As Craftworld Iyanden moved towards Yggdrasil, the forces of the aeldari began to gather.
The necrons and the Hopian humans would hold Valhalla. That was their city, the centre of the planet and their defensible point. It would be up to the eldar and their Imperium allies to hold the Cauldron, although the necrons would give them some help.
This was all symbolic and because of the nature of the Warp, that symbolism mattered. Farseers of the Craftworlds and the Exodites spread the word… this was not a battle to defend a human world. This was a symbolic battle between the forces of the aeldari and Slaanesh, a battle that would be reflected in the Immaterium and if they failed, Ynnead would be greatly weakened. If they succeeded, Ynnead would be empowered and far more likely to overcome Slaanesh. This battle was vitally important to the future of the eldar race.
Because of that, all the Craftworlds dispatched everyone they could spare. They were meeting on Craftworld Iyanden, to join them in the trip to Yggdrasil. The Exodite worlds also spared everyone they could, meeting on various worlds to travel to Yggdrasil. And last of all, the drukhari were moving. Even the dark eldar could not ignore the tantalizing possibility of freedom.
The reactions of the drukhari were most interesting. For the first time since the fall of their species, the emotion of hope was whispering through the dark, debased beauty of Commorragh. Drukhari would often maintain that their actions were their own doing, completely of their own volition, but everyone knew it to be a lie. Slaanesh's feasting on their souls was endless and forced them to torture ceaselessly, using up slaves at a wanton rate, despite their best efforts to keep them alive. They invented newer and darker tortures, creative sexual depravities, all to hold back the decay just one more day. Without that pressure on their souls they would not choose a different path – that was not their nature – but the dark eldar would be able to slow down. To truly rape and torture and murder as they chose, rather than in the service of an endless thirst.
First among the drukhari was Asdrubael Vect and from his dark throne in Commorragh, he thoughtfully contemplated the situation. He had forbidden his people to join the Ynnari and acted against them, because they weakened his power base. Also, he'd had absolutely no faith in their efforts.
Now, matters had changed. Firstly, Vect could recognize that a great current was running through Commorragh. It was very unusual for that to happen… it had occurred only twice in his long life… but when the entire population of Commorragh moved together, you could only ride the wave. Perhaps changing the course of it slightly, but any attempt to stop that great wave would lead to your own drowning. Vect had successfully ridden out the two previous waves, he would not let this one bring him down.
And did he even want to oppose it? Vect was incredibly old. It was no kind of secret that he had a symbiotic relationship with an Exodite world. That world was under the personal protection of the Kabal of the Black Heart and in return, a powerful soul healer tended to Vect regularly. She no doubt found it revolting, but for the sake of her people she shored up his soul, repairing the damage that no amount of torture could hold back.
(she was actually deeply compassionate for his suffering, despite knowing, very intimately, Vect's true nature. Foolish? Perhaps, but it was the nature of soul healers to empathize with suffering)
(Manric would have understood)
Vect knew that without the endless suction of Slaanesh on his soul, he would be infinitely more comfortable. He lived in a constant degree of pain, kept managed by mental discipline and the soul treatments. If that damage to his soul were stopped, it could perhaps even be properly rebuilt, freeing him from pain entirely. That was a great allure with victory close in hand. Yet, what would happen if they lost?
Vect took the time to force an answer out of the Exodite Farseers and learned that if the battle of Yggdrasil was lost and Ynnead failed, all the eldar souls would be consumed by Slaanesh in a final burst of horrifying energy. It would truly be the end of their race, as Commorragh itself was sucked into the embrace of She Who Thirsts. Vect seriously considered trying to stop the battle from happening at all. He could waylay Iyanden with all his forces and steal the swords, preventing the summoning of Ynnead. And yet…
And yet.
