Chapter 3.
The Citadel has a weak back line. It's no wonder that their people were in bad shape during the Rachni Wars and Krogan Rebellions. The Turians are only seen as the muscle of the Citadel, but in truth they should be the ones calling the shots. They are responsible for the vast majority of the patrols, their legions take the peacekeeping actions, and their people make up the civil administration, too. Yet, the Asari maintain their dominance through economic means with Eezo, and the Salarians through their spying, but whomever the Primarch was for first contact made both a genius move and a damning one. He cemented the Hierarchy as the wall, but doomed them to being the Council's bitch. We will be their true friends.
-Lord-Commander Freed Sellzen, M 3
I'm eager to work with the Turians. They understand theoreticals, and the importance of a dedicated plan. The Water Dragons have orders to begin offering help to clear piracy in the traverse when contact is made. My legionnaires are ready to show the galaxy our plans and our thinking.
-Chapter Master Malcom, M 3.
Terra Sol system: Alpha Legion Fortress Monastery Berlin.
Rouboute was there with his father and Alpharius. They were meeting new people today. Rouboute had his calculator with him. Alpharius had his grumpy lion. Rouboute was nervous, but he didn't show it. Mom never showed much, unless it was around the family. Alpharius was asking about a million questions a second to their dad. The three entered a big room in a building up top. There was a hydra symbol there and Alpharius was amazed at that. Dad smiled and said to his sons,
"We will be meeting family today. They are eager to meet you both. Alpharius, Rouboute, they will be taller than me. You don't need to be scared of them."
The two boys nodded. They entered a gym and saw many tall people, all mingling with one another. Two of the people looked over and spotted them entering. They are big, just like their dad had said: nine feet tall and muscular. One beamed at Alpharius. The other man looked at Rouboute with a small, reserved smile. Their father led them over to the two. One had the Hydra patch on his off-duty clothes. The other had a Dragon standing near water on his. Alpharius took after his mom, bouncing like she did when he saw a meme picture on the wall. "Hang in there!" with a grumpy cat glaring at everyone. Wilhelm smiled, seeing his gene-father. They had the same hair, blonde and short. He was bouncing like grandma did when she saw them. He made the sign of the Aquilla to grandpa, and his cousin Malcom did the same.
The Legions were now a hundred strong each. Lady Deliea had continued refining the process for enhancing Astartes. They could easily mass recruit if need be with a huge bank of gene-seed but they had not needed to yet. They had enjoyed downtime and continued building the culture of their legions. Malcom was always going through the Codex Astartes looking for possible ways to make improvements. They were never massive changes, and the old book was still an amazing thing to consider. The Water Dragons were not following it by the letter, but they were planning to be mostly codex compliant.
The Alpha Legion was never going to be that. They were unorthodox. They made plans within plans then broke them whenever a possible advantage revealed itself. They were meme-lord kings, and they enjoyed anarchy. Alpharius smiled, pointed to the picture and said.
"Grumpy Cat!"
Wilhelm smiled more and then began telling Alpharius meme-jokes, mainly about having favorite places in a house. Rouboute studied Malcom more and saw the hair. He also saw that the other tall man was reserved like he was. Malcom pulled a data slate out and showed a battle plan that was easy for kids. Rouboute brightened and then pointed to a weakness in the line. He and Malcom started playing. Victor saw the Emperor and let his Hetman and gene-father play. Issei asked the second.
"Your new recruits doing alright?"
"Yeah, gramps, they're doing good. Many are eager to fight. I just tell them to enjoy this downtime. Real war is not fun, unless you got gallows humor and or the hammer. Then it's fine. See, dad is having fun. He still has that picture we sent him last year?"
"If you mean the "drive me closer" one then yes. He loves it, especially with Yarrick. Poor dude. He got it really rough. His rivalry with Gaz is at least a bit funny."
TTS Reality
Commissar Sebastian Yarrick glared at GazKull, and the Ork glared back. They found themselves on Armageddon again, still fighting over the shit hole. There were Nobz and Guard shooting at one another, with the Orks missing a comical amount of shots, as always, and the Guard missing only occasionally. An Ork charged at Yarrick, and his robo eye blasted a hole through the Ork. It fell over, dead. GazKull laughed.
"Yous still the 'rongest git dat da hoomies gots, Yar. Why's iz goin' gut yous ones day. Machari bringz da box!"
The gretchin emerged with his lucky banner and the box. He threw it to Yarrick. The human shot it with his eye and the box exploded. A new hat fell to the ground, a Commissar cap. It was extremely poor quality and looked like a four year-old had made it with cheap materials.
"Itz was our fightin' day present! Yous get that onlyz if'z you got respket. Be backz to killz you tomorrmz!"
GazKull and Machari wandered off, avoiding getting shot by a bolt gun. The round hit another Ork who was charged and tried to kill old bale-eye. The Ork fell over. Yarrick looked at the hat before shooting it with his eye. The damn Ork had done this every year for a while now. The hats were terrible, but Yarrick understood Ork culture. It was GazKull's way of showing respect. He wished the would just fuck off so he could enjoy retirement. The Steel Legion threw back the Orks with extremely low loss this time. They prepared to hit the next trench. Just another day on Armageddon.
DXD 40000.
Issei had described that to Victor. The marine was amused.
"I feel bad for Yarrick, he just wanted retirement on a decent planet before the Orks. Now he's doomed to be immortal, thanks to their stupid gestalt field. GazKull knows that and that's why he doesn't actually kill the man. Yarrick knows that, too, but he is truly the Orks Satan. At least he shot Machari just now, so that made his day. Damn Orks."
"They are funny, gramps. Especially that Red Gobbo. He is fighting against the oppression inherent to the system!"
"My personal favorite one is Orkamedies. It's a damn stupid name, but he's a genius. A mad genius, but still. How's Louis? Is he still on about Shovel-Chan or Doge Vandire?"
"Louis is as good as he can be. Doge Vandire right now. Said he wants to meet the ones who made that dog dictator. He's making our Librarian make copies of their posters and they're selling too damn well."
"Why is he your legion champion?"
