I glanced off to one side as I saw the amused duo of the Emperor and my newly revealed Brother before I looked back at the kneeling forms of the Astartes before me, all twenty of them kneeling, heads bowed and waiting for my command as I felt the anxious energy within them. I mentally questioned what to say as I saw the energy building up within them before I finally just got fed up with my own mental debate.
"Stand." I commanded as all twenty of them rose up immediately, standing at attention as I turned to the largest one, who I guessed was the leader. "Your name, Astartes."
"First Forger Marteleus Tarincus, leader of the Second Legion, the Astral Gears, before your return, Lord Primarch." The Astartes replied instantly with no hesitation, his face a mask of stone, but his soul was clear to me. He was nervous, hesitant and anxious of my judgment, excitement filled him for finally meeting his Gene-sire, but that was still overshadowed with fear at my rejection, looking deeper, I saw what he feared the most. He feared I would reject him and his Brothers for not being like other Legions, for being skilled in both the arts of the Tech-Priests and Psykers rather than solely being focused on those of being an Astartes. I felt it was a stupid fear, one that I knew would be utterly hypocritical for me to hate them for, seeing as I shared such talents. As I went to answer, I smiled at the First Forger, his eyes looking on in surprise and awe at my expression as I spoke.
"Well, First Forger Marteleus Tarincus, allow me to tell you that you have nothing to fear from me, for why would I fear or hate you for having traits that I, myself possess." I remarked as I looked at them, they stood taller, prouder at my declaration before offering small smiles of pure joy at my acceptance as I glanced to once side.
"Was it truly necessary to stress your craft so much to meet with me? While, I admit that I do enjoy accurate timekeeping and punctuality, that does not mean that I lack patience." I remarked as the Astartes before me seemed to top from foot to foot slightly, no mortal would have seen it, but I saw it as clear as day.
"... We believed that we should not keep you waiting any longer, Lord Primarch." I smiled at that.
"Don't worry about it, my Son, in the future, know that I am willing to wait. Now then, I believe that we should do something about this wreck, don't you agree?" I asked, getting nods form the Astartes.
"Of course, Lord Primarch. We'll contact our ship and have a crew work to salvage it as soon as possible." He remarked as I felt a Vox-channel open. A thought from me caused it to shutdown instantly, surprising the Astartes as I simply smiled.
"That... Will not be necessary. Observe." I remarked as my eyes glowed with power.
XXX
"That... Will not be necessary. Observe." Their Primarch commanded as his eyes glowed with the power of the Warp, yet none could keep his power, an odd change as they watched him step forwards, towards the ruined craft as pieces of metal were suddenly lifted from the barren soil, the wreck flipped over as what happened next stole the breath of all that watched. Ruined metal slowly shifted, melting into a liquid-like state and flowed back into place as ruined components put themselves back together and the armored hull of the heavily modified Thunderhawk was repaired and restored with a single thought. The restored craft floated in the air for a moment before gently settling to the ground as their Primarch turned to them, a slight smile on his face that was, quite possibly, the most awe inspiring thing he had ever seen, simply knowing that their Primarch didn't hate them or hadn't rejected them for their... Traits.
"There. It should be back to the way it was before it crashed, try not to crash it again anytime soon, unless such a course of action is needed, of course." The Primarch remarked with amusement colouring his tone.
"As you command, Lord Primarch." They replied in unison as some of them bolted for the craft, intent on inspecting it down to the last molecule. The Primarch only looked amused by this.
"Marcus Grimm, that is my name. You and your Brothers may call me as such if you wish, I shall not force you to do so." The Primarch replied. Marteleus went still with shock at being granted such an honor by their Primarch, it was almost enough to cause both of his hearts to stop in shock. Thankfully, they didn't but it was a close thing.
"As you wish, Lord Marcus. What are your commands?" Marteleus questioned, curious as to what they were to do as he wondered what the first commands of their Legion would be. Their Primarch seemed to thick on such things as he looked up to the sky before glancing back at the Astartes of the Astral Gears.
"Gather every record on your Legion regarding everything from your war-record, organizational structure, combat doctrines and anything else, anything that has been documented by your legion that shows what it has done from the moment of its creation to the present time. Gather them and bring them to me at the Capital city of Kilomiz, Null-zana, wait for seven days before you return, and at the end of those seven days, have the Legion gather at this location for my address to them." The Primarch ordered simply as Marteleus felt a cool wind sweep through his mind, bypassing his mental defenses and utterly ignoring his attempts to stop it before it pulled back as he suddenly found himself with the knowledge of the city of Null-zana in his mind. His eyes went wide as he suddenly realized just how skilled a Psyker his Primarch was, if the earlier display wasn't clue enough. Bowing at the waist, he was stopped by his Primarch who merely waved the gesture off before smiling at his Gene-Sons.
As he watched his Gene-sire, Marteleus couldn't help feeling lighter.
Who cared what the other Legions thought of the Astral Gears, they had their Primarch who was proud of them!
Nothing could take that away from them!
Nothing!
XXX
Horus would be honest in saying that, seeing his new Brother interact with his Legion was equal parts interesting and terrifying.
