Chapter 28: Chapter 27

Calling Commorragh a city was an understatement. It was closer to a continent-sized megapolis that spread through three dimensions. And even more, actually. Since a few of the palaces and underground labyrinths utilized extra-dimensional space, usually as tesseract traps, but occasionally as hidden rooms and such. I’d have to leave the Sentinels to fully scour the place for a few more days before beginning the move-in, just to be sure nothing was missed.

 

Needless to say, the scientists back home would have a field day as they pored over the alien tech we brought back. And the occultists would have their own fun as they explored the Webway and more of its related artifacts. Personally, I found the capture of the haemonculi covens to be the biggest win for us. Their works in the field of what was basically biomancy was something Nexus tech severely lacked. 

 

I had to spend a few real days in the time dilation chamber just to break through Urien Rakarth’s insane console lines. I’ll be spending more after dealing with admin work. The guy’s not going anywhere. From what I gathered so far, the fucker managed to sever his soul almost completely from Slaanesh’s chains, which meant killing him left his soul drifting at the surface of the Warp, just out of sight of Warp predators and within easy reach for total regeneration.

 

And it was a very impressive resurrection protocol. The amount of interwoven triggers on him along with complex backups would be something I’ll be dabbling on myself in the future. For the time being, I just cut off the biomancer’s ties to the warp completely. It was a brutish approach, like cutting off the main powerline to stop your computer’s access to porn, but it was the most complete and effective method at keeping the withered haemonculus from somehow offing himself and reappearing in some hidden lab somewhere else.

 

After I’m done studying him, I’ll be putting his deformed brain in the Niche Room like the other captured haemonculi.

 

Anyway, the huge Webway cavern that was Commorragh would be the new home base for the Nexus soon. I won’t say it’d be fully unassailable, but this fallback would greatly cut down on the extinction threats my Nexus would be facing in the future. And with my own brand of Webway portals, the Nexus would solve the distance issue for maintaining an interstellar empire. 

 

“For all you’ve achieved, and all you plan to achieve, I am surprised you wish to maintain insularity for your realm.” I glanced at the Farseer standing just behind me, watching over the erasing of Commorragh. Strangely, Eldrad didn’t seem too offended at having so many of his kin genocided, even if they were the darker specimens of the race.

 

I gave him a light shrug in reply. “Call me nitpicky. I rather a slow and controllable growth instead of laying claim on so many worlds and then struggling to keep them in line. Besides, there’s the Imperium to play the shield of humanity.”

 

The ageless yet definitely aging psyker gave a curious tilt of his head. “You would trust the future of your species to the Anathema?”

 

“I trust that humanity will continue, with or without the Imperium. With or without the Nexus. Worrying about people you’ll likely never reach in time is pointless, I’ve learned.”

 

Eldrad’s thin face wrinkled in a frown. “But with the powers at your disposal-”

 

“I’m not omnipresent,” I cut in. “And I learned that I do not like unplanned expansion far more than worrying over the current suffering of people I’ve never met and probably will never reach in time.” Ignoring the Eldar’s sour look, I changed the subject. “How are your people taking to the treaty?”

 

His frown softened as he shook his head in an uncannily smooth motion. “There is no objection to your terms. Your Nexus Unity will see no untoward action from the craftworlds.”

 

“Huh. I expected some pushback.”

 

“Every seer has seen the skeins of fate intertwining our existence and prosperity with yours,” Eldrad said. “We might not return to the heights of our old empire, but the future still remains brighter than it would have been before…this.”

 

I couldn’t help poking him. “Even with Nexus Eldar?”

 

The old Farseer let out a sigh, and I could feel the simmering resentment from him. “It is…perhaps a better fate than having our dark kin continue their depraved existence. Given time, perhaps more of my people would come to accept it.”

 

Yeah, no surprise that they didn’t like the idea of having their people bound to a mon’keigh god, but it’s a lesser desecration compared to being a snack for a Chaos God. I honestly expected more shit from them, but the knife ears were way more tolerant than I expected. Hm, come to think of it…

 

“What of the Harlequins?”

 

Eldrad stiffened a bit and some of the space elf haughtiness returned to his posture. “The followers of the Laughing God will approach you in their own time, I would expect.”

 

Meh, I’d prefer establishing relations with the space clowns sooner rather than later, just for access to the Black Library. But in the grand scheme of things, it’s a lower priority. There’s plenty enough on my checklist to go through. Like fixing the Webway around Commorragh and then leveraging that service for further agreements from the craftworlders.

 

“Anyway, is that all for today?”

