The Ways of Fate: A Primarch Quest

The Yunion Situation Begins

"You should know what changed." Renalt puffed his pipe two times, the inconceivable expensive smell of burning tabback leaves filling the meeting room, clouds quickly disappearing under the intense light of the lumen above. "How are things going with the new Yunion ambassador Sacharias?"

Linds did not give him the satisfaction of a reaction beyond a deepened frown, but Alek could sense him come to the same conclusions he had come. Years of working with the man had softened up the mental barriers he projected, making it easier to get glimpses of his thoughts even without diving deeper. "We are having talks, but I need more time."

"And I don't have time." The UCE President groaned. "In less than a year's time the Cities' Assembly will convene to pick a new president."

"And you wan't to use this situation as a boost for your reelection chances?" Alek inquired, straightening himself to appear taller, his face impartial, mind extended to figure out the president's motive.

"Correct", Renalt smiled behind his beard and pointed with his pipe at Alek before he turned to Linds. "I am sorry for not being honest. I invited you here to talk to the Witch, not you."

Linds huffed, leaning backwards but a subtle nod and the surface of his mindscape telling Alek to proceed for now. He took a moment to scan his opponent with a little more care, thoughts slowly coallessing into a whole picture. Renalt wanted the Good Witch, he could have him.

"Your political opponent, City Master Unz, is using the situation to boost his standing with the nationalistic hardliners." He summarised, picking off details from Renalts mind. "You want to assert Coalition interests in Yunion with a military intervention to boost your reappointment chances."

"I didn't even get to that part. Either you are good, boy, or it's like you read my mind." Renalt chuckled, fidgeting with his pipe. For a brief moment Alek could feel a wave of worry and uncomfortableness running through the man's mind, before it disappeared again, hidden under the facade he projected outwards. "The Yunion lords were good allies and business partners for the UCE and the Coalition. The revolutionaries, bleh, why I call them that. The rebels are very much not."

Alek frowned. The Union lords had received weapons, investments and technology transfers for their agricultural and extractive sectors and in return the Coalition received access to cheap promethium in return. The lordships lay on the second largest promethium reserves on Tenus, just behind Solimin. A thread of thought in Renalts' head surprised him. He blamed Alexandros for the rebellion, the TFSA having significantly reduced the threat of starvation in the area due to no longer being dependent on Coalition agricultural imports.

The President meanwhile continued. "I hope you know how much resources we invested into the pump and pipeline infrastructure. A significant investment that has now disappeared into nothing, because the rebels don't want to hold the obligations of the government they replaced."

"Mingling, I beg you." Linds interjected, his mind going wild with thoughts. "A war carries a significant risk of escalation with Solimin."

"Anything carries a significant risk with Solimin, Sach. Hell, your reform pet project has already been criticised by her majesty because it makes the alliance a bigger threat to her Imperial ambitions. The far bigger risk here is that others start to believe they can walk right over us."

He blew out smoke, the plume quickly absorbed by the air mounted air exchangers, his gaze focused on Alek again. "I know you have been pulling strings behind the scenes for the TFSA and the Reform Bill. The heavens-be-dammed agency has really riled up certain elements in the UCE, but I respect your spirit, Bourgh. I too want to see the Coalition at the top and for that we will need reform, but I want to be on top with it. Give me my war, Witch, and I will give you the reform we need and you want."

"And how am I to accomplish that?"

The President shrugged. "You are Handlers diplomatic attack dog, figure something out."

Alek tilted his head and furrowed his eyebrows slightly. "You don't actually want a war."

The steady rise of smoke from the pipe stopped. "Oh, does the Witch suddenly know me better than myself?"

The young primarch continued, ignoring the snarky comment. "You want to be reselected. For that you think you need two things. Something to appeal to the hardliners and stabilise the promethium prize, both ideally archived before the year ends."

Renalt nodded his head. "And military intervention will accomplish those things."

"If I achieve both without war, will you support the Reform Bill again?"

Renalt paused, glaring at Alek from across the table. "How do you intend to achieve that?"