Interesting, because he seemed to grasp the root of whatever fear the Second Legion held; their fear of being rejected by their Primarch and being cast down as failures for simply inheriting their Gene-sire's abilities. After speaking but a few words, already it looked like the members of the Astral Gears were ready to take on the Galaxy in nothing but a pair of trousers and a kitchen knife if their Primarch ordered it. They were moving around with excited energy as some of them buzzed around him while others were looking over the newly repaired Thunderhawk with reverent awe and excitement, probably at the prospect of learning how to do such a thing themselves.
However, it was also terrifying. The last time Horus had seen members of the Second Legion so happy was during a battle against a nation of Human Pirates that had targeted and enslaved other Humans from a dozen neighboring systems. During the battle, members of the Astral Gears dozens of Servo-skulls mounted on spider-like legs, these machines would attack the pirate-soldiers, cutting heads off before attaching themselves to the headless bodies and hijack the nervous system of the target body, turning them into crude Servitors. The battle had been won with hardly a single casualty, but the mad cackling of the senior members of the Astral Gears was hardly comforting, especially when they started making more Servitors out of the collected corpses of the fallen Pirates and attached weapons and armor to them as they advanced.
The entire battle had led to more than one Legion adopting the saying: The only thing more dangerous than an Astral Gear Legionnaire at work, is an excited Astral Legionnaire at work.
"You know, Brother, I don't know what I find more terrifying. The fact that you can rouse them to such a terrible excitement, or the fact that you can rouse them to such a state so easily." Horus deadpanned at his Brother, who merely smiled in return.
"Oh, trust me, you have not seen anything yet." Marcus replied amusedly to Horus, getting a snort in return. Such things went without saying, especially in the case of the Second Legion, which obviously had translated to their Primarch as well.
"Of that, I have little doubt." Horus remarked with his own amusement apparent to the world before looking questioningly at his Brother.
"By the way, may I ask how you fixed that Thunderhawk? Such a skill would prove invaluable to many Legions." He asked curiously, though he fully expected what came.
"A mixture of Post-cognition and Telekinesis that I have honed over the two centuries I have lived." He remarked casually, showing just how twisted the Warp had been as his, apparently, older Brother displayed his skill. However, Horus couldn't help but wonder if that was the whole truth, or even thetruth, as the members of the Second Legion had always been vague about their abilities and the full range of their strength, usually answering in half-truths and omissions, being cryptic and vague at the best of times. Well, usually.
"Indeed? How long did it take you to gain such control over your abilities to carry out such a detailed restoration? I watched and saw that you had merged the materials back together on the molecular level." The Emperor questioned in turn, adding his own experience to the matter. Marcus simply shrugged.
"A century and a half, give or take a decade. two centuries of on and off conflict tend to focus the mind and give you a goal to work towards, especially when you need skills that can save your life in a hurry." The Emperor only looked more interested.
"And why would you have needed such skills? What necessity forced their development in the first place?" The Emperor questioned once more, again, Marcus shrugged, showing his Legions trait for being cryptic and vague.
"Let's just say that my Homeworld was not the most hospitable, nor were the natives tolerant of those not of their blood."
And that wasn't ominous at all, drawing more curious looks from the members of the Luna Wolves, their Primarch and the Emperor himself. The only reason the members of the Astral Gears hadn't joined in starring was because they had already left, boarding their Thunderhawk in order to carry out the orders of their Primarch as they headed back to their Battle Barge.
XXX
Sitting within my temporary Office, I looked around me to see the gathered holographic displays around me, each one displayed a dozen different things as I investigated the Legion that I was to take command over.
So far, I rather liked what I saw.
The combat doctrine of the Legion revolved around a number of things: Overwhelming firepower; Adaptability; Unpredictability; Innovation in the heat of battle; And stacking the deck as heavily in their favor as was possible before the first Bolter shell was even fired.
In combat, each Astartes worked in squads of ten that had anywhere between ten to twenty different names that they rotated through at any time during battle, communicating through a mixture of highly encrypted Vox-channels and through a Psychic gestalt mind that they shared. The constant shifting names and terms meant that enemies, even if they hacked into the communication web, wouldn't know what the hell was going on even if they were paying attention. Not only that, but due to this non-physical connection, they often stored data through this network that they then used to rapidly shift their chain of command, often in the middle of combat to look like anything they wished. Companies, Chapters and Grand Companies were all decided on the fly, making it difficult for an enemy to know what they would be facing, even if one didn't take into account that each Astartes was often armed with custom wargear that differed from one warrior to the next.
Not only that, but the Second Legion also made a habit of using force multipliers: Imperial combat robots, weapon-equipped Servitors, floating land mines in the form of Servo-skulls and Warp-knows what else along with their impressive array of Psychic talents.
However, one thing I noticed was that the Astral Gears organized themselves into loose 'squad types' based on the custom equipment that each Astartes used, they were entirely informal and just as likely to change at a moment's notice as the rest of the combat structure. The Squads themselves were merely semi-formal, not set in stone and certainly not something that something that was recorded anywhere but the minds of the Astartes. According to reports, the Space Wolves had tried to make sense of it one time and had, literally, been reduced to pulling their own hair out in frustration, much to the amusement of my Legion.
