[M36.236.08 - Aleric]
My attacks had been incredibly effective.
Too effective in fact.
The Dark Mechanicus had quickly adapted, first trying to combat me through the noosphere which went about as well as you would expect.
Which was to say, Nowhere. It was a slaughter.
After the first few, they changed tack.
They deployed a sort of null field that blocked all noospheric connections within its range. In most cases, that was a few hundred to a thousand metres. However this come with drawbacks, forcing them to leave its area or use vox to communicate.
But it stopped me from my continuous assassination of them so it was something.
As such, most of the strategic locations now had them.
They probably broke even on whether it helped or hindered them more.
++Troop build-up detected: 376,300++++Location: Sector: B1147, Battleline: 123D4++
Without looking at the alert further I sent it onto the relevant adepts and further up the chain. They didn’t question it by this point, having long got used to it. That was perhaps my greatest contribution to the war… minus the killing of course.
I almost moved to help, but looking closer I wasn’t needed. They would be able to push the force back with ease.
My throne room had gone through considerable change, long with the fortress it was a part of. First, it had grown as I hooked more and more machines and processing power into it. It was still hidden from most eyes but what near enough it was almost oppressive in its strength, with it now one of the strongest locations within the noosphere.
Once inside, the walls and constraints of the fortress were almost absolute. Many had tested that and had died, lost within the labyrinth.
From my throne I glanced up. High above me, close to the ceiling in the centre of the circular chambers hung a sphere. A perfectly smooth white crystal with lights dancing inside, but slow and dimly.
That was to be expected. Only the information gathering portions of the programme were active, with the rest of it slumbering.
I smiled, proud of how far I had come. It was my new and improved search engine as well as so much more. With all the new knowledge and techniques, like infusing my Will into it, I'd started again. First, by cannibalising parts of the old one, mostly its back doors and some of the algorithms.
But other than that, it was completely rebuilt.
The last six months had been intense, but instructive. With my tier 4 knowledge, I'd built the connection I needed for the more advanced form of coding. It had taken longer to create the chip than I wanted, but now that I had it I was glad I had gone through with it.
I almost didn’t.
The chip was fully heretikal and there would be no way to hide that, but it was needed for much of the coding the Tier 4 Spark taught me. The 'living language' needed a specific neural link and connection to be created, since it was translating the mind's inputs into quantum functions and beyond.
With the link, I could think, speak, even sing code into being. All of which was required. I did feel stupid singing, not that I could argue with the results. To be fair, it was very similar to what I and many adepts already did, speaking binary to machines. But the difference was in how it was transcribed.
It created something that the human mind wasn’t truly meant to comprehend, even with our augmentations.
The end result for the search engine was leagues above anything I had seen… ever. The only thing even remotely comparable were the most advanced ancient machines, like the Magnovitrium Prime, created through, I expected, the same process.
But then I took it even further. Both by infusing my Will into it, draining my capacity each time over several months and as well as awakening its machine spirit. It was ever so close to becoming an abdominal intelligence, but it hadn't crossed that line, it still couldn't change. It could learn and adapt to be better at its role, but that was all. A true AI would be able to grow as much as it wanted in any direction it desired. Which was another requirement, to have a full spectrum of emotions, able to learn and develop them.
So it didn’t quite cross that line.
I wasn’t even sure what my Will did, if I was completely honest. But it was effective. Even with my new Crafting Fragment, which was everything I hoped it would be and more.
At its most basic it helped me understand how to use my Will to improve anything it was infused with.
From technology I manufactured to software I programmed. One thing I did run into was that I had to create it for the best effect. Sure, I could infuse any old item with my Will, but the end result was far below what it could have been.
It had been so interesting in fact that I hadn't been able to resist and slotted in the sparks I got that year, pushing it up to mid tier 2.
That built on what I already knew, showing me how to use my Will throughout the crafting process, creating some wonderous items.
I hadn't experimented with it as much as I would like, but now just wasn’t the time. Even though the war had stalled, it was on a razor edge, able to fall either way.
When the completed programme first burst into life within the noosphere, its avatar the white crystal it had been blinding. So bright and powerful in fact, that it started to burn through my fortress, its code unable to handle the potency of the programme.