He shrugged, pushing his mind against the President's with a boring sense of trust to underline his next sentence. "I do not know yet."

A huff left a greying beard. "Sure, Bourgh. If you can convince Handler of whatever it is you plan to do, we have a deal."

The unofficial deal was sealed with a handshake and then they parted ways, Aleks mind already working on figuring out what had happened as they made their way back to Linds office through the busy headquarters. The ambassador used him like an ice-breaker leviathan, walking in his wake through the crowded corridors as People stepped aside when his large figure entered their field of vision.

Renalt had taken the near term future of the coalition hostage. His political rival Destan Unz would block any bill that would threaten the UCE's power in the Coalition Council. If it was not passed under Renalt, it would not be passed for the next decade, while the Unfought War continued to brew between the two superpowers. Linds seemed to come to the same conclusion, his aura furious and angry beyond belief.

"He has always been an ambitious guy, but this." The ambassador muttered, carefully glancing at Alek. "Bourgh, couldn't you like…force him to retract his veto?"

"I could", Alek sighed, hand playing with his pocket watch. "But I can't solve every problem this way."

"Then what do we do?" Linds wondered, curious as he entered his office again.

Alek let the question simmer as he addressed the aides behind their desks who had turned towards them upon their return. "Whatever it is you are doing, drop it. Ters, we need every Councillor's opinion on military intervention in Yunion, Lievell, a projection summary on the next UCE presidential selection, Harman, a report on promethium price developments and potential solutions to stabilise the price." The aides and their assistants began to scurry at their desks, making landline vox calls and hurrying off to request records from the archives.

Linds emanated sadness for a single moment, enough for Alek to catch the sombre expression of his face as he looked down at the Ambassador. "Sometimes it feels like they listen to you more than to me." He shook his head before looking up to meet his gaze. "Do you have a plan?"

"My plan is to figure out our options first." Alek sat down at his own undersized desk and took out his work sketchbook and began scribbling down ideas and names. "Could you speed up your talks you have with the Yunion Assembly ambassador? Maybe we can achieve something on that front, figure out what they want?"

"I will see what I can do. Do you want to speak with her personally?"

Alek ponders it for a moment, never pausing making notes. "Probably a good idea."

"Time to harass the embassy for a meeting then." Linds complained, taking a deep breath to centre himself before he entered his personal office. Alek pondered his situation for a moment, before he got up and walked up to Ters' desk, the short aide looking up as soon as Alek's large shadow moved over his desk.

"Ters, do you have a moment?"

Ters frowned, before he told the other person on the landline call that he would call back and put the receiver down. "For you, always boss. What do you need?"

Alek made sure to keep his face neutral while he spoke. "I plan to ask out a woman that is infatuated with me. Do you happen to know any restaurants in New Sileu appropriate for a first date?"

The young father stared up at his towering quasi-superior, confusion radiating off his soul and his face. "Gena and I didn't actually…forget it, I know a few places." He ripped out a small piece of paper from his notebook and began to write down addresses, occasionally pausing as he searched in his memories for names, addresses and landline vox numbers. Alek helped a little with some subtle psychic pushing of his memory cortex, which resulted in an impressive amount of items on Ters list, but he before handing it to Alek, wondering something. "How much do you like her, Bourgh?"

"That is what I am trying to figure out", a quick scan of his mind's surface revealed to him he had meant something different. "She is nice and I will try to make it work?"

"That committed already, huh?" Ters raised an eyebrow and scratched through some of the items on his list. "These are some of the more prestigious places. Might be difficult to get a reservation, but I am confident you will manage."

Finally Alek received the list, even if he had already learned and memorised the items on it via glances at Ters mind, but it was the thought that counted. "Thank you, and yes", he added with a grin. "I will give details as soon as possible and I know about the bet."

"How…who snitched. Was it Lievell?"

"Noone told me anything", he laughed, quickly coming up with a lie to cover the psychic spying. "But I do have ears. Next time wait a little longer with the gossip after someone leaves the table."

