[i]After Day 3 Council had concluded[/i] [i]Usriel’s Room[/i] The door to Usriel’s room vibrated slightly as Kaldun banged on it. “Brother! I have come to talk with you! I missed the rest of the council when I left to calm myself! I need you to tell me what happened in my absence!” The door slid open and Kaldun strode into the room with a vibrant grin. “It is good to see you again Usriel!” His arms went wide to hug his brother but he paused. “I almost forgot! You do not want to be embraced!” “Tell me! How are you doing!? I saw that the events of the Council affected you greatly! It was a trying time for all of us, but we made it through without a drop of blood being spilled before our father! That is a victory!” He sat in front of the blackened meeting table, beaming across at Usriel. “So I ask again brother! How are you holding up after today’s Council session?! I could feel father’s anger crackling through the air even after I had left! It must have been as passionate as the debate that I participated in!” Though, even as Kaldun came and exclaimed, the father of the nineteenth had not moved from his seat, only a slight turn of the head with the red glare of his helmet pointing back at Kaldun. There was a moment of silence before Usriel would respond, “Indeed. The Stargazers were being held accountable for their motions of disembodying Astartes with grievous injuries and putting them upon augmented chassis. After all, only in death does duty end.” Eyeing the Golden Conqueror for another moment, Usriel leaned back in his seat, bringing his hands into a steepled position as he cocked his head ever so slightly. While his voice did not show it, it was clear there was an air of skepticism as he continued to speak, “Yet, I feel as if that is not what you had come to talk about, Kaldun. After all, you seem to be more inclined to go to that shapeshifting witch far more than wanting to deal with myself. So I ask now, why have you come?” Kaldun shook his head with a laugh. “Come now! I love most of my family, but that does not mean I am blind to their faults! Eiohsa views the Stargazers actions emotionally and as great crimes against our sons and daughters! She would have only informed me of her view on it, which is not something I need!” “You however, I know will only tell the truth! You are many things Usriel, but you will not lie to me or spin any of the facts in your own favor!” He gave a dismissive gesture. “As for my other question, can I not ask my brother if he is doing alright after seeing him cry?! What kind of brother would I be if I simply ignored that?!” “My tears over my niece were the same as any other atrocity committed against my sons and their cousins. Though, I suppose I cannot argue against your kindness,” Usriel responded in his normal coldness, his gaze unwavering. A moment past as he adjusted his hands to grip his chair, speaking out as coldly as he could, “Now, since you have come to talk, let us talk. How do you feel about Daena’s promotion to warmaster?” Ignoring the increasing coldness of his brother, Kaldun responded with a beaming smile. “As you say! Just know I am always here for you Usriel! That is what family is for!” He turned his head to the side in confusion at the next question, but shrugged. “I think she is an excellent choice! Impartial, logical, fair and very dedicated to the cause! There are some who will call her a mutant, but given the existence of the Edict and the wide variety of our own siblings that our father has shown no issue with I think that she will be fine! A far better choice than me, at least! Someone who will care about the day to day operations and how well all of us are working together! I would just point in the vague direction of the galaxy and say ‘Conquer all of that’!” He laughed, pleased with himself. “Why do you ask, brother?!” “Mere curiosity,” Usriel said blankly as he began to condense the loud words of his sibling into the whys as to why Daena had been made into the warmaster. He turned his head to look towards the wall bearing the Cog of the Mechanicum. Another moment of silence before the colder of the brothers next spoke, “I suppose she is a fine choice, I hold her in high enough regard to say that she will prove capable for the time being.” “A fine compliment brother! She will prove capable indeed!” Kaldun laughed again, amused at the idea of one of their siblings, genetically designed by their father to be perfect and nigh unstoppable, being merely [i]capable[/i] at the art of war. “Speaking of war brother, are you joining us on the craftworld siege that Augor is preparing?! I hear that there is a great deal of tech and information on the planet that will benefit the Imperium and our efforts!” “Of course. Albeit, I am not attending out of the prerogative of implementing the foul xeno-tech, but I am attending to behind reaping vengeance for my sons. Augor had since restrained me from bringing the entirety of the Steel Sentinels to bear, but I will be taking my finest,” Usriel responded, his coldness breaking away momentarily as he seemed to relish the idea of purging the Aeldari there from existence. “Excellent brother! I look forward to purging the xenos that refuse to surrender with you! I have not spoken with Augor myself yet, but from what I understand our Imperial forces need more psykers to combat the psychic powers of the xenos themselves! Unless I am mistaken I’ll bring my own finest sons to battle their finest psykers in glorious combat! Which brings me to my next question!” Kaldun leaned forward onto Usriel’s desk, excitedly. The