Lady Velayne and I stood inside the Pharos while the holographic screen scrolled over the worlds of the Ashen Claws, and their independent empire, that resented the Imperium and Chaos in equal measure. Perhaps Chaos a little more, given the collaboration with the Carcharodons Chapter. Then again, the shark guys were only Imperials by technicality, because they haven't been declared renegades yet.
"What do you think your twin is doing with Corax?" my wife asked me in a suspicious voice.
"What should have been done centuries ago, had I known about these people. Compliance, and perhaps integration into the Lancefire Domain. Peffy lacks a place to lord over, so the Ashen Claws are perfect for him." I said while locating the capital at Atargatis_Prime , where a human queen ruled over the empire's subjects, Astartes or normal humans alike.
Very modern outlook, and the perfect breeding ground for more Blanks, starting with the queen and her nobles, then including Blank recruits...Peffy would have to use plenty of baby oil, but he chose this place for himself. I will have to expand the Obsidian Auguries reach into this corner of the galaxy as well.
Anyway, the Ghoul Stars were just as bad as the last time I visited with Sanguinius to exterminate the Fiends, but other xenos like Togoran_Bloodreek and Barghesi were still infesting the place.
'Speranza, plan for an expansion towards the Ghoul Stars, and incorporation of a small empire in feudal stage, with a few thousands Astartes as their guardians.' I sent to my real Administrator, along with a map of the place and estimated numbers.
'They will need a Forge World and at least a Knight House, plus Sisters of Battle' cathedrals to align them with the Imperium somewhat.' the AI answered with a bored voice, while expanding the budget's sheet with five trillions thrones, for the FTL network and other infrastructure projects. It wasn't much, barely 0.5% increase in expenses, but things add up quickly when dealing with galactic-scale distances. A small territory footprint was much more efficient, just like the Tau and the Votann Leagues had.
I tapped my armrest and began dispersing Sentinels and other war materials to the most distant colonies, slowly emptying the tesseract's inventory of my duplicates, which took a long time, and I barely reached and equipped 100 colony worlds when my temples began to hurt. 39900 worlds to go. I sighed inward. It will take a year to simply move the equipment, which wasn't efficient at all.
Better send someone around, carrying the inventory. I glanced at my wife and her Necron cube. She will do just fine. What's a bit of pain if you learn such a wonderful lesson?
"You'll be the one to spread the walkers around, next time." I spoke between my gritted teeth and ordered my nanites to send me to sleep.
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The Inquisitor glanced up at the chained C'tan. "Show me what Peffy is doing!" she demanded in a harsh voice.
Zarhulash opened one eye to measure the tiny human, then her mostly harmless husband sleeping in a metal armchair. "You must be confused, Inquisitor. Your Machine Spirits might obey your orders, but I am not one."
"But...you obey Pef's every whim." she complained and slumped in her chair.
"You are married to the man for a century, and still don't understand. Even if Yggra bestows all the powers of my race onto Peffy, the duplicate will never reach the toe of your husband. The Eldar Gods, the Hive Mind and even your Emperor recognize this. You think the Star Gods would not?" the ancient being spoke with a sad voice, then closed his eye to slumber once more.
A xenos wolf jumped out of the wall and sniffed at her, then went to curl beside her husband and laid his head on his boots.
Velayne frowned and took out her pack of Emperor's Tarot cards. A short prayer and she flicked the cards in the air, hoping to glimpse something from the mystic currents.
But the cards all landed perfectly on edge, mocking her attempt at reading her husband's future. No wonder the Architect of Fate was powerless against him. Crushed like a snail under the boot, and millions of years of intricate plans gone to waste. Pef mumbled something in his sleep, perhaps 'too hot', but that was only a guess.
Anyway, she had a few hours to be productive, now that her husband as asleep. Her mind sunk into the cube, and she emerged inside the Speranza ship, if a thing this large could be considered a ship anymore. You could park the entire Lancefire fleet and the six Blackstone Forts inside with ease.
"Inquisitor! Such an unexpected visit!!" the Machine Spirit spoke from a vox caster on the wall, faking surprise but nothing more.
"I need to know what Peffy is doing. Surely, you know everything about that." she demanded with a flash of her Rosette.
"Ah, Lady Velayne from Ordo Xenos. And one more...it has been quite some time since the Clavis engrams of the Golden Throne have blessed me with their presence. But, the personal business of Lord Lancefire is just that. Wait for your husband to wake up, and he will reveal more if he wants to." a hologram of a skull crowned by a cog appeared in front of her, then winked at her with a blue lens click.
