Date: D074. Y977. M31. MI60
What does it mean to be a psyker? For most species it would mean that a member of their kind had been born with the one in a billion, to one in a thousand depending on the species.
For example, from information gathered by Aeldari Farseers like himself, the chances for a human to be born a psyker were estimated to be one every hundred thousand births, not only that but it was much more common to be born a low level psyker than to be born an all powerful one.
As such every sentient being was a psyker to some capacity as every sentient being had a soul, it's just that the vast majority of sentient beings' powers are so weak that they can only ever be influenced by the warp and the psychic abilities of other, more powerful psykers.
But even if your psychic power was strong enough to be tangible and usable, not every psyker was as powerful as the next with each psyker being ranked on a list based on how powerful they could become, in short each individual psyker was different in terms of power, it is not a linear progression where you can endlessly get more powerful, at some point there was a limit.
The humans used a ranking system of power levels went as follows from weakest to strongest, omicron, kappa, lota, theta, zeta, delta, alpha and alpha plus, from that point on one would be unable to handle the psychic power that they had been born with and without mechanical assistance would implode from the sheer weight of warp energies that would flow through them.
If you were a reasonably powerful psyker that could control their abilities to a decent degree then you would have to choose one of five psychic disciplines, these were as follows Biomancy, Divination, Pyromancy, Telekinesis and Telepathy, these disciplines were very difficult to master usually taking decades to become proficient in one aspect of a discipline.
All of these reasons were what made the Aeldari unique compared to the rest of the galaxy, there was no random chance to be born a psyker as their entire race were psykers and due to their near immortality with the infinity circuit that allowed them to reincarnate over and over again, they could learn all of the disciplines that eluded the humans.
However, what the humans lacked in quality they made up for in absurd quantity, with psyker clones from the gene labs of Luna and from the psyker schools of Luna allowing them to churn out seemingly endless numbers to replace all of their losses as well as to drown them out in endless bodies.
Combine this with the long, drawn out and complex Aeldari reproduction cycle compared to the humans, made it so that humanity in general outnumbered the Aeldari over 1000 to 1, with the psyker population being estimated by Aeldari Path Masters to be 10 to one in favor of the humans.
As such it was standard military doctrine for all Sanctuary Farseers to never engage the enemy alone and to always stay with a group as to prevent a singular Farseer from being overwhelmed by the numerical advantage.
To maximize their advantage of quality they would always have to pick and choose their battles carefully, as well as build up numerous small advantages that would play into their favor, however in the end it was just more efficient to avoid all conflict with the ignorant Federation.
These were just some of the facts floating through the bored but vigilant mind of Turun Eldric, as the High Farseer of the Temple of Ynnead he maintained the infinity circuit and the clairvoyance along with a few dozen of his Farseers and their Warlocks.
This meant that he was bound to the capital Battlecrusier of the Temple of Ynnead and did not see much action on the ground like Meleth or command the fleet from the command bridge like Tathyan, the few times he thought of this fact he would feel the poison like emotion of jealousy.
Sometimes he reminisced about the times before they had returned to Biel-Tan when they still traveled with the Commorragh Corsairs during the middling days of the Sanctuary, when they were younger and more naive and did not have to contend with the serpents of the galaxy.
But alas reality was often disappointing and shifting through his memories would not fix that issue, although that reasoning also did not prevent him from disliking or being frustrated with how he had become the High Farseer and how it had affected his life.
When they had returned to Biel-Tan and overthrown the first leader of the Temple of Ynnead, Tathyan had become the High Priestess and despite their being more experienced, skilled and capable Farseers she had given the position to him, the only reason he could think of for this decision was that fact the they were lifelong friends.
But she had not consulted him first to ask him if he even wanted the position, the responsibility or if he had other aspirations and goals he wanted to achieve, she had not even assessed if he had the skills to competently run the position.
In short she had given him a position that he was unready and unqualified for as well as did not aspire to, these were just a few reasons why he had been and still is frustrated with their current arrangement, not to mention that he did not even want to be the High Farseer.
What he had wanted was to travel the stars and to see its many wonders, he had gotten a piece of that when he and Tathyan were traveling with the Corsairs as they had traveled to many places from the Eastern Fringe in the east to the Ghoul Stars in the west.
But it had always been in the context of a military operation or a diplomatic initiative, never just there to explore and see what laid before them, and they never stayed long enough to actually explore these places in depth so all he could get was a relative glance at best, only even seeing what was on the surface.
Maybe all of his issues were childish, maybe they could be solved in an instant, maybe he should just accept that he needed to take on some responsibility instead of frolicking across the galaxy, so many maybes and what ifs floated around his head that caused him to have doubts and concerns.
The issues still remained however and no amount of talking to her would fix it, he could (never) see the reasoning in his head, she had needed someone she trusted and respected at the time and vice versa, so the fact that he was not qualified did not really matter at the time, he could get better and thankfully he did, albeit slowly.
But overall he did not like being the High Farseer, the pressure and responsibility was something he never wanted nor sought out, even so he would do his duty as he (never) understood why she had done what she did, but he knew deep down he could never truly forgive her, and that drove a large but near invisible wedge between them.
Then there was Meleth, her truly didn't have much to say about her as they had never 'clicked' as the humans would put it, the only reason they ever really interacted was their duties as both High Farseer and Phoenix Lord respectively, in short Tathyan and their duty was the glue that kept them together.
