The Beginning (pre-W40K) part 39 Comments and Crit. welcomed

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drklord
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The Beginning (pre-W40K) part 39 Comments and Crit. welcomed

Post by drklord »

This is my take on the pre 40k period, mainly the unification of earth and so on. Again its my take on things, so please do not crucify me if there are discrepancies with accepted lore. Crit as alway is most welcomed and I do hope people enjoy this.

****************
Nobody was really sure how things how gotten so bad, most of the Earth had been destroyed, consumed in endless wars for ever dwindling resources. The outer colonies had been abandoned, destroyed in the wars, or had simply stopped transmitting or sending resources. Even Mars had become silent.

The great hives and spires of old still existed today, their great walls scored by endless rounds and explosions. They stood as grim testaments of what waited outside. Each hive existed as an independent entity a few ambitious rulers had managed over time to conquer nearby hives creating small empires with massive numbers of people and little food.

Earth had little to no agricultural base left, its environment having turned hostile and barren long ago. Yet humanity pushed on and as has always happened where one human pushed another has always pushed in the opposite direction and so war continued to ravage the land…

Evan crouched in the trench clutching his weapon; it was an old machine gun from the last war. It fired straight most of the time and the ammo was easy to find so he liked it.

Explosions made his teeth rattle in his skull until he thought that he would loose a few. An officer was a few paces away peering over the edge trying to see through the smoke.

The man turned then and yelled loudly enough to cut through the din of battle “Here they come again, saddle up and prepare to fire.”

Screams, howls and gun fire seem to assail the defenders from all directions and then though the dense smoke the enemy materialized running toward them.

He no longer felt fear, anger, or exhaustion he was beyond all caring he simply took aim and begun laying it on. Calmly taking aim and firing as he always did, one shot, one kill. The raiders from the waste land were dropping like flies but more came, they always came.

He switched to full auto and began to carefully spay ordinance left and right, killing the enemy with practiced ease.

“Grenades!” Several of the small explosives flew from the trenches to land before the charging enemy, with repeating thuds they went off spraying metal, blood and shredded flesh in all directions.

That broke them, the enemy turned and begun to flee back into the fog. Evan went back to single shot fire killing as many of those fleeing as he could; he no longer had any qualms about shooting a man in the back, ideas like nobility and fair play had no room in the field of battle.

As the noise died down Evan looked around and saw that for a change the enemy had not made it to the trenches so there were only a few wounded about. As he lowered his gun a small grunt escaped his throat, he looked to the side and saw that a bullet or a piece of shrapnel had hit him.

It wasn’t bad so he ignored. He stepped down from the fire-step and turned to look for his Second.

“Commander report!” Bellowed Evan.

“Sir we drove them back. Only a few casualties reported, should we pursue?”
“Yes, send a few armored units and tell them to sweep the area, two miles around the base if they encounter heavy opposition I want them to radio in and return at once.”

“Yes Sir!” The commander had not given a salute as he turned; he was an old veteran and knew better than to salute an officer in the front line, especially General Evan. The man was held to be the one responsible for every victory the New Empire had achieved.

******

Evan walked back to the command tents, sandbags and trenches surrounded the command structure. It was supposed to have been a temporary structure, that had been two months ago. They had crossed an ocean to reach these new territories and now he was stranded here, with no supplies and no way to retreat. He hated politics.

Politics were what landed him here, he should have been allowed to retire, he had bested all the enemies of the Empire, kings, warlord, other emperors, and none had been able to defeat him. He had grown up fighting and now only wanted peace, yet even so simple a wish was denied to him. He was condemned to serve until death claimed him it seemed. His temper had gotten the best of him and he had struck the new emperor when he had been ordered to attack non-military targets. The new emperor was a spoiled child, nothing like his father, the man who had named him general at the age of twenty five when he saw his tactical brilliance.

That incident should have been his end but his reputation saved him. Instead he had been commanded to push the boundaries of the empire in this forsake land. He had crossed an ocean with his men, twenty five thousand men, support personnel, armored divisions and artillery. He was ordered to bolster the defense in place and then push forward. When he arrived he found only a few thousand defenders left in the outpost. The place was impossible to defend any longer; he had instead collected what could be salvaged, took in the remaining men and moved on.

Now he was staring into an endless waste land. A few miles west the ocean could be seen; to the north remnants of a once massive wall could be seen. His scouts told him that mountains and hard country were to east, south was an endless wasteland. The whole area was saturated with raiders, mutants, deserters, radiation and dust.

He had yet to find an enemy he could pin down and kill, instead he was forced to endure this pricking attacks that were slowly bleeding him to death. He had lost over five thousand men in the past two years, he had to do something.

He turned east and considered heading for those mountains. At least there he could mount a strong defensive position and eventually begin to pacify the area. He turned and walked into the command tent, his next course of action decided.

* * * * * * * * *

Deep under a mountain range a vast and powerful intellect toiled endlessly. He had seen the world tear it self apart too many times to count. Humanity was close to its end, the last era he had witnessed had seemed so bright, pregnant with the possibility of greatness.

Humans had finally conquered space; hundreds of colonies had been established. Mars had been transformed into a paradise with the new terraforming technologies. Lost, all lost because of the greed of a few. The growth of the race had been spurred forth by the great corporations and governments of the time. Innovations, discoveries and advances were achieved almost daily it seemed, so much so that he had been able to unleash almost his entire potential without betraying himself as “different”. But with those advances came greed, greed for power, for prestige, for wealth.

The corporations and the governments begun to squabble, argue and eventually open warfare broke out amongst them. He had tried to stop them, he had been one of them. But in the end all the endless bickering was nothing compared to what mankind unleashed upon itself.

***************
Last edited by drklord on 2011-02-04 03:57pm, edited 37 times in total.
drklord
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Re: The Beginning (pre-W40K) part 2

Post by drklord »

In the command tent Evan scanned the reports from the scouts, collected over the past weeks they had managed to give him a fair picture of the land around their base. There was nothing much truth be told, ruins, dirt and empty space as far as they could see. Lost deep in thought he hardly noticed a silent shadow sliding into the tent, hardly.

“Jonas, what have you to report.” Jonas was the leader of the scouting division, a few hundred men, hand picked by him. They were an insular lot, given to brooding and very little conversation with soldiers outside their unit. Jonas was a ghost and could sneak past anything or anyone, except Evan. Something which Evan enjoyed reminding the silent man every single time he tried.

Jonas was as close to a friend as Evan had in the army, they had served together for over a decade, and they shared a deep respect for each others abilities.

“Someday I will surprise you Evan.” said Jonas, slowly shaking his head. The fact that he was unable to surprise the general always nettled him, but he did like a challenge.

“Sir, the armored units sent out to pursue our attackers returned a few minutes ago, they report a medium size camp about a click north of here. They were too many for the squad, but they left a scattering of antipersonnel mines to keep them busy if they head back this way”

“Good. Tell me Jonas you’ve been all over this area, what do you think of that mountain range to the east? You think we could cover the distance in a few days and set up a base of operation?”

Jonas remained silent, pondering his answer; he stared intently at the maps on the table. He knew the terrain as well as could be expected, he had no doubt that the distance could be covered relatively fast, but at what cost. The raider would no doubt hit them on the way and if their numbers were great enough they could cause quite a bit of damage.

Jonas took a deep breath, “Evan if anyone else asked I’d say no, but you seem to have a knack for the impossible. It can be done but we need to do something about those raiders before anything like that move can be contemplated.”

Evan looked at this old friend, and with a very quiet voice answered him, “Yes, yes we do.”

Jonas looked at his friend and knew that gears were already spinning examining and discarding every possibility to achieve the goal that had just been set. Those raiders were as good as dead in Jonas’ head, but how many of their men would pay with their lives to do it.

Evan sat on the camp chair and begun to think up plans of attack; sensing that he had been dismissed Jonas quietly took his leave, hardly making a sound as he vanished.

Evan remained still for several hours until he hit on a plan that should allow for maximum damage to the raiders while minimizing the risk to his men. He called his commanders and begun to layout his plan. As he detailed the attack grins begun to spread across the room, it would be hard but the possibility of paying back those that had tormented them for so long was one they relished.

* * * * * * * *

He knew what had to be done, he didn’t like it, but then again there were many things about his existence which he didn’t like. He had buried more wives and lovers than he cared to remember, sons and daughters turned to dust over time. Still he found himself unable to not feel some degree of attachment, as hard as he tried he still cared for his people.

He sat on his cold chair, the dim lights that shone from the ceiling were hardly enough to dispel the shadows that clung to the walls of the hall. He had to act, but what could he do by himself, even when had control of the largest corporation of the planet he had still been unable to change the course of the world. He had been a king, a soldier, a general, a peasant, a president, a genius, at every turn he had been denied by human nature. No more, his will was the driving force behind every major human achievement in history, he would be denied no more.

He stood and begun to slowly walk away from his hall and into the darkness that was his home. His mind already pondering the next step and the one after that one, nothing left out from his careful calculations. Until the future begun to resolve itself in his mind and he could begin to see more clearly the road which had to be taken.

Wheels within wheels, every possibility examined carefully, thoroughly. Nothing could be left to chance, not this time; there was too much at stake. Quietly moving through the long hallway the large shadow moved to an old metal door, as he approached it slid silently into the ceiling. Inside a metal gantry overlooked a massive storehouse, the floor was covered with dust coated vehicles and silent gun racks, their barrels staring mutely at the ceiling.

His intent gaze took all this in at a glance. He had vowed to himself that humanity would be saved, even if he had to burn the galaxy to ash to do it, and below lay the means to do so. The entire mountain range was hollowed out for the most part, hundred of such warehouses served as silent tombs for the weapons they housed. Most of these massive stashes contained normal weapons but a few housed much deadlier equipment in their dark recesses.

Nothing would be left to chance. The figure turned and left, walking further along the dim hallway he stepped into a large lab. Sitting before a massive screen he begun to issue commands, data scrolled on the screen, strange images of the human body were displayed along with the information.

His would be the will behind the fire and the sword, now all he had to do was mold his weapon into being.
drklord
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Re: The Beginning (pre-W40K) part 3 up

Post by drklord »

It had taken nearly a week to set everything so the plan to go off. In that time they had endured two more attacks which had been brutally neutralized. Evan would brook no further delays so he threw everything at the raiders every time they came. Now everything was ready.

Under the cover of darkness dozens of self propelled artillery pieces moved off to the north accompanied by two hundred men and few armor units. The rest of the army moved off to the east.

The smaller group had clear orders that would hopefully put a stop to any attacks in the future. They were the most disciplined troops in Evan’s army, veterans of many battles, hardened killers all.

Evan had chosen a simple plan using a tool he disliked but which in the end would hopefully mean less lives lost, fear. He would utterly destroy the enemy camp and make an example of them. Hopefully this would make those that came later think twice before attacking.

The attack forces choose their positions based on the intelligence provided by the scouts. Sergeants carefully looked over their charges and one by one they quietly reported that everything was ready. Mortars had be set, heavy machine guns manned and ready at every possible avenue of escape, not a soul was to escape that place

Evan nodded to himself and gave the signal; forty-eight artillery pieces spoke with one voice. The silent night was utterly shattered as the thunder of the guns shook the very ground.

