"Assuming you are here, are you the one who dared to try and enter my mind? You might as well speak truthfully since either way, you will not live for sharing the same psychic presence as my assaulter."
Her tone was forceful yet calm, not hasty to deliver the message, but to convey a sense of surety.
The mammoth of a creature was definitely not use to being talked down like this. He was used to whispers of his ship's name causing entire sectors within the Imperium to evacuate and mobilize any nearby Astartes Chapters. This female alien expressed no sort of fear that he would usually delight in. The only reason he even accepted the transmission was because he was at a lost for where exactly the warp had spewed him out. He noticed how it suddenly changed from reds and blacks to blues and blacks, a scene he'd never seen before.
He was Typhus, the Chaos Lord of Nurgle, Herald of Nurgle and host of the Destroyer Hive, the most feared Chaos force in the galaxy.
He had just accepted to lead Abaddon's latest Black Crusade which was still decades away when he was contacted by the plague father himself to search out a psyker who exuded such massive radiance and power that it had all of the Chaos Gods in a frenzy when it swept aside their corruptible influence like they were flies. They didn't like that yet it made the psyker even more desirable. All wanted to claim that power for themselves. He couldn't blame them. He had seen it himself. It did not even reside in the Immaterium yet it had a presence like that of the God-Emperor himself in his own psyker mind.
When he exited the rift into some kind of golden realm where the space for his ship to maneuver in was around 239 miles in diameter but that was the best his sensorium could do as there was an IMPOSSIBLE amount of electromagnetic interference all around him. The exact texture of the place he was unfamiliar with but it seemed he was within some sort of massive fortress-monastery, though if that was the case, it was suspiciously empty save for his own ship. Truly, its size was unlike anything he'd ever seen, and he'd seen the Imperial Fist's gilded monastery-fortress Phalanx.
His most prominent thought was that he'd been spit out into the interior of an Eldar Craftworld. Surprising and taking control of such a magnificent prize would have pleased "Father Nurgle" immensely, but he'd seen some images of what a Craftworld looked like. While this place certainly fit the size description, it was too open.. too empty. He really didn't like what his honed instincts were telling him. It'd been too long since he'd felt unease creep through his body blessed by the eternal gift of Nurgle.
When he first laid eyes on the species, he couldn't make up his mind about whether they resembled Eldar or Human more but no, there were signs all within his view that set this species apart. First… the projection of his mind and form into a 3-D hologram onboard their bridge. Such technology was unheard of in the Imperium. Oh, what the Adeptus Mechanicus and Dark Mechanicum would do to get a working sample of such technology. Secondly, he would have gaped had he been a young and hardened captain of the XIVth Legion, the Death Guards, formerly known as the Dusk Raiders. Around him, working with the human-like xenos were what could only be actual Artificial Intelligence working at several stations. It was techno-heresy of the highest category among the Imperium of Mankind. They had to be A.I.s because no simple servitors could run such a station.
Thirdly, were the aliens themselves. He recognized them as such due to both their inhuman beauty that put many of the Sororitas and Eldars to shame and the numerous tendrils sprouting from their backs that were so similar yet unlike the ones that could be found on just about any daemon of Slaanesh. He took note of how all of the pale skinned ones attending to their stations and giving him the barest of notice (That really irked him and was a huge hit to his pride in his infamy) were different yet similar in that they shared the aspect of matching hair and eyes as golden as the sun. Another note of curiosity was how there were some who all were similar in that they had bronze skin, white hair and orange eyes. They were fewer in number but were more noticeable due to being taller. He got the sense that they possessed much more power than the plainer ones.
The two to capture, no demand the most attention, were at the throne of the bridge (At the least he wasn't alone in the habit of having a throne as a command chair.) The one standing off to the side and possibly an adviser or second in command stood as tall as some young Astartes, clad in simple, conservative, yet beautifully made garbs that smoothed over her body's shape like water. Reaching back into the recesses of his mind, back when he was still human, he would have no doubt that this woman was of high breeding with an excellent diet, exercise regime, and instruction of proper etiquette due to the noble air she poised with. She could walk down an Eldar city and be the envy of any Eldar woman he'd seen and slaughtered.
But he wasn't fooled by her beauty. Her golden eyes were like topaz gems yet he could easily see a bewitching influence in them that held an immense intelligence that should not be underestimated. He'd seen those kinds of eyes in few beings, mainly the greatest and smartest champions of Tzeentch. To turn his gaze from her machinations would bring about some empire's downfall. He would bet his scythe that she has certainly done just that.