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"Pef is fine. Probably will always be fine. But Peffy is an unknown, and he also hangs out with that alien thing we extracted from the Monolith. And if he's now in the Ghoul Star region..." Velayne spoke in a warning voice.
"You are right, Inquisitor. For the wrong reasons, obviously. The duplicate is identical to the Pef you know and love, but alone in a murderous galaxy. Peffy just needs a place to call his own, and now he found it among other exiles from the Imperium. Once he marries their queen, he will be a King in the North. And you see what Pef has done for his people." the Machine Spirit answered with a careless voice.
"I see. That's so...mundane. And pretty much what Pef did when he settled on Illevar. They really are the same." Velayne whispered to herself.
"The beginnings always are. I hope Peffy will grow into a legend of his own, and make us proud. And don't worry about the Shards too much. Pef can kill them all in a minute, and they know it." Speranza dismissed the C'tan as barely important, calming her Ordo Xenos instincts a little.
Velayne poked the cube and went down to Forge Machina, to inspect the place for heresy or heretek. With almost 100 Forge Worlds sending their outcasts here, there was always a risk, and some failed experiments scared the place even now. Nova Cannons usually were quite destructive.
Magos Domina Felicia Tyber left her station to escort the visiting Inquisitor, and point out various fabrication lines and Forge temples, going from low tech autocannons or lasguns, to bolters and multi-lasers and so on.
"What do you think of the Sentinels, Magos?" Velayne asked with a curious voice. Pef did love the things a bit too much.
They stood in a control tower overlooking the assembly factory, with a million servitors adding tiny bits on the chassis, before the conveyor belt moved on until it reached the Mechanicus pilots that tested the finished products.
"Like any war machine, numbers and quality matter the most. The Sentinels are basically single crew light tanks, on a bipedal chassis." the Magos answered with a cautious voice.
"I know what they are! I want your personal opinion on the blasted little walkers!" Velayne growled while a vein pulsed in her temple. Damn Mechanicus idiots.
"Patience, Inquisitor. Do you know the statistics of Astartes engagements versus Ork hordes equipped with Killa_Kan meks? Or maybe regular Guard regiments against the same opponents? Perhaps versus Tau Battlesuits if not?"" the Magos asked in a mild voice.
Velayne thought for a moment. She did compile plenty of after-action reports herself. "Not too great. Power armor is not enough to deal with numerous and better armored enemies. The Guard even less so."
"Then what about Orks or Chaos Marines against such Armed Sentinels?" The Magos woman asked with a curious tone.
Velayne thought about the last major engagement of this nature, with the Iron Korps from Forge Idumea defending Boros Prime successfully against the traitors. And most of those Sentinels were of lower quality than what Forge Machina produced.
"I see it now, I think. Normal people using such a Sentinel can match or even outmatch Chaos Marines." she answered with a confident voice.
The Magos sighed in a most human manner, then pointed at the newest Ion Sentinel models being walked around, before running towards a firing test ground.
"No, Inquisitor. Normal people are frail, mostly in their minds. Using Sentinels as a base for the Imperial Guard would only grant the enemy lots of crazed recruits with armor and firepower to level our cities to the ground. We use our Skitarii with specialized training and control for our Sentinel cohorts, while the Auxilia units use Blanks, cloneskeins and Catachan gene-stock for the pilots." the female Magos spoke with a dismissive tone, and pointed at a screen detailing the exact spread by gene type.
There was not a single normal pilot, in the whole Lancefire Domain. Only genetic upgrades.
"I suspect this pattern extends to all armored units." Velayne deduced even before visiting the tank factories.
"Pretty much, Inquisitor. We don't want a Baneblade crew going crazy and murdering our people, not to mention Knights or Titans. The higher the damage a weapon system can produce, the more stringent the pilot requirements. It wasn't half a million traitor Astartes burning the galaxy during the Heresy, but the billions of other troops they converted to their cause."
"And the ships as well." Velayne murmured in a soft voice.
"Hopefully Lord Lancefire can pump out more Blanks...you aren't a jealous person, are you?" the tech-priest woman asked with a sneaky tone.
Velayne sighed and returned to her quarters, to find the Deathwatch guards cleaning their weapons for the 99th time this month.
She slumped in an armchair to brood. What woman would be happy to share her husband with a billion other women? Perhaps it was better if Peffy did it.