Father of the Second A 30k Celestial Forge Story

by CallMeKingNobody

The premise of the story is thus: a guy from the modern world wakes up in the Warhammer 30k universe. Pretty basic, right? Here's the twist: he has no knowledge of Warhammer and is in possession of a heavily modified version of the Celestial Forge. Will he set the Galaxy ablaze? Will he laze around? Read to find out! Rating is because Warhammer is pretty dark.

18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18: Esau, Isaac

Esau Zulu:

820. M30.

The further they travelled through the corridors of the Scion's Return, the more the ship's ruin became evident to Esau's eye.

Where the hallways had been largely featureless before, now Esau could see the evidence of the difficulties that his Legion faced. Displays where all manner of artifacts or battle trophies once lay were now empty, and taken apart for supplies. Judging by the laboured metal scraping sounds Esau heard from the walls, he had no doubt that the ship's temperature management systems were similarly cannibalised.

Still, there were no obvious signs of corruption along the walls, floors or ceilings. There existed no obvious markings or effigies devoted to the beings of the Immaterium either and the necklace in Kov's possession did not react to the scenery that they travelled through.

That was a good sign, but as Lady Kha explained it, the early stages of Warp corruption tended not to be so easy to discern, even for the trained eye. She had shared anecdotes of people being possessed by daemons - though the wytches of Tectum knew them as spirits of the Great Ocean instead - for months or years before discovery.

Esau had hope that nothing so dangerous had managed to get a hold of his Legion, but the Second's secrecy was concerning. For one thing, despite travelling so deep into the ship, Esau and Kov had yet to encounter a Space Marine besides Loyd, when the ship should be more full of life. For a brief moment, Esau wondered if his Legion as a whole even knew that he was on the ship in the first place.

Scenarios ran through his mind as Loyd led Esau and Kov through the increasingly arterial pathways of the ship. Had some marines engaged in a daemonic pact of some kind in order to survive the rigours of the Warp? Had the Ceraton Machine Cult managed to infect more Space Marines than was readily apparent?

Esau didn't know, but he thought the second theory to be unlikely even if it did go a long way in order to explain the IInd's ability to create the cybernetics needed to outfit over a thousand legionnaires. The IInd was likely vetted several times before they were allowed to engage in more missions for the Imperium of Man, and any infection would have been found in the process. Then again, the 'changer of ways' preferred subterfuge and obtuse tactics above anything straightforward. Who was to say that the infection couldn't get passed Imperial checks?

Corridors melded together, until they came upon a great set of metal doors. An entrance to a hall or amphitheatre perhaps, though the flourishes that would usually indicate towards such a thing had been removed and similarly cannibalised. Bereft of context, the doors, and the hallways leading up to it looked like they were unfinished instead of ruined. As if the ship's builders had simply forgotten to install some of the ship's fixtures.

"We have arrived, my Lord." Loyd announced, excitement leaking into his voice. "The Legion Master and the Captains of the Ten Companies await you beyond."

"Is that all?" Esau asked, careful that his tone did not cause offence. "Will I not be meeting the rest of my sons?"

"You will, my Lord." Loyd replied, his voice shaky.

Esau frowned. Loyd was lying. He didn't know if Esau would be meeting the rest of his Legion any time soon. The slight dilation of his pupils and the tightness of his face only confirmed what his shaky tone had suggested.

It seemed that the IInd heavily practised compartmentalisation. That was fine enough in isolation. All militaries practised compartmentalisation as a necessary function of their very existence afterall, but his Legion seemed especially secretive even outside the necessities of military hierarchy.

Loyd's general demeanour told Esau that the IInd was far from forthcoming even in situations of lesser importance. Esau would have to moderate that behaviour carefully once he formally took control of the IInd, lest it turn problematic.

Esau wrestled with the idea of calling Loyd out on his lie, before ultimately deciding against it. Pressing Loyd for answers that he didn't have would only stress and potentially alienate an already stressed and tired marine.

Instead, he turned away from Loyd and pushed on the doors.

The doors swung inwards and away from Esau with barely any resistance. His first instinct had been correct. This was a hall of some sort, though the darkness of the room and the general low light conditions of the rest of the ship prevented Esau from seeing what waited for him within.

"How does it look?" Esau asked Kov, through their private connection.

"The necklace still isn't reacting, though that could be a range limitation." He replied. "My sensors aren't reading any traps in the room either."

"Neither are mine." Esau confirmed. "There are eleven marines near the end of the hall though. None of them seem to have weapons on them, though one of them is interred in a Dreadnought."

Dreadnoughts were massive pieces of powered armour which functioned more like a walking tank than a traditional suit of armour. Unlike traditional suits of armour, powered or otherwise, Dreadnoughts could not be removed once worn. Any attempt would result in the painful and gruesome death of the unfortunate soul interred within. This was because the interface needed for the pilot to control the Dreadnought, by necessity, required the pilot to be surgically and often painfully fused into its systems. For this very reason, almost all Dreadnought pilots were individuals that had suffered wounds that they could not survive without continued access to heavy duty life support systems.

In short, each Dreadnought acted both as a tank, and a moving sarcophagus.

"A Dreadnought?" Kov replied as he double checked his own scans. "What is that, a Castaferrum pattern suit?"

"It is." Esau confirmed. His Creator had ensured that Esau understood the intricacies of the equipment that the IInd had access to by providing him with several dataslates outlining the armoury of the IInd. Esau had, of course, shared them with Kov, his Father, and the Empress, Kha.

"That is unfortunate." Kov mentioned. "Those are supposed to be especially uncomfortable for the wearer in return for the modular design of its reactor."

"It is." Esau commiserated once again. The pilot was sure to be in agony, if only mentally, even as the Dreadnought stayed still.

Just as Esau finished speaking, the insides of the hall lit up greatly, revealing its contents. Almost immediately, the lights began to dim and flicker for a few moments before stabilising at a level of light that made the contents of the hall visible, while leaving the corners of the hall shrouded in darkness.

There were indeed eleven Space Marines waiting at the end of the hall, standing in front of a raised dais on which sat an immense, but simple throne. All the Space Marines were facing the entrance. The Space Marine in the Dreadnought stood in the middle of all the others, with five Space Marines in exquisitely maintained Mark II black and purple powered armour standing to the left and right of him.

He was likely the Legion Master that Loyd spoke of, then. The one who managed to corral the entire legion through ninety-nine years of starvation and anguish. That he managed to do so, while stuck in a perpetual state of agony spoke well of his character and his mental state.

Esau liked the man already.

"Will you be following us in?" Esau questioned out loud, even though he knew what the answer would be. Loyd was likely considered too low on the military hierarchy to be trusted to hear whatever the Captains of the Legion knew.

"No, my Lord." Loyd replied. "I will wait for you out here, should you have need for me."

"Very well." Esau said, before stopping and summoning his build gun to his hand.

Esau considered his options. Space Marines could recover from extreme dehydration and hunger within days or even hours, depending on the severity of their condition. Intravenous treatment and healing would be better than food in the immediate sense, while it would take more food to achieve the same result. Food would increase morale immensely, and would go a long way in helping his Legion form a good first impression of him not borne of their innate programming. Astartes never needed to worry about refeeding syndrome either, as their bodies metabolised their food efficiently.

Esau paused, assessed the situation and frowned. Why was he considering the two options as if they were strictly separate from each other?

Esau summoned ten Feeder Drones from his workshop – large floating spherical black and orange balls - built to supplement meals on long engagements. Each had enough food to feed around a hundred men, which translated to twenty-five Space Marines. All-in-all, two hundred and fifty Space Marines would be fed. A small number, but that still meant that 250 of Esau's sons would no longer be suffering from hunger or dehydration.

Esau then summoned two Healing Drones from – these were short and stout featureless humanoid silver automatons that would provide emergency healthcare on demand. His Father had modelled this version of the drones off of Baymax, from the movie 'Big Hero Six', and they contained enough medical knowledge to adequately treat Space Marines.

"If you will not enter, then I need you elsewhere." Esau continued, as he handed a dataslate controlling the drones to a stunned Loyd. "Take these automata to your brethren and help those in the most dire straits. The instructions for their use are contained within the dataslate."

"My Lord, I-" Loyd protested, before Esau interjected.

"Are you refusing an order from your Primarch?"

"No, my Lord." Loyd immediately replied disgustedly, as if the very thought of such a thing was anathema to his very being.

