Everything was going well right until the moment it wasn't.

Imotekh knew that something was seriously wrong when Overlord Ke'yanakh sent him a full, two way FTL communication. He was handling a troubled location in Imotekh's Empire, the human worlds closest to Chaos and he had his hands full rooting out the corruption. He used many tactics for such, things the Inquisition would have recognized, including many human minions. Those minions were recruited in a variety of ways, but their loyalty was assured with Mindshackle Scarabs. Along with armoring of blackstone, they were nearly impervious to Chaos corruption.

(most of them did not actually require the scarabs. Like Emerard, they were loyal to their people and that led them to be loyal to the Sautekh Empire)

(the scarabs were quite helpful in countering any influences that got past the blackstone, although a strong conflict between a demonic possession and the scarabs could kill the host)

Despite all of that, things could go very wrong in that sector and Imotekh regarded the communication for a moment before taking it. Overlord Ke'yanakh appeared before him in all his finery, resplendent in a very fine Nightmare Shroud that had been passed through his family for generations. Imotekh did not prefer that kind of armament, but he admired the artistry of it.

Greetings Stormlord. I must regret to inform you that we are suffering what I would characterize as an emergency, he said before bowing his head. I apologize, deeply, for not recognizing the danger this particular group posed. I will accept any punishment deemed necessary.

"I have never found flaw with your competence before. Show me what has happened and I shall judge," Imotekh rumbled. Ke'yanakh's personality was well known to him and the Overlord was often too hard on himself, blaming himself for things even the Stormlord himself would have had difficulty predicting. It was extremely possible this was one of those times.

Before I explain what I have learned, allow me to show you the events on Hemingway. Imotekh immediately identified the world in question as a Civilized World of decent value to his Empire, with a sufficient picket to deter pirates and lesser incursions. Ke'yanakh held out an orb and the events unfolded. The recording was of low quality, clearly taken from human sensors on the planet, but it showed enough.

Imotekh watched silently as the small picket of six vessels, four necron and two the new PDF forces recruited from Hope and Antioch, stood guard. And he watched as one of the necron vessels turned and with absolute deliberation, suddenly unloaded all their weapons into a sister necron ship. It did not die immediately – even taken by surprise, at point blank range, necron ships were tough – but it quickly detonated after what Imotekh presumed were a few frantic communications. Then the rest of the picket went after the human ships, with the intent to board. They tried to fight but it was sad and pathetic, as they were boarded by Immortals and quickly taken over. Then, Imotekh saw shuttles from the planet, going to those human vessels. Then the entire picket turned and left, abandoning their post and vanishing into FTL travel. As he fully absorbed this information, Imotekh felt a deep and all-consuming rage. Betrayal. One of his Overlords had betrayed his trust, and to what? Chaos?! As the display came to an end, Ke'yanakh continued his report.

As these events in orbit were taking place, the ground facilities were seized by a group known as the Voice of Ishtar. They were known to me but until now, I considered them a lesser threat. A brand new cult that emerged after the death of Slaanesh, they are known to be unaffiliated with the true Ruinous Powers and thus, less dangerous. I deeply apologize for not taking this organization more seriously. Imotekh felt deeply impatient. He understood that Ke'yanakh was mortified at the lapse, but the current situation was pressing.

"I will evaluate your performance later. Continue your report," he said and Ke'yanakh obligingly did so.

The shuttles were the majority of the cult going to the PDF ships. They were bringing with them very particular supplies, the kind needed for the establishment of a colony. What?! Such things are not regulated, and frankly they could not be… it includes many things like seeds and frozen ovum, agricultural supplies. I only recognized the full pattern of what they were intending in retrospect. Imotekh wanted to blame him, but he had also been watching the trade networks and not detected it. But the problem was, any planet could decide to set up a colony, as long as it was registered. And normally that happened after a small, initial settlement so gathering those supplies was not suspicious.

"I see," Imotekh said coldly as he considered it. So the Chaos cultists wanted to make their own colony, where they could worship this 'Ishtar' creature as they pleased. And somehow, they had subordinated a necron Overlord – no. No, the Chaos cult had corrupted him but the Overlord in question surely ruled them now. He would be their new Phaeron, on the world they created. The thought was absolutely infuriating. "Have we any idea where they have gone?"