It was readily apparent to me that my Legion was composed of Trolls.
Moving on, vehicles were set up similarly. No fixed crews and weapons often shifted at the drop of a hat, the name of the vehicles were often not inscribed on to them and were merely used for communication purposes. Everything was fluid in that it could change in a heartbeat and would confuse anyone watching to now end, but it worked and worked well in ensuring the Legion could adapt to any situation as Astartes with any type of weapon were put where they could be the most useful.
In terms of tactics, they often varied even that from battle to battle. Sometimes they would happily engage in open warfare and still cheat horribly with any number of tricks while other times they would use every trick, deception and ploy to lead their opponents in circles. Technology also played a big part of things as they often created devices from scrap in the middle of the battlefield to suit their purposes. More than one AAR talked about one device or another being created on the spot to fill a niche within that given battle while other times, they talked about using the battlefield as a testing ground for weapons, tactics and anything else my Legion could come up with.
The only semi-permanent things of my Legion were two things: My honor guard and the Guilds.
My honor guard was, currently, called the Sharpened Gears. It was made up from the most veteran soldiers with the heaviest weapons and armor, but also with the sharpest minds, along with having the most skill and raw power with their Psychic abilities. They numbered at five hundred in total, split up similarly and each one being as unique and different as the next. Marteleus was part of the Sharpened Gears, though, he was one of the most direct ones when it came to battle, highly mobile and favoring simply crushing the enemy through any means necessary. Others favored different styles; Some liked to cut them apart before their opponents had a chance to react, some liked to simply drown them in waves of Servitors, machines or bullets while others still preferred to be the hidden sniper that downs enemy after enemy before they can become a threat.
I had seen each one of them, seen their war records and been impressed with what I saw.
The other thing was the Guilds, there were two types of Guilds; War Guilds that focused on technological innovations related to the military prowess of the Legion and Peace Guilds which focused on non-military technologies that would aid the Legion. Each member of the Second Legion was a member of at least one War Guild and one Peace Guild that served any number of purposes.
War Guilds were divided by any number of things, weapon types and tactics being the man differences between each Guild while the Peace Guilds mainly differed by what field of science and development they focused on, such as Transport, Medicine, Void Travel, and anything else. Still, what surprised me the most was that all their technological advancements were kept very much in-house, with the exception of being handed over to trusted members of the Mechanicus. It was rather easy to see once you started looking between the lines.
Every Astral Gear ship was crewed only by the Astral Gears themselves, battle-automata, Servitors, Servo-skulls and what amounted to the Serfs of the Legion, who were heavily modified and conditioned over the generations to be biologically incapable of betraying the Second Legion. There were no Navigators, nor Astropaths and all the Serfs lived and died on those ships, generation after generation serving no other purpose. Rememberancers were still present, but they were subtly directed to stay away from certain areas along with not asking questions related to certain topics. Not only that, but those that were contacted within the Mechanicus had clear political perspectives, either negatively viewing the Imperium or being borderline Hereteks themselves.
It was an interesting note of interest, one I fully planned to look into at a later point.
Leaning back into my chair, I smirked as I raised a glass and took a sip.
"... Oh, Tyrant... You really must keep watch over your own garden, least thorns grown out of sight of your gardeners and spread... You have allowed those Thorns to spread, aided by your own actions and inactions..." My smirk turned sinister in the light of the setting sun.
"And I intend to take full advantage..."
XXX
Marteleus didn't know whether to be excited or nervous as he moved through the corridors of the massive spire at the centre of the Aesir city, his eyes roaming the massive structures and machines that he could see as he took in the details and designs, his mind churning with a dozen ideas even as he continued to walk along. Honestly, though, what was happening right now was unexpected, to say the least.
Primarch Marcus had told them to return within seven days to allow him to learn about the record of the Second Legion, they had done so, returning to their ships and waiting with nervous energy as they waited for his summons on the seventh day. However, something had changed, which had resulted in him being summoned from the ship in orbit, wondering why he had been summoned a day early while the result of the Legion was left to try and occupy themselves with their duties, often finding themselves distracted by their emotions.
Stepping around a corner, Marteleus looked on to see two Aesir, their armor of the black and gold trimmed design that spoke of these soldiers as being Elders, being over two centuries old and having seen nearly non-stop combat during that time. It still put a smile on his face when he considered how a few of them had managed to force back the Mutt King of Fenris and his rabid Corgis, however, that often turned into a full laugh as he considered the state that the Sixth Legion had returned to Terra in; Imprisoned within their own vessels. That single event would serve as a bright spot for the Second Legion for millennia to come.
Reaching the door, it opened on its own as he walked inside, the guards doing nothing to prevent it as he stepped into the room to see the Lord Primarch, still in full armor and sitting behind his desk with a serious expression. That immediately set the First Forger on edge, seeing their Primarch joyful and happy to see them was a great thing, but this new expression filled him with dread.
