Herald of the Stars: Chapter Two Hundred and Eighty-Six

The Barghests have become excellent gene-wrights and surgeons, learning when to remove organs if Neophytes show signs of rejection and saving their lives, creating living banks of geneseed organs and superior Auxilia who fight alongside their fully converted Space Marines. Auxilia rarely live beyond fifty. Their bodies collapse from not having the proper balance of organs, and frequent corrective treatments. Most die from combat way before then.

To my irritation, the Barghests have thrown a lot of what they usually do out of the window and used all ten thousand children in a grand experiment, then kept it hidden from me, because they knew I wouldn’t approve. 

It does explain why they stopped nagging me to personally help them with their geneseed issues. Instead, they have taken advantage of my agreement to assist them to requisition my resources from my administration. This rather pisses me off and there’s no one to blame but myself for this oversight.

I was right to accuse the Barghests of taking excessive liberties and make a note to bring the issue to Fleet Command to brainstorm ideas for cracking down on their liberal behavior. 

Another issue like this and I will not renew our contract once the twenty-five years are up, nor will I warn them. If it requires me to breathe down their necks to behave within the spirit of our agreement, then they are no longer worth the prestige and improbable valorous actions I gain from having them on call.

I am not surprised by their secretive experiments as fixing their issues has not been a priority for me and they must have thought I was stalling. They are either more desperate than I thought or, despite my reputation, did not trust me to keep my word. 

At least these new methods have proven successful, which is probably why Odrhan dared to hand over the data to me now.

Looking at the crazy numbers, I doubt they could have kept this secret from me much longer either. I will have to have a more thorough discussion with JK-404 as well. Really Aldrich, she’s a Magos Biologis expelled from the Lathe Worlds for illegal experimentation. What did you expect?!

My bias towards Lyre and my need for an expert really coloured my perception of her little sob story.

How did this even get past Brigid?

I take a few calming breaths. I must stop making assumptions and collect all the information before losing my temper again. I should not mistake malicious behavior for miscommunication or stupidity. Neither should I make absolute statements and snub a valuable military force because they piss me off.

Continuing my perusal of the data, I have to marvel at JK-404’s audacity. She and her team recruited ten thousand Neophytes, implanted them with Machine Impulse Units, then stuffed them in a hybrid medichine tank and sleeping pod. The ignorant kids were locked into a simulation, told it was real, and thrown into the harshest of conditions.

The goal was to increase their soul growth through adversity without putting their bodies under stress. Using my stolen knowledge from the Drukhari Haemonculi, they were able to not only measure the Neophytes souls, but also measure the strain on them caused by their implants and create the most efficient simulations for soul growth. 

This let them know in advance who could take more implants and when, rather than having to guess based on time spent in training. It also confirmed my theory about the arcanotech nature of Astartes organs and the esoteric burnden they place on the user.

As far as I am aware, new implantation implementation is an unprecedented achievement, let alone all the other advancements JK-404 and her collaborators have made.

For the first six weeks, their bodies underwent the Tau anti-mutation treatment. Once that was complete and the Neophyte’s conditions stabilized, the Ortelius genetor used his knowledge to fine tune the DNA of these kids into the purest Humans he could manage while bringing forth the traits looked for by Barghest Apothecaries. 

The research team used records of my own DNA, as well as the large number of samples I have of twenty-two thousand years of Human evolution from the lanyards I collected on the Federation Space Station. Then they spliced in the best bits they could find.

This process killed 1% of the Neophytes.

Next, the Neophytes underwent their first two implants, Barghest style. 85% of the Neophytes took well to the procedure, rather than the expected 70%. The remaining 14% of Neophytes failed and had their DNA reset a second time, killing a further 3%. 

The survivors, all 11% of them, were removed from the simulation, hale and whole. Another unprecedented achievement. Depending on the Neophytes’ performance in the simulations, they were assigned to become Serfs or Voidsmen. Far better than the Servitors or corpses they’d usually end up as.

From there, the Neophytes, thanks to healing and time stretching properties of the medichines and simulations, went from ten to twelve year old kids to full Astartes with the required experience and knowledge in eighteen months, rather than six to eight years. 