It was then that he detected a presence approaching his oversight cambers, named as such due to being the place that he would not only worked with the infinity circuit and battle for the clairvoyance, but also do his duty in general, like making sure the fleet and its crew were running at top efficiency.
Anyhow this presence was one that he almost immediately deduced to be one of the many Warlocks under his command, "my lord, High Farseer I have important orders from the High Priestess" the Warlock said respectfully through the infinity circuit, and orders from Tathyan? He was rarely ever needed for something specific so this was important.
"Speak quickly Warlock, my time is invaluable and you are dipping into it" Turun said, the Warlock seemed nervous as they quickly delivered the orders "The H-High Priestess has or-ordered for you to deploy upon the surface of the p-planet within the next s-six hours" the Warlock said.
He was to be deployed on the ground "and for what reason" he questioned "The str-strike force lead by the Hi-High Phoenix has encountered resistance wit-within the facility, with casualties already mounting" the Warlock said, thank the gods that they had gotten over their nervousness at the end.
"And she wishes for me to extend the clairvoyance to the facility via my presence on said planet" Turun concluded "yes that is about it" the Warlock said, Turun mentally shook his head and he pinched the bridge of his nose with his two fingers at the headache he was getting.
When he mentally looked back up he saw that the Warlock was still there within the infinity circuit seeming waiting for something to happen "What are you still doing here?, return to your Farseer and your studies" Turun commanded, the Warlock quickly nodded and left.
"Damn blockhead" Turun muttered as he exited the infinity circuit, as he exited back into reality Turun opened his eyes to see the room around him, the room was dark with only the incense candles that he had lit providing any light, they illuminated the small room and showed him that he was exactly where he was when he had entered the infinity circuit.
Looking around he examined the barren walls and the multiple salt rings around his current location, he was very careful to examine all the small details within the room as Chaos was always keen on playing tricks on anyone they could get their vile hands on, but given the powerful runes that lined all Ynnead ships he was most likely just paranoid.
Standing up he was happy with the lack of change in the room and did a few stretches to get the blood flowing after sitting down in a single position for so long, the numbness in his limbs fading as his oxygenated blood flowed through his flesh and muscles, the stretching exercises cracking a few tight joints providing momentary satisfaction.
After taking a moment to simply stare off into nothing, thoughts of doubt swirling through his head, Turun would then walk to the door and exit the meditation room, the door opening up into a hallway that would lead him to his desired destinations, which would include the meditation room his second in command was and his personal armory in his quarters.
He would do both of those things in the aforementioned order as to be the most efficient, after those two things were done he planned on nabbing about two dozen Farseers from their important duties in order to assist him, 'the consequence matters not, let her deal with it' Turun thought, if he was to leave in only six hours then he would need to get all of his affairs in order.
That is what brought him to the meditation room of his second in command, Mela Oranth, technically he had no 'second in command' he only had favorites that he often chose to carry out his will, and in terms of experience, competency and skill she was one of the best Farseer's that he trusted to keep things in order.
He had sent her a warning of his arrival a little while ago as to not catch her unprepared and to have her be prepared so that this took a little time as possible, because to be honest he was a little excited to actually be proactive and effect the situation on the ground, even if it was to be a glorified extension cord.
Standing in front of the entrance to the mediation room, Turun would then lightly knock on the door getting a simple "enter" in response, entering the meditation room it looked very similar to his own but instead of bare walls and floor there were complex artworks and designs that obviously took a lot of time, effort and skill.
'She is certainly skilled' Turun thought, taking a moment to examine the beautiful artworks "impressed?, High Farseer?" Mela asked, as she took off her painter's apron that was covered in paint and a bit of her own blood, this didn't alarm him though as artists regularly used their own blood in an art piece to give certain aspects of a painting more meaning.
Said practice, known as Blood Emulsion, went back to the times before the Aeldari had even reached the stars over 60 million years, an ancient technique that allowed the painter to foster a deeper connection between the art and the artist, so the artist could communicate a deeper message through the art, at least that's what she told him.
"It certainly is impressive, but if I may ask where did you get the time to make it?" he questioned, she just smiled as she put away her apron and used her telekinesis to put her paints and tools away, "oh you know I found time here and there in between assignments, I am your favorite after all" she teased with a small giggle.
He felt his cheeks start to redden but he quickly shoved it down, this visit was for business not pleasure, "yes, you are i'll admit that, but i'm afraid I dont not have much time, and a lot to do" he said, she was turned around and taking out her armor but he could tell that she was disappointed.
"The High Priestess never gives you much time does she?" Mela said a slight amount of anger being felt in her words "she is demanding, that's for certain, but you know I can not just deny any order she gives me, if she did then she would become suspicious, then-" "then we would eventually be caught and a scandal would befall the Temple, I know" she said cutting him off.
At this point she had put on her armor, an expertly and artfully crafted masterpiece that allowed for a large degree of protection and flexibility, and now stood only a few feet away, Turun went to speak to finally get down to business but was silenced by Mela's finger on his lips.
"You're so concerned with all of this responsibility and pressure, you put on a fake smile for the masses and say things you don't want to, Turun do you know what this sounds like?" she questioned, he took a second to answer but she still beat him to it "a liar that's what, and I hate liars" she said, he now knew where this was going and made no attempt to stop it.
"But you know what is the worst type of liar?" she asked, he shook his head for a no "someone who lies to themselves" she answered "Turun, I know your not happy with your position, you hid it well but I figured it out after a while" she said, at this point the conversation had taken a complete 180 from what he had intended but he felt that he needed to hear this.
