While the Crusade fleet is returning to the Machine Forge, my Astartes and I are working hard inside the tesseract's time field to produce more of everything.
More recruits (fucking duty), educating the kids (by Blank Battle Sisters mostly), gene-seed implantation( Apothecaries), more power armor and shields (tech-marines), then warding the Machine Spirits with hexagrammic wards (techsorcists).
The last two weeks felt like thousands of years, I swear!
Luckily, I did have large stores of captured/looted/found Astartes armory equipment, so the technical work was only half as bad as it sounds. Upgrading one armor is quite different from having to forge it from bare metal.
Many Chaos-sourced items could also be recovered and sanctified with some effort (or simply sent to burn into a nearby sun, if they tried to curse me back)
Much the same with weapons, as most of my sons preferred to have a combi-bolter as their primary weapon, be it Volkite-bolter, Melta-bolter or Ion-Bolter.
For melee, we kept it simple. Phase blades. I haven't found any enemy that could withstand those crazy swords, not even Tyranid bio-titans or Necron Lords. They also worked just fine on Orks, Chaos Lords or Daemons.
I did find a nice trick to share with my sons: by installing a motor piston on the back of my glove, it could wave the Phase blade side-to-side at 100 times per second, basically creating a murder zone in front of my hand.
When I showed it to Joghaten, he said it was 'all cheating and no skill'. "Just like a Chainblade. But more dangerous." I answered with a shrug. A chainblade could be parried, after all. Phase blades, only avoided.
I even thought to induce a randomizer beat, to create a more uncertain path for the blurring blade to take. But it would be also introducing some uncertainty with hitting the target, so no.
One could simply rotate his hand or extend the elbow a little to create a variable.
Did I use three parallel blades for my 'boss-level Phase claw' ? You bet I did! I even named it Wolverine-pattern Vibro-claw.
Canis still had me beat with his 4 Phase-claws per paw, and was not shy to announce his triumph with a dismissing snort at my fewer claws, but he didn't vibrate, so there! I still win.
While the first Avengers Chapter obviously had the Vulkan gene-seed, they were not black-skinned nor red-eyed. They were instead far larger and stronger than my other Primaris Blanks, and had to be careful in sparring as to not break too many bones. I had them spar with Tyranids after a few mishaps anyways. Gentle giants my ass.
For the rest, I still continued with Khan's gene-seed, as it was the most plentiful I had after I drained... a lot, while I had the good Primarch in custody. Medical reasons, of course.
The other chapters continued with classical sur-names for the Chapter's name, like: Aster, Black, Blood and so on.
The Khan's gene-seed provided them with much faster reflexes and melee ability, which paired with Phase blades made them especially dangerous, even among other Primaris Marines.
When I arrived at the Machine Forge, there were 42 new Primaris Chapters awaiting their transport ships to depart on Crusades. I mean 40 will depart, while newest two will remain to complete training and form a reserve force, just in case.
This universe was rather dangerous.
"Lord Lancefire, you want me to provide equipment for 42 new Astartes Chapters?" Fabricator Gemma growled at me in a not-too-kind tone. It would be a bit much, even for a large Forge World.
"Of course not! They have power armor and weapons already. Anyways, 40 Blank Chapters will depart for nearby Forge Worlds, to receive ships and tanks and whatever else. I'm not ashamed to call in Favors from my dear Mechanicus friends." I answered with a smaller voice. A Fabricator could be intimidating, especially while riding on top of your naked body.
"Not ashamed, he says!" my lovely android sex-doctor grumbled while milking my gene-seed with her Mechanicus vitae-womb.
"Absolutely not ashamed..." I confirmed with a powerful burst.
"We have received the first transport from Forge Goth. Tanks and Sentinels, for the Auxilia." she continued as I rose to my feet and she assembled my Terminator plate with rapidly moving tentacles.
"What about my Knights?" I asked curious. They did suffer lots of damage in the Stygius Crusade, and new Knight hulls were being produced by Speranza every day.
"Your Knight House has 800 battle-ready divine walkers, and 400 still into repairs. As you demanded, I prioritized Burst Cannons as their primary weapon, and the new Weave shields to replace the Ion version. Twin Ion Beamers for secondary weapons. Hyperios missiles and multi-lasers for air-defense.
I nodded, as I expected something like this. Knights were amazing, but also complicated and expensive. You couldn't churn out millions of them, even if you had metal and knight-able pilots.
The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
"Any progress with the portable Vulcan_Mega-bolter? My infantry could use a cheaper weapon instead of krak missiles." I asked with a not-too-hopeful voice.
The Fabricator patted my shoulder with an iron palm. " Only the new Invictor_Tactical_Warsuit or other Dreadnought models can withstand such a recoil. They are not called Titan-class weapons just because it sounds cool, like you say." she warned me politely. My Terminator plate wasn't even dented.
