As I was trying to come down off the high induced by a flood of faith energy, the strange creatures nearly closed the distance to our position. Suddenly, even with my new earplugs, all I could hear was a deep resonant hum, followed by the zap crackle of the field gun unleashing hundreds of beams of light. All of the Guardsmen radiated eagerness while watching the barrage and the resulting devastation of the weird beings in the tunnel. That eagerness started to dull as they began to realize that the strange beings weren't going to survive the bright beams cutting through the tunnel. They wanted some of the enemy to get through so they could fight them up close.

  A minute passed and the barrels of the field gun were beginning to glow a dull orange. Soon the weapon would have to stop. This had turned into a battle of attrition, did them have more bodies than our weapons could bare. Two squads of the Guardsmen fnked the "scannon", their cruel bayonets already affixed to their "srifles". They didn't shuffle, fidget, or make any unnecessary noise, very much reminding me of John. They waited for the gun to stop, so they could fight and die for their Emperor. For me, and that was a heavy and terrible cloak settling on my shoulders.

  An empty hallway then greeted them, the flood of twisted flesh and warped had stopped. Their disappointment was fsh bulb bright in my new sense of the emotional world. The scannon had gone quiet. My mind was already racing to reorder my thoughts, and I took a small measure of time to ponder this empathetic ability. Jim's or my own emotions were heavy complex things, John's were hidden and obscured. The troops from New Lordaeron had simple, clear, but deep feelings. Hmm. Why could I sense my own emotions? A sudden burst of dizziness as I tried to tch more deeply onto my own feelings. Nope, let's save exploring that for another time.

  From the Imperials, the only being that possessed an emotional quality simir to mine or Jim's was Marshall 999. Though his were far more singurly focused on a sense of directed fury and pain, he none the less had feelings about other things. Magos Helifern's were faint things barely noticeable, however there was a sense of something getting in the way of them. The rest of the Guardsmen though, if I had to put it into words, seemed like addicts. Everything that mattered to them was dialed way up, but somehow everything was all greyed out.

  Which lead me back to our new enemy. Despite the intense outward expression of rage, including the snarling expressions on the faces of the strange creatures, there was no actual sense of emotion at all. How could that be? Was it all an act? Were they immune to my new senses?

  Helifern was already using his mechadendrites to disassemble several of the scorched corpses for an initial study. He used a variety of instruments to examine the smoking and scorched pieces. He called out in Lingua-technis "Initial study indicates some form of Heretek, and the possible presence of a new type of Scrap Code. However, there is something variant about these readings. I recommend following proper protocol, performing the rites of cleansing beginning with immediate incineration of the tainted remains. Avoid all contact with the subjects. Further safe analysis would require a Sanctified Temple to the Omnissiah. I request the resources to begin construction."

  I still had no clue why I could understand his binary based nguage. Though I noticed that of those present, only Marshall 999 fully comprehended the Magos's nguage. The rest of the Kriegsmen only seemed to understand enough to know not to interact with the remains of the creatures. Either way I'd let 999 deal with the Magos's requests.

  I had the first of the new Probes start scanning the bodies. Then of course, had some of them scan the scannon. I was looking forward to modifying the weapon. The sweapons in general seemed like they could be an excellent step forward in the development of our armaments.

  Just as we started to move away from the barricade, we could hear the distant screeches of more of those creatures approaching. I shook my head, "We don't have time for this." I was beyond annoyed at this point. It seemed that every single pn I'd made had gotten derailed or sidetracked by outside influences. How do you even begin to account for the unknown?

  "We could leave it to these men. They seem more than capable." Raynor suggested, though I sensed his reluctance to hand over responsibility. I saw that John was nodding beside him. That was a... good idea. No, perhaps good was the wrong term, it was an expedient idea. These Imperials were born and bred for war. It was all the majority of them knew. I'd been trying to think of someway to use them, or limit them, anyway possible to keep them under control. This swarm of odd beings was an excellent target, and destroying them was a useful service.

  "Marshall 999, would you be willing to make this task your focus?"

  The Marshall snapped to attention, his salute crisp and precise. "Of course, Emperor. If you command it, it shall be done." Again with that sense of shouldering a heavy fucking burden. Could I handle this, handle the Guardsmen and their unquestioning service? I really had never had any desire to be a leader, never mind an Emperor. I only started taking command of the troops, because it seemed the best way to achieve the long term goal of saving this world. This wasn't really me.

