As the Ultramarines' Stormravens ascended toward orbit just minutes later, they carried a significantly reduced company to the waiting Strike Cruiser.
Among the Celestinians were Inquisitor Greyfax, Marshal Amalrich, a handful of Black Templars, Saint Celestine with her Geminae Superia, Belisarius Cawl, accompanied by Kataphron servitors and Skitarii and Gerhard with Lencillus and the Sisters of Silence. Hans remained behind, as did Captain Erefan and Navigator Slovo.
The air within the Sword of Honour was cold, smelling of recycled oxygen. After a formal introduction to the cruiser's captain, the allies were escorted to confinement quarters under heavy guard—all except Lencillus and the Sisters of Silence.
As the Talons of the Emperor, especially the Custodes, were free from scrutiny and were trusted far more freely than anyone else. But since Lencillus wasn't going to leave Gerhard on his own, Gerhard would be placed in another area. Gerhard didn't want that, though, as there was something far more important he wanted to take care of. So they all entered the same rooms.
As the heavy blast doors of the quarters slid shut, locking the Ynnari and the others behind shimmering energy fields and reinforced plasteel, the tension in the Eldar reached an uncomfortable level.
The Visarch gripped the hilt of his cronesword, his armour made of Wraithbone, and hissed as he paced the small room like a caged predator.
"Is this the 'gratitude' of the Mon-keigh?" he spat. "We plucked them from the fire, yet they treat us like common beasts."
Marshal Amalrich was just as unappreciative of the treatment, but understood its necessity. The Black Templars shifted restlessly, their hands hovering near empty weapon housings, their eyes burning with suppressed displeasure.
Saint Celestine stepped into the centre of the room, her presence cooling the agitated men and women. She did not raise her voice, yet it carried over the clanking of metal and the warriors' displeased grunts.
"Peace, Marshal. Peace, children of Isha," she said, her voice sounding serene. "Do not mistake caution for malice. We stand in the heart of a realm under siege. Suspicion is the shield of the faithful in times of darkness, and the Ultramarines wouldn't lie to us about our safety. We must remain patient."
She turned her gaze toward Amalrich, her eyes glowing with a soft, steady light.
"Is your faith so fragile, Marshal, that it falters behind a locked door? We are not prisoners of the Ultramarines; we are guests."
Amalrich's breathing slowed, his shoulders gradually losing their rigid tension. He looked at the Saint, then bowed his head in a stiff, respectful nod.
"Celestine speaks the truth," Gerhard added softly. "Getting to Macragge was never meant to be easy, and this is already relatively easy compared to what we could have encountered. This is the good stuff. Relax, play some wagers and enjoy the time before things turn worse."
Thus began a grim and frustrating journey for most in the group. They were confined within a big suite of blue-coloured steel chambers and corridors, constantly observed by silent Chapter helots armed with heavy naval shotguns.
Time seemed to stretch endlessly for those less used to doing nothing and being under constant watch, as hours turned into days. The ever-present rumble of the ship's engines and the sluggish movement of artificial gravity and recycled air became mere facts of existence they had to endure.
The Visarch trained relentlessly, even sparring with Marshal Amalrich and Gerhard, who asked for it. And Gerhard's physical prowess surprised the Visarch and Marshal Amalrich. Although the Visarch was far faster and Amalrich had more battle experience, Gerhard was learning and refused to stay down.
.
The medicae bay of the Sword of Honour was a grim room of cold medical machinery and flickering screens. Inquisitor Greyfax was lying on a surgical table. Her jaw was clenched so tight it threatened to shatter her teeth.
Small, metallic clinking sounds echoed in the sterile room as Archmagos Cawl's fine mechandrite arms hovered over her body. Gerhard stood opposite him, his hands glowing with a soft, restorative light as he used his healing spell to keep the Inquisitor's nervous system from collapsing under the strain.
It was a marvellous skill, and after he demonstrated it, Greyfax seemed to start to believe that he might be who he claimed he was. The skill healed not only her body but also her mind and soul. She felt better than she ever had, and the strain from the Warp, which had gotten far more bothersome, had disappeared for a brief moment.
