The Alliance

"Surasis," Baldur greeted the Drukhari first, knowing that these were the proudest of his allies and the most annoying to deal with. 

Surasis Grief was an Achron, leader of one of the more militant Kabal groups of the Drukhari. He led the Kabal of the Dark Mirror which was famed for its unique assault skimmer. 

Surasis had the signature red hair that most Aeldari were known for. He wore black armor covered in spikes made of materials that Baldur could only guess at. Surround him was his Court, the most trusted members of his Kabal. 

"Baldur. Been a few years," Surasis smiled toward him. "I hope that you have the latest shipment ready for us."

"Of course. For the right price," Baldur nodded indifferently. "The prisoners have been sent to the usual location. You can send your men to pick them up but I do not want a repeat of the last time," he warned. 

Surasis chuckled nervously but nodded. He remembered the last time his men had acted up, they returned with less than half their numbers. 

Baldur had done away with the death penalty on Feluc and throughout the rest of the system because he truly believed that individuals had more worth alive than dead, and his interactions with the Drukhari partially influenced this.

Baldur regularly traded prisoners who committed rape, murder, and slave trading to the much scarier rapists, murderers, and slave traders. 

The Drukhari were not used to trading with humans, usually just killing and kidnapping. So when they met with Baldur's men the last time they had met, they decided to try and take the knights who were escorting the prisoners with them. Unfortunately for them, they were not ordinary knights but some of the best knights that Baldur had under his command as well as Baldur himself. 

He led his knights against the Drukhari and killed many of them. Surasis had to personally apologize to retrieve all of the weapons, armor, and vehicles his men had left behind. 

"Of course, Baldur. Last time was a misunderstanding," Surasis agreed before walking around Baldur to sit down with his Court at the table. Drukhari respected strength and cunning above all else. And Baldur had both which made the Achron not want to piss off his benefactor. 

The next group was of the Asuryani, the Craftworld Eldar. These were Aeldari that lived on continent-sized space crafts that constantly moved around, searching for new worlds to terraform and one day call home. 

Each of these Asuryani wore black armor and helmets but to those familiar with Aeldari culture, they would recognize that these warriors of the Ulthwé. These were perhaps some of the most powerful Psykers as well as the most likely to fall to chaos due to their close proximity to the Eye of Terror. 

"Teacher," Baldur gave a small grin, something reserved only for those closest to him to the leader of the Asuryani 

The Asuryani who was in the lead and Baldur's oldest teacher was Eldrad Ulthran. He was a powerful Psyker that rivaled Baldur who was the son of the Emperor and a demi-god himself. It was through constant telepathic lessons from him that Baldur had learned how to use his Psyker powers effectively, adopting the Asuryani's way is using Psyker abilities. 

This was why Baldur emphasized spells so much. Not because he did not understand the true capabilities of Psykers but because he believed in self-limitations such as spells, rituals, runes, or anything similar that helped safeguard individuals from falling to Chaos. 

"Boy. You still look the same as when we last saw each other," Eldrad commented

"As do you. But I am not several thousand years old," Baldur taunted his teacher

"Not yet. But eventually, you shall be," Eldrad placed his hand on his favorite student's shoulder before walking past him to take a seat at the table

The last group of Aeldari were the ones that actually made Baldur worried, not sure whether they were truly his allies or simply using him and the others to further their goals before betraying them all. But no matter what he thought, the Harlequins were the most important allies that he had. 

Harlequins were Aeldari who worshipped their laughing god and had access to the Black Library, a location that had untold amounts of information. They were also masters of the Webway, a hidden path that would allow one to perform FTL travel without going through the Warp. 

But they were nearly impossible to figure out. Each Harlequin acted as troupe-like performers with every one of their actions furthering a grand play. Some of these plays were more obvious, replicating events that happened while others were mysterious and one would not even know the purpose of it until 5,000 years had passed. 

The troupe that Baldur had allied himself with bore the Masque of the Midnight Sorrow. These were the Harlequins that hated Chaos the most and did everything that they could to destroy it whenever they came across it. 

They were the ones who taught Baldur everything he knew about slaying daemons. 

