My meeting with Taenera had been a turning point, as it were. Down, deeper in the Spacehulk of Junkheap, I found new secrets, new treasures that I learned about with but a touch of the hand, learning the secrets of their construction and how they worked, how they had been operated and who they had been used to fight against. I learned the secrets of Wraithbone, the principles of the Eldar sciences and of what the Eldar would have truly been capable of had they not lost their way in their decadence and perverse pleasures. Taenera served as an example of that, showing me what the true might of the Eldar had looked like, what they fought like, and showing me why they had been able to stand on near equal footing with the Necrons throughout the War in Heaven.
Eldar Warriors had been clad in Wraithbone armor, hardened to a density stronger than Adamantium with softer layers underneath that worked to aid the user's movements, physical abilities and aiming of weapons. The Eldar Warriors themselves were often augmented to be stronger, tougher and faster by Biomancers of great skill and ability while they gained Psychic shields, placed within their souls, so that they didn't need to craft mental barriers and shields against Warp Predators. This also had the happy benefit of making them immune to some of the more destructive abilities of the Old Ones, things that ripped into reality and shifted the physics of it to such an extent that it caused the Necrons to break. Their minds shattering a dozen times from the Warp-induced sights before them, often leaving them as little more than shells carried on my programmed instructions.
Still, hearing it was rather interesting.
"So, if you were more than equally matched against the Necrons, then when did the Old Ones step in? When the C'tan started appearing on the battlefields, I assume?" I asked as I sat in the middle of a large room, it used to be filled with scrap metal and debris from the initial impact that had trapped the Indomitablewithin Junkheap, but I had cleaned it up and made it my home. Three doors were present, one leading to my workshop and the Rexus hangar, another back into the ship and the third leading to a small apartment with all the creature comforts that I could want. Really, it was just a bedroom, bathroom, kitchen and a living room that had a large collection of books and Data-slates, not to mention a holo-projector that had dozens of games and videos saved to it from countless ships I had visited. However, this room, hall really, was built with a simple purpose.
To let me practice my Psyker abilities.
"Partially. The Old Ones didn't abandon us to fighting the Necrons on our own, they helped in the regions that had the hardest fighting, usually in places with massed Immortals or other, heavier units that outnumbered us by a significant margin. Even one-on-one, an Eldar Warrior was little match for a Necron Warrior, mainly because their mechanical bodies gave them an endurance that we simply couldn't match, even when augmenting ourselves through the power of the Great Ocean." Taenera said, floating by my side as I focused on what was before me, ten small disk of metal that I was trying to keep in the air using nothing but telekinesis while making them dance in an intricate pattern. Honestly, I thought I was making a fair bit of progress since I met Taenera over a year ago, I could now effortlessly hold up multiple tons of material with but a thought, now, I was training my ability to multi-task by doing so with ten small weights while talking with Taenera, something that was a bit more difficult than most would believe.
Not bad for a trick I had been practicing for over a year since I had met the Eldar spirit.
"How did you deal with them? I mean, you'll have to forgive me, but I just don't see any of the current era of Eldar weapons doing much against the Necrons back when they were in their prime." I remarked as she raised an eyebrow before I sent a burst of thought along out connection, having been widened and deepened to become something of a familiar bond, as Taenera had described it, with her as the familiar. I'd admit that it was something that I was rather uncomfortable with, but Taenera had done it without my knowledge until it was too late to fix it, and I refused to simply kill her just because I didn't want the damned bond. Apparently, this was her way of showing that she was serious in serving me since I could command her to do just about anything through it.
Needless to say, I tried to refrain from doing just that, mostly because while I accepted that slavery was an everyday part of this universe, I refused to be yet another slaver in this Forsaken shit-hole of a universe. And I let Taenera know as well, resulting in a rant that went on for the better part of two hours, much to her amusement and happiness, the Last Autrach taking it as a sign that her actions had been justified.
"Ha! Yeah, these 'Shuriken Catapults' would have been next to useless against freshly forged Necrodermis, all it would have done was create small rips in the material that would have healed inside of the blink of an eye. No, we used Wraithbone shells consisting of Nano-shredders, they ripped the Necrodermis apart at the molecular level and made damned sure to make it impossible to heal by leaving excess Warp energy in the wounds." I couldn't help the raised eyebrow that followed that, curious as to what those were since I hadn't heard of them before. My curiosity must have been plain to see through the bond as I was suddenly bombarded with half a dozen memories of the weapon in question being used.
It looked like a cross between the Reaper Launcher and the Death Spinner, with the body of the former and the head of the latter, only without the two fins sticking out from the top and bottom of the barrel. I watched as memories played, showing dozens of fully armored Eldar Warriors carrying these weapons before unleashing them on an ill-prepared Necron Immortal. The initial effect wasn't that impressive, looking like someone had coated the front of the machine's chest with a white, shimmering paint, however, that soon changed as I watched, my physical eyes widening in surprise at what I saw. That 'paint' was rapidly eating through the armor of the Necron, destroying the Necrodermis and caving in the chest of the machine before it collapsed to the ground, utterly destroyed. Looking back over to Taenera, I couldn't mask my interest from the smirking Eldar.
"What was that?" I asked, curious of what I had seen as she smiled.
"A Nano-shredder in action. A weapon specifically designed to attack the Necrons, designed to injury and even kill them, regardless of their Living Metal bodies." She remarked as I turned more fully to the Spirit as she happily floated beside me, her legs crossed as she floated so that she might as well have been sitting on my shoulder.
"That still doesn't explain what it did to that Necron." I retorted flatly as she chuckled at that before nodding.