"What's impressive is that you have kept in under wraps and denied it for so long, and as someone who has known you for centuries and also cares for you very deeply, I can't stand that" she said, he couldn't help but felt slightly ashamed at that moment "thats is true, but as much as I dislike it I am in an unwinnable situation, as the High Farseer cannot legally pursue a relationship" he said.
"Really?" she asked rhetorically "because I have a solution that I believe is guaranteed to work" she said, he gave her a confused expression which she rolled her eyes at "just quit this, quit this lie, this never ending cycle of unhappiness, we can find somewhere to live, somewhere to build a life" she said, she was now right in front of him.
Before he could respond she would finish off her long paragraph "I… have not told anybody about this, but I plan to leave soon, I have found that I am unable to pursue my true dreams here, I wish to be an artist, a creator, in fact I only ever joined because of my family's uh… economic situation" she confessed with a dash of embarrassment coloring her last few words.
For a few seconds he truly considered the pros and cons of this course of action, but quickly realized that he didn't care about that, no, what he did truly care about was her, not the position or 'honor' of being the High Farseer nor did he truly feel like he had any obligation to continue.
In truth his relationship with Tathyan had crumbled over the last few centuries with only his refusal to accept the reality preventing him from moving on, it was then the fact that he and Tathyan should have taken different paths in life long ago hit him like a brick, so much of his life wasted, well it was not an entire waste he had met Mela after all.
As such it was a non issue when he decided, "I… agree, I'm not happy here and given the privileges afforded to me, I should have figured out how to fix it long ago, I will go with you, for I could not live without you" he confessed, her smile was massive, and her emotions were even more wild, it almost made him concerned for her health with how crazy they were.
"However" he began "given where we are now in the middle of the Temple's Fleet and in the middle of Federation territory, and the fact that I do not have a ring at the moment" he said sheepishly, in complete contrast with her emotional state "We will complete our assignments and continue on as normal until we return to the Sanctuary" he finished, for a single moment he was scared that she would be upset or disappointed.
But his fears were almost instantly slain as she hugged and kissed him, mumbling an agreement, all the while he looked up at her artwork, it was the symbol of Ynnead colored as if to look like a portal to the stars, it was a blocky infinity symbol that floated above a triangle that was connected to a cross with three lines going through it.
Said symbol was a form of hope and despair, it meant many things but embodied them all at the same time, at this point he could take it as either, life had not been kind to him during his childhood, with his parents being killed when he was young, a story that was frighteningly common in that galaxy, and him being forced into being a child soldier, and now having spent most of life being unhappy and unfulfilled.
But perhaps this was life's way of paying him back, so he took one of the greatest risks he could in this cruel galaxy, he decided to have hope for a better future, soon they separated with only a few more emotion filled words being shared.
Afterwards he went on to complete his list even more effectively than usual, at the end he had over two dozen Farseers, all of their Warlocks, and all of their equipment and vessels ready for deployment, all the while a sense of new beginning filled his tired soul, but he did not let that distract him at the moment.
After all he had to do his duty one final time.
—-
Date: D076. Y977. M31. MI60
Within the chaotic, everchanging and mathematically impossible space that was the warp, concealed by numerous forbidden ancient technologies and holy rituals thought lost to time and ignorance, that those arrogant idiots in the citadel thought were too 'far gone' and gruesome, was the fleet of the Followers of the Omnissiah.
'Well a small cog in machine at least' Alpha Cor 50/1 thought 'and one what will become the largest cog of them all' she thought as she dived back into her thoughts, currently her fleet was traveling with the fleet of the traitorous Galaxia Warrior and his three clueless puppets, 'what a motley crew' Alpha Cor thought with pure spite.
She stared at the many large tubes of liquid that contained her many of personal creations and projects while standing at her workbench, wires and cables ran out from the back of her head and from her six hands, she had stood here for over a day while rhythmically going over the status of her fleet and its occupants.
When she had finished her analyst of every critical and non important function she had redirected most of her attention back to the issues at hand like for example the large fleet of flesh bags and metal puppets she was currently sailing with, now there were most likely some questions to be asked here.
One, why did she agree to sail at their side if she despised them?, secondly why was Annu a traitor to her, the Followers and to the all knowing Omnissiah?, lastly, what even was her goal here?, what did she hope to achieve by 'helping' someone she perceived to be a traitor?.
Well despite that fact that Molech itself was a juicy target, for the lay beneath was rumored to be the 'Key' to the creation of… something, something powerful, but it was just that a rumor, but given how Annu planned to go their he clearly put a lot of stock in these rumors or perhaps his master did, she did not know their personal beliefs and she didn't care to learn them.
First of all to even began to approach this topic, it was perdenat to explain her position within the Followers of the Omnisaiah and what it was, the glorious and progressive Followers of the Omnisaiah were a loose collection of an uncountable number of small organizations known as Mechanical Cults and Contrivance Churches, with the later being made up of multiple of the former.
Each Mechanical Cult was led by what was known as a Tech-Priest, with their underlings being known as Gadget-Disciples, with those under Gadget-Disciples simply being the mass amounts servitors and slaves that fueled the industrial, scientific complexes of every Contrivance Church and thus the entirety of the Followers of the Omnisaiah.
Contrivance Churches on the other hand were created when multiple cults came together, usually to oppose another church and were led by a Technophile Bishop, the reason to oppose one another? Well, the Followers believed that the only way humanity could ever progress was through constant, all out, brutal warfare as proved by the advancements during the wars of the beast, the grave minds and the iron revolt.
