Chapter 59, Journey to Terra
M30.886

Wolfen
Ark Reach III

"Well, the city looks a lot less destroyed from up here," I noted, looking out towards the city's horizon through one of the few remaining towers that belonged to the former King of this world.

This was Ark Reach III, the planet that had been given over to the Wolves of Fenris to administer in the negotiations after the conflict was officially over. A strange way to negotiate, because dividing the Empire of the Ark Reach into six separate entities hadn't been in the original plans as far as the Administratum was concerned. They had been rather annoyed when Tanya suggested that it be broken up into separate systems for administration purposes.

It was understandable, looking at the situation from their perspective. It was better to put them all together under the Administratum's control.

But Tanya and the other two Primarchs had agreed that they had all shared in the bloodshed for this planet. By putting them under separate Imperial administrations, there could be a bit of collaborative effort as well as rivalry to see who could build the better system.

The Administratum had not liked that at all, especially because the Mechanicum had stepped in and agreed with the Primarchs. The Lord of Mars, Kelbor-Hal, was quite interested in the idea of getting involved in this plan. Specifically, he wanted Ark Reach V, which had the most developed heavy industry of the six planets.

I may not be one for politics, but even I could understand what was going on there. The Mechanicus simply signed on to this whole idea because they wanted a new Forge World. What better way than to agree with the Primarchs? So, things were divided. Ark Reach I, II and III went to the Word Bearers, Thousand Sons and the Wolves respectively while the Mechanicum received their prize of Ark Reach V, leaving the remainder to be claimed by the Administratum. All this with the goal of building a better society here so that Ark Reach could prosper within the greater Imperium.

Ark Reach III was not in as bad a shape as we initially thought. There had been a lot of destruction, and one winter storm in the middle of summer, but other than that, a good portion of the infrastructure was still usable. It would be serving as a good foothold for the operation of rebuilding society here. Most of the Wolves of Fenris would be pulling out. A small company from the Thirteenth Great Company would be sticking around to consolidate their resources as well as setting up potential recruitment grounds. There would also be troop transfers of Valkyrie units and Guardsmen, as well as a few "colonists" to help improve the situation on the planet with skilled labor. Most of the skilled labor that had been here had died fighting, obsessed with protecting the Phoenix Kings.

A real shame for the ancient cultures and people of this world. Though I guess it would be considered kind of a boon for Fenris then, since Fenrisian colonists would soon be the majority compared to the natives. Allies that can be counted on in times of strife and suffering.

When that time would come, I was not really sure. The Crusade right now was looking great and Fenris was benefiting greatly from it. However history was always a harsh teacher no matter how great something becomes it can never last forever. Something would go wrong, it always did. But having your colonies like this, distant from Fenris, perhaps would make it easier for people to survive. One day there could be a very hard winter on Fenris. People would not be able to supply themselves. With the help of the Imperium, people could be relocated or emigrate to another Fenris-controlled world, I thought at least.

Who knows what the future would hold? All I knew was that I was assigned to oversee the reconstruction efforts of this planet for the future benefit to Fenris and the Imperium as a whole. A great honor, although I wish the honor went to someone else, I was already swamped enough with my other assignments. Luckily it wasn't a permanent position. There would be a military governor attached to the whole sector at some point. Once that happened, I would be called up to service again. Until then, I would just be overseeing the construction of the basic foundations of society as well as set up the various priesthoods of Fenris.

Officially, all we were doing here was establishing the rebuilding of society. But I had decided that since most of the population would be migrating here from Fenris it would be comforting for the people if there was something familiar here to what we had back home, so the old priesthoods would need to be re-established here. For the Iron Priests it would be best to place them close to the city so that they could get a steady supply of resources and labor for their work as well. Of course that wasn't the only reason they would be placed there as being close to the city would put them more in touch with the culture and people of Fenris, that I didn't really trust the Mechanicum to dig their metal fingers deeper into them if given the chance. Especially this far away from Fenris and with the recent moves done by the head of the Mechanicum.

The Wolf Priests were also going to be established here, mainly to try and keep an eye on what remains of the local population and to ensure that they didn't fall back into their old Phoenix-worshiping ways. But also to observe for any potential aspirants for either the Wolves or the Valkyries.

Thankfully, I believed the Wolf Priesthood would be able to have good relations with the Word Bearers, since the Word Bearers had started a similar process when they arrived. They were erecting monuments to the Emperor and the Imperial Truth, as well as their own more radical views on the Primarchs and the Emperor.

Finally, there would be the Rune Priesthood I would need to establish, so we could begin scouring this planet for artifacts and anything of Warp nature, to either contain it or control it. The Rune Priests would most likely build a small citadel on the outskirts of civilization, just in case things went wrong. We were very far from Fenris, and our reach was limited, so it was better to keep Warp-related issues away from the normal population.

But until that citadel was built, we had access to the Tower of the Phoenix, or whatever they called this tower when it was under the former Masters' control. Either way, looking out into the unknown, I was somewhat happy with this solution. After all, this would be the perfect time to run a few of those experiments I wanted to mess around with. The Valkyrie would be heavily responsible for keeping the people in line across the planet. Fenrisian Guards would most likely be used to guard the capital. The other regions around here were better controlled by the Valkyrie, as they had better equipment and could reach farther regions. This means they would be using little sanctums out there in the wastes, which would allow me to run a few experiments along with my fellow sisters without anyone noticing.

We would finally be able to see what could be done about their affliction of the "Tanya face" or perhaps see if there was a way to control the beasts that wished to be freed from us.

I had heard about what happened with the 13th Great Company. Some of them had come dangerously close to losing control during the attack by the enemy Phoenix Knights. But how do you deal with such a situation, where your men are unknowingly on the edge of threatening to devolve into monstrous wolves?

Mother had not told me her plan, but I would go ahead with mine. There either needed to be a way to control said monstrous wolves when they fully transformed or find a way to control the mutations so that they could continue to serve the Emperor while retaining their mental faculties.

