[M36.245.012]
I hurried along the metal corridor to leave the gang's main HQ. I was pleased they had kept it in mostly good repair. They had actually expanded the repairs to most of the city. If I didn’t know better, I wouldn’t have guessed Glow Gate was in the underhive.
It was just Kellen and I today, with Lysa off organising training. She would be missed for the experiments, but such was life. I had held off long enough.
A clattering from my left pulled me from my thoughts.
"Lanto!" I called. I had just dropped some stuff off to Peggi's since I needed to be in the underhive anyway. Killing two birds with one stone and all that.
Nodding at me, we clasped hands. "Aleric."
Stepping back, I gestured to Kellen. "I'm not sure if you have been formally introduced. This is Kellen. I don’t know what I would do without him. Kellen, this is Lanto and I might not be here if it wasn’t for him."
"I'm sure you would have found a way.""I don’t do that much." They both said at the same time, while shaking hands.
"You are two peas from a pod." I said. I was just about to be on my way when I had a thought. "Actually, another thing. Can I ask a favour?"
"Of course" Lanto said, nodding.
"Kellen here is looking to become a dominus. A priest dedicated to war." I said at his confused look. "Him and many of his subordinates could use the experience in fighting in a very different environment and style. Could you incorporate them into your war somehow?"
"I should be able to. Where do you think is best? I am assuming they're competent?"
"Would I suggest them if they weren't. More to the point, I trained him. We can organise a spar if you need convincing." I said with a smirk.
Lanto laughed at that, shaking his head. "No, those days are long behind me; it would be a poor showing nowadays."
"Really?" I said. An amused smile tugged at my lip. He had clearly forgotten. "Have you looked in the mirror recently?"
"What are you… oh." A slow smile spread across his face. "I'm still not used to that. Then yes, I would love to have a spare. But I do trust you, so I can incorporate them."
"Thank you. On that, and Kallen can disagree, but any role to be honest. It would all be good practice, but they will be some of the best troops available, think your elite units."
"Can I be involved in the planning and strategy?" Kellen asked. "To understand your thought process and philosophy?"
Lanto looked surprised, but nodded. His eyes lighting up; he always loved to talk strategy. "You certainly can. You can get my link right?"
"Yes, and here is mine." Kellen said, pinging his identifier through the noosphere.
"Do you have time now?"
"Unfor—"
"Yes he does." I said. Pushing Kellen forward. "I didn’t need him for my experiments. Come find me later." I told him and nodded once more, before setting off.
My auspex could clearly hear their conversation, which quickly moved into a deep discussion of Lantos' experience with combat and what he had learned.
Yes, I think Lanto would be superb for Kellen. While Solvexa was no doubt an excellent combatant and a great strategist, she was like all Dominus's, good due to their enhancements. They had, and used, the huge amounts of information available to them to make an optimal decision.
Regardless of cost.
They also did not play well with others most of the time, and while Solvexa was better, she still saw her forces as the true fighters on the battlefield.
Lanto on the other hand, had a very different style and I would say more skilled at it. He didn’t have the copious amounts of information to pull from and didn’t always make the optimal decision, but his ideas and gut were rarely wrong.
It was off the back of his work that the gang was built from, after all.
---
Standing in front of the tunnels to the ruin, I checked to make sure the area was secure. I didn’t want anyone to know about this. Obviously, Lysa and Kellen already knew, but they were the only ones. If I was going to inform the gang, it would be years from now.
The defences were up and would be for several months, so it was a perfect time to test this. I had closed off one of the smaller tunnels so I had space to work with.
Dozens of servitors swarmed around me, as well as Snuffles curled up in one corner.
With a nudge, I sent two servitors into the tunnel side by side. The left one was vaporised immediately, while the right brought a grin to my face. It stood there without so much as a scratch. I sent in a dozen more to test it, removing and granting access until I was sure my idea had worked.
As I had hoped, the chip still in my skull got my foot through the door. It had allowed me a decent level of access within the noosphere. Using that, I slowly increased my access until I could do most things. I didn’t have the highest and I didn’t fancy trying.
Just looking at the defences had my skin tingling.
So that was out for now, but the level of access I had was more than enough. I hadn't turned the defences off, just added my servitors to the list of authorised personal and hey presto, problem solved.
I wasn't going to risk my life, but now I knew it worked, it was my turn. Well, not before throwing some prisoners through, to make sure my organics would be okay as well.
