All over the galaxy, Tyranid and Chaos attacks had begun to spread with rampant violence and bloodshed, and astropaths were being flooded with requests for aid from thousands of worlds.
Well, only hundreds of such pleas in the Ultima Segmentum, mostly because I had massacred the enemies of humanity in that part of the galaxy for a century, stomping on the largest threats and burning down all the enemy worlds that tingled my memory for their part in hosting attacks against humanity. Primarch Guilliman had also helped strengthen the armed forces of the segmentum, raising a million new Imperial Guard regiments and establishing new Sentinel Worlds.
Still, the Forge Worlds were the lynchpin of any effective defense, beside the mighty fleets of the Imperial Navy. I wasn't too worried about the Forges in my backyard, since I had been providing them all they needed to withstand anything but a full Tyranid Fleet or Black Crusade. From better STC patterns, then extra minerals and advice on defense measures and up to Reality Cages and Bastion forcefields.
But in other sectors of the galaxy things were not going so well, despite the efforts of Primarch Khan to save the Forsarr_Sector or Primarch El'Johnson's brilliant stratagems at Armageddon.
The numbers of the Tyranids were too great, and the constant defections of Navy ships and Imperial regiments or Governors to the Chaos did not help at all.
Hopefully, with Primarch Sanguinius on Terra and Primarch Guilliman's new anti-corruptions measures the Imperium could be reformed.
Plus other measures like the Adepta Tertia could enact now, using the Adepta Sororitas to enforce Imperial Law wherever they had reach. And the Sisters had conclaves and priories everywhere, and only needed a coherent strategy and direction.
After cleansing the Cardinal World and its star system of any signs of invaders, my fleet departed for Forge World Phaeton to conduct a new trade deal and emergency repairs and resupply.
Before I departed from Ophelia, I had given Janice a course in common sense measures and a library of STC patterns to implement among the Sisters, plus half of the Silent Sisters aboard my fleet, those pregnant or nursing a young baby.
Janice would have liked all of them, mainly as enforcers and army commanders, but that will have to wait. The numbers of Blanks were still too small, and placing all eggs in one basket was risky.
Defeating the Tyranids had been costly, as my army was reduced from 10 armored and 50 regiments of heavy infantry to less than half, plus the near-total loss of our Tarantula and Guardian turrets.
Even Knights and Titans had been lost or damaged, although the pilots were transported out and remains of the walkers had been recovered for repair.
The only good thing that had arisen from that giant debacle was the implantation of new recruits with the gene-seed of fallen Lamenters, which was proven to grant a measure of Warp resistance to the new techmarines and no sign of Black Rage.
The Red Thirst would still be a constant problem, since the genetic flaw was present in the gene-seed itself. However, I did steal some Imperial Fists gene stock at Hydra Cordatus, enough to fill the ranks with 500 new techmarines.
At Phaeton, I found a Rogue Trader Lady named Yassilli_Sulymanya with a slight heresy problem. She was planning to travel to Terra and lay her claims in front of the new Regent of the Imperium. And as it happens, that Regent was exactly my Primarch.
I was mildly amused, and filled the woman with confidence and a healthy dose of my own gene-seed. I guess Yassilli was quite desperate to accept my offer.
Later, as she rested her exhausted body in my bed, I drew her curvaceous body close and gently raised her chin, so she would stare into my eyes. "There are many kinds of truths, my dear. But you have to remember that truth itself is mutable. As for the Emperor being a god or not, you need to investigate the nature of godhood itself. A simple farm girl from a Feudal World might raise to become a Living Saint, flying on wings of light and battling Greater Demons on equal terms, while singing praise to the God-Emperor of Mankind. Meanwhile, even an Astartes Primarch might fall and become a tool of the Ruinous Powers. The truth had changed, and it did so by the intervention of a higher power. "
"You're saying the truth is subjective?" Lady Yassilli grumbled in displeasure.
"Reality itself is mutable, my lady. Willpower and psyker powers have been proven to distort reality, from Warp Storms and materialized demons to the Eye of Terror itself. When the Eldar civilization fell into debauchery and senseless pleasure, most of them all died and were subsumed into an Immaterium entity given sentience. We call Slaanesh, the Lord of Excess or the fourth Chaos God, but its nature is more akin to an Abominable Intelligence gone rampant. The remaining Eldar use the Craftworlds' Infinity Circuits to resist it, or the World Spirits of the Exodite Worlds to recycle their souls back into the new generations. And those Eldar psychic machines are very similar to our own Machine Spirits, only a billion times stronger." I explained in a gentle voice, while my fingers traced old scars on her soft skin.
"...And now, those humans that die truly rejoin the Emperor in afterlife?" she wondered with a deep frown.
"Well, you'd have to discuss the nature of afterlife with Sanguinius. He had been roaming the galaxy and the Immaterium for millennia in Angel form, until he returned to his old body. However, the Emperor is now a trillion times stronger or even more. His dreams on the Golden Throne are empowered by the daily prayers of quadrillions of fervent believers, all over the Imperium and beyond. Acts of valor and sacrifice are often rewarded with miracles, and those of his bloodline can often call on his aid and receive it. Primarchs and Astartes foremost, but others as well. He was once a Hastati, a soldier in the Legions of Roman Empire of Terra...about 42 millennia ago. And the lines of Hastati infantry were supported by the better armored Principes. And, what do we have now? Lines of Astartes infantry supported by Titan Princeps in their mighty armored walkers." I said in a thoughtful voice.