I believed it wasn't an impossible task, considering I had fallen very far into my transformation when I had first been administered the Gene-Seed.

If I could find my way back; then there must be a replicable way to halt the process and reverse the transformation as well, preferably without the gender change side effect. If I could get a batch of transformed aspirants sent to me, I might be able to use them for experimentation, though that would require a long and in-depth conversation with the Wolf Priests back on Fenris.

They would not be willing to hand over even one failed aspirant, especially so when it involves shipping them across galactic space and the Warp, that would be too much of a security risk and blow to the legion if this issue was more widely known. I would just have to keep an eye out for any local samples that happened to come across in this area.

But that was for later. For now, I probably should focus on the task Mother had established for me: rebuilding society, turning this planet into a loyal planet of the Imperium, and generally driving out any of the remaining Phoenix worshipers who still existed here or there in the mountainous regions.

Apparently, something had happened at that library and mom, I mean Mother, wasn't really willing to talk about it, but it annoyed her enough that she had put a kill order on any followers of the Phoenix remaining on the planet. Funnily enough, that the kill order did not exist for rebel groups that simply did not like the new management, taxes or All-father forbid Fenrisian cuisine. So something the Phoenix Kings did in particular had definitely angered her. Perhaps there was some degeneracy hidden in that library that Magnus had control over—something so horrid that she wanted the memory of the Phoenix Kings obliterated from this planet. And if so, I would have to look into it. Can't let these degenerates sabotage the new society we're building here, after all.

Letting out a sigh, I was about to step away from the window and head for an elevator that would take me down to the ground floor when I heard the familiar heavy steps of a Terminator suit approaching. Turning, I said, "Kor Phaeron, what are you doing here?"

The Word Bearer leader nodded as he approached. "Oh, I just wanted to say goodbye before the legion packs up and leaves. We're heading out to our next combat deployment. At least my part of the legion is. Erebus will be sticking around here for a little bit longer to clean up any resistance cells on Ark Reach I."

I nodded my head in agreement as he continued, "You'll probably have to deal with him for a bit. He likes to talk with other local commanders and get to know them."

"Hmm, well, I'll do my best to get to know him as much as I can," I said with a nod before adding, "Though, to be fair, I think we probably won't run into each other that often. I'll be secluded in some tower out in the wilderness soon enough."

"You gain yourself a proper holding," he replied. "I hear your residents like to put down deep roots. Probably why the Emperor enjoys your efforts to try and build civilization."

"It's what Tanya does," I said. "She doesn't like to leave things half done. If you can, better to have a planet progressing forwardward than to be left to stagnate."

"True, true," the armored warrior said as he came to stand next to me, looking out the window before saying, "I've been hearing about your planet's priesthoods being brought in to help rebuild. That's a rather interesting way to do things, and I thought your planning wasn't deep on the whole religious aspect."

I smiled before saying, "Well, the priesthoods are not exactly a religion per se. There are ceremonies and such, but there's no belief that the gods or such interfere in our processes. Priesthoods are more about keeping the study of things together: ironworking and such for the Iron Priests, civilization in general for the Wolf Priests, and the understanding of psychic powers for the Rune Priests."

"Hmm, interesting," he mused. "I'm going to guess that the Rune Priests are going to be taking part in that Library project the three Primarchs are creating."

I nodded my head in agreement before saying, "From what I understand, we will be. It would be for the best if we spread our knowledge and help the other legions with their own psykers that are appearing."

"Quite fair," he acknowledged before saying, "Perhaps the same should be done with your other priesthoods. For instance, your Iron Priests are in connection with the Mechanicum; should they not also be in connection with the Iron Warriors and enter a more formal relationship with them?"

"Hmmm, we do have good relations with the Iron Warriors," I replied. "I would have to run this idea by Mother, of course, but maybe there's something to it. Intercommunication and standardization on vehicle, building and tool designs is always a good thing, not to mention we have good connections with the Legions that could help with supply issues whenever someone's in trouble."

"By the same token, perhaps the Wolf Priests could be in communication with my own Legion," he suggested. "After all, rebuilding society's frameworks is what we Word Bearers are meant to do. Perhaps there are secrets that we can share amongst ourselves to aid the rebuilding efforts, to learn how to better help humanity rebuild itself from the scraps that are left after a conflict like this."

"Not a bad idea," I replied. "Again, I'll have to run this by Tanya, but I think she'd agree to the idea of some sort of inter-priesthood Word Bearer communication."

"Good, good. Perhaps we'll get to see each other at some of these meetings then," Kor Phaeron said with a nod. "After all, we may be a military institution, but we are the vanguard of rebuilding humanity. We need to have open lines of communication between the Legions, not just individual efforts. Otherwise, one could get trapped in their own worldview."

"A terrible fate, from what I understand," I said with an odd pause before adding, "Something I think even Tanya would like us all to avoid. In order to stay ahead of our enemies, we need to be able to pass information. That's why Tanya signed up for a joint operation with the Dark Angels."

"Ohh, hmm, I was unaware of this information. What is this joint operation?"

"The Order of Broken Claws," I said, rather plainly, "In order to keep an eye out on the Northern reaches and the area where the Rangdan came from. It's also for training and learning from everything we gathered in that war. Find ways that we may have missed so that we can defeat them in the future more easily with superior tactics."

"Hmm, fascinating, that's interesting knowledge. Perhaps we're on the verge of a new era of the crusade, one where the crusading armies have a better connection between each other. Before, each legion has been more solitary, only barely sharing information but now the legions are taking their true first steps into cooperation, and it's just in time as we are about to enter the 900s. The next hundred years will be rather interesting. I wonder how many more years it'll take, though, to finish rebuilding the Imperium."

I shrugged with a laugh before saying, "Don't care. Could be a hundred years, could be three hundred years. All I know is that it'll be rebuilt sooner or later. And then comes the fun part: maintaining an empire."