desk groaned under the added weight, almost inaudible beneath the primarch’s words. “You have connections to the Mechanicum, yes?!” Before Usriel could respond, Kaldun continued. “Of course you do! That means you could get robots with specific designs built, yes!? My sons and I need to increase the variety our Guardians! The factories we have managed to secure for our use have been satisfactory, but are not up to the standard of flexibility of the rest of our army! Could you help us in this endeavour, brother!?” “Perhaps…” Usriel mused for the moment, bringing his gaze back to the Golden Conqueror, pondering the thought of reallocating some of the production to aid another’s legion. “However, retooling manufactorums and production lines takes time, Kaldun. Not to mention, you have not spoken of the STCs regarding these ‘Guardians’ of yours. Upgrading those sacred instructions will take time and will need to be approved by myself, the Holy Synod of Mars, and the Synod of Vion 5.” “Aha! Fortunately you will not need to upgrade the sacred instructions of Baalros!” Kaldun declared, with more than a little amusement, setting a datapad down in front of Usriel. “My sons have identified STCs that will require minimal modifications! These models are perfectly designed to allow a psi-crystal into their matrix! That will allow them to be controlled even better than the Mechanicum’s own cybernetic warriors can!” Kaldun started pacing around the room, swept up in his idea. “We can test them out on the Craftworld invasion, the Eldar are strong warriors and they will provide ample testing grounds, and if they are a success we can look into improving other robots so that my sons and other Librarians could use them to the same effect as these designs!” “Think about it brother! Your own librarians would doubtlessly be even more skilled at controlling such designs than my own sons, and you could keep them more secure from being targeted by the various enemies of man!” Usriel had a moment of pause as he thought about the words of Kaldun, knowing full well of how useful such weapons could be against the Aeldari threat. The Nineteenth son watched Kaldun’s pacing, before his mind was nearly instantly concluded. He said in a more of an enthused tone, clear that he was smiling faintly behind his helm, “You need not to say another word to convince me, Kaldun. I shall have some lines of production altered so you may have these weapons. Of course, all modifications will need to be approved, but our standing as sons of the Omnissiah will sway the Synod of Mars.” “Excellent! Soon enough we will be able to crush our enemies with the might of the Astartes and the cunning of the Mechanicum!” Kaldun beamed back at his brother. “We will see the perfect testing grounds upon the craftworld as we bring the vile Eldar to heel! It will be a glorious sight as we crush them beneath the might of the Imperium!” “How soon do you want me to visit and pick up the designs!?” “I will send you a message as soon as we have the first working one made so that you may see and judge for yourself,” Usriel responded, bringing up a data-slate and typing into it for but a brief moment, “As soon as I return to Vion 5, I will have Fabricator-Technis Arx work upon this. Should I not be there, it is he who you will speak to.” “Excellent! I knew I could rely on you brother! Between our two forces we will crush the Xenos that oppose us!” Kaldun grinned again, practically shaking with excitement. “Which reminds me brother! What happened during the rest of the Council after Sarghaul’s crimes were revealed? I know there is something about Augor happening, but I had to leave lest my rage overtook me and made me do something regrettable!” Usriel paused for a moment only another Primarch could register, thinking to himself before speaking, “It was about the Stargazers as a whole, it seemed they took the critically injured Astartes that were no longer able to healed and took their brains to be put onto metal chassis, so that their duty does not yet end. They did so to other legions as well, such matters did not seem of much import for me to note otherwise, though the Witch was against Augor’s view.” “Ah! The Stargazers’ practice of keeping Astartes fighting! A sensible action that some of our siblings seem to have taken issue with! It is no different than dreadnoughts no? Regardless! Which ‘witch’ spoke out against Augor? That moniker could describe any of our sisters who are psychically inclined!” He laughed again, grinning at a memory. “I have been called such a title by rebel humans who had never seen psychic abilities before! So really, any sufficiently psychically powerful sibling of ours could get such a moniker! So! Which of our siblings is against Augor?” “Eiohsa and Nimue,” Usriel answered simply, before proceeding to elaborate, “Though I will admit my comment of ‘witch’ was based upon Eiohsa alone.” “Nimue and Eiohsa agreeing on something? That is the amazing part of this! Though I suppose Augor’s methods go both against the morals of Eiohsa and the aesthetics of Nimue! It is a strange thing to be caught upon, preserving the life of one of our children when each of them is a precious resource to be conserved at all cost! I imagine the three of them argued for some time, so we can skip over that! What was our father’s ultimate decree upon the matter after hearing the arguments for and against?” “The Emperor decreed that the Stargazer’s procedure shall be mandated and taught to the other legions,” Usriel stated, before bringing his arm up to a