Much later, Rose and I returned to her study so I could deliver my report on the Halo Crusade.

"This matches well with the data I received from the Inquisition. Always the hero, Pef Lancefire." my wife noted in a more relaxed voice.

"...I did break a hundred or so Imperial Laws." I added in a teasing voice.

Rose glared at me for a second, letting me know she was well aware. "The Emperor knows and doesn't care. Sometimes I get the impression He doesn't care at all about the Imperium."

I nodded slowly. Of course he doesn't. This Imperium is the opposite of what he wanted. A religious society that worships him as a God? Monarchia was burned to the ground for exactly the same thing. And now, Lorgar's book was the central tenant of the Imperial Faith.

"The Emperor cares about humanity greatly. He endured the torment of the Golden Throne to keep everyone safe. Well, almost safe." I explained with a bit a warning in my voice. The Custodes Captain recording the interview nodded minutely at my words.

Rose glanced at the Custodes in surprise. "I get the feeling there is a larger story here that I am unaware off. "

I shrugged and leaned back on the sofa. "If the Emperor wanted the be treated as a God, there would have been plenty of time to create a religion in the past hundred thousand years. Much easier as well, when humanity was locked on a single planet before we invented space flight."

"...And yet, the Imperial Faith appeared only after He laid on the Golden Throne. I see." Rose mused with another glance at the Custodes. She still didn't realize the problem, as if a galaxy-wide religion could spread so far and wide without a real god at its core.

"The Astronomican still burns, my dear. A fragment of the Emperor's soul remains in the Warp, keeping humanity safe even now. That is what psykers and Navigators see when their open their soul. They see the God-Emperor of Mankind, using the light of his soul to guide humanity. The Custodes over here sees the man, their friend and liege and the ruler of Man. What do you see?"

I asked a bit rhetorical.

Rose froze for a moment. "I think I saw both. But the Emperor masked my vision, showing me only a glowing golden armor, taller than the Primarchs."

"He's not kissing Janice with a golden helmet over his mouth, that's for sure." I said with a gentle laugh.

"Pef Lancefire!" the Custodes Captain growled at me, sounding outraged.

Right, nobiliar decorum and all that. "Surely, a father and a mother can discuss what their daughter is doing and with whom. At least, this father can." I countered while tapping my chest.

"..." the Custodes glared at me still, when Janice and my wolf phased through the walls and appeared in the room.

"Did you get the tech, father?" my daughter asked in an official tone.

"The Omnicopaeia has costed me dearly. Sister Stern remained in the Maelstrom, battling billions of daemons while the fleet retreated with the prize." I said in a less pleased voice, and took out the STC cube from my dimensional pocket. There were still hundreds of templates and fabrication methods in there which we didn't manage to unlock, either because we lacked the correct codes or the psychic power and knowledge. My Librarians were low level psykers, not planet crushers like these two.

Janice smiled and placed a magic glove on her left hand, then touched the STC cube with her eyes closed. Blue runes and sigils lit up the air, covering the cube with wards and whatever other psyker spells. "You've read half of the templates already?" she asked in mild surprise as her eyes opened.

Uh, there must be more in there we didn't find. "I did what I could, but there's been only two months. STCs are rather advanced tech anyways, and I lack psyker powers for this one." I complained while Rose gasped in surprise. Despite being the head of the Imperial Inquisition, my wife seemed to be kept in the dark about a lot of things.

"You've read too much then, father. I would normally execute anyone who gained so much knowledge..." Janice countered with a displeased voice.

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Canis rose to his feet and growled, making Janice shake her head and smile. "It's fine, Canis. Your Black Alpha is not in trouble. As long as he doesn't spread this tech around." she added with a pointed glance right at me.

Hey, I wasn't about to go distribute psi-tech all over! My Blank Librarians and Silent Sisters, maybe a few of my Navigators. Barely a few thousand people.

"I get your point, Janice. I did execute two dozen Inquisitors at Forge World Idumea, who were also dealing with Warp-tech. Your brother Sollitus is now the new Fabricator-Colonel, in charge of making the Forge repent and produce Iron Korps regiments to fight against the enemies of humanity." I offered in a peaceful voice.

"...We need many more Blanks, father. The humanity is experiencing a psychic awakening, with a billion psykers apearing all over the Imperium. The Forge Worlds are turning as many as they can into electro-priests, but there aren't enough Forge Worlds anyways." Janice said with a concerned voice.

Well, I knew the Imperium was fucked. That's why I worked so hard to find the Primarchs and awaken the Emperor. It seemed it wasn't enough.

"Cloneskeins with dimmed emotions would also help. The Votann Leagues and the Tau are managing such things much easier. Indoctrination too, I guess." I offered with a careless voice. I did my fucking duty every day, but one man couldn't repopulate humanity with Blanks by himself.

"The Thalax cyborgs you copied from the Leagues? Mars is already fuming from that outragous gift. And I heard Forge Lucius did the same. Were you trying to get more from Forge Ryza as well?" Janice asked with mild curiosity.

I was pretty sure the Fabricator of Ryza would give me his unborn children too if I asked. A million cyborg suits would barely balance the scales for what his Forge already received. And I wasn't done either.

"One does not ask for gifts, my beloved daughter. If Forge Ryza wants to repay my generous donations to the Cult Mechanicus, they are free to do so. Ships would be welcomed too." I said with a teasing voice.

Canis walked at my side and placed his giant head on my knee, so I patted his head as a reward. Black Alpha? Well, wolves were pack animals, and I did rule my pack like an Alpha wolf would. Why did he called me Black though?

"Forge Ryza will not have anything to gift, father. The Mars priests are determined to take everything of value as their tithe." Janice warned me as she sat beside her mother and hugged her side.

They looked like sisters, although Rose was older and far more tired. Her eyes had wrinkles, and those wrinkles had their own wrinkles.

"That's not a problem. I will deal with the priests from Mars and pay the tithe for Ryza instead. I have become quite rich since my early days, roaming the stars with a single light cruiser." I countered with a sneaky smile.

A single star contained enormous quantities of minerals if properly mined out and the gases fused into metals. The Orion League was small and could barely mine a star once a decade, but those minerals possibly equalled what the entire Imperium mined in the same decade. And I received 500 years worth of metals for my hard week of creating new data-cores. I could construct my fleet from gold only, and barely make a dent in my reserves.

Larger Leagues had more Particle Escavators and larger territories, and could mine a star in a year or less. They didn't do much with those metals, since the Votann AI were kinda broken, but there was more wealth in those Leagues than the entire Imperium could mine out in a million years.

Paying the tithe for Forge Ryza, even with penalties for 200 years of neglect wouldn't even scratch my dimensional deposit.

I could create a thousand Forge Worlds like Metalica, also placed on planets made of metal, and it wouldn't beggar me. So I will. I was quite rich indeed.