 

Eldrad’s gaze sharpened for a moment before he shook his head once more. “All I have left is a warning: it is a high possibility that your realm will be brought to the attention of the greenskins.”

 

I paused at the way he worded the message. “Brought to attention? You make it sound like a conspiracy.”

 

Eldrad’s lips curled up into a faint smirk for the first time. “If events transpire in a particular way, it might be.”

 

*****

 

It had been a small thing, a dying echo of something deep in the Great Ocean that led Magnus down the discovery of the Nexus’ next surprising move. The tutelaries had screamed of the desperate Eldar’s collaboration with the Nexus. The dying race were actually reaching out to Sev for his protection.

 

The primarch had not expected the arrogant aliens to lower themselves, and he was more surprised as he delved into the Great Ocean to find that there were lingering wisps reminiscent of the Nexus’ ruler’s powers. 

 

Sev had done something, but Magnus could only speculate as to what exactly. The fading reverberations of his actions hinted at merciless carnage and specks of hope mixed with resentment. Something monumental had transpired, something that directly affected the Eldar and would likely affect the Imperium as well.

 

Restoring to blind guesses was futile. It was a good thing then that Magnus’ fleet would reach Nexus space soon. It would be one more mystery to be hopefully answered by Sev.

 

When the Thousand Sons fleet arrived in the Nexus system in strength, Magnus found it in the middle of a drastic change. The minor planet, a mirror of Terra’s own Pluto, was missing. Systemwide sensors found that the two outermost gas giants had shrunk significantly, and were covered by unknown constructs. From those planets trailed a convoy, like an umbilical cord, towards the Nexus Unity’s orbit.

 

They were harvesting their system’s planets, Magnus realized.

 

Why?

 

Where were the resources being directed?

 

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And how did Sev manage to already drain so much of those planets in barely over four months since his departure from Sol?

 

More worrying questions, more potential hints at Sev’s true capabilities.

 

Three squadrons of Nexus destroyers blinked around the XVth Legion’s fleet, to serve as escorts for the days-long journey towards the Tupile. Magnus felt the concerns of his sons thickly saturating the air and the Empyrean. They had every reason to be worried; after all, he’d gathered most of the Legion’s commanders aboard the flagship for his meeting with Sev. An uncomfortable truth was promised to be revealed, and the primarch felt it best to remove the veil from as many of his sons in one go as possible.

 

They arrived at the spacefort in force, the Rehati, all five Magister Templi of the cults, the Fellowships commandes, and more mundane officers assembled behind their primarch in the Tupile’s cavernous hangar bay. Across them, amidst the industry of soulless automata all around them, a lone figure in black. Fortunately, the Immaterium dampeners the Nexus wielded inactive, giving Magnus and his retinue full reign of their senses.

 

“Thank you for receiving us, Sev.” Magnus bowed his head, and his sons followed along, expertly masking their reluctance.

 

“Good to see you’ve agreed,” Sev replied. “So, to fulfill my end of things, I’ll need a…proof of concept.”

 

Nodding, the primarch of the Thousand Sons made a gesture, and the assembly parted to allow for an apothecary pushing a floating stasis casket forwards. It was brought before Sev, who stared down at the frozen occupant, a grievously wounded line legionnaire.

 

“Huh…critical organ and implant failure, near-total brain damage…” Sev muttered the  legionnaire’s condition, the general details still being impressive considering no information was provided to him. Already Magnus could tell some of his sons were wondering if he was somehow using psychic abilities to determine the injuries. A shame that it wasn’t that simple an answer.

 

Sev gave a satisfied nod to himself and then reached down to deactivate and open the stasis casket. Something literally appeared in his hands then, and the primarch was very sure the object was conjured out of thin air. The commanders of the legion shifted uneasily behind him as they noticed it to, and noticed the lack of psychic emanations that precluded the object’s creation.

 

Ignoring the growing commotion, Sev aimed the object towards the casket’s occupant and a white light promptly shone out. It was some archeotech, at the very least... Nothing related to the Great Ocean. Immediately Magnus felt the fading embers of the legionnaire’s essence flicker and relit to a warm glow. 

 

Sev casually lifted the comatose body out of the casket and gently laid the warrior on the cold hangar floor, his body whole and restored to the point that the interface plugs in his black carapace were covered over. 

 

“So, just to be clear, this marine here is whole, and intact, right?”

 

Magnus nodded, focusing his full attention to the unconscious warrior in both the physical and Empyrean spectrums.

