AN: This chapter involves Slaaneshi shenanigans.
"The difference between science and faith is that science brings about miracles without needing to debase oneself with the inhalation of hallucinogenics while half-naked and muttering incoherent nonsense to a non-existent god in a decrepit building or a hole in the ground." - Junior Director Steven Zhou when asked about the various religions in the galaxy
Victor's quarters, ITS Dominion, Xi'an battlegroup, Illiad system, Segmentum Ultima
Victor was sitting at a desk writing a report to the Imperial Science Department summarizing his findings about Shrouded Mind Disorder based on findings from his scientists monitoring victims in advanced stages and from his interview with a woman in the late stages of the disorder. As he was writing the report, he kept thinking that there was still something that he and Julie could have missed in all of this. He also felt like he was not alone in his room, but a glance around it proved that there was no one. Muttering to himself, Victor dismissed the feeling as the result of being overworked. After finishing the last touches of his report, he changes into his nightwear and heads to bed.
He couldn't have known that something from beyond this reality was dying to meet him...
Victor felt something was wrong. Instead of his soft bed, he was lying on what felt like glass. Thinking it was nothing, he tried to go back to sleep but found it was impossible. After a few more moments, he decided to open his eyes. What he saw defied all reason or logic.
Various shades of blues mixed with purples swirled around him, and he realized he was standing on a crystalline platform in a void. Crystals were floating in the void, held up by energies far beyond Victor's understanding.
It wasn't long before the surrounding energies coalesced into... something. The best Victor could describe it was an entity that defied the logic of mortal understanding, a grotesque amalgamation that bore three twisted appendages, two crooked limbs, and a sickly hue of pink that seemed to ooze energy from every jagged contour.
"Greetings, mortal," the thing spoke in a disconcerting symphony of voices, each utterance an eerie chorus that resonated like a symphony of fractured melodies trying to fight each other to be heard. Victor instinctively reached for his sidearm but found that it was absent.
"Silly mortal," the horror, Victor could only describe it as a horror, teased. "Your kind is so hilarious sometimes, thinking that your primitive firecrackers can save you."
"What do you want from me?" Victor asked, terror evident in his voice. The entity responded in cryptic whispers that seemed to dance on the edge of his consciousness.
"I wish to cut you a deal," the horror said. "Your incursion into this forsaken universe was not unnoticed, and ever since, my master and his, ah, friends have been observing you. You may not realize it, but your presence would shift the entire fate of this galaxy, no, universe. My master wishes to utilize your skills for his interest.
"You would be granted unspeakable power, in exchange, you merely need to pledge your fleet's allegiance to the Changer of Ways."
"Go fuck yourself," Victor spat as he turns to run. He ran for the edge, hoping that falling off would wake him up from the nightmare, but as if anticipating this, the platform expanded so that he was always near the edge, but could never run off. It was as if the very fabric of the universe was trying to thwart his efforts.
"How unfortunate," the horror spoke with what looked like a smirk. "But I anticipated this response. No matter, you will submit in time, willing or not."
Victor kept running while the platform kept extending. After a few more minutes, he somehow managed to trip on nothing and lay there helpless.
"You thought you could outrun fate itself, mortal?"
The horror then gripped Victor's neck.
"My master's... more depraved counterpart is already talking to your fellow admiral. Know this mortal, it is far better to swear allegiance to the Changer of Ways than the personification of unspeakable excess."
The horror then threw Victor off the platform and into the blue and purple abyss, a freefall into an enigmatic chasm, his senses reeling with the incomprehensible knowledge of the universe.
Victor shot up in his bed with a shout, gasping for air and coughing. He felt like his throat was on fire, and his headache had worsened. He rushed for his bathroom, where he saw that his neck was blood-red. He touched the skin and found that it hurt a lot. Wait, what? His nanites should've made it impossible to feel pain, one of many boons that the Technocracy gave him. He checked the status of his nanites and found that his dissociation level was at its maximum, which would explain how his nanites weren't doing anything but also confused him as only sustained amounts of damage or a strong enough electric shock could achieve that.
Sighing, and already seeing that his dissociation level was steadily decreasing, he tried to comprehend what had just happened. A psionic being of immense power just contacted him, or was it just a very lucid dream? What was a Changer of Ways? And what did the thing mean by his master's more depraved counterpart talking to Julie? Fuck, even thinking about it made his headache worse.
But first things first, he needed to document his experience and add this to his report on Shrouded Mind Disorder and check himself into a psychological ward temporarily to make sure that he wouldn't go mad out of the blue. After that? Business as usual, for stagnation is death.
