Vex Chronicles 1: Infection

A hand revealed

Eredius III, in orbit, unknown location

Magos explorator Revcorin Virilus' legs whirred as he moved through the twilight of the maintenance sector of the Eredius trade space station. Prayers to the machine god, written in blessed binary, had once lined the corridors. Now a new blessing had been carved over the old words. The work looked more crude and simpler in execution. But it carried a stronger purpose. Those were genetic codes, unlocked by the genator.

At first Virilus had seen only a madman in the revered tech priest. But with every secret he had uncovered, the magos explorator's opinion of him had changed. Virilus had searched the old and damaged ship up and down, had tried to unlock old decks and doors without damaging the ancient technology. But he had only looked at the marvel of technology. The genator however had opened his eyes. There was more to the Aes Cognis than they had thought.

Technology and genetics. Old encrypted data of systems the Imperium of Man had long since forgotten about. And hibernating beings with powerful genetic markup. A treasure trove of things to learn. The Aes Cognis was a voidship of experimental technologies from a time most ancient. Old archives of his Adeptus only knew it as the Aes Cognis, an old frigate that had been send out to explore the vastness of space far away from the light of the Astronomican. But it was so much more. And they had still so much to uncover. Half of the ship was still sealed to them. Old encryption that sealed doors. And the magos explorator did not want to damage any revered knowledge by force. Soon they would break the encryption.

The robed figure of the genator stood in his lab, analyzing bodies and samples. Virilus had once called him a magos biologis, a high ranking tech priest of genetic mastery. But the man had only replied that he was too unimportant to be called a magos. He was only a genator. But the longer they had worked together, the more magos Virilus had realized that the genator was the one he had to serve. The genator was the one his loyalty belonged to, not the other way round. No one even knew his name. And yet everyone followed him with no questions asked.

When the magos walked in, the genator just knew who was there. Virilus had partly rejected the blessing that empowered the genator. But the encounter with the inquisitor had opened Virilus' eyes. The magos was ready to join the unification of thought. A data gestalt of synchronized minds to please the Omnissiah.

Magos Virilus covered the clades of the cog symbol with his hands so that only four blades remained visible. A gesture that nearly looked like the sign of the Aquila for the uninitiated. His counterpart mirrored the same gesture of the Four Bladed Cog.

"I am revered to stand in your presence, genator." The magos, higher in rank, still felt like kneeling down in front of his better. And so he did.

"Your visit tells me that the inquisitor is leaving?"

Virilus nodded and delight swelled in his old flesh as he felt the pleasure in the other tech priest. When the revered tech priest had joined the magos' exploration fleet, he had been a mere tech priest with interesting opinions that had pleased the magos. But since finding his ascension in the Majoris Essence, the genator had changed. And when he had begun to share his finding with his own, the genator had turned from a subordinate into Virilus master.

"Inquisitor Ilvex Tamruth left the planet. His ship is moving to the Mandeville warp point as we speak. He followed the bread crumbs. And like a good automaton, he went against our scapegoats. All is as planned. He thinks that Eredius is safe."

"And it is, magos. We will ensure that. We have worked around the message that escaped our attention. We overcame that threat." The genator was pleased and pride swelled in Virilus ancient flesh. "Where is the warpriest?"