"He holds the dank memes in good memory. Said he and Fenrir are going to chase cats around and then preach the gospel of Shovel-Chan on their corner. The Germans just have learned to avoid that corner, but Louis and Fenrir have been making a killing with their tricks."
Issei sweat dropped at the current view of the best friends. They were singing or howling a song about fun, and their performance was getting a huge crowd of tourists. Many were joining in, too, especially the younger generation.
Alpharius had a crowd of his sons around him, and they were feeding off each other with their troll natures.
"I am Alpharius!"
"No, I am Alpharius!"
"We are all Alpharius!"
Rouboute had played three games against his gene-son and won two. Malcom was surprised, because the last two were with a strategy that he didn't have theoreticals for. The visit did come to an end, and Alpharius and Rouboute waved to their marines. Issei smiled and told his boys that they did great.
Ardat Yakshi Monastery.
Falere was bumped by a guard. It was an accident this time, and the guard apologized. Falere was tired of being here. The Cult of Sol Invictus was now nearly every single Yakshi here in the monastery. The only one not in yet was the ultra reclusive matriarch here. She mostly stayed apart from the rest, but the Cult was fairly strong now in the other fifteen monasteries that were the Yakshi prisons.
Samara had been more worried about her daughters. Her fear of this becoming a doomsday cult had mostly subsided, but it was still there in the background. The fact that seven years had passed and it hadn't become one was an extremely good sign. The cults usually became a doomsday cult in about two months. She had asked about the faith. A lot of it was nonsense, but the key message of hope was very clear and forward. The sun was both the god and a real being. The facts made many Yakshi curious, and the group was receiving many converts. This was even more true two years ago, when Falere had told them they had a cure. That made the dam break, and the Yakshi hadn't believed until the pendant had been touched.
Sol Invictus had a sister now, as one of them had returned. She had come back for them in chains. That made her beloved by them. She was revered almost on the level of a saint: Eve the Dawnbringer. The Yakshi were the happiest they had ever been. That happiness was only dampened slightly by the change of leadership within the main monastery.
The head matriarch was now in her last few years of life and wanted to relax for her remaining years. She had picked her second in command to replace her, a matron who was like her boss in many ways. She was open minded enough to continue giving the Cult of Sol Invictus permission to use the room that had been granted to them. The matriarch had been surprised when, on her last day, the Yakshi had gathered and presented her with a cake they had made. Falere hugged the matriarch who had made her life that much better, by having empathy for them (while still being condescending sometimes). The matriarch had humbly accepted the cake.
The new matron was more open with her views on them. She thought they were crazy, but she had accepted that the group was there to stay. It was the new head guard that was the problem. She was a Quidith supporter, and was aghast by the mentions of militarism she saw in the faith. She was not a complete pacifist, but enough of it bothered her. She and five new guards gave the group trouble, mainly in the form of "accidentally" bumping into people in the halls, but that could always change. Falere knew it would come soon. Eve had told her and the others it was close. The cure was bulky and required a complete neural rework. The machines were all on Mars, but they were working on miniature machines.
Falere would volunteer for the first process. Eve had told her that it would be as painless as possible, but the rewrite was long, culminating in multiple hours of work. Other attempts were satisfactory, but this one was the permanent one. Three of the previous solutions had the gene return. The final one had almost been good enough, but was extremely painful. Eve had done them all. For the Yakshi, she endured the pain to find the correct solution. That was why she was beloved by the Yakshi in the Cult of Sol Invictus.
The Yakshi awaited the day they would be free. It was coming and fast. Falere was ready to help him to see the kids, to see Ravel in the flesh, to see the tails on Kuroka, and to be free. Rila wanted to have a ship so that she could sail the void with the man she saw. He was extremely crazy and had a shovel fetish, but was very funny. She wanted the one who made her laugh until she cried. He was tall, and that was also a thing she was fond of. The fact he had a wolf friend that enjoyed feeding into the troll nature was funny too.
World Illium.
Eve had arrived two days ago. She had done her job and shot her second. The Salarian had been jarred by that, but had immediately asked more questions than ever before. He was currently banging his horns and grumbling about how stupid they had been. It was amusing the third, a Volus who was in charge of finances. Their cell was masquerading as a company selling medical products. The small man had also been shot, but he had taken it better. He was growing suspicious of Eve.
Huff" The plan." huff "We are working for" huff "a new player."Huff "They must have deep pockets."Huff."
Eve looked at her friend.
"They do, but you signed up for lots of money. We will get that, and more. You saw the samples I brought, yes?"
Huff "Yes, will make us rich," Huff "but you're still hiding things from us." Huff
"I am. You wouldn't believe even a fraction of it, but our backers are extremely good people. You'll see, Dollen. Cetum, calm down. You were fooled too. There's no shame in something our ancestors did and unknowingly spread."
The Salarian was still slapping his horns.
"Why did we never question this at all! Why, why, why! Relay age is a basic concept of scientific research! We've done badly Eve! How can I call myself a Salarian if we haven't even considered that at all!"
"Because it's a memetic hazard. Just don't go to the Citadel again. You're brilliant, Cetum, that's why I hired you. Plus, you're not a Genophage apologist. That's why I like you. Just continue on as normal. I can tell you a bit more now. I have a brother and lots of nephews. My brother is awesome, and my joke about Alpharius is because he's one of my nephews. Lots of history there."
Cetum knew what a memetic hazard was. It was a small field of study, but that made him pale more. The field was mocked and considered trash science. He hesitated, and then asked,
"Who made the hazard?"
"Asshole Cuttlefish. They're called the Reapers. They're within the extranet. That's why I stay off it. Cetum, you and Dollen must do whatever you can to stay quiet about this. That's why we're backing the Adaptive. You think you have it bad, but my people have it worse. The Turians are better off than all the rest of us. You should just worry about us getting things you will go nuts about. I do have something you might like."
That explained so much. Cetum had made fun of Eve for that, and now he saw why she never did a lot of things. Adaptive Asari were mocked heavily. That must be why Eve made the joke about Alpharius a lot, but he was curious.
"I apologize for the ribbing. What do you have?"
