Baptized in Fire and Blood, just as the Great Father promised.
Frida couldn't help but smile as that promise was upheld in full as she shot up from cover, her assault rifle held within eager arms before snapping three shots off in rapid succession, each on scoring a kill shot on a Ork ahead of her as more Aesir pours into the Ork settlement, intent on removing it and the Greenskins with it. Around her, she could hear the Snap-hiss! of Las-bolts being fired by any number of weapons as the Aesir surged ahead, their armor and weapons giving them an undeniable edge over the crude weapons of the Orks. Out of the corner of her eye, Frida saw another Aesir stumble, the impact of rounds on his shields pushing him back a step before he got back up, taking his Anvil-pattern Melta gun before firing it in, a cone of superheated Plasma and Fusing matter spraying out from the twin barrels of the weapon. Elsewhere, she saw a Mega-armored Nob trying to rally the Orks as they fought in a chaotic mess, he didn't last as a round from a Vanguard-pattern Nano-shredder hit him, coating him in what looked like black powder over his chest. Nothing happened for a moment, but then the Ork suddenly found itself being ripped apart blades only slightly larger than its own cells.
From above, Plasma rained down and blasted chunks of rock from the ceiling of the cavern or destroying massive areas of the Settlement, burning them until nothing but craters of black glass remained. Ahead of her, she spotted more of her Brothers and Sisters, each of them armed with any number of weapons and they advanced, taking advantage of the gifts given to them by the Great Father along with his gifts of armor and weapons.
Shields and armor protected them and turned away blows that would have killed lesser beings; Las-weapons based on his own work on the Las-talon were held in their hands, giving each of them enough firepower to take out lightly armored vehicles if they aimed at the right place. Of course, quite possible, their biggest advantage was their unity.
The Ork Waaagh! Was a powerful thing, that was never in any true doubt, but it was a highly predicable and vulnerable thing if one knew where to look, and, more importantly, where to shoot.
"Locate and target the Warboss! If we remove him, then this day shall be ours!" Frida ordered over the ODIN Field, their unity allowing them to communicate to one another without the need for machines, even though they still used them to augment the ODIN Field, allowing for virtually unbreakable and undetectable communications since enemy Psykers wouldn't know what they were listening to. Any Psyker that tried to listen to the ODIN Field would simply hear a mess of static, the encryption coming in two parts that would make it impossible to understand without both parts. Fortunately, one needed to be an Aesir in order to have both parts: A Psychic signature that read as an Aesir and a complex, poly-phasic algorithm that changed nearly every other second.
"Target found. Liquidating." Frida smirked at that as the piercing crack of another Sniper was heard through the air, a picture being directed to her mind as she saw the final moments of the Warboss before it died to the potent Nano-shredders that had become a rather favored weapon among those that enjoyed long distance combat. The effect of the Warboss's death was immediate and apparent as the Orks seemed to lose their way, stumbling as though they were unsure about how to continue. Frida grinned nastily at that as she holstered her rifle before drawing a sword from her back.
It was a massive thing, nearly two metres long, a two-handed grip with a large cross guard giving it the form of a Claymore. The silver blade sang through the air as she lifted it with one hand, the blade seeming to leave a trail of steam behind it while a cracking field of energy wrapped around it.
"This day is ours! Come! For the Great Father!" She shouted throughout the cavern.
"For the Great Father!" Came the answering cry as a dozen more followed her charge, drawing any number of melee weapons and rushing in to kill the last few Orks of this settlement, some even igniting Power Fields around their fists, an option that was built into all of their armors, before starting to beat the Orks to death.
Within two hours, they would be done, having killed the last Ork. Within five hours, there would be nothing left of the settlement, having been wiped out by a large Fusion bomb to leave nothing but a perfect sphere of black glass and molten rock.
Within eight hours, they would be at another Settlement, killing more Orks and ensuring that none lived to pollute their Birthplace with their presence any longer.
Such was the will of the Aesir that all traces of Ork life would be dead and gone within a month.
They had passed their trials and earned their place.
XXX
Ya'know, you can never truly appreciate just how dangerous the Tyranids are until you've fought them. I'll admit, even if they were primitive in terms of technology, their bio-technology was still impressive in its own right.
Looking onwards, I saw the product of one such example of their bio-technology: The Genestealers and their cults.
Advancing through inhabitated corridors, I looked on as my Massacre-class machines kept on moving even as a tidal wave of flesh and Tyranid carapace came charging at them, said tide rapidly found itself crushed under foot or blasted into non-existence by the weapons of the machines. Over an hour of what I would hesitate to call fighting and I had moved deep into their territory, following the feeling of Hunger to try and find the Cult Patriarch, though, that was rather difficult to do since the cult was throwing ever warm body they had at me. I saw men, women and children all run to their deaths while I continued advancing, some were armed with primitive, by my standards, Lasguns and chain weapons while others had little more than sharpened metal pipes that had their tips turned to points or had a sharpened shard of metal tied to their end.
It was a rather disappointing showing for the Tyranids, still, I was to be expected. I had checked the timeline of this cult with my Post-cognition, it had been here for over a thousand years, the currents of the Warp having really sent it back before it was boarded by the Genestealers, where things progressed as one could imagine. Now, the Cult was little more than a few million Hybrids without a single idea what sanity was, and who were willing to follow every command of the Patriarch to the letter, even if it meant throwing themselves into the jaws of death.
