40 Thousand Reasons

Days and weeks passed under constant demonic attacks, straining my nerves and the Gellar fields, and yet the destination I've picked for our fleet seemed to recede farther away.

Even worse, the on-board astropaths and Navigators, even my Librarians and Inquisitor Ramaeus were having trouble establishing psyker contact with the outer universe.

It appeared we were lost in space, only much lower under, in the hellish dimension called the Warp.

The only ones with a tiny sliver of knowledge of the events happening in the Materium were Sister Stern and her mentor, the Solitaire Harlequin. And they weren't saying much.

Sentences like "Things are proceeding as planned" and "There's nothing to worry" kinda made me more worried.

I also knew they weren't lying, just not telling me the whole truth, for some strange reason that would become obvious much later. Probably.

So, I had to play dirty. Even if that meant abusing a trusted friend to get to the truth.

"Canis, you like Darcy, right?" I asked my trusted wolf.

The giant feral engine mewled in a dubious tone, making puppy eyes at me, but my will held firm. He wouldn't actually suffer from hugs and petting.

An hour later, the young Saint turned towards me with an ecstatic face and glowing golden eyes. "Thank you, Lord Pef!" the teenage girl exclaimed in an endorphin-induced high.

"What's going on with the Imperium? Why aren't we able to reach anyone?" I asked before she could recover from her trance.

Her eyes glazed for a second, before returning to clear blue. "... I'm not sure. Everyone is mostly fine, although they move very fast and their thoughts are exceedingly rapid. Like entire days pass in minutes..."

I nodded slowly while going ever the new information. Of course, the universe outside hadn't sped up, it was us being trapped in a bubble of slow time. Possibly ever since we attacked Nurgle in his garden.

Our Gellar fields prevented the more obvious effects of accelerated entropy affecting us directly, which was good, for now. However, that also meant we haven't actually escaped, or not completely.

Gods were probably still battling just outside the Black Lament's hull, with the combined allied fleet as prize or hostage in their reality warping games.

Was I a fool? I knew the heist wouldn't be that easy. Still, we were still alive, which meant a number of things.

With a deep sigh, I leaned in my command chair and patted my necklace, delving into the Sounding Board. The range of the xeno device was very limited when removed from the Pharos, but I could still reach the entire fleet.

"All ships, prepare for combat. We will commence normalization in 60 minutes." I commanded toward the minds of all the ship Captains in the combined fleet.

Naturally, the Lamenter and the Lancefire ships were used to such orders and immediately began sounding the battlestation sirens. It took longer for the Indomitus Fleet and even longer for the Eldar, at least until their Avatars confirmed the orders.

A ghostly blue apparition manifested on the bridge, followed a second later by a burning red one. Yncarne and Khaine, luckily not in the flesh.

I ignored the dead silent Avatar of Death, and instead focused on the God of War. "I don't enjoy losing time, Khaine. Nor I am interested in your Great Game." I muttered in a calm voice. Perhaps with a tinge of irritation.

A pair of orange glowing eyes focused on me for a minute. "Your point is noted, human. But this fleet lacks the firepower to change the outcome of the battle. We need Isha. And the fool as well." Khaine answered directly into my mind.

I almost sighed, but I grit my teeth and glanced at the Pariah Harlequin observing the meeting from his perch on the ceiling. Selective canceling of natural laws was probably not meant to be abused this way, but I admit I envied his skill anyways.

"Lord Cegorach will arrive at the right moment. A god is always on time, especially if timing makes everything more exciting. And amusing." the Solitaire whispered in a careless voice.

I think I saw a flash of brightness in the dead eyes of Yncarne, but it was probably only a trick of light. Surely an Avatar of Ynnead could not get aggravated by his fellow Eldar god, right?

Definitely not. And I wasn't about to comment on his temper anyway.

Canis yawned with his gigantic mouth, once again proving a perfect sense of social cues. "Chaos Marines are not edible, my friend. Bite and chew, but don't eat them. Who knows what filth and disease they might carry." I advised the Fenrisian wolf while patting his nose.

The wolf glanced at me like I was being too obvious. Still, his display broke the tension.

Khaine measured the wolf for a second, before turning towards me. "Very well, Pef Lancefire. This location isn't ideal, but we are close enough to the domain's border. Just don't miss." the Avatar said in a cold voice, and vanished.

Cryptic again. But I was somewhat smarter now as well. I could infer what the God Of War had in mind, and plan the battle accordingly.

Yncarne lingered for a few more seconds, dead eyes staring into my soul for some reason. Sorry, buddy. My afterlife is already spoken for, should I ever die. Again.

Darcy stepped beside me and pointed at the glowing apparition. "Apology accepted, xeno. Now get ready to fight, if you want to live." The dead-white eyes glowed blue for a millisecond, and then the Avatar vanished.

"Haha! You tell the upstart, girl! You do have the most amazing companions, Pef Lancefire." Mnemorach exclaimed and flipped back to the deck and poked the young Saint on her forehead.

A blue rune flashed for a second before it sunk into her skin, leaving no visible mark.

"That better had been a blessing, Mnemorach. Or else." I muttered while ruffling Darcy's hair in praise. The girl was perhaps too brave for her own good, but then Saints were not known for being rational. Quite the contrary.

The Eldar Harlequin smiled mysteriously and jumped onto the ceiling again, outside the reach of Canis and his formidable jaws. "Not telling, hehe!"

