Chapter 3 – Repairing the Tomb & Problems with Orks

"That is the end of the report, my lord." Haratek said as the green screen in front of my throne disappeared.

Finally! I thought he wasn't going to stop talking. Now what should I do? Let me think. Hm! I know. "Thanks for the report Haratek, I believe I now know what to do. I want you to use all the Canoptek Scarabs and Spiders to repair the Tomb, close the holes and openings, and then drain the water. If necessary you have my permission to mine materials, but don't get discovered, we are in no condition to face an invading force, I also give you permission to keep any rare materials you find, consider this my gift to you."

"Thank you my lord, I will follow your orders precisely."

"One more thing."

"Yes, my lord?"

"Where is my war gear?"

Immediately Haratek's body went rigid, with what I believe was a command from his mind a horde of scarabs entered the throne room carrying a series of objects "Forgive me my lord, so much has happened that I ended up forgetting your wonderful equipment. "

With a wave of his hand, the items carried by the scarabs began to float towards me. I got up from the throne and analyzed the equipment. I already had the Gauntlet of Fire in my hand, now we'll see what else I can equip.

The first item was a pair of Hyperphasic Swords, swords vibrating in different dimensions allowing it to cut through flesh and armor with ease, I grabbed each sword in one hand and did a few slashes in the air, the swords felt so natural in my hands, probably due to the body I was living, blows of blinding speed cut through the air leaving green lines where they passed, when I finished the swords disappeared in a green light.

The second item was a Staff of Light, an energy generator capable of firing Gauss beams, which could be energized to be used as a power weapon in melee combat. Holding the staff I rotated it in my hands as if I were a monk from a fight movie, I fluidly passed the staff from one hand to the other, I rotated it above my head and behind my back, the more I rotated the staff more energy accumulated in it, when I finished I pointed the staff upwards releasing a blast of green rays that illuminated the throne room.

CLAP!

CLAP!

CLAP!

"Impressive my lord! I'm glad to see that the great sleep didn't affect your skills!" Haratek said while clapping his hands.

"Thank you Haratek." I answered.

The next item was a group of tiny scarabs, Mindshackle Scarabs, machines capable of controlling the minds of other beings and making them do my will. As soon as I touched the scarabs they climbed my arm and disappeared inside my body.

Next we had the Shadow Ankh, it was a heavy amulet, capable of generating a small but powerful null field, capable of nullifying the effects of the powers generated by Warp and severing the connection that Daemons and psykers have with the Immaterium. As soon as I touched the Ankh, it began to float in front of me and flew towards the center of my chest, merging with my body.

The last item was several Tesseract Labyrinths, the pokeballs of the forty-first millennium; green cubes the size of a fist, infinite storage objects capable of imprisoning anything from armies to entire space fleets. When I touched the cubes, they disappeared into a green light similar to swords.

"My equipment appears to be in perfect condition. Is there nothing more Haratek?"

"I'm afraid not my lord, the water has damaged the other of your equipment, but once the tomb is operational I can build new ones for you."

"A pity, but I understand, you can go now Haratek, do as I ordered and then we will discuss my equipment."

"As you wish my lord." Then Haratek bowed and left the throne room.

As soon as Haratek was out of my sight I sat on the throne while sighing tiredly. What was this? I thought as I looked at my hands opening and closing them. I've never fought before, so how did I do it? Was it thanks to that Overlord's body?

I extended my hand forward and concentrated on what I wanted to appear, immediately in a flash of green light a hyperphasic sword appeared in my hand, this time I concentrated on sending the sword away to wherever it was before, so the sword disappeared.

I tried something different; with commands from my mind the mindshackle scarabs left my body and started to walk in the palm of my hand. I think I'm getting the hang of it, a lot of necron technology works with commands, protocols and thoughts, for now I need to concentrate for something to happen, I have to practice for it to become something natural.

About my equipment, what I have is not bad, but it could be better, don't get me wrong, Necron technology is absurdly powerful and with what I have now, but I would like to have something that would serve to keep me alive on the battlefield, like an Orb of Resurrection or a Phylactery, a Phase Shifter would help a lot.

At least only powerful opponents can be a problem, like a named Space Marine without a helmet; I hope I never have to face one of those; the plot armor may be real.

Now what should I do? Maybe explore the tomb? Where should I start? Looking around, I saw a series of buttons on the right arm of my throne. What will they do?

I pressed the first button, suddenly the stairs in front of my throne turned into a ramp and a trapdoor opened at the end of it, where it leads I don't know. I pressed the second button and a compartment opened on the side of my throne, in it were a series of drinks, I won't need it. I pressed the third button, suddenly an alarm started ringing and the whole tomb shook.

"Self-destruct triggered, please evacuate the tomb."