These wars were what fueled the rapid development that seemed to cause the old ignorant heads at the citadel to froth at the mouth and scream in horror at the wonderful creations that were endlessly designed and produced, such a lack of imagination was expected for those who denied the rightful overlordship of the Omnisaiah who represented and was the origin for all knowledge, facts and human technology.
Take for example herself, she was the Technophile Bishop of the Contrivance Church known as the Church of the Broken Dragon, with this power base and the divine mandate of the Omnisaiah she ruled most of the planet of May Pain's Forge, but not all churches or cults had the same structure obviously.
She had renamed it after her previous life before she had learned the certainty of steel, when she was still in a disgusting flesh bag of a body and before she had learned how holy numbers and facts truly were in their certainty, now with the planets numerous hell forge's there were only a few small and divided Mechanical Cult's politically and territorially opposing her within the depths of its underhives.
It had taken thousands of years for her to achieve her current position and level of power and to ensure that she could keep it long term, but she had large ambitions still, the dozens of drones that made up her body hummed in something that could almost be classified as excitement as she imagined herself claiming the holy jewel of followers, the God's Forge.
The God's Forge was to put it simply the Omnisaiahs answer to the decrepit Old Gods of the Eldar when it came to the ancient city of Commorragh, like said city, the God's Forge was a system spanning complex of factories, forges, facilities and machinery that was formed into over 13 rings that surrounded a star known as the 'eye of the Omnissiah' also known as Alpha Centauri.
The God's Forge was situated deep within the warp and was almost impossible find for those who were not specifically blessed and granted the way by the Omnisaiah, but even for those who did, to put it mildly from the rumors that floated around, it was not a child friendly place nor did it codel weakness like those self righteous fools in the citadel who continually desecrated holy Mars with their very presence.
To finally get to its creation, over 20 million years ago when the failed prophet of the Omnisaiah, Kelbor Hal, took his followers, broke away from the fools of the citadel and joined Hourian Phodas in his crusade, Kelbor would then set out to create a forge that could fuel any war imaginable, a complex that could rival the massive size of Commorragh, and a laboratory where all of the Omnisaisah's desires could be met, and create he did.
With the resources of almost half of the Federation at his disposal and dozens of forbidden technologies giving him the means, Kelbor would use the ancient star of Alpha Centauri, dragging it into the warp and using the warps fluid psychics to enable and expedite the process of construction, and with the building site being so deep in the warp nobody could challenge its completion.
From the few stories and records she could get her hands on it would appear that the forge was finished at the tail end of the first Demonic Crusade, from there she could summarize that Kelbor took his forces and rejoined Hourian as he barrelled towards Terra and holy Mars in the finale offensive of the first Daemonic Crusade.
Intent on claiming Mars for himself, Kelbor brought a large majority of his forces and many ancient, invaluable technologies, along with almost all of the Technophile Bishop's and their respective Tech-Priest's and their creations, such a force numbered in the dozens of millions and had a real chance of claiming back holy Mars for its rightful inheritors.
From what she could scrounge up it was a bloody affair as to be expected with millions of Dark Skitarii, Eviscerator Engines, Defilers and Brass Scorpions being lost along with many more ancient weapons of war, with even the vaunted Titan Legions of the Collegia Titanica taking heavy losses to the entrenched and cowardice of the citadel as well as their new creations made specifically to hard counter the forces of Kelbor, such as the Silver Soldiers.
You see the name Dark Skitarii was a very loose and wide definition, they were in essence a human who had been fused with some kind of ranged weapon on one arm and a melee weapon on the other, with a slightly more advanced servitor attached to them, basically making they what a normal person would consider a 'mechanical zombie'.
Meanwhile Eviscerator Engines, Defilers and Brass Scorpions had a much more strict definition, the first is About the size of a Rhino, Eviscerators are armed with several limbs and hooks for close combat and Photon Thruster Cannons for ranged firepower and sadistic in nature due to the daemon they infuse with it, as such they were cheap and made up a large percentage of her forces infantry.
Meanwhile the Defiler was basically a large gun platform on six crab like legs that support a set of four auto cannons and one large tank gun, combine that with its large claws and pincher arms, and you have a devastating weapon of mass carnage at close to medium range, however they were a bit more taxing to create so they were put together in groups of 30 at max and 10 at minimum.
Then there was the Brass Scorpions, large and powerful war machines that were shaped in the form of the ancient terran scorpion, these machines were always equipped with a large set of pincher claws although other weapons such as its laser point defense system also allowed it to provide anti air support, but imbued with predator instincts, they were natural killers and could wipe out masses of infantry.
Lastly was something of her own creation and it was made specifically to counter the Galaxia Warriors, how you may ask? Well the warriors were strong, smart, superhuman in almost all capacities with their gene and organ enhancements, but like all things they needed oxygen to breathe and while they had pressured suits, one small hole and they were dead to the void, which is exactly what the machine she was staring at in the large tube was supposed to do.
She called them Void Punchers, you know those hole punchers or paper punchers?, well that was their purpose, this concept probably existed somewhere out in the galaxy, but she didn't care, how they worked was to put it simply it was a drone that would latch on to any target and use a corrosive adhesive and would 'punch' a hole in their armor, very simple but very effective.