The explanation using their regular after work meetings seemed to satisfy his colleague, Ters resigning himself to the fate of having lost the bet. Alek encouragingly patted him on the shoulder before he went off to participate in his own share of the challenge ahead.

---

Alek had taken the first and best opportunity to ask her out, working on his projects at home, while occasionally scanning the surface of the neighbour's mind for a fitting time. Said fitting time proved to be the day after, when he was leaving for work again. A date and time were quickly figured out and that left Alekandros to prepare.

First was actually getting a reservation. During lunch break he used the tram to travel to the city centre, believing himself better chances as the subtle psychic charisma aura he projected worked to its full extent only in person. He was successful of course after explaining his predicament first to a waiter and then the owner themselves. Nice words, a charismatic smile and subtle psychic pressure finally made them relent, leaving him roughly a week to prepare the rest.

The domestic fallout from the sudden veto of the reform bill brought a lot of trouble into the headquarters and into Alek's work as the Coalition descended back into infighting from the cusp of renewed unity. He spent the week calming down Councillors who had similarly invested into the passing of the bill and subtly preparing them for what would need to be done to make it pass. His team was working similarly hard, aides and assistants delivering daily reports to his desk with the current information on various topics relevant to their assignments, while Linds did what he did best, foreign diplomacy things, subtly and sometimes not so subtly collecting information and talking with officials from Solimin and third parties, including the Yunion Assemblies ambassador.

The files piled up high enough to block Ters view from his desk, Alek eventually being forced to forbid the young father from sleeping in the office and telling him to go home. It did not work on the rest of his team, who refused to budge and worked themselves to exhaustion. Stress or tiredness would have surely made some of them pass out, if Alek did not keep a watchful eye on things and helped out occasionally with strengthening applications of his powers, but most often being the one to bring takeout noodles to the office proved enough. An act that not only kept them fed, but also had him hailed as a great leader or similar things in a joking manner.

It was just like being in the armed forces again, only that soldiers could occasionally feed themselves. At the end of the week he had reworked the office command structure into something more befitting the current situation, with people on dedicated meal delivery duties and rest watch.

But before their work could be reviewed, he had a date.

It was the evening of the last day before rest day in the week, as much as it could be evening underground. The ceiling lumens were ever so slightly dimmed, as Alek stepped outside, wearing his best suit, to pick up Natalie Dellon. He could feel her excitement and nervousness through the walls before leaving his home. It was cute in a way how her soul's aura made a jump when he rang her doorbell. To say that he was blown away when she opened the door would be an overstatement, but he could appreciate the effort she had put into her appearance. Her dress was factory made, but it accentuated her figure well, the colours matching nicely with her jacket.

"You look nice Natalie", he told her as such, smiling because of the excitement radiating off her. The remark caused a flutter in her thoughts as she quickly scanned his appearance in return, a short burst of admiration and…lust flaring up before she centred herself again.

"Thank you", she looked up at him and smiled before focusing her attention on the wrapped object in his hand, her mind making a wrong connection, but Alek let her finish before correcting her. "Are those…flowers?"

He could understand the confusion and expectation in her voice, cut flowers were exorbitantly expensive for how quickly they wilted and died. A symbol of wealth and a forgotten age long gone. No native flowers existed on Tenus, those that were grown in greenhouses all around the planet were brought here when galactic humanity had settled this planet thousands of years ago.

"Yes and no." He gently handed her the wrapped bouquet for her to open it. Watching expectantly as she realised what it contained?

"Wait…those are…" She paused for a moment, lost for words. Her admiration of his gift filled him with pride, his creations rarely looked at in this way. "Alekandros these are beautiful, I can't, I don't…"

She wanted to ask for a price but did not dare in fear of being impolite so he saved her. "Sheet metal flowers, I made them myself." Of course these were no ordinary sheet metal flowers. Each of them was a masterpiece, impossible, delicate and detailed to imitate the real deal. His workshop had been covered in dozens of rejects before he had managed to get the technique right to his satisfaction.

