Secrets and Lies
Over The Horizon
You don't reappear on the moon with the others, you can tell immediately there has been some kind of warp disturbance. It takes you a bit longer to realize that you are now wearing power armor, so perfectly fitted it is to your body and in tune with your movements.
You find yourself in some kind of terrible chaos ritual chamber inside what appears to be a voidship. Runes scrawled in blood and viscera cover the walls. You are alone, and the only light is cast by a circle of candles and a large pict-screen window which shows the planet below, a bright blue orb. You can feel the warp energies permeating the room.
There is but a single door admitting exit to the room, at the opposite end. The disorientation was passing through, but the feelings soon come back to her, the scent of the bloody air, the feeling of being in a suit of power armor that was tremendously comfortable, and the fact that she was on some strange ship. Aeysha looks at the armor to find a lot of weird engraving, that what ever it was, extremely intricately made. "What the hell... where am I? And can I keep this?" She asks looking over to look at the pic-screen to see if there's any other information there before moving on to look into the ship itself to find someone that can tell her why she is here, not to mention getting away from the horrible psychic stains from the room she just came from.
Aeysha walks out of the strange room she appeared in, and finds herself on what might well be the bridge of the Aetherius Aeternus, so immediately familiar it is to her. There are many subtle differences, most of them quite agreeable to you, but largely the bridge seems almost an exact replica of that of the Aeternus.
All of the various warrant officers and ratings on the bridge stand as you enter.
"Lady-Captain!" says one man, a fairly important one judging by his uniform "Auguries report there are no more life signs on the planet. A most impressive display, to be sure. You wiped the world clean of life with a single act of will. Who will dare stand against you now?"
Aeysha is rather stunned at everything coming so quickly to her, the fact that the ship looked like the Aetherius Aeternus bridge but was just... wrong in a few ways she couldn't describe, the fact that she was the Lady-Captain which was surprising, but something that she wanted for a long time, her own ship to command. The big thing was that she has killed all life on the moon that was thoroughly shocking, but of course this was likely just as bad as what Captain Alexis has done several time killing every man, woman, and child on the ships they came across, but that it was [B]her[/B] that did it, which was frightening to the extreme. Turning to the officer she says, "Good...How are our non-perishable supplies? If not, you might want to take some lighters and salvage what ever is of value down there, I doubt they are going to need them." She takes a few steps towards the first officer and says with as much intimidation she can muster into her voice. "You, brief me about what has happened while I was in my my ritual chamber while we go to my quarters." She says gesturing for him to lead her to her quarters praying that who ever she was in this universe left a diary or log book to get her up to speed. This is all so horribly confusing and she doesn't want to loose her head in one way or another.
"At once Lady-Captain!"
The warrant officer walks with you to your quarters. You're able to follow him without making it obvious you're following.
"Everything went exactly as you said it would, Lady-Captain. Several hours after you entered your ritual chamber our augury array stopped detecting any life signs on Gaul, as though they had been sniffed out as one, just as you told us they would. It was, if I may be so bold as to say so, quite the demonstration. When word of this gets around it's highly unlikely we'll see much resistance from the other worlds in your father's Dominion. Glory to the Corrupter."
The man leads you through the familiar route to the Aetherius Aeternus's Luxury Passenger Quarters, with the immediately evident exception that instead of a statue of the God Emperor, there is a massive gold and adamantium statue of you in your power armor. Except you look much better, you're healthier and more vital... and you have eyes that are sharp and focused. It's a fantastically detailed statue.