  No, there I was doing it again. I was finding ways to shift responsibility, all to try and avoid taking bme. Everything all of these folks I'd summoned to this world did, was ultimately on me. They wouldn't be here without me. Without me, there is no them. Sure, I wouldn't be here without the Company. I was absolutely certain that there was no way in hell the Company was going to accept responsibility for their part in all of this. So it was on me. I had to lead, because there was no one else. I should really be more thankful that so many of the folks I brought here were good at helping me become a better leader.

  With that insight firmly in mind, I turned to face the Marshall directly. "Marshall, destroy this threat. Do everything in your power to keep this from spilling onto the surface. I will send you supplies and the means to sustain yourselves as soon as I get back to New Lordaeron. Send me reports on any major changes, otherwise I'm leaving this matter entirely in your hands." Ah, the joys of hypocrisy. Well, delegation is a valuable leadership skill.

  "We will not fail, Emperor!" He snapped a salute. At my nod, he swiftly marched off to start giving orders to his troops. I wanted to sigh, to curl in on myself, but I held it in. The men deserved better from me than that kind of weak behavior. I was going to have to figure out how to become worthy of such devotion. I certainly wasn't now.

  I turned to Jim and John, "We're going to call in the MRAP. Then we'll hit the next target with the chaingun. If all goes well, we won't have to worry about staying hidden any longer. Once the quest is complete, we'll head home."

  They shared a look. "Hoss, you don't have to hurry. We have time, and we only get stronger the longer we work." My gut clenched up at his words. We didn't have time, not anymore.

  "I know that, Jim. I know, but something is wrong. Something we missed... I missed. It's not just these monsters down in the tunnels, something close to us has been messed up. It's only with this new css that I can finally sense it." My gaze turned back to the tunnels we'd just abandoned. I hardly felt any threat from the monsters down here, no the real threat was closer to home. While I was only just becoming aware of it, I was more than certain that we needed to get back.

  "Can you tell what it might be?" John asked. Nice of him not to question my sanity. I know I was. I felt like I was being pulled in thousands of directions.

  "No, not yet. I think these powers are still too new to get that kind of specific information. Right now, I'm just getting warnings." Somehow I knew these premonitions would get clearer with my advancement in this new Css.

  Behind us the scannon had started another round of clearing the tunnel.

  Which reminded me, where was these creatures' pain?

  We left the Kriegsmen to fulfill their duty. It was past time to finish this quest, and head back home.

  The Probes cleared the path to the surface, and once we were standing by the CHOOH2 station, they completely sealed off the underground passage once more. Let the monsters have their subterranean realm. There would be no more hiding or skulking, it made me sick to my core. We would expand and face our foes. This round of testing had proven that most of the weapons of this world were no match for ours.

  Next we'd have to take the skies, and from there we would conquer the Earth's orbit. From there we shall rain down fire upon the sick and twisted Corpos, and offer succor to the worthy. Then we might turn our attention to the stars...

  I shook my head try to dislodge the foreign thoughts. This was getting out of hand. I wasn't some all conquering asshole. I just want to help people, and heal the nd. One thing was certain, I'd have to be very careful before I fed the Voice of the Emperor css anymore. Its influence on my mind was too great already. The struggle to remember the core values of who I was grew more difficult by the hour. Not that I wasn't already inclined to burn this city down to begin with, but there were more humane ways, more surgical methods to get the same results.

  'Spare your enemies, suffer the rewards of your foolishness.' Great. Now the Css was speaking to me.

  We'd gotten ourselves loaded up into the MRAP, along with our newly updated Probes. I'd a feeling we'd need a War Pylon or two to cover our tracks before today was through. And I simply was concerned about the Corpos or the City in general discovering us anymore.

  My Net connection's date and time dispy let me know that it was just past noon. There was a huge sense of time loss, perhaps all that time spent underground had messed with my body's rhythms. Maybe the stressful events we had just been through had done a number on our internal clocks. Looking towards the sky revealed the bright sun only slightly obscured today by pollution. Not a natural cloud in the sky. For some reason, this felt like a good omen, though it was probably just wishful thinking.

  I drove us to the next target, which was another one of the buildings we had identified as being under Maelstrom control. This one happened to be a clinic of some kind. Which was unsurprising because from the data the Observers had scraped up they initiated new gang members there. That made it an excellent target to send a powerful message.

  We pulled into an empty lot across the street from the three story structure. Nothing stood out about the building, except that in a neighborhood where everything was tagged with Maelstrom graffiti, this building was untouched. The Probes began assembling a War Pylon above us, while we went over the data feed from the Observer. Hmm, there were about 32 fugly bastards in there.

