**Author's Notes: Slower updates for the foreseeable future. I'll try to update once every two weeks.**
Null struggled and cursed as he wrangled the Horse of a Different Color through the blustery sky. The trip between Jinnicky's tower and the Divine Retribution wasn't a far journey, but in this worsening weather, it was very unpleasant. We only had a few minutes of flight back to our vessel, but they would definitely be very uncomfortable. The snow quickly grew heavier as we pushed through the variable winds, and while the void shield kept us from being directly snowed on, I still felt a light breeze against my exposed skin. Around us, visibility was very poor, and the ground below could only be seen as a dark shadow in the wintry blur of white and grey. I hoped Jinnicky wasn't directly piloting his flyer behind us in this weather.
I could no longer easily sense Word Bear and his evil Word Bearer buddies. What had caused my intuition to suddenly point to Rhadabus, which was thousands of light years away from this location? And more importantly, what the hell was Word Bear doing over there? Why had I seen all that with such clarity despite the extreme distance?
"Heavy void shields up," Null announced with a flick of a switch on his flight console. "Good thing I installed this, considering that there is a party in the wilderness with enough firepower to knock out what seems to be a survey drone."
"Who do you think shot it down?" I asked, gripping the sides of the flyer as we dipped and dove through the pale wintry sky.
"I'm not certain, but now that we know that there are xenos that are at least somewhat developed on this world, I'd be more worried about the drone itself. Whoever shot it down may have actually done us a favor. If the Hell-forge is sending sophisticated survey drones ahead, it would stand reason to believe that they're going to be here sooner rather than later."
I gulped. The big gold eagle couldn't take off yet. The Divine Retribution was still in the process of regenerating. If a hell-fleet of evil AdMech monsters was on its way to fuck up this world, I'd be really upset. How long does it take for normal 40k ships to go two light years, anyway?
Trying to not ruminate (and also trying not to worry about how I had just heard Word Bear a few moments ago), I closed my eyes, and concentrated on finding the psychic imprint of the astropath "choir" that I had heard earlier. However, it appeared that my bickering crewmembers were no longer concentrating on such a thing, as their energies had separated. This wasn't a big deal, as instead, I reached for the Divine Retribution itself, which I knew would hear me.
I felt my awareness easily reach the gold god-eagle. This was getting easier and easier. My integration with the vessel's machine spirit almost felt effortlessly natural now, like it really was an extension of myself.
Hey, we're on our way, I spoke through the Divine Retribution, which caused a wave of surprise through the two people I could currently sense on the bridge, which happened to be Alberich and Virgil. We're done at the tower. Magos Jinnicky is following us with the materials that Null needs on a shuttle called the Sweet Song. We should be there in a few minutes.
"We await your return, Inheritor," Virgil responded to me audibly on the bridge with a bow. "The ship still tells us that it expects a squall of frozen precipitation coming from the north."
Yeah, we're flying through it right now. It sucks, I said as we hit another downdraft, causing the Horse to change to an irritated shimmery red-violet color. Even Lian gasped behind me. Are you all inside? I asked Virgil.
"Yes, Inheritor," the astropath said, his body briefly glitching under my full amplified attention under the might of the Divine Retribution's systems. "All have been ordered to stay within the vessel. The drone remains untouched, but we do not know who wielded the laser that struck it."
Before I could respond, I saw Null angrily strike the steering wheel with one of his metal arms. "Blasted horse! I hate this too, but do try to cooperate!" I heard the Tech-priest hiss in irritation beside me in the driver's seat. The car then turned a darker, almost angrier red.
Okay, we'll be there soon. Over and out, Virg, I transmitted to Virgil. The Horse pitched downward again, causing me to grip the side of the car in worry. This rocky flight was causing me to get nauseous, and I didn't like this at all. Luckily, we were only a few minutes away from the Divine Retribution, and before I knew it, we began to decelerate.
We couldn't see the Divine Retribution's silhouette until we were very close and circling to land, continuing to slow in the turbulent wind. It appeared like a big shiny shadow under a veil of blustery snow, which had begun to lightly dust the mighty vessel's bent wings. The dark scars of Am'Erika's sword strikes on the living gold hull were visible, which gave me a new appreciation for just how powerful that daemon was. If I managed to encounter Am'Erika a third time, I hoped that I would eventually be strong enough to finally destroy her for good. It was stressful knowing that there was a hungry Keeper of Secrets hyper-fixated on destroying me out there.
