40 Thousand Reasons

Chapter 161: Baal

I had a decade of relative peace left to my knowledge, so I dedicated it to the prosperity of my Dynasty and the buildup of more Blanks for various tasks and ranks that required that genetic trait.

From ship Captains and security officers, to Governors and Astartes, to the less Silent Sisters and Blank Sisters of Battle, which I aimed to unite in a single force one day.

Borrowing from both their traditions and equipment to create a female fighting force that could support Blank Astartes in the field, or defend our worlds in case of invasion seemed rather sensible to me.

And if I also provided the girls access to the hypno-training normally only available to Astartes and techmarines?

Well, I could do whatever I wanted, and I did. Knowledge of weapons and tactics would do my girls no harm, after all.

The women might not have giant muscles and steely sinew, but power armor and mind impulse units were a great force multiplier, as were the Silent Leviathan Dreadknights, which weren't all that silent but I had to make a distinction from the Lamenter Leviathans.

I had hopes to reach a full Company of Astartes Leviathans and perhaps 400 Silent Leviathans in this decade, plus I aimed to increase the number of Imperial Knights to a full House of 100 suits, and also field a demi-legion of Titans to break the teeth of any entrenched defense.

Trades with various Forges had produced 100 more Baneblades, which will need dismantling and rebuilding into my preferred Doomhammers, which will allow me to raise five more armor regiments.

Sentinels and Hydras were getting upgrades as well, transforming into Retribution-pattern Armed Sentinels and Multi-laser Hydras, while the light Weasels and Chimeras were being refitted to mount a logis-engine Tarantula turret instead of the manned turret, thus increasing their versatility and firepower a couple of times.

Chimeras had enough storage space to allow munitions for a twin-heavy bolter and lascannon turret, plus the usual multilaser in the hull. Cover them with 10 centimeters of blackstone armor, and they would be quite durable, even against Chaos marines or Tau railguns.

I had plans for an infantry troop transport based on the Ragnarok chassis anyway, just because the tracks and the drive system were so normal and easy to construct. Low to the ground too, which meant less exposure to enemy fire, since the best defense is to not get hit. The shape of the hull mattered as well, since angled plates would sometimes deflect incoming rounds, or at least force them to traverse a longer path. That saved on weight a little, and offered more protection overall.

When I had my regiments fully equipped, I planned to donate most of the Ragnarok production to Krieg, and give their regiments a longer lifespan, to their probable despair.

Even 3000 Ragnarok tanks would mean 100 more armor regiments for Krieg, which would mean hundreds of worlds conquered faster and with fewer losses. Not that the Death Korps of Krieg didn't welcome losses, damn brainwashed fanatics.

********

Times passes so fast when you're having fun, making babies and colonizing the galaxy, burning xenos and providing the Tau with more demon portals to devour the Fire Caste bases. Hurry up and invent anti-warp tech, you dumb blueberries!

Well, they were quite busy fending off a dozen Ork Waaghs sent their way by the grace of the Ordo Xenos, plus losing allies one by one to rampant Necron raids. It was a bad century to be a Tau, and so close to my domains. Well, not that close but put your finger on the galactic map and it would cover us, Tau and Ultramar with plenty space to spare.

The third battleship and the fifth battlecruiser were returning to Machine Forge for a final refit and upgrade, our fourth battlebarge was conducting training exercises in the outer system, and the first Fortress sector on the Black Lament has just become operational, a kilometer of adamantium and blackstone armor covering a dozen Nova Cannons and their munition bunkers, plus torpedo tubes and 200 lance batteries.

When it was complete, the Blackstone Fortress would have six sectors, three for weapons and three for carrier operations, plus the big gun installed by its original creators. Three more sectors were being transformed into extra engines and shield generators,

because such a gigantic platform was also heavy and hard to move, both inside a system and for longer travels.

The carriers sectors were left for last, because guns were the main priority, plus the engines.

Two Jokaeros were aiding probably, fiddling with some Fortress systems to increase the speed and energy generation, while the last one was playing with various Astartes portable weapons, turning regular bolters into powerful combi-weapons or making digi-weapons for Sisters and Inquisitors, if they brought the ape something good to eat.

I wasn't sure how long the apes lived, but I planned to make them live very long. Too damn useful, the orange monkeys.

It was at this moment that Roboute Guilliman decided to take the helm of the Imperium, and began gathering ships capable of warpless travel into a giant fleet.

And somehow, he knew that I had 300 such ships, so I got called in.

But it has also been more than a decade since I last traded with Trazyn, and I didn't plan to be Guilliman's follower. I had my own Primarch, even if he was a bit dead at the moment.

Only in this universe, death was rarely final, as numerous demons and Saints proved every year somewhere. As did the Eldar Phoenix Lords and other beings able to transfer souls or change bodies or just respawn, like the Perpetuals.

"I am ready to try resurrecting Sanguinius, Lord Trazyn. I hope my device is ready and operational by now?" I asked with a bit of hope.

