40 Thousand Reasons

"Enginseer Tayber, I suppose you like my Knight? Perhaps you want to touch it, all over?" I asked in a wry voice, and a smaller volume.

The blonde woman nodded unconsciously. Probably saw it as her life's dream.

Well then, touch it you shall, pretty lady!

The brave Commissar coughed in surprise at being ruthlessly cockblocked, then slumped in defeat. He wouldn't have anything better than my huge Imperial Knight.

And his Blank aide Jurgen would be much more useful pumping thousands of babies for the greater good of humanity, than being wasted as an Imperial Guard soldier.

"Well then Felicia Tayber, you and the survivors from your PDF regiment are being transferred under my command, to recover my losses in this campaign. I don't need the Valhallan regiment, except your aide, Commissar Cain. Go and make haste toward the landers." I commanded while my Power Glaive struck the dead Ork Boss and chopped him into a hundred smaller bits.

Damn Orks could be resurrected after all, and I wouldn't take a chance.

"My Lord, the Boss was certainly very dead." the Commissar grumbled at my actions.

"Yes, until some Pain Boy found the corpse and revived it. Stand aside and let the Sentinels torch the corpse now." I ordered as I urged Reason back towards the battlelines. Behind me, the Armed Sentinels of the Catachans were unleashing promethium over the minced corpse, while the Volcano Sentinels ran ahead to secure a safe path for my Knight.

However, I didn't have much time to waste, if I wanted to recover that Shadowlight artifact in time. The Mechanicus temple was already under attack, by a rogue tech-priest and an insane Inquisitor named Ernst_Stavros_Killian with his merry band of brainwashed Sisters of Battle.

His goals were the complete opposite of mine, while I was trying to empower humanity with Blank genes, he aimed to create massive armies of psykers, as if that wouldn't backfire in a spectacular way, probably by increasing the size of the large Warp Storms and Vortexes, like the Maelstrom and the Eye of Terror.

Meanwhile, I spread my awareness towards the nearby Mechanicus Shrine and kidnapped the guilty party of murderers, and the precious relics and measuring instruments as well.

When I met with Rose again, I will let her carry out the sentence for treason and heresy.

I kept the Ancient artifact surrounded by megatonnes of blackstone, and then Tyranid bioships, even inside the tesseract dimension. No point letting the thing leak out Warp energies.

Surely my Rose and Janice could benefit from becoming Alpha-level psykers. And then, there was the sacrificial psykers for the Astronomican and the Golden Throne sleepyhead who might need a tiny power boost.

Not yet, but the time will come, when I was chosen a High Lord of Terra and had some actual powers in the Imperium of Man.

Soon enough, the Perlia PDF were integrated as a company into the rearguard PDF regiment, and given drinks and food, and bunks to sleep in the STC containers serving as field barracks.

They did a great work breaking through the Ork lines, and their experiences will spread to my own new regiment, which wasn't lacking for vehicles and weapons now.

A dozen of Weasel logistic carriers were also sent to the good Commissar, providing them with supplies and transport to the Imperial Guard's positions to the west, where three more of my PDFs regiments were also debarking for a combined assault against the Orks.

Cleaning out planet Perlia would take some time, even with orbital support and thousands of tanks and walkers, but it was also an excellent target practice environment for my troops, and me.

The western continent contained most of the industry and cities as well as the Capital Hive City named Havensdown, so it made sense to concentrate most defenses there.

But that also allowed the rest of the planet to be infested with Orks, which would need to be eradicated with fire.

However, by the time the cleansing was over, I had a new blonde concubine called Felicia, who was very much attached to the pleasures of flesh, and also loved tinkering with machinery, much like me.

Her talents were more of a practical nature, possibly something imparted to her during her captivity to the Orks, as she had an intuitive understanding of any machinery no matter how advanced, even xenos ones.

Aided by a new Mind Impulse Unit brain implant, Felicia could now transfer her understanding directly into my mind, via neural cables.

This sped up my STC creation and repair a few times, and also allowed me to fix a hundred tiny problems that I didn't have a solution for. Plus the sex was excellent, even with a spinal mechadendrite in the way.

Also, the decade of imposed exile from Sotha has passed, and Victor sent news of our second carrier the Daedalus, returning filled with Tigrus-pattern corvettes and more Catachan regiments. Excellent news, for my new kingdom in exile.

So I departed from Perlia after gifting Commissar Cain a chronoblade disguised as a relic sword, an inferno pistol, and a light power armor with a Rosarius shield mounted in the chest Aquila. The armor had an Enslaver bone mind-shield fitted into the armored neck collar, in a rough replica of my Bone Staff. I also left him a bodyguard of my Catachans, which pleased him even more, especially the young blonde women piloting the ten Armed Sentinels. Perhaps the snipers too, I'm not too sure.

