CHAPTER 29

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Approx. 1700 words

All Rights Reserved

Copyright 2015   SJ

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The Summation of Events

 

written by  SJ

 

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    Marcellus wanted to hold a meeting as soon as possible after the events had unfolded at the mansion, while it was all still fresh in everyone’s mind. Lana’s injury to her neck, even though nasty to look at, was mostly superficial; however, her nervous system was a wreck: she had lost a great deal of potassium, almost enough to kill her. The treatment she received at the hospital made her feel much better, even though her neck would remain sore for some time...and probably leave a bad scar, something she’d have to deal with later.
    Jennifer had been slightly wounded by falling debris when she was hit by Lucius’ sound weapon, something they ended up calling a Doom Siren. Her force shield saved her from being torn apart, the same as Lana’s force shield saved her from being deafened. Gannon, Bull, and Zane, however, were treated for damaged eardrums and were told they’d recover completely in a few days...until then, others would need to speak up when talking to them.
    However, the first thing on the meeting’s agenda was Jennifer, who needed to tell about her vision: After gathering her thoughts, she spoke clearly. “Lucius the Eternal. Billions of years ago, there was a Lucius that became very popular in the Galaxy, especially during the wars. The best way to describe him is by using an Old Earth example: Back then, there was a guy named Elvis Presley. And even after he had died, there were people that wanted to imitate him.” She frowned. “Even though, I seriously doubt Lucius was any sort of entertainer or musician. However, like Elvis, his named lived on even after this death, others imitating him, some even pretending to be him. When all the armies became sentenced to the WARP, Lucius, like many of the other commanders, renewed their commands of the four armies, waging war inside the WARP, many of them not even knowing where they were, or caring. However, one by one, the commanders went insane, degenerating into the mindless demons of hell, then, after that, descending to even lower places none us can even imagine or comprehend in our worst nightmares, their armies left leaderless. However, now, their armies have leaders, leaders, that with the help of the EYE of TERROR, can lead them into our Universe. And Lucius, even though he is long gone, his spirit lives on, Eternal...still part of his name.”
    Before the meeting, the General had taken a day to have a team look up the names given to him by LaFong in her dream, sending them to Marcellus:
    After he had studied the information, Marcellus attempted to sum them up: “We have Maximilian Nelson, alias Ahriman, now commander of the Thousand Sons. He was born on Mars and became one of the supervisors at the Power Plant. We don’t know much else about him other than he and whatever family members he had, died in the disaster on Mars. Then there’s Xiaosheng Không, alias Khârn, now commander of the World Eaters. We have much more information on him: Back then, his family owned a martial arts studio, and, today, they and their families, own a substantial chain of martial arts studios on several different worlds, where they also teach the meditative arts of qigong medicine, something I practice to some extent myself. Apparently, Xiaosheng went to work for the Power Plant only one year before the disaster. His family was already told of his death long ago, and I’m sure they grieved then. As for his reincarnation as Khârn, that’s something we’ve decided not to tell them, especially since we have no idea how much of Xiaosheng is left, if any at all.” He paused to take a breath. “As for Doctor Titus Bailey, we have no idea, at this time, what to make of him. His parents are deceased, and he does have a few family members living in different parts of the Sol Frontier, and, like Xiaosheng, I’m sure they already know about his death on Mars, where, like Lucy said, he was one of the Plant doctors. As for his alias, we can only assume he might be a some kind of Chaos Lord commanding an army of forces we’re currently not aware of.” He sighed, referring to Jennifer’s vision. “We can only assume it has something to do with the plague ship, Terminus Est...something I dearly hope will stay in the WARP where it belongs.” A sincere look of compassion came over the Librarian’s kindly face before saying the next name. “Lucy Weaver...now, alias Lucius the Eternal, commander of the Emperor’s Children. I just want to say I felt equal sympathy for the young woman as I listened to Lieutenant LaFong’s passionate story. Her parents died on