A Light Not Extinguished

Chapter 40: Roar of the World's End

"Listen here, kid. Forget what the ads showed you, yeah? It ain't sunshine and rainbows anymore."

"Sure, it used to be a job like any other for greenhorns like you. Guard a facility for a couple years, be the escort force for some diplomatic mission to the Squats— shit, I know people who were actually stationed at alien embassies and got a piece of some xeno ass. You can forget all of those cozy stories now. We got a galactic storm brewing and it's going to go hot any second, the people on top want the entire military ready to be mobilized at a moment's notice."

"See exotic lifeforms? Kid, you're going to see more than you ever wanted in your entire damn life."

-Recorded conversation between Solar Operator drill sergeant and new recruit, M24. 310.

***

The wounds ran deep.

Hekatii had been a master of war, one of the few beings in existence that could stand up to the Mistress of Blades. Every stab that she had made with her scythes had torn into Kathicia's soul, and the searing pain from diving into the Deep Warp was even worse.

It had been a humbling experience, and a reminder that even in their diminished state the Aeldari were still monsters to be reckoned with, Kathicia thought as she meditated in her biopod, which was constantly cycling a cocktail of psy-reactive elements and life-preservation drugs flowed through tubes into its occupant.

"And how are we feeling today, High Marshal?" The chirpy voice of a medical AI came through the vox.

"Well enough." Kathicia's voice was hoarse. "Is it time?"

"Your vital signs have stabilized now! We can begin your entombment if you wish."

"Then let's start. Quickly." A claw from above descended, gently picking up her biopod and moving it to an assembly line several rooms away. "Update me on how the war is going."

A stream of data flowed into her visual feed, as components held in place by antigrav systems began to assemble themselves around her biopod. The armored core was the most integral component of the Dreadnought. Focused solely on protecting its occupant, the shell was composed of an auramite alloy, combined with multiple shielding systems. The custom made life support system within did not employ a traditional stasis field: Instead it used a chronal acceleration field to speed up the Marshal's natural psychic healing, alongside an AI-assisted medchem dispersal system. Its occupant would be suspended in a vat of impact-absorbent ballistics gel.

"The future is completely closed off now." Kathicia muttered. "Too many individuals with precognitive power are beginning to move. It was already darkened with the Fourth's gestation. Foresight will only be of use in a timeframe measured by days now. I don't know how the Aeldari are faring, but it can't be that much better. Inform the General."

A Gellar Field strengthened the physical laws of reality. The Psionic Enhancement Array performed an opposite function, thinning the barrier between realspace and the Warp so that its user could more easily access their psychic powers. One of these devices was secured to the back of the core, followed by various cannon modules with the Mark VII Psycannon being amongst them.

Kathicia scanned the list of preparations that had been sent to her. The Talos Grid was fully operational in Sol now. Any assault fleets that the Federation could spare was being brought to bear at Beta-Garmon, prepared to face the Convocation head-on. Lukaen Emrys's new body was on its way.

The High Marshal thought back to the place she had been, the dream-palace of the silent gods. The unbearable sadness on the face of a nature goddess, and her parting words. The problem was that she didn't even know where to begin— the Black Library was not unknown to the Federation, of course. They had learnt it from the stories that passed among alien sailors across void voyages, written in stolen Aeldari scrolls. Except that no one was quite sure where exactly the mythical archive was, not even the Eldar that the Federation had interrogated.

Something to think about later. Right now, there was a battle to be won. She stretched her mind out, calling to the last component of the Dreadnought. Resting in a vat, what appeared to be tonnes of silvery liquid was in fact swarms of nanomachines outfitted with psychically-resonant crystal, able to be molded at the user's command. It leapt onto the Dreadnought, coalescing into a bluish-grey humanoid shell around Kathicia as she stood up. Jokaero smiths had been commissioned for this particular component, using their natural abilities to enhance the nanotech to an unnatural degree. It almost felt like wraithbone, but less... lively and more ordered.

The psyker experimentally formed a fist, the nanomachinery following her thoughts. Then she let it dissolve into a swirling storm around the Dreadnought's core, while floating in place.

Aeldari Titan marauders had been spotted throughout the Webway. With her own eyes she had seen two of the Dark Muses brawl with each other, with their fate unknown— perhaps Lhilitu had finished the job where Lukaen could not, but Kathicia was not so certain of that.

Something had happened to the Telstarax. After the first opening shots of the war it was currently under siege by an unknown Aeldari faction— unlike the rest of the kind those were trained soldiers, and now the weapon was rendered inoperational as the saboteurs laid siege to the security forces there. There would be no planetary artillery support from there.

Kathicia deliberated for a while absorbing all the information, then made a decision. "Contact Gaea." she said, opening her Neurosphere link.

It took a few minutes, but eventually the viridian figure of Terra's World Spirit eventually showed up on the HUD.

"Kathicia!" She exclaimed. "You didn't call me after the attack. I thought— your face—"

The High Marshal knew that muscles on her face had barely healed. Before Isha's intervention it had been flayed clean off, but after a week of intensive healing it resembled a mass of ropy scar tissue instead. The body was a mere reflection of the soul when you were an Alpha-Plus psyker.

"I'm well enough." Kathicia didn't try to force a smile, knowing that she didn't have the lips. "Listen, have they told you about the coming attack?"

"You're clearly not well!" The World Spirit half-shouted in concern. "What were you thinking, diving into the Deep like that? Even we that belong to the immaterial dare not attempt such a thing!"

"No helping it. Spur of the moment." Kathicia muttered, avoiding Gaea's gaze. "It worked, didn't it?"

"This is why I worry about you." Gaea sighed. "I've seen so many talented minds like you throughout the ages, and they always fly too close to the sun."

"Please. A mere sun can't kill me." Kathicia snarked back.

"That's not the point and you know that." Gaea admonished her. "And now you're running off to fight again? In this state?"

"I'm fine." The psyker gave a weak cough. "The Dreadnought will let me finish healing. I can't afford to stop now— it would be selfish." Kathicia let her nanomechanical shell cycle through several weaponforms: Guns, swords and shields flickered in and out of being.

"You need to rest! You can't fight another Muse in this state—"

"I won't be alone this time. Gaea, listen to me..." Kathicia whispered. "They are coming. Promise me one thing, Gaea. I've seen what they've done to their own worlds. Please, please don't that happen to you. Promise me they won't take you alive, if I fail."

"It won't come to that." Gaea said softly.

"Promise me." Kathicia repeated. "I have seen the face of the Muse that is coming, and it knows no mercy. Please."

"Very well. I promise." Gaea's magma-hued eyes dimmed. "It's not the Muse I'm worried about, Kathicia. You know the threat that lies underneath my red sibling. If the war comes to Sol—"

"That you don't have to worry about." Kathicia smiled this time, revealing bloody gums. "We've been working on contingencies regarding that particular creature for a long, long time. Even if we lose the war, that thing will never break free."

"If you say so." The World Spirit wanted to say more, but she knew from experience that the psyker wouldn't budge. "Stay safe, child."

"You too." The High Marshal cut the connection.

"Captain." Kathicia spoke into the vox. "Chart a course to Beta-Garmon. It's time to rendezvous with the main force."

"Understood, High Marshal."