40 Thousand Reasons

Chapter 154: Fear

The already classic 'cause a problem, become the solution' should work just fine.

I even had a friendly Inquisitor and an Ark Mechanicus on my side, eager to help me repel the invading Orks.

I think Rose glared at me for a second, when the alerts blared with warning of an impending Waagh. Sure, it was merely a fragment of a Space Hulk and a hundred ships plus hundreds of Roks, but their Ork Boss was determined to loot the force-fields, and his underlings obeyed without question.

Mind-controlling the Ork Boss was kinda difficult, but a vague targeting direction could be given through the living rock wires in his brain, just like I did on Footfall. It was even the same Ork, because learning how to control another one would be tiresome.

"We head for the cog-hummies! Waaaagh!" the boss yelled invigorating his frozen boyz.

"Waaagh!"

I leaned in my command chair as the vox messages for any help were typed and printed on the holoscreen. Radio silence was very useful for moments like this.

"What say you, Lady Inquisitor? Should the defenders of humanity intervene, or do we wait for the Emperor's Tarot to decide?" I asked in faint amusement.

"... This is not as funny as you think it is, Lord Pef. There are over 100 billion, maybe 150 billion people on this world. The slightest disruptions in production would cause trillions of thrones in damage, not to mention famine and riots once services stop working."she explained in a grim tone.

"Exterminatus then?" I proposed with a shrug.

"This is not Pythos. And I'm sorry your efforts were wasted on that world. I'm certain you could have saved the planet and the locals...if you had a free hand." the Inquisitor murmured in a softer voice.

You bet your bouncy ass I could have. I had already beaten Chaos and the Orks. But alas... the Grey Knights are morally grey.

"Anyway. Permission to pacify this world, Inquisitor?" I asked in a somber voice.

"...Try not to kill everyone." she murmured in a cold voice.

"You heard that, Brother Semnai? As long as a single local survives, we're good!" I shouted towards my Captain.

"I'll try to restrain myself, my lord. I'll head down with the troops then." he replied in a level voice, and possibly not amused at all.

I closed my eyes and began scouring the Hive World for secrets and loot, while Chaos cults were either peppered with grenades, flicked into the sun or onboard the Orks ships to give them something to do.

Landers filled with my own tech-priests and servitors began landing at the major Hive Cities, and kept disgorging combat-servitors, supported by Armed Sentinels and recon drones.

It was all a show anyway, as the lower Hive levels were already being flooded with narcoleptic gas bombs and even more servitors and tech-priests.

Same for the crashing Roks, that didn't hold thousands but millions of Orks, all eager to obtain the force-fields of the cog-hummies.

Was I being a calculated bastard? Sure I was. But the STC force-fields found on Vigilus were kept secret, when they should have been shared with all the Forges at least, if not other Hive Worlds too, plus the Astartes.

Magically, more and more Orks began bypassing the defenses of the local tech-priests, especially around Megaborealis and the Turingsbane Datahives, the two main centers of the Mechanicus on this world.

In the chaos of the invasion, most of the ancient devices and cogitators vanished, while crude Ork bombs detonated among the invading Orks, spreading flammable gas and shrapnel.

My Knights and Titans landed to defend the perimeters, along with my armored forces while the Lamenters Astartes bravely entered tunnels and conduits to exterminate the green scum.

In other Hives, my tech-priests and servitors were already hard at work, processing the gangers and other criminal prisoners into more servitors with crude hypno-cants and lobotomic macroconversions.

A single Ork Rok landed on the Pyroclastic Districts and detonated with the power of a dozen plasma torpedoes, incinerating the radical cultists lead by Vannadan, the Firebrand. A proper death for such a hero, no doubt.

More Roks landed onto the Dontoria Hivesprawl, the headquarters of the Ecclesiarcy. Mostly to keep the priests busy, as they had big armies around them, mostly fanatical PDF troops and Adepta Sororitas forces.

"I thought the Cult was not allowed men under arms..." I mused as the holoscreen recorded thousands of armed men with armor and swords fighting to protect the holy Bishops and the coterie of priests and acolytes.

"They are Crusaders. But way too many for comfort, that's true." Rose murmured with a frown.

A nearby Ork Rok exploded with a melta torpedo charge, immolating most of the Crusaders and a hundred priests. Problem solved.

"Huh. Not that many anymore now. The Emperor was possibly displeased." I said in a dismissive voice and switched focus on the Dirkden Hivesprawl and Hive Ankhar Tertius, where most of the genestealer infestation were focused.

Kinda easy to find simply because the infected resisted narcoleptic gas, due to their xenos genes. Made it easy to fling them into the sun if millions of them were still standing while the normal humans were falling asleep.