Esau's Father had taken great efforts to ascertain the nature of how exactly the Imperium produced its Space Marines. Given the amount of indoctrination necessary to turn an ordinary adoloscent boy into a killing machine, perhaps disobeying a superior really was anathema to his being.

Regardless, while Esau planned to massively overhaul his Legion's intake procedures and only draw from willing adults, the fact of the matter was that the Second Legion as it existed were his sons as much as they were made to be his soldiers. Nothing could change that, and Esau was never one to shirk from his duty.

"Then go." He instructed.

Loyd, turned his stretcher so fast that he almost fell off, and bid the drones to follow him as he disappeared into the corridors of the Scion's Return.

Esau turned to a silent Kov and they stood outside the hall for a long moment, before Kov spoke.

"For a moment there, I confused you for the old man."

Esau blinked, glad that Kov couldn't see his sheer shock on his face through his helmet. That was the nicest thing Kov had ever said to him.

As Esau turned to face the hall, he promised himself that he would be worthy of the statement.

.

Less than three steps into the hall, the Space Marines stirred, and the Dreadnought spoke. His voice was modified by the systems of the half-tank, half-sarcophagus he was interred in, giving it a warbled quality, like he had been trapped in static. It was almost incomprehensible, yet the speaker managed to speak in a way that pulled the listener in, forcing you to pay attention to his words.

"I apologise, my Lords." He said, his voice reverberating off of the walls of the empty hall. "I and my Captains would speak to our Primarch in confidence."

Instantly, Esau knew that he would have to be careful here. He was, for the first time, interacting with his Legion in earnest. Any action taken here, would lay the groundwork for how he and his Legion would interact in future.

"And you would be?" Esau responded, despite already knowing this man to be Frederick Temba, the Legion Master of the IInd.

"I am known as Frederick Temba, Legion Master of the Second Scions, my Lord Primarch." He replied, matching Esau's tone, somehow.

"I see." Esau said. "And how would you know me to be your Primarch? How do you know that it is not my companion here?"

Here, Frederick paused, seeing the test for what it was. As far as tests went, it was milquetoast, but that was the point. Esau could hardly ignore a low stakes opportunity to learn about the mindset of the Space Marine that he would likely be interacting with for most of the foreseeable future. That is, if he and his Legion make it through the current difficulties facing them intact of course.

"I have been in the company of the Lord of the Sixteenth before, my Lord." Frederick replied. "I mean no offence when I say this. Though your companion matches you in size, and your mannerisms are similar enough, he lacks a certain...presence. Which, as I have come to understand, is standard for the sons of the Emperor, beloved by all. Above this, you could say that I followed an instinct of mine, my Lord."

"He is rather verbose, isn't he?" Kov observed, over their private communication just after Frederick spoke.

"Is that jealousy I hear?" Esau retorted.

"No it's not." Kov defended. "It would take much more than a few words to hurt my ego, and I'm a better singer and dancer than you anyway. What I mean is that the Legion Master is pretty verbose for a man who should be in pain."

Esau chewed on the words. Kov was correct. Every word spoken should be...uncomfortable to say the least for Frederick, but he didn't show it. He spoke without using contractions, and made sure to ensure that his words were enunciated carefully, even as the Dreadnought he was interred in did its best to butcher his words regardless.

There could be any number of reasons for this, however. Frederick could simply be accustomed to the rigours of his predicament, or he could simply be putting his best foot forward in lieu of his first meeting with his Primarch to begin with.

That however, was not the point of Kov's observation. Kov's point was that Loyd's testimony had pointed to Frederick being awake and working on his duties as Legion Master for what could have been years on end, even as a Dreadnought. Which was interesting when the standard procedure for Dreadnoughts is typically to make them sleep for months or years at a time to avoid mental degradation.

Frederick did not seem mentally degraded. If anything, he seemed sharper than the Astartes surrounding him, whose reactions seemed sluggish to Esau's eye – even if they were still faster than anything a human could do naturally.

"How long have you been interred in that suit of armour, Frederick?" Esau asked out loud. If Frederick was confused by Esau's sudden non sequitur, he didn't show it.

"Since a few years after Unification, my Lord. I come from the first generation of Space Marines to leave Terra and spread compliance throughout the galaxy." He replied, pride evident even in his heavily synthesised voice.

"And how much of that time have you been awake?"

"I have been awake for much of it. At most, a quarter of the time, or when the Captains had need of my guidance, as limited as it can be."

"Have you been awake for the entirety of your journey through the Immaterium?" Esau pressed. Something was odd here. No matter Frederick's apparent capability as a leader, he really should be showing more signs of fatigue.

"No, my Lord." Frederick replied, suddenly locking up.

It seemed manipulations used on children and foppish nobles wouldn't work here. Frederick likely wouldn't answer any more questions on the Legion and its troubles while Kov was still present in the room. In addition, forcing the issue would go nowhere.

Esau had to switch tactics.

"You are correct." Esau said, as he put his hand out to stall Kov. "I am your Primarch."

He walked forward, leaving Kov near the entrance of the hall. As he reached the halfway point of the room, Esau stopped, before speaking.

"My companion-" He began. "Is a Prince and Consul of the Naufrag System, as am I. I do not know how titles are earned in the Imperium of Man, but in the Immortal Sun, they are earned through deed, and deed alone. Kov is my brother, tied to me by the decisions of my foster parents, but that alone would not earn him the title. He was chosen for his abilities, in battle and in administration. I have fought robotic constructs, alien warriors and man made abominations with him at my side. There is no one in this galaxy that I trust more than I trust him. I will not shut him out of this discussion."

"My Lord-" Frederick interjected.

"Are you not my sons?" Esau retorted, stunning Frederick into silence. "I seek to earn my place as your Father. So do you shun my attempts to tie you to me and my family?"

Frederick had no answer.

"Which one of you is Aharon?" Esau asked, instead of pressing Kov's place as his brother.

If Loyd was any indication, his sons had inherited some of his more shameful traits and would soon trap themselves in a mental prison of their own making. Keeping them from stewing on their emotions as Esau's father did him would do much to keep them on task.

"I am, my Lord." A voice Frederick's immediate right replied. The voice was weaker than Esau remembered from the vox - a sign of fatigue and stress, perhaps - but he recognised it to be the voice of First Captain Aharon.

"It is good to finally see you."

"I think I speak for all of us when I say that the honour is ours, my Lord." Aharon replied. "We have gone too long without your guidance."

Sounds of agreement rang out from the assembled Captains of the Legion, except the Captains of the Fourth and the Sixth, denoted by the 'IV' and 'VI' on their left pauldron, alongside their various battle honours. Instead of agreeing, they loudly snorted or shook their heads, respectively. Esau raised his eyebrows, an action hidden by the helmet he wore, but he otherwise didn't comment on it.

Having subordinates who could see past the manufactured adoration response installed in them by his Creator could prove to be a great boon, should they prove to be without corruption.

"You do not know me and my ways." Esau continued. "And perhaps I ask too much, too soon but I bid you to trust my words."

"You are our Primarch, my Lord." Frederick replied. "If you simply gave us an order, we would never dare gainsay you."

At these words, there were sounds of general agreement, even from the Captains of the Fourth and the Sixth.

The question 'So why don't you try?' went unsaid.

The answer was that Esau needed Kov present, but also needed to avoid breeding resentment from his Legion. Esau could force the issue in the short term, but for the best long term result, the decision had to come from the Captains.

"Because I would not dare abuse your trust." Esau said honestly. "If you would not find me worthy of it, then I shall consider this matter closed."

At this the Captains stilled, and Esau could tell that they were speaking furiously to each other over their own internal vox. Their conversation was stopped by their Legion Master, who simply raised a large 'arm' in one smooth motion – too smooth for a Dreadnought- and leaned forward in what Esau surmised to be an imitation of a bow.

"Then I shall trust your judgement, Father." He said, his voice made warbly by the Dreadnought's speakers.

Any discussion slowed to a trickle, before stopping entirely. One by one in order of the number engraved on their left pauldron, the Captains knelt, their right arms over their chests.

The Second Legion had sworn their fealty to him.

The relief Esau felt was overshadowed by the sudden onslaught of feelings that attacked him. He felt a mixture of trepidation and excitement. Of exhilaration, and of the burden of the responsibility he had undertaken. It was as if the heavens had opened and smiled upon him, before unleashing thunder and lightning upon him.

