[center][h2]Aboard the [i]Ultima Ratio[/i][/h2][/center]
[h3]Year: 001.M31[/h3]
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The private quarters of the Primarch of the Sixteenth Legion aboard the [i]Ultima Ratio[/i] resembled a strange hybrid of machine shop and administrative center more than they did a place of residence. Her quarters were located deep within the vessel, well protected by numerous layers of armor and redundant bulkheads to ensure that its occupant was as safe as possible within. There was no bed or ornamentation within the room, nor even a place to properly rest. All luxury or comforts had been stripped from the room long ago, and in its place remained nothing but rows upon rows of tools, banks of cogitators humming quietly as they processed data streams, numerous pieces of technology in various states of assembly laying strewn across numerous surfaces. A curious chair sat before a large desk, wires hanging from it at roughly neck height.

Within this chair sat Eiohsa, her face a stony, unreadable mask. She was not reclined within it as she would be whilst connected to it. No information flashed through augmetic data ports through her mind. She sat in silence, staring at seemingly nothing, as she silently raged at her own weakness.

She had failed in everything. This she knew. She had failed the Imperium during the Rangdan xenocides. She had failed the Emperor, who had extended her such trust and concessions to her faith. She had failed her daughters once more now, sending them to their deaths against the Ninth Legion. And even now - she had failed her daughter who had undergone such trials, such horrors, to warn her and the Imperium of the crimes of the Abyssal Lurkers. She had been unable to give her the mercy of a swift death as she had desired, paralyzed by her own guilt and heartbreak. Only the action of her sister Nelchitl had preserved what little dignity Anastasia had retained. 

What use had humanity, had the Emperor, had [i]anyone[/i] for such a failu-

The door to her chambers flung open with a crash as the heavy doors slammed against the walls behind them, countless miscellaneous pieces falling to the floor from the tables on which they had been perched. Eiohsa looked up only halfheartedly, knowing that it could be no threat - though she almost welcomed the idea. 

Through the doors strode Ayushmatki, her expression dour and harsh. Around her floated a curious collection of objects. Bottles of wine and other alcohol, finely crafted chairs adorned with plush cushions, platters of food that Eiohsa dimly recognized as hailing from Hive Bronakavh and Hive Kuznekhtinsk. She fixed Eiohsa with a glare that burned through her like the heat of a laser, the array of items she had brought with her gently settling to the ground as she closed the distance between them. 

“What has become of you?” She demanded, staring at her leader. Eiohsa looked up at her, eyes meeting those of her closest friend. She had shrunk her form, intentionally or not, to equal that of the people of Kayaamat. “What became of the woman I befriended centuries ago? I don’t see her now. I just see a dried up, empty husk sitting in this chair.” 

Ayushmatki’s eyes narrowed before her leader could speak. “Trying to work? Is that going to be your excuse to me? Look at you, Eiohsa. I loved you as a sister. I fought alongside you for years - decades, even. We joined this Imperium together. I still remember how you spoke of your dreams for it and for humanity. They were beautiful, and I surrendered what power I had upon Kayaamat to you knowing you could bring them to fruition.” She sighed, and only now could Eiohsa see that tears glistened in her eyes. 

Eiohsa could not bring herself to reply, only remaining silent as she accepted her friend’s berating. “Much like the woman it belongs to, this room was once a beautiful sight to behold, you know.” Came Ayushmatki’s voice once more, as she cast her hand around at the nonexistent accommodations and scattered hardware. “This room was once a display of humanity’s prowess. Art of your own make and from the best artists upon Kayaamat hung upon these walls. Upon these shelves there once sat [i]cities[/i], Eiohsa - dreams for the future. [i]Your[/i] dreams for the future. There were no weapons of war within this room, only the groundwork for the dreams for which we have fought for so long. And yet what do I see now?”

“And what good have those dreams done humanity, my friend?” Eiohsa replied, her voice dead and hollow. “What good were they when came the Rangdan? I indulged in those dreams before I heard the news. Perhaps, Ayushmatki, had I not followed such foolishness I could have saved the people of Arretius, and we would not have lost the strategic initiative. Had I onl-”

She was cut off as her friend slapped her across the face, the sound of the impact ringing through the room. “You would not have, you fool, and you well know it.” Snapped Ayushmatki, her eyes blazing with fury and sadness. “I do not know what disease has afflicted you since those dark days, my friend. I know of your empathic abilities - and I now share many of them myself as I share your blood. [i]I know of your pain[/i], Eiohsa - and yet when I have tried to aid you, you push me away. You see yourself as nothing but a tool, and I know you will not believe me when I tell you otherwise. So I am not going to try. Perhaps one of your siblings can do that some day - perhaps I can, when you allow me through that ego of yours.”

Forcefully, she pulled her friend up from her position, almost dragging her over to a clear space within the room. The items she had brought with her floated through the air to arrange themselves neatly within the space, and with a psychic push, Ayushmatki forced Eiohsa to sit upon one of the chairs. 

“Instead, we are going to enjoy yourselves.” She declared, with an air of forced frivolity. “It has been far, far too long since we had a nice talk like this, you know. If memory serves, it was the year 861 when last we simply talked. You have avoided it since then.” Ayushmatki’s eyes never left Eiohsa’s as she poured a glass of wine. “I learned of this chemical from one of your siblings.” She said, “Drink.”

Eiohsa held the glass, watching her friend. She had made no effort to resist as she had moved her. “You know you cannot stop me returning to my duties? You caught me in a moment of weakness. I must return to work, there is no time for this.”


“Perhaps, perhaps not.” Came the reply, “I dare you to try it. I, however, will enjoy this vintage. From one of our worlds, in fact.” She sipped the drink, savoring the flavor. “Oh, yes, we are not alone.” She said, almost as afterthought.

The doors to her chambers were thrown open with a loud crash once again as Kaldun kicked open the doors to the chamber. Under each arm was a massive casket with the symbol of Baalros stamped on it. 

“Sister! Mighty Human! I have come to answer your call for celebration! We have won a victory this day!” He sat the casks down and glanced dismissively at the wine. “That is for idle chatter! This is a celebration! I have brought the finest casks of ale from my home planet!” He surveyed the rest of the room, an eyebrow raised in surprise. “You have made some changes since I was last here I see! Going for uncomfortability and frugality! We may need more ale to make this comfortable! But enough about your decor choices!” He set the casks down and embraced Eiohsa in greeting. “It is good to see you outside of the debate chambers sister!”

