Hanna Drake, Sister of the Martyred Lady, did not regret any of her choices in life. She only regretted that they had been brought to this pass.

I told sister Agatha I thought this was a terrible idea. I spoke up. She'd been backhanded for it, too, and accused of disloyalty to the Emperor. But Hanna was still glad she'd spoken up because she felt like she'd done what she could and now, she was vindicated.

The survivors of their chapter of the Martyred Lady did not include Sister Agatha, which Hanna thought was a shame. She should have to face what she had brought them to. What was that going to be, precisely? No one knew. Her sisters were all injured, although they were stable now and infested with xenos technology that partially controlled their actions. Only partially… Hanna had diffidently asked one of the human ship crew and they had advised her that Mindshackle Scarabs were quite sharply limited. Mainly because they were a very brute force mind control… they COULD seize control of all of their actions, forcing them to take an action they did not want to do, but that would shortly be followed by an aneurysm and death. They were far more effective at simply forbidding them from taking an action. That caused no harm.

(the young man Hanna had questioned was well aware that Mindshackle Scarabs were capable of far more subtle things, introducing ideas and subtly whispering to encourage an infested organic to do what the owner wanted of their own volition. He didn't mention it because it was both creepy and pointless for them to know)

(that kind of thing was completely undetectable even if you knew you were infested)

Because of that, all the remaining Sisters were unable to raise their hands in violence. But what did the Sautekh Empire want them for? Why were they still alive at all? Hanna spoke to Sister Agnes about it and she had many practical and horrible suggestions.

"Well, they could just turn us into servitors." Yes they… they could do that. Hanna shuddered a little internally but would the rogue Mechanicus in the Sautekh Empire hesitate? She doubted it. "Possibly use us as carrier slaves." That also made her shiver in disgust, although it might not be TOO terrible. Some planets that had severe population issues would not hesitate to do that to captive females. But did Sautekh even have that problem? After a moment, Hanna decided that was unlikely. "Or maybe just manual labor. We can't be trusted but we don't need to be, when we cannot take a violent action." Sister Agnes paused for a moment before looking away. "Or this… this peace treaty… they might trade us back to the Imperium."

"Should we hope for that?" Hanna asked softly. It wasn't their fault, Sister Agatha had been in command and she was dead now, but they would still be judged for it. And they COULD have rebelled against Agatha. Of course, that would have been doomed, Hanna knew her opinion had been unpopular among them. Yet, she knew their superiors might take that position. Agnes was silent for a long moment.

"I really don't know. They could easily make servitors of us." Yes… they certainly could. "But it's more likely we'd get a tongue lashing and be allowed to join the Sisters Repentia." Hanna did not really want to do that. She was strong in her faith and served the Emperor loyally, but the utter devotion of the Sisters Repentia sometimes frightened her. Still…

"That would be fitting," Hanna said, reflecting on it. Disobeying a direct order of the Primarch and defying a peace treaty, no matter how wrongheaded they might think it… yes, that was a sin deserving the punishment of repentance. Agnes nodded.

"I will welcome that outcome. I do think the most likely option is that we are being taken from manual labor, but that is also repentance, in a way." Yes… they could look at it that way. In fact, that might be a healthy way to think of it, given that escaping would be virtually impossible. Being unable to take a violent action did not fully preclude escape but it became more difficult. "All we can do now is wait." Sister Agatha bowed her head and began a prayer to the Emperor. After a moment, Hanna bowed her head and joined her.

Whatever became of them, they would have their faith.

By the time Naszar was done claiming and garrisoning the new worlds, the Sisters on the Hopian ships had been joined with a surly and badly battered group of Space Marines. To be fair to them, they hadn't even HEARD of the peace treaty and didn't believe it when Naszar explained. They had been off killing orks and using an incredibly remote colony as an outpost. The colony they'd been on hadn't heard either but they frankly owned the fact that their chief astropath had died a year ago and the rest were horrendous. They hadn't gotten a replacement from Terra yet.