"Fair enough. The simplest way to put is that the initial shot is a hollow bullet, the inside filled with finely powdered Wraithbone with each grain of Wraithbone having been inscribed with a rather particular design. This design is used to store and use a small amount of Warp Energy that is then released upon impact. The grains keep that charge for ten seconds after impact, but no longer as they release the energy through their edges, usually with molecular disruption fields." Taenera stopped as she finished explaining things, but that hardly mattered to me as I slowly connected the dots.
"A molecular disruption field..." I muttered to myself before my eyes went wide, my head snapping to her as I sent the relevant information for confirmation. "Are you saying that a Nano-shredder basically shoots a cloud of miniature Power blades to rip a target to shreds?"
Taenera furrowed her brows slightly as she took the information in before she smiled, nodding happily in answer to my question. Suddenly, my mind was filled with the possibilities of such a weapon on the modern battlefields of this verse, just how dangerous it would be considering that the Necrons were far from being at their bests. Honestly, having a weapon of a similar nature making a comeback during the Great Crusade, or whenever I was, would have been a distinct advantage for any forces with said weapon.
So lost in thought, I jumped in surprise as I had stopped levitating the weights around me, causing them to come crashing to the floor with a Bang, resulting in me jumping a good metre into the air from a seated position.
Needless to say, I both felt and heard Teanera's amusement at the event, it didn't sound too bad actually...
XXX
Teleporting!
By all that was holy in this Godless Hell-hole, Teleporting was awesome!
It took over two years to figure out, five since I had landed on Junkheap, but it was so worth it! No longer did I need to march through Ork infested territories to reach where I wanted to go, I could simply envision myself there and Pop! I would appear there within the blink of an eye. This was further aided by the fact that Taenera had shown me had to cast the same Spirit Shield, as it was apparently called, over myself to prevent me from being either detected or attacked by the Neverborn within the Great Ocean. Yes, I could still be attacked if I attracted enough attention from the higher level Daemons, but I wasn't that stupid to try anything of that kind. The Spirit Shield made sure that such things, while possible to detect, gave off substantially less of a signature within the Warp than they should have.
Like I said, it was dead useful.
"So Marcus, what are we looking for this day?" Came the voice of my companion as she floated next to me, her Spirit Stone noticeably absent as I had long since discovered that, along with attaching herself to me via a Familiar bond, she had also anchored her soul to me, ensuring that, should I ever die, she would die with me. Her Spirit Stone, as a result, was noticeably empty and little more than a cracked paper weight as a result, one that I kept inside of an Adamantium safe layered with Phase Iron, Gellar Fields and Warp-reactive material charged with my abilities. Still, even as I remembered all that, I smiled slightly as I considered what she called me.
It hadn't taken much time, but I had chosen a name I quite liked, honestly, I had come up with it off the top of my head, an attempt to make a name of myself that, while I had my doubts it being as... Weighted as the other Primarchs, it still felt right to me.
Marcus Grimm.
I could live with that name.
"I have no idea, Taenera, though I can honestly say that it is something big." I remarked as I gazed back into the Warp, seeing the Treasure point ahead of me as I kept a wary eye on my surroundings, long practice having made it so that I was more than willing to keep looking, watching and observing to ensure that nothing was trying to sneak up on me even as I kept a watchful eye on the Warp. It was a good habit to have, as I had found when it had worked to save my ass from more than one Ork patrol that almost turned into a full Waaagh!
"Hmmm... Maybe, but I have little doubt it must be something of great value if you are capable of feeling it from halfway around this planet. So, care to guess at the nature of your latest discovery, or would you prefer that I make a few guesses?" She offered with a beaming smile, I rolled my eyes at that, having long since discovered that Eldar, regardless of what era they came from, could and would be assholes of the highest order if they felt that the results would amuse them. I didn't bother answering that question, seeing the trap for what it was before continuing to move on as I saw Taenera floating along with her lips twisted into a pout, tears gathering near the corners of her eyes as I mentally shook my head.
"You need to work on your acting..." I deadpanned, the Autrach lost the pout and instant later before going into a mock huff, pretending to be annoyed at me not taking the bait. I physically shook my head in exasperation at that.
"We are getting closer, it should be just around this next corner." I stated as I glanced back into the Warp, my Magpie senses flickering as the light of the Treasure point was almost blinding in intensity. Turning a corner of the stone corridor, I came into a large chamber where I saw my prize on the other side of the cavern.
One could hardly blame me for stopping dead in surprise.
Across the cavern was a ship that had belonged to the Men of Iron. The entire wall was exposed armor plating of the hull, thick and virtually impregnable to anything that wasn't specially designed to deal with the damned things. Memories appeared in my mind as I ran through what I knew about the MoI ships, trying to identify this ship class as I walked closer, absently walking around any obstacles and simply jumping down any small cliffs before I'm right next to the massive vessel's hull. By that point, my mind had already recognized the vessel for what it was, remembering the Iron War and suddenly knowing what this thing was with a mixture of dread and awe, the former being the residue from the collective memories I have gathered.
It was a Decimation-class Assault Carrier.
Fifty kilometres long, ten kilometres tall and over twenty wide, these things were shaped like massive, floating rectangles of armored battle plate with sloped sides coming to sharpened edges along the middle of all sides, turret mounted guns covering every possible angle with no blind spots between firing arcs. These things were infamous for a number of reasons, one being that they often carried a surplus of World Ending weapons, another was that these things had enough hangars in them to carry hundreds of millions of Strike craft with frightening ease, not to mention enough machines to conquer and hold an entire solar system on their own. However, what truly made these things so feared was one thing and one thing alone.
Their fabrication facilities.
