A.N.: Hello there! I am finally back, having taken a small break from updating during the holidays but I should be returning to a weekly update release from now on until the end of this story. Thank you all for the patience and the kind reviews, and I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Oh and it's a little late, but Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Jane contemplated the broken imperial fleet from the transparent membrane of the progenitor-class ship her sister had shown her that fateful day they'd left Earia Secundus. Oh sure, there were still formations that kept on fighting and many individual ships battling tyranid and ork vessels; But for all intents and purposes the enemy fleet was now crippled and incapable of properly challenging the combined tyranid-ork alliance's orbital dominance. Perfect.

Now remained the matter of the titanic legions and the countless troops the Imperial Guard had landed on the planet. Now certainly she could just order the fleets to bombard the enemy until they were annihilated; And she intended to do just that. No use fighting them down on the ground when they could pulverize them to a pulp from orbit.

However. This was an opportunity for her to test something she had been wondering for a long time.

Her sister liked to switch forms between her small, human one and her larger tyranid one. Ayna herself regularly changed minor elements of herself in fights to get an edge. However…what were the limits of the form she could take? Could she, with sufficiently large amounts of biomass, take on a form as large as a carnifex? A tyrannofex?

Something greater still?

It was a curious thought. One that held her attention and kept her wondering. She wanted to know. She had to know. Especially with her big sister's new plan of assaulting Terra and the larger Solar system. Already she could feel numerous tendrils of Leviathan eagerly moving from conflict zones, especially from the hot spot of their recent victory at Octarius, towards Terra to ensure their arrival with Hive Fleet Tarrasque. There was a frenzied feeling to the Hive Mind that made every creature in it act in a surprisingly excitable way.

She descended further into the ship, all the way down to the experimentation pools. They were massive oceans of biomass where her sister had spent weeks twisting and testing various theories of hers using her new knowledge acquired from her synaptic connection to the Hive Mind; Some successfully, such as the hybrids. Others, not so much. Of those, only the memory remained, their biomass having been returned to the pools and processed back into the ever so slightly luminescent green slurry.

Ayna submerged herself in the biomass, reaching out to the Hive, to the Ship, to the Pools. Willing the changes. Creating the mental blueprints, the genetic combinations. The outlines of her desires.

Her body melted into the pools as immense amounts of biomass started to gather at the centre of the largest pools.

"Ladies and Gentlemen." Occ's voice echoed in the massive halls of the Imperial Palace. Gathered around the table were hundreds of generals, navy commanders, merchant lords, inquisitors and custodes. "You are gathered here for a simple reason." He waved at the table, a holographic projection of Terra with many red dots appearing. "In the past few months, my fellow companions have been rooting out the corruption of the Genestealer Cults at the heart of Terra. In the process, we have discovered a terrible conspiracy aimed at us; A preparation for a full on assault on the Holy Capital." Shocked silence greeted those words. The idea that anyone would be foolish enough to assault the strongest fortress of humanity, its mightiest stronghold…it was unthinkable. "Already, nearby worlds have ceased responding; The Shadow In The Warp is growing ever closer. A net that threatens to smother us. Casting the great light of Humanity into darkness." Occ slammed a fist into the table. "THIS WILL NOT BE OUR FATE! We will not allow some beasts to devour this world, this dwindling hope of ours!" Cheers answered him as those gathered at the table rose in approving clamor. "We will cast them back into the Abyss as so many others; Broken, beaten and utterly defeated!"

"DEATH TO THE XENOS!"

"PURGE THE ALIEN!"

"FOR TERRA!"

The cries drowned the hall in fervent chanting as the assembly brought itself to near frenzy until Occ raised a hand, bringing them to silence.

"My friend Harrison here has a few words to share with you. He has experienced first hand the loss of his world to the foe and has agreed to share his wisdom with you all." Harrison gulped, finding the attention of hundreds of incredibly powerful individuals gathered on him. Occ had been insistent on him being the one to speak despite the former being a far greater speaker than himself. He wasn't sure what to say, or where to even begin. But he had to say something. And so, he spoke.

