In the light of true power, even saints cast monstrous shadows." -High Priest Albrecht Vane, executed 892.M39 for heresy
I stood alone before a massive psychic beacon, the radiant light from my manifested halo barely illuminating the half submerged egg-shaped structure. Tentatively, I waited for an acknowledgement.
Nothing.
'Syrine?'
No reaction.
+Talk to me, I am here.+
She did not respond.
Try as I might, both my physical and telepathic hailings garnered no reaction from her soul residing within the giant beacon. It reminded me of the time when she attempted to get the Emperor's attention in that past vision. After a few more attempts with no results, I started to feel uneasy being psychically active this close to the active beacon.
'Hello!'
…
Maybe… she couldn't respond?
Behind me, my superhuman hearing picked up on my companions entering the vault. Reluctantly, I gave up and deactivated my powers. As my halo faded, the holy radiance vanished and darkness swallowed everything around me. With a deep sense of disappointment I slowly exited the centre chamber and saw two distinct groups of important people exploring the place.
Kryptorer was leading the post-human group that consisted of Balpradus and Callina with their small swarm of servo-skulls. Thaberus led the other, mostly human, group with members including Niandra, Diadinah, Alicya, Markeylla and Welminah.
The vault appeared to be environmentally controlled, the air felt cool and was breathable by humans as Thaberus and the Sisters had taken off their rebreathers and helmets, revealing awed expressions.
Behind the whole group stood the vault guardian who towered over everyone. The small crowd had turned on the many luminous devices on them and their servo-skulls, illuminating the place. As I stepped toward them, their lights flared in my direction and I noted how my vision adjusted instantly, filtering the glare before it could blind me.
'My lady,' Welminah exclaimed and hurried over to my side, the Sister's concern for me was plain to see. While it was comforting to witness her fussing over my wellbeing, sometimes I wondered if she overlooked my capabilities because of my disarming appearance.
Despite feeling unsettled about being unable to get any response from Syrine's soul, I forced out a light smile and asked, 'would you all like to see the beacon?'
We took a quick tour to the centre chamber, with the human group mostly being stunned by the sight, while the Mechanicus gang expressed great interest at the titanic egg-shaped structure. After that we started looking around and soon turned our attention to the racks upon racks of shelves. One of the nearest shelves contained what looked to be rows of faceted crystals, each of them was about the length of a human finger and glowed with cold blue hues under illumination.
'Are these data-crystals?' Thaberus asked, his stern voice reverberating in this strange place. The tech-priests extended their mechadendrites and started scanning the crystals in question.
Kryptorer was the first to confirm the inquisitor's speculation. 'Affirmative. These are high grade data-crystals.'
'They are encrypted,' Callina added.
The towering guardian suddenly spoke up, almost spooking the crowd. 'This crystal library contains schematics of most known imperial and Mechanicum war machines when it was sealed.'
Looking at the shining crystals, I reached out to grab one before abruptly stopping myself and turning to the guardian. 'Can I touch them?'
I nodded, picked one crystal up and turned it around in my hand, feeling the weight of its contents. Curious, I tried reading the data-crystal in my hand with my innate ability. As I concentrated, data flowed from the crystal into my mind, revealing a title:
+++CODEX SCHEMA PRIMUS & ORDINATIO FABRICATA: ASTARTES CONTEMPTOR-PATTERN DREADNOUGHT +++
Shocked, I next saw a simple schematic of the Space Marine dreadnought. These were familiar to me, as I owned a few models myself, bought on impulse during one of the countless cycles of game balancing when they were overpowered. These deadly Astartes war machines had long ceased to be in production in the current era due to the loss of records and destruction of Forge Worlds during the Horus Heresy. The ones fortunate to survive were considered to be relics in Space Marines chapters that still possess them.
While reading further into the crystal, I was bombarded by a huge amount of data that made no sense. The peculiar feeling was akin to listening to white noise or watching a television with pure static.
Is this the mentioned encryption?
I narrowed my eyes and focused my mind to push through the noise. Reacting to my will, the unfathomable intelligence residing in me began working on cracking the puzzle. After a while, I felt the encryption unravel like a steadily easing tension, its complexity proving little match for the innate calculus and cognitive prowess granted to me by the Emperor's genius. Eventually it started to yield, first bit by bit, then layer by layer peeled away. Faster and faster the process went until the final layers of protection were breached with quiet satisfaction.
The decrypted data bloomed like fireworks in my mind and I was hit with waves of information. Countless pages of hyper-detailed schematics, charts and manufacturing process records flashed before my eyes, their exhaustive information flooded into my mind. In a flash, everything from creating the dreadnoughts' formidable frame, its many lethal weapons, and the precise steps to replicate precious lost tech like Atomantic Shielding and the Helical Targeting Array unique to the relic dreadnoughts were opened to me.