"I can see why Guilliman gave us this place," Naszar muttered, reflecting on the fact that many of these worlds were detritus, places that had been colonized forever ago and just forgotten, left to fend for themselves. On the plus side, most of these worlds were capable of doing just that which was better than worlds that needed constant care. Also, Naszar would have agreed with Laaror's assessment of Imotekh… he was a builder who liked fixing things. Turning these small human colonies into prosperous worlds would be a project.

Naszar might have questioned the wisdom of this, but there were tactical considerations. This particular planet was among the last of his circuit, which was essentially a semi-circle around the Sautekh empire. This planet was between Sautekh and Charnovokh and would be needed for FTL links to connect all of the two Dynasties. It was relatively close to that newly colonized Tau world and would also be useful as part of their line of defense against the orks. All that meant it was on the complete ass end of the Imperium's empire, but it was far more central for Sautekh.

All that completed, Naszar moved his fleet to join the forces that were fighting against the orks. It was regrettable, it would have been better to commit his fleet to defending the Sautekh Empire against raids like the one on Kanak, but the orks could not give less of a damn that they were engaged on other fronts. If they didn't pacify them now, it was projected that they would form a WAAUUUGHH and attack both Sautekh, Novokh and the Imperium. They were probably going to do that anyway but a good pacification would largely break the power of the WAAUUUGHH before it could begin so it was time to get started.

Naszar wanted to get this done as quickly as possible so his fleet could join the defensive forces oriented towards the Silent King.

When Imotekh the Stormlord sent his ultimatum to Nihilakh, the civil war kicked off in earnest.

The nobles of Nihilakh had already been circling each other like sharks, as Krispekh's control evaporated. The fact that several had taken souls and experienced being alive again made the divisions completely insoluble. So when the Stormlord made his ultimatum, he sent it to all the powerful Overlords of Nihilakh and then the fun began.

Trazyn was just waiting. Very soon, someone would try to seize Solemnance. If he was lucky, it would be Krispekh so he could laugh in his Phaeron's face before engaging the wormhole generator. Until recently, Trazyn hadn't hated Krispekh but the fact that he would have murdered his children, well. Some things were not to be tolerated. If he was a bit less lucky it would be Overlord Phaek. Trazyn cheerfully despised that cretin. If he was very unlucky, it would be Overlord Inerqa. Trazyn quite liked her and wouldn't mind if she came out on top of the civil war, she had already taken a soul as well. Inerqa would just recognize Solemnance for the precious resource it was and move to secure it.

Fortunately for Trazyn, the fleet that came out of FTL definitely belonged to Krispekh. He tapped his fingers together, lounging on his throne as he waited for the Phaeron to hail him. He had to be furious, Krispekh had surely worked out Trazyn's part in things.

Trazyn, how could you? How could you betray your family? How could you betray Nihilakh? Krispekh's voice was like a spectre as the FTL communication solidified in front of him, not requiring the message be accepted. A hostile sort of message. Trazyn shrugged.

"We have different ideas about what is good for Nihilakh, and our race as a whole," Trazyn said before hardening his tone. "And you have no standing to mention family to me. I had to rescue my children from you." Krispekh's eyes flared before he snarled.

They would have been in no danger if not for your treachery! That didn't make it right. Surrender Solemnance to me and I might consider sparing their lives. Although there was a slight uneasiness in Krispekh's tone. He knew that Trazyn was behaving in a very arrogant fashion and given the treasures of Solemnance, that suggested he had a reason for his confidence.

"I really don't think so." Trazyn said mildly before following it with a powerful series of insults garnered from the newly resouled Warriors and Immortals. Many of the words involved referenced organic functions and had been deliberately purged from the necron language over millions of years. That made them particularly delicious, now. Of course, Krispekh would not be able to fully appreciate how he'd been insulted but that was fine. He would figure it out in due course. "And in conclusion, suck my reproductive parts." Trazyn said before activating the wormhole generator.

To the approaching fleet, Solemnance seemed to flicker. Reality itself became tenuous as the great wormhole array activated, seeking the destination and folding reality in on itself, transposing time and space. For the watchers, Solemnance flickered again and again, before simply fading away. What was left was nothing but empty space. On Phaeron Krispekh's command ship there was a long, awed silence before the Phaeron abruptly cursed.