"Alana, take your sisters and breach the Warp Storm around the Voidclaw. Drag it out a little." I sent mentally to my beloved Pariah.

Moving the voidclaw weapon was very difficult, even with a thousand Pariahs to hold the storm at bay and a battlebarge pushing it out, but we eventually did it.

I yanked the weapon inside the labyrinth and placed it beside the Light of Terra, the Glorianna-class Battleship. It was almost half as large, and I could bet it would take lots of work to mate those two ancient war devices together.

But it would be worth it.

A few days later, only sporadic fighting still happened, mostly around the priest areas which did not receive nor request support.

"Governor Agamemnus, why do you not have troops defending the Hive Cities and the orbit over your planet? Surely you cannot lack men, or women." I asked the idiot noble over vox.

"...Err. We have the Vigilant Guard, but most of these PDF regiments are beholden to the Ecclesiarchy. As for other assets, we have no money..." he complained in a scared voice.

"You will cease any payments to the disloyal regiments and send their roosters to me. Then you will raise 3000 new infantry regiments, 2000 for the Imperial Guard and 1000 as defense forces. If your world is overpopulated, the natural solution is to export manpower. The Mechanicus will provide them weapons, and enginseers, and you will provide an officer corps. No priests or at least no local priests. They can snatch priests wherever the Astra Militarum sends them." I commanded in a cold voice.

"That's...too overbearing. And we will lose production..." he muttered in a low voice.

"There are a billion new servitors getting prepared by the techpriests right now, Governor. All former ganger and criminals, as proven by their tattoos. Also, there is the matter of payment for my losses. You will provide 10 million young women for my aid." I demanded in a stern voice.

"Of course. Ten million is perfectly fine." the noble agreed gladly.

"Ten million, every year for the next century, Governor. Forge World Cypra Mundi will provide transport, in exchange for mining rights for some dark stones they need. And then, I want you to setup a thousand orbital forts, using metal asteroids as a base. Next time you might not have a friendly fleet nearby to save you. And don't forget the Eye of Terror next door. Perhaps negotiate with the Mechanicus to install a Gellar field over the planet, I'm sure they can also use manpower." I explained in a gentler voice.

The Governor nodded in defeat, not that he had much choice. I only had Sanguinius and the Emperor as my direct commanders, and they were both slightly indisposed right now, with a terminal case of sword poisoning.

Soon enough, the Ark Mechanicus had located their blackstone deposits and was glad to be given free exploitation rights, even if they'll have to set up Forges and arm the forts and the new regiments.

As for the Ecclesiarchy, I wasn't going to step into that mess under my own name.

I just recommended the converted and now unpaid regiments to be offered as trade to the Mechanicus or the Astra Militarum, or maybe split among them.

I also must have received over a thousand vox calls from nearly everyone in any position of power, which I just ignored. Politics wasn't really my strong suit, or even my medium suit.

Rose spoke with some thirty people, and only killed one, which meant she was using huge restraint probably.

"I think I need to visit Terra soon, my dear." she whispered the day before we were supposed to depart.

"Close your eyes then, and think of the Emperor. Hold your hands out." I asked her while taking the staff away.

"Oh! I have so much control now." she realized after being detached form the Null Staff.

I brought the Shadowlight out for a second and then put it back in, as Rose began glowing with shades of gold and blue.

"The Emperor, my dear." I sent into her mind.

"I see his light so clearly now. I really have to go!" she exclaimed in a loud psyker tone, that pushed all furniture aside.

Not so much control now, my dear new Alpha-level psyker. So, I dropped the staff back into her hands, cutting off the Warp and leaving only a small bloodline flaw.

"Take Janice to the Golden Throne. And...tell him, the codeword is Adepta Tertia. He will surely remember." I advised my dear Inquisitor as her glow diminished and vanished under the Null Rod's effect.

"What...you're serious?" Rose asked in a worried voice.

"I'm sick of that Vow of Tranquility. If he wants my girls, he can simply speak. And give Janice her due." I demanded in a low tone, then sat in my armchair with a sad face.

"He is the Emperor! You cannot demand things..." Rose whispered in a frightened tone, holding her hands in prayer.

"I don't need anything for myself, dear Rose. He needs my help, and he has to pay for it. The Throne is already failing, that's why he's calling you. You'll see." I whispered in her mind, finding her mental defenses a hundred times stronger now.

Rose just blinked and vanished in a blue flash, returning to her own battlecruiser.

She wasn't too happy with me right now, but I knew better.

I was a Rogue Trader, and I feared nothing.

I have helped Hive World Vigilus survive the worst now, especially by bringing a Forge World here to construct more weapons and defenses.

