---o---
The Blood Ravens stared at the three Kastelan Robots carrying their master balanced on top of their heads, moving with that very particular aura of sneaky guilt that the Blood Ravens knew with painful familiarity. For some reason they felt a very powerful and deeply uncomfortable sense of déjà vu.
They weren't entirely wrong about that. Zhou Ye had repurposed the AI from their own Dreadnought as the navigational and scouting core for his grave-robbing and treasure-hunting expeditions, and had used it as the foundation for all three robots' base programming. All three were essentially copy-pasted from the same source.
Which was why all three moved in perfect synchrony — and why they gave the Blood Ravens such an unnervingly familiar feeling.
But the Blood Ravens' attention wasn't really there right now. Truth be told, among all the Chapters involved in this operation, the Blood Ravens and the White Scars had always gotten along best. One look at the expressions on those White Scars warriors' faces told them that everything they had heard was real.
Gene-seed was, after all, a profoundly mysterious and inexplicable thing. They had heard only a fragment of those stories, and their blood was already singing. It told all of them, without a single word spoken: these stories are true.
"Ancient Omega is an incredibly ancient and kind elder. I still want to hear him tell more stories."
By now, Qin Meng had changed the way he referred to Zhou Ye entirely. This Ancient's stories were carved into the very bloodline of the White Scars. Even their own Chapter's Dreadnought Ancients had never told it this well — it had felt like witnessing the events in person.
The White Scars, for their own particular reasons, had never had many Dreadnoughts to call upon.
The White Scars Astartes present felt something close to tears pressing at the backs of their eyes. To hear an Ancient speak — to have the stories written into their very blood from ages long past finally given voice — it gave them a feeling that could only be described as deep, aching joy.
"Who exactly is that man. He seems to know the Primarch's secrets. And he may be older than even I had imagined. By the Emperor — no, wait. By that point, the Emperor hadn't even gone to Mars to bring the Mechanicus to heel yet. Has this person been following the Emperor since before that? Once things wrap up here I need to go back immediately and dig through whatever records I can find. If his identity can be verified, Mars is going to lose its mind."
Chris's head was buzzing like something was about to burst straight out of it.
"I'll need solid evidence first. Otherwise those lunatics on Mars might just tear me apart."
He had some idea now of what he was dealing with. A man whose mind likely held vast quantities of knowledge from the Dark Age of Technology. Knowledge that would be enough to drive certain people completely insane.
In the Imperium, it was very easy for something good to become something catastrophically abstract. And he suspected this person would not be returning to Holy Terra any time soon.
"Once Ancient Omega sobers up, we're going to find him and ask him to continue the story."
Difficult as it was to admit, this top-laner from Chogoris had to concede that Zhou Ye told it better than their own Dreadnought Ancients and Librarians. To the point where he felt, just slightly, like he was starting to find his Chapter's own record-keepers a bit lacking by comparison. Not something he could ever say out loud.
"What a shame..."
The Blood Ravens felt a deep, gnawing ache in their hearts. An existence this ancient must have relics beyond counting. But unfortunately the man had concealed everything far too well — they had come away with nothing. And so, operating on the perfectly reasonable logic of well-we-came-all-this-way, they had quietly and discreetly packaged up several of the sacred Necron warriors as rare specimens, sealed them inside a stasis field, and had them hauled back to their cruiser overnight.
Meanwhile, while everyone else's thoughts were elsewhere....
"Damn it. Malcador. What exactly did the Golden Fiend say???"
As someone who was, much like Guilliman, about as psychically sensitive as a brick wall, he hadn't been able to fully grasp the details of whatever message the Emperor had been conveying. That thing on the Golden Throne had been muttering on and on about Malcador — had it been sitting on that toilet for ten thousand years and gone completely senile? Whatever. This was not a place he could afford to stick around in any longer. Fish dies, net breaks — he was leaving tonight.
Besides, according to Ai-chan, the pollution had fully cleared. He was free to resume his journey. This world had already reached the state it was in. Since the Golden Fiend himself had already made an appearance, it was a perfectly fine time to slip away.
So after leaving a brief message at the local Mechanicus shrine, Zhou Ye gathered his things and launched himself straight up into the sky.
He punched through the atmosphere in an instant, then snapped his fingers. The Hyperion materialized around him, shields raised and humming. He stepped aboard and stretched out with great satisfaction.
"Good haul this time. Energy reserves are well stocked. The grease monkey disguise is starting to draw too much attention — time to change skins. I suppose I'll reluctantly settle for passing myself off as a Chapter Master. Oh, and — initiate a direct jump."
That settled, Zhou Ye waved a hand and began pulling things out. Space Marine power armor, bolt rifle, chainsword — and quite a bit more besides, all quietly relieved from the Blood Ravens' cruiser on his way back up. Inside that haul were suits of Terminator armor, Centurion armor, and an entire pile of other gear.
But for Zhou Ye, these were nothing more than reference samples. He had pressed them against the STC Universal Printer, produced a copy of each, and returned the originals. Losing even one piece of this kit would have the Blood Ravens absolutely losing their minds.
Borrowing the weapons and equipment of people like this, Zhou Ye felt not even the faintest shadow of guilt.
"Initiate next jump sequence. We need to proceed to the next world. Preferably a feral world, or an uninhabited mineral world. Somewhere I can work on you — see if I can reshape the exterior into something that passes for a cruiser. Or even a Battle Barge would do."
In that moment Zhou Ye voiced the thought that had been quietly nagging at him. The Hyperion was simply too small. Pulled out next to other factions' ships, it was a full size class smaller. Somewhat embarrassing, if he was being honest.
In this universe, bigger, better, and harder was the only law. And since he didn't travel through the Warp anyway, he had nothing lurking inside the hull to worry about.
"Captain, can you arrange an assistant for me?"
"Hm?"
"For ship maintenance. I noticed this world had Servitors."
"Those things? Absolutely not. Don't even suggest it."
Zhou Ye's entire body radiated visceral revulsion. Those things had thoroughly disgusted him. He couldn't care less what other people used, but making one himself was completely out of the question.
"Don't worry. I'll put together an Armed Puppet. She can handle the maintenance. Klein would be a great model actually. I'll write 'chronic overworker' into her base code. Look at me — I'm much kinder than you'd think."
Muttering quietly to himself, Zhou Ye turned and headed off to start building his puppet.
---o---
The following day. Aestia Hive City.
"Ancient Omega...."
After waiting several days with no sign of the Omega Priest emerging, the dozen or so White Scars began to feel something was off. They made their way to the doors of the Mechanicus shrine and knocked.
The door swung open.
"???"
Inside — an empty hall. And a single envelope.
Several hands reached for it.
Moments later....
"No!!!"
Waves of anguished cries rolled through the great hall. The grief in their voices was so profound that even the nearby Cherub broke into a cold sweat.