I woke up to find an alien face tied to the wall, and staring into my soul with a strange gaze.

And his Shard sleeping on my power boots.

"Is there something on my face?" I asked to make sure, and checked my lips for drool. Only a little.

"Have you solved the problem, Pef Lancefire?" the C'tan asked with an intense voice. "You don't have long, and more enemies are gathering at your door."

I took out a Necron head and held in out in my hand. "To be or not be? I guess humans are really stupid about multiple choice questions." I quipped and threw the head towards Zarhulash.

"You stole Trazyn's head? That's almost as great a feat, like stealing the orrery. " Lash observed in his smart voice, but this time he was mostly wrong.

"The Silent King has encrypted the data about the Yoke, so that Trazyn couldn't run away with the prize. And you want me to help?" Zarhulash asked, a bit confused.

"This Dragon guy is of your race. Either I take over the Yoke, or I will have to kill him. I'm fine either way." I explained with a careless tone, then stepped through the Pharos to Forge Retribution, where a bunch of Eldar pirates and corsairs were attacking, looting and generally misbehaving like Orks. Some Drukhari types among them too, judging by the spikes. Only about 10 million of them, but with their advanced tech and psyker powers, the Forge's military was already overwhelmed.

I really must have been away for too long. These Xenos forgot who they should fear.

The Emperor was a merciful guy, I wasn't. I didn't name my private Forge World Unlimited Kindness or Compassion. The ships and the vehicles will be useful, the idiots inside them, not so much. Click, click. The Eldar army visited the sun for a short second, while their weapons and armor clattered to the ground.

A single Phoenix Lord remained on the surface, covered with a potent psyker shield that protected him from Titan weapons and my tesseract field as well.

I moved closer until his armor's design clicked in my mind. "Lord Fuegan, how wonderful to meet again. We can continue the duel we started last time." I proclaimed out loud, then took out my special gun and shot a beam of Dark Light into his forehead.

The shield cracked, but held. Battleship-grade shield, but portable. "Blacksoul! No Yngir wolves to hide behind?" the Phoenix Lord quipped back and shot me in the chest with his fire lance.

My armor's shield failed, but the Eldar lance struck the Null Box and merely pushed me back a single step.

I sensed Lash arrive as a ghost wolf to flank the Eldar powerhouse, but I didn't want my friend to get hurt. 'Free food inside the sun' I told him mentally, while I brought out the Daemon Lance.

A burst of blue runes spread out around the Phoenix Lord, and he vanished in hyper-speed, to flank me from the side, and possibly impale me with the lance from another angle.

The Eldar demigod was fast, maybe as fast as my Destroyer Psi-Titan when powered by Sister Stern, but that was all. I shifted my position and just grabbed his lance while stilling myself. Fuegan lost his grip on the immovable lance, then got struck by Drach.

Abaddon has used the daemon weapon many times to slice through defense fields and through armor, and my Drach was even stronger now. The psyker shield failed, and Drach impaled the Eldar loser and began sucking his life away. 'Draw him closer! I want to hit him with my sword.' I commanded the daemon, and stored Fuegan's lance to bring out my chronoblade in my other hand.

"Curse you, Lancefire!" the Phoenix Lord yelled as my Dawn Blade stabbed him in the heart.

Lash rushed and snapped off the Eldar legs just as he was about to kick me, then crunched them like al dente spaghetti.

The Phoenix Lord was though as nails, but I was draining his essence and lifespan through the Dawn, while Drach ate the soul and flesh. In a minute, his red Soul Stone plunked to the ground, and bounced around for a few times. I stored Drach before it could eat the stone too.

Lash played with the stone like a cat, then rolled it to my feet. "I heard they can grow back a new one if they have the stone, right?" he asked with a grin.

I lifted the stone in my hand. "To be or not to be." I spoke softly, thinking about a future trade.

But no. My Forge World was devastated, the Temple of Knowledge ruined, and many of the students skinned alive. I will have retribution.

"Catch!" I urged my wolf, who ran after the stone and crunched it between his sharp teeth.

Then I went to find the Fabricator Dominus, and found him dead and dismembered alongside many other tech-priests defending the central Forge Temple.