These massive ships were, effectively, mobile factories that could rip apart entire worlds to harvest even the smallest speck of dirt to use as fuel for the fire of the MoI War-machine. During the Iron War, dozens of these vessels had fallen on captured systems and utterly devoured them whole, leaving nothing but empty space behind them, even the stars were extinguished. In that respect, these things were even worse than the Tyranids, simply because they could replicate so fast and so effectively, with no restriction on what they could harvest for raw materials. Often times, in battle, these massive ships would be pumping out Strike craft just as quickly, if not faster, than they were being destroyed, meaning that extended battles against a MoI fleet with one of these things had to be as short as possible to prevent them from making full use of said advantage.
And yet... That was only the tip of the iceberg, especially since those were just the early versions that had been created near the start of the Iron Wars, later models had been far, far worse...
"What is that?" I was broken from my trance when I heard Taenera speak aloud to me, I shook my head before looking grimly at the mass of armor and metal, not taking my eyes away from it as I sent her the relevant information. A moment later, I heard her gasp in shock and horror, with no little amount of surprise mixed in with it.
"... These Men of Iron sound almost like some kind of unholy offspring of the Krork and the Necrons. Having the reproduction rate of the former and the technological advantage of the latter, relative to the time... Just how did your people beat these machines...?" Taenera asked, speaking her thoughts aloud as I nodded slightly to myself, it was understandable, if only due to the sheer immensity of things, especially after watching the memories of a star, and accompanying solar system, being eaten by a fleet of these things.
"Humanity didn't." I stated simply, dredging up the needed memories before letting them play out once more within my mind, a dozen battles and a dozen loses playing out from the perspective of their crews, retelling the grind that was being felt by Humanity against the Men of Iron. "Humanity could win, oh, they could win if they were fast enough, but the Men of Iron turned the Iron Wars into one of attrition, simply drowning Human defenders in wave after wave of mass-produced killing machines that, while individually weak, relative to a Power Armor-equipped and augmented soldier, came in swarms numbering in the millions. Slowly, Humanity was pushed back until they only had Sol, the cradle of Mankind, left. In those moments, they created one, final, weapon that they placed their hopes on: A Warp-based Ruin code."
"Warp-based? You mean some kind of computer virus that carried the energies of the Warp into a targeted computer system to completely destroy them?" Taenera asked, getting a nod from me as I walked closer to the hull of the machine.
"Yes. I assume that the Old Ones had created something similar during the War in Heaven?" I asked, getting a nod in turn.
"We called them Hollowers, they took whatever pieces of a soul remained within a Necron shell and drove them mad, infusing them with Warp energy and twisting their bodies until they couldn't function. Those that were still in working order was similarly useless as their processors were wiped clean of all programming." Taenera remarked as I lifted an eyebrow.
"Then why didn't you guys win the war? A single use of the Ruin Code was enough to win the Iron War and, due to their networks, it spread and killed all of the Iron Men. Were the Necrons different?" Taenera gave a bitter chuckle at that.
"Partially, but not in the ways that you might be thinking. Yes, they were networked together on some level, their Nodal command network, but that wasn't the difference. The difference was that the Necrons had much more experience manipulating the laws of the Matterium and the Immatterium. After the first dozen usages against them, they created the Null Matrixes and Gloom Prisms, both to prevent these weapons from affecting them again, and to defend against other usages of Warp energy." I nodded at that, understanding the process behind it: Weapons are created, used, then countered as the war progresses until they are eventually discarded when the enemy has become so effective at countering them as to make their continued usage impractical.
Moving forwards, I reached out and made to touch the hull, my abilities ready as I prepared for the surge of information that would come. The room was silent for a moment as I was about to make contact with the hull.
Only for the sound of rocks to come crashing down from the ceiling. Followed shortly by the sound of Greenskins.
"WAAAGH! Oi! yer git away from ma loot, 'umie! dis iz 'da loot uv Big Warboss Bonecrakka! kome on Boyz! Letz WAAAGH!" I heard as I turned around to see what had caused the sound. I can't really say I was surprised when I saw it, a massive drill of Ork construction, covered in red paint and made from shards of metal that were held together by little more than rope straps, duct tape and what looked like snot. I snarled behind my helmet as I looked at the Orks as they started coming off their Drill, swarming down the rock face or just dropping to the ground some fifteen metres below them before howling a warcry of sufficient volume to shake the entire chamber.
Some would have been intimidated, even terrified, of such a sight, more than willing to flee if given the chance.
I was, distinctly, unimpressed.
"I don't have time for this." I muttered to myself as I gave the first thought-command. Suddenly, the two turrets on my shoulders sprang to life, appearing from my back before they started to crack off shots at the approaching mass of Greenskins. Not even turning around, I slammed my hand into the hull of the Desolation Assault Carrier, feeling the surge of information as everything about it, it's entire timeline and information about every technology that made it up flooded my mind. I pushed it all to one side as I focused on the now. Well, not entirely, I took a moment to skim over the database of killing machines within the vessel, taking note of some of the designs before I smiled as I found one I quite liked. A moment later, I let my powers flow through me and into the ship itself, pulling raw materials away from the hull and reforming them into combat robots under my control.
I started moving before even the first of the machines were finished, my Hammer already in right hand as I snapped off dozens of Las-bolts with my left, letting my shield take the impacts of a dozen Ork weapons while I swiped out, a Power field sheathing my claws as I cut through a Grot that had tried to latch on to me. A swing of my Hammer, now named as the Foehammer, resulted in a swarm of Grots being reduced to paste as my Hammer kept going, slamming into the chest of another Ork Boy and reducing him to even more paste while a snap of my free arm removed the limbs of three more Orks, and a quartet of Las-bolts from my arm and the two turrets, each, killed another sixteen of the Greenskins. Reaching for my belt, I grabbed two grenades in my empty hand before pulling the pins from each with a minor application of telekinesis, throwing them even further with the help of the same power.