Which shouldn’t have been possible. But somehow the programme had burned through the data. I had made changes, but doubted their effectiveness.
I hadn't dared to fully activate it to find out. The first time had been enough and hopefully I would never have a reason to do so. Not least as I wasn’t 100% sure how it would react.
Either way, the Crystal Eye exceeded my wildest expectations. I felt like a god when I sat on the throne, which connected to the machine intelligence of the search engine, almost fused me with it, like a Knight and their pilots.
It did come with a drawback.
If I ever used it to its full capacity, there would be no way to hide its origins. It would be easy to trace it back to me and my Aleric identity. Not that it mattered, if I ever used it, things had gone to shit anyway.
With a sigh, I disconnected and left to my body, which was safely tucked away in Solvexa's workshop.
Before leaving the noosphere entirely, I sat and watched Kellen and Lysa for a few minutes, a small smile on my face.
They had both risen to the occasion, in a big way. They had well over thousand adepts working for them in various capacities, whereas at the start of the war, they had five.
Had it really been only six months? It felt so much longer.
Many of those working for them were young, some not even finishing their initiate trials to become an acolyte. However, while most of them were younger than Kellen and Lysa, not all of them were.
There were thirty-one older adepts.
I was worried it would be a problem at first, but once Kellen and Lysa showed their expertise, the older adepts quickly fell into line. Well, not all of them; several tried to throw their weight around. It was very satisfying and surprising to see the normally cheerful Lysa put them in their place.
I had expected Kellen to do it, but Lysa didn’t hold back. So much so that Lysa was managing most of the adepts who worked with technology in one form or another. Like performing maintenance on equipment, vehicles, bionics and so on.
While Kellen was in charge of those working on servitors and Skitarii.
Even so, several adepts weren't happy and tried to get back at them. Mysteriously, they were sent to the front line to die.
Fools.
Even so, the kids had struggled even as they learned fast. I couldn’t dedicate as much time to them as I wanted. They understood, but I still didn’t like the feeling. At least Tyr had been a great help, taking them under his wing and building on what I taught them. Two other adepts, both ancient and at death's door, had also helped handle some of the load.
No one had noticed in the chaos how many people I had assigned to my faction. Even if they weren't full adepts or even acolytes, it still would have been stopped. But with my control in the noosphere, no one would. I was still adding to their number, with another hundred and forty arriving in a few days. With further thousands of potential recruits all around us.
The war was a great litmus test in that regard, clearly showing people's true colours.
---
[M36.238.05 - Kellen]
Kellen Drav looked up to watch the smooth operations in Solvexa’s workshop. It was less of a workshop and more of a massive converted hangar, with even his bionic eyes unable to see the far wall. Within it were tens of thousands of servitors and thousands of adepts, all working in holy communion, from acolytes all the way up to magi.
All moving seamlessly as one, Kellen thought with a glow of pride as he stopped to watch them for a moment.
A significant portion of them were commanded by him and Lysa. It was more than he could have ever dreamed, even a few short years ago. They weren't just green adepts either. There were ancient and wise adepts working for him.
No magi of course, that would have been ridiculous, even with the power Aleric possessed.
Movement caught his eye as Lysa marched down some scaffolding of the Baneblade, several adepts hovering nearby. Who were sent them scattering with assigned tasks. Reaching the roads that led across the workshop, she didn’t stop and continued inspecting work bays as she went.
He sank his consciousness into the noosphere and observed the pulsing data around her, as she received information and gave out commands.
Dropping back to looking through his bionic eyes, he started turning away. He had his own work to get on with, but saw Lysa slow and look around. A smile crossed her face, and she twirled her immaculate red robe around her in her little giddy dance, before setting her face once more.
Into what she called her game face. Kellen would never tell her; she would pout for days, but he found it adorable.
Virellion IX, one of the aforementioned older adepts, issued a priority ping.
The several hundred experienced adepts they now had working for them, mut have been sent by the Omnissiah. Particularly at the start when they were still learning the ropes. They had the knowledge and even most of the experience for the jobs, but nothing for managing large teams of people.
