According to the Void Dragon, a shard of the Flayer God could wield immense utility in this contemporary era. Furthermore, if Yuno extended an official diplomatic overture, the resurrected entity would likely harbor a severe, enthusiastic drive to assist the Tyranid swarms—specifically to extract absolute, bloody vengeance against the Necron dynasties that had historically orchestrated his execution.
Yet, setting aside the complex equation of whether a primordial entity commanding the raw, reality-warping parameters of a god would so smoothly acquiesce to a strategic partnership with their vanguard, a severe logistical question remained: the Void Dragon shard had yet to mathematically verify its baseline capacity to execute the resurrection at all.
The Maynarkh Dynasty was far from a minor, low-tier stellar empire. The star god's grand strategy explicitly demanded a deep, high-risk infiltration into the absolute heart of their crown worlds—an operational expenditure that failed to project a favorable resource-to-return ratio.
Yuno's logic processors arrived at an identical conclusion.
Yuki unspooled his response across the local channel: "Evaluating our contemporary kinetic strength and primary biological reserves, our armada completely lacks a critical structural requirement for a solitary C'tan shard, correct?"
"Uh—"
The analytical math supported his syllables flawlessly. Yuno possessed the functional capacity to directly contest the apex entities ruling the Immaterium; War and Plague commanded combat parameters that mapped directly to the Primarch tier; Yuki himself sat securely at the peak echelon immediately below a Primarch, and the fleet was reinforced by an immense, continuous deployment of Norn Emissaries and highly specialized psychic bio-strains. Within that macro-tier asset matrix, an isolated C'tan shard registered merely as a nominal luxury.
"Consider the long-term utility of the Flayer Virus itself," the star god pressed, shifting its tactical argument. "Our forces could simply transition to their sovereign perimeter, harvest a localized deployment of corrupted Flayed Ones, and secure them within containment matrices. Under the absolute suppression of my cosmic parameters, those anomalies would completely lack the capacity to execute a dimensional phase-out route. They would serve as an exceptionally lethal asymmetric weapon to deploy during our subsequent campaigns against the Necron race."
"My strategic archives indicate that the ruling Phaerons governing those dynasties would harbor absolutely zero hesitation in systematically liquidating their corrupted, infected kinsmen," Yuki countered coolly. "They historically demonstrated a total willingness to permanently discard the bottom-tier echelons of their baseline civilian populations during the biotransference cycle. Let us alter the diagnostic parameters, Void Dragon: what exact variable prompts your consciousness to drive so aggressively toward the coordinates of the Maynarkh Dynasty?"
"The data suggests your intent encompasses an objective that dwarfs the mere resurrection of an ancient peer."
The Void Dragon shard lacked direct integration into the central synapse network of the hive mind; it functioned, for all intents and purposes, as a high-risk tenant within their bio-vessels. Neither Yuno nor Yuki could directly scan its internal cognitive loops.
Consequent to the rising tension, the biological extensions of War and Plague smoothly shifted their positioning, drawing dangerously close to the star god's flank. Yuno stood with her arms crossed, her frame perfectly poised to channel an unmitigated surge of psychic energy to instantly crush the shard's parameters at a microsecond's notice.
The solitary node facing an immediate physical vulnerability was Yuki; yet even operating at maximum kinetic output, the shackled C'tan shard completely lacked the mathematical parameters to instantly liquidate his vessel directly before Yuno's optical sensors.
"My primary core requires a direct harvest of Flayer essence to replenish its baseline cosmic energy metrics," the star god finally conceded, its vocal modulation stabilizing.
"Elaborate on that specific technical parameter."
"The foundational constants governing our species dictate that a total consumption of an alternative Star God systematically amplifies our raw power parameters; a synchronized absorption between disparate shards yields an identical acceleration. Regrettably, the coordinates anchoring the surviving, uncontained shards across realspace track as exceptionally elusive variables; my logic dictates that I settle for a secondary operational alternative—absorbing the localized energy remnants localized within the accursed Flayed Ones."
"Then your previous syllables regarding the tactical leverage of the Flayer infection were explicitly engineered to deceive our nodes?"
