"Incoming Vox transmission, the green Glorianna with the giant mouth." my techmarine manning the vox console announced with a snicker, and turned towards me with a knowing grin.
Perhaps I won't need to use my ace after all. A perfectly reasonable explanation just presented itself, since Mortarion was brand-new to the amazing reality brought by my presence in the galaxy.
No doubt, he had heard of his Brothers coming back, and somehow connected the dots to me, but that had been all the extent of his research.
However, he did bring a giant demon with him, very likely Ku'Gath The Plaguefather, which meant that regular munitions would be stopped without much problem.
But I had more than regular munitions on me.
First thing, my psych-out grenades detonated their phase-iron casings on board all three Glorianna Battleships, spreading Pariah bone ash and depowering the generals of the Chaos army, Ahriman and Perturabo included for completion’s sake.
And then, I just yanked the three idiots and their depowered retinue into my labyrinth, just as a Vortex grenade burst just behind the Greater Demon's head and prevented more Warp fuckery from interfering with my plans.
The fleet was already firing Nova Cannons at the incoming enemy, illuminating the void with brilliant blooms of sunfire, pretty much masking all augury sensors.
I added some Nova Mines of my own to thin out the numerous escorts and then ordered a general cease-fire, to let the traitors duke it out with the Tyranids for us.
Far to our left, outside their weapons range, I produced my captured Eldar fleet, this time without holding the crew at gunpoint to fire their weapons. There were trillions of Tyranids all around, plus Chaos forces and demons in front. It was death ground, and they would have to fight or die. "This is the price of freedom, Farseer. Organize your people and fight our common enemy." I spoke in her mind, while over 5000 Eldar warships were getting filled with Eldar recovered from Commorragh and other places, millions of them.
It was a move I had planned for Cadia or something on that scale, but the Battle at Gryphonne surely qualified too.
While the Eldar were getting themselves in a semblance of order, I flooded the Chaos ships with Orks and tyranids to keep the traitors busy, and most importantly, stationary.
The Tyranid swarm was still reeling from the synaptic shock of their Hive Ships destruction, but nonetheless their Silence was still working and pushing on the Warp Rift, forcing it to close ever so slowly.
As for the Greater Demon, it was still floating there, while missing its head. Well, the demon wasn't actually a living creature that needed a brain to live.
I wasn't certain how to kill a Greater Demon either, unless using a Vortex torpedo to send it back into the Warp. But that would mean it got away, and will come back with even more vengeance.
Plus the very likely probability of a Warp Storm forming, from too many Warp rifts merging together.
"Resume firing, battlecruisers flank right and target the Warp rift, the rest fire on larger pockets of Tyranids." I demanded while leaning back in the command chair to direct our corvettes in a protective formation.
For now, our back was defended by the orbital forts and our right by the Mechanicus fleet and the various ramshackle of merchant ships, mineral barges armed with mining lasers, Rogue Trader frigates and cruisers, Navy couriers and armed transport vessels, plus the Black Templars's Crusade fleet and a dozen squadrons of Imperial Navy destroyers.
I have tried my best to upgrade the refugee ships with as many lascannons and defense turrets as mechanically possible, and trained their officers into a minor semblance of naval coordination, so at least they wouldn't shout over vox or shoot at each other by accident. Well, pretty much everyone flying on a spaceship in the galaxy was by default a mildly experienced veteran, or they wouldn't survive at all.
The techpriests had some really advanced guns on their Ark Mechanicus cruisers, even a grav-lance on their largest ship, and that surely did good damage on the larger Tyranid bioships, that were crushed under their own increased mass and compacted into leaking balls of bone and teeth, which then burst into a rain of mist and blood.
If we had a thousand ships like that, I could take on Hive Fleets with little care, but alas, a single ship did not a miracle make. Or at least not that ship.
On a whim, I sent a hundred Ork Roks right at the Warp rift, and urged that mind-controlled Warboss to massacre the demons on the other side. And then I added a dozen Tyranid ships and sent them towards the rift to follow, at a decent distance away.
I wasn't sure what they might find on the other side, but demons and lots of melee combat was close to statistical unity.
"My lord, the Great Demon is regenerating his head." Rafen whispered in a wary voice.
Yeah...I didn't quite have a definitive solution for that. I urged the Serenity's Machine Spirit to fire the Nova Cannon straight at him, but a clawed hand caught the shell and stopped the detonation with barely any damage.