All of these were only a few of the many creations of the followers, but she only used these few as to keep her forces cheap but effective, and to not drown her forces in ineffective and counterproductive designs which many were, but that had not mattered to the Failed Prophet, who took everything he could get his hands on and threw them at the entrenched Martian Citadel, inflicting heavy loses.
But they had, had support from the now extinct Galaxia Warrior Legions of the Night Lords, Alpha Legion, Word Bearers and the Anathemas Children, along with the still living legions of the Thousand Sons, Death Guard, World Eaters and Sons of Hourian (now known as the Cosmic Scholars, Toxic Guard, Crimson Order and Warriors of Hourian respectively) in the form of many companies and experienced champions of Chaos Undivided.
But alas it was not to be and their greatest chance was lost when Hourian decided to withdraw all Galaxia Warriors from Mars, and thus they betrayed the prophet and left them to a grinding war of attrition that destroyed most of the holy forges and sites of Mars and left most of the Technophile Bishop's, who were considered heroes, such as Lukas Chrom, Yelav Draykavac, Urtzi Malevolus, Decius Abraxas all missing and presumed dead.
Although these aforementioned few had eventually returned through their own means and had made the Followers ever stronger and more advanced for it, many more notable and arguably genius followers had been cut down and killed, with almost all of the ancient technologies and powerful ground forces being lost when Hourian was decisively defeated in the Battle for the Fields of Verdun by Robute Guilliman.
Even still they had breached the gates of Olympus Mons, the capital of Holy Mars and the seat of the Citadel and had the forces of the Philosopher General, Yarc Haphian the lead of the Martian Citadel, on the back foot and backed into a corner, until the refile efforts for the Federation arrived in the form of Pertuabo and his Iron Warriors, a vast legion of brainwashed fodder that swept the Prophets forces back into the warp.
Since then there had been dozens of wars between the followers and the chaos aligned Galaxia Legions, in these wars the legions had destroyed dozens of sacred technologies and desecrated numerous holy sites, so excuse her if calling them traitors was considered a bit far fetched, which it was not.
With that out of the way, and back to the point, to put it shortly her goal was to kill Annu and his puppets, well not kill but capture, that much should have been obvious and simple for anybody to figure out including the Galaxia Warrior that she had just detected and who was approaching her office on board her capital ship the 'Claw of May Pain'.
As the Galaxia Warrior approached her workshop/laboratory she imagined and came up with dozens of designs of machines that could tear them apart within seconds such a thing almost filled her head with the chemical the induced joy though she did not allow it to enter her now small and insignificant circulatory system.
You see with so many Galaxia Legions having been destroyed over the 20 million years since the first Daemonic Crusade and with the surviving ones being either out of reach or in too large of a group to strike at (and the ones loyal to the Federation not even existing as an entity anymore nor being important enough for a ritual), killing one and turning them into one's own creation in a sacred ritual would in turn being great prestige to whoever committed such an act.
If she managed to sacrifice Annu to the Omnisaiah then she had a good chance, by her many, many estimates, that she would be blessed by the Omnisaiah and would be able to obtain reliable travel to the God's Forge, from there she could begin to pursue all of her goals and aspirations.
'SSSHHHHHH' the door hissed as it opened to a lone Galaxia Warrior 'the traitor arrives' she thought her drones buzzing with something akin to rage just below her cloak, she forced them down and to be silent as it would be "improper" to threaten a supposed ally 'if only for the time being' she thought.
"Ah it is good to see you, my… acquaintance" Annu said sarcastically, she did not even turn around as with the flick of her wrist all of the rooms defensive measures came online, Daemon Engines, laser batteries and eviscerator force fields quickly came online quickly surrounding the singular Galaxia Warrior who was standing as still as a statue.
Only then did she turn around, her one red eye peeking through the shadow of her cloak, she used a few tools within her retina to look over and examine the warrior near instantly, not that she had not done that already when they had first met but it never hurts to be thorough.
"Get to the point, give me the STC and the deal will be official" she demanded, STC stood for Standard Template Construct and were essentially digital blueprints of adaptable, easily reproducible, hyper advanced tech that was from and maintained maintained by a Machine Spirit (or an A.I from what those simpletons at the Citadel called it) from the era before the Federation known as the Long Night.
The Long Night itself was a mysterious and nearly undocumented 20 million long stretch of human history that nearly all STC's originate from, but for reasons unknown Humanity technologically devolved and lost most of the hyper advanced tech that had presumably allowed Humanity to colonize and dominate the galaxy.
As such they were considered holy artifacts created by the Omnisaiah itself and scattered throughout the galaxy, while the citadel only considered them 'lost tech' that was the largest understatement of all of history, "I predicted that you should have gained patience after all these long years, I guess my miscalculated" Annu said his tone shifting back to being serious.
That sentence momentarily caught her attention, did they know each other? Well maybe from before she joined the followers but she had long rid herself of those bits of memory as they only took up space within her memory banks and did not provide meaningful data for her to use in this day and age.
"Did you now?" she asked sarcastically, venom dripping from her voice "because from where I stand you are holding out on me" she said, the many weapons under her control powering up "how about this, give me the damned STC, and I won't end your existence" she threatened.
In response Annu would simply stare at her, before he vanished in a surge of psychic power, she quickly used her utilized her personally warptech creations within her brain and eyes enhance her perception of reality, allowing reality to appear in slow motion to her and allowing her to react to the Orca rifle on the back of her head.
