WARHAMMER 40,000: A Thousand Tiny Suns (40k/Exalted Crossover!)

You were almost buzzing with so many thoughts. Pride. Confusion. Shame. Anger. The anger surprised you - you wanted to grab onto Captain Brutus and just...explain to him, lay it out, the theological arguments why he was wrong, wrong, wrong. Kriegers didn't get bowed too. They served! there was just so many supporting pieces of evidence, and you were sure that a properly trained Kreiger theologian could quote verse, scripture and Creed. But you only knew the fundamentals and knew they were right, so...you felt so completely tongue tied by the fact you didn't know the right words. but there was also his...his...his!

"I'm sorry! This is, uh, driving...driving me crazy I just, just..." You walked around him, then put your hands on your head. "...can I please take a look at your equipment for a short minute?"

Brutus blinked at you. "My equipment? I, uh, of course-"

You snatched his bolt pistol off his belt and started to examine it. "Hmm, I could add self deploying stabilization fins...maybe, but the mass production...no, the issue is ammo, could it be replaced with motonic induction, warp manipulation, uhh...Elsewhere...that could be it!" you started to pace back and forth. "Can we still tap that interplexing manifold, though?"

"She is blessed once more with a sight from the Omnissiah," Kappa said, leaning in to add his two chits to the conversation, while Kit chuckled quietly.

"Uh, honey, focus?" he asked.

"Hmm? Oh, right, uh...I-I can't...give...orders..." she said.

"She says that a lot before giving us a bunch of orders," Kit said, his grin playful.

"And you are?" Brutus asked - his voice polite, but measured.

Your entire face went red. "He's Kit!" you said. "A...Cadian."

"I did notice that," Brutus said, his lips quirking up slightly.

Kit shifted, then cocked his head. He looked at Brutus and had a very...odd expression on his features. He opened his mouth, and then whispered. "The bastard did it," he said, but...you could see, hear, the other echoing in his head. He was having a memory. A shard of realization. Kit shook his head, then put his hands to his face for a moment. "Forgive me, my lord," he said, falling back on habit and memory. His palms rubbed against his cheeks. "A...striking memory. It's not even a shock...she knew, she had to have known..."

"What are you talking about?" Brutus asked.

"Does the name...Erda mean anything to you?" Kit asked, hesitantly.

Brutus shook his head. "No."

Kit pursed his lips. "Huh. Well." He slid his hands into his pockets. "That's a story i don't know, then."

And that was all he said for a while. You blushed and walked forward, figuring you had to make a decision - but you didn't want to just...order people around. What you wanted was everyone to get together and have a discussion. Wait. That was a genius idea. You brightened, and said: "W-We shall have a council! The Adeptus Mechanics, the Guard, the Space Marines, we shall meet and discuss what shall be done."

"Wisely said," Brutus said.

"Finally," Amberly said, stepping forward and standing up just a bit taller - coming to the Space Marine's lower torso. "You could have handled the introductions a bit more smoothly than that, 41-22."

"This is Cain," you said. "She's annoying."

Brutus chuckled.

Before the council, you and Kit found a quiet room - normally used as a place to hang coats when coming into the refurbished bunker that made up the heart of your growing city. Surrounded by musty great coats, you looked into his eyes and he looked down, pensive. "I saw...a flash," he said, without even needing you to ask. "I was...a woman. But she wasn't just me. Or the part of me that was once something, someone else." He tapped his chest. "She was every part of that me - like...an ant colony, clinging together to survive the floods. Like a fireteam that get bonded in a ceremony, and have the same last name, but more so." He nodded. "Do you understand?"

You chewed your lower lip.

And...

To your shock?

You did.

You started to pace. "Okay, imagine...a human soul." You held up your hands. "Two parts, one's the corporeal element that dies and chains us to the materium, and the other is the higher level esoterica soul, similar to the Emperor or other gods - that is tied to the immaterium. One departs this world, the other decays into it, but both are recycled endlessly. The, uh, Mundis Soul we'll call one, it is recycled into the biopsykeinetic energy of the greater ecosystem of the galaxy - even lost in space, the energy will return to a world someday, seeding life on lifeless worlds over billions of years. The Ecstatic Soul, heads into the Warp, where it is cycled and memories are lost, then, back into the human bodies. The lack of a proper oversight by some kind of moderating...entity...that's why there's more psykers! Of course! There has to be, more Ecstatic Souls are returning exposed to warp energies, that's gotta be it!"