"Oh, that specific data loop tracks as entirely authentic," the star god countered smoothly. "Provided we successfully reconstruct the foundational code of the Flayer God, our alliance could actively hunt down alternative shards scattered across the galactic rim. Furthermore, with his consciousness active, your vanguard could theoretically leverage his viral signature to systematically hijack and control alternative Necron sub-commanders, correct? After all, the Flayer Virus operates fundamentally as an ideological mutation driving those units to worship his shadow; the solitary failure point is that since his deletion, the Flayed Ones lack a centralized command network to direct their kinetic output."
Phrased in that manner, the strategic proposal acquired a minor layer of baseline logic. The paradigm mirrored the distinct behavioral loops of the Destroyer Cults, whose psychological frameworks appeared to project a manic devotion toward the Nightbringer, driving their highest-ranking executioners to continuously harvest shards to facilitate its total resurrection.
Yuki redirected his optical sensors toward Yuno. The supreme mind shrugged lazily, unspooling a single temporal constraint: "Ensure your tactical calculations preserve a strict adherence to our overarching timeline. A minor chronological window of roughly a dozen cycles remains before the primary Devourer tendrils converge upon the Baal system. While the failure of Hive Fleet Kraken to synchronize its timeline tracks as a negligible variable—seeing as it functions exclusively as a vanguard scouting armada—I shall tolerate absolutely zero delays regarding my personal deployment to Baal."
"Furthermore, the sovereign domain of the Maynarkh Dynasty registers as an exceptionally renowned landmark across the historical lore of the Necron race. Operating as a displaced voyager across these timelines, does your consciousness genuinely lack the curiosity to conduct a firsthand observation of those coordinates?"
Processing the overlapping variables, Yuki finalized his command decree: "Initiate the spatial transition sequence! We shall chart a course to observe the parameters of the Maynarkh Dynasty!"
The Orpheus Sector.
The standard rhythms of civilian and administrative life advanced along their historical tracks. The localized military detachments and governing bodies of the Imperium of Man expended immense structural resources to manage the cascading societal chaos triggered by the continuous onset of localized Warp storms.
Warp storms—though the technical threat profile these systemic anomalies posed to the structural integrity of the entire sector was explicitly catastrophic, the baseline populations had normalized the horror within their psychological loops. This baseline resilience represented precisely what historical scholars classified as the unyielding, stubborn tenacity of the Imperium's subjects.
Navigator Hikari had secured an exceptionally fortunate trajectory, narrowly evading the destructive vortex of the sudden empyrean surge. Consequent to several preceding cycles of high-intensity, unmitigated operational labor, his psychic awareness had absorbed severe energetic trauma, rendering his core nodes entirely incapable of prosecuting baseline navigational tasks. This systemic degradation had graciously secured him an authorized medical furlough.
Regrettably, the exact microsecond the macro-tier empyrean disaster ruptured realspace coordinates, the localized feedback loop forced him to collapse heavily onto the deck, blood violently discharging from his facial orifices.
Upon the subsequent restoration of his conscious processing, the absolute, dead silence ringing across his auditory receptors briefly prompted his mind to log a state of total deafness—until the attending medicae technician urgently commanded him to manually deactivate his passive psychic shield. Only then did Hikari compute that his subconscious nodes had been continuously bleeding psychic energy into the room.
"Are the primary Navigators directing our localized sector fleets entirely liquidated across this disaster?"
Consequent to a severe, systemic deficit of living human personnel, his authorized medical furlough was instantly canceled.
The vessel's captain delivered a thoroughly abrasive, strained response: "The math tracks remarkably close to total eradication. A solitary pool of seven Navigators managed to preserve their biological integrity through the feedback surge, yet the entirety of those assets have absorbed maximum-tier traumatic injuries. They currently remain entirely comatose."
"Even factoring that critical personnel shortage, there is absolutely zero logistical logic in recalling my node to active duty," Hikari countered sourly. "Evaluating the contemporary instability of the local empyrean currents, absolutely no sane commercial director would authorize a vessel to transition out of orbital anchorage."