To a man the raiders of the camp woke up, sentries peering about trying to distinguish what that glow in the horizon had been. Again the glow could be seen, followed by the same thunderous noise, and again.

The strikes had been carefully planned. Jonas had marked the locations in the enemy camp; his men had relayed the exact coordinates to the artillery batteries. The three waves of ordinance landed as one. The destruction wrought by the assault was staggering. Even as the flames engulfed the camp the sheer concussive force of the blast blew out the fire. Enemy soldiers were burned and shattered by the blasts, few survived the initial attack. The soldiers moved in methodically killing the survivors and the few wounded.

The killing done they staked what whole bodies could be found and piled the heads in a heap. What few supplies were left unscathed were gathered and the group moved off, their grizzly task accomplished. Evan had been with his men through it all; covered in the same blood and filth as his men he marched off after the main force. Small fires flickered in the distance as they walked away from the killing ground.

A few hours later saw them rejoin the end of the marching army as they moved off to the east. The journey was uneventful for the most part. A few transports broke down, and three men were killed when an old mine blew up when it was stepped on. About two days away from their destination they came up to fenced off area.

The heavy threads from one of the personnel carriers knocked down a section and a detachment of scouts was sent to investigate. A few hours later one of the scouts came back at a dead run waving his arms over his head frantically. The army had stopped for a brief rest while the location was searched. Evan had stood by the gap made in the fence waiting for the return of his men, Jonas by his side.

The scout landed out of breath right before them, gulping for breath while trying to explain. Evan and Jonas waited while the scout tried to explain and breathe at the same time, finally giving up on that the scout concentrated on getting his breathing under control.

“Sir, we found something you should see, it’s amazing. I have never seen anything like it before.” The scout was obviously exited by the find and that in itself was rare in one of Jonas’ men. Evan signaled for a transport to be brought over. The armored half truck peeled off and stopped near the, it’s engine idling.

Evan clambered onto the front while a few soldiers got into the back, one manning the heavy machine gun on the top. The scout mounted a step on the side of the driver’s door and pointed in the general direction he had come from. Soon enough the vehicle was making its way to the find.

* * * * * * * *

He knew that what he was trying to do had never been successfully done, ever, but still he had to try. His plans demanded that the attempt be made and he was close, he’d almost achieved the perfect balance, but still a few more details had to be perfected and a willing test subject found.

He sighted, a test subject, now were would he find one around here. He was certain there were people about, and capturing one would certainly not prove to be an issue for him, but he’d rather not risk unveiling his location just yet. Besides if given a choice he would much rather have a willing subject.

He turned from the screen, he had been staring at it for the past few days, altering calculations and formulae, trying to find a balance point, and it was nearly there. He had a few more things to take care off first. A template had to be selected to apply onto the test subject, he had to go and retrieve them before he could proceed.

He turned and walked once more to the connecting hallway, making for a small indistinct door at the end of a corridor. This door did not slide open; rather a small panel was reveled on the side of the door. The figure placed his palm on it and a quiet hiss was heard in reply as the door opened. Inside a circular chamber inscribed in odd runes could be seen, illuminated by a bright white light that left the whole room exposed, shadows could find no purchase here.

The figure step onto a raised dais in the center of the room and tapped a control console on his wrist. A flash of light and the figure was gone.
drklord
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Re: The Beginning (pre-W40K) part 4 up

Post by drklord »

The ride was relatively short and quick. In the distance a few squat structures could be seen and from the distance they appeared to be intact. As they neared the structures resolved themselves into four squat buildings with massive doors on the front, all but one were closed. The buildings themselves were strange, he had never seen something as massive as them before, he knew of no building like them outside the great hives.

As the transport slowed the soldier jumped from the back and formed a perimeter around it, scanning the surroundings, waiting for orders.

Evan quietly descended for the front and followed the scout to where his companions were waiting, talking excitedly.

“Gentleman, report” commanded Evan in a quiet voice.

“Sir, I can’t properly describe it, you have to see it.” The scout signaled to a small door set into the wall next to the massive sliding doors on the front of the building.

Evan moved in the direction of the door and peered inside. His eyes slowly widened as the structure inside resolved itself. His mind was trying to understand what he was staring at but comprehension eluded him. He walked in and continued to peer at the find inside. He touched the cold metal simply to be certain that it was real.

He walked back outside and motioned for the scouts to join him.

“Is the area secured, have any of you seen anyone else around?” asked Evan looking at each member of the squad.

The leader replied calmly, “No sir, there are no traces of anyone or anything moving around but we have not searched the whole area yet, we thought it best to report in.”

“Very well, you were right off course. Get to the transport and go get the rest of my army here, we have work to do.”

The scouts peeled off at a run boarded the transport and were soon speeding off to fulfill their orders. The remaining soldiers approached the general and took up defensive positions around Evan. Evan leaned on the side of building waiting for his army to arrive, he didn’t have long to wait, soon enough more transports packed with soldiers begun to arrive, the rest of the infantry marching behind. Getting a belly full of dust, but such was the life of a soldier.

As his commanders neared him he stood straight and begun to issue orders. “I want the area secured, nothing gets within a mile of this place without us knowing first. Get men searching inside all of these structures but instruct the men to touch nothing, I don’t know what we have here but I want to find out. Get to it.”

The men snapped quick salutes and melted back among the men to issue instructions.
What he had found inside was impossible, it simply could not be real. Evan walked back inside and laid a hand on the metal again. Yet there it was solid to the touch, the cold metal smooth under fingers, a grin slowly begun to spread across his face, maybe there was more than dust and ruins around here after all.

* * * * * * *

A bright flash of light illuminated the room a moment before a figure popped into being. It stood still for a moment, taking in its surroundings. The momentary dizziness passed; how he hated that. But there was no quicker way to move vast distances.

He tapped another command in the control at his wrist and the lights flickered on, the air was stale and quiet. Large vats were illuminated, the clear liquid in them still and pure.

Here the next part of his plan would be set in motion. The templates had to be constructed and grown. Tapping a few more commands long dormant screens flickered to life and after a few seconds information begun to appear on them; soon enough a low hum could be heard as the massive logic engines begun to work. Data was transmitted to them and soon machines long dormant were brought out of their long rest.

The templates had to be constructed in sterile environments and protected from any outside influence until there were fully developed. There were twenty two vats silently waiting, however one was broken, the liquid spilled and dried long, long ago. He could still remember the incident clearly, but he would not dwell in the past, there was no time.

He set about bringing all the systems back to operational status; more screens flickered on relaying additional information.

He turned back and looked at the vats once again, failure, but maybe this time it would not be so. On a whim he moved to a terminal and placed his hand on the device. A small pinch saw a drop of blood extracted from his right hand. Maybe this time failure could be avoided. The machine processed the sample collected and made the necessary corrections to the information being compiled. A few commands later saw the system ready to begin to process twenty templates.

Satisfied with his decision, he turned back to the dais and left the machine to their work, there was no reason to stay here now. His presence would be needed soon enough. A tap on the wrist a new flash of light saw him vanish.

The machines begun to work, cogitators processed data and instructions were sent to other machines, soon enough twenty silent vats begun to vibrate slightly as the once still liquid begun to bubble.
drklord
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Re: The Beginning (pre-W40K) part 5 up

Post by drklord »

Slowly walking around the second level of the structure Evan looked in each of the rooms that lined the hallway on each side, all the doors had been opened by his men as they searched the area. Nothing of significance had been reported so far, some papers, books which he could barely read, and old terminals that had not functioned in long time.

He was walking to the end of the hallway were his men were working on a large metal door which they had yet to open. Jonas was there waiting. The sergeant turned at the sound of his approaching footsteps and saluted crisply.

“Sir, we are ready to set off a small charge and try to blow the door.”

“Proceed Sergeant, let’s see what else is hiding behind that door.”

The Sergeant turned back to his men to oversee the final details, when his men signaled. Everyone moved away from the door and waited. A moment later a dull thud signaled the door falling from its frame. The men had not tried to blow through the heavy metal door, but rather the frame around it.

The soldiers moved quickly inside, weapons drawn, covering the sides of the room for any possible danger. Signaling the all clear they stepped back outside to allow the General and Jonas to step in.

Both figures moved through the settling dust cloud to look inside. There were several desks inside. Two of them held still figures sprawled on them, two skeletons still wearing tattered clothing, from the little that was left Evan guessed they were some sort of military uniform.

Evan moved to the one furthest from the door, upon looking closely he could see no visible wounds on the body. The inspection of the second body also gave no clues as to the possible cause of death; Evan decided he was unlikely to find the reason so he removed that concern from this mind.

Jonas and him looked over all the possible bits in the room and came away with a small recording device, long out of power and a few maps of the area. They left the silent tomb once again leaving its two occupants to their rest.

Walking back to the bottom floor Evan was looking over the small recording device while Jonas studied the maps, they showed a large amount of area with a fair degree of accuracy.

Evan wondered if there was any information stored in the device, if there were any last thoughts or wishes from the two corpses. Once again it was unlikely he would find out, at least not at this time, he simply put it in his pocket and continued to walk.

Upon reaching the stairs he could see down onto the ground floor and could see the entire vehicle in all its magnificence. It covered almost the whole of the ground floor, two massive cannons sat on the top of it. About a dozen other weapons dotted the sides, front, and rear of the massive tank. He had never in his life seen anything that remotely compared to it. It was several stories high, the treads on its sides large enough to easily crush any of the armor vehicles he had brought with him. Even the emperor’s iron legion would be put to route against this thing.

But that was the least of it, in the two of the other buildings identical behemoths sat quietly and peacefully. Yet from the weapons they sported it was clear that their purpose was war. His engineers and mechanics were crawling all over the one bellow trying to find a way in. Purpose was all these machines lacked and he would give it back to them if he had his way.

* * * * * * * * *

A flash of light, a spell of dizziness and he was back in his home. He walked away from the small chamber back to the lab. Upon reaching his destination a quick glance at the display monitors told him that the secondary location was fully functional. He reached for another set of control and begun to code in a message, the destination a location that had not received a communique in a long time. He finished and sent the message. He stepped away from the console and begun to walk back to the main chamber.

As he approached a warning siren sounded, he was slightly take aback as there had been hardly any sounds here save his steps and breathing for a very long time.

He quickened his pace back to the lab and went directly to one of the terminals there. Punching in a series of codes he silenced the alarms bring back the silence that was his only company. He set about searching what had caused the outburst. He found it quickly enough.

It was odd off course, but it seemed that the warning came from an old installation several miles away from his location. He hardly remembered why he had left any monitoring devices there; he had to bring up the records of the location. As the information scrolled on screen s worried frown settled on his face, this was not a good thing.

Bringing up the information had quickly jostled his memory; it was a military installation, a motor pool to be exact, with only three vehicles left. Each one of them was capable of destroying and entire city and had in all likelihood done so during the last war. Those weapons were a pinnacle of human technology, nearly impossible to destroy, he had left them there as there was nobody about that could operate them he had thought it safe enough to leave them. It seemed he had made a mistake; it was possible that three Baneblades would once again stalk the battle grounds of Earth.
drklord
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Re: The Beginning (pre-W40K) part 6 up

Post by drklord »

Nearly a week and still no progress could be seen. The tank remained sealed tight and so far not even a small demolition charge had been able to do more than blacken the metal around the hatch.