Seeing the statue of herself, things started to click into place at what happened here, she took control of the captain's ship and feel to Chaos, and the mentions of her father, the Corrupter, wasn't that the name of the vile sorcerer lord that held Port Rixis? But she already had a father back home where... Suddenly things started to come back to her, about how distant he was mostly distant to her, never remembering what her birthday was, and other strange inconsistansies through out her childhood that hit her like a ton of bricks. She keeps her composure, despite seeing her eventual damnation, especially since it turned out so well for her, though not too well for those people living down on that world she just killed. Shaking her head, while putting a palm over her face. "Good. Go back to your station until I have need of you again." She says waving her free hand before moving on to her private room, only to find much more elaborate shows of her victory, with tapestries and portraits of herself either slaying Space Marines or with some one else in Traitor armor, what wast likely her father and the archenemy of the Vinatus dynasty. Things suddently hit her as tears tried to well up in her eyes, if they weren't already cauterized long ago, she locks the door and collapses on the ground for a minute simply processing this in, letting out a long sigh, she eventually says, "Well... nothing to be done until I figure out what's going on.." She then starts searching through every drawer, chest, or bookshelf for something that her later incarnation would leave for her, or at the least a journal to figure out how things got this bad and how to properly act about these chaos degenerates.
Determining where she would keep her own journal proves to be simple, all of the hiding places that seemed obvious to your future incarnation are equally obvious to you. Hidden in a shelf of other books and with a false cover is the handwritten personal captain's log of Lady Aeysha Kaerathi, the Betrayer.
The log begins with Aeysha Kaerathi's assumption of Lady-Captaincy of the [I]Aetherius Aeternus[/I], now known as the [I]Persecutus Aeternus[/I]. Your future self explains how she came about assuming command of the voidship in some detail. Initially when she learned of her heritage, and was offered a place by her father's side she reject it. Apparently he had created "some flimsy excuse" to have dealings with Alexis, which was all so he could have a chance to speak with her. He spelled out exactly what he could give her, and she rejected his offer flatly out of loyalty to the House Viaticus. However, word got to Alexis about her heritage and the offer and, fearing Chaos taint, he ordered Aeysha killed. Thanks to the warnings of a sorcerous spy her father planted on the ship, she was warned of the assassination attempt and was able to escape. With the help of the sorcerer she summoned up a small army of demons, and led a chaos mutiny against the crew. She personally executed Alexis by electrocution. She offered Boris the opportunity to join her but he refused to break his vows and asked that she kill him, so she did. Only Darrius managed to escape, he fled in a lander and managed to make it back to Exaviar's World, where he took the Good Omens to the Koronus Expanse and hasn't been back since. Once she had command of the vessel she took it to meet with her father's fleet. He welcomed her with open arms and sent many skilled voidsmen loyal to himself to help her recrew the ship. Since then she has been helping him expand his empire through conquest. Thanks in no small part to the role of the [I]Persecutus Aethernus[/I] the chaos fleet was able to virtually destroy Battlefleet Vesper. After this victory many more chaos reavers and others among the lost and the damned rallied to her father's banner, and he know controls three full sectors of former imperial space. Meanwhile Aeysha Kaerathi grows more and more jealous of her father's power. The grip of chaos becomes more and more evident in her writing, even her handwriting becomes more twisted and sloppy. She becomes paranoid and begins to plot against her father. Most of the rest of the log is a serious of demented plans from a madwoman who has lost her grip on sanity. The last involves sacrificing the souls of an entire hive world to the Warp in order to pluck a former version of herself out of the warp at the exact moment she used a teleportium in the past, and take her place thus allowing her to travel to the past. Once there she would manipulate the Viaticus Dynasty and her father's men into a conflict before either side is ready, thereby weakening both enough for her to enslave them.
There are no more entries after that.
Reading the journal revealed a thoroughly unpleasant future ahead of her, and she doesn't know which upsets her more, being related to a grand Chaos Lord to defect to his side, or the mental degeneration she was obviously suffering through due to the madness of this way of life. Reading the whole back history was simply heartbreaking, but unfortunately she couldn't find anything out of character with Alexis, and lead her not too much hope for herself if she ever goes back to her own time that really causes her to wonder her place in the universe. She can figures out what to do while in this strange new world, of course this is little bit of a mental break down, getting all of that emotion out now before heading out to play the part of the Chaos Warlord. Though more importantly, she actually wants to see about the alterations she had for herself, while the armor was comfortable, it was a little cumbersome, not to mention a bit big, more akin to proper Astartes armor, and how that could be possible? Only men could become Marines but if her future self managed to find a way to get about that impossibility, it would prove to be extremely profitable, and the idea of leading her own Chapter of Amazons is a very enticing proposition. She's going to have to figure out how to do this, and see if she could undergo the procedure without anybody being the wiser? Seems like she is going to have to learn a bit more about the Genetor's art.
