942.M30.
Dorset system, aboard the Hound's Tooth of the World Eaters' 18th Company.
Gahlan Surlak, Chief Apothecary encased in his power armor, looked proudly at the assembled group.
Forty percent of the World Eaters' company commanders had attended this gathering.
Nearly half of them had been personally selected and gathered by Gahlan: Captain Dreger of the 9th Company, who had once proposed abandoning the attempt to convince Angron to accept them, suggesting instead that Kharn become Legion Master.
Vorias, the former Chief Librarian whose department Angron had ordered disbanded.
The other half were captains who had spontaneously rallied around Mago, Captain of the 18th Company, after his courageous defiance of the gene-father's decimation order in the Triumph Hall:
Captain Kourage of the 21st Company, Captain Keptra of the 37th Company...
And even a potential heavyweight: the First of the War Hounds, former Legion Master Lhorke, who led the Legion's Dreadnoughts.
He had shown Lhorke the Butcher's Nails. Together with Mago, he had convinced Lhorke to observe the Legion's situation and their actions before making a final decision.
Gahlan was confident he could persuade Lhorke to follow him onto the true path of light.
As he was thinking, Mago, standing at the center of the group, turned the conversation towards Gahlan.
"We should salute the Chief Apothecary. He has found a way out for this desperate Legion."
"After we received the Butcher's Nails, the gene-father's attitude towards us changed dramatically."
"After we conquered Dorset, he personally simplified the recruitment and training processes. He has begun to lead the Legion as a Legion Master should."
Amidst the joyous crowd, Vorias stood in a corner, his expression somber.
Librarian Ioka had attempted to receive the Butcher's Nails, but his body had ripped apart.
Vorias still remembered the terrible psychic scream Ioka had emitted before his death, as if enduring unimaginable mental torment.
Vorias understood why: the alteration in brain structure prevented Librarians from controlling their own psychic powers.
Their proximity to World Eaters implanted with the Nails also caused those warriors discomfort.
Consequently, the gene-father had simply disbanded the Librarius department and expelled them from the Conqueror.
Now Vorias could only stand in the shadowy corner of the hall, deliberately ignored by the others.
A smile touched Gahlan's lips. He recalled the scene when Angron, after waking, saw the second warrior to receive the Butcher's Nails: Kharn, the Primarch's attendant.
Angron had smiled and reached out a hand to Kharn.
"Come with me, my son."
He had led Kharn to Gahlan's work area, looked at him slantwise with contempt, and said, "You actually made them. I thought you'd be crushed by failure."
"How many can you make?"
Gahlan remembered his confident reply: "Father, producing and implanting them is a minor matter for me."
"I've already created stable prototype replicas. Soon, the entire Legion can be implanted."
"I've also created a new device that can restore consciousness to World Eaters lost to the killing rage."
His reminder had enraged his father. Angron roared, "I don't need that. It wasn't my command."
He had asked impatiently, "How soon?"
Feeling the urgency in his tone, Gahlan could only reply.
"In a few hours, I will offer you a thousand sons, remade in your image."
The image in Gahlan's mind flashed. He recalled his gene-father, Angron, leading the 8th Assault Company and elements of other companies in their descent upon Cov, turning that entire world into a sea of blood.
He was grateful that the Nails implanted in these men had been hastily-made replicas, produced under Angron's coercion by him, Beshir, and other Apothecaries.
He had not wasted the precious Nails bestowed by the Black Emperor on men like Kharn, who were utterly loyal to Angron.
His subordinate Apothecary assigned to the 8th Assault Company had informed Gahlan that Kharn and the other World Eaters had never used the spray guns he had supplied.
They lay in the armory, gathering dust, with no order, not even to the serfs, to clean them.
Gahlan had come to realize that Kharn and his ilk were already committed to the crimson path. He cared nothing for the Nails' side effects.
They would become, in their unrestrained slaughter, the same kind of killing beasts as Angron.
Even though, as the Black Emperor had foreseen, Angron would frequently donate his gene-seed.
He would mass-recruit neophytes, not to strengthen the Legion in the usual sense, but only to obtain true sons in his eyes, warriors like his gladiator brothers.
Gahlan collected his thoughts and spoke. "I will lead you onto a broad path."
"You already have," Mago said loudly.
Gahlan looked at the joyful faces, not bursting their bubble.
He needed time. The later they discovered the truth, the better.
Since the Black Emperor had commanded patience, He must have a plan.
Gahlan only needed to follow His divine will.
After the gathering concluded, Gahlan returned to the central apothecarion deep within the Conqueror.
He wheeled out a prepared silver-white cart. On it lay one-tenth of the gene-father's donations for this month.