Did Horus, Leman or their hidden brother feel the same when they met with their Legions? Somehow, Esau doubted it. His own experience felt unique, somehow. A quirk wrought into his biology instead of any behaviour learned from his Father, perhaps.

Esau blinked.

His Father. He had a sudden urge to call on him, and tell him of his newly-found revelations on the nature of fatherhood before he crushed the urge.

This was not normal.

Esau cared about his Legion from the moment he acknowledged its existence, but he had not expected to care about it so deeply, so suddenly. Was this why his Esau's Creator seemed so unbothered by his loyalty to his Father? If so, then his Creator was even more diabolical than even his Father gave him credit for.

Yet, at the same time Esau couldn't begrudge his Creator for this. If Esau had built biological weaponry of a like equalling the Primarchs, he would install failsafes into them as well.

Behind Esau, the doors to the hall closed, and Kov walked towards him until he stood just to his right.

"Are you alright there, Esau?" He ventured, and Esau was snapped out of his reverie.

"I am." He replied. He would think on his feelings some other time. Right now, he had to work through the mysteries held hidden from him by his Legion.

Esau walked forward, and his sons rose, before silently making space for him to walk through. Kov followed him, equally silent as he made his way to the dais on the far side of the hall.

When Esau reached it, he raised his foot, before placing his foot back on the floor. Instead of climbing it and sitting on the throne prepared for him, he turned around and sat on the dais, while Kov stood to his right.

"I will only sit on the throne the moment that troubles plaguing my Legion have come to an end." He announced, in answer to their unspoken question.

As he did, he received an emergency message from Kov, with an attached image.

The necklace in his hand was glowing a faint yellow glow.

.

The necklace, like all of his Father's limited series of Warp detecting artifacts, had three modes.

Green meant that an item or person near the necklace had been exposed to the energies of the Immaterium but was safe to interact with, as long as one was careful. Red indicated extreme danger, and that the user of the necklace should attempt to escape and destroy the offending item, person or area with extreme prejudice. Yellow meant that the necklace's wearer should express extreme caution, as they were in a situation that was somewhere in-between these two options.

In theory, one could attempt to navigate around the nuances of directly interacting with a situation rated 'yellow', but that would be idiotic in the long term. Esau recognized a trap when he saw one.

Perhaps a month ago, he would have tried to test himself against whatever daemonic entity had touched his Legion as he had sought to do against Horus, an action Esau still felt shame for. Kov had nearly died for his recklessness, and his Father had taken great pains to show Esau how his behaviour had gone against his own stated oaths to him, Kov and the Lady Kha.

So, Esau did not take the bait.

Instead, Esau activated his Pariah Plate, and Kov followed suit.

The resulting null-field drained the colour from the already drab hall, and drove the Captains to their knees in various levels of distress. Otherwise, they generally seemed unhurt.

Good, that meant that they were not the source of the Warp-taint.

Tellingly, the Astartes that seemed to be affected the most was the Legion Master, Frederick. He seemed to collapse upon himself before the Dreadnought stood still, its arms hanging limply at its sides. His body seemed to have temporarily disconnected from some of the armour's systems, but he did not scream or otherwise attempt to beg for mercy. He still lived however, as the sensor systems in Esau's helmet revealed.

By Esau's estimation, that meant that the armour of the Dreadnought was the most likely source of the Warp-taint and not its pilot, though he had to admit that the difference was largely academic. Even if the Legion Master's body was free of Warp-taint, his mind likely wasn't.

Esau had hope that the Legion Master could be saved, as losing such an experienced Space Marine would be a great blow to his takeover, but he had to admit that the situation wasn't looking good.

The sight of his sons being oppressed by the combined stress created by the discomfort of the null aura and their armour pained Esau, but he remained steadfast in his judgement. He had sworn that he would fix whatever ailment had struck his legion, but he would not do so by walking headfirst into a trap.

"I apologise for what may seem like an attack." He announced, as diplomatically as he could from where he sat on the dais. "I hope that you would not begrudge me my prudence, given the horrors you must have seen during your service my sons, but I will not begrudge you any resentment for the suddenness of my defence. I also apologise for any discomfort you must feel, but I assure you that it will pass as soon as whatever plague upon the Legion does."

Esau summoned his sword to his right hand before carefully placing it beside him.

"Aharon." He called, calmly.

"My Lord." He replied laboriously, through gritted teeth.

"Were you aware that your Legion Master had been touched by the Immaterium?" He asked.

"I was." He replied, his voice heavy.

Esau thought so. If Kov and he were capable of observing oddities in the Legion Master within minutes of meeting him, the Captains would have known for decades, at the very least.

"I was made to understand that anyone or anything found to have been touched by the Immaterium was to be destroyed. I assume you have a reason for the Legion Master's continual survival."

"I do." Aharon began, hesitantly before faltering. He then seemed to admonish himself for faltering before reaching up to remove his helmet, revealing Aharon to be a short-haired olive skinned man with green eyes. These differences aside, the resemblance to Esau was uncanny, especially along the nose.

"My Lord." He tried again, his voice more steady, even as his discomfort was clear on his face. "Legion Master Frederick is the only reason that the IInd still exists. Without him, the Legion would be ripped apart."

Esau felt his eyes narrowing. This sounded more serious than the situations Loyd had alluded to.

"Explain." Esau commanded.

"It began after our translation into the Immaterium." The First Captain reported. "Initially, our Astropaths reported no difficulties and our Navigators predicted a smooth journey ahead, given that the route had been charted by the Emperor beloved by all, Himself. It took months before it became clear how wrong they had been on both accounts."

The story so far was as Loyd had explained it, so Esau motioned for Aharon to continue.

"Regardless, our Legion Master insisted that we prepare our supplies accordingly. His reasoning was that even the most experienced Navigators could miscalculate distances. The Scion's Return could house twenty thousand marines easily enough, and we stocked enough supplies to last what we expected to be the entire journey, with room to spare. We could have gone for a hundred years unaided before we got anywhere near desperate."

Esau frowned. If that was the case then what happened? Why was the situation so grim?

"From what we've been able to ascertain, your first troubles began nine months into your journey." Kov pointed out, giving voice to Esau's own thoughts.

Aharon nodded.

"We had heard rumours of a minor cult forming in the lower decks for less than a week before that and had been planning to destroy the cult when it became evident that the cult had been far from minor. The entirety of our mortal crew had either been subverted by the cult or been killed by it in a move that must have been planned for months beforehand."

He shook his head, before turning to the Legion Master.

"They attempted to strike at our Gellar Field generators, but we repelled them easily enough. Our Legion Master was awoken as a consequence, and he led us into glorious battle in the lower depths. The 'battle' such as it was, was a quick affair. We massacred the crew to a man, and returned victorious within the hour. It was then that the Apothecaries reported an anomaly in the stasis vaults holding our geneseed. It had been infected with some sort of virus reminiscent of what plagued us at Ceraton."

He swallowed heavily.

"We are sorry, my Lord. We should have been more vigilant." He begged more than said, the tears already forming in his eyes. The rest of the Captains seemed similarly put upon.

"Do not worry, as long as I still live, the geneseed of the Legion is secure." Esau replied, waving it away before the Captains descended further into melancholy. "If you feel you have failed, endeavour to ensure that you do better in future. Feeding your melancholy will not change the past."

Aharon sighed, as if a great weight had been lifted from his shoulders, and he and the other Captains found strength in them to stand up and face Esau.

"Thank you, my Lord." He said, tears falling freely now, a shaky smile plastered onto his face.

Now Esau felt the discomfort he had felt while talking to Loyd return.

Esau understood why Aharon would cry, given the frustrations he must have held for the years he was within the Warp. This, however, felt like more than a cathartic release somehow. It felt dangerously close to being part of a religious experience. He would have to nip this behaviour in the bud at the earliest opportunity.

"I assume that these 'mortals' were not the ones to corrupt your geneseed." Kov interjected, his distaste for the term evidence to anyone with ears. "Given that you slew every 'mortal' on the ship, and the fact that they were on the lower decks, besides."

"That is correct, Lord." The Captain of the VIth replied, in Aharon's stead. "Only a high ranking Astartes could access the geneseed. Our investigations didn't reveal a perpetrator, however. In the end, the perpetrator didn't matter, because a cult within us revealed itself."

Loyd hadn't mentioned any of this, but Esau doubted that he knew. The IInd extensively practised compartmentalisation and Esau doubted that his Legion would still be intact if the rank and file Astartes knew that the IInd's geneseed was corrupted.

