My awareness returned slowly. Faint whispers, both foul and fair, were chasing me from the dream of endless brutal war. It was as if these vague sounds were from far away, but I neither doubted they were real nor that I was meant to hear them. I recognized that the dream as a warning about the nature of the people that would soon serve me. I really didn't enjoy what I was seeing.

  "In the name of the Emperor, BURN!" Screamed dour white haired women, facing countless demonic beings and their corrupted minions. Their chants and hymns were a bright call into the darkness of the void. Torrents of fmes poured forth from their weapons purging the unclean filth from their worlds. Yet their obsession meant that they were always but a step from falling into the same abyss as their enemies.

  "The Emperor protects!" Chanted countless masses of bright eyed young men and women marching in unison towards a battle almost none would return from. The blood soaked fields that they marched towards had long been churned into crimson mud. Centuries worth of the sin, had their bones ground into powder from an unceasing struggle, by machines whispering to each other of days long lost.

  "In his glorious name, CHARGE!" Implored an imposing General, cd in golden armor, his crackling sword leading the way, as he stood abreast with his seemingly endless battle line of troops, surging forward toward a much rger mass of green foes. The savage looking being cried, "WAAAGH!" and ughing rushed to meet the humans, eager to begin the fight.

  "By the Emperor, not one step further, Xenos filth!" Decred a young boy holding a readied grenade, while trying to keep himself between his remaining family and an odd looking suit of power armor. A boxy rifle was leveled at the boy, while a clearly inhuman voice asked the child to consider the "Greater Good".

  More and more, dozens, then hundreds, then thousands, then millions, then billions of voices softly reaching out to... not to me, but a version of me that was unimaginably far away and vast beyond my ability to comprehend. Golden light trickled into my mind from this connection and I felt something buckle in me. I couldn't have pointed to where the changes were happening yet, but I could feel them none the less. The searing light burned with a fury and a purpose that I would have thought could never have existed, before now. This was the essence of the people I was about to inflict upon this world.

  I looked upon the horrors of a gaxy buried in endless war and death, and I thought that perhaps I was making a mistake. The voice of that immense Golden being disagreed, it cimed this was my birthright... my destiny. I didn't trust a word of it.

  My eyes snapped open in fear and anguish, as my BTC shook,

  [ You have received Faith energy. ]

  I felt something precious shatter inside me...

  [ Your Css Padin of Nature (???) has rejected you. Reason not given. Please return to the Town Hall to redeem your Css XP and select another Css. ]

  Suddenly, all the points into Body and Cool that the Padin css had provided were simply gone. A horrid weakness creeped into me. A sucking emptiness where those points used to be. I could barely keep my eyes open, never mind finish crawling out of the bed. It took a long time to adapt to my new state of agony, with everything inside me feeling jagged, raw, and broken. I tried casting Regrowth and though it did soothe the pain and emptiness for a few seconds, the spell seemed unable to help with the underlying issues.

  Slowly I focused on each muscle, tensing and releasing them until I could force them to move together. It if seems like I was calm, I assure you I wasn't. My frustration led to anger which led to a spiraling series of self incriminations. You just had to pick the fucking Theme it warned you about. Fucking dumbass. Admit it you thought the name was too cool to pass up.

  '...'

  Even my inner voice was pissed at me. I gritted my teeth and with all my effort, pushed up off the bed, and immediately regretted that decision. Everything spun and my legs felt like a couple of those paper straws, as they tried to support my weight. I had unconsciously grabbed the bedframe to stabilize myself without even realizing it.

  I snarled, "Move you fucking idiot." Thus began my epic 27 step journey to the kitchen area, time lost all meaning as one painful step blended into the next. In the drive to get to food and water I forgot myself only movement matters. My mouth was as dry as a desert and my stomach was as empty as the void between gaxies. I supposed it was a small mercy that no one was in here to see me like this.

  Thankfully, one of the Probes had moved some ration packs down here. I had been capable of even considering what I would have done if there hadn't been any vittles down here. We certainly won't talk about how embarrassing a process eating was then. Or that I demolished two HQ ration packs before even remotely beginning to feel the slightest bit better.

  Later, after I had returned to some measure of normalcy, I made my awkward way to the lift chamber and turned to the west to check the progress the Probes had made. Oh, they were already done. That was... awesome, now there was no excuse to wait. An empty 500 yard cubed space greeted me after I stumbled through a few hundred yards long hallway that was made up of more stairs than not. I had a hard time grasping the size the room until I saw it. I had no idea how they had kept the ceiling from colpsing, but it was an absolutely perfect cube, in so far as I could tell. The Probes were a blessing I probably didn't deserve. But I was beginning to believe that everyone should have their own Robo-Buddies.