Yes, but it is extremely unhelpful… the relays we keep near the Nether Coil registered the ships falling into real space, then directly entering the Warp Storm. They are gone. Imotekh's hands clenched, but he knew Ke'yanakh was right. It was nearly madness to do such a thing but if a powerful Warp entity was guiding them, they would come out at another Warp Storm, somewhere else in the universe. They had gone out of his grasp. I have questioned Overlord Sulkh, but he claims to know nothing and that he was caught entirely by surprise. That was the commander of the necron ship that was destroyed. Imotekh was relieved to hear he had recalled. Perhaps there would be something to be found from him, even if he thought he knew nothing. As for the humans on the planet, I am investigating as best I can but all known members of the cult have departed.

"I will investigate this myself," Imotekh decided. Such a breech of his realm was an important matter indeed. Never had any Chaos force managed something so large within his domain. Ke'yanakh made glyphs of assent and apology. "Send me everything you have on this cult." Who was Ishtar?

Unfortunately, the information was sparse. Ishtar was a heretical goddess that had only begun appearing after the death of Slaanesh. A goddess of love and war, she specifically spurned motherhood and fertility. By the tenants of the faith, high priestesses of Ishtar distributed their favors freely but only gave their true devotion to the Goddess. Male followers of Ishtar were expected to win her favor in battle and be rewarded by the females for their gallantry. Imotekh found nothing objectionable in any of that, but he was deeply angered that this goddess would presume to violate his domain and steal directly from him.

Imotekh pondered a moment before deciding to summon Manric. He would be able to learn far more from the humans, with his gentle, psychic persuasion. And this was an extremely serious matter. They needed to find out how this had happened, how necrons had fallen to corruption. He also included all the information he had on this cult to Manric.

It did not occur to him that the worship of Ishtar might not be new but in fact, extremely old.


Far away, on Egg and Phoenix.

Manric was carefully reassuring and evaluating the humans taken from that sad, warped world. They were largely free of taint although Manric sadly learned why… any children born with the 'mark of the devil' were set out on a rock and left to die. That harsh method had kept their bloodlines relatively pure, although a few minor mutations had been allowed, mainly differing numbers of fingers and toes. That was explained by a priest. During one bad year, every child born had four fingers. It had been so prevalent that they had questioned if perhaps that was the true human form, and those children had been allowed to live. From that year on, that mutation was considered acceptable. Odd hair colors, and some variations on ear shapes, were also thought to be possible true human form and allowed.

Aside from that, the harsh population control had spared them in another way, as an ugly form of food rationing. They were all rail thin, thanks to the endless privation they had suffered. Manric heard that farming had been incredibly difficult for them and they had been largely surviving on ancient caches of food, gleaned out of the ruins by intrepid explorers. Yet such trips were incredibly dangerous and claimed many lives. Not only that… although the land they claimed was safer than the decrepit buildings and wilds, it was not unknown for families to be massacred in the night. And there was nothing they could do the next day, but board up the house and pretend the victims had never existed. Manric thought he had never heard something so grim.

Manric patiently checked them all, reflecting on their future as he did. They had completely lost their technology and were operating on a feudal level, so a Knight World had been approached and graciously assented to taking them. They would be serfs there, laboring in the fields, but without the threat of dark forces constantly ready to swoop down on them. Manric hoped they would have a good life there.

Then Manric got to one particular family and felt immediately that something was wrong. The main thing he saw was that they were well fed. All a touch plump, but particularly the little girl, who seemed to shine with health. Of course, this might just mean they happened to have lucked onto a good plot of farmland. Yet, it seemed very odd.

Manric gently conversed with them and they seemed a bit frightened, but also curious and hopeful. Everything seemed normal, but Manric was detecting something else beneath the surface and his spear was gently sparkling with eldritch light. It took a bit of time, but finally the truth was laid bare to his senses.

Ah, no, Manric thought, feeling ill as her perceived the extent of the sickness. It had been hidden from him at first, as the parasites attempted to hide from his senses, but now the rot was laid bare. Their very souls felt diseased to him, riddled with worms and Manric knew what he had to do. He looked at the child, so superficially healthy and normal, and took a moment to say a prayer for his own soul before placing his orders with the waiting Warriors.