"...It started with disappearances in the lower Hive." His voice was calm, soft spoken. "No one cared for them or their lives. Let alone what happened to them. And so, little was done about it. Eventually however, the entire undercity grew dark. Having been left to starve and cannibalize after a failed planetary rebellion, most assumed their fate had finally arrived. Maybe if someone had bothered to check this could have been prevented. Maybe if someone had cared about what happened to them, none of them would have been desperate enough to start this nightmare." He took a shaky breath. Silence permeated the hall. "But no one did. And so, when the tyranids came surging from the Underhive, we had no warning. In a matter of days the Hive had fallen. The tyranids were not some mindless foe that threw themselves at our walls for no reason; Sabotage of our supply lines, of our commanding officers and of our very will to fight all came together to crush whatever effort of resistance we had. Infighting amongst our own did half of the job for them." He raised his head. "So man your defenses. Look at your own, search the traitors. The genestealers. Those who would sabotage the defenses, who would turn their guns against you when the foe comes. But be mindful." He shivered before taking a deep breath.

"Their leader is called Anya. And she is not like the others. She is intelligent in the way the rest of them have never cared to be. She knows us. Understands us. And that is perhaps the most dangerous thing of all. She will speak to their insecurities, their despair, their fear. Their hopes." His voice caught as the memories of that day came back. Of charred flesh tainting the streets. Of sororitas trampling the bodies of the fallen they had sworn to defend. "So be careful how you treat the population. I have seen how most live here. It is hell." He saw how many of them shifted at his words. Eyes narrowed. Lips pulled into a disapproving look. He knew he had made quite a few enemies with his words. But he had to speak up. Had to reach out. Had to make them hear him. "And if she comes, and offers them salvation…what do they have to lose?"

"HERESY!" The dreaded word called out as a man rose to his feet. "YOU WOULD DARE IMPLY THE PEOPLE OF TERRA WILLING TRAITORS?!"

"SIT DOWN GENERAL." The powerful boom of Occ's voice made the man grow quiet. "Harrison was chosen by the Emperor for the task. To accuse him of such a thing as Heresy is a reckless thing to do."

"I have said what I must." Harrison continued, undeterred. "You will heed me, or you will not. The enemy comes regardless." He felt a pulse of annoyance. Fury. Anger. At these paranoid lords, these impotent leaders of mankind. "Deceive yourselves as you wish. Cloak yourself in righteousness and claim the moral high ground all you like. The enemy comes. And when they do, no amount of self-deceit will stop the teeth sinking into your throat." With that, Harrison turned and walked out of the room, Occ following closely. After some time walking in the immense corridors of the outer sections of the Imperial Palace, Harrison finally spoke up once more. "Do you think they will listen?"

"...They have heard. That is better than usual. Some will listen. Some will not. We will have to hope that it is enough." Harrison shook his head.

"Hope isn't enough. We need to act. Gather our forces, investigate our supplies and whatever else the cults might have sabotaged in their time here. We need to be ready. She will not leave room for mistakes."

"You fear her." Occ noted. Harrison looked at him with a small smile.

"I do. She was nothing once, you know. A single artillery strike almost killed her. That was less than two months ago." Harrison shook his head. "We cannot make a single mistake. She will not allow it."

"Then we shall not."

"Let's hope so."

"Amica?" Ylsen asked, his powers reaching out now that the psychic restraints were gone. What he felt was enough to bring tears to his eyes. The amount of death that permeated the craftworld…it was nightmarish. Worse even was the sheer silence he could feel from the Infinity Circuit.

It was dead. Empty.

Consumed.

"A title those who have accepted my offers in the past have called me." She smiled warmly, crouching in front of him. "And I have one for you."

"...How many." He softly said. She frowned.

"How many what?"

"How many have you killed?" He asked, rage filling his eyes. She was silent for a moment.

"Not everyone. But close. Most of your military assets are intact, but the people…not a lot of them left." He laughed bitterly.

"And you think there is an offer you can do that would eclipse that fact? That would overcome the sheer horror of what you have done today?"

"No." He snorted dismissively at her blunt response. "I am not asking you to look past that. To ignore the nightmare that has happened today. I am offering you a way to avoid the coming disaster. One that will eclipse the one that has taken place."

"What could be worse than this?" Ylsen asked, the trembling child sobbing behind him. "Billions dead! Billions!" He cried in utter despair, grief threatening to overwhelm him. He could feel the whispers already as his psychic powers rose in fury along with his emotions. The claws of the creatures of the immaterium attracted to his soul like moths to a flame.