The explanation did not seem to help. "Do I put these in a vase?" She joked out of lack of knowing what else to do. They did not need water obviously and he had made them for being put in one, but he knew she had figured that out already.

"I think just put them down somewhere, for now." He suggested tone light to ease her unease. "But if you want to, we can continue standing in your door."

"Of course, just give me a moment." She walked back into her housing unit with a smile on her face, letting the door wide open behind her, putting them down on a table gently before coming back. Natalie took Alek's offered arm with a suppressed sense of excitement, while they wandered to the tram station with no sense of hurry. Even though she was relatively tall, the size difference was nevertheless a little awkward, but to a degree that seemed to bother her.

"Natalie, do you want to know where we are going?"

"You know", she squeezed his arm ever so slightly. "It did not even come over me to ask, but please do tell."

"Have you been to the Sapphire Emporium before?" He asked, knowing the answer already.

"I actually have been, last year in spring season. My boss celebrated his wedding there."

"Then you know more than me. I hope it is as good as my colleague claimed."

Natalie grinned widely at Alek, while leaning ever so slightly against him. "It's a nice place, don't worry. How did you get a reservation only a week in advance?"

"I went there and asked during lunch break."

"Now you are pulling my leg." She mused.

"I can be very convincing if I want to." He replied, grinning widely, the remark tickling a chuckle out of her.

"You have to convince me of that."

Similar banter continued all the way to the station, on the tram and on the way to the Emporium itself. Alek continued being on his best behaviour, offering to help Natalie out of her jacket and assist her in getting seated. She seemed to value the attention positively, even if she politely declined both times. Seated in a small table near the centre below the sapphire laden ceiling, the remains of a once rich gem vein running through the mountain New Sileu had been built in, they pondered over their menus.

A flash of amusement running through Natalies mind turned his attention from the menu to his date just in time to see her glancing down at the synth leather bound menu again, chuckling to herself.

"I apologise, it's just…", she began, trying to find words, Alek already having figured out the source of her amusement due to her surface thoughts. "...you look a little bit awkward sitting there."

He smirked, put down the menu and held his hands up demonstratively. "You should wait until you see me hold the cutlery they serve here."

That drew another amused sound out of her, as she gently reached out to hold one hand against his, comparing sizes. "How tall are you, around eight feet?"

"Little bit less, just enough so I don't have to hunch down walking down the corridor streets."

She hummed understandingly, eyes still on his hand, her thoughts going back to his sheet metal flower bouquet. "I don't think many would believe someone with your frame would be capable of creating such delicate things."

"These hands are indeed capable of very delicate and precise work."

"Don't threaten me with a good time", Natalie teased, the innuendo not lost on Alek with the burst of emotion running through her. She pulled her hand back and focused her gaze back on the menu before her. "I think the stone mushroom pastry in wine sauce sounds good, what do you think?"

Alek agreed, but decided on butterfish on root vegetables for himself. Getting the attention of a waiter was relatively easy via subtle application of his psychic powers. The arrival of their food put a dent in the conversation speed, but it continued nevertheless, the topic switching over to their respective workplaces.

"No, that's not how it works." She explained a question of Alek's. "Taxes, tariffs and tributes first go to the union government who then gives shares of it back to the local administrations." She paused, taking a sip from her whine before continuing. "And my job is essentially just making sure the numbers in the New Sileu budget add up how they are supposed to, which all too often they do not." Her face turned sour.

"Corruption?" Alek inquired, following up on the trail of thought she had left open, some of his attention focused on divining information about his meal.

"Corruption, criminal activity, negligence, bureaucratic inefficiency, you name it, we have seen it." Natalie sighed, poking her pastry with her fork. "Most often we can't even really do anything about it because the problem lies in how the UCE lies within this strange web of Coalition institutions. There are simply too many interest groups and not enough rules and regulations to bind them. And now President Renalt has vetoed the reform bill, making weeks of prep work useless."

Alek paused, studied her surface emotions before he hulled the table in a psychic aura that would stop others from listening in. "Renalt uses the Reform Bill as leverage to force certain Coalition officials to help him get reselected next year."