At the very least, it meant that I didn't need to search all that much for the blasted things.
"Persistent, aren't they? One would think that they would learn from the initial battle against your automatons and pull back." I turned my head to regard Taenera, who was standing next to me in full armor as we advanced, staff in hand as I nodded in turn as she tilted her head to one side. "Do they not have any kind of self-preservation instinct?" I shrugged at that, curious of that myself as I watched another Massacre back hand another of the Genestealers which seemed to have a Human's ability for creative thinking, having tried swinging over it using a loose wire as a rope.
"Honestly, I have no idea. Though, once this is over with, I'll be sure to tell you after I've thoroughly investigated the corpses of these creatures. Now... Where the hell is there leader?"I remarked before questioning through our bond, curious.
SCREEEEE!
"I do believe that their leader has arrived."Taenera remarked smartly as I turned once more to regard her with a slight glare even as the Massacres moved to engage.
"No one likes a smartass..." I deadpanned back as I turned back to the fight before rushing forwards, my mind taking in my opponent before me. It was a massive, purple scaled beast with four arms, claws longer than a man's arm and easily stood over me by at least a metre and a half, spikes covered the body and it's fangs prominent in its mouth. Around it, I saw swarms of lesser Genestealers acting like an honor guard, all heavily armored and with claws glinting in the darkness. I smiled at that, it had been a longtime since I had faced a challenge.
Reaching behind me, I pulled out one of my weapons, a massive sword, over a metre and a half long, the cutting edges were covered in ridges while it ended with a semi-circular tip that jutted out from the tip of the sword, making it a poor weapon for stabbing, even if that worked rather well. However, it was a great weapon to catch opponents off guard and had some impressive power behind each swing, both because of the Adamantium core of the weapon, especially in the head. I smiled as the black edge of the weapon glowed with the active power field, telling me that it was ready as I took a step forwards.
Then I moved.
Ten years of on and off combat had done wonders for me, as such, one can hardly be surprised when I covered the distance between myself and the Cult Patriarch within a few bounds as my sword flashed through the air, bisecting or decapitating Hybrids and Genestealers both before they could even blink. My first swing decapitated seven Genestealers as only the Patriarch was fast enough to survive, having taken a step back in order to avoid getting its head cut in half, getting rewarded with a line cut in its right shoulder, but it's upper right arm was caught in front of my blade.
It lost that arm from the upper forearm down.
Lightning strikes soon followed as Taenera provided support to me, Warp lightning serving to utterly annihilate any target stupid enough to get caught in those blasts as I kept moving, the Patriarch having learned and was avoiding my blade while it lunged at me, trying to stab through my armor. I took a step back and to the left before ducking under the swipe it made with secondary arms before replying in kind, my fist lashing out and smashing into the creatures lower jaw, shattering it as the beast was sent into a nearby wall with enough force to dent said wall. I smiled at that, but didn't stop as I leaped forwards, intent of seizing the initiative of the fight as my blade sung through the air, aiming to cut the beast straight down the middle. The Massive Tyranid was saved by luck as it's body fell to the ground, moving it enough that my blade missed its head, digging into its torso as I frowned, pulling back as another swipe from its left came even as I removed it's right side, allow with its last arm on that side.
"Well then, Beast, time to end this." I remarked as I charged the creature once more, sword singing as the creature jumped over my swing... Just as I wanted it to.
While in the air, I aimed my forearm at it before watching as a barrel extended from it and fired a purple, cracking beam at the creature. With no way of dodging, the beam impacted the beast right in the chest where I watched what happened next with interest as the beam ignited the creature, a flash of blinding light later and all that was left of the creature was a scorch mark on the wall behind it, shaped like the creature itself as I smirked at that.
"A successful test, if ever there was one." I remarked casually to myself as the barrel retracted, hidden under layers of armor. Sure, I hadn't managed to catch the Patriarch, but I could settle for blowing the damned thing to hell along with the corpses of its spawn, besides, that was nothing when compared to the results of my test.
I had managed to recreate the Adrathic weapons.
Oh, that opened somany possibilities up to me...
XXX
Looking around, Taenera grinned as she looked at the Aesir as they worked, they were working hard, learning under the tutoring gaze of Marcus and becoming a race all their own. Already, they had started asking him questions, wishing to learn more and wishing to make their way into the wider Galaxy, under his command, by Isha, they had even started forming their own culture mere months after the defeat of the last Ork and the neutralization of the last Ork spore. Their culture was one with a high warrior mentality while enforcing selflessness, the willingness to stand by your convictions and a protective nature of those under their care, aggression towards enemies was also cultivated along with a rather specific mindset towards technology. Effectively, they wished to develop themselves into a warrior race that would never stand still in terms of anything, always looking for that next advantage and viewed honor as, at best, a laughable concept, or, at worst, a dead man's dream.
If she was honest with herself, she was rather impressed with Marcus' work to create the Aesir, even his work to replicate the Waaagh! Field of the modern Krork in order to grant the Aesir the same ability in the form of the ODIN Field. It was a feat worthy of the Old Ones, especially once some of the discoveries about the field came out in the aftermath of the Ork cleansing.