"Oh? What's so fun about maintaining an empire? Wouldn't that necessitate a drawdown of the forces built up in the crusade?"

I shook my head before saying, "There would be some drawdown, but what exactly are they going to do with all the Space Marines? Give them farming equipment? Sure, some of our brothers would accept that, but most of us will probably end up being sent to the harshest conditions to deal with problems before they become threats: xenos threats, human rebellions, maybe even exploration beyond the known galaxy into the dark space around to see if there are any human colonies out there. And keeping a watch on local governors to make sure they don't try to create a new human empire separate from the original one through political deceit."

"Hmm, I see what you mean. That's why it will be fun. Your people are rather combat-focused, and there's going to be a lot of combat to see in the future."

"The sons and daughters of Fenris will do what is required; it's what we do," I said. "I've got to get going," I added, holding out my hand. "Good talking to you, Kor Phaeron."

"Good talking to you, Lord Wolfen," he said, taking my hand and giving it a good shake.

Captain *****

I shook my head as more reports came in through, why did this fail and how did this all start falling apart. Everyday there were more reports coming through from the Rangda exclusion zone of sightings and rumors of active Rangdan Bioweapons, possible hive build ups and military buildup. Of course me and my Brothers knew the true picture and knew the truth that it was mainly just a few Bioforms, but that didn't matter to the civilians. To them all they needed was a few pretty words from some unscrupulous Rogue Traders and they were convinced that me and my brothers didn't do their jobs properly to secure the territories of the Rangda, that if we did Humanity would have colonies there and that there wouldn't even be these rumors. Pathetic, I would like to see them fight and die against any of the enemies of Humanity like any of the Legions did.

And now, now things were going horribly horribly wrong.

I had orders to keep an eye on this situation primarily to deal with it if anything too terrible happened, even had some of my men remove a few rogue traders that had entered the zone to try and keep the information contained but it all seemed for naught. The rumor mill had spread too far and now the Adminstratum has called for a joint legion investigation into the zone and its surrounding rumors.

We would have to be careful during this investigation because if we were not careful with our efforts then the truth of our work at the Rangdan conflict may come to light and that event could not be allowed.

Tanya Russ

Hrafnkel

"Well, this campaign turned out to be a bust" I sighed, at least some good came out of this mess. The important part was that I established contact with two other sisters, or was it just a sister and a brother? Ahhh, Dammit Magnus using the Warp like that is confusing and definitely cheating. Anyway, at least I connected well with the two of them better than I did with my other sister Lion, and got to talk to them about their openness about certain topics that I believe the Emperor would not be very happy about. Hopefully the warnings I gave them would put them on the right path, as a good sibling should I believe.

But the problem was how this whole thing ended. I knew that it would end up with the Ark Reach either being divided between the Primarchs and the Administratum or given all over to the latter, but I didn't expect the head of the Mechanicum to get involved in this at all and all but guarantee that we get what we wanted albeit with some slight changes. It was unexpected and puzzling. What was it about this situation that made the Mechanicum decide to exert their influence, sure they got a planet out of it but to step on the Administratums toes for just one planet? I feel like I'm missing some key details in this.

Another problem was the propaganda push that resulted in my appearance as a barbarian in several records was starting to get on my nerves. At first, it had been a useful, but this late into the crusade, it was starting to become more harm than good as I was starting to receive reports from Ark Reach III and other colonies stating there was unrest because the local populace were scared that they were ruled over by a tyrannical barbarian king; fear is a poor motivator for a healthy labor force after all. Not to mention the Administratum had taken notice of the 'Emperor's Executioner' title and added that to my ever-growing list of titles used in the process of propagating fear about the potential of my use against them. I was normally okay with this, but I would rather not be reminded about my failures in the Rangdan campaign.

Perhaps I was getting over the mental conditions that had always plagued me in my first life. Perhaps I'd simply aligned myself with the people of Fenris a little too much. Either way, I was not happy with the implication that my men were the Emperor's executioners. The entire Space Marine Legions were the Emperor's executioners. To think otherwise was stupidity.

I think it was time to do something a little bit different. Instead of taking my victory from this campaign and going straight to the next or heading back home to Fenris it was time for me to go to Terra. For the entirety of my existence in the Crusade, I had been focused on the frontier fighting and conquering, and now it was time for me to get active into the politics of the Imperium. Find out what they were doing, how the government was being set up, what exactly was expected, and possibly find a few more political allies. After all, the way things had been going, it's better to have allies than to worry about the Mechanicum starting a civil war.

Perhaps if I also went to Mars, I would have a better understanding of how the Mechanicum actually worked and would be less concerned about the idea of them starting a civil war.

It could also be the other way around. Where I could end up being very concerned about the Mechanicum after my meetings. But hey, I wouldn't know until I went. So, I went about the process of preparing for such a journey.

I imagine if I had the gall of Julius Caesar, I would probably grab the remnants of the Phoenix Kings' families and march them through some central Terran square as an impromptu conquerors parade. But I'm not exactly a fan of such behavior and I certainly don't need to give the Administratum more material to work with. Instead, I'm worried about the logistical concerns of such a trip and what my military would need to do while I was gone.

For one, I could not just leave my legion out here aimless. I would send those who needed full recovery back to Fenris, of course, but those who did not would be broken up into smaller units and sent out to do necessary jobs in the region around Fenris and beyond. It wouldn't take that long for those units to be deployed. Hunting down threats within Imperial space was what they were good at, and that would buy me time to have my conversations with the Emperor and perhaps any other Primarchs who were there. There were quite a few that I still had to meet, and perhaps this would be an opportunity to meet them.

There was one pressing problem on my current list of things to keep track of. While most of my forces would be doing regular cleanup work, a concerning piece of information has come out of the Galactic North directly from Lion and the Administratum about a possible resurgence of the Rangdan. I was not happy to hear about that, but my feelings didn't change the possibility that the Rangdan had somehow survived literal extinction events dropped on them one after another. It was infuriating even to think about; all that time, resources and men wasted. For what? A useless Froz- I stopped cold as I noticed the slow creep of frost on the wall. I needed to calm down, what could I do about this situation?.