Elsewhere, deep in Sautekh space and relatively close to Mandragora, space flickered and Solemnance appeared. Around it was an array of buoys, designed to bring the object being transported safely to its' new home. The plans for the wormhole generator had noted that while it was theoretically possible to use it without the buoys it was not advised as even the slightest error in calculations would result in catastrophe. The buoys made that degree of precision unnecessary.

There was a decently sized picket dedicated to the new location of Solemnance and they were absolutely awed to finally see the buoys activated. Also deeply concerned and Trazyn immediately got an FTL message.

Everything fine there? Overlord Szelekh, commander of the picket, asked and Trazyn ran a quick diagnostic on Solemnance itself. No alarms were going off, which indicated everything was fine, but this was the first time he'd used the wormhole generator in earnest. The plans had indicated it shouldn't disturb stasis fields but Trazyn had not been entirely sure.

"Everything appears to be fine." Nothing seemed disturbed in any way. "Incredible technology, absolutely incredible… well, greetings! Solemnance is now officially part of the Sautekh Empire." It was actually a relief to finally get it done. And oh, how Krispekh must be fuming! Trazyn grinned at the thought.

Now, though, it was time to wait. Trazyn thought about it for a moment… the Necron rules of war were often annoying, but it meant that in conflicts between Dynasties, certain actions could be easily predicted. Imotekh could take no action in Nihilakh until two years were over, UNLESS someone else took action first. If Szarekh dared intervene in the Nihilakh civil war, Imotekh would have free reign to do the same.

Trazyn was sure Szarekh would have to intervene. While he would not mind if Inerqa won, his chosen contender was Overlord Kesemekht. While Kesemekht himself was only an administrator, he was an able one indeed, with a knack for inspiring loyalty in his subordinates. Chief of whom was Odano the Valorous, a great general who served with unwavering loyalty. He would be running the campaign for Kesemekht and Trazyn had thoughtfully supplied them with some equipment from the depths of Solemnance. Nothing he couldn't replace, mostly examples of the infinite array of ways necrons could kill each other, but it would still give them a very nice combat boost. If Szarekh did nothing, Kesemekht and Odano would likely prevail and Nihilakh would be lost to him.

They would have to see though. The utterly chaotic nature of the five way civil war made it nearly impossible for the Chronomancers to predict the outcome. Kesemekht was favored but might still fall, and then Imotekh would be in the unenviable position of deciding if he wanted to violate the rules of war first.

Fortunately, since Imotekh was in contact with Guilliman, he could be incredibly annoying to Szarekh. Trazyn grinned to himself at the thought… if Szarekh moved on Nihilakh, that would be the signal for Imotekh to politely request that the Imperium start harrying his supply lines and engaging in a few raids on the Pariah Nexus. Aided with some positively charges blackstone ships that the Stormlord had thoughtfully supplied. Ah, what fun! Szarekh was going to be cursing them all when this was over. Trazyn himself had no direct part in any of this but he would watch it with interest, now that Solemnance was safe.

How wonderful it was to be alive in such a time.

In the war for the Mephrit Dynasty, Manric was able to use his new gauntlet to the fullest.

Manric had no particular place in the command structure, but that only gave him more freedom to act. Moving completely independently, he employed the Scryer's Gaze to explore the entire battlefield and target powerful emplacements. Then he would use the spear to tear a hole in reality, teleporting himself far on the battlefield before tearing something apart. On one notable occasion, Manric had torn open a Doomsday Ark like a tin can. The Immortal inside had managed to look surprised before he'd lost his head.

That frustrated the enemies to an incredible extent and on at least one occasion, they attempted to bait him out and bring him down. Fortunately for Manric, the wings of Sanguinius were not just for show, he could fly and at incredible speeds. To do that, though, Manric had to fully open himself to the soul shard and surrender control, as he had no instincts available to fly himself. That had let him make it out alive, though, after managing to get an antimatter bomb rammed quite deeply into a Monolith. The enemy forces were insanely frustrated by that.