"From your tone of voice, I assume you mean among the high ranks specifically." Esau observed.

"Yes, my Lord." The VIth Captain agreed. "None of the Captains had been subverted, but we often found that our Lieutenants or other high ranking officials had been a part of a Cult that seemed to wish to choke the Legion to death. Soon we were fighting a war within ourselves and within the decade, our supplies were sabotaged by our own men."

So far, things were making sense but Esau found himself confused. Why didn't people like Loyd know any of this? Even the most compartmentalised militaries had rumour mills. Super soldier or no, people talked. Unless a secret was explicitly classified, it might as well be common knowledge among the rank and file.

"I assume that the cult didn't spread beyond the officers?" Esau asked.

"It didn't." The Captain of the VIth confirmed.

Esau blinked. That made no sense.

"Why did it not?" He asked.

"What Floren failed to explain my Lord-" Aharon interjected as the VIth Captain was about to speak. It didn't take a genius to intuit that tension of some kind existed between the two of them.

"-Was that the seated officers who rebelled and formed a cult, were later found to be infected with the virus that had afflicted our Legion on Ceraton. They had not wished to destroy the Legion as we had initially thought. They simply wished to take it over, and prevent their own deaths when they were eventually found out. All of their tactics had been aimed at destabilising the Legion in the long term such that their eventual takeover would be smooth."

That made at least some sort of twisted sense. In a heavily regimented group, the lower ranks tended not to matter except in large numbers, but the opposite was true of the higher ranks. Still, any cult leader with even a modicum of intelligence would look among the low ranks to replace anyone who died higher up.

Esau frowned. Unless, that was exactly what they did.

Esau thought through what he knew of the situation.

Fact One: The crew of the Scion's Return started a rebellion aimed at disabling the Gellar Field generators on the ship.

Fact Two: In a likely related incident, the geneseed of the IInd was corrupted by unknown, but highly ranked members of the IInd who either formed a cult of their own or were part of the initial cult.

Fact Three: The second cult was formed from the infected members of the IInd who escaped the culling at Ceraton and supposedly only subverted the other officers of the Legion.

Fact Four: Horus said that the Ceraton virus bonded marines to metal and as a result was almost universally fatal. He also implied that it was extremely virulent. Additionally, from purely anecdotal evidence, it seemed that the Ceraton virus didn't have a consistent set of symptoms besides a vague connection to metal.

Fact Five: The second cult engaged the rest of the IInd using a series of guerilla tactics aimed at disrupting the Legion, culminating in the destruction of the IInd's supplies. The cult also didn't recruit from anywhere besides the officers of the Legion. As a result, none of the lower ranked members knew of this civil war.

This, Esau found to be unlikely. The Captains were either lying about this, or were ignorant of the goings on of their own Legion, willfully or otherwise.

Fact Six: In the famine resulting from the destruction of the IInd's supplies, hunger was so common among the Marines that some resorted to auto cannibalisation. As a result, the Legion had to resort to extending the stasis fields to encompass a significant portion of the ship. In addition, the Legion's Techmarines worked to produce enough prosthetic limbs to outfit roughly a thousand marines, despite a combination of guerilla warfare and the destruction of supplies decimating tools and materials that could be used to create prosthetics.

While technically possible depending on the tools and materials available, the obvious conclusion Esau reached was that the virus had been taken advantage of.

Fact Seven: The cult had been annihilated, or close to it, if Aharon's mention of the cult in the past tense was to be taken as proof.

Fact Eight: The Legion Master was supposedly integral to the Legion's continued survival, yet he or his Dreadnought suit had likely been infected by the Ceraton virus, if the reaction from Kov's necklace was any indication.

Altogether, facts one to three seemed above board. Esau could see no contradictions in how they all came together. However, facts four to seven could not add up unless the Captains were lying to him, were willfully ignorant, or were disconnected from the goings on of the Legion.

It was possible, though extremely unlikely, that the Captains were disconnected from the Legion. Loyd reported that the Legion Master would engage with Astartes of varying ranks to prevent legion tensions from escalating and that he personally intervened at the height of the famine. The Captains on the other hand would be entrenched in the affairs of their Chapters. Even if they mostly interacted with their officers, they would at least be knowledgeable of any rumours in the Legion.

So, Esau was being lied to.

"I do not appreciate being made a fool of." Esau announced, as calmly as he could, given the sheer frustration he felt.

"My Lord?" Aharon asked, managing to sound almost genuine.

"Your story doesn't add up." Kov pointed out in reply and Esau nodded. As expected, he had come to the same conclusion that Esau had.

"We have not lied my Lords-" Aharon began, before Kov interrupted him.

"A lie by omission is still a lie." He retorted. "The 'cult' that infected your geneseed still survives, doesn't it? You never killed any of them as you did the first one in the lower decks."

Esau nodded. That was the only option that made sense given the facts and the timeline presented.

"I can at least believe that this 'cult' sabotaged your supplies in a last ditch attempt at taking over the Legion." Esau began, before shaking his head. "Everything past that point, I doubt. Given that none of you are infected by the virus, the Legion Master aside, it seems clear that you did not capitulate to them. If I were to guess, you came to an agreement with them of some kind."

"Following the corruption of your geneseed, and the destruction of your supplies, the situation on the ship must have become desperate as you faced a potential eternity in the void without the appropriate supplies. So you turned to what had just been your enemy." Kov added. "They needed you and your approval as much as you needed them and their resources for the continued survival of the Legion. As you yourself stated; 'they wanted to avoid death for being infected'. Infected or not, the only life they knew was with you and the IInd. At first guess, I'd assume that it was your Legion Master who brokered the deal."

"I do not engage in gambling." Esau announced "I find the experience distasteful. However, I would feel confident in wagering that the Legion Master had been infected by the virus as a diplomatic tool to ensure compliance on both sides. I would also wager that the Legion Master was instrumental in ensuring that most rank and file marines such as Loyd were kept in the dark concerning the goings on on the ship."

"I'm not a betting man either." Kov commiserated. "But I would bet that the infected encompass many more marines than you first indicated and that the officers who started the rebellion are hiding among the rank and file. Floren's insistence that the rebellion was limited to the officers makes no sense, otherwise."

Esau agreed. Floren's claim only made sense if the truth was the exact opposite. It was convoluted, true, but everything touched by the supposed 'changer of ways' was meant to be convoluted.

Esau had no doubt that there existed plots within plots, and that the IInd Legion's civil war was much more complicated than the Captains made it seem. For one thing, they claimed that the infected marines simply didn't want to be killed, but that sounded like a lie, as well. Space Marines were supposed to have no fear, much less a fear of death.

What was more likely was that everyone of the infected Space Marines had been possessed, or something close to it. Esau still held some hope, but it was quickly dwindling.

"You speak the truth, my Lords." Aharon replied, visibly pale. His eyes teared up once again and he returned to his knees, voluntarily this time. He placed the helmet next to him, before continuing to speak. "In a way, I am glad to be free of this lie. If I may be so impudent, what was your greatest clue at our deception?"

"It was Floren's casual attitude when he said that finding the perpetrator who infected the geneseed didn't matter. That simply did not make sense, when you were so put upon by your perceived failure." Kov explained. "More clues exist, but in the end, does it matter?"

"No." Aharon said, his voice low. "It doesn't. So what will happen to us now?"

"That is up to you and what you will tell me next." Esau replied. "Tell me about the nature of the infection."

"If I may," The Captain of the IInd Chapter interrupted. He had markings on his right pauldron indicating some training with the Apothecarion, so Esau allowed him to speak.

"Thank you my Lord. Despite talk of the infection being a virus, the infection is actually a polymorphic self-replicating nanomachine plague. It spreads via contact after spending nine days gestating. What it does to the body varies from Astartes to Astartes. Some report the sudden development of psychic abilities. Others report growing extra eyes, or extremities. Invariably however, the infection fuses legionnaires to metal though the speed at which this occurs varies as well. Our Legion Master has been infected for decades, and yet his body has yet to fuse with the Castaferrum's systems."

"That's because he isn't infected per se." Kov replied, looking at his omnitool. "The Dreadnought he's interred in is. The plague lives in the armour but has not made it to the Dreadnought's life support systems somehow."

"That should be impossible." The IInd Captain said. "The plague can only survive in living bodies, and rapidly dies outside of one."

