***Author's note: 100k words later, and I'm very thankful for the many views, reviews, and DMs. Thank you, everyone!***
When I woke up, I was laying on some sort of blanket laid across a rough surface of fraying fabric in a dim gold room. Another thin blanket covered me. Perched next to my head was Jiminy, all patched up from me shocking him out of the air. He had a few scorch marks on him now, which actually made him look pretty cool, like he had mantis camouflage. The metal drone watched me for a moment, and I saw his antennae move about.
"You are awake! I will be right there!" Jiminy said in his high voice, buzzing into the air.
I groggily sat up, and saw Wolfie appear out of nowhere in a puff of black smoke on the floor. He put his ghost paws on my bed frame, and wagged his tail happily. His eyes were two pinpoints of white in his black spectral form.
...HAPPY... I felt the astral hound think.
"Back foul daemon!" Jiminy scolded, flying between me and Wolfie. The astral hound whined and looked at me in confusion.
"No, no, stop it, please," I said, sitting up. "That's Wolfie. He's my dog. He's a friend. Don't hurt him."
Jiminy turned around and wordlessly looked at me as I began to hear the sound of metal steps walking quickly down a passageway. I felt like I had a wicked hangover, and having to deal with Null wasn't something I was looking forward to. I was aware that my mouth was very dry, and that I felt like I had run a marathon while drinking a keg of beer. Moving hurt, and thinking hurt even more. Golden thrones don't play around when it comes to draining you, wow.
"Ah!" Null called out, walking through the doorway. "Lights on!" Null said, and all the white lights came on in the room, causing me to groan. Fuck. I put my hand over my eyes, shielding them from the light. Wolfie growled at the tech-priest. In response, Null stopped as he saw Wolfie bristle. "I'm not sure you are aware of such creatures, but this little beast is a Warp predator called an astral hound. They are parasites, attracted to psykers. You are lucky that he didn't drag you to the Warp when you were asleep. I recommend that you allow the ship to destroy it," the tech-priest offered helpfully, not stepping further into the room.
"No, no. It's fine. He really is my dog. I had a dog just like him when I was a kid. Just leave him alone," I said, squinting in the light.
Through my hands, I saw the tech-priest look at the astral hound with suspicion. Wolfie turned around and sat on the floor, all while watching Null. Maybe it was just my golden throne hangover, but the ghost dog looked like he was a little bigger than before. He was the size of a miniature schnauzer before instead of the scrappy black terrier I had known from before.
"How are you coming along? How do you feel?" Null asked, cautiously stepping inside. I glanced at Wolfie and gave him a little telepathic push of don't growl, he's a friend, which caused the astral hound to relax. He sat alert next to the bed. Blearily, I took stock of where I was, and found that I was in some kind of a suite. A small table with two chairs was visible nearby, and a nightstand stood directly to my left. I was laying on a ragged cloth mattress on a metal bed frame on the right side of the room facing the open door. A thin scratchy blanket was pulled over me. Other than that blanket, I noticed that everything in this room appeared made out of plated scuffed metal. I saw dust bunnies and bits of rotted cloth here and there. This place definitely needed a good cleaning after being ignored for ten thousand years.
I pulled the blanket off of me, and found that my jacket and boots had been removed. That was probably good, considering me puking in that outfit twice. I massaged my temples while keeping my eyes down. "I feel drained. Do you have any water?"
The I saw the tech-priest nod, and his currently blue artificial projected eyes blinked. I heard the sound of slow walking arriving down the hall. Unbidden, a quick image of the woman servitor, 99-Z, flashed in my mind. She was holding a metal jug, a teapot, and three cups in her various hands and mechadendrites and walking down a near hallway. Must be nice to have servitor slaves like that.
"Where are we? Where is Alberich?" I asked.
Null took a little time to answer, "We are on the surface of the planet Kolch, and the mutant is currently outside the ship on a run. It is near sundown. We need to talk about him, Traveler."
"We do?" I squinted as I saw 99-Z step into the room. The servitor placed the metal jug, and the teapot down on the nightstand, and began to pour a cup of water. I took the cup of water, immediately drinking it. She didn't immediately pour the tea, but left the teapot on the nightstand.
"Yes, he is not only a mutant, but a psyker. If you are to be reintroduced to the Imperium at any point, having a mutant psyker on your crew would be highly detrimental to winning any hearts."
"What are you talking about, Null?" I asked, pouring myself another cup of water. Not really caring how messy I was, I poured a small amount of water into a cupped hand, and splashed it against my eyes for a wake up. My eyes really stung. 99-Z poured the cup of tea that was closest to me, but left Null's empty.