The tyranid gave him a pitying look.

"Can you really not think of worse than death? Your kind are gravewalkers. Death is no end to you. So long as the spirit stone is left untouched, the soul is spared."

"You mean the very souls you devoured?" He snarled, psychic lightning crackling around him. The clone whimpered and tried to crawl further away from him as he faced the original Anya. "THE INFINITY CIRCUIT YOU ANNIHILATED?!" He pointed a hand at her. Lightning surged, psychic power screeching as it rushed at her. She simply sighed and batted it away, a wave of power striking him in the chest and sending him to his knees, coughing and gasping for air.

"Yes. That very same one. But consider the following: There are now billions of spirit stones just…lying about your craftworld. Ripe for the taking." She smiled softly. "I have not touched them. I have left them alone; Eating them would do little good to me." There was something she was not telling him there, he knew as much. A hesitant flicker in her eyes. Why would she not simply eat them? Still, if what she said was true…

"...So what? You offer for us to become tyranid, and what? You won't crush the spirit stones?" She kneeled before him, reaching for his face. He flinched as she poked his nose.

"Boop. No silly. I know you would never accept this, and I am not one to impose this on anyone. To become one of us is a choice one should willingly take, not one that is done under duress and fear." She grinned. "No. I want your help with my next plan."

"...What?" He asked breathlessly.

"It's simple really. I am going to Terra. I will be taking the spirit stones with me. Every single one of them. I won't eat them, nor will anyone or anything else." He felt a cold shudder run down his spine. "And you will come with me. You will help me crack the defenses of the Solar system and Terra."

"No." He bluntly answered. She ignored him.

"And only then will I give you the spirit stones back. Not only that, but I will guarantee peace to you and your kind." She grinned wider. "Not just your craftworld. The exodites as well, and the other craftworlds. So long as they do not attack first, they will be spared the harvest to come." His eyes widened.

"...You expect me to believe that?" He whispered. "Even if you were sincere…you cannot possibly hope to speak for the whole of the Devourer…"

"My voice is much clearer in the choir now that I have grown so much." The tyranid rose to her feet, her wings opening wide behind her. "I am the voice of the Devourer. Your kind would make a wondrous meal, it is true, but I wish to see you join us willingly. You will be given a privilege few others have." She gazed down at him. "One hundred years of truce. After that, you will have to make a choice. To join us, or be made a meal. Even then, it is a better fate than what awaits you as it is." She sighed. "Aren't you tired, Ylsen? Tired of the constant fear, the ever present anxiety of your species…of wondering when She Who Thirsts will finally get her hands on your soul." The whispers in his ear grew more insistent. More demanding. He gulped. He wanted to refute her, to cast her away…but what she was saying was true. The anxiety of the Asuryani was a millenia old one, and impossible to ignore.

Death was one thing. Every Asuryani was prepared for death. The eternal torment of She Who Thirsts…that was the one thing they all truly feared. Being eaten alive by a tyranid would be a much kinder fate in comparaison he supposed. And a century to prepare…they might actually stand a chance if they do it right. Either to flee, or to fight.

"I see." He stood silent for a moment. Then, he pointed to the clone behind him. "What will happen to her?" Anya blinked.

"Oh. Her. I'm not sure to be honest. She will come back with me and we will discuss this I suppose." She smiled at the other child. "I can feel your fear from here. Come on now. It's just me."

"That's what scares me." The clone whispered in a broken, frightened tone. Anya sighed.

"What is your decision Ylsen?"

"...I cannot guarantee the others will agree. You've destroyed most of us. We have few people left to wage war." She chuckled.

"You have billions of spirit stones, most of your military assets intact, and we both know how good your bonesingers are." She smiled. "Besides. The craftworld itself does not need many people to pilot it, and it has the arsenal to sunder worlds." She shook her head. "You won't be expected to take the role of cannon fodder. My kin are better suited to this role. Merely to bring extra firepower to the fight."

"Then you know my answer. But I have two conditions." She tilted her head to the side.

"Oh?"

"If we choose to leave this galaxy. If we flee to distant places. You will not pursue us. If we choose not to fight and run, you will not chase us." His hands were gripped tight. "You will leave us in peace."

