We decided not to take off straight away. Kelly pointed out that since the slavers were planning to leave in the morning, and they may have told others about their plans, it would arouse less suspicion if we did the same.
It was fine by me. I did still owe her and Cortana a bunch of answers. I learned that Spartans only needed to sleep every other night, and even then, only for a couple of hours, so I spent a while giving them both the answers they deserved.
"You've told us where we are and how we got here, but you still haven't told us what you are, Ame," Cortana said. She was now controlling the entire ship, so she was projecting herself from a hologram emitter in the centre of the common room. "Most guys don't look like they could casually snap a brute in half, not even Spartans."
"Of course. I was beginning to wonder if you'd ever notice, Cortana."
She laughed at that. "Well would you mind telling us?"
"Yesterday, I was a completely normal, unaugmented human being. Earlier today, my mind was inserted into a copy of the body of a man called Amedeus. The man in question being what is known as Space Marine, of the Adeptus Astartes, a kind of genetically augmented supersoldier, in a similar vein to the Spartans, only a lot more in depth."
"How in depth are we talking here?" Kelly asked.
"My new body has been implanted with 22 different internal organs, all designed to do a variety of different things. I have 2 hearts, 3 lungs, and another organ that increases my blood's capacity for transporting oxygen, massively increasing my stamina despite my greater size. Then there's another organ that increases the size and strength of my bones, another does the same thing for my muscles… and a bunch of others."
"Based on your description, it seems you're more of a cyborg than the result of genetic engineering, Ame. Albeit one whose implants are biological in nature," Cortana said.
"I suppose I am, yeah. Though I should emphasise my transformation isn't merely physical, it's also, well… spiritual."
"Spiritual?"
"Quick history lesson; the organs I've been implanted with were originally designed by a man who would later become known as the God-Emperor of Mankind. That's not an empty title, he's by far the most powerful psyker – er, magic user, that is - that's ever lived. As in, he was several orders of magnitude more powerful than even Ahriman, and he's only grown in power since then. Combining this power with his knowledge of genetics, he created twenty genetically engineered demigods. Known as the Primarchs, the God-Emperor had intended for them to be his advisors, generals, and everything else he could need or want to help him run his empire. That is, until they were stolen from him."
"Who's powerful enough to steal from a god, Ame? Another god, I assume?"
"Four of them actually, though that's another story. Anyway, this was obviously a massive setback for the God-Emperor's plans, but he came up with a back-up plan. While he lacked the Primarchs, he did still have samples of their psychically potent DNA. From this he created the gene-seed, a set of organs made from that DNA, which beyond augmenting the implantees' physical bodies, also imbued their souls with a tiny fraction of their Primarch's power. Clad in power armour not unlike Kelly's Mjolnir suit, these individuals became the first Space Marines, also known as the Astartes. Later on, when the God-Emperor recovered the Primarchs, they led the legions of Space Marines made from their respective DNA into battle."
"So what about you, Ame? What kind of gene-seed do you have?"
"Yeah, that's an interesting question. You see, my gene-seed isn't exactly standard."
"Oh?"
"Following a civil war, as well as a bunch of other events that aren't really relevant right now, the Space Marine legions were split into a number of smaller chapters. The original Amedeus belonged to a chapter known as the Sons of Antaeus, which if you know Greek mythology, you'll realise is quite an appropriate name."
"Antaeus… I remember learning something about that once," Kelly said. "Wasn't he a giant that was invincible whilst touching the Earth, or something?"
"Exactly. My gene-seed was originally derived from Roboute Guilliman, Primarch of the 13th legion. His gene-seed is notable for being very stable, implantable into a wide variety of candidates without risk of tissue rejection or other complications. Because of this stability, a group of scientists felt it would be the perfect platform for attempting to improve on the God-Emperor's work. Though most of their attempts failed, the Sons of Antaeus were one of their few successes. Besides producing Space Marines that were unusually large and strong, it also made them incredibly durable, capable of surviving wounds that would kill normal Space Marines several times over. The source of that durability is unclear to me though; Ahriman's memories don't help in that regard, he'd never even heard of the Sons of Antaeus."