She quickly ducked by falling to one knee, the bullet from the rifle taking a chunk out of her shoulder, meanwhile she redirected the weapons systems and summoned her drones to consume the Galaxia Warrior, from many hidden alcoves and chambers her drones came rushing out, while the drones that made up her body separated from each other.
Annu would then exit back into her ship with a flash of lightning standing in her previous position, soon thousands of drones swirled around the room all synchronized with each other, a constant hum sounding throughout the room as a tornado of drones trained their guns on the Galaxia Warrior, and with her head hidden in the mass of drones Annu would not be able to target her one weakness.
But even so they still had the leverage so she did not fire, as Annu would take out a small two inch thick disc that glowed with an ominous purple outline "it was worth the attempt" Annu said "another puppet would be a large boon my masters efforts", she would only mentally scowl and form a large hand with her drones in response as the rest filed out of the room "give it to me, you traitor, less you wish to die here, your soul torn to ribbons by the very entities that claim to serve you" she threatened.
Annu merely handed her the disc not paying her threat any attention "soon, you will realize who the true god of the warp and subsequently humanity is, your ambition is a strong sign" he said, in response she would just glare and begin to reform her the structure of her body as he then vanished back into the warp if only to reappear somewhere far away, but that didn't concern her.
Taking the STC in her hand she prepared to open it if only to get a glimpse of its contents, it was then however that a flurry of reports and analysis were completed and sent to her, from them she quickly gleaned that she unfortunately did not have time to search through the STC as they had arrived at Molech and were exiting that warp as planned.
'May the Omnisaiah damn your soul' she thought spitefully as she had her drones take the STC to a secure location with her dimensional vault, a vault that utilized another STC to create a pocket dimension that only she could access, she would have placed this pocket dimension all over her ship and lab as a security measure, but the materials were nigh impossible to come across these days.
'But enough of that' she thought as she left her lab and made her way to the bridge, she would need to get to the bridge to command and lead her forces efficiently, and given the fact that it was not too far away by design, by her design, she would get there very quickly.
It was there that she found her subordinates, first was the Skitari General of the armed forces, Eta-Mu, the Tech-Priest of the Mechanical Cult of the Gleaming Gea, with a red and gold trimmed cloak like hers but instead of a single red eye covered in shadow, he had his hood down to reveal his still face which was a careful crafted mess of gears and wires as to appear as a face with the rest of his head appearing to be glass.
He had served her well for thousands of years, was competent and loyal, nothing more.
Next was the Hell Air General, Lota-0, the Tech-Priest of the Mechanical Cult of the Inwicus Forge, the only interesting thing of note was that the Cult that Lota-0 ruled was not native to May Pain's Forge instead they were technically refugees from another forge that they had been evicted from by another Contrivance Church from their native planet, they were useful allies nothing more.
Then in front and around her, in a semi circle were the many admirals of her fleet, none of them really mattered or were that interesting in the grand scheme of things, so much so see could not even find their names in her memory banks 'a problem to look at for another time' she could not torture them when they betrayed her if she did not know their identities.
Even so they all bowed by falling to one knee in front of her showing their submission to her authority "my holy, high Bishop" Eta-Mu greeted to the room and its occupants, which were mostly servitors "general" she replied curtly before continuing "I take it you all know your places and the plan?" she questioned.
A few would shake their heads with a verbal no, others did nothing, a few more said yes, she could not tell if they were lying about their knowledge and if they were she would make sure they knew.
A few cries of pain would sound out as she made the transfer of data to their memory banks a bit to fast for them to comprehend with their inferior brains and tech that they had, curiosity of herself of course, meanwhile she spared the other two in the room with her as it would achieve nothing to harm them right now as with such close proximity, she reasoned, they both had few thoughts of betrayal.
"Now that you know for certain, you are dismissed" she commanded, all of the holocalls would them shut down, leaving only the three of them and the many servitors, their deformed, pale and misshapen bodies pacing back and forth with rusting and in some cases falling apart machinery attached to their heads and spines.
"It is good you are both here" she stated to that both Mu and Lota would simply nod their heads "we are happy to serve my, high Bishop" Lota said in a monotone and binary voice, Mu merely rolled his gear eyes in response to Alpha Kor's annoyance, so she silenced both them with a glare.
"I have an important mission for you two" she stated "Eta Mu you will be deployed to the surface, you will take whatever the Galaxia Warrior and his puppets find for myself" she said while tuning to Lota "and you will command your forces to hang back, you will await my orders" she said.
Both of them looked interested in what Alpha was planning but she didn't feed their curiosity only dismissing them to their duties as she stared out at the rapidly shifting reality outside of the fleet, they were just about finished with transitioning from the warp to reality, in the distance on a backdrop of the black abyss and shining stars was the Eldar Fleet around the planet of Molech.
In a grand total they had around 212 Destroyers, 57 Cruisers, 38 Battleships and 3 Aircraft Carriers, much of this however is from what she would consider inferior those being the now Chaos corrupted Federation ships that Annu and his master had apparently acquired at some unknown point, but it mattered not as she knew that her fleet was advanced and ready for whatever challenge came its way.
A small smile formed in her mind as she began to prepare for her own advancement at the expense of everyone else in this system, however it was then that another flurry of reports filled her vision and hud, another fleet was entering the Molech system, quickly she aimed her optics at the other fleet and was met with a symbol that caused her a large amount of displeasure and headache.
It was the symbol for the Inquisitorial Galaxis, or just the inquisition 'so they want to mess with things out of their control and authority?' she thought as a new plan began to take shape in her mind, although it would take a bit of time to implement, she had all the time she needed as it was almost guaranteed that some ships had fallen behind and needed to catch up, as she stared out of the bridge she smiled at her own computerized thoughts.