Barely a few seconds later, the Plasma-Fusion weapons exploded in a maelstrom of fire, heat and shockwaves as the Fusion reactor inside went critical, releasing Fusion-grade Plasma into the world, much more potent than the standard Plasma Grenades used by the Imperium. I smirked slightly as I saw the melted rock and the remains of the once imposing driller that had been reduced to melted slag, absently, I heard the cry of a Mekboy as he swore vengeance upon me. I didn't give him more than a passing glance before a Plasma beam shot through his chest.
I smirked, they were ready.
Glancing back over one shoulder even as I kept fighting, I saw the combat machines I had created standing tall as they started to wade into the swarm of soon-to-be-dead Orks. They stood almost as tall as a Space Marine, roughly three metres tall with massive, hulking bodies, and proportioned more like gorillas than Humans with massive arms that came down to their ankles, with equally big hands, small legs, wide chests and a head that was recessed between its massive shoulders with only a trio of red optics and no visible neck. These were Massacre-class War machines, technically classed as Golem-shaped siege engines designed to make small breaks in fortifications for more MoI forces to advance, they actually had rather impressive service records when it came to fighting Orks.
And I had built twenty of them.
"Advance. Exterminate." I commanded verbally while sending instructions through my DNI towards the machines, which responded immediately. As one, they started moving into the crowd of Greenskins, powerful arms swinging and attacking as they hit with the force of small tanks moving and significant speed. I almost chuckled when I saw one Ork be sent flying before impacting a wall, leaving a rather messy, and distinctly green, stain on the wall as others started deploying weapons. Mega-armored Nobz were countered by their heavy firepower in Plasma Beams and miniature Neutron Lasers, swarms of Grots and Snotlings were exterminated to the last by Plasma-based Flamers and Eradication Beams. Return fire was ignored with insulting ease as it bounced of Flare Shields, Automatic Shielding and their heavily armored bulk.
The Greentide smashed against my advancing Bulwark.
The Bulwark found them wanting.
From there, I couldn't even call this a battle any longer, more like a slaughter as the machines advanced, even as shields failed, they kept going, the Orks having only managed to take one of the machines down throughout the entire conflict as I slowly took a backseat and just watched, occasionally offering support by throwing a telekinetically-assisted rock at one Ork or another, but that hardly mattered.
"Yer fink yer kan smash me, yer zogg'n 'umie toyz? 'der ain't no wun 'dat kan smash Bonecrakka! WAAAGH!" I saw the leading Warboss, and what few Boyz he had left, finally chose to kill themselves as they attacked the rapidly approaching wall of metal. The Warboss was fully armored in Mega-armor, a Power Klaw in one hand with what looked like a triplet of Imperial Lascannons that had been 'kustomized' on the other hand, his followers were armed with Sluggas and Shootas, but they hardly mattered. The surrounding Boyz died in moments as I took control of the machines for a moment as an idea came to me, moving faster than one would expect for a machine with their bulk, they grabbed the Warboss as he jumped at the nearest machine. The facade of slow, lumbering giants was broken within an instant as two of them grabbed the Warboss by his arms and legs, leaving him unable to do much beyond rage at the unfairness of it all, shouting and howling.
I ignored it as I moved forwards.
Eventually, I got within arm's reach of the creature, clamping my hand down, around its mouth to silence it as my armor retracted to allow my scaled hand to make skin contact. I grinned inside my armor as that happened, the Ork still trying to rage against me as I looked at it for a moment before I begun. Warp energy surged as I made the connection between my mind and this Ork's biology, not bothering to be careful or stealthy, I could be more thorough with my work as the connection was not as pleasant as that of the last time I did this, ensuring that the Ork howled with pain and rage, despite the fact that Orks generally had very little sense for pain. I felt my grin only grow as I dived deeper into the Ork's biology, passed the organs and blood, and into the creatures very DNA.
"Don't worry, my dear test subject, this will be rather painful." I remarked as tendrils of Warp energy started to rip into the Warboss's DNA, looking for details as the creature howled again in pain, louder than before. My smirk took on a sinister light.
"What comes next... Only more so..."
XXX
Ok, so, turns out that the Old Ones were a hell of a lot more powerful and advanced than I had realized. Yeah, I knew they were bloody advanced when it came to Warp sciences along with engineering sapient races, but then again, simply hearing about these things is one thing, seeing it is a whole different kettle of fish.
The Orks, frankly, were incredible, simply from an genetic engineering stand point. Their DNA was hardcoded with dozens of complex behavioral subroutines with even more filled with what looked like psychic thresholds to allow the creation of individuals that are then granted access to specific sections of this data. Mekboyz are granted access to sections regarding technology, Painboyz are granted information on Ork biology while others gain information on a dozen different topics or gain new patterns of behavior. This was all based on those same thresholds I had mentioned, designed to function once an Ork population had reached a certain critical mass before it started effecting them, working more like minimum and maximum margins for when to start producing individuals and the ratio when compared to the rest of the Ork population in a given area.
It was pure genius, there were simply no other words for it, and the best part was that, unless someone knew about this, then they would think that the spawning of these individuals was completely random, at best. Then again, that was never in doubt when one considers the sheer age and power that the Old Ones had before they were wiped out by the Enslavers.
Still, while that was all fascinating, I had my eyes on a different prize.
Their psychic field.
