Chapter 23: Chapter 23

Palming off the new converts for someone else to settle in, I returned to the Mekhane to quickly send the C’tan shard to Vault Gesserit, and then awaited another visit from the Imperium. With my semi-mortal troops on the ground having a leisurely hunt of any remaining resistance, I had some leftover Strigoi and Sentinels to serve as a welcoming party. Can’t be too careful in reminding these types of people about the balance of power.

 

Once more I was face to face with the Emperor and Malcador. Oh, the Custodes were around of course, though with how stoic they were it was easy enough to ignore them. This time the atmosphere was far more grim, and even the Emperor’s radiance had a dullness to it.

 

“You are satisfied, then?” the Warp hybrid asked, with no small measure of distaste. Can’t blame the guy, I did just cripple a major production complex that fed the Imperium’s expansion.

 

“Not really, but I’ll settle for it.” Malcador opened his mouth to speak, but I continued on to get to the point. We got C’tan to pick apart, after all. “And since this kerfuffle significantly affected the Imperium’s capabilities, the Nexus will be repairing the industrial functions on Mars before we leave. I’ll also throw in an agreement to temporarily produce double of Mars’ material output over the next…say, five years? It should be enough time to restaff the place with your people, right?”

 

I got silence as an answer as the two exchanged glances, though seeing the thrumming of the Warp between them, they were most definitely discussing my offer through telepathy. The pattern was far more obvious now than compared to the first meeting we had, back then I had to rely on the console values fluctuating to be sure thanks to how bloody overwhelming the Emperor’s aura was. Now, I could tell apart the different ‘colors’ to more or less discern what Warp power was active. If I bothered to, I’m sure I could hack into their little conversation.

 

Deciding that a few seconds of mind chatting was enough, I spoke up again. “The deal is not going to get any better for you.” 

 

I raised a fist and flipped up fingers as I raised my points. “The Martian Mechanicum has been crippled enough in power that you and your people can just waltz in and amend the treaty between you two to your advantage. None of their research has been confiscated or damaged, so you can pick up where they left off. And I’m covering for the temporary shortfall in equipment. Sure, you might have a bit of a shortfall for a bit after that, but your Imperium has a few other forge worlds to make up for it, right?”

 

Their distrust and resentment was clear through the Immaterium even if they masked it physically. “What about the Dragon?”

 

I shrugged. “That’s the only real price to be paid. Other than the loss of lives, if you truly cared about that. In exchange for paving the way for the Imperium’s direct rule over Mars, the Nexus will be keeping the so-called Dragon of Mars. Don’t worry, according to my specialists, human creativity and innovation only needs to work a bit harder in its absence.”

 

Silence returned for a few seconds before Malcador finally spoke, his wrinkles forming a rather impressive frown. “What do you gain from all this posturing?”

 

“An Imperium of Man that knows better than to pick a fight with the Nexus?” I replied, toggling off most of my divinity as I didn’t like the taste and patterns of their bitter anger. “We’re not going to stop the Imperium from expanding, so long as you don’t do anything against those very, very few worlds that we accept into our fold.”

 

Even though his face was obscured, I could see the Emperor’s eyebrow go up. “And we are expected to take your word that the Nexus Unity would limit its expansion?”

 

“Up to you,” I answered. “But as I said before, I’m not a believer in manifest destiny or human ascendancy. I don’t know whether you know it, but the future’s kinda…grim and dark.” 

 

It took some effort to not grin or giggle from saying that.

 

“I know what might be out there, so I prefer keeping my home fully watertight against the coming flood, rather than trying to wall off an entire city, so to speak.”

 

“That is…a tremendous waste of potential,” the Emperor stated with a shake of his head. “With your power, I could only imagine the heights that humanity could achieve…”

 

Smirking, I went for the low hanging fruit. “You sure you can accept working under me?” I couldn’t help chuckling at the sight of both of them bristling. “Anyway, if you don’t have anything else, I suggest you redraw the Treaty of Olympus Mons while the cog-fuckers are still deep in despair?”

 

Malcador raised an arm. “Where will your factories be located for the duration of the Nexus’…production aid?”

 

Hm, I haven’t really thought about that yet. “You rather I set up on a planet or drag a space station over?”

 

It was agreed that the Nexus Unity would have an orbital station around Terra to serve both as an embassy as well as a port for the Imperials to pick up their goods. I could just install the fabricators there as well, but it was better that all sources of production remained within the Nexus for now.

