The cleanup at Attila took another two weeks, because Chaos invasions are always messy. Especially the Nurgle kind.

On the other hand, I had two Sisters Ordella now, with the second being called Ella as to not get confused much in bed. Peffy kept his Dessima copy, and although silent she insisted on keeping her name, with threatening signs of lance severing.

As for the Custodes, the two Valerians seemed quite fine with their situation. "We will not guard this Peffy, since the Emperor never mentioned him. You will just have two bodyguards, Lord Lancefire." they both spoke at the same time.

"Okay. But one of you gets to rest a little when not in battle or other danger." I demanded with a stern voice.

"..." the two Custodes twins glanced at each other and nodded. "Agreed. We can train your Astartes in our free time." one of them said as a favor to me.

I guess they didn't actually understand free time. Or not outside the Imperial Palace at least.

Anyway, the great thing about blowing up the Monolith with my fist, was the gigatons of Blackstone that remained as smaller bits, and the rescued C'tan Shards inside, one of them another Transcendant 'Ctan called Yggra'nya ,the Moulder of Worlds.

The poor thing looked starved and thin, with grey flesh and three amber eyes, and a tattered golden crown. The other C'tan tried to cheer him up and offered him Chaos Marines and Daemon Engines to feed upon, but Yggra wasn't hungry, only sad. "You seek vengeance against the Necrons?" the C'tan asked in a pained voice.

"As should you, Worldmaker. Look what they've done to you, when you only offered them beauty and pleasant worlds." the Nightwolf answered with a hateful voice.

"You are an Astartes, like those Astral Knights that rescued my Shard from Borsis. What payment can I offer, I exchange for my freedom?" the C'tan asked in a tired voice.

I thought for a moment. "Freedom has no price, Mighty Yggra. I would ask that you help me create more worlds for humanity. It is your gift, and perhaps some solace from the pain you suffered until now. And when you feel the balance is met, you can go elsewhere or stay with us."

The grey shape transformed into a sickly looking wolf and curled at my feet. "Mighty? I have seen what you intend to do, Pef Lancefire. A civilization of Blanks, immune to Warp and corruption, just like the biotransference promised. For such a young race, you dream big indeed."

There were 25 C'tan shards here, but none of them argued with Yggra about this.

Another Shard of Kalugura stepped near me, and transformed into a feral black wolf, with red eyes. "My gift is only destruction, Rogue Trader. I will aid you for a while, for vengeance and strength. You may call this Shard: Kali."

No idea what 'a while' meant for a Star God, but probably more than a year. Maybe even 30 years.

'Be careful of this Kali, Captain. His true color is not blue.' Lash warned me as he curled near the ailing Yggra, showing support.

'I fought beside Eldar before, my friend. And against them.' I answered with a careless tone, and added a yellow outline around the noosphere marker of Kali. The name must have been chosen on purpose, to evoke something scary in humans. A God of death and destruction, most likely.

'Zarhulash has updated me with everything he knows about you, Captain. But it was kind of you to offer Yggra'nya the comfort of world shaping. It is why Kali joined you, right now.' Lash spoke in my mind, while more freed C'tan offered to join the good fight. Possibly for the same reason.

It seemed Yggra was seen as an artist by his peers, a famous sculptor, perhaps. And I just offered this xenos an atelier for his craft.

"Well then. I'm going to build some things for this Forge World here, an orbital ring to start, and some shipyards. You can go and find more Orks to feed on, until the next battle." I waved off the larger wolfpack, until only Yggra and Lash remained in my room.

"Can I have that seventh planet, Lord Lancefire? Agrippus was a penal world, until you emptied it of convicts and purpose." Yggra offered with a sad voice, and stood up on thin legs.

"As you wish, Worldshaper. But first, dive into the sun and recover a little. You look a bit pale." I advised the C'tan, who glared at me for a second before he vanished.

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

"A bit pale? Your genius knows no bounds, Captain." Lash growled a little unhappy.

What did I do? I only told the truth.

"The xenos called Lash is correct, Lord Lancefire. You are truly a wordsmith, even better than a tech-priest with an engine." Valerian the Second commented in a wry voice.

Second must have come out a bit diminished from the duplication. His wit was a bit lacking, so I wisely ignored him.

Building an Iron Ring and a hundred shipyards was difficult enough, and Peffy was indulging in teenage fantasies with a billion women. I would carry the burden myself, and not complain.

When I finished the orbital ring, I shifted my gaze to Alexandrum , an archive world of the Administratum and built them a planetary data-core and more defenses.

Meanwhile, my Primaris Astartes and their Centurion Sisters were conducting live training in the underhives of Hive World Hanibael, clearing out genestealers, cultists and millions of criminals of different kinds. With two tesseracts, the Chapter Masters of the Lamenters and the Weepers had things under control, and could even indulge in retrieving feral kids from the underhives to be sent to the local Forge World as new acolytes.

The tech-marines got to practice repairs on pipes and water purifiers and all sorts of infrastructure, while the Apothecaries practiced their medical skill on pale and sickly people from the many hab-blocks. It wasn't only the C'tan who has been starved in this system, but sadly this was the Imperium. Unless I nominated someone from my House to take over, things will degrade back to where we found them.

As for the world of Attila itself, there was little I could do, except crafting a hundred stone castles, and clear some fields for corn and other crops. They had a Forge World right in this system, but planet Attila was kept deliberately in a feral state as to create better warriors for the Imperial Guard.

Hopefully, the stone castles would create a bit of civilization around them, since the protection of high walls and solid cellars lined with Blackstone was always important.

I did grab several feral and shaggy Ovigor herds, to seed them into the Fringe. Apparently the meat was quite good.

As for Yggra, he made a paradise world from the seventh planet, and built a tall Blackstone pillar as an orbital elevator for anyone willing to settle. And keep the Warp away as well, most likely.

"Where did you get the Blackstone?" I asked the grey wolf, who seemed somewhat less likely to die on his feet now.

"You mean, did I collect that mess of dispersed Necron ships that you left behind? Because I did." Yggra answered with a slight reproach in his tone.

I kinda forgot about the destroyed Necron fleet of the Corpse Lord. It only took a few seconds to be fair. Might have recalled it sooner, if the space battle had been hard or something.

"Ah. Those guys. Totally skipped my mind. I wonder how my warhead looked from far away." I answered a bit distracted.

"You looked glorious, like a god conquering the stars. And daring anyone to come out of their ships and duel you. I should build you a statue, Captain Lancefire!" the C'tan proposed, in a possibly sarcastic voice. You never knew with wolves, especially metal ones.

"No statues please. I'm a modest man, with a gentle soul. I heard the Emperor of Man likes statues, though. I saw thousands of them, some larger than mountains." I countered with a sneaky voice.

"Just shut up while your jaw is still attached, Lord Lancefire." Valerian the Second threatened me, proving he came out wrong in the fax machine.

"Valerian! Quick, help! Your clone has gone mad and wants to attack me, the objective of your mission!" I pleaded towards the good Custode.

"The mission said alive, nothing else. But I do know the Emperor likes the Silent Sisters. They are very quiet." my bodyguard stated with a gentle voice.

'Peffy! Change places with me!' I begged my clone.

'No way. Did you know how good it feels with warm baby oil on top? And anyway, you can still drink through a straw, like the last time.' my duplicate spoke in a dismissive tone, proving he came out completely wrong. Who uses baby oil? That's for babies...not for making babies, Right?