You were almost bouncing off the walls now in excitement. "There has to be a way to test for it! We wait until someone is about to die - natural causes, obviously, say, five, six centuries, or, maybe, we find someone who wants to volunteer. No, that's unethical. Even if we ask, we might ask too well. Can you get someone to want to kill themselves by asking? If they thought you were a god-"

"Honey," Kit said. "Erda."

You blinked.

"Right!" you said, trying to get your brain back on track. "...Erda is to the Emperor as the Emperor is to me. I think."

Kit frowned, cocking his head.

"We have two souls! Ecstatic and Mundis," you said.

"I follow that," he said. "Mostly."

"But we...have a third soul," you said, interlacing your fingers. "We have...an Exaltation. A shard of power, crafted and forged to find humans that are worthy. The Exaltation provides the ability to directly channel Essence."

"...psychic powers?" Kit asked.

"No, think of psychic powers like...like...like...like..." You tried to explain the complicated theomechanical underpinning to the multivarious cosmologies that were exploding in your brain like an artillery barrage. The basic math was simple enough...but every time you started listing out the equations, you realized you'd need to actually teach Kit something like, six years of remedial motonic physics before he'd even get the basic principal. Argh! You started pacing again. "...ah!" You turned back to him. "Imagine there's water."

"Okay," Kit said.

"A psyker...is like a bowl," you said. "They can dip into the water, they can carry the water around, they can overflow and break."

Kit nodded, pursing his lips.

"If you wanna do anything with the water in the bowl, you need tools. A spoon to stir it. A straw to drink it. A plant to pour it onto," you said. "These tools are learned talents, like, biokinesis and telepathy. Understanding so far?"

Kit nodded.

"Okay. Essence is the...the smallest parts of the smallest pieces of the hydrogen in the water," you said.

"Hydrogen is in...water?" Kit asked, slowly. "I thought it was just water."

"It is! Hydrogen, and oxygen."

"Honey, we breath oxygen, how can water drown us then?" Kit said.

"Actually, we mostly breathe nitrogen! It's really interesting - though, we do need oxygen, about, 20%! Too much oxygen, things get bad. We get sick, fire's more likely, but too much nitrogen, and we also die. It's really fascinating how fragile we humans can be you know. And how tough. We can survive so much pollutants, in aggregate at least. Since, well, if we pass out-"

"Honey," Kit said, hand on your shoulder.

Your brain was going again. You flushed. "R-Right. There were a lot of solar exaltations. They combined together to survive a great catastrophy...into the Emperor. I thought it was all of them. But...my memories are so...hazy." Your hands went to your temples. "Everything from before my life...it's like trying to hear through a thick wall. BUt if there was another like the Emperor...Erda...what do you know of her?"

Kit blushed. "This is going to sound insane," he said.

"Kit! Hear! Me! My words!" you flailed, trying to gesture at everything you had just said. "I am the crazy sounding one."

He chuckled. "True, you did just say water is a gas," he said.

"Steam!" You spluttered.

"That's different, honey," he said, firmly - but you could see his wry little grin. His face went serious, then. "I remembered...the thing, the overwhelming thought in my head. It was the sensation...of a mother, seeing her children grown up and in a profession she despises. It's seeing her hard work undone, her desperation to save them shattered. It was the most...intense heartbreak I've ever felt." He looked away. "I don't think Erda would be happy to see what the Adeptus Astartes have become."

You frowned. "But the...Emperor made them. They're his Angels of Death. Right?"

Kit gave you a sad, uncertain look. "...did he?"

You both stood in the closet, surrounded by coats, thinking.

In the silence, a feeling started to bloom, like a candle being lit in the night.

"I remember Erda," you whispered. "She was my wife. As you are my husband."

"Luna," Kit said.

"Sun," you said, back.

The two of you looked at one another.

"Then who the hell was the stars?" Kit asked.

The door to the closet opened and Amberly stuck her head in. "The Council's ready you two! Put your pants on!" she snapped.

