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CHAPTER 14 GRIM PROSPECT

Alone in a meeting room, I was sitting on a huge chair waiting for an arrangement from the Adeptus Mechanicus, my mind was re-running the events that happened a few hours ago with perfect clarity.

So the medical examination happened, I had my body scanned by the medical devices inside the fortress and the result was interesting, to say the least.

Both the hospitallers went quiet after the preliminary scans revealed I had two hearts and a myriad of unknown organs inside my body, confirming my transhuman status. Head scans looking for brain damage were inconclusive as the core structure of my brain appeared different from that of a normal human.

Veritta's dataslate was a property of the inquisition and it was unable to access certain enquiries of the scan results citing insufficient security clearance level. Acting on another hunch, I asked Veritta if I could try to access the restricted information with the credentials on my pendant instead of looking for Thaberus' inquisitorial rosette which would take a lot of time.

'You could certainly try,' replied Veritta with a stiff smile, so I did. After a few trials of figuring out how to do that, to everyone's surprise, I was able to bypass the restriction using my pendant. Comparing the scan results with the information within classified data revealed an organ called the immortis gland existing inside my brain.

The information regarding this gland was highly guarded, in its entry there was but a line stating "genetically engineered organ existing within the cerebral cortex of each of the Primarchs" with no additional information offered.

Welminah, the sister dialogus who was among those present started trembling after reviewing all the information, her previously impassive demeanour melted away as she struggled to reconcile with the implications of what she saw; whereas Palatine Alicya was the complete opposite, she was ecstatic of the result and wanted immediately to kneel before me again but I stopped her.

'Well,' I said, trying to defuse the unpleasant atmosphere which was getting very serious, 'there might be a mistake and I would like a second opinion.' But Niandra was having none of that, immediately ordering a complete data purge on all the medical devices and issuing a straight gag order on all those present.

Representatives of the Adepta Sororitas left hastily after that, citing the need to report to their Order urgently. Veritta went somewhere, no doubt to report to Thaberus on the findings.

Having nothing better to do I went back to my room. Earlier Veritta had handed over several huge solid-looking space-age luggage which had belonged to Syrine… or me, this is so weird. After fumbling with them for a while, I managed to unlock some only to find mostly clothing stuff inside.

I guess girls are kind of the same whatever universe you are in, but I have to mention the quality of these clothing wear was out of this world, even a total novice like me could tell by simply looking and feeling their texture. Incidentally, the white robes I was wearing all this time were of the same quality and never seemed to get dirty.

Later I received news that a representative of Adeptus Mechanicus, probably working under Kryptorer, was coming to see me and some arrangement requests were made in advance for the meeting.

There was some time until the appointed hour so I decided to take a quick bath since I had all my spare clothes and was in this attire for a full whole day already. During the brief shower, I found myself spacing out and was unable to look at the mirror. By the way, the toilet bowl was so solidly built I wondered if the ceramic used was the same type to be found on a space marine's armour, it felt sturdy enough to repel small arms fire.

And there I was, bathed and changed to another piece of wardrobe for an unknown occasion. Sitting on a huge ornate chair in the assigned room alone, I finally had a quiet moment for myself.

For the first time, I realised my senses could hear sounds and see details that should have been impossible for a normal human. When I looked with enough concentration my vision could pick up the fine cracks on the ceiling and I heard the footsteps of the Adeptus Mechanicus representative escorted by Niandra coming long before they reached the door.

I am no longer human, the realisation hit me like freezing water. By sensory data alone, I could even time the exact moment Niandra was about to knock on the door.

'Come in.' I said before Niandra knocked. The door opened and a tech-priest entered with the assassin. The tech-priest stepped forward, bowed and canted, <Lady Syrine.>

I ran [Analytica] on him, the reading came back:

Name: Dataliad Vingh, posthuman, tech-priest.

'Greetings, while I believe we have met before you will have to excuse me, I recently suffered from amnesia and can't recall my past.'

'How should I address you? Just Dataliad?'

Well, that was some easy brownie point.

