ust as the Silent King predicted, the first conquest of a Tau sept world at , a major military centre of the empire, was soon countered by Chaos as an invasion of Berserkers and Chaos Spawn requiered me to unleash the C'tan wolves before all the infrastructure was ruined. Well, more ruined, since the Necron conquest did damage the planet a lot.

  The Tau Fire Warriors fought bravely in defense of their world, even showing new weapons and prototypes like the Onager impact gauntlets, Pulse Blasters and advanced battlesuits. Using their harassment tactics to slow the Necrons was a good idea, but sadly doomed to fail against billions of Necron Warriors and complete orbital superiority.

  Which is why I had Fabricator Felicia and her Ark Mechanicus around, to collect and investigate all the Tau loot.

  She and the Blade made a formidable engineering team, as they were experts in technology and reverse-engineering alien tech. My Votann friend, Ironhead could also help, pointing out which Tau tech was derived from trade with the Votann and the original STC templates they were based on, especially the Ion weapons and shields, and other bits on the Tau battlestation in orbit.

  And of course, another friend of mine showed up, since Trazyn wanted an Ethereal captive for his museum, as well as captured instances of Tau Fire Caste frozen in eternal combat against an implacable enemy.

  "So, human clone bodies?" the Necron Overlord asked as he explored the new gene crucible being built on the surface.

  Necron prisoners from the Sautekh Dynasty were being marched in chains into the crucible, to emerge on the other side as naked humans still in chains. Their old Necron necrodermis bodies were being melted down for later use as power armor and other weapons.

  I just shrugged. The galaxy would become a human galaxy in the end, even if alien minds inhabited human bodies. Eventually, the cultural and religious pressure would mold the Necrons into a different subspecies of humanity, if one more advanced than the rest of the Imperium of Man. Just like the Votann and my own Fringe Domain did already.

  "I am human, am I not? And your Silent King surrendered to me. Obviously, this demonstrates the superiority of humanity." I proclaimed in a superior tone.

  Trazyn laughed in a metal voice, quite aware I had been using Necron tech for a millennium to obtain my supremacy. His old Necron head had even provided me with the clues needed to steal the Yoke over the Void Dragon.

  "I guess I could fork a cloned mind engram and test a human body for myself. I expect it will die in some gruesome way soon after, just like all the organics I've seen so far." Trazyn the Infinite said in an amused tone, while holding a Berserker's head in his metal hand.

  "Perhaps, but even so, we could share a bottle of Amasec and laugh about our adventures that brought us to this point." I said with a grin.

  Trazyn nodded in a serious manner. "And eat a banana. I always wanted to taste one."

  I recalled his previous attempts at faking banana eating, often with a Jokaero monkey in his metal arms. Happiness could be so easily obtained if one reduced his expectations to a single banana. The Jokaero lived a blessed life.

  "So, you and Orikan. Are you friends now?" I asked on a whim.

  A strangled noise emerged from the Necron's voxbox. "In the same way you and that Eldar Solitaire are friends, yes. A single word away from turning into bitter enemies and ripping our limbs off."

  Hmmm, I kinda forgot about my old friend Mnemorach. What did an Eldar Solitaire do when he became a Blank God?

  He wouldn't be well received by his pysker brethren, and the Eldar Warp Gods wouldn't be friendly to a Blank, except perhaps Cegorach, as a cruel joke to his fellow Eldar Gods. A jester God showing off his Blank jester at the divine councils.

  My Custodian bodyguard snorted for some reason, and I glanced at Valerian for a second. No 'cease and desist' order from the Emperor of Mankind, thus the Necron humanization project was still all right. Possibly, the Emperor was also curious what would happen once our former enemies became us.

  "I don't have many friends, Trazyn. I am rather different from other humans, perhaps closer to a Primarch than the regular human baseline." I pointed out with a sad voice. It was a bit sad that I had more alien friends than human friends in this universe. And yes, I included the C'tan wolves in my friends circle.

  "Astartes. That's what you are, Pef Lancefire." Trazyn noted with a knowing voice.

  I sighed inward. I wasn't a proper Astartes either. Didn't even have the organs, even if I wore the Lamenters Chapter power armor. As for Rogue Trading, I took the Rogue part to the limits and beyond. Was this even considered Rogue Trading? Perhaps, from a certain perspective. I was still advancing the cause of humanity among the stars, and exploiting the xenos for the benefit of Mankind. My Warrant of Trade was still glowing golden inside my chest pocket.

