Warhammer [469-470] (Patreon)

Chapter 469: News from Sanguinius

"Sanguinius sent me an astropathic message? I know what he wants to say," Rhodes said.

"Lord Rhodes, Lord Sanguinius requests that you enter the channel," announced the ship's astropath.

This was a code, a hint for Rhodes to use a private means to communicate, ensuring security.

After fusing with the cosmic phantom beasts, the Primarchs could actually contact Rhodes directly via the system channel, letting the beasts relay messages. But to avoid unnecessary trouble, Rhodes hadn't granted this permission to the other Primarchs. Regardless, they could still use their minor warp god powers to communicate across space.

As a being who'd survived the warp for 10,000 years, Sanguinius's psychic communication was even stronger. He could freely reach out to anyone in the warp.

This secret method of communication was reserved for Primarchs and the Emperor. Of course, Rhodes could also use the system to chat with the cosmic phantom beasts even more secretly.

Usually, such a secure method was only used for matters of utmost importance.

"I understand. You may go," Rhodes nodded, dismissing the ship's astropath and letting his soul enter the warp.

He quickly found Sanguinius there and began communicating.

"What happened, Sanguinius, for you to contact me in such secrecy?" Rhodes asked.

"Rhodes, not long ago, a Necron Overlord visited the homeworld of the Blood Angels," Sanguinius replied.

"A Necron on your turf? What do those boneheads want with us? When Necrons meet humanity, fights usually break out immediately, not negotiations," Rhodes frowned.

With Sanguinius's current power—plus the upgraded cosmic phantom beast—he was a match for anyone in the real universe.

A Necron Overlord coming to visit, and he wasn't killed? And as his own plans were progressing, the Necrons were already making moves?

"How did you even come into contact with a Necron?" Rhodes asked.

Sanguinius was kind, but only to humans. He wasn't as extreme as the Emperor toward xenos, but he wasn't far off.

"During the battle for the Cryptus Campaign, my gene-sons formed an alliance with two Necron Overlords. One was the Traveler, Anrakyr. That's who visited—saying he wants to negotiate with the Imperium," Sanguinius explained the situation.

Interesting. Despite all the secrecy, the Necrons still sent someone to investigate.

Anrakyr the Traveler was a big name among the Necrons, even surpassing some phaerons of smaller dynasties. He was both powerful and fully self-aware.

The Silent King sending him to investigate the Imperium made sense. Only Trazyn the Infinite and Anrakyr had history with humanity.

Trazyn was out of the question; both Necrons and humans wanted him gone.

So, Anrakyr was the logical choice. Rhodes recalled a short story where the Tau encountered Anrakyr, and he dismissed them as foolish lesser beings.

"So, do you want me to deal with this Necron Overlord, or should Guilliman handle it?" Rhodes asked.

"We can't just take him out, Rhodes. While humanity and the Necrons have had some skirmishes, we're not at all-out war. The Necrons are still very strong, and their technology is far more advanced than ours," Sanguinius shook his head.

Rhodes smiled slightly; the Necron tech was indeed overpowered, but that wouldn't last.

"I've learned that during the Cryptus Campaign battle, this Necron used a C'tan shard—a terrifying being thousands of meters tall, made of pure energy, just like the Void Dragon we dealt with on Mars. I thought this intel might be useful for you," Sanguinius continued.

"I see. So you want me to acquire this C'tan shard from the Necron Overlord?" Rhodes asked.

"Exactly. I did some digging: Anrakyr claims he lost the shard during the Cryptus Campaign, but I've seen no major energy surges in the area. I suspect the shard is still hidden in his tomb world. This is our chance—we can steal it," said Sanguinius.

"Good idea. I'll handle it," Rhodes nodded.

Rhodes was certain the C'tan shard was still in Anrakyr's tomb core—it was too valuable a power source to give up.

"I've already assigned a company of Blood Angels to escort Anrakyr's tomb world to Holy Terra. Guilliman has been notified. When you return, you can plot with him," Sanguinius said.