 

”So…” Sev gave a snap of his fingers, and immediately the primarch felt the ninefold protective matrix woven around the legionnaire’s soul break. In its wake a familiar ugly taint seeped into the legionnaire’s body. A corruption that twisted and warped the very fabric of mortal existence, one the primarch himself has never been able to even slow. The legionnaire’s body twitched, and then exploded out in a protrusion of mutated flesh. Tendrils and vestigial limbs spilled out at impossible places, eyestalks and lamprey mouths opening and closing laconically.

 

Magnus felt himself scowl as the legionnaire’s essence was debased and deformed beyond any semblance of humanity, mirroring the chaotic mass of heaving, quivering flesh. The primarch raised a hand to silence the outrage of his commanders and stand them down. At the same time, he frowned at Sev who was staring blankly at the mutated pile of flesh, trying to pick out the slightest hint of his power.

 

Sev’s eyes suddenly refocused, and he broke into a triumphant smirk. “And…voila.”

 

There was no sense about how it was done, but Magnus immediately saw its effects. The corrupted flesh suddenly heaved and bloated grotesquely, before deflating and withering into ashen blackness. The mass began to crackle, and seconds later the pile collapsed and scattered like flakes of burnt paper, leaving behind the legionnaire, uncorrupted and intact. 

 

This was more than the ‘cure’ he had previously bargained for. Where his previous benefactor sealed the mutative catalyst away, Sev had completely erased it. The legionnaire before him was far more pure in essence than any of the commanders behind the primarch. Yet, for all that…

 

Magnus gave a glance at Sev, who nodded in understanding and bathed the unconscious form in white light once more. This time, the legionnaire awoke, sitting up in confusion of his surroundings before his attention was locked onto his primarch.

 

“Sergeant Akhmet,” Magnus spoke calmly, reassuringly. “Remain calm, my son. Can you stand?”

 

The sergeant was silent for a moment before slowly rising up on his feet to stand at attention, regardless of the fact that he was naked before his primogenitor and commanders, regardless of the fact that everything about him felt uncomfortably…pristine. 

 

Magnus nodded with approval. “How are your abilities?” 

 

The legionnaire frowned at the question, and then glanced down at his bare hands. There was a clear ripple in the veil of reality, and then sparks of bioelectricity danced around Sergeant Akhmet’s fingers. He looked back up, offering a slow, uncomprehending nod. “I feel nothing out of balance, my lord.” He raised a hand to his temples, and the commanders of the Thousand Sons could feel the familiar caress of a psychic link, clean and focused. The link was accepted only by the primarch, who used it to peer into the legionnaire’s mind.

 

No signs of subversion, no traces of lingering corruption. For all intents and purposes, it was as if the sergeant was a psyker from one of the more genetically stable legions. 

 

While the legion commanders were stunned to silence, Magnus was unable to verbalize the warring emotions within him. Awe and utter gratitude, envy and petty resentment… He didn’t know how to thank and despise Sev at the same time. 

 

The primarch settled with a curt nod at the amused man. “Thank you.”

 

“No problem. I’m sure you want to run more tests. We can arrange the next meeting once you’re satisfied with the veracity of my fix.”

 

Sergeant Akhmet was escorted back to a Storm Eagle by the apothecary, to be tested further. The baffled commanders of the XVth were torn between following them to see to the tests themselves, or remaining with their primarch who was still staring at Sev.

 

“If you do not mind, I have some questions right now that might be aided by your knowledge,” Magnus calmly stated. The Nexus’ ruler did not flinch from the gaze, and instead shrugged. 

 

“Depends on the questions, but sure.”

 

In the end, only the higher ranking commanders remained in the private meeting, while the others returned to share what they had witnessed. When Magnus and his retinue returned, grim and shaken in equal measure, a legion-wide meeting was immediately arranged back in Prospero. 

 

What was spoken within it would remain one of the legion’s deepest and darkest secrets, but what was known was that many came out of the great halls marked with the signs of intense combat. In the aftermath, the XVth Thousand Sons legion affirmed their treaty of non-aggression with the Nexus Unity, and a legion-wide reorganization followed. Much was speculated, but what was known was that the legion would then fight with a renewed vigor, and they no longer called on the aid of their tutelary familiars.

 

Along with their World Eater and Blood Angel cousins, the Thousand Sons would maintain warm relations with the insular Nexus Unity, perhaps the warmest.

 

When WAAAGH! Deffklaw was found making its way towards the Nexus system, the Thousand Sons would be the first to volunteer their aid in the Nexus’ defense, though the offer was promptly but not unkindly rejected.

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