The thought of leaving these incredible war machines here nettled him to no end, but right now he could see no other possibility. Those raiders would not stay away for ever and this location has hardly more defensible than the one they had abandoned. He could leave them under guard but it was most likely a death sentence to whomever he left behind.

He was sitting on one of the top steps of the ladder, his new found favorite spot, to look down on the work bellow. He would wait a few more days, maybe a solution would present itself. Meanwhile his men were at least getting some rest, which had been in short supply, and incredibly the buildings’ water supply still ran which was a true blessing.

Further searches of the area had revealed no other building and these four held nothing more than dust and the three massive armored units that they could not open.

Sighting in frustration he walked down the steps and headed outside, hands in his pockets, his mind miles away from the location. His fingers brushed against something in his pocket and he absently wrapped his fingers about it and took it out.

He glanced down at his hand and he could see the small recording device there, he had examined it inside a long time but could find no lid, access or indication of a power source. The device was warm against the palm of his hand.

A beeping sound came from the device startling Evan, nearly dropping the small cylinder to the ground. He brought closer to his eyes and saw that a small display could be seen, a light blinking on it.

He fumbled about to find the correct key. Pressing the button that he thought would replay the message, he waited to hear it, a low hiss filled his ears.

“Entry, base commander Juno Katsujiro:
Corporate headquarters has been silent for nearly six months now. Our attempts to receive a reply on any of the secure channels have failed.
Yesterday several of my men hijacked one of the Baneblades under my command, I though of hunting them with the other three but there is no point, either the army or one of the other corporations will kill them soon enough.”

“Entry, base Commander Juno Katsujiro:
I have dismissed the rest of my men a few weeks ago, they took the last Stormbird back to corporate headquarter, I hope they reach their destination.
Damn the corporate president for leaving us like that, the board took over and quickly enough became mired in endless meetings, every decision examined endlessly and to no end, I hope they are in hell now.”

“Entry, base Commander Juno Katsujiro:
I am alone; my second killed himself a few weeks ago. I have decided to swallow my cyanide pill, there is no point in risking capture, if there is even anyone left to capture me, communications have been down for a while now. I suppose the relay stations or the satellites could be down, it doesn’t matter, it over now. Should anyone find this record know that the access to the tank is “Almighty,” may who ever finds this use this for some good.”

No further entries recorded

Evan stared in wide open astonishment at the small cylinder. He had just been handed the keys to what he believed was the greatest weapon left on this planet by a man that had likely died a several hundred years ago.

An explosion a few meters away sent him flying backwards his ears ringing.

* * * * * * *

He had been monitoring the progress on the secondary location, the gestation was progressing within set parameters. It was slow going but these things could not be rushed, he had learned that centuries ago, that had been a disaster that had been so narrowly avoided he still shuddered at remembering…

The clone was nearly complete; the cogitators all indicated that the body had matured perfectly within a few days. His team was checking the results from the latest test while he peered at the vat. Something had been bothering him but he was unsure what it was. He loosened his tie slightly as he moved back and typed a few commands into one of the consoles. There. The body was registering odd brain activities heavy fluctuations could be seen. That was wrong there should only be some minimal movement indicating that the brain and body were alive but nothing else.

“Sir we are about to bring the clone to consciousness, shall we proceed?”

He pondered that, there was much riding on this. If cloning could be perfected it would mean the end of disease. But he was unsure, those odd brain waves were tickling something in the back of mind but he just could not be certain what it was.

“No, do not bring the clone out yet. Check all readings make certain that everything is within normal parameters.”

The scientists looked at each other with quizzical expressions but carried out the instructions, the man before them was paying for everything after all. Readouts were checked again and again. Nothing was overlooked.
drklord
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Re: The Beginning (pre-W40K) part 7 up

Post by drklord »

A clear blue sky shone down on him, ears ringing he rolled onto his stomach and got up on hands knees, pushing his body up and standing up slowly. Jonas came running and putting a hand around his waist began to run toward the building. As they neared a few other soldiers ran out and hastily formed a rear guard as Evan was hustled into the building.

Jonas sat him down against the wall and looked him over; there were no visible wounds and it seemed he was coming around already.

“Whaa…what happened?” Evan was still dazed but at least the floor and the ceiling were not exchanging places anymore and the figure of Jonas was slowly coming into focus.

“We are under attack and it seems this bunch is a bit more experienced than the other, they brought some light artillery and mortars with them, you got lucky.”

Shaking his head to clear the last of the ringing Evan slowly stood with his back firmly against the wall. Looking at his hand he saw that he still held the recording device.

The sound of explosions slowly drifted to his ears. “Have our own artillery saturate the area around their suspected location, you guide them Jonas.”

Jonas nodded and left at a run to find the artillery commanders. Soon enough the heavy thuds of their own pieces was answering the lighter bangs of the enemy pieces.

He frowned at his hand and looked up at the massive armored figure before him, that thing could change the course of their destiny if they could get it working again.

Evan stumbled forward slightly, making his way to the super tank before him. With the help of a few of the engineers he made it up to the top hatch, leaning in he spoke the command phrase.

“Almighty”

With a loud hiss and a heavy clang the hatch popped open. This maybe a good day after all; outside heavy weapons fire could be heard.

* * * * * * * * *

Things were progressing along at a stately pace. The only problem he had not addressed was the potential reactivation of those Baneblades.

He thought about this and he truly had no wish to reveal his presence, not yet, but he could not risk such a powerful weapon being active so close to his base of operation. Nothing was ever easy, sighting heavily he walked off to his chambers; it seemed his body had a mind of his own and had already settled on a course of action. He sighted again, so be it.

He opened the door to his chamber and went for the stand holding his gear. On the rack was displayed one of the great achievements of mankind before its fall, power armor. It made the wearer stronger, faster, and more resistant to damage; him it made nearly invincible. The golden armor added to his already considerable bulk, it made him nearly three meters tall.

He picked up his bolter, checked the chamber, the clip was fully loaded and the weapon was always clean. He drew his sword checking the edge, testing its sharpness on a finger, a slight touch saw a small drop of blood blossom on it. Satisfied that his weapons were all in working order, he begun the process of donning on his armor, he’d never had cause to wear it before, but it felt like a second skin.

Soon enough he was fully armed and armored, he slowly made his way up to the top floors of the compound, there sitting on the floor before him was a row of combat transports; Stormbirds. Great weapons of war, long unseen on this planet, their making lost save for the schematics he had carefully stored away in his base. That along with much lost knowledge now rested inside that location, it could not be compromised.

He stepped in the machine and brought the systems online. A few commands saw the hidden doorway slide open and sunlight touched the floor of his home for the first time in hundreds of years.
drklord
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Re: The Beginning (pre-W40K) part 8up Comments and Crit welc

Post by drklord »

double update, hope people are enjoying this, as I have not gotten any hate email, bomb mail or other assorted death threats...anywho...enjoy.
*********
The engineers were baffled, staring at the dark hatch that now lay open; their commander could only stare at Evan.

“With all due respect Sir, how the hell did you do that.”

“Never mind, get in there and get this thing up and running we have hostiles incoming.”

The dizziness gone, his mind was clear and already spinning with plans. Turning he began signaling, squad commanders and other officers came at a dead run.

“Get the men organized double time, get me heavy weapon teams on the top windows, mortars and rocket launchers to the ceiling, get those door blocked and make sure the other three buildings are all equally defended, we are no going anywhere.”

The men gave a quick cheer at having there General whole and ready for action, they quickly disbanded heading in all directions at once. Yelling and running could be heard from all side. Evan stood calmly on top of the open tank, an island of calm amidst the rising chaos of battle.

Seeing that things were taken care off he slipped his head into the hatch.

“How is it coming in here?”
“Sir, I can’t make heads or tails of this, I need a little time to look things over so we don’t accidentally blow ourselves up or fire the main guns in the building.”

“Point taken commander, see what you can do as quickly as possible, but err on the side of caution for now.”

Having said that he stood once again and jogged over to the stairs making his way to the top floor with the rest of the men headed there.

Making his way to one of the windowed offices he peered at the scene before him. He could see a rather large dust cloud closing quickly with their location, he supposed it was vehicles and a large infantry detachment. No way of knowing for certain now.

The window vibrated as his artillery fired again, a large explosion was seen in the horizon, but he had no way of knowing if they were doing any good. He signaled a soldier nearby.

“Run to our rear position, tell the artillery commanders to stop firing until they are closer in range or we can pinpoint their location better, those shells he is firing are not limitless.”

With a grim nod the soldier ran off to carry the message.

Evan continued to peer into the distance, trying to gauge the size of the attacking force by the amount of dust being raised, but soon gave up. A few more explosions rattled the glass frame as a few enemy shells landed nearby. This was not going to be over quickly it seemed, he drew his side arm and called another soldier over to go get his kit, he would stand with his men, as always. His eyes took on a slight sheen at the prospect of battle, he didn’t relish the killing but he would be dammed if didn’t stand with his men when the time for dying came.

* * * * * * *

He checked a few more systems, not wanting to crash the ship. All systems were ready, he switched on the ignition, the ship rattled a bit as the engines came online after their long slumber, soon a dull roar could be heard in the sealed cockpit. Easing the throttle forward the ship slowly rose in response to his commands.

It had been a long time since he had last piloted a Stormbird; they were powerful ships, full of deadly promise. A quick look saw that all weapons systems were primed and ready, the powerful battle cannon was armed, the heavy bolters under the wings cycled menacingly as they loaded. Deadly promise indeed, he could think of no other craft he would rather pilot right now, except for his old flagship. Sighting with the memory of that great ship he focused on the task at hand.

The location was not far, it was about an hour away at maximum burn. Once outside the hangar he switched on the rest of the tracking systems and was surprised to see a rather large heat signature in the area of his destination.

That was odd, that would mean a very large concentration of men and equipment. True it had been a while since he had performed any kind of scans of the area around his home, but that large a signature likely meant a battle of some kind was being fought, and there was something tickling the back of his consciousness, something he’d not felt since the end of the war, when his family had died.

* * * * * * * *

The dust cloud was drawing ever closer to their position and a few shapes could be made out now. Some armored units could be seen out there, darting this way and that. Now would be a good time to hit them with some artillery, while they were out in the open.

As if by magic a rain of shell landed before the advancing force, behind it and right in the midst of them. Jonas, he thought, he was probably on a rooftop watching and signaling the artillery units behind as soon as he thought the enemy in range.

Ragged holes appeared in the advancing forces, it looked like Jonas’ eyesight was still very sharp.

Soon enough infantry could be seen running toward the buildings; he had to wander why they were even coming here. The whole area had seemed deserted as far as they could tell, abandoned for centuries actually. Still if they wanted a fight he would oblige. He signaled and a soldier with a heavy backpack jogged over, go ahead and deploy your equipment soldier.

The soldier happy to comply removed the heavy bag from his back. Opened it a removed the object inside. A large an awkward communication unit was inside. He only had a few in the whole army and they were not used unless necessary. But he had no desire to have his men running between the buildings, exposed to enemy fire.

The soldier turned on his equipment and soon enough a low static hum filled the room.
“Sir the equipment is working fine, as soon as the others have theirs up and running we should be able to coordinate with our forces.”

“Good, let me know when they come online.”

