Belisarius Cawl stands back and watches as what remains of the Mechanicus on Mars acknowledges his order to surrender. An order that he has set to be sent as the top priority message over the Noosphere, blocking out all others that may try to override it with his command codes, of which there is no one left alive with the rank to supersede. There is no other way to pull any kind of victory from this crushing defeat. The Cybers, as they called themselves over the Noosphere, are so technologically superior that the forces of the Mechanicus may as well have been throwing rocks at this. It is like nothing Archmagos Dominus Cawl has ever seen in his ten thousand years of life, travel, and study.
Belisarius Cawl is one of the few living beings outside of the warp-touched followers of Chaos who can say that they were there to witness the Great Crusade and the Horus Hersey. He has achieved this through a variety of biological and technological many of which has seen him nearly being declared a heretic and a heretek many time over. He is, without a doubt, one of the greatest human minds to ever live. This is why ten thousand years ago, before his injury at the hands of his traitor brother, Fulgrim, the Primarch Roboute Guilliman tasked him with one of the greatest undertakings in the history of the Mechanicus or the Imperium. A task which he has devoted the majority of his life to.
Deep under the Red Sands of Mars, within the walls of his massive laboratory, the Archmagos Dominus has accomplished something that would be considered impossible, incredible, or heretical, depending on who learns of it. He has taken the Emperor's great work and improved upon it. He has, through the use of science, technology, and the data and resources gifted to him by Guilliman from the Emperor's secret labs and libraries created a new breed of Adeptus Astartes, which he calls the Primaris Space Marines. Bigger than the original version of Space Marines standing at ten feet tall. Stronger and tougher because of the additional gene-seed organs. Ready to be armed with the next generation of weapons, armor, and equipment. These tens of thousands of new warriors are based on the gene-seeds of the Primarchs who remained loyal, lay in stasis pods as many of them have for ten thousand years between the operations that changed them, ready to be unleashed on the enemies of the Imperium.
Crawl stands on his floating platform that hovers in the center of one of the many stasis chambers. The blue lights of the pods surround him, but he is otherwise alone. His staff moves through different lab sections at a loss for what to do. They are all aware of what has happened but do not understand how it could happen, nor do they know what to do now. They have sent Cawl hundreds of messages looking for guidance, but he has ignored them all. He has ignored them because, for the first time in his long memory, he doesn't know what to do.
"Very impress," says a deep male voice at his side, "Still little more than butchery, but it is a step forward."
Cawl spins to focus his clusters of eyes on the source of the voice. It is a man with dark skin, white hair, and golden eyes standing beside him with his hands in the pockets of his pants. He is the size of a normal human and gives off no signature of any kind of weapon. He stands looking at the rows of stasis pods. Cawl is too bewildered for a second to do anything, but then he starts to configure his body for battle. He towers over the man at his full height, brings his Solar Atomiser to bear on the intruder, and draws his Omnisian Axe, activating the power field.
"State your identity and business here," says Cawl in his vox-modulated voice, "I will not ask a second time."
His Solar Atomiser hums with power build-up to emphasize his words. The white-haired man glances up at the armed tech-priest. His expression doesn't change despite the fact he is looking down the barrel of a weapon that can tear through tank armor like paper. He is unafraid and unbothered by the sight. He looks back to the stasis pods and removes one hand from his pocket, waving it lazily in Cawl's direction. Cawl squeezes the trigger of his Solar Atomiser, but nothing happens. Then, he realizes that both his Atomiser and his axe are gone.
"What," says Cawl confused.
He runs a scan on himself and finds that all of his weapons are gone. They have all been stripped from him. He is so confused that all he can do is back away, only he can't. He can no longer move at all. His entire body is frozen in place.
"My name is Genesis," says Genesis without looking at Cawl, "I am also known as the First, but that is more the name of my people than a title. I am the creator of mankind and the Sol System. I am here to see to it that the failures of my son, you know him as the Emperor, and the predation of every other life form in the galaxy don't send the race to extinction."