During the cleansing, some had died, but what was discovered was that their souls had not disappeared into the Warp, but had been contained within the ODIN Field where they had started to merge, forming a gestalt entity that had come to be known as ODIN. However, ODIN differed greatly when compared to the other beings crafted from the Warp, ODIN was merely a manager for the energy that surged through the ODIN Field, along with being used to organize any information that might pass through it for ease of communication.
And many knew that this was only the tip of the iceberg. ODIN was believed to be capable of growing stronger with each death caused by battle, meaning that, in the future, there was no telling just what the gestalt, collective consciousness of the Aesir was going to be capable of.
Still, if there was one thing that Taenera found funny, it was how the Aesir looked at Marcus.
They had known what he had been capable of doing to them since the moment they gained awareness of their situation. They could have easily been turned into barely sentient slaves, but Marcus had decided not to do such a thing, instead, he had created them as partners, allies and friends, asking them to aid them and giving them the option of not taking up arms in his service. None had even tried to take up his offer while all of them stepped forwards as warriors. Marcus's attempts to be humble and asking for their aid had only increased their admiration for him, if that was even possible when the entire race practically worshiped him.
They viewed him as their creator, something they were correct about, but they considered it a great honor to have been chosen and created by Marcus, calling him the 'Great Father', and considering much of the knowledge that he gave them as sacred. This knowledge was recorded with painstakingly precise penmanship and would lay the ground work for much of their development in the future.
Of course, Taenera still found it funny that the any of the Aesir would have happily done anything he asked, considering just things as their duty to their creator, by Isha, he could have even ordered any number of the Aesir women into his bed and they would have happily jumped at the chance.
But what made it so funny was the simple fact that Marcus had yet to notice such things, not even seeing the reverence in the eyes of some of them, especially in those that had been awoken first.
"I trust that the day finds you well, Herald?" Taenera turned from her thoughts as she looked to see Frida, the First-To-Be-Awoken and the current de-facto leader of the Aesir when Marcus wasn't present to command them to action. The red-head was a highly capable warriors, having lead and even carried out entire operations without Marcus's input on the matter, but she had worked hard to ensure that she reached such a level, constantly practicing with every tool of war at hand along with studying ever text on the art of war that was released by Marcus, even the book called that very term that was, apparently, the required study material for anyone wishing to enter the Human military for over 25 millennia.
"I am well, thank you for asking, Frida." Taenera replied, amused by the title that the Aesir had given her as she took in the form of this Aesir. She stood tall in what amounted to casual clothing for the Aesir; Thick, high heeled boots that came up to her upper shins while her trousers were connected to them in turn, a dress-like bit of cloth wrapped around the back and sides of her waist while front was covered by a loincloth-like bit of clothing, both were trimmed in gold with elaborate patterns flowing around the edges with a simplistic symbol that looked like a sword with the handle floating above the guard and with two curved blades on either side of it being present on the front loincloth. Around her waist, she wore a thick, metal belt that dipped into a V-shape at the front before it continued around her waist, from that, she wore what looked like a white corset with a cut down the middle that went all the way down to her belt before stopping at the bottom of the V-shaped section. The top of the corset disappeared under what looked like a jacket that only covered her shoulders and arms down to the wrist with a high collar and it lengthening around her back. It was an impressive set of attire, one that would probably attract many eyes from the lesser men and women of the Human race, especially with the cut widening at the top to reveal a generous amount of cleavage.
"That is good to hear." The Aesir replied neutrally as Taenera took control of the conversation.
"How has the progress of the initial Vitea Wombs been coming along?" Taenera asked as she saw Frida's eyes rapidly shift, looking at her before looking back ahead of her a moment later. They were both in the upper levels of a training hall, in a small rest area with a seller of drinks, looking over the training area below from a balcony.
"Slowly, but the Great Father wishes to ensure the safety of those born within them. He does not wish to see them come to harm..." Frida replied as she went quiet for a moment, a common thing when the Aesir considered Marcus's actions and found him to be surprisingly humble, finding him as someone worth following and leading them. Quickly, she shook it off before continuing onwards.
"They will finish construction within the next few days and we shall see our numbers expanding significantly within the next week. Though, the Great Father has warned that he is only using this method initially to expand our numbers to a more stable and suitable amount for our own safety, namely to allow for a stable breeding number of individuals." Frida stated, understanding the wisdom, but finding, once more, humbling and admirable that the Great Father didn't merely wish to mass-produce more Aesir like weapons from a factory, clearly showing his desire to help them become a people in their own right, with a duty to aid in the protection of mankind from threats, both internal and external.
"Indeed." Taenera had already done the math, checking and rechecking it a dozen times just to be sure. There were going to be three new facilities that were to become operational within the next week, the first wave of new Aesir would come two weeks later while the original facility was used to bring the original number back up to nine hundred. Of course, each of these other facilities could also hold nine hundred newly birthed Aesir. So, if her math was right, it would be possible to see exactly 2,700 Aesir within the next month, with plans to add another four facilities while they slept so that the next wave brought their total number up to 8,100, and so on and so forth. This was planned to continue until the total population had reached roughly five million individuals before being disabled and the Aesir would need to procreate naturally by that point to raise their numbers, if they hadn't started sooner already.