If I do that, I will seal my own fate. How long could he continue like this? A very long time, if the Homunculi were any indication, but the pain would only get worse. Also, if he chose to intercept Iyanden, he would have to be very careful to keep the information of his actions from the rest of Commorragh. The tides were shifting and if it was discovered that he had thwarted them from their only chance to be free, the outrage would lead to his fall.
Of course, there was another option. Just don't lose. If the entire might of the Kabal of the Black Heart, and many of the other, lesser Kabals, were thrown behind the effort to defend the Cauldron, could they truly fail? Vect cynically reflected that they could, but the odds would surely be in their favor. He could not trust the prognostications of the Farseers on that, they would surely lie, but his own estimation of their strength told him they would likely succeed.
That was, ultimately, what decided him. It was time to commit themselves and either secure the future of their race, or die in a blaze of glory trying. Vect had not lived as long as he had by failing to take chances.
Now, you might ask… how could Vect reverse his stance on the Ynnari so easily? But it was simple as breathing because he had actually taken no stance. He had forbidden the members of his own Kabal from joining the Ynnari, but that seemed to be just practicality, to maintain his power base. Vect had combated the Ynnari with rumors and deep manipulations, convincing other Kabals to move against them of what they thought was their own free will. He had used the work of the Homunculi to manipulate the humans into attacking them, and through many proxies, laid bounties against them. But none of this had been done in his name and Vect could undo it easily enough. Then he could take control of this great wave of sentiment, ride it to victory and claim the credit. Commorragh would fall ever more tightly beneath his hand. It was quite disgusting really, given how many lives Vect's machinations had claimed, but if it led to the end of Slaanesh and the rise of Ynnead, the Ynnari would not complain.
As Tzeentch would say, it was all according to plan.
Elsewhere, on the tiny Tau colony.
Ko'Shoka was very pleased with how things were coming with their tiny colony. The buildings had gone from being makeshift to tidy little homes. Their Earth Caste was doing very well with their farming, and Earth and Fire were working together on the herding. The cattle were flourishing, eating the grass and having plenty of little calves.
That meant the time had come for their first real export run of packaged and preserved meat. Because of how necron technology worked, statis fields were actually considered the best way to preserve the meat, just freezing it in time at the perfect moment. They had been instructed from experienced human ranchers who worked with cattle, so the beef had been aged to bring out the succulence of the meat. Ko'Shoka had tried some and it really was delicious. Even the cheaper cuts were better than Grox, although the relative fragility of the beasts meant it would never be as popular as the ubiquitous lizards.
To help them with their trading and also give them a degree of autonomy, they were being given a spaceship. It was not free, but they could pay it back with no interest and the price was quite fair. The three Air Caste, their new husbands, and assorted others would form the crew. As a special luxury good, the only markets open to them for now were Hive Antioch and Luminous. That was fine… their relatively small shipments could not hope to meet the growing demand even on those two planets, let alone the rest of the Sautekh Empire.
For convenience, they went to Luminous, but for a slightly better price they went to Antioch. With the great influx of money and also the many noble families, Antioch had a greater demand for the rare meat. In return they got the currency of the Sautekh Empire, small wafers of gold, worked with the emblem of the Sautekh empire. They were only the interstellar currency… local planets used very different methods, but the hard value of precious gold was considered best for trade between worlds. The only downside was potential tampering with the currency, but the wafers had a lattice inside that made tampering very difficult and the punishment for such crimes was death. Also, the lattice was based on necron technology and could easily be detected with a handheld scanner. Counterfeit currency would not have that lattice.
Ko'Shoka was planning to join the first ship to Luminous. That was a more interesting trip than to Hive Antioch, since they were able to disembark and interact with the humans there. Hive Antioch was a military world and completely quarantined from outside contact, which was practical but boring.
Before he was ready to go, though, Nuhkes asked him a question that shook him to his core.
"Do you know Commander Farsight? We're considering trying to make contact with him," Nuhkes said and Ko'Shoka looked at him sharply, suspecting a bizarre joke. But Nuhkes seemed completely serious.