After a slight rest and trying to get caught up on her history and rituals, she eventually strides up to the bridge once again to sit upon the throne, honestly liking the feel of the seat on her. "Status reports of all stations on the ship, as well as my army and salvaging operation? I don't want to leave here with your cod pieces flying in the wind, or else I might introduce the project leads to sample the winds outside?"
"All systems nominal, troops at the ready and supplies are at capacity. The ship is in perfect working order. We await your orders, Lady-Captain."
Tapping a heavily armored gaunthlet on the throne's arm rest, Aeysha eventually says, "I am feeling particularly creative this day. Plot a course to the nearest feudal, feral, or appropriately run down hive world and call up my personal Genetor," After seeing half of the things her later version did to the people of the sector, warping them in some strange way that would be asthetically pleasing to her if not to others. She knew there must be a rather extensive genetic engineering medicare facility aboard this ship, with Emperor knows how many hereteks crawling within it. "I wish to see him in my private waiting room..." She comments getting up and going to the ritual room that she arrived in, taking a few minutes to clean up the runic symbols and circles that her other self used to such great effect while only keeeping the candle's illumination to light it. She remains in there, steeling herself from the horrible psychic energy that lingered in here, trying to think calming thoughts and what this oportunity might give her.
Once her mad magos was in the room, she shuts the door behind him, while standing in the darkness, "Ah good you could make it... A bit late but I am certain there are ways you can make it up to me. Tell me, how hard was it to alter my physiology to be on par of my father and the rest of his Leginary Bretheren? I have a certain... artistic display if you will, if we could see how well a primitive society might react to a sort of physical empowerment of specific individuals before being let loose, to run merry havoc against their brothers and sisters. If you could contemplate a way to perform the conversion surgery in a delayed but automatic fashion, either through some expanding gland that automatically gives the needed upgrades or a one-shot designer virus. Tell me, how impossible is my little request my dear doctor?" Aeysha says giving as wide and malicious smile she can to the gentleman.
"In all humility, m'Lady-Captain, it was not my formidable skills that proved the deciding factor in that procedure. Why, I was virtually an assistant! The man whose talents you owe your abilities to is Magos Phayzarus. Your father arranged for him to perform the procedure, as well as providing the gene-seed we modified. I only assisted in a single procedure and it would be a miracle of genius for someone to repeat such a feat after so little training. Luckily for you, I am just such a miraculous genius. If you can get me an Astartes gene-seed, I am confident I could repeat the procedure. By Tzeentch, get me a single dead Space Marine and I'll tear it right out of him myself. Without that, however, such a procedure would require reverse-engineering biotech from the Dark Age of Technology. That might be feasible if you had an entire team of me, but alas I am unique in the universe."
Nodding to her savant, Aeysha says, "Very well, we will get your body and if you need any other equipment you require to complete your process in a timely manner. Give me a list of what you require and prepare your bays for the dead, for I shall bring them to you one way or another..." she says dismissing him with a wave of her hand. It was going to weigh on her that she was going to condem some of the Emperor's Chosen warriors to death, but she just reminds herself that this was a possible future, if she could get this operation performed on her and some how manage to duplicate it before being sent back to her own time, she could avoid this sad fate for her and the sector itself. That would make it all worth it, aside from the advantages granted by becoming a super human killing machine.
Coming out of her private ritual chamber she strikes up the first lacky, "Contact the Astropaths and tell them to start divining for the nearest foolish Loyalist Space Marines crusading into our domain. They wouldn't just leave a whole sector of their greatest rivals without sending in a mini crusade, or at least a few Kill Teams to try and earn some glory in a futile action against us. Find us their ship, and let's go hunting a truly challening prey..." She comments, trying to remember how those Chaos warlords in those pashion plays always acted before unleashing their mutant horde acted like.
