The good thing about doubling the number of Blanks I had available, was exactly the larger number of Blanks available for more jobs.

More Blanks for the Sisters of Battle or the Deatchwatch, more Governors and other officials in my Domain, more Astartes and ship crews.

Peffy also gained an extra 3 million Thalax suits and their pilots, and 40000 regular Blanks to replace the losses of pilots in future battles. Lady Chi had already sent 5000 duplicated Pariahs to her Ordo Culexus, including a pair of hers and Victor's daughters called Eta and Lambda, although I didn't foresee a great increase in Pariah Assassins for a few decades. Assassinorum training was long and harsh, and not many survivors even qualified for field service.

As for Inquisitors, the main plaza of the Forge Machine's orbital ring held 40000 of my children, of different ages and sex but all with a minimal training on hypno-chairs and tech-priests courses, into basic system operations and tech-sorcist skills.

"I don't know what the future has in store for you, my children. You may reach the peak of power in the Imperium, or fall to less pleasant jobs. You may die fighting daemons or xenos, or you may outlive everyone in the Lancefire Domain. But, one thing is certain. You will represent our House with dignity and make the enemies of humanity tremble in their pants, should they be so lucky to wear pants. For we are Lancefires, and we fear nothing!"

"For we are what they fear!" the giant chorus answered my Laud_Hailer discourse, filling the steel cavern with their proud voices.

"... When you say things like: 'lucky to wear pants', you break the majesty of your rank and sound like a child." Valerian the Second noted in a low voice, and not quite smiling.

"And we are all happy to hear our father discredit xenos like Necrons and Tyranids and other unlucky ones with no pants. Plus daemons..." Athena answered for me, sounding quite proud of her man-child father.

Her twin Minerva nodded and smiled, but kept silent as to not aggravate the Custode who will escort them to Mars.

The future Inquisitors covered their light power armor with the Cameleoline cloaks, and ran for their ships, as they had a lot more training to complete on the way to meet the Emperor. I would guess no one wanted to fail their Inquisitor exams, or whatever the Emperor would test them for.

The Speranza had used the Van Saar STC Constructor to provide the kids with state-of-the-art armor and weapons, even personal shields, while Lash had provided them etheric detectors and Phase Blades disguised as Power Swords. Perhaps the Emperor would give them better stuff, but I kinda doubted it. Only the Primarchs and the Custodes received the Emperor's personal attention, and possibly people like me or Janice who were special in their own way.

The starting kit mattered very little anyway. All Inquisitors with some clout could equip themselves or their entourage with the best Imperial or xenos tech they could find.

As I returned to the Pharos, Zarhulash measured me with an intense gaze for a minute, before shaking his mighty head. "The Void Dragon stirs, even as the Necron Yoke is being embedded into his sleeping soul. Soon, you will have another impossible enemy to defeat." the C'tan warned me with a sad voice, as if I was already dead.

I thought for a long time, considering my options. "Anything can be killed, Mighty Zarhulash. For example, the Outsider can eat him, like he ate another C'tan before. And I know four more ways to defeat him. What do you want me to do instead?"

"Five ways to defeat the Dragon...no, you are hoping, but there are only two. Yggra'nya won't help you construct another Pharos. Trapping the Dragon inside the Ghostwind dimension will destroy humanity as well, most likely with a Zombie Virus curse. As for little Canis...doubtful he will reach that level, even with the Old Ones' Weapon. That leaves your Emperor going to war or striking at the Silent King, probably both." the C'tan counted down my choices, including a few I never considered.

I grabbed my chin and thought a little more, as more ideas came and fell due to the magnitude of an intact C'tan. Dark Eldar Void Mines? Not enough. Federation weapons? Way too weak. My Breath of Gods? The Dragon had his own, and knew how to use it. The Blackstone Forts might work, if the Dragon would sit still and wait for death. No chance. The Tyranid Hive Mind? It was a lose-lose situation, no matter who won the battle.

Hmmm. C'tan were devilishly smart. This one also knew me well. When he mentioned the Yoke, it was a method I could use too.