Even as he said that a heavy hissing sound filled his ears, heavy static bursts came from the unit, so much so that the soldier flicked the unit off lest they all go deaf.

“What was that?” Asked Evan to the soldier, who shook his head in clear confusion, he was unable to talk to his men it seemed. Just then a heavy vibration made dust fall from the ceiling and the window rattle on it frame. The rattling was accompanied by a heavy roar coming from bellow making his very bones shake. A dirt covered engineer stumbled into the room.

“We did it, the machine is running.”

* * * * * * * * * *

The Stormbird responded easily to his commands and the distance to his target quickly melted on his display. He was flying high enough to void being seen by any casual observers and he doubted that there were any radars or auspex left in working order in the whole of the planet. Maybe a few orbital units were left but there were no installations to receive their information.

He was nearly over the target, the heat signature was very large, but it seemed that the Baneblades were not operational yet. There were certainly a large number of people below and he hardly had the ordinance to kill the all, nor did he want to. He didn’t have many choices, thinking hard for any possible solutions he could see only one path. He was going to have to land on the buildings and see what was being done with the super-tanks.

A warning light came on; a massive heat bloom appeared on one of the buildings. He supposed the decision had just been taken out his hands; one of the tanks was active. He hoped that the last base commander had not left the units loaded for battle, or things were about to become very complicated.

Shoving forward the controls the ship responded and plummeted toward the ground. Pulling up he leveled off and did a quick fly by of the battlefield. There were a rather large number of men defending the four structures bellow, complete with artillery units dug in behind, armored units, and heavy ordinance covering the rooftops. He could just make out a few figures pointing up excitedly up at him.

The other group was larger in so far as the number of men, but less organized from what he could see. A few transports could be seen, as well as a few wrecks a bit further up, no doubt those had been destroyed by the defensive artillery units.

He was going to come in and land near the rear position of the buildings, he didn’t particularly care why they were fighting but those Baneblades must no be allowed to make it out of their berths.

He maneuvered the ship to land just to the side of the artillery, and behind one of the buildings. The armor of the ship was very heavy but a stray shell could still damage or even destroy the ship if it hit the wrong place.

Concerned with all this he had hardly noticed that the odd feeling he had at the back of his mind was a lot stronger now. He knew what that feeling meant now, but he could hardly believe it possible, it simply could not be
drklord
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Re: The Beginning (pre-W40K) part 10 Comments and Crit. welc

Post by drklord »

Shaking the dust from this hair Evan could only stare at the engineer.
“It’s operational already? Well it’s about time something went our way in this hellhole”

Even as he finished saying that an orange glow bathed the windows from the opposite side of the building, not wanting to be surprised again Evan ran to see what this new development was.

The machine that he could see coming down was massive, it sported a large number of weapons and it looked to be very sturdy. He trotted out of the room, heading down the stair and out of the building. A few dozen men followed him, weapons at the ready.

He motioned to each side and a fire line formed up. One man down on one knee and another standing behind him. These men were very good shot, all his men were. He took special pains to make sure that all the men under his command knew his weapons inside out and could get the most out of them.

Around him the rest of the men were still waiting to engage the approaching force, already the brief glow from rockets being fired could be seen from the rooftops. The artillery was throwing up thunder, smoke and death with each shot fired. From the left the bark of a heavy machine gun could be heard adding its own voice to the rising chaos.

Even with all the noise the quiet hiss of the ramp being opened was like a shriek in the night for Evan, he had been waiting for some such sound. The ramp lowered and clanged on the dirt, raising a small dust cloud. Heavy footsteps could be heard coming from inside. Something was drawing Evan’s eyes to the interior of the craft, he could barely contain himself.

A large figure wreathed in a cloud of compressed air walked out of the craft, slowly resolving it self into a massive figure in golden armor. The man stood quietly before the dozen lascarabines staring at him, unfazed by the possibility of death. An aura of command seem to emanate from the being, a quiet but oppressing feeling that the man could no be denied, that his will was absolute.

The man looked about him, the artillery continued to fire and the men on the roofs kept up the fusillade, all weapons on the opposite side of the building were now spitting death at their attackers.

“Who is in command here.” The accent was strange but understandable, he sounded like one of the aristos back in the empire, a man of learning no doubt.

Evan stepped forward unafraid of the figure, drawn to the depthless eyes that could be distinguished even from the distance that separated him. He walked part way to the figure.

“I am in command, and I would like some answers before my men shoot you.”
The large armored figure looked down at Evan as he spoke. He could feel a presence in his mind and without knowing how he forced it out. A look of surprise crossed the features of the larger being and suddenly the world twisted upside down; a powerful force was pressing on his mind and it was all Evan could do to remain upright. Slowly he went down on one knee and even as he felt himself collapse the pain suddenly vanished and an armored glove was before his face, extended to help him stand.

Ignoring the proffered help Evan stood on his own, surprise again crossed the beings features.

“I don’t know what you are, but if you do that again my men will shoot you down” said Evan trying to regain his breath and composure.

The figure looked down, a sense of calm coming from him. “I am the Emperor of mankind and you are my son.” The sheer power of the words drove Evan to his knees again, eyes streaming with tears as parts of his mind that had been sealed long ago flooded into his consciousness. The genetic memory that made up part of his mind became one with his consciousness.
darkjedi521
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Re: The Beginning (pre-W40K) part 10 Comments and Crit. welc

Post by darkjedi521 »

Well, I'm enjoying this so far. Looking forward to reading more.
Ex ASVS lurker and sometimes poster
drklord
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Re: The Beginning (pre-W40K) part 11 Comments and Crit. welc

Post by drklord »

darkjedi - glad to hear that, here is the next bit.
*********

There was no doubt in Evan’s mind that the man spoke the truth, the sheer power of the man’s presence was nearly overwhelming. When he had uttered that phrase it was like a veil was being pulled from before the figure before and its full splendor was revealed for all to see.

Evan glanced behind him and could see that his men had dropped their weapons and were like him on their knees. The artillery pieces had fallen silent, like wise the fire coming from the building rooftop, the ones on the side continued to fire, and the attackers were like wise still engaged with them. Explosions intruded in this quiet moment snapping Evan’s attention back to the task at hand.

“My Lord we need to get back to defending this place, what we found in here cannot be allowed to be taken.”

The Emperor looked down at him. “You are correct, that is why I’m here. I came to take it away from you, but now I will help you defend it and more.”

Striding toward the large building the Emperor did not wait to see if Evan was following him. Already the roar of artillery fire could be heard again, their operators snapping back into action when the silent moment was broken.

This was not how he had expected he would reveal himself to mankind, but finding one of his descendants here, commanding a large disciplined force was far to providential to dismiss. He would take full advantage of the situation and judge if his son and the soldiers he commanded were worthy of the honor he thought of bestowing on them.

Evan had to trot to keep up with the long strides of the larger figure. He was stunt by the revelation that he was related to this awe inspiring being. There was no doubt in his mind that they were related, when he had said that he was his son it was as if his previous life had melted to be replaced by a new level of awareness.

He could feel some of his men without seeing them. A very few others were a blank to him and could only sense them due to the lack of feeling or thoughts that were coming from them, they were voids to him.

It was incredible to experience the world about him in this fashion. He had been blind before, but now when his father was revealed to him all was made clear.

* * * * * * *

The Emperor approached the super tank and banged against its haul, causing a figure to pop its head up from the top hatch.

“Get your men out of there quickly” Yelled the emperor.

Faced with such a command the head quickly vanished down and was swiftly followed back up by the rest of the men inside, six men stood on the tread of the great machine looking down at the golden figure before him.

“Kneel, this is going to be painful and I don’t want any of you to fall and break your neck.”

As one the men kneeled on the treat. The Emperor closed his eyes briefly and when he opened them again they to had a golden inner light, as he looked at each of them in turn, they fell on the treads, grasping their heads between their hands.

True to his word the experience has been less than pleasant. A few of the men were bleeding from their noses. But when they shakily stood back up they knew how to work the myriad systems of the super-tank bellow them. Every last detail and nuisance was now readily available to them.

Evan had been standing by the Emperor the whole time and had felt the power used by his new master. The men had been infused with the knowledge to operate the vehicle, he was aware of that; he had felt the manifestation of the Emperor’s power.

He looked that the men. “I suspect you know what to do now. Get to it as soon as possible.”

He looked at the Emperor who nodded at him with a quiet look of pride in his eyes. That Evan had felt the nature of the burst in power spoke volumes of his potential abilities, considering he had only been awaken to his abilities for a few scan minutes.

The men snapped quick salutes and scrambled back into the tank. Soon enough the bolters begun to click and clack as the auto loaders prepared the machine for war. A quiet hum could be hear from inside. Slowly the dormant systems of the long sleeping behemoth come back online, readying for war once again.

The Emperor turned to Evan and looking down at him said. “I have to leave now, this Baneblade should end the enemy threat quick enough. Once you are done, head toward the mountains with the best of your men; leave the rest here to guard this location.”

“As you command father, it will be done.”

The Emperor headed back to the waiting Stormbird as Evan went back to the rooftop to direct the fighting.

As Evan reached the rooftop the roaring thunder of the craft’s engines could be heard as it once again took off, leaving a contrail of heavy smoke in its wake. Soon enough Evan was looking down at the battle field, concentrated on wining the battle quickly so as to rejoin his new found lord and master.

Issuing swift orders his men begun to press the attackers, slowly turning them into defenders, as assault squads supported by artillery and rooftop gunners pinned down the attacking forces. Losses were mounting on both sides, and the marauders had more men to loose. Evan was about to call a halt to the advance when a loud rumbling got in the way of his thinking.

The heavy doors on the front of the building rolled to either side and the massive super tank hiding inside slowly rolled out. Sunlight glinting of its armored skin, a true master of warfare once again entered the only arena it knew, war. The Baneblade made its way forward with increasing speed, as soon as it was passed the last of Evan’s men, all of the front weaponry opened up. Heavy bolters roared spitting death at anything not quick enough to get out of its way.

A heavy bang sounded and as solid projectile hit the front of the armor. An enemy tank had managed to fire at the advancing avalanche of metal to little effect. The projectile was solid metal with no explosive charge. The only thing it accomplished was to put a small dent on the heavy frontal armor and make it self a ready target for one of the two main battle cannons. The left cannon spoke and a massive fire ball engulfed the target. Destroying it and all the men stationed about it.

The Bane blade continued to roll forward, crushing everything in its path, the attackers begun to flee until it was a route. But no quarter had been granted, the enemy was cut down systematically. Evan’s men advancing behind captured and chained those few that surrendered or where wounded. They were sent back to the main buildings were the surgeon would look to those that they could save. The prisoners were sent back to be detained in other locations.

The battle was over a few hours after the Baneblade entered the area. The whole location was checked for stragglers, those that surrendered were detained, those that fought were killed.

After the battle Evan gathered his commanders and told him of what had happened. Mouths gaping they accepted Evan’s account for he was not known to lie or bluster. He continued to detail the events and the Emperor’s departing orders. To a man the commandeered volunteered to accompany him to the unknown location, for they were all veterans of many campaigns and were loath to see him go alone into the unknown.

Promising a swift return Evan selected a few of the commanders to accompany him and then begun to delegate tasks, ensuring that the remaining men knew what to do. He gathered five thousand of his best troops. They were well trained, disciplined, single minded in their tasks, every one of them a veteran of countless battles, true dogs of war all of them.