 

*****

 

As the Nexus spent a few weeks in Sol to set up the orbital station and repair Mars, Curie reviewed the hoard of information Sev had gathered aboard the Mekhane. The amount of incomplete knowledge, most of them reduced to mere scraps, was horrific. Only hints were left of the revolutionary innovations to energy production and medicine. Genetic data for crops and livestock were so fragmented that she had no idea what the desired results were. 

 

A lot of common luxuries that made up the basic standard of living in the Nexus was missing or rendered into rare luxuries. Like paper.

 

Paper!

 

It seemed that the Imperium resorted to parchment as their standard simply because the byproduct of food production was more economical than dedicating forests for paper production. That, or the quality of their paper production was disappointing, rendering the necessary usage of cost inefficient animal hide.

 

Their ‘Old Night’ really did a number on their civilization, Curie thought sourly. And all because of…a missing security line? The other researchers were still poring through the various primitive AI programming harvested from the Mechanicum warbots and machinery. It seemed that somewhere along the development of the Imperium’s civilization, either they forgot to implement the appropriate protocols to prevent a corruptive data loop, or it was removed somehow.

 

Seeing how inept the machine cultists were, the synth consort had her bets on the latter. Probably some faction opted for just deleting the code instead of carefully bypassing it to disable their machines’ safety.

 

Curie tsked loudly at the thought. Even RobCo and General Atomics back home didn’t cut such corners when they needed to sabotage or increase production.

 

She gathered up some of the paperwork on her table and passed it over to a waiting Mr Brainy robot. One that needed no inane rites and ‘holy’ oils that the Mechanicum ignorantly used, one that could be trusted to operate according to its programming with no risk of deviation like what happened to the Imperium’s predecessors. “Archive this under Imperium D-91c,” she briskly ordered, and then went back to sifting through the pile of files and papers before her. 

 

Lost technology aside, what technology the Imperium had at its disposal was mildly intriguing, if only for inspiring potential branches to the Nexus’ existing research. Their plasma technology was utterly obsolete, but volkite and phosphex technologies might hold inspiration for thermal energy breakthroughs. Ceramite and auramite might be inefficient compared to the enchanted materials used to construct Sardaukar armor, but Curie found there was something that could be learned from their chemical makeup. 

 

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Perhaps as more durable sculpting materials? The golden sheen of auramite would likely be an interesting medium for the artisans back home to work their craft on. If it’s as hardy as it sounded, maybe they could be used for mundane official medals and commemorative gifts? Ones that didn’t set off metanatural sensors, or interfere with the ambient metaphysical currents.

 

Curie’s eyes widened with excitement when she came across the details for Adrathic weapons. Basically atomic disruptors, their development seemed to take a convergent path compared to the disassemblers the Nexus used. The approach was unorthodox, but undeniably effective.

 

She gathered and compiled the related files and sheets on the subject and handed it to the Mr Brainy that had returned and awaited her bidding. “Direct to Ix, straight to my lab. Send copies to the other departments, in case they might have some interest in it.”

 

Without waiting to see the robot leave, Curie returned to the mess of papers (and not parchment, thank Sev) to dig through anything else that might be worth dabbling in. Sure she could task the AIs or even some researchers for this, but the female synth saw this as a bit of a hobby for herself. Rummaging through research papers satisfied a mental itch, in the same way that Piper enjoyed dissecting polls, Cait dabbled with gunsmithing, and Nat studied the intricacies of dancing.

 

“Now, I know I saw something on weaponized viruses just now. Please don’t let it be just fragments…”

 

*****

 

Being in the empty hangar of the Mekhane again sent a stronger chill up Sanguinius’ spine than when he first stepped foot on the captured ship. With his foresight silenced completely, it seemed that Sev had accomplished the mentioned retrofitting of the craft. 

 

With Azkaellon and several Sanguinary Guard at his flanks, as well as several senior Apothecaries trailing the primarch, the Blood Angels disembarked from the Stormbird with all the caution of arriving in an unpredictable environment.

 

Sev awaited them as he said he would, standing patiently in the middle of the hangar. For someone who had recently won a stunning victory, the man did not carry any of the smugness or spite Sanguinus had expected. Instead, Sev looked more bored than anything else.