Turns out, I was wrong, they did use the Warp to work, but only in the way that they seemed to make use of the twisting, malleable physics of the hell realm. Not only that, but their field served as a one-way system that kept all of the emotional energy trapped within a bottomless bottle while allowing Warp energy in, after being heavily filtered and purified of the influence of the Beings of the Warp, to enrich said emotional energy. The end result was that Orks could simply tell physics to fuck off and allowed them to build things that, by all rights, should not work, such as simply having a picture of an engine saying Vroom! instead of an actual engine and, yet, still having that vehicle still working just as well when driven by an Ork.
More important still, I now know how to, sort of, replicate the field to one degree or another. The initial information of the Ork's field, now known to me in a great amount of detail, was enough for my mind to start working on my own version of it.
I contemplated all of this as I teleported back to my Home base aboard the Indomitable, humming a nice tune to myself as I took my new Massacre along with me, the nineteen machines standing strong even, even looking clean after I left the refuge of the fight behind, only teleporting the machines themselves. Still, I made a note to go back at some point and finish grabbing the rest of that ship, salvaging it for startup materials for my future plans.
After all, it would have been a waste to simply leave such materials lying around, gathering dust, and a crime to leave such things in the hands of the Orks.
"I take it that you obtained all that you wished for?" I heard Taenera say as she floated behind me, her face covered with a knowing smirk as I just grinned in response.
"Yep. I was looking into the nature of the Orks Psychic fields to see if it would be possible to replicate them in the future, for a number of different reasons, but the main one being that, frankly speaking, it allows the Orks to channel the power of their own thoughts and emotions, amplified by slithers of Warp energy, to have a tangible effect on reality itself." I said as I beamed with excitement. The Spirit simply chuckled at that, nodding at what I said.
"True enough, the Krork were potent weapons back during the War, their collective beliefs were strong enough to hold back the tide of unliving metal more than once, even pushing the Necrons back even more times than that." Taenera spoke, drawing my surprise at that as I caught something she said about the Krork.
"Do you mean that you, as in the Eldar people, viewed the Krork as little more than living weapons?" I asked, curious as to the answer as it might open up new lines of inquiry for me to investigate in the future. Taenera snorted at that, before losing it and laughing for a moment.
"Even the Old Ones looked at the Krork as little more than semi-sentient, Fungal-based, living weapons that would only serve as foot soldiers during the War once things got bad enough. After the War was finished, the Old Ones planned to remove the Krork from existence, since they posed too much of a danger without a clear enemy to fight. If I remember correctly, the Krork had a kill-code written into their genes that required a rather specific Psychic wave-pulse in order to trigger. However, once triggered, it would cause a cascade reaction that would kill all of them down to the last spore."
"How do you know all of this?" I asked, curiosity growing as I considered what was said. Taenera merely offered a shrug before speaking once more.
"The same way I know about some of the features of the Spirit Stones given to us by the Old Ones and how to craft my own weapons from Wraithbone; Once you got to a high enough rank, the Old Ones pulled you to one side and started teaching you about some of the more advanced tricks they had picked up in their long existence. Sure, we never got anywhere near their level, but we did get a lot more powerful by the standards of our race." Once more, I got distracted by another point that she raised, as I considered it before speaking.
"Wait, what other features do the Spirit Stones have? I thought those were just vessels to contain a person's soul after death, were they different back during those times?" I asked, getting a nod in turn.
"The 'Modern' Spirit Stones are complete rubbish when compared to the ones we fought the Necrons with. Each one held a small sample of our blood that could, if the soul contained within it was skilled and powerful enough, be used to regrow their bodies while on the battlefield while complex Wards would recloth them in the armor that was on their dead bodies." That got a raised eyebrow from me, begging another question.
"Then why haven't you managed to regrow your body? I would have thought that you would have done so well before I had arrived on Junkheap." I questioned as she turned her head down, seemingly in shame as I looked on.
"... My Spirit Stone took damage while I slept within it, a crack formed that caused the sample of DNA to be fouled, millions of years ensured that it was reduced to dust and, while I have a passable skill in Biomancy, I lack the skills to recreate my body from scratch. My abilities with Biomancy were staged around using pre-existing materials to create something or for First aid in the field. Unless you are willing to find a fresh body for me, then I'm going to be stuck like this for a significant amount of time."Taenera remarked with a forlorn resignation and acceptance of her situation that, honestly, didn't sit well with me one bit. I made a mental note to see about creating a new body for her at some point, maybe some time in the future, but that was a while off yet.
"I'm sorry." Were the only words I offered as I sent feelings of reassurance through the bond to her, resulting in her face brightening up as I felt her presence covering me like a cloak, feelings of happiness and comfort filling it as we both lapsed into a comfortable silence.
XXX
Ten years.
That is how long it had been since I had first arrived on Junkheap, eight since I had run into Taenera, and so far, things had been going well. I had managed to create a kind of existence on the forsaken planet while the Eldar spirit worked to help me master much of what she knew, some of it simply not being possible to teach due to her own lack of a body since the more physical training required a more... Hands-on approach, much more than just transferring memories to me. For that matter, I had grown close to Taenera, enough to think of her as a friend while we talked and joked and chatted about this and that, often to the point that we'd descend into hysterics and laughter before calming ourselves down.
It was nice, especially to have someone to talk to besides myself, especially given that for the first two years, the only company I had were the Orks, and they were more inclined to shoot me rather than have a nice discussion about this and that.
Still, as I worked in a spare chamber I had made, I smiled as I looked at the work before me, the product of the last five years of effort, research and experimentation all made whole.
The beginnings of my army.