Evan set off toward his destination, a few hours march later a figure approached him at a run.

“Did you actually think could leave without me, who in blazes do you think will guard your back out here?” Said Jonas with a smirk.

Evan shook his head, having known full well that the master of scouts would find him eventually. “No Jonas I didn’t expect to leave you behind, you never obey orders anyway. I assume you brought a few of your men along?”

“Yes I did, fifty men are ranging ahead of the column, a few are flanking us to insure no surprises hit us.”

“Good, I don’t expect any problems but its good to have you and your men along. Let me tell you what I know about who we are going to see.”

Jonas arranged his rifle so it sat comfortably on his shoulder and paid ready attention to Evan, but his eyes were always scanning the horizon for potential threats.
drklord
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The Beginning (pre-W40K) part 12 Comments and Crit. welcomed

Post by drklord »

The journey was uneventful, it seemed the whole area had gone very quiet. Maybe word of the battle and its outcome had traveled before them. Evan and his picked men eventually arrived and the location the Emperor had indicated. But there was nothing there; the whole area was empty, of life, technology or even a simple hut. Evan looked about, checking and confirming that they were at the correct location, Jonas and his men had reported the area was deserted.

Evan stood there and decided to try a different approach. He closed his eyes and sent a mental call “father, we have arrived”
The reply came swiftly and nearly drove him to his knees, “stand away from the east face of the mountain I will open the gateway for you.”

Evan regained his senses and motioned his men away from the location, a few minutes later a low rumble signaled the opening of a massive gate. The sound grew until their teeth begun to shake, eventually the gate was open and where before had been a smooth rock face now a gapping entrance stood, a soft light came from inside and they could see that the room behind the hidden door stretched far back into the mountain.

With no hint of fear Evan marched forward, his men had never doubted him before and were not about to start now, they marched after him. When the last of the scouts was through, the gate slowly closed behind them until the whole group was sealed in. Brighter lights came on bathing the whole area in an intense white light, a door opened on the side and the Emperor strode in.

The soldier fell on their knees, but Evan simply stood waiting. The Emperor was not wearing the golden armor, but he was still an imposing figure, tall, fair of face, his frame spoke volumes of his physical strength and this cat like movements revealed that the physical power was accompanied by an otherworldly grace.

The emperor stood before the gathered soldiers and motioning upward with his hands said; “Rise, there is no need for that. You are all my chosen, the first seeds of the future.”

When the men were all standing he addressed them again. “All of you please follow the hallway on the left at the end you will find accommodations for all, as well as a functioning mess hall and sanitary facilities. Your commander and I have a few things to discuss.”

* * * * * * * * * *

The message he’d sent before leaving had been answered. That meant that at least the automated systems still worked, though he hoped there was more to it than that. The reply confirmed that all systems were fully operational and awaiting orders. He sent the coded orders that would provide purpose once more to the recipient.

The only other thing he needed was Mars. The vast foundries and shipyards would be vital in the days to come. The only problem was that Mars had become a strange place after the last war. With warring factions that had managed to devastate a green paradise, not only that but a few groups had actively contributed to the destructions of Earth. Still he knew that the world was silent once more and that a new and strange religion had take over.

The old technicians, scientists, and engineers had left their humanity and had instead taken to the worship of machines as avatars of their “machine god”. He thought it beyond strange but he needed those facilities and would be willing to play along if it meant he could get their help.
But first he had to get to Mars, that was already take care off, he hoped. Second he needed the means to enforce his will if it came to that; that last bit was being seen to even now. When Evan arrived he would propose his plan to him, he knew his son would take to it swiftly but still, he thought it better to ask rather than to command, in this case.

He had to gain control of the whole planet quickly once he begun, and then move forward with the rest of his plans. The readouts from the secondary location were within normal parameters, the templates were maturing, and soon his presence would be needed there for the final steps to begin.
drklord
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Re: The Beginning (pre-W40K) part 13 Comments and Crit. welc

Post by drklord »

With the men settled Evan followed the emperor through several passages, deeper into the mountain complex. After a few minutes of walking they arrived at their destination a large hall, lined with books, terminals and other odd devises. A few large chairs were scattered about in the room.

“Do you know what this is Evan”

“No my lord, I don’t. Though I must admit that I have never seen so many books in one place, my former ruler’s study had only a handful about, and most of those he could hardly read.”

“This was called a library once. It is a repository of knowledge, there are several such location scattered about, some contain knowledge which must never again see the light of day, but all of the knowledge that man kind had accumulated before its fall is here, all I could gather. So much more was lost in these past centuries; you can’t even begin to comprehend how close humanity came to achieving its fullest potential. All for nothing, greed won out in the end and now all is ashes and dust. But I can still change it, with some help I can still accomplish that which was promised long ago”

Raising his palm to forestall a comment the Emperor continued. “Do not commit your self to this course with haste; listen to what will be required from you, your men and most of the human race. Obedience without question. That will be the price of peace and the road to that will be through war. I know it seems like a paradox but that is the only way and you and others like you will be my instrument of deliverance.”

Evan stared mutely trying to absorb all that was being said, he was being offered to help in the reshaping of all mankind, how did this incredible being expect him to reply.

“There is more, I have concluded that for humanity to excel they need an example, a guide if you will. To that end I have found a way to create a sort of superhuman, the only drawback is that they will serve one purpose and one purpose only, they will be my angels of death, and they will be the ultimate avatars of war. I am aware that in a few places on earth some form of genetic manipulation is still being done but not to the extent I have achieved.”

Evan kneeled then, and looking up at his recently rediscovered father managed to get out the words that would change his destiny for ever.
“I care not for the price, I have known war for all my life, sometimes I feel it is all I know. If my knowledge and that of my men can serve you the so be it, I pledge my life to your service forever.”

“And forever it will be if you follow down this path my son, yet I accept you offer, however you cannot speak for your men, not this time, they must choose for themselves what they wish to do, and to do that you must tell them what I will now tell you.”

So the Emperor told Evan of the process which he had devised to create these new super beings. How he had managed to make them stronger, faster, more resilient to harm and sickness, able to heal faster, learn faster, live for long time with little to no food or rest. Evan was amazed with the knowledge being imparted, and eagerly absorbed all that was said, even managing to ask a few questions when something was unclear to him.

Having told Evan everything that he deemed was needed to make an educated decision he bade Evan to rejoin his men and tell them for there were a few things which he had to look to alone for now.

They parted ways and the Emperor went to the small white lit room with the raised platform and after a flash was gone once more. Evan likewise slowly melted in the distance as he found his way back to his men. Thinking how to convey the information to his men Evan continued to retrace his steps.

* * * * * * *

On the far side of the moon long dormant systems came to life, lights flickered on and darkness was pushed back into the far corners which were its domains. Long stale air was flushed as filtrations systems came online again. This situation was repeated several dozen times across the dormant fleet as ancient codes awaken these space borne titans from their long slumber.
drklord
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Re: The Beginning (pre-W40K) part 14 Comments and Crit. welc

Post by drklord »

Blinking back into reality the Emperor stepped down from the teleport unit and approached the closest of the vats, already a small infant was clearly seen floating in the dark liquid. These infants represented the sum total of all the knowledge he had accumulated through the millennia.

They were nearly perfect in every way possible, as he paced by the vats monitoring the readout his eyes were instantly drawn to one of the last. A single eye dominated the infant’s forehead and not only that but the eye was open, he could see the eye focus on him when he approached. This was impossible, how could the infant be aware this early on, and more how could it be so deformed. A small presence wormed itself into his thoughts.

“Father?”

The single word was loaded with feelings, and the Emperor could not resist the emotions that welled up inside.

“Yes Child, rest. Your time will come soon enough” With that he sent comforting thoughts into that burgeoning intellect and bade it rest. The eye slowly closed, resting once more.

He had been ready to destroy all the subjects if this mutation had shown even a hint of daemon taint, but it was pure and wholly human, they all were. He allowed himself a rare smile, he had been alone for centuries and now he suddenly had twenty children.

Fate was indeed full of twists and even some turns were not wholly visible to him presenting surprising new vistas when least expected. He opened the far door of the chamber and walked to the control room of the station. Upon reaching his destination he tapped a few controls and the massive blast door opened revealing the void beyond.

Only the stars were visible from this angle but something else could be seen. The lights from the view ports of several very large vessels could be seen. They distorted the constellations, creating new ones on their own. To think that there had been many thousand such ships before now only a few hundred were scattered about the system, hidden and deactivated so as to avoid detection.

Those ships would be the point of the spear; they would serve as the seed from which he would rebuild humanity. He wanted to be back on the bridge of his flagship, it was floating out there with the others. Soon he would be back there, with his army ready to retake the stars. Soon everything would be ready, but he had to give time for a few more matters to ripen and there was still the issue of uniting the whole of the earth behind him. Sighting he moved back to the teleport chamber, so many things to consider, so many things to take into account, there was no room for error, not this time.

* * * * ** * *

It had not been easy to explain to his men the process involved, most of them were simply concerned with fighting and finding a place to bunk down when the fighting was done. But as he went over the process again and again with them more and more of them came to understand what was being offered. Most of them accepted quickly enough but a few of them were uncertain, including Jonas.

The men had all quieted down by now, most of them content to wait for the next step. The few that still refused were sitting together talking amongst themselves trying to puzzle out what to do. Evan quietly approached the group and sat down with them.

“Why don’t you men tell me what has you worried, and I will try to address your concerns.”

A dark skinned man turned to Evan and spoke in a deep voice. “Sir, its not that were are afraid but if the whole thing is like you tell it then we are likely to die, I don’t know of any doctor that can do what you describe. Hell most of them end up killing a man that came to get a scratch dressed. I don’t want to die without a fight.”

“I understand soldier, but what if I told you that the Emperor has knowledge far beyond what we know. You saw the armor he wore didn’t you?” The soldier nodded yes. “Have you ever seen anything like that before, even amongst the emperor’s own guard back home?” A slight shake was the answer. “Would you be willing to undergo the process if I went first them, to show you that there is nothing to fear?”

The soldier frowned at that last question. “Sir I don’t want you to risk your life over mine, but I don’t want to leave my mates either, so if you tell me now that I have nothing to fear then I will be the first to undergo the treatment.”

His men were near fanatical in their loyalty, no man had ever deserted, even at the worst of times. “Soldier you have my word, no harm will come to you, death will no come calling for your soul without a weapon in your hand.”

That seemed to satisfy the dark skinned soldier and most of the others, they stood and left, leaving Evan and Jonas alone.

“So old friend what do you fear so that you would leave me with no one to watch my back in this task?” Said Evan with a light tone meaning no reproach to his friend.

Jonas looked at him, and took a deep breath. “I fear nothing, you know that, and I don’t want to leave you, gods know you’d be dead ten times over without me. But I have a bad feeling about this. I’m not saying no to the procedure, but I can’t say yes just yet, let me think for a bit.”

Evan nodded at his friend request. “Well and good then, I can wait for your answer old friend, and you would be dead several times too if it wasn’t for me.” That last was delivered with a rare half smile as Evan stood up.

