Editing The Tales of the Emperasque: Part Twelve (section)

==0-097-001-M42==
LIIVI sat in the chair outside the suite the Eldar delegation were using. He hadn’t bothered bringing any sort of weapons with him to Terra; he had known the Custodes would have just taken them anyway. He had chosen to wear an Imperial formal uniform in the meeting, before, but now he was in his old Assassinorum uniform, complete with death’s head mask. He was expected, by his old master, no less, and it wouldn’t do to look unprepared.<br>
Without a sound, he stood, facing down the corridor. His master was coming. He could FEEL it. The man’s aura preceded him, more literally than LIIVI had realized when they had first met. He had known that the man was a horrifyingly dangerous killer, to be sure, but he was also a psyker, something he had only found out from Isha.<br>
The Grand master of Assassins glided down the corridor, resplendent in his black-and-red robe. He halted a few meters from LIIVI, staring him in the eye. “Vindicare. Your return was unanticipated. Why are you here?”<br>
“To complete my mission, Master,” LIIVI said. The Master cocked his head, with an air of strained politeness.<br>
“Your mission, LIIVI, was to kill Farseer Taldeer of Ulthwé. Yet here you are, fathering her child. Why is that?”<br>
“Do not misunderstand me, Master,” LIIVI replied. “My mission is to protect her. That is all I have had, since I saw her eyes through the scope.”<br>
“You are flawed, LIIVI. Damaged. You can be repaired.”<br>
“I am more deeply flawed than a man, and less so than the machines you build,” LIIVI said. “I am content with that. Now…let us discuss this no further.”<br>
“Have you somewhere more pressing to be, LIIVI?” the Master said placidly.<br>
“Yes.” LIIVI opened the door to his suite. “Lofn needs to get tucked in.” He closed the door to the suite behind him, leaving the master in silence.

“SO I TURN TO THE GUY AND SAY ‘NO, HE ALWAYS HAD NO ARMS.’ I THINK I SCARED HIM A BIT TOO MUCH, THOUGH, I HADN’T REALLY LOOKED IN A MIRROR SINCE, WELL, YOU KNOW,” the Emperor roared.<br>
“I can’t imagine the poor Sergeant was content with that,” the Lord Commander Militant said, slowly flipping his stylus between his fingers as he read the report on the table before him.<br>
“WELL, CREED LOCKED HIM UP TO MAKE SURE HE WASN’T TAINTED WITH THE WARP – SMART MAN, FOLLOWS PROTOCOL – BUT I PUT IN A WORD FOR HIM AND LUSTIG’S BACK ON DUTY,” the Emperor said.<br>
“Good.” The Lord Commander finished the report and sat back in his chair, trying not to visibly avoid eye contact with the Emperor’s monstrous new form. “Well, the report states that the last of the Chaos Titans on Cadia have been evacuated by the Dark Mechanicus fleets, and are heading back to the Eye.”<br>
“YEAH, I’VE TOLD CLENDEN AND QUARREN TO CHASE THE TRANSPORTS AND SHOOT THEM DOWN, IGNORING THE WARSHIPS IF NEED BE. TITANS ARE A GOOD BIT HARDER TO REPLACE THAN SIMPLE DRONES AND CONVERTS.”<br>
“A rational decision, my Lord God,” the Lord Commander said. He stood and saluted smartly. “If I may, sir, I must compose a response.”
“BY YOUR LEAVE, LORD COMMANDER, AND SEND CLENDEN, QUARREN, AND CREED MY PERSONAL THANKS AND CONGRATULATIONS. THAT’S ANOTHER BOTCHED CRUSADE BY ABBADON OUT OF OUR COLLECTIVE HAIR.”<br>
“Of course. Your Liegeship,” the Commander said, bowing low and leaving the room. He nodded at the Grand Master of Assassins on his way out. “Sir.”<br>
“Sir.” The Grand Master waited until the Eternity Gate slid shut before facing the Emperor and taking the Lord Commander’s seat.

“GRAND MASTER, WHAT CAN I DO FOR YOU?” The Emperor roared.<br>
“Replace the Eldar delegates immediately,” the Grand Master said promptly. “The little one in particular.”<br>
“OH? ALREADY? AFTER LESS THAN TWO DAYS OF TALKS?”<br>
“The little one is an abomination,” the Master said.<br>
“YOU MEAN THE HALF-AND-HALF. YEAH. THAT GETS ON MY NERVES A BIT TOO.”<br>
“It is not her heritage that fills me with revulsion, my Liege,” the Master said disgustedly. “It is her power.”<br>
“YOU THINK SHE’S A LATENT, LIKE HER MOTHER?” the Emperor asked.<br>
“She is. Her power is…astounding. A Primaris could fall to her might, if it manifested fully. But it is not her psychic potential that troubles me, but her mutation.”<br>
“MUTATION? WHAT DO YOU MEAN?”<br>
“During the conference, she spoke up in the middle of an argument. She said something to me and to the Chancellor of the Estate. Do you recall?”<br>
“I DO.”<br>
“The moment she spoke, I sensed something emerge from her. A psychic tendril, not consciously controlled. The moment it touched the Chancellor, his mind weakened. His attitude changed, I could feel his psychic imprint tune to hers.”<br>
“MIND CONTROL? FROM A CHILD?”<br>
“Not control. Influence. She overrode his hostility.”<br>
“TROUBLING. ARE YOU SURE?”<br>
“I am no Astropath, my Liege, I do not see the Warp as a fold of cloth, but I do have strength enough to see influence. I am trained in it myself, you recall.”<br>
“YEAH. ALL RIGHT. I’LL SPEAK TO ISHA. WHAT’S YOUR TAKE ON HER?”<br>
“Isha?” The Master thought for a moment. “She is…unnerving. I have never felt her psychic imprint before.”

“YOU’VE NEVER SPOKEN TO A WARP GODDESS BEFORE,” the Emperor said drily. “SHE SURE DOESN’T LOOK LIKE OTHER ELDAR IN HER SOUL’S RECESSES, DOES SHE?”<br>
“She didn’t seem to have a soul, in the conventional sense,” the Master said, feeling an unfamiliar chill run through him. “She…was a soul. One gigantic, shallow, ageless soul.”<br>
“LIKE I SAID, WARP GODDESS. SHE IS THE ASPECT OF THE ELDAR PSYCHE THAT DEALS WITH REBIRTH. REMEMBER, BEFORE THE FALL, ELDAR WERE REINCARNATED UPON DEATH; HER ASPECT AS A GODDESS OF REBIRTH REFLECTS THAT. I’LL SPEAK TO HER AS SOON AS WE RECONVENE. UNTIL THEN, DISMISSED.”<br>
“Very well, my Liege,” the Master said, collecting himself and standing. “Oh…I should mention that I spoke to Vindicare LIIVI.”<br>
“AND?”<br>
“Utterly without regret or internal conflict. He’s as focused now as he was before.”<br>
“ON TALDEER?”<br>
“Yes. Only now, protecting her.”<br>
“I MET THE MAN ON ULTHWÉ AND HE CALLED ME OUT. THERE’S NOT MANY EVENTS IN MY LIFE I WOULD DESCRIBE AS ‘HUMBLING,’ BUT…” the Emperor trailed off. “I SHALL SPEAK TO HIM TOMORROW AS WELL. AND THIS CHILD…LOFN. IF HER MOTHER BROUGHT HER ALONG TO ACT AS A PASSIVE MIND CONTROL DEVICE, I WANT TO SEE IT FIRSTHAND.”<br>
“As you wish, my Liege.” The Master bowed low and left the room, leaving the Emperor to his thoughts.