"Leave it to me. Can you have him alter his route to come to me directly?" Rhodes asked.

He didn't want to head back to Terra yet. After dealing with Trazyn, Rhodes intended to inspect his own territory and implant some Necron technologies there.

Most importantly, he needed to delay for a year, so his two Eldar women on his ship could give birth safely. He planned to secretly raise these children, while officially his eldest would remain Stark.

Sanguinius nodded, sending Rhodes the psychic mark the Blood Angels had placed on Anrakyr, letting Rhodes directly instruct his gene-sons to change course.

How Rhodes would convince Anrakyr not to go to Terra was not Sanguinius's concern; he was busy enough with the Leviathan Hive Fleet's invasion and rebuilding his devastated home sector.

After the communication ended, Rhodes instructing the Blood Angels to tell Anrakyr that they had news of Trazyn, and he should come to Rhodes instead of Terra.

Receiving the message, the Blood Angels' psyker reported to the company captain, who then went to negotiate with Anrakyr.

…

"You're saying your human Primarch, Rhodes, is going after the Necron Overlord Trazyn?" Anrakyr asked, surprised.

So even humans wanted to deal with that shameless thief!

"Yes, Lord Anrakyr. On Cadia, Trazyn betrayed the alliance with the Imperium, ambushed the Emperor's avatars at the moment of victory, and captured two of them, as well as several companies of Space Marines, many Sisters of Battle, Inquisitors, Astra Militarum, and even cloned Primarchs. Lord Rhodes decided long ago to bring him to justice. This campaign is already seeing some success," the Blood Angels captain explained.

"Interesting. Then let's change course. I'll go meet this Lord Rhodes," Anrakyr said.

"Understood, Lord Anrakyr. I'll relay Lord Rhodes's coordinates," replied the captain.

…

Meanwhile, Rhodes prepared to receive the Necron Overlord—one of the rare few with full self-awareness and formidable power, even among his kind. Rhodes had no intention of letting him slip away.

Anrakyr would take some time to arrive, so Rhodes turned to other matters—specifically, the cloned Primarchs, who still needed dealing with.

These cloned Primarchs, physically, were about half as strong as the originals but retained full intelligence. However, they possessed only normal human souls, not warp-god souls.

Their bodies were powerful, rivaling the Custodes and overwhelming Space Marines, but still inferior to true Primarchs.

Rhodes planned to discuss their fate with Rogal Dorn; after all, Fabius Bile only ever cloned traitor Primarchs.

Horus, Lorgar, and Fulgrim.

Chapter 470: Familiar Sons—Dealing With Cloned Primarchs

Rhodes entered the training hall. After some time recovering, Rogal Dorn was fully healed, able to wield a power sword and spar with his gene-sons.

Several Black Templars were currently attacking Dorn in training.

The Black Templars excelled at swordsmanship. With their new Astartes upgrades and teamwork, they could even hold off Dorn's attacks—a feat even the old Custodes would envy.

"Your swordplay is very familiar. Where did you learn it?" Dorn asked.

These new-age Astartes were strong, even stronger than the Custodes. Sparring with them, Dorn recognized their style as Sigismund's swordsmanship—his most prized gene-son.

After so many days' training, Dorn noticed that these gene-sons also seemed to have deep respect for him, beyond what his rank warranted.

"Training's over for today. You may go," Rhodes said, entering.

The trainees quickly broke off, bowed to Rhodes, then to Dorn, and respectfully left.

Sparring with the gene-father was an honor; it felt like a special farewell. In truth, Lord Sigismund's berserk sword style suited Rhodes's gene-sons even better, as their berserk transformations greatly amplified their power. In the spar, they hadn't even used that ability—if they had, they might even have overpowered Dorn.

"These new Astartes are far stronger than I expected. I thought if they matched half a Custode's power, it'd be impressive. But their overall strength already surpasses the Custodes," Dorn admitted, setting down his training weapon.

