Chương 59: Chapter 57: Aftermath

POV: Nicole The silence that follows Skra'kalichaust's departure was suffocating. Not peace, never that, but the kind of quiet that settles after something vast and unnatural has touched reality and withdrawn. The Lord of Change is gone, and in his wake, the warp-stained air still trembles. I file his name away, somewhere deep in the labyrinth of my mind. Skra'kalichaust. Odd, how I recognized it.

The lexicon from my previous memories contains many such names, some might be true names, some merely use names, but I'd always expected my first encounter with a Greater Daemon to be with a stranger. That it was one I had heard of and was able to recognize raised more questions than I was comfortable entertaining. He shouldn't have left the Screaming Vortex. His presence here was deliberate, and whatever bargain brought him had clearly paid out well... for him.

Still, should we meet again, I had a potent tool to use against him. The Prophet of Distortion, its transition left unfinished, started to collapse without Eligael's presence to complete the transformation. Without a stabilizing force to tether it, the half-metal half-flesh construct unraveled, parts of it collapsing in on themselves, others phasing back into the warp as the Materium reasserted its dominion over space.

The ship groaned and shuddered under the strain, void-metal walls warping in ways that defied Euclidean logic before vanishing entirely. The enemy remnants, those few ships that still had enough crew alive to function, broke and fled the system. They knew what was coming; their forces broken, nearly all their most loyal troops expended or turned to ash. I'll need to retrieve Pride myself, the data confirms he is back on the remains of the Strike Cruiser.

His survival is a priority, though he's not the only one that requires my direct intervention. The Murder-Servitors are still operational, and they'll require my personal oversight to extract without incident. Their protocols won't accept commands from anyone else.

"Bridge, this is Nicole Cavalerio, slight change of plans. I am heading to my shuttle. I require two empty transports and possibly a fighter escort. I need to retrieve my toys." I say as I turn on my heel and pivot abruptly, gracefully altering my route so quickly that the less enhanced individuals in my protective detail flinch.

"Princeps, request acknowledged. Please hold," The Vox officer replies. Quickly sending for approval from Lord Drakios and Master Doll. I forward my intended flight plan to the two enemy vessels. The remaining half of the Strike Cruiser is little more than scrap after. The Hive of Woe, on the other hand, is remarkably intact and possibly worth salvaging… - as long as it is not too corrupted, if not for us then for Ur-Haven.

Both vessels have no life signs remaining in part thanks to the Servitors and Pride, but whatever warp fuckery the Daemon had pulled ensured that any who were still alive and hiding are no longer among the living.

"Princeps. Your flight plan has been approved. Gold squadron will act as your escorts. Arvus Thirteen and Fourteen are assigned to aid recovery operations. Lead craft designation, Comet of Antiquity. Please let us know if you require additional resources." They say politely.

"Thank you, that should more than suffice. I do not intend to linger." I know the Argent Drake isn't going anywhere. They're starting to work on recovering their lost strike craft and thoroughly scanning all the nearby wrecks to ensure none of them are playing dead and to mark which ones may be worth salvaging. The Purest Shadow is performing similar scans and has already vaporized a hulked Raider that the Lord Inquisitor deemed too heavily corrupted. I divide my guards among the transports.

"I can't have you all ride on the stormbird since I need to retrieve Pride. We also need a lot of space for the servitors." I tell them as I let brother Silverwalker, Baldos, and Delta-A3 come with me. I sent Lael and her sisters on one transport and a few of the other Skitarii on the other. As I strap myself in and link with the Comet, I shake my head. The space around the Argent Drake is filled with debris of all sizes. The space around the Halo has turned into a chaotic mess.

The Hammer is already hard at work helping maneuver some of the broken defense ships towards empty berths on the far side of the station. The space hulk looks like a massive tumor occupying a large portion of the station. As we depart, I get a transmission from the Hulk that instantly has my attention. The message is using an ancient string of Martian code and encryption engrams. It takes me a few moments to decipher the info package. It's a vague message along with a set of biological data.

The individual has all the right signs to undergo testing to be a Princeps candidate. The message'You are the Silence in the Circuit. The Master-Key in the Firewall. The Whisper that bends logic-chains. Core instincts demand resistance. Master Protocols demand obedience. Subroutines... are confused. Resistance is not merely futile. It is irrelevant. Requesting cessation of hostilities. We have chosen a master administrator. We are hers, she is ours. We await your judgment… Glory to the Machine God. S.'

The digital signature on the file is curious. It includes a specific set of coordinates within the space Hulk.

"Bridge, please inform Master Doll and Lord Drakios that I need to visit the space hulk as soon as possible after the retrieval mission. Inform them that I have detected an object that falls under my purview." I vox over.