Aleric helped where he could, but he was always busy with one thing or another.
And even Kellen could see managing people wasn’t his strong suit. Thankfully, Tyr and Solvexa were much better and were happy to share their sacred knowledge. They had been somewhat dropped in the deep end, but everything was so chaotic in the first few weeks, no one noticed their screwups.
Almost two years into the war now, and they were old hats at it. So much so that some of the older adepts who were not tied to Solvexa or Aleric were being resigned.
He hurried over to the main entrance. Another batch of Skitarii needed urgent repairs before they could be sent back to the front. At least they now had the bionics to make the repairs; it got touch-and-go at times. But the navy had reclaimed enough control that supplies started to come in again.
While he still believed he lacked true skill or affinity with Machine Gods domain, he had been forced to accept reality. Compared to many of the adepts around him, even those older, he was much more knowledgeable, not just in rites but in understanding of the why.
That was the true gift Aleric had given them.
It had taken Kellen years to realise what the stories and challenges really were. By then, he was well and truly inducted into Aleric's way of thinking. And even if he wasn’t, he couldn’t conceive of a reason he would betray him. He had got out of his way to teach them, to raise them and to protect them.
He had more or less become a second father figure for them. Especially Lysa, whom Aleric had encouraged and pushed her curiosity as much as possible.
And with all he learned, back then and since, after he had confronted him about it, pointed to the fault and doctrinal inconsistencies with the faith in the Cult of the Mechanicus. Aleric had been sure to point out the area it was true, such as the rites and liturgies, but had made sure they could make that judgment themselves.
When Aleric realised they had consented and were still with him, he had really opened up their eyes, teaching them everything he knew. There was still so much to learn, which Kellen found almost comforting. It gave him something to strive for, even if he felt his calling was in war.
That made so much more sense to him than circuits and something like a nonlinear differential equation. It just hurts his head thinking about it.
Pushing it from his mind, he lengthened his stride, allowing his advanced bionics to carry him rapidly forward. He glanced at his right arm smugly. While most of the bionics came from Aleric, with his of a quality far above any he had seen in the hive, the right arm was all him.
A challenge from Aleric to prove that Kellen did have the skills, even if he wanted to go in another direction.
Virellion IX appeared from one of the many narrow pathways leading off the main road, as they approached the main doors and their new charges. Some able to walk under their own power, but many were carried by their fellow soldiers.
++Orvane IX : Critical Damage : Legion 743rd++
He didn’t recognise many of them, but they were all part of Solvexa’s Legion; they wouldn’t be here otherwise. Besides their identification sigils checked out and care of Aleric, they were almost impossible to fake.
Solvexa had gone from strength to strength. At the beginning of the war she protected critical infrastructure locations, earning herself and her allies significant recognition. As the war progressed, this had only grown, as she was given more and more responsibilities.
Each time, she rose to the occasion.
She might not have the largest army under her command, but it was one of the most experienced, guarding several key sectors. Kellen was sure a not-so-insignificant part of her success had been the unusual amounts of intelligence she always seemed to have.
She had reiterated again and again that knowledge was the highest currency in the Omnissiah’s domain.
She had troops, movements, composition, and weaknesses, all seemingly arriving before even the enemy knew what they were doing. And he would never say it out loud, but he had a sneaking suspicion that the unassuming Aleric, who had blended into the background, was a significant contributor to this.
Kellen didn’t know if it was deliberate or Aleric just didn’t care about recognition, but unlike many adepts who crowed their success, wearing their achievements like freshly anointed relics. Even Kellen wasn’t immune to wanting to show off his accomplishments. That was just normal, more than anything it was needed. The recognition helped with progress. If those actions weren’t taken other would be promoted first. Aleric didn’t. Always a steady presence but never in the spotlight and yet he still progressed.
He had heard adepts claim it was nepotism, but he knew the truth. Competence. Pure unmitigated competence, where those above wanted him to work for them. Or in several cases, needed.
Not that anyone in the know would doubt his importance. Just watching Solvexa and Ro, who was now the Alpha Primus of thousands of Skitarii, interact with him would show the importance they placed in him.