Natalie nipped at her wine glass, frowning. "Is that even legal?"

Alek chuckled ominously. "I don't think legality is a thing to worry about in those circles. It is as you said, too many interest groups: Politicians, industrialists, unions, guilds, the witch hunters, the military, they all have a stake in the game and their own interests. Getting them all to agree on something is…difficult."

"Does not sound to me like you like your job." She grimaced.

He shrugged. "I am good at it, but you are right, my heart is with other things."

"Oh, like what?"

"Creating metal sheet flowers for a beautiful woman." He smirked, satisfied to see Natalie blush ever so little. He rummaged through his pocket to retrieve and show her his pocket watch. "This is one of my more recent creations. I required one thousand finely crafted parts. It took a lot of experimenting with different alloys for the gears and springs. I discovered that using nickel-" Alek continued for a whole minute to talk about the up- and down-sides of working with different alloys, before stopping himself, thinking, then sighing. "You have no idea what I'm talking about, do you?"

"No I have not." She laughed, his excitement appearing a little weird and…cute to her. "You want me to tell you about the books I have read recently?"

He smiled at her warmly. "Sure."

Some time, and a tram ride back, later, Alek and Natalie said good bye in front of her door, his date having found the evening to be most enjoyable. It appeared he had managed to impress, meaning he had achieved his goal as far as he was concerned. Talking with her was…nice, he found as he made his way home.

---

A few days later Linds' exhausted and tired team assembled, more than a dozen people crowded together, sitting or standing in the ambassador's small office. The mood was grim and defeated. For more than a week they had gathered documents and reports, asked and convened with experts. Alek and Linds had met with countless other Coalition and third party officials to scout out the lay of the land, explore alternatives to the Yunion promethium, but nothing. There was no short or medium term replacement for the former lordships' wells.

The situation was, as they had found out, shit. As he had discovered in his talks with the Assemblies' ambassador, the Yunion was intending to play both superpowers against each other, see who would give the most concessions. A dangerous gamble, at some price the concessions they demanded would be more hassle than a military intervention by either side.

If Solimin outbid the Coalition or decided to intervene first, they would have a major strategic and resource advantage in the power struggle over Tenus. This was a..suboptimal outcome, but any outcome would likely lead to an escalation in some way.

This did not mean there were no options however. If Renalt wanted to block the Reform Bill, Alek could either force him psychically to retract his veto or even outright remove him. It might not go down well with Handler, but Renalt had enough enemies he could use as a cover. The UCE chancellor, who would take up the role of UCE president until a new one was selected, was much less driven by self interest in regards to the Reform Bill and would not veto it, if Alek had read him correctly.

In regards to the Yunion assembly however, there were two options, the plans he had gleaned from the Empire ambassador had been clear. Force them the Assemblies to yield or invade.

He could influence things to his design or engage as the Coalition "psychic attack dog" as some liked to call him. Handler had not put him on assignment for months and had told him previously when not to engage with certain ongoing events.

What was he to do?

[]Do nothing
There would be a future opportunity for reform and the promethium price would stabilise again with time. None of the other options were to his liking.
[]Mind control President Renalt
It would be relatively easy to have Renalt retract his veto. His will was strong but Alek's powers were stronger.
[]Assassinate Renalt
The President was in the way of the reform and the chancellor, who was in line to become president should something happen to Renalt, was not.
[]Mind control the Yunion Assemblies
Forcing the Assemblies to yield with his psychic might would be a bloodless way to regain access to the promethium fields.
[]Militarily Intervention
Alas, there was convincing the Council of the necessity of military intervention. It would, according to the research of Lind's team, solve Renalts dilemma and would also turn him into a future ally.
[](Write-In)Combination of the above

Thanks for participating. I reserve myself the right to disregard, interpret, change and add to WH40k and 30k lore as I see fit to support the narrative. Comments and feedback sustain my soul. I am really not happy with these parts. Thats because diplomacy hard, but we need to get through it to get to the Crusade stuff.