I watched on as the Commander finished up the message and the probes. He may have held his oratory skills as being sub-par, but really, he's underselling himself. He does that, quite a bit.
To some, it may seem hypocritical, sending out aid to Commanders across the multiverse, when something just like that was what had gotten him into this mess in the first place. With the coming storm, though, being prepared was entirely reasonable.
Plus, you never knew when you might need more allies.
As he continued on with his actions, I briefly turned my attention toward his hub-universe. Here, besides some strange reports relating to when he had put gravity and mass alteration systems in place so that he could prepare new worlds for any refugees that wished to emigrate to his empire lived, my own forces and auxiliaries had arrived to begin making things more...accommodating for the new arrivals...and not just those from the warframe universe.
Several civilians from the Imperium of Man, bot pre and post-heresy, had been entombed within the Repository, and now sought to live with the one who had been their savior. Of course, those who had been put into stasis from a time after the Heresy had desired a place to venerate the Emperor. I had volunteered the assistance of the forces of the Black Templars and Imperial Heralds that fought among my armies to assist in the construction, though they would likely have complained if I hadn't done so - they may have respected me, but their loyalty was to the God Emperor first and foremost.
After a few minutes, though, it seemed my former pawn had finished his final preparations. Nodding, I made a gesture for Celm to come forward. He had desired to bare witness to what was about to happen, and really, I couldn't refuse him that honor.
My Commander, however, did have one last thing to ask before the word was given.
"Hey, Celm?"
"Yes?"
"Do you...remember...anyone you met in the Progenitors wars...anyone famous?"
"...A couple. Before we retreated to enact our plan, my kind hosted a celebration of victory. I have a few photos left over from that party."
A moment later, Celempheros materialized a photo in his hand. Taking it, Flame gestured for me to come close, so that both of us could examine the picture.
Most of the beings were not recognizable, being of races I kew nothing about, or wones who I did know much about, but could not identify the individual in question. One who did stand out, though, was a man of Turkish descent who was trying to hide that he was enjoying himself. Standing next to him was...oh.
I did not see that coming.
Neither did Flame, if his next words were anything to go by.
"You knew the Master of Mankind?"
"Er, yes, I did. How'd you recognize him?"
"I didn't. But I know the guy with the flaming staff is Malcador. Also, why does he have his staff here?"
"...He wanted to show off?"
"I highly doubt that. Is there anyone else famous from 40k you know?"
"No, but Vivienne has the Tanith First and Only in cryostasis within her hub universe."
I gave my superior a blank look.
"...Sure," replied the Commander, not buying it. "So, ready to witness history?"
"Of course."
Smiling, my ex-pawn hit the button. A moment later, the probes and the warning pods launched, while ahead of them, portals opened all over the multiverse, ready to take this sacred objects to their intended destinations.
For those of you who are curious, here is what my dear commander put on them:
[SPOILER="The Message"]To those who await a spacebattle, travel at sufficient velocity, or undertake questionable quests, listen up.
If you are reading this, you wield the power of the Progenitors, and possess a Brutally Efficient Self Replicating Engine of War. In all honesty, you've got the most powerful weaponsever made..or so we thought.
I'll cut right to the chase. The Progenitors? They aren't dead. There's a whole universe or five left of them, ready to go back to the multiversal stage. And they did not want others to use their commanders.
The Progenitors left behind failsafes to make sure that no one got access to their commanders, and if someone did that anyway, they had other measures to...remove them form the picture.
I...may have woken one of those up, and now, we're being hunted. Not by the progenitors, though - they've decided to observe us and see whether we are worthy to inherit their might. But their failsafes? One of those went rogue, and it wants us dead.
All of us.
I'm...I'm...I'm sorry for unleashing this blight on you all. I didn't mean for any of this to happen.
Here, though, is my way of making it up to you.
I've included the schematics for, well, everything the progenitors were willing to let me share with you...which is literally everything they got. Matter generation, dark matter weapons, time distortion devices, biotechnology...even some stuff on magic. Yeah, they had that. Surprising, isn't it?
Just one catch, though. This stuff will only be yours if you..well….if you're willing to fight with me.
We can't beat these things on our own. We need to stand as one against them or be wiped out one by one.
So, please, if you get this, send my a return message. Tell me you've got this. Let me know that you're out there.
Let me know that I'm not alone in this fight.
This is Commander and Former SB, SV, and QQ user Flameal15k, signing off. Good luck.[/SPOILER]
As the last of the first set of the probes and pods entered their portal,s the Commander made his leave - he had two surrenders to negotiate.
When he was out of earshot, I turned my attention back to my former superior. "DId you have to tell him about the Tanith?"
"What? Did they die?"
"No, but I'm having trouble waking them up, despite UR-025's best efforts."
"Wouldn't it be angry that they destroyed its comrades?"