"So that's the reason you're like 10 feet tall, then?" Cortana asked.
"Partially. Sometime later, another scientist by the name of Belisarius Cawl once again tried to improve on the God-Emperor's work, though he used a totally different method. His efforts were a lot more successful, creating 3 new organs which work in synergy with the original 19. Individuals augmented in this fashion are known as Primaris Space Marines."
"So you're a Primaris Space Marine, made with the Sons of Antaeus gene-seed?" Kelly surmised.
"Precisely. Combined with Amedeus's 367 years of accumulated old-man strength, my physique is vastly stronger than what the God-Emperor originally intended."
"367 years?" Kelly said in surprise.
"That's actually not unusual for a Space Marine. Ahriman is more than 10,000 years old."
"Wow… it must be difficult having the overwhelming majority of your memories be someone else's" Kelly replied.
"Not really. Template stacking allows me to perceive Ahriman's memories differently from my own. It's hard to explain, but I can somehow remember everything that Ahriman did without losing track of my original identity, though I do feel it has still altered my personality to some extent. I guess I shouldn't be surprised by that."
We fell silent for a minute, Kelly absorbing everything I'd told her. Eventually Cortana said, "Ame, you said earlier your gene-seed made you stronger than the God-Emperor intended."
"I did."
"What exactly did you mean by that?"
"Hmm, what I'm about to say is speculative, and clearly warped by Ahriman's own personal biases, but he seems to have been under the impression that both the Space Marines and Primarchs would one day be purged. Fatally. It was one of the factors that led to that civil war I mentioned."
"He would go to all that effort to create armies of superhuman soldiers, only to wipe them out?" Kelly said, frowning.
"I know it's hard to believe, but it seems credible. The only reason that a group of mere mortals were able to improve the God-Emperor's work at all is that He wasn't trying to make them as strong as possible, just strong enough to conquer the galaxy. In addition, He is on record as saying 'The galaxy is for humans, not transhumans' – an enormously hypocritical statement coming from the galaxy's number one transhuman. There's also another, stronger piece of evidence in the form of the Thunder Warriors."
"Thunder Warriors? Who are they?"
"The God-Emperor's first attempt at creating mass-produced supersoldiers. They were ridiculously strong, fast and tough, even more so than myself. However, their augmentations were also highly unstable, leading them to spontaneously go berserk or die during the heat of combat, usually at the worst possible time. Once it became clear they'd outlived their usefulness, the God-Emperor had them rounded up on the Sinai Peninsula, then slaughtered the lot of them."
"The more you tell me about this God-Emperor guy, the more monstrous he sounds, Ame," Cortana said, scowling.
"I'd say he makes the High Prophet of Truth look like a just, fair, merciful leader," I said with a sigh. "Of course, you should take everything I've just told you with a grain of salt. Remember that Ahriman, along with the rest of his legion, chose to betray the God-Emperor, so it isn't surprising he'd regard Him as a monster. In any case, people followed Him anyway because, as bad as He was, the alternatives were far, far worse… but like I said, that's another story."
We went silent after that; clearly, I'd put a downer on things. It had to be said though; while the Catalogue may have put me and my companions in an extremely one-sided relationship, it wouldn't do for me to take them for granted, and I fully intended to treat them as equals. The God-Emperor's sins were not my own, of course, but my new body was still the product of His work, albeit indirectly. It was better to voice these things early, so they'd have longer to digest them.
By now it was nearly the middle of the night. Realising this would be the perfect time to earn some Company Credits, I said, "I hope I've satisfied both your curiosities, at least for the time being. There's some stuff I need to take care of, so I'll be back in a minute," before getting up and walking out, heading for my new bedroom.
Figuring this would be easier without my armour, I drew upon the energies of the Warp, using it to disassemble the suit. Now clad only in the undersuit that went with it, I put the armour back together, locking the various ceramite and adamantium plates together. Not wanting to get the undersuit dirty, I took that off as well. This didn't leave me completely naked though; under that, I'd been wearing a kind of waist-wrap, a bit like those worn by sumo wrestlers, only without the hanging-down bit.