He cracked open a cask and brought forth three mugs, filling them and handing them to his companions. “Drink! We have stopped the senseless slaughter of useful Xenos, and we have brought the full might of the Emperor’s gaze upon the foul Lurkers! To the honored dead Anastasia! To the continued usefulness of the Xenos!” He knocked back his ale with several large gulps, smacking it back onto the cask that was not broken with a wide grin.

Eiohsa stared in absolute bewilderment as the radiant golden form of her brother burst through the doors. “Y-you brought him?” She asked, turning to Ayushmatki. No reply came to her however, as she seemed to have developed a sudden and inexplicable deafness and a fascination for the artful designs painted with silver ink upon the exterior of the bottle. 

She took the mug as it was forced into her hands, her eyes wide and her expression that of a woman who was completely and utterly lost. “What are you two doing?” She demanded, suddenly serious. “Do you mean to celebrate this? It is a great tragedy we have brought to light, in hopes of bringing justice. This is not… this is no occasion for celebration! There is work to be done yet!”

“I invited your sister, Daena, as well. I figured you ought know that.” Came the voice of Ayushmatki once more, completely oblivious to her protestations. “And do drink that wine - or the ale your brother has brought with him. Either will do - I ensured all of them were treated with that herb Sekhmetara told me of.” 

Eiohsa stared, dumbfounded, as Ayushmatki raised an eyebrow at her. “Do I need to have Kaldun make you do it? I’m sure he’d be willing - he seemed very, [i]very[/i] proud of the brewing skills of his people. You wouldn’t want to hurt his feelings by not drinking it, would you? And this wine - a fine reserve from the world of Velinuk. I had it shipped here intending to use it during festivities during the Council, but alas never had a chance to! I am glad it will be enjoyed by fitting palates nonetheless.”

She looked to Eiohsa, and her expression of mirth dropped for a second as she looked her Primarch in the eyes. “Drink.” She ordered. “I will not stand by any longer and watch you destroy yourself needlessly.”

Slowly, reluctantly, Eiohsa brought the wine to her lips. The sweet liquid trickled across her tongue, and she realized with some surprise the familiarity of the drink. “This was my favorite, back then.” She murmured, almost to herself. “I gave the producer a special charter to continue to produce it, too.”

Ayushmatki smiled, and nodded. “You’re damn right it is - you might have forgotten but I haven’t. Now finish it. We have plenty.” She nodded once again as Eiohsa did so, and then began to taste the ale her brother had brought. “As he says, tonight we will celebrate. It may not feel it to you, but this [i]was[/i] a victory.”

“We have brought a great tragedy to light, yes! But it would be an even greater tragedy to have let it wallow in the dark waters of the Lurkers homeworld! Anastasia made her sacrifice to stop others from being turned into monsters, to shut down the Infestus project! [i]That[/i] is a victory! Her life and sacrifice should be remembered, in a great celebration!” He looked around the room again, shrugging. “But since this isn’t a great celebration type of room we’ll just drink to her memory!” He emptied his mug again, to prove his point.

“I never knew why you liked such sweet things! By the way you went on about them you’d think that they could knock a Primarch off their feet in two sips!” He waved a dismissive hand. “Nothing like Baalrosi Golden Ale! This will get us well and truly drunk in a short amount of time!” 

He waved the mug in the direction of Ayushmatki. “The Mighty Human is correct! There is no sense in destroying yourself! We are bringing the Lurkers to their knees! We are defending the subjects of the Imperium! We are one step closer to galactic peace! All of these are worth celebrating individually! But we are together and as you said there is much work left to be done! So we celebrate them all tonight and tomorrow we go back to work!” He emptied his ale for a third time. 

“Such is the Baalrosi way!”

Eiohsa stared at Kaldun once more. Then, slowly, a smile broke across her lips. Even as she sat there - the eternal howling within her mind never abating, she could not help but smile at his enthusiasm. “I suppose you have a point, brother.” She murmured, nodding towards her drink. “And yet, I cannot shake this feeling as though I have failed. The Imperium, my daughters, humanity as a whole. It is my duty to protect them, is it not?” She sighed, shaking her head. “But you are right, I suppose.” She raised the mug to him before drinking deep from its contents, wincing at the bitter taste. “I have never understood ale, however.” She admitted.

“That’s because you drink to enjoy whatever you’re drinking!” Kaldun shook his head at the notion, draining his mug once more. “You don’t drink ale for the taste!  Least of all Baalrosi Golden Ale! You drink it for the effects!” Kaldun’s already normally loud tone of voice was steadily rising the more ale he consumed, not that he noticed. “Of course it is our duty to protect our sons and daughters and the humans who cannot protect themselves!” He raised a mug to Ayushmakti, grinning at her. “Excluding you of course, Mighty Human!”

 He focused his attention back on Eiohsa. “But our shields can only extend so far! And if we were to protect them completely from all harm they would never grow! They would stay stagnated and weak! Ripe for the picking should we ever leave them! You cannot protect everyone! Deciding success or failure by that judgement will only drive you mad! Protect those you can! Avenge the rest!”

“And yet.” She said, staring into the contents of the mug for a moment longer before draining the entire thing in one gulp. “I remain with these memories of all those who I failed to defend, brother. How am I to celebrate when I must live with their last moments upon my mind at all times? I have fought - as long as you have - to defend humanity. Yet during the wars against the Rangdan how many worlds were wiped clean by my hand to deny the enemy that which I could not defend? I live with their deaths within my mind every day, brother.”

“Ah! You speak of your Empathy! Simultaneously your greatest strength and your greatest weakness! I have a simple solution to dealing with that! It will be only brief but it will be quite effective!” He filled her mug again with ale, before refilling his own and draining it again. “Getting quite drunk! It is very effective!” He waved the mug, somewhat haphazardly now, in the air again. “If you want to use that logical reasoning that you so like to use, with its straight lines and orderly business, you can just think about how much worse it would’ve been if someone like Usriel had been there instead of you! The worlds would have been Exterminatused immediately! Or used as bait for the Rangdan! However many you managed to save would have died without being even given a chance! What you managed to do during the Rangdan is [i]also[/i] a victory that we should drink too!” He emptied his ale once more, gesturing at Ayushmakti as he did so. “Mighty Human! Explain it to her in those logical words she likes!’’

Ayushmatki nodded, thus far unaffected by alcohol. “While I would not go as far as to call it a victory - Lord Kaldun is correct, Eiohsa. Without you, without your empathy and compassion, your determination to defend humanity… we all know of the fate of those under the ‘protection’ of the Abyssal Lurkers during those wars. How many owe you their lives? Many died under you, it is true - but they died for a [i]purpose[/i]. Their deaths were not in vain. It is this you stress to your Legion, yet you seem not to believe it yourself.”