OOC: Wow it took almost nothing to get you hunting Space Marines for their guts. Aeysha really was destined to fall to Chaos all along.
"Aye, Lady Captain, beginning deep augury immediately," says the master of etherics.
You feel the familiar sensation of being spoken to telepathically, but by a completely unfamiliar mind with a strange mental voice.
<Lady Captain, there is an Astropathic message for you coming in. I could relay it directly to you, or you could receive it yourself if you prefer. It is from your father.>
OOC: For the greater good, and all that, not to mention the chance that this might change things for the better if she can get back to her own time.
She recieves the telepathic message and simply takes it in stride, makes sense that she should only play loose with how these things go with their shared history. She responds, <Yes, please send it through...> She comments, steeling herself for what is coming next.
The message itself was short and to the point, but the thing was she could feel a bit of emotion within her father's words, which did something to touch her in some way that Aeysha was aching for since she was young, a strong and approving father, let alone nobility in a way. She always felt she was special and this hit home exactly what she wanted, she was a princess of her own sector of space to do with what she wishes, even though it is rife with Chaos Heretics and murderous scum, it was hers. No, she must resist those thoughts, she was in the service to the Imperial fleet, she fought against the damned for years and came away scared at the horror they inflicted upon her.
Was it any worse than the scars the Imperium imparted on her? Taking her eyes, her family, her noblity, her pride, dooming her to be nothing more than a walking vox for some third rate Rogue Trader? The Imperium has taken enough from her, it is time that she starts taking back!
She tried to keep those thoughts from entering her head but they came anway, and unfortunatley they made a lot of sense, the worst was she couldn't tell if it was from the chaos energies about her or her own subconcious. To be honest, the later horrified Aeysha more than the former. Regardless, she is here, and she should make the best of it while steeling herself for her trip back to her own time. If she didn't want to be ritually sacrified or at the mercy of a horde of daemons she will have to play along.
Closing her eyes Aeysha reaches across space with her mind back to the astropath that sent the original message. <Of course Father of Mine, I would not miss the chance to be by your side to crush out any of those that still belive in the Corpse God on Terra. I simply wish that they had some of those fool Chapter Marine with them to give a moderate challenge. Regardless, I shall marshall all forces I can to crush that coward and spend some quality father daughter time in the slaughter. Your Light Through the Empyrean, Aeysha Kaerathi.>
Once she has sent the message through the Warp, Aeysha turns to her lackey, "That was a rather plesant call. Notify all of my forces that are ready to travel to head to Rixis to rendevous with Sorcerer Lord Kaerathi. We will be traveling as well as soon as I get a reading for those Marine forces in our domain. I do hope it is soon, I do not wish to keep my Father waiting..." Though she was mostly acting, it was getting much easier to say that without bile welling up in her throat. Like she always knew, but was not finally coming out. Aeysha didn't know if she was changing to be this dispicable person, or if she was one all along?
"M'Lady-Captain, Etherics is not reporting any Astartes vessels within range of our augury array. With your permission, I will have the master of etherics tortured to ensure that his information is accurate. If his claims survive a few hours with the good doctor we'll know they're trustworthy."
Letting out a long sigh at the lack of scans, "It was a long shot anyway. We shall make a warp jump immediately, and see about the enemy's make up, then I'll see if I figured an appropriate way to ensure that he is approprately motivated to find what I desire." Sitting back in her command throne she says, "Let us be off," She says with a wave of her hand in the vague direction of Rixis.
The old ship moans and shrieks as it makes the transition into the realms of the Warp. The trip will likely be a short one, as Warp voyages go, but you will have a great deal of time to yourself. How are you going to spend it?
Once they are in the warp, Aeysha sighs and heads back to her cabin for something to eat and doing a little more research about her father's actions since she was with the with the good captain Viaticus. Once she has learned all she can she heads to the barracks to overview the type of troops she has to send off on to boarding actions and how well equipped they are.