  I sat on the st step into the giant room pondering. I now had second and even third thoughts about this course of action. No, it was too te to turn back now. The damage had already been done. Let's see this through.

  I messaged Raynor and Mr. Wick to come down and grab the cube for me on their way. There was no way I was doing this alone. They arrived a few minutes ter, with the troops in tow. They had all donned their armor, which was probably a good idea.

  Raynor handed me the cube, "You okay, Hoss? Looks like someone danced on your grave."

  "No, because I didn't take a deal, I've lost my Padin Css for now, and all the points it granted me. I'll be messed up until we can return to New Lordaeron to get it sorted out." I knew that the damage I had received was something I couldn't quantify right now. I could only hope that it could be sorted out soon.

  Mr. Wick growled. Looking for a target. That meant more to me than I would ever admit out loud.

  "No, it's my own damned fault. I think these guys are what we need, but they are going to be different. I get the impression that they come from a... gaxy full of unending war." I gestured wildly at myself. "This already has caused me problems because I have to become someone that they would obey without question. Or they would kill us all in the name of their... God? Their Emperor? It's not a very clear idea, but yeah they will be intense. They will likely believe I am their God or the agent of their God. As shitty as that is, don't disabuse them of that notion." I smashed my fist into my other hand. "They have no tolerance, no pity, no mercy. Expect truly grim, psychotic people that barely seem human anymore. Their first reaction is usually going to be to destroy anything they don't understand." I let them see my concern. "We have to be very careful in how we utilize them, otherwise they just murder everyone and ftten everything."

  "Hoss, are you sure you want to bring these bastards into this?" Raynor sounded worried. Hard to tell behind his skull facepte. If some of what I had seen in my dreams was accurate they'd feel right at home with that look.

  "Want? No. But I think we need them. Probably. Some part of me is certain that this will be the best chance to change the nature of this mission. These people have forgotten more about war then all the people on this world together have ever learned. We need that knowledge, even if they are hard to deal with."

  Mr. Wick grunted. A noncommittal noise.

  "Alright, but I reserve the right to compin about this ter, when it blows up in your face." Jim really knew how to lighten a mood.

  "Our faces." I raised my eyebrow at him.

  "Sure, sure. Whatever you say." He was smirking behind his facepte, I was sure of it.

  I activated the damned cube.

  A rge concrete megabunker appeared in the center of the space. The bunker was rounded with nothing I'd call a window. Only a few slim slots to fire out of and even those had metal ptes ready to close them up at any moment. Rusted steel razor wire surrounded the base except for the heavily armored warehouse door. More razor wire blocked any form of climbing access to the roof. Several double headed eagle stencils decorated the building along with winged skulls. Why was the eagle double headed? Everything about this imposing structure screamed both efficiency and impregnable strength. If there was a architectural style called Military Brutalism this would be a prime example of that style.

  An entire culture dedicated to nothing but war, and I was the moron who thought it would be a good idea to bring them here.

  The armored door slid upwards with a rumbling, squealing grinding sound. Five figures stepped out of the building, all of them armed and all of them ready to shoot anything they didn't like the look of. Thankfully they couldn't see us right now. Though that might bite us in the ass when we included them in the ally selection of the Pylons.

  The newcomers fell into a wedge, no audible words spoken between them, their actions and movement spoke of long term familiarity. The leading figure was dressed in what might be mistaken for a combination of WWI and WWII German uniforms. A golden cuirass embossed with the same double headed eagle design under a almost steel grey great coat. A helmet decorated with a winged human skull framed perhaps the most disturbing feature of their attire. An old fashioned looking, seemingly cloth gasmask with dark impenetrable lenses. A pistol of a design I didn't recognize was sweeping the area while an ornate sword glowing faintly with energy was held ready by their side.

  The two figures on the left were simirly uniformed though they cked the cuirass and instead had what looked like an almost normal, by my standards, pte carrier under their great coats. The helmets there were less sweeping though they still dispyed a winged human skull. Their masks were also the same, except there was a hose running from them to something I couldn't see from this angle. They had rifles of some kind, interestingly the rifles were connected to a pack on their backs by a couple of tubes.

  One of the figures on the right was robed in white wearing a rather rge and odd looking cylindrical hat. There were all manner of wax seals pced on their robes and the skulls motif was repeated everywhere. They also had a gas mask, which really didn't go with their priestly vibes. Instead of a gun of some type they clutched a double headed eagle staff with one hand and had an open tome resting in the other. A bizarre golden energy, not dissimir to what had seeped into me earlier surrounded them. Though I had the sense something was off with them.