"Marteleus. Sit. There is something I wished to discuss with you." He commanded, skipping any pleasantries completely as he got straight to business. Marteleus did so without a word, the chair working to support his armored bulk. Seconds tipped by for a moment, stretching into minutes as neither of them spoke, Marteleus not wishing to speak first and his Primarch staying silent for the longest time when, during the seventh minute, the Primarch spoke once more.
"I was reading through the Legion's war records when I noticed a few... Let's call them discrepancies. Care to explain?" The Primarch asked, his voice neutral as his expression gave nothing away. Marteleus did not even bother trying to check the Warp, for he knew that his Primarch was all but invisible to those who looked within the Great Ocean. Still Marteleus remained quiet as he considered the question and tried to think of what his Primarch was referring to as a slowly forming pit of dread filled his gut. As though sensing his thoughts, an easy feat from what the First Forger knew of his Primarch's abilities, Marcus answered with two words that caused his blood to freeze colder than the void.
"I know." Sweat gathered around the back of the Astral Gear's neck as he did his best to remain calm and stone faced.
He was unsure of how effective he was at it.
"Know what?" Marteleus hedged, looking for more information. Hoping that his greatest fear wasn't true.
"That you and the rest of the Second Legion has been carrying out numerous technological innovations, sharing them with select members of the Mechanicus and not granting even a fraction of your technological secrets to anyone outside of a select group of allies that you know the loyalty of." The Primarch stated factually, no judgment in his voice, no disappointment or disgust as he spoke, but that only made it harder to guess what he was thinking.
"Care to explain, Marteleus?" The Primarch asked as resignation cleared within his mind. The Second Legion might not have shared all the secrets that they had gained through decades of secret advancement and experimentation, but they still retained vast vaults of knowledge, if word got out that even one of those vaults existed, then they would be looking at a total purge of their Legion in the face of both the Wrath of the Mechanicus as a whole along with the Imperium. Sighing to himself, he resigned himself to his fate, but, he would face it with dignity, as would his fellow Gears.
"Every since our creation, we have been cursed in more ways than one. First; is that we are all Psykers. Humans look at us and see, at best, a potent tool or weapon that could serve them well in a given situation or, at worst, living, ticking bombs that could go off at any point. Second; We are all trained Techmarines, each with a knowledge the width and breadth of which being magnitudes greater than any Mortal still living, yet we cannot expand our knowledge without being branded Hereteks and killed or running into the restrictions of the Treaty of Olympus Mons, which would get us killed if we ever were discovered to be breaking them." Marteleus took a pause, thinking about what to say next, having already exposed enough to see him and his Brother's dead, but figured that it would be folly to simply stop at this point.
"We are constantly looked down upon, held at arm's length and with a gun pointed at our heads while a dagger is positioned over our throats! We needed an advantage that we did not possess to even the playing field, even then, one wrong move and we would be executed for one reason or another." Marteleus snarled, his well hidden resentment finally making it to the surface. They were feelings that his Legion shared, wanting to have something that would make the other Legions back off and stop looking at them with suspicion and distrust, like they were walking time bombs, for a quirk of their Gene-seeds they had no control over. It had been the cause of more than one fight between the other Legions, mainly the Space Wolves, but many of the other Legions without Primarchs had made clear their own feelings on the matter. Throughout it all, his Primarch remained silent before the First Forger looked at him, eyes searching for anything that might hint at the fate of the Legion.
"... Is that what the rest of the Legion also believes? That you should look into anything and everything that has been forbidden by the Emperor on the off chance that they all might turn on you?" Marteleus nodded without hesitation.
"Before your introduction to the Legion, whenever we fought alongside other Legions, our ranks would sometimes suffering accidents that would lessen our numbers, varying from friendly fire to reinforcements being just a bit too slow. The most of the other Legions, while not openly wishing for our deaths, would gladly see us bleed dry as they see us as a danger to great, even if they, themselves, all have Psykers in their ranks. The Emperor and the other Primarchs have not noticed this, or, in the case of Russ, have chosen to ignore such things. Some Legions don't take part in it, but they are few and far between, and after the disappearance of the Eleventh Legion, we have found ourselves with a lack of allies aside from the Mechanicus, and even then, we only truly trust a select few." Marteleus remarked simply, hoping to avoid the Emperor's wrath, if possible, but knowing that, if his Primarch had discovered such things on his own, then it was best to come clean rather than test the patience of a Primarch they did not fully know, let alone one that had beaten Russ like a newborn pup. Sighing to himself, he looked towards his Primarch with a pleading look, one that was only turned into a paradox with the gleam of stubborn pride at what had been done in order to ensure that his Legion survived.
"Now that you know this, Lord Primarch, what will you do? Will you tell the Emperor of our hidden treachery?" The First Forger tried to sound brave, but found himself dreading the answer until it came.
"... No." It was a single, simply word that followed after moments of silence that once more dominated the room, but it caused relief to bloom within the Astral Gear as he seemed to sink into the chair.
"Thank you, my Primarch, you have no idea how much that means to both myself and my Legion." Marteleus offered sincerely as their Primarch smiled.