'Let them try, for they'll be the architects of their own destruction'
—-
Date: D076. Y977. M31. MI60 (2 hours later TST)
As the flagship of the relatively large Inquisitorial Fleet exited warp two hours ago alongside the many destroyers, cruisers, battleships and the few carriers they could field, it gave off a striking and intimidating image that was made to set the tone for this battle, with such large fleets in one system only one could come out victorious.
This was the image that Hector Rex, the now Fleetmaster of Juskium's Inquisitorial Fleet, had sought to portray and all in all he thought that he did a fairly good job at it, but such intimidation tactics were only useful in the opening stages of a battle, they would do them no good in the heat of it.
That was why he was currently standing at the holotable with a 3D map of the Molech system alongside his admirals who were there in the form of a holocall and a few of his many acolytes in order to get his plans across personally.
In total he had 247 Destroyers, 74 Cruisers with a equal mix of both the heavy and light classes, 46 Capital ships and 10 Aircraft Carriers stocked full of Thunderbolt air superiority fighters, Lightning escort fighters and Starhawk bombers equipped with anti starship bombs and missiles to deal serious damage to the enemy.
Speaking of the enemy, he did not have much information about either fleets of the two enemy fleets in the system, he didn't know their numbers, fleet composition or what their strategy could possibly be.
Although with scans and reports coming back from the Auger scanners he did know that he outnumbered both individually not not together and that the smaller fleet was not influenced by chaos, which was a small surprise.
Then there was his own goals for this little 'investigation' which included the liberation of the citizens of Molech from their Chaos related occupiers and to destroy the two enemy fleets in his way, with the underlying goals of reasserting inquisitorial authority across the Juskium sector and to suppress any possible rebellions against the state, those last two goals were arguably the easiest with the hard part now staring him in the face.
The question he now faced was how to proceed, do they take on the smaller fleet to destroy any chance of them escaping or intervening?, do they engage the larger fleet and destroy the chaos fleet before they could enact their plans? There were just too many variables to consider and a perfect decision was likely not possible here.
As such he had quickly decided on a simple effective course of action, he would first order his forces in a defensive formation that would move towards Molech while staying together and utilizing their presumably large air advantage to harass and soften up the enemy, they were not under any pressure due to a lack of time or resources so they could afford to simply wait for the best opportunity.
But at the same time he would not stand by and allow Chaos to do whatever they wanted, he had rushed and urged the Grandmaster to deal with this threat and he planned to stick to that, Chaos could not be allowed to have time to breath as such his efforts would be focused on the Chaos Fleet with raids and positioning to strike them as soon as possible.
As he communicated these things to his admirals however it was then that Ismood Kar of the Martian Citadel entered the bridge "good afternoon Fleetmaster" Ismood greeted happily, strange normally he would be short and to the point, something that allowed the both of them to work together effectively.
"Greetings Headmaster but if I may ask, what has you in such a… decent mood?" Rex asked, it was then that he noticed that the Headmaster had on a royal blue cloak with white trimming that was worn loosely around his body showing off his combat suit underneath and did nothing to hide the cybernetics that had replaced his limbs.
The Headmaster just laughed in response "because Fleetmaster, the Auger arrays have recently come back" Ismood said bringing out a data pad from the sleeve of his cloak, his arm extending into a spaghetti noodle like appendage with a hand at the end of it as he plugged it into the holotable.
The 3D map of the Molech system, which was just two planets orbiting around a sun zoomed in on the Chaos fleet in the system and would highlight a smaller portion of the fleet enlarging them for convenience sake and providing a text bubble that explained what they were looking at.
Rex would raise his eyebrow in interest as he read the word bubble "this is a Ark Mechanicus Class Battleship" Ismood said before selecting another ship "and this is a Maestrale Class Cruiser, this all but confirms the presence of those religious zealots who play pretend as enlightened scholars and revolutionaries" Ismood said his voice mixed with some anger.
Rex knew of the hatred that existed between the Followers and the Citadel, it was practically an open secret in the high echelons of government although the inquisition rightfully suppressed all public information regarding the Followers.
Still, it was common knowledge that the Followers were created by a traitor and as such while Rex did not care for the Followers beyond how they threatened the inquisition and humanity as a whole, the hatred and loathing between the Followers and the Citadel went far beyond that for obvious reasons.
Then there was the matter of the now obviously corrupted Federation ships, they were modern designs so they were not from the previous Daemonic Crusades which was a relief to learn, but even so recently corrupted ships highlighted the much deeper issues of the Federation, but anyhow he was getting off track.
"That is an accurate analysis but I must remind you Headmaster that this is my fleet and I will make the best decisions to ensure our enemies destruction" Rex said basically saying 'this is my fleet, don't get any ideas' which was immediately picked up by Ismood who glared at the inquisitor before deciding to let it go and focus his emotions on the true enemy.
With that Rex would layout his strategy, zooming back out to the map there was the star in the center of the system with the battle going to take place in the northeastern quadrant of the system as the planet of Molech and Molech Secundus were in the northeastern quadrant, they were at the at edge of the Mandeville point, the minimum distance one can exit a star system and enter it, close to the north of the system.