"Now, cooperate! Land!" Null lectured the Horse of a Different Color in a harsh voice. The vessel remained a dark red color, and I noticed that we had actually stopped in midair above and before the vessel. Slowly, we began to descend to the ground using some kind of futuristic hover technology. "Yes, yes. There you go, blessed machine spirit. Good flyer. Good," the Tech-priest said with a gentle tap of a mechadendrite on the steering wheel.
Null had landed us on the snowy ground perpendicular to the ship's flank, and with a nudge from my willpower, I commanded the Divine Retribution to open its shuttle bay door for us. With an easy pull, I willed a broad flat surface of living gold to form a ramp, which Null drove us onto. Once we were all inside, I ordered the ship to close itself up, which it did.
After a few moments, the shimmering shield above us vanished, and a rush of warmer air from the Divine Retribution's interior embraced the three of us, which I was grateful for. We all unbuckled our seatbelts, and climbed out of the Horse.
"Did you upset the Horse of a Different Color, Null?" I asked, noticing the rich "angry" red of the flyer's hull that lingered, despite not being in the sky. Lian handed me my force staff, and I took it. Again, I felt the bloodstone in my pocket pulse with warmth. I would need to figure out how to use this stone at some point. Maybe I could find a book on magic jewels in the parlor library collection?
"The machine spirit, as I can discern, does not like to fly in inclement weather. She is, I believe, a luxury vehicle made for racing and pleasure cruising, and not more utilitarian ventures."
"She still did a good job, right?" I said, placing my hand on the passenger-side door. Perhaps hearing this, the Horse of a Different Color then shifted to a softer pink. What a cool little car!
"Yes, yes," Null said as he immediately made for the airlock, which he now stood before. Lian and I followed to stand beside the Tech-priest. "Magos Jinnicky should be here soon. With your permission, I'd like to firstly formally receive from in the main entryway instead of here. We'll load his supplies from his shuttle into the cargo bay below." Null motioned toward the disorganized mess of machinery and materials scattered about the expansive space where the Horse was parked.
"That's fine. I hope he's not the one actually piloting his ship. Guy wasn't in a good way when we left," I answered. Yeah, he wasn't in a good way because I had lost my temper and nearly killed him.
"He has pilot servitors, so I would not be too concerned," Null said as he opened the airlock. The three of us stepped inside the wide room of the airlock. Behind us, the door closed with a heavy click, and after a few moments, the way into the gold vessel's interior opened.
A gust of nice warm spicy Divine Retribution-scented (faint incense and a note of electricity) wind embraced the three of us as we entered the corridors of buffed golds and other plated metals. Virgil was standing just outside the airlock, and bowed in greeting before me. He didn't look at Null as the three of us emerged.
"Ah, good, you're safe. Alberich ordered the Divine Retribution to track your progress on the bridge. It displayed that you were having a rough flight."
"It's nothing that you and I haven't experienced previously, Virgil," Null tersely replied, somewhat rudely brushing by the holographic astropath, whose face pulled into disapproval at this action. The Tech-priest continued speedily walking down the hall away from us. He shot back to us with, "We are receiving Magos Jinnicky shortly from the main entryway, and that is where I am going right now. We must also investigate that disabled drone as soon as possible. There is much to attend to, yes."
Virgil stood beside me as Null continued walking with purpose, not wasting any time. Lian remained standing dutifully nearby. The astropath explained, "The drone is supposedly one hundred fifty or so meters to the west of this vessel, right at the edge of the forest that rings the clearing. If I may be so bold, I have a bad feeling about this piece of technology from what I have witnessed in Alberich's and Rasputin's minds."