"The tactical reality matches your words, yet maritime regulations dictate that a void-faring hull is structurally prohibited from operating without a minimum of one certified Navigator stationed within the primary bridge."
"In that scenario, your administration is mandated to apply a substantial financial multiplier to my standard operational compensation."
"Your syllables loop back to that identical financial baseline across every single contract crisis. Fine. Your ledger shall credit a three-fold salary multiplier for this deployment."
Hikari experienced a sharp spike of internal gratification; provided the financial remuneration achieved an optimized tier, his processing nodes were entirely open to negotiating any manner of high-risk deployment. For an independent contractor directing civilian hulls across commercial channels like himself, his operational flexibility lacked absolutely zero room for systemic criticism.
He settled his frame into the primary pilot terminal, tracking the wildly fluctuating star charts and the localized violet distortions blooming across the galactic sector map, unspooling a quiet observation: "The Orpheus Sector has preserved a state of absolute structural stability for countless centuries; what exact catalyst prompted the spontaneous manifestation of a macro-tier Warp storm across this specific window? Let us hope this anomaly fails to signal the arrival of a total war theater."
"State your tracking data! Identify the exact coordinate designation governing this stellar sector!"
A sharp vocal transmission echoed abruptly out of a dark corner of the control bridge. Hikari instantly primed his sidearm, shifting his physical stance into a defensive posture as he advanced toward the vector, only to find his optical sensors locking onto a baseline human female.
Her physical frame bore a sequence of minor traumatic lacerations, yet his scanning arrays registered absolutely zero traces of active psychic signatures or localized Warp corruption.
Hikari had directly engaged localized Chaos incursions during his historical deployments; had this asset tracked as a warp-born daemon, his auditory receptors would have already been completely flooded by their characteristic, deceptive telepathic whispers.
"These coordinates designate the Orpheus Sector, citizen. Provided your consciousness lacks that foundational data—are you currently registered as an unauthorized stowaway within this hull?"
Stowaways—clandestine civilian assets of that specific classification were an exceptionally common variable across macro-tier transport vessels, almost universally composed of desperate individuals attempting to gamble their biological survival against the harsh realities of the galaxy.
Yet the technical syllables unspooled by the female across the next microsecond completely bypassed his analytical expectations.
"How does the space-time coordinate map to this vector... the Orpheus Sector? Respond immediately: did this localized theater recently experience the catastrophic detonation of a macro-tier Warp storm?"
Only at this precise chronological juncture did Hikari's language processors compute a highly unusual variable: the High Gothic dialect utilized by the female was exceptionally fluent and mathematically perfect. Could this asset map not to a common planetary refugee, but to the displaced scion of a high-tier Imperial aristocrat operating under a deep-cover alias?
"The data tracks as accurate. Yet fortune has ensured that our sector sensors have yet to log any active signs of a hostile military invasion; the phenomenon likely registers as a standard, localized natural disaster—"
"Terminate that irrational assessment; this event completely lacks the baseline parameters of a natural disaster! The localized celestial mechanics governing this entire stellar system were deliberately engineered and pre-programmed ahead of schedule! A calculated supernova detonation was weaponized to violently force open the Dolmen Gates, systematically unleashing this catastrophic empyrean storm across the sector! Damn it... the primary awakening cycle of the Maynarkh Dynasty has officially breached realspace constants. Respond to my query: does your primitive data registry contain a formal classification for the Necron race?!"
"The... the Necrons? That specific threat profile—"
Before Hikari could finalize his vocal transmission, the female aggressively seized his uniform sleeve, violently dragging his frame toward the primary exit corridor: "We are structurally mandated to formulate an immediate transmission route to broadcast this intelligence across the wider sector command channels! The message must explicitly log a maximum-tier xenos invasion vector! Damn it all, state your primary designation for my archives—my identifier is Kyria."
Consequent to this bizarre lore convergence, the newly materialized transmigrator, Kyria, initiated a high-risk operational campaign to systematically preserve the baseline populations of the Orpheus Sector from total liquidation.