Turn 8.1: The Assault upon the warband
- Location
- USA
The sensors of the Witness' Light poured into me the information at hand. The warp storm before us, was chaotic indeed, but nothing compared to even the eddies of the Eye. It would be within my power to piece its veil with little effort for I knew the target and my purpose was solid.
"I question this course, Sir." Harkar spoke through the data link I had built into the fleets, which to be fair was a reasonable stance to take with the information that she could have. Until now she had never seen the value of the Inversion Array nor the improved form of Primordial Arrays that I now had.
Before I could reply, Nameria shifted on her screen. She had been in meditation since we left Shogi heading towards this warfront, in a church within the heart of the flagship that Harkar commanded from. Her eyes opened and instead of blood and flesh, energy burned within them. Prismatic orbs of energy glared outward from her face even as flesh and bone writhed under her skin becoming something else, refining.
It was painless for her it was clear, but her robes and armor were unmade. I would have to remake them better, it was a poor showing indeed for my advisors to be forced to use wargear that was of such low quality. Tendrils of energy the same as her eyes lashed forth from her back, merging together and taking shape into what could only be five sets of wings. Each formed from energy that to my eyes and sight danced between the colors of the Veil and gold of the Emperor.
"Follow my guidance and battle we shall find." Her voice was different as well, melodic in a way it had not been, it chimed and thrummed with undercurrents of importance even to me. As she lifted a hand, I could almost see a strand of golden light leading forth into the warp storm, but where I could only percive it slightly, Harkar could see it clearly.
"To battle we go in His name." Harkar stated with finality as the fleet moved. Into the warp storm we traveled, the eddies dying as the Witness's Light pieced through them the warp unable to touch my vessel as always. The fleet flowing behind me as Harkar and Nameria guided them forth, I would be the first and that was proper for it would take a few moments to align the Arrays.
Into the heart we reached and the warband was but unaware of our assault. Across the Witness's Light did the arrays flow into the active state, the systems ready and waiting. The moment the fleet arrived, I struck. The Primordial Truth was enforced and the forces of ruin suffered greatly. Ships ceased to function their daemons rendered unto nothingness, entire battlegroups crippled into immobility. Daemons thrown from the battleground, even as the shipyard of foul mass was struck the hardest.
Its foulness rent apart to fuel its coming annihilation. I could all but see the flows of ruin fleeing from it as its power was harvested for my forces. Without needing to be told, I engaged the engines and raced forth into range, bringing the stillness of my nature down upon it.
Their base would become their tomb, the lack of distance the greatest foe that Chaos could have in this fight. My aura rent apart the daemon's might, rendering it all but powerless even as its power was given to my forces. There was no question in my mind who would win in the end, all that remained was to see how this event would be concluded.
Harkar I saw move forward and relieve the admiral of command for an unknown reason, but I would trust in her for this. Commands were sent forth across the ships, all five hundred vessels receiving their own commands. In the space of moments Harkar gave a battle command to every ship and unit interlocking the plan of battle for the future.
As a hive, the fleet moved, each ship following its orders with the smoothness I would expect. There was no hesitation as the captains of the ships followed her commands, I peered into the distance with the sensors I had and gave the data to Harkar to improve her options.
In turn I gave my commands, watching and predicting the actions of the counterparts of this fight. The admiral of the fleet was not as skilled as either of us, but that was no cause for carelessness for I have seen time and time again the nature of humans.
Yet, it was truly simple, into a trap we led them and empowered by both Araahal and the Primordial Arrays the forces of ruin were brought low. Ships destroyed intact to salvage what could be in the future once all of this was done. There was in the end no question of victory in this fight.
With the loss of power from the daemons and the important astartes, there was little that could be done to prevent the annihilation. With grim finality the Witness's Light struck the final vessel of ruin from the warp, burning it to nothing as we closed on the shipyard itself.
"A glorious victory Lord. The Emperor is with us this day." Harkar's voice broke the silence as she rejoiced in the victory of the navy. It was indeed a great victory, over a hundred ships destroyed and thousands of astartes within the hull of the shipyard waiting to be slain.
"Atraxas, you will join me when we board." Nameria's voice was unbending and I sent an affirmation to her, noting that she wore new robes. They were too small and ill fitted, another poor showing on my part. I would have to ensure that this possibliity is taken into account in the future for my advisors. I will not fail them in this way again. Quickly noting down the relative differences and extrapolating the various other options for physical transformation, it was done. It should only take me a few days to ensure that my advisors have armor and clothes fit for any physical abnormality.
The boarding went smoothly, almost too smoothly for my liking. I was not a war scholar by any means, but I knew the basics of warfare and this was all too easy. There was an allowance to be made for the forces of ruin being surprised and hindered by the primordial arrays, but even including that this felt exceptionally easy to me.
Did they really assume that no one would be able to invade their domain? Although to be fair without a greater understanding of warp navigation principles that would not be an inherently fallacious assumption. Even so, it would bother me for a time, I could just tell. "Atraxas, can you interface with these systems?" Nameria's words broke my musing as I reached out a leg towards one of the sockets on the wall and interfaced with it.
Ugh, it was gross, so very gross. I could all but feel the touch of chaos sliding through my mind, it was greasy, slimy and just foul. It reminded me of that time on the first world I ended up where I accidentally fell into a sewage treatment plant only less pleasant since it was in my mind. Even so, it would not corrupt me that I knew, it was too weakened by the arrays and warp shred, in addition to being through several layers of separation.
Regardless, getting general control over the systems was done quickly. "The general systems are mine." Nameria seemed to think a moment even as several of the troops of the army stared at her with some unknown emotion on their face, "Let me speak to the base." I lowered my body in acceptance of the directive and understood her goal, she would preach of the human emperor to them and try to shake their faith. It would probably result in only minor gains, but anything would provide a gain for us in this situation.
With a audible click, the systems activated. "Astartes, born and fallen, this need not be your fate. The grip of Chaos is not eternal upon your souls. Have you ever had a moment of doubt? A moment where you question your actions? Listen to those memories, find within your hearts the seed of nobility that He granted to you, no matter how far flung you are. All are His children and He loves you all, even now if you but turn back He would accept you once more." Her voice was somber and etheral, reaching past the mundane and into the spiritual. Particles of Divinity and Order flowed in her words, carried aloft by her will and soul, branching forth across the station.
