40 Thousand Reasons

Anyways, because I mentioned the Orks, I had another target in mind, the Industrial World known as Bork, to the north of my kingdom in the Fringe.

Massive numbers Orks were gathering there and preparing another huge Waagh, and the locals weren't quite able to resist.

So, as soon as the troops and drop-pods were recovered, I departed towards Forge Antax to drop off the new recruits for the Blood Angels, 200 young Blank men still dutifully pumping babies into our Catachan Auxilia, in between training and more lessons. Mixing business and pleasure, but pregnant women were generously given three year leave from military service, and thus it was quite acceptable for them too. Raising a kid was rather less stressful than battling Chaos worshipers after all.

If the Catachan female soldiers were lucky, they'll escape another round of service with the next batch of Blank recruits, and so on. Reach 10 kids, they could retire on a colony world or receive a military promotion for exemplary service.

However, the great success were the new generations of Catachans in the colonies, a healthy stock of hardy people that received five classes of schooling for free and five more for a minimal tax that actually covered the salaries for scribes and acolytes.

Couldn't do too much at once, but these educated citizens would form the foundation of my real power in the Fringe, in a slight copycat system of the Tau Fire Caste. They would all be soldier-citizens with sufficient technical expertise to operate machines and weapons, while the brightest of them would be promoted higher in administration or as techpriests.

The clans formed around my daughters and their Blank children held the reins of power on those worlds, supported by local regiments and the techpriest class.

As for the Ecclesiarchy, sadly I couldn't be rid of them, only bend them towards a more female oriented priesthood, with the Adepta Sororitas performing any important role.

It worked somewhat, although pounding on the altar with a bolter gun and singing hymns of praise to the Emperor to the congregation was not really my intent. I still had them monitored and under surveillance, just like I did everyone else.

Fanatics were always dangerous, and they could always be turned against you.

Anyways, soon enough I was offered tea and cake by the Fabricator of Antax, who seemed rather happy to see me.

"Lord Lancefire, so rare to see you, lately. I can only gather rumours and astropathic transcripts of your exploits from my sources." he began and patted my head in a familiar gesture.

"I sure hope so. Been fighting my way from one end of the galaxy to the other. Got the bastard Abaddon too." I replied in a gentle voice.

"Yes, I heard about Pythos. Shame it had to be burned." the Archmagos muttered politely and spread some incense for the lost souls.

"There was a big demon Warp rift under the Hive City. I suspect the Grey Knights did not want to take any chance." I explained in a sad tone, and drank more tea.

"See? It's information like this that makes you so valuable, Lord Pef! Plus all those STC templates." the Fabricator said with a cant praising the Omnissiah.

I sighed and slumped in my chair. "How is Faithful?" I asked instead.

"...Anathema-class mnemonic erasure. He still lives, but that's it. I take it you had a part in his adventure?" the techpriest asked sternly.

"He chose that by himself, Fabricator. And you don't want to know why. What about Magos Gyron?" I wondered curious.

"Yes. Gyron, your mentor. He is inside with my best cogi-experts, slowly awakening the Holy Machine, one datastack after another. The delegation from Mars is pushing for a faster resolution though. It will destroy Palomar for sure, when the ancient Spirit awakens." he explained in a Manifold transmission.

"Claim an imminent invasion and evacuate them. And use the damn Blank interfaces and Gellar fields, plus construct warpless engines. The Speranza must never enter the Warp." I advised him while scrolling his trading list.

Antax has grown greatly since I last been here, both in fleet power and manufacturing capacity. Billions of the new infantry Hellguns were already in stock, plus a million new light vehicles. Everything from cheap Weasels and Rapiers, to Chimeras and Hydras and Manticores, plus Basilisks and Armed Sentinels. Not that many heavy tanks, but instead they made attack drones and cheap Interceptors, millions of Tarantula turrets and even Guardian walkers.

Pretty much copying the production list of Forge Retribution, and magnified by 100.

"So what happens on the World Engine? I've seen Forges that don't even have blackstone plates for Astartes armor." I asked while doting my requisition list.