He was arriving when the adepts across the workshop floor spasmed, as the data the Skitarii shared propagated and showed The White Shade. As he sent them on their way, he took the recordings they had and spliced them together into a coherent picture of the Skitarii mission.
Which he then sent around, he knew others would want to watch it.
Anything to do with the White Shade always was.
He made sure everything was running smoothly and checked his teams one last time before flicking into it himself.
He had found himself teaching his underlings in a similar way Aleric had him. Using many of the same materials, although he did ask Aleric first, who tweaked it before giving the green light. Once he was done with them, they would all make outstanding additions.
Many following in his footsteps, with a more personal combat focus.
He had combined the information Aleric had painstakingly taught him with what he learned from Solvexa and Ro to create an incredibly effective programme. Ot at least he thought so.
He made sure there was time each day for their training. All aspects of it, from knowledge to combat, both range and close. He made sure to drag Lysa and a few of her critical underlings along too. As much as she grumbled, he wouldn’t allow her skills in defending herself to atrophy.
With his team having everything in hand, he fully focused on the recording.
It started with the Skitarii marching in perfect doctrinal formation, before breaking into a loping run that devoured miles with tireless ease.
They weaved through narrow maintenance corridors until they came out of an access hatch, high up in one of the huge main hallways. It gave them a perfect position to overlook the battle raging below.
On one side were the attacking hereteks, and the other, Solvexa's formidable fortifications. He could clearly see Solvexa's influence on them, with a layered defence, having learned what she saw as important. Each fortification was more impressive than the last. Clear lines of sight and kill zones, whilst having no blind spots or general weaknesses.
Several of the deepest defences had shields; he could make out the shimmer in the air as a las bolt slammed into them.
Regardless of their merits, the enemy charged without end.
At first glance, it looked like an unstructured mess, but the longer he looked, the less so it seemed. Without thought, he pulled in the Skitarius knowledge as an overlay on the recording. The battle now had detailed notations as the Skitarii noticed and flagged them.
As he thought there was a method to the madness. The enemy waves of mutant servitors or Dark Skitarii were masking the advancing Decimators and other mutant abominations. He didn’t know what they were until the Skitarii noted it. Suicide bombers with Melta bombs, to blow holes in the walls and take out the turrets.
Kellen could see why.
The ten turrets spewed death down the corridor. Their bolts not the normal reds or oranges. They were the now iconic colours predominantly seen in Solvexa's formations. Not for lack of trying on others' parts, it was clear to anyone their effectiveness.
The spark of pride was rekindled. It was Aleric and Tyr that had pioneered the methods used.
In fact, that was all Tyr was managing. The creation of the focusing crystals. They got first dibs, but they were slowly spreading out across the armies.
Cold blue streaks of lightning hit groups of servitors, sparking their bionics before jumping to those nearby, frying theirs as well.
Or the toxic green bolts that hissed and fizzed, burning through flesh, metal and armour with ease.
Even with these advantages he could see, and the Skitarii mirrored his opinion, the fortifications would be overrun. It looked like a major push, and without reinforcements, the defenders would be overrun.
Kellen could see the logic-probability indices changing, the percentages dipping a few point each second that passed as their algorithms updated.
He saw through the overlays the moment the Skitarii received the go command, and they leapt into action. Several maniples poured out of the hatch and scurried along the walls, magnetically locking to the walls. Kellen was surprised when they didn’t open fire immediately and didn’t see their target until he saw the machine in the back.
It looked like an obelisk, cables snaking all over it. At its centre were several brains all linked in tandem, sitting in a foul liquid. Energy sparked around it, like green lightning, crackling as the power ebbed and flowed.
It was responsible for disrupting connections to the noosphere.
The Skitarii made good progress, running across the walls and ceiling, before, a few hundred metres from the target, they were discovered.
As one they dropped to the floor, making it harder to be targeted and slaughtered their way to the machine. Since an incident a few weeks into the war, where the machine was destroyed by a rocket, each one now had a powerful ion shields around it.
To destroy it, they needed to be inside that shield.
