Author Notes:
Yeah, this chapter is something else lol
There are advanced chapters on Patreo-n for both of my fics, with a couple of special bonuses if you read the fine print :D
https://www.p-atreon.com/Heartbreak117
https://ko-fi.com/heartbreak117/goal?g=0
Income goal 688/700 USD (Mayday! We're going down, help~!!!)
For my fics:
https://www.scribblehub.com/series/55793/reich-marshal-of-the-belkan-reich/
https://www.webnovel.com/book/reich-marshal-of-the-belkan-reich_23809095505377305
https://photos.app.goo.gl/waZgkRa3UQhqKQBi9
https://www.scribblehub.com/series/1375924/in-the-grimdark-sector-with-a-system/
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After our initial battle with the Clankers, there are a few more skirmishes between members of the JTF and the Cylon remnants. There are a few casualties among the Cadian 8th who are part of the second Boarding Party and the command post that also acts as our entry and fallback point. Nothing fatal nor serious from the reports we receive, just some minor injuries due to stray and lucky shots by the Clankers. Ultimately, the Boarding Parties manage to comb a large swath of the Pegasus, identifying and seizing control of the Battlestar's bridge and engineering bay. Right now, we are waiting for the second team to get the voidship's power back online to bring life back to the Pegasus' bridge. Standing guard in the brain of the Pegasus, I watch on as the Tech-priests start crafting connection ports to the vessel's cogitators.
"So, what do you think?" I turn to the speaker, seeing that Mama has approached me for a chat.
Behind her, I see that she has tasked Tsavorae and Sergeant Johnson to set up a patrol outside the bridge area. Weiss is a part of their group, alongside a couple of Salamander Space Marines.
Smiling at Mama, I reply. "You may have to be more specific than that, Mama."
Mama hums with an amused smirk, side-stepping me to appraise Black Steel, my carapace shield. "The Pegasus, and what it brings in its hold."
"Ah, that." I answer sincerely. "This is a... Opportunity. Despite the initial hiccups on our way here, the Pegasus does present a potential technological goldmine. While the marvels of the Pegasus may not be that of a revered Standard Template Construct, they can still prove to be very beneficial for the development of the Imperium, Mama. Granted, the knowledge buried in this vessel must be pure and not tampered with."
I stop, mulling my words for a bit.
"Seeing as the crew of the Pegasus seems to be all humans as well, this voidship could have belonged to a lost colony of the Imperium. That alone has given us the just cause to investigate and seize anything of note. For the Mechanicus, there's an allure in investigating the 'what-could-have-been' for human technology. As long as the equipment of this voidship does not infringe on the taboo, it's highly likely that they can be recycled into useable technologies for the Imperium at large."
Mama smiles thoughtfully. "What of the fanatics in the Mechanicus then? Do you think they will snuff out the prizes seized in this vessel?"
I shake my head, knowing full well how impossible that will be.
"Normally, the fanatics may get away with stymying any technology that is not STC-derived. But Mama, the Joint Task Force is sanctioned by Archmagos Dominus Cawl himself, and he is a progressive individual, according to what I've learned about him through the Tech-priests. Surely the Archmagos will not let this opportunity be ruined by someone else. Even the Traitors will have to think twice, now that even the Archmagos' flagship is in orbit of Cadia."
"That is indeed true." Mama nods, giving my shield a light tap. "The Archmagos indeed make it clear that no one is allowed to wreck this precious opportunity, in his opinion. Cawl's initial research on how the voidship crashed without triggering much of the augur arrays suggested that a new type of FTL travel is afoot. Much like the miniaturized device, we found back on the so-called Raptors."
Mama then leans over my shield, whispering into my ear. "The Archmagos Dominus let it slip to a selected few that this FTL drive may not even use the Warp as a medium to travel at all..."
I gulp, more because Mama is sticking so close to me rather than the severity of the news. "The implication of this is... Immense. I daresay, this wreckage now outweighs Cadia itself. And it does explain why the Traitors deployed in force, but not how they're able to know of this intelligent."
Mama giggles as she understands that I am feeling conscious about her presence. Pulling away slightly, she says. "I can't be more proud of you, Ein. Not only do you have such fine martial prowess, but you also have the mental faculty and the heart to go with it. The time we stood apart has been a fine tonic for your growth. I am just saddened that I couldn't be there personally, watching you mature day by day."
Feeling my heart going mushy at Mama's sincerity, I move to offer her a one-handed hug. I am a tad annoyed that my height barely reaches Mama's breastplate, however.
"You're here now, Mama. In fact, everyone is here, Tsavorae, our Sisters, and that's what matters most. There will be time for us to catch up on lost tales, especially now that the JTF may as well be a long-term assignment due to how critical our current mission is."
Smiling, Mama returns the hug. She seems a bit saddened that she can't pat my hair now that my helmet is in the way. Still, it doesn't stop her from saying.
"I will not squander this chance, Ein. The Emperor has surely blessed me to be here for you." There's a certain conviction in Mama's words that is oddly intriguing and comforting at the same time. "But back to the topic at hand... Yes, we don't know how the Traitors could have deployed here even before we did. The size of their detachment suggested that they must have known the true worth of the Pegasus, but how? We didn't know what the voidship truly was until the Archmagos Dominus Cawl analyzed the fragmented intel we pulled from the intact voidcraft."