Julie's quarters, ITS Absolution, Illiad
Julie was sitting on her bed, reading a copy of The New Art of War, an updated version of the ancient Earth version of The Art of War that details the traditional standards of warfare, logistics, and morale matters, with an updated version incorporating space combat, boarding actions, planetary drops and every alien fighting style ever recorded and their counters. She heard somewhere that it was currently being updated with the combat tactics of the Aeldari and their effective counters. As she was reading, she felt her hand go to her ear tips for what seemed like the fifteenth time tonight. She pulled it away again and slapped herself hard, enough to leave a bruise due to her nanite-augmented strength which quickly healed also due to her nanites.
Why? Why now of all times? She angrily thought. Suppressing them was the first step of my training!
She wondered if her interaction with the woman in the isolation chamber was responsible for her behavior. No, that would be impossible, one person's mental illness is their problem, not hers! In a fit of frustration, she threw the book against the wall, pulled her covers against herself, and went to sleep bearing an admittedly adorable expression.
Julie woke face up on the ground, staring at the sky above. It was swirling purple and pink, the sight supernaturally beautiful, both mind-numbingly complex and the most brilliant thing she ever saw. Bewildered, she raised her head and saw that she was lying on a road in the middle of a forest. Getting up, she saw that the path seemingly extended indefinitely in both directions.
She heard a branch break, to which she turned and saw a figure step out of the foliage. It was a pink humanoid being with two crustacean claws for hands and pointed ears, like a perverse reflection of her kind. Julie immediately recognized it as one of the hallucinations drawn by her crew members, only this time it was painfully real.
"And what do we have here~?" It asked in a half-seductive, half-sadistic tone. Its voice was both unbelievably beautiful and like nails on a chalkboard. "A poor Eldar in my domain~?"
Julie's hand instinctively went to her sidearm only to find it absent. In a panic, she desperately searched for it, finding nothing. She looked at the thing in horror.
"Oh, how adorable, I love it when mortals think they can fight back~" the being drew closer tauntingly. "Wait... you aren't an Eldar, are you~? You must be one of those fragile mortals on board those weird ships we saw passing through some time ago~"
The thing nonchalantly walked towards Julie as she looked for a route away from this monstrosity. She contemplated running through the forest in an attempt to lose it in the foliage, but she had the sensation that it would be a horrible idea. Out of options and without her sidearm, she did the only logical thing; she about-faced and ran in the opposite direction
"Come back~! We haven't even started yet~!"
"WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME?!" Julie yelled over her shoulder. "AND WHAT EVEN ARE YOU?!"
The thing merely giggled as it pursued her along the seemingly infinitely long dirt path. After a few minutes, Julie started to get tired, which was when she realized that her nanites weren't working. Sensing this, the entity grinned widely as it picked up its speed and pounced on her, with Julie trying in vain to get it off.
"I am merely a messenger for my master," the entity purred sadistically. "But that doesn't mean I can't have fun with you first~"
The being then stabbed the smaller parts of its claws into Julie's eyes, causing her to scream in pain, much to the thing's delight. In the middle of the blinding pain, she realized that this was the first time she felt pain in over fifteen years, further confirming her nanites' non-functionality.
"Mmm, I love it when you make that noise~" the entity giggled.
Julie could only cry in response as she felt the thing's claws leave her eye sockets, and stab her arms. She cried out again.
"Hmm, my master wanted me to cut you a deal, something about surrendering your fleet and your crew to them so that they could give you sensations beyond your imagination~" the entity purred again. "So what do you say~?"
Julie, once again, could only scream and cry from the sheer amount of pain she experienced from having her eyes stabbed out and her arms stabbed. Blinded and pinned below this affront to reality, Julie could only pitifully squirm in an attempt to escape.
"Seeing that you are in no shape to respond, I'll just have my fun and let you decide later~" The entity purred one last time, but Julie wasn't listening. She had finally passed out from the excruciating pain, letting the comforting mercy of unconsciousness take her.
Julie shot up from her bed, screaming and sobbing her eyes out which felt like they were on fire. She dragged herself to the bathroom, crying all the while, and saw that she had blood flowing from her eyes and that they were bloodshot like someone had tried to gouge them out. She had also realized that her nanites had fully dissociated, but were regenerating slowly.
Despite her profound agony, she summoned the amount of her strength to cleanse the blood from her face. She also was fumbling around for a syringe, which she finally found. It was filled with a greyish substance and the label stated that this was only to be used in an emergency. Seeing as now is as much of an emergency as any, she stabbed the syringe into her thigh and pressed the plunger. Immediately, she felt her strength return to her body, her head clearing, and her eyes healing themselves, but they were still a little red. She also felt her emotions stabilizing as her sobbing turned into light shudders.
With her mental state stabilizing, she could finally think and process her experience logically. She had just been contacted by a very powerful psionic entity or was it just a very lucid dream? Was this related to her exposure to the woman in the isolation ward? No matter what she thought, she would definitely be checking herself into the psych ward in the morning.