"After all we've been through, you're probably right to say that," I offered to the dead ghost hologram of an Imperial astropath. I watched as Null hustled around the corner on his way to the ship's main corridor, his metal feet striking the floor loudly. "We still need to meet up with Jinnicky and his materials before going out in the snow to check out the drone. I think he was supposed to be right behind us. Actually, let me see real fast..." I said before closing my eyes and directing my Sight backward. I got easy confirmation that the crazy Magos was indeed close, his larger shuttle dipping and diving in the wind while being driven by a devoted pilot servitor that was somehow merged to its controls. "Magos Jinnicky will be here soon. He's just struggling in the wind," I offered Virgil and Lian. My stomach briefly turned again, and my intuition directed my attention to the bloodstone ruby in my jacket pocket. It was very warm and felt strangely heavy. "Also, that Magos is... he's a bit unbalanced, I guess I should say."
"What are your wishes, Inheritor?" Lian asked.
I steadied myself on force staff. The bloodstone continued to somehow interact with my energy, causing me to experience vertigo. I blinked my eyes, and realized that they were involuntarily glowing. "I think I'll go to the bridge first to check in with Alberich and to see if we can track Jinnicky as he gets here. Virgil, I want you to keep an eye on Null for me. Let me know if he loses his mind again. You get it..."
"Very well, Inheritor," the astropath said before dissolving in a flash of light.
"And Lian?"
"I obey unquestionably," the Fallen rumbled. I turned around to look at Lian directly, which caused him to avert his gaze, bowing his head in submission.
"Get suited up with your armor just in case. After we meet with Jinnicky, we're going to need to go outside in the snow to investigate that drone even if the weather is bad. If that thing is from Cyclothrathe, we should be prepared."
"Thy will be done," Lian answered. The Fallen Paladin then also turned onto the main corridor where his room (and all of our rooms, from what I understood) were located.
I was now alone, and I took a deep breath as I began to walk, turning the corner to the main corridor that ran the length of the ship. Wolfie appeared at my side with a small chuff, and I paused to bend down to pet my favorite little Warp beast. "Would you be interested in fighting more robots, boy?"
Wolfie barked happily, and his smoky tail wagged with such boisterous excitement that his whole rear body shook. FIGHT... METAL... KILL! the astral hound projected to me.
"Yup, fight metal kill," I said with a chuckle. Wolfie trotted happily alongside me as I made my way to the bridge. "Actually, I hope not."
After turning a corner, I began my walk down the main hallway. In the distance, I could hear the metal clanging of sai daggers as the two Blank witness ladies practiced their martial combat. Hearing this was a good sign, as it displayed that despite her injuries, Morai was healing up quickly. The sounds of clanging daggers seemed to be coming from a closed larger door off a side corridor that I had not been through yet. Since I had learned that there was some kind of training or gym room somewhere in the ship, I presumed that it was down there. Continuing onward, I passed Null's workshop, which was currently closed up. I wondered how the other Skitarii was doing, and also I noted that I could no long hear the ever-present beeping of his heart monitor. I hoped the guy was okay. I would have to ask Null about him later.
When I was walking through the area of the ship that contained all the baths, tubs, and the sauna I had enjoyed, I could hear soft Russian singing echoing through the metal corridors, so it could be deduced that Rasputin was (hopefully) staying on top of his cleanliness game. A shiver rushed through me as I then heard a transmitted message from Alberich.
You're back, my leader? my unrepentant Nazi crewmember asked me in mind. I could tell that he was still on the bridge.
Yeah, I telepathically answered. I felt a slight pressure change, and I sensed that the main entryway to the vessel was now breached. Null had opened the "front" door on the ship's chest area. At least Virgil would keep a close eye on the Tech-priest who was also a genocidal war criminal from the Horus Heresy. If I didn't know any better, it was starting to look like Tzeentch was setting me up to be some sort of serious tragic 40k arch-villain by the unusual and unorthodox company I found myself surrounded with. I'm coming up to where you are, Alberich. Just stay there. Magos Jinnicky is on his way here in a flyer. Did anything crazy happen when I was out aside from what you told me already?
Nothing beyond the drone and the aliens, Alberich added dryly. We went outside to explore, and we told you the rest. I attempted to make a snowman with Rasputin as per your instruction, but we could not agree on its design. We abandoned our attempts when the aliens were spied and the drone was shot down, my apologies.
I laughed aloud, which caused a servitor in the hall to pause and look at me with a creepy dead expression. Making a snowman wasn't an order. I was just making a joke earlier.
Good, because the snowman is not the greatest demonstration of German engineering...
