40 Thousand Reasons

Chapter 163: Guilty verdict

By the next week, my techpriests had finished powering up the first orbital fort, aided by 400 techmarines and most of the fleet's servitors, plus my amazing ability to arrange Lego blocks into the desired shape, even if they were malformed space rocks.

I named it Tertius, in honor of my dead brother Veryon, and because Baal's moons were called Primus and Secundus. Anchored above the North Pole, the asteroid fort was a rugged installation of power reactors, torpedo tubes, lance batteries and defense turrets, most of them quad flak autocannons left behind from retrofitting my Hydras to longer range and instant triple-barreled multi-lasers. Tertius was the size of small moon, just because kilometers of metal asteroids plus layers of blackstone armor were rather bulky, as were most Imperial reactors and shield generators at battleship strength.

When Sanguinius arrived on board the Serenity, he just stared from the bridge's window at the newly built fort with some amazement, then looked at the wealth of ice and metal deposited in neat blocks for other space builders and traders.

"It must have been tiring, displacing so many objects from all over the star system." he mused turning to measure me with worry.

"I've got some practice, Primarch. But yes, it is mentally taxing." I admitted with a casual voice.

"And your Chapter is still below the accepted limits, only 600 Battle-Brothers and 400 techmarines. Using only Blanks it not feasible, not with such low numbers of Blanks." Sanguinius claimed with a frown.

I sighed and waved him closer. "You did hear about the Imperium hunting down Blanks, right? Growing the numbers takes time, at least until we can get Mars to clone Blanks for us. As for techmarines, there is no limit legally, to their numbers. I can have 4 billion, and be technically still under limit."

"...But they won't be Blanks, and defections would endanger humanity. Even a million traitors cause immense problems. Make that a billion..." the Primarch commented while we walked towards the armories.

"Obviously. There are means of conditioning and mind-control, plus warp-blocking devices, but they cannot be produced in large quantities. You've looked over the STC patterns I have left for you?" I asked as we reached the walker deck.

Rows after rows of Guardians, Armed Sentinels, Leviathans, Knights and Titans filled the huge hangar bay, going for kilometers in length, while the hangar was itself a kilometer wide and half a kilometer tall. The Imperium liked its big wide spaces, even inside a warship.

And the battlebarge wasn't the largest ship made by the Imperium, merely battlecruiser in size, if armored like a battleship. My Serenity was even more armored, because I valued my life and those of my sons and crew.

"... There's 40 thousand walking turrets here! Controlled by those techmarines?" the angel Primarch asked with surprise.

"Yes. Each of them commands a company of 100 Guardians, via Mind Impulse Units. Quite similarly to the battle-automata of the Mechanicus and their Ordo Reductor. Not quite as flexible and potent like the legions of old, but firepower has a quality of its own. As for the Dreadknights, I don't need to wait for my sons to get maimed to offer them a combat walker. A meter of armor and the shields make up for our smaller numbers." I explained patiently.

Sanguinius flew up to observe my army deck from above. Then he flashed at speed to reach the Titans, and stood face-to-face with the giant head of an Imperator Titan, observing the changes to its chassis and weaponry, possibly comparing it with his own knowledge of the Mechanicus Godmachines.

My Titans all had power fists now, to provide them some melee ability, with the large annihilator cannons strapped to their forearms, while even larger guns had been mounted on the giant shoulders, plus the usual array of carapace mounted secondary and tertiary batteries.

"A thousand of these Imperators at every Forge World, and we'll never have to worry about losing Forges to invasion." I proposed after displacing myself on the Titan's head, and patting the big machine like a loyal attack dog.

"Perhaps ten of them, for now. They cost too much." Sanguinius mused in deep thought.

Sadly, the Primarch was right. Outfitting these two Emperor-class Titans with cutting-edge technology had been rather taxing for the Machine Forge, and they had not needed to construct them from scratch.

We would need the Speranza to become operational and use its STC constructors to make this possible. And of course, not send that giant Forge ship on its own to explore, like they did last time. Fucking lack of common sense, Mechanicus!