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Like I said, conventional weapons were rather useless.
Throw Tyranids at him and keep him busy I guess. There were plenty Tyranids around, rather too many.
I was quite certain the Greater Daemon could butcher them all eventually, but it would take a long time and the butchering would include myself and my allies, just for sport.
Not that the damn daemon would wait that long. With a psychic scream, the thousands of poor Tyranids bioships I threw at the green-winged monster were halted, then decayed into dried husks and rotting flesh.
More Tyranids then. Maybe he could get tired?
I piled up millions upon millions of Tyranids next to him, and even added some Dark Eldar Pain Engines for a combined assault, which only seemed to amuse the big demon, as he ripped them to shreds of distorted organs and metal limbs.
Fucking sakes, Greater Demons were truly bullshit!
Oh well, I could only keep going and wait for the Warp rift to close. More Tyranids!
A giant ball of Tyranids' bioships was grabbed and displaced around the creature, while millions more were flung at the Warp Rift, and I even added a couple psych-out grenades near both targets.
"Funny tricks human!" a distorted voice resounded in my mind, and the Greater Demon began hulking his way towards my ships, simply tearing through Tyranids like they were made of foam.
More Tyranids, and lance batteries!
The Eldar surely saw the impending doom and struck at the demon as well, searing his wings and boiling off the skin, but that was all they could do. It was rather a desperate situation, confronted with something like this.
So I stood up and mounted my helmet, then loaded the stormbolter on my shoulder with a phase-iron magazine.
I would have to deal with the daemon myself.
"Lord Pef! Are you really?" Amberley asked a bit confused, as I turned my visor towards her.
"You're coming too, Inquisitor. Your pretty ass might get flat, if you only sit and don't stretch your legs at little." I commented wryly, making the bridge crew snicker until an Inquisitorial glare silenced the room.
"So you think my ass is pretty, my lord?" Lady Vail wondered while standing up and examining her behind in a teasing move.
She couldn't see my face as I grinned under the visor. This will hurt later, but it had been worthy.
Rafen gestured a thumb up for my manliness, and my daughter Pauline at the engine console slapped her forehead dramatically.
Yes, the mood had become cheerful again, which was rather the point. "Helmet on, Inquisitor. Harsh vacuum and chaos plagues might damage your gorgeous face, and we wouldn't want that." I retorted with a small snort, as the thermal auto-senses noted a slight increase in temperature around her cheeks.
Compliments work as well as any miracle.
Then I gathered a dozen Silent Sisters with stronger Null auras and stepped out, right as the green hulk beast arrived in front of the battlebarge.
Amberley pointed her staff and did something warpey that slowed the Chaos daemon, and Sister Letitia slashed at a flailing tentacle turning it into dreams again.
"I'm going to drain the marrow from your bones!" the creature proposed amicably, and immediately tried some warp spell that splashed over the combined null shields like a green vapor.
It was going to be a stupid melee fight after all, but that didn't mean I lacked protection.
I also kinda liked my bones as they were. "A trillion cretins dreamed you into existence, demon. But you have come to the right place, to die!" I replied in a casual voice, and took out a certain lance and just stabbed him into the gory stomach.
The demon-lance weapon extended to impale its enemy, and drain its essence.
With a slurping sound, the lance began sucking his marrow into itself, while Chaos runes lit up along the elongated shaft of the lance, making it be covered in Warpfire and red energy. It must have looked fabulous from the distance.
In a minute, the Greater Demon was gone, and the lance retracted by itself to digest the meal. It also practically purred in my hand, seeming quite energized by this event. We wanted more, a lot more! A trillion souls to feed our hunger!
"Lancefire! What is that thing?" Amberley yelled at me, shaking me awake.
Damn it. Almost got me, sneaky lance!
The demon weapon vanished back into its Nexus slot, kept separate from anything else inside a kilometer thick blackstone tomb.
I took out the Necron wand and cleaned everyone like a traffic security agent in a spaceport, before returning them at their posts.
When only Amberley was left, I touched our helmets in a clumsy embrace. "That my dear, is a dangerous weapon that only a Lancefire can use. It was once held by the Emperor himself." I explained in a serious tone, and not even lying.
Made it sound as something else, but even if she asked the Emperor one day, it would still be true.
The Emperor did hold Drach'nyen once, while extracting it from his stomach.
Anyways, I had my true Lancefire now and the weapon test was complete.