40 Thousand Reasons

Chapter 166: Play

There was a giant celebration on Baal as we returned, a dozen battlebarges from different successor Chapters having gathered as the news of their Primarch's return spread like wildfire.

Angels Encarmine, Angels Excelsis, Angels Glorious, Angels Numinous, Angels of Light, Angels Sanguine, and even the solitary Angels Vermillion had arrived with a company or two, possibly only those available to be sent immediately.

Given the angelic nature of their Primarch, it wasn't so strange to have been given such names. There was also a Company of Angels Resplendent, which I had thought long gone, but apparently not.

"So many of my sons..." Sanguinius murmured a bit overwhelmed.

"Primarch! We missed youuuuuu." Chapter Master Varzival shouted and threw himself at the Primarch's feet, not really caring about being resplendent right now.

"I know, my son. I was a bit indisposed, but I got better now. I expect you all to behave properly though. Stand tall Astartes!" Sanguinius proclaimed with skilled oratory, ending the circus before I started slapping people.

"Is it true it was the Blank Lamenter Master that healed you?" another Chapter Master asked while eying me suspiciously.

I decided to stop the gossip here. "Quiet! The Primarch was always here, in his Spirit form. I only helped a little, waking the wounded body and allowing the Spirit to return. You can say Sanguinius healed himself, first by making me an Astartes at Estaban, and later by reintegrating into his body, at my incessant urging. I'm not sure he likes me too much, for that."

A thousand heads nodded in unison, as that made more sense than other rumours.

Sanguinius patted my head from high above and just smiled. "Lord Lancefire has been a great help, no doubt. He might be a bit abrasive and sarcastic, but that's only his grief. At Estaban, his Blank mother sacrificed her life to help me kill the traitor Fulgrim. And he later killed the traitors Lorgar and Abaddon, and helped humanity in a dozen wars. He might be a Blank, but he is now my son just like the rest of you. The Emperor had thousands of Blanks like him, guarding the Eternity Gate before the corrupt High Lords disbanded the Silent Sisters and forced those women to flee into exile. And for that, I will have justice!"

Well, that was pretty much what I wanted him to say. I waved a bit shyly at the gathered warriors and drew back, letting the Primarch take the spotlight and went back to my ship, to prepare for war.

A quick check with my techpriests confirmed the Red Tear was mostly fight-capable now, at least against smaller ships and starfighters. I had to sacrifice 40 thousand Tarantula turrets to provide the giant warship with enough close-defense weapons, especially as destroyers and frigates would not be able to escort the battleship.

Plating it over with blackstone armor would help as well, although little would be able to penetrate those gigantic shields.

Otherwise, some improvement to augury and auspex sensors, plus anti-teleport features should protect the Primarch against the most obvious dangers.

There were thousands of other avenues of attack though, from toxic agents of a million kinds to Culexus Assassins and a myriad of xeno weapons.

But Sanguinius was a potent psyker anyway and could take care of himself.

As long as the Captain of the ship was a Blank, everything should be fine. The Heresy era commanding officer Athene DuCade, was driven mad by the Chaos presence, then killed her bridge crew and destroyed the nav controls which caused the ship to crash-land on a planet.

I've given my daughter Teresa this job, because who wouldn't want to captain a god-damned Glorianna with a Primarch on board. Plus my girl knew the tricks of a Rogue Trader, which were probably even more important than whatever the Codex Astartes claimed to be optimal engagement factors. She also had her brothers Jonas and Vincent keep guard over the bridge, because tactical dreadnoughts were rather beastly in close quarters, should it ever come to that.

By next week we were already en route to head off another Forge World invasion, which by coincidence held a 'secret' stash of Imperial Fists gene-seed. Not exactly secret, especially not for Chaos.

Then again, technically a Forge World was the best defended place in the galaxy, except Terra and Cadia. But with Warp fuckery, most defenses did prove rather penetrable, and even Terra had a fair share of invasions.

Lady Inquisitor Hyboran had stepped off at Baal, after confirming the kid inside her was indeed a Blank girl, and promised to visit me again, one sunny day.

She was 300 years younger too, which possibly made her a tiny bit more horny than a regular Inquisitor crone.

I blamed her transformation on Sanguinius, and pointed at Velayne as proof, and it kinda held up a little. I mean, few people regrew eyes and arms, even in this magic universe.

Reverting age was far more common, and quite possible for potent psykers with biokinetic powers.

Amberley and Velayne stayed, possibly more for my connection with the Primarch and opportunity for career advancement, or some other more esoteric reasons.

It was a pleasant trip anyway, and I believe a hundred Blank babies were created this year, merely by the miracle of my genetic awakening.

As for the new Blank powers...well. They still sucked. I was able to hide in shadows a little better, perhaps deepen the shadow a little too.