Dominus Cykell must be how Kryptorer's underlings addressed him. I nodded and the tech-priest went to work, setting up a device he was carrying that was the size of a suitcase. A few moments later he was done, it came to life and a huge holographic projection of Kryptorer flickered into existence. This scene was like the mirror image of a certain classic sci-fi movie scene when the dark lord was conversing with his master.

'Krypto.' I greeted the massive hologram.

<Good to see you in good health and spirits, Syrine. How is your condition now?> The dominus canted.

'About the same, but I seemed to recall some distant memory during my dream in my sleep.'

<Unfortunate, but this might take time. Dataliad, secure the site, I have confidential matters to discuss with princess.>

Moments later, I was alone again in the meeting room but this time with an active hologram of Kryptorer talking to me. He had formed up with the sisters and the planetary governor then surveyed the situation on the front. After doing so he had come up with a plan to resolve the conflict as soon as possible. No doubt it was because he wanted to quickly get to whatever new toys he found behind the blast door in the activation chamber.

'Before we start,' I said while holding up a hand, 'tell me what you know about me and what we are doing on this planet.'

Kryptorer tilted his head slightly upon hearing my question but proceeded to answer after a slight pause. <You are a direct creation by the physical manifestation of Ominissiah himself dating back from ten thousand years ago. We were on secretive sacred expedition here to activate psychic beacon prevent this whole sector being swallowed up impending events.>

'What is the origin of this psychic beacon?'

<Undisclosed. >

'How can you be so sure about my credentials?' I asked.

'Did.. did I ever mention anything about what we were supposed to do after the beacon's activation?' I decided to risk it with such a question banking on his current willingness to talk.

<Unfortunately, no. You were supposed to reveal that after we assessed the situation and you promised me access technology inside vault.> Kryptorer replied.

'One last question,' I said while taking out my Aquila pendant, 'what is this and why was I able to take control over certain functions in the inquisitor's gunship?'

Kryptorer's word brought me back to the time when I somehow survived direct grenade hits unscathed back then when Alicya tried to shield me with her body. Thinking back there were weird light flashes happening when the grenade impacted on top of us, so… that was the conversion field that saved me.

He then proceeded to put three skull probes into view.

<Please, see if you can control these via the communication link. I specially prepared to verify viability of our stratagems for upcoming major engagement.>

So, he received reports from Thaberus and from there he already deduced I can use my authority to access machine spirit.

'Very well.' I closed my eyes, focused my mental attention on my pendant, and reached out for any cybernetic connection.

…

…...

<++ ACCESSING… One (1) responding machine spirit within the vicinity. Three (3) cogitators via communication link #networkID ***.***.***.***.***** Connect? YES NO ++>

Cogitators are the term for computers in this universe, so I can directly access them as well, interesting.

<++ Accessing cogitators via communication link ++>

<++Connection accepted.++>

I opened my eyes and willed the probes to fly, they lifted and hovered in the air. Hey, this is kind of fun. I proceeded and had them fly circles around Kryptorer and to my own amazement I could actually simultaneously control all three probes with ease.

<Very good,> Kryptorer remarked. <Now, a real test if you please. Kindly land the probes and we will proceed to next phase.> So I did as told and waited, Kryptorer worked on a dataslate and a new scene flicked into existence from the holographic projector. It was a composite of multiple scenes featuring military-looking outposts.

<Please see if you can connect to these.> said Kryptorer.

Is this a drill or…? I looked at the Dominus and he was waiting on me eagerly so I closed my eyes and tried again.

…

<++ ACCESSING… One (1) responding machine spirit within the vicinity. Fifteen (15) cogitators via communication link #networkID ***.***.***.***.***** Connect? YES NO ++>

<++ Accessing cogitators via communication link ++>

<++Connection accepted.++>

...

…

They all responded.

'I am connected.' I opened my eyes and informed him.