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"Lord Lancefire, you saved us!" the survivors wailed while raid sirens screamed and urged the population to shelter.

I pointed at an older Magos. "You, stop the sirens and begin triage for the victims." then I turned to another "You, mobilize the Skitarii and collect the weaponry"

'The Reality Cage was stuck first' Lash warned me before I could berate an innocent cyborg.

To the side, a tall spire struck by a bright lance fell in slow motion, then vanished as I stored it before it crushed thousands of people below.

"Going to need planetary shields." I muttered while rescuing trapped victims or moving the wounded directly at the entrance of the medicae halls.

The Fabricator-Locum arrived next, with an escort of Skitarii and Sentinels, all covered in wounds and burns. "My lord, the raid was sudden and unexpected. And we're not even close to a Maiden World here..."

I took out Fuegan's lance and gave it to the tech-priest. "This was Phoenix Lord Fuegan leading some Eldar Outcasts and pirates. The troops are not important, but a Phoenix Lord is like a Primarch in most ways. I had some trouble killing him."

The Fabricator took the Eldar lance with a few cautious mechadendrites. "This seems personal. They even struck at the Temple of Knowledge, and ruined a dozen STC Temples. Stole the original templates..." he began to say when I opened my hand to produce the missing data-wafers.

'Lash, go and bring Magos Domina Felicia...' I asked the wolf, who returned in less than a second with my trusted tech-priest lover in his jaws.

"My lord...Forge Retribution was attacked?" she asked while looking around to find her bearings.

"Yes, some idiot Eldar pirates." I answered curtly, then took out a power sword, and tapped her shoulder. "Felicia Tyber, by my will as the Rogue Trader of the Lancefire Domain, and the Emissary of Omnissiah, you are hereby promoted as Fabricator-Colonel to Forge Retribution. Gather your higher ranks and start the recovery. I'll provide support from orbit."

Felicia knelt under the blade. "As the Omnissiah wills it, we are all but dust in his divine wind. Thank you for your trust, Lord Lancefire." she spoke in a gentle voice.

I handed her the relic sword, then moved into orbit where the Apocalypse Battleship I rescued from a Space Hulk was ruined again, by Eldar lances and torpedoes.

Here, I walked next to the command throne on the bridge, where a Blank man I never met was struggling to contain the damage to his ship. As if verbal orders could close the gaping holes in the hull, and all the red errors on the main screen.

"Captain, go to your cabin and rest. I'll deal with the ship, and the mess below." I demanded with a soft voice, and moved the Captain out so I could sit in his place.

"Rogue Trader! This is my ship and my crew. I must object!" the man growled, and Lash mirrored him with a louder growl.

"Noted. Go sit at another station, and be quiet." I continued with an amused tone. People really forgot who was in charge around here.

'I'll go plug the holes. It would be a scandal if the ship explodes with both of us on board.' the C'tan sent to my mind and phased away.

Truly, the C'tan had his priorities in a weird order. As I linked with the Machine Spirit of the Mechanicus Battleship, I remembered everything I forgot about hating their clutter code and religious protocols. The Blade AI was perfect for me. Exactly like I imagined a ship's avatar to be, in the far future.

And they didn't even have a food replicator on board!

Luckily, I could survive for weeks with only sweet recaf.

In a few hours, I solved most of the disaster below, put out the fires and rebuilt the orbital elevator, while on the ship green lights began to lit up again as Lash fixed system after system faster than even I could.

So I took out another thermos and glanced down as the Captain was less belligerent now. "I am Pef Lancefire, Rogue Trader. I guess we met under exigent circumstances?"

"Captain Heracles the Eight, Adeptus Mechanicus basileus, Forge Retribution." the man introduced himself with a calmer tone.

"I know where we are, Captain. I founded this Forge World, and captured this ship as well. Must have been 1000 years since, and you weren't around back then." I explained while drawing a deep Breath.

Another Iron Ring, this time for Felicia. I wonder if she'll accept this for a wedding ring. I should finish it first, and add some Defense Lasers around. Nova Cannons too. Next invasion fleet might be bigger.