The tour of the Vidar Sector didn't end with our visit to Forge Lentrel Prime, nor with the one at Forge Hypnoth, but at Forge Antax, a place I could call a home away from home.
The Fabricator-General was older now, and even more enhanced with Mechanicus bionics, and his Forge World was booming with trade from all the STCs he received from me, but I was just getting started.
For the Imperium would shoot themselves in the foot on a regular schedule. Or their soldiers in the head, via Commissars or otherwise.
Numerous STC have already been destroyed, either by the Inquisition, the Mechanicus or the Ecclesiarchy, on purpose I mean, knowing they are valuable STC. The original Titan Castigator_(STC) was destroyed by the Grey Knights, and they were quite proud of their feat. Other STCs have been destroyed by ignorance, neglect, accident and enemy action.
Thus, the Las-Impulsor STC recovered from Forge Ixas which included the original STC Constructor, was bestowed with great honor towards Forge Antax, although I copied the weapon to re-use it in various ways, from an Imperial Knight's main weapon, to tanks, Dunecrawlers, dropships, gunships, starfighters and even secondary guns for Titans.
While I did have the Volcano Lance as a slightly better weapon, the thing was much too long to be used effectively in most scenarios. Yes, a Lancefire complaining about the length of his lance, very funny. But also true. Hard to turn a turret in a tank, when the lance smacks into buildings and trees or other stuff.
Magos Dominus Gyron pinned another Opus Machina badge on my armor, for my latest gift, while my children cheered and the Forge Temple's giant bells rang 715 times, in a long ceremony to mark the years since I have visited last time. Guard Regiments, Skitarii cohorts, Sentinels, tanks and Titans marching for parade, that sort. Quite impressive.
"You really went and became the Emissary of Omnissiah, my pupil! When are you going to drop your Crusader cape and don the red robes that await you?" Gyron asked as we met alone in his home/museum/laboratory.
"When humanity returns to the days of the Golden Age. The Speranza is helping." I answered in a low voice.
My old mentor sighed, and tugged at his red robes like they were a prisoner's straight-jacket. "Many tech-priests and other branches of the Imperium fear that the AIs will return, and make all of us irrelevant. I have seen things with the Explorer Fleet, that you wouldn't believe. Or maybe you would, but not other men. "
I have seen plenty of things that would be hard to believe, and done many of them myself. "Last year, I killed a Primarch. And not one of the 18 recorded by our books."
Gyron's ocular lenses froze for a second, then he slumped, and the red hood covered his face. "Not the Forgotten, I suspect. Must have been the Purged, the one whose name is locked with anathema-class binders in the Main Data-vault. If the Omnissiah sent you to kill him, his evil must have been beyond redemption."
I shrugged without care. The ones who fell to Chaos were all pretty bad, and I would be hesitant to pick a redeeming one from any of them. Useful yes, but nothing more.
Maybe Konrad Curze, who was sort of doomed from the start, but probably not. I picked Perturabo as my pet project, although Angron would have been more powerful.
"If the Emperor wants new Primarchs, they would be easy to make now. Even I could make a thousand barely competent ones. But half of those might fall again. Which brings me to my problem. I want to replace all Astartes in the Imperium with Blanks. I have the numbers now." I said with a cautious voice.
"... And all of them would be your children, like the Blank Primaris Chapters already defending the Fringe. I can see how that would be a problem, since House Lancefire would command their loyalty. Is Chaos still a problem, though?" Magos Gyron wondered with a keep mind.
"The Warp is always in flux. A power vacuum cannot be left unfilled, and Nurgle is likely to reform to strength soon. There are others small gods though: Ans'l, Mo'rcck, and Phraz-Etar , maybe Mord'dagan the Eater of the Dead as well. Plus, plenty of Great Daemons will seek a larger Warp Domain, and even various Chaos Sorcerers and Lords. Like Ahriman of the Thousand Sons, probably the strongest psyker among the traitors, right now." I explained while warding the room with techsorcists engrams.
"I heard of Ahriman, the Archtraitor. As for the other names, I already sealed them to a restricted partition. Must be nice to be a Blank and not be wary of speaking those names out loud." Gyron grumbled while a few metal arms sanctified his secondary brain with holy incense.
"Exactly. But I didn't seek you out just for old times sake. You are an experienced Explorer, and I need you for a critical project, vital for the security of humanity, and the Imperium as well. Enuncia." I whispered while a black card appeared in my palm.
Magos Gyron scanned the Blackstone wafer with his tools, then picked it up and weighted it in his hand. "The Obsidian rim is probably related to those mysterious Obsidian Auguries? They are not as invisible as they believe, not in the noosphere."
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"Well, you are an Obsidian Augury now, by my will and the will of the Emperor at my back. Don't abuse it to search for STCs, this is for Enuncia. You heard of it?" I asked directly.
