I wake up in a Medicae bed, and groggily open my eyes to see my big friend smile at me in praise.

"You punched an Astartes, Lord Pef! Even more, you're still alive. The Emperor must be watching over you." Ludvaius declares proudly and turns to the side, to let Decima and Hanna come to my side.

My mouth is bound by metal wires, so I can't say anything clever. Not that my actions were that clever anyway. Brave but foolish, yes.

Hanna extends a thin straw and pours soup down my throat, while Decima checks my plumbing for some reason.

"You haven't grown balls of steel, my Lord Captain. I was worried for a moment." she quips in a teasing voice and pats them gently.

I'll never hear the end of it, will I?

"Rest and heal, Pef. The evacuation has already begun." Hanna whispers in a loving voice and kisses my cheek. It doesn't hurt, so I must be rather well anesthetized.

Oh well. If I'm to stay in bed for a while...might as well rest a bit.

I drift into sleep again.

A week later I can move my hands again, and ask for my cogitator. The flesh is weak, but my mind still works. Might as well use it.

Magos Minoris takes station to my side, and we start working on STC templates in eerie silence. I mean, I have a wire linking my implant to the cogitator, and I can even type, with some effort.

"You should see the other guy." I write on the holoscreen.

"I did, Captain. He seems very healthy." Minoris replies without getting the hint.

Ludvaius does get it, but merely rolls his good eye.

I suppose the Scythes's Chaplain was a merciful guy and didn't use full strength. My head would have been pulverized in that case.

Anyway, I start downloading everything I have on dataslates, filling them with old and new STC designs for the Forge Worlds, while another one holds my personal inventions and projects.

Rose is dealing with the Pharos problem, scanning the sounding board with a hundred Mechanicus devices and a few non-human ones. Even if we don't get everything from it, it will be a start for my greatest project, the non-warp technology based ships and comms. Something of this magnitude would change the Imperium just as much as waking the Emperor or spreading Blank genes to every human.

It's very advanced tech, but if others could do it, humanity can do it too. There are plenty genial Magi and tech-priests in the galaxy, and I don't intend to stop at them.

The Tau have some incipient designs of their own, slow and low-ranged, but they work.

The Necrons have an entire civilization built outside the Warp completely.

And there are more species out there, even the Tyranids use gravity based travel that don't involve the Warp. Their synaptic Hive Mind is still Warp based though, since Pariahs can disconnect their organisms from the collective in close proximity.

Because of my leave of absence, Rose and her crew took over the fleet and efforts, but she seems to do okay. Well, Inquisitors are expected to lead entire Crusades sometimes, so I expect she has the training.

She has her skilled retinue as well, with the weasel guy almost ready to become an Inquisitor himself.

Rose has kept him away from me, probably to spare my life if he learns too much about my activities.

A month later I am mobile again, and my jaw is almost healed. Still no talking, but I get some anti-aging injections and gene-boosts from an unspecified donor. The potential donor list is very small and I don't need a whole hand to count the likely suspects.

It is just in time, as a Mechanicus ship from Antax arrives with extra supplies and munitions. In a few days the fleet gets re-supplied and gets ready for a decent fight.

Our destroyers are however sent away, loaded with refugees and their meager possessions. They would serve little purpose for the next part, but they can still carry thousands of people to safety.

Meanwhile, the bigger ships get loaded with fresh food and crop seeds, as well as expensive machinery and relics.

The Scythes drag their feet a little, possibly not too happy at abandoning their post.

Then a patrolling frigate at the edge of the system detects the Hive fleet and everything moves much faster.

Civilians are rushed into shuttles and landers for evacuation, and I divert nearly a hundred thousand young women on the Mechanicus ship. Females are a precious resource, because they can give birth to an entire new population with barely any male input.

They get sent to Retribution, to help rebuild a healthy stock of citizens on the blasted world. And since these people from Sotha are the fertile recruiting ground for a space marine chapter, I expect their children will have good genes and limitless potential.

Instead, the Astartes keep a watch on their precious boys and teenagers, escorting them on board the battleships, so they don't lose potential recruits.