I adopt a frown, pulling away from the hug in time to see flickering light as power is returned to the bridge after years of being defunct. "As much as I hate to suggest this, Mama, but I think there's a higher power at play. Cadia is not immune to the manipulation of those beyond the Eye of Terror."
Mama mirrors my expression before sighing. "That is indeed a grave possibility. Alas, in the face of such a grim prospect, the best we can do is request more firepower. Cawl must have known of this, or at least calculated himself to this potential outcome. It's why the Ark Mechanicus above Cadia is now working at full output."
I nod, not hiding my relief that there's a planet-sized factory producing war material 24/7 now. Cadia stands to win the more resources are invested into it. After all, the planet is destined to face the ultimate peril in the future. "Firepower is the answer to everything, huh? If it's not the answer, then we simply aren't using enough of it."
Mama chuckles at my comment. "An astute observation, my dear. With enough firepower, one surely can beat the Ruinous Ones back to the holes that they came from. As much as I hate how Ork society works, I do admire how it can use the simplest of methods to bludgeon the most complex of problems to its knees."
I can't help but laugh slightly at that. Mama is not wrong about the Orks, that's for sure. We then continue to have our little mother-and-daughter bonding moment while watching how the Tech-priests interface with the rundown cogitators of the Pegasus.
Oh my, this surely feels freaky. The gaze of these Tech-priests of yours is even worse than that of tech maniacs. It's as if these people are more comfortable with seeing the world in binary form.
While looking at how the Tech-priests work to parse through archaic cogitators, Mama and I hear some off-hand comments, praising the elegant simplicity of the Pegasus' Operating System. Yet, there are also voices of confusion and befuddlement at the complete lack of a machine spirit to keep such a large vessel running. Unfortunately, there are big parts of the data stored in the Pegasus that are lost due to the corrosion of Time. Those still acquirable are packaged into a heavily encrypted file before being transmitted to Belisarius Cawl himself for analysis.
Sorry, I can't exactly stop the data corruption. It's been years since my hull was shut down by the Cylons.
Due to the potential Traitorous hazards surrounding Battlestar Pegasus, it's decided that the crash site will be even more fortified than it already is, with the Iron Revenant literally positioned in a geosynchronous orbit above the site. Will this attract unwanted attention, absolutely. Will they dare to do anything? Most probably not, considering an Ark Mechanicus is stupidly powerful, and that's not mentioning the plethora of voidships around it. Will some stupid people dare to wander into the crash site? Rather than answering 'yes' or 'no', it's better to say 'when'. Still, the more you fuck around, the more you find out.
Research about the Pegasus will be conducted on-site, with may or may not involve vivisection of the entire voidship. The Tech-priests will no doubt want to get their oily hands on the Blink Drive and pray before it to see how it works. For the foreseeable future, I, alongside the rest of the people who are already on the crash site, will be stationed here to protect the researchers. Basically, the entire JTF will be deployed here, with or without the Planetary Governor's permission. In our chat, Mama says something about Cawl siccing the Inquisition on the man for dereliction of duty. To that, I can only deadpan at how absurd that information is.
Ok... And here I thought that tech maniacs are bad enough. Yet, these robed people? Why the Hell are they pulling out incense and bynaric hymn? Better yet, do they always have them on hand and where are they hiding them?
An Inquisitor that is actually friendly and is willing to cooperate? Is this even 40K? But then again, it's not that far-fetched that Cawl is on good terms with the Inquisitions. Being a powerful and influential Archmagos Dominus, Cawl must have befriended the Inquisition out of sheer necessity. More than that, the narrative that the Inquisition is a bunch of Space Nazis may as well be just a partial truth. The 40K universe is so vast that surely everything is not all grimdark, despite what the media in my past life had fed me with.
I do know for sure that many, many worlds in the Imperium have never experienced any darkness that this universe has to offer for thousands of years. However, the Imperial propaganda has so adeptly painted the picture there's war and death everywhere, painting a fearful future for the common Imperium citizens. This fear then drives them to contribute to the state, for good or for worse. It's only when one digs deep that one realizes the truth behind the propaganda, which I did after perusing the Cadian Archive for worldly information.
But I digress.
Extracting the data out of the Pegasus' terminals proves to be an uneventful endeavor. Yet, when the Tech-priests are done with the task, my System gives me a surprising notification.
[Bonus Mission accomplished:
Helped vanquish a Traitorous Warband.
Successfully impressed parties of interest in your martial prowess and mental acumen.
Successfully secured the derelict Battlestar Pegasus.
Successfully influenced the decision to kickstart the reverse-engineering of useful Colonial technologies.]
[Granting rewards:
Ten Cosmic Cookies.]
[Disclaimer:
Cosmic Cookies act as a form of currency to trade for random rewards.
Each Cosmic Cookie can trade for ten random rewards.
Barred some special events and circumstances, Cosmic Cookies are unobtainium.
To use Cosmic Cookies, the user must gift them to a Shoggoth as tribute.
The only Shoggoth known to the user is Nicolae the Shoggoth.]
[Belkan Imperialis' Chatroom unlocked!
User can use the System's Chatroom to send messages and gifts to anyone designated by the user.
The participants of the Chatroom are beholden to the Laws and Protections implemented by the Void.
In the event that the Laws and Protections are violated, the Void will deploy Enforcers.
Messages and gifts can be sent anonymously.
The System Admin will unlock more Chatroom functions for the user as time goes on.]
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So I basically get a bootlegged Discord app in my head? Also, a freaking Gacha hosted by a Shoggoth!?
That can only end so well!