"Begin," Greyfax hissed through her teeth.
Cawl did not hesitate. A laser-scalpel hissed, and the first Mindshackle Scarab—a foul piece of Necron tech—was dragged from her flesh, through the use of magnetic technology. Greyfax's back arched off the table, a muffled scream tearing from her throat as the metal parasite fought back, sending agonising electrical pulses through her brain.
"What are you doing?" Gerhard asked Cawl.
"I am extracting the Necron constructs from the Inquisitor's bloodstream and brain. The process is a painful one, but necessary, as she has confirmed."
"Such crude methods are just painful and not overly effective. Don't you have other methods?" Gerhard asked.
"Other methods I have not. Swiftness and thoroughness are what I believe in."
"But you are acting like a butcher. I thought you were the progressive thinker among the Mechanicum."
"My stance on certain things does not diminish the effectiveness of this method I am using to extract the Necron constructs. I am not about to debate this with you, unless you believe yourself capable of performing the procedure better than I could."
"Most certainly."
Gerhard held his hand in front of Greyfax's face.
[Sleep]
Greyfax fell into a deep sleep right away, much to the surprise of Cawl. His special Warp sensors, which he added long ago to prepare and ward against such attacks, hadn't picked up anything just now. And yet, it seemed that Gerhard possessed the skill for sorcery, as he knew it.
Gerhard used [Psychokinesis] to grab the single Mindshackle Scarab from Cawls hands and started using [Material Analysis] to finally figure out the secrets of this marvellous metal.
[Necrodermis - Rank: Legendary]
| Necrodermis is a Necron material created/discovered over sixty million standard Terran years ago by the Necrontyr species, often described as "living metal." Initially, the Necrontyr used it to construct their massive sub-light starships, which explored and settled the Milky Way galaxy millions of years ago.
| Necrodermis has an unknown origin and chemical or molecular structure, but it possesses the extraordinary ability to regenerate from almost any damage instantaneously. The material "flows" back together, closing bullet holes, mending gashes and tears, and even reattaching severed pieces with minimal delay.
| Additionally, it is adaptive, allowing it to learn to repair itself over time from nearly any form of damage, even from blasts powerful enough to reduce it to its basic molecules or atoms.
| In addition to being used for the bodies of the Necrons themselves, all Necron vehicles and starships are made from necrodermis.
| This material can also be used in the blades of melee weapons and for constructing various structures.
| Each Necrodermis can be modified in shape at will by Necrons, such as Trazyn, who has demonstrated a high degree of control over necrodermis.
---
Information flooded Gerhard's mind about the material itself, its history, composition, traits, and how the energy interacts with it. This was the final piece that Gerhard was missing to step on the road to the biggest and most powerful players in the galaxy.
With this, he will be able to create technology never seen before and will reach and even surpass the Necrons or Eldar, given enough time.
A special technological contraption on his forearm activated, and Gerhard connected it up to the small mindshackle scarab, running millions of calculations and using his [Programming] skill, which had levelled up to insane degrees, as well as the other skills which allowed him to more or less interact with any form of technology as long as he understood it to a high enough degree.
Archmagos Cawl stood there, observing and recording everything in real time. He naturally had his pride, but he recognised a fellow master of technology when he saw one. And the fact that the other Datasmith Cybernetica, designated Hans, had slowly started calling Gerhard the Omnissiah was slowly dripping into Cawl's thick, oily cogitator.
If anything, a competitive feeling emerged.
After 10 minutes of using all of his skills, Gerhard finally understood and took control of the small mindshackle scarab. He took control of it, deleted the previous master control and reprogrammed it to suit his needs. He also flooded it with Mana, so that it worked only through his energy—a safety measure.
Finally, he took out his Monomolecular laser, which he had long created to open up Hans, when he was still a Man of Iron and went to finish the final piece of the puzzle.
He created a very small incisure on Inquisitor Greyfax's head and released the mindshackle scarab back inside, much to Cawl's surprise and confusion.
"What are you doing?"
But Gerhard ignored the Tech Priest for now, far too busy with the operation. He observed the mindshackle scarab and projected the screen into the air, so that Cawl could see what was happening as well.