Realising I still didn't know what I looked like, I went over to a mirror to examine my new body. I figured I was about 10 feet tall, with Kelly's height being around two-thirds of my own. My hair was now jet-black, and my eyes a strange teal colour. I also had no facial hair, which was fine; I didn't think it would suit my new face anyway. Getting closer to the mirror, I could've sworn my facial structure was vaguely reminiscent of Roboute Guilliman, or at least Ahriman's memories of him. It was mostly the cheek and jawbones. I guess that meant my gene-seed was descended from him after all. Fortunately, I didn't have the acromegaly that commonly affected other Space Marines. A side-effect of Body Tune-Up, perhaps? Whatever, I wasn't going to complain.
The rest of my body had changed just as dramatically. I was built like a powerlifter, rather than a bodybuilder, though I still had quite a bit of muscle definition. Even more striking were the numerous black discs dotting my body; my black carapace ports, the points where my terminator armour connected to my nervous system, allowing me to wear it like my own skin.
Grabbing my combat knife from my armour's belt and tucking it into my waist-wrap, I headed back to the common room.
"I'm heading out in a few minutes, but first I need to show you something important," I said to Kelly and Cortana.
"Heading out? Where to? And why are you nearly naked?" Kelly asked.
"Because what I'm about to do will be easier if I can keep quiet. As to where… come on, I'll explain in a minute."
I headed for a large storage cupboard, Kelly following close behind, Company Device in hand. Sitting cross-legged on the floor, I explained, "As you've noticed, it's the middle of the night. I intend to Stamp someone, and they'll hopefully be asleep by now. It's too far to walk, so I intend to teleport. Getting there won't be a problem; they're a potent psyker, though they don't know it yet, so their Warp signature is easy to spot. Getting back though will be much trickier. While your physical body may be far more impressive than that of a normal human Kelly, I'm afraid your soul is pretty normal, so it'll be drowned out by the light of the souls of everyone else around here. Cortana, of course, doesn't even have a soul… no offence."
"Why would I be offended? I didn't have any reason to think souls existed until today," Cortana replied with a wry smile.
"Right. Anyway, the point is I need some way of getting back. What I'm about to do is create a kind of psychic beacon. Infused with energy from the Warp, it should stick out like a sore thumb in my Warp-sight, allowing me to get back."
"I can't believe I'm about to witness actual, literal magic," Kelly whispered. Once again, I could feel her excitement radiating through the Warp.
"You already have, when we teleported," I pointed out.
"I know, but I was too stunned to pay attention back then. This though… I can watch from the outside, really see what's going on."
"It's a shame I can't give you the ability to use it yourself, yet," I said. "There's only so much you can learn from watching with mundane vision, I'm afraid. It should be interesting nonetheless."
With that, I drew my knife from my belt, lined it up with the main artery going through my left wrist, then stabbed.
"What are you- "
"Please don't interrupt," I cut Kelly off. "It'll become apparent why I need the blood in a minute."
I had used a small act of biomancy to keep the blood from coagulating. Satisfied with the amount I had collected, I used more biomancy to heal my wounded wrist, then gathered the blood together into a single, bright red ball, hovering in mid-air, Kelly watching the entire thing with rapt attention.
"I will use the blood to form the basis of the teleportation beacon," I said, in a lecturing tone. "In a second, I will form it into a variety of geometric patterns and runes. Explaining exactly what they all mean is difficult to someone without a solid background in Warp theory. Suffice to say, they will trap the psychic energy I am about to pump into them, before radiating it back out, bright enough to be visible in my Warp-sight."
I then transferred the ball of blood to the floor, at first forming it into a perfect circle. I then formed the inside of the circle into intricate patterns of runes. It wasn't as simple as a mundane language, but they roughly translated into things like light, guide, illuminate… exactly what you wanted in a Warp-sight beacon.
That done, I started to pour Warp energy into the symbols, blue lightning crackling around my eyes as I did so. Before long, the blood on the floor had crystallised into a red glass-like material, the Warp energy changing its properties. It was similar in appearance to ruby, faintly glowing with a red light.
"Incredible…," Kelly murmured, radiating awe. "The blood has totally changed. I can see it glowing too… how long will it stay like that?"