"Are you joking? Farsight is long dead." That was simply a fact. It had been three hundred years since Farsight's career had begun in earnest, Tau only lived sixty years. Ko'Shoka and most of the Fire Caste knew very little about what had happened to him… just muffled rumors that he had turned his back to the Greater Good, casting aside the wisdom of the Ethereal Caste. All the monuments to him had been torn down, his name stricken from records, but the Fire Caste remembered. Nuhkes tilted his head to one side.
"Are you referring to his lifespan? I have heard that he is abnormally old and no one knows why. But he is most certainly alive." …What?! "He is currently fighting with the orks. The warbands he is engaged with are not directly threatening Sautekh at this time, but well. Orks." Yes… orks. Ko'Shoka was still trying to wrap his mind around the idea that Farsight was alive though. How could that be?! Also.
"What has Farsight done? They said he turned away from the Greater Good," Ko'Shoka said, almost dreading the answer. Nuhkes cheerfully supplied it.
"Well, keep in mind that what I am telling you partly comes from the Imperium and partly from a few necron Dynasties that have actually traded with his worlds." Ko'Shoka wasn't too surprised by that, it hadn't been formal but there had been trade lines open to the Sautekh Empire before the invasion of his world. They had been trying to quietly promote the Greater Good to the necrons, but that hadn't been going anywhere… the very few necrons they'd managed to talk to thought it was a laughable concept. And while they might let humans follow the tenants of the Greater Good, they were required to remain loyal to their masters in the Sautekh Empire. From what Ko'Shoka had heard, the Greater Good wasn't even making much headway among those humans. "He's established a series of worlds called the Farsight Enclaves. He exiled himself for a while – I'm not clear on why – and came back to help them fight the orks. Apparently he's been fighting hard against both the orks and Chaos for his entire career and he's still at it." Nuhkes cocked his head to one side. "Since the Farsight Enclaves have no Ethereals and it's reported that Farsight is quite hostile to them, I'm very interested in making contact with him. Unfortunately, it's not safe at the moment… the orks are highly active. Could you perhaps tell me what you know of Commander Farsight?" Ah, right, that had been Nuhkes question from the start.
"Well, I know he's a great hero of the Fire Caste…" Ko'Shoka went through what he could remember of Farsight, which wasn't really too much. Mostly that despite the Ethereals trying to write him out of history, the Fire Caste has passively rebelled and kept his name alive. But then, they hadn't known he was alive… did anyone know he was alive? Had it been kept from them? After he parted with Nuhkes, the thought troubled Ko'Shoka.
He still believed in the Ethereals, but it was troubling.
Elsewhere, on Solemnance.
Trazyn had received all of the new images, the ones created from Anhomqena's memories of the necrontyr. It had galvanized him and he was now hard at work creating a brand-new display for Solemnance… dioramas designed to depict the lives of the ancient necrontyr. He was using dark skinned humans as a substitute and engaging in a bit of cosmetic surgery to alter their features. He was using holographic technology to alter the eyes, which wasn't perfect but was better than any alternative.
Right now, Trazyn was faithfully reproducing the after-battle scene of the Sautekh army after a defeat. Even the Stormlord had defeats and reversals and this was the rather sad scene of the necrontyr huddling around their heaters, tired and hurting. Trazyn had requested a few more images of this time and place, reaching out to Hope via FTL, and they had thoughtfully supplied more. So Trazyn had refined the diorama, adding a few more things. In one place of the diorama a necrontyr with a bandage around his head was sitting with his back to a large Canoptek machine, still wearing his armor as he slept, gauss flayer beside him. In another spot, a camp whore was changing the bandages for a male she cared about. The Stormlord himself was in the diorama… another reproduction, he was caught walking through the camp, staff in hand as he spoke to the men and offered them praise and encouragement. They had done well, the defeat had not been their fault and he was reassuring them that they would do better next time.
