40 Thousand Reasons

Chapter 167: Power

The fleeing Chaos ships crashed into a hail of previously invisible metal asteroids and Space Hulk fragments, and had to battle a small army of Orks and Tyranids that invaded their corrupted ships, while my fleet and the Black Templars massacred the immobilized Chaos hulls. Well, it took some work.

"Ranged fire only, Brothers! It's not like we need to salvage these corrupted hulls." I demanded as the idiots were preparing to board and engage in glorious melee.

"... Not again! It's the weird Lamenter." I could hear some Templars complain over the vox. I sent them a live grox, right onto their bridge to make my point. It could have been a dozen Chaos Terminators or an atomic warhead all the same.

Grox are like pigs, but larger and smellier when alive and also taste a much better when grilled. I still missed pork chop, but that species was long extinct, along with most species from Terra.

"And keep vox silence while there are enemies who can board your ships, by riding the vox beams right back onto your bridge." I ordered while sending an FTL transmit with deployment vectors to their command battlebarge.

Only their Marshall Helbrecht had an FTL transceiver installed on his flagship, but it will do for now. Until he used his ship to ram something for another glorious boarding action.

The Black Templars were a bit retarded, but I would take them all, in exchange for smart Dark Angels too likely to backstab you and his own Brothers on a mere whim or vision.

Luckily for everyone, the Dark Angels and their successors were now battling Orks, at Piscina and Armageddon and a dozen other places.

They could purge Orks for the next millennium for all I cared.

A dozen Nova Shells struck the last remaining Chaos battleship, breaking it into a hundred small burning fragments and exterminating all life aboard, including the cultists, the Orks, the Tyranid gaunts and a million materialized demons.

It was the epitome of stupidity to board such a ship for absolutely no gain, but brains were never the strong forte of the Templars.

Fortunately, there was a Forge World right here to replenish my munitions and provide the various Astartes forces with equipment for their Auxilia forces, because I was getting tired of paying for that from my own large pockets.

Soon enough, I landed at the Fabricator's spire to conclude the deal, and castigated the Archmagos for his poor protection of the gene-seed stock.

It wasn't ill intent, just the normal lack of common sense of the Mechanicus. In fact, Titan Legio Ignatus was so trusted they had Titans guarding the Eternity Gate on Terra itself. Pretty much rock solid on that front.

"Here, a hundred STC fragments I have recovered during my travels and Space Hulks cleansing. They may need a bit of work to repair and make use of, but Hydra Cordatus surely has millions of archeotechnologists and Technicus Magi." I offered after the Farbricator slumped like a castigated child.

The man took the dataslate and gingerly scanned the contents, all while spouting praise to Omnissiah and gushing machine oil all over his quarters. Nothing I haven't seen before, but perhaps too exagerated.

"Bastion Forcefields, anti-gravity tanks...so many lost discoveries. Even a small warpless engine! This engine might fit onto Astartes Strike Cruisers too...like those 30 such ships in orbit right now." The Fabricator exclaimed in a real machine joy, and hugged my armor in exulted friendship.

"The Primarch has recovered the gene-seed and has it on board his Red Tear now, until your Forge can prepare a secure location for it. Like a deep underground shaft, lined with blackstone and Gellar fields. And then guarded by a million skitarii and battle-automata. You can't expect a single Imperial Guard regiment to protect such a valuable target, Fabricator! What were you thinking!" I accused loudly and poked his head with a singer finger.

"... I understand Lord Lancefire. I will do my best to make sure the gene-seed of Dorn is kept safe. Primarch Sanguinius was more delicate, but he also said much the same." the techpriest grumbled and tried to offer me wine.

"I don't need wine, Magos. Nova Shells, torpedoes and replacements for my losses. You heard about the new Tyranid Hive Fleet?" I asked in a gentler voice.

"Some news, yes. Mostly panicked reports from a thousand Imperial star systems, that went silent soon after." he said while powering up the galactic map to pinpoint the red dots of known enemy presence.

Pretty much what I expected. But I also knew some of the future.

"I'll head to Gryphonne_IV then. That Forge World must not fall, so I'll need everything you can offer for deep space battle and Exterminatus options. Vortex warheads for the big Hive Ships and Atmospheric Incinerators for infested worlds. As for my Astartes Brothers, the Ragnarok tanks seem quite easy to manufacture. In fact, there are factories on Krieg that mass-produce them in the thousands." I proposed while I examined his trade list.

