I confiscated the Adrasite pistol from Valerian and played with it for a minute until I found the button which transformed it into an indistinct cube, shaped like a normal power cell, like many others carried by Guardsmen or Astartes as reserve ammo for energy weapons.
"I'm not sure if you should play with the weapon..." my bodyguard muttered with a warning voice, just as I threw the cube into Yggra's waiting mouth.
My human ears hurt as the crunching noises of the priceless relic being crushed by the metal wolf reached me. Then again, things were not always as they seemed. While Yggra didn't have the Ymga Monolith anymore, his duplication power was still here.
"We had a myth in our past, a huge ash tree that binds the sky and earth, called Yggdrasil . A dragon lived in the shade of this tree, while gods assembled around the tree to do whatever gods do." I said in a slow voice, then continued shoveling food in my mouth.
Yggra glanced at me, and his amber eyes glinted with hidden knowledge. "Your shamans of old perceived the truth of the universe in their own simplistic and mortal way.
However, I will not help you bind the dragon." the C'tan answered and coughed out a pair of identical cubes.
"No harm done, Custode! But mandrakes are a bit difficult to kill with mere Ion beams." Peffy explained while taking one Disintegration pistol for himself and returning the compact weapon to my bodyguard.
Valerian tested the pistol's mechafolding ability, then stored the cube back on his belt. "Don't do things like that without asking, Lord Lancefire! Disintegration weapons are restricted for a very good reason." he growled at me, then packed the entire plate into his mouth and went to chew in a corner.
"I'm sure the Emperor will let me know if he's displeased, Custode." I said with a smirk."So, you don't mind if I grab the reins of the Necron Yoke for myself? I always wanted to ride a Dragon." I asked the mythical C'tan being scratched by Peffy's free hand.
"As long as you don't kill him. Taming a Dragon might not be as simple as you believe, Pef Lancefire." Yggra answered with a bored voice.
Lady Velayne phased into my study, with a mandrake's head phased as well in her hand. "Stupid mandrakes. They hurt Semnai quite bad." she said with a careless voice, then threw the head towards Lash who gulped it, by phasing for a second as well.
I guessed phased objects interacted normally between them. Otherwise, the mandrakes wouldn't be able to reproduce.
Yggra sighed and vanished, even though I didn't say anything. A second later, the C'tan returned and curled in a corner to sleep.
"See, Blanks may be hard to heal by psykers, but C'tan are not psykers at all. The original Lamenters were quite unlucky, and Semnai always gets hurt." Peffy commented as he finished his breakfast and took out a thermos of hot recaf and gulped half of it in one go.
"We have medical nanites now." I added with a shrug.
"Anyway, let's go see about murdering some murderous Eldar. Lash, race me!" Peffy yelled in an energetic voice, then ghostwalked to the battle at the Webway Gate. Lash grinned and ghostwalked as well.
"I seem quite annoying and loud. Or is it just him?" I wondered with a raise eyebrow. Too much recaf, perhaps.
"You're quite annoying too." my wife answered while taking out a single boiled egg and a slice of black bread from the replicator. Then again, she massed less than 50 kilograms, not 200 like the Custodes.
"Peffy just became the Ashen King, though. You're only a Lord." Yggra added with a sneaky voice.
"A King in the North. And they also have renegade Astartes?" Velayne asked with her Inquisitor voice.
"Primarch Corax himself exiled them back in M31, he can un-exile them back. Plenty of worse people have returned after 11000 years. The Lion has the Risen, which were quite worse. As for Perturabo...still a work in progress" I answered on a tangent.
"Lucky bastards, both of you. If Corax didn't return..." Velyane muttered and sipped some fragrant tea. I frowned and focused my sight. Another tiny baby inside her. Maybe more, hard to tell right now.
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
"You shouldn't fight when pregnant, my dear wife. You have the Deathwatch bodyguards for a reason." I warned her with a level voice.
Velayne nodded slowly and patted her belly. "The hyperovulation treatment must have worked. Shouldn't affect anything on your side, but if this works, we can reduce the number of impregnations by a factor of 4."
"Four children at once? Is that safe?" I yelled a bit worried.
'Pretty safe with medical nanites and lack of boarding actions. The Sword of Truth found the procedure among the unencrypted old files before the Federation. And a tank model called Merk-wa LXII that used chemical lasers and heavy stubbers. M3 or M4, old tech really' The Blade told me with a casual tone, as if this wasn't an important breakthrough.
'Send me the files!' I demanded instantly. While the weaponry and armor composition would be outdated, I could replace those and obtain a main battle tank for my army.
And it wouldn't be trash like whatever the STC we had.
Indeed, a single glance at the advanced hull form and digital command network was enough. Yes, ceramic armor of that kind wouldn't block a single Las-cannon shot, and that chemical laser was barely stronger than an infantry lasgun, but everything else...the Merk-wa even had a multi-fuel engine.
"I'm going to my room to work on unlocking another STC. Keep disturbances at a minimum." I ordered in a hurried voice, and jumped into my STC console as the old template opened on the holoscreen.
'So you like it, then?' the Blade whispered in my ear, with her digitally enticing voice.
'It's not good right now, but I can fix it. Open new file, PDF armored regiment. Plasteel and titanium hull 120 mms, ceramite cover 50 mms...we'll keep the night optics and the vox pannel, discard the rest. Las-Cannon main armament, co-axial autocannon. Hull mounted multi-laser. No external fuel tanks. No reactive armor. The tracks...we keep as they are for now, but switch to titanium. Vehicle mass 48 tons? Are you sure?' I asked much later as the template segments locked back and the holographic turret turned on a dime.
'Titanium is quite light, Captain. Not as resilient as Luciun and other modern alloys, but quite cheap to obtain from asteroids, or even deep surface mines. And we discarded the heavy chemical batteries and other things, including the ammo for 3 heavy stubbers. The autocannon is a good choice, especially against Orks or Tyranids.' the Blade confirmed while she simulated the speed of my new tank. 95kms/hour!
The PDF will gain quite an asset with this baby.
'The turret looks great, but I'm not sure if we can maintain the same quality control and cast it exactly to specs. Look for a welded variant.' I mused as the modern battle tank jumped over a small hill, in the hologram.
'Saved to file, opening new template. Auxilia main maneuver armored element. Adamantium and Blackstone?' the AI asked as another hologram lit up on the screen.
I nodded but stood up and went back to my study. Peffy had returned, with his armor lacking melted bits. Damn Eldar had so powerful weapons. Even auramite armor got damaged.
"See, I didn't disturb you with news of our inevitable victory. What was so important?" Peffy asked with a glance towards my room.
I just passed him the original and the PDF template of the Merk-wa. My twin dropped his Amasec bottle to focus on the new tank. "Lucky bastard! This is so cool! Of course, the poor tank needs some work, but...we have the technology. We can rebuild it! Better, faster, stronger!" Peffy yelled with unrestrained energy.
"Tank commanders will need a brain implant, even for PDF. Too much digi-tech in those old electronics." I pointed out with a nod towards the Custode near us.
"Right, right. Analog shit and dissected nerves. But we can install an E-COG drone on top. I'll have my Sword work on this." Peffy continued with a disgusted tone.
"Not for PDF units, but sure. Better than using Thalax suits as top gunners." I allowed with a kind smile. Peffy reminded me of me, when I was young and hopeful.