After a thorough drubbing, Anubitar of a Thousand Victories was allowed to submit and pledge his allegiance to Zarathusa. That was what they'd been aiming for… as his name suggested, Anubitar was a great general and really too good to waste, as long as he could be convinced to submit. That did lead to a rather amusing moment, after Anubitar gave up and pledged allegiance.

"Now I must know. What was that damned thing with the wings?!" Anubitar asked and Manric felt Zarathusa's internal amusement. "Was that an Overlord? Those wings looked like something from the Warp! And how did he block that hit from Doomsday Cannon? What even was that?" Zarathusa turned his head to look at him and Manric took the cue.

"That was me," he admitted as Anubitar looked at him dubiously. "The wings and the ability to block the Doomsday Cannon come from this," he said as he held up his gauntlet. "It contains the soul shard of a human Primarch, Sanguinius."

"I had heard of those… so that is the strength of a Primarch?" he asked and Manric shook his head.

"No, this is merely a shard. An actual Primarch is far more powerful," he said and Anubitar looked like he was having a difficult time with that concept. "Think of it this way… this soul shard is equivalent to a C'Tan shard while a full Primarch is more equivalent to an ascended C'Tan shard." That would give them a rough idea of the power levels involved. Although Anubitar was also feeling very alarmed at the concept.

"If that is the case, the humans are far more dangerous than we imagined. What shall we do about them?" Anubitar asked and Manric wondered what he'd think if he knew he was speaking to a pwi-necron. Fortunately, Zarathusa had a good answer.

"Get our solar technology rebuilt and back under our control. Not to use it, but to act as a deterrent. That should be sufficient to keep the Imperium from our door… they are facing so many challenges, we are virtually meaningless to them," Zarathusa said and Manric nodded before offering his own advice.

"Baal is within easy reach of your solar arrays and it is very important to the Imperium. I do not think they will ever move against you, unless you begin expanding into their territory." And from what Manric had seen, the Mephrit Dynasty was not expansionistic at all. They had already reclaimed the worlds that traditionally belonged to them and from what Manric understood, only Perdita had actually been colonized by humans. All the others had been more along the lines of Mandragora, alien worlds that were unsuited to organic life.

"Well, we shall see," Anubitar said and Manric could sense that he felt this was all very unsatisfactory. Likely because just counting on someone else to disregard you wasn't a great strategy. Yet, what else could they do? Imotekh wasn't about to help Mephrit if they picked a fight with the Imperium and without his support, they would surely be doomed, despite their amazing solar technology. It would be incredibly unpleasant but the Imperium actually could absorb the losses needed to annihilate the Mephrit. At least Zarathusa understood that… they'd had a long talk with him about what had been happening in Sautekh and he found the peace treaty rather fascinating. Manric wouldn't be surprised if he moved to make one of his own, eventually.

After Anubitar submitted that left Eknothet the Glorious and Zarathusa had no intention of letting him submit. They were old enemies and Zarathusa fully intended to kill him. Alas, that option was barred to him as Eknothet realized he was going to lose and exiled himself, taking a good fleet with him. Manric wondered where they were going to go, even as Zarathusa fumed about it. Were they going to join the Silent King or would they join a completely different Dynasty? Or were they, perhaps, about to set off on their own completely? Eknothet had enough Crypteks that he could perhaps establish an entirely new Dynasty for himself to rule, far from Mephrit.

(it was actually the latter. Eknothet would travel into the Halo Stars, on the upper end of the galaxy and enslave two lost human colonies and one completely unknown alien species for labour. Then, he would go about creating a small Dynasty similar to the Uhnashret)

(it wouldn't be much, but it would be his and his alone)

All of that settled, Djenakht's fleet was able to return to Sautekh space, which was a relief. Zahndrekh's fleet was entirely engaged in defending the worlds going to the Pariah Nexus, which were critically important to Sautekh. Naszar was engaged with the new worlds they were taking and the orks. That left only two wings to defend the Sautekh Empire proper, one situated at Mandragora and the other at Antioch. Adding Djenakht's fleet to that strength would help considerably. The scope of things made Manric's head swim and he was glad that Imotekh was handling that. It was far beyond his ability. Djenakht dispatched a small squadron to return Manric to Zahndrekh, to his relief.