“I will say this plainly - you are a fool. The most brilliant, genius, wonderful fool I have ever known. You bring to humanity such wondrous gifts, you save so many countless lives, and your dreams for the future are enough to make one weep. Kaldun - have you heard all of her dreams? I must have her tell you, some day.” Ayushmatki closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. “And yet despite this you are crueler to yourself than I can even put into words. For this time being if nothing else, I beg you - allow yourself to be who you once were.”

Eiohsa stared into the mug of ale, her expression blank. It seemed almost as if she had frozen in time, sat perfectly motionless. Ayushmatki was almost ready to speak again, to reprimand her - when she moved once more. Draining the entire mug in a single gulp, she looked to her brother - at eye level with him now. “Very well.” She said, forcing a smile - though hints of her eternal sorrow still tugged at her eyes. “I shall try.”

Kaldun blinked at the sudden height increase, before laughing. “I had forgotten you could do that! Excellent!” He filled her mug again. “We drink tonight! To victory! To justice! To trying!” He finished his ale once more, before turning his gaze to Ayushmakti. “No calling me Lord, Mighty Human! There are no Lords beneath the Emperor! I am simply his son and servant, Kaldun! And everyone drinks the ale! Mighty humans included!” He placed a primarch sized mug in her hand. “To drinking!”

Even if Daena did not know the way to her sister’s quarters, the sounds of her exuberant brother ensured that a guide was not required. Tracing her way through the voidship with feather light steps, her appearance in the doorway was unnoticed for some time as she stared inside with a soft smile. Kaldun’s joy was infectious, even to the point of making Eiohsa - the only Primarch save perhaps Usriel and Sarghaul more dour than Daena herself - smile.

“I’m afraid that I’ve brought no gifts,” she said as she passed the threshold, finally announcing herself. “They are right, sister. Now is not the time for sorrow.” The Angel had taken the time to change out of the battleplate she had worn to the Council’s close, now garbed in a simple silver raiment that gleamed in the presence of the golden son of Baalros. “We must take what victories we can, in a business such as ours.”

“Welcome, honored Primarch.” Came the voice of Ayushmatki, a smile on her face as she raised a glass to her. “I have conferred with your sister, and procured a wine she claims you enjoyed greatly! Please, sit! We must break this one of her melancholy for the time being, one way or another!”

Eiohsa raised an eyebrow at these words, but said nothing, merely shaking her head as a genuine smile once more graced her lips. “I concede, I concede.” She said, a hint of laughter tinting her words. “Welcome, Daena. My apologies to you and Kaldun both that my quarters are not suited for such company.” She poured herself another glass of wine, savoring its flavor for the first time in a century and a half.

Kaldun whirled around at the unexpected voice of Daena. A grin across his face as he saw her. He strode, slightly off balance, forward to give her a greeting hug as well.“Aha! Daena! Sister! Welcome to the celebration! The Mighty Human had forewarned me of your arrival and I brought a fourth mug for just this occasion!” He filled it and left it on the unbroken cask within her reach. “If you want something with more kick than your favorite wine! And nonsense Eiohsa! Any quarters are suitable quarters for a celebration!” He laughed and downed his own mug yet again, before pausing. “Do I have to call you Warmaster now?! Will I be in some form of trouble if I don’t!? We both know I am not going to do that! Congratulations on your promotion as well dear sister! To the promotion of our sister to Warmaster! May she lead the Imperium to great victory and honor!” The mug was tilted towards the ceiling once more. 

With a swiftness that belied her grim reputation, Daena took the proffered mug in hand and clapped it against Kaldun’s. In a single fluid motion, she brought it down to her lips, drained it dry, and slammed it back upon the cask. “A drink worthy of a king, and I have known many,” she said approvingly, before far more gently taking a glass of wine in hand. It was a bad habit that Sekhmetara had instilled in her, but it seemed appropriate for the occasion. “For you, Kaldun, he who can make even Eiohsa smile, I shall permit you to ever call me Daena,” she announced in a grave voice, as if passing a most solemn judgement. Kaldun laughed again, raising his mug in salute. 

Turning to Ayushmatki, the Primarch inclined her head ever so slightly with an apologetic shrug. “I am typically not the sort called to break melancholies, but I shall do what I may,” she said as she finally sat herself down, irisless eyes finally fixed upon Eiohsa. “Our brother continues to speak truthfully. It is not the chamber that makes itself fit for celebration, but the company.”

A glass and a mug joined the toast, Ayushmatki and Eiohsa raising their drinks as Kaldun had. “To Warmaster Daena.” They said in unison. 

Ayushmatki smiled to herself, sipping mildly from her glass. “Alas that I no longer possess a liver to experience the effects as you do. But I can enjoy the taste all the same. And another thing you ought enjoy the taste of, honored Primarchs - delicacies from her home. Lord Kaldun I am sure you have heard of at least some of these? If she never even spoke of them while you trained with her upon Terra I would call it madness.” She gestured to plates of food arrayed before them. Steaming bowls of spicy sauces and seasoned rice, potatoes, and ground meats filled the air with a heady aroma. “More elaborate takes on them, of course. Many of these were not easily acquired within the underhives before her arrival. After her revolution and destruction of the old order however - I will swear before all, one has not had what is best in life before eating from a mysterious cart by the side of a factorum selling these dishes. I will take those mystery meal carts before the finest chefs on Terra.” 

A genuine smile appeared on Eiohsa’s face at long last, alongside a growing red tinge to her cheeks as she shook her head in exasperation. “You praise me too much, Ayu.” She said in mock protest, but a hint of pride could be heard in her speech. “It has been too long since I disguised myself to eat from those carts, though. Perhaps when this crusade is finished, I may compile a list of the best of them.”

After a moment, she turned to Daena. “Tell me, sister.” she said. “Exactly how do you think she persuaded Sekhmetara to provide her wine from her own stores? And how did she persuade you to join us here? There are many things about her that remain a mystery to me - and this is one of them.” 

She frowned, the effects of the alcohol stronger now, and a mischievous tone crept into her words. “Almost as great a mystery as how she once favored mechadendrites like those of the Mechanicum without ever having heard of their ilk. For entirely nonutilitarian purposes, no less.” 

At these words, a flush crept into Ayushmatki’s cheeks, and she busied herself once more with studying the design upon the wine bottle.

“Oh ho! Was the mighty human not always so humanoid in her shape?! That is a mysterious thought! What uses could the mechadendrites have that a humanoid shape could not!? You’d think that with the lack of opposable thumbs, holding things would be difficult, no?!” He opened and closed his hand to demonstrate. 