"Ah, Pef Lancefire. You have been too quiet for a decade or so. But now events seem to bloom yet again, and here you are. Going to Terra, I suspect?" the Necron wondered in a teasing voice.

"Eventually, yes. But I need my Primarch, just to not get roasted alive by the Imperial Ecclesiarchy, or any other of my potential enemies." I explained patiently.

The Necron Overlord nodded wisely. "I see, internal conflict. We Necrons have similar differences, as you know. Try not to die, then. I have too few friends among my race, or any other." Trazyn the Infinite murmured and produced a twin-pronged device that wasn't in any way resembling a Halo Artifact. "I cloned and resurrected a new Fulgrim with it, but he died soon after. You will need to reconnect the soul, and that won't be easy at all." he continued dropping the device through the Pharos into my hand.

"Stab the body with it?" I asked to make sure.

"Yes, anywhere would work, but it works faster in the chest or neck." he replied with a glint in his green eyes.

"Exposure period?" I asked while storing the device in my tesseract.

"That depends. A minute or one hour, maybe even a day. Fresh bodies recover sooner, of course." Trazyn concluded in a wry voice.

"And the new technologies?" I continued in a casual tone.

"Yes, those. I have a slightly smaller engine that would fit Strike Cruisers and light cruisers, and even a new reactor type more potent and less radioactive. Plus the STCs for new Bastion force fields and even anti-gravity engines for tanks and dropships. Perhaps similar to the Tau, but better and easier to construct. And the next generation of warpless engines for capital ships, twice as fast." the Necron teased me while holding a dataslate in his hand.

Everything there sounded amazing. "I do have C'tan shard with encrypted Necron controls. Powerful too." I proposed with a smile.

"... Enticing, but I want more." he damanded cruely.

"A thousand Astartes, Astral Claws from the Badab War." I proposed, raising the stakes higher.

"Much better. Historical value too. What about that transforming lance?" he asked in a slimy voice.

"That's not a tradable item, Lord Trazyn. It looks like a weapon but it's not. It's a nascent Chaos God. If you were a Blank, I could let you safekeep it, but you're not." I replied in my best stern voice.

"It's a pity then. What if I had my Pariah Warrior hold it?" Trazyn insisted.

I cursed the obsessed Necron and my stupidity for showing him the weapon.

"No. There is the obsidian athame, if you want it. The weapon that turned Horus and poisoned Guilliman. Still dangerous, but perhaps less than the materialized demon." I offered as a last resort.

There were more of them, after all.

"Ah, the weapon that can cut stasis fields. It has historical value too...very well. I won't take your only C'tan, but I'll take the Astral Claws and the fabled athame." Trazyn requested as if doing me a favor.

Well then. There would be no real use for the C'tan shard, unless...yes. Sacrificing a god to resurrect another was something too familiar.

An hour later, I gathered a small escort and stepped on Baal, right inside the Holy Sepulchre housing the Golden_Sarcophagus where Sanguinius lay dead, and in stasis.

In a few seconds, a giant Librarian teleported near us, holding the Spear of Tiesto and glowing with blue Warp aura.

"Sergeant Rafen, and those Brothers in the Fourth Company? Why are you disturbing this place?" the man demanded in a warped voice of near rage.

I stepped in front of him, and snatched his spear with a tesseract trick. "Stand near the coffin Mephiston, and let me work. Hold this toy, Rafen!" I demanded after playing with the relic spear for a second.

"Is it my turn to be Sanguinius Reborn, Lord Pef?" Rafen asked in a joking voice, making the psyker Librarian glow with anger.

"Nah. I have another person in mind today. Start praying Brothers!" I commanded while bringing the Sounding Board out and stepping close to the glowing coffin.

"...You better not desecrate our Primarch, Pef Lancefire!" Mephiston warned me while gathering his Alpha-level powers in a cold aura around him.

"Shut up and watch, Librarian. But stay quiet." I murmured while focusing my attention on the stasis field.

A gentle shift, and the Primarch body moved on top, bleeding from the damned sword wound caused by Horus. I stabbed the convenient wound with my fork, and hoped for the best.

In a few seconds, the bleeding stopped and flowed in reverse, while the corpse began regaining vital signs. "Now Angel! Give him back the power he lent you." I demanded as the body began breathing on its own.

"What? That's not possible..." the Librarian muttered in a confusion tone, touching Sanguinius with reverence.

A flutter of wings, and the other Angel appeared, immense white wings filling the mausoleum and illuminating everything with exceedinly bright golden light.

The blue eyes opened, while the giant Angel was pouring his soul back into his living vessel.

I stepped back to let the events unfold, feeling my own genes becoming stronger every second, almost like getting revitalized by Sanguinius himself.

Hundreds of more Blood Angels rushed toward the light show, including 300 of my sons and grandsons.

And then Sanguinius stood up and drew out the tuning fork, and held it out for me. I snatched it with a trick and shook his hand instead. "You look like hell, Primarch." I remarked noting his pale face and gaunt appeareance.

"Being dead sucks." he confirmed in a angelic voice.