40 Thousand Reasons

While the decapitation program continues with all the Silent Sisters with ease, I consider Zarhulash's words.

Just one chronophagic blade is not enough, not even to maintain my growing clan healthy and young. I need a few for my sons as before they undergo gene implantation, I need a few for my daughters...for my officers, even for the loyal tech-priests or my concubines or...yep. I'd need at least a dozen.

So I have to go to the source. Or send someone, trustworthy. Few of them around.

"Ludvaius, my Brother. You and Rafen have a small mission. Undercover insertion on Arthas_Moloch, and recovery of ancient artifacts of similar nature with this Dawn Blade."

With those words, I brought down Rafen and a Land_Speeder scouting vehicle, held in the air by anti-grav fields.

My dear Hestia asked to join them...and it made sense. As a Pariah, she would be useful if they stumbled onto demons.

"Use your vox box during this mission, Hestia. And take these weapons: a Power Sword and Inferno pistol. You're looking for old temples or other similar structures, with statues. Statues that hold weapons." I explained and kissed her for good luck.

They all had blackstone armor plates, power weapons and forcefields, so there wouldn't be any immediate risk. Plus, I would be on stand by for rapid recovery.

In a minute, I deposited their speeder on that Artifact Planet, next to the largest structure still standing. And then they sped up, since those anti-grav recon crafts could move.

The planet was mostly desert, land broken and cracked and devoid of any life. Something has completely scoured the former inhabitants, possibly for good reasons. I did such extermination events myself, on evil places.

An hour later, their speeder stumbled onto a recon party of the Tau, also exploring the ruins with advanced scanners and a dozen battlesuits for protection. Well, I did lack Tau figurines in my collection.

By miracle, their weapons began disappearing from their suits arms, and so did that nice scanner. So when a pair of Astartes and a power armored Sister jumped on them, they were kinda surprised and defenseless.

"Prisoners. My Ordo Xenos Inquisitor might want to ask questions." I whispered in their minds.

"I'm certain your Rose will be ecstatic for some Tau, Captain." Rafen answered in my mind, while holding the Tau at gunpoint.

One by one, when in contact with my Astartes I could yank the prisoners from light-years away and then store them in a labyrinth.

Probably this was how Trazyn worked, sending his puppets and doppelgangers to explore and retrieve artifacts or people, instead of risking his immortal necrodermis.

It was mentally tiring, but indeed posed little risk for myself.

"Are those Tau? They are so blue!" Alana asked leaning on me from the side.

"Yes my dear. And they are all nearly Blank. Very smart too." I explained in an amused voice.

Still, it didn't bode well. A recon party on the surface, meant a Tau ship in orbit. They would come looking for their guys soon.

I began searching the orbit, and indeed found a Tau Galleath_Class_Battleship with a hundred of spacefighters, engaging a Scythe Strike Cruiser and beating them back. Well then.

I had a last Nova mine, and it would work wonders...with some timing. The MIU began computing the best deployment spot, and then...boom! A gigantic flare obliterated all the tiny fighters and dropped the battleship's shields.

The Tau didn't stay and argue anymore, turning their Explorer battleship around to escape. A plasma warhead on their bridge cancelled the maneuver, leaving the ship drifting off into the void.

Soon enough, the Scythe's cruiser turned around and pounced, sending assault boats and boarding torpedoes to secure the engines and conquer the crippled ship.

Another good deed, that nobody will know how it happened. Such was my fate, to work from the shadows and strike at humanity's enemies.

But it seemed that the Tau didn't learn the lesson, if they were still contesting Imperial borders. I turned my eyes on their capital and bombed their shipyards again, flinging smaller plasma warheads and catching a dozen cruisers at anchor as well.

Focus on defense guys. Really. Expansion wasn't wise.

I did a quick scan over my holdings in the Eastern Fringe, and located a nearby Ork planet battling a small Tyranid fleet. This was worrisome. In a few years they will reach my secluded kingdom, and we were not ready.

"We have located a polearm of similar make, Captain. Also, big flashes in orbit...that was you, right?" Ludvaius asked in my mind.

Right! The artifact quest. Shouldn't let my mind drift. I returned my focus on my away team.

"That was just a Tau battleship. Our Brothers from the Scythes of the Emperor are boarding the derelict right now." I explained in a wry voice.

"...Just a battleship, huh? Well, we're continuing the search." the Veteran space marine said in a snort.

What can I say? I'm just that good.

"Aeldari cruiser exiting the Webway in 30 solar seconds." Zarhulaah spoke from his perch, while observing me with curious eyes.

"Only a cruiser?" I complained out loud. I had hundreds of Eldar cruisers.

Still, they probably wanted their people back. Maybe even the intact ships...what to do?

"They have an Avatar on board. Stronger than me...in my current state." the C'tan warned me after the Eldar ship emerged from the portal and casually plowed through the improvised mine field.

"Do you want an Eldar Avatar, Lord Trazyn?" I asked in a teasing voice, changing my focus again to my best trading partner.

"Yes! Khaine, I expect. But good enough. Where or when?" the Necron Overlord demanded in a rush.

I placed him on hold, and changed focus on the Eldar Cruiser. It was possible I couldn't capture this Avatar, as I was rather at my limit. But he was a psyker...and psykers were weak to Pariahs.

"Purpose of your visit, Avatar?" I asked in his mind.

