Everqueen Reclamation - 43

“What’s wrong with them?” The Emperor demanded as he entered the Biotechnical Division, marching towards the cells.

“We don’t know,” Astarte admitted, hurrying to keep up with his longer strides. “They just…appear to have gone mad. We’re still running tests but nothing so far, my lord.”

They left the main lab behind to move down the stairs to the emergency containment cells. There was a long narrow corridor lined with hundreds of cells with white padded walls, each one sealed by crackling energy fields. It was essentially a prison for dangerous test subjects…though one that had mostly fallen out of usage since Isha’s arrival. 

Now, however, many of the cells were occupied once more.

Space Marines of the Fifteenth Legion were inside the cells, many of them screaming and raving, scratching gibberish on the white walls with their nails. Others were apparently catatonic, lying on their cots and drooling. More yet had been forcibly restrained and were still writhing.

Fortunately, the vast majority of the Legion still seemed sane…if in various states of resentment, anger and resignation at being confined.

Guarding the cells were members of the First Legion of Thunder Warriors, and at the Emperor’s arrival, they all saluted.

“Your Majesty!” One of them greeted, slamming a fist against his bronze breastplate.

“Legate Taranis,” The Emperor nodded as he stopped in the middle of the corridor, extending psychic tendrils to scan the minds of the various Space Marines. “Report.” 

“Roughly a third of the Fifteenth Legion spontaneously seemed to go mad while on garrison duty in the Achaemenind Empire,” Arik laid out bluntly, removing his plumed helmet to reveal close-cropped brown hair and dark eyes. “It took the rest of the Fifteenth Legion and the entirety of my own to corral them, and several dozen had to be executed. We contained them and pulled them back here to the Imperial Palace on the Lord Regent’s orders.”

Not good, but better than the Emperor had expected. “What of the rest of the Legion?”

“Several more went insane while being escorted back to the Imperial Palace and even after arriving” Arik answered. “They were all quarantined on the Lord Regent’s orders.” 

Good thinking from Malcador. This could not be allowed to spread to the other Legions.

“What of the Achaemenid? How much damage did they suffer?” 

Arik’s grimace was enough of an answer even before he said anything. “Their old capital was badly damaged in the fighting. It will take years of recovery.”

The Emperor scowled. He would have to authorize various aid programs to help them rebuild. The Achaemenid had been loyal and useful subjects and deserved nothing less. Still, that was a matter for later. 

As he scanned the minds and bodies of the Space Marines, one thing became clear: this was not a physical affliction. Their bodies were fine, save for the injuries they had inflicted on themselves and suffered at the hands of the Thunder Warriors.

This was spiritual, a disease driving their minds mad.

So, at the very least, Isha had not lied to him when she said that she had cured the Thousand Sons of their gene-flaws.

The Emperor waved a hand. “Director Astarte, you are dismissed. End all tests, withdraw your scientists and return to your other work. I will handle the Fifteenth Legion personally.” 

Astarte started in surprise but bowed. “As you wish, Your Majesty.” 

“Engage maximum quarantine protocols,” The Emperor continued. “Arik, this means you and your men as well. Nobody approaches the Fifteenth Legion except Lady Isha or I.”

Arik started. “But Lord Emperor-”

“That’s an order,” The Emperor snapped. “Out, all of you!” His voice resonated across the hall, down to the deeper levels, and every Thunder Warrior stiffened to attention at the command. 

Arik bowed. “Understood,” He grumbled, but the Emperor let his tone go.

As the Thunder Warriors began to file out, the Emperor started weaving stronger wards around each individual cell, designed to keep the Thunder Warriors contained and perhaps reduce the impact of whatever was gnawing at their souls.

It took nearly an hour, but eventually, the prison levels were empty of everyone except the Emperor and the Fifteenth Legion, and he was almost done weaving the wards.

As the lockdown doors shuttered into place, the Emperor sent out a psychic pulse. 

+Isha, here. I need your help.+

The Eldar warp-construct appeared in a burst of green light, frowning as she looked around. 

“They appear to be suffering from some sort of mental and spiritual disease, driving them all insane,” The Emperor said briskly. “I need to see if they can be cured. There may also be a physical component, but if it is, I could not detect it” 

Isha’s frown deepened. “There shouldn’t be, I cured them all…but I’ll take another look.”

She approached one of the cells, deactivating the energy field. The Space Marine within - Ahzek Ahriman, the First Captain - lunged at her, madness in his eyes, nails dripping with his own blood, but Isha causally pinned him to the wall with one hand, ignoring his flailing.

The Emperor saw her power flow into the Marine’s body, disabling parts of his nervous system and muscles to immobilize him as Isha began her examination.

“I can’t detect any genetic or physical flaw,” Isha murmured. “You’re correct, this appears to be spiritual.” 

Rendering the Marine unconscious, Isha carried him over to the cot in the cell, placing him on it gently. “There, they will stay asleep until we are done.” 

Exiting the cell, Isha nodded to the Emperor and then closed her eyes, beginning the same kind of large-scale scanning of the Space Marines he had performed earlier.

The Emperor waited impatiently, even as he continued to weave wards and strengthen them. He was uncertain of how much good it would do, but if this was some kind of disease created by Chaos, it had to be contained at all costs.