“Daena! Have I or our sister shown you the spear she crafted for me years and years ago!?” Without waiting for an answer, he activated the teleportation beacon in his armor and summoned the [i]Thunder of Labrys[/i] to his hand. The force spear appeared in a golden flash of light in its default short state. “The Thunder of Labrys she calls it! It is a mighty and fine weapon! And it has an equally mighty name! Not as eloquent as your Heavenly Raiment, but a powerful weapon and name indeed!”

“I am not yet drunk enough to compare our spears, brother,” Daena said in a soft voice, swirling the glass of wine in her hand as she appraised Eiohsa and Ayushmatki. She seemed not precisely immune to Kaldun’s presence, his sheer force of personality, but rather inured to it. Time spent with Sekhmetara had ensured it. “You would be surprised, Kaldun, how useful a dendrite can be. All manner of tools can be mounted upon them, to say nothing of their ability to reach into the most cramped of spaces.”

Kaldun looked briefly disappointed before setting down his spear and picking up his mug once more, his grin returning. “I am sure we will fix that before the night is over!” He drained it again as Daena spoke, confusion crossing his face. “But I can mount things upon my hands! Eiohsa has done so with the claws on this very armor!” He waved his free hand to prove the point. “And fingers can reach into plenty of cramped spaces, just as easily! I remain unconvinced of the superiority of mechandrites, sister!” With his announcement made, he gulped down his mug again.

“You only have two hands, brother,” Daena said dryly as she took a sip of her wine.

A burst of high pitched laughter interrupted the two as Eiohsa, struggling to contain herself, hurriedly forced down the remainder of the contents of her glass. She held one hand over her mouth, tears of laughter glistening in her eyes as she slapped her thigh with the other. Ayushmatki, seated next to her, had flushed a dark scarlet color in her cheeks despite their wholly synthetic make.

“Oh yes, sister! She told me in detail how dextrous and versatile they could be! She suggested, earnestly and on multiple occasions, that I obtain my own!” Another burst of laughter, and she wiped the tears from her eye, a drunken hiccup following in its wake. “I was content not to - but you ought have seen her back then. Oh before she destroyed that body - it was a [i]sight[/i].” With a grin towards Daena, she nodded enthusiastically, “Hands that might be needed for all sorts of tasks too, I was told. I was the one who made that body for her, no less. Much as this one - thankfully, after her duel with the witch-queen of Yuzhantiy she permitted me greater influence over the design!”

Ayushmatki, for her part, cleared her throat, desperately trying to change the topic - and failed. “Yes this body is excellent, I can taste things quite we- I mean… this curry. It is delicious. We ought try some I think.”

Kaldun looked back and forth between the three women, baffled. Consigning it to the pile of things he’ll never figure out with a shrug, he focused on Ayushmatki. “What is this?! A duel I have never heard of!? For shame Mighty Human! If there is a greater story of you violently murdering a witch-queen it is to be shared at every available opportunity! Not hidden and only brought up in passing!” He scooted forward in his chair, eyes wide with excitement and anticipation. “What happened!? And how! To who! And why!”

Eiohsa beamed, swaying slightly in her seat as she refilled her glass once again. “She will not tell you, I’m afraid! Much too embarrassed of it! The Witch-Queen of Yuzhantiy - for one, the only queen she ever encountered who could not be brought low by servo-tentacles alone! For another - Ayushmatki is perhaps the greatest psyker from Kayaamat in the six centuries she has lived thus far! But before her there was another, kept alive by… truthfully I never recovered enough of her to determine it, but what I must assume was advanced augmetics and her own psychic prowess.”

The chair creaked slightly as she reclined in it, the tinge of alcohol on her cheeks growing stronger as she launched into her retelling of the story. For a time, at least, the memory of horrors past seemed dimmed by good company and drink. 

“Ah it was during our wars of unification! Before the great betrayal! Ayushmatki and I met shortly after I conquered Hive Bronakavh from within, you see - she had subjugated her own home much as I had. Like sisters we were - and are!” She grinned widely, recalling fond memories of that time, “We formed our armies into one single unstoppable juggernaut. For every enemy army we defeated, millions of their soldiers threw down their insignia to join our cause! But there was one exception. The armies of Hive Yuzhantiy, controlled by some psychic enthrallment of great power from atop its spire. We tried bombarding it for over a [i]week[/i] to no avail. The heaviest ordnance imaginable - even that great plasma weapon that I have recently learned she [i]transferred[/i] to the nineteenth! Nothing could make a dent! We fought our way to its base for weeks after that, and it was horrible, to tell you the truth. I was devastated to see the destruction we wrought - but I could feel, as I do now, the suffering of the people under its ruler.”


She paused for dramatic effect before extending a hand towards Ayushmatki. “When we finally arrived, however - she stood in my way and demanded my sword! Never before or since has she acted in such a manner, more like you, brother, than her normal demeanor. ‘This is my duty’ she told me before ascending the spire. It was fortunate too that I stayed behind - a vast counterattack by the enemy fell upon us. Outnumbered ten to one we were, and it seemed as though the greatest stores of enemy super heavy weapons bore down upon us. We were ragged, tired, and low on ammunition. That battle was one of the greatest of my life before the Emperor found us.” She smirked, “But it pales in comparison to what our ‘Mighty Human’ was up to, I assure you.”


“You see,” She began, leaning forward in her seat. Her previous gloomy, somber demeanor entirely gone, replaced at last by something similar to her prior persona. 

Ayushmatki interrupted her, raising a hand as she spoke. “The Witch-Queen of Yuzhantiy was an extremely powerful psyker, moreso even than myself, who had amassed significant power within the ruling class of Kayaamat. What Eiohsa does not consider important to mention is that I, much like herself, am a mutant from the lowest dregs of the underhives of the world. The Witch-Queen, whose name I ordered stricken from history, was born into the upper tier of society upon this world. I would not have survived past my fortieth year were it not for the replacement of my body with augmetics over time - and I am fortunate I met Eiohsa, for her skill with such gave me new lease on life. The Witch-Queen, however - I heard her call to me as we drew near. She had known of me since my birth, somehow, and had issued a challenge for this duel. And so, I went to meet he-”

“She undersells it!” Insisted Eiohsa, in turn raising a hand to silence her friend. “Oh she’ll tell you what the historical record written by some dry Remembrancer might say - but I have never seen such drama from her! And to ask for my sword! Not armor, not some miraculous piece of archeotech, no no, merely my sword! She ascended the elevator to the Witch-Queen’s chambers and in there she dueled her to the death! The battle lasted for [i]two days[/i]. Lighting, fire, and more destroyed huge swaths of the spire. Sections of plascrete the size of a baneblade fell upon the witch-queen’s own forces! She scarcely used the sword at all, for a time! It was nothing short of an exchange of psychic prowess the likes of which the galaxy is rarely fortunate enough to witness! Brother - you would have wept to see it I am sure. The name Mighty Human is apt - for I know of few others who could single handedly destroy a great hive spire and bring it crashing to the ground. But it is not merely that! As they exhausted their energies against each other, Ayushmatki knew she could not best her in the powers of the Warp alone - and so she herself brought down the tower with an enormous burst of warpfire and lightning the likes of which I am sure could gut a battleship!”

