Author Notes:
Bit of a side show before the upcoming mini-arc/training arc. Can't say where this will lead us to for not even I know where the recaf will take me, so cheers for that.
Shoutout to Private Sarg for paying an entire year worth of the Imperial Tithe! And as always, don't forget to enjoy and show some love for the stories in anyway you can, whether you're a Patron or an invested reader!
Now if you'll excuse me, I need to make myself more recaf.
P.S: I posted NSFW pictures on Patreon for Ein, and will continue to do so in the future, if I can get my AI to coordinate with me that is.
https://www.patreon.com/Heartbreak117
https://ko-fi.com/heartbreak117/goal?g=0
Income goal 780/880 USD (UmU)
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"That's quite brave of her." The Emperor praises while multitasking Her daily workload.
Running a galactic Imperium is, for all intents and purposes, a slough that can consume any lesser being. Fortunately, the Emperor is anything but lesser, and She is capable of blazing through the absolute monstrosity of a work schedule in getting the Imperium back to its former Great Crusade glory. Yet, it's undeniable that such a mind-numbing, tedious task can even bore the Emperor out of Her mind. It's why she dedicates a portion of her mind to watching Ein's livestream 24/7, and yes, she even watches it while Ein's asleep. It's quite soothing, seeing someone in Ein's position sleeping quite soundly.
But that's beside the point.
Seeing how Ein and her assigned bodyguard/battle-buddy committed a daring rescue for some stranded pilots, the Emperor can be said to be quite entertained, and even grateful for the risk they all undertook. After all, every loyal soul to the Imperium is a precious soul. Sure, not even She can save everyone, but as long as it's one life saved, it means one less cinder for Chaos' machinations.
The Emperor continues to refine a key weapon blueprint from the Great Crusade era, even without moving a single muscle; the necessary virtual sketches and data are input faster than a mortal brain can process. While doing so, the Emperor sees Ein and her cohort landing at the Joint Task Force's FOB on Installation 08. She sees how Ein then hands over the injured airman to the awaiting medics before moving to sit down on a bunch of crates. Joining her are Weiss and, quite surprisingly, the pilots of Roughnecks. Not many words are exchanged between them, however, and all are just taking the opportunity to take a breather. Clearly, they are all exhausted mentally, if not physically. However, Ein and Weiss have it much easier than anyone else, thanks to their shared Debuff Immunity. Still, it's healthy indeed to take a small but necessary break from all the intense, focused killing out in the badlands.
It takes around five minutes for the Cadian group, which is not doing anything but idly spectating the ongoing buzz of the recently established FOB, to notice the arrival of the VIPs. The Emperor let out a warm smile when a certain Canoness Superior nearly blitzed the remaining distance just to physically check on Ein's well-being. It's quite amusing to see how Ein acts all bashful when Elyzabeth starts patting her up and down for any injury. They are, after all, in a semi-public setting, with Weiss and the pilots watching them nearby. While Elyzabeth doesn't say much in the process, she is just seriously trying to ascertain her adopted daughter's well-being; it's still a memorable sight to see someone in powered armor care for a girl who's much shorter than her.
When everything checks out and Ein only suffers a few scratches and cuts here and there, Elyzabeth pulls her daughter into a brief hug, muttering something about how proud she is of Ein but still wishing that Ein would take care of herself more. That's but an understandable reaction that any good mother should have, although the Emperor finds it a bit disappointing that She isn't the one to utter such to the girl. Certain events, both near and far, have made her long to be a good maternal figure, for once. And for lack of better options, Ein is the most suitable one to be doted on, especially considering the plans She has in store for dear, hapless Ein. One can't expect the Emperor to cuddle Her more grown-up daughters and whisper sweet nothings these days, although it is on Her list to reconnect with the remaining Primarchs still.
Once more lost in Her grand works and viewing Ein and her group being taken for a debrief, the Emperor is momentarily attracted to the movements behind Her armored shoulders. Mentally saving and pausing the great reinventions of recent millennia, the Emperor turns to the source of the commotion, a young, buxom lady with short black hair, side-swept sharp bangs, and blue eyes. She can be seen sitting up with a hand to support her head, presumably still dazed from her bout of being just a set of static cubes. Turning her body, the lady puts her feet, wearing a pair of old-fashioned yet stylish black thigh-high heeled boots, on the cool metallic floor, casting a brief clinking to echo in the grand chamber.
"How long was I out this time?" The lady asks before unbuttoning the first button of her white shirt and loosening her black neck bow.
"Only a couple of days." The Emperor replies with a calming smile. Her flickering golden eyes scan the black-haired lady for any sign of discomfort. "It would seem that you're recovering quite well from your previous..."
"Less than ideal state, Emperor?" The gentlewoman replies with a small grin, but she soon loses it when she raises her hand to view them. "It's indeed an improvement, but it will be quite some time till I can get more... Corporeal, I guess."