"I'm sorry," he murmured before breaking her neck. Or rather, he meant to break her neck, but he misjudged his strength and nearly decapitated her. It was fortunately a swift end, but blood exploded over his hands. The Warriors used their gauss flayers before the parents could react, destroying them and all trace of organic matter. As that happened, Manric stared at the corpse of the child with a feeling of awe and horror… the flesh was bubbling, as the spiritual worms abruptly became real. Reaching down with infinite delicacy, Manric picked up a long, fibrous worm before waving his spear and turning the rest of the corpse to ash. As he did, Manric called a Cryptek with a status field. They could, perhaps, keep this for research.

"What is this?" the Cryptek was also feeling a combination of awe and disgust, even as he neatly captured the worm in a stasis field. The wriggling abruptly stopped as it was frozen in time. "They had parasites?"

"Not exactly… they had spiritual parasites, infesting and devouring their souls. But when I killed them, they became real." Manric knew that was incredibly strange. Warp entities were not supposed to work that way. The Cryptek was evaluating and suddenly stiffened.

"Trace amounts of transpositanium," he said and Manric rubbed his chin, looking at the worm. From what he understood, that might explain it but they were in deep waters here. "We might need to move this to a tesseract." That seemed like a dramatic overkill for a worm, but better safe than sorry.

"We might want to send it to Trazyn." Trazyn was not a Cryptek, but he specialized in containing incredibly odd and dangerous things. He also had many, many Crypteks working for him who were good at such things. "We'll see… for now, though, follow me." Manric suspected the humans might have some idea what this was and how the family had been infected with it.

They took the worm to the leader of the small settlement, and his wife. They were both middle aged and very tired looking, wearing old, worn clothing of brown and black. The headman was shocked and dismayed at the deaths of the family, but she was more level-headed and stared silently at the worm with a sense of dawning recognition.

"Honey, do you think it's one of the demon fruit worms?" she asked, pointing at the worm and looking at her husband. He'd been in a minor tizzy over the deaths, but then he looked at the worm a bit more objectively.

"Oh it… it might… no, actually, it does doesn't it?" he asked and Manric waited patiently. "Wait, is that how they always seemed to be doing so well? Were they eating the demon fruits? Throne, how could they?"

"Demon fruit?" Manric prompted and the woman explained.

"There was an awful tree, at the far end of the rotten orchard… most of the trees there were just dead, but this one was full of unnatural life. It put out fruits but they were all infested with worms. I remember when I was just a girl… there was a young boy, his family had been killed and he was starving to death. He said he would eat the demon fruits and we couldn't believe it. The other children followed him… he even pulled a fruit off the tree but it squished in his hand and the worms came out. He broke down crying and said he couldn't, he couldn't… we all felt so badly for him that we begged our parents and the whole village came together, scraping up just enough food for him to make it to spring." She paused a moment, looking down. "He died a few years later, trying to find food in the ruins."

"Ah, please forgive me if I'm saying something foolish. But is it supposed to be moving?" the headman asked tentatively and Manric's attention snapped to the worm, along with the Cryptek. For a long moment, Manric saw nothing but then in the stasis cube, which should have frozen time, the worm twitched.

"Yes, it's time for a tesseract," the Cryptek said before reaching into his chest and pulling one out. The glittering cube opened, easily sucking in the worm. "It shouldn't be able to get out of that. Think of it as a maze," he said for the benefit of the headman and his wife. He nodded while she looked at the tesseract dubiously. "I'll get this sent to Trazyn, he can deal with it." Yes, this was beyond them and Trazyn would surely appreciate something so unusual for his collection.

(Orikan had actually advised Imotekh to destroy the world, when the Stormlord had asked for advice on the matter. And then he'd looked a bit further and seen this one, lowly worm making it to Solemnance and escaping the tesseract before causing absolute chaos. Fortunately, necrons were immune to it so it would only be a huge nuisance rather than a catastrophe. Orikan smugly wished Trazyn a good time dealing with his worm infestation)

(Despite the irritation, Trazyn would eventually figure out how to safely contain this lifeform and truly add it to his collection)

Manric took care to scan the ships, to make sure there was no worm infestations hiding in a nook or cranny, but there was nothing. That done, the hybrid ships set off to take the survivors to the Knight World. Manric thought he would be able to relax for a while and meet the new recruits from Luminous. But before that could happen, he was pulled into a meeting with Zahndrekh.