Esau shrugged. The Ceraton virus was a Warp-plague, and by the IInd Captain's own admission, it was polymorphic. He doubted it had rules that it followed in the first place. And Kov's guess was made from a single casual scan anyway. It was entirely possible that there was more to the story.

"How many marines have been infected?" He asked.

"My estimation would be approximately one in every four marines." The IInd Captain replied.

Esau turned to the rest of the Captains.

"Would all of you agree with the IInd Captain's estimation?"

General noises of agreement rang out from the assembled Astartes.

One in four marines was bad, but not as bad as it could have otherwise been, given the circumstances.

The best solution long term was likely to kill any infected marine, immolate them and all their possessions, before then launching the Scion's Return into the nearest star. Ridding the IInd of the Infected seemed like the safest option, but it was also the option Esau liked the least. Infected or no, they were still his sons, and he didn't know if he could stomach killing them himself.

If push came to shove, he would have to rely on the King's Shield and the Legiones Custodes for that.

Still, the troubles the Legion had undergone felt like a failing on his part, somehow. Esau had grown enough to acknowledge the sheer ridiculousness of the thought, at least. The circumstances surrounding the IInd were far beyond anything Esau could influence, but Esau felt a familiar guilt regardless.

Scenarios ran rampant through his mind. Perhaps his Legion would be okay, had he been found sooner. Maybe he should have tried to reach out as soon as Horus told him of its existence. A pit formed in his stomach, and the disappointment he felt in himself grew as more 'what-if's presented themselves to him before he shook his head.

Twenty years ago, Esau would have chosen to stew in his thoughts until an answer jumped out at him. Now though, Esau was a grown man, with years of experience in war and politics, even if the latter was against his will. He understood that the best way to defeat uncertainty was to ask for a second opinion.

"What do you think?" He asked Kov, through their link.

"I think this is a shitty situation." He replied.

"I must be going blind, because I hadn't noticed." Esau retorted.

"We're out of our depth here, dealing with Warp nonsense. You know it, and I know it." Kov continued, ignoring Esau's comment. "If it were something simple like a daemon or whatever, I would be confident that sealing or our pariah plate would do the job. Here, we're dealing with a continuously changing warp-plague that could very well necessitate a unique solution for each individual marine. And that's before mentioning that the dynamics of the IInd make the situation iffy, at best."

"Yes, but I'm not hearing a solution, here."

"My point is, this is a mess on too many levels for either of us."

"You're saying that you don't want to try to handle it."

"I'm saying that we shouldn't. We both knew that this was a trap the moment we decided to entertain this farce. Now we know that it's a multi-layered trap. When a game is rigged, the only sensible solution is not to play."

What Kov said made sense. Esau had already told himself something similar multiple times over the past half-hour. It didn't make hearing it any more palatable to Esau. He had hoped to build a relationship with his sons, like his Father had done with him. He wanted to help them with their problems, and get their perspective on his.

Esau had been built for war, and his talents weighed themselves heavily towards waging it, but he hadn't been looking forward to waging it across the galaxy. Instead, he had been looking forward to experiencing new climes, cultures and experiences with men that he could confidently call sons of his own.

That he wouldn't with at least a significant portion of his Legion, was...disappointing to say the least.

"You aren't suggesting we destroy the Legion and begin anew from scratch?" Esau was confident that he could rebuild his Legion, but to do so from scratch would necessitate a significant portion of men being taken from the Solar Guard and the Naufrag Police Force. He wanted a functioning Legion, but he wasn't willing to potentially jeopardise the safety of a home he had built for a decade and a half for it,

"Of course not, but you have to admit that the Legion as it is a lost cause, and I don't trust any of these captains. They seem penitent enough, but if they lied once, they can lie again. The Legion has to be restructured."

Esau agreed. Its overly rigid command structure had ensured that it could keep going off of sheer momentum when it should have collapsed, but it had also turned the Legion into a corpse too stubborn to realise that it was dead.

"You're not wrong, but you have to agree that they were facing extraordinary circumstances." Esau replied.

"Sure, but we live in an extraordinarily dangerous galaxy. They should have come clean."

Esau had to give him that one. If he was to wage war across the galaxy, he had to have a Legion he could trust, and none of the Captains were looking particularly trustworthy, even if Esau could understand their reasoning.

"Anyway," Kov continued. "-I think we should call Isaac, and ask him to work on the Legion's infection while we work on restructuring the Legion."

"Father is the Emperor of the Immortal Sun." Esau pointed out. "He can't exactly board an Imperial vessel without the permission of its Emperor."

"So?" Kov retorted. "The IInd is your Legion, and Isaac can just give the guy something he wants or needs as compensation. He was already going to give him the plans for the Space Marine program as a matter of principle anyway, we just need to ask Isaac to give them out earlier."

The plans Kov was referring to were something their Father had been working on, on and off in between his many other projects for the last month. They were a series of chemical concoctions, serums and pieces of technology that were designed to make the Astartes program more ethical, by making it easy to produce Astartes from fully grown adults.

"You have a point." Esau acknowledged. Kov's logic was flawless and Esau was stalling unnecessarily. "Call him."

.

Soon, ink was pooling from Kov's soles, spreading around and away from him until it formed a puddle the size of a small pond. From it, the Emperor and Empress of the Immortal Sun appeared, flanked by two members of the King's Shield in full regalia.

The both of them were wearing a full set of powered armour, retrofitted with pariah plate. While the Empress found the experience immensely uncomfortable, she was never one to sacrifice safety for comfort. Interestingly, both of them had a silver mask at their hip, looking very much like the Mask given to Esau's Father by his Creator.

It seemed that his Father had finally managed to successfully reverse engineer the item along with some of the knowledge attached to it. Esau suspected each to be much weaker and less versatile than the original article, given that his Father lacked an ability that seemed innate in to his Creator; the ability to freely manipulate the energies of the Immaterium with no observable limit.

The King's Shield stayed in the pond of ink, while the Emperor and Empress of the Immortal Sun left it. Esau's Father and the Lady Kha both nodded tersely at both him and Kov, restraining from greeting them in a more elaborate manner. It would not do for the assembled Captains to see their Primarch put in a headlock or Kov being fussed over after all.

After making their greetings, short as they were, they made their way directly to the still paralysed form of the Legion Master.

The Captains, for their part, accepted their arrival stoically, though it was clear that they objected and preferred their own Emperor over this one. Even if this one was far less likely to kill them out of hand.

Esau half expected his Father to begin a grandiose speech in an attempt to win them over, before he threw those expectations away. While his Father enjoyed the spectacle and pomp inherent to the processes of ruling - on occasion - he avoided what he felt like chains tying him to the more rigorous aspects of commanding whenever he could.

Instead, he simply walked over to the Legion Master, and began scanning him with a unique, but ultimately disposable hand-held sensor array, built to function even in a null-field. It had been based on the Empress's own gift of eyesight, though it was much weaker and much more unwieldy. He showed the scan to Kha, who shook her head before they became engaged in a short but private conversation.

He then removed his helmet, sealing it away and took the mask hung on his ship into his hand. He placed it gingerly, slowly onto his face, and almost immediately, a cloudy white energy fell from the Mask's face, like tears. He looked at the Legion Master for a single moment, before he quickly took the Mask off.

When he turned to face Esau, he had visibly aged. Where he had looked to perpetually be in his early thirties since Esau's childhood, now he looked closer to the mid forties. That was supposed to be impossible.

Esau's father was - like him - biologically immortal, or close to it. Even the stresses of Ogdriada's Ziggurat hadn't actually made him age. His hair had gradually whitened, at points, but its lustre had found itself returned to him over years of ruling. This looked to be something much more extreme.

Esau suddenly understood why he had been so hesitant in wearing the mask in the first place. It seemed that it still had quite a few kinks to fix before he could try something like mass producing it.

Esau's father blinked, before speaking.

"The Legion Master is salvageable." He announced, sounding winded, but not tired.

Perhaps the Silver Mask only made you physically look older, but didn't actually advance your age? Or had it been a quality of what he had seen while weaning the Mask? Regardless, Esau would have to check on his Father later, after getting him to absorb some stored Ork essence.

Still, Esau was glad to hear his Father's words and he found himself letting out a breath he didn't realise he was holding. The Legion Master would have to earn Esau's trust, but the fact of the matter was that he was an Astartes who was both intelligent and charismatic enough to negotiate a truce between two diametrically opposed factions. He also had irreplaceable expertise on the nature of war and the culture of the IInd. His death would have been a heavy blow.