Of course, merely reproducing was hardly the only thing that the Aesir were doing. Already, a number of the Aesir had turned to becoming Vanir, beings capable of channeling the powers of the ODIN Field to perform acts similar to a Psyker. Over two hundred of them had come about in the time since the Ork Purge, roughly two weeks, and all of them were receiving personal instruction from Marcus himself in how to use their abilities, with a fair bit of time focused on learning how to use the same abilities as him. They were being used to rapidly speed up the construction process, using databases of information stored by ODIN to help them built faster as the area around the Great Father's home base was rapidly turned into a small settlement.
"I'm sure that the Great Father will be pleased with your progress." Taenera said, offering a soft smile at that while using the Aesir title for Marcus. If there was one thing she had learned about the Aesir, it was that they gave respect to those that earned it, both on and off the battlefield, especially if those people gave respect to the Great Father. Some took it any number of ways, but it all showed that if they believed that Marcus was going to be proud of them, then most would be utterly thrilled.
As she walked away, the former Eldar saw Frida's beaming smile, but also noticed something else, a light dusting of pink around the female Aesir's cheeks as her eyes became glazed over slightly.
"Interesting..."
XXX
It had been five years since the creation of the Aesir, fifteen years since I came here, and I could honestly say that the sheer amount of shit that had changed in the last five years was simply insane.
For one thing, Junkheap had changed. No longer was it a barren hunk of rock with the sterns of Starships hanging out, it now looked like an infinitely complex series of shells, each made of hexagonal struts that grew thicker and thicker as one moved away from the core. So dense were these layers that one couldn't even seethe core of the planet as it turned into solid layers of metal after a certain distance from the furthest outer surface. Under all of that, there was still a shit load of work to do as the rocks and ship hulks needed to be cleared away first before anything further could be done, but it was getting there, I had gotten better at transmuting materials from one form to another, no longer finding it as tiring, but it was still a work in progress as I often spent my days shifting entire asteroids into hunks of metal that the Vanir could use to construct more structures with their Technomancy.
Still, as they went deeper, they marked any ships I hadn't spotted and would inform me of what they found, after which, I would come along and learn all that I could from them before either letting them be used as raw materials or transmuting them into something that the Vanir could work with. Of course, some things proved more difficult for me to work with than others, Necrodermis and whatever the hell the Old Ones used in their ships being the main examples as I found a few of those ships near the core of the rapidly-developing planet and had them stored away in specially built vaults for further study in the future.
Needless to say, those ships were being kept a secret and hidden so deeply that none would know about them but me and my chosen few, if only so as to give us an advantage for the future if we run into an enemy that we couldn't beat with our current tech.
And, of course, it seemed that the Aesir had decided that I should get the best fucking seat in the entire house. They had built a tower, a massive thing that extended from a thousand kilometres under the upper-most layer of the planet to just over five hundred kilometres above the surface of the rest of the planet, sitting at the northern pole of the planet. Of course, one might have thought this would have made the tower an easy target.
They would have been wrong.
The entire tower was covered in over 150 metres of Black plate armor, with fifteen layers of Void Shields mixed with specially designed Gravimetric manipulators. The Void Shields stopped enemy fire from directly hitting the tower, the Gravimetric manipulators meant that most attacks would not even get that far as space would distort to the point that they would go flying off into space. And then, you had to consider the fact that the entire tower was armed to the extreme with point defense lasers strong enough to be used as anti-Strike Craft weapons but also accurate enough to blow missiles and torpedoes out of the air at a significant distance. Quad-mounted Lancers, Helical Railguns that fired shells the size of a person's house and armed with Anti-matter warheads, up-scaled Conversion Beamers, Neutron Lasers and some other stuff that I had yet to look at. Frankly, the number of defenses on the tower were simply insane, with the rest of the planet only a few steps behind it.
It was understandable since the tower, along with acting as my home, was also the planetary strong point and CIC for the entire defense of the planet, the majority of the planet's military was garrisoned there, with teleporters allowing for rapid transit to and from locations across the planet, helped along by the planet wide Gellar Field to prevent Warp-fuckery from taking place. This was further augmented by Wards that Taenera had been teaching both myself and the Vanir, meaning that Warp Predators, Daemons, would find themselves in one hell of a situation if they thought they could get on to the planet.
They'd be dead inside of half a minute, maximum.
However, one thing that I always found funny was the names. The Aesir had decided to name the tower Asgard while naming the rest of the planet Yggdrasil. I didn't mind, but I honestly thought that Junkheap had a bit more charm to it, hell, I even considered calling the planet Cybertron, if only because they looked so damned alike.
XXX
"I take it you approve?" I asked as I looked over my shoulder to see Frida in her casual attire, which reminded me of Freya from Too Human, looking at the holographic display in front of me. I could understand why that was, especially given the content currently being displayed.
"I highly approve of these machines, Great Father, and I would like to ask if others, and myself, may begin their construction immediately." She said, never taking her eyes from the projection.
Currently, it was displaying a number of designs for new military units, all of which were based on things from Section 8 with the odd exception here and there. The Main battle tank was based on the F17 Marauder, now called the Marauder-pattern assault tank, crewed by three men (Driver, gunner and commander) and armed with a dual Railgun system with a smart ammo feeding system, allowing it to serve as both an MBT and a Mobile artillery platform with any number of shell types being available. On the turret, there was another turret with a pair of twin-linked Multi-Las, for anti-infantry duty, while a Vertical Launch Missile system was located behind the turret along with a Mortar system to provide both Indirect fire support and close-range support. All the physical munitions could be equipped with any number of warheads, ranging from standard high explosive and Fragmentation to more exotic things like Plasma, Biological, Melta and Vortex. The entire thing was also an Anti-grav vehicle, making it even more dangerous since few obstacles could keep it down since it could hover over five metres above the ground, if needed, not to mention being equipped with a mixture of Void and Ion Shields.
