Chapter 4

“The reports on the subjugation of the Viola system are complete,” Magos Ylis Morkata Epsilon-Theta-664 droned. “The three civilized worlds and single agri-world of the system were gripped in religious hysteria due to heretical actions of preachers of the proscribed Kindlers cult, pirating the Administratum tithe fleet and destroying one of the Black Ships. Logically following, a daemon manifestation event occurred as a result of a failure of the flesh, and the traitor PDF of Viola VI fought a holding action against the aethyric invasion.

“Responding to astropathic calls for assistance from chartist vessel Flower of Ys, Inquisitor Kendrad of Ordo Malleus enacted Exterminatus against Viola VI, and the four companies of the Iron Eagles arrived shortly thereafter to support the Guard in exterminating the remaining traitors. Projections indicate the virus bomb’s residue should dissipate in approximately five thousand years, and orbital bombardment removed the source of the taint.

“Dark Eldar raiders disabled the 794th Bastillus guard regiment, six regiments of traitor guards and approximately four hundred thousand noncombatants, before the Seventh Armored Company terminated their Archon and its command group. Three Predators and two Razorbacks, along with a single Thunderhawk gunship, were lost and are unrecoverable, before the remaining xenos fled, with fourteen marines killed, twelve bodies and gear recovered and two lost. That effectively concluded the resistance on Viola III.

“Orbital bombardment removed the capital of Viola IV from existence, effectively ending civilized presence on that planet. Estimated recovery time, accounting for known inefficiencies: Seventy-four years.

“Viola V was restored to the Omnissiah’s grace three days ago, after the Fourth Company’s successful drop assault on its capital and the termination of the traitor-governor and heretic priests. The six remaining guard regiments, consolidated from the original eighteen, will maintain order until the appointed governor arrives.

“Three marines received light to moderate wounds, estimated full recovery time is fifty-six hours. Machine Spirits and metal shall be fully recovered in ten days. Resupply will be complete in thirty-eight hours. Additional time to Mandeville point: Twenty-nine hours.”

The magos was succinct as ever, completely ignoring the juggernaut in the room, only the uncharacteristic twitching of his mechadendrites and the erratic eye-movements betraying his excitement.

“We have received multiple astropathic calls from several Forge Worlds, sector command, cluster command and from Joranor,” the Iron Eagles’ fortress-monastery’s homeworld. “Vista,” the Iron Father’s word sounded ... cautious.

“They celebrate the flesh as a machine of equal or superior quality,” Captain Urivel grumbled.

“And they are not necessarily wrong,” Magos Ylis Morkata Epsilon-Theta-664 responded and added an incomprehensible string of binary cants. “I have had the opportunity to examine a damaged portion of a biologically-based carapace armor greave and breastplate produced by Forge Gondor, the seventh of the Vista-forges. It is measurably tougher and more durable, against both kinetic strikes and energy discharges, than the plasteel-ceramite composites I am capable of forging. I was not able to verify rumors of its self-restoration properties, for lack of materials and data on the requirements.”

“Silence!” Ollen raised his voice before any ‘further discussion’ could arise. “This is not the time for such a debate. There can be no mistake, a standard template construct database has been recovered, whole and complete. The fleet from Mars will not arrive before the enemy strike.”

“Since Forge Vista was capable of keeping the STC database secret, they could have presumably delivered it directly to Mars, without taking such risks,” Captain Vorsson commented.

“A direct delivery would have earned them little more than accolades,” the magos contradicted his point. “Blessed Mars may be, but it is not generous. For all that, it is possible that Vista is a prepared trap for the Great Enemy. Its Fabricator is sufficiently crazed that such a course of action ... has fifty-six point three percent chance of being the one chosen.”

“Crazy they may be, and tainted with flesh,” the Iron Father announced in a loud voice, “but there can no doubt of Vista’s contribution. They have brought back the Apocalypse-class battleship and means to stabilize space-hulks from the Warp’s predations.

“I have personally heard of seven exploratory fleets of theirs in Obscurus alone which have saved planets from xenos, traitors and the Ruinous Powers. A company of the Sons of Medusa participated in the Kursis Crusade and received great awards from Vista, having incurred a large debt. They remain true, and their fortune is the Imperium’s. In the Emperor’s name, we shall send what we can to defend its forges, as must all loyal sons.”

It was blessedly quiet in the atrium between the twelve forges personally answering to the Fabricator, at least compared to the ordinary level of noise in a Forge World of such productivity, his sound dampeners functioning at a mere eighteen percent.

The quiet also referred to the lack of any known Deathwatch kill-teams in the vicinity, mostly absent since the Lucris forge had gone silent, its recently obtained Drukhari Ravager found melted to slag, and three different Ork Waaaghs erupted within recall distance. Only one of them was stirred by an exploratory expedition from Stygies VIII, happy news.

Still, the noosphere buzz and the tone of the cants over the entire Forge Worlds were nearly mournful. When the various forge-masters colluded to obtain the legacy of Archmagos Infra-Salixis Delta-19, none of them could have envisioned such a future.

He certainly hadn’t.

Of course, the bitter hag hadn’t even left them a single scrap of data or sacred experimental results, not one semi-intact artifact or bio-sample. Every single things that was left behind in accordance with the agreement had been trapped and sabotaged to a ridiculous degree. The loss of sixteen skitarii macro-clades and nearly two hundred magi was nothing compared to the vicious info-phages or the enervating plague that still erupted intermittently among the menials, over two centuries after its initial purge.

Nearly six percent loss of manufacturing efficiency, it was galling. Given such utter viciousness, they should have expected more, but it was as though the Omnissiah himself was repaying them for each and every imaginary crime their doctrinal enemies spun out of thin air.