The Emperor had returned from his last inspection and was heading toward the barracks being used by Evan and his men. Upon reaching the door, he stopped just before it and cast his awareness forward, sensing the minds and feelings beyond. Most were fairly steady considering what they had been told; a few were restless with fear and two shone with power of their own. He was surprised at that as he had not sensed the second one before.

Carefully probing he could tell that it was not of his offspring, but still very powerful, almost a match to Evan. The Emperor moved forward and the door opened quietly, he was looking directly at Evan and the person right next to him. He walked directly toward them and standing before them addressed the second man.

“Who are you?” The voice of the Emperor was deep and rich with power.

The man looked up, unfazed. “I am the master of scouts and my true name is Malcador, third in line to the throne of the Empire.”

At that Evan’s mouth dropped open. He had not known his friend was royalty, the man was secretive about his life it was almost impossible to get even a hint of his life before the army. But for him to be a member of the imperial family was incredible.

The Emperor peered down at Jonas, looking with eyes that saw far beyond the flesh and bone before him. The signature in the warp was strong and steady. He could detect no sign of corruption. Glancing at Evan he could tell that the resent information was unexpected.

“Do you know what you are Jonas?” Asked the Emperor, his will surging behind his words, compelling Jonas to answer.

“I am different.” Answered Jonas quietly, his head bowing down looking at the ground, even with his bowed the shame of his answer was evident to all.

“Yes you are, come with me. You as well Evan we must talk it seems”
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Re: The Beginning (pre-W40K) part 15 Comments and Crit. welc

Post by drklord »

Sitting in the library that the Emperor had shown Evan before the three figures stared quietly at one another, shifting their attention between them. Evan was still shocked at the confession made by his long time friend. He knew Jonas was older than him but not by much, for him to be master of scouts meant that he had likely joined the army a few years before him. How could a royal join the ranks of the army and not be a Field Marshall or some such.

The Emperor stared and Jonas, that the man had great potential could no be denied, he fairly glowed with power in the warp. He was surprised he was free of any taint, as such beings tended to draw a fair amount of attention from the denizens of the warp.

Jonas kept his eyes down cast, embroiled in some inner conflict. He had always been afraid of what he knew was inside. He could always feel things differently than other people, and the way he could sneak up on anyone, except Evan. That last line of thoughts drew his eyes up and toward Evan. He saw him staring at him, but to his surprise there was no accusation in his eyes, only surprise and curiousness.

The Emperor broke the silence that was oppressing the room. “Malcador, for if that’s your true name that is what I will call you. There is no reason to feel shame; you are a psyker, and a strong one at that. Do you know what a psyker is?”

“No my lord, I don’t; in fact I have never head the term before. I have been called other things though. Abomination, disgrace, mutant and other such honorifics”, the last was said with a tentative smile.

The Emperor appreciated that kind of self depreciating humor and smiled back, Evan who knew his old friend, no matter his real name, joined in.

“Yes Malcador I know that most men fear your kind, but know that you are far from alone, there are several thousand others in this world alone. I can teach you to use your power, to harness your ability in a myriad of ways, if you want to. This must be your choice; I cannot force this training upon you.”

Jonas, for that’s what he called himself in his mind, was tempted by the offer. To be able to learn about himself was something he always strived for, and to be taught be someone that had obviously mastered this ability was a true gift.

“Do it Jonas, let him teach you, who knows perhaps then you will be able to sneak up on me.” Said Evan, clearly exited at the prospect of his friend being able to learn from the Emperor, he had no jealousy for the bond the two men might share.

“I accept then. Teach me what I am; show me what I can do.”

“Good, I’m glad you accept. it would have been a waste for you not to develop that talent.” Having said the Emperor looked at Evan. “Tell me what have your men decided?”

“They accept, to the last man they are with you, as am I.”

“Good. We will proceed in different stages then. Select the best of the group, no more than three hundred men and move them to a new location I will show you. The others will begin the process in a different facility.”

“Your will.”

* * * * * * * * *
*click, click, click* heavy metallic sound reverberated through the corridors. The heavy robes of the moving figure doing little to obscure the large bulk hidden underneath. It approached a large metallic door, easily ten meters tall. At his approach the heavy door swung slowly opened to reveal a vast domed chamber. The ceiling lost in the distant shadows.

Another robed figure sat on a large throne, cables, wires, tubes and an assortment of other things linked the throne with the distant ceiling and the sitting figure.

A rasping voice came from the approaching robed figure, a distinct metallic and artificial sound. “Master we have detected several anomalous energy readings near the third planet. The signatures come from the orbiting moon.”

Slowly the sitting figure turned its head slowly to look at the speaker. “No energy readings should be coming from that location, it has been abandoned for centuries. Still we must investigate, send a vessel to confirm
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Re: The Beginning (pre-W40K) part 15 Comments and Crit. welc

Post by ziasyn »

This is great I have always wanted to read a story about the dark age well done keep it up I hope for more
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Re: The Beginning (pre-W40K) part 15 Comments and Crit. welc

Post by Feil »

If you want people to read what you write (fiction or not) it is advisable not to have a grammatical error in your first sentence (improper comma splice). Grammatical errors continue for the first few paragraphs, which is all that I skimmed. If you're still in school, I advise taking a grammar class. If not, there are a number of books designed for self-study. There is a /Teach Yourself Grammar In 24 Hours/ and a /Grammar for Dummies/, to name a couple of the most popular series of self-help books.

The ultimate goal in writing is transparency: the words should disappear and be replaced by ideas. In fiction, the ideas are scenes, characters, senses, and emotions. In nonfiction, the ideas are arguments or explanations. Grammar, style, and word choice are, in that order, are the means by which transparency is achieved.
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Re: The Beginning (pre-W40K) part 15 Comments and Crit. welc

Post by Dark Hellion »

Feil, the comma splice is not a particularly damning grammatical error. It is language specific and is easily forgivable in many works if the sentence retains its proper functionality. While there are clear grammatical errors I did not encounter many in the first few paragraphs that interfered with the flow of my reading. It is obviously still in a rough form and could probably use an actual proofread.

Really the ultimate goal of fiction is to tell a story that speaks to us on a deeper level than the words on the page. People will overlook grammar errors that do not interrupt this process.

That said I would recommend that Drklord does a revision before moving on. It will patch up the technical mistakes and can help to rework plotting and storytelling for later chapters.
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Re: The Beginning (pre-W40K) part 15 Comments and Crit. welc

Post by drklord »

Feil and Hellion: Thank you both for taking the time to read this! Now as to my errors, of which I have no doubts there are a lot. Hellion you are right in that this is a draft. Regretably I work on this at work when I have a few minutes to myself, which is not too often. I know it may not seem that way as I post almost every single day save on weekends...but truth is I have several pages typed up. So its hard to remember what I've gone over, what was left undone and so forth.
I figured I'd star posting what I have and let people have at it. Lastly and so as to defend myself a bit from my poor grammar I must admit that English is not my first language so I think that maybe some room for error is allowed...right...right??
On a different note what do you guys think about the story itself. Fun, not fun; actually enjoy reading it, not so much...and so on.

Ziasyn: Glad to hear that you are enjoying this, more on monday.
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Re: The Beginning (pre-W40K) part 15 Comments and Crit. welc

Post by Flameblade »

A very enjoyable story, even with the errors in spelling and grammar. Definitely subscribing to this.
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Re: The Beginning (pre-W40K) part 16 Comments and Crit. welc

Post by drklord »

For several months now Evan and his three hundred had been undergoing the various surgeries and genetic modifications that would mark the birth of a new breed of human. In that time the remaining men had also been undergoing gene therapy but to a much lesser degree that their comrades. The result from this would be that they would be stronger, more resilient to harm and disease yet in all other things would be very much human.

Their treatment had been relatively fast and the men were now training with the new weapons and armor the Emperor had provided them. He had shown the sergeants and commanders how to use the new equipment so they could instruct their men properly.

Through all that time he had instructed Malcador in the use of his powers, the man had an innate ability and a very disciplined mind. Already he was reading tomes of power that would have taken most mortals several decades to comprehend. True he had instilled a great deal of knowledge into him but still the ease with which he assimilated the information was astonishing.

While monitoring the readout from various systems he noticed that Evan’s treatment was nearly complete, he had accepted all the modifications to his body with little to no problem. The growth vats had insured that his muscles and bones could develop at an accelerated rate. That last had been necessary; Evan had been too old for the process to be wholly successful otherwise. But it had all worked out for the best and his first general was hale and whole.

He went to the library to tell Jonas this, only to find him walking toward him.

“My Lord Evan is awake.”

“How do you know Malcador, were you testing you abilities on him?” suspicion blooming in his mind quickly.

“No, he reached out to me and told me to get him out of that tank.”

The Emperor smiled at that. It seemed that the hypnotic induction had worked as well serving to train Evan’s powers as well as giving him full knowledge in the use of his new body.

Walking toward the lab they were both quiet absorbed in their own thoughts. Reaching their destination they went to Evan tank and found him floating with his eyes opened. His body was changed. He was nearly two meters tall, heavy muscles were evident on his frame. Scars crisscrossed his chest, some old battle wounds, some from the resent operations.

As the amniotic fluid drained from the tank Evan’s form slowly sunk until his feet touched the grate on the bottom. He swayed slightly as he had been floating there for the better part of a month but his body had changed. The weakness evaporated and his muscles were already responsive. When the tube was lifted he was standing straight, almost staring the Emperor in the eyes.

As Evan moved from the tank Malcador handed him a large white robe to throw over his body.

“How do you feel my son, pain, dizziness, anything?” Even as he asked he was using his power to check over the body, letting his awareness flow over the body, he did find a surprise. Evan’s mind was now covered by a tight wall of though, it would take some effort on his part to breach those mental wards and he was likely the only one that would be able to do so.

“I feel fine, although it will take a bit of time to assimilate all the knowledge that was given.”

As they talked warning claxons sounded, the Emperor was running before the other two could understand what was happening. However they simply took after their master not stopping to consider what was happening.

The Emperor ran straight for the small metal door near the control center. Slapping his hand on the biometric reader the door hissed open, those few seconds were all that Evan needed to catch up to his father and Jonas was only a few seconds behind him, his new found warp powers giving him great speed.

The emperor did not try to stop either one from joining him. He stepped on the platform, pressed a few commands and a flash of light saw them transported to the secondary site on the earth’s moon.

* * * * * * * * * *

It had taken a while to prepare a vessel to travel to their destination; none were crewed or properly maintained these days. It had been several centuries since the last of the great fleets had departed for deep space; travel within the system had been nearly nonexistent. Save for shuttles fleeting between the stark surface and the orbiting factories. The keels of several large vessels were under constructions, a few vessels were stationed on the dockyards, completed and ready but with no crews or destination.

Truth be they built because that was their sole purpose but for no other reason than that. The great spirit had to be worshipped and they knew of no other way than by recreating all that it represented to them.
There were great storehouses were his great avatars laid dormant, awaiting purpose. The grand cruisers of old, which took centuries to build, laid floating in high orbit silent and cold. It had been so long since those systems had been powered that some of the knowledge on how to bring them back on line had been lost or corrupted.

So it had taken nearly a month to bring all the systems to acceptable levels. The ship was limping along with less than a quarter of its full crew, with engines that were threatening to die out. But he had reached his goal, the moon of the third planet floated before him.

