Chapter 100 The Startide Nexus

“Forefather, Father, are you leaving already?”

Having finalized his game plan, Vane had immediately decided to head straight for the Eastern Fringe of the galaxy to deliver his little “gift” to the T’au Empire. The Emperor was definitely tagging along. After all, the absolute hope for humanity’s salvation rested entirely on Vane’s shoulders.

Hearing that his Forefather and his Father were already heading out caught Ferrus completely off guard.

“Yes, we have other pressing matters to attend to. Ferrus, when you find the time, make your way to Terra and reunite with your brothers. They have all missed you dearly.”

The Emperor’s voice actually carried the genuine warmth and concern of a father speaking to his son.

In truth, it wasn’t that the Emperor didn’t love the Primarchs. It was just that the crushing, apocalyptic pressure of fighting the Chaos Gods and trying to save the human race left him with absolutely zero time—and no luxury—to show any genuine emotional attachment. But now? With Vane acting as the ultimate, overpowered carry, the Emperor was finally starting to let his humanity show.

“I will find the time to visit Terra,” Ferrus nodded, before turning his gaze to Vane. “Forefather, safe travels to you as well.”

“Don’t forget to pay off your massive debt, Ferrus! Or I’m selling your ass to a sweatshop!” Vane waved goodbye with a massive, cheeky grin.

Ferrus: “…”

I knew I shouldn’t have said anything to him!

Under the watchful eyes of Ferrus and the Iron Hands, Vane and his entourage boarded their warship, leaving Medusa behind and diving into the Webway to head straight for the Eastern Fringe.

“We are heading out to deal with the T’au?” The Emperor looked up from the holographic projection, turning his gaze toward Vane.

“Yep.”

“If you intend to launch a full-scale war, the forces we currently have on hand will likely not be enough. Furthermore, there might be a much more powerful species manipulating the T’au from the shadows.”

Vane had already looked up the lore and intel regarding the T’au Empire. The evolutionary speed of that particular race was nothing short of staggering. It had only taken them a mere eight millennia to leap entirely from primitive hunter-gatherer tribes into a spacefaring empire. Without some kind of massive external interference, achieving that kind of ridiculous progress was flat-out impossible.

“We don’t need to start a full-blown war. We only need to defeat the T’au Empire, not exterminate their entire species.” Vane reached out and swiped the holographic projection, tapping on one of the star systems belonging to the T’au. “The foundation of the T’au Empire is the Greater Good, which is fundamentally atheistic in nature.”

“It’s somewhat similar to the Imperial Truth that you used to promote,” Vane pointed out to the Emperor. “But they mixed in way too many cult-like religious elements, plus they’ve got that weird Ethereal caste running the show. So this whole ‘Greater Good’ thing just feels incredibly contrived.”

“Their belief in the Greater Good is undoubtedly twisted. However, the T’au possess remarkably weak soul reflections in the Warp—certainly not strong enough to manifest that twisted faith into a physical entity on their own,” Eldrad joined the discussion. “I must say, they are a species birthed from far too many coincidences.”

“I couldn’t care less about whatever grand conspiracy is backing the T’au.” Vane swiped with both hands, expanding the selected star system on the map. “Whatever shady schemes those guys are pulling behind the scenes, they still can’t beat me anyway. Right now, my only goal is to force the T’au to mutate. I’m going to vastly strengthen their soul reflections and grant them psychic potential.”

“Due to a little accident, the T’au’s Warp slipstream drive experiment ended in catastrophic failure, tearing open a massive Warp tunnel right here.”

“They tore through the veil between realspace and the Empyrean, and the demons didn’t immediately invade?” Eldrad asked, genuinely puzzled.

The Emperor chimed in to explain. “That tunnel is currently occupied by the Goddess T’au’va—the Warp manifestation of their Greater Good. She has been actively blocking the demonic incursions.”

Vane smirked. “My plan is to kidnap this Goddess T’au’va, completely stripping that tunnel of its protection.”

“Then, I’ll use the Goddess to directly influence the T’au race, forcibly awakening their psychic potential and permanently boosting their soul signatures.”

“The moment those blue-skinned aliens finally see the horrifying truth of the universe and the grand lie of the Greater Good is exposed, the entire T’au Empire will collapse entirely on its own.”

If anyone else had suggested this, Eldrad would have undoubtedly mocked them for losing their minds. Planning to literally kidnap the manifested god of an entire species’ faith was sheer lunacy. But the person saying it was Vane, and he could actually pull it off.

—

The Startide Nexus connected the T’au Empire’s core septs directly to the Chalnath Expanse, allowing their starships to travel safely across the galaxy. The moment they secured this stable route, the T’au immediately heavily fortified both sides of the anomaly with massive defense platforms and military bases.

Shadowsun, the legendary Supreme Commander of the T’au Empire, had personally led the Expansion Fleet through the Startide Nexus, arriving in the Chalnath Expanse to continue expanding the Empire’s borders.

The second the Imperial armada dropped out of the Warp near the Startide Nexus, the T’au forces immediately went to high alert and entered a state of total war.

“You have trespassed into restricted space.”

“Leave immediately, or face complete destruction.”

Shadowsun broadcasted a system-wide hail to the Imperial fleet. The moment the Emperor approved the connection, her voice echoed through the bridge’s vox-casters.

“This is sovereign Imperial territory!” an Imperial officer shot back.

“That is entirely in the past. This sector now belongs to the Greater Good,” Shadowsun replied coldly. “I have no desire to initiate hostilities, but if your fleet advances a single step further, I will order my forces to open fire.”

Vane couldn’t be bothered to waste any more breath on the xenos. He immediately ordered the Imperial armada to open fire.

Blinding macro-lasers lashed out, slicing straight toward the T’au orbital bases and defense platforms. Macrocannon shells the size of cargo shipping containers were unleashed in a massive, sweeping fan formation.

The T’au Empire retaliated swiftly. A relentless barrage of railgun slugs and plasma fire illuminated the dark void with chained explosions. Swarm after swarm of T’au void-fighters launched from their bays, buzzing toward the Imperial fleet in a desperate bid to halt their advance.

Watching the space battle violently unfold, Vane turned his head to look at the Emperor.

“Open a door. We are going to head directly into the wormhole and capture this T’au Goddess.”

The Emperor nodded, channeling his immense psychic energy to construct a glowing, localized portal.

Vane swapped out his gear and stepped casually through the portal, with the Emperor following right on his heels.

Eldrad didn’t follow them.

He knew exactly where he stood on the cosmic power scale. Just because Vane and the Emperor could casually stroll into the Warp completely unshielded didn’t mean he could survive it.