The biggest threat was what drew the most of his attention. A simple once over was all it would take to declare her the most beautiful creature, Human or Xeno, that he'd ever seen. Possessing not only the largest physical presence, but authoritative one as well, seated upon her golden throne of metals and crystals, he'd be forgiven if he thought she could have posed as some gender-bent perversion of what the False Emperor would have looked like when he sat upon his own golden throne to give audience to plebeians and obsessively loyal Space Marines.
Her pinkish eyes stood out from her immaculately white and spotless skin and hair, her body given depth only by the shading of her own features in the various lights among the station's bridge. With a leg crossed over the other, she gazed at his form with contempt and passionless empathy. The look enraged his pride yet he could recognize similar looks by those champions of Tzeentch who were believed to pull the wool of his eyes. To her, his mighty, fearful presence was just a speck to be wiped off a window.
Then he noticed her lack of care for her nudity as well as casually feeding her baby and it just reinforced the assumption that he was about as frightening to this woman as a Gretchen was to Kaldor Draigo.
"Assuming you here, are you the one daring to try and enter our mind? You should well speak truthfully since either way, you will die for sharing the same psychic feeling as my assaulter."
He furrowed his brows in a bit of confusion. His ship's translators were working to patch up her words but it sounded a lot like refined Gothic… well, refined for a poor farmer or a smart Ork. Despite the imperfect translation, it was certainly easy enough to understand her words and the complete confidence she had in victory.
"Who are you to speak down at me like a child, you Xeno harlot?! I am TYPHUS, the Herald of Father Nurgle, bane of all the Imperium. All life decays with time and you would be wise to surrender before I rot this fortress-monastery before your very eyes! Be thankful Father Nurgle desires your power or I'd slaughter you and fill your child's guts with maggots." His voice crackled with anger and the very ship growled as well. To his further anger, she did not even flinch from his name or the abominable roar of his ship.
She proved this by simply raising a single brow though mention of her child did cause her eyes to narrow.
"I care not your name or parent. You trespass our sanctuary. You very presence assaults my eyes. You threaten my child. Where you are now, you are harmless. I'm Outer Heaven, this very ship, and like the infected corpse you are, I reject your very existence from my body."
The fleet of plagued vessels under Typhus' command finally caught up with him, all weapon systems loaded and void shields at full power. Their presence filled him with the all-to familiar joy of an impending slaughter.
"This ship may boast impressive firepower on the outside, but you wouldn't use anything too powerful on the inside. We shall rot this ship from the inside, Xeno scum, and I'll hand your soul over to my God. All ships, pick your targets and open fire upon this monastery. Spread the filth and diseases of Nurgle throughout the station."
As the dozens of ships opened fire with their numerous, plague-ridden broadsides, hundreds of infested shells slammed into the insides of the Grateful Sun Ray. Massive explosions blew corruptive plagues everywhere, scattering swarms of festering, puss filled pools of infection all over the surfaces of the ship. Transport ships were belched from the sides of the corrupted cruisers carrying scores of Plague Marines to invade the inner sanctum of this magnificent station.
As the bombardments switched to new areas to infest and the hundreds of Plague Marines and thousands of infestids were offloaded onto the solid ground, Yggdra watched with apt attention befitting the situation as scanners kept track of the rate of pollution.
"How does our Nethicite super-structure hold up against this disease bombardment?" she asked.
"Scans show that due to its nature as condensed energy and with the density scales at full, the infections can't even scratch the surface polish. It can find no perch to cling on or seep into. If you wanted, you could take a water hose and rinse it right off the muzzle of the cannon, my Queen." Frigga was both intrigued by the mutations and infections that rivaled the parasitic nature of the Flood, but if it couldn't even scratch Nethicite set at its densest, there was little to glean from the scans.
"What of our hack attempts?"
"A little bit more progress, my Queen. We've managed to gleam information in this Typhus' systems. We have a few coordinates that don't match anything we can use in this galaxy so it must be locations within this 'Immaterium', or Warp. The Immaterium is not unlike a parallel dimension to this universe, focused on this galaxy though. It's filled with raw but corruptive energy currents and thanks to the will of the Chaos Gods, sentient, ancient beings of immense energy, the laws of time and space are skewered and manipulated to their desires. This realm is home to the Chaos Gods as they can not exist in the Material universe, uYggdra these 'Champions' as proxies to carry out their will."
"...And what can you tell me about this Typhus, and if possible, why this Nurgle wants me?"
"Apparently, my Queen, like the gods themselves, Daemons of their making can't exist outside of the realm without a sort of power to anchor them. These portals capable of sustaining them can be created by corrupting psykers, being who possess exceptional psychic potential. However, from what I can gather, these psykers draw daemons to them like insects to fresh blood because they can draw energy from the Warp itself to fuel various spells."