"...Very well." She agreed softly. "If you choose to run, I will leave you be. So long as you leave this galaxy, you will be left alone. What is your other condition?"

"We will make legions of wraithknights. Wraithlords. But those will be kept in defense. We will use all the firepower of the craftworld and its fleets, but not a soul of ours will step off of it for your war."

"Also acceptable. Your troops would be sorely appreciated in the conflict to come, but your fleet alone will be enough to have an impact."

"Then it is settled." He gulped, knowing he was making the biggest mistake of his life. A deal with a monster to save his own people. What was left of them at least. Sacrificing mankind for his own. What a monstrous act.

But this was simply how this galaxy worked. The eldar would sacrifice a million humans to save a single of their own.

Humans would kill a billion of their own to guarantee a single eldar death.

Once this was done, they could leave this cursed galaxy. Leave it all behind, rebuild their own better than before, with a kinder fate.

Besides. There was always the chance the humans would win.

Regardless, this galaxy was done for. It was time his kin accepted this.

The grin on her face unsettled him.

"Excellent." She turned away from him. "But first. Bring your ship to where you kidnapped me in the first place. It's time for me to go home."

Dave took a swig of water from his canteen. Almost empty. He'd have to go back to the logistics officer to request a refill. Or he could just go to the unrefined pump they'd installed a few klicks away.

…Yeah he'd just go to the logistics officer.

A loud blaring horn shook the ground as in the distance the Imperator titan opened fire on a column of tyranid ground forces. There were barely any of them left now, having all but abandoned the planet. Unfortunately from what he'd been hearing the orbital battle was going much worse, but here at least they'd done their job. He'd just have to hope the boys in the navy did theirs as well.

A group of titans followed in the wake of the Imperator. A few of the soldiers next to him starred in silent awe as they strode over the wasteland that had once been one of the fiercer battlegrounds on the planet, where they'd destroyed the ork stompa factory.

"Hey Dave." He turned his gaze to his lieutenant. "Got any left in your canteen?"

"Barely a few drops ma'am. Sorry."

"Ah damn. Well, we've finished with our patrol here anyways. Might as well head back for some refueling." She turned to the rest of their battle group. "Alright everyone, back in the chimeras! We're heading to base!"

"YES MA'AM!" The troopers began gathering their belongings, climbing back into the chimeras as they chattered among themselves. Dave's gaze found itself drawn to the titan column. They'd stopped right in their tracks, shifting their guns upwards. He frowned. Was an air assault incoming? It was hard to say with the sheer amount of dust and ash that now saturated the cloud layer.

"Lieutenant?" The titans opened fire in the distance, a deafening barrage of devastating power. "I think we might have some trouble soon." As she turned to see what he was talking about, something pierced the cloud layer.

Then a dozen more.

A hundred more.

Massive chitinous pods of flesh rained down onto the titan column, some being blasted out of the air from the sheer volume of fire inflicted by the titans.

"...What the fuck?" The lieutenant said in horror as the first of the flesh pods hit the ground, bursting open and revealing a massive horror of spindly legs and screaming flesh.

A hierophant titan.

Emperor preserve them.

Each pod that landed unleashed a new horror, a new hierophant titan, a new hierodule unto the titan column. Immediately they formed a defensive circle, annihilating every new titan that landed with overwhelming firepower. The sheer number of enemy titans soon found itself too much for the firepower to simply kill on impact, and some of the hierophant managed to fire retaliatory shots or simply ram themselves into the enemy titan voidshields. After a few seconds, the first warhound titan fell, a bioplasma shot having carved a clean hole where the princeps once lay.

The Imperator's horn blared and the titans moved into action. They started pushing through the ever increasing horde of enemy titans, the imperator personally slamming his cannon into a hierophant and firing it point blank, turning it into ash as it strode forth, crushing another hierophant by slamming its immense metallic leg into it.

"Call firesupport! We need to assist the titan legio, they're completely exposed here!" He snarled. "I thought we still had orbital supremacy in this section of space!" As if to answer his words, a burning wreck began falling through the clouds, the silhouette of a shattered and torn imperial battleship collapsing onto the planetary surface beyond the horizon. By now over four hundred hierophant titans had landed on the planet, half having been killed whilst the other half harassed the fleeing titan legio by firing upon them. Some of the warhound and warlord titans had turned and were firing whilst walking backwards, but this exposed them to falling behind compared to the rest of the legio.

