I had brought 20 of my Blank sons with me on this trip, each with their own harem and retinue of bodyguards and tech-priests, and a couple of Blank Lamenters to begin trials for the Leviathan Dreadknights.

Yes, exactly those obtained from Trazyn, but made much simpler to construct, even by a small Forge World. The Leviathans were still as expensive as a Baneblade heavy tank, but more powerful and much more agile.

The choke in production was manufacturing the complex atomantic reactors and shields, as those were the key attribute, not the size or the weapons.

One such Leviathan could be made every two years, even with all our efforts.

They also needed the Black Carapace bionic implants to be wielded at full performance, which kinda sucked. I didn't have that organ, nor did my Silent Sisters.

Of course, a weaker Dreadknight variant had been made, using the mind impulse unit implant instead, and a simpler plasma reactor. Those could be made two per year as well, and thus we had ten of them ready for trials, piloted by Blank women assigned as Auxilia Force to the Lamenters.

There was nothing the Codex Astartes preventing me from recruiting and arming women to fight beside the Battle-Brothers, and so I used that. Small numbers for now, but in time I would have a powerful army, even larger than the limit imposed for most Astartes Chapters. And that without resorting to stupid tricks like sending 1000 men on a constant Crusade and then implanting 1000 more, like the Black Templars did.

Ashuria seemed a bit bothered by the Reality Cage, but there wasn't much I could do.

"Try not to use psyker powers here. There's a Planetary Gellar Field covering the surface." I explained while watching over the trials with interest.

My Blank sons were able to run and do flips with their Leviathans, while the poor Sisters had to lumber slowly and fire the plasma gatling guns in support. Not that great, but these women weren't princeps, with specially selected genes for piloting mechs.

On the nearby field, the Knight squad were drilling in melee formations, using huge Power Swords against servitors and dummy targets.

I took pity on them and released a few thousand Orks to make things more fun.

As expected, their Waagh field didn't work, and the Orks had to contend with muscles and melee weapons against Knights. Too easy, but this was merely practice after all.

I did the same for the Leviathans, and just watched the mechs stomp their targets with impunity.

"Can we get some Tyranids, dad?" my son Valis asked bravely.

"They want some Tyranids to test their mettle. What do you say, my dear Inquisitor?" I asked Ashuria with a raised eyebrow.

"I want to see that! Give them something big, like that Broodlord from the captured Ark Mechanicus." the brunette woman demanded with a grin.

All right then. A Tyranid army it is.

I guess I shouldn't have sent a million Tyranids, but I did make quite a show, and tested the machines to the limit and beyond. Once again, the Tyranid Silence didn't quite work, nor did their command synapse link, so I compensated that with larger numbers.

In the end, the Knights had to march over and help out, while the local techmarines moved in with remote controlled Guardian turrets to even the numbers somewhat.

Still, it took a whole day to eliminate this small Tyranid army, despite 50 Knight-class mecha and a thousand turrets firing constantly.

As soon as combat was over, the Retribution techpriests rushed to patch up the damaged walkers and also retrieve the combat logs, and police the battlefield for precious gene samples from a couple Tyranid Hives.

Meanwhile, I was testing myself with the Ogryns, who didn't seem too satisfied with my pretty boy body and performance. My sons did even worse though, because they were still normal men, if rather athletic men from all the training.

Luckily this duty took only two weeks, and then I could return to my regular concubines, and especially my wife Decima, who was feeling rather horny and eager for more kids.

Or possibly simply needed a vacation from her boring job of administering a stellar kingdom, setting up patrol routes and supply points and sending equipment and immigrants where needed.

I would have been overwhelmed doing all that for a decade too.

Sometime later, Felicia sneaked into my room and dove for her prize, while Decima held my head in her lap and massaged my scalp.

"We've grown so big and powerful, husband. We have a Knight House and so many planets and ships. I fear the Imperium will soon come asking for everything, like they always do. Install their Administrators and Bishops everywhere, and suck us dry." Decima whispered in a soft voice.

Felicia glanced at my eyes a bit curious, then continued her task, sucking me dry as well.

I nodded inward, as Decima was quite correct in her predictions. We were not far enough, to escape the reach of the Imperium completely. Quite evident by my three Inquisitor lovers and the third fleet carrier being finished upgrading.