I silently gasped and my eyes snapped open. I blinked and looked at the rows of data-crystals on the many shelves with a belated sense of awe, fully absorbing the scale of immense value of this archive. For a second I had that feeling from my past life, standing at the premium section of a mega hobby store, looking at model kits too expensive for laymen to afford. We now had in our possession a well preserved, priceless record from the bygone Great Crusade. This place might be the definition of a Tech-priest's wet dream.
Mechanicus Forge Worlds would go to all out war for these.
With an almost shaking hand I put back the crystal just as Kryptorer made a statement. 'These encryptions are formidable.'
'Affirmative. I could not read beyond the title and cover blue print,' Balpradus agreed as he continued scanning the crystals with his mechadendrites.
'Decrypting these will be a monumental task,' Callina said in agreement.
'I cracked one just now,' I said, and immediately every tech-priest turned to me. Despite their overall expressionless, inhuman appearance, the Mechanicus group seemed flabbergasted by my comment.
Eh?
'My lady, with your permission I seek clarification,' Kryptorer asked. 'Did you manage to break the encryptions on one of the data-crystals just now?'
'That's what I said.'
'As in,' Balpradus voiced his question, 'gaining full access to all the detailed information inside?'
'Correct.' I nodded.
'I beg your pardon, but that's highly improbable,' Callina said.
'Magos, I do not appreciate your openly doubting our Holy Daughter,' Canoness Diadinah warned, raising the tension in the air. Perhaps it was the absence of any religious relics, an outcome to be expected, since the site was built before the Emperor's "ascension into godhood", I sensed a trace of irritation in the Sororitas leader.
'I meant no disrespect, Canoness, my lady.' Callina lightly bowed her featureless head. 'By my most conservative calculations, even with the sanctified fusion of all the cogitator banks available to us laboring in unison, it will take labor measured in long months if not years before we even dare to hope of unraveling...'
'Enough. Conventional calculus might not be applicable here.' Raising a metallic hand, Kryptorer dismissed Callina before turning to me. 'My lady, kindly elaborate with us on your last statement.'
So I explained further. 'I successfully cracked the encryption on one of the data-crystals, the protected contents were a collection of lengthy and detailed information about the Astartes Contemptor-Pattern Dreadnought.'
'So, you now possess a copy of the STC schematics of said dreadnought chassis?' Kryptorer asked again, his words made my eyes widened.
STC schematics!
STC or Standard Template Construct were the legendary ancient "blueprints" from humanity's Golden Age of Technology that let people build anything with powerful machines. All the advanced technology to create genuine STCs was long lost, surviving only in the form of preserved hard-copies in the current age. From a layman's perspective, an STC could be seen as a hyper-advanced version of a 3D print file, except instead of just giving one the shape of an object, it also contained all the knowledge on materials, processes, maintenance, and even alternate designs, so any user can fabricate incredibly complex technology without understanding how it works.
Thinking back on what I had learned from the data-crystal, I was struck by another realization: with the knowledge now in my mind and the proper facilities, the production of the relic machine was indeed possible. I nodded slowly before answering.
'I believe so, yes.'
That was a brief period of silence where the tech-priests looked at one another before Callina voiced her next question in a flat tone that seemed to carry the slightest hint of trepidation. 'Lady Syrine, with your permission, might we behold a portion of the schematics?'
I thought about it, then summoned Solace over and wordlessly imprinted a high resolution three dimensional schematic of the relic dreadnought into it. As the Contemptor dreadnought hologram floated in the air thanks to my servo-skull's projector, the air around the tech-priests changed.
Magos Balpradus, whose mechadendrites were suddenly twitching erratically, blurted out. 'My lady, might I inquire if this data contains information like exact dimensions, tolerances and materials specification?'
'You meant these?' Digging into my memory, I transferred the data to Solace before letting it project the information in a stream of holographic tables. As new tables kept appearing, the older ones dropped down in a continuous cascading visual effect. Witnessing this, the tech-priests suddenly went still. They stood unmoving, their many cold lenses and inhuman masks reflecting the holographic digital waterfall. Despite their static appearance, somehow I felt the rise of their inner emotions as the glows in their optics intensified and the micro-vibrations of their bodies sharpened. A short while later Kryptorer silently raised his huge Omnissian axe high before bringing it down, and the iconic weapon's knob hit the ground with a resounding Clonk!
'Praise the Omnissiah!' Kryptorer declared with a heightened voice, sounding almost emotional.
'What does this mean, exactly?' Thaberus asked.
'It means, inquisitor,' Balpradus answered him, 'that we have found our priceless relics.'