"Welcome, Troupe Master," Baldur held out his hand for the masked figure

The Harlequin reached out like he was about to grab it before a knife appeared in his palm and stabbed toward Baldur. Baldur reached up and grabbed his hand effortlessly, stopping him before he could draw blood. 

"You do this every time."

"My first time doing it actually," the Troupe Master replied

Baldur's breath halted for a moment before returning to normal. He carefully studied the arm within his hands and noticed the small differences from the one he had grabbed before. The previous Troupe Master had apparently died and was replaced. 

But that was the fate of Harlequins. None of them were truly 'alive' anymore. They were all just playing parts, each one ready to be replaced by another actor. 

"Well then welcome to your first time sitting in the main seat," Baldur welcomed him without a change in tone

The 3 groups of Aeldari took their seats at the table before Baldur and his Witches followed.

"Welcome, once again," Selene spoke on Baldur's behalf. "It has been a while since we have last spoken with new faces joining us all."

Everyone took notice of the new members of the other groups, save for the Harlequins who were nearly impossible to tell apart. 

"Has everyone explained the rules?" Eldrad asked, eyeing Surasis

"Of course, I have," Surasis glared at the older Aeldari but the latter paid him no mind

"Good. Does anyone have anything they wish to trade?" Selene asked

"I have 3 STCs. That should be enough for at least a billion prisoners," Surasis had some of his court place 3 orbs on the table. No one was surprised by this as the Drukhari regularly found these when they performed their raids.

Selene nodded at them. STCs never lost value, as long as they were decent schematics. 

"What's on them?" Baldur asked, looking at the orbs before turning back to Surasis

"Plasma pistol, shotgun, and land vehicle. No hover tech though," Surasis bragged about his loot. He didn't show the designs though, since he knew Baldur could easily memorize them from a single glance. 

"Fine," Baldur agreed. He nodded to Selene who placed an electronic tablet on the table. 

"Has the coordinates where the usual prisoners are as well as some new knowledge we learned thanks to joining the Imperium. That planet worships Slaneesh and is pretty low-tech. Everyone there is yours for the taking," Selene sold an entire planet to Drukhari without a second thought. 

Surasis nodded to his Court who passed the orbs across the table and took the tablet for themselves. As long as they leveraged the information right, Surasis could gain plenty of prestige for finding a new planet for the rest of the Drukhari to raid. 

"How many of the Drakes do you have ready?" Eldrad asked, having taken an interest in the ships

"I have 500 on standby for you," Baldur figured that the old man would want some so he made sure to leave some ready for him. "What are you offering?"

"2 Power Armor designs. One that can be given to Astartes and the other that works with regular humans. That both resists external and amplifies internal Psyker abilities. But I'll need extra in exchange," Eldrad taunted

"Speak it," Baldur was very interested. If he could get both designs, he would be able to make his Legion even better at being the anti-warp Legion. 

"One of the Craftworlds will cross your path as you take your journey. Just want to ensure that you do not open fire on them, even if they fire upon you first," Eldrad made his request

"Deal!" Baldur didn't even have to think about it. Asuryani rarely fired first. As long as he didn't open fire on them or even sent a message asking for a non-aggression between them, he was sure that he could avoid bloodshed. 

Baldur and Eldrad looked each other in the eyes and connected their minds with one another. The Asuryani passed over all the information on both designs to Baldur directly. 

Luckily the Astartes' design resembled a typical Space Marine's power armor but the internals were much different. Even without the psychic upgrades, he was sure that he could outperform the standard armor by at least 200%.

Baldur was glad that he had come prepared for both the Drukhari and Asuryani. They had brought out their big guns for the trade that day. 

The others spent another hour enjoying the snacks that Baldur had prepared and making smaller deals but none were as big as the two that Baldur had secured. 

'Thank goodness that we didn't end up killing them. This alliance has helped on more than one occasion,' Baldur thought to himself.

This was no ordinary alliance between the 4. These were all traders. 

Everyone traded for something at the table. Technology, military information, prisoners, prophecies, favors. As long as one was willing to accept a payment, almost anything that the different factions kept for themselves (or kept from each other) could be traded in secret here. 

With the meeting over the 3 groups walked back through the Webway Gates, leaving Baldur and his witches to clean up. But they weren't going to complain. They had turned into the biggest victors that day with the 5 designs that they had managed to secure.