I'll spare you the mushy reunion scene, as grown women cried their eyes out when their father returned, or when my sons invited me to drink some nasty drink that they concocted in a bio-lab, since Astartes were mostly immune to alcohol.
Just taking a sip would make a normal man unconscious, and we drank an entire night. They called it Heartfire, which was entirely fair.
Even with Omega nanites purging my body of the toxic stuff, my heart still burned in the morning, so the Blade injected me with a tiny dose of blue nanites which erased the headaches as well.
So now it was time to review the military forces of my Dynasty, and also the Mechanicus and the Domain self-defense forces. The PDF numbers were fine, as they expanded geometrically with every new planet colonized. But their equipment sucked, and even my Astartes lacked enough Dreadnought or Terminator suits, going back to using regular power armor.
The Deus Ex Machina Titan Legion had only doubled, to 200 Warlord Titans and their support elements like Skitarii and automata, which was not so good. I had hoped for at least 1000 Titans, but even a major Forge World like Machina lacked the materials and knowledge to mass-produce Titans.
More work for me.
So I gathered a Grand Council to discuss our future, and more of the newer Domain members could meet their overlord Rogue Trader.
Primarch Vulkan arrived as well, and Primarch Corax stepped into a shadow to sit next to me, uninvited. I expected Custode Valerian to say something, but he stood still like a statue, probably asleep from boredom inside his auramite armor.
"Everyone, I was delayed for a bit in the Warp, taking care of another Dark God. When I returned to realspace, I found out it had been 666 years, and the galaxy had broken in half. It's only been a few hours for me, so imagine my surprise." I told the council with a calm voice.
"Did you meet the Emperor, Lord Lancefire?" A Sisters Of Battle's leader asked with a deeply religious voice.
"Yes and yes. It's complicated stuff, but as the galaxy split, so did the Emperor and the Imperium of Man. I've met the one on Terra, still sitting on the Golden Throne. Most of the Custodians on Terra have been replaced with Grey Knights, and also Thalax suits with Blank pilots. I also met the Emperor on Mars, who still holds most of the Custodes around him. He is known as the Omnissiah now, and he has the loyalty of the Forge." I provided with a kind tone.
"How is that possible?" a hundred voices rose to challenge me.
"Look, I'm not an expert on divine things. I can kill Dark Gods, and other things, but that's about it. Anyway, planet Mars moved into the star system of Nocturne, the homeworld of the Salamanders Chapter. And they also have their own Primarch Vulkan now, identical to the one you see here. I suspect this was the Emperor's Will, to provide equal leadership to the two Imperiums that arose from the Zone Mortalis splitting the galaxy." I explained with a gesture towards Vulkan who sighed and clenched a giant fist.
Fabricator Gemma held her hands in prayer for a moment, then stood up and walked near the Custodes. "Can you explain better, Custodes? The Omnissiah sent you here for a reason."
The man removed his helmet to stare down at the displeased Council. "I am not here to explain. The Emperor sent me to guard Pef Lancefire from threats he cannot manage by himself. A very comfortable mission, since Lord Lancefire should be able to deal with anything, but I do not question my orders."
'You are very patient with your family, Warmaster.' Corax observed in a curious voice, probably expecting me to smack people around like I did with Angron and other miscreants.
'It is natural for people to want to know, Primarch. The tech-priests even worship this desire as the Quest for Knowledge.' I answered in his mind. Then looked around the Council.
"But indeed, this is quite enough, people. If you are not satisfied, feel free to ask an audience with the Emperor and bother him with questions. I'm sure you'll love the result." I concluded with a stern tone, then rose to hug Lady Gemma with her amazing android body. There were even soft tissues of policarbonate foam under her synthskin, that felt nicely under my palms.
I kinda wanted to explore the sex-droid in more detail, but not right now. "We should meet later, and catch up, Lady Gemma." I whispered in her auditory auspex.
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
The Fabricator hugged me back, then nodded at the Custodes.
"Any plans to increase the power of our planetary forces?" my daughter Delia asked, wearing the uniform and badges of a PDF General.
I returned to my seat and powered up a hologram of the Mars-pattern Sentinel. "The Fabricator-General of Mars has been kind and donated us 40 million of these Ion Sentinels, all equipped with Ion Shields and Ion Beam guns. Should be enough to disperse to all our colonies and provide a potent deterrent to any invaders."
"That...should be fine, I guess." Delia muttered in a surprised voice. The Sentinels' number wasn't that much when spread to 40000 worlds, but it would help anyway. We will need to make more, but that meant new fabrication lines and all the tech support from 40 Forge Worlds.
"My tech-priests will need to learn to correct Maintenance Rites to repair the machines and recharge their power reactors. I should hope you also obtained their STC template, Lord Lancefire?" Fabricator Gemma asked while she analyzed the slowly rotating hologram. See? Already thinking on this, my dear Fabricator.
I mean, I was the one to give Mars this template anyway, but I guess I shouldn't spoil the mascarade.
"Of course, Fabricator. I did obtain about 2000 new STC templates in my last pleasure cruise. Your Forge will need some time to absorb them all." I offered with a kind smile.
The new family members were quite shocked at my casual reveal, since a single damaged STC template was already major Favor to any Forge World. Thousands of them seemed a bit much.
"Are you going to continue the Blank expansion program, my Lord?" A bodacious Sister from Ordo Familious asked, even peeking at me coyly under her long eyelashes. Selected especially to entice me, I suspected. Good choice too. I was quite enticed already.
"We do need more Blanks, Sister Vesta?" I asked to make sure.
"At least a million, my lord, and many more if you are able. My Ordo is already creating a list and impregnation schedules for worthy candidates, with a single doubt related to consanguinity links. Outside new immigrants, most of the Lancefire Domain is already intermingled to some degree, as it has been 30 generations since your last visit." the Sister said with a worried tone.
I kinda expected that, as people would bang and make new people by default, not to mention the Astartes recruits and Blanks in general getting a harem of their own to produce offspring with a mild chance of new Blanks. And hundreds of kids without the gift. Eventually, everyone in my domain would be related to me, closely or more distant, but related anyway.
I did some mental calculations, at about 7000 children per year, at 1000 times speed to not strain my power much. "Prepare 7 million women, at least 6 degrees of separation distant. I'll get you 7 million Blanks in a year or less, Sister Vesta."
"I understand, my Lord. I'll go let my Sisters know." the woman answered with a horny smile, then walked out with swaying hips.
"There is something like too much sex, horny husband." Lady Velayne noted with mild reproach. Or maybe jealousy.
"You're welcome to join my bed anytime, Lady Inquisitor. I will always make time for you." I answered with a teenage smile. I would even dilate time a bit and make more time, for my dear wife.
"Idiot!" Velayne grunted under her sleeve, and walked out with her Deathwatch Marines escort.
"Still banging Inquisitors, father? I thought you got burned too many times, by now." my son Victor inquired with a questioning glance at the departing Inquisitor, only to get his head smacked by his own assassin wife.
"Lady Chi. I heard good news about you. I'll make time to review the Auguries and see what else you might need." I said toward the new Head of the Obsidian Augury, basically my private Inquisition and Officio Assassinorum organizations, combined into one.
"Looking forward to it, Lord Lancefire. Primarch Corax, you should join us too." The Culexus Assassin asked the nigh-invisible Primarch stalking the Council.
Vulkan's eyes flashed towards his brother, who sank into a shadow and escaped. "Still skulking in shadows, just like when we were young. Come back here and give me a hug, Corvus!" the Primarch yelled in a thunderous voice.
His brother didn't return, perhaps wisely. Vulkan meant well, but his hugs could easily break a man's spine.