Things that the Silent Sisters learned as little girls. Yeah. I felt the same way too.

Anyways, the fun part should begin right about now.

War, war never changes.

The warriors and weapons might be different, you may ride on horse back or on an 8-kilometer-long battlebarge able to melt a continent to slag, but once you get there, you still had to put on your armor, grab your weapons and kill your enemy.

And, also try to avoid dying, too soon.

Which is why cheating and luck play such a big part in historical battles.

A dozen Black Templar destroyers managed to arrive before us, landed their Astartes Company and some Auxilia forces, and suicidally charged at the Chaos traitors, delaying them just enough.

I mean the Iron Warriors, not led by Perturabo unfortunately for me, had brought millions of cultists and traitor guardsmen, plus heavy tanks, Demon Engines and fucking Chaos Titans.

You don't charge at something like that, unless you have superior numbers or some kind of hidden ace.

But, by the time the Chaos marines breached the Gene-seed vaults, it was too late. Everything supposed to be there was gone, and instead a hundred Guardians opened fire and liquidated the first rushing cretins.

More and more armored traitors poured in, until our walkers were finally destroyed. They did amazingly well though, for their small comparative cost.

The techmarine found himself on the teleportarium pad, blinking in disbelief at his unlikely rescue.

"You scored 19 kills and 6 wounded. Do better next time!" I send him via the Manifold circuit while the Drop-cruisers began their drop run, landing Tarantula turrets to contain the invasion and protect our heavy landers.

I think a desperate voice yelled a pathetic "Noooo!" from inside the vault. Most likely the Iron Warrior's Warmaster.

At the adamantium gates, the Legio MortisImperator TitanDies Irae, fallen to Chaos a dozen millennia ago was knocking rather insistently, trying to get in.

And when a Titan knocks, the planet itself feels it.

The Forge World had provided a couple of Legio_Ignatum Warlord Titans to defend this sector, but they didn't stand much of a chance against an Imperator-class.

It was time for a Deus Ex Machina intervention, in this case literally. My own Titan Legion was named Deus Ex Machina, for those right moments when stars aligned and everything went right.

My wife Dae had always wanted to pilot an Imperator Titan, so I got her one as a wedding present.

"Eat sunfire, Chaos scum!" she yelled the second her Titan landed some 10 kilometers away, which in Titan terms is like 50 meters.

Yeah, radio silence, I know. I told Dae a dozen times, but her training took place in the nice warm days of the real Imperium, when techpriests served you fine meals and gave you red wine after.

Anyway, her weapons' fire reached the target faster than sound, the shoulder-mounted Heavy Annihilators simply disintegrating the enemy's void shields in a single salvo. And then came the arm cannons, the first blast vaporizing the heavy armor plates and the second punching through and left a hole 50 meters wide. Groaning from the excessive damage the Chaos Titan fell, and the planet shook in joy.

Just like Trazyn promised, if you didn't miss, the new weapons would kill any other Titan in a single salvo. The Dies Irae Titan's days of wrath had ended.

From here onwards, I took the backstage age, to allow Sanguinius his well-deserved glory as he led his Blood Angels and successors in a masterful campaign of strikes and feints, rescuing guardsmen and techpriests, healing the wounded with powerful psychic waves of golden light, and pretty much turning the tide with mere charisma and skill.

I guarded the high orbit with my fleet, while the other Chapter Masters rushed to gain fame and reputation by slaying a dozen enemies in melee or dosing them in promethium in celebratory pyres.

Sitting beside me, Inquisitor Velayne glanced at me and then back at the holoscreen.

"What did you do, exactly?" she wondered while holding her silver cube and deftly tuning Necron engrams for better resolution.

"Saved the day?" I wondered in a hesitant voice.

"Yes. I know you did. I sense the changes, I just don't know what they mean." The Inquisitor muttered a bit upset.

"Deus Ex Machina. It means the God from the Machine. One day, you will have your own, my dear. But until then, it is a tiny secret I need to keep." I said in a wry voice, which earned me a glare.

"If you want to reach Terra before Primarch Guilliman, we have to leave right now." Velayne explained, abandoning the previous quest.

"Oh? That's not my destination at all, Inqusitor. Hive Fleet Leviathan has began attacking the Imperium from the south and below. It's a thousand times larger than Hive Fleet Behemoth. The smaller tendrils are the size of Behemoth." I said cheerfully.

"...But, Terra?" she asked in confusion.

"Sanguinius will go and do his job.He is good at politics and ruling. While me, I have already my duty, defend humanity." I said in a naive voice. A flash of disappointment crossed the Inquisitor's face, but I was busy with the space battle and ignored it.

At this exact moment the rest of the Black Templars arrived, just in time to catch the ending of the play.