40 Thousand Reasons

Chapter 143: Seed

Fabricator Gemmina arrived in a single minute, as soon as the new Titans appeared in the Titan hangar.

Two more Warhounds, two Reavers, seven Warlords and one Emperor-class Titan, the largest and most powerful of the godmachines.

Of course, the Emperor was burdened to carry two cathedrals on its shoulders, abusing and encumbering the mighty warmachine to its limit.

Not in my Machine Legion it will not, plus all those sanctified cathedrals and relics inside will be very useful to decorate my kingdom and attract devout believers.

Faith was very important, as it kept the citizens safe from Chaos and made them more productive, religious zeal and all that.

"Lord Lancefire, where did these Titans come from?" the female techpriest demanded with obvious surprise.

"Not exactly sure, my dear Fabricator. A donation from a pious believer in the Omnissiah, most likely." I answered with a fake shrug.

The woman glared at me for my obvious lie, then gestured something with her two mechadendrites. Yes, she only had two, which was proof of amazing restraint in a techpriestess.

"The Tigrus Eye of Judgement was thought lost during the Horus Heresy. Last known records of the godmachine place it as deployed to support the Ultramarines, possibly on Calth." she explained pointing at a Warlord Titan with Forge Tigrus markings.

"Anyway, remove those cathedrals and have them sent to Salvation and Natale, before you begin repairs on the Emperor-class. I'm certain the Sisters of Battle will be overjoyed for my gift, as will the Titan himself." I ordered in a casual voice, and turned away.

"You can't just expect...of course he does..." The Fabricator muttered towards my back, watching me greet Inquisitor Velayne and pat her bottom.

"If you tell me there were Titans, held in stasis in my cube, I will smack you, Lord Pef!" the Inquisitor warned me sounding serious.

"Then I won't tell you that, my dear. You managed to learn how to use it yet?" I asked while holding the silver cube in my free palm.

"...Still learning the manual. It might take me years!" Velayne complained and leaned into me, possibly enjoying me fondling her ass.

I sighed inward but didn't press her again, as not everyone would enjoy having their skulls opened to install a Mind Impulse Unit, and psykers least of all.

"I have a couple of free weeks, my love. Getting the fleet refit and upgraded, torpedoes and missiles replenished and all that. Want to reserve a slot in my bedroom schedule?" I asked in a teasing voice.

"Damn idiot!" Velayne complained without rejecting my offer.

Much later, I snuck out from the pile of sweaty and sleeping bodies of my Inquisitorial harem and went to take a gradually colder shower, until my mind cleared.

This was a dangerous game I was playing, but I would need trustworthy Inquisitors to place in positions of power. Same with Generals, Admirals and Governors, even Bishops. As long as they were members of my family.

All I needed was time, to allow my last perk to grow and reach its full potential. The Ancient Awakening was activating very slowly, but I was growing in mind, and body and possibly soul as well.

And just like with the Primarchs, or the Paternova Navigators my descendants will receive benefits as well, reflections of my genes boosting their own powers even more.

No doubt, using the Pharos to observe the sector of the galaxy contributed to this as well, forcefully opening my mind to allow empathic communication and matter transfer over thousands of light years.

I knew I had about 50 years left of relative peace, before all hells broke loose, literally.

Didn't have much hope to stop it completely, although I could reduce the impact a bit, at least in areas that I could watch over directly. The galaxy was too big and the array of enemies too great.

The Dark Eldar that had undoubtedly survive would need time to recover and regroup, and hopefully direct their anger at the Eldar. The Tau were busy turtling themselves against constant attacks, from all the usual enemies plus demonic incursions and Necron raids on their allies.

The Necrons had yet to awaken en masse, and I kept watch, burning emerging Tomb Worlds or directing Orks or Tyranids at the Necron crownworlds, which had war fleets and C'tan as defenses.

Orks were a plague for which I was crafting a cure made of glass, although live tests of the Glass-virus were not yet successful. The virus was not easily controlled to target only Orks, and it rapidly mutated to vitrify all life, which didn't help as much as it sounds. Luckily, the counter-agent copied from the Dark Eldar still worked.

As for Chaos...I had my own plans to ambush Abaddon the Despoiler when he began his Pandorax_Campaign, but for those Chaos Gods one Champion was as good as the next one. And I wasn't certain I could kill or trap Abaddon anyway.

Damn guy had his own Luck perk, and reality bent to his will to provide opportunities and artifacts just like it did for me.