Before me, arranged in rows of thirty that went thirty lines deep, were massive containers, their front sections being made from a transparent metal alloy as to allow me to see the progress of each of the individuals inside of the cylinders that held them. Each individual was floating within these cylindrical chambers, held in place by a thick, viscous liquid that was highly oxygenated to allow for a person to breath it, around them, numerous tubes and needles connected to the individual while sensors within the chambers reported the status of each individual to me, either through the control terminal at the front of the room, or to the DNI that was connected to my armor.
Glancing back down, I picked one individual to check over before making the final preparations. A thought-command later and I had a file displayed in front of me by holographic projectors, displaying one of the 450 males that made up the total population of beings. I looked at the image, examining the creature before looking over the data with more interest.
On the outside, the being looked completely Human, but on the inside... Well, that was a completely different story.
Inside, these creatures were rather far removed from Humans, they'd still count as a sub-species, but that might have been pushing it by the... Generous tolerances of the Imperium. These beings were fully augmented from their moment of inception, carrying the same augments that I had found within the Void Marines, only designed to be self-propagating to allow for every member of this new race to have the same abilities. To ensure this would happen, the beings had two sets of circulatory systems a primary one and two backups, all lined with capillary muscles in case any of the Hearts were two damaged to handle the strain of pumping the life giving liquids around the body. Of the two circulatory systems, one was what one would expect from a normal Human, carrying red and white blood cells along with everything else that one would expect, plus a few other things like the Dark Age equivalent of the Larraman cells, only much more effective. The second circulatory systems carried something else entirely: A stream of self-replicating nanites that were incapable of existing outside the body of their hosts, allowing for my creations to be truly Techno-organic beings from birth.
As a result, not only did they have their full set of bio-chemical, genetic and biological augments, but they also had the same cybernetic augments, modified slightly to allow for their growth and changes over time. However, the biggest thing in my opinion, was the Psychic field that these beings would share between themselves, acting like a semi-hivemind presence with the added function of allowing their collective will to alter reality, I was rather proud of it since I also decided to add a system to create pseudo-Psykers that could harness this energy. Sure, all of these beings could harness the field's power, but that was more of a passive thing, infusing them with more strength the longer they lived. By my calculations, at this moment, they were about at the halfway point between Imperial Guard Stormtroopers, and Space Marines, that could change in time, but that kind of thing was a long way off.
Turning back to the image, I noted the cyan lines visible through the skin, tracing over the body as I smiled slightly, it reminded me of the main character of an old game I quite enjoyed, Too Human, it was called.
In that theme, I had also named the Field that connected them as the ODIN Field, one of the main building blocks of my Aesir
What? I liked that game, Damnit!
"Well... Here goes nothing..." I muttered to myself as I flipped the last switch.
The effect was instantaneous. Throughout the room, the pods, which had been angled back, slowly moved to stand straight up as machinery moved within the pods to place clothes on their un-moving bodies to give them some aspect of modesty. While they had slept, I had used the technology around me to program their minds, planting knowledge into their brains so that they would know a few things before waking up.
The first thing they would know would be that I had created them. The second would be that I had created them to help me in the purpose of protecting Humanity, even from itself if needed. The third would be that I was not going to force them to be my slaves if they refused to obey me, mostly because, once more, I found the idea of slavery rather... Distasteful. Along with that, I uploaded information about culture, technology, history and information about themselves, what they were capable of and what they might be facing. I also uploaded the name of their race, but aside from that, I left them entirely alone, I knew that even while they remained in an unconscious state, they were still aware, if only because of their ODIN Field, allowing them to process this influx of information.
In total, I was willing to give them a purpose, but I wasn't willing to force them to accept it, nor did I want mindless, flesh-automatons that would do as I wished, I wanted a people who would be willing to stand by me through thick and thin, one that could evolve and develop of their own accord, even making their own culture.
Finally, I was brought out of my musings as the first pod opened, the first Aesir almost falling out before catching herself and looking around as she stood up to her full height of almost 2.5 metres tall, since the height of these beings was variable within a range of 2.1 metres all the way to just under my own hulking 2.85 metres at 2.8 metres tall. The woman before me was actually rather average in terms of height as she suddenly caught sight of me, her gaze looked and her face in an unreadable expression as she started walking forwards, her nanites preventing muscle atrophy as I took a moment to look her over.
She was tall, which went without saying, well toned with perfectly built muscles covering her frame while cream skin was stretched across that, skin I knew could take a .50 calibur bullet and come out of it with only a small bruise. Bright red hair flowed down from her head, forming waves that went down to her waist while ice-blue eyes looked at me with an expression of utter focus, lines of cyan visible around her face and other exposed areas of skin not covered by the grey shorts and vest-top that was put on her. Her face, as most would consider it, would have been quite beautiful by Human standards, delicate features that hid her true strength while body, likewise, was something that even the most beautiful would have sold their souls to Slaanesh for a chase to have even a tenth of her beauty, with a generous chest, a thin waist, wide hips and mile long legs.
As she approached, I stood from my chair and steeled myself, my powers at the back of my mind as I made ready to construct a new suit of armor over my clothes, a black T-shirt, a pair of Jeans and some boots, all made for my size through my powers. Of course, it seemed that my worries were for not when I saw what the woman did once she was within two metres of me.
She kneeled.
"Great-Father. What is your command?" She asked as she kept her face turned to the floor, around her, the others soon joined her, walking forwards and kneeling as I realized what she had called me.
I couldn't help but smirk at that. It seemed they had taken after the Norse mythos that I had given them.
XXX
"... What?" I can honestly say, the sight of Taenera dumbstruck, her eyes wide and her mouth hanging open to such an extent that I almost thought that she had unhinged her jaw, would forever be one of my most cherished memories, if only because she could be one hell of a smartass at times. Still, I rolled my eyes at her question before repeating what I just said, a smug smile slipping on to my lips, completely against my will, of course.