The main deployment system was the Sky Crane-Pattern Dropship, based on the A-M12 Sky Crane, and made to look like the version from Section 8: Prejudice. The thing had a carry capacity of twenty fully armored and equipped Aesir light infantry, called Sleipnir, or ten Heavy infantry, called Nidhug. As it was based on Section 8 Tech, that meant that it was capable of launching the soldiers from it via Burning In, turning each soldier into a one-person Drop Pod without the Drop Pod. Not only that, but it had a mixture of magnetic and gravimetric clamps on the underside that could hold any number of vehicles, though, depending on the situation, vehicles could be carried internally if no infantry were present. The Dropship was armed with a mixture of missiles, point defense lasers and a Plasma Beam cannon for strafing runs and close-air support, while a dual-layer Flare/Void Shield worked to protect the craft from attack. Then again, it would have been rather difficult to attack the Sky Crane, if only because of the stealth systems built into it.
Scouting was done by the Spectre-Pattern Hover bike, based on the Spectre hover bike, was an Anti-grav hover bike designed for scouting, harassing and hunter-killer duties. The thing was fast, capable of flying over ten metres above the ground and 'jumping' fifty metres above that while the 'ground' was classed as anything directly below it, meaning the damned thing was capable of climbing vertical walls and even drive upside down with little trouble. It was armed with a triple-barreled Las-Talon with the power of a Lascannon, but the fire rate of something much less powerful while a multi-role vertical missile launcher was located at the back of the bike. Complex sensors were present within the bike, to aid in its roles, while a stealth system hid it from view, a flare shield was also present to help offer a defense to the, otherwise, exposed pilot.
Finally, for heavy combat and shock assaults was the Silverback-pattern exo-armor, based on the M05 Silverback. It was my answer to the Dreadnought and Terminators, armed with a Rotary Plasma Blaster on each forearm, a pack of thirty Multi-role micro-missiles on each shoulder and the claws on each finger, along with the foot talons, being capable of being sheathed in a Power Field, these things were heavily armored and armed. Of course, things would only get worse from there for an enemy faced with one, as each one came equipped with a Flare Shield, Ion Shield and a full self-repair system based on the Nanites that I had recovered from both DAoT Human ships and MoI ships. Worse yet, they had a sonic device built into the head of the machine that was capable of releasing a howl for psychological effect, one that could be focused into a short ranged weapon capable of shattering stone at fifteen metres.
Deployables were also present, with more options like tower-like constructs that could extend upwards before forming walls with walkways upon them or housing sections, allowing for a base to rapidly be constructed on the fly. Turrets were the same, with the Anti-infantry ones now being armed with any number of weapons rather than just railguns, as could all the other turrets.
However, the thing that would really piss an opponent off was the sheer amount of networking that was present throughout the entire force, allowing for everyone to call on any asset available on the field of battle, from the simple recon drone to reinforcements being deployed by orbitally dropped, Rexus-pattern Armored Assault Mechs, each capable of carrying over sixty Sleipnir, thirty Nidhug or, at least, four tanks. It was a system that ensured that even the all assets would be available to every rank, so long as the situation demanded it, but I saw that this kind of system could work rather well.
Of course, I still needed to work on the other aspects of it, like the Void capable Warships, Fighters and Bombers, plus APCs, but that wouldn't take too long.
"Yes, Frida, you may. Tell the Forgers to start construction as soon as they are able and that they may put forwards their own designs for further vehicles to me when they believe that such designs are complete." I ordered as Frida bowed deeply, giving me a good view of her cleavage.
"By your will, it shall be done." She stated before turning and leaving the room, viewing that as her dismissal. I sighed as she left the room, running my hand through my hair...
I knew that the Aesir thought highly of me, but would it kill them to be just a little less formal? Even in private?
XXX
Standing by the window of my room within Asgard, I couldn't help but enjoy the view. The entire surface of Yggdrasil was covered in layers of armored metal, Gellar Fields and even defenses to ensure that anyone trying to lay siege to the planet wouldn't be staying alive for long. There had been few attempts by Ork Warbands to try and take the planet, but those had all ended with the Orks getting blown to pieces before they even entered high orbit. However, that wasn't what held my interest, no, my interest was being held by the massive shipyard that was visible on the surface of the planet, revealing dozens of ships that were under construction with harsh, geometric designs, triangular patterns and covered with sliding hatches that would reveal anything from Macrocannons to Lancers to Neutron Beamers, Plasma Beams or anything else. The ships were armed based on the preferences of the Captains, or Wardens as they were being called.
The ships themselves were actually designs created by the Aesir, but I couldn't help but see them as replicas of the Vodyani from Endless space, only with their size altered to fit within the Warhammer universe. I didn't say a word of this to the Aesir, but I did compliment them on the designs of the ships, something that they seemed to consider as high praise, probably due to my own role as their creator, but I did wonder about why they had put so many damned statues of me, or murals of me, all over the place.