"So, they mistook the psychic link of our hive mind as a massive conglomeration of psyker energy, and with me being the core of the mind and Outer Heaven boosting my command to all Valkyrian forces across this galaxy cluster, I must have looked like an irresistible meal for them. They believe they can use me to give them a permanent anchor in this universe. They want to use me as a battery."
She was silent for a moment before a giggle escaped her lips. Another followed, as well as several more. Soon, she was laughing wholeheartedly; a sight that hasn't been seen for a long time. Yggdra's laughing body disrupted Naru from her feeding who was now looking at her mother in confusion. She quickly composed herself and sighed while glancing down at Naru.
"You're just clueless to all of this, aren't you, my darling child. It will be a funny story for you when you're older." A hilarious thought occurred to her. "Naru, my child. Would you like to fire the Grateful Sun Ray?"
If any of the Valkyrians had been eating or drinking something, they would've choked on the products. Frigga, who was typing through several hundred messages, metaphorically slid her hand across the keyboard in shock. One Valkyrian, the poor woman, actually tripped over her feet. Numerous A.I.s experienced several code malfunctions and had to perform quick diagnostic and repairs that took a few seconds.
Naru, only understanding that her mother wanted to have fun with her, gurgled happily. "That's a 'Yes' if I ever heard one. Outer Heaven. Command Authority: Yggdra Yuril Artwaltz. Authorization Code: Elstrphizane. Transferring temporary, one-time firing control over to Lunaru Niril Artwaltz. Command Authority approves."
Frigga gripped Yggdra's shoulder with a grip that would have clawed through a Space Marine's armor while her eyes were both narrowed in admonishment and wide in astonishment; an impressive combination. "Yggdra, do you know how long it took me to design this ship? Have you considered the magnitude of the consequences if she decides to just explode the shell in the barrel? The charge is at 858% and climbing. That's over eight times the energy used to destroy that sun earlier. That's enough compacted energy to vaporize an entire solar system."
Yggdra's body glowed white for a moment and the indention in her shoulder from Frigga's hand returned to their normal look while Frigga would have to release her biological limiter to put a scratch on her now. Seeing her physical struggle useless, she instead begged Yggdra with her eyes that suddenly became wide and teary. Yggdra did the seemingly impossible and scoffed at it.
"I'm only giving Naru control over pulling the trigger. I still have final authority over everything else. That shell isn't going anywhere except out of the muzzle and into that Warp."
She stopped sulking from her failure and gained a comprehending look. "That's why you charged it so much. 5% would have been overkill for even a planet the size of Cradle of Life. This object wasn't your real target."
"No, it is the initial target since I had no knowledge of this being accessible for interstellar travel. I was just expecting something… bigger and wanted it gone for good. The fact it was a large ship with an escort fleet simply meant I had to think beyond my field of vision for a moment. If there's one fleet, there could be thousands more. We wouldn't know so I have opted to initiate a first strike, shock-and-awe attack upon their realm. Did Typhus' computers say what was on the other side of this particular warp rift?"
"He was warped here by his God, though it was apparently after getting a supply of slaves from a 'Dark Mechanicum' world. The crew feeds the rotting bodies to the ship's engines. There is also mention of a very important item picked up by Typhus from the planet."
"Esdeath would love that idea but it'd just be wasteful in most cases. What of this Dark Mechanicum and this item?"
"Basically former humans who turned themselves into cyborgs during their loyalty to the Imperium who have turned to the Gods of Chaos to give them access to long lost secrets and forbidden knowledge of the Universe. They build for the Chaos forces their weapons, ships, daemon engines—those are large daemons forcibly imprisoned inside a material body or war machine and tortured continuously until they're sent into battle—and Titans—massive mechs of a destructive persuasion, but nowhere near as massive as our own. This daemon planet is basically the equivalent of our 'Path of Knowledge'. The item appears to be a massive 'chainsword' that has failed to be corrupted by the elements of the Warp. Sounds like a useful tool to study to learn how to protect our own technology."
"Then I will have this planet blown out of existence. Anything of note near the world?"
"Just a few fleet ship yards, mainly for the faction of Nurgle."
"Then let us be done with this nuisance. The sight of those infested corpses running around down there is making me nauseous knowing that it's Outer Heaven they're on. What's the charge of the Grateful Sun Ray?"
"Nearing the actual limits of structural stability. I would definitely have us make berths at the Sun Forge as soon as possible to run diagnostics and begin improvements on the ship. We never expected to strain the cannon so much so soon."
"Very well, but first, let's burst this giant pimple. Open me a link to Typhus again."