Lion was already preparing their forces to preemptively attack any resurging Rangda forces that were found, and from what the Administratum told me Nobunaga was starting to get his forces ready as well. Normally the Administratum would have ordered me to as well but due to the nature of the operation two Primarchs were more than enough. Still I was more than willing to send them a Great Company or two as well as some campaign records to help support their effort to bring down the Rangdan before they became a threat.

The choice of companies to send was still up in the air, though. I thought I'd be sending ones that were still fresh and from my current stock of troops that had just taken part in this operation - the Third Great Company, and possibly one with an as-yet-unknown name.

I would need to go over the records of the Great Companies to determine which one would be best for the task at hand, most likely those that had served in the Rangdan Campaign just to make sure that whatever was out there was completely destroyed.

Beyond that, I would probably make all haste to the core of the Imperium. Getting to Terra was the best way to protect Fenris and myself, and I needed to ensure that I had plenty of allies in the beating heart of the Imperium. Now, as I sat there thinking about that, I didn't realize that I would be running into some potential issues. For one, I probably wouldn't gain political allies for arriving in full armor. If I was going to play the game of politics, I would need to learn about the current trends on Terra and get an outfit to match. I hated that idea, memories of my second life drilling into my brain at the thought of being forced into something fluffy.

But perhaps I could avoid that. It's not like I didn't have resources. Miss Adelheid hadn't had a new project in a while. Maybe she could create an outfit fit for my visit to Terra, though I was loath to interact with her because there was just something off about the way she spoke about me. As well as received some complaints from many of the Valkyrie I sent her way. Still she knew her things and she knew fashion. I mean, compared to the other Primarchs I'd met on this journey, the only one who seemed to have any fashion sense when it came to clothing was Magnus. And considering Magnus was actually a man using shapeshifting abilities to appear as a woman, I had to assume they had good staff who knew how to make fashionable clothing.

I wasn't sure if my other sisters could be of much help. Since Lion, of course, hid their particular gender from most people, so she wouldn't exactly be a font of knowledge on fashion. Mortarion I think would try to use their scythe on me if I asked, and Lorgar, well Lorgar would actually be helpful in some regards to fashion though I think she might end up suggesting I wear a form of religious cosplay.

Speaking of Lorgar just before we left the Ark Reach she gave me a copy of her book or at least the first draft of it, and I was glad that she seemed to have taken my warnings to heart and changed her portrayal of the Emperor. Now instead of implying that he was a "God amongst men" he was now more a "idol amongst men," something to live up to and look to. It was a step in the right direction. Now, I just needed to convince her to add more elements of the Imperial Truth to it, and maybe, just maybe, the Emperor wouldn't mind it so much. Then again, that's one of the reasons I was heading to the Imperial Core. I had time to actually talk to the Emperor. With any luck, I could find out exactly why he outlawed religion and make sure that we didn't create something that would fall into his exact understanding of religion being a problem.

After all, from what I could dig up, he did allow the remnants of Christianity to exist without issue, particularly in some fighting forces that were fighting for him. Although, on the flip side, there appeared to be some sort of propaganda called "The Last Church" that was being spread by the Administratum, which I will admit, in my opinion, does not paint the Emperor in a good light.

My reasons for disliking religion and God were simple. It didn't do me any good, that's before you even get into Being X's influence with my first death and second life. If that propaganda was to be believed, the Emperor actually used the debate that religion caused war, which I will say many things about, but I will say that communists didn't fight me because of religion. They fought the Empire because of social pressures and their own empire. And if that one strange memory was to be believed, being next door to the Empire literally gave the Norsemen nightmares about the Empire invading them. The Alliance didn't fight us because of religion; they invaded because they wanted land back from an older fight. The French and English invaded because of fear While Dacia invaded because of a land grab.

All in all, out of all the conflicts I've been involved in during my second life, none of them had really been about religion. Religion played a part, of course. When you literally had a creature calling itself a god fighting against you and empowering a girl who lost her father to war, and you're wielding what I later found out to be said girl's father's gun, you're going to have people spewing religious dogma. Not to mention, I've been forced to spew it while using the Type 95, a relic I'm glad was lost and destroyed.

Anyways, I refuse to believe that the Last Church was actually historically real. It seemed too stupid for the Emperor and was probably put up by someone who was a sycophant to the Imperial Truth in order to try and gain support within the Imperial Court. My problem was that, from what I dug up, it had been a continuous issue.

People were either trying to do things for the Emperor because they wanted to gain power or they were doing things against the Emperor to gain power. The whole reason Terra had no oceans left was due to one warlord wanting to stick it to the Emperor one last time before they were dealt with.

Of course, there were other possibilities that would need to be researched besides religion when I got there. I would also have to look or create opportunities into acquiring allies amongst the Navigator houses. So far, I was relying strictly on the Imperialis Armada contracted navigators. They were a helpful bunch, but they were military navigators. They weren't exactly in a position where they could offer me connections to the houses on the Terra. And, well, if I could make allies among one noble house or another, that could be a way to funnel more trade and information through Fenris. As I always believed, trade always helped civilisations progress. If I could, say, sell the trade rights to every world Fenris liberated to a noble house that I felt was worthwhile, that could help build up and connect both our trade routes in a mutually beneficial contract.

At the moment I wasn't familiar with any of the navigator houses of Terra, I would need to research this topic carefully to make sure that I didn't accidently cause any faux pas and self-sabotage any burgeoning relationships, but once I got through that… Fenris's future would be made even more secure. It's something that would probably take many years, but I would do it because it was time to start ensuring the future of Fenris and its people. My men could handle the situations that developed on the frontier; they could handle it and beat it back for a good six to seven years if need be before I would even be called in for help. I'm sure that's if things went really bad. With the amount of training they had, they probably could hold the frontier for a good 20 years, especially with most of the major threats in the area dealt with.