Aeysha did not write down much about her father's actions while she was with the Viaticus Dynasty, but it's possible to piece some of it together from oblique references in the logs. Aeysha's father has been covertly working at subverting the Viaticus Demesne and annexing it to his fledgling empire for decades. He founded Freeport Rixis in order to strengthen the Chaos Pirate presence in the subsector, knowing that united pirate clans would be easier to subsume into his own navy once he openly conquered the Demesne. He's been secretly aiding any cult or other chaos-affiliated organization operating in the system, knowing every person who falls to chaos strengthens his hand. He finally came into open conflict with the Viaticus Dynasty when the crew of the Aetherius Aeternus conquered Freeport Rixis.
The Aeternus now has a barracks, and it is filled with soldiers. A great deal of her troops wear armor similar to that worn by the Chaos Guard on Freeport Rixis, although there are a few lightly armored troopers as well. There is also an elite group of combat-psykers.
Seeing that there is not too much more she can gleam from the logs and just prepares for the upcoming battle. She does give a slight nod at the combat psychic team, it makes sense from their collective backgrounds. She does an impromptu inspection of their armaments and their readiness to fight the best the Imperials could throw against them, and ordering a few more drills before they meet the enemy. Heading back up to her room, she starts writing in her duplicate's journal.
"Current time X, relative time Y. I'm going to need to put a gene lock on this thing one of these days. Well it has been a very... strange day, I was assaulting a Chaos stronghold on an abandoned Hive world and now I'm leading a good part of the army. Since you are going to be the only one to read this, I am going to have to say I am rather disappointed in how my future self has turned out. Mental degregation, paranoid delusions, and attempting to kill your own family, not even in a straight up way but through some strange ritual. Poor show. Well, like it or not, I am stuck in this time, hopefully until some sort of trigger on her end is meet and we switch places once again. I just pray that it's not the death of the good Captain Alexis, he is a bit simple minded but his heart is in the right place, though I wish he would allow us psykers a bit more freedom. Either way, I am going to try and utilize the best of a bad situation while posing as the great warlord against the remaining Imperial forces as much as it pains me, hoping to learn more about my father and how to utilize these rather phenomenal powers he has at his command. There is something of particular interest that needs to be investigated as soon as possible, if I might come in conflict with my future self or to at least keep up the expectations in front of the others. Though Command of my own ship... it is intoxicating, I can see why Alexis is so melodramatic in giving orders, it just comes naturally. I am more than willing to go back once my time is up, but I am uncertain if I can give up being in charge of a ship. His fleet is rapidly expanding and he is going to need captains with experience, despite their state. If not, I can live being in the Astropathic Chior for a while longer, but the command throne... it was made for me."
After weeks of travel, the Aeternus finally arrives at Rixis. Your father is mustering an impressive fleet, easily twice the size of the former Battlefleet Vesper. Your father's new Despoiler-class Battleship Victorious Judgement. In total there are easily 20 Hades, Murder and Desolation class cruisers, not to mention the countless smaller ships. The Viaticus Alliance hasn't a chance.
"Victorious Judgement is requesting to open a vox channel, m'Lady-Captain. Presumably it is Sorcerer Lord Kaerathi."
(Make an awareness test)
Staring almost dumbstruck at the size of the fleet, just wondering how long it took him to get this entire fleet, and trying to count them all.
Although not used to Lady-Captaincy of a Chaos vessel, Aeysha still has astropathically enhanced senses. She feels the radiated tension of the bridge officer moving to draw his blade before any human could have sensed it. Someone is making a move against you. There's no way of knowing in the heat of the moment how many allies he may or may not have, if you want to act before him you'll have to make a quick decision.