Esau reminded himself to temper his expectations for the rest of his Legion, however. He knew his Father enough to know that a 'but' was going to follow his statement.

"The Princes told us that a quarter of the Legion is infected by this virus?" Lady Kha asked. "Maybe more?"

Receiving nods that pointed to the affirmative, she continued, the finality clear in her voice.

"Then I apologise, but a quarter or more of the Legion is dead. They've been dead for a long time."

That was about what Esau had expected, given the circumstances, but he felt the blow regardless. He had not known them, but he would grieve for them in his own way regardless.

As the Captains made sounds of protest at various intensities, Esau watched Kov make his way close to him and put his hand on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry, man." He spoke, his voice barely above a whisper.

"I'm sorry too." Esau said, his voice matching Kov's own. "You know, I know it's kind of ridiculous. I never met the marines, but I can't help but feel terrible about losing them regardless. Intellectually, I realise that my life hasn't changed much, but emotionally, I feel as if some gap in my life somehow exists."

"I feel the same." Kov replied.

Esau turned to him.

"You didn't know them, but you still lost five thousand sons. To feel for them, even if you don't know them, only shows that you have a healthy appreciation for life. I'll ask Isaac if we can't have some sort of ceremony for them later."

Esau nodded. The discomfort in Kov's voice at being in this situation was clear to his ear, but he appreciated his words all the same.

Moments like these went a long way to remind Esau that Kov was the best brother he could ever have wished for.

Esau nodded to Kov, and shook his hand off of his shoulder before stepping forward to meet his Legion. If the infected marines had to be killed, he would have to be the one to give the order.

"You're sure they're dead?" He asked, even though he knew the answer.

Neither his Father or Kha would be so reckless with the lives of so many people as to lie. If Kha said they were dead, then they were dead. He was mainly asking for the benefit of the assembled captains.

"I am. Anyone infected by the virus either dies, or gets possessed by it. Each individual infected marines isn't so much a single marine as he is a node ground down by a sprawling hive mind. At this point, their deaths would be a mercy." His Father replied. "The Legion Master is a special case, in that he should be dead. He is infected, of that there is no doubt. The nanomachines have long since gotten through his life support, but he has held on through what seems like sheer force of will. If anything, he likely would have died within days, and been taken over, had I not been called."

The tone his Father used told Esau all he needed to know. The infected were being possessed by a daemon which propagated its influence through the medium of machinery. Their souls had long been lost, and all they were doing was enacting said daemon's will.

"We can rebuild him and cut the warp taint from his body, but the rest is up to him." Kha interjected. "Maybe he will live and fully recover, or maybe he will succumb to the stress of the procedures planned for him. The Legion Master is salvageable, but that is no guarantee that he will be salvaged."

"Forgive me, but can you not simply perform this procedure for the other Astartes? You said that they were dead, but if it is a matter of will, I have no doubt that our brethren will survive." Aharon said.

Esau turned to him, and he bowed his head.

"I'm sorry for speaking out of turn, my Primarch. I know that it is not my place to talk, but I cannot simply allow my brothers to die. I have to know if it is truly impossible." He continued.

Esau stared at him for a few moments and he crumbled into himself.

"I don't understand you, Aharon." Esau admitted. "After Ceraton, you were perfectly willing to cull your brothers. Now in a similar situation, you can't stand the idea. Even after what the infected marines have done to you, why do you want to save them so much?"

"It is because I took part in what we had to do at Ceraton that I am so hesitant to do so again, my Lord." He replied, immediately. Evidently, he had spent a lot of time thinking on the matter. "The IInd is not like the Ist, or the IVth. To shrug off the death of so many marines is simply not in our nature. We did so once because we had to. I would like to avoid doing it again, if I can. That is all."

Esau blinked. That was the opposite of what Esau had expected from the First Captain of a Legion with such a rigid command structure. He had expected a reason borne of practicality or reason, not one borne of emotion.

Perhaps he had treated his Captains too harshly. He still did not trust them, but Aharon had given him a lot to think about.

His Father shook his head in response to Aharon.

"Your Legion Master's situation is fundamentally different from the rest of your marines. By any account, he should be dead." He said, before pausing. "Tell me, are you familiar with the phenomenon of warp - possession?"

"I am." Aharon replied, closing his eyes, as if recalling some distant memory.

"Then you should realise how dire the situation is."

"I do." Aharon said, quietly.

Suddenly, something struck Esau. If the Infected were possessed, then that likely meant that they were the primary reason why the IInd had been stuck in the Warp for so long. If that was the case, why let them out of the Warp at all?

The Ceraton cult from which the Infected were born worshipped a daemon known as the 'changer of ways'. Thus, the only reason that they would be let out of the Warp at all was if some daemonic objective had already been achieved.

Given the high virulence of Ceraton Virus, and its apparent ability to change itself, Esau found himself struck with suspicion. Why was only forty percent of his Legion infected?

Esau lacked context, but he knew that the numbers had to be much higher.

"Empress, I need a deep scan of the ship for more precise numbers on the Infected. I have reason to suspect that the percentage quoted by the Captains is inaccurate."

Any protests the Captains had were forestalled by his Father wearing the Silver Mask once again, this time followed by Kha, who removed her helmet before donning hers. White energy flowed from his Father's eyes like water from a fountain. Instead of disappearing into the ether like before, the energy encircled Kha, before exploding outward. The energy flowed over and through Esau and left the room, before returning seconds later.

As it did, both of them removed their Masks with a suddenness that would have been surprising had Esau not seen what the Silver Mask had done to his Father.

Kha didn't age, as his Father had, but she was visibly winded and sweating. His Father hadn't visibly aged this time, though Esau saw that his eyes were now bloodshot.

The room filled itself with silence, while the Emperor and Empress recovered.

"You're right." Kha said as soon as she recovered, the sweat still visible upon her brow. "The ratio is much worse. We are facing a ratio closer to eighty percent."

"That's unfortunate, and I'm not happy about it, but that changes nothing." Kov replied, turning to address Esau and no one else. "If anything, this increases the necessity of action. We need to call the King's Shield in."

Kov's words pained Esau, but he couldn't find a flaw in them. If they were already dead, then wasting time would only endanger the living. Esau was about to open his mouth to deliver the order to call in the King's Shield in its entirety before an idea struck him.

"How about we seal the Infected Marines while we determine an alternative?" He suggested, the thought formulating as he said it. "We can rig the seal to transport them into one of our suns or something similar, should the seal fail to keep them in."

His Father looked ready to dismiss the idea out of hand, before he took the time to consider it.

"We face many problems from without, son. Do not invite a problem from within."

"I will seal them within a prison of Pariah Plate as an added security measure." Esau pressed.

His Father sighed.

"I can't let you do that." He replied.

"Please Father. If a solution doesn't make itself known by the time I levy the Naufrag Astartes, I will take actions to cull the Legion myself." Esau pleaded.

His Father, Kha and Kov didn't seem convinced. So Esau did the only thing that came to mind. He got on his knees, lowered his head, and begged.

"Please."

The silence in the room rang loudly in Esau's ears before the room was filled with the sounds of metal scraping across stone. Esau raised his head, and found that the Captains of the IInd Legion had joined him.

He faced the Emperor and Empress and found them staring at him, before turning to the two members of the King's Shield in the room, without a sound. The Empress motioned the King's Shield into action and in a smooth series of moves, they teleported to the Legion Master, bodily picked him up and teleported away, presumably to His Father' workshop on Naufrag Primus.

"You have one hour to construct a working Null Field Generator, and a day to construct your proposed Pariah Plate prison on Naufrag Quintus. After it is constructed, the Legion will be sealed in its entirety, including the Captains inside a room of my choosing inside the prison before the prison itself is rigged to summon itself into Sol-1's gravitational well." The Empress instructed. "We will do what we can for a week. No more. If we fail in finding a suitable cure, or if we get even a hint that your Legion would escape or otherwise taint the seal, then we will send them into Sol-1's gravitational well. Are we clear?"

Esau nodded.

"Perfectly."

Naufrag Quintus had been the sixth planet in the system, before the Necron Tomb World had been transported into the Webway. Now, it was the fifth. It was a Death World completely covered with water and orbited by two moons that created tides that made the world impossible to inhabit by conventional means. Esau had dozens of designs for floating or underwater cities; he would have to look through them for a design suitable for one of his marines.