Leaning back, I looked at a window out into space, wondering when the ship would get started, only to see the metal shutters starting to close. I guess it's almost time to travel. First to Fenris, pick up Miss Adelheid and some of my Valkyrie, then to Terra.

Kori Bretakollrsson

Rangdan Exclusion Zone

"Thought we wiped these things out," Bjorn called as he drove his chain ax into a charging bioform. It quickly lost its head for its efforts, flopping about confused before another Marine unloaded his bolt gun into the body, putting it down.

"Must have been a planet we missed," I called, firing off several shots into the head of a Slaugth. Knocked unbalanced, it collapsed and was already beginning to recover, before I sent a quick signal to another Marine to unload Volkite into it, incinerating the organism before it had a chance to rebuild itself.

"Well then, we better do a better job this time 'cause this is just boring janitor duty. The Phoenix Knights were more interesting than this," Bjorn called as he smashed a smaller bioform that tried to wrap its arm around his leg.

"Yeah, you can say that again," I agreed.

It had been four months since the campaign in the Ark Reach sector. Three of those months had been spent in transit, with the last month being spent out here in the northern wastes of space, looking for any signs of Rangdan activity and military buildup. So far, we hadn't found any evidence of that, but the fact of the matter was a planet outside the exclusion zone, had been infested with bioforms. Primarch Lion El'Jonson had already deployed his forces to that planet and was exterminating the population that was already exposed, from what I understood.

The rest of their forces were now deployed out here in the exclusion zone, looking for any evidence that the Rangdan were more active than was supposedly possible. After all, every single one of their planets that we knew of had been virus-bombed or bombarded to the point that there should be no life.

"Wish we could of found something more than this, getting tired of flushing out hidden bioforms sucks all the fun out of the job, though if I didn't know any better I would say that these bioforms feel weaker than they were during the war, as if they'd been starving for a long time."

I hummed as I thought through that implication, perhaps that meant that this was only a sporadic creation, a little bit of surviving DNA that somehow rebuilt itself into these creatures, something similar to what the Orks and their spores do. But if that's how it works, perhaps the way to deal with them would be to deploy Orks to these planets, as Tanya had suggested back during the Second Rangdan War—let the monsters fight the monsters, as it were.

Either way, we would probably have to search every single planet in the zone to make sure we cleaned out the remnants of these creatures, and find out if there was some reason why they had a resurgence on planets that were considered cleansed of all Rangdan life.

We haven't had a chance to search every planet yet, but there were some rogue traders who'd gone into the region to try and find riches and artifacts. That's why it had first been assumed that the rogue traders had brought something back to the planet that had been infected. The only reason people were suspecting now that that wasn't the reason was that the rogue traders had not developed any mutations while being held prisoner, nor had any of them been turned into a bioform monstrosity. So it is possible that they were not the cause, and according to the captain's words, he had seen lights moving in the sky while they were on the infested planet, possible ships moving beyond his sensor range, indicating that there may be a third party here trying to stay secret.

What that secret was, I don't know. But that's why we were here, searching through the remnants of these destroyed worlds for any evidence of ship transportation or civilization still going on. I fired off another shot into a bioform and looked around.

We were currently in the remnants of what had once been some sort of mega-city. If it had been one I'd visited during the last campaign, I could not recall with any certainty. The place was so trashed and turned to laborious debris that it was very likely that if I'd ever visited here, I would not have recognized it.

I could say with some certainty, though, it bore all the hallmarks of a fight over the place, and the slightly melted beams near the top did indicate that some planetary weapon had been used to try and burn the place down in order to prevent the monsters from reproducing.

"Hey Kori," Bjorn called, drawing my notice from the structures towards one of the buildings that was in somewhat good condition, waving me over, saying, "I think we got something over here."

Raising an eyebrow, I marched over to him, finding he was near an entrance to what appeared to be a metro system, a metro system that seemed to be covered in bioform wax.

"A hive?" I asked, looking at him. He nodded.

"Most likely. Something down there survived or something out there survived and found its way here. But I think this is the home of our enemy, or at least the ones on this planet."

"Well, then let's burn it out," I said, waiting for some men to come over.

A Russ Tank ambled over, flamers and volkite ready, before I said, "How deep do you think it goes, Bjorn?"

He shook his head before saying, "I don't think we should be worrying too much about the depth of the place. These things probably can't be that well off; they obviously have not been getting enough food to sustain themselves, let alone keep a colony going. Sooner or later, the remaining Rangda and their bioforms will probably starve themselves out. But then again, who knows what they've got down there. For all we know, they found some hidden emergency supplies that could last them enough time to restart their civilization."

"I guess we have no choice but to go down there and burn everything, it's the best we can do," I said before a thought occurred to me, saying, "Unless, of course..."

"What are you thinking, Kori?" Bjorn asked.

"I said, let's see if we can get in contact with the Dark Angels, see if they can supply us with a bomb that we can leave down there that could clean out the tunnels."

"Where's the vox? I'm sure they wouldn't mind dropping off a bomb for us to dump down there. You got communication, send it up the line, see what we get. See if we can hold this entrance until we're sure that they're either going to give us something or not," Bjorn said, and I nodded quickly, tapping the side of my helmet.

"Wolf Lord Blake, we found what appears to be the entrance to a hive. We could use a large bomb so that we can put it in the hive to make sure we properly clean out the Rangda this time. Do we have anything onboard our ships, or if that's not possible, requisition one from the Dark Angels for our use?" I transmitted.

There was a moment of delay before Wolf Lord Blake's voice came back. "Oh, good. Someone's finding something. The other troops I have deployed in this area found absolutely nothing but continuous attacks from desiccated buildings collapsing them all in on themselves. But if you found an actual Hive entrance, I'll see if we can get you anything. Give me ten minutes."