Through the cameras, of the five commanders, only one was truly unmoved. The others flinched, seeming to become uncertain for a moment before firming their resolve. However, the two furthest from us shifted, and one died as a surge of Ruin extinguished his life and yet to my eyes I could see his soul dissolve into the warp. The final commander suffered the same fate, struck by a blade of Ruin yet he held onto life if only for the moment and I heard his final words, "Emperor let this nightmare end."
It was without question that he would die soon, but I could feel that he wished for death in the end, his survival would be a boon, but of minor value. "Three commanders remain, two removed from the board." I relay to Nameria even as she drew a sword, another thing I would have to correct for it was too small for her new frame. "Then we will make our stand here. The commanders of Chaos refuse to bend the knee to peers and that will be to our advantage. Men, stand firm for the Emperor is with us this day!"
The backs of my army stiffened even as they lifted their weapons and waited. It was not long until the first of the astartes came to their death. I watched as they died in miserable ways, las guns finding the flaws in their armor plates, plasma bolts tearing through them and other forms of death claiming them. I have watched videos of Astartes in fights before, and what I saw was far from that, there was no choreograph movements to bring ruin to their foes. There was no ignoring the firepower of thousands, it was simple calculation as the might that made the astartes such potent foes were torn asunder.
Their metaphysical armor was no more, and all they had left was their personal strength and skill, and it was lacking. I took to the battle as my blood sung. Astartes fell before me in droves, a hundred were claimed as I wove gravity into knots. My bulk my greatest weapon as I rushed forward, the vanguard of my army.
Astartes turned to paste as I pushed past, weapons were forged and fired with abandon as I fought. Blood anointed my carapace as I listened to the song of blood. Limbs flew, armor crumpled, archeotech destroyed. Psykers tried to burn me their powers failed, daemons tried to consume my flesh, I struck them away breaking their essence asunder.
I wove power anew, the Libraries answered my call as I unleashed the fury of Life upon them. Mutations were forced to their logical end, chaos spawns were brought into life only to be turned to mush by my steps. Order was woven into chains of glittering logic, unmaking those that bore plagues in their bodies. The power of Ruin was brought into the fray as well as each of my soldiers that suffered was woven into the power of the army. It was a never ending cycle as I fought to Nameria's drumbeat of war, she commanded the fight and I brought the fury of the Exatari to bear.
Weapons of war that we had forbidden eons ago were forged, viruses that could rend metal asunder were unleashed from the power of Life. The power of Divinity giving value to all that was done and underpinning it all the simple drumbeat of Weight ensuring that my power and rage would never cool until the end.
Upon a mountain of corpses we marched, twelve thousand humans against three thousand five hundred and twenty three astartes. It was an impossible battle yet we marched forth, and the legendary forces of Chaos fell before us like wheat before the scythe, their blood spilling forth behind me as I reaped their lives. I test out a thousand weapons as we march, exploring what can be done and what could be better.
An astartes tried to halt my march, I tore his head off and consumed it, before his body splattered apart. I laughed, a deep sound of horror that sent even my soldiers running in fear of me for a time. Tireless, unrelenting I marched, with the support of my army there was nothing that could confront us and win.
I drank deeply upon the power of the daemon in whose guts we strode, their power unable to be brought to bear even as I care out new hallways. Reveling in the spilling of the foul essence of the creature, I could hear it screaming in agony as I inflicted upon it a mere fraction of the suffering that it had been party too.
The daemon engines were torn asunder, their daemons unmade by the fury of Ruin and Order. The few psykers try their best to call upon their patrons of foul magic, I strike them down as the warp trembles and dies before my inexorable march. There was nothing they could do and I gleefully abused it as I let them see the futility of their actions before their certain demise.
The final astartes of the station stood before me and I tore him apart adding one last coat of blood to the gore that covered my form. Little of the silver of my flesh could be seen under the drying red of blood after hundreds of astartes died to my hands.
With the final astartes fallen to the forces of Shogi, the battle rage drained from my mind as I turned towards the more interesting to me action of recovering what relics lay within this now empty station. I could hear the plaintive screeching of the daemon in whose form we strode, begging for power from Chaos to smite us. It was futile; my presence imbued with Order brought forth the harsh dictate of reality upon this place and to the principle of logic did now events follow.
In the vaults mountains of relics were found, but most were too corrupted and of little value to be saved. Into nothing more than ash did I consign these relics; there was no future for them sadly, anything that could be discovered easier and safer to find elsewhere. Yet, as with all things human, there were exceptions to be found.
The tech priests that had come with the ships, found their way into vaults and discovered several relics of interest. They were unable to identify them, and even I found myself unable to truly identify some of them out of hand, but they were pure and would be brought to Shogi for further research. A single conversion field of a strange sort, that was designed to transfer energy between forms, akin to an idea that I have had in the past.
Yet, it was the least of the finds in some ways. Another discovery was one that the tech priests could identify as a standard (insofar as such a word can be used on relics of the past) hyper deceleration field emitter. We had not gone far into the field of inertial manipulation, but it would be an interesting field to explore. Gravity and it would pair well together I am sure.
The next finds were one that I could identify as an Adrathic weapon due to experience with Araahal. It was different, more of a rifle in size and shape than the pistol that she lived within. I could also see the manufacturing marks indicating that it was a mass produced variant instead of being a custom design.
Perhaps the most useful of all the discoveries was a cache of stasis sealed adamatium. Far from the degraded variants that we had found in the past, these were to my eyes pristine and even from a distance I could see the artificial particles that held the material together. A relic that to any other would be useless, but for me it was a priceless discovery indeed. For with this data, it would be possible to move beyond the basic recreation and into a level notably above.
The final two were unknown to me, the first a bolter that bore unmistakable marks of being in part warp technology. Yet, upon its casing was the marking of the Dark Angels, and it was ancient. Calculating the wear upon the machinery placed it from the time of the Great Crusade. As such it was likely nonfunctional but the data that could be recovered from its construction was likely to be useful indeed.