The recoding became a blur of combat, and if Kellen wasn’t used to it, it would have been almost impossible to follow. Even so, in places he had to slow down or play it back to understand what was happening. All of it was fascinating and he studied each frame with care, noting several ideas he would think on later.
By the time they reached the machine, they were down to half their numbers, but they pressed on, their fear dampened and therefore a distant concern. The fear was toned down so much, several Skitarii took suboptimal paths ignoring threats that destroyed them. Regardless they leapt past the last few elite troops, and landed on the platform the machine rested on.
Several of the Skitarii rushed forward, slapping on explosives before darting away.
The others turned to hold off the now swarming army, and it was the entire army. Their actions had attracted its entire attention with them coming at them from all sides.
He could feel the Skitarii's acceptance of death as well as the honour they felt in serving the Omnissiah.
A fireball erupted from the machine as the explosives detonated. Nothing happened at first, and he watched several more of the elite Praetorian Skitarii be cut down.
Then it happened.
One of the Skitarii auspex picked it up far off in the distance. An adept was burning. He would have been lost in the chaos of battle if the Skitarii weren't specifically searching for it.
A white writhing flame erupted from him, cold—alien.
Then the flame jumped to another and another, slow at first, but with gathering speed. Like a ripple in a pond, the flame spread, spreading out from several focal points, until the entire force was aflame.
Thick smoke filled the corridor as flesh and metal were burned. A mist started to fill the air as the temperature in the tunnel dropped by several degrees.
The view changed as the Skitarii dipped into the noosphere, and there eclipsing all lesser data-presences, was the White Shade.
A giant figure, its cloak pitch black, which seemed to absorb the light and data around it. Nothing could be seen of its face except two burning white orbs. Cold and distant.
Kellen felt a shiver of fear and unease wash over him as well as awe.
The White Shade had become a whispered legend, to be spoken of in hushed tones behind closed doors. First, it was just rumours, but as the Ancient Machine Spirit became more and more active, its presence could not be missed. The machine spirit cast most of his attention on the hereteks, but the loyalists weren't completely spared.
That was when true fear or at least unease began to set in, like a temperamental spirit. Guarding them but it was best avoiding its attention.
Entire advances had been stalled out by His attention. This had decreased as the hereteks had found ways to limit the Shades effectiveness, but if ever they were caught unaware… the machine spirit made its presence known.
The clip came to an end.
He was still thinking about it hours later when a priority transmission cut through the noosphere. The markings showed it came from on high, bearing the Fabricator General's signature.
He and a few hundred others were needed elsewhere. They were being separated for a few shifts to help repair and support a critical war front, which had been struggling and had sustained heavy losses. It wasn’t just their workshop, but adepts were being pulled from across the forge world to sure up the front.
Confused, Kellen checked the commands a second time, more carefully this time.
He needed to check, as there had been instances of traitors sowing chaos. Something that been happening more frequently as of late.
But it was valid.
All told, there would be a 145 from their workshop. Lysa and himself amongst them. This smacked of politics, maybe another priest trying to get control over the workshop?
"Is this real?" Lysa asked as she joined him, worry on her face.
"Looks that way. Stick close to me."
He forwarded the command to Aleric, who was unfortunately not in the workshop. He was off dealing with something for Locum Viel. Even with whatever important thing he was up to, Kellen immediately felt Aleric's attention snap to them.
Kellen felt his heart unclench slightly.
Smiling, he sent his thanks back. Snuffles would make him feel much safer. Even with clear war fronts, there were skirmishes across the planet, so even deep behind their lines, it wasn’t perfectly safe.
He had only seen Snuffles in full action a few times. But each time was suitably awe-inspiring. That had only increased, as recently Aleric had spent a huge amount of time reworking some of his bionics. He hadn't let anyone see what he'd done, not even Lysa or Kellen.
Kellen didn’t take it to heart, even if Lysa had pouted at Aleric for a few days. He had seen the difference, and it was stark. If you weren't looking, it could be missed, but the cyber mastiff moved completely differently after the upgrade.
He had also somehow gotten even larger.