"Imotekh is summoning you to meet him at Hemmingway. Here is his message," Zahndrekh said, completely serious, before playing it. Imotekh described the situation and included the records so Manric could examine them at his leisure, as he chose. But something rang a bell in the back of his mind. Ishtar?

Ishtar. Isthar. Manric went completely still, blocking Zahndrekh and Obyron out. He descended into his own mind, asking the spirits of the spear for help in dredging out an ancient memory. Ishtar.

A warm summer day. Holding his mother's hand. Walking through a dark place that smelled like polished wood and old things. His mother's voice rising in irritation as he looked at the figure of a statue. The female form, completely unhidden and at its feet a plaque.

Ishtar.

"I remember," Manric came out of his fugue with a start. Zahndrekh had been waiting patiently, realizing he'd become lost in his own mind. "We had a statue of her on Hope. I saw it when I was just a small child. My mother was upset because she was unclothed." That was what her anger had been about, that little Manric had been exposed to that at a very tender age. Manric honestly thought it was foolish… there had been nothing titillating about the statue, to his mind. It had seemed quite majestic and powerful. "This is not a new form of worship, it is very old, dating back to ancient Terra. But that is all I know." Manric had no interest in such things.

"Fascinating! We could send for more information from Hope, but I wonder if there is anyone knowledgeable among your men?" It was certainly possible, particularly given how many pwi-necron Crypteks they had. Manric decided to send a quick message to all the unit Commanders so they could check, and also the Crypteks. If they could bring someone knowledgeable on this matter with him to Hemmingway, that would be ideal.

"I will let you know if they find anyone. It might take a while," Manric said, not wanting to take up too much of Zahndrekh's time. Also, he might want to conduct interviews if they had found more than one. Zahndrekh made a quick glyph for assent and Manric bowed before showing himself out.

He would take a bit of time seeing if they had an expert among their number, then go directly to Hemmingway.


Elsewhere, Loki was practically vibrating with excitement.

They need information about Ishtar! I know everything about Ishtar! Well, not really, there might be some scholars on Hope and Terra who knew more than he did. But in terms of random people on the street, Loki knew more than anyone! This is perfect! This is so perfect! Then hands grabbed him by the shoulders and Loki was looking into Calder's face.

"Loki, you need to calm down. If you really want this opportunity, you HAVE to go into it calmly. If you overwhelm them, they'll toss you aside immediately." Loki knew Calder was right. That was exactly why he hadn't responded to the Captain of the Cabbits asking if they had anyone yet.

"I know Calder, I really know." Loki wasn't unaware of his problems in life. Getting completely overexcited and putting people off was a big one. He'd lost a lot of nice girls that way, over the years. "Just hold my hands for a moment?" He needed some grounding and Calder's energy was so solid. Calder hesitated for a moment before nodding. They held hands for a moment and Loki worked hard at re-centering himself, using Calder as a focus. It worked pretty well, although Calder didn't like it.

"You'll give people the wrong impression about me," Calder muttered and Loki made glyphs and runes. "Not Odin giggles again!"

"Calder, what does it matter now?" They were past worrying about that and everyone in the God's Hands had known Calder had like six kids and tons of grandkids and he and Loki were just friends. If anyone in the Cabbits didn't get it, that was their problem.

"I suppose it doesn't. Are you better now?" Loki nodded, letting go of his hands. And then, feeling centred and calm, he reached out for the networks.

I am very good with mythology in general, sir. Norse mythology is my specialty but I love all mythology and I know Ishtar's myths and I have the Epic of Gilgamesh on my datapad. That was the most famous story involving Ishtar, by a long shot. I would be honored to offer assistance. Oh, this is Loki, from the God's Hands. They were still so new, the Captain might be confused.