Some good things too, especially the plasma guns.

"...Yes. But to provide them with blackstone armor won't be that easy. Unless you have knowledge of a mining world nearby?" the Fabricator asked sneakily.

I nodded and poked at Sangua_Terra. "Here, but you will need to construct plenty of defenses and a planetary Gellar field. Too close to the Eye of Terror for the Great Enemy not to notice. I also have a megatonne of blackstone aboard my vessels, which is a gift. And that Space Hulk that arrived here seems to contain a gigatonne of free metal. Quite lucky for it to have emerged right on time, to block that Chaos Battleship from escaping."

The bionic eyes blinked twice at me, as he switched the map to his star system and examined the debris with long range auguries." There are a thousand new asteroids too! Some contain titanium and iridium, even platinum. The Space Hulk will need to be towed and processed in our orbital smelters, reforging the adamantium and plasteel... by the Might of the Omnissiah! This week has been only a miracle after another, from the return of Sanguinius, to saving the gene-seed stock, discovering STC patterns and now abundant metal for my Forge!"

I turned to stare into his optical sensors. "The Emperor knows you try your best, Fabricator. Your Legio Titans guard his Golden Throne, and I am his son. Well, grandson technically. The big winged guy is his son."

"... I see. Hard service is sometimes rewarded, with even more work. But my Forge never backed away from work. As for the new Deus Ex Machina demi-legion...you seem to have made good friends with the Machine Forge in the Eastern Fringe. Not that I ever seen this type of Imperator-class Titan before. Another lost pattern?" the Magos wondered with no ulterior purpose.

"I wouldn't know about Titans. They are attached to my fleet, but autonomous under their techpriests and Princeps. House Lancefire has Knights though, and for a small price I'm willing to share our STC patterns. Even the secrets of the Lamenters' Leviathan Dreadnoughts." I offered with a giant smile.

By the next month, while repairs and supplies exchanged places, a new deal had been made. A billion young women per decade, drawn from nearby Hive Worlds, a new Manufactorum ship loaded with techpriests and Forges for my distant kingdom, and a promise to construct a million system-corvettes and Drop-cruisers by the hundreds. Not just for me, of course. I only wanted a dozen heavy cruisers with Nova Cannons. The rest could go to the Imperium and the other Astartes.

It would take the Fabricator a decade to begin mass-production, but every little bit helped. I grabbed the available Sentinels and Hydras, even some Chimeras and Tarantula turrets, which will need to be refitted by my own techpriests and techmarines on board my fleet. It wasn't ideal but I had to get going and start thinning out the Tyranids before they devoured too much biomass.

As for my Primarch, I think Sanguinius was relieved to see me go fight the Tyranids, since he couldn't quite control me as easily as he had his other sons. Plus being constantly reminded how stupidly he had died in a sword fight and how many mistakes he made during this training trip must have been taxing, even for someone as kind and compassionate like him.

Sanguinius did gain a lot from this too, learning his limits and those of his Astartes, and absorbing entire libraries of historical and technical data. Plus he had Inquisitor Valeyne at his side now, with her own secrets and exotic powers.

Just as I suspected, my dear lover followed the scent of power, choosing to insert herself into the inner circle of the future Regent of the Imperium, and thus gain influence over galactic affairs, rather than a mere obscure Rogue Trader with a bit too many secrets.

I still had Amberley, possibly tasked with documenting my exploits and the anti-tyranid campaign, but I didn't mind at all.

The woman was amazing, in bed and outside it. Smart, witty, knowledgeable and a rather potent ally with her Null Rod Bone and the Alpha-level powers.

On the way to Gryphonne, the fleet stopped to engage a dozen small splinter fleets and three Ork Waaghs, not wasting much ammunition for that either. Orks were simply 'collected' as disposable ground armies, their ships stored for later refit, the Tyranids burned alive into nearby suns, with some exemplars stored for biologis research or a xeno-based Eversor.

Better even, since dropping a mind-controlled Tyranid Tyrant or Broodlord in the midst of a corrupted cult or treasonous House was likely as effective if not more effective than a twirling drug-addict with deadly power swords and toxic gloves.