Chapter 15 Part 2

Chapter 15: Our enemies bring us together

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Part 2

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Victory Bay

Kronus

"Fine, let's negotiate. First, please answer me this, where is Selene, who the hell is the Thief, and what is he doing on Kronus?" Inquisitor Veil glowed with golden power while he visibly restrained himself.

Herald of Victory was in a similar state. He might be a Necron Lord, and he might lack many of his memories, however, he could experience emotions now! It didn't matter if it was a bug of a feature after spending so long asleep. Trazyn trampled his honor again, and that would not stand!

"He is Trazyn the Thief, and his suffering will be infinite!" Herald of Victory explained.

"What my fellow Planetary Overlord is saying is that Trazyn the Infinite is a thieving wretch wanted by dozens of Dynasties for absconding with all kinds of valuables." Amarkun translated. While understandable, his colleague's anger might be a bit counter-productive. Or perhaps not. It might be a bonding point to help cement the alliance?

Amarkun had his reasons to loath Trazyn, many of them in fact. Today, he had to add another one. After such a disgraceful display, honor demanded restitution, thus weakening their bargaining position! They couldn't even take proper credit for saving the little Pariah. It was a Necron attempting to take her, and good luck convincing the Humans to be grateful! They might be primitive, however, they weren't completely foolish or ignorant. At least these particular Humans weren't! Any attempt to play up the rescue might be logically interpreted as a set up to gain an upper hand in the negotiations, thus backfiring spectacularly. Damn Trazyn and his thieving ways to long and protracted death! May his necrodermis rot and his joints break!

"Your Pariah is en route to this location under heavy guard. Given the circumstances, we are not risking Trazyn intercepting a displacement attempt. We surprised him once, we aren't relying on surprise again." Amarkun added, while his fellow Lord still fumed and screamed at Trazyn to come out and die all over the Necron network.

It was a pity that the thieving bastard would at best send one of his infamous body doubles. Though, smashing another one of those might feel good.

"You haven't put him down or imprisoned him why exactly?" The new Inquisitor asked shrewdly.

"Unfortunately, all things considered, an assault on his stronghold would have cost too many valuable assets at a time when we fought the War in Heaven. Right now, such an assault, even if successful would be crippling. Trazyn the Thief, rules over Solemnace, what you would call a Dyson Sphere. It possesses heavy defenses. A direct assault would require a strategic effort which simply isn't feasible at this time." Amarkun explained. He wasn't making a startling revelation. The Humans were aware that no matter how advanced the Necrons were, their numbers were limited, which was one of the primary driving forces behind these negotiations.

"That's regrettable," Veil grumbled. "Unless we know for a fact that he has stolen strategic Imperial assets we won't be able to muster sufficient forces for dealing with him, no matter how we might like to. Doing so would be a misappropriation of resources."

"We share your frustration, Human. It has plagued us for longer than you can imagine. We might only hope that either one day the Thief will misstep, or the strategic situation would shift enough in our favor to make an assault on Solemnace viable. If that day comes, I will be honored to fight by your side again!" Herald of Victory finally got his rage under control and demonstrated he had become a Planetary Lord for a reason.

"I share the sentiment along with the rest of the Nepheru Dynasty." Amarkun declared grandly. Even Phaeron Kephrekh the Unbroken might stay his hands long enough to work with primitives if it meant delivering a meaningful blow against Trazyn. Or not. Zaa of Tomorrow might be right and that was a depressing thought on this particular occasion. "Because of the Thief's dishonorable actions, we're prepared to offer you a few concessions."

"Under most conceivable circumstances, our directives would require to remove any… trespassers from our worlds in a most expedient fashion. I understand you've encountered our kind before, and it has been under adverse circumstances. This is one of the most likely reasons – they saw you as threats and interlopers upon awakening and acted appropriately." Herald of Victory explaining truthfully. It just wasn't the full truth. "Kronus, my domain is different. First, it is not a full Tomb World but a well-defended research center. Second, after fighting together against common enemies, honor demands we observe certain courtesies. Further, the despicable conduct of the Thief reflects ill upon every Necron in the galaxy."

"That much we can accept." Inquisitor Veil said more calmly. His wings relaxed, even if his form still glowed with a very odd form of trans-dimensional energy.