With another chuckle, I continued walking through the vessel, and soon, I could feel a cold breeze streaming through the air as I entered the round room that lay before both the dual stairway to the Divine Retribution's bridge, and the main entryway. Before heading up to the bridge, I took a brief walk down to the open portal, and briefly peered outside. On the rough ground below, I could see Null standing ahead of the gangway in the blowing snow, his red robe tossing about in the wind around his frame. The Tech-priest stood stiffly facing north with his arms crossed around him. All that metal was probably chilly if Null still had any temperature-sensitive flesh left on his body. Virgil stood on the gangway before me, dutifully keeping an eye on the Tech-priest. The hologram turned around and offered me a polite nod before returning his attention back to Null-watching.
Wolfie, who had been following me, then decided to run down the gangway, and race around the snow as if he was a normal puppy, which was somewhat cute to see. After watching this for a moment (and laughing when the Warp dog scared Null after bolting in front of him), I departed and continued making my way up to the bridge. Virgil would just tell me if Null did something crazy, and it was windy and cold out there.
Alberich was standing beside his throne to my right with his back to me. Hearing my footsteps, the psyker turned around and held his black-gloved fist to his heart in a salute-greeting. "Hello, my leader. I'm glad you've returned. I've ordered the Divine Retribution to track the incoming shuttle."
He then turned back around and motioned toward the central holographic screen, which displayed what appeared to be a weather and surface topography map. A cold front that reminded me of a nasty winter stone back home in New Jersey was pushing southward off the mountains. The wind was noted here to be "50kpm + 80kph gusts", and a small red dot was making its way steadily over toward the winged eagle icon, which was our location. I noted that the German psyker was dressed in a long heavy greatcoat over his quasi-military black Nazi-chic outfit. Alberich's over the top "evil" appearance here made him look like he could be a villain from Indiana Jones, I thought to myself with a snort.
"It sucks out there, but at least we got what we needed over at the tower," I said simply, feeling another wave of vertigo as I clung to my staff to keep my balance. Was this feeling because of the bloodstone, or did I overtax myself when terrorizing Jinnicky? "Can you see the drone that got shot down found from the eye windows?"
"Not truly. Its location can barely be seen through the left window. I can point out where the drone is, but its crash site is concealed. We did not linger when we saw the crash. I insist that it was some kind of elf, but not the same elf we saw at the party. It was also not a caveman."
Alberich then led me to the left eye window of the Divine Retribution, and indicated toward an area of tall broken trees which bent and waved in the wind ahead of an area of rocky hills mostly concealed by the winter weather. "You can see scorch marks along the branches, but the drone sits at the base of the trees over there."
"As soon as Jinnicky gets here, we're going out to investigate that drone. I'm worried," I said with a sigh.
Alberich simply nodded in response, and for a few moments, we stood watching the snow outside.
A strange feeling of foreboding fell over me, and my halo briefly emerged in a dim shimmer. Why was I feeling this way?
As I was about to turn away to walk back down the stairs to wait outside with Null, both my Sight and the Divine Retribution itself perceived Jinnicky's shuttle roaring nearby, struggling in the wind as it attempted to land beside us. I then felt a sense of imminent extreme danger, which caused my Corona to ignite hotly around my head and shoulders in intuitive alarm!
Within my mind's eye, I witnessed an image of the Sweet Song being struck by a blue laser as it was struggling to land! The vessel briefly sputtered in the wind before beginning to fall, one of its wing engines blazing out in a gout of black smoke. Its current falling trajectory would strike my left wing!
Reflexively, I felt myself reach outward for the vessel using my psyker superpowers, and in an action that almost felt instinctual (like trying to catch a small object falling from a table), I prevented the Sweet Song from striking the Divine Retribution's wing as it careened through the sky!
"Fuck!" I swore, pulling deep into the well of my power as I gripped the stricken vessel in midair outside. It was about five meters above us! Alberich, nearby, had recoiled from me, and looked at me with frightened eyes.
"What...?" Alberich asked.
"Shut up!" I shouted through gritted teeth. My Corona brightened considerably and was now even surrounding my upper torso, causing my skin to tingle uncomfortably. Down my left arm raced another stabbing pain. Okay, okay, I got this! I got it. I can fix this...
