Re: From One World To Another (ST/WH40K X-over)
Posted: Sat Mar 26, 2011 12:52 am
Chapter Eight
Sorval raised his eyebrow at Julius, obviously wanting to know more about the chain of events that brought this arrangement into existence. How anyone could count a daemon as a friend would normally be beyond him, but if Julius' home universe was as nasty as he said it was, then it wasn't entirely impossible that such a relationship might form.
"Would you mind explaining how this friendship between you and the daemon came about?" Sorval asked. Whatever explanation Julius could give would have to be a good one, and perhaps give him more information on the workings of that hellish paralell universe.
"It was eight years ago." Julius began. "Just after the Imperium carried out Exterminatus on my homeworld. I, along with some other cultists fled into the Warp to escape the planet's destruction."
"The Warp?" Sorval asked. "You mean subspace, right?" Julius raised an eyebrow in confusion.
"No, I've never heard of this 'subspace'. I mean the Warp, the Immaterium, the Realm of Chaos itself. What do you mean by 'subspace'?"
"Oh, uh, that'll take some time to explain, we'll wait until after you're done explaining your friendship with this daemon." Sorval said. Julius nodded, noting that that was probably the best idea, saving these sorts of questions for the end of the story.
"Now, where was I? Oh yes. In the Warp. The cult leader, Octavian Magnus, proclaimed that I was to be the host of one of Tzeentch's Greater Daemons, a Lord of Change. More particualarly, one named Tarovos, who was just as unnerved as I was. I was his first host, and one of only two ways he could survive in the material realm, the other being to flat out summon him with special preparations and sacrifice." Julius paused. "And yes, before you ask, I do mean human sacrifice. And before you judge me just because I worked with daemons, the Imperium does this sort of thing all the time, feeding the souls of millions of tortured psychics to the Emperor every day to allow them access to faster-than-light travel." Sorval and the other Starfleet officers looked stunned at this. Stunned, horrified, and confused. "After Tarovos was sealed into my body, we were assigned to aid Eliphas the Inheritor's forces in Subsector Aurelia. We were nearly overrun by Tyranids, and would have been, if Tarovos hadn't triggered a psychic explosion right in the middle of them." Julius started to lay back, recalling the days when he served Tzeentch. "Since then Tarovos has gotten me through more tight spots than I care to remember, and things have just sorta developed from there.
"Now, I take it you have questions about my universe?"
"Yes." Sorval began. "About this 'Warp' you mentioned. What exactly is it?"
"The realm of the Chaos Gods. A place where dreams become reality, where the thoughts and feelings of all the sentient beings in the galaxy take form. It's also a dimension where faster-than-light travel is possible. Why did you ask if it was subspace?"
"Because the name sounded a lot like our own form of superluminal travel, albeit, it works in a very different way." Nikolai said, having remained quiet up until that point.
"Thank you for answering for me, Commander." Sorval said in a tone that was dripping with sarcasm. "Yes, that is why I asked that. Our own warp drive is similar in name only. It works by using the energy of the dimension known as subspace to distort space-time around the vessel, causing it to rapidly expand behind the ship, and contract in front of it."
"A diametric engine?" Julius asked. "Those were experimented with, but deemed impractical during the Dark Age of Technology in my universe. Something very few people know about."
"How do you know about it then?"
"Mix of serving Tzeentch and being in the right place at the right time." Suddenly, a beeping was heard emminating from one of the pannels. The second neural energy pattern began growing more active. Julius looked at it, before looking back at Sorval and Nikolai. "Well, you wanted to learn more about Tarovos right? Here comes your chance. Just warning you though, he can be a bit cranky and snarky when waking up."
Sorval raised his eyebrow at Julius, obviously wanting to know more about the chain of events that brought this arrangement into existence. How anyone could count a daemon as a friend would normally be beyond him, but if Julius' home universe was as nasty as he said it was, then it wasn't entirely impossible that such a relationship might form.
"Would you mind explaining how this friendship between you and the daemon came about?" Sorval asked. Whatever explanation Julius could give would have to be a good one, and perhaps give him more information on the workings of that hellish paralell universe.
"It was eight years ago." Julius began. "Just after the Imperium carried out Exterminatus on my homeworld. I, along with some other cultists fled into the Warp to escape the planet's destruction."
"The Warp?" Sorval asked. "You mean subspace, right?" Julius raised an eyebrow in confusion.
"No, I've never heard of this 'subspace'. I mean the Warp, the Immaterium, the Realm of Chaos itself. What do you mean by 'subspace'?"
"Oh, uh, that'll take some time to explain, we'll wait until after you're done explaining your friendship with this daemon." Sorval said. Julius nodded, noting that that was probably the best idea, saving these sorts of questions for the end of the story.
"Now, where was I? Oh yes. In the Warp. The cult leader, Octavian Magnus, proclaimed that I was to be the host of one of Tzeentch's Greater Daemons, a Lord of Change. More particualarly, one named Tarovos, who was just as unnerved as I was. I was his first host, and one of only two ways he could survive in the material realm, the other being to flat out summon him with special preparations and sacrifice." Julius paused. "And yes, before you ask, I do mean human sacrifice. And before you judge me just because I worked with daemons, the Imperium does this sort of thing all the time, feeding the souls of millions of tortured psychics to the Emperor every day to allow them access to faster-than-light travel." Sorval and the other Starfleet officers looked stunned at this. Stunned, horrified, and confused. "After Tarovos was sealed into my body, we were assigned to aid Eliphas the Inheritor's forces in Subsector Aurelia. We were nearly overrun by Tyranids, and would have been, if Tarovos hadn't triggered a psychic explosion right in the middle of them." Julius started to lay back, recalling the days when he served Tzeentch. "Since then Tarovos has gotten me through more tight spots than I care to remember, and things have just sorta developed from there.
"Now, I take it you have questions about my universe?"
"Yes." Sorval began. "About this 'Warp' you mentioned. What exactly is it?"
"The realm of the Chaos Gods. A place where dreams become reality, where the thoughts and feelings of all the sentient beings in the galaxy take form. It's also a dimension where faster-than-light travel is possible. Why did you ask if it was subspace?"
"Because the name sounded a lot like our own form of superluminal travel, albeit, it works in a very different way." Nikolai said, having remained quiet up until that point.
"Thank you for answering for me, Commander." Sorval said in a tone that was dripping with sarcasm. "Yes, that is why I asked that. Our own warp drive is similar in name only. It works by using the energy of the dimension known as subspace to distort space-time around the vessel, causing it to rapidly expand behind the ship, and contract in front of it."
"A diametric engine?" Julius asked. "Those were experimented with, but deemed impractical during the Dark Age of Technology in my universe. Something very few people know about."
"How do you know about it then?"
"Mix of serving Tzeentch and being in the right place at the right time." Suddenly, a beeping was heard emminating from one of the pannels. The second neural energy pattern began growing more active. Julius looked at it, before looking back at Sorval and Nikolai. "Well, you wanted to learn more about Tarovos right? Here comes your chance. Just warning you though, he can be a bit cranky and snarky when waking up."