"The new Astartes upgrades were developed by my scientists. Unlike the old 19 superhuman organs, these have several new ones, plus improved versions of the old ones. The gene-seed has also been updated, and their full potential hasn't even been reached yet," Rhodes explained.

The upgraded Astartes required gene-seeds refined through cosmic phantom beast-enhanced Primarchs, but this tech was still experimental, only used in Rhodes's legion.

Mass production hadn't begun.

"It's an incredible achievement. If there were more of them, I'd be at risk. Twenty could defeat me, thirty could kill me, and fifty could capture me alive," Dorn said, clearly impressed.

"Thanks for the compliment," Rhodes smiled.

"I'm just speaking the truth. I noticed their swordsmanship is very similar to one of my own gene-sons. Sparring with them felt like seeing my old subordinate again," Dorn probed.

Rhodes laughed. "Of course it's familiar! Their swordsmanship was indeed passed down from Sigismund. Even after ten thousand years, his style remains. These were your gene-sons, but I recruited some Black Templars to join my legion and switched their gene-seeds."

Rhodes made no effort to hide his poaching—Sigismund's style and spirit suited his gene-sons well.

"You took my sons! Has my legion been disbanded?" Dorn asked, displeased.

"The Imperial Fists are intact. All the chapters have returned, with numbers in the tens of thousands. You'll be able to expand them further when you return," Rhodes replied.

"Good. I was worried you'd taken them all," Dorn said.

"I just wanted to pass on Sigismund's sword style to my sons, and they're better suited to my legion's tactics. They didn't go all out against you. My gene-seeds let Marines survive in space and grant them a berserk transformation that doubles their strength."

Dorn frowned—if Rhodes wanted his sword style, why not just have his sons teach it?

"And I didn't mistreat them. I gave them full upgrades—new-generation Astartes surgery is tricky; only my medical pods can do it safely. Without them, old Astartes upgrading to new would almost certainly die," Rhodes said.

"I see. Let's leave it at that. My sons don't seem unhappy," Dorn conceded.

As long as they served the Emperor, it didn't matter whose legion they were in. Their loyalty would carry over.

"Of course, and there aren't that many of them."

"So, what did you want to discuss?" Dorn asked.

"There's something I need your advice on. When I attacked the Necron base, besides rescuing you, I also found several cloned Primarchs. I'm unsure what to do with them," Rhodes said.

"Cloned Primarchs? Who did such a heretical thing? Was it those damned Necrons?" Dorn was furious.

Had he himself been cloned during captivity? The thought was chilling.

"It was Fabius Bile, former chief apothecary of the Emperor's Children. But he only cloned traitor Primarchs; he lacked living tissue for the loyalists," Rhodes explained.

"Who did he clone? How strong are they?" Dorn asked.

"Horus, Fulgrim, Lorgar, Angron, Mortarion, and Alpharius," Rhodes replied.

Magnus wasn't among them—his body was destroyed on Prospero.

"They're slightly stronger than the Custodes, about equal to the new Astartes. That's their level," Rhodes said.

If Rhodes's gene-sons used berserk transformation, the clones wouldn't stand a chance.

"I understand. My advice: destroy all the traitor clones," Dorn said.

He didn't even ask about their loyalty. There was no point—these clones would only disgust the Imperium and the Emperor, and even the people would never accept them, even as clones.

They were useless, even as warriors—new Astartes were already better.

Nor could they be released; they'd likely become Chaos Lords or Champions—Chaos gods loved such things.

So the best solution was total destruction, eliminating future threats.

"Understood," Rhodes said.

Thinking it over, these clones really were useless—just a stain on the Imperium. Their combat ability only matched the new Astartes, nothing more.

Some of them were loyalists, like the Fulgrim and Lorgar clones. Some fans even claimed the Fulgrim clone was the real one, since the daemon prince Fulgrim was possessed by a Slaanesh greater daemon when wielding the Slaanesh artifact!