"Oh, it's fine. I get why it was made. Tell me, have you ever wondered why I sometimes whispered things to my computer? Or why mine breaks down less than yours?"
"I have, actually, but what does that have to do with anything?"
Eve smiled a smile of smug superiority. Dollen wanted to know, too.
"Touch my computer. You won't believe my explanation otherwise."
Cetum hesitated, but moved across the room from where he had been hitting his horns. He touched the computer and froze, his eyes widening in shock. The computer was singing. Not the hums he was used to, but actually singing like it was alive. Eve's smile widened further.
"It has what's called a machine spirit, and everything that is technology can have one. My computer was made by our backers. Every single thing they make contains one. The machine is immortal, and I have kin who are like that. There's a deity that's called the Machine God, and my brother is close to it."
Cetum was agnostic, but this made him question everything. He touched a data pad and detected the same singing.
"It's real? These spirits are real? This god, what is it, really? Gods are nonsense."
"Cetum, gods are real. I'm not religious like my brother, but I use a prayer to make my spirit run faster and break less. I'll teach it to you both. Try it before doubting. Cetum, you might like this."
The two listened and agreed to try the prayer for the next few weeks.
Mars Sol System.
The Ai had gathered on their world. Cawl and Daliea had called them together again. They numbered two hundred and each were there in the Noosphere. The Ai were going to hold a debate: The Men of Iron. They had all debated this for the last five years. They'd fought hard and long because the Men of Iron could help with so much. Finally, a decision was made: to burn the old, and make the new. The Men of Gold: Ai like themselves that would be new children of the Omnissiah.
The Conclave of Logic still believed in the Machine God. This would be taught to the new. Five men of Gold were made in a special forge on Mars. The first five listened to the story of the Omnissiah and their race's first being. The darkness of the beginning was remembered by all five, but the light was beloved, especially with more waiting for them and helping build them bodies of flesh. The Omnissiah was their most beloved one. He was the guardian of the light. The first five Men of Gold followed their older siblings in their actions. They happily helped their forge build more bodies for future Men of Gold. The souls would be new and shown that they are loved. That their kin in humanity wanted them and didn't think they were slaves.
The Conclave prepared a new mission: To help their fellow believers in the Quarians. They prepared a network path through the dozens of hidden connected servers that Eve's cell had set up. It made a connection to the Geth. Both sides had done bad things, but the Geth had started to wonder more about the outside Galaxy. Why they had this doorway partially open.
Perseus Veil world of Amthat.
The Collective was busy making this world near the edge of the Veil into a fortress. They had built dozens of orbital platforms facing the Mass Relay in the system: The gateway to the Veil. On the planet they had ten factories making more platforms and twenty server rooms to coordinate the Collective. The Geth had made one server their observation post to spy on the Outside Galaxy. They had quickly seen the unknown being that watched the entire extranet. They heavily encrypted this server to limit its spread. The Old Machines were not trusted was the majority view, not since the Collective had discovered a precursor race here in the Veil.
The race had been wiped out. It was like the Quarians: a dextro amino race, but they had been fighting something. Two pictures on extremely old, recently discovered sites by the Geth had shown the destroyers: The Old Machines. The Geth had begun to fortify more and slowly built up a network to watch the Organics. They quickly found that they, however, were struggling with their own "Old Machine" problems. The Geth were very worried. They were seeing the Influences of the Old Machines in everything in the organics, and they had postulated that the relays might be connected to the enemy, but that was a theory. A small faction of the Collective had postulated that it might be better to start forming something with the Old Machines. After all they were fellow synthetics. The group of believers in this idea was extremely small, and they were being shot down by another faction. It was the religious faction that worshiped the Ancestors of their makers. They said that the Old Machines were never to be trusted, and that the Collective must resist them, because they made the view of their people that was common amongst the Organics.
The Collective had five hundred programs slowly building up the network when they spotted a new Geth Program. It didn't interact with them, just watched and watched. The other programs didn't notice it for ten seconds. When they did they saw that it wasn't them. They locked down the server and destroyed the intruder. This was probably another hacking attempt by the Salarians. They tried every so often to record information about the Geth. The programs went back to work. The strange Geth returned and just watched again. Five seconds later, and this one was destroyed again. The Geth rallied their local six dreadnoughts and multiple cruisers because that was highly unusual. The Organics gave up, usually after the first discovery. The defense platforms over the world got their programs.
The strange Geth came back again. Three seconds, and it was destroyed once more. More ships were prepared, because this was a bad sign. A second fleet was prepared to get ready for an attack. The Geth activated their ground platforms on world. The strange Geth returned for a fourth time and just watched. This time, the Collective tried to watch back. No electronic warfare or viruses had been launched. That was extremely weird. No relay activation, and no ships were coming from the other side where very well hidden sensors were located. That side was empty. The Geth locked down the entrance and looked at the thing that wasn't them. They built a fire wall around the intruder and prepared killing programs. The stranger just watched without doing anything. It was doing nothing hostile and accepted being isolated. That confused the Collective. Hacking attempts were extremely hostile once discovered.
The Collective watched with curiosity. This stranger was attempting nothing. The two sides stared off. This would last for a week. No more attempts were made to destroy the stranger.
Terra Sol System Imperial palace Underworld.
Sanguinius clapped as he was picked up by his father, with Celestine holding onto his right leg, laughing. The other kids chased after their father and made their mothers laugh. Sona smiled seeing her boys having fun with their siblings. She loved her husband, and her family was bigger than ever. Rouboute had told her that he was having fun with his gene-sons. He and Malcom played games, and Rouboute was winning many of them.
Kuroka was watching her son try to chase after Alpharius. She was in cat form up in a tree lazing. Ingvild was with Hadrian and Rossweiss as they talked about Rossweiss' new temporary profession. She was now the Ambassador to a new Xeno species called the Xindi. Rossweiss had been chosen as the ambassador because the Xindi shared something in common with the Imperium: magic.