In my mind's eye, I heard Jinnicky screaming at the top of his artificial lungs in his vessel as he witnessed the flight console blink before powering off.
Okay, yeah, bring it down easy. I can do this. I'm in contact with the god-bird, and god-bird's energy can help me. I kept my eyes closed as I began to pull into the ship's energy reserves, which felt as if I was now submerged in some kind of glowing spiritual hot spring. I continued telekinetically holding the Sweet Song aloft in the sky, and I could now even feel the wind and snow whipping around me. With a gentle lowering motion of an outstretched arm, I visualized myself gripping the vessel in my hand, and then, gently setting it down on the ground outside. A short smile pulled across my lips when I perceived Null scrambling out of the way before crying out in surprise and falling in the snow. Hurray, I did it!
I opened my eyes and immediately dropped to the floor of the bridge, nearly falling on my rear as I stumbled. Apparently, I had been levitating. My vision was slightly blurry, and my Corona was still lit, but at least the Sweet Song wasn't going to crash into us anymore. Alberich was nearby, and it appeared that he had held his arm up to his face to shield his eyes from the light I was putting out.
"Meine Führerin! Was ist passiert?!" Alberich cried out in desperate worry as Virgil immediately poofed into existence on the bridge.
"Inheritor! The incoming shuttle-"
"What happened?! I-"
"Quiet!" I instructed with a short bark of Sight, which immediately silenced my present company. "The Sweet Song was struck by some kind of laser from off in the hills. I just landed it. It's on the ground outside now."
I staggered to my feet. Alberich handed me my force staff, which I had dropped during my latest psychic stunt. With a deep breath, I calmed myself, and pulled my Corona back within, dimming my light. Leaning on my staff, I rallied myself for what was probably yet another dangerous confrontation. "You guys can talk now," I allowed, dropping my resonant voice.
Immediately, Virgil bowed before me. "Just as you said! The shuttle! A bright blue laser struck the vessel's wing, and it seemed as if it would crash into us! But gold light gripped it and... and it..." Virgil was overwhelmed, and his lower lip began to tremble. The astropath then fell to the floor on his knees. "You landed it! Oh, praise you, Em-Inheritor! Praise you!"
"All in a day's work for Empress Erika," I said woozily as I leaned heavily on my staff with a smile that was bloodied by yet another nosebleed. At least I was weathering more impressive psychic feats more effectively as time went on, even after hulking out and terrorizing someone enough that I nearly killed him. I could now hear Null frantically rushing up the stairs. "Hey, Null!" I announced before he was even on the bridge. "I landed it!"
"You?" Null asked as he emerged on the bridge. "That was you? That light? The laser?"
"The laser wasn't me," I said as I walked toward the left window. Outside, I could see the Sweet Song on the ground below, approximately ten meters away and partially under the Divine Retribution's injured left wing. One of the shuttle's wing engines was in flames, and another was violently sparking. "I landed the shuttle when it was going to crash, and... oh."
Alberich took charge of this situation, and spoke up. "We must help them!" as he raced down the stairs with Null.
"Everyone, outside!" I shouted, pushing the command through the ship!
After hastily racing off the ship, I was now trotting dizzily ahead in the windy snow toward the shuttle, which was partially aflame laying in the snow with Alberich running ahead of me. The Sweet Song was now totaled. One of its wing engines had been completely blown apart, and a burning viscous liquid had begun to pool from beneath it onto the snow. Null was already adjacent to the wreck. The Tech-priest barked some kind of remote coded command over his shoulder which seemed to be meant for his servitors, which I sensed were now on their way here from deep inside the ship. My Sight also gave me a convenient view of how the rest of the crew responded. Zok, Kaas, and Ennoia were on their way, with Morai moving more slowly due to her injuries. Lian, unfortunately, had been in the middle of fastening a plate of power armor to his chest, and was now hastily detatching it. Rasputin, being himself, heard the command and simply wandered out of the sauna completely naked back to his room to put on his robes, not in any particular hurry.
I tried to collect myself so that I could help, but it appeared that I was somewhat overdrawn by my earlier stunts. A migraine was beginning to blossom around my temples. Instead of helping, I walked off to the side to keep myself out of the way so that everyone else could play hero now.
