40 Thousand Reasons

The Black Lament shuddered again as our Gellar fields bumped into something large and quite solid.

Most likely another Greater Demon trying to slow us down.

Warning messages flashed into the Manifold circuit, and I mentally directed more Lamenters and Silent Sisters to plug the breaches or seal off damaged sections.

It seemed like the entire Warp was hounding us, or at least half of it.

I doubted Tzeentch would act against us before Nurgle was dead, but that didn't exclude him pointing our location to our pursuers.

I would have done the same in his place, and I wasn't even close to that godly level of backstabbing abilities.

"Do you even know where we are going?" Lady Valeyne asked in a teasing tone, and leaned to pet Canis in a suicidal move.

Really, everyone keeps petting the wolf engine as if it was a docile puppy or something. Canis was already more than a match for an Astartes Dreadnought and possibly even an Imperial Knight.

I know, because I did train him to fight Ork Bosses or Tyranid warforms, and he only had problems with the larger biotitans.

"That way!" I explained carelessly, while pointing towards our distant destination.

Both Mnemorach and the Inquisitor snorted at my convincing navigation skills. "Well, at least we're going somewhere. I'll inform Lord Cegorach to prepare the trap." the Harlequin said in a shifty tone, as if preparing another prank.

And no, having invisible water bubbles crashing on your head is not actually funny. And he could even detect Vaedrax, as we did try to tie his shoes together, but failed.

Perhaps I could glue his soles to the floor though. He wouldn't jump away to the ceiling, next time.

Canis begged me with a suffering glance to remove the Inquisition from his hair, but I wasn't ready for that fight. "One day we will have our revenge" I whispered in triple meaning.

The wolf sighed in a pitiful breath, and the Solitaire drew back his hand sheepishly.

"Not for a week, Lord Pef. Come visit me, for tea." the Inquisitor said in an inviting voice, and all thoughts of revenge were forgotten.

In a second, I teleported into my shower and once again stepped on an invisible Assassin sleeping on the floor. "Out! I have a date with a pretty lady!" I explained while ruthlessly kicking the lazy bum outside my bathroom.

"...evenge is better served cold." I heard a slight mutter before the door snapped shut. Whatever.

I was getting laid today, and nobody would stand in my way.

Minutes later, I stepped out in full naked glory, to search the wardrobe for something proper to wear. A Captain uniform, perhaps?

"You're naked..." a young girly voice observed while its owner blushed from head to toe. I know, because my eyes can see a bit in infrared now.

"As are most people after taking a shower, Sister Darcy. So brings you here?" I answered while debating between a green or a blue shirt to go with my tunic.

"Green looks better." the girl said in a shy voice, and still not looking away. Well, I did have quite a superman's body now, so it was understandable.

I went with green, because it didn't matter anyway.

Necrons had green eyes too, and my special friend would better be ready to rescue me soon.

In a minute I was dressed in my finest Rogue Trader uniform, which did look great with a green shirt. Too bad I wouldn't wear it anywhere outside a fortified place surrounded by a hundred Gellar fields and a thousand Astartes.

"You look dashing, Lord Pef! So...I was wondering..." the girl trailed off in a soft whisper.

I blinked and looked at the Novice Sister again. "How old are you, Darcy?" I asked in a stern tone.

"...I'll be fifteen soon?" she replied in a dubious voice.

"And this is what you want from your life?" I asked in the same manner.

The girl shifted and tugged at her robes. "...I kissed you, and then you lived again. The Emperor granted me a miracle, and I was able to save you!" Darcy announced in a strident tone, voice climbing too high towards the end.

I blinked and sat on my bed, then patted the place beside me. "You mean, at Cadia?" I asked to make sure.

"...Yes. You died and then I prayed and confessed my love and kissed you...and then you weren't dead anymore." the nascent Saint admitted in a fearful voice, and hid her eyes away.

Though luck, Pef. Now you have to own it.

I poked the girl in her chest, then snubbed her nose. "You barely have breasts, Darcy. Why don't you stay with Sister Celestine for a couple of years, and have her train you? Miracles are much easier with skill and training, right?"

The girl hugged me tightly and sobbed onto my green shirt. "I will, my lord. If I am to become a conduit for the Emperor's grace, I should be stronger. And grow up a bit, especially around my chest."

So I snapped my fingers and miracled the crying girl in Celestine's room. The Saint should take care of this problem for a while.

Then next second I stepped beside Lady Valeyne as she sat on a leather sofa and gently swirled tea in two cups. "You're five minutes late." the woman observed in a glacial tone.

"Well, we didn't actually set a time for this date." I answered with a smile and sat beside the Lady Inquisitor.

"... Fine! Menelau was a joy to raise, so you better train him right. Now I want a daughter, like Janice." Valeyne demanded while sipping the hot tea with a questioning look.

I frowned and thought about it, even engaging the mind implant for better accuracy. She didn't just want a daughter, but one like Janice. As a means to obtain more power in the Imperium. Rose herself had reached the top by obtaining the Emperor's approval with Janice...and our plans.

The chances to obtain a Blank child were low anyways, and to be gifted a psyker/Blank combo was even rarer by orders of magnitude. A century of constant fucking duty had provided me numerous children, yet only about 4000 were Blanks. Of those, barely a dozen has dual powers, and only Janice had Beta-level powers from the start.

Nowadays, after decades of training and being amplified by the Shadowlight artifact and the blessing of the Emperor, Janice was much more. Possibly as strong as any Primarch, except Magnus.

Her secular powers also matched her training and abilities, with the Adepta Sororitas and the Silent Sisters under her command.

"And what domain do you want for your daughter, my lady?" I wondered curious, then sipped the exotic tea.

"I don't know! Astra Telepathica maybe? Or at least the Templar Psikologis...maybe both?" the Inquisitor answered in a doubtful tone.

I held my hand out and caressed her leg for comfort. "We'll need to have many children in that case. Maybe five, maybe a hundred. Rose got lucky at fifth try."

The woman bit her lips in deep thought. "I suppose it's why I have this young body again. The Emperor's currency is lives, and Blanks matter even more." she concluded in a philosophical tone.

She was a cold and calculating person, my Inquisitor Ramaeus. But I also needed someone like her at my side, for diplomacy and other Ordo Xenos skills.

"I suppose we could get married, once we reach Illevar." I muttered as I leaned closer for a kiss.

Her eyes glinted with something predatory and hard, before she accepted my offer. "A wife, huh? I get to veto any concubine I don't agree with?"

I just held her hands and kissed her knuckles. "Advice. My first wife Decima can veto, because she was born a Lancefire. My second wife Hanna as well, if she wants to. Serena and Dae give good advice, but they aren't Lancefires by birth. You'll have to learn how things work in a Rogue Dynasty, my lady. In matters related to bloodlines, things are very complex."

"I think I see it. Much like me having a say in Menelau's concubines, because I love him that much..." the woman mused in a far away voice.

She did get it, but not most of it.

Love was important, but loyalty mattered even more. Valyene had the Inquisition and the Emperor as her loyalties, but out in the Fringe those mattered too little or not at all.

When speaking with the Voice of the Emperor and killing Inquisitors, one had to cling to something more palpable, like his family.

Janice knew that, because she had lived among her clan for a dozen years. I even heard her reproach the Emperor on my behalf, perhaps just enough to temper an excessive transhuman upgrade that would have ruined my life.

"Let's go to bed." I demanded with a grin.

Velayne waved her fingers to fold her clothes and tea into her nexus cube, then blinked at me with doe eyes.

Worries could wait. I had more urgent matters right now.