As I entered the room of the last relic to be recovered, I noticed first its size. A massive block of machinery weighing at least ten thousand tons stood before me, with dimensions that truly dwarfed even Imperator titans. Chambers that were simple energy sinks or batteries that could have held entire Living Mausoleums covered the surface of the device, tubing that I could have room within to stretch fully out.
It was built on an entirely different scale and its technology was strange. Logical in a way that human technology rarely was, but without question derived from human principles. Regardless, it would be coming with us for I would not leave such a source of knowledge to be lost to the warp. Quickly running around it to form the most basics of scans, I found myself hindered once more by the shielding it had. Tens of meters of simply armor plating and scan resistant materials to befuddle even my sensors. The tech priests were unsure what to make of it and I could not fault them for that in this case.
This device was beyond even my understanding for now.
"Atraxas, I wish to speak with you." Nameria's voice came through the communication system I had provided for the commanders without any lag I could detect. It was a good showing of the technology to resist even the passive influence of being within the warp and a daemon, but one data point is not enough to conclude that it is completed. "In person or over the line?" It was a nicety that I was unsure of the purpose in human interactions I have found to meet in person more than using long distance communications even if there was no fidelity loss.
"In person please." I nodded mentally at the projected conclusion being reached, as I quickly interfaced with the battle net system to determine where Nameria was. She was currently in a room that was noted for being some form of chapel to the powers that exemplified Ruin. They might be powerful and even divine in some forms, but I would not give them the honor of calling them gods.
Rerouting commands and directions to the forces around the station, I made my way to Nameria's side. For a human it would have taken a few hours of walking to reach her, but for me it was a mere few minutes as my gravity and phase shields let me fly through the station's hallways.
The room was indeed a chapel in similar form to those that dot Shogi, but also different with depictions of the things that are the face of Ruin in the place of the Emperor. Atrocities fit for the age of horror, the tribal era of my people dot the walls in places of honor and veneration. The largest statue was of an ultramarine dreadnought with the statement of ascendant under it. Information came together and I knew that we were looking upon the former mortal shell of the daemon we had invaded.
Nameria stood before the statue, her transformation more obvious to me now. I might not understand the attraction that other species experience, but I can understand what humans find attractive among their ranks and Nameria's new form was anomalous.
It was too perfect, the shape of her muscles and fat perfectly placed and changed. I peer into her flesh trying to see something that was on the edge of my mind, ignoring the wings of energy for now, her cells were different. That was it, there were new organelles within them and I did not recognize any aspect of them.
"I had wondered about you for seventy years. You failed to match any of my understandings of planetary governors, uncaring of your wealth. Yet at the same time, keeping people in their chains, uncaring for their plight. What a fool I was: you do care, and care deeply, about the people of Shogi? Don't you, Atraxas, Radiant Scholar of the Exatari." I freeze, calculating thousands upon thousands of possibilities trying to determine how things failed so badly. Where was the data leak, I was sure that there was nothing that could have revealed myself so completely.
Nameria shook her head sadly, "There is no leak in your protections. Through my ascendance I see through all illusions and understand those around me. I am unsure of His plans for me, but He would not bless me with this power unknowingly." She moved towards the statue of the astartes before her, and I could hear confusion and sorrow in her voice. "You wonder why I have not struck you down in His name. Perhaps, it is a trial of His that I fail, but I know you and I understand you. I thought of you a robot akin to the tech priests of Mars, uncaring and simply efficient."
I let go of the needless calculations now for the damage is done, there is nothing I could do beyond trying to kill her now and I find myself loathe to attempt such. Out of all my advisors, I had found the most kinship with Nameria; we had little interaction but I knew that her kindness for the people of Shogi was the closest to my feelings in turn. In truth I would be loathe to attempt to kill any of my advisors; it seems that I am a poor infiltrator indeed once I am forced to interact with others consistently.
She turned to face me, her prismatic eyes looking up towards my head as I saw slight tears flowing from them. "When I learned of your plans for the schools, I had thought that my fears were realized. Now," A harsh laugh escaped her as she shook her head, "I see that you despise what circumstances had forced you to accept. How do your people educate your young that limiting the options was almost physically painful for you?"
There was no reason to hide behind obfuscation with her anymore and I could explain it well. Sealing the chapel for complete secrecy, I answered, "Hatchlings are given a decade to grow and experience life before eduction starts, then comes two hundred and fifty years of education. It is due to various biological aspects that it is so fast to educate fully in all fields universally. There is little difference between teaching everything in one day or two and half centuries for us, it is simply a superior option to teach over time." A hologram showed my words of an egg reforming into an Exatari, which was joined by a handful of others, an extreme rarity for when I had awakened I was alone. Soon it grew and expanded until it was brought to a building where a full grown Exatari connected to it for the first day of instruction and the first project was done. It was a simple process in truth and yet it was also complex.
Nameria stared at it and me before seeming to come to a realization. "You don't feel anything for the child beyond a basic protective drive." I thrummed in agreement, "Our evolutionary history was that of the prey, we died in masses at a time. Sadness was a selective pressure as it would make one more likely to die; protecting the hatchlings was easy and efficient. To me the emotions of humanity are exceptional and chaotic, almost impossible to follow. You hold all the cards as humans say, is my death written?"
Perhaps it was crude to state so clearly that she had all the power, but it was true without question and there was no need to beat around the hive about it. In some way it was a relief to end this charade after so long, and the Witness' Light was docked nearby. It would be theoretically possible to reach it and escape before any could truly react.
Nameria sighed, looking at her hand and around, "If I did not have my new understanding, perhaps I would have pushed you away from Shogi, but I do not believe that I would have sought your death at this point. In many ways you have only helped the people given to your care, there have been actions I dislike, but one action out of many does not condemn a person. I do not understand His goal in providing me with this insight to others; it is hard to look upon you and see a foe of humanity. The Imperium disgusts you, but can that really be held as a fault? Even I despise aspects of the Imperium. In the end I will watch and see, but I do not believe us need to be foes. I do however have demands." Her voice turned hard at the end and I simply let my body shift to the side in agreement for it was only expected.
"First, give me funding for the schools I wish to build. Second, work towards giving all the people of Shogi a better life. I doubt these will be difficult for you to achieve, Atraxas." A soft chuckle came from her as she must have noticed my surprise at the sheer simplicity of what she demanded. "You have no idea how many governors would have raged against the idea of giving their subjects a better life and yet you consider it nothing. Perhaps in some ways you are more human than humans are."