"Thank you."

As the Emperor and Empress left, to return to their duties, Esau managed to catch sight of his Father's face, before he disappeared. He had a mix of emotions warring with each other on his face. Sadness, shock and pity, but in the split-second where he disappeared, a single emotion stood out to Esau.

His Father looked proud.

Isaac Zulu:

820. M30.

Archmagos Zephyr-Phi-Six was the largest member of the Mechanicum I had ever seen. They were around ten feet tall, and so cybernetically augmented that they resembled something like a massive metallic cephalopod instead of anything close to a human being. I had some trouble figuring out where their 'face' was among the horde of mechadendrites, waldos and tubes of unidentifiable use lining their body.

My biggest saving grace was their standard red and white Martian robe and cowl denoting their status as an Archmagos among the Mechanicum. It had been adorned carefully and reverently, covering the traditional Omnissian Axe and Rod of Office in their cybernetic hands, though not the various baubles and artifacts displayed all over their body. It also made it much easier to guess where their 'face' was for the purpose of polite conversation, though I doubted that they cared about that, given that they had removed their own.

Among members of the Mechanicum, the combination of robes, cowl, baubles and weapons would be seen as an extensive visual statement advertising the Archmagos' power, intelligence and competence. Every little mechanical addition to their body was also an eclectic and sometimes difficult to understand representation of the Archmagos' religious devotion. In short, they're chosen look was as much a visual resume, as it was a religious statement.

To an outsider without discerning eyes though, it was incomprehensible. It was as if someone had gotten to a character creation screen in a videogame and chosen 'random' multiple times and without looking at the final result, decided to play the game.

Archmagos Zephyr-Phi-Six was flanked by two Skitarii; cybernetically enhanced super soldiers clad in red robes and created from volunteers, conscripts, criminals or specially cloned people – whichever was easier – to match the two Shields flanking me. Their robes and cybernetics hid much of their bodies but occasionally, I could see points were metal met skin and without exception, the sight was grotesque. Almost every cybernetic connection point looked like something you would imagine described in a Mary Shelley book.

Once, this confused me. Why were sutures so visible and ugly? Why wasn't everything done neatly, befitting the Mechanicum's own need to understand and catergorise the galaxy? Why did it look so rough? Kha had supplied the answer to me. It was a matter of cost versus effectiveness. Neat looking sutures had no positive effect on the Skitarii and there was no need to take care of their mental health, so no one bothered in making the scars of surgery look cleaner. The Skitarii, like most Servitors, were often at least partially lobotomised as well, so no one cared, least of all them.

Christ, I hated the Mechanicum.

To me, they reminded me of the worst aspects of economic policies you would read about in a cyberpunk novel, except somehow pushed to the extreme. It was like watching a parody of a satire, except in real life, and that was frustrating.

"Good Afternoon, Archmagos." I began as they finished scanning the meeting room I had chosen on Sol-Ark 3. Seemingly satisfied by the lack of any visible or hidden weapons, they replied in their native tongue of Lingua Technis.

=Greetings. What is your preferred designation?=

"Whatever you're comfortable with." I replied. "Generally, as long as it is a title I actually hold, I don't mind what people call me."

=That is an extensive list to choose from.=

Had anyone else said it, I would have taken it as a compliment, but the Archmagos here merely meant it as a generic statement of fact. I had a lot of titles, collected over decades of tomfoolery all over the Naufrag System. So many in fact, that the Archmagos found it inconvenient to choose one to address me, as choosing the wrong one could be seen as a faux pas in many cultures all over the galaxy. I understood their plight, so in the end, I picked the stations in which I would be interacting the most with them.

"Call me Emperor, or Archmagos Prime then." I said. The second title was one I hadn't yet actually earned yet, but I had given it out anyway as a test. I wanted to see what kind of Tech Priest this was. Were they the more pragmatic type who cared very much for propriety, or was this a renegade?

I was hoping for a renegade, because Kha and I had calculated that they would be more receptive to my personality and general beliefs.

=That would be inappropriate. You have not been formally granted the latter title yet.= They replied.

It seemed that I was talking to the former type then, though I could be wrong. After all, people were generally very complex, even if they didn't seem like they were. One interaction didn't equal a complete psychological profile, but it was a good first look into the mind of the Tech Priest that I would be interacting the most with.

"True," I admitted. "But, I have met all the prerequisites. I am sufficiently knowledgeable, and am read into the goings on of the Mechanicum and the Cult Mechanicus."

=You have not been ordained as member of our order.=

"That's a moot point, since your presence here is to ensure that eventuality."

=And yet, we cannot call you what you are not.=

I shrugged.

"Fair enough." I conceded. It wasn't a big deal what they called me anyway.

=You concede the point?= They asked, sounding genuinely surprised somehow, even through the emotionless language and monotone tone they used.

Did they expect me to fight them on it?

"You're correct. Why would I not? It's not as if you aren't going to make me Archmagos Prime, given your own interest in becoming the Fabricator Locum of Naufrag Tertius."

The rank of Fabricator Locum was one of the highest ranks one could achieve as a member of the Mechanicum, and essentially meant that you owned the planet you were the Fabricator Locum of. It also meant that you were in charge of distributing its resources among the rest of the Mechanicum.

Of course, Archmagos Zephyr-Phi-Six would not actually own the planet. The planet was still property of the Immortal Sun and would be in perpetuity. They would just be in charge of ensuring that the Forge World Naufrag Tertius was gradually turning into produced items for the Imperium and the Immortal Sun efficiently, and without delay. They would also be below me in rank, even though that is not how things usually worked.

As Archmagos Prime, I would have the power to call upon the military power of the Forge World and have great influence over it and its productive processes. Typically, that was all an Archmagos Prime could do, as the title was more honorary than anything else. As far as I was concerned however, the Mechanicum had to make an exception, given that the intellectual property being used for production belonged to me and the Immortal Sun.

Essentially, I had the authority of a Fabricator General, but not the duties or the title. This had been a measure on the part of the Emperor of the Imperium of Man, to ensure that I would out of running for the title of Fabricator General of Mars and the Mechanicum in general, as the title could be given to any Fabricator General upon the current Fabricator General of Mars' untimely demise.

=I understand.= The Archmagos replied, sounding much less confused, and more emotionless.

They didn't give me anything else that I could use to continue the conversation, but I pressed on anyway.

"I've finished drafting the plans for the factories on Naufrag Tertius." I said without much more preamble. There wasn't much point in building up to the announcement anyway and they wouldn't appreciate it anyway.

From my admittedly short experience in dealing with the Mechanicum, I had learnt that most Tech Priests understand, but do not appreciate the ordinary trappings of normal conversation.

I activated the cybernetic implant installed at the base of my skull, and sent them the documents I prepared through the Noosphere along with the encryption key needed to open it. Then, I waited while they read through the documents.

=This is a highly irregular design for a Forge World.= They said, after exactly zero point four seconds. For over five hundred very dense pages, that speed was impressive.

I designed the Forge World following to follow a Solar Punk aesthetic in direct opposition of what was considered normal for a Mechanicum run Forge World. The plan was to terraform the planet to match the verdant plains and jungles of Naufrag Primus, though the plants grown would be solar powered biomechanical creations that approximated normal vegetation. The 'plants' could then be used to grow factories and living quarters, instead of constructing them.

I would be the first to admit that the aesthetic wasn't the most practical to achieve. Even though it was far more sustainable than the usual immense megastructures the Mechanicum preferred, it still took far more initial resources to set up, though I sensed that wasn't the reason the Archmagos had reservations.

"I was careful in ensuring that the traditional symbols, and rituals of the Mechanicum would be respected. I've also included everything to appeal to all of the Mechanicum's Holy Orders. I don't see where the problem is." I said, even though I knew what they would say.

=You have outlawed the use of servitors and servo skulls on Naufrag Tertius.=

I nodded. There it was.

Servitors were like Skitarii, in that they were lobotomised and cybernetically enhanced individuals put to service for the Mechanicum. Unlike the Skitarii, they were almost universally criminals who had been sentenced to slavery as punishment for their crimes and were typically used as menial labourers.

If that wasn't all, the Mechanicum considered something like the accidental marring of even a single page from a book to be a crime punishable by death. This meant that the Mechanicum had tons of ways to acquire servitors.