This is our past. This is who we were. Trazyn ached to make more dioramas like this. He was going to have trouble finding enough dark-skinned humans though and Trazyn was considering using something else, like wax figures. Given that the necrontyr genetics were entirely gone, there was no real need to use living beings. And while making figures of wax required some artistic talent, many of his Crypteks had that knack now. It would take practice but they could likely create appropriate sculptures.
Solemnance essentially had endless space, so Trazyn had dedicated entire new galleries to this initiative. He planned to make a replica of the Sautekh Court, as it had been so long ago. The great feasts, the pleasure caste dancing, the nobles engaged in their play and intrigue. He planned to make a scene of the orphanage, where Anhomqena had spent her childhood. The grim, cold yet not uncaring place where the discarded children of the uncaste were raised. Trazyn would also make a diorama of the great ziggurat, where the sacrifices of the necrontyr were conducted and would show a priest with beating heart in hand. It would take him thousands of years to do everything he had planned, with the attention to detail he wanted to give it, and the thought made Trazyn so wonderfully happy.
Perhaps a year after he moved Solemnance, though, something rather odd happened.
It was a small Imperium trading vessel, approaching Solemnance. In a way, Trazyn wasn't surprised by that… now that Solemnance was part of the Sautekh Empire and the humans had a treaty that included trade, it was entirely possible for an Imperium vessel to come to Solemnance with offers. Still a bit of a daring thing to do, since Imotekh was surely not guaranteeing their safety from Trazyn the Thief. Also, what could they possibly want? Trazyn was curious enough that he let them land on Solemnance and allowed them to enter his world.
The two humans to enter his realm were the ship's captain of the trading vessel, a dapper and handsome man in full Imperial regalia. With him was a female tech priest, much younger and more human than Cawl. She was tall and statuesque, and Trazyn thought that if she were to embrace a more traditional human appearance, she might be quite beautiful. As it was, no one would really think of it except to notice the loveliness that surely lay beneath her rebreather mask.
Trazyn let them see some of the sights, although nothing of true importance. They were not run of the mill Imperial citizens and were actually quite interested in some of it. He met them in the gallery devoted to Saint Aspira.
"Do you like her cloak? It is in fact the authentic article," Trazyn said easily as he materialized out of the aether. The two visitors started, turning towards him in surprise. "The legends about it are incorrect, however. It is merely a cloak. I would assume her faith was actually what turned away the blows and it merely appeared that her cloak had a protective function." That sounded a bit absurd, perhaps, but Trazyn knew that Imperial Saints could in fact generate auras of invincibility that would turn aside any attack. Ah, the power of the Immaterium were mysterious indeed… although getting a bit less mysterious now that he had psyker Crypteks. Not by much though, that was very dangerous research.
"Trazyn the Infinite. We have come to ask for a trade," the Mechanicus tech priest said, her voice pleasant but with a machine-like buzz. "We have heard you have an STC fragment for a wormhole generator that was used to transport this entire planet." That set Trazyn back on his heels for a moment and he regarded them with surprise.
Trazyn wasn't surprised that they knew about what had happened to Solemnance. That had been quite a wonder even for the necrons and word of it had spread like wildfire. While necrons normally might not lower themselves to gossip with lesser races, something of this magnitude was worth a mention. The fact that it was a human STC fragment, finished by one of the finest necron Technomancers to live… that made it all even more intriguing. So it was no surprise the Imperium had gotten word.
What baffled Trazyn was what they thought they could do with it. Did they understand what they were asking for? Trazyn decided he needed to do his best to make sure they did. He was an honorable necron, he would not give it to them without a warning.
"You do understand that this technology is far beyond what you can actually use?" Trazyn asked, leaning on his staff. "This is the upper end of even necron technology, a marvel equivalent to our recall technology. Not even finished when the Fall of the Aeldari destroyed the Terran empire… you simply cannot use it." It was too far beyond them. The Mechanicus tech priest nodded.