"Until the Warp energy I've pumped into it depletes," I said with a shrug. "At that point it'll just turn back into blood. If I cared to, I could set it up to keep drawing energy from the Warp on its own, but that would take a lot more effort. As it is, the energy it currently has should last a few days.
"Of course, there's a lot more you can do than infuse a bit of blood. One of these days, once I've grown more powerful, I intend to infuse both my armour and yours, Kelly, with Warp energy, in such a way that'll magically strengthen the molecular bonds of the various metal and ceramic plates, increasing their protection."
"Won't that also require a constant flow of Warp energy?" Kelly asked.
I shook my head. "The only reason the teleportation beacon will eventually deplete is because it's constantly radiating energy back into the Warp. If I use it to alter the mechanical properties of something, the energy is locked in place, as it were, and won't be consumed. That's not something Ahriman ever did, by the way, though that's mostly due to his disdain for using the Warp for something so mundane. In addition, I'm also going to add some psychic wards to your Mjolnir suit, sooner rather than later. My armour already has those built-in, so I'll use that as a template, but it'll require some extra stuff that we don't have right now."
"That actually seems a lot more important," Kelly replied. "My shields will protect me against most physical threats, but won't help against magic."
"I'll make that a priority, then. Or actually… Hmm, I dunno, maybe I'm just being paranoid, there's very little in this galaxy that can actually threaten us, Kelly. Especially once you're a psyker yourself."
"I think you're being careful Ame, not paranoid. Very little isn't the same as nothing, and I don't know what we'll be facing. Even you don't know everything, despite your metaknowledge."
"I suppose. I would like to actually enjoy life in this new galaxy though."
"Something we can only do if we're still alive, Ame. Once you've Stamped a few people, and our position is more secure, we can start to relax a bit."
I nodded, staring at the beacon. "Speaking of, I should probably go and get my first Stamp, shouldn't I?"
"Yes, you probably should," Kelly smiled. "I'll see you later."
With that, I once again drew energy from the Warp, creating two connected rifts in space through which I travelled, depositing myself elsewhere on the planet.
I had already seen Anakin in my Warp-sight, his soul shining much brighter in the Warp than anyone else's, so I knew exactly where to go. I arrived outside the city – not the same one as Mos Eisley, I wasn't sure what it was called – well away from any passers-by, so I went unnoticed. To ensure I remained that way, I channelled more Warp energy to divert light around myself, effectively making me invisible. Only a tiny amount of light was let in around my eyes, just enough to allow me to see. From the outside, I looked like an almost invisible floating pair of eyes – something that would have been nearly impossible to spot during the day, let alone at night. To be on the safe side, I did the same thing in reverse with sound, ensuring no-one would hear me either.
Despite my precautions, I was still paranoid about being spotted, unused as I was to relying on my new powers. Fortunately, there were few people still awake at this time, so I made my way to my target without issue. Sneaking into Watto's shop – another incredibly surreal experience, despite how long it had been since I'd seen The Phantom Menace – I found Anakin, fast asleep.
I was unsure if Stamping him would wake him, but I didn't take the chance. Using the Warp, I pushed him into a deeper state of unconsciousness, then applied the Stamp to the back of his neck. 3 seconds later, my Company Device vibrated – indicating that Anakin Skywalker would be captured in 72 hours, fortunately as a familiar. He was tier 6 - which was higher than I expected, but I wasn't going to complain – which would net me 30 Credits. Or 40 if I sold him, but I wasn't that cruel, and I didn't want to mess up the timeline anyway. Checking the Device, I saw that Shmi and Watto were also valid targets – only tier 2, but better than nothing. Two Stamps later, and I would soon have 34 Credits.
I would have enough for Soul defence, but Corruption defence would have to wait until the Jedi arrived. Hopefully I wouldn't fall to the Dark side before then. Making my way out of town, I made sure no-one was around to see or hear me, then teleported back to the ship.
AN:
I realise that techpriests aren't actually scientists in the usual sense. Of course it's easier to call them scientists than it is to explain the complete clusterfuck that is the Adeptus Mechanicus.
Also, the ritual used to create the beacon is something I just made up, I don't know if anything like that is ever described in canon.