"Rage! Destruction. Revenge. Your actions hurt the Aeldari, human! Craftworlds and many ships lost to your folly." the being replied in my mind, nearly shaking my consciousness away.

Damn powerful indeed, this resurrected Eldar God. "Measured response, for every attack on humanity. You will run out of craftworlds, sooner than I run out of torpedoes. You are now warned!" I answered in a categorical voice.

The Eldar cruiser stopped and began unleashing powerful lances on the dormant Hive ships. Stronger than a battleship, and without needing to recharge or cool down. Just beam after beam of concentrated death.

"We shall aid in cleansing the Great Devourer. You will return the captured Aeldari to us. We are not numberless like you, humans. Every one of us is precious beyond belief." the being boomed painfully in my mind, so I had to shield myself with the Enslaver staff.

I meditated on that for a few seconds. Local alliances of convenience with the Eldar were always broken later. It was in their nature, and in ours too.

But perhaps something valuable could be obtained.

I clenched my fist, and began vanishing the remaining Tyranid bioships in my labyrinth. Much faster than even an Avatar could kill them.

This will suck later, but right now I needed to project strength. Calling Trazyn here would invite a host of problems that I didn't want to deal with.

"Your aid...is not as valuable as you presume it is, Avatar. I was simply training my troops in a controlled scenario." I explained while setting aside 10 Eldar cruisers in bad shape but still able to fly, then filled them back with crew, and double crew at that.

Then I released those 10 cruisers beside the Avatar's ship.

"Space manipulation? No wonder you are so arrogant, Astartes! And that C'tan near you clearly helps. They are abominations that need to be destroyed!" the Avatar demanded, this time at a more manageable volume, his empathic transmission buffered by my full strength mindshield.

"I see. You propose we execute captured prisoners then?" I quipped amused, and simply confiscated the released Eldar cruisers, again.

That put a stop on his demands. Perhaps there could be a Geneva Convention after all. Maybe not for Tyranids, as they didn't have written language so treaties on paper were only biomass to them.

"Oh? You really are merciful, Pef Lancefire. Protecting me from this vengeful Aeldari Avatar?" the C'tan asked in a surprised voice.

"The Eldar are very advanced, maybe on par with the Necrons. They are slightly deranged, but nothing compared to the Necron insanity...something caused exactly by the C'tan, I believe. Humanity has numbers...but no advanced science. And then, there is the Chaos and Orks and Tyranids...all waiting to devour and plunder. Am I right?" I asked in a soft tone, patting Alena's back for comfort.

"This galaxy is insane, no doubt about it. We should all run away, somewhere, anywhere else." Zarhulash pleads in a desperate tone.

He is correct of course. This is even on the table, with warp-less drives and tesseracts to store people during travel. A single tesseract could probably contain all humanity, frozen in stasis.

Not my favorite option, but it would be better than exterminating thousands of populated worlds to create a firebreak for the Tyranids.

I should probably work on that, and save a few trillions of souls from oblivion.

That insane Inquisitor Kryptman was going to execute his Galactic Cordon, obliterating human worlds with virus bombs to deny the Tyranids replenishment biomass and stale their advance.

Lack of transport ships and interest prevented the evacuation of those worlds, and thus countless lives were being wasted, not to mention habitable planets.

Possibly the desire to keep things secret, as was the way of the Inquisition. No witnesses, no evidence, just dead worlds.

"What is your proposal, Astartes?" the Avatar asked in a more reasonable voice.

"Just avoid attacking human ships and planets. And no more diverting enemies towards humanity. You know well enough what a dozen vortex torpedoes would unleash on a craftworld. It wouldn't be humans killing your people, just Eldar nightmares entering the Materium." I offered in a pleasant tone. Of course, they will take my offer and soon forget about the pact.

And then I'll have to insist. More bloodshed and lost souls...because reason was long forgotten.

"Disgusting threat, holding the craftworlds hostage. Will humanity respect the same for the Eldar? All over the galaxy there are raids from Astartes and other Imperium's forces. Even on defenseless Exodite worlds." the Avatar asked greedily.

"I do not have control over humanity, Avatar. Plus we do not distinguish Aeldari from Drukhari, or the Corsairs and the Exodites. Long ears attack us, we fight back. Are you taking responsibility for your dark brethren?" I asked in the same tone.

"... It is not in my powers to control those insane and reckless beings. They are disconnected from the circuits." the Eldar godling claimed in a sad tone.

"Yes, I did notice that, Avatar. Here is my offer. This nice fleet I keep in my pocket...plus my other surprises. We will all travel together into the Webway to Commorragh, and lay them to rest. I knew these Tyranid bioships will be useful for something." I said in a cheerful voice, and released the 10 cruisers again.

The answer took a long time to arrive, enough to collect a thousand more Tyranid ships. This tendril was getting rather thin, getting burned and incinerated constantly by the potent Avatar, but I did have an Ork Waagh ready to release as well.Just in case.

"It is a dark day, that we ally with humans to obliterate our own brethren." The Avatar announced in a somber voice.

"Don't be so sad, my friend! Maybe they will all repent and join you. I can be quite convincing, right?" I asked as I changed focus back on the away team.

Uh...then did find a colonnade filled with armed statues. But there were thousands of demons as well. Oh well.

I did have 30 more Silent Sisters and 60 more Blood Angels to send as backup. They were getting bored at my side.