Author's Note: I hope I'm portraying Guilliman properly here. I wasn't sure I wanted to do him at all because of my uncertainty on his personality and attitudes, but I decided it was important.

Roboute Guilliman was not having a good year. Or a good decade, really.

The headaches of running what was left of the Imperium were endless. The enemies of Mankind were legion, and the Empire itself was a broken husk of what it had once been. The Tyranids were top of his list of enemies, but Chaos was just behind. Then after them both, the Orks and the Necrons. The Eldar barely got a mention in his list of priorities, given that some of them were tentative allies.

Right now, the Necrons were occupying Guilliman's mind as he gazed out of the window at the natural beauty of Macragge. Imotekh the Stormlord was an expansionistic pain in the ass. His incredible strategic acumen, combined with his belligerent nature, made for a brutal foe. He was lower on the list than the Tyranids and Chaos, but only because he was less inherently destructive. He was also a potential ally, in some situations… there had been one instance of the Stormlord's forces happening to arrive on a world under assault by the Tyranids, and viciously attacking the viler xenos. The battle had left the Hive Fleet utterly devastated and all forces involved had suffered so badly that Imotekh had just retreated afterwards. Also, the Stormlord was noted for hating Chaos and had attacked the followers of Khorne on at least one occasion. So there was some potential for cooperation, if very minimal. That put the Necrons solidly below the things that could not be reasoned with at all.

Now, however, the situation with Imotekh was getting worse. He'd received full confirmation, from his own Marines, that the Stormlord was doing something unusual with humans. One Librarian had reported that the Overlord he was facing was a human being before he'd met his end. In Guilliman's mind, that elevated the threat the Necrons posed. One great advantage they'd always had over the metal monstrosities was that they did not reproduce, and if their recall facilities could be destroyed, they would be too. Also, the power of the Warp was known to sometimes stop them from recalling, so psykers were a good weapon against them. Overall, attrition was on their side.

Or rather, it had been. But if the Necrons were recruiting to their 'race', that was changing. Guilliman wondered though. Were these humans mind controlled or brainwashed in some way? Or were they acting of their own free will? The fact that a powerful psyker had been converted made him think the latter, but why?

Guilliman needed more information on this new strain of Necron. It might take years of patient searching, but he aimed to have it. Rogue traders would be dispatched, with unofficial permission to make contact with Necron-held worlds. Contacts among the Tau would be used, to see if they knew anything. And perhaps even a few Callidus assassins, but tasked purely for reconnaissance. As wonderful as Callidus assassins were in general, their track record against the Necrons was poor in the extreme. They had lost three of them trying to get rid of that General of theirs, what was his name… Zahndrekh? And none of them could even get close to Imotekh.

The Necrons were still solidly behind the Tyranids and Chaos on Guillimans' list of threats, but the Imperium didn't survive by not paying attention to the lesser threats.

After a few years in Hope, Rafeef felt like he'd died and gone to heaven.

Some things had taken getting used to. The planet was full of tech heresy and just outright heresy-heresy. But if he just ignored that, pretended it didn't exist, it was a beautiful place. A Civilised world with a smattering of Knight world culture and the people were friendly. Almost worryingly so, given that he was a sanctioned psyker. They didn't seem to really understand what that meant.

Then, how could they, when they had no psykers? At least, Rafeef had come to the conclusion they didn't, and he thought Adeptus Astra Telepathica would agree. Oh, sure, the six other psykers they had (six! For a whole planet!) would still be taken by the Black Ships. But not one of them would be any good as a sanctioned psyker, they'd be fodder for the Emperor. When Zivon had said he was twice as strong as the best of them, he hadn't been joking. If anything, he'd been understating it. Rafeef thought it was more like four times.

The only reason they were any good at all was the special mechanical aides they used and the collars. The helmets were partly designed with Necron technology, and were able to enhance the brainwaves to make an Iota psyker something closer to an Eta, maybe even a Zeta. And the blackstone collars could be switched from suppressing the Warp, to enhancing it. The platforms also worked that way, breaking down the barriers or slamming them shut.

They were still really, really bad with the Warp, but not in a threatening way. They were just bad at using it at all, which was kind of a relief to Rafeef. First, he was incredibly useful to them, but the people of Hope also weren't too likely to destroy themselves by accident. It also helped that they knew about the danger. The collars couldn't be removed except in the underground facility, and that facility was surrounded by blackstone that could be charged and used at any moment. And also explosives, if all that failed, to turn them into pancakes. Rafeef wasn't thrilled by that idea but at least a demon incursion wouldn't get too far.