So I smiled and stepped on Solemnace once more, to meet Inqusitor Selen_Thakra and a dozen Jokaero monkeys playing with their food. Literally passing an orange from one to another, like on a kindergarden playground. A kindergarden of my old life, since things were far worse here.

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"That looks quite fun!" I exclaimed and sat down to join the orange monkeys passing the orange around. They also wore no pants, but I wasn't judging. The Inquisitor wore a long dress and no pants, so it was simply fair.

"Lord Lancefire, please tell me you are here to rescue me." the Inquisitor pleaded with a tired voice.

"I'm certain Lord Trazyn will appear as soon as he eats that banana." I answered with a great smile, making the Necron Lord step out of a green portal with his favorite Jokaero pet and their bananas. Perhaps unfair to call either of them bananas, even if they both were. Mister Banana, quite literally.

"You shouldn't cheat at the game, Lord Lancefire. Mister Banana might get angry and break a bottle or two." the nice metal robot warned me, as he passed his banana to his pet, and set it down to replace Lady Selen in the gaming circle.

"How did I cheat?" I asked while summoning chairs and a table to serve the Inquisitor some liquid reinforcement in the shape of an Amasec bottle.

The Necron glanced at his Inquisitor guest, who by the virtue of being part of Ordo Machinum was quite competent at overseeing STCs and their modifications. Not a random kidnapping, for sure.

"What I mean Lord Lancefire, is that matter with the Ymga Monolith, and your duplicate's heist of the Celestial_Orrery . At least he was smart enough to leave traces pointing at the Sautekh Dynasty using the Ghostwind to infiltrate the Thanatos crownworld. The Oruscar_Dynasty is quite enraged at the theft, and suspected me in the first place." Trazyn revealed, while green walls of smoke and nanites created a curtain around the table for privacy.

I scratched at my chin, as innocent as Trazyn himself for this heist. The Blade didn't tell me, and Yggra probably did it to dump me in hot water. But way to go, Peffy!

I didn't dare go for that heist, mostly with the worry of failure and getting my stars detonated in revenge. Peffy had nothing to lose and a powerful and helpful C'tan at his side. I was rather envious, too. On myself.

"So you're saying, I could blackmail a certain Necron Overlord to provide me the STC for a planetary shield, and the rest of the Sunfire tablets?" I asked, a bit curious.

"Damn Rogue Trader! I worked my...mechanical helpers to their metal bones last time. You better bring new ones." Trazyn demanded in fake anger.

As it happened, I did have the crew of a duplicated Ark Mechanicus in storage, and an expert of STCs right here to check on the new template.

"What STCs did Lord Trazyn ask you to verify?" I asked the Inquisitor, who sucked the Amasec from my bottle with a thirsty face.

"Many, many...thousands." Selen muttered with a drunk voice.

I sighed inward and stored the woman in my tesseract room, where the Silent Sisters would take care of our guest.

"Thousands she said. I would guess you value the safety of Solemnace quite a lot." I wondered while taking out another full bottle.

"The Inquisitor was a gift! Don't take it personally, Lord Lancefire." Trazyn grumbled as the six extra Sunfire wafers landed on the table.

I nodded and took my gifts, then sipped more Amasec. "So, this Yoke on the sleeping dragon. How exactly does it work?" I asked with an innocent voice.

Trazyn took off his head and set it on the table. "Not saying! Even if I wanted to, the Silent King placed security engrams on that knowledge." he complained from his detached head.

"You're a good friend, Overlord Trazyn. Canis will take care of his Godfather, and I'll keep Solemnace as a private Lancefire museum. Even better, I know someone with a special chronophagic blade that can keep a living being alive forever. These are the Mechanicus helpers I found for you. But be warned, the ship to Mars leaves in two weeks." I spoke in a kind voice, displaced the duplicated tech-priests outside the barrier, then picked up the Necron head and recalled back to the Pharos.

Twelve days later, a data-slate for the Cadian-pattern Hexshield landed on my desk, while I was still working to find the Joakero detonation trigger inside the anti-matter bottles. I guess it was mutual assured destruction now, with the Sunfire STCs being spread around as a powerful energy source.

My 10 life-extending blades had doubled to 20, so I could spare one for Trazyn, should he regain his flesh body but be unwilling to die.

Duplication was such a cheat!