I nodded before turning to Bjorn and saying, "ten minutes, he says. Make yourself comfortable, I guess." I moved to the entrance and looked down into the darkness before taking a seat on some rubble in what used to be some sort of rest area, positioned where I could keep an eye and a gun pointed towards the entrance.

Bjorn sat next to me and said, "So, I heard an interesting rumor while working with some of the Dark Angels a while back."

"I wouldn't worry too much about rumors," I said, leaning back. "They tend to be untrue."

"What, not even interested in this particular rumor?"

"We haven't really given me much to be interested in. All you've told me is it's a rumor. Rumors are usually bullshit, so I'm not that interested."

"All right, all right. If you're not interested, I guess you don't want to hear about how Tanya and the Lion are a lot more alike than we would ever believe."

"What do you mean, a lot more alike? The Primarchs, they're supposed to be like the Emperor's children. Other than that, I don't see how they could be more alike. Tanya is the Wolf King, the Lion is a Noble Knight or whatever that means. I don't really see much crossover besides them both growing up in the wild."

"Hah, well, the rumor I heard is that the Lion is not a 'he'.'"

"This is why rumor's are complete bullshit," I said, looking at him before saying, "I think I would have heard about another female Primarch other than ours and Lorgar."

"Well, you'd think. Apparently, unlike Tanya and to some extent Lorgar, the Primarch of the Dark Angels doesn't like going out there parading around the fact that they're female. You know they wear that whole cape and hood get-up, you can't really see past the cloak, so it's very well possible that they're not as they appear and portray themselves as."

"Bah, then they would be saying Mortarion is female based on that logic," I said, shaking my head as I checked my helmet for any new information. Nothing yet. Hopefully, we'll get something soon.

"Something about the way Mortarion just goes in on heavy grinding infantry attacks, it just feels like something a dude would do."

Bjorn reached into his side pouch, pulling out a drink. As he removed his helmet, he unscrewed the top and took a sip of alcohol before offering it to me. I took off my own helmet and accepted the drink, sipping it and nodding appreciatively. "Good brand from Fenris."

"Yep. Anyways, just letting you know because I find the idea that there is another secret female Primarch hilarious, they should just be proud of it and own it like Tanya. Probably not an unreal possibility, but I am interested in if there's a continuation of the Tanya façade for the other legions. I poked around when talking to the Word Bearers; they never mentioned anything. I tried to poke around with the Dark Angels back during the Rangdan war when I first heard this rumor, but talk about a stick up there arse, Dark Angels just love their secrets, so I didn't get anything out of them. They weren't interested in talking, so I was left with nothing at the end."

"Hah, well, we'll probably never know the answer to this question, brother. Not like that's something we'd be able to figure out if true. We're low level; the only people in our legion who get to interact with Primarchs beside our own are the Wolf Lords. And becoming one is the only way we'd run into the Primarch of the Dark Angels to confirm this story."

"So you're saying the only way to gain true knowledge of what's going on is to attain the rank of a Wolf Lord?" Bjorn slapped me on the back. "Well, you better do it because I'm probably never going to get there."

"I'll keep telling myself that. Wolf Lords tend to put themselves at risk, so sooner or later, yeah, there'll be an opening for you," I joked.

"Same goes for you, brother. Same goes for you," he said, returning his attention to the entrance of the metro. I followed his gaze and saw a shuttle landing in the black, and white colors of the Dark Angels.

"Well, it looks like they did decide to send something over here," I said, getting up and brushing myself off as I grabbed my helmet, slotting it on. Bjorn did the same, quickly hiding his alcohol as we stepped out of the metro entrance to meet those who had been sent.

The rain came down, and several Dark Angels piled out, two of them pushing a rather large-looking bomb in front of them. Then, surprisingly their Primarch stepped out as well, their face hidden by their dark hood. They approached,"Who's the commander of this location?" I raised a hand and said, "I am, sir."

Lion El'Jonson nodded and pointed at the bomb. "This should be more than enough firepower to destroy that hive. Right now, the Dark Angels are in command of this operation, so while my legion searches the area for alternate hive entrances to seal. Your job is to get in the hive and locate the core and plant the bomb, and then run a line all the way to the surface. Theoretically, we should be able to activate it without the line, but we're not taking any chances, so redundancies. Make sure to hide the line as best you can; we can't give the bioforms any chances to sabotage or destroy the bomb."

"Will do, sir," I said, giving a salute. Some of my men moved forward to start grabbing the bomb and pushing it towards the entrance. The Primarch nodded their head and said, "Good luck," before turning and starting to head back towards the shuttle. However, something unexpected happened at that moment.

The dead wind that ran through this planet, cutting through the buildings and seemingly accelerated by the structures blocking possible pathways, blew through at that moment, hitting the Primarch directly in the face and pushing their cowl down around the sides of their head, revealing... well, revealing that Bjorn had been right about something. Two things were very apparent to me at that moment: one, yes, the Lion was definitely a woman; two, she kind of looked like Tanya, though more regal. She had the same blonde hair, although not the same shade. Three, damn, she was attractive.

Fortunately she had no idea what I was thinking; she simply completed her turn and pulled her cowl back up, hiding her head. She walked up into her ship as one of the Dark Angels, a Marine, came up to me and tapped me on the chest, saying, "You didn't see anything, got me?"

I nodded, and the Marine nodded back, heading back on board their ship. Within a few moments, they had all gathered up and left, leaving me with Bjorn and a rather large bomb. Turning to Bjorn, I said, "You saw that too, right?"

"Yep. I did not expect my rumors to be correct, but I'm happy they were. Damn, I guess I see why those two have problems getting along sometimes. They really do epitomize sisters in their looks."

"What does that mean?" I asked, looking at him.

"Alright, you're an only child. I forgot that," Bjorn said with a look before adding, "Let's just say, from my experience, sisters don't get along as well as your average sibling group."