"No need, I had already decided I wasn't going to be telling the Tyrant anything, much less about the violations in some treaty that he made in an effort to deny some rather potent technologies out of fear of their corruption." The Marine looked on in interest at that.
"Corruption? At the hands of what?" At this, the Primarch looked at him sharply before frowning deeply.
"Seriously? The Emperor hasn't told you about the creatures hanging around in the Warp?" The Primarch inquired incredulously.
"Only that we are to avoid them at all costs, but he has never elaborated beyond that, simply commanding us to do it before moving onwards, not really sparing the time to answer any questions we had before ordering us to not speak of the matter again." Marteleus stated as his Primarch only looked on in sheer disbelief.
"It seems I shall have to work harder than I thought to make up for the stupidity of that Tyrant." He muttered to himself as he turned back to the Marine.
XXX
I sighed as I rubbed the bridge of my nose, it seemed the Emperor was even more stupid than I thought. Sure, he probably had reasons, but they better have been damned good ones for not telling an entire fucking Legion of Astartes about the dangers of the Warp and the Neverborn within it. He was relying upon their Shield of Ignorance to protect them along with their mental walls, which were quite strong, to force them to resist such things, but that would only end badly as such things could be eroded in time. Mind you, the man had wanted to talk with me about the nature of the Warp, but hadn't bothered after I had told him I knew of the Four. He settled on warning me not to consort with them before leaving, saying that I would be coming to Terra in a few weeks time to be taught a few things by him before I could spend a decade working with my Legion to have them restructured and equipped as I pleased.
Still, that was in the future, I focused on the present.
"Ok, moving that topic to the side for the time being, as I do not have enough alcohol nearby to cover that discussion, I must ask, what technologies have you been looking into?" I asked, curious as Marteleus shrugged in return.
"Semi-intelligent machines primarily, looking to create something of a command machine to control a larger number of lesser machines for us. Though, we have been looking into genetic modification and engineering along with a few other fields of study." I nodded in that, while not against the Treaty of Mars, since I had managed to find a copy of the document in the specifications of their Tech-priest training, it was skirting the line enough that many of the more puritan Tech-Priests wouldn't have allowed them to live.
"Anything Warp-related?" I asked, curious and cautious. Marteleus scratched his chin with an oversized digit before nodding.
"High Gear Vadimarc has been working on the study of more Warp-conductive and insulative materials so that we could better channel our abilities when needed." I nodded, that was good, especially since I knew that Warp-based technologies, with the current state of the Warp, was probably just asking for a Daemon incursion.
"Good. Keep it that way for the time being." I ordered as he nodded. If anything, it was a bit hypocritical of me, but I never claimed to be perfect, nor did I claim to be all knowing, but I certainly had picked up a few things. Marteleus nodded at that, seemingly rather happy with how things had gone for the meeting as I looked at him.
"Now, we'll discuss these things more in-depth at a later time, but I want you to put together a list of the things being researched and give it to me tomorrow. I want to know what kind of assets that you might be able to bring to a fight in the future along with putting down some ground rules."
"Understood, my Primarch, I shall see it done."
XXX
Standing on a high platform within a vast assembly hall, I looked at the gathered Legionnaires before me, each one wearing armor that was slightly different than those next to them with augments, changes in designs and alterations in purpose that were only known to those that had created them. Before me, I saw a mass of armored figures, thirty thousand warriors strong and each of them waiting for me to speak, mentally, I went over a few ideas that I had for a speech as a way of greeting my Legion as a whole even while my mind still floated around other topics. Eventually, I decided to throw myself into things, as I stepped forwards, I head and saw the Legion stand at attention, standing proudly, but many with hints of nervous energy still present in their bodies.
"I have learned much about you, all of you, as is only proper for those in positions of command. I have read the reports submitted by the other Legions: Undisciplined, maniacs, Witches and abomination, they have said all these things and more due to your style of fighting, because of the... Abilities that you have inherited from me. They would consider each and every one of you as failures and things to be disposed of as being too much of a risk to allow to continue to operate within the wider Imperium. Many would wish for me to simply wipe you out to the last man and be done with it, to 'cleanse the witch' as some might say." I started as many of them looked on in shame, looking to the ground as their bodies slumped. I smiled.
"However, it is a good thing that I disagree with them." The instant that statement was delivered, every member of the Legion before me perked up, looking at me with hope in their eyes.
"Where other Legions would question your strength and doubt your abilities, I see that you have the potential to stand above those that mock you all. Where other Legions think you unstable, I see the potential to become something great, after all, it is said that madness and genius were merely two sides of the same coin. Where other Legions have faltered at seeing challenges and declaring them as impossible to defeat, you all have stood, you have taken on these challenges, seeing the word 'impossible' as a challenge that must be crushed. And crush it you have! Again and again, you have faced challenges that would have caused larger Legions to balk and step back, afraid to jump in and accept the challenge, you have moved ahead, never faltering and never failing to surpass any test put before you!" I shouted, my tempo picking up as I could feel the excited energy moving through the crowd before me, they were standing taller, prouder and more confident than they had in a long time, many of them promising within their minds to not let me down.