It was fairly clear that this was the end of this discussion, which thankfully went well indeed. No major disasters for me to deal with in the future and it would be fairly easy to follow her demands, already I had several plans for how to improve life quality for the people of Shogi. Of course doing so would provide better workers for me and the industry that I am building for the world.
"Chaos is not so different from us it seems. I can feel their hopes, dreams and reverence in this place. If not for the direction, they would have been worthy allies in faith. Perhaps it is true that Chaos is nothing more than a dark reflection of us as the primordial truth dictates." Nameria's voice reached me as she had started examining the carvings and statues in the chapel once more, seemingly intrigued by the faith on display. Her final words though were false or at least speaking of the truth that Ruin so desperately tried to make into its power even if it was in truth the greatest weakness thereof.
"The Primordial Truth is thus;
From the wellspring came order and logic, the firstborn of reality. The beating heart of all existence, the soul upon which all others would be born.
The firstborn dreamed chaos and illogic and from this dream came its mirror, the illogic to match the logic.
Yet, neither could balance the other and so fragments of their totality were mixed together veiling each from the other.
Thus did the Material and Immaterial become divided by the Veil.
The Immaterial is ever the mirror of the Material, it is the Material that gives it meaning for what is a dream without a dreamer? In turn this is the truth of the Primordial Truth, without the Dreamers there is nothing to be Dreamed." I give words to the understanding that the Emperor had given to me years ago; it was less refined than his statements, but it would get the information across to her.
Her actions froze for a time as she seemed to ponder something, "That is not from you, you could not know that secret. The Emperor, He told you that secret." I simply signaled agreement as she blinked and turned around to the chapel once more, "That is how you lead us to victory, through a gift from Him you made us the Dreamers and this the Dream." Awe entered her voice as she shook her head once more before turning towards the door and moving to leave, "I have ideas for improvements on this." The final words she said before leaving, and I could finally ponder how this would change things. Interacting with her would become much more important, but even for me there was too much to property calculate at once.
"An Inquisitional Vessel just entered the warpstorm." Harkar's voice broke the silence even as Nameria stumbled in shock, and to be fair I was surprised at the echo of shock in Harkar's voice. In a moment I calculated the options and chose one, reaching out I grabbed Nameria and activated my flight systems.
Her new body was far more durable such that I had no reason to accelerate slowly, in a second we went from normal walking pace to hypersonic. The sonic boom shaking the station as I bored through various walls of disgusting flesh to reach the exterior nearest to the ship entering as possible. It was possible that they were here for me, but I found that doubtful since currently I had probably the best chance to escape and anyone intelligent enough to discover my nature would realize that as well.
A new line was added to the communication systems a moment later, "in the name of the Emperor, you are all under arrest and will be executed within the hour. Externinatus is declared upon your homeworld for interfering with His agent's mission." I could not blink, but if I could I would have for that was perhaps the dumbest statement of intent I have ever heard. A single ship not even a battleship against an entire fleet of comparable ships with one of the better admirals in the sector in command was a losing proposition.
"Uh, commanders, the cogboys just discovered some records." Peshk interjected before the data flowed over into my mind and from me into the others. The inquisitor in question had a trade agreement it seemed with the warband, they would push against any assaults in exchange for uncorrupted relics of the dark age and for Erimyst to be unmolested. Of course that was the surface details, the deeper and more truthful information was more damning in that the inquisitor was simply using the warband as a deniable asset to discover relics and valuable individuals for their use.
I could hear Nameria grinding her teeth together over the comm lines. It was only a few more moments before we reached the hangar of the flagship and reached the bridge where Harkar was pinching the bridge of her nose in stress. "The idiot has been screeching about us interfering with her 'holy mission' and how we will be condemned and executed for such actions." The statement was not unexpected, but I could see that Harkar wanted to turn the fleet on the inquisitor and destroy her ships. Nameria clearly saw it as well as she shook her head slightly.
"Let me speak to her and perhaps her wealth can be turned to our side." Harkar just laughed sadly, "I have met inquisitors like this before, they are all deluded. Although on the other hand I have yet to met a none deluded one." I watched as Nameria placed a hand on her colleague's shoulder before turning on the communication line once more and instantly the bridge was full of indictments against us and our actions here.
"Enough. Not even the Inquisition has the authority to work with the greatest enemy of humanity. There is no one that would support our execution for the removal of a Chaos warband and daemon station so near to Cadia. Furthermore, Cadia itself gave our planetary governor the authority and direct mission of purging this infestation from the sector. Under the Emperor's light did we succeed and recover relics of the dark age, as you arrived we were preparing to consign this abomination to oblivion in His name. You have two choices, either hold to your path and face the Emperor for your actions or turn aside and find another way to act in His name." Nameria's voice was steady and absolute, there was no flexibility to it and I could tell that the inquisitor could see the wings of her new state of being through the link opened.
"Very well, I will let your crimes go unpunished for now. Hinder my mission again and you will be condemned as Heretics and Traitors most foul." The last words were spoken with a level of fury that I had not truly encountered before among humans, but neither of my advisors seemed shaken by it. As the ship began to swing around to leave the warp storm Nameria began to speak once more, "You see a horror on the horizon and are desperate to find hope of humanity's survival. Even in the darkest of tombs and the most ruinous depths of insanity, any price is worth it if you can but find an ember of hope. Yet, would that be His choice, to leave aside everything just to survive? I do not know why you seek so fervently, but the power that burns within your soul is not a curse but a gift of His, let go and return to Him. All are children before Him and are welcomed to their Father no matter their faults." The words were quite and resolute, I could see divinity particles flowing out with her words. There was no response, but I could feel a shift in something ephemeral and Nameria seemed content.
Total Gains and Costs
Incurred Costs: 25 Resources to restock the army and fleet from minor damage and replacing ammunition
Gains: 2339 Resources and 363 Wealth from the non corrupted loot in the station
Relics
???? Bolter (OOC known as a Null Bolter)
Conversion Field
Adrathic Lance
Hyper-deceleration Field
????? (OOC Mechanivore Shard)
True Adamantium Samples (5)
Cadia Favor gain: No favor, favor gain exchanged for 1 Request that will be answered without quest. (You did this mission too well for Favor gain)
"I question this course, Sir." Harkar spoke through the data link I had built into the fleets, which to be fair was a reasonable stance to take with the information that she could have. Until now she had never seen the value of the Inversion Array nor the improved form of Primordial Arrays that I now had.