I sighed inward, and thought of possible different chassis. "Maybe a Tauros car, or a resilient bike?" There will be a reckoning to come with these silly Invictor walkers produced by Cawl. I may even strangle the damned tech-priest, with his own innards!
"Unless we build the car frame from adamantium, it would shake itself apart, oh wise Revelator of the Ominissiah! The Primaris_Outrider Bikes should be durable enough for a single barrel semi-automatic Mega-bolter. Maybe you can ask Primarch Khan for his Sojutsu_Pattern_Voidbike ?" the Fabricator asked me with no ulterior purpose.
"I'll get you a STC template for the Vulcan Outrider. Speranza should have something like this hidden away." I said with a grin. Even if it didn't, I could make one in a day. I had a timely cheat in my hands.
And build myself a better Invictor as well. The Armed Dreadnought Warsuit was a great idea, expanding on my own Armed Sentinel, but for Primaris Astartes. However, the implementation showed his real Mechanicus roots.
The cope-cage didn't make me the least happier. It was like offering a ready-to-eat meal to any Tyranid that got close and a perfect target for anyone with a ranged weapon.
Exactly like the stupid Penitent_Engine and the Mortifier of the Adepto Ministorum, if you looked at it with one eye closed.
I felt like Sisyphus holding the sky on my back, trying to raise the Imperium from the mire of their religious stupidity. Even the Grey_Knights_Nemesis_Dreadknight dangled the limbs out for a snack for any hungry enemy, instead of protecting the pilot behind Knight-class adamantium armor.
With a small wave, I vanished from the Forge and went to visit Speranza.
"Pef Lancefire! You survived again. Even from the deadly plague of the Omega Vault." the ancient Machine Spirit observed cogently. Wait!
"What plague?" I asked a bit wary.
"The Last Truth or the Omega Weapon, as the Federation called it. Anyone not human would die gruesomely if they trespassed into a Federation installation. You still carry the inactive synthetic pathogen in your lungs." Speranza explained patiently, and projected a magnified nano-organism on its hololith screen. Dormant for now, but...
"They had nanites?" I realized with a shiver of doom on my spine. I could have been eaten from inside out, not even knowing when my flesh was turned into soup.
I'll be damned! Maybe my luck was greater than I thought. "Can you take it over?" I asked with a wide smile. There will be tests to be made, Tyranids first, then Orks, maybe even Necrons.
"Already did, young man. I do need my own defenses, after all. So, what else did you steal?" Speranza asked in a confident voice.
I waved my hands like a magician, and produced the loot, in order.
"Alpha psykers? You may need spare batteries for your Psi-Titan." Speranza noticed wisely. I knew it would see the situation my way.
"Necron artifacts...can you use them?" the Machine Spirit asked curious.
"Not very well. I'll ask the C'tan for some tips." I explained while storing the dangerous artifacts.
"Ask Zarhulash, not the other one. It fears you for now, but one day it will turn. You realize this." Speranza said in a warning voice. I nodded slowly. I could deal with a single shard, but if it grew ever stronger...
So I sent him the data logs about the Eldar god killer weapon.
"This weapon...I predict you're not the only one with access to this data. It is only a copy." Speranza concluded after doing some super cyber magic on the data log.
"It comes from the Noctis Labyrinth on Mars. Makes sense they only stored a copy on a distant Watch Fortress." I nodded in agreement.
Then I took out the predictor vambrace, and watched it lit up like a holy-day tree. Sanguinalia, they call it here. A bit more bloody themed as well.
"A T-engine! What...never mind, I already read it. A Federation ship, skipping across time to send warnings. Crew must still be alive." Speranza deduced with its superb intelligence.
And lastly, I took out the Vulkan coffin, and heard the Speranza groan loudly. "You should not have this, Lancefire! The Emperor himself might show up for him."
"And I expect that's what the Cabal wants. There aren't many ways to kill an immortal. A trap, hidden within another trap." I mused to myself, and stored the stasis cell back.
"... Probable. There aren't many T-skeins able to predict the Emperor, but perhaps it is as you infer, Lancefire. They surely managed to nail him on the Golden Throne until you came around. A Cabal...working in the shadows since the days of the Federation or even longer. They would need Perpetuals to maintain cohesion over such a long time span. Future readers to place their agents at the right time and place. Psykers to modify minds, Navigators to pilot their ships, and so much more." the AI mind began to infer from my single word.
"I can't revive him. Even if I could, I shouldn't. The Emperor would know instantly, anywhere in the galaxy. But, I know how to clone him. And with cloneskeins..." I proposed gently.
Speranza hummed in deep thought for a minute. "You could reduce his Warp presence, dial it down to background noise. Enhance his other abilities..."
"Let's say a dozen clones for start. But you do need to help me with this. Primarchs are not normal humans." I asked in a hopeful voice.
"We'll need more Gellar Ramparts for this. And a bigger fleet for when Chaos finds out. Or the Cabal, for that matter." Speranza completed my thoughts.