Artillery strikes began raining down on the Hierophants as the distant artillery batteries began opening fire. But their aim was off, they hadn't properly planned these grids and were worried of hitting the titans. More hierophants kept on raining down from above.

He watched in horror as the titan legio was slowly but surely torn to pieces. They were inflicting devastating losses to the hierophant titans, but for every three they killed, one of their own titans fell. And the tyranids had a lot more than three titans for every one of their own. The imperator had turned and was now in turn firing upon the hierophants, but their constant landing was making it difficult for it to focus firepower enough to prevent them from picking off its smaller kin one by one.

All too soon, it was the only one left.

But something strange happened.

The tyranid titans did not attack the Imperator. Instead, they back off, encircling it and keeping a safe distance of a few kilometres. It was clearly confusing for the Imperator, which held its fire and slowly rotated to face the various foes facing it. All around it laid the melted wreckage of its companions, buried in the corpses of the hierophant titans that had overwhelmed them.

Something emerged from the cloud layer.

Bigger. Much bigger than the others had been. It landed with such force it knocked multiple hierophants off their feet, Dave himself sent tumbling despite how far he was from the point of impact.

The flesh pod opened.

"+++ABOMINATION DETECTED.+++" The Imperator blared as something rose from the flesh pod.

The first thing Dave noted about it was that it stood on two massive legs, each large enough to be a titan all of their own. Covered in a chitinous armor that was likely thick enough to prevent even bunker busters from digging through it. Its body was strangely humanoid, similarly barred in powerful chitinous armor, from head to toe. And what a head it was…Dave started to scream as he looked at it.

It was human. It had glowing, feral yellow eyes, but besides that and the purple color, it was a human face. It looked horrible on this abomination of a tyranid body. Four arms each wielded immense boneswords, held in the hands of this three hundred metres tall tyranid creature. It laughed as it strode forth, its lithe body surprisingly agile for such an immense being. The Imperator did not hesitate; It opened fire with all of its weaponry on the thing. As its arsenal unleashed its payload, the first of it struck a powerful psychic barrier the thing had erected around itself, as the abominable xenos dodged to the side, allowing the rest of the barrage to tear the land behind it to sunder.

In an instant, it was upon the Imperator, slamming its boneswords into its void shields. The repeated, continuous assaults made quick work of its barriers. As the first bonesword sank into the metallic body of the Imperator, it managed to shove its volcano cannon into the side of the creature, firing into it and tearing through its body. It screamed as a massive burning hole blasted through it. To Dave's horror however, the thing began to regenerate almost immediately, at a pace even greater than that of the lesser creatures of this new hive-fleet. He noticed it was a little smaller as it finished regenerating however, from three hundred metres to an estimated two hundred and ninety.

It did little to change the battle however as the sheer power behind the creature managed to shred through the Imperator with its boneswords. He could already tell how this was going to end. The moment that thing made it to melee, it was over. It was bigger than the Imperator, faster, more agile and was clearly designed for melee combat.

"+++SO IT IS HERE THAT I SHALL FALL.+++" The Imperator bellowed. "+++ABOMINATION. YOU SHALL JOIN US IN DEATH.+++" The imperator began glowing, the creature's eyes widening as it tried to pull away. The titan's hands grasped at it, pinning it down. "+++THERE WILL BE NO ESCAPE FOR YOU.+++"

The detonation of the plasma reactor of the Imperator turned Dave and his squad to ash.

Ayna's eyes snapped open as she emerged from the rebirth pools.

Damnit. A dud after all.

This titan was a no go. This warform, in general, was a no go.

She'd had to sacrifice too much psychic ability to maintain her shielding for her to use them offensively, defending her immense body from the terrifying titan arsenal. The sheer amount of biomass she'd expanded on it and the hierophants to defend her had been monstrous.

Better to just bombard the titans from orbit, clearly.

Still, it had been worth a try, she supposed. And now, the titans were gone.

"Jane. Deploy the fleet in orbit." She whispered in the synaptic network. "Start with a systematic spore mine bombardment. Then, send in the war-forms."

"Understood Ayna."

Anya had to admit, the webway gate was a sight to behold.