Alberich stood next to the wreckage and raised his arm. A pale glow blossomed around his head as he utilized his psyker powers to quench the flaming engines and to extinguish an area of spilt flaming fuel on the ground ahead of the shuttle. The fires died immediately, but this still felt like a dangerous situation.
Now that the fire was out, Null extended his mechadendrites as far as they could go and began to pull at the shuttle bay door, which appeared to be stuck. Alberich walked ahead and tried to help open the craft, but the two of them could not physically pop open the door.
I turned around, wondering when more help would be here. Virgil stood watching the scene with concern as he perched on the gangway a fair distance away. Since I was currently low on MP, I took on an observational role standing well away from the crashed shuttle, leaning on my staff as more dizziness struck me. I was aware that Wolfie was now at my feet, barking at the scene like any bad dog during a tense situation. I hushed him with a nudge of Sight, and in a fit of pique, the Warp dog decided to phase out of existence instead of being quiet. I extended my Corona in a protective warm glow in order to keep warm and protected from the wind. Black stars sparkled at the corners of my vision. I was not doing too well.
Ennoia, Kaas, and Zok appeared along with Null's favorite battle servitor, 77-X, which quickly walked with purpose to stand beside the Tech-priest, waiting for instruction.
"Stand back, the rest of you fleshlings! We still have a danger of explosion! 77-X, open the shuttle door!" Null immediately instructed. The burly servitor clamped his massive arms and mechadendrites behind a slight gap between the shuttle door and its frame, and began to pull along with Null himself.
Curious, and somewhat woozy, I looked away from the crash site and up toward the hills where the laser was said to have originated from. All I could physically see was a veil of cold grey shrouding the shadows of swaying treetops before the base of the hills. I felt my Corona slightly emerge as I swept my eye across the landscape, searching for whatever trouble was shooting lasers in my general direction.
My psychic eye was then immediately drawn to something that "felt" interesting, and an image of a grey-skinned elf creature with long dark hair appeared in my mind's eye. The being greatly resembled what Alberich had described, and wore lean brass armor lined with fur and exotic leathers. The alien had a long dark braided beard that was adorned with tiny gold beads along with long thick hair under a fur cap. His eyes were a pale cyan, and his features were angular and exotic. I knew immediately that this individual was not an Aeldari. I could also tell that they were peering out of a cave somewhere in the hills, but from our location, we couldn't visually see them in the snow. As I psychically analyzed him, I could feel the alien recoil at my mental touch as he stood beside something that looked like a clockwork brass cannon. I perceived one powerful thought as the connection severed:
"The master of the bird is a gold mage! A woman! We have been seen!"
I was surprised as I came back to myself. Behind me, I could hear someone heavily running in the snow, which momentarily spooked me until I saw that this was Lian. The shadow of a giant space marine wearing a dark body glove in the snow raced toward the wreck. The Fallen immediately dug his bare hands into where the two mostly-metal men were attempting to pry open the door. Lian's strength was finally enough, and the shuttle door bent open with a metal groan.
"I saw them!" I announced, walking back to the scene. "The aliens! Elves! With beards!"
"You did?" Alberich asked me. The Fallen Paladin crawled inside the wrecked shuttle without hesitation. Null ordered the rest of the crew to give him space.
"They're in the hills! I think they're watching us!" I exclaimed, pointing toward where I had seen the elf aliens.
Lian emerged from the wreck holding Magos Jinnicky from behind his shoulders, dragging him in the snow. He was conscious, but appeared very upset. Alberich summoned a psychic shield to shelter the rescue effort from the weather.
"The xenos! The blasted xenos shot me!" Jinnicky began to scream at the top of his lungs. The crazy Magos then turned toward me, and pointed with all his functional arms. "Praise the Omnissiah! Praise the Machine God! The Omnissiah is here to kill them all! Purge the filth and the unbelievers from the galaxy! Death, death!" The Magos then began to flail about madly, causing Lian to drop him in the snow, where he began to flail madly in overwhelming anger. My crew all backed away from the seizing spider Magos, as he appeared to have drawn some kind of crackling electric scourge, and was slamming it against the ground in his mad fury. Everyone then looked to me with pleading expressions, obviously looking to me to fix this situation with an act or an order.