Aeysha could feel the hostility from the bridge officer as he gets ready to stab her in the back, only been here a few weeks, and they already want to kill her, she must be doing something right... Without a second word she pulls her side arm, twirls about and fires off a round of her plasma pistol into the traitorous officer's chest. Turning to the rest of the crew, she says, "Now, gentlemen, may I ask have you forgotten who I am? I am Aeysha Kaerathi, Sorceress Princess of this sector, I have survived and thrived in situations that would have been certain doom for anybody else. I have done my own betraying, I know the ins and outs, my senses extend into the Empyrean as well as the physical world, and I have a thousand daemons whispering a million secrets into my ears per night! I only let you survive as long as you have because it amuses me. Now would you wish to die, or do you wish to keep serving me and continue to live in my glorious shadow to reap the benefits you shall be entitled to?" Glaring about to the entire crew, she simply gives a simple, "Get back to work contacting the flag ship," She growls
Firing pistol 55%= 37 15 Damage Pen 8
Command test to get their lazy asses out of mutiny mode and into ready to heave to. 19
The man falls to the ground, quite dead with a smoking hole of melted flesh in his chest. The crew looks quickly to the corpse, then back to Aeysha.
Get back to work contacting the flag ship," Almost in unison, the rest of the crew begin working hard at looking like they are working hard. A few officers with nothing to do begin polishing equipment.
"We've established a vox connection, Lady-Captain. Patching it through now."
"Welcome home, beloved daughter," comes an oddly familiar voice over the vox "What do you think of my new flagship? The shipyards of Exaviar's World are indeed magnificent."
Glad that her crew gets the point now, Aeysha gives a slightly satisfied smile at them getting back to work, waiting to meet her father for the first time. She gets a serious deja vu regarding that voice, she has heard it before... but where uncertain where. Smiling at the microphone, "Very much so dear Father, a ship that will truly awe anybody that would stand against you back into obedience. A truly suitable tribute to your glory. Things are doing rather well with us, I just put down another potential mutiny, I'm starting to think that I'm going to be going a bit too soft on them..." He comments looking about the bridge. "Do you wish to to discuss our strategy in eliminating the last bit of resistance against your domain here, or shall we discuss this in person?"
"I'll come aboard the Aeternus," says your father "You may run your ship however you like, but if any of your crew think to mutiny while part of my fleet they will find their deaths excruciating and slow. I may have to make a demonstration now so that they are made aware of this."
Giving a nod to the speaker, "I shall prepare for your arrival with baited breath Father of Mine and roll out the red carpet. Of course I would appreciate your aid in any matters, though I have things under control at the moment. Aeysha out." She gets up and orders the Aeternus ready to receive the Lord of the sector with the Psychic Guard and Grand Chaos Warriors standing at attention on either side of a red carpet and flag bearers behind them for when her father arrives with all pomp and circumstance she can beat into these ratings. Heading off towards the Genetorium to warn her Genetor that he might get some rather forceful business soon enough, as well as to try and make himself scarce until called. She then heads back to clean herself up, make sure her armor is shining before stepping up to stand on the carpet, fully armed of course, to meet her father, just wanting to see him properly for the first time in her life.
The fact that your father's customized luxury lander is completely bereft of weapons is a staggering display of power. He docks at one of the newly-installed launch bays, amidst the hundreds of Dreadclaw assault boats and Doomfire bombers. You are able to compel quite a ceremonial reception of him on very short notice, any rumors of weakness in the Lady-Captain having been dispelled by a single shot from your plasma pistol. The Guards Chaos and Telepathica cut quite a nice picture when compliant out of fear, and form two lines leading from the lander along the literal red carpet some ratings were able to quickly acquire on pain of death.
Sorcerer Lord Basque Kaerathi the Corruptor steps out of his lander, unescorted. With the helmet of his massive armor attached to his magnetic belt, he looks exactly how you always imagined the Astartes looked. This is no chaos mutant, he looks almost like a chiseled statue. The fact that he's ten-feet-fall doesn't help the statue impression much either.
"Aeysha," Kaerathi says, and he grabs you in an embrace that likely would have killed you had you not been wearing Power Armor.