Meanwhile the Chaos Fleet was also close to the Mandeville point but was closer to its most eastern portion while it waited for stragglers to catch up, and lastly the other fleet which was now coming up to be a small fleet was stationed at Molech in a defensive posture while a few of their smaller ships were leaving Molech Secundus to attempt to join up with the main body of their fleet.
Estimates on the Chaos fleet placed their numbers at about 204 Destroyers, 48 Cruisers, 37 Battleships and 4 Aircraft Carriers, a sizable and devastating force that would not be easy to overcome, but with strategy and tactics any challenge could be defeated and brought to heel, any obstacle could be destroyed.
'SSSHHH' it was then that the door to the bridge opened and a crew member came running in interrupting Rex and his thought process ], he hated having his thought process interrupted, as did anyone he would assume "my lord I have an important report from the Martian students working the Augur-".
Turning to the crew member his voice would make his frustration obvious "someone better be dying or else" he growled out, the man stopped in his tracks and would simply look down in shame before speaking "if it satisfies you my lord, my grandfather is terminally ill my lord" the man said the whole room would be quiet in an awkward silence as the ironic and depressing nature of the situation missed nobody.
Mentally face palming Rex would correct himself before moving on to this report "apologizes…" Only now did it cross his mind that he obviously didn't know the name of a random member of the crew "John Sumium, my lord" the man he now knew as John Sumium provided "ah yes, apologies Mr. Sumium, now the report" Rex said.
Sumium quickly nodded and walked over to the holotable, the data pad was quickly plugged in and just like the data about the Chaos Fleet it zoomed in but this time on the smaller fleet quickly highlighting and giving them descriptions of just who their enemy was,
As Rex read the little tex bubble he could not help but smile under his helmet, perhaps caution was no longer necessary as from what he had just learned the other smaller fleet was the Eldar, and not the Domain but the Sanctuary 'there must be something valuable on Molech for them to come all the way out here to this backwater' Rex concluded.
His reasoning was simple, the Sanctuary Eldar were reclusive and were in a perpetual war with their cousins in the Domain which they could be considered to be losing given the fact that the Kabals controlled all of the Eldar's territories in the Material, anyway the point was that the Sanctuary did not do anything for a reason and to come all the way out here? To the backwater that was Molech they must have a good reason.
Thus it was safe to assume that the Chaos Fleet was here for similar purposes, it was nearly impossible to gather a chaos force this large if there was not some strong incentive for them to do so, so in conclusion they were planning to simply destroy the Eldar and take what was on Molech, that meant one thing, him and his fleet were the wildcard here as the other two did not expect for such a swift response from the Federation.
And so logic only dictated that the best course of action was not for them to simply wait, that was the worst course if action actually, no it was to act now and to act fact to destroy one of their enemies while they were still adjusting to their arrival, and so he would look up at his admirals and the Headmaster to voice his new plan.
"Admirals" he said getting their attention "there has been a change of plans, we will first split up into two groups, group Magna and group Parvum with 175 of our destroyers, 54 of our Cruisers, 30 Battleships going into group Magna and the rest and all of the Carriers going into group Parvum whose job it will be to guard those Carriers as group Magna goes into battle" Rex explained.
Rex would then continue "group Magna will triple wedge formation to break up and surround the enemy to hopefully prevent those filthy Xenos from escaping our grasp, once we control Molech's atmosphere we prepare for the deployment of troops on its surface while turning to face the true enemy, Chaos" Rex finished "understood?" he said a layer of venom laying under his words.
The admirals would then simply and quickly acknowledge the orders given spouting off "yes my lord" or "thank you my lord" and shouting more commands to the crews of their respective ships off holo screen "this is all well and good but this is under the assumption that the Xenos will just retreat, although I agree that the data proves that the Eldar in the Domain are more likely to fight than fee unlike their Sanctuary counterparts, what makes you sure they will retreat?" Ismood questioned.
"Then there is the Chaos Fleet and the fanatics to deal with, they will not just sit back and wait while we enact your plan" Ismood pointed out "the Eldar cannot afford to engage us in open battle they have to much to lose" Rex responded, Ismood simple rolled his one organic eye "and if it works in the other direction? Such as if they have too much to lose to retreat?" the Headmaster countered.
Rex took a second to respond as he thought about it for a second "that is something I can not predict but again given your data they are most likely to retreat, and as for the Chaos Fleet they are still picking up stragglers and are not fully cohesive as such we should be in the clear" Rex explained "and if this plan fails? I do not want your actions to reflect on my reputation within the citadel" Ismood said.
Rex simply glared at him before responding "than, like I said before, I will take responsibility for the failure and possibly even your own failures Headmaster" Rex said, Ismood glared at him with anger and frustration but ultimately let it go for the second time and simply walked out of the room, maybe it was not the smartest decision to anger an ally, but Rex knew that they were allies of convenience and thus did not care.
Looking out of the bridge window there would only be one thought occupying his thoughts 'all I am surrounded by now is snakes and flattering fools while I have hungary sharks on the horizon' he thought but his worries were soon put to rest as he grabbed his powermace and activated it, it's 'hhuuummmm' being heard and felt throughout the room giving him some comfort and reassurance for this battle by chasing away his worries with pleasant memories.
It was then another thought pierced into his mind, one that filled him resolve 'even the toughest foes can be killed or brought to heel, as once your in the heat of battle one swing is all it takes' the words of his mentor brought him confidence, a longing to see his now very old mentor again as well as the resolve to crush all enemies that possessed any threat to the safety and security of humanity.
'Truly, words to live by' Rex thought a large grin gracing his face under the helmet.