They said they were simply giving me the respect I deserved, I thought they were trying to worship the ground I walked, something that I didn't like the idea of at all. Taenera neither confirmed or denied it, even though I was tempted to order her to tell me, though I decided against it, even though I would have liked to learn what the hell she found so damned amusing.
"Enjoying the view...?" I heard the voice from behind me as I didn't turn around, half knowing what I would find due to hearing the mocking, innocent tone in her voice. It seemed the old saying was accurate, speak of the devil, and she shall appear...
"No more than you are." I replied non-committedly as I heard her chuckle at that, a moment later, I felt two hands slipping over my shoulders, slipping over my skin as I felt one hand moving under my T-shirt. I felt her press herself up against my back, feeling two mounds pressing into my back as I glanced to the side to see the face of Taenera smiling from its place on my right shoulder.
"Oh, I know... The view is utterly Stunning..." She purred slightly as I felt her breath in my ear, a shiver running through my spin that I suppressed. I could feel her enjoyment at this little game through the bond, her making not attempts to hide it as I couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at her while she simply smirked, her hand moving around inside my shirt for a moment before it retreated. I heard soft foot steps before I glanced to the left to see Taenera standing in something other than her armor. I felt blood rush to my face as I saw what she was wearing.
It seemed that such things as modesty and decency were rather... subdued concepts to the Eldar, even back then...
She was wearing a white dress, completely strapless and lacking any kind of material around her back, showing off plenty of her skin while the dress itself hugged her features like a second skin before flaring out around her waist and covering her legs. There was a long cut that went down from her waist to her ankles on her left side, the side she was showing me, that gave a good view of her long legs, which were currently wearing what could only be described as translucent-white, glass, high-heels that didn't seem to have anything holding them to her feet. Of course, the feature of that dress that would have drawn the eyes the most would have probably been the cut down the chest, going all the way to just above the waist while the dress itself turned strange, the two sides thinning before seeming to spiral around Taenera's breasts before stopping after covering her nipples, still showing off a hell of a lot of flesh between each spiral. Honestly speaking, if someone had worn that while walking down the street back in the 21st century, then I would honestly expect a lot of people to die of blood loss, probably through the nose primarily. Though, I would admit that the trails of random fabric coming from the waist were a bit odd, but my mind was rapidly taken over by thoughts of other things...
At seeing this, one can understand my reaction, and it was clear that Taenera was expecting such a reaction, given her implish grin and amusement dancing in her eyes as she, well she sure as hell didn't walk, stalked over to the window in front of me before leaning herself against the railing between the wall of transparent alloy and myself, crossing her arms under her breasts, but not pushing them up as it was unneeded, especially with that dress.
I looked at her with a deadpanned stare while trying my best to not look anywhere but her face, her hair allowed to flow freely in a cascade of black and red that would have covered half her face if she hadn't tucked it behind one ear.
She looked at me with a coy smile, a hungry stare and naked amusement dancing through the bond mixed with affection, I'll admit that it took me a while to notice it, but it was there.
"... You know, I really am starting to think that Humans and Eldar, even ones from your era, have a verydifferent definition of what we consider to be decent to wear around others and in public." I commented as Taenera's smile grew slightly with that, causing her to lean her hip to one side while placing her hand on it, drawing attention to her curves as I tried to stay focused on her face.
"Really? I would never have guessed, though, I thought that I'd try something a bit on the side of conservative. This outfit was supposed to be all the rage among the younglings of the Croneworlds, figured I wouldn't shock you too much with old Eldar fashion." She remarked as she leaned forwards, I saw the fabric around her breasts seem to stiffen as it pressed inwards, causing my eyes to flicker to them as soft, marshmallow-like flesh was squeezed between the spirals of fabric. I will admit that I had to work rather hard to suppress my immediately, bodily reaction to what she was doing to limited success as blood still flowed to my face, getting an even larger smile from her as I didn't try and meet her eyes, glancing off to the side, resulting in her expressing her amusement with a soft laugh.
"I can order you to stop showing yourself off, you know." I reminded her, sending a mental prod through the bond, but was surprised at what I got in turn, instead of amusement at what I had said, along with the certainty that I wouldn't do such a thing, I found myself seeing nothing but happiness, fondness and what looked like a trace of affection.
"Oh, I know you wouldn't do that, Marcus, no need to keep saying it like you would..." She said as she stood from the railing, swaying her hips as she continued to stalk over to me before she stood right in front of me for a moment.
"You have had plenty of chances to bend me to your will, Marcus, chances to twist me into little more than a puppet. And, while I despair at such a fate, it would have been well within your right as my Master to do, especially if it gave me the chance to, at least, try and atone for the sins of my race." She said sadly as she leaned into my chest, her arms going around my neck as I felt her trying to shape herself to match the contours of my own body. "Instead, you let me remain as I was, something that I doubt any other of your kind would have allowed, you gave me a new body and treated me like an equal, even trying to get me to reverse what I had done in the creation of the Familiar bond when you discovered what I had done. You treated me not as a thing, but as a person..."
Slowly, she drew her hands back from around my neck as I watched her, her face pressed into my chest as I went to speak only to find myself caught out by what Taenera did next; She pushed me. I feel back, half expecting to land on my ass, but instead, I landed in a chair made of what I guessed was Wraithbone. Surprised by this turn of events, I barely had time to register Taenera suddenly appearing on my lap, her arms back around my neck while she looked at me with something in her eyes. With her in my lap, I was around eye level with her breasts, giving rather clear definition of the term 'eye-full'.