Eiohsa paused mid-story, her face lighting up. “I believe I still have that blade within this room, a moment.” She stood from her chair, walking with the swiftness and purpose of a Primarch despite the minute wobble in her step. Within a minute she had returned, bearing with her an ornate single edged force sword inlaid with swirling golden filigree upon its blade. “It was this!” She declared, “I insisted upon it being hers after the fact, but she would not take it, even for ceremonial purposes.” 

A glint lit up her eye now, and her words came in an excited rush. “As she brought down the spire, their duel continued in freefall. Blasts of lighting, fire, and eldritch energies tore apart the falling structure into a million fractal pieces! As they neared the ground, Ayushmatki at last drew near to her and with the last vestiges of psychic power she could manifest, plunged the blade through the heart of the Witch-Queen of Yuzhantiy! Not ten seconds later, the rubble impacted the earth! With the witch-queen’s death, her armies awoke as if from daze and surrendered en-masse. I feared my friend dead, and searched for her within the rubble for days before I felt her. Most of the body I had created - servo-tentacles and all - had been annihilated in the impact. But her brain and spinal column were reinforced and survived mostly intact! I built her a new body - thankfully, this time, without servo tentacles. As Kaldun has so graciously put it, and I said so myself - hands will do just fine!”

“My primarch, please, you are being sidetracked once more.” Insisted Ayushmatki, clearing her throat as she desperately attempted to keep Eiohsa focused. “While her account may be… [i]embellished[/i], it is not inco-”

“Nonsense!” interjected Eiohsa once more. “I can show you embellishment if you so desire, but in this I am innocent, I promise.”

Ayushmatki nodded, clearly not wishing to risk the teasing once more. “Either way, yes, Honored Kaldun. That is… more or less the story.”

Kaldun followed the story with an excited glint in his eyes, nodding in excitement with Eiohsa’s words and shaking his head at Ayushmakti’s attempts to downplay the story. When it was finished he stood and slapped Ayushmakti on the back in approval. “I knew there was a reason you were so mighty for a human! What a story! What a battle! The poets would sing of such a duel on Baalros for centuries! Shame on you, Mighty Human, for never telling me this!” He looked down at her, wagging a finger. “And don’t think I did not notice you using ‘honored’ in place of Lord! It is just Kaldun! There is no need for such formalities with me! Much less in this time of celebration!”

“Once again,” Daena said slowly, staring at Eiosha over the rim of her glass, “you find it easier to praise others than yourself, dear sister.” Taking a sip, she turned her head to Ayushmatki and Kaldun before lazily waving a hand. “You two know what I mean. Her reports are always remarkably terse about herself. No matter what she accomplished.”

Eiohsa went motionless at these words, her expression once more becoming tense. “Sister,” She said, now staring once more into the mug in front of her. “There is a reason for such. I would have thought you of all would understand that.” She looked up, a heavy sigh escaping her. “I do not [i]need[/i] honors or credit. I am merely performing the duty for which I was designed. It was made clear to me, during the wars against the Rangdan, that I am a tool for humanity. A tool does not need commendation for doing what it was created to do, and so neither do I. My daughters… it is upon their shoulders and those of mortal humanity that our successes are borne. It is a thankless task for which I was created, and as such I need none.” A thin smile reappeared once more as she looked down at the mug of ale in her hand, “This, however, is nevertheless a nice break from that.”

A sharp ring sounded throughout the room as Daena placed her wine glass down, staring Eiosha in the eyes with the most severe expression her sister had ever seen her wear outside of combat. “You self admonishing fool. You are as human as your daughters.”

Silence elapsed for a moment as Eiohsa stared into her mug, her expression hardening. She looked up to her sister. “Am I? Am I truly?” She asked, her words tense. “After everything I have seen and done, sister? When I must live with the final moments of trillions of humans at all times - most of them dead at my own hand? Certainly, something of me is human, or was.” She sighed, “You, sister, would best understand this I thought. We both see death - you see what has yet to come, and can work to avoid it. I only know what has already come to pass, and must endure the weight of hundreds of worlds destroyed by my hand.” She let out a deep sigh, draining the mug of ale. “I am the Lady of Iron, as decreed by our father himself. It is my duty to endure it. How many human beings could endure such? How could one still be called human after they have done what I have?”

As she spoke, a weight settled upon the room, much as it had within the council chambers upon Nikea. Phantasmal imagery - a ghost of sensation - settled upon the minds of those within the room. A vague impression of the experiences of which she spoke. The endless, howling chorus of a trillion dead souls trapped forever within their final moments.

“Do not think to claim that you can endure such,” Daena chastised, her gaze unmoving from her sister. “You are an artificer, a smith. You should know that iron must be wrought so that it may bend, lest it instead break. You are permitted to be human. As much as you and some of our brothers seem to think otherwise.”

“And yet how many now lie dead because of it? When I received news of the Rangda invasion, I was building a city, Daena. It was beautiful. A work of art.” She shook her head, “And it did nothing to save the lives of those who I had been charged to defend. Humanity is imperfect, sister - and those imperfections lead to death and destruction.” She cast her hand to the room around them, brimming with schematics, weapons in various states of creation, diagrams of fortresses, and more. “If I must purge myself of my own humanity to protect humanity, I will do so. Do not claim to me that you do otherwise. I have sensed it as clear as day.”

“Were your daughters combat capable? Had they been trained and made ready? Was your wargear prepared? The answer to all of these are yes. Enough of your flagellation, I will not tolerate it. We must think of things other than war - both for humanity and our own sanity,” Daena replied in a firm voice, like that of a parent scolding a particularly recalcitrant child.

“As if I retain any of either.” Eiohsa muttered darkly to herself. 

“Very well, sister. It was childish of me to bring things to such dark places to begin with.” She said, feigning concession. “Tell me, then, what would you speak of? Have you plans, now that the council is adjourned?”