Taking a deep breath to try and compose herself, she brushed off her experience as an intense nightmare for now and went back to bed for a hopefully uneventful sleep.
Later, the Illiad system Citadel, medical ward
Victor was sitting in a chair facing a psychologist and an analyst who was monitoring his brain patterns for any abnormal activity. He had told them about the weird and very lucid dream he had last night and they all agreed that it was too detailed, too deliberate to be the result of standard thought processes messing with him. Besides the nightmare the previous night, he had no other symptoms related to the disorder, but since his position as an admiral needed full-time dedication, he allowed himself to be monitored for any other activity.
"Well then admiral," the analyst said. "Your brain activity is normal, and we've found no evidence of neuron death or other changes."
Victor was visibly relieved at that.
"Well that's a relief..."
"I also need to inform you that as per your procedure, you need to be placed in isolation for a week at least."
Victor sighed. This was annoying since he wanted to further his investigation into this weird phenomenon and check in with craftworld Asheria. Still, he also recognized that he would be a danger to both himself and others, so he decided to accept the residence in an isolation ward for the time being. Also, the battlegroup needed to undergo its monthly maintenance, and knowing Julie, she'd probably neglected something minor and it needed to be fixed before it became a major problem.
"How is the woman that I interviewed doing?" Victor asked.
The psychologist and analyst looked nervously at each other.
"She's... um... dead sir," the analyst got out nervously
"Wait, what? How?"
"SUBJECT APPEARED TO HAVE SUFFERED A MASSIVE HEART ATTACK AND SUFFERED CARDIAC ARREST DURING REM SLEEP AT AROUND 12:33 AM," the room's AI said. "RESPONDING SECURITY PERSONNEL REPORTED HEARING A SCREAM AT AROUND 12:31 AM. WHEN THEY ENTERED THE ROOM, THEY REPORTED SEEING THE SUBJECT IN A RICTUS GRIN, AS IF IN EXTREME PLEASURE."
"What the AI said," the psychologist said. "Also, we had found this tattoo on her back during the autopsy, despite her not having any known bodily modifications on record."
Victor looked at the image with both curiosity and disgust. The symbol was like a fusion of the male and female sex symbols, but with a crescent replacing the line on the female symbol and another crescent on the tip. Who or what could've possibly made this?
"Cross reference this to any known groups of interest and terror groups," Victor instructed the AI. "All of them."
"SCANNING... NO MATCHES TO ANY KNOWN GROUPS OF INTERESTS OR TERROR GROUPS, ADMIRAL."
Victor sighed and rubbed his temples. He was now confident that someone was something was fucking with him, Julie, and their fleet's crew, but he didn't know what or who was causing this. Just then, the door opened and Julie stepped into the room. She was a mess, her hair was messy, her eyes were slightly red, and they had dark spots below them.
"Julie," Victor greeted.
"Admiral," the analyst and psychologist said as they saluted. Julie motioned for them to sit. Seeing as she was also experiencing the same problems as Victor, the pair attached the device and initiated the same procedure as they did to Victor.
"Well, your brain activity is normal, and just like Admiral Williams, no neuronal abnormalities either."
"Good, now leave us," Julie said. The pair quickly left the room. She then sat down next to Victor, who looked at her with curiosity.
"Didn't sleep well?" He asked.
"What do you think?" She shot back, remembering her experience in her dream with the entity.
"I think that it isn't simply mental illness anymore, there's an outside influence that's manipulating us somehow."
"Oh, no shit," Julie scoffed. "Y'know, I find it ironic that we can be influenced and intruded upon as easily as a normal person, despite the nanite augments that would make us gods, if such a thing even exists. It's like some cosmic force loves to fuck with us at every opportunity."
"I think the only reason we haven't gone mad yet is our nanites constantly restore our mental state and rapidly heal any wounds. Had a weird dream too, huh?"
"Yeah, although it was more... violent than yours," Julie said, tone low as she felt a great discomfort in recalling what had occurred. Sensing this, Victor decided not to push it further.
The two sat in silence for a while before Julie decided to lighten the mood.
"Remember how we were kids?" She asked, smiling. "How we would play in the entrances of abandoned mineshafts?"
"Oh yeah," Victor replied, smiling back. "I remember how you fell on a rock and scratched your knee a little bit, but you wailed like a banshee."
"Oh stop!" Julie laughed as she punched his jaw with enough force to normally dislocate it, but it only left a bruise which rapidly healed due to his nanites.
"We did everything together," Victor sighed, reminiscing on the good old days. "Go to school, get conscripted..."
"...Become infused with nanites, and leading a fleet together. Heh, it's like we're married in all but the title. Not like we have the time for marriage. Maybe we'll even die together."