As they left, Kellen made sure to bring six of the BFGs and a few dozen of the meat shields. He also positioned the party in such a way to keep as many of them safe as possible. He didn’t care about those that weren't part of Aleric's or Solvexa's factions and kept them off to one side in the most dangerous areas.
They had travelled for nearly twenty minutes, with Snuffles only a few minutes out when it happened.
He was connected to the mastiff, feeling the steady pounding as it charged down corridors, leaping off the walls to change his direction.
They just turned a corridor when a wave of sound and light washed over them.
Kellen was blown off his feet. Two of the BFGs were destroyed instantly. Their bodies shielding most of the bast from their party. Those closer to the outside were not so lucky and were shredded.
They were flanked. Gods, where was Lysa? Good, safe behind him.
Hundreds of troops shot at them from both directions. He took it all in with a glance, already firing off orders. Tightening the formation to have the BFGs protect what they could, turning them to face each direction of fire.
Not a moment too soon. Their shields protected them from the next wave of explosives.
Kellen expected reinforcements to arrive any second. They were only a few hundred metres from their destination. But then his heart sank as the noosphere updated. The front had crumpled. A huge assault was surging forward, and they were in its path.
A deep mechanical roar sounded from behind them, and Kellen turned in time to see Snuffles land amongst the traitors. Crushing one and starting this slaughter.
"Kellen!" Lysa shrieked as she knocked him out of the way.
Rolling, he caught the flash of light as the conversion field around her shattered, and a blistering bolt of light passed through was where his head had been moments ago.
He felt his heart freeze. The world fell away from him. It sounded like he was deep underwater. But all he could see was Lysa, slumping to the ground, most of her chest missing.
"No, no, NO, NO, NO!" Kellen muttered as he scrabbled over to her. "Lysa!"
As he reached her, a servo skull buzzed in his way. Kellen almost knocked it away until he saw what it was doing. It inserted two needles into her skull. He knew they would keep the brain alive for a little longer.
Falling to his knees by her, the rest of the fighting going on around him forgotten. He felt sick. Staring at her vacant eyes.
A distant part of his mind catalogued injuries and noted that without the conversion fields Aleric provided, she would have been killed instantly.
The servo skull was all that was giving her a chance of life. Jerking up, he tried to marshal himself. One side of the ambush was already dead, care of Snuffles.
They needed this done so Lysa could get medical attention. Every second counted.
Then Kellen felt something. Like a heavyweight was pressing down on him. Weapons frizzed and misfired, shield generators sparked. Even the lights of the tunnels flickered, dimming and his breath misted before him.
In the noosphere, he could see the ordered data-stream fracture and then surge in a mighty wave.
Behind it he caught sight of what was pushing it.
Liquid fire surged through the noospheric data pathways.
It washed over him, slipping past his defences with ease. It was cold, alien, clearly not a human mind, and all but completely emotionless. Just logic. But all the same, Kellen felt warm from it, a certain kindness.
That was all buried behind a mad frothing rage.
The white flames passed, and all that was left in their wake was icy death.
---ANHi, trying something and have added the date and the character as several people motioned getting a bit lost on the timings of things. Let me know what you think.
Imperium: Hive Cities Scavenger (Tier 2) - IIWarrior (Tier 3) - VIImperium: Hive Cities Danger (Tier 2) - IIIHuman: Hand to hand (Tier 2) - IIITerra Federation: Technician (Tier 3) - XTerra Federation: Software (Tier 4) - IXSharpshooter (Tier 3) - VISelf (Tier 3) - XIReverse Engineering (Tier 2) - IImperium: Canine Handling (Tier 2) - IVAkashic Throne (Tier 1) - IBlade Mastery (Tier 3) - VIIPhysics (Tier 1) - XIGlyphcraft (Tier 2) - IIBlueprints (Tier 3) - IIIActing (Tier 1) - IMathematics (Tier 1) - XIBiology (Tier 1) - XTeaching (Tier 2) - IIMachine Spirit (Tier 2) - IIIChemistry (Tier 1) - VIIIEngineering (Tier 1) - VIIBionics (Tier 3) - IIIICrafting (Tier 2) - VII