Shit! I started to press all the buttons I could find on my throne, activating different compartments, screens, traps and trap doors until I finally pressed the right button.

"Self-destruct canceled, have a nice day."

I let out a sigh of relief as I wiped the sweat from my forehead, that was close, I need to write down what each of these buttons does, now there was only one more button left, pressing the last button the platform where my throne was started to shake, I prepared myself for what was going to happen, then the platform started floating up, I went up and up for a few seconds, passing through several floors of the tomb until I saw a light above me.

When the light disappeared I was at the top of the tomb, this place was huge, I got out of my throne and started looking around, a vast ocean to all sides of the tomb, I sat on the ground on one edge of the top of the tomb and stayed watching the horizon while thinking about Haratek's report.

Most of the tomb is submerged, leaving only a small part out of the water, the reason the tomb has not yet been discovered by the imperium is due to two reasons, first the tomb is located at Point Nemo on that planet, the farthest place from any landmass, the imperium won't waste time investigating this place for no reason, the second is that the people of this planet are superstitious, the tomb is called the Forbidden Ruins by the inhabitants of Hidrus Quintus.

Many people have tried to break into the ruins in search of treasure over the centuries, only to never return, they were all killed by the tomb's defense system, this caused the tomb to receive the reputation of being haunted and cursed, so people left this place in peace.

Which is fine with me. As for the planet's location, well, Hidrus Quintus is located in the Ultima Segmentum, in the Marrick sector, in the Temarius subsector, an uncomfortable proximity to Macragge and the T'au Imperium. As the name implies, the planet I'm on is the fifth planet called Hidrus, which orbits a star called Ifrit.

To simplify imagine the model of Earth's solar system we see in science books, first we have the star Ifrit, then we have Hydra, which had all its oceans drained and turned into a forge world by the Mechanicus, who specializes in projectile weapons such as autoguns, tank ammo, and artillery, the tomb in this world has been discovered and the Tech Priests have already put their fingers in the Necron technology.

Then we have Hidrus Secundus, a typical Hive World, overpopulation, crime, gang wars, serving as a recruitment point for the Imperial Guard, and also an undiscovered tomb world.

We have Hidrus Terceirus, a farm planet that serves to provide food to neighboring planets, mainly marine animals and a tomb world.

Breaking down the uncreative nomenclature we have Sirashia, a desert planet mainly served for mining by the Mechanicus of Hydrus and a tomb world, but the tomb has not yet been discovered.

Next up is Turakion, a jungle-covered planet inhabited by Snakebite ork clan and a tomb world.

Hidrus Quartus, a civilized world, sanctuary world and tomb world, looks like some imperial saint was buried on this planet.

Finally we have Hidrus Quintus, a normal civilized world, without much strategic importance and is secretly a tomb world, the world where I am. A curiosity about this planet, according to Haratek, in a few months, the months of storms will begin, rains of biblical proportions will cover the planet causing the oceans to rise and consume most of the islands on the planet.

That's why there were the big metal walls that I saw on some islands, in addition to defending against attacks it serves to shelter the population during the months of storms, but since this is the imperium people won't get in there for free, the planetary governor and high society live within the walls, they are willing to let the populace in and rebuild their water-damaged homes in exchange for everything of value the populace has.

Maybe I should pay the governor a visit? I could ask Haratek to investigate the governor for any serious crimes he may have committed and then make an anonymous report to the inquisition. Or I could approach the governor somehow and place a Mindshackle Scarab on his brain, which would be a good way to conquer the planet without drawing the attention of the imperium.

Changing the subject we have the tomb worlds.

I know what you're thinking. Why are there so many tomb worlds here? I am a Necron Overlord, my job is to govern a cluster of tomb worlds, and sixty-five million years ago all this territory was mine, the planets of this system, neighboring systems, subsectors and nearby sectors.

I wonder if I should awaken other tomb worlds or if I should stay hidden and live a somewhat peaceful eternity on Hidrus Quintus, more things to think about.

Then something in the distance caught my interest, it was another ork ship, better get it over with. I concentrated and a few minutes passed, green lights started coming out of the water and hitting the ork ship, a few minutes later the ship had sunk and no ork returned to the surface, I can't help but think it was a futile effort, knowing the orks they'll build ten ships to make up for the one I just destroyed.

I heard a noise behind me, when I turned around, I realized that another platform had reached the top of the tomb, it was Haratek accompanied by two Lychguard Necrons, one carried a Dispersion Shield and a Hyperphasic Sword, the other carried a large War Scythe, unlike the other necrons the Lychguard was not rusted.

"There you are my lord! I would like to introduce you to your Lychguard, unfortunately much of the Lychguard suffered damage due to the condition of the tomb, but I worked personally to get these two in perfect condition." Haratek said as he approached.