Over the past three standard years, Gahlan had slowly increased the amount of retained genetic material, attributing it to failures in the modification and implantation process of the Butcher's Nails.
Angron had never questioned the specific numbers. He only cared about the rising count of new warriors.
Gahlan changed into a black robe, wheeled the silver-white cart to the altar, used his ritual knife to activate the "Euclidean Runes," and then knelt before the altar, praying to the Black Emperor.
Moments later, black mist rose from nowhere, engulfing Gahlan and the cart.
"My Lord." Gahlan bowed respectfully and reported on the gathering.
"...Angron needs warriors."
Deep within the black mist, Nareth, seated high on his throne, affirmed his thoughts after listening to Gahlan's report.
For a time, Angron would feel a flicker of fatherly affection for his sons implanted with the Nails, especially Kharn.
But as the Nails ground and the killing continued, his lucid moments would shorten. He would become more indifferent to his sons, eventually ceasing to care for his Legion at all.
That was why, when his friend Agger Tarr asked if the Nails had brought the World Eaters closer to their father, Kharn had sadly murmured to himself: "No. No, they haven't."
'Such a shame I can't just keep him as a laborer, working for me!' Nareth thought with regret.
But then, remembering that even the Emperor had been powerless to change Angron, the regret faded.
'At least I'll salvage quite a few. After the Heresy, the Emperor lost almost the entire 12th Legion.'
Nareth looked down at Gahlan and spoke.
"You have done well. Continue as before."
"Do not reveal my existence."
Even though Angron was insane, dealing with him if he discovered something amiss would be troublesome.
The World Eaters' true role would come at the time of the Heresy.
For now, however, they could still be useful.
Nareth raised his hand, and a gleaming data crystal appeared in Gahlan's grasp.
"You will encounter the Khrave ."
"I need their human host bodies."
Nareth needed the parasitized human bodies of the Khrave for research, to understand them.
They could also serve as a divination focus, ensuring its success.
The Khrave's source domain exists neither in realspace nor, like the Formless Wastes, within the Warp.
The source domain is a pocket dimension, existing between realspace and the Warp.
Nareth didn't know if the Dice of Prophecy could successfully divine based on memory alone.
Before launching his plan against the Khrave, the only Legions that had encountered this species were Angron's and Sanguinius's.
He had no agents within the Blood Angels, making the World Eaters the more suitable starting point.
Although, besides Lion El'Jonson who destroyed the Khrave, the Raven Guard had also encountered them on Ingra-Sou, that was in 999.
Too late, too close to his planned action.
"By Your Will."
After the black mist engulfed Gahlan, returning him to the real world,
Nareth raised his hand again. The silver-white cart vanished, reappearing in a palace on the first layer, filled with cartloads of Angron's genetic material.
He then extended his spirituality, touching the metallic-hued orb of Rosicky Cech, Forge Lord. After confirming he was alone, Nareth pulled him into the Kingdom of Disorder.
"My Lord." Rosicky bowed respectfully, then reported.
"I have studied the data crystal Your Grace bestowed. I have mastered the Aurean STC for power armor and have found the relevant 1.48 million formulas."
The "Dream Stealer," Tierney, and his "Prometheus" had stolen the STC database and the 40.56 million underlying formulas.
When the operators in the manufacturing centers awoke and discovered they had all blacked out simultaneously, they reported it to the Mechanical Consul.
Anthony's investigation had revealed no anomalies in the operation logs.
Ultimately, the cause was attributed to a machine spirit malfunction, causing an adverse reaction between their implants and their bodies.
Nareth subsequently endured over eight months of negotiations before securing an alliance with Aureus.
Aureus, which would have been destroyed by the corrupt Horus, a techno-civilization exceeding the capabilities of a Forge World, with productivity rivaling that of Graia, had become his ally.
"You will depart immediately for Mars. Join the research and development of the new generation of power armor."
"You must master the entire manufacturing process of the new generation of power armor, ensuring we can produce it ourselves."
Nareth reasoned that even if Horus, after his fall, found no STCs on Aureus due to his own preemptive action, Kelbor-Hal would still ally with him, though perhaps the bond would be less secure.
After all, since the signing of the Treaty of Olympus, many Forge Worlds, including Mars, had chafed under the constraints imposed by the Emperor.
Nearly half of the Martian factions yearned to throw off the Emperor's yoke and draw closer to the Omnissiah without restraint.
The lifting of the ban that Horus promised held immense appeal for them.
That was the fundamental reason for Mars's eventual rebellion.
Nareth was not pinning his hopes of acquiring Mark IV armor on supply lines.
"By Your Will." The Forge Lord acknowledged respectfully, then was returned to the real world.
....
If you enjoy the story, my p@treon is 30 chapters ahead.
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