40 Thousand Reasons

Chapter 194: Magpie

Preparations for the departure continued over the next week, sometimes overtly, with Navy ships moving in formation with the Lamenter fleet at Jupiter, and supply vessels bringing aboard extra rations, torpedoes and Nova Shells.

Other preparations were more covert, stealth shuttles docking in secret with the Singularity and unloading their mysterious payload of operatives and advanced Machine Spirits.

For example, the pair from the Synopticon was formed from a fully mechanical enginseer, with no organic matter at all inside, and teenage-looking boy with green hair and a single dataslate hanging from his belt.

The boy walked right to me and examined me for a minute. "At least you have a mind implant, Astartes. Perhaps this mission will not make me tear my hair out, again." he declared in a superior tone.

I smiled kindly, and switched to Manifold circuit talking. "Just make sure we have advanced warning if the Navy ships go traitor. Do you need special clearance to install your vox-thieves and whatever surveillance devices you normally use?"

With a wry smirk, the boy glanced at his mechanical companion. "I stole this Sicarian_Infiltrator and upgraded it with the best tech available in the Imperium. It even has Clavis overrides for secure vaults surveillance. There is basically nowhere it cannot go."

"And I also want pressure plates installed around the main reactors and the Gellar fields generators. Even invisible enemies have to step on the floor, sometimes." I added with a second glance at the subverted Infiltrator. The boy was a geek, but a competent one going by this exploit. Stealing from the Mechanicus was never easy.

A string of code and green engrams flashed over the irises of the green-haired boy, and the machine cloaked itself and ran off, then vanished into a quite small air duct. I could keep track of it with the tesseract vision, but otherwise I would have taken a miracle to detect the invisible infiltrator.

"I'll be in my room, writing the new parameters for this mission, my lord. Potential enemies?" the boy asked in a bored voice.

"Mainly Necron, Eldar and Chaos. Perhaps some human faction as well, Officio Sabatorum, Assassinorum and Ordo Hereticus, Navigators and Dark Angels too." I revealed with a careless shrug. I did have plenty potential enemies.

The boy scratched his head in a rather comical display of confusion. "I'm not a miracle worker, Astartes. You better have some skill and luck of your own." he muttered in a tragic tone, and walked off without looking at me or around him at all. Eyes glued to his dataslate, and already adding more variables to his spying engrams.

A couple of hours later, I was lounging in the armchair, studying the hololith map of Cadia and its star system. Chaos and the Imperium had battled over the Fortress World for millennia and there was plenty of data to go through.

"The map is not the territory, Lord Lancefire. The Cadians themselves are the walls that defend humanity from Chaos." a gruff voice spoke over my shoulder.

I didn't turn or give any sign of surprise. After all, I did ask for a Culexus Assassin.

"Cadia...is not an Imperial Fortress, Assassin. Terra still had dinosaurs roaming its jungles, when Cadia was being fortified. The C'tan tasked the Necrons to construct the blackstone pillars, as part of their flat universe plan." I mused out loud, while highlighting the thousand of gigantic pillars raising into lower orbit.

"So, the pillars themselves are the weapons. Blackstone is famous for withstanding Warp damage and your ships are covered in it. Would the pillars work against a Chaos incursion? Dispel demons or suffocate psykers like a Tyranid Silence?" the voice asked, seeming curious.

"Probably they would. As a minor side effect. Anyway, your task is separate from this future battle. Ahriman. He is very difficult to kill, as he can shift timelines and vanish, leaving only an empty armor in his place. Thus, our plan must never threaten his life and close the second timeline. Or better said, we must catch him twice." I explained to the Pariah Assassin.

"Well, this is the first time I've been called to make sure my target doesn't die. But I am only one man, and can be in just one place. I hope you realize that, Pef Lancefire." the man answered in a thoughtful voice.

"Three rooms down the hall, there's a Solitaire Harlequin. He'll be the first timeline hammer, with Sister Stern as the bait. She can resurrect, so plan for it as well." I said in a casual voice, then focused back on the map.

The Cadians...yeah. They would not break, that was true. Now, what would Trazyn do?

I had to plan for the actions of a lunatic, and that wasn't going well.

Then, Inquisitor Greyfax will arrive as well, with her Custodes in tow. Plan for a miracle?

Yeah, not something really reliable, was it? Not for me, at least. My own sword lost its powers in a critical moment, just to give Darcy her moment of faith.

It was hard to plan around the Emperor, as he worked in mysterious ways.

Still, he would send a Saint again. He liked showing off. Probably Saint Celestine, or maybe young Darcy again.