There were not many large enough to accommodate something as large as a craftworld. The ones that were were a majestic sight. She was honestly surprised no imperial had stumbled unto it and bombed the heresy out of the sky.

She sighed as they drew closer and closer. The eldar would be following them to war. That was good. With Ayna having gotten the orks on board as well, they would have far more troops than their own to fight the Imperials. Even then, it might not be enough to take Terra, Mars, Titan…

But it didn't have to. They just had to pierce the defenses to Terra. Just had to get to the Emperor.

The rest was irrelevant. The battle would be decided there.

The craftworld entered the immense gate. She closed her eyes.

She could feel the entire craftworld through her senses. The newly born Infinity Circuit being painstakingly rebuilt from the ashes of the previous one, loaded with the billions of new souls. It would take weeks for it to be completed due to the utterly depleted workforce; Thankfully, most of the industrious tasks were taken care of by autonomous systems that had suffered less than the population itself.

She opened her eyes in the webway.

The experience of a billion eldar souls were enough for her to somewhat comprehend what it was she was witnessing. It was beautiful, yet slightly unsettling. The eldar understood the webway to some level, but much of it remained a mystery even to them.

"What are you going to do with me?" The child next to her asked, resigned. She looked down at her clone. How strange. When they parted, they had been identical in all but power. Now…

"I'm not sure." She replied truthfully. The clone frowned.

"You've become different." She stated. "I know me, and I know I would not let something like another me run around uncontrolled. You were supposed to kill me and eat me upon meeting me."

"And you were supposed to accept that and show no sense of self-preservation, and we both know that isn't the case anymore. Things change." Anya sighed. "They always do."

"...Yeah." The clone chuckled. "I mean you have these big wings now."

"Do you like them?" Anya said, proudly opening them wide.

"Eh. Seems a bit on the nose regarding the Imperials, no?"

"Are you kidding me? For those zealots this is downright subtle." Anya laughed. A comfortable silence spread between them. "I scare you, don't I?"

"Yes." The child nodded. "You've become so strong…it's scary. I've never experienced something like that."

"It's not enough." Anya bitterly said, bringing her knees to herself as the craftworld traveled the paths of the webway. "The Emperor is the only way to ensure we are safe."

"How ironic." The child noted. "Despite how hard we've fought against the yoke of the Imperium, in the end it always comes down to him."

"Tell me about it." Anya sighed. "I wonder if I should like, prepare a speech."

"Eh. We've always been better at speaking from the heart."

"Good point." Anya looked down at the child. "What do you want?"

"To live."

"I think that can be arranged." Anya smiled. "I'm sure Ayna will love not being the youngest sister for once." The child gave her a deadpan look.

"You have a very strange habit of collecting sisters." Anya shrugged.

"Blame the Imperium for killing the family I did have." Her younger self hummed, nodding.

"Do you think creating a family to bond with composed of portions of yourself is a good coping mechanism for that?"

"What part of me makes you think I have healthy coping mechanisms?" Her younger clone giggled.

"Good point." The clone stayed silent.

"A lot of people are going to die." Anya eventually said.

"Does that bother you?" Anya sighed.

"Kind of? Maybe? Yes. I guess it does." She glanced at her clone. "You?"

"Not really." The clone shrugged. "We've taken this path knowingly. We knew we'd become monsters. Eating those eldar souls must have changed something."

"Hm. Well, no use speculating. In the end, there is only one true path ahead." The craftworld approached the exit gate. Anya rose to her feet. "War."

Ayna's eyes widened as something far away awakened. A yawning maw to a network as old as her entire species.

Something emerged; The size of a moon, a vessel large enough to cast even the Progenitor-class behemoth tyranid ship under its shadow. It appeared far away, at the edge of the star system. And on it, she could feel it. A beacon of raw power, pure might eclipsing all other synaptic beacons in the Hive Mind. The incessant chatter of the tyranid network silenced in awe at the arrival of Amica.

Anya. Her sister was here.

"SISTER!" She screamed in the silence of the network.

"Sister." Came the amused response from Anya. "I have returned. Sorry for taking so long."

"I leave you out of my sight for a minute and this is what happens!"

"Oh come now, you can hardly blame this one on me."

"I can and I will."

"...Fair enough."

"So, how successful was your plan?"

"Somewhat. I had to cause a bit more collateral damage than I would have liked, but well…things got out of hand."

