Author's Note: I really wasn't going to do anything else with Ahkaros but then this idea came to me so enjoy this little intermission. Much of this would be taking place after the events with the green xenos are settled.


In the ruins of the Crownworld of the Ammunos Dynasty, Ahkaros slowly walked.

He could have completely repaired the Crownworld. He could have fixed the Crownworld AI, repaired all the scarabs and other Canoptek machines, and made the Crownworld a pristine tomb. Ahkaros had chosen not to. Firstly, it was a waste of his efforts and second, the wreckage served as a reminder. A reminder of his mistakes, and the price of carelessness and hubris. The carelessness being his, the hubris being the Phaeron's, to think he could tame this particular star. The solar quieting technology they had used had failed during the sixty million years, resulting in the solar flare that had consumed them.

Ahkaros paused at the broken tombs, the inhabitants that were gradually decaying, the living metal cold and dead. A few Canoptek scarabs still tried to tend to their duties, but acted like they were in the grip of a seizure, trembling and twitching. Ahkaros shook his head and moved on.

Ahkaros had done a bit of work on the Tomb, but only to suit his own needs. He had made sure structural integrity was intact, and taken for his own the work area dedicated to the Chronomancers. Of all the disciplines the necrons practiced, Chronomancy was often considered the most odd and mystical. While being fundamentally rooted in math and calculations, like all Necron works, Chronomancy was often seen by the Overlords and Lords as something like magic. And understandably so… how could they be expected to understand the stars and how they influenced the skein of time? Also contributing was the fact that even in the hands of a great Luminary like Orikan, the arts of Chronomancy were somewhat unreliable… one episode with the Immaterium and all calculations would be thrown into disarray.

Because of that, Ahkaros was not as fond of Chronomancy as he was of all of his other disciplines. Once in a while, he reflected sadly on that perhaps, that was why he had not thought to look into the futures of Ammunos… it was just such a bother, setting up everything for a long-term search of the futures. He didn't have a great chorus of lesser Crypteks to support him and at the time, he had been barred from the ancient halls of the Chronomancers of Ammunos. They guarded their secrets jealously, even from their own… or perhaps particularly from their own, in the form of an insanely inquisitive Technomancer.

Now, however, the defenses were broken and the halls of the Chronomancers were open to him. Ahkaros had lovingly repaired them, so he could finally have an astrarium of his own. Whenever he needed to scry the future, he came home.

Right now, Ahkaros was scrying for a particular purpose. He had decided he needed an apprentice. It was rare for the great Technomancer to take an apprentice, but sometimes he just fell into the mood for it, feeling a great desire to nurture another mind. Teaching Cawl had kindled the urge… Ahkaros wished he could have taken the human with him, continued to feed his mind and bring him to new masteries, but he knew better. He knew Cawl needed the blackstone, and the blackstone alone. Perhaps he would have time for something else in the future, but for now, knowledge needed to be used.

Who else could he take for an apprentice, though? Ahkaros was not exactly choosy about who he took under his wing – most came to him, exactly like Cawl had – but when he deliberately decided to select an apprentice, Ahkaros depended on the arts of Chronomancy.

After his great mistake, Ahkaros had taken pains to correct it for the future. Pulling out another tesseract, he brought forth his chorus. Lesser Crypteks of the kind that helped Orikan, when he wanted to do a great work, they were not entirely sentient but very useful for data processing. Also, the heads of the chorus were fully sentient, mid-level Chronomancers who were useful aides. Ahkaros had acquired them from several Dynasties, as payment for his services.

They always came out in the same location, so they knew where to go. They arrayed themselves and the two mid-level Crypteks bowed to him respectfully.

"What is our task, great Technomancer?" One of them asked and Ahkaros responded.

"We will search the paths for my next apprentice. Today, I will look among the necrons only." That surprised the two Chronomancers. It was a strange thing to do, since all necrons were known quantities. But. "There is a way to salvage Warriors… awaken them from their trance." That was quite impressive. Ahkaros fully understood what the C'Tan had done to them and his arts could not free a Warrior from their endless trance. It was one thing to break his own conditioning, which had been light to facilitate his brilliance. It was quite another with those who had been fully lobotomized. "I am told the minimum age of biotransference was thirteen. There will be younglings, not yet Crypteks, who were in training. Brilliant minds I can awaken and nurture." They would likely be very rare, but Ahkaros wanted to find one.

