Lady Decima Lancefire never felt awed even in the presence of a Holy Inquisitor, not when she knew their real motives hidden under their mask of righteousness. And it was even harder to feel impressed by a woman who shared her husband in bed, in a few cases.
But when faced with the Emperor's own Custodes...she did feel awed. Not that it would change anything.
"You can dock your ship at the Lamenter Starfort and unload the Primaris technology. You can even help the Apothecaries and Tech-marines set up the new procedures. I know my husband would want that. He would never refuse the chance to make his own sons stronger." she declared in a calm voice, and ignored the Culexus Assassin at the side of the Emissaries_Imperatus . Chi may be cute and all, but she wasn't a Lancefire yet. As for power, even Dessima was stronger, not to mention Ordella. They had their own Pariah here in the Fringe, and likely outnumbered the entire Imperium in Blanks.
"What about my Culexus mission, Lady Lancefire?" Chi asked in a softer voice, almost shy.
"You too, my dear. Our Obsidian Mother will provide you with a range of locations to choose where to deploy. But I suggest you wait on that, as we are on Tier 4 alert now. Victor and half of the capital ships are away for a few days." Decima allowed in a kinder voice. If the girl would be her daughter-in-law one day, she could make an allowance.
"... it will be so, Lady Lancefire. I don't know why you did not receive a Torchbearers ship, and all the new armor and weapons from Mars, but the Primaris tech is invaluable even by itself."
the Custodes said in a relaxed tone, almost peaceful. Decima had seen other old Veterans in her carrier, but this man seemed to belong to a class of his own. Not even Chyron in his Deathwatch Dreadnought could compare with the invisible death zone surrounding the Custodes. It was likely the man could kill anything or everything in vicinity, without even a blink or hint of effort.
"I wouldn't know precisely what Mars can provide, but I doubt they have better weapons. My husband is the one who gives most Forge Worlds around their newer STC or ancient devices. And as you saw in orbit, they repay us with many ships and other war devices as well." Decima said in a wry tone. Gene-tech was the one thing where Pef did not improve on, and with good reason.
"Indeed, my Lady...there...oh! It seems we will test your defenses soon enough. The Great Enemy is coming." the Custodes spoke in a grave voice, eyes glowing golden suddenly.
"Augury disturbance in the comet cloud, Admiral! Warp ships...thousands!" a vox transmission arrived on her vox bead a second later.
She tapped the vox bead and simply ordered "Tier 5. Distribute the alert to all system." In this hellish universe, there was only war. And now it came to visit Illevar again.
"I'll go and dock with the Lamenter Star Fort. I may be of some help if the Great Enemy breach the fort line." the Custodes simply offered then somehow vanished in a nearby shadow.
"...I will stay at your side, Lady Lancefire. Victor would fist me with Chyron's fist if I let anything happen to his mother." Chi proposed after a second of deliberation. Decima glanced at the side, where their own special Assassin stood invisible, even from the deadly Custodes.
"I guess she can stay, my Lady. They may go for a decapitation strike." Vaedrax accepted with a calm voice.
"Decima, the timing is too good. I am certain they have managed to infiltrate us, if they strike right now." Elixa spoke softly on her Obsidian vox channel.
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"You would know best, Obsidian Mother. Watch for abnormal deployments that deviate from Tier 5 protocols and execute them." she spoke in a quiet tone.
"Already on it." Elixa muttered as she keyed her vox to the next encryption.
Chi just blinked at the invisible voice, then shook her head and mounted her helmet on. "Figures. I am only backup...." she muttered as the etheric field closed and she went invisible too.
Decima just turned and walked rapidly towards the elevator. The remaining Lancefire capital ships were all in various damage status, but she had enough corvettes to form a hundred hunting packs, while the destroyers and frigates skirmished with the advancing Chaos Armada.
As she approached the elevator doors, they opened suddenly and a familiar Space Marine shouted: "Hydra Dominatus!" before firing his combi-bolter straight at her.
In a second, a green light flashed and the Traitor fell in three pieces on the floor, while her Rosarius shield glowed with bright light. "Thank you, Vaedrax." she murmured as her heart skipped a bit.
"...the new Phase blades work just fine, my Lady. You focus on the fleet, I will handle the traitors." the Culexus Assassin answered in the same calm voice.
"I want a sword like that too. They seem useful." Chi added after a second of shocked silence.
'I am on the way, my love. Let them enter the second fort line.' her husband sent directly into her mind. He was close then.
'They turned Victor's Blood Angel bodyguard. Must have been something recent.' she reported with a grim tone.
'It doesn't work like that. Some kind of trigger deep in the mind. Like a corrupted Inquisitor can install and activate a century later.' Pef commented with an easy voice.
'There is a Custodes here. With...' she continued to report.
'I know, Decima. I asked for it.' Pef replied curtly.
'And the Culexus mission?' she asked curious.
'No? I suspect they sent a woman this time. Is she pretty?' Pef asked without any ulterior motive.
'Victor slept with her already.' she answered in a smirk in her tone.
'Great for him! It will be trickier to keep her though...' he mused in a weird tangent.
"Admiral! New xenos fleet detected! Necron tech, most likely. And a Black Fortress..." the auspex station reported as the elevator reached the Admiralty level.
'Necrons too?' she asked in her mind.
'Oh! Yes, they're with me. Kinda. Just don't shoot them. There won't be much left of Illevar if the Sun explodes.' Pef explained in a far away voice, as if he had forgotten about a giant Necron doom fleet able to shatter stars. He probably did though. Possibly too distracted by another STC marvel he found somewhere, or a pretty woman in his bed. Possibly both.
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Balls deep in my amazing blonde Inquisitor friend, I almost forgot about Trazyn. Focus Pef!
"Time for bloody work, sweet Amberly. The Enemy is crossing the minefield now." I said as I pumped my gene-seed in her spectacular body.
The woman hugged me tight. "Stay a minute longer. There will be plenty of war left for you."
I hugged her back, even as the tesseract began to sense the Chaos Fleet in the distance. Soon, I could see the shape of the colossal Ark_of_Omen , bristling with weapons and Daemons.
May need to bring the second Fortress out for this. But not yet. Firstly, let's find out why they believe they can win.
It hasn't been long since I shattered most Tzeentch forces at Stygius, so he couldn't have gathered another Black Crusade force so soon. Was this a shard of Nurgle? Some other new Warp God?
Knowledge was power, and I lacked some here. I didn't like this one bit.