Mars, but she still has a few family members left alive in the Galaxy. From her, we learned that these Chaos Lords do have to sleep, and, apparently can dream; whether the others dream about similar things, or dream at all, we have no way of knowing; as to if LaFong will ever be able to enter THEIR dreams to find out, well...” he sighed, “we have to assume, the odds of a similar incident happening are very remote...nor would I want her to assume the immense danger it would take to do so. As for Lucy Weaver, herself, I can only wish, after this whole thing is over, that she could stand before us so we could tell her how much we appreciate the information she has given us; I would wish we could tell her that we do not find her accountable in any way for her being too meek to convince the others not to stare at the Crystals.” He smiled as if he wished the young woman could see him. “In fact, it is quite the opposite; I consider her a very brave woman...so brave she was able to prevent Lucius from killing LaFong--even while she was being controlled herself.” He sighed. “Until then, the only thing we can do for her is to put a speedy end to this Chaos madness once and for all...so her soul can finally rest in peace.”
    Marcellus waited to see if anyone had any questions before finishing up. “As for this Masque of Slaanesh and the demonettes she spawned, that is something we will all have to be on the look out for. It appears ONLY the Masque can summon demonettes with the power to make men see them as beautiful women. If this should occur again, I’ve been told that Officer Yngvild and her Sisters of Battle will be ready to confront them.”
    The General added, “Officer Yngvild has elected to accept the offer to go to New Terra and formally train a couple squads of her Sisters of Battle at the Mega Marine training facility. There, they will be given whatever equipment they need; the Base commander has already given her his full support, along with a raise in rank.” He smiled. “In addition, Lieutenant Yngvild will have access to a fast Federal transport should they be needed in a hurry.”
    He changed to another subject. “Right now, by my count, we seem to be facing three, possibly, four, Chaos armies, something that may turn out be to our advantage. These Chaos leaders obviously need WARP objects so they can maintain larger armies in our Universe. Only once did two of these leaders join forces, and even then, one betrayed the other one. If owning these WARP objects multiplies their ability to maintain armies, then having these objects spread out between them is good. That means our greatest threat is with the army that has the largest collection of objects, which leaves us with Tzeentch; however, their army also seems to be supported by Major Boseman, alias Alpharius...the only Chaos Lord that can, apparently, be permanently destroyed. I would say from now on, we should make killing Alpharius our primary mission, plus destroying--”
    Yarrick cut in, needing to say, “yes...I know, I made a mistake back them. I should’ve ordered those torpedo ships to attack the Legion instead of the Pendulum of Doom--”
    However, the General had to explain, “Yarrick, none of us consider your decision to be the wrong one back then. We simply didn’t know. I think your torpedo ships did a great job.”
    “It was just done against the wrong ship.” Yarrick accepted the compliment and agreed.
    “Now we know.” The General smiled.
    Captain Anderson, fleet commander of three destroyers, soon to be Admiral of four destroyers and one cruiser, responded, “yes, now we know. Alpharius’ warship--”
    “Formally, my command ship.” Yarrick added.
    “Now renamed, the Legion,” Anderson continued, “will be a prime target in all spaceship battles from now on.”
    “Your command ship,” the General addressed Yarrick, asking, “didn’t it have a matter transporter on board.”
    Yarrick frowned, “yes it did--and it cost me plenty. But, it can’t transport anything near the size of a person.” He displayed his hands apart, about 50 centimeters. “Nothing in any larger than this.”
    The General pondered. “We’d have to ask ourselves what Alpharius would do with such a device. I think Major Boseman was familiar with them, but I doubt he’s ever actually used one.”
    “But, he’d be able to transport something like a probe, right?” Marcellus postulated.
    Yarrick nodded. “Yes, unfortunately. But, the device only has about a fifteen kilometer range.”
    “About the range of a planetary gun.” The General finished his thought. “To our knowledge, I don’t think he’s used it...so far, hasn’t had to--hopefully never will.”
    There was a long pause...then once it was deemed no one had anymore questions, the meeting came to a close, the General and Marcellus thanking everyone for attending.