"I tell you that he is a mutant, and that going through any sort of Imperial space with him on board will not help you. That is where your road will take you. Your goal is still to go to Molech, correct?" he questioned, somewhat tensely.
I was beginning to feel somewhat better, and picked up the cup of tea, taking a sip. I took the hand shielding the light away from my eyes and turned to Null again, and said, "Yeah, off to see the Wizard. That's how the story goes, right?"
Null flinched and reflexively backed away from me as I looked at him. One of his metal hands went over his heart. I briefly wondered if he even had a heart.
"Do I look that bad?" I asked. "That throne did a number on me. I just need some breakfast. I haven't eaten in awhile and-"
"Omnissiah..." the tech-priest gasped, his eyes nearly white with surprise.
"What, what is it?"
Null didn't respond. Instead, he took his empty metal teacup, and with a quick buff on his red robe, he carefully handed it to me. I placed my cup down, and took it. "Your eyes. Look."
The reflection in the cup was distorted, but once again, I saw my now familiar foreign face with the familiar bit of white hair over my right eye. Something was markedly different now, however, and once I saw it, I nearly dropped the cup in surprise.
"There's a mirror here, in these quarters, Traveler," Null backed up, and pointed to a space on the wall behind me and to the left.
I got up as quickly as I could, almost falling to the ground. The tech-priest's mechadendrites caught me. Through his metal arms, I could feel that Null was shaking, and averting his eyes from looking at me directly. He gently supported me, and aimed me toward a mirror. Wolfie sat watching me by my feet.
"Oh my God," I said, remarking at my eyes. They were now gold. A piercing, intimidating, and almost shining gold! "How did this happen?"
"I'm not certain," he said softly. "Perhaps when your consciousness briefly melded with the archaeotech to operate the ship, but I am unsure."
Wow, I looked back at my reflection. I looked really intense now. I had read in the lore that people with Warp-manipulative abilities here can have crazy eyes, and honestly they looked really badass. But, these bright gold would make me really distinctive, and it was dangerous to stand out too much in this universe. Along with the shock of white hair, I was beginning to look like some sort of comic book villainess with an tragic past and an evil future.
I saw a mental image of Alberich walking down the hall before I even heard his footsteps. Fuck, no pylons to stop this psychic shit now, I thought.
"Is this permanent?" I asked.
"I am not certain, but it is likely that it is."
As I marveled at my new eyes, I heard Alberich behind me. "You're awake! I was worried that-"
I turned around to look at the Tzaangor who immediately stopped talking. He was bare chested, and wore the trousers he had found at the farmhouse. His feathers looked ruffled, and so was his expression. "Your eyes," he whispered. "What happened to your eyes?"
"Wild, isn't it?" I asked. "The ship did it when I was hooked up to it." The memory that this polite German bird guy was actually a Nazi occultist rushed back to me unbidden. Fuck, how was I going to navigate that?
Null nodded. "Listen, uh, sir Alberich, I need to have a discussion in private with Erika. Kindly leave for a short while. We shall eat in the galley. I will supply the rations."
Alberich glared at the tech-priest, looked at me once again, and walked off.
"How long have I been asleep?" I asked, sitting back on the bed. I picked up my cup of tea again, and drank the rest of it quickly down.
"Not long, only a little under two hours. The ship was able to land itself, and we are now on the surface of Kolch," Null said. "Care for some more tea? I don't have much but I did bring a stash over when we fled." He gestured toward the teapot the nightstand.
"Sure. I feel really bad from sitting on that throne, but I guess that's not so bad considering that it could've killed me." One of 99-Z's thin mechadendrites picked up the teapot, and poured me another cup along with Null's own.
"Once you get some food inside of you, you will begin to feel better. The throne drains life energy, and it has drained some of yours, which is why you feel that way. I believe that this ship utilizes the captain's soul directly to power its shield, and also explains why you could navigate it without being a Navigator. With rest and adequate nutrition, you should well enough to fly again," the tech-priest said. I could still see that he was trembling.
"Sure hope there's a shower on this ship or something. I could really use a good bath," I said, sipping my tea. Disconcertingly, Null had not taken his eyes off of me. He motioned for the servitor to finally pour his cup of tea. "Something on your mind? Why did you need privacy? If you want to tell me to kill Alberich, I'm not doing that, at least not right now."
Null didn't immediately say anything. "It has been a thousand years of waiting, after many years of research. Of speculating on something that may not even have been real, the chasing of a shade through old books and Virgil's visions. So much time!" The tech-priest paused, sipping his tea. "But now, you're here, and we are on this legendary ship. And all my research, all my studies, it has not been for naught. Travelers exist, and for that I am grateful. Perhaps it is now that you require a new title, since you are settled in our galaxy? I do not feel comfortable calling you by your name."
