40 Thousand Reasons

Chapter 179: Fenris

I arrived at the Fang, the gigantic fortress spire on Fenris with a wolf at my side, and gave a toothy grin to the Space Wolf Scouts guarding the armored door.

"Do they smell tasty, Canis?" I asked my loyal companion.

Canis advanced and smelled the startled Space Wolves, and their wolfish companions, and grinned back at me. "Woo?"

"Yes Canis, they all have the Canis Helix gene, just like you do. But sure, you can have fun with the grey bitch if you want. This meeting will take some time." I explained patiently.

My wolf didn't need to be told twice, as he rapidly mounted and subdued a Fenrisian wolf female, to the amusement of the guards.

"A Lamenter with a wolf at his side. Yes, there is only one of you in the entire galaxy I suspect, Lord Lancefire." The guarding Scout said after examining me for a long minute.

"And such a good friend as well, my loyal Canis. So, who is around for a friendly chat? Ulrik, most likely?" I asked rhetorically.

The Scout glanced upwards at the spire then back at me. "You are expected, Lord Lancefire. The Wolf Priest has also promised not to bite you, this time." he replied with a wolfish grin that showed elongated canines.

Well, Ulrik was a potent psyker, possibly even Beta level.

I stepped forward and arrived in the reception room, laden with wolf furs and bones. It seemed a bit creepy, to use the remains of past companions like this, but Space Wolves were a different breed of Space Marines anyway.

Treat them like dogs instead of men, and they'll even like you for it.

"I hope you have food, Ulrik. Even wolf meat will do." I began while holding my arms apart for a hug.

The priest laughed and stepped to embrace me like a long-lost brother. A small brother. "Yes. You need to grow up faster, Lamenter. Perhaps help us bring back Russ, one day too."

Soon enough, a table was set up and more Space Wolves arrived, including Harald_Deathwolf, the man who gifted me Canis on Forge Ryza.

"So you dealt with the Lion Primarch, Rogue Trader?" the giant man asked me with a smirk and a knowing glance at the ceiling.

"...Not really, no. There was a demon on board the Rock, urging the Dark Angels to murder you all, in revenge for the death of their Brothers. Plus, by attacking you they would have weakened your defenses, enough to allow a major Chaos incursion in the system. I've dealt with that demon." I explained in a grave tone.

The Space Wolves looked at each other with some worry. "A Chaos incursion...we could use your help, Lamenter. You are all Blanks, right? Immune to Warp."

I nodded in reply, and held my hand out to unfold a fistful of Null Wands for those present. "These nullification devices should help against direct psyker attacks by Sorcerers and Daemon Princes. Still, Gellar fields and blackstone armor would be needed to keep everyone safe, if that's even possible. I'll try to defend Hive World Midgardia, if you'll let me."

Ulrik frowned visibly at the Null Wands, possibly annoyed with their very existence. "I notice some doubt in your explanation, Lord Lancefire. Are these small Null Rods less potent?"

I took out the classic Null Rod that I recovered from the Rock and held it out to Wolf Lord Deathwolf.

A quick test revealed that the Null Wands made by Joakero were twice as strong, resisting anything the Wolf Priest could conjure as a psyker assault, unlike the Null Rod made by the Mechanicus.

"I think I'll take the small rod, if that's okay. I rather not have my beard singed if a Chaos Sorcerer throws Warp Lightning at me." the bearded Space Wolf muttered as he exchanged the device and fit the Null Wand into his belt.

"These devices are still external aids, Brothers. What works against a Beta-level psyker or demon is not enough against Alpha-levels. And if Magnus himself arrives...well. Not even genetic Blanks will be safe then. Alpha-plus powers can only be countered by negative-Omega Pariahs. A rare breed such potent people, and hunted by everyone in the galaxy." I disclosed with a sad voice.

Ulrik measured me with wise eyes, and then glanced at the sky, searching among the Lamenter fleet for such a rare person. As if I would reveal my trump cards to everyone, by allowing Ordela and Dessima to travel outside the labyrinth.

My few Omega-level Pariahs would terrify the astropaths in the entire star system, and alert every single psyker to their presence.

"You have Silent Sisters on board every single ship in your fleet, plus Blank Captains and bridge crew. Thousands of Blanks and hundreds of Sisters." The Wolf Priest spoke to everyone, letting them know I've come prepared.

I smiled gently at him, and nodded. "The Sanguinius gene-seed gives rise to mutations as well, going from growing claws and fangs, to immense bouts of rage and a thirst for blood. But, there is a nice side-effect for having Blank genes. Since mutations are Warp based, the Blank recruits are immune. Even the Black Rage syndrome has vanished. The thirst for blood still lingers though, but we hadn't had a need for a Death Company anymore."

