After a week of examining my new guest, I concluded that Lady Hezika would not qualify for into my family.

Mostly due to her Puritan philosophy, which fit more into the Sisters of Battle group, using faith and willpower as a source of strength. Sure, those were both immensely powerful tools, but they needed exceptional people to work.

Not everyone could have the strength of will to stare a Daemon Prince in the eyes and crush him in a desperate last stand. One in a million people, maybe.

For the rest of humanity, prayers worked almost like home. As in...very little. Which is why there were spaceships and army regiments actually fighting in the Imperium's wars, and not Holy Saints all over the place.

I found some actual relics to gift her, and a mostly vague story about my abilities and plans. The woman wasn't stupid, but she also had nothing on me, nothing concrete.

"The Inquisition will still need access to the Pharos, Lord Lancefire. However you managed to transport the planet here, the C'tan inside is a dangerous xeno, and there is much to learn from examining it and its abilities." Inquisitor Carmillus muttered with a sharp and hateful look at Zarhulash.

The C'tan pleaded silently at me, but I just smiled. "I will agree to this, with the caveat that I will screen these Inquisitors. And if they are found wanting, their corpses will be sent to Terra, along with their Rosettes. So no demonhosts or other corrupted traitors, nor the many other kind of insane freaks I hear about, massacring Astartes Chapters or burning entire Imperial planets because their bowels said so." I replied a with a gentle voice.

The old woman blinked once, before vanishing with a flash of purple fire.

Oh well, I guess there won't be too many Inquisitors visiting Forge Machine in the future. Their curiosity will possibly be tempered by the promise of certain death, and the numbers of dead Inquisitors returned to Terra slightly dead had steadily increased over the years, often with proof of their treason attached inside the stasis box. Others had mysteriously vanished or died in various explosions, and only their Rosettes were returned.

After Lady Hezika left, I began searching for a new deployment target, as my Lamenters had finally reached two Companies of Battle-Brothers and two thousand techmarines, not the Forging kind, but pilots and field commanders for the Guardian mobile turrets. Would it surprise you to find out the Blood Angels had 40 techmarines in total? I almost felt like slapping their heads around.

Perhaps it was time for visit.

Then again...Hive World Meridian was experiencing earthquakes, which naturally announced a Tyranid Fleet approaching. My dear Adria Kalistradi was there, purging a genestealer cult with their aid of the Deathwatch, and even Lord Commissar Cain was there, no doubt cursing his luck while neck deep in cultists and genestealers.

I helped a little, emptying two crates of krak grenades to thin out the enemies, and sent a squad of Blood Angels and two Silent Sisters to keep Adria a bit safer.

She didn't have Cain's luck, after all.

"Clean out the southern hab-spires of Orks, and make sure to secure the manufactorium until my fleet arrives." I whispered in Inquisitor Kalistradi's mind.

"Pef! I should have known it was you, damn situation was so familiar." the woman grumbled as Sister Aleya fired her phase plasma fusil into a huge genestealer Patriarch, ripping off a limb-claw, while her Sister charged ahead and slashed with a Knight-sized Power Sword, taking off a leg and crippling the beast.

"Got delayed by some kind of temporal distortion, my love. There are a hundred thousand bioships heading your way, so you'll need to mobilize every able citizen. Just make sure to place Commissar Cain in command, he has good instincts."

I explained in faint amusement, before switching focus to a certain Necron.

Damn wizard was playing puppet master with his captured tech-priests, preparing his Blackstone Fortress for another shot at the Hadex Anomaly.

"How long til you're ready, Lord Trazyn?" I asked curious.

"...Stranger. I almost forgot about you. As for firing the weapon, the Inquisitor wanted the ignition button, so it's up to her. We've been ready for weeks, but she keeps demanding more machine prayers and purity rituals! As if my creations would explode from improper maintenance." Trazyn the Infinite complained while his staff discharged a green cloud of energy.

Well...I wasn't surprised at the Inquisitor's precaution, as many Mechanicus contraptions did explode or malfunction in horrible ways. Most often when Warp fuckery was involved.

But that was mainly because the moron techpriests only used a single Gellar field instead of twenty, even on critical installations or spaceships. Those Ruinous Powers did enjoy ruining things for humanity.

While I was musing for something to trade, Lady Adrielle teleported beside me, and went to pet Canis without any fear.

The space wolf just snorted and allowed the woman to scratch his magnificent fur, eyes still fixed on the alien creature on the wall.

"What are you doing now?" the Inquisitor demanded and walked beside me.

"Arranging for the closing of the Anomaly. It won't take long." I murmured out loud, while measuring the Ordo Malleus Inquisitor with my mind's eye.

Lady Ivixia was formidable, even from this distance. Then again, she carried her own father's skull on her shoulder, used as a shoulder mounted autocannon. This was true dedication and willpower, although she would need a Null Bone Rod to be safe against the Warp. Perhaps a chronoblade...no. She had a real relic polearm anyway.

"You need to give the Inquisitor a Null Wand, Lord Trazyn. She hears voices, and that's not a good sign." I told the Necron after observing the damaged Inquisitor whisper to her dead father.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

"That's...actually makes sense. No wonder she was so undecided. Something is inhabiting that skull, perhaps?" Trazyn asked while he teleported a Null Wand to one of his mind-controlled techpriests.

