Longes

Black Crusade: Fires In The Garden

Vael smiles.

"Sort of. You are fighting the Mechanicus, yes. We have another role to play. Here's the arrangement."

Vael's holo projector displays the map and parts of the battle plan the soldiers need to know.

Black Crusade: Fires In The Garden

Vael, for the moment, stood out the least among his peers. His white robes shimmered with color when the light hit them, and his face was covered by the Tarnor mimic-mask, welded back to shape but never repaired to its full glory. The silver weld marks criss-crossed the golden face like scars, rigid when the rest of the metal moved to display emotions.

"I'll take you at your word, Hagar. I've been told that it's a replica of the imperial palace on Terra. I've never been in person, of course, but I'm excited to see how the reality of their architecture matches what I know of it."

Vael's shadow detaches from him, flitting amongst the people and the surrounding flora, exploring the new environment with its warp-born senses.

"How was your journey, Geron? Cooked up anything exciting lately in that kitchenette of yours?"

Black Crusade: Fires In The Garden

Ah. Of course. He shouldn't have worked from Tacitca Imperialis.

"Softer than velvet, harder than steel,
The warp-spawned illusion will become real."

He reworks the battle plan. No, that's not the right name anymore. It's a ritual sacrifice, a spell wrought in blood and fire, not a battle plan.

"The left hand path is now my right,
The sensor’s shadow is the light.
The poison is the welcome meal,
The open gate lies in the seal.
Do I deceive you?
No!
I greet you..."

Forces arranged in sacred geometry, meant to die, and in death grant the blessing of deception to his team. Each sacrifice a pick tapping on the ward's lock.

Black Crusade: Fires In The Garden

"She's using xenos technology now? Well well, maybe I've been an influence of her after all." There's satisfaction in Vael's voice. Some wars were fought in hearts and minds. "How far we've come from dogmaticism. Eventually I'll make my point clear - the priests of the Master of Fates and the Master of Machines have more in common than we have differences."

But, later, eventually.

"Air forces do not stay in the air forever. They need refueling, and people need rest. That is a point of weakness. I'll lead an infiltration team in a stealth strike. And the other forces will need to provide a distraction, like this..."

Opening his mind to warp, Vael begins to draft a battle plan, informed in equal measure by precognition and knowledge of war and Tactica Imperialis.

Black Crusade: Fires In The Garden

"Ah, there were go. So we can work together after all! I knew you were good company, Formless. Then it shall be up to me to stage the performance."

Which, of course, began with intelligence. Vael sent an order to the auspex masters - a full scan of the Fabricator Complex. Going loud was undesirable here, if the enemy knows that the Archivator has been attacked then they might get suspicious. So ideally they'll need a big and loud distraction to draw the attention away. Hagar would likely be good at something like this.

Black Crusade: Fires In The Garden

"Yes. Of course. Astartes - famous for being just bureaucrats and nothing else."

The sarcasm isn't directed specifically at Reikler, and is more of a general thing. Nonetheless, Vael takes the offered tome and skims it, knowledge of countless bureaucratic protocols and structures rising up from the hidden vaults of his mind.

"Good organizational structure is it's own kind of magic, apprentice. Wars are won with logistics. I learned this lesson on Ythilon-2, when Kyria's machine spirits wrought havoc on the supply cogitators of my excavation teams."

Vael remembers that the daemon is probably still here.

"I suppose, Forosh, that this situation can end up benefitting everyone. If we play our cards right and get the scribes in line without obliterating them, then this can be made to look as if they valiantly fought Abaddon's host to the last, and solidify their appearance as loyalists. That'd be quite the prank, don't you think?"

Black Crusade: Fires In The Garden

The apprentice has learned the first lesson - safety, which was good. But the important second lesson was that once you are good enough, image was everything. The masses ought to tremble and feel awe at the sight of their overlord. You didn't become a proper magister until you were iconic. There was a reason he wore a mask and a white robe that shimmered like a rainbow when the light hit it just right.
Well, she had decades of apprenticeship to learn. Unless she dies first.

"Hold off on the seismic bombs for the time being. I'll consult with Geron and Hagar, but it seems subterfuge and diplomacy will be our first approach. We'll keep the seismic bombs as a plan B. What has the Warmaster's intelligence reported on the Seven Scribes?"

Black Crusade: Fires In The Garden

"Ah, so the Warmaster already has a plan. Never mind then, I like my head where it is. So what do you want from us?"

Vael leans back and waits for the answer.

Black Crusade: Fires In The Garden

"The Lord of the Thirteenth?"

Vael's knowledge of the Imperium's deeper secrets wasn't great, but this wasn't... His next words show genuine surprise.

"What, Guilliman? Fucking hell, are you joking?"

Again, in summary. The Ultramarines head honcho Guilliman sits on the God-Emperor's throne and wields his sword. Warmaster Abaddon wants to provoke him. Xuanji Tu is part of that provocation. And Foroch is muddling the waters by mixing together the events on Xuanji Tu, and the events in the imperium at large. Guilliman and hordes of the Ultramarines probably weren't literally on this planet. Probably. Obviously not.

"Alright, so Xuanji Tu is a microcosm rendition of the campaign as a whole then. I see. It'll be an interesting challenge. But like every story, every war ought to have a good beginning. Where would you recommend we begin? Sending waves upon waves of men to gnaw at the anti-air batteries feels passé."

Vael turns around and speaks to his shadow, making it perk up at attention.

"Go to the archivists - convey the order to find blueprints of the imperial palace on Terra."

Good luck with that pantomime. Wish he was there to see it.

"No copy is perfect, and Xuanji Tu is no Terra. They can not match the ground, so they must have made adjustments. And they are no Rogal Dorn.　If the planet is 'cutting itself', we could amplify that. Amp up the seismic activity with some deep bombs, see how they like it when the ground itself is trying to shake off their walls."

Black Crusade: Fires In The Garden

Vael silently ground his teeth. For the last ten minutes, his thoughts were preoccupied with the calculation of whether he could bind the yapping demon to get him to speak plainly or shut up. The results were tragically inconclusive, leaning towards 'no'.

In summary:
* The engineer corps Adeptus Vaubianis discovered the planet Xuanji Tu.
* Being imperial nutjobs, they turn the planet into a fortress, following Rogal Dorn's designs.
* Because they are so obsessed with Rogal Dorn's designs, they do not respect the planet, treating it as purely raw materials.
* There is a spiritual locus in the design that the engineers didn't understand the significance of, so they are using it as a storage room.
* The planet is now angry.

The sorcerer's shadow gratuitously yawns behind his back, feeling bold in the presence of its master.

"Then tell me, wise Forosh. What would you have us do? You, who hear the screams of the stone while the 'loyal' are deafened by their own hymns. You, whose vision extends into the abyssal depths of the Great Ocean where we merely paddle on the surface - what would you have us do? Ought we claim that empty seat and sing from it a sweet melody? There isn't a soul that can resist the temptations of Chaos. Even a stone can be turned."