I woke up in the hospicae ward, with Sister Helena holding my hand at her warm bosom.
As things go, it could have been much worse.
"I'm not sick, am I?" I wondered while reviewing the datalogs through the Machine Spirit of the Black Lant.
The reception party had moved elsewhere, and only the Lanters and my house troops were still on board. Well, it wasn't like the Emperor needed a ship, even one as nice as my Blackstone Fortress.
But he did take my two tesseracts, and most of my precious loot, and that hurt a little. My heart was bleeding deep inside, which fit perfectly with the Lanter heraldry.
The third tesseract on my Aquila necklace was still there, with my 'good' loot and supplies for my troops. This was the one I have recovered from Commorragh. I could work with a single tesseract labyrinth and nine trillion thrones as a starting capital. I did start with much less after all. I was even born naked and powerless, like all babies.
"Sick? You'll never be sick again, my lord." the faithful Sister whispered in a soft voice, then walked out and left check my body by myself.
For a second, I was worried about my progenoid glands, and checked for them. Still there!
Excellent news, for once.
I rushed to the bathroom and checked myself all over. My muscles had their own muscles now, and I could sense a few extra organs deep inside my body. And inside the brain too.
I was also a head taller than I recalled, probably to make room inside for the extra gear. Almost the height of a midget Astartes now, which fit just fine. Still, I wasn't the sa as my Astartes sons, or even the Custodes.
No Black Carapace ports, no progenoid glands in the neck, and more importantly the junk still worked just fine. I'll have to thank Janice for putting a good word for my jewels.
While admiring the work of the Emperor, I sensed Lady Velayne enter my hospicae ward. "I'm in the refresher!" I shouted as she seed a bit worried at the empty bed.
A second later, she crossed the room and joined . "You look...good." Velayne whispered and even managed to blush a little.
I grinned widely and turned on the shower. "In or out?" I demanded in a teasing voice.
Much later, she rested on the muscles on top of my pectoral muscles, a bit tired yet rather satisfied. "I was tasked to keep you company, Pef. And keep an eye on the Harlequin too. He is not exactly what he seems to be." the Inquisitor disclosed before falling asleep like a cat on her favorite pillow.
Gently I set her aside, and moved myself into my quarters, nearly stepping on an invisible Assassin curled at the base of the door.
Canis was also sleeping on his furs, and opened a lazy eye to show he noticed .
"There's a bed right here, Vaedrax!" I comnted in wry tone, while picking at the wardrobe for sothing loose that would still fit my larger body. A Catachan style fatigue uniform would do, for now. It's what I also used to dress up a couple of Primarchs who didn't have proper clothes and armor just yet.
The man rose to his feet and dispelled the as "Masters of Fear."
'Up and let's take a small walk, Sabaktes!' I urged the God-machine. The first steps were a bit shakey, but soon my mind adapted to the height difference. But the halls of the fort weren't suited for a test drive. There was plenty of elbow room outside though.
I moved us on top of the Black Lant, and began running at full tilt, even engaging the Quickening to see how fast I could go. In a single minute I arrived back where I started, while the Anima was venting extra heat through the upper cooling coils.
Quite fast, comparable to an Astartes jet bike in fact. This was in vacuum though, so air friction would slow the Titan sowhat on the surface of a planet.
So I moved myself on Ganyde, the poor moon which had just been incinerated by the Chaos fleet attacking Jupiter. Recovery teams were sifting though the debris, so I went to lend a hand. The right arm of the Psi-Titan was in fact a Power Claw stronger than a thousand escavators, and with my help we soon managed to clear the vitrified sand and molten ferroconcrete, to reach the Data Hub burried under a broken mountain.
"Want to kick the door open?" I asked in a helpful tone.
"Please don't, my lord. The records inside are written on paper." A scribe in a biohazard armor answered at once.
Perhaps I should stop helping then. With a wry salute I turned and jumped off, using the lightning storm to glide just like I saw Sister Stern do with her own lightning powers.
The landing wasn't as smooth as hers, since my Titan massed as much as an assault lander. The right knee bent and twisted with a horrible screech. Next ti, make a note Pef. Jumping from a mountain in a Titan wasn't easy of the feet.
Oh well. Ti to reverse ti and fix the injury, right?
The Necrotechica spell worked like a charm though, undoing my small mistake and turning the broken foot back into shape. Still, two psykers of the right side were giving off signs of soul trauma, so perhaps not all injuries could be fixed.
Nevertheless, I picked up speed and ran for the next mountain, to help yet another recovery team. There were even so Ultramarines here, wearing exo-suits on top of their power armor for extra digging power.
"I can lend a hand." I offered in a pleasant voice, and held the giant claw up.
"Don't damage the vault, Lanter. Primarch Guilliman wants the records intact." an Ultramarine Sergeant proclaid while waving his people away.
So I scratched the door a little. Big deal. It was only a ter!
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