“There is a mystery that needs unraveling, you may have seen the hints of it from my reports,” she said, picking her glass back up and taking a sip. “There is a power in the Obscurus. Advanced, and unknown to us. They have been providing arms to forces across the Segmentum. Their identity and goals must be uncovered.”

“I understand, too, that these arms they have provided are a mark above many of our own if I am not mistaken, yes?” She said, leaning forward with interest. “I have longed to acquire some of these advanced technologies they display before the Mechanicum can hoard them away from the Imperium proper. I [i]was[/i] to deploy back Segmentum Ultima, to continue the expansion of the Imperium eastward. I intend to speak to father, and request I be allowed to accompany his Custodians to their investigation of Carcinus. Should that fall through…” she trailed off, smiling once more. “I suppose I must follow orders, should my sister request my presence within Obscurus, musn’t I? I will gladly accept.”

“Perhaps time with Sekhmetara will do as much for your mood as it has mine,” she replied coyly.

Eiohsa laughed, “I have heard of our sister and her reputation. It is a shame she was not discovered earlier, it was lonely before Rangdan, having only one sibling who seemed to understand the concept of fun.” She nodded, sipping at her wine. “It will be good to speak to Sekhmetara. I have yet to meet her properly. Tell me - what other wines does she carry?”

Kaldun looked between Daena and Eiohsa as they had their minor argument, finishing two more mugs of the ale in the process. He had to open the second cask he had brought, watching the two women. When there was an opening in the conversation, he leapt in. “Your empath powers! They are psychic are they not?! Why not just turn them off! Like with biolightning!” Small bolts of golden lightning leapt from his fingertips and stopped suddenly. He waggled his fingers, repeating the process a few times, to accentuate his point. 

Eiohsa stared at him for a moment, silently. “Impossible.” She declared, shaking her head. “Utterly impossible, I am sure of it.”

“Nonsense! It is a psychic power! We are two of the most powerful Psykers in existence! The idea that you cannot turn off your own powers is preposterous!” He turned to Daena. “Sister! You know that I am right! Even your own prodigious powers can be stopped, no?!”

Daena nodded at her brother, attempting to catch up to his score by finishing a glass of wine before replying. “It’s true. Admittedly, sometimes visions can surprise me, but with enough focus they can be suppressed.” Usually. She saw no reason to bring up morose talk by discussing what she saw when she looked at the Emperor.

Blinking in disbelief, Eiohsa looked between the two of them. She opened her mouth to protest, before closing it, before opening it once more, and then finally draining yet another glass of wine. She said nothing, merely closed her eyes and focused.

She focused inwards. Feeling the writhing mass that weighed upon her mind. Feeling the currents of the Warp that flowed and eddied through her. She waded through it for hours. Perhaps days. Perhaps years. Exploring and poking and prodding until she was satisfied. She took the threads of the warp in her hand and manipulated them, feeling the change as she did so. She wondered what would happen if she tried to pull them to her, away from the myriad different directions they seemed to wish to drift.

It was a strange feeling - or absence of such - that slowly enveloped her. The world felt emptier now. She opened her eyes, realizing that no longer could she feel the ship’s crew around her. No more did she sense their signatures in the warp. It was silence, pure silence in a way she had never before experienced in her life. She stared at the two of them, before bursting into hysterical, uncontrollable laughter. Bent double in the chair, she let the mug fall from her hand, clattering to the floor as she was seized by this fit of nearly mad cackling.

“I think it worked!” Kaldun announced to Daena, finishing another mug in celebration.

“Is this what it is like?” She wheezed, forcing the words out through a monumental effort. “Was it needless?” She looked to Ayushmatki, desperate for some sort of assurance that she was in fact dreaming. “What a fool I have been!” She exclaimed, before laughter consumed her once more. 

Her laughter caught in her throat and tears ran in her eyes now, laughter fully giving way to heaving sobs. “It was needless.” She gasped, “It was all needless?! Everything? All of it? This horror within me?” She looked to the two of them once more. “Are you telling me that for the past century and a half I have lived with the greatest torture imaginable all on the basis of my own ignorance?”

Daena saw her tactless brother’s mouth begin to open and physically intervened, walking across the room to drape one arm around Eiosha’s shoulder. “Oh my poor sister,” she whispered, her gaze panning across the room as she thought how to most delicately deliver her hypothesis. “Something tells me that you felt as if you deserved this. That you never thought to try.”

It was Ayushmatki that spoke next, “I can almost guarantee that such is the case.” She stood, walking over to her Primarch, “You have always tried to be perfect. And you have always refused the idea that you might not be. Perhaps it was built into you, like so much else. Perhaps you developed it on your own.” She sighed, “And yet all the same, even back during the wars upon Kayaamat, you would take personal responsibility for [i]everything[/i]. It was a concern then, and it only grew from there. Perhaps i-”

She was cut off as Eiohsa raised a hand, not looking up from the ground. “Ayu, please.” She murmured, “You speak the truth, but please. A moment. This is… I…” she trailed off, looking up to them. “This has defined who I am since the moment I met another. Since I crawled from the lake of fire as an infant. It has shaped the person I am. Perhaps I [i]do[/i] deserve it, or perhaps the Emperor saw fit for its use for… whatever purpose I was to serve within his Imperium.” She drew breath, shaky and uncertain. “I do not even know what to do now. I have thought this a blessing and a curse I must bear until my final day - and now…?” She looked between the three of them, beseeching their advice.

“Now!? Now you [i]wield[/i] it, rather than letting it wield you!” Kaldun spoke, finally unable to contain himself despite Daena’s pointed look. “You turn it on only when it would benefit you! During negotiations or interrogations?! Nothing better than being able to know what those opposite you are feeling! During battle, when you must be as strong as the iron of our armor and as cold as the northern peaks of Baalros? Turn it off! There is no benefit in feeling what you have already felt too many times before! You get used to the lack of emotions rushing into you, so that when you do have it off it does not affect you at all! Training! That is what you do now! Train to wield your power properly!” With a satisfied nod, Kaldun finished another mug.

“Our brother is correct. To do anything less would be a [i]true[/i] failure of your duty,” Daena said, not so subtly insisting that Eiosha stop needlessly torturing herself.

Silence elapsed once more as Eiohsa looked between them. Slowly, she sat back upright, pulling both of her siblings into a tight embrace, and Ayushmatki into a much gentler one. “Thank you.” She murmured, her expression once more a genuine smile. “I… I have been a fool. Thank you.” 