They were and with that the convicts' service duty was done. I executed them by removing their access and took a deep breath. My logical mind knew it would be okay; I had thoroughly tested it, but it was hard to go against a lifetime of learning to avoid the tunnels.
With no other reason to put it off, I moved up to the threshold, Snuffles next to me. "You ready boy?" I said, patting his side, the clinking of metal on metal calmed me slightly.
I took a long, deep breath. Then, before overthought it, I clenched my hand and stepped. My eye reflectively closed as I finished my large step. It was only when nothing happened that I peeked through my eyes.
Yes! I was in.
That was a big first step and it was nice it had gone smoothly.
"Good boy. Shall we get going then?" The answering woof was definitely a yes and he trotted off down the corridor.
I followed, pulling up the map as I did. It was still no clearer now than when I first got it, even though I had studied it for hours.
The map was a complete mess. With the defences active, all the corridors were constantly shifting. In fact, that was the reason there were almost always new rooms to explore.
Once the defences fell, it locked the corridors and rooms in their current configuration.
I had worked out enough to plan a route through it. It was convoluted, but I took that as a feature, not a bug. The route would take me through several areas I needed to investigate. We made good progress and we reached our first stop. As soon as we had arrived, my hopes for the location dwindled.
It was marked as a library, so I had hoped to find more crystal STCs or something. Unfortunately, it was an old school library with paper books, if you could believe it. Or what were once books and were now just dust.
None but a handful had survived. Most looked like children's books, across a range of ages. The pages were laminated in plastic which was the only reason they survived so long.
I wasn’t expecting much but placed them in the saddlebags on Snuffles' back regardless. Unable to resist the urge I flicked through a few as we walked to the next place. It was more or less as I expected. Lots of pictures and large fonts.
It did mention some interesting things. Like it gave a brief history about how humanity had developed to conquer the stars. How they had gone deeply into automation and their first AI. How it was a historical moment and had accelerated their development rapidly.
Similar to the industrial revolution many years previously.
Another, which was far more interesting to me, was notable figures. There were surprising parallels to my old home, like Alexander the Great or Genghis Khan. There were also dozens of names I didn’t recognise. Like Neoth the Warlord or Erda.
At the back, they mentioned these were perpetuals. Not a phrase I had come across before, nor was it explained. It did intrigue me; it was stated in such a way that it was an explanation enough in and of itself for why they were notable people.
So much so, I dug around the rest of the books for further references. I was growing in disappointment until the second-to-last book had what I wanted. It was aimed at a slightly older age range and went into far more detail about the perpetuals. Both what it was and who they were, including notable events or attributes they had associated with them.
It turns out it was exactly what it said on the tin. An immortal. It was somewhat contradictory, in that it said they couldn’t die, but at the same time mentioned several who had passed on. So I wasn’t sure how reliable the book was. For whatever reason, the text went into great detail about the name (perpetual) changing meaning.
At first, it basically amounted to any individual who achieved some form of immortality. Be that through sufficient psychic power or science. Hell, it even mentioned several who transformed their mind into digital constructs.
A new wave of science tried to redefine the name to only those that had a genetic quirk that allowed them to revive after death, but the book never mentioned if that was successful or, more importantly, if that was even a thing. I would need to look into it.
If it was and there was a way I could gain that…
I just glanced through the names as they meant nothing to me.
The first on the list was a man named Ollanius Persson. It was estimated he was born in 15000BC, which was a bogglingly long time ago. He was stated to have appeared regularly throughout history, normally as a warlord or protector of the realm.
He didn’t seem to be a genius at anything, just a man with one of the greatest equalisers—time.
The second I glanced over was called Erda. According to the scant information the historian could find, she was born sometime around the age of the 20th century, just as the boom for automation started. She was a private person, as were many of them, but it was known she was a genius geneticist. One of the best.
She had several discoveries associated with her, for example, the creation of the Navigators was in part associated with her. Or at least the company she was working with at the time. How much direct contact she had wasn’t known.
She was also given credit for a gene seed for super soldiers. Multiple articles referenced them and the various problems associated with their creation. Her most successful attempt involved grooming children. So not a nice person.
She was stated to have died when several of her subjects escaped and killed her. How they did this I had no idea; it mentioned she was a powerful psyker.
Meh, moving on.