"It matters not. You are here. I missed you sister."

"So did I. How are things on your side?"

"The imperials gave us some trouble, but we're busy mopping up what is left of them as we speak. The ground troops are exposed without their titan contingent, and their fleet has been broken and scattered. They're isolated and outnumbered."

"Good." She felt a moment of pause. "I might have some news."

"Oh?"

"Hello." That feeling she got from the new voice…familiar. Too familiar.

"...No."

"Oh come on, she's so cute!"

"One, that is the most narcissistic thing I have heard you say. Two, I thought you were going to get rid of the clone. Why is she still here."

"Better I explain face to face."

"...It better be a good explanation."

Anya had to admit, this was a bit of an awkward meeting.

She was standing on one of the open plazas of the craftworld, Ylsen standing to her right whilst her clone stood to her left. Behind them were an assembly of eldar warriors, some of the few left from the disaster that had struck the eldar world vessel. She could feel the anger and hatred they held towards her, carefully controlled so as to not slip under Slaneesh's influence.

Opposite them stood her sister, Ayna, her hybrid commander Smith, her admiral Jane and the ork warboss Ravmasha.

All in all, the tension in the air could have easily killed a lesser psyker.

Anya stepped up to the middle of the two groups, opening her wings wide and capturing the attention of all present.

"Ayna. It is good to see you again sister." She smiled. "I hope you didn't miss me too much."

"I missed you a lot actually." Ayna bluntly replied.

"...Well, I am here now." She grinned. "And so are you all. I believe it is time we discuss something all together."

"YEA. LIKE WHEN'Z WE GONNA FINISH OUR FOIGHT." Ravmasha took an imposing step forward. Anya giggled, her eyes twinkling.

"How about right after this meeting? You listen here and now, and I fight you right afterwards." The ork stared her down, claw twitching.

"Alroight. I'll hear ya out weirdgirl."

"Excellent. Now, first of all…" She turned to Ylsen. "We will be taking the spirit stones with us." Ylsen closed his eyes, frustration radiating from him.

"...Let us at least keep the ones that are already placed in the Infinity Circuit."

"That's fine. There are more than enough left out of it for me to be confident that you will not renegade on our deal." Anya tilted her head to Ayna. "Send in the warriors. No mess. No fuss. No fighting." It was going to be hard enough getting the eldar to stand by and let tyranid creatures pilfer their spirit stones, let alone if they decided to be violent.

"Understood." Ayna smirked subtly as tyranid ships loomed over the craftworld. "We won't touch a hair on the eldar's heads if they don't bother us."

"Good. Now. You all have heard of the plan, in one way shape or form. But let me make this clearer to you all." She stepped back away from the rest. "As you all know, the Imperium is a massive entity. A power beyond any other in the galaxy. But it has a weakpoint." She sat down on a piece of uncleared rubble. Some of the craftworld was still very much baring the scars of her rampage. "The Throne World."

"I would hardly call Terra a weakpoint…" Jane argued. "It's the single most well defended place in the Imperium."

"Perhaps so. But it is also the one place that, should it fall, the Imperium will collapse. No astronomicon. No centralized authority." She smiled. "They will fall into fiefdoms within months."

"And you want to attack Terra." Smith chuckled. "Well, I always did want to visit the throne world…never thought this would be how."

"Indeed. However, as Jane said, Terra is incredibly fortified. Between the fleets, defense platforms and the countless legions present…cracking that place is going to be very, very difficult. Which is why I have gathered you all here." She turned her eyes to the ork. "Ravmasha. You wanted a fight? I can guarantee you there is no greater fight than the one coming to Terra." Ylsen snorted. She glared at him. "The war in Heaven does not count."

"Hehehe…I think I can gather a few more warbandz to make a propa' waaaagh." The ork rolled his shoulders. He seemed a bit bigger than when she'd last seen him. "Waaagh Humie. That'll be a fun one."

"Excellent. And once this is done, if you want a full scale war, I'll happily give you one." She turned her gaze to Ylsen. "You know your task. The Imperium will have immense fleets and terrible firepower. Our fleets will bear the brunt of the damage. You take care of cutting through them." Ylsen gritted his teeth.