"We didn't take them off!" You exclaimed.

Amberly snorted, rolled her eyes, then closed the door again.

Kit grinned down at you. "Next time," he said, ruffling the top of your head. You blushed and started to make a noise like a boiling teakettle.

The Council was made up of your commanding officer, 9-19, Kappa, Kit, Amberly, you, Captain Brutus, and a newly arrived member of the Space Marines: The Librarian, Aurora. You had goggled when her helmet had come off, revealing that she had a rather short buzz cut, a formidable jowl, and...it was strange, she was a very female person, but still was...masculine. How did that work? You had stood there in quiet confusion until Kit had whispered in your ear. "She's butch."

That explained very little.

Still, you took your seat at the circular table and the council began. Kit started, which surprised you.

"I think this planet's safe for now - the population's got food, defenses, and I don't think Chaos is coming back any time soon. We need to get my wife to the capital - she needs manufactorums and laboratories," he said, nodding.

You blushed and stammered. "Well, I-"

"Nonsense!" Kappa exclaimed. "The foundries and laboratoria on Trevian Prime aren't worthy of the time of a chosen of the Omnissiah! No, the Natural Magos requires an immediate pilgramage to Mars!"

"Mars?" Brutus asked. "Would that not take decades?"

"Only two," Kappa said, levely. "And that's assuming average rates, we can get much faster..."

"Or much slower," 9-19 muttered, drumming her fingers. "I believe we need to get our orders again - this is technically an army, despite...everything."

"There's also the matter of the imprisoned space marines," Amberly said.

"The who?" Brutus asked.

"I think-" you started.

Then your tongue stopped moving. You felt like you couldn't move at all. Your entire body was frozen in a kind of...chilled ice. You tensed and tried to move. Then you tried to scream. it didn't work. Your jaw was shut. You weren't tensed though - and the argument was going above and around your head. Kit glanced at you - and he seemed to be mildly concerned. He looked like he was about to try and interrupt everyone, so they'd all listen to what you were saying. But as he opened his mouth to speak...the world started to bleed of its color. The feeling of being trapped grew overwhelming. Your brain was on fire now, prickling and tingling. Then the room around you started to melt into a slurry of grayish glop.

A bored, tired sounding voice came from your upper right.

"Is it working yet?"

"Give me but a moment, oh Master of the Black Heart... I must...calibrate our transmission system." The sneering, squeaky voice that came from your lower left made you want to squirm. You heard/felt something tugging at your sleeve, then your head twisted a bit, cocking to the side. "There we go. I believe the Mon-Keigh can hear me."

"Very well," the bored voice said. "Mon-Keigh, say something in that...bland grunting you call a language."

You tried to scream. Instead, what happened was...nothing.

"No, say it with your mind, don't try and use your neurons for anything else, Mon-Keigh," the sneering voice squeaked at you.

You wanted to close your eyes. You couldn't. Instead, you thought: Who the hell are you!? Let me GO!

"Mmm, very good work, Tythen, I may not kill you today." The bored voice sounded a felid, playing with their food. "Now..." A figure stepped around and into your line of sight. They were taller than a human could be, more slender, with pointed chin, pale cheeks, and dark, dark, dark eyes. He was beautiful, but all wrong - from the proportions to the expression. His ears were pointed and he wore a slender black suit of complex armor, covered with long spines and elegant blades. He crooked one leg up, propping it on your thigh as he bent himself almost in half to peer at you. "...tiny thing, aren't you?"

Xeno!

"Hmm, observant too," he said, sneering. "I am Asdrubael Vect. You do not know my name. However, I am under the impression that you might be able to solve a problem of mine. You see, there are some...extremely unusual entities that have decided that my home is their home. They're...very Mon-Keigh in that way, but they are not Mon-Keigh. In fact, they appear to be made entirely of warpstuff. Mon-Keigh that are both daemons and not daemons...it was almost fascinating enough that I didn't try to have them skinned alive for their temerity!" He smirked. "Unfortunately, this...self styled Sol Invcitus and his cronies are more trouble than they're worth and I want them delt with. Since beings like yourself are connected to them, I...offer you whatever treasure you wish from my vault, whatever favor you want from my personage to get rid of them."