One part interested me. It mentioned a popular conspiracy theory that many of the notable names from history were in fact, the same man. There was no evidence and was more treated as a fun thought experiment than seriously discussion.
Another entry interested me. Gilgamesh. He was a very private businessman who had a hand in almost every pie. A man of untold wealth, long speculated and even accused of, manipulating affairs into the outcome he wants. The largest thing attributed to him was his media empire, hatred of AI and research into Webway.
Not something I had much exposure to. It was referenced countless times, but the forge world had little actual data on it. Maybe I could look into it later. Hopefully the Drukhari equipment might shed some light onto it.
Time would tell.
The next few stops were busts. I had hoped from their names they might contain something interesting but they had all been cleaned out or looted.
I eventually reached the control room at the very heart of the facility. Unlike the ones that fed certain labs or workshops, this one was dedicated to the entire facility. It controlled the power generator and, more importantly, the defences, including the shifting corridors.
I wouldn't be able to use it straight away, but my idea of using the ruins as my new hidden workshop seemed feasible. What better place to do some heretical research and development in a place the adepts were unable to reach? And not from lack of trying.
After we pulled out the STCs it was inundated with people. Not just from the hive either, although there was plenty of that. But people travelled from all around to try their luck. Nobles, rogue traders, adepts, mercenaries. Hundreds of thousands died and all for nothing. There were some great finds of course, but nothing as valuable as the STCs.
After a decade of trying, the hype had faded back to normal levels.
My plan was to stop the defences dropping altogether, or just show the same random selection of rooms, which would make it look like it had run out of things for people to loot. Then I would fade that out as well until the entire ruin was fully protected once more.
Either way, it would be perfect for me, and I'd found three possible locations that might suit my needs perfectly.
I would need to check them to make sure the machinery was still there and had not been scavenged, as I recognised one possible location of the lab I stole my Fabricator from. It still felt like yesterday stealing it, but it was hard to believe it had been decades.
A buzz from my sub cogitator, alerting me to the time. With a disappointed sigh, I stood and left. As much as I wanted to stay, I couldn’t. I had a solar system to bring under control.
While walking back I my mind drifted to the 6 sparks gently spinning in my head. I had been planning to think long term and start to place them into physics, however I had been considering going in another direction.
In the short amount of time I had been able to dedicate to it, I had made almost no progress, or at least very very, very slow progress with the equipment I had looted from the Drukhari. It was like they were based on entirely different philosophies. One I didn’t understand. I recognised some of its foundations and grounding from my spark given knowledge.
But large chunks, I had no idea.
For example, on the attack craft, I found what caused the field that made them impossible to target, and yet I had no idea what it was. Or even an idea of where to start. At the centre of it was a black crystal of some kind, but there didn’t seem to be any mechanical components or moving parts to make it work.
So I was now leaning towards putting these sparks into reverse engineering, hopefully bringing it up to tier 4, and with its help, shed some light on it. I would still have enough to push the last of my foundational fragments to tier 2… I hoped.
It was frustrating, but at the same time deeply exciting to learn an entirely new technology base.
It might not be optimal, but I wanted to, so to stop myself from second-guessing myself, I pushed them in.
One after another spark vanished until all six were used. They settled, the fragment burning brighter but as expected, it didn't push them over. Next year would.
Hopefully by then, I would have the time to dedicate to it. I needed to know how it worked.
---
I let the opinionated Archmagos talk away at me. I wanted to zone out but the meeting was too tense to lose focus. I had Kellen and Lysa with me as well as several guards, our Ordinarii. They had chosen the names for themselves. I wasn’t sure how I felt about it, but they liked it, so who cares?
Archmagos Jendara had also brought several people and Skitarii with her.
<—we do not acknowledge your authority. Only the Fabricator General of Stratix possesses the right to establish a position of such significance. Your Magos designation itself exists within questionable doctrinal tolerances, and your attendant adepts lack even the most basic legitimised initiation markers. Their datalogs contain no academy seals, no scholam verification rites, and no approved priesthood lineage.>
An underling next to her nodded.
I nodded coldly.
I had let her go on long enough.
She drew herself up.
I ignored her now and slowly looked over the magi behind her. Many looked resolute. I made sure to meet the gaze of each and every one of them, holding their gaze until they looked away.
Clearly some believed the stories.
The adepts and magi behind her pulsed.