This compressed schedule and improved healing reduced the length of time for the Astartes physiology to unbalance and collapse before they received all of their organs. It also minimised the trauma the bodies and minds of the kids had to endure, from surgery at least. The simulations to force soul growth through adversity were bad enough that even the Apothecaries thought it would be wise to perform moderate memory editing.

Rather than the usual 2% that make it to the end, 34% of the Neophytes survived the full procedure. 52% became Demi-Marines, or Cyber-Marines, Barghest Auxilia with extensive cybernetics to compensate for their missing geneseed organs. A further 4% died. Another 6% survived being reset and joining Red Knoll’s crew.

Lir expected to get 200 scouts, 100 to make it back to him, and 6,000 Auxilia. The rest should have died.

Instead, I’ve just had 3400 new Astartes Tech-Marines, not Scouts, dropped in my lap. I’m also, apparently, related to every single one of them in some way, like some pseudo-primarch. 

No matter what I do now, it will look like I ordered this.

Uplifting my fellow man and being generous with my knowledge has finally returned to haunt me.

Not only have the new Astartes been given MIUs, but they’ve also received other Herald implants like Pain Wards, Void Skin, and Warding Electoos. 

The Void Skin surprises me as Astartes already have the Mucranoid and Melanchromic Organ which, between them, have a similar effect to Void Skin. They’re also far more effective resisting vacuum and radiation near indefinitely, rather than mere minutes. However, both of these organs require activation in advance and the Mucranoid requires an external drug.

Access to Void Skin provides an extra layer of emergency protection as the Astartes organs take as long to activate as Void Skin can provide protection. Void Skin is also a better canvas for Warding Electoos. This allows for higher levels of power and protection from sorcery and corruption, and less chance of triggering mutations and complications from the Warp active minerals used to fabricate the Warding Electoos.

Ports on the Astartes’ necks, compatible with the Vitae Supplement added to every Carapace and Power Armour built by the Stellar Fleet, were added too. That part, at least, was expected, as they are needed for the Rogue Pattern Power Armour I issued the Barghests.

Sacred Blood and Black Skeletons were not issued. Sacred Blood does not work well with Larraman’s Organ or the Haemastamen. The case studies for these attempts are where most of the deaths came from after the first three months. 

The Black Skeleton, though superior to an Astartes enhanced skeleton, isn’t compatible with the Ossmodula. They could skip the Ossmodula, but that would put the Astartes’ bodies out of balance and mean more chemical treatments to maintain their health. Testing for Black Skeleton compatibility caused unpleasant growths that paralysed, then killed the test subjects.

Extra treatments to skip the Ossmodula aren’t worth the benefits the Black Skeleton would bring as it would require more down time for Astartes and a greater chance of a sudden cascade failure of their physiology. While JK-404’s team did manage to save many Astartes from this partial implantation issue while they were in the medichine tanks, it would be rather pointless to keep the Astartes in there full time.  

The Astartes obviously didn’t get the Herald version of a second heart. They did, however, get Subdermal Armour and Armoured Organs, something I only issue as standard to my aeronautica crews because it helps keep everything in place during high gravity manoeuvres.

The 5,200 Cyber-Marines are somewhere between elite Herald Acolytes and Warforged in terms of enhancement, knowledge, and experience, depending on how many geneseed organs they were compatible with. The key difference is that they have the hypno-conditioning and neural alterations that prevent them from feeling fear.

One can get a similar ‘no fear’ effect with cybernetics and brain surgery, such as the Rite of Clear Thought. I frown on such practices as it kills other emotions and has a tendency to induce madness, or create individuals who pursue singular goals to the point of self-destruction. Astartes conditioning trends towards rigid thought patterns and excessive adherence to implanted protocols and tactics. I consider this superior to the Rite of Clear Thought, though still not ideal.

The benefits don’t outweigh the extra cost unless one is expecting to encounter memetic hazards and fight Warp entities. Unfortunately, this is one of those choices that by the time you realise you need the extra protections, it’s too late to even pray for them. I make do with Warding Electoos and Sacred Blood. So far, it has proved sufficient. Astartes do not have such luxuries.