"Of course…Amica." She nodded. He hated it. But he would do it. She could tell. The risk of losing hundreds of millions of spirit stones was just too great. She would have to make sure they were well safe and looked after to avoid anything happening to them…either from the enemy or from an attempted eldar rescue.

"Jane. Smith. Coordinate with Ayna to gather what remains of available biomass, recycle whatever else is there and prepare Tarrasque for war. Leviathan will be the bulk of our numbers, it is our task to bring the elite to the table. Focus on making us into a spear head to breach the enemy frontlines." The two of them nodded. "Our goal is not a complete subjugation and pacification of the Solar System. Not at first. We merely want a shot at the Emperor. If he falls, the rest of the battle will be a breeze."

"Ah yes. Just…kill the Emperor. Such an easy thing to do." Her sister sighed.

"Are you afraid?" The clone spoke up. She had remained silent until then. "I thought you'd know me well enough to trust in me."

"You are not Anya." Ayna snarled. "And of course I trust her. I will follow her through hell itself."

"Honestly, Terra fits that description pretty well." Anya noted. "Now, enough fighting children." Her wings opened to their full span, casting a shadow over the gathered people. "It is time to prepare for war."

As the participants dispersed, going to their tasks, Ravmasha stayed in place. Anya rose to her feet, her wings curling in an aggressive posture as her smile widened into a vicious grin.

"Now…I believe we were rudely interrupted previously." The ork grunted.

"Yea. Time to pluck dem fancy feathers." She laughed as the ork started menacingly walking towards her.

"Oh Ravmasha…you truly do speak my language."

Ylsen stared down as tyranid warriors carefully carried handfuls of spirit stones, streaming down the streets.

"Autarch. This path we are taking…it leads to nothing but doom and destruction." Ylsen nodded as the banshee spoke.

"I am painfully aware." Ylsen said. He wanted to close his eyes, ignore what was happening in front of him. But he had to bare witness to his sins. To the weakness of his species and what it had taken them to. To remember why they had to leave this galaxy once this last act of damnation was done.

"Even if we were to leave, with no new spirit stones, our kind will not be able to reproduce."

"...I am aware. However, it will give us time and opportunity to figure something else out. And to stay here is to condemn ourselves." He shook his head. "Biel-tan is wrong. There is no hope to be found in this galaxy. Only prolonged suffering." He shivered. "Besides. If the tyranid succeeds, I do not want to stick around to see how powerful she will be empowered by the Emperor of mankind's soul. Nor do I want to stay if she fails and the Imperium now has had their throneworld sieged by eldar.

"We could fight." The banshee snarled. "Better to die with honor than to work with these…these abominations."

"And damn all of our kindred to the embrace of She Who Thirsts?" The banshee stayed silent. "We lost the moment the avatar failed to slay her. Accept this fact."

"...It is a disgraceful fact."

"Don't I know it…the best we can hope for is to do our part well, get the spirit stones back and get out of the galaxy."

"You think she will hold her word?" Ylsen shrugged.

"What choice do I have? I believe she will. She has lied and manipulated before, but in these things at least she has been sincere."

"This is a heavy gamble, Autarch."

"It is the only one we have left."

Anya stared down at the ork. Bleeding. Panting.

She hadn't broken a sweat.

"You'z…" The ork grunted, falling to a knee. "You'z gotten strong. Way stronger."

"You've also gotten stronger." She claimed.

"Not like youz. You'z different." The ork looked up at her with narrowed eyes full of animalistic fury. "I'z gonna get stronger. I'z gonna krump so many humies dat I'z gonna get even bigga dan Ghazghkull!" The ork rose to his full height, grunting in pain as he did. "And when I'z do…imma krump you as well." Anya stared at him, before a genuine smile appeared on her face.

"I'll be looking forward to it." She extended a hand to the ork. "So. What do you say we take Terra together? Gather your warbands, get some extra warbosses under your yoke? Ravmasha and Anya, the breakers of mankind?" The ork stared at her hand before grabbing it with his powerclaw, almost crushing it into pulp.

"It'z a deal."

Occ: "Alright. I have reason to believe that due to genestealer infestations, we may have impostors among us."

Harrison: "..."

Occ: "Don't say it."

Harrison: "..."

Occ: "Don't you fucking say it."

Harrison: "AMOG..."

Harrison proceeds to get stabbed.