"Where other Legions would be too bound by their rules and regimental outlooks of war, by their anally retentive views of honor and glory in battle, you are unencumbered by such things, casting them aside and leaving them in the past! Where they belong! For I ask you, what good will honor do against Bolt Shells and Plasma!?
"None!" Came the answering shout filled with excitement.
"What good is glory to the dead!?"
"None!"
"What good is being reforged by the Emperor if you lack the mental flexibility to use every advantage you have?!
"None!" I smiled at that, finding it amazing how much zeal they were putting into their answers as I glanced around, the crowd being electrified with energy as I continued.
"And yet those that would look down upon you continue to carry these very faults! They would question the very way that you fight, yet they are far from spotless themselves. They see victory as whoever is the holder of their target at the end of the fight, regardless of loses. You see the victory of battles as those who have wasted the least amount; whether in time, energy, materials or manpower, it matters not." I took a deep breath as I paused for the effect.
"And, at the end of every battle, you have been much like I have: Coming from each battle changed, made stronger, or more ferocious. A monster in the night. Watching. Learning. Hunting. Each time I have entered the pit of war, I have come out reborn with new strengths, new insights and new inspirations. If you put the devil on the other side, I will show up to battle. Evolved. Adapted. And prepared to fight. And to win." Once more I paused as I took in the crowd before me, they were hanging on to my words, waiting for me to finish as some looked ready to cheer at that very moment. I smiled as I continued.
"At the end of every battle, we have all stood at the top, standing above a pile of corpses made from our enemies." I stood straight up, raising my voice as I shouted. "No longer are you the Astral Gears, no longer mere cogs in a machine that cares nothing for you! You have stood undefeated and unconquered after every trial that has been thrown against you, stood unopposed at the top of your chosen field of war and have sharpened your skills to a razor edge with the fires of war! From this moment onwards, you shall be the Unbroken, with Adamantine wills and fury-filled hearts!" The resulting cheer was deafening , even to me, as the Astartes before me cheered for their new identity, jumping for joy and crying out their excitement. I could make out Oaths to ensure that what I said would always come to pass, until the end of everything, they would see it done.
I smiled at that.
I had very little doubt about that.
XXX
Stepping through the portal, I looked around to see the Imperial Palace as it was. It was a rather nice place, well built and highly decorated as I quickly spotted a Custodian that was moving towards me in full armor. Mentally, I couldn't help myself as I reached out with my senses and brushed against him, not interested in his memories, but his augments and power armor.
"Greetings, Lord Primarch. The Emperor is expecting you. This way please." The Custodian said, expecting me to follow as he turned around and started walking. I didn't bother trying to say anything or get him to slow down, I didn't see the point since these guys would probably only have anything resembling a conversation with the Emperor.
Originally, I had landed on the outer wall of the Imperial Palace, but we took a tram-like train towards the inner sections before getting off and heading for a large dining room where I saw the Emperor already seated, a chess board was sitting in front of him as I was gestured to take a seat as the Emperor looked up from what looked like an ancient book he was reading.
"Ah, my Son, it is good to see you once more. I trust that the journey to Terra was uneventful?" He asked, probably already knowing the answer as this place was smothered in his presence, I highly doubted that anyone would even be able to move around here without him noticing a single step, let along their breath. I shrugged in answer as I took a seat, sitting on a heavily reinforced chair made from an adamantium skeleton with high-quality wooden panels making up the exterior.
"It was no different than what I've done a dozen times before." I remarked simply, offering nothing else as he simply nodded as he gestured to the board.
"I was thinking we could talk over a game of chess, an old game from before the Dark Ages. I've found it a rather good method of focusing the mind and relaxing, especially with a good opponent." He remarked as I nodded.
"I am familiar with the game." I stated simple as he seemed to smile.
"Good, I'll take white, you take black and I'll start first." The Emperor stated as I nodded.
"It's your house, I'd have suggested it if you hadn't." I spoke as I watched him move the first piece before I moved mine in turn. We continued in silence for an uncounted amount of time, each move becoming longer, more drawn out as each of us started to consider out moves more and more carefully. I knew that, in all likelihood, the Emperor would win this, but I did not plan to give him an easy victory.
"You are rather skilled at this game. Where did you learn it? I would have thought I was one of the few that even still remembered it." The Emperor remarked, I offered a smile.
"The ruined hulk of a Dark Ages Human ship, a game made from carved Oak and a few dozen historical files had survived, but the rest of the ship wasn't worth the metal it was made from. Every system was either in pieces, melted or simply missing, but I do think that the trip through that ship was worth it." I remarked. It was a partial lie, since I had known the game well before that point.
"Oh? Was that the only ship of the Golden Age that you encountered?" He asked as I snorted in amusement.
"Wasn't much of a Golden Age during the Iron War. And no, I encountered a few more, most of them being little more than ruined hunks of metal in similar states." The Emperor nodded gravely at that point, it was well raised since, technically, the Iron War had taken place in what the Imperium called the Golden Age of Mankind.