Even though I was running on empty, I walked over to the hysterical Magos. With a sigh, I pulled a stream of gold energy from the Divine Retribution nearby to "top me off". I was probably going to be feeling this later, I thought. My heart ached as my Corona shimmered into existence once again. I had done this before when Null went crazy after Nubua, and I had no idea how it worked, but it did, so I decided to do it again.
"Be at peace, Magos Jinnicky," I said in my resonant voice, pushing my Sight through him and ordering him to calm the fuck down. "Just... just shut up and fucking relax!" In response, Jinnicky immediately calmed, and now, he sat on the ground, blinking his many eyes at me in what I interpreted as childlike bewilderment. There was a quiet strange moment when no one spoke, and the howling of the wind and the sparking of a destroyed engine was the only thing that could be heard over the frightful awe of my crewmembers.
"Omnissiah, praise you," Magos Jinnicky then stood up. Another of his eyes burnt out, leaving him with only five animated eyes out of his original eight. His voice then took a dark tone. "Kill them all, oh blessed Machine God! Exterminate your enemies!"
Before I could speak, my psyker senses then immediately perceived that we were being studied again from the hills. The cannon the aliens had appeared to possess had some sort of scope, and it could see through the obscuring snow! The elf-xenos fixed the scope on me!
"Oh no you don't!" I snarled. My crew recoiled at my anger, not understanding who was actually upsetting me. Angrily, I pulled on my mighty gold Empress powers, drawing deeply again from the well of power of the Divine Retribution while trying to ignore my aching heart and hesitating conscience. I turned upward, and with my furious energy, I was easily able to pinpoint exactly where these aliens were hiding in their little cave with their cute little laser cannon. My force staff began to brighten as I prepared to hurl a bolt of energy into the hills to destroy them. But then, something unexpected happened.
Mercy! A psychic voice rang clearly in my mind. Mercy, my lady! We mean you no harm! I could now perceive that their intentions were not to hit me with their cannon, but simply to observe the scene in the valley through the mess of the snow.
This didn't matter, however, as my teeth began to chatter in anticipation of destroying something, and my force staff continued to glow. My Corona surrounded me, and I felt a powerful instinct pushing me onward to obliterate anyone who would dare go against my people. These were aliens that had shot at us, so they had to die, it was as simple as that. I was divine retribution, so that was my function!
But, something was causing me to express restraint. A small part of me was alarmed at my brutal instinct, and did not want me to immediately kill the aliens that had behaved with previous aggression. I felt like I was being held back by a thread, and my humanity began to push through again!
In my jacket pocket, I was aware of a strange object that burned both hot and cold against both my body and soul. It seemed to be pulling the anger of the Divine Retribution's Imperative out of me. It enabled me to assert myself, and I found that I was lowering my staff.
The elf alien that had been speaking to me was now kneeling on the ground outside the cave, and he was no longer looking through the cannon's scope. He raised his hands above in a gesture of supplication. I could now perceive that xenos had a small halo of white of his own around his head as he pleaded to me. His two alien friends stood nearby. One was another bearded man, and the other was a woman.
Let us speak with you in person, my lady! We have no quarrel with you and your eagle-construct! We struck at the our enemy's shuttle and his drone, for he has done us great ill! But you, you do not attack us, so we do not wish to hurt you! We wish to engage in parley with you! the alien psyker transmitted to me. Please!
I took a deep breath, and the cold radiance of the bloodstone helped me to focus. My tunnel vision then began to subside, and I noticed that my crew stood around me, waiting for my command.
"They... want to talk with us," I announced haltingly. "The xenos. They want to talk."
No one spoke at all, so I decided to make the decision for everyone. "I want to talk to the aliens instead of killing them, so that's what we're doing." A part of me really did not like hearing that, and protested against that action before I was able to silence it. I smiled wanly, feeling triumphant that I now knew that the bloodstone worked! I had fought against the Imperative of the Divine Retribution, and I had succeeded in reining myself in!
"I did it!" I whispered in triumph, feeling a teardrop of blood crawl down my left eye and my right ear. "Yay me..." My vision began to blur again as I promptly passed out from overexertion.