I don't want anything from you, you growled.

His eyes flashed. "If you refuse, I will destroy six hive planets, each with a population of no less than a hundred billion people each."

I'd like to see you try... you thought back at him. hive worlds were some of the most heavily defended planets in the Imperium - and for good reason too. Their logistic value was beyond belief. Vect smirked at you.

Then...he explained the exact method, using very simple mathematics, how one might transport a sun from one area to another. A normal human would not have been able to follow it - it would have been a struggle for even the most adept Magos to even begin to grasp what he was talking about. Once he was done, he added: "Do you know what that all means?"

...yes.

Vect actually looked rather put out. He scowled. "Oh?"

You can...steal suns. You can kill a solar system without even engaging their battlefleets.

His scowl became a smirk. "I see you recognize why your vaunted defenses do not matter, if we Eldar put our mind to it? Now. Can we put the coordinates into her head?"

"We simply need stencil it into the transmitter's neural pattern like...so..." There was a whirring sound and...a sensation of screaming. But it wasn't your screaming. You squirmed, and you knew that someone was hurting - even as the information seared into your brain.

Stop it! Stop it! STOP IT! STO-


A sword seemed to flash from nowhere and press Vect's throat. His eyes widened and, for a moment, pure shock flashed across his features. He vanished with a crack and the sensation of being trapped in ice vanished. Everyone in the room was gaping at you - and at Amberly, who stood on the table, her sword out and held around where Vect had stood. She scowled. "He's gone!"

"What is going on!?" Aurora boomed, springing to her feet.

You gasped and thumped against the table, the ability to move making your entire body feel as if you had been turned to putty. "D...Drukari!" you gasped out, shoving yourself back up. "They're...city! Attack! Gods! The...thing!" You flailed, trying to get the words out. The Council burst into murmurs - but Kit growled at them. Everyone shut up. You closed your eyes. It was not the time to be all...Krieg about this. You started to speak, clearly, firmly. "In the webway of the Eldar Empire, there exists a city. It is currently under attack by...entities that claim to be Gods. Human. Gods. Non-Emperor gods. They're enough of a problem that the leader of this city...is threatening me to help."

"What kind of threat?" Brutus asked.

"Multiple hive planets," you said, rubbing your palm against your face.

"This man can't fight off some daemons," Aurora said, frowning. "And he can destroy Imperial planets?"

"Easily," you said, rubbing your palm against your face. "Our worlds spin about suns, they need their heat and light to survive, even hive worlds. He can move the suns."

Brutus nodded, slowly. "There...have been tales of Drukari doing this..." He admitted, quietly. "But I always heard they were rumors."

"My question is how did the message get here," 9-19 said. "Honorable Libarian, did you..."

"No," she said, frowning. "It wasn't psychic, or if it was, it was of a psychic power I've never seen before."

"I could study her brain, see what transpired!" Kappa said, nodding.

"Urgh," you said, rubbing your temples.

"Obviously, we must go and slay both sides of this conflict," Amberly said.

"Or at least find out what's going on," Kit said. "Maybe scope the place out."

Brutus frowned and rubbed his jaw. "We Ultramarines have some contacts with several of the craftworld Eldar - while we have fought many times, there to exists many examples of cooperation between humanity and Eldar. The campaign of Gabriel Angelos, or General Sturn..." He shook his head. "They might know more about the dangers and potential of this mission."

You frowned, hard. The transmission system...if it hadn't been psychic, how it had been transmitted. Direct neural stimulation at range, utilizing some kind of human template?

A template that had screamed.

---
What do!?

[ ] Head to Vect using the coordinates (Openly)
[ ] Head to Vect using the coordinates (Sneaky)
[ ] Take up Brutus' offer - find Craftworlders to ask.
[ ] Write In

Health: Fine
Anima: Glowing
Willpower: 5/5
Personal Motes: 13/13 | Peripheral Motes: 28/28 (Committed Motes: 5)
Limit: 1/10 (Trigger: Being stymied by indulges around her)
XP: 0 | Solar XP: 2
Major Projects: 0/5
SXP: 4 | GXP: 17 | WXP: 6