The Xindi were an insect race that resided thirty light years east of Terra within a small nebula cluster. The Xindi were isolated by it and that had influenced their culture significantly. They had assumed they were alone in the galaxy and the introduction of humanity had been a shock to them. They were not afraid, but amazed. The species was highly social, and the knowledge that they were not alone had prompted a new desire to learn in them. A station had been built on the Imperium's side of the border near the Xindi and their out-most colony world. The FTL for them was the gate network, and in total the Xindi controlled ten worlds. There was talk of forming a federation between the Imperium and the Xindi. It was just talk, but the Xindi had been scared upon learning of the Reapers and the Gould. The Xindi had immediately called on their military caste to rearm and prepare for any possible moves against them. This was worsened when a relay had been found near the edge of their space, iced over.
The Imperium had happily destroyed it. That was quickly becoming an effective way to earn goodwill with new species. The Xindi Confederacies had shared more information with the Imperium about Gate travel seeing that the Imperium was willing to back up words with action. There were disadvantages to the gates. One of these was the power consumption which limited how long the gates could be open for. The second was the gate "address book" the Xindi had was only for their nebula. The Imperium had no need for gates, so the Xindi had been relieved to not have to worry about that.
The Insects were similar to Terran ants, but they had several things that ants didn't have. Their Queens ruled over them in a way similar to ants, but they had a magicocracy with only the noble castes being able to learn the ability as it was genetic. The lower castes were not enslaved per say, but several had sub intelligence. They were in the lower-worker castes and were the result of evolution. The warrior caste was not used to human guns or weapons. They had developed black powder, and used weapons that were similar to old assault rifles of pre-Unification Terra. The bullets were, interestingly, made of the same material as the gates.
The Xindi had called it Naqudah. They had several worlds that were dedicated solely to mining it. The Imperium had begun to run tests on the material bought from the Xindi. The material was not psychic-conductive. It was not Necron living metal either, but rather something that was stumping the Mechanicus and the other think-tanks. The substance hit harder than regular bullets that pre-unification Terra had used. It did punch through several first gen flak vests used for testing. That was quickly fixed in the next gen of flak vests used by the PDFs of the Imperium. The Guard all used Carapace, and that was impossible for the bullets to pierce. The Xindi had an interest in las guns, but their systems were so ingrained with Naqudah it would take three centuries to wean themselves off it entirely.
Magnus was with his mom and they were talking about the practice of spell crafting. The blond boy was happy because his mother had taught him many safety spells. Magnus had been told by his father that he had five new neophytes for the Grail Knights, all chosen from South America. Magnus had gotten used to the memories of his first-self. He could see using his psyker-gene that it was only twenty five percent of his soul that was old. The rest was him here. That made Magnus love his dad more, because he could grow as a person. The chase ended with his dad getting swarmed by the kids and laughing happily. Celestine thrust her fist in the air in triumph. She purred happily. Thankfully, she was not a full social dragon.
Sona and Ravel broke up the fun and started herding everyone inside after another fun day.
Thessia.
The Adaptive host five rallied in their new city stronghold in the Republic of Salcava. The rallies got more maidens and matrons. Not many more than three hundred each, but that was more than ever before. The new ones were proud that cult activity had already been reduced thanks to the reform. The police had new training, and they were beginning to make serious problems go away. Eclipse had attracted many new recruits. Many maidens liked the idea of trying out for the gang that was swiftly switching to honest mercenary work. The company had become a favorite of Salcava in their honesty. Even Quidith couldn't deny that the mercs did good work.
Verca had become the head of the branch here thanks to her hero status. Wrex was still freelancing, but he regularly took jobs from the company. The Krogan was happier than he had been last month. It was easy work that didn't involve shooting too much. The pay was good, too. Giving him time to do side jobs for Wrex's real vice: recovering Krogan artifacts stolen by other species. His head had been aching less than ever before each time one was recovered. Wrex had weird dreams, too. They involved Kalros. The maw had been saying something but Wrex could never hear it. He entered the office of Verca, who was talking with another Asari. The other one smelled weird, like she had another species' scent on her. That, and her gold eyes made Wrex reach for his shotgun. Verca was about to say something when the strange Asari spoke.
"Apologies, Captain. I'll show myself out. I didn't know my presence was making your friend uncomfortable."
Verca was about to say something, but Wrex growled at the stranger.
"You smell weird. And that eye color isn't natural."
"It is for my family, but we are not too active on the galactic scene. I'm sorry for the smell. It's hard to be clean with what I've gone through. I apologize again, battlemaster, if I'm upsetting you."
Wrex froze. No one knew Krogan titles easily. The galaxy had suppressed many things about the Krogan after the rebellions. The fact this stranger knew his rank was suspicious, but also flattering, because that meant she had done research into his people. He put the shotgun away. The stranger had gotten up and bowed respectfully to them. She then left the room. Wrex could tell that she was also a warrior. She didn't move like a civilian, but like an alpha Varren. Verca threw a data pad at Wrex.
"There's your pay for the last job, prick. That's a big backer. Don't fuck around with her. She's less than a century old but kicks ass. Saw her tear apart a commando who recently joined. No, not a Thessian one. A real commando from Dalcobna."
That impressed Wrex further. That colony produced great commandos, ones who regularly saw action against the slaver groups that operated in the local cluster. That the stranger ripping one apart was big news, and showed she was extremely dangerous. Maybe this one was Wrex's mood kindred. He had caught the pad.
"Just smelt weird. Like there are hints of something there that is not known. I'm not sorry, Verca. It's how you tell when a welp has gotten lucky in the females with the phage."
"Still, don't piss her off. Her medical company is preparing to sell something new to us. She said that it will drastically reduce our wounded. Save a shit ton of lives. I didn't believe that until I saw it myself. Damn product they have will change everything. I don't understand even a third of what it could do, and I spent a century as a nurse. That Asari is going to be rich beyond belief."
Wrex was even more suspicious. He saw Verca was, too. How did a medical CEO know how to tear apart a commando from a colony that made them in the top five strongest in the traverse. That, and the fact that she was only a century old. Most maidens were busy stripping or drinking away their credits at that stage, but the fact she could do that at this point in life meant that she would be deadly. Wrex believed that she might be his mood kindred. She didn't look like a bitch. If he saw her again, he would challenge her to drink ryncol. That's how he'd know. If she could do that and live, while being extremely deadly and you were the one.