Before I could reply, Nameria shifted on her screen. She had been in meditation since we left Shogi heading towards this warfront, in a church within the heart of the flagship that Harkar commanded from. Her eyes opened and instead of blood and flesh, energy burned within them. Prismatic orbs of energy glared outward from her face even as flesh and bone writhed under her skin becoming something else, refining.
It was painless for her it was clear, but her robes and armor were unmade. I would have to remake them better, it was a poor showing indeed for my advisors to be forced to use wargear that was of such low quality. Tendrils of energy the same as her eyes lashed forth from her back, merging together and taking shape into what could only be five sets of wings. Each formed from energy that to my eyes and sight danced between the colors of the Veil and gold of the Emperor.
"Follow my guidance and battle we shall find." Her voice was different as well, melodic in a way it had not been, it chimed and thrummed with undercurrents of importance even to me. As she lifted a hand, I could almost see a strand of golden light leading forth into the warp storm, but where I could only percive it slightly, Harkar could see it clearly.
"To battle we go in His name." Harkar stated with finality as the fleet moved. Into the warp storm we traveled, the eddies dying as the Witness's Light pieced through them the warp unable to touch my vessel as always. The fleet flowing behind me as Harkar and Nameria guided them forth, I would be the first and that was proper for it would take a few moments to align the Arrays.
Into the heart we reached and the warband was but unaware of our assault. Across the Witness's Light did the arrays flow into the active state, the systems ready and waiting. The moment the fleet arrived, I struck. The Primordial Truth was enforced and the forces of ruin suffered greatly. Ships ceased to function their daemons rendered unto nothingness, entire battlegroups crippled into immobility. Daemons thrown from the battleground, even as the shipyard of foul mass was struck the hardest.
Its foulness rent apart to fuel its coming annihilation. I could all but see the flows of ruin fleeing from it as its power was harvested for my forces. Without needing to be told, I engaged the engines and raced forth into range, bringing the stillness of my nature down upon it.
Their base would become their tomb, the lack of distance the greatest foe that Chaos could have in this fight. My aura rent apart the daemon's might, rendering it all but powerless even as its power was given to my forces. There was no question in my mind who would win in the end, all that remained was to see how this event would be concluded.
Harkar I saw move forward and relieve the admiral of command for an unknown reason, but I would trust in her for this. Commands were sent forth across the ships, all five hundred vessels receiving their own commands. In the space of moments Harkar gave a battle command to every ship and unit interlocking the plan of battle for the future.
As a hive, the fleet moved, each ship following its orders with the smoothness I would expect. There was no hesitation as the captains of the ships followed her commands, I peered into the distance with the sensors I had and gave the data to Harkar to improve her options.
In turn I gave my commands, watching and predicting the actions of the counterparts of this fight. The admiral of the fleet was not as skilled as either of us, but that was no cause for carelessness for I have seen time and time again the nature of humans.
Yet, it was truly simple, into a trap we led them and empowered by both Araahal and the Primordial Arrays the forces of ruin were brought low. Ships destroyed intact to salvage what could be in the future once all of this was done. There was in the end no question of victory in this fight.
With the loss of power from the daemons and the important astartes, there was little that could be done to prevent the annihilation. With grim finality the Witness's Light struck the final vessel of ruin from the warp, burning it to nothing as we closed on the shipyard itself.
"A glorious victory Lord. The Emperor is with us this day." Harkar's voice broke the silence as she rejoiced in the victory of the navy. It was indeed a great victory, over a hundred ships destroyed and thousands of astartes within the hull of the shipyard waiting to be slain.
"Atraxas, you will join me when we board." Nameria's voice was unbending and I sent an affirmation to her, noting that she wore new robes. They were too small and ill fitted, another poor showing on my part. I would have to ensure that this possibliity is taken into account in the future for my advisors. I will not fail them in this way again. Quickly noting down the relative differences and extrapolating the various other options for physical transformation, it was done. It should only take me a few days to ensure that my advisors have armor and clothes fit for any physical abnormality.
The boarding went smoothly, almost too smoothly for my liking. I was not a war scholar by any means, but I knew the basics of warfare and this was all too easy. There was an allowance to be made for the forces of ruin being surprised and hindered by the primordial arrays, but even including that this felt exceptionally easy to me.
Did they really assume that no one would be able to invade their domain? Although to be fair without a greater understanding of warp navigation principles that would not be an inherently fallacious assumption. Even so, it would bother me for a time, I could just tell. "Atraxas, can you interface with these systems?" Nameria's words broke my musing as I reached out a leg towards one of the sockets on the wall and interfaced with it.
Ugh, it was gross, so very gross. I could all but feel the touch of chaos sliding through my mind, it was greasy, slimy and just foul. It reminded me of that time on the first world I ended up where I accidentally fell into a sewage treatment plant only less pleasant since it was in my mind. Even so, it would not corrupt me that I knew, it was too weakened by the arrays and warp shred, in addition to being through several layers of separation.
Regardless, getting general control over the systems was done quickly. "The general systems are mine." Nameria seemed to think a moment even as several of the troops of the army stared at her with some unknown emotion on their face, "Let me speak to the base." I lowered my body in acceptance of the directive and understood her goal, she would preach of the human emperor to them and try to shake their faith. It would probably result in only minor gains, but anything would provide a gain for us in this situation.
With a audible click, the systems activated. "Astartes, born and fallen, this need not be your fate. The grip of Chaos is not eternal upon your souls. Have you ever had a moment of doubt? A moment where you question your actions? Listen to those memories, find within your hearts the seed of nobility that He granted to you, no matter how far flung you are. All are His children and He loves you all, even now if you but turn back He would accept you once more." Her voice was somber and etheral, reaching past the mundane and into the spiritual. Particles of Divinity and Order flowed in her words, carried aloft by her will and soul, branching forth across the station.