I just observed her reaction, as the Null Wand instantly suppressed the ghost inside the skull. "Inquisitor Dannica, is everything alright?" the techpriest underling wondered and drew back.

"It's nothing...I just had a revelation. Very well then. Let's fire your weapon and hope we don't all die gruesomely when it fails." the black-haired woman muttered and took out a hand device with two green buttons.

"Just...make sure you press both of them at once, Inquisitor Dannica. We're confident that is the best way to close a Warp Rift of this size." Trazyn proposed with a mechanical voice emitted from the techpriest's vox box.

Clack!

The armored woman pressed both buttons and the weapon blurred and split in two, then two parallel black beams struck the Anomaly. Well, only one was visible.

The Warp swirled and constricted, then an immense howl emerged from deep inside the vortex, followed by a giant red claw the size of a few stars.

But Trazyn wasn't a wizard for nothing. Some kind of brilliant green gauss beam shot from beneath the Fortress, flaying the gigantic claw and forcing it to draw back, while the Warp contracted more and more until two waves splashed into each other, and sent spatial shockwaves for light-years, annihilating everything in their path, stars or Demon Worlds or spaceships.

"It worked! The Anomaly is gone!" Lady Ivixia exclaimed in surprise.

And then, despite the Null Wand in her hand, a voice spoke in her mind. "The Ruinous Powers will never forgive you, Lady Ivixia. You're not ready to fight a Great Demon either, if a mere skull ghost could fool you for this long. And your techpriests are not actually friendly, now that your purpose is over. I advise you to depart hastily, and ask Inquisitor Ramaeus for help."

"Who is this?" she asked looking around suspiciously.

"I have a puppy. And that's your safe word too, if you keep calm and demand to leave right now." I explained while keeping watch on Trazyn, who was obviously considering adding an Inquisitor to his collection.

To give her credit, Lady Ivixia could be very decisive at need.

In a second, the skull was dismounted and shot into melted sludge by her inferno pistol, before she turned towards the nearest techpriest.

"I will leave now, for my service to the Emperor calls me elsewhere. Also, be warned if you try to stop me, for I have a puppy." She proclaimed sounding fearless.

The techpriest in front of her hesitated, before waving a mechadendrite in disgust. "I should have known you were his agent! All this waiting, just to receive the go-ahead to fire when the stranger returned. Fine! You will arrive on Forge Retribution a minute earlier and forget about us. You hear me, stranger?" Trazyn muttered as the Inquisitor vanished from the Blackstone Fortress, to reappear on Forge World Retribution, just beside my Knights and their techpriests supervisors.

So...Trazyn did keep a locator on those Knight suits.

"You can already start preparing a Null Bone Wand for my agent, Lord Trazyn. I shall provide a bloodline flaw in a decade or two. Now, I want those repair modules, for Knights and Titans." I asked while another Dark Eldar Archon and his retinue appeared in front of Trazyn, only without weapons.

"Oh? Is this my present? The rulers of a nearly extinct species, who live on pain?" The Necron Overlord wondered while examining the new prisoners.

"Just imagine how many secrets they might know. Secret webways and weapons caches, hidden subdimensions of the Commorragh, maybe the construction method for those amazing Void mines?" I offered with a teasing smile.

Trazyn nodded, obviously considering my words. "Yes, indeed. And in exchange, you only want a copy of their knowledge, in STC format?" he asked rhetorically.

I smiled inward and did not reply, instead checking on the Necron World being assaulted by Hive Fleet Perseus.

To my surprise, those Necrons were still on Bardic, and their Tomb Ships were fighting a gigantic Eldar fleet instead, while the void was littered with dead bioships. The planet itself was still infested with billions of Tyranid warforms, battling a black C'tan shard and armies of Necron Warriors, all wearing Tyranid hides on their backs like capes.

Not unexpectedly, an Avatar of Khaine was leading the Eldar Fleet from a large battleship with too many guns, empowering the bright lances to pierce right through the thick blackstone armor of the Necron warships.

The Necrons had almost 100 ships but were outnumbered 30 to 1, and their weapons seemed to have no effect when striking the Eldar battleship, green beams of death striking a golden aura and vanishing. Damn cheating Eldar God!

Well, the Avatar sure chose the perfect time to attack, and I decided to lend a hand, deploying a couple Nova Mines in the midst of the Necron escort ships.

A minute later, the Necron fleet was faring even worse, reduced to 8 capital ships and their shields weakened a little. I was pretty sure the Avatar would object if I used a Vortex warhead, so I just watched.

Well, I could sell tickets to this fight now.

"Something amazing will take place on Bardic, Lord Trazin. A C'tan shard and an Eldar Avatar, fighting among hordes of Tyranids. Want to buy a ticket to this once in a lifetime show?" I asked in a curious voice.

"Yes! So it hasn't yet begun? I can prepare then...and you'll get your trade, don't worry stranger. Might need more test subjects to perfect memory downloads on the Dark Eldar. At least a few thousands?" the Necron proposed quite shamelessly.

Couldn't say no to such a nice robot, could I?