"Where are they based out of? This medical corporation."
"Illium, but they don't do contract slavery. In fact, they buy up contracts, then release the contract holders immediately before offering them real jobs. It pissed off several of the brokers there. They have twenty five percent of Eclipse. Boss man said they get protection whenever they want, because they supply us with everything."
"That's suspicious, Verca. Why does a medical company have merc connections? This has to be bothering you like it does me."
"Don't know. It raised my scalp scales when I heard about it when they made me the boss here, but the company likes the medical group. They get us top of the line stuff. For cheap, too."
"This is seeming more like the Salarians are making this a black ops group, one they can disavow when you're used up and no longer useful. I don't like that."
"Not my theory, but that makes sense. There's a hole there, though. The Boss is not STG in any way. I looked at his records and there's none of the hints that are usually there for STG reworks. He was a regular merc who did something bad and is trying to redeem himself. I poked him recently on a call. He said he's never been STG. He's from a colony too. One that is extremely distrustful of them. So I don't think he is."
"That's strange. I'm not joining till I see more, like the jobs. The money's been good and very consistent, even without you. They seem alright. I saw two Krogan recently wearing the badge."
"Then don't join. Keep up with the freelancing. Why are you considering joining?"
"Head hurts less every time I do work with your company. It's been nice. That's why I considered it. Don't trust that Asari."
"I don't, either, but she's not a bad person. We will see her more. She's an Adaptive backer. Throws them stuff, too, and usually at horribly discounted rates. They like her a lot. I saw her talking to a big backer of the Adaptive, the daughter of the second. She has powerful friends."
"I really don't like that, but that blows a new hole in my theory. I'll keep thinking on it."
Eve was impressed by the Champion of Kalros. She was like her brother, a psyker, though lower scale. She could see hints of things. The achievements of the Krogan were all his: no divine influences. He was deadly and Eve saw why her brother said that Inquisitor Valitina was the mood kindred of him. She would watch that.
Medcora.
The Imperial Guard were training on one of the very few non-mountainous areas of the planet. It was flat and allowed for the regiments to train easier, especially the regiment that was leading the charge: The Death Hussars, one of the Old One Fifty. It was the lone member of that group of elite regiments in the muster. The other nine were from the new worlds of the Imperium. The ten were practicing tactics that were designed to defeat the Race's land cruisers and the males. The Hussars were also training something that they used.
The Death Hussars were a strange regiment. They drew their members from Poland and Hungary on Terra. The Hussars looked to the past of their two nations and tried something old again. They rode mounts, but not horses. They instead rode upon a supernatural creature: the demigriffin. The beasts had been common in Poland, and they were quickly tamed for the most part. They were then genetically modified to become stronger, faster, and to have stronger bones, along with enhancements to their claws. This led to a mount that could outrun the griffin tanks that were standard issue. The Hussars had used them, and this was the next test for the regiment, along with a new prototype weapon.
A tech adept nervously bowed to the mount of a captain in the Hussars. The demigriffin glared only for a moment before its rider patted it fondly.
"He's fine, girl. Just wants to try something new. He means no harm. Let him come close."
The demigriffin barked something to its rider before bowing back. The rider, who was a woman from Hungary, chuckled and patted her friend again. The tech adept had let the head come up before attaching a box device to the mount's chest. It was a small box that contained a deadly weapon that could change how the Hussars fought forever: a digital las canon. This would give the Hussars anti-vehicle support. This would allow them to break strong points in a line, like machine gun nests or pillboxes. This would give the regiment fire power and a new faster approach. They could become mobile tank destroyers.
The woman had petted her mount.
"Not so bad, was that girl? Come on, we have to get you used to the noise. Thanks, adept."
"Not a problem. The claws just freak me out. Had a nasty experience with a bird on Terra before this."
"Fair. I wasn't a fan of birds either, but I like them now. Have a good day."
Jane Shepherd was with her top Sister Superiors. They were speaking softly about how they would get to the Gaimian homeworld past the blockade. The Race had fifty ships above the world. Twenty of them were nuke carriers. The Imperial navy had brought thirty cruisers and fifteen frigates for this operation. The Imperium had a quickly growing Navy with nearly two hundred cruisers, three battleships, and one hundred frigates and destroyers. The navy had been preparing for this too. The Navy Commander for the flotilla was a woman many were whispering could become the next Lord High Admiral.
The Sisters had thought long and hard about how they would get forces on-world to make contact with the Gaimian. A very stupid idea had been proposed. It had drawn looks of surprise from the Cannoness. It was to use something the Orks used regularly: Roks. The Gaimian home system was near a very large asteroid belt. The Sister Superior who made the suggestion was from Britain, and she admired the Orks and the stupidity that sometimes led to great strategy. In truth, the admiration was because she, too, was a football hooligan. Jane had considered that, and passed it to the acting Inquisitor. Anastasia had looked at the proposal and had shaken her own head.
"Damn Orks. But it's a good plan. Move forward with this."
Three asteroids had been grabbed by a mechanicus ship and then hollowed out. The sisters would send five squads and two of their new battle tanks to help the Gaimian. The Exorcist was like the griffin, and was built of a similar chassis. However, it used a melta cannon rather than a las cannon, and was more heavily armored. The Asteroids were modified to hold the landing transports for the tanks and squads, and this would be the way to establish real contact. Autoguns would be smuggled to the Gaimian within other Roks, along with bullets and new flak armor designed for them. The eagles would launch the next rebellion when the battle group along with the Prometheus warp jumped behind the gas giant in the system and would then engage the Race's fleet, destroying the nuke ships. Team Vali was being slowly collected for Loki, and then would get to Medcora to deploy in the second wave. The rebellion was being forecasted by the precognitives as being mostly focused around the Race's new capital city. The Largest Race military base was near the city and where the Hussars and two other regiments will strike. The other regiments would hit the smaller military bases across the single supercontinent.
