potter seemed to bubble and froth for a moment, Lord Potter flinching before turning in that direction and grasping out with both hands.
Suddenly another of the flaming Astartes appeared, as if stepping through a door that only he could see, this one the hulking Astartes with the power sword that had fought the Tyranids with them several days before. Said power sword was currently embedded in the body of an Enslaver, and the Astartes hefted it into the air before shaking it off his sword almost dismissively.
With the threat seemingly dealt with, Lord Potter turned back to the clearly shocked Astartes, even the Crimson Astartes that had tried to attack him stepping back when he was released from the freezing spell a moment later.
"Trazyn was more than happy to tell me about these 'Enslavers', their methods and the number of attacks they have carried out over the years. I asked Octus to provide me with any knowledge his ship and it's libraries had on them, given his former ties with this Inquisition everyone seems so nervous about. I originally wanted to compare the gap in knowledge, only to find that the only thing that happened when Octus searched for them was the activation of a computer virus that attempted to shut down the entire ship in preparation for 'purgation'." That virus was one of the reasons Velex was so tired, as her guardsmen had been drafted to help physically isolate systems as Octus and his Tech-priests tried to overcome the virus.
"And what is your point? Killing such Xenos should be the only important thing." This, surprisingly, came not from the Astartes but from Commissar Hawke, who seemed to have regained some of his fire with the presence of new allies to stand against Lord Potter and his psychic powers.
"Killing Enslavers on sight? Given what Trazyn told me about what they do when they arrive into the material plane, I agree entirely." Lord Potter then pointed his wand at Commissar Hawke and whispered something, the Commissar freezing in place for a moment before he suddenly started doing jumping jacks.
"But knowledge of the enemy is important, particularly in how they fight and what are their strengths and weaknesses. The spell I just used on you Commissar Hawke was at approximately half the mental strength the Enslavers used in their initial attack on me, and unlike me, they would consume your mind and make your body a puppet for them to use against your friends and allies." The wand flicked again as the Commissar came to a standing position, the man visibly sagging as he regained control of his body.
"So you argue not to try and use the power of the Warp against the forces of Chaos, but instead to understand better their methods and tactics obliquely, in order to combat them effectively?" The Giant Astartes seemed to relax considerably as Lord Potter spoke, and even nodded in something approaching agreement at a couple of points.
"Exactly. If these so-called 'Black Crusades' are all targeted at this Cadia System as you seem to believe, then either the enemy leader is a complete idiot, or he is in fact a genius because he is making you think that Cadia is his only target. Attacking the same target repeatedly, with long breaks between attacks to allow your opponent to reinforce and rebuild, is not strategy by itself, it's callous laziness even if you think you are attacking with overwhelming force."
"And concentrating our forces to Cadia every time there is a hint of the Great Traitor launching his forces there means that we leave other targets vulnerable… I withdraw my objection, both to your point about the Imperium's strategy and your seeming position as leader of this group, though I notice you still haven't indicated where you think we should go instead…" It was surprising to see the Astartes back down, but even the Crimson Astartes seemed to agree with the logic being presented to them and stood back.
"Huh…" The lack of aggression and disagreement seemed to throw Lord Potter off for several moments, something that made Velex relax slightly as it made it clear that he hadn't planned the confrontation for whatever reason.
"Was more expecting shouting and trying to kill me again to be honest. As for where we are going? I have no idea, though I would say we should head to a system nearby to…" Lord Potter trailed off when the flaming Astartes that had killed the Enslaver suddenly raised his sword and thrust it forward, the tip of the blade poised directly over a planet that was not even on the edge of the coloured mass that made up the Eye of Terror.
Instead it was inside the Eye, though on the outskirts, and clearly a place that would be dangerous beyond anything she could immediately imagine. Lord Potter just leaned forward for a moment to look at the planet closer, his sigh as he leaned back so full of tired acceptance it made him seem far older than Velex could guess from his features.