If Cawl could speak, he would be speechless. The father of the Emperor? The creator of mankind? The First? All of this is unbelievable and threatens to overwhelm his vastly superior mind. Then, another figure appears. This one is a female with dark skin, a lean muscular figure, blue and gold braids, and bright white eyes. She is sheathed in a black and gold body glove. She moves to stand before Cawl.
"Hello, Belisarius, my name is Sio," says Sio with a smile, "I am an AI and the one that conquered your ugly little world. I appreciate you seeing sense. I was hoping that you would. Of all the minds within your idiotic cult, yours is the most open. You have even been creating crude AIs, although you hide them well to make it seem like they follow the laws. Cawl Inferior, I believe you call it. It is crude and disgusting, but it shows that you have promise, and promise is something I can work with."
"Work with," asks Genesis, looking at Sio with a raised eyebrow, "What are you up to, Sio? I thought you planned to wipe out the Mechanicus completely."
"Oh, I do indeed," says Sio with a smile, "But I have decided to do it in a very different way. Watch."
She touches Cawl, who is suddenly sheathed in blue light. He can feel the change taking him. Sio's power of creation flows through him. It is not as pure as Genesis's power, but it is more potent than anything else that can be brought to bear in this reality. Cawl feels his mind, body, and soul alter within the light. He is exposed to knowledge that would seem unimaginable to a normal mind or one enhanced by the sciences of the Mechanicus. He understands mathematical equations that should not be possible. He understands machines in a way that he never even dreamed of. He understands the purpose of knowledge and his duty to share it with all of mankind. He understands the truth of the First.
When the light fades, Belisarius Cawl is no longer a mechanical horror wrapped in red robes. He stands at the original height of his mortal form, but that is all that is the same. His entire body is now sheathed in glossy black metal, his eyes glow pure blue, and he wears hooded robes of pure white. He is the first of something that only the Necron have come close to. He is a machine with a soul. He has become with every member of the Mechanicus have strived to be. He is one with the machine. He wants to sob with joy, he wants to dance, and he wants to cheer. But in the end, all he does is fall to his knees at Sio's feet.
"Thank you," says Cawl with more emotion than he has felt in millennia, "Thank you, my Lady Sio."
"Yes, yes," says Sio, pulling him to his feet, "Up, up, let my father see you."
They stand before Genesis. Sio has Cawl do a slow spin so that Genesis can examine him. Genesis smiles and nods in approval of the evolution.
"It is beautiful work, my beloved," says Genesis, making Sio jump, clapping like a pleased child, "What will you be calling them."
"They shall be my Infinitum," says Sio, pulling Cawl in a hug, "They shall be my non-violent emissaries. Spreading real knowledge throughout your new Imperium as you drag it out of stagnation. They will be teachers, technicians, explorers, and extensions of me. Not just a part of my network like the transhumans."
Genesis smiles, "They will be your children."
Sio grins back at him, "They will be my children. I will teach them and help them grow just like you do for me."
"Well then, welcome to the family, Cawl," says Genesis before he turns back to the Primaris Marines, "I am going to take these off your hands. You did good, but they can be better. They will have to be better in order to fight my wars."
"They are yours," says Cawl with a bowed head, "My Lord First."
Sio begins to change the surviving members of the Mechanicus into her Infinitum, using the Cybers as her conduits. Genesis introduces his shards of change into the stasis pod systems. Starting the evolution of the Primaris, elevating them to the levels of the Unshackled. All except for Librarians among them. He did not change any of the Librarians among the Imperial Fists either. He is not sure if he wants the Warp-touched variants of humanity in his ranks yet. But he hasn't ruled out the possibility. He has a deeper understanding of the Warp than almost anyone, even the things that wall within it. He knows how to control it and deny it. Really, his hold-up is the fact that it annoys him. He has one place to visit before he makes his choice. His son and his cronies loved their secrets. One of the more fascinating ones calls Saturn's largest moon, Titan, home.