Guilliman had initially assumed the proposal he put forward constituted the entirety of the transaction. However, for Axion, it was merely one component of the deal. This unexpected windfall left the Primarch in a state of uncharacteristic hesitation.
"If the request I make fails to meet your criteria for assessment, may I amend it?"
Axion nodded.
"Certainly. Should a request prove unassessable, I shall suggest how you might modify your petition and offer projections regarding its feasibility."
"What of the total eradication of all xenos lifeforms within the borders of the Imperium?" Guilliman asked, testing the waters.
Axion's response was nearly instantaneous.
"Based on extant data, the eradication of all xenos within Imperial territory would require a gargantuan expenditure of resources; it does not meet the prerequisite conditions. Unless the Imperium surrenders one-third of the galaxy's planetary bodies for resource refinement, this objective cannot be achieved."
For Axion, the most problematic of the Imperium's enemies were currently the Necrons. Current intelligence indicated they alone possessed a sufficiently advanced technological plateau; in a state of total war, the Iron Men might suffer a tactical disadvantage, leading to an escalated attrition rate. If necessary, Axion preferred a war of total annihilation to minimize material loss. However, such an outcome would result in the literal disappearance of millions of worlds and hundreds of thousands of star systems.
To the Iron Men, this was an acceptable cost. To the Imperium, based on his current understanding, it would be an utterly intolerable choice.
"Then... find a way to seal the Cicatrix Maledictum?"
"Current technical repositories are insufficient. Assessment impossible."
…
Treating the Iron Man as a mechanical wishing-engine, Guilliman proposed a litany of ambitions that would have made even the Emperor recoil. The results, however, remained startlingly consistent.
"Assessment denied. Please submit a proposal with a higher probability of feasibility."
As the negotiations reached an impasse, Guilliman realized he had perhaps been too avaricious. This additional petition was an unexpected boon, and the Emperor still held an unactivated pact with the Iron Men. Ultimately, humanity would still have to face the malignant threat of the Warp, and Guilliman needed to preserve some additional stratagems for the Imperium's future.
"I require all Aeldari currently held upon your vessels."
"Negative. The Aeldari of the Masque of the Playful Scream arrived voluntarily to assist this unit's operations; this unit has no authority over their ultimate disposition. I can only provide the Aeldari refugees currently in temporary containment."
Guilliman's lip twitched imperceptibly.
Aeldari refugees. Those were the xenos he had taken captive after shattering their fleet.
As for the "Masque of the Playful Scream," Guilliman had never heard of them, but it was clear these "volunteers" were not the Craftworld Aeldari Yvraine had spoken of. Having reached a conclusion, Guilliman nodded.
"Then I want all the refugees and their Spirit Stones."
"Please designate a specific method of delivery."
"Method of delivery?" Guilliman paused. "Transshipping them to my fleet won't—" Suddenly, he recalled the footage Axion had displayed. "How many refugees are we discussing?"
"A total of 1,045,228 individuals. Among them, 372,675 possess active psychic capacity, including Farseers, Captains, Warlocks, high-ranking commanders, and Aspect Warriors. The remaining 672,553 consist of crew and civilians with negligible psychic sensitivity. Spirit Stones total 752,214 units (with a loss of 10,000 units)."
Guilliman's expression shifted to one of quiet exasperation. Yvraine had not told him exactly how many people the Iron Man had seized. She had merely asked him to attempt to negotiate for the release of the captives and their stones.
Over a million souls captured.
Regaining his composure, Guilliman asked out of genuine curiosity, "How did you manage to capture so many Aeldari?"
Axion found the Primarch's curiosity unremarkable. A holographic display flickered to life, projecting a miniaturized theatre of the void war.
The gargantuan Titan's Spear, accompanied by the Iron Man fleet, unleashed a synchronized salvo that evaporated the numerically inferior Necron vessels. Meanwhile, a massive Aeldari fleet of over a hundred ships was rapidly dismantled as the Iron Man assault cruisers, each the size of an Imperial Battleship, plowed through their formations with relentless force.
What followed was a protracted, ant-like extraction process. Countless transport craft swarmed the stricken Aeldari husks, recovering personnel. The sight of Spirit Stones being loaded into cargo holds by the crate-load, like common rubble, left Guilliman stunned.
The Aeldari fleet, which ton-for-ton could outmaneuver and harass an Imperial battlegroup, appeared pathetically fragile before the over-engineered warships of the Iron Men.
Neither Guilliman nor Axion fully grasped that modern Aeldari fleets lacked true capital ships; their largest vessels, barring the Craftworlds themselves, were merely Battlecruisers. The secrets of forging true Battleships had long been lost to them. For millennia, Imperial Battleships had only been dueling these lighter cruisers. Conversely, the Iron Man flagships were the very dreadnoughts designed to trade blows with the Aeldari Battleships of the ancient Federation era.
Faced with such a staggering number of Aeldari, Guilliman found himself in a logistical quandary. He ultimately decided to leave the xenos aboard Axion's ship for a few more days, effectively using them as temporary "energy production units."
Once Axion had departed, Guilliman let out a heavy, weary exhale. He reached into his desk, retrieved a certain ring, and lapsed into hesitation.
Yvraine was an alien, after all. Handing over such a significant Aeldari military force to her caused him no small amount of concern. She had been sparse with the details during their previous meeting, which only deepened his unease. Although he owed her a debt, her intervention having been vital to his resurrection, his current actions were, strictly speaking, contrary to the best interests of the Imperium.
Guilliman looked at the ring in his hand and finally made his decision. If the Iron Men could capture them once, they could do it again. As long as the Emperor's pact with the Iron Men was brought to fruition, the Master of Mankind's Great Work might yet be realized.
…
Days later, Axion took command of the Titan's Spear, detaching from the main fleet to reach a desolate system on the fringes of Segmentum Solar. There, he offloaded the Aeldari captives onto a barren world with a lethal atmosphere and zero strategic value.
Most of the captives appeared sickly. During the transit to these coordinates, Axion had extracted as much psychic energy from the Aeldari as possible without killing them, stockpiling tens of thousands of Psychic Crystals. While this process resulted in a temporary degradation of psychic potency for many, it was of little consequence; with rest, their levels would eventually stabilize.
On the windswept surface of the wasteland planet, a large contingent of Ynnari clad in red and black waited, led by Yvraine. Massive transport wings formed a continuous line from orbit to the surface.
Thousands upon thousands of Aeldari in the blue and yellow hues of Alaitoc were handed over in waves. The survivors of Craftworld Alaitoc looked upon their kin with profound complexity; some even whispered suspicions that their ambush had been orchestrated by these radical Ynnari.
Axion, however, cared nothing for xenos politics. Recognizing Yvraine from his data-logs, he quickly calculated that Guilliman was likely settling a debt of honor.
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