Unlike the Mechanicus folks, Canoness Diadinah was unable to appreciate the significance of the moment and dropped her demand. 'Can somebody explain?'
'Lady Syrine has easily bypassed security measures that this unit has spent millennia solving.'
'Divine One? Who is that?' Welminah questioned, like every other Sister who was present, the mere hint of a religious involvement instantly attracted her attention.
The guardian looked at the scholar with its many optics before responding. 'He should be known to you as the Emperor.'
'You… you interacted with the God-Emperor? What can you tell us about HIM?' Diadinah stepped before Welminah and asked out loud, her usually steady voice shook with the hint of exaltation.
'A god? Assuming you are referring to the one and only Master of Mankind, the answer is affirmative. It is by his direct decree that this unit has been guarding here,' the guardian answered, its matter-of-fact reply stunning the Sisters. That gave me an idea, maybe this was the closest thing to a religious relic one could secure in this place.
'This is important, do you have any proof of that?' I joined the conversation, prompting the guardian to turn its massive body to me.
'A recording of that exact moment exists.'
I thought for a moment before responding. 'Do you know anything about how the Emperor became confined to the golden throne?'
Did the guardian totally miss out on the biggest civil war of humanity while being holed up here?
'On that note, what do you know about… Horus Lupercal?' I asked again and noted how people involuntarily winced upon hearing that name.
'The Warmaster. Primarch of the Sixteenth Astartes Legion.'
That made a few people flinch.
Brother, huh? Brother Horus?
While that logical conclusion seemed unimaginable from my point of view, I could not help but recall that strange feeling of kinship experienced from the Sanguinius vision. To avoid the Sisters acting up, I responded quickly. 'A lot has happened, we will explain later. Kindly show us the recording first.'
'A means is required.'
'Here, use my servo-skull,' I offered while instantly transferring the control of Solace to the guardian with my ability.
Clearly not expecting such a move, it hesitated for a second before nodding. 'As you command.'
Solace's projector lit up again and suddenly—He appeared.
The Emperor of Mankind. Not the desolate husk enthroned upon the Golden Throne, but the radiant sovereign who once strode across the galaxy as a being of flesh and unconquerable will. The people, especially the Soraritas, trembled upon witnessing the hologram.
The holographic visage was a paradox of familiarity and divinity, both utterly human and impossibly transcendent. A majestic face of regal symmetry, high of cheekbone and noble of brow, marred by the weight of a species' destiny, eyes glinting with a light that ignited terror and devotion in equal measure. On his head was a thick mane of long black hair, styled in the signature Conan the Barbarian fashion, flowing as though stirred by winds from a world long gone.
While everyone here had seen countless depictions of the Emperor in paintings on cathedral walls and statues towering across every Imperial world, those were only shadows and static fragments, mere feeble attempts to capture his full glory. This, this was the Master of Mankind as he truly had been, yet to be bound to the Throne and withered away. A living god when he was walking amongst mortals.
Shocking as it was, the recording revealed something even more surprising: The Emperor was not clad in his signature golden armor, but instead wore a protective laboratory suit, appearing more like a scientist than a warlord. A burning question rose immediately. A question I clearly read on every mind.
Is this real?
'Father.' Before I realised it, a softly spoken word escaped from my mouth, shattering that lingering doubt.
Wait, what? Why did I say that?
Whatever the reason, the result was immediate. As one, all the Sisters went down on their knees, the sound of their ceramite armour pieces hitting the stone floor echoing crisply across the vault. They were kneeling, kneeling at a holographic projection. Even Thaberus had taken off his hat and bowed as a sign of respect. None dared to breathe.
Then the shimmering holograph flickered and the Emperor's lips parted. An immensely potent voice filled the air, it sounded impossibly machine-like, yet sonorously soulful.
'This place is important, take good care of it while I am gone.'
And then, as though the machine itself feared the blasphemy of letting mortals glimpse at their Supreme Master for too long, the hologram disintegrated into static before disappearing.
The chamber was plunged back into silence, but it left a remarkable effect as the usually grim and serious crowd had become ecstatic. Witnessing the scene, I was struck by a strange realisation: except for myself, everyone here seemed to have found what they were looking for in this place. The tech-priests found their STC hardcopies, the Sisters found a message from their God, the inquisitor found his mission to be true and even the guardian had technically completed its long mission.
What about me?
For some reason I seemed to have been blindsided by the idea that opening the vault could somehow solve my problems.
Eh? How did I get that idea in the first place?
I had never felt so lost.
'On to the mentioned explanation. What happened outside? Why is the Divine One confined to a throne?'
This is going to be awkward, explaining the Horus Heresy.