I had my own cheats, and enough ships and troops to make it a fair fight anyway.

By the time the vacation was over, my Inquisitor Ladies were pregnant again, as were the imported Princeps ladies and the Death cult girls. For now, I detached half of them as assassins for my Inquisitor friends, while the rest were being sent to Illevar to become Elixa's enforcers.

On Illevar, Victor was already ruling as Governor and I agreed to his promotion without a blink. It wasn't like I actually had time to rule a Hive World and manage their problems directly.

Better spend a year in Blankcity, and enjoy a thousand Blank concubines set aside for me.

The noble concubines got their due as well, and their Blank daughters and rarely sons were sent into the colonies as Colonial Governors. It sounds great for them, until they realized they were tasked with growing and managing a billion people and a thousand small cities over the next century.

Where possible, I assigned Blank men to join their retinue and provide Blank genes for a new nobility, which sounds great until you realize how hard it is to impregnate a thousand women. Really, it is hard work especially for someone without angel genes.

And when you finally reach the end of the queue, you have to start again. I know, because I had this fucking job for decades.

Wives and lovers are nice and fun, but it gets less fun with concubines that you barely recall their names.

Not the case with the pretty Elixa and my wife Serena sharing my bed right now, just for pleasure and relaxation.

I filled them both with love, and then let them rest on my chest and legs, breathing heavily in afterglow.

"My lord, if you keep importing immigrants...the food production and the housing capacity will be overwhelmed." Serena complained after she regained her voice.

"And we will dig subterranean hives, for each new billion. I want to reach at least a hundred billion citizens both here and on Natale. Geothermal pits and cometary ice will sustain the Hive Worlds for millennia, without impacting the environment too much. I've seen how much Hive Worlds can produce, and I want that for our domains. Plus recruiting troops and crew for ships will be easier." I explained in a serious voice.

"More work for me then. Monitoring Hive Cities is not easy, Lord Pef." Elixa muttered and licked my spear to prove her point.

"The new Hive Cities will have integrated surveillance and tracker implants for everyone. And when the time is right, the current Hive Cities will be demolished and the population moved underground as well." I explained in a sharp breath, as her blowjob was suddenly stronger and much more pleasant.

Elixa was probably happy at the prospect of total surveillance, just like any infocyte would be.

Serena wasn't that pleased, as she bit my ear quite hard. "That will be very difficult to sell to our nobles, dear husband. They enjoy their freedoms."

"There is nothing to sell, Serena. My wishes will be made laws, and those caught without implants will become criminals and get punished. The mines always need more servitors." I said sternly and drew my wife into a long kiss.

Our battle resumed savagely, until Serena was felled and drifted to sleep. My eyes turned towards the other red-headed minx who was licking her fingers teasingly. "Am I going to be punished too? Ah, not there...don't...ever stop!" Elixa exclaimed while being pounded into submission. She kinda enjoyed it, I guess.

An hour later, I arrived on the Starfort in high orbit, to observe the new recruits and their gene-seed implants.

My son, Aeneas already had minor psyker powers, despite being Blank, so he would be the first Librarian in my Chapter. He already had forty Blank kids of his own, and I shouldn't delay his implantation too long.

"Are you certain we should use the Blood Ravens' gene-seed, Chapter Master?" my Sanguinary Priest asked sounding doubtful.

"Yes, I am sure Brother. I've promised Master Angelos a Company of Blank recruits, and we have to be certain how the gene-seed reacts. And prepare ten more recruits for next week. Different fathers for all of them, of course. We need a larger range for a test sample." I ordered with a frown.

I wasn't certain how the natural Blanks will react with the Astartes gene-seed, but I expected problems.

While Aeneas and other descendants from my bloodline would be safe, natural Blanks were a completely different story.

And indeed, Aeneas passed his implantation procedure without any problems, instead gaining Gamma-level psyker powers. Now the boy will need a decade or two of training, while the Astartes organs were implanted.

As for the other ten Blank recruits, things went bad very fast and only two boys survived the Blood Ravens gene-seed, while the other eight entered some kind of poison shock and were stored in stasis pods until I could find a cure. If there even was a cure.

There went my hopes, right out the window. The Blankcity has failed its purpose, and I needed to find another way.

Maybe, I would need recursive eugenics and pair the natural Blanks with females of my bloodline for a stable genome able to support a Librarian caste. Time to schedule a meeting with the Adepta Sororitas.