Through the cameras, of the five commanders, only one was truly unmoved. The others flinched, seeming to become uncertain for a moment before firming their resolve. However, the two furthest from us shifted, and one died as a surge of Ruin extinguished his life and yet to my eyes I could see his soul dissolve into the warp. The final commander suffered the same fate, struck by a blade of Ruin yet he held onto life if only for the moment and I heard his final words, "Emperor let this nightmare end."
It was without question that he would die soon, but I could feel that he wished for death in the end, his survival would be a boon, but of minor value. "Three commanders remain, two removed from the board." I relay to Nameria even as she drew a sword, another thing I would have to correct for it was too small for her new frame. "Then we will make our stand here. The commanders of Chaos refuse to bend the knee to peers and that will be to our advantage. Men, stand firm for the Emperor is with us this day!"
The backs of my army stiffened even as they lifted their weapons and waited. It was not long until the first of the astartes came to their death. I watched as they died in miserable ways, las guns finding the flaws in their armor plates, plasma bolts tearing through them and other forms of death claiming them. I have watched videos of Astartes in fights before, and what I saw was far from that, there was no choreograph movements to bring ruin to their foes. There was no ignoring the firepower of thousands, it was simple calculation as the might that made the astartes such potent foes were torn asunder.
Their metaphysical armor was no more, and all they had left was their personal strength and skill, and it was lacking. I took to the battle as my blood sung. Astartes fell before me in droves, a hundred were claimed as I wove gravity into knots. My bulk my greatest weapon as I rushed forward, the vanguard of my army.
Astartes turned to paste as I pushed past, weapons were forged and fired with abandon as I fought. Blood anointed my carapace as I listened to the song of blood. Limbs flew, armor crumpled, archeotech destroyed. Psykers tried to burn me their powers failed, daemons tried to consume my flesh, I struck them away breaking their essence asunder.
I wove power anew, the Libraries answered my call as I unleashed the fury of Life upon them. Mutations were forced to their logical end, chaos spawns were brought into life only to be turned to mush by my steps. Order was woven into chains of glittering logic, unmaking those that bore plagues in their bodies. The power of Ruin was brought into the fray as well as each of my soldiers that suffered was woven into the power of the army. It was a never ending cycle as I fought to Nameria's drumbeat of war, she commanded the fight and I brought the fury of the Exatari to bear.
Weapons of war that we had forbidden eons ago were forged, viruses that could rend metal asunder were unleashed from the power of Life. The power of Divinity giving value to all that was done and underpinning it all the simple drumbeat of Weight ensuring that my power and rage would never cool until the end.
Upon a mountain of corpses we marched, twelve thousand humans against three thousand five hundred and twenty three astartes. It was an impossible battle yet we marched forth, and the legendary forces of Chaos fell before us like wheat before the scythe, their blood spilling forth behind me as I reaped their lives. I test out a thousand weapons as we march, exploring what can be done and what could be better.
An astartes tried to halt my march, I tore his head off and consumed it, before his body splattered apart. I laughed, a deep sound of horror that sent even my soldiers running in fear of me for a time. Tireless, unrelenting I marched, with the support of my army there was nothing that could confront us and win.
I drank deeply upon the power of the daemon in whose guts we strode, their power unable to be brought to bear even as I care out new hallways. Reveling in the spilling of the foul essence of the creature, I could hear it screaming in agony as I inflicted upon it a mere fraction of the suffering that it had been party too.
The daemon engines were torn asunder, their daemons unmade by the fury of Ruin and Order. The few psykers try their best to call upon their patrons of foul magic, I strike them down as the warp trembles and dies before my inexorable march. There was nothing they could do and I gleefully abused it as I let them see the futility of their actions before their certain demise.
The final astartes of the station stood before me and I tore him apart adding one last coat of blood to the gore that covered my form. Little of the silver of my flesh could be seen under the drying red of blood after hundreds of astartes died to my hands.
With the final astartes fallen to the forces of Shogi, the battle rage drained from my mind as I turned towards the more interesting to me action of recovering what relics lay within this now empty station. I could hear the plaintive screeching of the daemon in whose form we strode, begging for power from Chaos to smite us. It was futile; my presence imbued with Order brought forth the harsh dictate of reality upon this place and to the principle of logic did now events follow.
In the vaults mountains of relics were found, but most were too corrupted and of little value to be saved. Into nothing more than ash did I consign these relics; there was no future for them sadly, anything that could be discovered easier and safer to find elsewhere. Yet, as with all things human, there were exceptions to be found.
The tech priests that had come with the ships, found their way into vaults and discovered several relics of interest. They were unable to identify them, and even I found myself unable to truly identify some of them out of hand, but they were pure and would be brought to Shogi for further research. A single conversion field of a strange sort, that was designed to transfer energy between forms, akin to an idea that I have had in the past.
Yet, it was the least of the finds in some ways. Another discovery was one that the tech priests could identify as a standard (insofar as such a word can be used on relics of the past) hyper deceleration field emitter. We had not gone far into the field of inertial manipulation, but it would be an interesting field to explore. Gravity and it would pair well together I am sure.
The next finds were one that I could identify as an Adrathic weapon due to experience with Araahal. It was different, more of a rifle in size and shape than the pistol that she lived within. I could also see the manufacturing marks indicating that it was a mass produced variant instead of being a custom design.
Perhaps the most useful of all the discoveries was a cache of stasis sealed adamatium. Far from the degraded variants that we had found in the past, these were to my eyes pristine and even from a distance I could see the artificial particles that held the material together. A relic that to any other would be useless, but for me it was a priceless discovery indeed. For with this data, it would be possible to move beyond the basic recreation and into a level notably above.
The final two were unknown to me, the first a bolter that bore unmistakable marks of being in part warp technology. Yet, upon its casing was the marking of the Dark Angels, and it was ancient. Calculating the wear upon the machinery placed it from the time of the Great Crusade. As such it was likely nonfunctional but the data that could be recovered from its construction was likely to be useful indeed.
As I entered the room of the last relic to be recovered, I noticed first its size. A massive block of machinery weighing at least ten thousand tons stood before me, with dimensions that truly dwarfed even Imperator titans. Chambers that were simple energy sinks or batteries that could have held entire Living Mausoleums covered the surface of the device, tubing that I could have room within to stretch fully out.