However, Ciaphas_Cain now looked like a proper Hero of the Imperium, and was even promoted to Lord Commissar, then given leave to roam as he pleased and sniff out corruption.

And that Departmento Munitorum standing regulation to list Cain as alive and active at all times, regardless of evidence to the contrary? Well, now it would be true forever, as the man will likely never die. His life-draining sword was inscribed with a single word: Pacem, which meant peace in High Gothic.

I doubted Cain would ever find peace in the 40k universe, but at least he carried it with him. And that glowing Aquila on the pommel? Wasn't any real relic supposed to glow, after all? And so I passed the Warp Tracking Aquila onto Cain. Surely the man's dazzling adventures will keep any Lord Inquisitor occupied for a few decades, or centuries.

I didn't take the Drop Cruisers with me towards Sotha, because they returned to Forge Antax for post-battle analysis of their pods and turrets, and I had to admit that some heavy bolter Tarantulas could remain as standard deployment loadout, due to their sheer destructiveness. Only better armored and with a larger magazine. At least 1000 rounds, not 600.

However, I should have remembered that Sotha was now an Inquisitorial Fortress, mainly for the Ordo Xenos.

I didn't find my Rose here either, instead being met by a pretty blonde woman named Amberley_Vail who was sent to investigate the C'tan prisoner and the strange happenings around the Pharos installation, including temporal shifts and vanishing starships.

Nothing to do with me, but I should be careful.

"Chapter Master Lancefire, I heard so many things about you that I don't even know where to begin." the cheerful woman began as she sat down in front of me, and we shared some good wine I had prepared for Rose.

She even wore a custom-made power armor, the light-weight variant and a Power Fist, which made my jaw ache in phantom pain.

"Lady Amberley, I assure you, everything you might have heard about me is true, depending on what you heard." I quipped and sipped my wine as her cheeks blushed deeply.

I didn't mean that, but those stories were probably true anyway.

"... Well, I meant about Commorragh! Yes, destroying the Dark Eldar, nothing else!" the Inquisitor dissembled while grinning cutely in her wine cup.

"That's certainly true, even the truce with the Eldar Avatar. I also have a thousand concubines and hundreds of Blank sons being inducted as Astartes in the Blood Angels and the Lamenters." I admitted in a level voice, while Rafen chuckled to himself for no reason.

"You better wait outside, Veteran. There are more delicate matters to discuss from here onwards." Inquisitor Veil demanded with a glare towards my bodyguard.

Rafen glanced at me for confirmation and I sent him the okay password via the mind implant. It wasn't like I would be exposed to psyker powers by anything, not even this pretty Inquisitor. Perhaps a different form of torture, if my guess was right and Rose praised me in too much detail.

As soon as Rafen left, the woman simply sat elegantly in my lap, and caressed my chin in a seductive gesture.

Emperor of Man, having so much luck with ladies was great!

"Delicate matters?" I inquired with a gentler voice.

"I want a Null staff too, because I really need it. And I will be extremely grateful if you can make it happen, Lord Pef. Nothing is beyond the reach of the Inquisition, after all." Amberley proposed in a throaty voice, both enticing and menacing.

So I grabbed her own chin, and stared into her eyes. "I don't have the prime ingredient for a such a device, my dear. Rumours say the Inquisition itself is suppressing the manufacture of such rare artifacts like a Null Rod, such that only they have the means to defeat demons. Quite contrary to the Emperor's own wishes, that his finest warriors have the mightiest weapons, able to best any foes. Any foes!" I growled in an angrier voice.

The blonde woman patted my hand, so I let her go. "Not my personal fault, Lord Lancefire. Probably the Ordo Malleus would do something like that. Maybe even the Ordo Hereticus. We, in the Ordo Xenos know better, but are not as important nor have a say in the higher conclaves."

I sighed and leaned back, holding the sad Inquisitor in my arms. "Blank genes will help in time, as they spread more among humanity. Probably best if you start with the System Governors and Hive leaders, then Generals and Admirals. As you can sense, psyker powers or genestealer cults cannot affect a Blank, thus making them less likely to turn traitor. Mind implants help as well, imposing reasoning over superstition and anger, thus reducing the occurrence of stupid decisions in the ranks of the Imperium's leaders."

"You mean like yourself. Or your family?" Lady Amberley asked in a teasing tone.

"Exactly, my lady. Like myself and my family. If you're interested." I proposed in a slightly shy voice.

"I'm not drunk enough for that." the pretty blonde quipped and held the wine bottle in a trembling hand, before gulping the contents in a long drag, which made her throat move in very seductive waves.

What can I say? The flesh is weak, so I could only stare in wonder.

"You're very pretty" I managed to say, before she hungrily shut me up. I had plans with the Pharos...but those could wait. Amberley tasted like grapes and strawberries.