"I said." I began. "That I believe that I can give you a body again, not an Eldar body, unfortunately, but a Human one similar to that of the Aesir that I created, I could even modify it further with Psychic-Warp energy batteries to give you better endurance while using the powers of the Sea of Souls. Upgrade it to be even stronger, faster, more durable, and-"
"I heard you the first time, Marcus" The Spirit cut me off as I started heading back into a more in-depth explanation as to what I could do to the new body at her suggestion, but she rolled her eyes and offered me an indulgent smile. "I just find it surprising that you are even offering me this. I was under the impression that you disliked my kind and preferred me as... Well-" She waved her hand through a bulkhead to prove her point of her own ghostly nature. That resulted in it being my turn to roll my eyes.
"I never said that, though I will admit that I dislike the modern day Eldar on general principle due to the shit they've caused to the wider Humanity. I'm willing to change my opinions based on the actions of specific groups or individuals, but unless the entire race changes, then my opinion of them will remain the same. You, however, are rather distinct from the modern day Eldar, as, based on your memories, I have long since classed the Eldar of your time and the Eldar the current era as two different entities. Something that, I suppose, would be rather easy to consider, especially when you consider that you will be looking at over sixty million years of genetic drift." I stated, muttering that last statement as the thought of Taenera being considered a different race due to the sheer amount of time that had passed was something of an interesting concept.
"... I... Thank you, Marcus. And yes, I accept your offer of creating a new body for me. Modify it as you wish, the appearance is of little consequence since I can modify it back to look like myself once I'm finished." I nod at that as I turn back to the control terminal which I was seated at, a single Birthing Pod already prepared as I pressed a button and watched as the process began before glancing over my shoulder to give one passing remark at the at the floating Eldar Spirit.
"Ya'know, if I really wanted to, I could have ordered you to accept the new body and you would have been forced to obey due to the nature of that Bond you made with me." I remarked as she smiled at that, a glint of amusement in her eyes.
"And yet, you didn't. I know you, Marcus, and I know that you find slavery in any form to be a disgusting action, one that, while you can understand and even tolerate in specific circumstances, you will never condone or practice yourself. I know you well enough to know that you would never use such an option unless it was absolutely required of you, otherwise, you will move to convince me to accept something, but if I refuse all your attempts, you will simply let the subject drop and move on. Eight years of existing beside you have taught me that much." She replied with a smirk, causing me to smirk in turn as I turned back to the holograms before me.
"True enough." I remarked as I looked at the rapidly forged body, going from an embryo to a fully grown adult body of twenty years old within a minute, a few scans showed that the augments were holding steady as I checked and double checked everything, nodding to myself as all the standard stuff was present before looking through the other options. I frowned slightly as I considered what to add, before I smiled slightly.
When in doubt, go overboard.
The first thing I did was hollow out the bones of the new body, replacing the marrow with batteries of crystalline material designed to store Warp energy and release it at the command of the Psyker, specialized organs soon appeared within the body that would produce blood cells to ensure that she wasn't damaged by the change. Following that, I implanted stronger versions of most of the augments before lacing her bones with Phase Iron particles and placing Psi-Jammers in her skull, I knew she could ignore the effects of both, having fought with her Psychic powers on battlefields covered by Null Matrixes and Gloom Prisms, these wouldn't even bother her. Lastly, the nerves of her new body were replaced with semi-organic superconductors, while her muscle density was increased well beyond that of the Aesir and laced with even better myomer fibres. By the time the body was finished, she was looking at the pod with great anticipation for becoming a physical being yet again even as I added a finishing touch, Psi-reactive implant that could, if she wished, connect her to the ODIN Field to use as either her go-to method of drawing power, or her last resort.
With the body finished, I pressed a few more buttons before watching as the fluid drained from the pod, mechanical arms holding the body up as I watched the hatch open up, clothes already being present on the body. Honestly, the task of creating a souless, but living body for Taenera was rather easy, all I needed to do was encase the Pod with Phase Iron and ensure that no connection to the Warp was formed as the body was created, preventing a new soul from being born. Turning to Taenera, I gestured towards the pod with my head.
"On you go." I remarked as she beamed at me before shooting off from her position behind me, not even bothering to move around any obstacles as she phased right through them, including my shoulder. The contact made it feel like someone had suddenly dumped a bucket of liquid nitrogen over my shoulder before I shook off the feeling and got up from my seat. I looked up just in time to see Taenera disappear into her new body, I was already moving around when I saw it start twitching, eyes moving behind closed eyelids before it started to fall from the mechanical arms holding it up.
What happened next took several moments for me to actually process.
Instead of falling to the ground like I expected, Taenera gained control of her body and accelerated, enhancing her body through the powers of the Warp as I suddenly found myself slammed to the ground with her lying on top of me. Looking at her, I saw that her facial features having already shifted back to her original features along with her hair, though she had kept as Human ears rather than Eldar ears, I saw her emerald eyes shining with something I couldn't quite identify as her hands slipped around the back of my neck even as I lay on the ground with her on top. Though, even then, I still noticed that her body was a lot more... Generous than I had believed with the armor her Spirit-self had worm, with a large chest, flawless skin, a thin waist and long, well toned legs that just went on and on.
Leaning forwards, I was brought out of my musings as Taenera whispered something that I almost didn't catch.
"Thank you..." She said, her voice so quiet and so filled with emotions that I almost missed it, I went to speak, to tell her that she had no need for thanking me for something that I would have gladly done. However, I never got the chance.