She turned her eye to Ayushmatki, “I know you brought stronger than wine and ale to this, dear Ayu - stop holding out on us. I have true reason to celebrate now. And the food! Yes! We mustn’t let it go to waste either!” She leaned down, bringing one of the now slightly cooled dishes to her nose. “I have not eaten this in…” She trailed off, “some time. Come, sister, brother! Let me share the delicacies of my home! As my thanks! Ayushmatki, where is it?” 

Lazily, Ayushmatki gestured to one of the crates she had brought with her, from which a bottle of clear liquid marked in strange letters floated up. “You had but to ask, old friend.” She said, smiling. [hr]
[b][...End Log.][/b]
[b][...Terminating.][/b]
[b][Imperial Thought for the Day: Life is temporary. Duty is eternal. Use thyself well, for self destruction aids the Malevolent.][/b]

[b][hr][/b]
[center][h3]Later...[/h3][/center]
Fear gnawed at her belly as Eiohsa stood before the Emperor of Mankind. Fear, and hope. 

The ordeal of Carcinus sickened her. Filled her with disgust, and horror, and fury, and with purpose. Deep within Carcinus lay her daughters, many of them known to her - others, terrified and unknowing of what had been forced upon them. She would return to them. She [i]had[/i] to return to them. Who knew how many of them still lived in those dark, horrific catacombs? How many were suffering even now under the knives of the Lurkers?

The Emperor was her one chance. Who knew if the Custodes’ arrival might result in their deaths? Would they be cast out to rot in some abyssal pit, covered up and scrubbed away to hide their existence from the Emperor’s ten thousand? The Emperor could grant her what she wanted, allow her to accompany them to Carcinus, to infiltrate that dreaded world again and ensure their safety from the Ninth Legion. 

“Father.” She said, eyes downcast as she stood across from him. “I beg of you, grant me this boon. You have sent your Ten Thousand to investigate Carcinus, to determine once and for all the guilt of the Ninth. I thank you for this, and apologize for my transgression upon the Council in such a manner.” She looked up to him, “But, if you would permit it, I wish to accompany them. To infiltrate the world once more and rescue my Daughters and the others the Ninth have imprisoned from that horrific place. I do not fully know what else lies in wait, and I fear they may try to destroy my Daughters to hide evidence of their crimes.”

Silence reigned for a time as the Emperor watched her. She felt herself burning in his presence. There was nothing to be done but place herself at his mercy and beg for it. This was the final thread by which she held on to sanity. The duel with Augor yet lay in wait. But after everything she had seen. Everything she had felt… she had propelled herself onwards through the Crusade through sheer force of will. There was always a goal. A task she had to accomplish to further the Crusade. Every step she took through dirt soaked in the blood of those she had sworn to protect was to ensure that never again would such sacrifices be needed.

And for what? There were tasks ahead - but for the first time she found herself wondering if they were truly worth it. Here. Now. Rescuing her daughters from the Ninth - that was something she [i]KNEW[/i] was good. Something she [i]KNEW[/i] would be worthwhile. He had to allow her.

“I cannot permit such a thing, my daughter.”

Eiohsa could not speak. She bit her tongue, staring at him. Pathetic. Weak. Rusted iron. A broken tool. 

“If your involvement were discovered, it would cast a shadow of doubt upon the investigation that cannot be afforded.” He continued. The heat radiating from him changed, now. It no longer burned her, but seemed to soften. It was warm. It enveloped her. Comforting her. “If you were known to have entered the world before my Ten Thousand, it would plant the seed of doubt in the hearts of many. They would say the Custodes were deceived by you. That you planted false evidence. Be still, my Daughter, and have patience.”

“I believe you.” He said, speaking again before she could. “I know you would not bring such falsehoods before me. The Custodians will determine for me, beyond a shadow of a doubt, where the blame lies, and upon whom the executioner’s sword will fall. And when it falls, my daughter, you will have the honor of holding the blade.”

Eiohsa stared at him wordlessly for what seemed hours. This… no, this couldn’t be it. This could [i]not[/i] be it. She couldn’t simply be… denied. Her Daughters were there. Suffering. She could still feel every iota of horror and misery in that forsaken hole. The miasma of death and decay and violation. It clung to her soul, even as she stood before the Emperor. The thought of leaving them to suffer in that mire for a second longer grated against the very core of her being. The thought of leaving [i]anyone[/i] in that nightmarish abyss.

“But…” she grasped for words. Something. Anything. Anything to convince him. “I can disguise myself. You know that! None would ever have cause to be suspicious. To them I would be just one more Custodian. Indistinguishable from all the rest.” She looked at him, pain in her eyes. The weight of her memories crushed her as she grasped for anything, any lifeline at all. “I can’t just… I can’t just leave them there.” She half-whispered. “That place it… it isn’t human. It’s… perhaps they were once human, the Fleshweavers, but…” she stood before him. Pathetic. Foolish. Unable to even come up with the words to describe what she had seen. 

“Be that as it may, the risk is too great.” He looked at her solemnly. “I believe you, my daughter. But the risk, no matter how unlikely it may be, is too great. When we stand upon the precipice of truth, not even the smallest misstep can be permitted.”

Eiohsa stared at him silently before she collapsed into a nearby chair, cradling her head in her hands. Hollow and defeated.

She stared into nothingness for years. Time stretched on for eternity as she tried to shut out the sounds in her mind. The scenes of exterminatus. The screams of a dying world. The toxic, stifling miasma of Carcinus. 

She looked up to see the Emperor sitting across from her, nary a trace of emotion upon his perfect features. He simply waited for her.

“Why did you make me this way?” She asked of him under her breath.

The words caught in her throat, and she seized on them.

“Why did you make me this way?” She asked again, louder now.

“Why!? Why did you?! Tell me now, damn you! What do you want?! Why do I wade through the blood of those I have sworn to protect?! I ask nothing. I seek no rewards or accolades. I merely wish to build a better Imperium, Father. I wish to build [i]your[/i] better Imperium. Why can’t I?”

The Emperor looked at her impassively for a moment before speaking. “I named you Lady of Iron for this purpose. And I knew when I met you that you could be trusted with such thankless tasks. That you could, and would, break the darkness that threatens humanity beneath you to secure its future. I knew you fought not for honor, glory, or riches. And I knew you could be trusted not only to do what needed to be done in the dark, but to do so with mercy, and compassion. I knew you could bear upon your shoulder this burden.”