I got up and approached Haratek, seeing me the Lychguard knelt and placed a hand on his chest where the heart should have been.

"My lord." The Lychguards said in unison.

"Tell me your names." I ordered the Lychguards.

"I am called Rahkikh, my lord." The one with the shield answered.

"My name is Thaszan, my lord." The one with the scythe replied.

"You can get up. You have done a good job Haratek, I am satisfied."

"This servant is happy with your kind words my lord." Haratek said as he bowed.

"Let's stop wasting time, we have a lot to do, prioritize repairs and keep your eyes and ears open for any relevant information that comes out, Haratek."

"As you wish my lord."

Then we all returned to the platform at the top of the tomb and started to descend. Still I kept thinking, should I awaken another world's tomb or remain hidden? I'll weigh in on that when the tomb is ready.

Scene break.

The days have passed and nothing important has happened, Haratek took care of the tomb repairs and resource mining, with the speed that the scarabs and spiders worked, the tomb will be ready in less than a year.

All I've been doing is training with my weapons and controlling the tomb units, I'm getting better at it, I'm able to command more troops than before and I've even been able to access the list of necron stratagems and protocols, the list appears within my field of vision as if it were a video game menu, which only I can see. Oh! I've also been sinking every ork ship I come across; the number of attacks on the human population has been decreasing because of that.

I'm currently sitting on my throne watching the equivalent of forty-first millennium TV shows, Rahkikh and Thaszan were at the bottom of my throne's staircase in guard position, just waiting for something to threaten my life, Lychguards, the best bodyguards someone can have.

"Imperial propaganda, imperial propaganda, imperial propaganda. They don't even have a documentary about marine life on this planet!" I said as I flipped channels on the screen in front of me.

Sometimes I wish something would happen to break my boredom.

XXXXXX

"Can any uv yer guits tell me wot happened ta ma ships?! Where's 'da loot?!" Gol D. Loota shouted at the startled orks in front of his chair.

"But boss da green lights..."An ork tried to explain, only to have his head ripped off by the Power Klaw's hook.

"Did yer all see dat green light?" Loota asked the orks, immediately all the orks noded repeatedly.

"Hm! I will see 'dat green light 'n person! READY MA SHIP!" Loota screamed.

"CRAAA! READY MA SHIP!" The parrot squig repeated.

All the orks started running around the cave to prepare their warboss's ship.

TIMESKIP

"Is dis da place?" Loota asked an ork boy in front of him.

"Yes boss, most ships sink ere, da green lights kome outta da wata an' sink da ship." The ork replied.

"So we need ta see wot's unda 'da wata." Loota replied.

"How are we gunna do dis, boss?" The ork asked.

"Like diss." Loota said as he snapped his fingers.

Quickly two larger orks attached the ork Boy to the ship's anchor chain.

"Boss, wait!" The ork boy screamed.

"Sw'n 'da chain an we'll pull ya back!" Loota screamed as he pulled a lever near the anchor activating a mechanism causing the anchor to fall towards the water.

When the anchor reached the bottom of the ocean, the ork started to look around, everything seemed normal, the sunlight being enough to see, but suddenly the ork saw a green light in the distance, and then another and another, the lights began to approach until the ork could see clearly, a group of skeletal creatures pointing weapons in his direction.

The ork opened its mouth to scream only to end up expelling the air that was in its lungs, the ork began to struggle, which caused the anchor chain to sway and it was pulled up.

"What did yer see down 'der?!" Loota demanded as he ripped the ork Boy out of the chain with his Power Klaw.

"Tin men!" The ork screamed between gusts of air.

"Tin men?!" Loota demanded again.

Suddenly green rays came out of the water and hit the ship, but Loota's ship was bigger and more reinforced than the others, so it wasn't receiving as much damage.

"WWWAAARRRGGGHHH!"

The crew screamed as they fired into the water without waiting for their chief's order.

Loota took a Twin Linked Shoota from his belt and fired a blast upwards, this made the crew stop and pay attention.

"I DON'T KNOW IF YER GITS REALIZE, BUT 'DA TIN MEN ARE UNDA WATER, LET'S GO BACK TA 'DA HIDE, WE HAVE KONSTRUCTION WORK TA DO!"Loota shouted to the crew.

"Boss, are we runn'n away?" The Ork Boy who dared to ask that question was machine-gunned by Loota.

"DID YA NOT HEAR WOT I JUS SAID?! WE'RE GO'N BACK AN' WHEN WE GET BACK, I WANT YA TA KALL EVERY BOY, EVERY SHIP, EVERY ORK WE HAVE! WE WILL MAKE 'DA TIN MEN TEEF FOR GETT'N 'N MA WAY!" Loota screamed as the crew rushed to the Warboss' orders.

END OF THE CHAPTER