And if the Governor listened and paid for a Reality Cage, he should be golden. Plus, I had been eradicating every cultist and genestealer I could find, and most of the criminals.

Sure, new criminals will appear soon enough, but with more regiments being raised and sent off-world the population crisis will diminish, not that I haven't already did my part for that, even importing 10 billion women away over the next century.

As for loot, it was quite amazing, both hidden caches of weapons and gems, some noble House relics and art if nobody could spot the disappearance, Church relics, thousands of bolter guns from the Adepta Sororitas, and most importantly Mechanicus devices of a thousand kinds, including Dark Age of Technology devices and memory modules.

It would be useless to let the Mechanicus worship them, when I could just ask Trazyn to decrypt everything and prepare a thousand new STC templates based on those advanced discoveries.

As for the Voidclaw weapon, it fired Blackholes, bypassing any shield or armor. The best big gun any Captain could have on his ship. Of course, you would need a big ship to house and protect the weapon, that's why a Glorianna Battleship was ideal.

And you know who was most vulnerable to gravity weapons? The Tyranids, and their gravity drive.

One couldn't fight trillions of trillions of space bugs with mere cannons. There weren't enough Nova Shells in the universe for that. Even a small fleet depleted my entire stores of torpedoes and Nova shells or mines.

As for the Blackstone Fortress that will take the entire Machine Forge decades to clean up and make functional again. Maybe Zarhulash will be able to help with that.

It could also serve as a potent mobile base, like the Phalanx. But the most important function of that Fortress was not size and armor, but the ability to fight off Warp Rifts, something that Trazyn had proven even before obtaining Psi-Titans.

I wouldn't mind having a big mobile base like the Dark Angels or the Iron Fists though. It would raise the status of my Chapter, and the Glorianna Battleship even more.

I would need a grand name for the Fortress though. Black Lament, maybe? Or something more poetic like Melancholia?

Not sure. And not important right now.

I raised my eyes and measured the new Princeps pilot standing in my office. Zeta Rho Leti. Such a poetic name, the Mechanicus gave her.

"It's only you, and no Titan?" I asked with a frown.

"...I haven't actually driven a Titan either. The techpriests were mean to me." the girl complained in a weak voice.

Then again, giving a 12-year-old a Titan was quite risky. She might throw a tantrum and stomp a thousand people.

And how was this a fertile female princeps, except by mere marginal technicality?

Damn Fabricator! No force-fields for you! Well, maybe in twenty years.

"It's okay. We do have a dozen Titans and no pilots for them." I said instead, watching Zeta glow wih joy.

"Really? Even a Warhound would be great. I promised I won't crash it!" she yelled and jumped to hug me.

I just sighed inward. "There is still more training to be had, Zeta. Tactics, battlefield coordination, combined arms and so on."

"I know, Lord Lancefire. It takes 30 years to train a Princeps. And then they sit in stasis until they are called for battle, for the glory of Omnissiah!" the girl exclaimed and sat in my lap.

"What are you doing?" I asked curious.

"I was told...you will have me make babies?" she asked cautiously.

"Someday, maybe. When you have big breasts to feed the kids." I explained patiently.

"Milk formula..." Zeta muttered in dismay.

"I still want big breasts. Anyway, it doesn't mean you won't be given a Titan. It only means it will take time until you shoot people. Or xenos." I said and moved her back in the interview chair.

"It's okay then! I'll learn and train, and then pew, I shoot bio-titans and Eldar titans or Ork Gargants!" The girl exclaimed and shot with her fingers to prove her aim.

"Hopefully not Eldar Titans. One day, they'll be our allies." I said with a wry smile.

"...That's...is that even possible?" Zeta asked in confusion, and scratched her mop of red hair.

"It depends, who rules the Imperium and who rules the Eldar. I can bet a throne it will be Primarch Guilliman for the Imperium, though. He is rather famous and trusted." I answered with a giant smile.

The girl nodded slowly, and measured me with new eyes. "You're not as naive as the Fabricator said. He thinks you're a hopeless idealist that will get eaten by Tyranids." Zeta whispered while looking around anxiously.

I sighed inward and slumped in my chair. That Fabricator again!

"Here, a dataslate with all my campaigns, from when I was 18 years old and became a ship captain, til now. Study and memorize it all. There will be tests!" I demanded and took out my personal log book.

Perhaps I should make that my first gesture to all new encounters. Primarch Khan also studied my logs, and he seems to be doing well enough now. Only lost two battles in the south.

For someone who doesn't cheat, it's pretty amazing, really.

Then again, he has three Titan Legions in his Grand Khan army now, plus 20 Astartes Chapters. It would be hard to lose, once you get sufficient firepower on your side.