"Would you be willing to share such knowledge with the Imperium? The ignorance of their own ancestors beyond the most basic of ideas is something I hope to cure in the future." I considered it for a moment.
"I'll consider it, though the Aesir have those files pretty heavily locked down. You want them, you mind need to talk with the Data Vault Keepers on Yggdraisl." I remarked non-commitedly as the Emperor snorted.
"It seems that your Legion's ability for being vague and cryptic did, in fact, come from somewhere." He remarked with a smile as the game continued.
We remained silent for the next three hours as we focused on the game, each of us only having made two moves in that time. As with all the other conversations that had been started so far, it was the Emperor that opened it up.
"If you don't mind me asking, but do you happen to have any familiars?" He asked, curious about something. I raised an eyebrow at that, one could argue that I did, but I believed he was talking of the animal verity rather than the three individuals that I had bound to me.
"No. Why do you ask?" I shot back, curious in turn about where hat question came from.
"Hm. Just a curiosity. When I brushed against your power the first time when it created the portal to Terra, I couldn't help but notice that you had three beings bound to you in some form. The bonds were incredibly potent, one-way in how they were commanded and seemed to have something intelligent on the other side of the bond. I simply wished to know what they were." I nodded to that, mentally considering what to say as I saw the Emperor go to take a drink of some ancient wine that was cultivated inside the Imperial Palace. I suppressed an impish grin as a thought came to me, after all, there was nothing wrong with telling the truth, right?
"One of those bonds is connected to a sixty million year old Eldar Autarch." I said as I watched the Emperor's reaction, mentally memorizing it for the future. I had timed it so that he would be drinking it when I saw that, he didn't spit-take, much to my annoyance, but it was a pretty damned near thing, he still ended up choking slightly on the wine, coughing slightly. Once his coughing subsided, he glared at me.
"You did that on purpose." He remarked with his glare. I smiled innocently.
"Now, why would I do such a thing as that?" I asked, still keeping the innocent facade as his face deadpanned at me.
"Your owe amusement." He answered before leaning back and rubbing his eyes, I took that moment to shift a few pieces without him noticing.
What? If given the opportunity to cheat, cheat like a motherfucker.
How exactly did you run into such a creature? For that matter, why would you even allow a bond such as that to form with one of those Traitorous Xenos?" There was no judgment in his tone, on his face or in his body language, simply displaying curiosity, but I didn't put much stock in that appearance, especially when compared to his normal mental walls, his mind slammed shut with the force of a Fortress door. That move alone was rather telling, I shrugged at his question.
"Mostly because she has willingly submitted to me on any level you could care to name. If I told her to jump, she would keep on jumping until she either hit Orbit or died from the effort. Not only that, but her mind is open to me in such a way that she simply has no way of considering anything remotely traitorous without my knowing about it in advance. Lastly, Eldar from her time period happen to had a hell of a lot more honor and decency in them than any of the modern-era Eldar." The Emperor seemed to consider it for a moment before nodding slowly.
"I will admit, I do not have the... Bestimpression of that race, but I assume you know something I don't?" He asked, I nodded before sending him a few things through a psychic link, a few of Taemera's memories of the Eldar long before they fell from grace. He tilted his head slightly at that, looking at me curiously.
"The link allows me to bypass any and all defenses on her mind, I can see her memories as though they were my own." I explained simply as he nodded.
"And the others?" He asked.
"Advisors. The bond was Taemera's idea so that I always knew whether I could expect a dagger in the back or not." I spoke simply, it was technically true as well, so I couldn't be called out for lying. Once more, he nodded as we continued the game in silence until it finished. The game ended up being a draw, somehow, with both Kings being only a single square away from each other, neither of us had wanted to make the next move, but we knew we couldn't have stayed there all day and night until one of us did, so a draw it was.
Over the next few weeks, we would meet, talk and play a game that would, inevitably, end in a draw between the two of us. It even got to the point that both of us were using Pre-cognition to try and divine the future of the game.
That game had lasted five days.
Time stretched as weeks turned to months before turning into a full year by which I had spent with the Emperor to learn, to teach and to interact. I ran into Horus most of all, but any time I sensed Russ in the Palace, I generally steered well clear, mostly because I knew that having the two of us in one room was just asking for a fight to break out, probably not helped by the fact I would feel the need to taunt the Mutt. Still, I figured it was better not to tempt Fate, or either the Changer of Ways or Murphy for that matter, so I tended to avoid such things like the plague. The end result was that the idiot would catch my scent before he started chasing it around the Imperial Palace, I usually just used Portals and other tricks I picked up to avoid him, but it was annoying.
I'd swear though, even though the Custodes that my... Father? Progenitor? Dad? Whatever, used to guard the Palace were amused about the whole damned thing. Now, where was that bloody Yatley Sax music when you needed it?
XXX
Stepping through the portal in full battle armor and a tattered leather cloak over my shoulders, the hood pulled up over my head and a False face over my features. I had used Biomancy to change my height, making me look smaller, more lithe and athletic, but I still moved the same until I took a step forwards and into the dark, desolate streets of the twisted city I now walked in. My stride became predatory in an instant, a grace I normally did not possess taking over as each step was light, silent and always on the balls of my feet to allow me the maximum amount of agility when it came time to move.