"Mars cruisers, begin Nova-cannon harassment!" I command while keeping on eye on the timer. The hive fleet tendril is slowing down, but they still move fast.

Huge explosions erupt among the cluster of bioships, but they keep coming.

The frigates are filled with more refugees and little of their wealth, and they start leaving in the opposite direction.

Light cruisers next, and then the battlecruisers. The Victory class battleships also fire their Nova Cannons til they deplete all the special shells and leave as well.

Sotha is now empty and deserted, though still teeming with animal and plant life. A bait for my trap.

"Only by firm action and resolute faith will mankind survive. No sacrifice is too great. No treachery too small."

11111000011

I nod wisely, both towards Rose and my implant's advice.

We have a couple of her amazing Atmospheric_Incinerator_Torpedo prepared for this moment. I don't want to use the other form of Exterminatus, because the Pharos would get destroyed if the planet blows up.

Just need to erase all life, and make Sotha irrelevant for the bugs. But not yet.

The Litany inches away, while the automated forts and servitors keep firing at the immense cloud of bioships. The Nova Cannons took a toll on them, but we didn't have thousands of precious shells to make a real dent.

We have torpedoes and missiles and plasma generators on the fortified asteroids, and they help, killing thousand after thousand of void organisms, and wounding many more.

In the end, the hunger is too great and the Tyranids start ignoring the defenses and swarm the planet from all sides, although orbital forts unleash all their ordnance at point-blank range, or detonate their reactors for extra damage.

At the edge of the system, we wait for the Hive fleet to englobe the planet, and then we spring the trap. Five Exterminatus grade torpedoes fire at once, from five different angles.

The atmosphere of Sotha ignites, searing everything and exterminating many of the Hive ships and their landed troops.

A psychic scream of rage emerges from the planet, the tyranids furious for being denied biomass and energy replenishment.

We speed away at sublight, and slowly escape the Silence blocking our escape.

The planet's crust melts and flows under the immense heat, and so do the tyranids.

The planet still burns a month later when we finally take a last auspex reading and enter the Warp towards Estaban III.

This Forge World will soon be invaded by the Chaos, but I aim to defend them as best as I can. They could have a whole new fleet built for me, and get lucky enough to have superior numbers available when the traitors arrive.

Plus, Estaban_III would have many Warp based weapons and templates, that I might disperse in other places.

During the journey, I assemble a few Land Raider variants equipped with atomantic reactors and plasma guns, as well as 3 multilasers and a krak missile launcher.

Also, another one with a Vanquisher gun, autocannons and flamer guns, in an Imperial guard variant similar to the Leman Russ but a dozen times more durable. Much cheaper too, because energy weapons are quite expensive at larger sizes.

These tanks are big enough and the reactor supplies more than enough energy. They can also carry 50 troops with ease, maybe even 100 guardsmen in thin flak jackets, instead of carapace armor.

I simplify the tank tracks a little, and add extra auspex sensors for night vision, because searchlights are not that useful.

This takes me 5 weeks, so I'm all healed up and prepared when the Litany arrives at Estaban.

I get a royal treatment as I debark on the Forge World, possibly because of the spread of my exploits, possibly because of the Astartes honor guard or the Inquisitor.

"Greetings, peddler of knowledge. The Omnissiah has listened to my prayers and brought you to us, alive and well. Is your mandible healed enough to speak?" the Archmagos asks politely.

"This...only a flesh wound, Fabricator. An Astartes with psyker powers punched me, for no reason." I explain politely and see him tilt his head in doubt.

"He punched our Chaplain first, tech-priest. It's not our fault his flesh is weak." Captain Thrasius explains with a small chuckle.

The Fabricator waves his mechadendrites for some unknown reason. Probably saying 'stupid humans' or such.

I turn towards my rather large guard and gesture them away. "Let's talk in private, Fabricator." I demand in a soft voice, and hold out a dataslate as a gift.

"Indeed, Lord Pef. Let's see what the Omnissiah has blessed us with." he allows in a slightly amused tone while riffling through the STC designs and leading me to his meeting room.

Ludvaius holds his thumb up in encouragement.

I smile inward and rub two neurons together for luck.