"What were you thinking?" I said while beginning to unbraid my hair. I wanted to give it a good brush. I stretched, still being supported by one of Null's mechadendrites, and looked at myself in the mirror again. My eyes were extremely unsettling. In my lore, I remembered two people with bright golden eyes: the Emperor of Mankind, and Abaddon the Despoiler. There were probably more; maybe you get scary eyes when you become a main plot point in a story in this universe, I thought to myself jokingly.
"Virgil went into the past once on one of his visions, and he said he met a Traveler being addressed by the honorifics of both Scion, and Inheritor. What do you think of that?"
"I don't mind. I think it sounds pretty cool," I said, beginning to unbraid my other length of hair, letting my locks fall free in wild but greasy dark curls. I ran my fingers through my loose hair, and gave my scalp a little scratch. Yeah, I needed a shower, I thought. I must have been sweating like crazy on that throne. I turned back to Null, who once again seemed startled by my appearance, even recoiling at the sight of me as he shook.
...cannot believe it...cannot believe it...cannot...emperor...
Instinctively, I knew that I had just picked up what Null was thinking. His quiet terrified excitement was so thick that I could almost taste it. To be fair, if I had studied unicorns for a thousand years, and killed all my coworkers in my quest to prove that unicorns were real, only to have one appear on my doorstep at the end of the world to pilot a magical unicorn spaceship I'd be very excited too.
"So, I'd be what, Scion or Inheritor Erika, or Scion Romanov, or just Scion?" I asked Null. He continued not making eye contact.
"Whatever your choosing. But, what name is Romanov?"
"That's my last name. Honestly, I'm thinking just Scion sounds alright. I'm okay if you just call me Erika at the same time. I'm not all that special," I said reassuringly as Null stood shivering while drinking his tea.
"Very well, Scion. May your will be done as you go forth," the tech-priest said heavily. I didn't want to argue with him about being too formal, or about what kind of crazy shit he thought Travelers could do right now. I needed to get some food in me.
Something pulled briefly at my memory. I wasn't sure if this was a psyker-based intuition thing, or if it was something else, but I could've sworn that I had heard someone else being called by the honorific of "Scion" here. Maybe some food would help my memory along?
"So, where do I get some breakfast?" I asked.
I took the rest of my tea to go as Null walked with me down the faintly lit halls of the ship with 99-Z following us at a close distance holding the teapot and water jug. Wolfie followed by my side, a storm cloud in the shape of a happy dog wagging his tail the whole way, and Jiminy rode on Null's shoulder. I discovered that the Divine Retribution was quite spacious inside, and that nearly everything was metal of differing shades. We were probably running on emergency power, which explained the dim lighting.
I observed some more dusty evidence of hanging cloth furnishings, tapestries, and other bits of decayed furniture, but most things had rotted away to time. I had apparently been laid on what used to be a bed in the captain's quarters, the largest living suite on the ship. I was guided to a a bronze and gold-plated bathroom to refresh myself, only to find that there was no water available. The only water we had was what Null and Alberich had with them, as well as my flask, which I had left in my room.
What was I going to do with Alberich, I wondered. I had a Tzaangor bodyguard who had saved my life, but was probably a war criminal. If the stuff Tzeentch was saying about infinite universes was true, maybe the Nazi empire he came from wasn't that bad?
After some minutes of walking, we came to what looked like a galley. Inside this larger room, a thin metal door led to what I assumed was a kitchen. Rectangular tables filled this room, and I could tell from the benches aside them that this ship could probably fit at least twenty crew or passengers, considering the amount of seating available. A more elaborate table was situated in a corner of the dining room, its elaborately designed seat built with a high golden chair back. The chair was decorated with wings, giving whoever sat on it the look of an angel. It was situated in a way that all of the other diners could see it, and from all that I deduced that this was a captain's table. So, since I was the pilot, I was the captain, I hoped.
As we stepped in, I saw Alberich sitting at one of the tables, chewing on some of the meat we had taken from the farmhouse. He stood up as we both entered, feathers bristling. I could hear a whimpered ...she knows about me...she knows about me... bleeding from the Tzaangor's mind. Fuck, I was going to have to get this under control!
"Alright, listen you two," I said, drinking the rest of my tea and feeling sick of everything. "We don't have to get along, but right now, we have to work together. I feel like shit from getting us here so I need some food right now."
Alberich cut a slice of meat for me off his shank as I sat down across from him. Null sat down on top of a table next to ours, awkwardly looming over everyone with his mechadendrites. "99-Z, bring in one ration of psyker ration-A, and one standard ration," Null glared at Alberich, and 99-Z poured me another cup of water and another cup of tea before stiffly walking outside where we had come from. When I felt myself getting upset at their dirty looks, I heard Wolfie faintly growl at my feet.