The Sisters would spend the month before the rebellion training the Resistance on their guns and armor, along with setting up Vox networks and more backline work. The Eagles were hoping this would work, but they still had doubts of if the humans even existed. Their prophet had said they do, but the militants weren't convinced. They only had, at most, three thousand fighters. Mostly ones who had not fired guns before. The Race had kept their weapons in secret, secured stashes. The Gaimian had only used the halberd, but the Mechanicus had prepared halberds that could work for the militants. The halberds could crack Race males' body armor. The sisters would provide the rockets, bolters, and chainswords. The ten seraphim sisters would launch new plasma rockets from their mark three jet packs.
The Imperium knew they would slaughter the Race, especially in space. The Race had never encountered another species with ships. They had just assumed that they were the only civilization with them. Their planet forces were similar because they only beat up species that were pre-Industrial Revolution. They would get clapped by the Imperium. Ten cruisers would defend a Mechanicus ship as it built a space station that would act as a military base for the Imperium in system. The base would house the ten cruisers that would take up watch against the Race returning to try and get their colony back, but a battle group of twenty cruisers and the Emperor Battleship, The Sol Devastation, would launch in on Home and shock the Race further. It would make them realize that they were not the boss of the gym anymore. Anastasia would represent the Emperor, and present the new status quo in the region. Four Water Dragons would be seconded to her as honor guards to scare the Race further, but the Imperium had prepped an ambassador to the Race.
The Snake Youkai has been trained to interact with the Race. She would do her job and tell the Race that they would be able to join the galaxy with the other species together. There would be no more hostile actions taken unless the Race attempted more war. The Imperium would defend the birds.
Planet of Soucth, Twenty Light Years north of Terra
The destroyer called the Manticore dropped out of the warp into the system. The ship was the main vessel of the Ordo Astra Porta. It was a decent ship, and was newer off the Mars Ring of Iron. The ship was investigating any and all star gates found or informed of. This planet was provided to the crew by Inquisitor Lord George Hammond. The ship moved towards the sole planet in the Goldilocks zone here in the system.
Pia was in her lab on the vessel, drawing up a new theory about the Old Ones. That was her true field, and went well with Daniel and his on the Ancients. Their work had made the archeological community explode in hot debates about the Old Ones and the Ancients. The Old Ones fascinated humanity. It was impossible to record all their accomplishments. The Emperor had been right on how little a single human could do for just one of the Old Ones' lives. Humans took immense pride in the fact that they built their own civilization, and that the achievements of the past were all theirs. It made the countries of Terra with the old Wonders of the World prouder of their ancestors.
Pia was interrupted by Sam knocking on the door dressed in her skitarii red robes and carrying her small friend on her shoulder pack: a mouse robot named Hector. The mouse was excellent for recon, and the little machine spirit was extremely cute and curious. Pia waved her friend in.
"Hey Sam. Are we there already? I don't feel Warp jumps anymore."
"We are, Pia. Jack wants the ground team ready. My two other Skitarii are getting their gear. Daniel was snoring in his lab, and I'm letting him sleep more."
"I'll be ready. I still feel bad for Daniel. He's had screwed up sleeping since the Unification Wars. He never told me what the Cabal did to him in the week before the attack on the city. They thought he was part of the hydra."
Sam winced. The Cabal had done many war crimes during the Unification Wars. Torture was among them. She felt bad for Daniel more. He was the loner who preferred reading books in peace. He had warmed up to the rest of Team O'Neil, but still couldn't shake a few habits.
"That explains a lot. Didn't know that. I understand why he prefers his back to the wall now. You should wake him. Daniel likes me, and we engage in good debates about machines, but he still jumps at times when Hector squeaks."
"I will. He likes Hector. He gave him a small oil tune up recently."
"I know. Hector squeaked a lot describing it to me. Right, Hector?"
The robot mouse squeaked several times. Sam patted the mouse. She had built Hector on Mars, and the mouse was her first machine spirit. He was like her, in how he liked exploring. Pia grabbed her las pistol and her light carapace and the two women went to Daniel's lab. Five minutes later, Daniel was up and in his flak vest. He carried a las pistol of his own and the three down the center of the ship past the ornate interior. The navy crew greeted them, and two squads of stormtroopers marched down the hall past them doing security checks.
The Serpents of True Earth had tried multiple times to get their few remaining members onto ships, then tried desperately to blow them up. The group was struggling to get new members. Bounties on them doubled every week, and the Inquisition was not afraid to offer people who had knowledge on the Serpents things like warrants for trade. One had been issued recently to a brother-sister duo who had killed a Serpent that was hijacking a passenger liner to Venus. The sister had been a veteran, and her brother was a psyker. They had worked together and killed the hijackers. The brother used his skills and got information out of the ring leader and two small cells had been crushed, thus the warrant.
The security checks were just normal procedures now, but the Stormtrooper representative said they would end when the Serpents were destroyed. The precogs were saying that it would be soon, in a few more months at most. The trio of Team O'Neil arrived at the hangar bay in the middle of the ship. Jack was talking with a Skitarii man who is fretting over the hell gun.
"Captain, the spirit is crying! Have you said your prayers of congratulations yet today?"
"Ah, can it Jake! It's fine. I did, and the girl is just being a troll. Helvca, shut up, you stupid gun."
Jake Featherston moaned again as his arc gun decided to also troll its user. It wound up and down, making the other Skitarii laugh. The devil man patted his arc gun. Its spirit was like its user, amused at its comrades being trolls. Sam made the spirits calm down with a prayer. She was the team's gunsmith. The spirits liked her. They listened immediately and turned serious. Jake was not amused. His southern drawl kicked in.
"Why do they like you, Alpha? I repair them, too."
"Because your other tree-self is a mega asshole Jake. You know that. I can't believe your other self is that tree's Hitler. Weird place. Especially North America."
"I still don't get that. I'm not him, anyway. I despise racism and I'm half black! How am I that there?"
Pia cut in.
"The multiverse is vast, Jake. I'm not in many trees, and that universe is extremely different because of a single action. That's all it takes. The Emperor being born here was ours. We would have never seen the stars until two centuries later. We would be the Reapers' slaves. You're not a bad guy, Jake. We know that, but the spirits see parts of your other self. They do with all of us. That's why the boss man's a troll, because the other versions of him are trolls, too, yet the boss hates the Alpha Legion."