Come to me and bring that datapad. Loki was cheerful with that response. The Captain could be kind of abrupt, that was just how he was and sure he'd check the datapad before sending him to see Manric!

That was exactly what happened. Calder tagged along as Loki went to the Captain and showed him the datapad, which was loaded with all kinds of books but neatly put into categories. Loki pulled up the 'mythology' category and showed him how it was subdivided into a lot of other categories, for individual cultures. The Captain was impressed.

"How long did you spend organizing this?" he asked and Loki preened a little before responding.

"I worked at a bookstore, back on Hope sir. Also, I play a lot of video games." He was also super anal about his inventory management. The Captain made glyphs of amusement.

"I'm more the kind of player to dump my trash anywhere, I can't be bothered to organize it until I'm running out of space." That was more like Calder! "You're the kind of person to have an entire apartment set up in a video game, much nicer than your real one, aren't you?" Oh sting!

"Yes, that's Loki," Calder said and the Captain handed the datapad back.

"You'll do, go see Overlord Manric." YAY! Loki stamped down on his excitement hard though. He wouldn't be the only one there! And while he wanted to mention that he was a psyker, this would be a bad time. Should he save that for Imotekh? In a way, Loki thought he SHOULD, because the Stormlord would have to be involved with what Ahriman wanted. On the other hand, the Stormlord might not find him funny, Loki wasn't sure about that.

Loki was still thinking about it when he met up with a small group, waiting for Manric. It was him and two Crypteks, who glanced at him curiously. Calder was just bringing up the rear, there for moral support. Loki hoped they would let him come too if he was picked to help.

When Manric came, he was exactly as Loki had remembered. It had been a long, long time since he'd seen the great General! Loki tried to seem bright and eager as Manric gently questioned them. One of the Crypteks, Loki immediately knew wasn't a challenge to him at all, he only knew the story from the Epic. The other was better, but then it was Loki's turn.

Talking to Manric was almost like being entranced for Loki. He found himself saying things he knew the General probably didn't care about, like how Inanna became Ishtar and how the attitudes about her changed and how her character changed too, but he was just so nice! And he felt like he was really interested! Almost no one was ever interested in the things Loki liked. And while Ishtar wasn't Loki's favorite thing, he had really enjoyed the Epic of Gilgamesh and found out all about her.

Then things got even better! The one Cryptek interrupted him and challenged him on his interpretation of the story of Ishtar's descent into the underworld. They both got into it and it was great! Loki absolutely loved this sort of thing and Manric just watched them hashing it out. When they had come to kind of an agreement, the General made glyphs of appreciation.

"I'm a bit shocked. Why are you not historians?" Oh that was a silly question. But Manric was a Duleth, maybe he wouldn't understand.

"Oh, you can't make any money at that," Loki said instantly. "Not without a big degree anyway and it's just not worth it." The Cryptek nodded.

"There are very serious historians, with great talents, but if you look at them closely you'll find most of them already come from money. It's just how things are… those from our status in life engage in it as a hobby," he said and Loki could tell from the way Manric looked down that he was kind of sad. Loki tried to reassure him.

"Not everyone can follow their passion sir! It's just how things are. How could the world function if everyone who wanted to be a historian could just do it? A lot of people love history, we'd have them all over the place!" It would be terribly silly really. "It's unfair, but life is unfair, you know?" Loki wasn't upset about it, it was just how things were.

"I see… well, only one of you should come. Forgive me, but I think it should be Loki." YAY! "Kain, you're very good, but frankly your talents are more valuable here than a Warrior would be." Oh… well, deflated a little but Manric was right. Cryptek Kain nodded.

"I am hard at work building our new crypts. I do not mind, he is an excellent choice," he said and then everything was decided and Loki went away so happy. He was going to be going to Hemmingway! He would meet the Stormlord and be able to ask him if he wanted to help Ahriman! And if he wanted Ahriman's offer in exchange. Loki pulled up his datapad and scrolled to that note, looking at it in puzzlement for a moment. He wished Ahriman had explained what it meant, but he'd just asked Loki to write it down and repeat it to the Stormlord. Sighing, he put the datapad away.

At least Imotekh wouldn't be mad. From the part Loki did understand, he'd probably be very interested in what the sorcerer was offering for his help.