"Huh. Well, let's get back to the business of dealing with the Rangdan," I said, moving to meet up with the rest of my men. Peering down into the cave, I said, "I hope we don't run into too many problems."

"Never assume you won't," Bjorn offered before heading into the darkness. He left some lights as he went. Shaking my head, I followed after with the others, the bomb carried in the center of our formation. My men dropped wire as we went so that it could be quickly established and connected to whatever location we ended up placing it.

Tanya Russ

M30.888
Hrafnkel

Once again, I thought, gazing down at Terra through the window. It had taken a few months to travel from the front line back to Fenris, and another few months to gather the resources I needed for this operation. But here I was, about to delve into the intricacies of the political system. Of course, that meant I would need to engage in lengthy discussions with politicians, something I wasn't particularly fond of. I had seen plenty of politicians in my time, and they lied as easily as they opened their mouths. But it was a necessary evil.

I turned to look at the dress I would probably be forced to wear at some point. I knew that might sound a bit unkind, but I wasn't exactly thrilled about donning such attire. Politics dictated that the dress should match the colors of my legion, have a neckline that was a bit too low in my opinion, include a woolen cape, an outer skirt assembly, and a few other embellishments I'd never wear under normal circumstances. However, dealing with the politics of the Imperium would require me to look the part of a Fenrisian ruler, or at the very least their expectations of what they believed a female Fenrisian king's attire would be. I doubted they'd be pleased with me striding around in full armor or even just the rugged clothing typical of my homeworld.

A part of me wanted to complain about the dress, but another part recognized that Miss Adelheid knew her craft. Coming from Mars, she likely had enough connections to understand what the local nobility deemed appropriate attire. So, I begrudgingly decided to accept it. Besides, I wouldn't be the only one wearing such extravagant clothing. All my Valkyrie had similar dresses made for them to ensure they could blend in at the courts we would likely attend.

Shaking my head, I turned my attention back to the window when an indicator went off, signaling an incoming call. Stepping over to the communication area, I pressed the button, and an image of Malcador appeared, leaning heavily on his staff. He spoke, "Tanya, my dear, what brings you to Terra? I thought you would have sent a notice if you were paying us a visit."

I raised an eyebrow before replying, "I did send one. Perhaps it was lost in the Warp before it even left the Ark Reach. I dispatched a ship with a brief message, explaining my interest in learning more about the core. It seems either it went astray or you weren't informed of my approach."

"Hmm, not a good business if you send something in the day and arrive at night, but that is the way of the Warp. What brings you to Terra, Primarch of the 6th?"

Smiling, I took a seat in front of the hologram before saying, "Simply trying to understand how the Imperium works. It's been too long for me to be out on the frontier, and it's time for me to get an understanding of what's happening here."

Malcador shook his head before saying, "I wish you wouldn't. You are such a straightforward creature; it's rather enjoyable. You have a problem, and you just get rid of it. Here, politics will probably complicate and muddy that simplicity, having to deal with complex subjects." He let out a deep chuckle, and I joined him in laughter.

"I understand your concern, Malcador, but trust me, I'm just here to understand exactly what the Emperor wants for me and the rest of us. I've had some conversations during my last campaign with Magnus and Lorgar. I feel that there needs to be some clarification on certain subject matters. Not to mention, I figured it was about time to actually see what the Emperor's plans are for when this is all over, to speak with him about the nature of the end of the Crusade and such. I've been out there fighting for too long; it's time to understand my place and the grand plan."

"Hmm, well, I'm afraid you'll have to wait a while for that. The Emperor is busy dealing with one rather lost boy, one that may not be savable," Malcador shook his head before saying, "They are off in the frontiers far, far away, so you will just have to deal with the politics of the Imperial court as they stand. Not a big problem, I think, for you, but you are definitely here at a bad time."

"Well, damn," I replied, "Then, Malcador, who is here that I can talk to? I assume there must be Primarchs who are paying more visits to the Imperial throne world than I have."

Malcador laughed before saying, "You know the rules, Tanya; you have to meet them for yourself."

"Didn't the Emperor withdraw that order?" I asked, hoping to persuade him.

Malcador simply shook his head, saying, "I'm afraid not, though he did say he's going to be more open about it. I do find it rather amusing to see you meet them for the first time. It'll be humorous for this old man, in my opinion, at least."

"Well, that's unfortunate," I said, shaking my head before asking, "So, where should I park my battleship? Is there a network that will be handling that or what?"

"I have sent orders to Lunar Control to have your ship parked at the Secretariat Landing. That'll keep you out of the opportunity to see which ships are in space above the palace, so you can't guess which Primarchs are here," Malcador explained.

"You thought far too much on this," I said, annoyed, which only got a grin from the old warlock. "It's what I do; I run the Imperial government while the Emperor is not here. I'm also quite good at protecting Terra, and I will continue to do so. I think keeping you in for a surprise is the right way to proceed. Just have your ship follow the orders of naval command."

I sighed and nodded, determined to send orders to that effect later, before asking, "Well then, Malcador, anything else I should know about before I get to work? I have a list of groups and factions that I would like to have a meeting or two down there if you can arrange it, trying to win allies and such to make it easier for the conquest."

"Hmm, I could arrange a few things for you," Malcador said with a nod before adding, "Just wait for orders to come down; everything will be handled when you arrive."

"Excellent, see you in a little bit," I said with a nod, moving to press a button to end the communication. Malcador raised his hand, "One more thing. I will have some questions for you about Lorgar and Magnus. I have some concerns about what they're up to."

"I will tell you everything I know that's necessary," I replied simply, not wanting to cause too many problems or shake the boat.

Malcador's voice softened, "Very well, that will have to do for now. Welcome to Terra, Tanya. I hope to see you down here soon. Maybe we'll have a few games of regicide. It's been a long time since we've had time to face each other in a game of skill, and I'd enjoy a chance to win a couple against you."