  The st figure was the most odd, in this collection of oddities. A cyborg of some kind was the obvious part of their strangeness. Their parts appeared to be a mishmash of mechanical and electrical pieces apparently thrown together at random. They wore red oil stained robes and had started chanting in... modem, yup they sounded a lot like a modem from the days of dial up internet. There were four mechanical limbs, of differing types, that sprouted from their back and two of those held weapons. One weapon was a blocky looking assault rifle of some kind and the other was a vaguely simir rifle that glowed with ominous blue light.

  I didn't like the look of any of them. Something told me I'd like their personality even less. I sighed and added the leader to the exceptions list. They reacted predictably by shooting. The ser bolts didn't get through my shield, nor my companions, but I didn't want that to continue. Seeing their shots had failed they charged.

  "Please stop. It makes it incredible difficult to have a conversation." He froze. Just like that. Like an automaton. "Please keep your troops from attacking, when I let them see us." The figure nodded in a mechanical fashion.

  I added the rest of the newcomers after the leader spoke softly to their fellows. The white robed figure quickly dropped to his knees and started chanting in what sounded vaguely like Latin. The red robed figure also started chanting in their modem nguage while also kneeling. Huh, oh right. Fuck this was going to be a pain in the ass. While the other two soldiers lowered their weapons slightly.

  The leader also after a moment of observing the two robed figures, also knelt. "My Emperor, Marshal 999 serves." The other two followed suit.

  "Watchmaster 5 serves."

  "Watchmaster 26 serves."

  They all chanted in unison, "In life, war. In death, peace. In life, shame. In death, atonement." They kept repeating those lines with the exact same inflections over and over. I was more than a little bothered by this. There was a golden energy surrounding them small threads of it leading to me, other threads leading somewhere else.

  "Hoss, I don't understand a word they are saying." Raynor whispered to me.

  "They are praying, and it is every bit as grim as I feared." I whispered back. I wondered if I could do this. The golden energy continued to rise from them and linked them more firmly to me, I could feel this new energy growing inside me. It was warm and terrible, it made me feel tall and powerful. It was good and it was horrible, I felt refreshed and like I was going to vomit. It didn't run counter to the Mana of Nature, or the energy of the Psifield. It mixed into them and made them more.

  "Please rise." Everything stopped for several seconds and then my new followers rose. Again their motions were mechanical, too automatic, too precise. "Tell me what you know about why you are here." Better to get them to talk first, than to say something they didn't like and get shot at.

  The priestly figure started talking, "Most Glorious Emperor, your prime self sent us here to protect you. You must be defended while you are vulnerable, to the predation of The Enemy. We were entrusted with this holy mission, instead of your more worthy sons because we were stationed by a pce suitable for transferring us. Your message said it would take too long for the Astartes to arrive." Even without understanding their home, that sounded like some grade A bullshit to me. This was the Company pying their games probably.

  "This made sense to you?" There was no way, right? If there was one thing I was sure these people were not, it was na?ve.

  "Not at first, Most Holy One! I suspected the treachery of the Enemy. Insidious trickery is ever their way. However, your most Glorious Light filled us and no foul spawn of the Warp could so fully imitate that Holy Power of your touch." Yeah, again even without the full picture, I pretty sure that wasn't true. But there was no way in hell I was going to say that out loud, certainly not anywhere near these fanatics.

  "Your name, and your mission?" I really didn't want to know. I wanted to leave.

  "I am, if it pleases you, Preacher Grais of the Adeptus Ministrorum, these Guardsmen sought my aid when the visions began. I humbly beg pardon, Holy Emperor, I killed many before understanding this was not the taint of Chaos. I have no excuse for my failure to perceive your greatest at first. The energy you radiate reveals your Truth." It's the Spanish fucking Inquisition on crack. Shit. How was I supposed to respond to that level of rabid zealotry? I cringed internally, I'd have to wing it. I didn't see any other options.

  "I forgive your overreaction. So long as you understand we have no resources to waste here. Sy none without my express permission." Hopefully that would work. Maybe I could figure out a better way to muzzle these beasts ter.

  He bowed, "I obey, God Emperor."

  I turned to the st figure, their red robes swaying as their mechanical limb seemed to quiver in delight. They started speaking modem at me, but in a strange turn much like when I began to understand the Probes, I could comprehend him.

  "This one is Magos Errant Delta 9 Helifern. Praise the Omnissiah, you register as one with the Machine-Spirits. Call upon me if you need aid." The voice was artificial, ft and emotionless. This person creeped me out the most. Something was truly wrong with them. Maybe it was that he was more machine than human. Perhaps it was the way he was pushing electromagnetic signals into the environment. It was as if he were trying to access the Psifield somehow.

  "When I need you, I will be sure to inform you." My teeth itched just saying it. These broken people in front of me, freaked me the hell out.

  What had I done?