What really made Rafeef happy to be on this world, though, was a girl. One of the other psykers, a woman named Zelda, she was beautiful. Her skin was dark, like most of the people in this world, and her hair was a curtain of sable. She had a friendly face and a ready smile, and her body was a little plump in an inviting way. Rafeef had started chatting her up and she had been receptive, and now they were going out. And weirdly enough, all the other psykers seemed to think he was incredibly brave.

"You're going to shit yourself when you meet her father. Seriously, you'll die of terror right then," one of them predicted when they were all having a few beers at the pub. Rafeef just looked at him in disgust.

"I was a sanctioned psyker and a member of the Imperial Guard. I've had demons threatening my mind, and I got here from a battle against Necrons. Zelda's father can't possibly be as bad as a Necron." That made everyone at the table laugh uproariously, for some stupid reason.

"Oh, man, you have no idea. Her father can be just as bad as a Necron. You are going to die," another of the predicted and Rafeef was about to snarl back, but then the only woman at the table stepped in.

"Boys, stop it. You could queer this up for Zelda and she deserves a good man in her life." Her sneer at the rest of the table was magnificent. "And you're all too chickenshit to take on her father." That made everyone laugh.

"Ah, yes, we are indeed a bunch of chickenshits," the first man agreed and they moved on from that topic, to Rafeef's relief. Still, it was annoying. Did they think an Imperial Guard and sanctioned psyker would be scared of a woman's father? What could he be, an Astartes?

Then one day, after he'd been dating Zelda roughly a year, Rafeef got to meet her father.

He was called down to the testing room and walked in to see the craziest thing of his life. Rafeef couldn't use witchsight while wearing the collar, so all he had were his eyes, but that was enough and he stared open mouthed at what was going on in the largest platform. There was a Necron there, and not a low ranked one either. Rafeef knew a bit about the xenos, after spending time on Hope, and that was an Overlord, one of the Necron Nobility.

The Necron was a psyker. Rafeef had no idea HOW he was a psyker, but there was no denying the truth of it. In front of him was a small but violently churning warp rift and he was reaching into it and pulling out the strands of the warp. Where the other humans used gloves, he was using nothing but his hands and spinning it like cotton candy on his fingers as he sang and twirled. It almost looked like a dance… no, it was a dance, as he seemed to float in the air. It was just an illusion, caused by expert footwork, but it was a powerful one.

I never imagined something so large could be so graceful, Rafeef thought as he watched the Overlord toss ball after ball of warp energy into the air, where they solidified into neat globes of ghost wood. They had named the material that because of its silvery white color and the grain that defined it, looking strangely like wood.

Then the song and dance slowed, drawing to a natural close as the Necron pushed his hands together. To Rafeef's astonishment the warp rift obeyed, closing for the Necron's will. How was he doing this?! This was… was really high level Psyker abilities! At least Delta, would be Rafeef's guess.

(Rafeef himself was a Zeta)

Then the platform went from green to red, cementing the rift closed with negatively charged blackstone. The ghost wood orbs dropped to the padded floor of the platform, and the Overlord picked them up. He stepped out with an armful of ghost wood, gently putting them on the table as Zivon fussed a little.

"Thank you so much, General Duleth!" Oh… this was the General... the one everyone mentioned as the one psyker stronger than Rafeef himself. Now he believed it. Why hadn't they mentioned he was a NECRON though?

"It's the least I could do, while I'm here." Then the Necron Overlord noticed him and Rafeef swallowed as he met firey green eyes. "Ah, what is this?" General Duleth paced towards him and Rafeef held his ground, as best he could. "So you are the sanctioned psyker we took from the battlefield… and…" The metal face was suddenly far too close to his, as the General bent down to look him right in the eye. "The man who thinks he is worthy of my daughter." Wh-wh-wh-what?!

Rafeef did not in fact shit himself. He did however go deathly pale and swallowed very, very hard as he tried desperately to think of what to say. 'I fucked your daughter' was right out. Even 'she invited me over' was not it. 'I want to marry her' was probably a better idea but Rafeef wasn't entirely sure yet and oh god this was a telepath! Rafeef's guilty conscience reminded him that Zelda had welcomed him into her bed just a week ago and he prayed that her father couldn't see that in his mind or he was dead.

Then he was saved by the hiss of a door opening

"DADDY!" General Duleth straightened just quickly enough to catch his daughter as she launched herself into his arms. Rafeef re-learned how to breath as the General laughed and cuddled Zelda close. She wasn't a small woman, but she looked tiny in her father's cold metal hands.