"Stop it, just fucking stop it," I said. "Not now. Do you know what its like to have your soul bled out of you to fuel a giant psyker-eating spaceship? I do not want to deal with anyone fighting today. I'm calling myself the captain of this ship because I'm the only one that can pilot it, so you're going to have to do what I say here, both of you. And no, I'm not feeding Alberich to the ship."
Alberich responded with a tense nod and a relieved sigh, but Null crossed four of his arms in front of him. "I'm only suggesting what is best," he said. I didn't want to argue with him so I just let it go.
"Okay, so we're on the planet Kolch?" I asked. Null nodded. "What do we know about it? Is it a death world or civilized world or what?"
"Kolch is an uninhabited feral world. From our probe long ago, we discovered ancient ruins beneath tall forests, but no civilization remaining."
"How long ago was that?" I asked, drinking another cup of water. 99-Z returned with two sealed square pouches. She placed one pouch marked with an eye next to me, and the other next to Alberich.
"1002 years ago," Null replied. Alberich cut open his pouch with his claws and began to drink the nutrient paste, making a face while doing so.
"So, what are the chances it is still uninhabited? And what kind of wildlife are we talking about here?"
"It is highly unlikely that this planet is inhabited, and unless something has changed in the thousand years since we sent a probe down, we are not likely to see much in the way of dangerous fauna. The point of interest here is the ruins, which is the main reason I suggested we go here first."
After struggling for a moment, I gave Alberich my food packet for him to tear open with a claw. He handed it back to me, and I took a few gulps of paste. It tasted sweeter than the last bowl of mush that Null had given us, and not in a good way. "Could you tell us about the ruins then?" I asked between mouthfuls.
"The ruins are of an ancient civilization known secretly throughout the galaxy, but they slumber in stasis beneath the earth, unwaking and deathless. It is rare to even find one of their slumbering places, called 'Tombs' in our nomenclature. Our exploratory fleet was actually sent outward with the goal of investigating suspected remnants of their technology, mainly being the anti-Warp pylons that stood upon Levant, but we found evidence of them in neighboring worlds. I am familiar with their sleeping places, and learned in their technology."
My expression probably betrayed my recognition of what Null was talking about.
"It seems you know of these worlds already, Scion. Incredible. This is somehwat privileged knowledge in the Adeptus Mechanicus," he said warmly, picking up his cup of tea.
"Kolch is a Tomb World? There are Necrons here?" I asked. Necrons. He really was talking about Necrons. Oh no...
"Yes, that is what they are called." He was still having problems making eye contact with me, so he just kept speaking. "This world has something we need," the tech-priest said as he tapped a few buttons on a forearm, which then displayed a 3d rendering of a map overhead.
The overhead holographic map displayed the local topography of what looked like a rocky savannah that was cut with a winding river that flowed through a tall canyon. The Retribution was "parked" near the entrance of the canyon, before where the land rose to a high mesa above. A small body of water, separate from the canyon's river, stood nearby as well. "Preferably, I would've like to have landed closer to the entrance to our destination, but the Divine Retribution is simply too big, so we have a bit of a hike through the canyon. We are conveniently located adjacent to a clean freshwater spring separate from the river, and we can fill the ship's water reserve. But, that is aside from our main reason for being here," Null said as he zoomed in through the canyon. He focused on a cave, a few kilometers away from us, a fair hike away. "In there, I have pinpointed the entrance to one of the Tombs, easily accessible and close to the surface. Within, there is a prize. The ancient Necron civilization used specific energy cells to power their craft aside from their main reactors. One of the few documents we discovered at the Adler dig site was a notation and a drawing of the battery, describing that it came from a hibernating civilization of 'soulless metal creatures', pulled from one of their flying craft to power the archaeotech. The Divine Retribution's primary battery is currently nonfunctional, and needs to be replaced to restore full functionality to the ship. I am most certain that if we borrow a spare battery from the Necrons, the slumbering ghosts will not miss it."
"They sleep?" Alberich said, still eating. "They will not wake and become angry ghosts, will they?"
"The ones in this region have been asleep for millions of years, and will not wake for just us. We do not have a choice here, truthfully. It is either we get a battery from here, or we find another high level psyker to jump the ship alive every time we need to fly, and I don't think you're strong enough to do that, mutant."
Right out of the frying pan, and into the fire, I thought, looking at my golden-eyed reflection on the surface of the metal teacup. This whole scenario might as well be a 40k trope at this point, I thought. A tech-priest digging too deeply and causing a Necron-related disaster was definitely a thing.
Null was planning to steal from the Necrons.