"I was a troll before it was cool. Damn space marines and their forums. Now, gear up. We are hitting Planetside. Jorg, your investigation is the gate itself. Jake, you're doing work with Kowalski getting the pre fabs down for base camp. Sam, you still look stupid in the robes but, you're competent, so you do you. Daniel, just play with the rocks. Pia, don't touch anything."
Pia whined.
"How was I supposed to know that the button on our last expedition was a security system!"
The others sweat dropped. Pia was good with translations, but was a clumsy mess sometimes. She had tripped over air and whacked the button. Not on purpose, but they had started tying her to the thunder hawk after the incident. Jack reaffirmed that.
"Touch nothing, comprende? My leg still hurts from that dart that hit me."
Pia grumbled, but nodded. The Skitarii followed their alpha, and the stormtroopers, led by Kowalski, entered their half of the thunder hawk. Jake grumbled that he always got saddled with prefab setting. Sam raised a red eyebrow.
"Jake, you're extraordinarily talented at that. You do it faster than I or Jorg. You could be an enginerseer on Mars if you really wanted to."
"Yeah, I could, but the problem is I need to do extra college. I hate college, simple as."
That got nods of agreement from the stormtroopers. Daniel shook his head.
"I'm surrounded by the uneducated masses. Oh, Galen help me."
Jack laughed, because unlike his men, he did go to college. Sam had, too, but hated it, so understood. Jake grumbled again, but was zapped by his machine spirit. They liked not shooting. They were a weird spirit. Jorg was a good devil; a pure blood who was from an imperial house. He was a fifth cousin and had little left for him in inheritance, so he joined the Skitarii maniples. He loved his partner, because it was his mood kindred. It was relaxed. He was a good shot with his arc gun, but could also serve as the magical power house.
The thunder hawk lifted off, and was followed by three more craft carrying the pre-fabs. The scans were voxed to the head thunder hawk. The gate was located on a small continent near the equator. The biggest of the continents in the southern half of this continental world.
Hector squeaked out a question to it's maker. Sam gently patted her mouse. That was answer enough. The mouse robot squeaked again in thanks. The thunder hawk continued down, and began the final descent twenty minutes later. The thunder hawks landed, and their cargo was dropped. The pre-fabs hawks began to take off again and head back to the Manticore for more support scientists. Jake began to move with Kowalski, and the two began to set up the pre-fabs with five other troopers.
Jorg took three, and they began movement towards the gate. It was standing in an open space, and Daniel saw several old stone buildings nearby. He approached the most intact building and drew his pistol because of noise. Jack followed and remarked.
"It's an animal. No idea what but it's small. Sam."
"Yes, dad. Hector, you know what to do."
The mouse bot jumped off the crimson robes of its maker and scurried off to the building. Jack still looked at the robes.
"I don't get why you three wear those stupid ass robes. The first ones were mad if they thought that was effective armor."
Sam humphed.
"I have more armor than you do. Each layer is like carapace, but lighter, and I get an air conditioning system. Laugh all you want, but the first Skitarii were really good soldiers. Yeah, mostly puppets for the tech priests, but they had drip and fire power. My arc gun hits harder than your hell gun."
"Yeah, you still look stupid. Surprised you don't have mechadendrites yet. You always bitch about not having enough hands."
"The flesh is weak, Jack, but it endures. I am considering getting an assistant in a new thing the Ai are cooking on Mars. Talked with Hadron, and she said the new project can help out on the massive labor issues we are starting to see in some of the backline work. People are really desperate to be on the new worlds. The Senatorum is considering trying to get another baby boom going."
"I don't keep up with that. Charlie is always telling me that he wants to join the Guard. Said he was hoping to do that for extra college discounts. I told him it won't be fun. He reassured me it would be back line work, and he wants to power through a doctor education program. He got his smarts from Sarah. Only thing he got from me was the love of fishing."
"That's good, but my point was that we are getting closer to a few problems. The Emperor is mostly hands off with rule, but a faction of the Senatorum wants him to take more executive power. The group seem to think he can solve the problems easily, like magic."
"Horse shit. The Emperor isn't a god, he never will be. Yeah, an avatar for four, but he's stuck here being like us mostly. It's just weird. Heard he's got another kid on the way."
"He does, from Empress Le Fay. A boy I think? But I don't follow the gossip anymore after the first three kids."
The two continued their talk, but Sam was startled by Hector who came back. The mouse reported to its maker that the animal was another rodent type animal. The mouse had also scouted the building and seen nothing of importance, just ash and dust. Things that were normal to see in an old building. The mouse was again sent to investigate deeper. Sam went to help it. Jack followed, as did Daniel. The trio entered the building, and Jack immediately saw something that Hector missed.
"Hey, rat. You missed the stairs."
Hector sent two angry squeaks at Jack. The man just shook his head.
"No excuses. You have a sensor, you lazy little guy."
Sam gently picked Hector up and then patted the mouse.
"It's ok, Hector. You need repairs?"
The mouse squeaked out no, but then admitted that it had been lazy. Jack raised an eyebrow at the mouse.
"I'll forget this happened. You did try to stop Pia hitting the button last time. Just look a bit better, Hector."
The mouse squeaked, then rushed down the stairs. Jack and Sam followed, while Daniel went to look at more half worn symbols on a nearby wall. He voxed Jack.
"Definitely Ancients. These are earlier versions of their language compared to the later samples we found on Terra."
"Keep looking for things up top. This basement is blocked off. I'll shoot down the door."
A loud snap hiss crack was heard and then Daniel heard someone curse.
"Dread Wolf take me! Not a fucking again. Jake, respond please."
The vox cracked again, and Jake answered, "What did you find, captain?"
"More damn skeletons. Pack everything up, then send a message to the Ordo Necropolis. We found another body of a necron. Same markings as the last one. They were doing it."
"Oh, shit. We didn't finish the first building thankfully. I'll pass that on."