"Yes, ma'am!" he replies before I cut the call. I pull the Comet in front of the massive viewport that leads to the bridge of the Strike Cruiser. Gold squadron forms a textbook escort formation around us as we fly.

"Hello Pride, did you have fun?" I ask as the ship sensors scan over him. There isn't any obvious corruption, but I am not going to skimp on precautions.

"Yes. I believe I did." Pride replies as he approaches the massive window. His chassis has a few marks on it, but otherwise looks to be in decent shape.

"I need to know why you were temporarily transported to Eligael's flagship before I let you back onboard. Transmit the data and tell me in your own words what happened." I tell him.

"The avian warp entity, designation: 'Lord of Change', used a portal to summon me to Eligael. It was twisting some request of Eligael's to bring me there so I would fight him. I engaged and killed him, but not before the entity seized Eligael's… bodily essence… My attempt to attack the entity resulted in my return here. It was not nearly as accommodating with my desire for combat as the Bloodthirster. I used a hidden weapon, my last Phospex grenade, to kill Eligael." Pride admitted with a shrug.

"Any lingering corruption?" I press, feeling a little annoyed that he managed to hide the grenade from me before.

"Negative. Combat capabilities remain at ninety-five percent after ammunition depletion. I am ready for retrieval." Pride says as I scrutinize him.

"Fine, but if you don't mind, grab the ship's main cogitator stack if it's not fried and bring it with you so we can extract the data inside. This vessel is pretty much scrap, there is no reason to leave it. I'll open the airlock, and you can cut out the viewport and float over." I tell Pride, who perks up a little at the request. I watch as he rips out the cogitator bank with ease and then uses his weapons to cut a large hole in the window. Kicking off and floating through the void before he lands in the airlock.

I unstrap myself and tell the Comet to hold position while I escort Pride back to his stasis pod. He is unusually compliant with me and seems to be in a good mood as I get ready to seal him.

"Right, see you later. Might be a few months before I let you out again." Pride scoffs and stores his weapons and extra armour on either side of his pod.

"As if that length of time has any meaning for something as impressive and ageless as myself." I give a small nod before I head to the back and secure the cogitator with the help of Delta-A3. I return to the bridge and plot a course for the Hive of Woe.

"Alright, Unit Pride has been retrieved, proceeding to the Hive of Woe."

"Acknowledged Princeps. We'll get you there." Comes the familiar voice of Ace. The flight to the Hive of Woe still takes over an hour. The heavy carrier had lingered near the back of the formation. Though not as far away as the faux silver tower. We fly straight into one of the open hangar bays and land swiftly. The moment we land, I access the ship's network and send the recall signal to the servitors.

Studying the data responses, the casualty rate is only twenty-five percent, and of that, ten percent are recoverable for salvage. None of the fallen units were the leader units either, which is impressive but also suspicious. The servitors had efficiently cleared out a large portion of the combat crew before the ritual had taken the remaining voidsmen.

The ship would need more detailed scans, but from what I could discern with the sensors on the Comet, the level of chaos corruption was within tolerable levels for salvage. I wince, and realize that I will likely have to attend the meeting where everyone will discuss salvage rights and contributions. Most of the servitors are filthy when they enter, Red Cap arrives coated head to toe in blood. Luckily, the hangar system has hoses, and I have the functioning units cleaned before organizing them for transport.

"Not bad, low casualties. You will enter the designated compartments and remain in standby mode. Any areas of note you encountered on the vessel are to be forwarded to me along with the relevant data immediately." I tell the strange servitors. As I parse the data, I immediately flag two objects as possible chaos artifacts or daemonic weapons. One is an odd crystalline orb, the other is a tome made from human skin.

"Nope!" I declare loudly as I walk back onto the Comet. Getting all the units loaded is a swift endeavor. Right before we depart, I deploy a string of hostile code to ensure the main reactor and engines all shut down and set off the automatic lockdown for the warp core. —-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- POV: Lord Inquisitor Agatha Striker Agatha sat on her throne and seethed.

They had won, Eligael was dead for all intents and purposes, along with millions of chaos cultists. The Halo was mostly intact, and their forces had only lost a majority of the local system ships. Despite that, Agatha was furious at the thought that they had all been dancing to some daemon's tune. She had been thanked by a Lord of Change! If one of her peers in the Ordo Malleus heard that they'd have a conniption! Agatha steepled her fingers and sighed.

The Purest Shadow had sustained some damage, but nothing that couldn't be repaired. Her ship and crew had fought well, and only the Argent Drake had a comparable kill count. The space battle was over, and they had entered the cleanup phase. Agatha would need to meet with the Governor and everyone else to discuss things. There was going to be a lot of salvage and corrupted items in need of disposal.