“Then why, as the infant who you would one day name the Lady of Iron, the Primarch of the Sixteenth Legion, sat upon the shore of the burning lake through which she crawled dream of enlightenment, equality, prosperity, and a united galaxy before she had ever glimpsed the stars or heard another human voice? Why must the blunt instrument of the Imperium’s wrath be cursed with dreams of a brighter future she will never see? Surrounded by naught but war and death, the endless screams of the dying echoing forever in her mind? Why is she cursed with hope for love and peace to reign, for art and poetry and philosophy to replace tanks and guns and battleships? Why is she fighting for a future that seems ever more distant with every battle? As her daughters fall dead around her fighting for their dream shared with the Emperor of Mankind, fat kings and petty despots of countless worlds reign over their subjects as though livestock. Why has her father made her this way? Why have you made me this way?”

The Emperor remained silent, watching her pensively.

“Why must I dream of these things, father? I am your creation, wrought by your hand. It is by your design I was gifted the skills I hold. But why? In every moment of my life endless dreams for the future spring forth. Utopia. A perfect society where none must ever fear for their safety, where none ever go hungry, where all have a roof over their heads and a place within an enlightened society? I see wondrous cities in my mind’s eye, father. And then I am asked not to create, but to destroy them. To raze them to the ground and kill, maim, destroy, and desecrate. Why, father, I beg you. Please, tell me why!?”

Tears ran from her eyes as she poured her heart out to the Emperor, to her father. Her form trembled within its seat, her hands shaking with emotion as she held her head in them. She could not bear to look him in the eye now, could not bear witness to that white hot inferno. In its presence she would surely be swept aside, burned alive as she was now, exposed, vulnerable. “If it is my fate to be executed, Emperor - Father. If it is my fate to not see the golden age of the Imperium, if I am to die for the good of the Imperium, if I am incompatible with your future, if I am to burn in the flame of the Imperium’s conquests - please.” She looked up, finally, meeting his imperious burning gaze with her own distraught, bloodshot one. “Please do not force me to suffer any more. I am done. If the Imperium is to live without me, I accept it. I have failed, certainly.” She drew breath, letting out another choked sob. “I have failed you, I have failed the Imperium, and I have failed humanity. If I must be slain - do it now. Please. I have fought for centuries for you and for humanity, carrying the burden of this Empathy and the sight of the warp upon my shoulders for all time - and I am done, Emperor. If you truly do love us, as your children, grant me this dignity and spare me the torture of this burden I must bear, spare me the agony of fighting for a future I will never see. Please.”

“Every waking moment, every day, of every year, I hear them.” She whispered, after silence had elapsed. She could not look the Emperor in the eyes. Not now. “This beautiful, wonderful gift of yours has become a curse, father. Every moment I live, as I look upon you now, begging for mercy, I hear them. The ones I couldn’t save. It was my duty to protect them.” She choked back a sob, her eyes clenched shut. “And I failed them.”

“Yet the Imperium stands strong, my daughter.” Spoke the Emperor, looking upon her with the same haughty, imperious gaze that burned with the fury of a thousand sons. “Their sacrifice, though tragic, was necessary for the bright future our endeavor stands for. And yet, you speak of hearing them? What troubles you, my child?”

“As if my own, father, I felt their deaths, their suffering, every iota of pain, horror, grief, despair, anger, and betrayal they felt when they fell prey to the grip of the Rangdan. The same abilities you gifted me - this Empathy - have ensured I can know nothing but this nightmare every day. I know their names. Every single one. I still know the feeling of their flesh burning in the phosphex we laid to destroy the bio-constructs of those unspeakable horrors. The horror, the terrible horror, of Exterminatus. My flesh, devoured by the life-eater virus, wiped from existence in the light of cyclonic torpedo, seared from the bone in the heat of a Mortalis missile. It was my duty, my purpose, to protect them - and I failed.” 

She sat, silent, her eyes focused on some object far in the distance now, far from the Emperor, where those battlefields still raged within her mind. The deaths of how many millions of people around her. Entire planets consigned to oblivion by her hand when the enemy tide grew too strong. The sight of her own Daughters, corrupted and warped by the touch of the Rangdan, what remained of their minds begging her for death, for mercy, for their gene-mother to save them from this fate worse than any death. Empty, glassy eyes forced onward in war against their kin by the Rangdan monstrosities. Onward and onward they marched within her. 

“What troubles me, father, is that my life has become a living hell.”

The Emperor looked upon her with a curious mix of emotion visible upon his face. Sorrow. Sympathy. Compassion. And… Pride? 

“My daughter.” He said, looking upon her with those same burning eyes. “You have not failed.” He stood, looking upon her with that same curious expression. “It was never my intention you be saddled with such a burden. You were taken from me in your infancy and raised where I could not teach you how to control them. Upon Terra, you showed such mastery of so many things, and I was proud of you, my daughter. Had I known, I would have taught you.” He sighed, “But you have not failed.”

“How?” She asked, golden tears glistening upon her cheeks. “How many trillions have died under me? At my hand? On my word?” She stood in turn, “I, whose sole purpose is to serve humanity, have failed to protect them. Entire planets destroyed. Cultures burned to ash.”

“And in doing so, do you know how many you have saved?”

“What?”

“Do you know how many lives you have saved, my daughter?” 

“I… I do not know.” She whispered, eyes wide.

“If the reports from your own hand are to be believed, it is many, many more than have died under you. Each death is a tragedy, my daughter, a tragedy necessary for the future of our Imperium. When I spoke to you, when we met, I named you the Lady of Iron, for I saw within you the determination and resolve to do what needed to be done when others could not. I am sorry, my daughter, that you have suffered so - truly, it was not my intent.” He smiled at her, “But by making those choices, hard as they were, you saved many more lives that would have been lost under others. I know I made my choice well. You concern yourself not with honor or glory, the praise of your peers - only the wellbeing of humanity. In this, if nothing else, you have made me proud.”

Eiohsa said nothing, merely stared at the Emperor for a time, lost in his words. 

“You are the Lady of Iron. You do not break, but become something new, stronger, when fed through the fires of war. Some day, my daughter, you will build cities as you dream. The Imperium has need for minds of peace as well as minds of war.”

“That is all I have ever wanted, since the first moment I swore loyalty, father. To bring the beautiful things you have gifted to my mind into reality. To bring forth technology long forgotten, and see the worlds of the Imperium prosper anew with its fruit. To bring up every impoverished child in a loving home, to see them educated and fed and brought into a peaceful, enlightened Imperium. All of these things and more, father, is all I have ever wanted.” She said, tears once more welling in her eyes.

The Emperor watched her silently once more, his expression a serene facade of impartiality. At last, he spoke to her. “And you will, some day.”

Tears glistened on her cheeks as he stared at him. “Thank you, father.” She whispered.[hr]
[b][...End Log.][/b]
[b][...Terminating.][/b]
[b][Imperial Thought for the Day: Love thy Father, the Emperor, and be delivered.][/b]