It was built on an entirely different scale and its technology was strange. Logical in a way that human technology rarely was, but without question derived from human principles. Regardless, it would be coming with us for I would not leave such a source of knowledge to be lost to the warp. Quickly running around it to form the most basics of scans, I found myself hindered once more by the shielding it had. Tens of meters of simply armor plating and scan resistant materials to befuddle even my sensors. The tech priests were unsure what to make of it and I could not fault them for that in this case.
This device was beyond even my understanding for now.
"Atraxas, I wish to speak with you." Nameria's voice came through the communication system I had provided for the commanders without any lag I could detect. It was a good showing of the technology to resist even the passive influence of being within the warp and a daemon, but one data point is not enough to conclude that it is completed. "In person or over the line?" It was a nicety that I was unsure of the purpose in human interactions I have found to meet in person more than using long distance communications even if there was no fidelity loss.
"In person please." I nodded mentally at the projected conclusion being reached, as I quickly interfaced with the battle net system to determine where Nameria was. She was currently in a room that was noted for being some form of chapel to the powers that exemplified Ruin. They might be powerful and even divine in some forms, but I would not give them the honor of calling them gods.
Rerouting commands and directions to the forces around the station, I made my way to Nameria's side. For a human it would have taken a few hours of walking to reach her, but for me it was a mere few minutes as my gravity and phase shields let me fly through the station's hallways.
The room was indeed a chapel in similar form to those that dot Shogi, but also different with depictions of the things that are the face of Ruin in the place of the Emperor. Atrocities fit for the age of horror, the tribal era of my people dot the walls in places of honor and veneration. The largest statue was of an ultramarine dreadnought with the statement of ascendant under it. Information came together and I knew that we were looking upon the former mortal shell of the daemon we had invaded.
Nameria stood before the statue, her transformation more obvious to me now. I might not understand the attraction that other species experience, but I can understand what humans find attractive among their ranks and Nameria's new form was anomalous.
It was too perfect, the shape of her muscles and fat perfectly placed and changed. I peer into her flesh trying to see something that was on the edge of my mind, ignoring the wings of energy for now, her cells were different. That was it, there were new organelles within them and I did not recognize any aspect of them.
"I had wondered about you for seventy years. You failed to match any of my understandings of planetary governors, uncaring of your wealth. Yet at the same time, keeping people in their chains, uncaring for their plight. What a fool I was: you do care, and care deeply, about the people of Shogi? Don't you, Atraxas, Radiant Scholar of the Exatari." I freeze, calculating thousands upon thousands of possibilities trying to determine how things failed so badly. Where was the data leak, I was sure that there was nothing that could have revealed myself so completely.
Nameria shook her head sadly, "There is no leak in your protections. Through my ascendance I see through all illusions and understand those around me. I am unsure of His plans for me, but He would not bless me with this power unknowingly." She moved towards the statue of the astartes before her, and I could hear confusion and sorrow in her voice. "You wonder why I have not struck you down in His name. Perhaps, it is a trial of His that I fail, but I know you and I understand you. I thought of you a robot akin to the tech priests of Mars, uncaring and simply efficient."
I let go of the needless calculations now for the damage is done, there is nothing I could do beyond trying to kill her now and I find myself loathe to attempt such. Out of all my advisors, I had found the most kinship with Nameria; we had little interaction but I knew that her kindness for the people of Shogi was the closest to my feelings in turn. In truth I would be loathe to attempt to kill any of my advisors; it seems that I am a poor infiltrator indeed once I am forced to interact with others consistently.
She turned to face me, her prismatic eyes looking up towards my head as I saw slight tears flowing from them. "When I learned of your plans for the schools, I had thought that my fears were realized. Now," A harsh laugh escaped her as she shook her head, "I see that you despise what circumstances had forced you to accept. How do your people educate your young that limiting the options was almost physically painful for you?"
There was no reason to hide behind obfuscation with her anymore and I could explain it well. Sealing the chapel for complete secrecy, I answered, "Hatchlings are given a decade to grow and experience life before eduction starts, then comes two hundred and fifty years of education. It is due to various biological aspects that it is so fast to educate fully in all fields universally. There is little difference between teaching everything in one day or two and half centuries for us, it is simply a superior option to teach over time." A hologram showed my words of an egg reforming into an Exatari, which was joined by a handful of others, an extreme rarity for when I had awakened I was alone. Soon it grew and expanded until it was brought to a building where a full grown Exatari connected to it for the first day of instruction and the first project was done. It was a simple process in truth and yet it was also complex.
Nameria stared at it and me before seeming to come to a realization. "You don't feel anything for the child beyond a basic protective drive." I thrummed in agreement, "Our evolutionary history was that of the prey, we died in masses at a time. Sadness was a selective pressure as it would make one more likely to die; protecting the hatchlings was easy and efficient. To me the emotions of humanity are exceptional and chaotic, almost impossible to follow. You hold all the cards as humans say, is my death written?"
Perhaps it was crude to state so clearly that she had all the power, but it was true without question and there was no need to beat around the hive about it. In some way it was a relief to end this charade after so long, and the Witness' Light was docked nearby. It would be theoretically possible to reach it and escape before any could truly react.
Nameria sighed, looking at her hand and around, "If I did not have my new understanding, perhaps I would have pushed you away from Shogi, but I do not believe that I would have sought your death at this point. In many ways you have only helped the people given to your care, there have been actions I dislike, but one action out of many does not condemn a person. I do not understand His goal in providing me with this insight to others; it is hard to look upon you and see a foe of humanity. The Imperium disgusts you, but can that really be held as a fault? Even I despise aspects of the Imperium. In the end I will watch and see, but I do not believe us need to be foes. I do however have demands." Her voice turned hard at the end and I simply let my body shift to the side in agreement for it was only expected.
"First, give me funding for the schools I wish to build. Second, work towards giving all the people of Shogi a better life. I doubt these will be difficult for you to achieve, Atraxas." A soft chuckle came from her as she must have noticed my surprise at the sheer simplicity of what she demanded. "You have no idea how many governors would have raged against the idea of giving their subjects a better life and yet you consider it nothing. Perhaps in some ways you are more human than humans are."