He'd rather enjoyed the campaign and learning to use the gauntlet in war, but it was time to go home.

Elsewhere, Guilliman was reflecting on recent events.

Cawl had managed to crack the secret of the improved ball bearings. They were now going into production and along with the improved capacitors, they would revolutionize the entire Imperium's technological base. They were such simple, tiny things but minor increases in performance were magnified in the final product. The capacitors, in particular, would let the Imperium improve their micronization. That would make the Genestealer gates possible… without those capacitors, they could probably only have built the ones for starships.

Efforts at reverse engineering some of the consumer products they'd been allowed access to were ongoing. As everyone had anticipated, though, they were designed to defeat reverse engineering. Cawl had been rather offended when one attempt to access a minor AI had given him an amusing troll face before the entire unit had self-destructed. Guilliman had honestly thought it was hilarious, although he'd kept that to himself.

Right now, Guilliman was patiently waiting for a response from the Stormlord to a question. With access to the FTL links, he could send Imotekh canned messages and while it might take a while, the Stormlord would respond. Guilliman wasn't impatient… he understood the necrons had a different sense of time and Imotekh might not even be in Mandragora, so the message would have to be relayed to him. A few days later, though, the response came.

Do not, under any circumstances, attempt to ally with Galmakh, Guilliman blinked at the firmness of the response. The image of the Stormlord – this was also a canned message – continued. Once, he was a fine necrontyr, with a great love of war and great appetites for the pleasures in life. Honorable and good humored, he was worthy of respect, but those times are long past. In this time, he is completely insane. Really?! The Imperial officers who had spoken to him hadn't picked up on that at all! It is a very deceptive form of insanity… he no longer has any code of conduct. He acts purely on his own desires and there is no logic whatsoever to what he does. The lives of his own followers mean nothing to him and he will betray you for no reason at all, as the whim takes him. Other necrons have already learned this, to their detriment. Also, you may tell him I said this. He will likely find it highly amusing.

"Well, that's clear enough," Guilliman murmured to himself. Phaeron Galmakh had approached them for an alliance against the orks. While it made tactical sense to work with them, if Imotekh was right, tactical considerations actually meant nothing. He would instruct the forces to reject Galmakh's offers and consider him an enemy. As he sent those orders, Guilliman reflected on how useful it was to have a reliable source of information about the necrons.

A few days after that, another project also bore fruit, although it deeply saddened Guilliman that it happened so quickly. Manric Duleth's skill as an empathic telepath had made Guilliman think. Such gifts were completely unknown in the Imperium of Man, but that actually made no sense. The current theory was that humanity was evolving to become a fully psychic race like the eldar. The humans of Hope had skipped a vast amount of time and were infinitely behind on that evolution, so how could they produce an empathic telepath and the Imperium could not? That led Guilliman to the conclusion that they were missing them, somehow. Then he spoke to Yvraine about it and was given an even grimmer scenario.

Those Black Ships I have heard of… are they as bad as rumored?

I regret to say that they are.

Then that is the answer. Surrounded by the psychic distress of other psykers, an untrained empathic telepath will spend themselves to comfort those around them. Forgetting even to eat and drink, depriving themselves of sleep, they will surely die before reaching Terra. Trained soul healers can armor themselves against suffering but the untrained are very vulnerable.

Taking that to heart, Guilliman had instructed the Sisters of Silence to look for such behavior among the psykers on the Black Ships. And they had very quickly found it, a young woman who was acting as a ministering angel to the other psykers and killing herself in the process. They had removed her from all the rest and placed her on a completely different ship, to be taken to Terra by herself. Guilliman had no idea how useful such psykers would ultimately be, but from what he understood, they absolutely excelled at exorcising demons from the possessed. That alone would be incredibly valuable. Still, it deeply saddened him… for them to find one this quickly meant there had been many, many before who had succumbed. It was well known that not all psykers survived to make it to Terra, but Guilliman had never imagined there was a particular gift that found the ships lethal.

Hopefully, they would keep any of them from being lost that way in the future.