display that appeared on the table. The blue hum echoed across the darkened chamber, though the contents were clear enough, a frame of Eiohsa and Augor clad in their respective armors. The two were facing each other down, weapons drawn with the intent to kill each other. “Though, the warmaster decreed that Augor and Eiohsa settle their differences through a duel. That is something I figured that you’d enjoy much more than talk of proceeding and rulings,” Usriel revealed, leaning back in his chair and cocking his head towards Kaldun. Kaldun immediately stood up with such force that his chair flew backwards and crashed against the door behind him. “There was a duel?! And nobody told me?! When?! Where?! Who won!? How did it happen!? Don’t answer that! I can just watch it!” He paused, and then looked at Usriel. “Could you start it instead of showing me a screen?! Quickly, please! I want to see how Eiohsa’s distractions affected her fighting! And how Augor did against a psyker of such potent power, without the might of his full army behind him! Our brother is formidable, but a duelist he is not!” Usriel allowed a silence to pass before he brought up the recording, allowing the duel to play out just as how it had been recorded for the public to see. The standoff, the fight, the carnage, and Augor being declared the winner by the warmaster were those parts that were only useful for Usriel to even be given so much as a light grumble about. The Nineteenth was happy to see Augor having won the duel, more so to see that Eiohsa had gotten her dues for being the shapeshifting witch that he saw her as. However, Usriel could truly only care for Eiohsa, not her well being, but rather the fact that he viewed her injuries as not enough to satisfy his own roiling anger against her. Kaldun commented, mostly to himself, as he watched the duel. “I think each of them brought enough firepower to destroy a planet! Shame they aren’t like us, and use only simple weapons and powers eh brother?” “Yes! Yes! You’re a stronger Psychic, use that to your advantage!” “A ranged fight? Hopefully not the entire battle!” “I spoke too soon! Go, go get him!” “Aha! That is a big gun! Nothing like a spear of course, but explosions are always exciting! “Hit him directly! Stab him with the spear!” “Golden shields! Works every time!” “How many guns does he have, anyway?” “Throw his weird metal tentacles away, haha!” “Rip him to shreds! To shreds!” “Hmm, she’s distracted! He’ll take advanta-Yeah, there he goes!” “Scrambler grenades? A bold strategy!” “Oh, boo! How can we watch if they’re in the middle of magma?” “Why are you helping him? He’s clearly not done! This will just-there it is!” Kaldun looked over at Usriel, a grin across his face. “An excellent duel, brother! I feel that having it so soon after Eiohsa’s battle and claims against Sarghaul was a mistake, as she was clearly distracted! But, it is what it is! Hopefully this will put Augor’s petty oath to rest! He’s always been unnecessarily sensitive! Was that the last thing I missed? Or was there another exciting development from the argument?” “No,” Usriel said simply, commenting in a grim tone, “Though in my opinion, Augor should have finished the duel properly.” “He was already being pulled from a molten death by Eiohsa! Even with her distraction he only won due to her lack of thought!” He looked his head at Usriel, smile fading. “Unless you mean killing her! That would be a foolish decision! In addition to killing family in cold blood being the gravest sin you could commit, his life and his legion’s life would be forfeit! A duel is not a battle to the death, and killing your opponent is murder! And, as I’m sure you’re aware brother, murdering one of our father’s children is treason! The punishment for treason is death!” His voice was sharp and disapproving. “That witch is nothing more than a security risk, even less a sibling. Her worlds are already proof enough that she cannot be trusted, but her ability to change bodies at will is something I cannot abide. No secret is safe so long as she exists,” Usriel hissed at Kaldun, standing from his seat with such intensity as to almost knock it back, his hands laying upon the smooth surface of the table. The Nineteenth Primarch, spoke in a voice wrought with anger and paranoia, “She is a treacherous wretch, Kaldun. She is unfit for leadership if she is to allow her daughters to be taken by some rogue Astartes! I will never call her sister, nor you or any of the others brother or sister! My family has been long dead and none of you are ever going to replace them!” “Do not think you are the only one who has lost his first family!” Kaldun snarled back, leaning in to face Usriel, his fingers digging into the desk. “We have all lost those who raised us, some of us were not even lucky enough to have them! Do not think you are not the only who has known the shock and grief of finding out they are gone, and you are certainly not the only one to mourn such a loss! We’re all you have left! We’re the only ones in the entire galaxy who can even begin to understand what you’re going through [i]Brother![/i] We’re your family!” Kaldun shoved off of the desk and began pacing back and forth through the room, waving his hands as he ranted. As the door opened, Kaldun threw up a hand and blocked it off with a barrier of golden energy, preventing the Sentinels from interfering. He continued, growing louder and angrier with each word and every step. “Your paranoia is getting the best of you! You see a dagger in every shadow, a lie upon everyone’s lips! Eiohsa