Slowly, I began smiling as the fragments of a plan began assembling in my mind. Now that would be a great trick to play.

I held my left hand out, the armored glove filtering the dim light of the hologram and casting a dark shadow. Five Primarchs held in the tesseract labyrinth.

Angron, Lorgar, Perturabo, Mortarion held by me. And Fulgrim, with the Necron Lord.

It could work. I remembered the giant hand emerging from the Hadex Anomaly when it was forcefully closed. Definitely an enraged Chaos God, most likely Khorne. Now, Angron was himself a Daemon Prince of Khorne.

Would his sacrifice enrage Khorne enough? My guts said yes. The Empyrean construct was made of fury and carnage.

The Blackstone Fortress itself was a weapon meant to kill gods, Warp gods too with some help.

"You seem quite satisfied with yourself, Lord Lancefire." the Culexus Assassin observed in a level voice, once again appearing above my shoulder.

"You have a name, my friend?" I asked instead, turning a centimeter to catch the Pariah in my peripheral vision.

The Assassin hesitated for a second, then removed his Animus Speculum helmet to show a young face with a dozen brain implants scarring his bald head. "I am named Vaedrex now. You are a Blank yourself, so you earned a modicum of thrust for that. Plus your adventures with the Psi-Titan were rather fun." he disclosed with a wry smile.

I smiled back. "Not usually my style, but my Warrant of Trade was expired and my Chapter Master rank is under review. Most likely the Lion. I don't think he likes me much." I disclosed as well, and took out a bottle of expensive wine and a pair of crystal glasses, illegal loot from Vigilus both. Perks of the job.

Vaedrex sipped the expensive wine with a far away look. "A publicity stunt, with two Primarchs watching. Plus the Inquisition and the visiting Eldar. I'd say it worked just fine."

I shrugged and sipped my wine in turn. The Emperor wasn't that pleased, seeing how he denied me the full use of his sword. Darcy might be innocent and cute, but even miracles had a reason.

Which is why I planted his sword in front of his house and left it there. Let's see who dares draw that sword from the stone.

Late into the night, a pair of transport landers rose from Terra and made their way to the Black Lament, each carrying a Psi-Titan.

"Come alone." Big E demanded straight into my mind.

I was a little drunk, but I had to go anyway.

"The Emperor calls, my friend. See you later." I muttered and vanished from my room.

A second later, Canis arrived next to me, for moral support. Always show strength, and not a hair of fear.

"You don't listen well, do you?" The Emperor muttered with a mild voice, and waved his hand to put Canis to sleep. Should I be impressed? He could put mountains to sleep with the same gesture.

I leaned on the giant wolf, and raised my eyes towards the God-Emperor of Mankind.

"Which is why I have Canis. His hearing is very acute." I muttered in a casual voice.

"Moral support. Plus you're a bit drunk. Do you want the good news, Pef Lancefire?" he asked with faint amusement.

"I am no longer under review?" I answered in a cold tone.

"That too. But no. The measure of a man, I found, is in how many enemies he manages to have, and still live. Do you even know?" the Emperor asked with a short laugh.

I shook my head and tried to count, losing a few perhaps. "A hundred?" I guessed at random.

"This mission to Cadia. Those tesseracts on your glove will not work. You can't catch dreams in different dimension." he said with a sad head shake. So I missed my guess.

"I have never lost a battle, Big E. I'll be fine." I muttered in a slurry voice. Not my best job interview, perhaps.

His eyes glowed golden, and I fell asleep. "You're an idiot, my son. But don't worry, you're my idiot now." he whispered in mind while my soul floated above my body a bit confused.

A dimensional crystal the size of fingernail detached from my glove, and my collection of Primarchs and other precious prisoners was gone. I felt a bit sad.

"Are you magpie, deep inside? What the hell is all this?" the Emperor growled while examining my collection of relics, weapons, xenos and forbidden artifacts.

I couldn't actually answer, you know, without a body or a brain. A second later, my Null Box opened on my chest, revealing the other valuables, like my Warrant of Trade, a mostly useless Rosette, a pair of digital weapons and a few locks of hair.

"This...your mother. I see." his voice mused in a lower tone, just as Janice appeared beside him, looking at my body but not at me. She couldn't see me.

"You said..." she pleaded with a frightened voice.

"I did. But now I know more. Your father fed me two C'tan. Billions of years of knowledge. My sons will be able to defeat any foes now. It's only fair I start with him." the Emperor explained while plunging his hand into my chest.

It hurt a little. I couldn't really tell, but it sure didn't look healthy.