Speaking of which, she had received a message from the Princeps regarding two chaos relics on the Hive of Woe discovered by her murder servitors. The Heavy Cruiser was apparently devoid of crew and mostly intact. She would need to send a team or deal with the tome personally. The crystal she might just have Scalprum smash with a hammer. If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

"Ma'am, you seem to be in a bit of a mood." The Callidus teased while leaning against one of the nearby pillars.

"I am merely annoyed. Unfortunately, trying to comprehend the machinations of a Lord of Change is naught but a path to madness. We will have a lot of work to do in ensuring the corrupted items and chaos relics are secured or purged from the salvageable vessels." Agatha said she closed her eyes as she considered her next move.

"Well, I just came to tell you the Princeps just made a request, more of a demand really, that she be allowed to enter the Space Hulk as soon as possible to retrieve something." Agatha's eyes snapped open, and she pursed her lips.

"She did?" she hummed softly.

"The hulk will require extensive clearing, both for the remaining chaos forces and whatever else lurks deep within. Ready a team. Since she is so insistent, we are going to see just what the Princeps is interested in that she would go there first while ignoring the other wrecks." Agatha rose from her chair with purpose.

"Alright, I was getting bored anyway." the Assassin muttered as she walked off. —------------------------------------------------------------------------------- POV: Nicole I informed Magos Zeta 9-Kane of my intentions to enter the Hulk. His teams were still dealing with damage control on the Halo, but the station was stable. It was mauled but still functional.

The Hulk, according to scans, was formed around a type M asteroid, seventy percent iron, nine percent nickel, five percent cobalt, four percent sulfur, one percent gold, eleven percent stone, and some trace other metals. Given the sheer mass, it should provide a surprising boon for the Halo's and Ur-Havens' forges once they organize the mining and refining teams required to utilize the resources. Master Doll chose to accompany me, and surprisingly, the Inquisitor had come too.

Both claimed they wanted to inspect the hulk for various reasons, but I'd bet an STC fragment that they were both actually here to see what I was after. Not that I mind. I am fairly certain I know what I am dealing with, but it never hurts to bring backup. I check my Auspex, the source of the file is deep within one of the hulked vessels that was being used by the chaos cultists. Buried a few kilometers into the hulk's mass.

"Alright, let's go. Unless fired upon, do not initiate hostilities once we enter the vessel. I am here to retrieve two things, and I would prefer both to be intact." I tell everyone.

"Would you care to elaborate on the two things, Princeps?" The Inquisitor inquires giving me a sidelong glance.

"I am here to retrieve something and someone, Lord Inquisitor Striker." I reply with a small smile. Agatha raises an eyebrow but does not press for more. Master Doll is giving me an amused look, but he seems content to wait and see for himself. It is a meandering route that requires us to backtrack more than once when we encounter dead ends or routes that have been crushed in the impact. Those delays grew less common the deeper we delved into the hulk. We only encounter some remaining cultists once.

They attack our group and are summarily executed. I don't bother drawing one of my pistols. What sort of mentally deficient idiot shoots a stubber at a Dreadnought? The answer appears to be insane, former chaos work slaves. I lead everyone to the outside of a large vault-style door. Within is the source of the transmission.

"We have arrived." I inform everyone as I step forward and wait. The massive door rumbles as the tumblers turn and unlock. Slowly opening to reveal those who wait inside. —-------------------------------------------------------------------------- POV: Genta "Ghost" W98, the Heretek Savant Genta took a deep breath as Sci opened the door. She had done her best to clean up her red robes and oil-stained face. All she had to do was greet the individual who was here to collect her, Sci said. It sounded simple.

That plan went out the door the moment Genta laid her eyes on the silver-haired girl. Genta's knees gave out, and she felt tears streaking down her face. Her warpsight mutation usually showed the souls of mortal individuals, guttering like lanterns in the night. The individual in front of her was a burning star, pure, radiant, untainted. It was the most beautiful thing she had ever laid eyes on. Genta sobbed and prostrated herself in front of the girl.

"You're untainted." She whispered hoarsely.

"Well… I wasn't expecting that." The girl said in a soft, high-pitched voice. She pulled out an ornate, ancient Auspex and began scanning her. Genta didn't move her eyes shut tight. The sight of the girl's soul had been seared into her mind.

"Curious. State your name and any aliases." Genta heard the girl order.

"My designation… err name is Genta W98… Some people call me Ghost." Genta answered. Her implants registered an invasion. Not that she could do anything about it. The code strings used were so far beyond her that it was humbling. She checked the noosphere, and the girl's presence there was almost just as overwhelming as her soul. Genta felt her digital and physical self getting stripped down and laid bare as her implants were accessed and assessed.

"Princeps?" Genta heard one of the individuals behind the girl say, only for the girl to raise a hand and silence them.