(Oramoton had actually noted any Cryptek students when he was scrying futures. They were given middling priority to resoul and would eventually be awakened)

(for now, given the advent of human Crypteks, artists and others who could bring back necrontyr culture were considered more important)

Ahkaros knew this would be a herculean effort. They might be entranced for years, even decades, searching for just the right Necron Warrior then marking it as special. Then, he would need to go to the Dynasty that owned it and secure it. Or perhaps, steal it, if it happened to be among a Dynasty that hated him. Then he would have to take it to Sautekh and bargain for a soul. Perhaps even one for himself… Ahkaros knew, quite well, that a soul would have a certain effect on his mind. With his mastery of his own mind, he had repaired a few broken engrams, but the repairs were not entirely perfect. Once in a while, he had a misfire and he strongly suspected it was due to his lack of a soul.

(all of the repairs were focused on Ahkaros sense of compassion. In life, he had been kinder than he was now, although still highly introverted)

(misfires tended to cause highly sadistic behavior. Ahkaros usually regretted such episodes)

The lesser Chronomancers began their chant, a dull drone and the astrarium shifting, becoming the perfect shade of orange. Ahkaros bathed in it, falling into his own deep trance as he gestured, invoking the greatest powers of the Chronomancer. He separated from his own body and checked, from long practice, his connection to it. That was a grave danger for someone like himself… unlike Orikan, who used his constant anger to anchor himself, Ahkaros was really quite loosely connected to his own body. He had engrams taking the place of that and Ahkaros observed them as though from outside, the glittering workings of his own mind.

They were within tolerable limits, the grounding mechanisms functioning as needed. So Ahkaros turned his attention to the stars. He gently arranged and rearranged the skeins of fate, peering into the various futures available where he found and took an apprentice. The two mid-level Chronomancers assisted him directly, their processing power joining his and making the search easier.

Ahkaros started with the Sautekh Empire. It was only good sense, given that they had the resouling technology, if he could procure the Warrior from them he could get it resouled with dispatch. He was confident they would give him no trouble… Imotekh would just request that the young Cryptek be returned after his training was over. A brilliant young mind, trained by the greatest Technomancer of their race, would be a rare prize indeed.

It took several years of searching. They found no real candidates on Mandragora, so they moved their regard to other planets in the Sautekh sphere. They found what they wanted on a Forge World. There was a small Necron garrison there, meant only to be an honor guard for the Lord in charge of the world, acting as the Planetary Governor. And one of them was perfect.

Ahkaros allowed the future to unspool and saw this particular young necron, barely more than a child when he'd undergone the biotransference, mastering the disciplines of Technomancery with ease and then going directly into Plasmancy. He would have a particular love of stars and learning to manipulate them, which pleased Ahkaros greatly. That was something he could teach very well. It would be a pleasure to nurture this young mind.

All that decided, Ahkaros pulled out of his trance, gently separating his processing power from the Crypteks. He commanded the chorus to wind down their functioning and when all was completed, returned them to the tesseract. When needed, he would bring them forth again.

When travelling through the Imperium of Man, Ahkaros depended on human ships, catching rides from place to place in the guise of a Tech Priest. But when travelling through the lands claimed by his own kind, he employed his own ship. Lovingly rebuilt from scraps, it was an incredibly fine ship. Custom designed, it could go faster and take as much damage as a Cairn class, despite being relatively small. Ahkaros powered it with a captive sun, negating any need to stop for refueling and making it effectively impossible to ambush.

Instead of using Necron Warriors, the ship was entirely run by AI's. Broken down into small parts, so they could not gather the processing power to be dangerous, the ship was capable of flying on full autopilot. Ahkaros could have traded for a naval crew, but he preferred this, since he could not be present to put such a crew into a tesseract. When Ahkaros decided to wander off into a different Empire, he normally sent the ship home on autopilot. It would go directly back to Ammunos, ensconce itself in the Crownworld and be tended by scarabs until he got back.

(Ahkaros could have just left Necron naval crew aboard it, but the thought bothered him. He knew the naval ratings had a bit lighter conditioning than common Warriors, so it was possible they could experience boredom and it was not uncommon for him to leave the ship untouched for thousands of years)

Settling into his workroom aboard the ship, Ahkaros bade it to travel to Forge World Atticus Prime.

Soon, he would have a new apprentice.


For the Forge World of Atticus Prime, things were finally going well for a change.

Atticus Prime had fallen on hard times indeed when it was invaded by the Sautekh Dynasty. Once, it had been a glorious jewel of Imperial technology, specializing in creating lasguns for the Imperial Guard. Entire continents had been dedicated to that task, churning out the machinery the endless war required. Although one continent had a different purpose… tasked entirely to the work of Collegia Titanica, they produced a single Titan a year. Given the scope of such work, and the beautiful attention to detail such things required, that was a fine output indeed.