<Excellent. > said a delighted Kryptorer. <Now, is it possible for you to shut down their sensor arrays and void shield at least sixty seconds?> A brief review of the options presented within the connections later, '... I think I can.' <Very well, please do after my countdown. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.>

<Cease all sensors and void shield operations.> My command pulse went through the link. <++Complying.++ > <++Complying.++ > <++Complying.++ > <++Complying.++ > <++Complying.++ >....

'Done.'

<Please hold that for at least sixty seconds.> A timer appeared in the corner of the hologram counting down from 60 seconds, just as it reached the 30 seconds mark I started receiving updates with the data link.

<++Initiating system boot up.++> Huh? It appears someone was restarting the systems from their end.

<Cease all operations.> I sent back.

<++Complying.++ >

<++Initiating system boot up.++> Another update came in.

<Cease all operations.> I sent again.

<++Complying.++ >

The cyber whack-a-mole scenario persisted for a while until… all the outposts in the hologram feed suddenly exploded one by one in near-simultaneous timing just as the timer hit zero. Looking at the montages of destruction I suddenly understood what just happened, he had used the openings created by my authority to launch strikes at the outposts.

<Marvellous, simply marvellous!> Praised an ecstatic Kryptorer as he was making a sound that was close to laughter, <the heretics had made a fatal mistake, in their haste to forsake the Imperium, they did not have time nor expertise hard reset all war assets, so fundamentally primary assets are still subservient your authority.> He said and bowed.

From the pict feed of the ruined outposts, I saw people scrambling out of the buildings and followed by more explosions. Though the images were quite small since they were taken from a distance and cramped into a composite display, my transhuman perception could still pick up the distinct impressions of humans being blown to bits.

I had just unwittingly become a key component for a military operation that resulted in mass killings. The carnage continued on the feed for a while until it was abruptly cut off, but I could still somehow see it, my mind perfectly recreating the scenes of human body parts flying everywhere.

<With that done and confirmed, I humbly request your review on this upcoming operation.> Kryptorer continued as a map that must have been the frontline appeared in the hologram. <We will lure the heretics into a decisive engagement and…> the dominus talked and talked until I cut him off.

'Krypto...' I said, noticing my change of mood, he stopped.

My body started trembling slightly and the world slowed, thought acceleration activated without prompt. Is this… rage or fear? But this is weird, why is my thinking process not clouded with this amount of emotion? And why was I feeling confused if we were just killing heretics? I had been used as a weapon and it bothered me more than I expected. The ground seemed to shake as my inner feelings blared but it was tempered by the cold logical side of my situation analysis.

I soon realised the situation of my helplessness, I was so helpless without the people around me at this point in time so... boundaries have to be set, that's all I can do for now. I closed my eyes again and pushed down my emotions and planned my words, thank the throne for thought acceleration, this would appear less than a second for Kryptorer. After some deliberation, I spoke again.

'I appreciate your constant support and everything you have done for me but Krypto you have to notify me beforehand if my action will result in the loss of human lives.' I delivered my conditions.

The massive hologram of the dominus kept utterly still for a few seconds before he bowed and complied. <Understood. >

'Please, continue with the previous topic.' I said, so he continued with his presentation on how to draw out the rebel's main forces in a decisive clash, in which a massive trap will be sprung by using my authority to cut off their communications and turn some of their best weapons against them, thus securing a victory for the loyalists.

It was a foolproof plan on paper, so cunning even the cheesy power gamers at my old gaming club would concede in its diabolical genius but ...this is not a game. That means many people will die, but how many?

'Estimated casualties?' I asked, again surprised at my voice not breaking. <By 400 my best estimation, about 150,000 frontline personnel killed, 350,000 wounded or captured, 3,500 tanks, 10,000 combat vehicles, 4,000 artillery pieces and around aircraft will be destroyed.> Came his reply.

My soul squirmed at the numbers, at the same time my mind caught on the keyword of "wounded or captured" so I had to make sure and asked again, 'would that be on both sides?'

<That is the estimated numbers just on heretic side, not including over a hundred thousand inevitable casualties our side and eventual fallout affecting civilians in millions.> Kryptorer answered matter-of-factly.

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