"Here's hoping," Victor said as he smiled genuinely for the first time in two years. He never had time to form a bond with anyone, his strongest bonds were destroyed when a terrorist attack killed what little remained of his family, which caused him to immediately enter into the armed forces. His position as admiral didn't exactly help his case either, as most of the crew under him were too intimidated to maintain a conversation, let alone reserve personal time, and his fellow admirals were all either too busy, too arrogant or their way of thinking was too different as each admiral pair led their battlegroups differently. There were doctrines to be followed, sure, but each admiral pair had the authority to lead their battlegroup however they saw fit.
Julie was not only a good admiral and genuinely enjoyable to be around, but she was the closest friend Victor ever had throughout his childhood. She understood the solitude that cloaked his existence and bridged the distance that defined his relationships with others. In her presence, Victor found a confidante, a bond forged through shared experiences and mutual respect. Since they had a week in isolation with only each other as company, this was the perfect time to dwell on what their dreams meant.
Information Data Logs
Victor William's report to the Imperial Science Department:
From: Williams, Victor
To: Song, Robin
Subject: Report on the Discovery of Shrouded Mind Disorder
CC: Imperial Health Bureau
Date (Sol Standard Time): 12/02/2545 (sent)
Robin,
Forgive the casual nature of this report, but we are of equivalent rank, we are on a first-name basis, and quite frankly, I'm very tired. Over two months ago, the battlegroup I lead along with Julie entered an alternate dimension via the Riftjumper gate. As you know, the Riftjumper gate is operated by tearing a hole in space-time and generating a reality tunnel through the Shroud (not a wormhole you fucking retard) that links multiple universes together. However, recently my crew and the rest of the fleet's crew have developed a new and concerning disorder that the IHB had deemed "Shrouded Mind Disorder." Symptoms include odd and highly disturbing and traumatizing dreams and nightmares, hallucinations, both auditory and visual, paranoia, headaches, and "abnormal behavior." There had been some mutations, but they had been disposed of. So far, 11% of my battlegroup's crew have been diagnosed with this disorder, and have all been rotated out and replaced with fresh crew, but rates are still going up slowly. I have attached an interview to this message to further urge your consideration.
I implore, no, demand you dedicate more personnel and resources to investigate this new phenomenon as I do not believe that this is a normal mental illness, I believe that someone or something with immense psionic power is messing with our minds and bodies. I also request a full science contingent present on the Illiad Citadel for more accurate studies and documentation.
Make haste,
Victor
Addendum 1: I had a disturbing dream last night, about being trapped in a place beyond reality and an entity offering me a deal. I will check myself into the psych ward on the citadel tomorrow morning.
Addendum 2: Julie, too, encountered a similar dream, though hers veered into darker, more violent realms. She's currently in the psych ward, displaying stability. No additional symptoms have manifested.
Addendum 3: The woman I interviewed is dead. They say it was a heart attack. This is a significant setback, as she was our primary lead.
Nanite Dissociation: While the infusion of nanites does allow an individual to become extremely powerful and nigh-immortal, especially with the Punitive Corps, they do have their limits. If a person infused with nanites receives enough damage, either all at once or through repeated strikes, or they get hit with a strong enough electric shock, the nanites within their body are forced to do a "hard reset" to preserve themselves from further damage. This phenomenon is called dissociation, it is a highly disorientating process as the body suddenly feels weak and uncoordinated which can make a person an easy target, and it can prove to be either a minor inconvenience, i.e. an individual partaking in an extremely long activity session without breaks suddenly passing out due to their nanites failing to provide energy, or it could prove fatal if in a combat scenario. During dissociation, every single benefit the nanites give disappear and every single equipment that relies on nanites becomes inoperable for forty seconds; ten of those seconds are when the nanites "hard reset" and thirty of those seconds are spent regenerating every benefit that was lost. Despite the reset period being short and every Punitive Corps soldier possessing at least two syringes full of grey "jump starter" nanites, dissociation is still a major risk in any combat scenario and can easily doom an individual, a group, or even a battalion if not heeded.
新孙子兵法 (The New Art of War): "In the fluid battlegrounds of modernity on uncountable planets, moons, asteroids, and starships, the rules of engagement have evolved, and must continue to evolve as we meet new alien life and old tactics change to match modern standards." This is the opening line for every issue of The New Art of War. It is the Technocracy's equivalent of a spiritualist holy scripture if it included none of the spiritualist squabbles and possessed solely combat doctrine, etiquette, and battle tactics, both on the physical battlefield and in normal conversations. It is the first book a child reads as soon as they can. An evolution of the ancient Earth version by Sun Tzu, the youth version lists basic societal norms, and how to converse with humans and other alien lifeforms, but the adult version details various hand-to-hand and melee combat stances and moves from both humanity and other alien lifeforms, and their effective counters. The book also details various tactics for handling logistics, morale, and formations, and lists the responsibility of soldier/ensign up to general/admiral.