That was as far as she got, as my Runescript slammed into her, shattering her defences. Sparks flew off of her as her cybernetics fried themselves. Smoke and the smell of burning human flesh filled the room. Her bionic eyes flared white, an interesting quirk of which I had been unable to isolate and remove. I had stopped trying by this point; I quite liked the effect.
Those of her followers who stepped back warily I allowed to live, but the four who chose to immediately attack me enjoyed the same fate as the Archmagos. Unfortunately the Skitarii outside had to join them. I didn’t want to risk leaving them alive.
I disliked wasting them, but I wasn’t going to leave a possible dagger at my back.
I turned my attention to Ulmais Orthex, who was the third in command of Archmagos Jendara. So, do you still have the same view?> I asked mildly.
---
I didn’t have any other hives that gave me the same problems. The message seemed to get through loud and clear that my bite was most definitely worse than my bark.
I kept an eye on Ulmais Orthex, just in case, but true to his word, he and his faction, which had grown to try to fight my power, backed down. Not that I had any doubt he would.
From there, the rest fell into line rather painlessly. Part of that was the threats of violence, but a larger part of it was pressure. Both in the form of the largest hives had already capitulated, but also even in the few short weeks it was obvious they would need to join me or fall behind.
Each hive was competing in outputs, or efficiency of outputs, as some hives just had larger or more specialised forge temples.
When I introduced my support, those that accepted metrics rose rapidly. This made it harder for others to compete with them, either for promotions or to be transferred to another, more prestigious location, either within the hive or to a forge world. Not to mention the resources and grants allocated to them.
Even with all the hives now officially under my control, I didn’t do or change anything. I just made things ticked along as they were.
At the end of the day, I didn’t really want to make too many changes to them; they did what I needed them to do already—maintain technology.
I merely wanted oversight of them to make sure they didn’t start to work against me somehow. That and hopefully in time, replace them all with my people. Having a hive world's industrial output not constrained by the dogma of the Cult Mechanicus was an appealing thought.
With the Adeptus Mechanicus of the solar system under my nominal control, the paperwork exploded. But a few assistants later and I could turn my attention to other matters. I was still looking for someone to take over the role from me, but I couldn’t rush it.
Better to find the right person the first time.
---
I was back in the ruins exploring once more. I needed a better name for it.
I paused, shifting through the rubble, contemplating a name before shrugging. I was back in the STC vault. Firstly, looking for more of them, but mostly to make sure there weren’t any leftover dangers. In our rush to leave, there hadn’t been enough time to thoroughly search the area.
It was also the second time I'd found a psyker artefact, and I didn’t want any more surprises. So had been systematically searching the ruins in my spare time. So far I had found no other dangerous psyker artefacts. Sure there were a few, some I would even investigate further.
Like the proto force weapons they had been developing to increase the strength of the psyker. Or the head bands that seemed, at least if the data was to be believed, helped protect the psyker from the effects of the warp. I had doubts.
Each experiment they ran seemed to come to an abrupt end, which called into Question how effective it was. Still, it was an interesting field of research for when I had the time.
Thankfully I did not find some warp portal in the depths of the ruin, which depressingly had been a concern, what with the ex-inquisitor.
ANHello here's the chapter for the week. What are your thoughts on Kellens guards name - Ordinarii. I am not sold on it, so if anyone has a better suggestion I am all ears.
Imperium: Hive Cities Scavenger (Tier 2) - IIWarrior (Tier 4) - XImperium: Hive Cities Danger (Tier 2) - IIIHuman: Hand to hand (Tier 3) - VTerra Federation: Technician (Tier 3) - XTerra Federation: Software (Tier 4) - IXSharpshooter (Tier 4) - VIIISelf (Tier 4) - XVIIReverse Engineering (Tier 3) - V > IXImperium: Canine Handling (Tier 2) - IVAkashic Throne (Tier 1) - IBlade Mastery (Tier 4) - IXPhysics (Tier 2) - XXIIIGlyphcraft (Tier 3) - IIIBlueprints (Tier 3) - IIIActing (Tier 1) - IMathematics (Tier 2) - XIIBiology (Tier 1) - XTeaching (Tier 2) - IIMachine Spirit (Tier 3) - VIIChemistry (Tier 1) - VIIIEngineering (Tier 1) - VIIBionics (Tier 4) - XXIICrafting (Tier 4) - X