(how was a Necron her father? He didn't understand!)

(how was a Necron a psyker?)

"You didn't tell us you were coming home! How long will you be here this time?" Zelda demanded after a proper cuddling. General Duleth shook his head, those little plaques by his face swinging.

"Not as long as I would like. Just a few months… I'm mostly here to pick up the new recruits, and transfer a few of the men home for leave and garrison duty. Also, I'm here to join up with Itolyx and our new force of true Necrons from the coreworld we awakened."

"Oh, you're taking Itolyx? So he must be getting his promotion to Overlord?" Wait, Necrons could get promoted? Huh, he'd had no idea. Rafeef had thought they were just… made at a certain level. Duleth made a weird buzzing sound that after a moment, Rafeef figured out was a chuckle. It seemed like Necrons couldn't really laugh well.

"Oh yes and this time, he's already guessed. But then, he needs to be an Overlord if he's going to be dealing with the rest of Zahndrekh's restive crew. They won't respect a mere Lord." General Duleth paused a moment. "Although, if we're being honest, some of them will never respect him. Fortunately, they'll be in the minority… most are more like Ahmakeph." It… it really did sound like these xenos had… surprisingly familiar interactions. Rafeef wasn't going to say human but it sounded like this Itolyx was a slum recruit who had gotten promoted really far on ability, and the other officers weren't too happy about it. He'd seen that before in the Guard.

"Who is going to be taking over managing the planetary garrison?" Zelda asked and the details that followed didn't mean anything to Rafeef, except that the Necrons were actively defending this planet. But then attention went back to him. "Daddy, this is my new boyfriend, Rafeef. He's the sanctioned psyker you captured?" Zelda looked between the two of them, anxiety on her face, and Rafeef could easily read her thoughts even without telepathy. She wants her father to like me.

"Oh, we've met," General Duleth said in a deceptively mild tone, staring at him. Rafeef met his eyes again, feeling deeply intimidated. And Zelda was becoming unhappy.

"DADDY! Stop scaring off my boyfriends!" She suddenly grabbed the plaque by his face that looked like an earring and tugged on it, to Rafeef's mild horror. "I'm twenty-six! I want to get married before I'm thirty and it's my obligation to!" Duleth started to say something but Zelda spoke over him. "And don't say you can arrange a marriage! Your marriage to mother was arranged and see how that turned out!" Seeing a Necron Overlord flinch was the weirdest thing.

"I… can't really argue with that," General Duleth admitted and Rafeef wondered what that all was about. Maybe Zelda would tell him sometime, maybe she wouldn't, but he decided he shouldn't ask. "Hm… well, at least I know you have guts." Yes, and still inside his body too. General Duleth regarded him for a moment, and Rafeef met those fiery green eyes. "You might do. But I warn you. If you ever make my daughter cry, I will destroy you." All… alright… "You can call me Manric." And then Zelda suddenly hugged him.

"Thank you daddy!" He made that buzzing sound again as he patted her shoulder and Rafeef was struck by how gentle it was. Rafeef decided this would be a good moment to beat a strategic retreat, and leave the two of them alone.

Of course, that meant he had a bone to pick with the other psykers.

"You didn't tell me that her father IS a Necron!" Rafeef snarled at them when he found three of them in the cafeteria, just hanging out and having some tea. One of them looked bewildered – he hadn't been at the bar, he didn't drink – but the other two laughed.

"We didn't want to spoil the surprise!" For the first time in a long time, Rafeef regretted that he was wearing the collar. If he hadn't been, he'd have used his mind to grab the salt and pepper shakers and peg them at his friends. Instead he had to do it by hand, which just wasn't as good. "Hey!"

"Come on man, you're still alive. How did it go?" Ugh… Rafeef sighed before taking a seat ad quickly telling them what had happened. "Oh wow, he actually said you can call him Manric?" Huh? Did that mean something? "He likes you."

"Wait, he does?" Rafeef hadn't gotten that! But the other man nodded.

"Well, better than her other boyfriends anyway. THEY had to call him General." Zelda had hugged him right after he said that. Wait, did that mean Zelda's father actually approved? If only a little? "You're doing really good, I hope it works out for you." Yeah… he hoped it worked out too. For the first time in his life he was seeing a future where he actually could get married and have children.

For a sanctioned psyker in the Imperial Guard, that wasn't a thing that usually happened.