The Emperor says. "There's much work to be done about you, Pegasus."
The lady then looks down at the rest of her body, where it remains annoyingly see-through, with wisps of blueish yellow energy sometimes running all over her inner body, as if they're part of a vein that centralizes around where her heart should be. "Yeah, I guess so... It will be a while still for me to see my savior, huh?" To this, the Emperor offers a minute tilt of Her head.
"For what it's worth, when you do see your savior, Ein, you will be doing so in your new, glorious wings, Pegasus." The Emperor offers a comforting gesture.
The black-haired lady sighs before shaking her head.
"That's a nice thought indeed, huh... But in all honesty, Emperor, if you want me to get used to the new name, then you really need to get around to pronouncing it and stop sticking to Pegasus."
The Emperor chuckles before mentally sending a wisp of her energy to the black-haired lady, sharing Ein's livestream to her.
"Ah, but you have yet to be re-christened, Pegasus. You are still a bit away from being bound to the Ark Mechanicus I have secured for you. So for now, Pegasus is the name I will be using."
Despite feeling grateful that the Emperor is once again sharing with her Ein's livestream, the black-haired lady chooses to roll her eyes in exasperation.
"Pegasus... Ark Royal... Three syllables each. Ain't that hard to convert to my new name, ain't it?"
"Yes," The Emperor nods with a sincere expression. "But calling you Pegasus now does help in keeping things clear. Like I said, you aren't bound to the Ark Mechanicus Ark Royal, yet. For now, both you and the voidship are still separated entities."
"Fine, whatever floats your boat, golden lady. But I will be addressing myself as Ark Royal from now on. I'd best get used to it before I fumble any introduction." Ark Royal throws her hands up, ending this particular discussion.
"So, anything I can help with today, or should I just kick back and watch the archived for Ein's livestream?" Ark Royal offers.
The Emperor, however, politely refuses. "Thanks for the offer, but right now, it's best if you focus on stabilizing your manifestation first. The sooner you can reform your physical body through the Wisdom Cubes, the faster we can get you bound to the Ark Mechanicus."
"Find by me then, I guess I can do that while watching Ein's streaming as well." Ark Royal shrugs before thoughtfully adding. "Say, can't you just use whatever juice you are running on to, you know, give me a helpful nudge?"
"That may result in... Some unnatural mutations." The Emperor puts it mildly. "I presume neither of us wants to see you coming up at Ein in the form of a walking church, am I right?"
"Right..." Ark Royal blanches. "I am technically a KANSEN and all that, so I would like to keep my current humanoid form, yes."
"A wise decision." The Emperor chuckles before resuming her great reinvention tasks.
Meanwhile, Ark Royal stands up from the steel-carved table she has been resting on and moves to a corner of the chamber that is unofficially her own. Midway, she loosens her black corset just a bit so that she can flop herself down on an antique and extremely comfortable couch. She doesn't even bother taking off her boots before crossing her legs above the couch's elaborately carved handrest. With Ein's calm voice in the livestream acting as the backdrop, Ark Royal manifests a semi-corporeal object in her hand, a large, ornate one-handed firearm. Twirling the firearm in her hand before flicking open its cylinder in a break-action manner, Ark Royal inspects the design of the firearm. It's clearly catered to the same design aesthetic as Ark Royal's current attire, being a steampunk, Victorian-esque female tuxedo, although her outer coat is currently left unmaterialized.
In the time Ark Royal has spent awoken in the care of the Emperor of Mankind, she's been asked this by the Emperor.
"Why did you choose this rustic look for your current manifestation?"
Indeed, why the steampunk aesthetic is a logical thing to ask when there are many ways Ark Royal could have presented herself with her new form. Ark Royal's answer to the question is quite simple, but also deep upon introspection.
Ironic.
In her first life as Pegasus, Ark Royal was considered the most modern, most powerful Battlestar humanity had to offer. She was what one would call a battlecarrier capital ship. Yet, when she somehow wandered into this grimdark universe, Ark Royal found that she couldn't even stack up to the most common and numerous frigates of the Navis Imperialis. What she thought was modern turned out to be either hopelessly obsolete or ultimately not as effective as its Imperial counterparts. Her guns are too small, and her armor utterly meaningless against a single shot from Macro or Lance Battery. Pegasus was, for all intents and purposes, pretty on paper, yet not effective in any fight in the 40th millennium. Hence, the current Ark Royal's desire for a steampunk aesthetic, which strangely enough, adds a breath of fresh air to the widespread gothic architecture of Imperial ship constructions, something that even the Emperor Herself appreciates.
Ein seems to favor the tall, slender, buxom, and possibly even the motherly kind. Ark Royal thinks she can tick all the boxes neatly; it's just that she hopes Ein doesn't see her as a weirdo or something.
And just like that, Ark Royal is lost in her little corner of the universe, not at all caring how the Emperor near her will revolutionize the way interstellar warfare is fought, once more.