"That's a deal," I said with a nod before ending the communication, leaning back, and sighing, hoping that this would go well.

Malcador the Sigillite

Terra

Well, things would be rather interesting, I guess. The Emperor was away, dealing with a son who had recently led some sort of revolt against slave masters or something. I was unaware of all the details yet, but I assume I would learn them all when he returned. But in the meantime, something strange was happening—several Primarchs all returning to the roost at the same time, unexpected, very unexpected.

The Third and the Tenth were here on Terra for a conference with some of the local political dynasties that had submitted to the Empire for one reason or another. Probably just wanting to use the forges again for one of their many crafts that they got into.

The Fourth and the Seventh were also on Terra, helping with the construction of the defenses of the Imperial Palace. Granted, they weren't as needed now that it would appear that the Rangdan were defeated, but it was best to let those two work. Just because we had defeated this foe didn't mean the next one wouldn't be a problem.

The Thirteenth was on his way to have a conversation about building a proper logistics network across the Imperium to better supply the Crusades. That would mean we would have six Primarchs on Terra. I don't believe we've had that many here before. The usual number was just two or three. There was a plan to allow all twenty to be here at some point, but they had not all come yet.

I could list the Primarchs that had basically refused to come to this planet: the First, the Second, the Fifth, the Eighth, and the Fourteenth. Well, perhaps "refuse" was not the right word; they simply had gone directly from their home worlds into direct fighting wherever they could, taking their legions out on their maiden voyages and just never coming by to visit. A sad thing, but perhaps something that should be rectified.

I'll have to have a conversation with the Emperor when he returns, about having some sort of large conference. Perhaps, then again, he probably would not be that big of a fan of the idea. Though he did have plans at one point to raise them all here on Terra, the fact of the matter was, when the Primarchs were all gathered, they were a force to be reckoned with. The Enemy were willing to reach through time and space to rip a hole in the Warp to scatter them across the universe when they were young. I was unsure if they were willing to do that same trick now, though the Emperor had built better defenses to prevent another breach from occurring. I had no doubts that the Enemy or any of his detractors would try again to steal or ruin any future projects of the Emperor if they got wind of what he was working on. He wasn't able to give it his full attention yet, but I imagine as soon as he could leave the Crusade to his children, he would be dedicated to the construction of that project.

Shaking my head, I looked at a nearby map on a wall—a simple thing showing the relative area of the galaxy's current ongoing conflicts and where our legions were deployed. I tried to keep this map updated as often as possible. However, Primarchs made it hard, considering they would sometimes break their legions up to do as much as possible in an area. This was a particular problem with Tanya's Legion, since according to my map, I had them marked in six or seven different locations, and none of them were heading towards Terra.

Tanya was very adept at spreading their troops out and getting the most out of them. Some of the Generals would argue even better than the White Scars under Khan, who had their troops even more spread out, gathering intelligence for all the other legions, as well as striking places they thought were the best to cause problems.

For the most part, legions stayed close to their homeworlds, clearing out areas around them, so I didn't have to change the map much. The only outliers currently going on were the 9th and the 8th Legions, as they were fighting towards each other, heading towards a region between their homeworlds. Did they know they were heading towards each other? I didn't know, but I did know from trade reports that there were some sort of empires or three in that area that could be a problem and might not surrender.

Well, I was actually considering sending orders to Tanya to join forces with those two and take care of the problem. I might still do it, though I would give them time to learn and maybe gather some allies here. That could be useful in the long term, especially if I set them up with some proper allies to make sure that they cultivate the right connections.

But on to problems back at home there were concerns in my mind about the Navigator houses. When the Emperor revealed his plan, they would not be happy about their status and futures in the galaxy being so greatly diminished. One could argue that the only reason the Navigator houses were accepted as well as they were is that their powers were useful. But if their powers became no longer useful, they would end up as regular abhumans, and they might be even further disliked in the future or driven to extinction.

Unfortunately, sacrifices must be made for humanity's future. Perhaps there was a stopgap measure, if I set up Tanya and maybe a few other Primarchs if Tanya's attempt went well, to interview some of those houses to make sure they were loyal and tie them to a legion it could perhaps keep them from causing too much trouble when the news broke. After all, if they had direct connections to the Space Marines and the Space Marines had ways to move about space that were not limited by the Emperor's current project, it might give them a purpose in the future. Surprise attacks from unexpected directions would always be needed.

"Yes, I would do that, and push a few other potential allies her way" I mused. Not to mention, I'm sure the other Primarchs would get along splendidly with Tanya. It would be good to be able to observe exactly what Tanya has been telling them. Before, several Primarchs ran into Tanya, they had been less keen on protecting and building up their homeworlds, viewing them more as assets to be used up. After Tanya had spoken to them, they seemed to be more caring and willing to help build better, stronger civilizations after they left a place that they've attacked. I wanted to know exactly what she said or did that made it so that these changes had come about, although I was quite happy those changes happened. It was one of the reasons why I sent Tanya on a campaign with Lorgar in hopes that things would continue to happen that way. But I believe it was time to see this process in person, I believe.

Nodding my head, I picked up a report from the 11th about an ongoing conflict on the edges of known space, something about a heavy psychic force. Something they should be able to handle. All in all, just busy work as far as I was concerned. Busy until Tanya made her appearance down on the planet. It seems my idea about creating daughters instead of sons is being vindicated.

Writers note: hmm and now were done with ark reach ark we head off in to new ark that be relaxing people talking kinda ark.

Please comment, review, and generally enjoy yourselves…

Edited by: Moorhouse, Golden, Waters Batazr

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Reviews
Spartastic 4: is it? some folk on space battles still not sure what happen
Eedura: what?
Black Doberman: well you enojy next few chapter i think, we also do not know yet
Just a Crazy-Man : good
Lazrusto; always has been
end5: here you go
Guest: yeah haha
Gold1992: hmm maybe been mistake on my end
: your about 10 chapters off