I can't even imagine so many troops.

The other Primarchs are also gathering forces, mostly successor Chapters and unknown foundlings, plus whatever other troops and ships that gather to their banners, with Roboute way ahead by orders of magnitude.

"Aren't we heading for the Eastern Fringe?" the girl asked while checking the ship's course.

"We're taking a shortcut through the Maw Warp Gate. Saves us 60 thousand light years of travel." I answered absently.

"Isn't it risky?" Zeta asked a bit cautious.

"It's a billion times safer than travelling through the Immaterium. Which we are not, with the new Warp-less drives." I said raising my eyes from my own datapad.

"...Maybe one day, there will be Warp-gates at every Forge World. If only we could discover that STC. They must have been made by the ancestors, right?" the new princeps asked a bit too hopeful.

"I'm certain a Magos Explorer is looking for it right now." I answered confidently.

It won't take much longer, if Gyron had already found the Speranza.

******

By next month, I arrived at Forge Machine with the new princeps, and unveiled the Blackstone Fortress to the gathered techpriests.

We had gathered millions of techpriests from dozens of Forge Worlds, and with their aid and the artifacts in my possession, namely the Hand_of_Darkness and Eye of Night, it should be quite possible to restore it to functionality.

And then, there was a certain C'tan who wanted to see me, and a couple of Inquisitors.

Now, Lady Ashuria_Indris was always welcome, but the new one, Inquisitor Katarinya Greyfax was unexpected.

"Lord Trazyn, great work with cleaning up Warp Rifts and Storms all over the Segmentum. Almost like you're preparing for something. Something involving Inquisitor Greyfax, perhaps?" I asked curious.

"Ah, Lord Lancefire. It took me decades, but I did figure out your identity. And you even have a space wolf!" The Necron Overlord exclaimed in joy.

"Well, I was busy hunting down various Chaos Champions and Princes. Perhaps you would like a memento? A famous blade named Manreaper?" I proposed and sent it over right away.

It wasn't of any use to me, but surely the Necron collector would like it.

"It is a nice toy, Lord Lancefire. I have been reading about your life, it does seem rather extraordinary, perhaps more so after we started trading, correct?" Trazyn asked holding out a copy of my personal log book.

I glanced at Zarhulash and he nodded slowly.

So I stepped from the Pharos, right in front of the Necron, for a face to face meeting. Not quite equals, but I had a Blackstone Fortress too. And other presents.

"I expected you to be taller." I said, blurting the first thing on my mind.

"And still impossibly brave. Even in my own fortress." the Necron exclaimed in surprise, using his vox box to speak.

"I have nothing to fear, Lord Trazyn. I expect you wanted me here for a reason?" I asked instead.

"Indeed, I wanted that. Come, let's visit my collection and trade for real this time. I feel you have so many nice things to offer." he proposed and gently gestured us to walk towards a green lit hallway.

Even though I had quite a treasure of loot now, Trazin had me beat, as the guy had been collecting for millennia and from different timelines too.

Sadly, unique items or people didn't interest me that much, except for the Adeptus Custodes.

I just stood in front of the frozen man, knowing the Emperor still saw me through the gold eyes. It wasn't like distance or time were any obstacles for a being of that caliber. He possibly sent the Custodes here just to keep his eyes on what Trazyn was doing.

"This weapon is called Drach'nyen. It is not really a weapon though, but something between a Greater Demon and an Empyrean One." I explained drawing out Abaddon's sword, who changed shape into a lance in my hand.

Not all that funny, you crazy demon, but I was named Lancefire here.

"How are you not dead? The thing reeks of Warp and death!" Trazyn yelled and drew back.

I twisted the weapon and drew a line on the green floor. Blackstone parted without effort, scratching a deep gouge on the floor and leaving a small tear in the stasis field.

"Warp, you say? Is it good to eat?" I wondered a bit amused, and vanished the weapon back in the tesseract.

Weapon test complete, and nobody saw it.

Then I took off my glove, and held my left hand in front of the frozen Custodes, watching the golden veins start glowing.

"What is that? I am positive you're not a psyker!" Trazyn shouted and stepped back again.

"My hand is special. But you see, there is nothing to fear, Lord Trazyn. Come, show me the orange monkeys now." I spoke in a gentle voice, holding my glowing left hand out towards him.

I wasn't sure if my eyes were glowing gold too, but the Necron was certainly impressed.

"It's true then. You have some kind of special blood. Uh, I had so many plans for you...gonna have to cancel them now." Trazyn muttered a bit dejected and poked a wall to reveal the Joakero rooms.

Now this would be interesting. I wondered if they could speak, or be mind-controlled. I could use my personal Jokaero.