"Given recent events and the bond we hold forged in combat, I am prepared to allow continued human habitation upon parts of Kronus under certain conditions." If nothing else, the Humans were mortal, the Necrons were Immortal. They could simply wait for the Human presence on Kronus to naturally die off, even if it meant mostly ignoring them during a general conflict with the rest of the primitives.

Herald of Victory raised a hand and called an image into existence showing the continent.

"The Thur'Abis Plateau as you know it is mine. My facilities there are now almost fully operational, properly defended, and if it makes the rest of your kind feel better, I can keep the area permanently concealed." Herald of Victory began his part of the bargain. "The Van De Mar mountains, the western mountain parts of the Pavonian Heartlands, and parts of the Western Badlands contain some of my facilities below the surfaces." Those areas lit up with green and the symbol of the Silent King's own Dynasty.

Amarkun was very glad he decided to tread carefully and use diplomacy instead of a more forceful attempt to gain an advantage in this system. If or when the Silent King returned, a heavy-handed approach could have spelled a disaster.

The Humans looked at each other.

"It might work, practically speaking. While the territory you hold cuts off direct travel to many regions on the continent, it leaves plenty of alternative routes to ship people and supplies. From what I gather, those are some of the safer roads too. Provisionally speaking, such an arrangement might be acceptable." Veil nodded thoughtfully.

"We might have to offer some concessions to the locals to avoid future trouble. In that regard," the female smirked at Veil, "a sermon or ten from their new Saint might help smooth ruffled feathers."

The Necrons watched the exchange with interest. From what they gathered so far, wings and feathers weren't typical among the Humans. However, this exchange pointed that such a conclusion was either incorrect or that the wings held some importance they haven't been able to properly discern yet. Figuring out the primitives was proving a more complicated task than anticipated.

"As long as I have your backing when the Ecclesiarchy arrives in force. We'll have to convince them to behave, or else any agreement we reach might be threatened." Veil compromised.

"Our understanding was that you two, as Inquisitors, have unparalleled authority among your kind. Is that correct?" Amarkun asked for clarification. Everything they could dig up pointed at that conclusion being the right one.

"In theory and most cases, in practice, this is correct. In our particular case, you being aliens from our point of view, dealing with you falls under the purview of Ordo Xenos, our branch of the Inquisition." The female explained. "In practice, the situation on Kronus is particularly complicated and will cause problems no matter what we do. Humanity has been under siege by hostile aliens for more than ten thousand years. That might be a blink of an eye to you, Necrons, but to us, it has been an eternity. Mistrust and hatred of the alien are ingrained among most of our people. Any alliances with aliens have been temporarily affairs. Almost always, the Xenos had betrayed the spirit or letter of those agreements sooner rather than later. We will need more than our word and theoretical authority to make an agreement viable."

"A most dishonorable state of affairs."

"The few species we could occasionally work with are the Eldar, enough said there, or the Tau, the blue aliens still controlling important parts of this continent." Veil pointed out.

"The same aliens who allied against us." Herald of the Void nodded once in understanding. He quickly bounced a few ideas and alternative stratagems against Amarkun.

Put in that context, the Humans' madness made a bit more sense. Their situation almost appeared like a mirror of what the Necrons faced during the War of Heaven, besides the obvious fact that they lacked allies back then.

They could work with this. Before the C'tan, before the first defeat that led to their doom anyway, the Necrontyr were alone, besieged from all sides by a superior enemy. That was almost the same situation the Humans found themselves stuck in. Back then, their former selves would have taken any offer of help, or perhaps not. Fear and hatred were strong motivations. They could understand them and work with them.

"In view of recent events, I will offer assistance in removing the Tau from Kronus. Further, the preliminary analysis leads us to believe that those aliens do have technology equal or superior to what your forces deployed. While we won't claim that they are more advanced than your Imperium, it might be prudent to capture as many technological examples and industrial facilities as practical. That way, your Cryptek equivalents, the Tech-Priests, could study them and figure out if they might provide feasible upgrades. We're ready to assist in both capturing Tau technology and reverse engineering it for your use." Herald of Victory declared happily.

That and the gifts they had for Inquisitor Veil would go a long way to satisfy their honor!