Rharc Omadian, junior Tech Priest, knew the necrons considered the allocation of resources to be quite absurd but the output speed acceptable. Apparently, that far off place called "Hope" could also only create a single Titan a year, of a similar grade to the ones they were working on. And the Necrons did have use for Titans… they were so potent that wiring an Immortal into them was considered worthwhile, despite the inferior technology. And now that that trust was beginning to build, some of them were being given to humans, to act as PDF forces.

Atticus Prime had not been taken intact, however, and Rharc knew he was lucky to have been assigned to the Titan lines. The primary invasion had happened on the continent that handles the lasguns, and their skitarii forces had been broken there. His 'home' had been spared any damage in the violent conflict but the rest of the planet had not been so lucky.

They had rebuilt the lasgun facilities, but with a reduced capacity. The Stormlord did allow some trade in those weapons, recognizing his subjects needed them for non-military uses and basic PDF's. That had not been enough to sustain a full Forge World, though. Now, however, that capacity was roaring back as one of the things Guilliman had specifically bargained for was access to captured Forge Worlds. The Titans were staying home, but those lasguns were once again flowing to the Guard.

All this meant that the Forge World was in an upswing. While it had not been as dramatic as the Hive Worlds – Forge Worlds were arranged differently – there had been a degradation in the planetary standard of living under the Stormlord. It would have been worse, but the xenos effectively gave them charity, giving them free food from the tithes of the agri worlds. He'd also given them a good price for the Titans, taking only some of the lasguns as tithe. It amused Rharc to know that many of his seniors had found that charity a bit difficult to swallow… they might have almost preferred a xenos who crushed them underfoot. It would be easier to hate, then.

A few of the necron Warriors were assigned to guard the Titan still in the process of being built. This was due to a few religious zealots that had tried to sabotage production. The Mechanicus found such a thing to be an affront to the Machine God, but alas, some of the more common workers felt differently. They had been converted to servitors as a warning to others, but there could be more.

Rharc happened to be monitoring the work, staff in hand, when a disturbance caught his attention. He recognized the Lord in charge of the planet, heading directly towards him? And beside him, leading the way actually, was a Necron Cryptek he did not recognize. His necrodermis was oddly filmy, almost dusty and he moved with a quick step. There was a great cloak of plaques behind him and Rharc recognized that as a sign of very high rank. This was the equivalent of a senior Tech Priest, but what did they want?

Rharc turned to meet them, assuming there was some issue with the production. Then they went right past him and he blinked. He hesitated a moment but… things would be fine without him for a moment, and finding out what was happening was very important. Abandoning his post, Rharc followed them and found them before one of the Warriors tasked to watch over the Titan construction. The Cryptek held out a small orb, scanning the warrior.

"Yes, this one… I will take this one," he said, his voice strangely raspy. Rharc knew if he didn't say anything he'd never find out what this was about and he was desperately curious.

"Forgive me, great Cryptek… you want this particular Warrior? For what purpose, if this unworthy one might be permitted to ask?" Rharc said with a deep bow, trying to be as obsequious as possible. He really had no right to demand any answers from a Cryptek but his curiosity would torment him forever if he didn't know. The Cryptek turned to look at him and Rharc had the impression that he'd just noticed he was there.

"I have peered into the future. He is fated to be a great Luminary, a Plasmancer of the highest caliber. I will teach him, I will train him," the Cryptek said and Rharc blinked. He almost asked a question, but then the Cryptek beat him to it. "You wonder how he can be a Warrior… he was a child when the C'Tan forced this upon us. Thirteen years old, too young to be a Cryptek." Ah. That made sense. "He will be perfect. A bright young mind to nurture." Oh, so this Cryptek was on the hunt for an apprentice! That made perfect sense to Rharc, very powerful Mechanicus Tech Priests would sometimes do the same.

"Why did you tell him that and not me?!" The Planetary Governor Lord demanded and Rharc swallowed at the obvious irritation. The Cryptek held up a finger.

"He asked nicely. You did not ask nicely," he said and Rharc saw the Lord's eyes flare in irritation. He quickly bowed again.

"Thank you, most illustrious one, for answering my question. I will return to my duties," he said before beating a quick retreat. He could hear the two Necrons squabbling a bit behind him and was relieved to feel forgotten. The Lord was unlikely to be petty enough to take out his irritation on him, but you never knew. Also, he did need to get back to his work.

