A Monster in Hell: A 40K Story

Interlude : A New Imperium

A month passed as the Imperium became embroiled in new conflicts that came to bloody ends as 999.M41 rolled around. The deployment of Castigators across the Imperium and my personal appearance, not to mention the uncountable STCs that had been churned out by my Star Wars inventory (Lokathi Droids, HK Units, Dark Troopers) all entered the frontlines of key warzones. While we had no major wars, I thought it perfectly safe to deploy various troops at positions were recapture or just capture were necessary, essentially starting an expansion campaign for the first time in eight centuries.

Several Forge-Worlds which had become, say, Hell-Forges or strongholds of Dark Tech-Priests were forcibly seized and cleansed of their taint, before the Worlds were rebuilt from what could be salvaged. Campaigns were launched to retake Hive Worlds from the green tide of Orks. Slaughterhouses of the Orks or slave labor camps of the Drukhari were quickly destroyed and their prisoners liberated for integration into the Imperium. At this point Lord-Admiral Sagittarius declared a Second Damocles Crusade, his aim was to force the T'au Empire to stop indoctrinating humans into their 1984-style governments. The Castigator Titans deployed through the Jericho Reach had made the T'au Empire shit their fishy pants, their worlds cut in half and the so-called Gue'vesa quickly killed. I let this happen. This was a bad step but I hoped to seriously stop humans defecting to the T'au... by stopping the blue fish from trying to recruit humans. Honestly, defections were always bad propaganda.

The Sanctus Rebellion, or so it was called, was also dealt with. The War of the Hydra had been ended with the surrender of power at Terra, therefore I was the legitimate authority while the Sanctus Potentate was a titular one. They had been driven back, the Death Korps of Krieg killed in the suicidal charges and Krieg taken quickly. They had been pushed back to the Veiled Regions, the last of them concentrated in the Ulik Sector, with some strongholds in Tesla Prime, Necris and Galaspar, and the isolated stronghold at Titan.

The majority of high-rankers had seen the tide blowing. So after the Instrument of Surrender, their own defection to my side was quick, and I knew if anyone became more powerful than me, I would be left without followers. There were many loyal to me, but most were in the low ranks, just barely enough to make a difference. However... the truly highest rankers, like the High Lords and Grand Moffs, were sworn to me and me alone.

I had essentially stopped by Fenris recently on my way to Terra. I was heading for the capital to judge the trials of the erstwhile High Lords, before heading to the theatres of War to make a difference. The High Lords Twelve were the Lord-Regents of the Imperium in my stead. Recently I had personally stopped an attack on the shipyard of Port Maw through the War World Vostroya. Several other worlds, including Armageddon, Necromunda and Diamat, had become theatres of long campaigns from various enemies. I was desperately needed on this theatres to bring about a decisive and possibly permanent end to the conflict. For now, the use of Titans, Dark Troopers, Droids and Custodians on key warzones had driven back multiple hostile incursions.

The Imperial Military Council had, of course, disbanded, but Olga's leadership had seen her promotion as a General. She was one of my many--- umm, guys, actually I think consort(s) would be the right word here--- coming back with me to Terra, of course. The creation of the Death Troopers and Clone Troopers had been set in motion, and the Officio Assassinorium had of course, as with all the other Temples, had been named the Mortis Temple. The Mortis Temple for Death Troopers. So Alexandra, who had been in charge of the creation, had managed to relieve herself of some responsibility, and had been named a Lady-Commissar. The two had completely taken charge of the Steel Reapers Regiment (which was coming with me to Terra in full) with my other consorts (Val, Percy, Angel and Claudia) serving in their own ways. Claudia was now a full Colonel, Angel was Major, Percy was the Superintendent and Chief Mortician for the Regiment, and Val was a sanctioned psyker with near-unlimited power. Liana was one of the High Ladies, so she too was coming back to Terra: it was more or less the safest place from any invasion.