The wolf growled and grinned at his future meal. "Not yet, Canis. You know raw xeno meat is bad for your stomach. Perhaps boiled or grilled over a small flame." I advised the wolf while ruffling his fur and scratching his ears.

"Wooof!" Canis answered in a convinced voice.

Fried and stirred, not shaken.

Good choice, my friend.

But first, we had a god to kill, and the Eldar would be useful. Annoying and irritating like hell, but the xeno was connected and I needed his patron to have a bigger chance for victory.

Especially since Isha would not show. Overlord Trazyn didn't carry around that giant Tesseract Vault just for show.

The poor Eldar goddess had simply changed a prison for another, if one in which she wouldn't be tortured and forced to create cures to Nurgle's plagues. The Necron had need for a completely different cure, one that affected his entire race with the necrodermis curse.

I personally doubted that Isha would be able to restore the Necrons to their former Necrontyr flesh, but perhaps a cure for the Flayer virus was possible. And from there, Trazyn would probably start massing entire armies of new loyal Necrons to his Dynasty and wage wars on his enemy Necron Dynasties, which wars would hopefully keep him busy for millennia. Win win, at least for humanity.

The preparation hour passed very fast afterwards, as troops and pilots prepared to sortie in their vehicles and starfighters, weapon batteries and tubes were readied and prayers and logic rituals were chanted by our techpriests and enginseers. 

And then, the Black Lament disengaged the Warp engines and we appeared again in the Warp and all Hell broke loose.

A brightly golden figure flashed by and pierced through a tentacled Greater Demon, leaving only shredded entrails still pulled behind by its silver hands.

For once, I didn't need a lore expert to identify this historic figure. Ferrus Manus might be dead in the flesh, but his spirit was not. Just like Sanguinius, the golden Angel was kicking ass in the Warp without a problem.

I flicked Polaris-Albedelach beside him, and together with the Psi-Titan the spirit Primarch minced the Nurgle's Unclean One into tiny bits of gore and nightmare.

Yncarne and Khaine took the brunt of the fight to Nurgle, striking with their glowing swords as Gork and the Legion of the Damned took a step back to draw their breaths and recover for a minute.

Primarchs Khan and El'Johnson followed a minute later, with giant white wings acting as propulsion and shields. They weren't quite the match for Nurgle, but I also helped with short bursts from the Blackstone Fortress beam.

Far in the distance, trillions of Tyranids were still battling hordes of nurgulite demons, their numbers and Silence giving them an edge against the Immaterium creatures.

Thousands of distorted ships and Space Hulks kept arriving to disgorge corrupted space marines and daemon engines of all sizes, from small Rapiers with spines and mouths to Chaos Knights and Titans inhabited by demons, their pilots fused into their seats in grotesque distortions of flesh and machine.

Our batteries fired without pause, exploding enemies by the millions while I deployed the troops wherever they'd be useful. Lamenters and Silent Sisters formed the second line, protecting our larger vehicles with their Nulls auras and shields, while macrocannons and lance batteries fired on the Chaos ships in continuous salvos.

I had a minor advantage with my tesseract, punishing the traitors when bunching up too much, with Nova mines or melta bombs.

For an hour, the fight went well, and we even pushed the enemy back. But unlike the Legion of the Damned, our munitions were not infinite.

Bolters and missiles started to get scarce then ran out. Torpedoes and shells lasted longer, while plasma and lasers would still fire as long we had power.

It was not an ideal battleground though, not against a nearly infinite enemy force that was also able to reform and ressurect in the presence of their God, Nurgle.

I glanced in the nearly empty inventory of the tesseract for my final options, the Omega Pariahs and my own Psi-Titan. Somehow, I didn't feel it would be enough though.

The damed Chaos God didn't even seem tired and more minions kept coming despite by best efforts.

"Sometimes, divine intervention should not delay this long." I muttered mostly to myself.

"Oh? Is it the right time already?" an alien voice asked from the ceiling.

I glanced at the patch-job joker with a dour face. Even if Cegorach arrived right now, he still wouldn't be enough.

"My lord...the Emperor protects!" Darcy announced in a proud voice.

I did not curse or sigh. The girl was a nun, so I expected religious zeal from her. Instead, I fired the Immaterium beam again, chasing the impact tracer after Nurgle as the jolly creature dodged and evaded multiple demigods with ease, and kept it going until I began hurting.

My vision began to blur, and pain filled my lungs. I kept firing, just as Yncarne chopped off a leg from Nurgle and slowed it down.

Air became fire in my lungs, and I closed my eyes to focus better. Tracking Nurgle with the tesseract was easier than via the holographic display, and the Blackstone Fortress's Machine Spirit constant stream of canticles and vector projections faded in the background.

Saint Celestine failed to parry a thorny spike, and was impaled through the stomach, her wings shattering like glass. Albedelach was blown appart by a mighty claw, only for a blue forcefield to cover the cockpit.

I forced myself to push through the pain and recover Stern and Albesalom, but Sister Celestine exploded into white feathers before I could reach her.

Ferrus Manus was bitten in half and melted into acid, or perhaps wine. The Warp was always trippy that way, but today was especially strange.

The universe burned around and inside me, and everything lit up in glowing golden light. Then time itself stopped, the implant's chronometers turning a billion times too slow.

Yet even in slow time, a stupid laughter filled my ears as a pillar of light split the Warp.

The cavalry had arrived.