"An ancient form of language, anathema to any machines. Why would you pick me for such a contrary task, Lord Lancefire?" Magos Gyron asked in a curious, but now respectful voice.
"The Adeptus Mechanicus is not the only power in the galaxy that uses machines. Nor the strongest. You had plenty of encounters with the Necrons and their constructs by now." I said while taking out my Necron Orb and repairing all damage and lingering malfunctions from his old chassis.
Then I drew a small Breath, and transmuted his metal body into a stronger auramite and Blackstone form, perhaps 20 times more durable than his quite advanced alloys.
A duplicated Null Wand appeared in my hand next, and he recognized it and its value instantly. "They shower you with praise for being the Emissary of the Omnissiah, but it's not a simple messenger rank. You obtained part of his Divine powers!" Gyron exclaimed and bowed to the ground, like a monk in front of a Holy Spirit.
"A tiny portion of Divine power, yes. So, for Enuncia you will not use digital means to record it. Pen and paper, plus a phonetic duplicate, such that a Silent Sister may speak the words without knowing their meaning. I will lend you a Veteran Astartes to help you live test the words before recording them. And I think we can bring my friend Faithful into the mission as well. If any Enuncia words you find involve healing, he would make a great test subject." I demanded in a kind tone.
Gyron rose and wiped some smudge from his lens, then went to pick up more tools for this mission. I rose an eyebrow as he opened an armored safe and collected a pair of Vortex grenades, plus some archeotech weapons that might be worth a heavy cruiser each. Especially one Disintegration_Weapon masked as left-hand gun-glove and Needlespine_Blaster pistol, which might punch through Terminator armor.
"Do you happen to have one more Disintegration_Weapon ? I know a guy who knows a guy who may sell me an STC for it." I asked with no ulterior reason.
"The normal answer should be: there is no such thing, my lord. But I suspect you already found it." Gyron spoke in a sad voice, just as I retrieved the missing right-hand glove from another safe, and simply integrated it into my power fist, by superimposing the two gloves.
"I was being polite, my dear mentor. Come, I'll start building an orbital ring around Antax, and the process looks even better from orbit." I said with a tiny smile, and moved us both to the bridge of the Singularity.
'Welcome back, Captain. Planetary scans and orbit adjustment are ready and being sent to your implant. You may begin your work when ready.' the Blade sent into my mind, while I retrieved metal moons and deformed Space Hulks in a rough circle around the Forge World's equator.
Then I drew a deep Breath and held it tight, as metal flowed and twisted into a band of metal circling Antax at 9500 kilometers from the surface, adamantium beams bearing the heavy load, while voidsteel and plasteel covered the outer and inner layers. Then pillars of adamantium plunged downwards to anchor the new Iron Ring to the Forge. The ring folded over to create a livable tube, and I began adding space docks, warehouses and barracks, plus the orbital elevators to the surface.
"It looks great already, but it's not finished. Still needs energy and defenses, but not today. I still get tired easily, you know. The mind is willing, but the flesh is weak..." I muttered as my eyes glazed over, and I fell into my tesseract, barely managing to ditch my armor and crash face down into my bed, while Dessima turned me over and sighed silently.
"Pef is always doing crazy stuff like that, Dessima. Showing off to his mentor now." I heard Ella explain in a half-bored voice.
I must be dreaming, but I opened my eyes to find the same dark cave filled with skulls and bones, and a beast of teeth and claws warming by a fire.
A small child with golden hair was playing with the beast, tugging at its tails, then poking the giant teeth with curious fingers.
"Are you so bored, Starchild?" I asked the dream child.
"The beast is not strong enough to eat the silent death. I told you to come to Mars, brave Lancefire" the child complained and jumped into the fire like he belonged.
Not a real fire then. I looked at my right hand, where my new weapon appeared like a see-through hologram.
"What about a disintegration beam?" I asked with a curious tone.
"The ancient Adrastite tech of the Federation may help, but that toy gun of yours is not big enough. Let Saint George slay the Dragon, and wait for Wolf Time. Little Drach here is eager for..." the child continued with a fading voice, as the cave shattered into flakes of snow.
I woke up, as the Blackstone coffin holding the Daemon Lance was shaking and screaming.
Ordella and Ella were taking turns poking the beast, while Dessima worked diligently at her desk and took notes from old library tomes.
"Girls, I have another lance for you, who will be pleased by your tender touch" I commented in a horny voice, and drew the silk sheet off the lance tent.
The Silent Sisters forgot about the poor daemon and dived for their precious lance. "Me first!" "Me too!"
"Me three!" Dessima signaled as she closed her book.
I won't complain about the length of my lance now. Maybe in the future, if I'll poke the ceiling with my lance when I wake up. Could be why the Emperor had all those high ceilings in his palace.