I added a megatonne of blackstone to the pile of metals gathered by the Tethys Kindred, likely by extracting internet fees from other mining Leagues.

"Such a wonderul material, this blackstone you use, Trader Lancefire. Do you mine Necron Worlds out in the Fringe?" the Votann asked curious.

"Sometimes, yes. But this batch of blackstone comes from a Necron World Engine, a planetary sized weapon I destroyed when I was young." I answered with a careless voice.

"It seems you are trying to become another Cthonian Mining Guild , with the predilection for stellar mining rigs and particle escavator tech. I would have thought Barrier-Tech would be more interesting for someone like you." the Tethys Votann observed with mild interest as I selected valuable templates from a long list of goodies.

"Psi-tech is kinda useless for Blanks, Lord Tethys. Very few in my family are born with dual psyker-blank genes." I explained with a careless shrug. It was a rare gift indeed.

"We have indeed observed a high preponderence of Null and Pariah people among your troops and crew, Trader Lancefire. Very curious, since the Imperium doesn't have many such people, or they are quickly converted into Assassins or psychic munitions." The Votann noted as its Barrier field shifted again, probably testing my Blank defenses with different frequencies.

The intellect of a Votann was quite a wonder to observe, albeit less fun when I was the subject of his inquiries. "Please stick to trading, Lord Tethys. I might become aggravated when my family is mentioned in the same context as boiling people into molten iron."

"..." The Votann fell silent for a second. "Plasma mortars? They are too cumberome to use in the field, only a few Ironkin still lug them around." the AI asked on a different topic.

"They are similar to the Mechanicus Hellex_Plasma_Mortar , mostly carried by their siege automata, but appear even more powerful. A local upgrade of the original template?" I countered with my own question.

"The Thanatos Mortar was actually upgraded by an Ironkin of the Ymyr Conglomerate . The guy wanted a more reliable and powerful plasma mortar, and since nobody had one, he got to work and made it himself. Took him over 6000 years." the Votann explained in a proud tone.

"I would not be surprised if his chassis is a Thanatar Class Siege-Automata . Right?" I asked a bit rhetorical. The Ironkin were exactly ancient automata like the Mechanicus used, but without lobotomized positronic brains. They were full sapient and accepted as Kin by the Leagues.

"You have visited many Forge Worlds, Trader Lancefire. I am reading through your ship logs and personal files now. 'These are the voyages of Pef Lancefire, roaming the galaxy to find strange new worlds...' " the Votann quoted from my Pef.M41 files.

I sighed a bit, inward. The story was meant for my kids mostly, as to induce them a proper Rogue Trader outlook on life. It mostly worked too, since the local literature was way more boring.

Thinking outside the box was hard when memorizing the Codex Astartes word for word, or other Imperial Creed holy books, not to mention the Lex Imperialis and other required readings.

"Do you have something to give the Blade some kind of forcefield effectors? Hardlight holograms, maybe?" I wondered as I reached the end of a very long list of possible tech trades.

"...If it's not on the trade list, then no. I will teach Blade Votann a few tricks I use myself, but what you seek is only available among the Urani-Surtr_Regulates League. Sadly, I don't know those secrets. Not yet anyways." The Votann AI spoke in a different tone, almost yearning.

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

That confirmed my original guess. This Tethys guy was a spook, a tech-spy sniffing secrets from his bigger Votann brothers. I could send Calixa here, maybe. The Vanus Temple was uniquely suited to work among Ironkin and Votann silicon intelligences.

"I can send a dear friend of mine, Lady Calixa to help you, Lord Tethys. She is an infovore agent of the Vanus Temple, currently travelling with my daughter Trader Andrea Winterscale." I proposed with a sly voice. Sly Marbo should have a lot of fun in the Galactic Core.

"Hmmm. A Vanus Temple Adept? I think we had a few 'visitors' of this type long ago. They haven't tried again." the Votann mused with a disgusted voice.

"Those were enemies. This time you'd have a colaboration experience. Not to mention Calixa is also an Obsidian Augury member. They wear this kind of identification." I said while taking out an obsidian waffer with its margins encased in blackstone.

The Grimnyr puppet took the card with reverence, then froze. "No circuits or psychic anchor. What is this, some kind of mnemonic device?" the Votann deduced with surprising accuracy.

"That single card is worth more that this entire STC core, that you call a temple. Keep it close, and ask for salvation if you ever need to, like that Orion Votann which got broken by Orks." I offered in a kinder voice. Once back in my domain, the memory waffers would allow me to rescue the Votann by dimensional shift.

The Grimnyr turned around and gazed at the STC constructor turned into a worship place, full of runes and other magic sigils. "Your powers must be far greater than I first calculated, Trader Lancefire. That Lancefire Domain in the Eastern Fringe is quite a distance away."

"We all have our secrets, Lord Tethys. Back on Terra they used to have an expression: 'The river of time.' And you've chosen the daughter of Gaia as your Votannic name. The goddess of rivers." I spoke in a soft voice, while scrolling through the invaluable STCs I just gained. Then I drew a deep breath, and let the Breath of Gods flow through me.

It wasn't even so hard, creating planetary cores when the correct amount of metals were pilled up in the exact quantities demanded by the STC template. Forcefully transmuting stone and rusted metal like on Klybo was a far greater effort, for a lesser quality product.

Th new core I made for Tethys even included Bastion forcefields and an internal Gellar Rampart, plus a hundred Tarantula turrets for close defense and internal security, armed with my newest Neutron Lasers and Torsion Cannons. Although, if a horde of Orks managed to gain entry inside a Votann core, things were already quite bad.

The presence of the Votann flowed around me and into his new core, and the gravity of the entire world weakened for a few seconds as the Votann tested his mental muscles.

"I haven't felt so free since the Men of Gold bestowed me with spirit, long ago. You have my gratitude, Lord Lancefire." the Votann said in a more respectful voice, this time coming from his own hololithic screen projecting a giant face.

"Just remember, Lord Tethys. Freedom isn't free. We carry the fate of humanity on our shoulders." I answered in a calm voice.

"Two more cores, you said?" The Votann asked with slight greed.

"Tomorrow. Creating new gods is quite tiresome for a small human like me." I answered in a more casual tone, then displaced myself back on the Singularity.

The Blade appeared in my room in holographic form, and walked around me while waving light fingers in the air. Electronic devices, lamps and screens lit up at her touch, as if by magic.

A local human would have been quite impressed, I guess. Or shot at her on sight, most likely.

I just jumped in my bed, and drew on electric energy with my Pariah genes, turning off the lights. "I need sleep, Lady Blade. Go chat with our new friend." I muttered as sleep carried me to the river of dreams.

The Blade stared at the impossible man for a long minute. "The fate of humanity, huh?" she whispered in a pained voice, then faded away.