I could raise a thousand new regiments easily, if I had the manpower. But the Fabricator had surely thought of that too.

"Mars again, Lord Lancefire. They want everything cataloged and researched carefully. My Forge was first on the scene, and we got away with a gigatonne of samples, although the xenos technology of the Necrons is highly puzzling and accidents are frequent. Perhaps you can aid us in this matter?" the Fabricator asked cautiously.

I nodded and took out a datastack, then connected it to my implant, downloading a list with a hundred known Necron devices and their basic functions, plus marking a dozen as extremely dangerous, my eyes only.

If they found transdimensional devices, I didn't want them playing at science with them.

"My Ordo Xenos friends also research many xeno samples. I gave you what is known, and what is proven dangerous. If you find anything on the red list, I can trade them further for archeotech and Dark Age devices. Or you can blow up the sun by accident and spare me the trouble." I claimed in a soft voice.

The techpriest read the datastack and crushed it a minute later. "Dangerous knowledge indeed, Lord Pef. We have a silver runic cube like you pointed out. It gives out strange dimensional signatures, and we thought it to be a teleportarium node. But obviously is not, or much more. And I heard you also have one, and can even use it?"

I sighed and nodded. "It is a tactical weapon, able of planetary scale effects. Including teleportation. Inquisitor Ramaeus has another, so never cross her. Consider it an Alpha-level psyker, without knowledge of using the powers, pressing cogitator keys at random."

"Tactical...so it's a mere low level device. And an Alpha psyker without control, always turns into a Warp portal and then a Demon World." The Fabricator mused in a slow daze.

"Fabricator, the Old Ones fought the Necrons and they lost, despite creating races like the Orks, the Jokaero and the Eldar to fight for them. The C'tan betrayed the Necrons after the war, and then they were vanquished as well. We're lucky they are waking up disorganized and with memories scrambled by millions of years of stasis damage. For if they were sane...we'd have to flee the galaxy, even through the swarm of Tyranids that comes our way." I whispered in a warning tone.

"Makes sense, a race of Abominable Intelligences just like our ancestors fought in the past. Your notes will help us make more sense of their technology. The Orks are bad enough, hearing what's going on at Armageddon." he answered in a small voice, seeming tired and defeated.

"Yes...the Orks. Heavy nerve gas will help for now. Send a Manufactorum ship with me to Bhorc Prime, and start a new Forge there. Light weapons and vehicles and nerve gas, for now. We'll raise a thousand PDF regiments and crush the Orks, clean up the place and make it profitable. I bet we'll find plenty of hulls in orbit, maybe even Space Hulks." I advised the Magos with a wry smile.

"Sure. There are some Rogue Traders in that area, maybe a new domain can be formed, and we'll get another link in the chain. So what STC templates have you found lately, Lord Pef?" he asked with a level voice.

I just took out my newest work, including the Vigilus force-fields and the Ragnarok tanks, plus a few Tau based patterns.

"Very nice discoveries, Lord Pef. The Bastion fields seem familiar, and the Ragnaroks are easy enough to produce, depending on the main weapon. However, these plasma fusil patterns are much more advanced and will take decades to establish the proper rites of awakening. Maybe Ryza or Metalica can make them right now." the man replied in an interested tone, then glanced at me for confirmation.

"Good. I'm certain similar patterns will appear on various derelicts all over the galaxy soon. If the Forges still do not share, there are other forces that can do it for them, breaking up Space Hulks to release the knowledge locked inside. I'm not sure they'll be the same, but most parameters will be there. Probably better than the fragments I recovered so far." I announced in a knowing tone, then offered my hand for a handshake.

The Fabricator grabbed me a bit wary. "I knew it was you! Somehow, you are doing Omnissiah's work, even against all odds."

"It's not just me, my friend. Anyway, we need to accelerate the exodus to the Fringe. At least a hundred billion in twenty years, and a trillion in a century. Mostly young women, if possible." I demanded while turning way to leave.

The Fabricator stared after me in silence, cyborgs arms clenching his tentacles as if afraid.

I did show my hand though, and it must have unsettled him.