It had been a while since he had abandoned his laboratory, but here he was in an old ship hovering a few hundred miles above the moon. The old sensors told him that the readings were coming from deep within the moon and something else, there were energy signatures coming from the dark side of the moon. Those second readings could only be ships, very large ships. He decided not to waste time and set a course back, the readings had been confirmed and those secondary readings had to be reported.

As the ship slowly turned about the sensors of the vessel, which regained their former sensitivity for a brief moment before shorting out majestically, registered twenty anomalous reading of undefined origin and seconds later a brief power spike. That was enough, time to beat a hasty retreat and report.
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Re: The Beginning (pre-W40K) part 17 Comments and Crit. welc

Post by drklord »

Six eyes moved from side to side, searching all the shadows, each and every corner scoured under three pairs of eyes that fairly glowed with power. The Emperor distress was nearly palpable to Evan and Jonas, whatever had been kept here was of indescribable value to him.

“This can’t be; nothing could have gotten through the defenses.” Searching through security logs and other sensor information the Emperor tore through all available information. He finally found a power fluctuation, barely registered by the internal sensors, it could have been just a small power spike from the generator, but it was too close to the time the alarms sounded to be dismissed.

Evan and Jonas stood behind the heaving form of the Emperor; a stone would have made more noise than them so still they were, barely breathing lest they disturb their master.

The Emperor analyzed and verified the information with every possible instrument at his disposal, finally opening himself to the warp to discard that possibility as well, what he found there shocked him. Something from the warp had indeed penetrated the seals in the chamber. He knew of no warp entity capable of doing that save one of the dark ones or their avatars, and they were more likely to destroy what lay here rather than take it away. The strange thing was that he was unable to determine who or what had done this, all evidence had been scoured clean save for the impression of a mocking laugh.

Finally marshalling his thoughts he brought himself back under control, he would be unable to find any of them now, he would have to wait and hope that they could be found at all.

He turned to Evan and Malcador. “We must leave, there is nothing that can be done now, let us return to the base and I will tell you what happened here.”

Evan and Jonas turned and follow the Emperor back to the platform, a brief flash saw them returned to the silver room they had departed only a short time ago.

The three silent figures returned only to find all the doors had at least two soldiers in full battle armor, the warning sirens were still blaring loudly. The Emperor sighted and pressed a few commands on his wrist pad silencing the alarms and bringing calm back to the base.

Two of the commanders approached the three figures, having been warned by the soldiers stationed nearby of their return. Both of them blanched at seeing their old general for the first time since he had gone into the treatment. He towered over both of them; his frame was massive compared to theirs, even after their gene-therapy.

“Sir”, they saluted as one. “Its good to see you again”, said the one on the right.

The one on the left faced the Emperor, “My lord, I assume that you silenced the alarm, should I recall the soldiers we deployed?”

Distracted with his thoughts the Emperor answered while moving away toward the library, “No leave them on station and resume your training, we will deploy sooner than expected and I want all the men ready.”

“As you will my Lord” Said the commander to the Emperor’s back, turned saluted Evan and walked away taking his comrade with him.

Jonas and Evan moved to follow the Emperor and see what they could learn of what had just happened, where they had just been, how the had gotten there, and why their men looked to be stronger and were armed with strange form fitting armor and odd looking weapons.

* * * * * * * *
Half a world away a wasted figure sat upon a large stone throne. The massive hall was empty of its usually courtiers and other sycophants that always plague the centers of power. The head drooped forward slightly, tilting slightly to the side as if listening for something that was far away.

Dark whispers promised power, strength, and all the trappings of might. The figure was barely out of his early twenties and already he looked more than four times his age. The strange disease that accosted him was destroying his body and now it seemed that his mind as well. The whispers had only begun a few days ago. At first he could barely understand them, always seeming to be just beyond his hearing, and nobody else seemed able to hear them.

The promises were so seductive and they asked for so little in return. He could understand the whispers now, the more he concentrated on listening the clearer the words became. To be able to stand again, to walk, to lay with a woman, all that and more was promised by the voices. He could feel his body starting to fail him, already his legs were dead to him, and every day it was harder and harder to draw breath. He feared death more than anything else, and the whispers promised everlasting life and power.

Day by day his will had weakened along with his body, as the voices became clearer the promises were more enticing. Finally he cracked and gave in, he pledged his life to the voices and they answered that the price was his soul. He agreed with no hesitation readily handing over his most priced possession to half whispered promises in the dark.
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Re: The Beginning (pre-W40K) part 18 Comments and Crit. welc

Post by drklord »

The Emperor sat on a plush chair, his large frame filling it comfortably, his head resting on the open palm of his raised hand, lost deep in thought. Evan and Jonas sat close by on similar couches, waiting to hear what had happened.

Sighting deeply the Emperor raised his head and looked at them.

“I still can’t understand what happened, that location was supposed to be secret and almost impregnable to any form of assault. What was housed in there was to be my greatest gift to humanity. Twenty champions, genetically engineered soldiers perfect in every way. They represented the greatest achievement in genetic manipulation.”

The Emperor paused looking at Evan and Malcador, judging from their eyes if they understood what was being said. Their eyes were steady on him waiting for the rest of the information.

“These beings were meant to be the templates for their own legions. Once they had reached maturity I would have been able to draw from them genetic samples and perfect the process that you underwent Evan. For you are unique in that the modifications were completed perfectly because you are of my blood.”

“Your men underwent a limited form of gene therapy, none of them were surgically modified, they are still only humans that have had their genetic potential increased nearly to the limit. You and those that are still undergoing treatment are and will be much more than them.”

Evan nodded understanding what the Emperor explained. The hypnotic conditioning he had undergone made him fully aware of his entire body. He could feel the secondary heart beating, his third lung, the solid bone structure were his ribs had once been, his eyes could see more clearly, pierce darkness better than any night goggles. Yes he understood all the emperor had said and more.

“Without the finished templates I have incomplete information and thus the procedure will be more dangerous. The mass modification I had planned will now include a modicum of risk to the recipient as I don’t have the facilities here to undertake that process. Other location will have to used and I fear how many will loose their lives in the process.”

At that Malcador addressed the Emperor. “My lord, what about the men undergoing the process now, are they at risk?”

“No, the facilities here are the most advanced anywhere in the galaxy but the resources here are also limited. The best number that can be managed is four hundred patients at the time and even here the process requires constant supervision. The facilities that I had designed for the next phase are far larger and almost fully automated but now that will not be possible. Supervision will be required to insure that the process is successful and the risk acceptable.”

Their talk continued for several hours, the Emperor revealing in great detail his plans to save mankind. Evan and Malcador were awed at the complexity of the plan, finally coming to understanding the sheer massive intellect of the being before them. Confirming their shared suspicion that although he looked human he was much more than that. They paid special attention when the Emperor indicated he needed to have the whole planet behind him in order to begin the second stage of his plan.

* * * * * * *
Change had already begun to manifest it self on his body. Only hours after his dark pact had been sealed his body had begun to transform. He surprised his guards when he walked past them, fully erect, something they had not seen for almost two months. He went straight to his chambers were he would begin to reassert his command of his kingdom.

Flinging open the doors to his apartment he found his whoring wife laying a bed with two soldiers. The loud noise from the banging door had startled all three figures awake.

“It seems I come at a bad time dearest wife. You could not wait for my corpse to be buried before desecrating my home. And my loyal soldiers, always willing to serve me, even in this. Tell me captains what do you think I should do for having helped my wife in my absence?”

“My Lord, we are sorry for the affront, we believed you to be days from your grave, and she invited us, saying that it would insure we remained in her good graces.”

“Did she now? Well as you can see it will be a few more days before I go to my grave. So if you two wish to remain in my good graces you will carve out her heart and cut off her head afterwards.”

The two officers paled at this. The one on the left decided to take matters into his own hands.

“Die you old retch, you are nothing but a walking corpse!” So screaming the stabbed the monarch in the chest embedding his dagger to the hilt.

The emperor stumbled back a step from the force of the blow and then calmly reached up and with his bare hands tore out the captain’s throat, bathing his face and the front of his tunic in crimson. While the bleeding figure lay dying, the last of his blood pumped from the gaping wound, he calmly took the dagger from his other chest using his other hand.

The wound closed almost immediately after the offending weapon had been removed. He turned his head to the second figure. “Captain how would you like to prove your loyalty to me and be promoted all at once?”

The officer looked at the blood drenched ruler and simply said. “Yes my lord.” As he bent to pick up his dagger the emperor spoke again.

“No, no, use your hands to remove her heart. That would be a fitting confirmation of your loyalty to me.”

The lieutenant looked at the blood soaked face of his commander, and could not bring his eyes to meet those of the emperor. “Your will, my lord.”

The lieutenant begun to hit the terrified woman, first knocking her unconscious after breaking her nose, and then continued to beat her chest to break her ribs.

All the while a soft laughter echoed in the room and a soft whisper begun to assail the young officer’s mind.
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Re: The Beginning (pre-W40K) part 19 Comments and Crit. welc

Post by drklord »

About a month had passed since the incident in the Lunar base, all of Evan’s men were already out of stasis and were drilling with their new weapons and armor. The other soldiers watched in complete awe as they moved like death personified. Those men were quicker, stronger, could take more punishment than any of the other. That was seen early on in a training accident when a stray round hit one of the new super soldiers square in the chest and had barely slowed him down.

The bleeding wound sealing it self almost instantly leaving only a trail of blood down the giant’s chest. During that time the Emperor had been sealed away in one of armories preparing one last bit of technology. Having taking biometric readings of all the new super soldiers he was able to modify some the oldest and deadliest bits of technology at his disposal.

The genetically modified soldiers continued to train, staging savage mock battles against each other and against Evan’s men. Jonas supervised those engagements, using his powers to monitor both sides at once and make suggestions to the commanders as the battle progressed or when it ended.

They had been in contact with the men Evan had left stationed at the old motor pool, they had reported that everything was quiet, having sited only a small raiding party which had quickly left once they saw the defensive positions that had been erected.

In one of the few quiet moments to himself Evan reflected on all that had transpired in the last few months. It was all a bit too much and if anyone had told him that all of this would happen he would have laughed at them. As he examined the new aspects of his life he found that he was content with his lot. A small sliver of a though wormed its way past his mental barriers, he recognized the intruder.

“What is it Jonas, can you no longer use the internal comm. systems?” The thought was projected as an affectionate barb, and Jonas took the bait.

“We don’t all have super strength, so I must exercise my abilities to the fullest at every possible turn. Anyway the Emperor has summoned us to the armory.”

Finally he thought to himself, he as anxious to see what his father had been working on all this time. “Tell him I will be there.”

Evan moved to the door and begun heading toward the designated spot. Upon reaching the location he found most of his men there, both those that had been modified as he was and the others.

He signaled and one of the men opened the door. Walking inside they headed down to the dark floor below, milling about the men bunched up and waited. The lights came on and the Emperor approached from further in the large warehouse.

“Men I’m sorry to have kept you waiting, but this last bit had to be done with great care and could only be done by me at this time. Still I believe it was time well spent.”

Saying that he tapped a few buttons and the rest of the lights came on displaying row up row of large suits of armor and under silken sheets other larger form were noticeable.