The work never stopped on a Mechanicus Forge World.


When Technomancer Ahkaros paid a visit to Mandragora, Imotekh was not surprised, but only because his Lord had warned him. Otherwise he would have been shocked indeed, to be visited by the reclusive Technomancer.

Ahkaros was well known for being extremely introverted, to the point of eschewing all contact for thousands of years. That was a bit excessive, even by necron standards, but Imotekh did know that the opposite could happen… sometimes, Ahkaros had an 'active' phase where he stayed in contact for a long period. Perhaps they were coming into one of those phases? Imotekh wasn't sure if he should hope for that or not. With his parent Dynasty being dead, Ahkaros had no true loyalties anymore.

Imotekh saw the great Technomancer personally, of course. He was every bit as dangerous and useful as Illuminatory Szeras and should be treated as such. He met Ahkaros in his throne room, surrounded by the finery of the Phaeron, although the Technomancer did not seem to care.

"I desire awakening for this Warrior. He will be my apprentice," Ahkaros said and Imotekh tilted his head.

"I am aware. Lord Koshotep sent me word… but what advantage is there to me?" Imotekh asked bluntly. The Technomancer tilted his head.

"He is a Cryptek of Sautekh. When I am done training him, he will come home and you will have a Plasmancer, trained by me." That was… an extremely good point. As long as he did come home, anyway. "I have looked into his future… he holds you in high regard, Stormlord. He will come back to you." Hmph.

"That is good, but it will still take decades for him to gain mastery, and likely longer." How long would Ahkaros keep him? Possibly as long as a hundred years, patiently teaching him and bringing him to new heights. "What have you to offer me now?" Imotekh wanted something for the soul. Ahkaros paused, then made a rattling sigh.

"I will give you this." He pulled out a tesseract. "It is a C'Tan shard… I do not like them, I prefer my own power sources. This is a shard of Mephet'ran, I particularly do not like using him, he is annoying. Put it in the blackstone forges, make him suffer." Well, Imotekh was more than willing to do that and he could always use another C'Tan shard. He nodded.

"Very well, I will accept this trade. But do you wish a soul for yourself? Will you stand with us against Szarekh?" Imotekh asked and there was a pause before the Technomancer shook his head.

"I cannot…" he rasped. "When the Great Sleep was declared, Szarekh pulled me in front of him. He told me his Chronomancers had seen that I would not want to sleep. That I would force myself to stay awake, that I would learn all things, become what I am today. He foresaw it…" Ahkaros paused for a moment before resuming his story. "He made me swear that I would not use my knowledge against him or his Dynasty, ever. He said if I would not swear, he would personally see that I was forced to sleep. So I took that oath… I hate him for what he has done, but I cannot stand with you and so, for now, I will not take a soul. But if you succeed, I will want one. I want to see…" See what? Imotekh almost asked, but then thought better of it.

"I see. I understand," Imotekh said, reflecting on it. Necrons took such oaths very seriously and breaking them meant the loss of all honor. Honor was a truly priceless commodity and if Ahkaros broke that oath, and it became known, no one would ever trust him again. "Very well, I will make this trade. Come to me when the Pariah Nexus is taken, and we will see about more. Oh, also, have you received the plans made common heritage by Trazyn the Infinite?" Ahkaros might have missed them.

"No. What are they?" he asked and Imotekh paused. That was… quite a question. Well, he was not some prudish creature, to refuse to state it.

"They are engrams and physical alterations that allow us to experience sexual pleasure." Ahkaros optic actually blinked. "I am told they work extremely well." He hadn't gotten the upgrade yet and wasn't sure he would. Imotekh had no interest in flesh… but some of the female necrons were rather alluring. Udjemka was a beautiful specimen of their kind, although he had no idea if she would be interested. "We are still working on a female version." That was nearly perfected. Ahkaros made glyphs of astonishment and deep interest.

"Incredible… that must be a great work of the Psychomancers… I must have it…" Yes, Imotekh had thought he would regard it that way, as a new piece of technology to be mastered. Many necrons had a more atavistic reaction, but not Ahkaros. "It is common heritage?"

"Yes, we can supply you with the designs, for no obligation." As common heritage they would be spread far and wide, to everyone who desired them. Ahkaros made glyphs of appreciation and Imotekh directed him to the psyker Crypteks who could resoul his new apprentice, then summoned another Cryptek to take charge of their new C'Tan shard. They likely would put it in the Blackstone forges, they always needed more blackstone.

The C'Tan deserved nothing less.