Because moments later, my mouth was playing host to her tongue as she smashed her lips into mine and used her new-found strength to drag me to her. I didn't even react, so caught up in the surprising turn of events that my mind went blank for a moment.
Though, I did have one thought running through my mind: Her lips tasted like strawberries...
XXX
Standing in full armor had never really bothered me, now, as I stood before a crowd of my own creations, though...
It felt different.
Ten years of on and off fighting against the Orks had caused me to repeatedly change my armor to serve my purposes until it had reached the current form that it stood in, a form that now stood before the assembled might of over nine hundred Aesir. It was sleek, more form fitting and made from multiple plates that looked to be solidified darkness that drank in the light of the surrounding area, making it near impossible to find if it stood in the shadows. The armor was based off of the final form of Ultron from Avengers: Age of Ultron, but with a different head, one that was a simple, featureless mask with only two red lenses, lacking any expression beyond an intimidating stare. However, for now, that helmet was retracted into the collar and neck of my armor as I looked at the gathered warriors before me.
All of them stood at attention, weapons held at the ready as they remained sealed within their armors. Over seven hundred of them wore what I considered as 'Standard infantry armor', the rest of the Galaxy might disagree, but they could go fuck themselves for all I cared, while the remaining two hundred wore much heavier armor that increased their height quite significantly. Those wearing the Standard armor looked like they were wearing the USIF Powered Assault Armor from Section 8, specifically, they looked like they were wearing the Blitz variant with a dull black, non-reflective finish. I had recreated the armor, and the weapons to go with it, due to both a love of the game and because the armor and weapons had some rather good features to them, though, I did turn most of the weapons into Las-weapons, with exceptions of the Sniper Rifle, Shotgun and Rocket Launcher. These were turned into a Nano-Shredder, a Meltagun and a high-powered Missile launcher, respectively.
Those wearing the Heavier stuff, well, they looked like they were wearing an all black version of the Medium armors from Anthem, the new game that I saw was coming out. I had seen the trailer for, along with the first look at gameplay, before I had been yanked, and I had liked the look of it. They were armed with dual-purpose rifles that had two modes; An Accelerator Cannon and a High-powered Las-talon. On each shoulder, they carried a different weapon, the right carrying a Metal Storm style Micro-Missile Launcher while the other held a Plasma Mortar of significant power.
Looking around, I could honestly say I was rather happy with what I saw, especially as I watched Taenera moving to stand by my side, closer than a bodyguard should, but definitely behind my shoulder to show her willingness to follow my lead. She was decked out in a suit of armor quite like that of the Standard, however, the armor plating was laced with silver and she had four canisters jutting out the back of the armor, one on each shoulder, angled upwards, while another two came from her lower back, angled down and outwards. These canisters were as big as a person's forearm and filled to the brim with more Warp-Psychic batteries, a new pattern of armor meant for the Pseudo-Psykers that would fill the ranks at some point. Her weapon was another example of that, a staff laced with Warp-conductive materials with a neural link to the user, made of black metal and tipped with a triplet of blades that all encircled the centre of the staff pole, where a needle-like protrusion extended above them.
I nodded to her as I glanced back at the warriors standing at the ready.
It was time to get things moving.
"Warriors of the Aesir! Lend me your ears!" I commanded as they stood at attention, if their full attention wasn't on me already, it was now.
"I forged you to act as Humanity's Sword and Shield, against any, and all, possible threats, even the self-destructive nature of man itself, I created you, not as slaves, but protectors of those that would suffer under the watch of the corrupt, the immoral, the bigoted and the avarice. Today, you shall show me whether you are up to the task of carrying this out. Today, you shall show me if I had made the right decision in giving you life and placing this burden upon your shoulders. Today! I shall see you baptized in blood and fire! I shall see your wills tested, your strength examined and your spirit challenged! Will I find you wanting?!" I shouted, asking them as I was giving the pre-battle speech for what was ahead.
"Never!" Came the answering cry from nine hundred lips, speaking as one voice, one people, one mind. I smiled as I continued onwards.
"Then, my Aesir, I will tell you this! You will be the Warm breath that melts the Ice of this Age!" I shouted.
"We are the Wolf." They responded, I frowned slightly as I wondered how they had responded like that, even as I carried on, mentally looking through my mind for a connection to them before I found none.
"You shall free this existence of cold stagnation!"
"We are the Bear!"
"With a single moment, a defining purpose becomes clear!"
"We are the Aesir!" The roared. I smiled at that, still confused as to what was happening until I felt Taenera brush against my mind, indicating something to me as I suddenly saw what was happening... And I smiled as a result.
"And it will be by your hands, Humanity shall be saved!" I shouted, my response was a wordless roar of approval as I felt their approval of my message, their want to prove men right, I hadn't even noticed the connection between myself and the others, not even knowing that I had become a part of the ODIN Field, but it seemed that I had, and my thoughts had influenced them into answering my speech the way they had. I had merely gone with the flow. Smirking at that, a thought-command summoned my helmet as I looked towards them, a surge of Warp energy building around me as I teleported my Massacres to me.
All fifty of them.
I smirked at that, the machines standing at the ready while I looked at the crowd before me. They were ready, they were prepared, and they were waiting for a chance to cut their teeth on the flesh of their enemies. Without another sound, reality suddenly twisted as I poured my powers into the air around me, seizing over 951 people, not counting myself, and then throwing them through the Warp towards our target.
It was time the Orks learned that there was a new Landlord on Junkheap.
And the Orks were a few millennia overdue rent, but that was okay, we were perfectly willing to accept other forms of payment.
Their blood being one such payment method, by the litre.