"And yet... You didn't. You treated me like just another warrior, the respect of equals, something I hadn't been expecting, especially after what I had seen my former Kin do to your people, both in the far past and the more recent past. I expected the worst, I resigned myself to and accepted what might happen to me, yet you chose to not do that, instead asking me to share what I was willing to teach you, asked for my opinions of things and even gave me a choice in how enhanced I wanted my new body to be rather than forcing the changes on to me." She said as she leaned down and gently kissed me on the forehead, pulling me just a bit closer as though she was trying to smother me with her breast even as I felt something grab my wrists, glancing down, I saw the strips of fabric from around her dress grabbing my hands, some grabbing individual fingers before pulling my arms up and around until I was practically grabbing her, admittedly brilliant, ass.
"Uh, that's great and all, Taenera, but what, exactly, are you doing?" I asked, rather unsure as to what the hell she had planned since, even with the bond, it could be rather tricky to figure out what the hell was going on inside Taenera's head. She merely offered an indulgent smile as she leaned a bit closer, moving her head down to next to my ear, hot breath tickling my skin.
"You have no idea how difficult it was, trying to stop myself from showing this, trying to restrain myself, but I don't think I can help it any longer, you certainly haven't helped yourself in that regard, Marcus..." She whispered softly into my ear as I went to ask what she meant by that before she pulled back up, a finger on my lips as she smiled once more, our noses practically touching.
"No, Marcus, no more questions... No more talking... Just relax... And let me handle the rest..." And then she removed the finger and moved forwards, smashing our lips together as I almost drew back in surprise once more from the action, but Taenera simply pulled herself closer to me, ensuring that neither of us broke the lip lock as I felt her start to grind her herself against my stomach. Mentally, I wondered just how dense I was and what I had done to win Taenera's affection, but pushed those thoughts to the side as my hands gripped her ass, squeezing it slightly and drawing gasps and moans from her as she, somehow, used pieces of her dress to encourage me to squeeze harder, pressing my fingers deeper into her own flesh as our tongues dueled between our lips and inside each other's mouths.
Before I lost the ability to thick for the night, however, one last though passed through my head.
Just how thick was I not to notice the, admittedly well-hidden, affection from Taenera after knowing her for over eighteen years...?
XXX
"Today, we step forth from the cradle. Today, we are no longer contained to one world that we have fought for and bleed for, forged into an image that we are proud of and seek to improve at every turn." I started as I stood on a podium overlooking a grand hall, the hall itself was vast, filled with Sleipnir and Nidhug soldiers in full armor, vehicles and their crews, plus a few dozen Vanir who were floating around. The assembly was a celebration, of a kind, meant to announce a milestone of significant importance.
The completion of the first wave of warships that the Aesir had built.
Off to one side of the assembly hall, I saw the completed form of one such ship, meant to be the flagship of the First Fleet, a massive battleship over 22 kilometres long and covered Black Plate armor shaped like a mathematician's dream, armed with a tens of thousands of point defense weapons and a few dozen heavy weapons either mounted on retractable, broadside mounts or on turrets on the top of the ship. Yes, it made it seem like the bottom lacked any kind of protection, but that was a lie, the armor could retract in some places to reveal hangars and a few dozen missile launchers, plus the forward mounted torpedoes at the front of the dagger-like hull.
"This ship, and many others like it, will be the sword and shield of mankind, those that man them will have the greatest honor of being the first among us to reach into the Void, to look beyond this world and see all that the universe has to offer us, for better or for worse." I continued onwards, having the rapt attention of all that stood within the hall as I did so. Moving away from the Podium, I smiled to myself as I grabbed a bottle of Aesir Ale and carried out the christening of the ship, something that already happened on the other ships, usually done by the Captains of said ships, but it was decided that for some vessels, I would carry out the ceremony myself, even picking the names of those ships.
"And now, I christen thee..." I started as I threw the bottle at the hull, the bottle smashing off the hull with a resounding crack as a tarp of black was pulled down to reveal the name of the ship, engraved into the hull and highlighted in a shining gold with the statement about the ship below it. "The Indomitable! Unbroken, Undaunted and unstoppable!"
The statement was met with a resounding cheer, more than one might expect, but the Aesir loved ceremonies, so long as they were related to their warrior mentality, I watched as men and women immediately started to board the ship as those that weren't actually part of the crew or the onboard security detail continued to cheer. Some of those below me were already passing out bottles of ale, tossing them to other Aesir and even tossing some bottles to the people climbing onboard the massive ship.
"An interesting choice of name." I heard from behind me as I turned and smiled, seeing Taenera standing behind me, not wearing her armor, instead she chose to wear yet another set of clothes that seemed to have been crafted during her era, made from Wraithbone fibres and allowing her to control the material of her clothes with a thought. Today, it seemed, she had decided to be a bit more... Daring, having tube-top that wrapped around her chest, revealing her stomach while pressing her breasts up, but with a cut straight down the middle of the top that made it rather difficult to look away. Aside from that, she was wearing a very tight pair of butty shorts made from the same stuff, both were coloured the same bone white as all her clothes, but I knew she could change that if she really wished.