A full and complete STC database, in addition to the wondrous discoveries Mars was still crowing about, some of them revolutionary, many clearly of xenos origin. Stygies VIII should have been the source of such, may rad-fluid congeal in the feed-lines of the fools who first raised the notion of nearly going to war with a magos of such fortune, who was so obviously in the favor of the Omnissiah.

It was an unfortunate state of affairs, and this meeting was concerned with its rectification.

“Of course,” he transmitted for the first time in this meeting, having grown near-disgusted by the wild notions and disastrous ‘ideas’ thrown about by tech-ignoramuses who had no understanding of galactic realities or the might of the Imperium, “it is entirely possible that the projected nova-grade multi-pronged assault on Vista will result in its utter destruction.

“Given its Fabricator’s choleric disposition, no attackers have any chance of profiting thereby. We’ve experienced that much in our attempts. There is a one hundred percent certitude that copies of the database have been spread to other Vista-forges, and Vista itself is a primaris-grade trap of unprecedented proportion,” was his conclusion.

The younger archmagi were quickly briefed on their history with Vista’s mistress, and the storm of debate forced him to increase the sound-suppression to sixty-three percent of capacity.

Eighteen hours later, they’d reached a consensus of sorts.

In service to the Omnissiah, the Forge World’s agents would use a variety of means to retrieve the full array of STC templates. Everyone agreed on the necessity, it was limiting the means to something which wouldn’t result in their destruction that took so much work, grating on his ever-diminishing reserves of patience.

Stygies VIII would be patient and careful, and win the long game.

Every Fabricator in charge of a Forge World answering to Vista, however little answering there actually was in practice, was an Alpha-ranked psyker at the very least, empowered in the Hall of Golden Shadows beneath Hive Vertika on Vista III.

So when the threads of the future completed their untangling, Danielle knew that she and hers would be facing a trial. The leak had been arranged with absolute discretion, aiming to split the forces massed against Vista.

The Alpha Legion operatives had learned that Forge Corellia had an unabridged copy of the newly discovered STC database, and were not shy about selling that information. This was the only gambit of its sort to work, and another look at the winding and twisting probabilities showed her that every Vista-forge in Ultima had already mustered its mobile forces, in fact two of them were already on their way, cutting their way through Warp-interference with brutal celerity.

As for the survival of her Forge ... of that she could see nothing, possibilities and threads tangling with unbound destinies and Warp-interference.

Interesting times.

The defense arrangements for any Vista-forge, especially the original, did not leave any holes.

Each of the three layers was divided into twelve sections, further divided into twelve more sub-sections, with the asteroid belt and each world and moon being its own independent section.

Each Defense Monitor-Commander had their own resources and augur arrays, the overlapping detection arrays and randomly-scheduled active scans ensuring the near impossibility of any infiltration. This was Vista, so each layer of defense was commanded by an Alpha-plus psyker, all of them stronger and notably more vicious than herself.

Alpha-rank power was all she could reliably control, and Valerie wasn’t too envious. A pity she had to recall that latter fact every now and then, so she just might be ... just a teeny bit.

Being a nearly unrivalled administrator with excellent foresight for resource-flows and top-ranked multi-tasking skills had won her the honor of appointment to head the third established Vista-forge. Perhaps she could test the limits of her control again in a few decades, after she matured into her ability.

The original STC database was hidden on Vista IV, but any sorcerous dowsing would show its presence on Vista II, burning bright behind a thin, failed veil. The copy there was empty of content, with just a tiny scrap of the original radiating in sympathetic resonance. The last big trap was around the volcanic planet nearest the sun, so that was very deliberate. First plan for defeat, it was a maxim she really didn’t like.

The situation board shone green, with each and every defense sector, subsector, starfort, squadron, flotilla, strike-group and combat division signaling at least 100% readiness.

The holographic and gravity-distortion illusions on the great space-docks were active, showing hundreds of ships under construction and masking the thick defense batteries. The torpedo launchers, minefields, gravity traps and heavy space-batteries were all online, nano-repair swarms ensuring no readiness loss could take place for at least half a year, even without maintenance.

The psyker-choirs were emplaced and spending the waiting time playing cards or indulging in orgies, the titans were awake, the Ordinatus and Legio Cybernetica emplaced, hundreds of regiments under a war-time readiness cycle, the magi-domini tinkering with last minute creations, each hive was weaponized to an almost uncomfortable degree, academies and creches unchanged given their standard operating procedures, Eladria’s administrative staff having completed the necessary changes to the information channels and displays, all command and control strategiums were open and active, a few minor complaints on the number of war-servitors on the space stations crowding out the trade-exchange dealt with.

The nine Archmagi of Vista were in their laboratory-forges, presumably continuing with their normal ‘duties’.

The Vista-equivalent of the senior rank most other Forge Worlds called ‘Archmagos’ was High Magos. Archmagos meant a very different thing for the Vista forges. It signified an exalted existence, a person who’d accomplished a scientific marvel, adding to humanity’s understanding of existence.

From a simple thing like retrieving a previously unknown STC, to making even relatively small incremental improvement in substantive theory or fundamental technology such as the Void Shields, to the most impressive new unimagined discovery. Luck or genius, it was not a title easily gained, and most of its recipients used the attendant rewards to sink into research or head exploratory fleets, to make the best use of their luck, genius or skill.

Ominissiah bless, most Archmagi were mentioned in the school texts of Vista, and there was an ever thickening database dedicated to their exploits on every Vista-forge. Mother had commented once on their being the equivalent of old-Earth celebrities. Their few rare lectures were always heavily attended.

Lazily chewing on a hot curry-flavored ration bar that set her tongue and palate to a pleasing low-grade burn of savory spices, she reviewed the outer reaches and the foreign contributions.