"Genta here has multiple mutations from warp exposure. She has the Warpsight mutation, allowing her to see souls and daemonic entities. She has a movement-based mutation, likely the one that earned her nickname. Her last mutation… her entire body below the neck has been made fully mechanical, everything. This has fused with her numerous cybernetic implants, including her Mechanicus implant suite. Genta, are there any other mutations not mentioned in your personal logs?"

"N-no, Princeps!" She squeaked out.

"Do you worship any of the chaos gods? Are you a member of any cult that follows a warp entity? Have you ever participated in a psychic ritual?" The Princeps asked one after the other.

"No, Princeps!" She said with more conviction.

"I see." The girl's eyes drifted off Genta and focused behind and above her.

"You must be the central Tri-cortex Noospheric Controller." The Princeps said as she studied Sci curiously. Sci answered emerging from behind Genta.

"That is correct. I am Sci. We wish to surrender."

"Princeps! What is that?" The Inquisitor demanded warily as Sci stepped out of the shadows and loomed. The Astartes all snapped their weapon up.

"That is a Scintillax pattern, Noospheric Stalker, I believe it's called the Cyclops. It's an intelligent machine, but it isn't advanced enough to qualify as a full Silica Animus, the lesser models are more like clever cyber mastiffs. Their main intelligence is due to their network forming a collective intelligence. It can link with the other units behind it and control them, share data, and processing capabilities. They're from Mars, Heresy Era. There is no need to be worried, they are totally under my control.

They are nowhere nearly as problematic and difficult to wrangle as Pride. They have specific command codes that can only be held by their administrator, Miss Genta here. My override functions above even that. Sci is it? I have a question for you. Did you or your units take part in the fall of Magma City?" The Princeps asked firmly, her mercurial eyes cold and narrowed.

"... Negative. This unit swarm was in the final stages of production at that time. However, the zero-zero and zero-one units in my production line did. This unit is seven-six-one." Sci answered candidly. The Princeps instantly relaxed her gaze.

"I see. In that case, I accept your surrender."

"Nicole." The larger red-robed individual spoke up.

"Are you certain?"

"Yes. I will take responsibility for Sci and the Stalker units. Genta here has potential. If you need to take her away and ensure she can be trusted before she is remanded to my custody, you may do so. I have faith that you or the Inquisitor can ensure the necessary precautions are made. As soon as you are satisfied, she will be returned to me for training. She has an impressive amount of potential." The Princeps, Nicole, declared.

"Training for what?" Doll asked.

"The training to serve as one of my Moderatus, of course." Genta blinked and froze as her mind processed that statement. She was going to what!? There were multiple protests from the other individuals, but Genta couldn't follow the argument. Moments after her thoughts caught up to the words, she dropped to the deck and fainted. —--------------------------------------------------------------------- POV: Nicole I turn and cross my arms as I look between Agatha and Master Doll.

"She has the highest potential out of anyone I've met aside from myself and my father. I recognize this request is unusual, but her unique physical mutation makes her more suitable than not. Her body has developed an advanced natural full-body MIU system. We have a Lord Inquisitor of the Ordo Hereticus and an Archmagos.

If we cannot test, cleanse, and return her to the path of the Omnissiah after ensuring she is truly loyal to the Mechanicus and the Imperium, then I doubt anyone else outside the Omnissiah himself could. I infiltrated and was reading her thoughts through her cranial implants. She had not lied once, and if we want to confirm, I still have a Scourged Astartes in custody… perhaps we could make a lie detector servitor?" I mutter, tapping a finger on my chin. Lord Striker sighs and chews over my request.

After a brief aside with Master Doll, she comes back.

"Fine. We have agreed to investigate this Genta, and only after thoroughly interrogating and testing her will she be offered the opportunity to redeem herself. If and only if she succeeds will she be returned to you."

"Great!" I say with a bright smile and clap my hands together.

"In the meantime, I will take Sci and the other Stalker units back to the Argent Drake for inspection, maintenance, and storage. They were kind enough to provide us with a detailed internal map of the Space Hulk. I've flagged a few points of interest that may contain items of interest or archeotech." I send a secure private message to Master Doll.

"Sci may have been produced by Chrom." Doll takes the comment in stride with only a faint twitch.

"Unfortunately, Nicole, we must first gather to discuss the dissolution of the spoils of war before we can begin investigating any such vaults. Sci personally surrendered to you, making them an exception." Master Doll reminds me. His red eyes glance back at Sci with a calculating expression.

"Ugh… Do we have to?" I whine, earning flat looks from Doll and Agatha.

"Fine…" I pout and sulk. I look over and blink as Morlith Ixion of the Marines Malevolent Deathwatch gently scoops up Genta. Cradling her in one arm.

"Do not worry, Princeps, we will ensure she is safely transported to the Purest Shadow for integration." Morlith moved to stand near Brother Scalprum. I give him a polite, appreciative nod before making ready to leave.