Addressing the commanders of the new genome-soldiers, “Those racks on your left all contain form fitting armor for all your men, it will stop almost any of the weapons out there today. It won’t make you invulnerable, concentrated fire will still eventually crack the armor and penetrate but it will make you a whole lot harder to kill.”

The men cheered at that most of them having seen friends die in combat.

The Emperor turned to Evan and his men. “To your men I will give one of the greatest bits of technology conceived by men. Under those sheets are suits of power armor, each one of those has the name of the person it is intended for, it may be worn by that soldier and no other. That armor will make you the match of any tank on the battlefield today. You will be able to withstand any amount of concentrated fire from most any weapon. Once you put on that armor you will no longer be men or soldiers, you will become Astartes, the mailed fist of my will, my angels of death. Lastly I have something else to show you Evan, follow me and bring your bodyguards with you.”

Evan and his command squad follow the Emperor deeper into the storage area coming to a place where thirteen suits of armor rested. Each suit was larger than the ones they had just been show and appeared to be of finer craftsmanship.

The Emperor turned to address them again, “What you see before you are the only thirteen suits of Terminator Armor still in existence in this planet as far as I have been able to discover. This armor is practically impregnable to almost any weapon known. It will deflect beam weapons, solid slugs, you will shrug off flames and cold alike. None will be able you to stop you. Although weapons of sufficient caliber may penetrate after repeated hits in the same I am confident you will have destroyed any such opponent before they get a second shot.”

The men moved toward the armor while the Emperor spoke. Touching the armor and looking at the finely crafted details. The Emperor spoke again while the marveled at this ancient bits of technology. “Evan know that I place a great trust in you giving you these suits, use them to vanquish the enemies of humanity and to enforce my will across the stars.”

* * * * * * *

A month trapped in a slowly dying vessel had done little to ease his displeasure at being away from his lab. He had to repair the engines twice and had to scramble to avoid a complete meltdown of the core three times already, he would recommend the vessel be scrapped as soon as he made orbit around the planet.

The dark ruby that was his home was clearly visible in the front view screen now. A few more hours would see him back to his research. He only hoped that the ship didn’t explode before then. He had been muttering prayers ever since he had left the orbit of the third planet, hopefully that would be enough.

The communications system came alive with harsh noise, which would be completely unintelligible to nearly anyone. He moved to the appropriate console and replied in kind. His answer causing the automated defenses to stand down, if he had replied incorrectly he would have been vaporized, especially in the ship he was in.

His destination continued to grow on his view screen so he went to the hangar to board the lander and return to his lab. Though he still had to report to his superior his findings. That alone would probably demand more inquiries, and possibly another journey to collect more data; he doubted though that he would be the one sent again.

* * * * * * * * * *

Putting on the armor for the first time was a bit of a chore, but once they had it on they were a truly impressive sight. Evan and his personal squad were a truly dread inspiring sight armed with the awesome might of the Terminator armor they towered even over their own.

Some of the Astartes and a few of the genome-soldiers found ordinary looking weapons, swords and hammers; Evan even found a shield next to his armor, along with a truly massive jackhammer. The head and shaft were made from a steel like metal, but it was heavier.

The Emperor looked at those men that had drawn those weapons and motioned all of them aside, Astarte and soldier a like. He had them stand on a line about two feet apart as he addressed them.

“What you hold in your hands are power weapons. Their like has not been seen on this planet in a long time. They are made of a metal called adamantium, its harder than steel and heavier too. Hold the weapons away from you and carefully feel about the base a small switch will be there, press it.”

All the men did as commanded. The men were one by one bathed with the soft blue light of the power field of their weapons. Evan found no such switch on his weapons.

“The field you see surrounding your weapons will allow you to cut through almost any metal. Opposing fields will cancel each other, so if you were to swing against another weapon you will not cut through your enemy’s weapon. Flesh will part like paper before these weapons. That is also true for the armor you wear Astartes, there are very few things that can stand against this weapons.”

Turning to Evan the Emperor addressed him in particular. “To you I have entrusted one of my greatest possessions, The Faith of Men and the God’s wrath. They are each the shield and hammer you wield. They are master crafted items of power, the shield is a capable of deflecting nearly any weapon fire in all of creation and the hammer will allow you to smite any foe so long as your faith remains steadfast.”

Looking at Evan as he hefted both items, moving them so they rested comfortably the Emperor continued. “Armed with these two items you will lead my forces and conquer this planet with me. You and your men will be my shield and spear, we will reinstate humanity to its rightful place as master of this galaxy.” Through out the small speech his voice had grown in power and volume. When he finished the men cheered loudly, their voices rising to the heavens and far away the shadows deepened.
drklord
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Joined: 2010-02-01 02:33pm

Re: The Beginning (pre-W40K) part 20 Comments and Crit. welc

Post by drklord »

ok, a few clarifications may be in order this time around. I make reference here to an old army, namely de Old Breed and the 7th cav. This was based on a story that was being posted as well so I borrowed those two units, I thought they fit. Anywho, the other clarification is that Bjorn is included here, since he is listed as one of the oldes SM I though...why not...

***********
As time passed the old emperor’s madness became increasingly clear, but those about him were terrified of his new found powers. His physical strength was astounding, having already crushed the life of several men who though to stop him, the captain of his own personal guard amongst them.

But his growing dark power drew other like minded men and women to his court and soon it became a dark pit of insanity and death. Men were constantly being tortured for the slightest of infractions; a misplaced whisper brought a slow and agonizing death. As his thirst for blood and death became deeper he looked outside his own kingdom and coveted more.

He begun to send out his own legions, led by those dark men that had flocked to his court. Led so, his ones proud legions quickly became a feared sight. The men became crazed, blood thirsty monsters that slaughtered all, the most debased and deranged were included in the honor guard of the new generals, furthering their descent into madness. They slaughtered their way far to the west of their land.

In a small kingdom on the opposite coast of the mad emperors realm a shrewd and cunning man saw what their future would be if something was not done and so he sent a message to a not to distant land were great warriors had once trained. His grandfather had told him old stories from a place were soldier had gone to train to become the best. He sent the letter putting little stock in the old tales but having no other options but despair he did it anyways.

To his great surprise a reply came, he could make little sense of the names listed on it. The missive simply read. “The old guard will answer, the Old Breed and 7th Cavalry will answer the call to war as was sworn long ago”.

* * * * * * * * *

Their training was as complete as it was going to be without actual fighting and so they marched of in search of it. A few hundred of the newly equipped genome soldiers went to relieve those stationed at the motor pool, providing more men for treatment and re equipment.

The mountain complex was nearly filled to capacity in those weeks, as the men arrived and were sent to undergo treatment and training. Those that had operated the few armor and artillery units were introduced to those few pieces available to the Emperor. Old earth-shaker cannons were rolled out once again. The two remaining Baneblades were also reconditioned while the men were training.

These gave the Emperor forces an almost unstoppable armored force and soldiers the likes of which had not been seen in many centuries. Trained, motivated and very well equipped the genome soldiers were more than ready for their first fight as soldiers of the Human Empire, for that’s what they considered themselves now.

Soon enough they found their first challenge. Following old maps given by to them by the Emperor they discovered several things. First the location they were in used to be called China, more specifically, Tibet. They had been directed to make their way to an area called Mongolia and begin pacifying that area. They were to offer peace if possible, in exchange for a pledge of loyalty, men to train and supplies.

They came across a few small settlements first and these were glad as there had been no law in the land since before the time of their grandfathers. The medics dispensed some treatments for those that were ill as the Emperor had given them access to knowledge long lost and forgotten.

Those small acts of kindness prompted flocks of volunteers to approach them, those that were deemed fit were grouped together and begun to train immediately, the younger ones were sent in transports to deem if they were capable of becoming Astartes. Transports ran back and forth with small escorts to guarantee their safety. As the army progressed more and more land was pacified, until they came to the first large walled hive-city.

The city was large; the walls were tall and fairly thick from their appearance. They had been warned by the locals they had come across that this city was there and that the inhabitants were proud men, with a long history of warfare and they would no easily surrender.

Evan had been with his men, along with a hundred of his men, the rest had stayed with the emperor as an honor guard and to help with the training of the new Astartes that were being created.

He did not want to fight the people of the city; the cost in lives would be high on both sides. Instead he thought to use their proud warring history to his advantage. He strode forward fully armored and using the vox unit in the suit addressed the large doors of the city.

“I am a servant of the Emperor of Mankind. I come to offer you peace and welcome you into his empire. You may rejected His offer but know that this would bring about your destruction. I have been told that you are a proud people, for that reason I am willing to fight against your best warrior in unarmed combat to prove to you that we are worthy of your loyalty.”

A single voice answered from the gatehouse. “Our champion will not fight against metal men, bring your weapons against us if you wish, we will kill you all as we have done to all that have come before.”

Upon hearing this Evan considered his next course of action and decided to try one more time to end this without open fighting. So he rested the hammer’s head on the ground, laid the shield against it and begun to remove his armor, until he stood completely unarmed and unarmored before the gate.

He yelled now to be heard. “I am no metal man as you can see, I am just like you. Will you accept my challenge now?”

At this the gatehouse opened a single figure strode forward. It was a very large man, nearly reaching Evan’s chin in height. A very large curved sword rested against his massive shoulders.

“So, you would challenge me? I have killed many men in battle, leave so I don’t add your head to them as well.” Having said that the men planted his feat slightly apart, one hand rested on the hilt of the sword which was still resting against his shoulders.

Evan watched the man, it was an impressive looking being, no doubt about that, but even armed as he was Evan could likely kill him with a single punch. “Don’t worry about my head, do you agree to the surrender of the city if I defeat you?”
“If you defeat me you may enter the city unchallenged as I am its king. Should you win the city will be yours by right of combat.” So saying the man lifted his sword from its resting place and brought it up in a two handed grip.

Evan shifter a leg back, presenting his side to his opponent, he made no move to get his weapons, he did not wish to kill this man but rather to bring make him an ally.

The two combatants squared off circling each other watching the other carefully, evaluating potential weaknesses. Evan waiting for an opening that would allow a finishing blow without killing the man or costing him a limb.

The other waited sword at the ready, Evan suddenly moved in a blur and unleashed a powerful blow to his adversaries head, as strong as the blow was it did not contain his full force, incredibly his opponent dodged the blow at the last instant and launched an attack of his own forcing Evan back and the dance was joined.

They battled back and forth for a few minutes and Evan superior physique begun to mark the difference as his opponent was breathing hard. Finally Evan landed a punishing blow to his adversary’s chest, knocking him back, and following quickly with a sharp open handed blow to the side of the head which spun him about and landed him cold on the dirt.

A great shout rose from the wall were hundreds of heads could be seen now, the duel having drawn many spectators, Evan’s own men forgot themselves and had drawn closer to watch. Everyone expected the worst now but rather Evan motioned for a canteen and splashed water on the prone form on the ground bring him back to the land of the living.

Looking about groggily the man saw that he was lying on the floor and saw a hand extended to him, once he was able to focus on the spinning limb he took it in a firm grip and pulled him self up.

“No one has ever defeated me before, my life is yours stranger.”

“I have defeated you its true, but I do not want your life, I would rather have your loyalty and you name.”

The man grinned and whipping a bit of blood from the corner of his mouth answered “My name is Bjorn and you have my loyalty and that of my men”
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