"It has been too long. I'm glad to see you again. If all goes well, we will be together now for a while. Once we crush the last of the Imperial forces here, the rest of my fleet will rally with us. With each victory we will draw more of the disparate forces of chaos to us. You and I, dearest daughter, will lead the 13th Black Crusade and cut a swath through the Imperium clean to the Eye of Terror."
Without the separation of the vox, his voice has an amazing presence. You feel like you could even listen to him just recite logs written in Techna-Lingua all night. It's almost enough to make you forget that he's just called for a new Black Crusade.
Aeysha is practically dumbstruck from Basque's actions, not almost crushing her in a massive bear hug, but the fact was that he was so loving father so far, he could be an extremely skilled liar, but... why would he be like this, this is not a phenominal loving father. Not even Nobles' are usually this loving, and she has to wonder how she could resent and wish to kill this man other than because he's a chaos worshiping heretic and menace to humanity at a whole. Regardless she meets him with a wide smile, "I agree my loving father, it has been far too long. Scouring space for rebels or resources to exploit in the dark reaches between the worlds. But come, let me properly welcome you aboard!" She gestures to lead her father over to a sitting room with several comfortable chairs and couch in rich padded leather seats that actually have had the Vivactus family crest removed from the back and the Kaerathi crest replacing it. She has the best pastries, tea, and brandy she has.
"Would you wish anything else father?" She comments, being the proper hostess to a much higher ranking captain. "So what is our plan to crush this last Imperial remnant, what sort of forces do we face here? Are they just the meager scraps of that fool's Rogue Trader's fleet or will it be an actual challenge to our fleet with some other Imperial forces. Navy, Guard, maybe even some of those foolish loyal marines? I know that my warriors are aching for something far more than the typical rabble we have managed out here since there are no sizeable xeno empires we have found. And I simply wish that we can prove our mettle against the greatest the Corpse Emperor's warriors to show our prowess as greater than that failure hiding within the Eye..." Smiling as she sits down there, she awaits the response.
"The Eye will be ours by decades end, and the Imperium will be cloven clear in two. The 42nd Millennium will be the beginning of the end of the Imperium of Man."
There is no malice in the way he pronounces 'Imperium of Man', more condescending amusement.
"But come, we will be talking of nothing but matters of war for many years to come. For the time being, let us speak of something else. How have you been? Has there been a problem with your Halo Device? You appear to have lost your eyes again. Occasionally there can be a secondary rejection, but I have access to drugs that might help."
For the moment, Aeysha smiles broadly at her father simply going along with the role she seemed to be getting far more in than she ever thought, but of course the mention of her eyes was rather shocking that brought it down a bit, "Yes, there was some rather unfortunate side effects of the Halo Device and the Space Marine implants when I over used my psychic talents dealing with a rather large but . I have properly scourged my magos for his failure to notice it, though he has been a bit... lacking in the progress regarding the unnatural design of my advancement, but I am not going to give them up. Your drugs and if you could give us some of the notes about my conversion so my doctor can properly do his job with proper speed and I won't have to remove another of his implants while he is still conscious." She says with a slight shrug leaning back in her chair.
"About how I have been putting down some sort of strange anarcho-collective republic trying to break free of all of their masters," Giving a slightly embarased shrug she says, "I used a rather potent ritual that took care of that little problem, but while I can kill a great deal of psychic energy which took care of the city, but that was a little too much and..." She gestures at her eyes. "Other than that, more searching for what ever lost tech we could or more mineral wealth, I do have a report of what I have found other than that, which is not too much save for some rich asteroids."
"That is worrisome, if your body is still not capable of channeling the warp energies necessary to gasp your destiny. There are further procedures we can attempt, we have but scratched the surface of the malleability of the human form. Now is not the time for your flesh to fail, we are teetering on the precipice of everything we have worked for. If you show weakness for even a moment, that is the moment that your enemies will destroy you. It is no wonder your crew made a move to mutiny, they should be executed for cowardice if they hadn't. Setting you to rights should be our immediate priority. I insist you come back with me to my ship, we can include my gene-sorcerers in the conversation. Where science has failed, perhaps faith is the answer."