"No love is lost between him..her...them and the chaos corrupted abominations built by that tainted STC."
"Fair enough."
XXXXX
The Custodians trudged forth through the ship's cavernous interior, careful to avoid those that would asks questions. At last they came upon their destination - an empty room, unattended by work drones.
It would be perfect.
Carefully preparing the area, the Custodians checked three times to be sure that no one was watching them. This actin must be conducted in absolute secrecy, lest their mission be compromised before it even began.
Carefully, the pulled out the special dataslate and its transmitter/receiver. In mere minutes, it powered on.
Then, the leader of the Guard began typing.
XXXXXXX
++BROADCASTER: CUSTODIAN SQUAD INVICTUS++
++THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: THE BLOOD OF MARTYRS IS THE SEED OF THE IMPERIUM++
++SUBJECT CONTENT: TRANSMITTING NOW++
Your majesty, we have managed to integrate ourselves amongst the Commander's forces. It has taken a millennia less than expected, but some unfortunate citizen of Old Earth was indeed placed in one of these machines and managed to stumble upon us. The Lord Sigilate's prediction was correct.
Unfortunately, the countermeasure has also been awakened, and now seeks to wreck havoc for the Commander's plan. How shall we proceed with this?
XXXXXXXXXXX
++REPLY SENT++
++THOUGHT OF THE DAY: THE EMPEROR KNOWS++
++RESPONSE: TRANSMITTING NOW++
Excellent work, captain.
Though regrettable, the awakening of the failsafe was not unexpected. Indeed, I have already planned for this outcome.
Remain embedded in the Commander's forces. His title is...strange, but he is from more innocent times. Ensure he survives long enough to reach our universe. Additionally, try to get him to be friendly with the Progenitor known as Celempheros. That individual is in possession of several STCs (as per agreements made following the cessation of the Multiversal wars) that would be of colossal benefit to the Imperium.
An advisement: please inform the Sisters of Silence accompanying you to submit themselves to examination by the Commander - access to live blanks is difficult for those out side the Imperium, and if the Commander could synthesize blank traits and apply them to machinery, opposing the Archenemy will become far easier.
Finally, please provide additional reports in the future - and do attempt to steer the poor soul toward our universe soon enough.
THE EMPEROR PROTECTS,
The Master of Mankind
++POST SCRIPT++
Dorn, please tell Magnus and Kitten to stop trying to read outgoing messages. It's annoying.
XXXXX
The Lotus groaned as the machine pulled out the shrapnel from her body. How in the void had that explosion hurt so much?
It had been many days since the fighting had ceased, yet she still ached from the battle.
When the Commander had engaged the Coelohim in single combat, she had initially refused to act. Yet soon, her hand had been forced.
From the creature's original body, Progenitor robots had emerged to try and wreck havoc on his allies. Amongst them had been a horde of boom suicide bots, which had made a beeline for her Tenno...who had no idea that these machines were hostile.
In an instant, the Lotus had been forced ot make a choice - close in on the drones and shield the Tenno, at the cost of some injuries and forever truning against her parents (the machines were close enough to the Tenno that shooting them was out of the option), or allow her surrogate children to die, but remain loyal to her progenitors.
It had not been a hard choice.
Still, that didn't mean she liked getting hurt...but the fact that her children were all around her right now, trying to see if she was okay, did make things a little easier to bare.
XXXXXX
(Directly before Flame slew the Coelohim)
Hunhow stared at the arena before him. One moment, he had beeen retreating from the battle on Earth, the next he had been here, in this shadowed realm. Nearby, his wife watched on curiously, as did several of his closest lieutenants, all searching for who or what had brought them here.
"We...apologize for keeping you in the dark."
Before Hunhow could make a retort, a glowing being descend into the arena, eyes focused on him.
"Why did you take us from the battle? We had a chance to win."
The glowing one's expression hardened. "The monster would only have seen you as a foe to slay. Once the Commander died, it would turn on you...and in your current state, you would stand no chance against it."
"Hmph. And I suppose you could improve us?"
"We could, for starters, repair your womb, and let you raise new generations of your kind."
"For what cost?" Questioned the Sentient destroyer of worlds, who could already see many shadows moving about at the edge of the arena.
"The completion of a shared interest: the destruction of the Commander."
"How do you intend to achieve that?"
"To take a page from your book, we intend to...clear a path to its heart...then rend it beating from its rest."
Suddenly, a gigantic glowing creature resembling a lobster emerged from the shadows. It stared intently at the glowing figure at the center of the arena.
"So, do we have a deal?"
"...will you allow me to destroy the Tenno?"
"Of course."
"Then yes. We have an agreement."
"...Good."
XXXXXXX
AN: Welp, the current arc is over! Trivia will be up tomorrow.
So, Read and Review! This is Flameal15k, signing off!