The wretched denizens of the city paid me no mind, those of higher standing noticed me, making a note of my presence before moving on, though a few of them were subtly fingering their weapons. I heard more than one look at me with something akin to predatory anticipation. It was understandable, really, my last visit to this place had resulted in a fair number of buildings being destroyed and at least seven people being forced to create a Humanoid centipede by shoving their heads up the asses of the next one. I had followed that up by injecting each one of them with a nano-toxin that shifted randomly through any number of pre-programmed effects. Those effects ranged from ripping the flesh apart all the way down to bone before rebuilding it, while keeping the person alive and in extreme agony, causing internal tumors that would detonate with corrosive, acidic puss before healing the wounds while leaving creating dozens of phantom pains around the body. My personal favorite had the person being turned into a rather good impression of a Chaos-spawn that looked like a cross between a Chicken with purple and pink feathers, a Crab and what looked like a highly mutated Zebra.
Needless to say, thatencounter had earned me a fair bit of standing among the Upper crust of the city's denizens. Though, one of them even offered me an apprenticeship for my innovative creation after wondering how long the nano-toxin would last. Short answer was that it would last as long as the victims remained among the living.
Still, walking through the crowd, I casually sidestepped an attempt on my life by a man with wings growing from his back, I reacted to this by backhanding his head hard enough to snap the neck, twist his head around three times before it finally fell off with its lower jaw missing. The crowd around me looked on in interest while I just kept walking, having not even bothered to turn and watch what had just happened as the body hit the ground.
Eventually, I came to a gate guarded by a number of men in full armor, many of them carrying large blades and holding them like they knew exactly how to use them. Approaching them, I spoke once.
"The most potent venom is the one that no one feels until the very last moment when it's work has been complete." I stated simply, for the upper crust of the city, it was a rather unimaginative password. The guard simply nodded once.
"Follow." He commanded as I did as such, following along after him as he moved at what Humans would have considered a blistering pace. I called it a light stroll through the countryside.
I followed the guard as we moved around corners, following twisting stairs that seemed to invert in on themselves before walking into a hall that looked like it had been the brain child of Escher before we turned left, went up the wall, went through a door way before ending up on another section of the same hall before walking down into the 'floor'. I always found the impossible physics and architecture of this place to be both interesting, amusing and utterly baffling, then again, it hadn't been made with Humans in mind.
After a few more minutes of walking, we came to a massive gate, decorated in images and a dozen illustrations of decadence of one form or another, ranging from some serious BDSM shit to what looked like some rather twisted torture sessions carried out by giggling men with a dozen arms. I could actually see the giggling as the pictures moved in a repeating loop if you watched them carefully enough. However, even as I watched, I saw the doors to the chamber beyond slowly open, a casually arrogant voice floating back through as I walked in.
"Do come in, my fine friend, I trust we have much to discuss?" The voice was so silky smooth that it would have made wiping your ass with velvet feel like someone was grinding into it with a Power Sander with bits of glass and salt smeared over it. I felt the cunning and intellect in the voice as I advanced into the chamber, a showing the a large chamber, empty save for a throne made from obsidian metal, razor-edged spikes and what looked like Human and alien skulls, flayed skin of a dozen colours and a rather interesting collection of murals to a thousand screaming souls that would move ever so slight whenever you weren't looking. Around the throne, I saw a dozen figures in armor with blades at the ready along with women that would have been the envy of even the least vain of the gender, translucent in skin tone with no imperfections, wearing what could only be described as armored bikinis and holding any number of weapons.
However, it was the one on the throne, the speaker, that held my interest. Approaching it, I paid the looks of intense interest from the rest of the court no heed, only the speaker had a passing idea of who I was, and even hewasn't entirely sure of my true nature beyond that of not being as I appeared. I hadn't bothered enlightening him in any fashion, preferring it this was as I pulled down the hood from over my head, revealing sharp, sculpted features, hair darker than the void with eyes that gleamed an unnatural purple colour. A smile stretched across my features in a way that a Human would find terrifying, but, for these beings, it barely registered on the scale.
"Indeed we do... Archon Asdrubael Vect. Shall we begin?" I asked, my voice musical but carrying an underlying wrongness to it that had come in handy during dozens of situations.
Vect's mouth twitched into a sadistic grin of eager anticipation, more than enough answer for me as the doors to his throne room in Commoragh silently slide shut.
There were deals that needed to be struck and negotiations to be had, and such things were best done away from the prying eyes of those that would take advantage of such things, especially given the fickle nature of the Dark Eldar.
Well, not fickle, it was just a matter of holding their attention long enough to get what you wanted before leaving, swiftly to ensure that they didn't change their minds.
XXX
AN: Well, there you have it, the MC is not nearly as innocent as he was implied to be, nor is his Legion as in the clear either.
Things will be becoming more... Interesting, from this point forwards... In the Chinese sense of the word...