Servo-skulls on the other hand, were the skulls of dead Mechanicum serfs (read; slaves), which would be emptied out and retrofitted with machinery such that they functioned as versatile drones.

For obvious reasons, I didn't want to interact with either any more than I wanted to.

"I respect the Cult Mechanicus and I understand why servitorisation and the usage of servo skulls are considered holy practices by your religion." I said. "But, I do not agree with their usage on Naufrag Tertius."

=Why?=

"I have practical concerns, such as the lack of material to create either servitors or servo-skulls. You and your Tech Priests killed all of your serfs on your journey here -"

And that had been a doozy to process on top of everything that happened today. The Red Iron had evidently run into a similar issue as the Scion's Return with a cult forming among the serfs. Like the IInd, the Mechanicum had killed their serfs to a man, but unlike the IInd, chose to use their dead body as fuel in a bioreactor.

" - and our laws do not allow you to treat our criminals as you would criminals from the Imperium of Man. Above that, the Immortal Sun has moral objections."

=You mean that you have moral objections.=

They had done their research, at least, though I didn't like how their tone had changed to a vague condescension. Perhaps I was the pot calling the kettle black, but I really didn't like being condescended to by people I didn't like.

Before I became Emperor, I didn't really care, but as Emperor I had to become hyper aware of insults, since an Emperor can only stomach so many insults before he is seen as weak. The Archmagos had yet to come close to my threshold, but they were building up to it.

"No, I really do mean the Immortal Sun as a whole has moral objections." I replied.

When the idea was put to the Consuls of Naufrag Primus and Naufrag Noctis, the idea of their usage was aggressively denied. Servitors and Servo-Skulls had unfortunate similarities to monsters created by the City of Bone.

The Archmagos must have read something in my tone, because they seemed to think better of pushing it.

=You wish to replace both with Automata.=

I had included a few dozen designs for drones of various types for use by the Mechanicum in my design document. Quite a few of those had been taken as is from the Apollo Database granted to me by the Forge.

"I do." I confirmed.

=The Mechanicum cannot use these Automata.= They said simply.

"None of the designs in my document are prohibited by Mechanicum Doctrine. In fact, none of the designs presented have a purely artificial intelligence. Instead, cloned grey matter is to be included in their processors. Thus they meet the prerequisite for Automata and do not break the law against Abominable Intelligences."

Abominable Intelligences were better known as Artificial Intelligence and were one of the primary reasons that the Mechanicum functioned as it did. A few thousand years ago, human made AI's rebelled against the creators for reasons that are not well understood and led to a war that resulted in the destruction of entire Solar Systems and the deaths of trillions. As a result of this rebellion, no machine built by the Mechanicum could be built to think by itself.

Yet, the Mechanicum still saw the value of computation processes, so any automatons that were judged to be below this standard were more than fair game. Thus, my drone designs.

=That is still to be seen. Could we not use serfs in the stead of servitors?=

"The general population of the Naufrag System is too well learned to be used for menial tasks. We do not have serfs. If anything, you have an immense population to recruit Tech Priests from."

Most inhabitants of the system were hardly super geniuses, but as a whole, they were pretty damn smart and as a result of a standardised education system, well informed. I would give most teachers on Primus good odds against the average Tech Priest on general subjects such as economics and general scientific knowledge, even if the Tech Priest would obviously outshine them in their subject(s) of specialty.

=We could simply flash-clone the serfs or servitors as necessary.=

"I can't argue with that." I could, but steamrolling someone in an argument without at least making a token effort at understanding them pushes them away from your point of view more often than not. I had to throw the Archmagos a few bones, otherwise we would be here forever. "However, the Immortal Sun cannot allow for the use of clones as serfs as that would be slavery. Similarly, as I stated earlier, the Immortal Sun cannot allow for the creation of servitors period. We already do not place limits on the Skitarii produced by Naufrag Tertius."

=That is because they would be obligated to defend the system in the case of an attack.=

I nodded, conceding the point.

=If the problem is a moral one, we will produce clones and simply have them choose their path when they reach maturity. If they choose to be serfs or servitors, then it will be up to them.= They continued.

"I'll allow it, and even consider talking to my nobles for you if you will not hypno-indoctrinate them and stop the use of hypno-indoctrination among the Tertium Mechanicum. In addition, you will allow them to choose to enrol in our education system."

=I have no problem with this, given that the Immortal Sun stops using Xenos as servitors. If we are to be restricted, the Immortal Sun may not insult us by flaunting these your Greenskin Servitors in front of us.=

I frowned. This particular request didn't seem to come from the Archmagos themselves per se. If anything, it seemed like something that my direct counterpart, the Emperor of the Imperium of Man himself may request.

I thought about denying it, but ultimately decided against it.

The Ur-Orks were originally primarily an answer to the lack of skilled labour among the tribes of Naufrag Primus. Now that the population was exploding, and that we had access to hundreds of robot designs from both what we could get from the Necrons and the Apollo Database, we could simply replace them as labourers and warriors, no problem.

Morally, their usage had always been a grey area as well. Twenty years ago, I had justified their usage as a necessity, but they were far from necessary now.

"Very well." I agreed.

=Now, onto the topic of Element Zero.= Archmagos Zephyr-Phi-Six said, initiating a portion of a conversation for the first time since their arrival.

"The stance of the Immortal Sun on Element Zero is simple. We own the intellectual rights for Element Zero and products derived from it, including Mass Effect Faster-Than-Light Drives. The Tertius Mechanicum will be given the designs to produce Mass Effect drives for both the Imperium and the Immortal Sun. Element Zero will only be produced on Naufrag Primus and any other Immortal Sun owned world. Any attempt to reproduce Element Zero by the Imperium will be considered a breach of trust."

The Archmagos paused, for the first time since the conversation began.

=Very well.= They replied. =We have been given a copy of a catalogue listing the technology that you have made available to us. What technology would you trade for access to your Quantum Communication Buoys.=

I wondered when this would come up. QCB's were relatively small structures that allowed for Faster-Than-Light communication via quantum tunnelling. In a galaxy beset by the dangers of the Warp, such a thing was priceless, though obviously far less so than sealing or real space FTL travel.

"We will not trade you this technology in its entirety, but we will allow you access to our Quantum Communication Buoy in return for an equivalent or greater technology." I replied.

That was obviously far from what they wanted, but better than nothing at all.

=We will trade you a copy of an STC containing knowledge of a novel energy conversion and storage module.=

That was interesting.

"How novel are we talking about, here?"

=The module turns kinetic energy into potential energy and vice versa.=

That was not very novel, which spoke to the insane level that humanity must have been before Dark Night. The common Lasgun battery did something similar, as it could be charged by simply throwing the battery into a fire, though that would ruin the battery extremely quickly.

The confusion on my face must have been obvious, because the Archmagos clarified by sending me a portion of the STC copy through the Noosphere. The module itself wasn't too groundbreaking, and was actually worse than the Lasgun battery in some ways. What made it different was what seemed like a completely ancillary system tacked onto it. This was a battery that could charge itself, by draining energy from anything, as long as it was connected on a quantum level to it.

That was to say, it was a battery that could be charged from across the galaxy, as long as you had the necessary equipment to do so on one end.

I could technically do the same, using Fuinjutsu, but I could hardly reject something so potentially useful.

"I accept the trade on behalf of the Immortal Sun."

=Thank you. I look forward to a productive relationship, Archmagos Prime.=

I smiled, as the Forge rewarded me. In a month, it had given me more rewards than it had in years.

[[Action: Become an Archmagos Prime of the Mechanicum

Reward: Incredibly Craftsmanship (Akame ga Kill)]]

"As do I, Fabricator Locum." I replied. "As do I."

18.1. Perk(s) earned in this chapter:

Domain: Crafting: Artisan - Incredibly Craftsmanship (Akame ga Kill) (600CP): While the method of creating Teigu is long lost you are able to create things almost at their level, with some research and a couple other skilled people you might even be able to recreate the lost arts that created the Teigu long ago. You also have all the skills to repair Teigu or other incredible items from near destruction.

A/N: So, mostly a setup and character building chapter. I don't know what to feel about this chapter, given the highs of the previous one, but as always, real life got in the way of what I had planned. I could have waited longer to update to give you guys a more substantial chapter with more to chew on, but IRL has been pretty rough.

Honestly, I'm debating putting the story on hiatus once again while I take care of things. I don't know. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Anyway, stay safe everybody.