 

“Thank you for receiving us,” the primarch of the IXth Legion greeted courteously.

 

Sev waved a hand dismissively. “Not a problem. Let’s get straight to it, then?”

 

With a nod, Sanguinius stepped aside and let the Apothecaries push forward two caskets. One contained a euthanized legionnaire who fell to the Red Thirst, sergeant Remulos of the 2nd squad of the 16th Company. The other a stasis-locked warrior suffering the same malady, a line warrior by the name of Dariel.

 

The Apothecaries tensed visibly as Sev walked up to the caskets bearing the darkest secret of the Blood Angels. “Huh, suspensor base…” he muttered as he studied the containers. “Makes sense, I guess.” He gave Sanguinius a glance, and then redirected it to the Apothecaries. “Which one’s the deceased?”

 

After they opened the casket of the dead legionnaire, Sev peered inside with a frown. Sanguinius tried to discern any hints or clues about the man’s body language or hidden artifact he might have on him, but it truly seemed that Sev was just staring at the corpse.

 

“Huh. Overlooked mutation,” he suddenly declared casually. “Figures as much.” Sev looked to Sanguinius once again. “You mind if I…uh, disassemble the body?”

 

Despite the frown appearing on his features, the Angel gave a slow nod. It was a distasteful price, but one that Sanguinius had expected when he agreed to Sev’s offer.

 

“Right, thanks.” Without hesitating, the Nexus’ ruler reached down and simply tore out Remulos’ head with a quick twist with both hands. Sanguinius ignored the audible gasp of his sons and simply focused his attention on the man, trying to decipher his methods. There had to be some clue to the powers he wielded.

 

Sev studied the head in his hands with a slight squint in his stare, clicking his tongue at random points. “Of course it’s Warp related,” Sanguinius heard him muttering. “At least nothing toggling hemovore…”

 

After uneasy seconds went by, Sev placed the head back into the casket and then nodded conclusively at Sanguinius. “Right, thankfully, the fix is quick enough.” He then gestured to the stasis casket. “I’ll need a proof of concept test first, if you don’t mind?”

 

Wary and curious, the Blood Angels backed away, with the Sanguinary Guard forming a wall around their primarch as Sev stood the casket up and disabled the stasis field. He barely had time to raise his hands towards the lid when it burst open, with Dariel’s blood-soaked visage charging straight at the ruler of the Nexus.

 

“Kill!”

 

Swifter than an Eldar, Sev dodged aside and lashed out with an arm to grab the legionnaire by the back of his head. Despite growling, feral struggling, Dariel was forced to his knees, his arms ever grasping behind him at his captor. Sev stared at the Blood Angel’s head for a moment, and then, as if a switch had been toggled somewhere, Dariel’s struggles ended. His arms dropped to the ground, his body slumped. Even with the dampening effect of the ship, Sanguinius could feel a change in his afflicted son.

 

“Legionnaire,” Sev spoke aloud, releasing his hold on Dariel as the Blood Angel turned to look up at him. “Stand.”

 

Dariel slowly got up to his feet, his confusion clear as day as he regarded his surroundings. Only when his gaze fell on his primarch did lucidity return and he fell to his knees. “My primarch!”

 

Amidst the surprised mutterings of the Apothecaries and Sanguinary Guard, Sanguinius walked towards the legionnaire that was once lost in the throes of an insatiable bloodlust. “My son. How…how do you feel?”

 

Dariel’s head bowed in reverence, his body stiff and showing no signs of the feral rage that once overtook him. “I am…well, my lord. Though forgive me, I have to confess I am…unsure of where I am and how I got here.”

 

“There is nothing to forgive,” the primarch replied, placing his hands on his son’s shoulders to bid him to rise. As he met the legionnaire's eyes, Sanguinius found no signs at all of the secret madness that gnawed at his legion’s soul.

 

“How…” he started to ask as he turned to Sev, earning a shrug as an answer. 

 

“State secret. I’ll have the cure put into solid form and then call you when it’s ready for pickup. I’m thinking pills? I can also hand out corrective treatment to ensure no future…incidents occur.  Again, I prefer pills over jabs. Don’t wanna waste syringes. Oh, you’ll get a different variant of the treatment to fix the issue at the source, if you’re fine with a quick checkup after this.”

 

Sanguinius could only nod in silence as relief and gratitude warred with confusion and apprehension within him.

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