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Not to mention that Astarte was a goddess of war worshiped all over the lands touched by the Mediterranean Sea.
"The Roman Empire, huh? Nothing is known now about them. Those ancient lands have long been devastated by atomic warfare, and then plated over with giant Hive Cities and Administratum palaces. But the words written in the Lectitio_Divinitatus show that many worshiped the Emperor even before the Horus Heresy. It even begins with Lorgar's own claim. Rejoice, for I bring glorious news. God walks among us." the woman whispered in a soft voice.
I chuckled amused. "I killed Lorgar once, you know? He is probably back to life now, but his words were false then. A god has no need to walk. The ancients had a famous proverb on the nature of godhood. Why would a god need a spaceship? See the irony here?"
Lady Yassilli sighed and slapped my chest. "I can't even tell what's true from your words. Are all Primarchs able to come back to life? Is that proverb a real thing?"
I smiled genially and answered a simple "Yes"
"You're impossible!" the Rogue Trader exclaimed in fake outrage, and I decided to take her for another tumble.
Repairs to my fleet would take time, as would replenishing the turrets and waiting for thirty Catachan regiments to arrive at Phaeton. Might as well enjoy the downtime.
Even better, Forge World Phaeton had a buried STC constructor under their main spire, which would take some time to unlock and provide the Forge with all its amazing patterns. Also, the constructor provided a convenient method to insert a hundred Tau-source technologies into the STC data librarium, plus a thousand various templates of my own or Trazyn-enhanced design.
That took a bit of work, as even my Astartes fleet, the Inquisitorial Rosette and my bountiful gifts of STC patterns and megatonnes of blackstone were barely sufficient to allow me to access the priceless and holy Altar Mechanicum.
But once I was inside the scented shrine, connecting to the STC constructor was proven laughably easy. I did have Inquisitor-grade Clavis overrides that worked on nearly all Imperium technology, and I was not afraid to use them.
Working with a constructor was amazingly simple, very possible by design. They were created exactly to allow colonists easy manufacture for defense machinery on new worlds, and thus required minimal expertise in computer systems.
Even techpriests had few problems selecting and confirming the printing requests, although it took them days of prayers and rituals to sanctify and appease the holy machine.
In less than a year, I had my Auxilia forces upgraded with the best possible equipment, from new tanks, gunships and fighters to Armed Sentinels and turrets. We did consume most of the Forge's stores of precious alloys and rare minerals, but I considered it a fair trade for everything I had offered them. Minerals could be purchased or mined, but knowledge was not so easily obtained.
Even their Fabricator agreed, and thanked me a hundred times for the giant help I provided.
"You can thank me by building ships and weapons for humanity, esteemed Fabricator. Focus on Strike and Drop-cruisers, plus tanks and dropships. The Adepta Sororitas will need everything you can build for them, as they get reformed back into proper Imperium's armed forces instead of the Adeptus Ministorum lackies. Their Pariah Sisters will need Leviathan Dreadknights by the thousands, while the regular Battle Sisters will need omni-sense auguries and plasma fusils for their Armed Sentinels.
Billions of Sentinels, plus ships and dropships to transport them into battle." I demanded while making it sound like a profitable contract.
"...The Adepta Sororitas? Well...they are the richest client in the galaxy." The Fabricator mused thoughtfully as the galactic map lit up with known Sororitas strongholds. At least a million of them, and those were only the known ones.
"Indeed they are, with donations from all the devout believers filling their coffers . You will need their help to reclaim the blackstone mines from Trantis, although I recommend you bring at least 30 torpedo destroyers and a dozen Drop-cruisers. The Necrons will not be easy to cleanse." I offered while pointing at the mentioned Necron World on the holomap. Might as well have him work for those blackstone minerals, and foster cooperation with Janice's new organization in the proper Imperial way, righteous fury, bloodshed and fire.
The Fabricator stared at me for a moment. "This feels like I was given an order, Lord Lancefire." He muttered not too pleased.
I poked the Aquila on my chest in response. "These two heads here, they represent the Emperor and the Forge. We are the Imperium, Fabricator! Right now, I have to head to Forge Agripinaa and save that Forge from another invasion. That is my duty, and this is yours. You make the tools and I use them to crush heads and purge xenos. And the Sisters enjoy a good purge too."
The Magos chuckled and poked the Aquila with a metal tentacle. "Yes, duty. At least you do your part, Pef Lancefire. I will do mine too, with my hammer and anvil."
I shook his limb in agreement. "Any experiments with Necron technology, use a lifeless star system and disposable techpriests. Exploding suns and machine-eating viruses should not impede production of this Forge."
Then as a final example, I took out my Necron Silver cube and vanished from his quarters, appearing on top of the thousand kilometers-tall spire.
It made a great view, but I should have worn my helmet first. Vacuum was harsh on the skin.