"We do understand that. We desire it anyway." Why? "It is a holy relic, something we can treasure and aspire to. Surely you can understand… if some great, broken technology of your race existed, would you not want it?" Ah, an excellent point and she was right. Trazyn did not collect things because they were useful, not at all.
"Very well. What do you have to trade?" Trazyn asked, curious what they would offer. The rogue trader produced two things, a small bag and the hilt of a power sword? Trazyn scanned it and found that it was ancient and broken.
"I am Rozak Kontifriak. This blade has been in my family a very long time… it is said it dates back to the Horus Heresy, and the foundation of the Rogue Traders, when we were called the militia." Hmm, no. The blade was much older than that. Trazyn waited patiently as the man explained the history of the power sword, committing it to memory. This wasn't a completely unknown artefact, but human items this old were indeed precious.
"Actually, from what I can sense, it's much older than that. A weapon of ancient Terra," Trazyn observed, still scanning it. "It likely joined your family during the Horus Heresy, but it is much older." It was no surprise it was broken. Not only had it been badly abused, it had weathered a great deal of time. The man looked at the hilt a bit sadly.
"Ah, that would explain why we have been unable to repair it… we offer this to you, along with this," he said before opening the bag to display the contents. A healthy bit of transpositanium.
"An excellent choice of trade good," Trazyn allowed. While he personally had little use for it, it was always wise to keep some to trade with other necrons. Not to mention that the wormhole generator of the humans had required an outlandish amount of it. Well worth every bit of it, but he needed to replenish his stores. "Very well, I will gladly make this trade. Please wait while I copy the plans." He would be keeping the original, although it had already been loaded into the databanks of Solemnance. "You can explore a bit if you like." There was nothing here that would harm them and Trazyn could find them easily enough.
It took him a few hours to copy the diagrams and plans to Trazyn's satisfaction. They were really beautiful work, quite precise, and he wanted excellent copies. He also included the notes from the great Technomancer who had finished them, although they were in the necron language and very… idiosyncratic. Even if they knew the necron language well enough to read them, they might have trouble following the logic. Trazyn certainly couldn't, but he wasn't any kind of cryptek.
Putting all the copies into a large folder, Trazyn went to find his guests. Taking his invitation to heart, they had moved around a bit, exploring some of the galleries he had thoughtfully arrayed for them. He found them in the gallery dedicated to the exploits of Rogue Traders.
"That isn't really Pondatus Bluff, is it?" Rozak asked and Trazyn looked at the display. It was a reasonably accurate rendition of a tall, strong man in a red coat with golden frogging, wearing a dapper white wig, giving orders to his crew. They were all busy obeying him and the whole thing gave an aura of competence.
"Alas, no, he was unrecoverable. However, it is an excellent stand in. There were recordings broadcast of him many times, so I had good renditions of his likeness," Trazyn said easily. Bluff was forgotten now, except among history buffs and Rogue Traders who cared about their own history. Rozak clearly fell into that camp.
"Ah, good… his family would be rather upset," Rozak sounded a touch relieved and Trazyn wondered, with a bit of amusement, what he thought they could do about it if it was. Although… one obvious thing would be to just bribe him with more transpositanium. Hmm, that would actually put him in a bit of a spot if he had the real Bluff! Almost fortunate that it wasn't an issue.
The Mechanicus tech priest took the folder and gently flipped through it, pausing on the great schematics for a moment. Then she bowed deeply, buzzing binary cant thanks. Trazyn waved the thanks away.
"No thanks are needed. Would you like to see the rest of this exhibit before you go?" It really was intriguing and Rozak readily assented. The tech priest did not care as much, but she humored her companion, listening patiently as Trazyn led them through the displays and showed his collection of artefacts. Rozak was deeply interested in all of it, which was quite pleasant.
It was always fun, showing his collection to an appreciative audience.