"And I suppose it was too much to ask that I wouldn't have 'destiny' leading my path once more. Though it seems we have our initial target, even if it seems even more suicidal than heading straight to Cadia…"
Lord Potter's words didn't really do much to inspire confidence, but as she looked at the world of Urthwart as Octus used his mechandrite arms to zoom into the map of the planet, it wasn't as if the journey had inspired that many good or positive feelings in the first place...
The Imperial Heroes 'Archive', Tomb World of Solemnace, 999.M41
Trazyn the Infinite, Necron Overlord and 'Archaeovist' of the Solemnace Galleries
As the orbital sensors set over Solemnace informed him of the departure of his 'allies', as strange as it was for him to use the term in anything other than a sarcastic manner, Trazyn allowed himself a very Un-Necron like chuckle as he cast his eyes around the newest exhibition in his collection.
"A rather brilliant idea of that psyker brat, using the very site of that dratted bell as the basis for the opening portion of his story…" It was something that would have spoken to any other creature's arrogance and vanity, to have an exhibition piece that prominently featured himself, but Trazyn had no desires to be seen as a 'King' or any such foolish accolade.
Indeed, as he walked around the hard-light representation of him and the human he mentally referred to as 'The Traveller', Trazyn appreciated once again the ominous way that his body double was stood, the lighting of the area cast so as to deliberately leave him partially in shadow.
The fact that The Traveller had been able to show Trazyn his memory of his arrival was fascinating and vital in capturing the subtle nuances of the scene that he would have missed. Though the use of a primitive Stone Bowl as a medium of accessing these memories was so infuriating and… monkey like, that Trazyn was already determined to create his own version that would function so much more… neatly.
"Though, in this case, I am very much the secondary character here…" In fact, his body double was almost part of the background in comparison to The Traveller's double, stood on the slight dias that the Bell's stand had been placed upon.
If Trazyn had ever doubted the idea that The Traveller was not from this Galaxy, the fact that he had been able to turn one of Trazyn's 'models', a penal legion Guardsman that had been a murderer and rapist a dozen times over, into a perfect body double with a small vial of liquid had been more than impressive.
Between that pinpoint accuracy in the depiction, and the fact that The Traveller had created a Bell-replica that changed in size as part of the exhibit, 'The Traveller's arrival' was quickly becoming one of his favourite exhibits. Especially as it was merely the first of a series of Exhibits Trazyn was envisaging, the second exhibit of 'The Return of Saint Gerstahl' also finished bar the placement of some 'spares' from his Imperial Vaults.
The Traveller had only been able to provide blue flames rather than the silvery/golden flames the Saint actually used, but the fact he had been able to provide very accurate Tyranid caricatures that wouldn't be a constant escape risk was more than enough of a trade off there.
Speaking of Tyranids… Trazyn shifted from his body double that he had been using to walk the Vaults back to his main body, aboard his personal Warship The Eternal Archive.
While his allies were determined that the Empyrean ones were the cause of the Bell of Saint Gerstahl's awakening, Trazyn was not so sure, and therefore would do what any good seeker of knowledge would do.
He only needed to work out what he would need to offer up in order to access the Celestial Orrery, and hope that discerning the answers to his questions would not take the usual decades or centuries that such interpretations usually required.
Though, he thought with a surprising amount of internal amusement, that was why he had put aboard The Chariot of Retribution something of a back up plan, after getting The Traveller to use another of his vials to create a perfect copy for his exhibition of course.
Such a perfect and unique specimen would need to be part of his collection, even if only as a copy, especially given the potential moments he would be recording in the coming years…
A/N: In a moment of absolute madness, I have decided to add another player to the 'game', one that will probably cause a lot of consternation amongst dedicated 40k fans. But at the same time, the reactions of various characters will be hilarious, so I don't care too much.
Who is the mysterious specimen Trazyn is thinking about at the end? What is the plan for Urthwart, given the presence of the World-Killer and it's fleet being present? I welcome people's guesses as always…
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Defias out!