Millions upon billions of binary flashed across the screen, faster than even the Archmagos could comprehend or understand. Still, he was an ancient 10,000-year-old Tech Priest who had dedicated his life to technology, and so he had a very, very crude and rough idea of what was happening.
His eyes widened... well, his lenses did.
The mindshackle scarab, which Gerhard had taken control of and reprogrammed into his loyal little creature, went through Greyfax's entire bloodstream, starting from the cranium.
It sped across her entire bloodstream, and whenever it met a fellow scarab, it landed on its back and forcefully inserted the new Mana-code which Gerhard had created. This then converted the mindshackle scarab into another one of Gerhard's and placed it under his full control.
Shortly afterwards, the deed was done. Greyfax was free of the mindshackle scarabs as they exited out of the wound and crawled up Gerhard's hand.
He smiled seeing them and the progress of his work. His power flowed into Greyfax's head to dull the white-hot pain and heal her fully.
He turned his eyes to the twitching, silver insect held in Cawl's mechanical pincer. "Marvellous things, I have to admit. They don't just sit in the muscles; they wrap around the neurons' connection to the body and even those that control behaviour and cognition."
Cawl rotated a sensory lens to look at Gerhard.
"A crude assessment, but biologically sufficient. These devices operate on a frequency that bridges the gap between the physical and energetic. It also seems to affect the presence of the Warp; otherwise, the Inquisitor would have felt it. Much like the Blackstone pylons of Cadia."
Gerhard watched as Cawl dropped the scarab into a containment jar, and it then crawled back to Gerhard.
"Speaking of Blackstone, Archmagos... you spent a while studying those pylons on Cadia. You saw them hold back the Warp, and you saw them shatter. What is your true conclusion on the material?"
Cawl's many-legged frame skittered slightly as he moved to the side, where he revealed a box of different-sized pieces of Blackstone.
"It is the ultimate conductor, Lord Gerhard. Depending on how it is 'tuned,' it can either amplify the Warp to an unscientific degree or silence it into a dead void. It is this which the Despoiler was after."
"And yet, if you gave this to the Mechanicum, they would treat it as a puzzle to be solved with oils and useless prayers, only to hide it then and refuse anyone access to it.
I see the way you look at the fragments, Archmagos. You want to master the substance itself and understand it in its entirety to use it effectively. Is that not bordering on the very heresy the Mechanicus fears? Playing with the tools of the Xenos to alter the fabric of reality?"
Cawl's vocal synthesiser let out a sound like a grinding gear—a mechanical chuckle.
"Innovation is often mistaken for heresy by those with small minds. I do not 'play' with tools, boy. I refine the understanding of the universe that the Omnissiah has given me free access to study and understand."
Gerhard smiled, hearing this. He only wanted to probe the Archmagos and see whether it was worth creating a relationship with him. And indeed it looked promising. Naturally, he would only fully trust Hans, but Cawl had potential.
"You, however... You possess a clarity I find intriguing. You see the things around you not as rocks, gravel, metals, or Xenos... but as variables. Tell me, if you held the Noctilith, would you have been able to weaponise it the same way I was?"
Gerhard smiled.
"Did you manage that on your own, I wonder?"
"1000101111010001010011"
"Hahaha. No need to get angry. I was merely making a joke. As for what I would have done...? I would have done the same thing I'm doing now. Study its composition, the way it interacts with the Warp, and plan a way to use it against the forces of Chaos in the most efficient way."
"What do you know of such matters?"
"I know that you carry a suit of armour with you and that you plan on bringing back Lord Roboute Guilliman. And I want the same thing," Gerhard revealed.
Cawl grew suspicious and wary of Gerhard in that moment. What he had inside his auto-relinquary was supposed to be a secret, as were his plans. And yet, here he was, a stranger and nobody he had never heard of, who seemed to know far more than he let on.
"How could you possibly know that?"
"I am resourceful. As I already stated. I have the power of observation and common sense. Something that the Imperium thoroughly lacks. And Lord Guilliman will be able to bring it back as well."
"A curious thought," Cawl said.