Wolf Lord Harald glared at me for a second, echoed in tandem by his Icetooth companion wolf. "So this is about the Wulfen, after all."

I shrugged in a casual gesture. "Your Chapter and your problem, Brother. I could be convinced to allow a hundred of my Blank sons to join you, and prove themselves as a valid stock for incorruptible Space Wolves. Perhaps after the battle, once you need more recruits and your Chapter Master returns as well."

The officers present glanced at each other in silence.

"I believe it is time to awaken our Dreadnoughts then. Harald, you and your Company join the Lamenters on Midgardia. If the Thousands Sons come, a Hive World would be the prime target for their foul rituals." Ulrik the Slayer commanded in a rough voice,

with subtle undertones of violence and mayhem in the low timbre.

I did not have wolf genes, but I have heard Canis use the same type of warning sometimes. Especially when I petted his puppies. Or my own children, if left in his care.

By next week, my techpriests were hard at work installing Bastion fields and Gellar generators on Midgardia, although the defenses were greatly simplified by the Hive Cities being buried deep underground.

Thousands of new PDF regiments were being hastily raised and trained, then given defensive bunkers and sealed gates to protect.

Ferrocrete and blackstone plates were being assembled into new fortifications, both on the toxic surface and the access ways into the Hive Cities, while millions of new servitors were being converted from the local criminal gangs.

Meanwhile, I abused the tesseract to increase orbital presence with more defense forts and armed asteroids, mounting some Tarantula turrets for point-defense as well, although their Gellar fields and the hidden torpedo tubes drilled into the asteroids would be quite sufficient.

Expecting another debacle like at Agripinaa may seem paranoid, but nevertheless I ordered my fleet carriers to retreat a couple of light-years away in deep space, once their payload of corvettes and starfighters have been launched. The carriers were still in range of our FTL transcievers, in case I needed to recall them urgently.

I'm not sure what Primarch El'Johnson thought of my moves, but I really didn't care much.

I was more interested in the world of Fenris itself, and its strange inhabitants. From giant mammoths to oversized white bears and Fenrisian wolves, feral elks and badgers, up to real dragons flying on thermal currents, then spaceship-size Kraken monsters inhabiting the deep oceans, and lastly the Cavern Cities and their mutated Nightgangers, worshiping Chaos Gods and using Archeotech artifacts as maces and axes.

I extracted thousands of specimens of these amazing animals, keeping a balance as to not cause a famine by kidnapping too many elks and not enough bears. I could populate some Fringe worlds with these beasts and provide my Lamenters with a constant source of training and protein.

However, a dozen plasma warheads arrived inside the largest Krakens, burning them alive from inside out. I kinda suspected those were feral Tyranid bio-titans that were left behind by some failed invasion.

I took a couple of smaller specimens to give the Biologis Magi something to investigate, and by next day they all agreed. The crazy Space Wolves cohabited their planet with giant Tyranids and didn't even know it.

Sure, the Space Wolves hunted the Krakens for their diamond-like claws and teeth, but never in a concentrated effort to eradicate them. But should a Tyranid Hive Fleet arrive in this system the Space Wolves would have a major problem, being assaulted by kilometers long organisms rising from their own oceans at the command of the Hive Mind.

As for the Nightgangers, they visited the Wolf's Eye for a short second, before being burned into space dust by the system's sun. The Cavern Cities had been constructed from the remains of the first colonization ships, and were filled with ancient devices, some mundane and other rather priceless. The ship's bridge was quite intact, and filled with a treasure trove of logic-vaults and datastacks, everything from maps and weapon schematics to movies and songs and poetry.

I'll have to copy everything and distribute it among my techpriests and family, although the broken ship reactor and the immersive radiation had damaged most storage devices. But even fragmentary data was better than nothing, and I suspected some of the devices in the Fang were also extracted from these old caverns. But now they were locked tight and forgotten, of course.

Perhaps only the old dreadnoughts recalled their existence now. Bjorn had been a contemporary of Leman Russ and had led the Space Wolves after the Primarch departed for the Eye of Terror, on some kind of penitent crusade.

I wasn't sure why all the Primarch had chosen to abandon their duties, since they certainly haven't managed to find and kill their traitor Brothers in the depths of the Warp Rift.

I had an inkling the silly Primarchs were all captured and made to fight in a giant arena for the amusement of Khorne. It would be his style, after all.

And speaking of Khorne, flashes of purple and violet clouds began forming in the Fenris system, just as I was torching some Chaos altar in the depths of the Cavern Cities.It appeared my prediction was correct once more. The Chaos was coming out to play.