  "Would you be so kind and search through the loot, for things that could be used by humanity? Something cheap and easy to build, preferably." I asked in a tired voice. Planetary conquests were still tiring, even after a thousand years of same old results. Well, fewer orphans crying this time. The Necrons were not the kind to leave survivors.

  Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  Trazyn sighed loudly. "I am an esteemed Archaeovist not a scrap looter. Even though sometimes these things look the same." he complained in a dignified voice, then walked into a green portal and vanished.

  Valerian the First patted my Terminator's plate pauldron. "You are an Astartes, Lord Lancefire. Your methods may not be conformed with Codex Astartes, your body may not be as strong as someone with full gene-seed organs, and your choice of xenos friends may be suspect, but you're still doing the Emperor's work."

  See? Exactly as I thought. The Emperor approves!

  "You are just bored and want to join the frontlines for some bloody melee." I countered with a shrug.

  "That can be also true, Lord Lancefire. However, this Chaos incursion does not bode well. The Great Enemy is still trying to disrupt your plans. And the Emperor's too, of course." the old Custodian spoke in a grave voice.

  I glanced up, as a Necron pylon was being lowered from orbit to provide an anti-Warp blanket for this planet and its precious gene crucibles. Faster and better than my old magma-powered Reality Cage. The Necrons did have an advantage in technology.

  "Well, these Khornate Berserkers are drawn to war and bloodshed. The Tau may have a small Warp signature, just like the new cloneskeins, but war finds a way. It is a Divine domain, after all." I said with a sad voice.

  Given enough time, and sufficient war and bloodshed, and Khorne will reform in the Warp again. Not as strong as before, and perhaps wiser to not come out and get murdered by a certain Blank with a Blackstone Fortress, but back again.

  And in this galaxy, there was always war. Khorne will be back, it was inevitable.

  I flicked my fingers, and we returned to orbit, on the Singularity battleship.

  'Welcome back, Captain! Fabricator Felicia is waiting in the holo lab.' the Blade AI spoke gently on my implant.

  I waved to the bridge crew for morale, and then walked towards the lab on my two legs, like a normal human.

  "Carry on, people! Stay vigilant." I ordered as the bridge armored door opened to reveal the death trap corridor filled with sensors, turrets and Thalax cyborgs, and a single pair of Lamenters inside their Leviathan Dreadknights.

  My ship was still at combat alert, given the recent Chaos incursion, not that we got any boarders past the hex wards and Geller Ramparts protecting the ship from Chaos. Still, better be safe than sorry.

  A bit later, after walking more corridors and examining the internal defenses, I reached the hololab, where my tech-marines, tech-priests and a certain metal wolf were dismantling Tau artifacts and scanning them for later use.

  "My Lord, the is a new Tau weapon that matches our HyLas guns in firepower, but it's half the size. And can fire 100 times, compared to the 60 shots of our lasguns. I want them for my Skitarii units." Felicia spoke as soon as I entered.

  "Denied. All I hear is same firepower, but more investments and factories." I grunted with a careless voice.

  Zath glanced at me and nodded slightly.

  "At least the new high-capacity batteries?" Felicia muttered in a subdued voice.

  Well, that was a different thing, wasn't it? More shots could indeed help, and 40 extra shots per battery could prove important in a long battle. "Approved for limited testing. If you manage to copy the assembly process and make it work with our existing las weapons, consider it approved." I allowed in a generous voice, while moving to examine a Tau stealthsuit.

  Now this would be quite a breakthrough, if made to work with our Astartes power armor. Invisible Space Marines would make some missions quite easier, especially decapitation strikes and similar ops behind enemy lines.

  Three of my Forge Master tech-marines were scanning the suit from all angles, while a dozen more broken suits were laid on tables with parts being extracted for reverse-engineering.

  "This I want. Either the or , but made to work with Astartes power armor and jump packs." I spoke in a greedy voice.

  "Yes, Chapter Master. We can all agree that invisible soldiers would be a great boon for more difficult assignments. The thermo-optical camouflage looks quite sophisticated, though." my Forge Master said with a complaining voice. The Tau were using stone spears only 7000 years ago, and now they had some stuff even better than Astartes gear.

  Of course, I knew the Mechanicus had even better stuff for their infiltrator cyborgs, and so did the Assassinorum Temples, but this could be something we could mass-produce, instead of using ancient archeotech.

  "Start with pure optic camouflage for now. Orks do not use advanced auspex sensors anyway." I claimed with a casual tone, then moved onwards.

  So many things to see, so many decisions to take...This will take all day.