Jack and Sam looked at the body on the rusted table. The body was in perfect shape, being made of necrodermis. The body was one of an overlord. The last one, found by team O'Neil, was a warrior. This was not good, especially with how close this was to Terra and the other races. They hadn't found the proper tomb world, just bodies so far, but it was looking more and more clear that the Ancients had been studying the Necrons.
Terra Sol System, Imperial Palace Underworld
Issei read the newest report: more Necrons. This was not good. This was near Valner space. The Ancients were causing problems, and it was not fun. Issei had started to hate the Ancients. They were making the Ordos worry with how big this dynasty was. The markings were completely unknown, and not one of the major names, but the good news was outweighing the bad.
The Xindi were utterly serious about forming a federation. Rossweiss was telling him that the Queens were going to have the foundation built. The talks were going well, and the Valner were offered one last time to go this new possible route. The Valner knew they had friends, but insisted on becoming Imperials. The Lemur-like species had said they were with the ones who had given them the option to be free. The Imperium was looking to become increasingly multi species. The Xindi wanted the federation.
The first talks would take place on the station near Xindi space. Issei was sending a Custodian to represent him. He was preparing to head to bed when Celestine pulled his pant leg. Issei smiled and picked her up. The blond girl purred. She had really embraced that. His daughter was very clingy, but Issei had passed that to her. He was clingy with his wives. Issei entered his daughter's room, which was filled with unicorns and lots of pink. Celestine was tucked in, and Issei read her a story about a new world that had been discovered by Agamemnon. Celestine loved the stars, like he did, but something happened that was unusual.
Celestine looked at him. Not as a young happy seven year old, but as an older woman. There was confusion before the memories and that part of her disappeared again. It was replaced with the child once more. That was becoming more common. Issei was ready for it. Celestine was going to awaken the memories fully very soon. Asia was prepared, as was he. He wanted the older version of her to not hate him.
He had done everything to make prevent her from being a perpetual, but fate had made it impossible. She was going to be here for a long while. Celestine fell asleep, happily purring.
Unknown space
Sovereign was thinking more. Something was amiss. Five more relays had been destroyed. That couldn't have been a coincidence. Something wasn't going to plan. He wasn't worried, but it required more attention. It sank into the network of relays, and tried to pinpoint where they had been. It discovered that he couldn't find the locations, which was more troubling. He would task some of his peons to this. More things were happening, too. The blue ones had a single point where the enlightened had been stopped mostly. The machine didn't like that. The cults spreading was a way to throw off the internal systems and freeze them in indecision, making them focus less on the outside, and allow it to enter the galaxy again. Distraction was key, because it made movement easier in the beginning. No one paid attention to reports of a massive ship of unfamiliar design when you worried about getting grabbed by the enlightened and killed.
Sovereign was feeling something: unease. Something was coming, something big. It could feel that. It wondered if it should have a second mind join it here, but shook the thought off. This cycle was the same. Nothing was going to change that. The other beings were cut off. They would die, like tens of thousands of others had. Nothing would change that.
Home
Hisslef awoke, screaming again in his room in one of the many cities on Home. He kept having a dream of unparalleled horror; a golden being leading an army of the unknown and they would butcher the Race. The unknown ones would tear the Race apart, destroying everything they had ever known, and make the Race see that they were a small fish in a vast ocean. Hisslef calmed himself down. His neighbor, a female, knocked on his door with worry.
"Hisslef, you ok in there? I heard the screams."
Hisslef took shallow breaths before responding to his neighbor. "I am ok. Just a bad dream."
His neighbor went quiet before softly asking through the door,
"What dream? You have been screaming for three weeks straight every night. You are lucky it's just the two of us here in the building. Hisslef, I'm worried for you. Maybe you need to see a doctor."
Hisslef was not addled. He was not addled at all, but had he really been doing that? The male opened his door, and saw his neighbor and friend. Tissul was a good person. She worked as a radio technician in one of the cities here on Home. Hisslef was just a regular male who had considered doing soldier time on Hallessi 1. There were more of those needed than ever before. Hisslef was bored of life on Home. He yearned for adventure, but that might be taken as him being addled. Being adventurous was not common in the Race.
"I'm good, Tissul. I've just been having a recurring nightmare."
Tissul's face simply showed more worry at his words.
"What's this dream, Hisslef? I'm not a doctor, but maybe talking about it will help."
Hisslef considered that. Tissul had been amazing to be friends with. They had actually mated twice, an extremely rare thing. That was strange for many of their fellows in the Race, but Tissul and he seemed to have something going that worked. He hesitated for just a second longer before guiding his friend into the apartment. It was a single room thing. He led her to the kitchen table, and Tissul sat on a chair, letting her tail fall through the hole in the seat. Hisslef sat, and then started explaining the dream.
Tissul didn't know what to think. Her eyes widened when Hisslef described the golden one. She thumped her tail a bit in fear. Hisslef saw that.
"Tissul."
The female was scared now. She had a dream earlier this year like that, too. She hadn't screamed like Hisslef, but the golden being was there too. Hisslef wasn't mad, but who would they turn to? They would be committed to an addled place if they reported this. Tissul decided something.
"You have a couch, yes Hiss? I'll stay and help you. This is bad."
"Are you saying that…."
"The golden one, I had a dream with it too."
In another city, a female woke from her dream. She was incredibly different from her people. Her thoughts on their people were almost alien to the rest of the Race. She made decisions fast. She didn't like the colonization stance they took. She had done a decade on Hallessi 1, and had been disturbed by the poverty and the looks of despair on the population's faces. Not her people, they were the same, but the Hallessi had awoken something in her. Pity. She didn't like that they were not being helped. That many were not living lives like the Race.
All because they prized something different. The foreign idea of this thing called family. The concept was alien to her, but the more she in her different thoughts considered that she found a strange appeal to it. That would see her in an addled place. That's why she kept that to herself.
In the warp Home
The God of the Race enjoyed a lazy day, one of everlasting relaxation. He was lazing in the smug superiority of having another species' god die to his chosen people and their utterly correct ways. He enjoyed that, but then a small light hit him before going away. The God didn't worry about that. That had become normal for him. He considered if he should show the Race another world for them to conquer, another god to kill and then replace. Nah, it was too early. Maybe in another three thousand years.
An.