And when that happened, all hell would break loose. Our enemies would not wait to be stomped in the ground by our advanced warmachines and rediscovered technology.

"By the time we return, your Red Tear the Gloriana Class Battleship should be able of warpless travel. I have brought the required reactor and engines with me, and they only need to be installed." I offered with a smile.

The ship had been repaired by the Blood Angels, but it was merely a shadow of its former glory. It would need the add-on blackstone plates bolted on, plus extra lance batteries and point-defense turrets, just like the Light of Terra had now.

Well, my battleship wasn't nearly ready for combat either, because there was also the Voidclaw to be considered, the giant space cannon that fired blackholes...because that made sense.

"All right, we can go then. Whatever that Shariax is, it better be worth it!" Sanguinius muttered and floated down.

"We can depart now, Lady Velayne. Keep an eye on the bridge." I sent to the old but pretty Inquisitor guarding the bridge.

"I want some bed time too, lover." she sent back while I displaced myself in my own rooms to enjoy a couple of other Inquisitors.

Sure, it might sound like sticking my spear into a bear trap, but trust me, it was so worth it!

*******

Much later, Amberley Vail and Lady Hyboran rested on my chest, faces glowing and their ragged breaths calming down.

And where did the other Inquisitor come from? Not sure, she just arrived with Amberley and demanded her rights to Blank children and immunity from the Warp. Perhaps a boost to her meager psyker powers too.

Which is why she was right now in my bed, after all.

"I had doubts before, when I first heard about you Pef Lancefire. Even with Amberley here, vouching for you." Lucille whispered in a tired voice, while her hand measured my Astartes body again.

"That's natural, my dear. I am quite the exception to the normal rules, am I not?" I inquired in a proud voice.

"...and your resemblance to your Primarch is a bit uncanny. Even if you lack wings and a meter in height." Amberley added in a wry tone, then lowered herself to service my lance, something I was very glad for.

"Thank you, Lady Vail. That makes me very proud." I quipped while fondling Lucille Hyboran and enjoying the massage.

Sadly, not even a minute later Lady Ramaeus intruded brusquely into my exotic dreams. "Out! Both of you. I need to interrogate the prisoner myself. Amberley, you watch the bridge. Lucille, wipe the slutty grin from your face."

The lower ranked Inquisitors ran outside while giggling like school girls, while their boss examined her prey with greedy eyes.

"See something you like, Lady Velayne?" I wondered with a knowing smirk.

"Turning Inquisitors into your personal sluts. How do you plead, you rogue?" the stern woman asked while discarding her armor and climbing on top of me.

I didn't answer with words, instead turning myself to trap her under me, and stuck my spear into her bear trap.

"...We'll have to...resume interrogation at a later time." she mumbled while I pounded my defense argument very strongly.

Several hours later, I ended my plea in the shower, until the verdict of "Guilty" fluttered in the wind, yet hidden by the cleansing torrent of hot water and sweaty steam.

Whatever the Angel's resurrection had caused in my genes, it had given me extra muscle energy and mental strength, and also some minute control over my Blank aura.

Like an extra hand, made of negative-warp. Possibly the same ability that every Silent Sister had, which will need lots of training to make use of.

There were Navigators who could cover their entire ship in a Blank field, or Pariahs that could stop lascannon fire with a Null Shield, but I wasn't even close. Merely dimming the lights in the room, for now.

But it was something, at least.

My theory about Nulls being psykers of a different type was confirmed, just like Power Nullifiers in other stories were still mutants or parahumans.

It also explained why strong psykers were able to breach the Blank immunity in some cases, or why combinations of Nulls and psykers were even possible.

Now, I only had to find a catalyst that could turn psykers into Pariahs, like the Grey Knights did. It had to be related to that poisoning suffered by natural Blanks implanted with gene-seeds.

Hopefully, it didn't require a demonhost, which would suck greatly. I would do it, but I wouldn't like it one bit.