It was fairly clear that this was the end of this discussion, which thankfully went well indeed. No major disasters for me to deal with in the future and it would be fairly easy to follow her demands, already I had several plans for how to improve life quality for the people of Shogi. Of course doing so would provide better workers for me and the industry that I am building for the world.
"Chaos is not so different from us it seems. I can feel their hopes, dreams and reverence in this place. If not for the direction, they would have been worthy allies in faith. Perhaps it is true that Chaos is nothing more than a dark reflection of us as the primordial truth dictates." Nameria's voice reached me as she had started examining the carvings and statues in the chapel once more, seemingly intrigued by the faith on display. Her final words though were false or at least speaking of the truth that Ruin so desperately tried to make into its power even if it was in truth the greatest weakness thereof.
"The Primordial Truth is thus;
From the wellspring came order and logic, the firstborn of reality. The beating heart of all existence, the soul upon which all others would be born.
The firstborn dreamed chaos and illogic and from this dream came its mirror, the illogic to match the logic.
Yet, neither could balance the other and so fragments of their totality were mixed together veiling each from the other.
Thus did the Material and Immaterial become divided by the Veil.
The Immaterial is ever the mirror of the Material, it is the Material that gives it meaning for what is a dream without a dreamer? In turn this is the truth of the Primordial Truth, without the Dreamers there is nothing to be Dreamed." I give words to the understanding that the Emperor had given to me years ago; it was less refined than his statements, but it would get the information across to her.
Her actions froze for a time as she seemed to ponder something, "That is not from you, you could not know that secret. The Emperor, He told you that secret." I simply signaled agreement as she blinked and turned around to the chapel once more, "That is how you lead us to victory, through a gift from Him you made us the Dreamers and this the Dream." Awe entered her voice as she shook her head once more before turning towards the door and moving to leave, "I have ideas for improvements on this." The final words she said before leaving, and I could finally ponder how this would change things. Interacting with her would become much more important, but even for me there was too much to property calculate at once.
"An Inquisitional Vessel just entered the warpstorm." Harkar's voice broke the silence even as Nameria stumbled in shock, and to be fair I was surprised at the echo of shock in Harkar's voice. In a moment I calculated the options and chose one, reaching out I grabbed Nameria and activated my flight systems.
Her new body was far more durable such that I had no reason to accelerate slowly, in a second we went from normal walking pace to hypersonic. The sonic boom shaking the station as I bored through various walls of disgusting flesh to reach the exterior nearest to the ship entering as possible. It was possible that they were here for me, but I found that doubtful since currently I had probably the best chance to escape and anyone intelligent enough to discover my nature would realize that as well.
A new line was added to the communication systems a moment later, "in the name of the Emperor, you are all under arrest and will be executed within the hour. Externinatus is declared upon your homeworld for interfering with His agent's mission." I could not blink, but if I could I would have for that was perhaps the dumbest statement of intent I have ever heard. A single ship not even a battleship against an entire fleet of comparable ships with one of the better admirals in the sector in command was a losing proposition.
"Uh, commanders, the cogboys just discovered some records." Peshk interjected before the data flowed over into my mind and from me into the others. The inquisitor in question had a trade agreement it seemed with the warband, they would push against any assaults in exchange for uncorrupted relics of the dark age and for Erimyst to be unmolested. Of course that was the surface details, the deeper and more truthful information was more damning in that the inquisitor was simply using the warband as a deniable asset to discover relics and valuable individuals for their use.
I could hear Nameria grinding her teeth together over the comm lines. It was only a few more moments before we reached the hangar of the flagship and reached the bridge where Harkar was pinching the bridge of her nose in stress. "The idiot has been screeching about us interfering with her 'holy mission' and how we will be condemned and executed for such actions." The statement was not unexpected, but I could see that Harkar wanted to turn the fleet on the inquisitor and destroy her ships. Nameria clearly saw it as well as she shook her head slightly.
"Let me speak to her and perhaps her wealth can be turned to our side." Harkar just laughed sadly, "I have met inquisitors like this before, they are all deluded. Although on the other hand I have yet to met a none deluded one." I watched as Nameria placed a hand on her colleague's shoulder before turning on the communication line once more and instantly the bridge was full of indictments against us and our actions here.
"Enough. Not even the Inquisition has the authority to work with the greatest enemy of humanity. There is no one that would support our execution for the removal of a Chaos warband and daemon station so near to Cadia. Furthermore, Cadia itself gave our planetary governor the authority and direct mission of purging this infestation from the sector. Under the Emperor's light did we succeed and recover relics of the dark age, as you arrived we were preparing to consign this abomination to oblivion in His name. You have two choices, either hold to your path and face the Emperor for your actions or turn aside and find another way to act in His name." Nameria's voice was steady and absolute, there was no flexibility to it and I could tell that the inquisitor could see the wings of her new state of being through the link opened.
"Very well, I will let your crimes go unpunished for now. Hinder my mission again and you will be condemned as Heretics and Traitors most foul." The last words were spoken with a level of fury that I had not truly encountered before among humans, but neither of my advisors seemed shaken by it. As the ship began to swing around to leave the warp storm Nameria began to speak once more, "You see a horror on the horizon and are desperate to find hope of humanity's survival. Even in the darkest of tombs and the most ruinous depths of insanity, any price is worth it if you can but find an ember of hope. Yet, would that be His choice, to leave aside everything just to survive? I do not know why you seek so fervently, but the power that burns within your soul is not a curse but a gift of His, let go and return to Him. All are children before Him and are welcomed to their Father no matter their faults." The words were quite and resolute, I could see divinity particles flowing out with her words. There was no response, but I could feel a shift in something ephemeral and Nameria seemed content.
Total Gains and Costs
Incurred Costs: 25 Resources to restock the army and fleet from minor damage and replacing ammunition
Gains: 2339 Resources and 363 Wealth from the non corrupted loot in the station
Relics
???? Bolter (OOC known as a Null Bolter)
Conversion Field
Adrathic Lance
Hyper-deceleration Field
????? (OOC Mechanivore Shard)
True Adamantium Samples (5)
Cadia Favor gain: No favor, favor gain exchanged for 1 Request that will be answered without quest. (You did this mission too well for Favor gain)
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