  The current pn was for John to run the chaingun back and forth once on each floor. He'd hit who he'd hit, and then we'd take off, and be three miles away before anyone could even spot us again. If we managed to paste even half of the gangoons, then the quest should be completed and we'd head home. If not, then we move to the next target and repeat the same type of action.

  Honestly, I was surprised no one in the area came over to ask about the very noticeable construction process taking pce right above our heads. Sure it looked just like odd looking drones building something to them, but come on. I'd have to chalk it up to Night City's mind your own business attitude, I guess. As the War Pylon came online, we felt when the Psifield snapped into pce. That buzzing crackle of energy in the back of our minds. The Probes quickly reattached themselves to our vehicle. I set the Pylon to passive mode, it would maintain the stealth field without attacking. One day we might need to use this position again.

  Using the controls, John walked the barrel of the chaingun through his intended actions. Then he repeated the motion, correcting his technique with each pass. Once he was satisfied with his movements, he nodded and opened fire. The gunfire cracked the sound barrier repeatedly. After the first couple of rounds, individual shots couldn't be distinguish from one another, creating a singur crackling roar. I was extremely thankful for the earplugs John had found.

  It took John just over a minute to complete his intended pattern. This was enough time for the gunfire to make every nerve in my body twitch in a matching rhythm. Then it was over, and in the quiet my skin prickled and my insides churned.

  The front of the building was colpsing as many of the supports had been destroyed by the chaingun's heavy rounds. I saw the quest completion come up and floored the MRAP's pedal. Time to go home. No one bothered us, no one chased us.

  We made a brief stop, to check on Greg, at the Sunset Motel. Just to make sure my premonition wasn't somehow about him. I introduced him to Jim and John, then bought the boys some drinks before we would move on. Greg had told me everything had been fine, barely any trouble passed through there since the st time he saw me. Good. One possible source of this dreadful gnawing in my gut, could be marked off the list.

  'Meadran, you there?' I figured it was worth it to check in.

  'Young One, I sense you.' He seemed unbothered. He was lethargic and in no distress.

  'Are you okay?' Better to ask...

  'Yes, everything is well, as far as I am aware.' He seemed to slowly gain more alertness. He vast mind altered it's patterns into a more active mode.

  'Can you check on the others for me, I can't shake the sense that something is wrong.' I could feel him reach out through the trees.

  'I can sense nothing amiss, and Faergin and Korvaith report they are fine as well.' He was now fully awake and the seeds of worry began to germinate in him.

  'Thanks Meadran. I'll check in with Alina and she if her sensors have picked anything up.' Hmm. Really what could this damnable sensation be trying to warn me about?

  'Be careful, Young One. Premonitions are often misunderstood until it is too te.' Once again countless images of dragons chasing fading shadows in the mists. Green ones this time.

  I reached out for Alina in the Psifield, 'Alina status report.'

  'Everything is within operational expectations, Executor.' Would she even be able to conceive of truly devious covert actions? I tried to consider all the way that our operation might be fucked with. To complete my model I needed more information, but fortunately we had the means to gather all the data we could possibly want.

  'Alina, have an Observer scan the whole of New Lordaeron and the Valley. Report anything even remotely anomalous.' If I couldn't suss out the problem myself, I'd have my most trusted Robo-Buddies find it for me.

  'By your command Executor.' I could clearly feel her attention turn toward this task. My connection to the Psifield had grown stronger.

  I pondered my next actions very carefully. However, I was worried that it was already too te to stop whatever was coming. I looked at the troops drinking and snacking.

  "I need all of you to stay on alert after we get home. I still can't shake this feeling that something has gone wrong." I was going to want to bury myself in distraction, tinkering or spending time with Sally and Megan, even working on mana shaping. Anything to avoid this struggle, but I couldn't let myself lose focus. My Css induced personalities were in conflict about the proper course of action. Making the vagueness of my premonition into a far worse problem.

  The first thing I had to do once we got back, was to fix or repce my damned Padin Css. Somehow I knew that it remaining shattered made it easier for the Emperor Css to screw with my thoughts. As if there were gaps in my mental armor.

  Raynor shared a concerned look with the men, "Hoss, I think I speak for all of us, when I say we've learned to trust your gut. We've been through too much shit together to ignore you now."

  John nodded agreement, "Yeah." I could tell that both of them were already trying in their own ways to figure out what the danger might be.

  They all raised their drinks to me. I returned the gesture. "However this all pys out, know that I am proud of you all." We all took a drink. I felt their burst of pride at my statement, and despite the short amount of time we'd all spent together, our friendship.

  My mind was already turning back to the ways someone could screw us over. Under no circumstances could I let that happen.