does not do the things she did during the Rangdan if she was a traitor! Billions of potentially useful humans and thousands of her daughters, annihilated! We’re Primarchs! We’re all security risks! Sarghaul flouts our father’s commands and experiments upon humans, which even you can’t pretend is the work of rogue sons of his! [i]He[/i] created the Infestus, and [i]he[/i] taught his sons how to make more! Why do you think the Imperial Army fears working with them?! Death is preferable to what they do to you if you are wounded! I possess a temper so strong that I could destroy entire armies if provoked enough! Nimue is so arrogant and ambitious that she openly sides with Sarghaul out of sheer spite of Eiohsa, accusing her baselessly and plotting her death! To say nothing of her ability to influence others!” “Augor is so blinded by religion, something banned by our father I might add, and so fragile that he is willing to swear a [i]treasonous[/i] oath of murder and vengeance upon loyal citizens and astartes of the Imperium! Who knows what spying technology he has placed to ensure that his cult is protected and he is never caught unaware! Wode cares so much for his men that he might choose them over the Imperium! Nelchitl is as easily filled with rage as I am! Sekhmetara only speaks in honeyed words that hide her true intentions! Daena is capable of pronouncing dooms that [i]force[/i] people to obey her word! Kaelianos has his own personal empire and endless drive! Micholi is a master of subterfuge and diplomacy with the Xenos! He doesn’t see them as slaves, he sees them as equals!” “You are a master of fortification, loyal to the Omnissiah, and filled with paranoia! We are all security threats! By the very nature of being Primarchs, we are a threat! The only thing keeping us in check is loyalty to our father, and our combined vision of a united galaxy! And your complaint against Eiohsa is that she possesses abilities that several of us also possess? She can shapeshift! So what?! Nimue can manipulate the minds of all of those around her! I can destroy almost anything in front of me! That all means [i]nothing[/i]! You speak of rogue astartes? What about yours? Your rogue sons started a war that was only averted by the Inheritors coming and making things worse!” “Trea-!” Kaldun began to continue to rant but was cut off by Usriel’s fist coming into contact with the Golden Conqueror, snapping his head back. A staggering blow that had come from a Primarch that normally allowed words of others to go through him. “None of my sons are rogues, you wretch!” bellowed Usriel in an anger that bordered hatred, the nineteenth Primarch now showing the full extent of his care of his sons. He brought back another fist, moving to continue his assault, exclaiming, “You know nothing of [b]MY[/b] sons!” Kaldun grinned at Usriel, blood trickling down his jaw, as he stepped back and deflected the follow up punch. He blocked the next one, mocking Usriel. “Ah! You punch harder than the witch! Maybe add that to your paranoia! ‘Eiohsa is fortunately not physically stronger than me!’” He with his own flurry of punches speaking as he stepped forward. “Forgive me, [i]brother[/i] but sons who ignore orders and do what they will sounds an awful lot like rogue astartes! Do not worry though! You have no rogue sons because the Daughters of Iron killed them as soon as they acted against orders! Convenient, no?!” “They did not ignore orders! The Daughters’ idealism got in the way of protocol, you oaf!” Usriel bellowed, stepping away from Kaldun’s flurry, seeing the strikes coming before Kaldun had finished with the last. One impacted into the armor of his shoulder before Usriel rammed his side into Kaldun to push him towards the wall. He cried out, “They killed MY sons for following protocol! My sons! They are nothing but idealist wretches waiting for their mother to lead them to slaughter again!” “We all saw the report! Your sons were ordered to stand down, and then they fired upon the Daughters!” Kaldun stepped to the side, avoiding most of Usriel’s shoulder charge. Usriel was not the only one with prescience. “When the Daughters retaliated in self defense, your sons were killed!” Kaldun grabbed the desk and threw it at Usriel, immediately following behind it with a charge. Without a word, Usriel let loose a cry of anger, sending a blow through the desk and carrying it through to Kaldun in his charge. Kaldun deflected it with his arm and crashed into Usriel. The force of Kaldun’s charge took the two of them through the wall, breaking through with a thunderous sound. The two Primarchs fell to the ground, still struggling. It was then that the Astartes of the Nineteenth managed to breach into the room, having to resort to using plasma cutters to drill through the wall. The sons of Usriel came in, following the devastation and raising plasma rifles at Kaldun before a loud voice, shrouded in authority and anger at the fighting Primarchs came over the two, “Father, Uncle! Stop this madness!” Kaldun paused and looked up, fist raised to strike at Usriel, a quizzical look on his face. “What? We are simply settling differences of opinion! There is no madness here!” The sons of Usriel looked unswayed and Kaldun gave a small shrug as he pulled himself to his feet. "Very well! I will meet you on the Craftworld brother! Together our legions will crush the Eldar!" With that and a cheery wave, met with smoldering silence from Usriel, Kaldun headed back towards his own quarters. The plasma rifles followed his every step until he was out of sight.