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Rose would be returning soon, as the Tau threat was being contained and their expansion halted. Not their technological advances though, due to constant attacks by Orks, Chaos and Necron, plus a couple of small Tyranid fleets passing through Tau space while heading for Sarlok.

The Tau were forced to rely more and more on their human allies from the colonies, which also gave the Inquisition an infiltration path to obtain even more advanced Tau technology.

And if some of these human researchers managed to 'discover' Imperial STC patterns for starfighters, or slow Leviathans walkers or clunky plasma and melta guns...well then. They would be promoted, while the Tau researchers began repairing and upgrading these poor weapons to something of Tau quality.

As for Decima's predictions...they came true in less than a month, just as I was preparing to depart from Retribution.

An Ultramarines Strike Cruiser arrived, bearing the commander of the Guilliman's Vitrix Guard, named Cato_Sicarius. At his side there was an Inquisitor Lady, but one I did not know, named Velayne_Ramaeus.

"Chapter Master Lancefire, it has come to the Primarch's attention that your Chapter is in possession of a large fleet, including 5 Battlebarges, 25 cruisers and 30 destroyers. You are hereby requested and required to provide your ships to the Balur Crusade, with the aim of cleansing xenos and heretics all along the Eastern Fringe. Especially those Drop-cruisers, and any armored regiments you have available in your Auxilia." the Ultramarine Captain demanded, and held out a long parchment signed by Roboute himself.

I pretended to think about it while I read the document and had it memorized.

Dotting every line, and did not mention the Rogue Trader ships, which were not subject to his authority. Clever and pretty much irrefutable, more so with the strange Inquisitor to his side.

My armored forces were already famous from the Badab War, and the Drop-cruisers made a big impact in the Moloch Crusade.

Nothing about the Silent Sisters...which was good and bad. Possibly still nominally proscribed in the Imperium, for now.

"It is very compelling, I admit. But if I'm not in command of this Crusade, I'm not interested. The Imperium can afford to waste thousands of ships and regiments with incompetent commanders, but not me." I answered after a tense minute.

A bit confused, Cato Sicarius glanced at the Inquisitor for support. The woman lowered her cowl, to reveal a scarred face with bionic eyes. Inquisitor Ramaeus also had a bionic hand, so she must have been through a lot, but she survived.

"It is acceptable, Lord Lancefire. I shall observe you during the Crusade, and quell the fears of some of my colleagues. See, they worry you're corrupting their female Inquisitors and turning them into your personal sluts." the strange woman spoke in an amused voice, bionic eyes glancing at the pregnant Ashuria at my side, with a knowing look.

I just smiled widely in response. "Preposterous! If anything, I should be praised for propagating the human race among the stars. Have those names written down for me, I'll make sure to castigate these insolent Inquisitors of yours."

I think Cato Sicarius blinked in surprise, but perhaps it was just a gust of wind.

"Is that so? How many Inquisitors did you...castigate until now?" the woman asked with a faint smile.

"Eh, numbers! I forget the exact decimal. Obviously not enough, if they dare cast such allegations at my distinguished person." I replied dismissively, then turned to kiss Ashuria for a long minute.

With a flushed face and heavy breath, Ashuria walked away at a fast pace. She did have another project in mind, testing the glass-virus on a couple of Ork worlds nearby.

"Well then, I shall find accommodation on your ship as well. This certainly looks like a promising start for a Crusade." Captain Sicarius muttered a bit awkawardly and walked off, leaving me alone with the new Inquisitor.

I offered her my elbow and started walking towards the bridge. "See? Nothing but false allegations, my dear. Do let me know if you have a candidate in mind, to become a personal slut. Perhaps someone from a different faction, I hear rival Inquisitors murder each other every day."

The woman patted my arm and covered her face with the cowl once more. "You're a very interesting young man, Pef Lancefire. And you even have a tesseract of your own, right?" the Inquisitor asked in a soft voice.

I tried not to flinch, sensing my own tesseract counter hers and blocking its effect. With so many Necrons awakening, and constant attacks by Astartes Chapters on Necron Worlds, it was inevitable someone else would find one.

But Velayne wouldn't have the real operation manual, like I had. Nothing to worry about yet. Plus, she was still a woman, and flesh was weak.