As she worked, Isha said nothing for several minutes, a green light beneath her eyelids.

As he waited, the Emperor’s mind drifted back to her request.

“I could add my own power to it. If we power the Astronomican together, it would be more powerful, more able to push back the power and influence of Chaos.”

It was a difficult thing to consider.

It was true, the Astronomican would be more potent if it was powered by two…Incarnates instead of just one.

The burden on the Emperor would be eased as well, and he would have more strength to spare. 

But still. What of the warp realms they both sought to carve out in the Immaterium? Would his and Isha’s realms be permanently intertwined, dependent on each other? Would human and Eldar souls under Isha’s protection share an afterlife? Would their energies syncretize and become more potent, or would they clash? His…sphere was that of souls and death, while her sphere was life. Would such powers truly be able to blend?

There were so many questions, and the Emperor did not know the answers to many of them. He would not be able to know unless they experimented and tried it out…which on its own was difficult.

He had trusted Isha, bound himself in a contract with her. And despite her cold attitude since the…incident with Iyanden, she had remained a valuable ally and was not extending an offer of her own. Yes, it would benefit her as well, but it would be a great boon to him too.

Yet…the Astronomican was meant to be a pillar of his Imperium, perhaps the pillar. If Isha and he ever came into conflict, if she decided to pull back her power from it, the consequences would be catastrophic.

And what of the Eldar? Iyanden had been the only ones able to locate Isha using the embers of Asuryan’s power, but a psychic beacon empowered by her would draw them to Terra like moths to a flame.

It was an unpleasant thought. The Emperor trusted Isha now, and he was willing to collaborate with the Eldar as a form of enlightened self-interest, but he still had little love for them as a race. The idea of Eldar flocking to Sol was distinctly unappealing.

Yet, there were so many benefits as well. Not least the ability to contest the supremacy of Chaos over the Immaterium. If his and Isha’s powers did not clash, if they were able to sync them, to combine their innate anathemic traits to Chaos…

The possibilities were beyond tempting. The Astronomican might be more than a beacon. It might not take centuries and millennia to carve out an afterlife for mankind…even if it had to be shared with the Eldar.

As the Emperor mulled over the idea, Isha opened her eyes, the glow gradually fading away.

“It is some sort of curse,” She murmured. “Levelled on your soldiers by Tzentech, likely when the Primarchs were stolen.”

The Emperor refocused on the subject at hand, putting away thoughts of the Astronomican for later. “Show me.”

Isha nodded, extending a hand. The Emperor grasped it, and they shared their vision once more, as they had done that day before the Golden Throne.

Fortunately, this time was not nearly as alarming, if still worrying. Isha led him to Ahzek Ahriman’s soul, homing on a tiny, almost invisible hooks in his soul.

It was subtle, so much so that the Emperor would not have noticed it without weeks of carefully looking for it. It was frustrating, as it always was when Chaos proved that it was capable of subtlety.

The Emperor scowled, and prodded the curse, trying to unhook it from the First Captain’s soul.

Immediately, Ahriman awoke from the slumber Isha had placed him and let loose a gut-wrenching scream.

+Stop!+ Isha admonished, nudging the Emperor away from the curse. Sleep, she soothed the First Captain, easing his pain and restoring his slumber.

Now that he knew what to look for, the Emperor searched for the curse in the souls of Ahriman’s fellow Marines. And to his frustration, he found it in all of them. 

“It’s tied to the geneseed,” He realized with a growl. “But why only a mental effect?” 

Isha pursed her lips, even as she continued to put the Fifteenth Legion to sleep, doing her best to ease their pain and sedate them. “I believe the gene-flaws I picked up earlier were the physical aspect of the curse. I neutralized the biological component and proofed the Marines against anything further, but the curse is still there, possibly tied to Magnus himself. It can’t affect them physically, but spiritually and mentally? Yes.”

The Emperor’s hand curled into a fist, golden lightning crackling around it. “Very typical of Tzentech,” He agreed sourly. “Is there a cure?”

“Possibly,” Isha said with a sigh. “I can’t say for certain, but there is still hope. We have only just begun, after all. But the Fifteenth Legion will need to be quarantined while I work on the problem and try to find a way to shield them from the curse’s effects.”

An entire Legion, essentially rendered non-functional with Chaos hardly having to lift a finger. It wasn’t exactly a crippling blow, but it was certainly a blow, one that would slow his plans.

Damn Tzentech.

“What about unravelling the curse itself?” The Emperor inquired tersely.

“Curses are not my area of expertise,” Isha said, shaking her head. “That is best left to you, I think. My advice, however, would be to contact Magnus and investigate. The curse is almost certainly tied to him in some way, and thus to his geneseed.”

The Emperor grimaced but nodded. 

Discussing this with Magnus would be delicate. Telling him the truth was out of the question. After over a year of psychic correspondence, the Emperor had come to know his son well, and he knew that Magnus would undoubtedly attempt something reckless if he knew the truth.

No, the Emperor was going to have to investigate and examine his son while threading the needle of not tipping him to the fact that anything was wrong.

Easier said than done.