Giving a slight nod to her father, Aeysha says, "Yes I do know the situation and would wish to set myself back on to my proper place as your most powerful captain. I am keeping a vigilant eye upon the ratings upon my ship, they know all too well that I am not someone to be triffled with and have already made examples of several. Their small minds still figure that they could assassinate me and become just as phenominal a warlord as I am, ignoring the far more subtle manners that are needed to keep a ship running." Letting out a slightly frustrated sigh, she says, "But that is all part of being a captain. Do not worry too much dear father, I have the situation well in hand."
When seeing the gene-sorcerers in on this, some conflicting emotions came within her, the fact that with that much intrusion into her body they are likely to find that she is not who she is, or at the least someone from an earlier place in time. Another part of her saw the power and wanted it, wanted it desperately to turned her shriveled shell and turn it into a statuesque beauty of a goddess that will lay low all that face her with reckless abandon. They conflict for several minutes within her until Basque's voice reaches her, there was genuine concern in it for her daughter, to get better after a tremendous sickness that tilted things into his favor. Looking down, she says, "I am more than capable of doing this with my own crew and resources. But who am I to refuse the aid of a loving father, but very well... I shall see what can be done for me in this regards. It shames me that I have sacrificed so much for such fleeting power, but I do believe it was well worth it, both in not having a festering rebellion drawing your all too important attention, and to prove that I am a far more capable sorceress than they would give credit for." She says with a slight smile crossing her face.
"Excellent then, we can take my lander over to the new ship immediately. I think you'll like it, not every chaos ship has to be unkempt and ugly."
The two of you head back your father's lander. He brought no minions with him, and so now for the first time, you are truly alone with him. Without taking his eyes off the controls, your father addresses you in the same jovial tone he has used since you bet him.
"Alright Aeysha, I know what the contents of the book you stole were. I have to say I'm extremely disappointed in you, I would have given you the book if you had asked. I want you to remember this little talk when our timelines realign. Now, when are you from my temporally unstuck daughter? I take it you didn't bother to inform yourself of your plan and you're a tad confused at this juncture. I applaud your ability to hold a cover identity under pressure but it's completely unnecessary. I know you don't belong here, and if you'll tell me what time period you belong in I can get you back there. I'm sure you'd like to stay, but you have to be patient, this will all be yours someday. Just not today."
Heading into the lander, Aeysha keeps as much pride and confidence as she can muster into her walk, but as soon as the door closed and Kaerathi gave his little disapointed speach about the book, her skin turned even more pale and she stared deep at the back of his neck, franticly searching for some way out of this. Thankfully he wasn't going to just blow her out of the airlock and she visibly relaxed at that. "Don't worry, I doubt I could ever forget this moment. But you are correct on several points, I didn't tell myself too much about my plan while crossing over, and I belive I am from twenty to thirty years in what is now the past. All of this information about who I am is very new and strange to me, but I have managed to get most of what happened but..." She says looking out of the lander's window for a few seconds, "I don't know how to feel about this. Part of me wants to lash out and remain faithful to the Imperium and to my captain that brought me along to see the stars."
Turning to look at the back of his head, she says, "But there is also another part that feels that it has taken it's share and it was time I took some of that back, not to mention it feels... right just talking with you and being the captain of my own ship. I am very conflicted, but I am more than willing to hear you out about how you meet my mother, how did we meet for the first time without the temporal distortion, how... cognizant is my most recient incarnation, and are you still going to help me with my rather frail form?" Aeysha asksnot knowing how to continue with this particular conversation, easily seen as her hands grip the bottom of her seat rather nervous for any sort of outlash by this tremendously dangerous individual in front of her.
"You should feel no conflict within yourself, you are my daughter and as such it is your destiny to rule. Alexis Viaticus and the rest of the corpse-grovelling fools sought only to restrain your power and ambition because they feared what you were capable, and rightly so for their puny empires of glass could never withstand your full might unleashed. I would be only too happy to answer all of your questions. Where shall I begin?"