Looking at the data, I am questioning my original decision to suggest Cyber-Marine creation. 

As one might expect from a partial conversion, their tech-burden is far higher than a complete Astartes, or approximately 45% higher than an Elite Herald Acolyte and even exceeds some Warforged. The Cyber-Marines also cost more as Acolytes and Warforge subsidize their conversion to True Flesh using their personal income. I only pay the maintenance while Acolytes and Warforged are part of the Stellar Corps. The Cyber-Marines require even more implants and I have, apparently, funded them all.

For example, the Pharmacopoeia implant can store enough drugs to keep a Cyber-Marine alive for a month at a time. It's a similar problem to Killovie Signi’s dependance. The Cyber-Marines also need emotional stabilisation implants to keep their temper in check. They behave in a somewhat dull manner, much like Skitarii.

Cyber-Marines have to wear their armour as much as possible so that the modified Vitae Supplement the Stellar Fleet uses in its armours can maintain sufficient coherence between their cybernetics, bionics, and flesh. That means more wear on their Power Armour and more medichines consumed by their Vitae Supplement, which also have to be topped up frequently.

There was some talk of letting the Cyber-Marines out of their armour and providing Autosanguine implants instead, but these were considered redundant given the pre-existing and cheaper solution (Vitae Supplement), as well as the already formidable regeneration of Astartes physiology.

Despite these many downsides, the Cyber-Marines are actually stronger and faster than standard Astartes, closer in performance to a Primaris or a Thunder Warrior. Their cybernetics are also tougher than their bionics. The usefulness of a living reserve of Astartes organs cannot be understated either, morbid though it may be.

There is one esoteric effect of Astartes conversion that is difficult to quantify that could tip the balance in the favour of these Cyber-Marines. 

Space Marines tend to be storied. They are the great heroes of the galaxy, their sacrifice or survival based on the whims and needs of the Emperor. Like the Sororitas, they tend to achieve far more in reality than their performance data suggests. It is as if their sheer will and faith is enough to Warp reality.

It is not dissimilar to the Waaargh! effect of Orks, though I would not raise that example in the company of an Astartes or Sororitas!

I have seen no evidence that my Heralds are capable of the same; I cannot afford to turn down troops who can fight through overwhelming odds just because I don’t like the nacescent god who blesses them and has chained my daughter and I to His service.

Thus, one key question remains as to whether these Cyber-Marines will be worth the cost. Is their partial conversion enough to count as the Emperor’s favoured sons and save the day or will they die as swift and irrelevant as regular mortals?

I will just have to swallow the extra cost until the data exists to answer my query. Even if only a single Cyber-Marine survives to save a void ship or planet in some daring assault or infiltration, it will be worth the price.

At the bottom of the report I spot a cheeky little note asking me to provide all the required equipment for them as per our agreement. The note is time stamped just after my rant.

Son. Of. A. Bitch!

Oooh, I’m back to being hopping mad! I was feeling all happy about there only being 800 dead kids, rather than 4,000, but no, Odhran had to get the last word in!

I bet I’m going to be the one who has to deal with the push back from an overfilled chapter under my banner as well, let alone ‘fathering’ an entire fucking legion of Space Marines! 

The new implantation methods are not a procedure I can push to keep secret to hide my accidental collaboration either; spreading them will drastically improve Astartes numbers. 

Neither will my Astartes allies, for all their reckless experimentation, accept suppressing the method they’ve developed. They hate creating dead Neophytes as much as I do. They all remember the trauma of watching their fellow Neophytes die one by one and, for all their resilience, are not keen to put their new Battle Brothers through such trials if they don’t have to.

At this point, my only option is to pray to the Omnissiah and hope some fool doesn’t try us in absentia, proclaim our guilt with glee, then declare a crusade on the ‘Stellar Fleet Hereteks’ for improving the Emperor’s great work in a poorly hidden attempt to steal it.

It’s not like any self respecting Magos would give away their research for free. Thus, there must be some additional secret that’s worth fighting for!