"I felt it rather good choice in names, a way of honoring the fallen and the ship they served on by creating another incarnation to carry on the legacy." I remarked as I smiled at her, she smiled back as she swayed over to me. Four years had passed since I found out how Taenera felt for me, and I had long since accepted it as yet another fact of life. We hadn't had sex yet though, that was for sure, but neither of us were in a hurry, not to mention the fact that Taenera seemed to have made it into a kind of game to see how long it would take to wear down my resistance, grab her then drag her to the nearest bed to have my way with her. I wanted to wait until she was comfortable with the idea, though she simply said that her opinion of it was irrelevant at this stage, I disagreed, which left us in the current situation.
"True enough, Master..." She purred the title as she got closer, leaning in closer before planting the gentlest of kisses on my lips even as she ground her hips into mine and pressed her breasts into my chest, I felt a slip shift in the Warp as Taenera started drawing on it, using Biomancy to reshape her body, making her breasts bigger, softer but still as perky as before, easily going up a cup size from DD to an E, at least. In her mind, I could feel her affection, love and no small amount of lust, I smiled at that as my hands glided over her legs before cupping her ass in one hand, drawing a light moan from her and more lust as she tried to pull me closer as I smirked. Suddenly, a quick teleport and I was behind her as her eyes widened in surprise before she caught herself on the railings in front of her, turning to face me. My smirk hadn't moved a millimetre.
"Maybe next time..." I whispered as I leaned down to her, whispering in her ear as I saw her whole body shiver with lust and excitement. I pulled back before teleporting away, leaving Taenera alone as she found herself unable to get me to crack this day. Then again, I doubted that was going to be a problem for her as I felt her emotions through the bond, feeling excitement and love, not to mention a small amount of arousal at what I had done. Normally, I wouldn't have been able to notice such things, but our bond had long since she had expressed her true feelings, becoming what she described as a hybrid of a Lovers bond and a Familiar bond. The Familiar bond I was quite familiar with, but the Lovers bond was something else, it was a bond that apparently opened the minds of two lovers completely to one another, something the Eldar had done as a way of confirming the equivalent of marriage between the two of them. It meant that they could keep no secrets from one another, allowing them to see each other's minds as they wished and in real-time regardless of distances.
However, the bond I had with her was different to that, both due to the already present Familiar bond and due to Humans, even Primarchs, lacking the Psychic acuity of the Eldar, even compared to the modern day Eldar who were, apparently, pale shadows of an Eldar's real power. Simply put, it opened her mind completely to me, with no way for her to hide her thoughts, feelings or memories from me.
It was an ultimate showing of how much she trusted me not to abuse it since the bond bypassed all of her defenses, letting me take complete control of her at any time.
Frankly, that was one of the reasons I put off having sex with her, mainly because, regardless of how attractive she was, I still felt like I was influencing her into doing something that, under normal circumstances, she wouldn't have done.
And that terrified me to no end.
XXX
Taenera looked at the spot that spot where Marcus had stood mere moments ago and grinned. It was always fun to see how he would react, his continued attempts to resist her charms were something that she found endlessly amusing and attractive, if only because he seemed to hold himself to a high moral code when compared to the rest of the beings in the Forsaken, Hell-realm that was this Galaxy. He would not do anything that went against this code, he would tolerate others doing it, if only as a matter of practicality within a given situation, but outside of that, he would cut them down without a second thought.
Still, she knew he was reaching the end of his tether, and she couldn't wait for it.
Even if the bond was not as total on his end, it still allowed her to see much beyond his defenses, it allowed her to see how he thought of her and what he found attractive about her. It was something she had been using to her advantage since the moment that she had finally decided to express herself to him, getting more and more blatant as time went on, especially given her choice of clothing. However, the one thing that amused her the most was that Marcus believed that the bond was influencing her to do something she would normally have been unwilling to do. Shaking her head as she let out a snort, she still found that amusing.
"Oh, Marcus... You still have much to learn..." She muttered softly to herself, knowing a lot more about the subject that her Human Master and knowing that, while a Familiar bond didinfluence the Familiar, that was only to the point that they would stand by their Master and obey his commands when, or if, they were given. Marcus had never exercised that portion of the bond he had with her, meaning that she had never been influenced by him besides his personality and actions sweeping her off her feet. Not only that, but she had been a warrior fighting on the frontlines of a millennia spanning war against unliving machines, knowing that death could come at any moment and her Spirit Stone might not be enough to save her from being reduced to either a battery for a Necron weapon, or a snack for their C'tan masters. Casual sex and one-night stands had long since become the norm for many of the more experienced of the Eldar Warriors, with the recruits rapidly joining in after surviving even a single engagement.
"Still, no matter how much you try, I'll get the prize in the end... Of that, Marcus, you can be sure..." The former Eldar whispered to herself as a pair of fingers traces over her lips even as they curved into a seductive smile that would have reduced grown men to nothing but mounds of putty for her to do as she pleased with. Slowly, a number of new ideas started to come to her mind as she stalked away from the assembly hall, a slight bounce in her step that did interesting things to her body.
"Maybe I could enlist Frida to help...? I know that she has been eying Marcus for a while... Might be interesting for his first time to be a threesome." Taenera smirked at the thought, if anything, she had millennia of seducing others into her bed from during her off-duty time during the war, convincing a single Aesir to help her seduce a man that she already held affection for would be a piece of cake.
All was coming together just as she planned..