40 Thousand Reasons

A company of my void marines and more shuttles with combat servitors escort the Astartes to the corsair derelict, and via pict-transmissions we get an image of what's going on.

Demons have infested the ship through that Warp rift, and since these Eldar have cut themselves off from their Infinity Circuits, they now suffer eternal torment in the loving tentacles of their own Warp God, Slaanesh.

That will teach them a lesson all right.

"Tech-priests, extract to the superstructure and try to salvage anything of value." I advise my Mechanicus friends.

It seems the wreck will not be salvageable, but perhaps some guns and sensors can be chopped away. The priests inside don't respond, so they're possibly a bit busy.

The inbound shuttles do instead land of the hull, and the other priests and servitors begin slicing away at the wraithbone armor to scoop out the precious loot.

Did I mention how awesome Astartes are, especially in close quarters. With their sanctified Power Weapons, these lesser demons stand no chance, although the surviving Eldar are shooting at everyone on principle.

It takes a few hours till the infestation is pacified, and the Scythes even capture a hundred Eldar as prisoners. I'm pretty sure these Eldar will regret surrendering once the Magi of Forge Tigrus get their tentacles on them.

Not because the Cult will deliberately torture them. But xenos will not qualify for anesthetics during deep tissue examinations, so it amounts to the same thing.

Soon enough, the raid is over, most of our early boarders are dead, and the Scythes return with Ebahn Lauma, the leader of these corsairs, now slightly missing any limbs, and the rest of the prisoners.

The external reclamation continues while I land on Tigrus with my escort and loot.

A whole battalion of skitarii takes charge of the corsairs, bounding them in metal cuffs and loading them into medical transports. Pretty sure they'll never be seen again.

The Astartes squad returns with a dead brother, which is a bit sad. Sure, I expected to lose ten thousand servitors and maybe even some void marines, but well...Eldar are difficult opponents, amazingly fast and all psykers.

"Fabricators, perhaps you now agree that corvettes are useful?" I wonder as the two priests welcome me together.

A dismissive arm waves my words away. "You have used a Vortex warhead, Lord Pef. Luckily your pilot wasn't detected."

"Blank genes are nice like that. I might even promote my daughter as Captain of the Litany soon. Some guys from Forge Ryza gave me a battlecruiser, so I'll travel in style soon enough." I answer with a wide grin.

The two Magi exchange a worried glance. "Forge Ryza is indeed rich. Did they ask for a wondrous STC template in return?"

I just shrug and shake my head. "Nope. It was simply a gift. I suppose I will have to visit them one day and bring them my own gifts, but right now I intend to return to Estaban with a fleet." I say with a white lie.

Still, it's technically truth, because I didn't give Ryza any STC. No point trading with a lower ranked priest when they don't have the right to promise me what I need.

"We have heard of their plight at Forge Estaban. Still, it worries us greatly...so many attacks on Forge Worlds. Do you have to take everything?" the lady Magos asks me in a wary voice.

I sigh, and taste more tea and cake. "How many can you spare?" I ask after a minute.

They give me 400 corvettes, which is decent.

So I take out the dataslates and start the bitter barter we're all so familiar with.

Of course, because we don't use thrones and other hard currencies, I can request fuel and munitions for free, as well as Gellar field inhibitor consumables and replacement tech-priests and servitors.

A Forge World has billions of them, so they can spare a few thousands for a big deal, as incentive.

Mentioning Ryza and the battlecruiser has made them even more generous for some reason, and thus I receive 10 Fellblade heavy tanks and 100 Leman Russ tanks without any discord.

Even extra lasguns and krak missiles for the PDF regiments are allowed without them blinking an eye, though I suppose bionic eyes don't blink. The weapons are loaded aboard the corvettes, for the simple reason I lack space right now.

With 3000 more Chimeras on board the Litany, the hangars become rather full and packed, but it's for the greater good.

And I do get promised the new Retribution-pattern machines, Sentinels and Grav-tanks included. Not the Volcano armed sentinels though.

The Tigrus-pattern corvettes get crewed and filled by the Mechanicus for now, tech-priests and a regiment of servitors and even a squad of armored skitarii as bridge guards.

Forge Tigrus has installed laser cannons in the turrets, which is not ideal but I guess they were cheap. They still hit like a Titan, so they'll work anyway.

A dozen more STCs change hands, and I receive the pattern for a light power armor, like the Sisters of Battle have.

Pretty sure I will have to change the chest piece anyway, because the boob plates may look cool, but are too distinctive.

Or maybe I will keep them, should I meet some Sisters and strike a good relation.

Even the Sisters of Silence would be nice, since I have my Pharos device to talk with our minds. And they are Blanks as well, which hints at some distinct advantages...

Still smiling at that thought, I board my lander and return to the Litany, while Wentian has pushed the Eldar derelict into the sun while I was away.

Leaving a corrupted wreck for the Mechanicus was like telling a kid not to open the jelly jar or play with fire.

"Good job, Wentian. What do you think of Finona?" I ask when reaching the ship bridge.

"...Errr. She learns well and is smart. Good pilot too." he answers after a minute.

"Good enough. You will train her as a Captain for the Litany. Well, if we survive whatever Chaos throws at us." I explain in a level voice.

Behind me, the Astartes check their bolters by reflex.

In a minute, Finona arrives on the bridge and sits beside me, where Rose used to.

"You like it?" I ask my daughter with a smile.

"Yes, Captain. The Machine Spirit is eager to fight again." she answers after she links the implant to her command chair.

"Great. You have command then, with Wentian as X.O. Call me before we arrive at Estaban." I proclaim out loud, and see the bridge crew is rather stunned.

The girl...well she is 22 years old, so a young woman now, looks around then back at me a bit frightened. "Really?"

I just shrug and walk away, Ludvaius smiling at her as encouragement.

Before I leave, I hear her calling Henna, her mother for help. Children...always a pleasure.

I return to my rooms, and discharge my stress in bed for a few hours, because I do have plenty concubines traveling with me. New ones but I don't mind.

The nobles keep offering me pretty daughters for no reason, and I have a teenager body.

Sometime later, Decima arrives with a cart of food and drinks, which we share with Ludvaius. He does have some special organ that detects poisons and other threats, so he tastes everything first.

Then I sit in my armchair with my wife in my lap, and keep working on new STCs, yet again reloading the cheap Imperial Guard templates and trying to make them better.

Now I have more experience and knowledge, so I figure out how to attach a krak grenade launcher under a lasgun, which seems simple but it's really not. Not if you want the thing to be cheap but durable, easy to maintain and to fire.

The range gets extended a bit more, and the battery is slightly better. Now, if only I could make a few trillion of them...

The problem is not the weapons themselves. Humanity has plenty of better weapons. But they are not allowed to use them. Tradition and complacence, disregard for lives and even tactics, are norm in the military.

Good officers might never get promoted, because they lack family relations, the Navy will not provide air cover, because they hate the Army...and so on.

I save the new lasgun pattern and go to sleep. Reality is too depressing.

And at the end of this trip, there will be a full fledged Chaos invasion that has been going on for years.

I have prepared as best as I could, but I still fear it won't be enough.