"Well. That's a nice surprise." Fraken said as he watched the rest of the invasion force gather at the rendezvous point. "Well you look at that."
"The Wolf King spared nothing in his efforts, brother Fraken. He gives you his blessing, perhaps you may be graced with his personal presence during the battle. Perhaps he may even thank you or beat you senseless if you happen to kill Magnus himself."
"I'll be looking forward to it." Fraken said as he sat down. "Now then, until the time comes, I will wait for everyone else. Fraken out."
"Beow out."
"And methinks the Wolf King only sent a single company when he said "some reinforcements". More like the entire bloody legion!" Tavish commented as he watched the countless warships join them.
"He really hates Magnus. I think he's still number 2 on the list." Fraken said.
"Well... poor old Magnus is going to be beaten so hard, he'll have a twitch!" Tavish said as he opened a bottle of ale. The Dark Angel was a heavy drinker, which made many wonder if he really was a Dark Angel, or maybe a Space Wolf who got so drunk, he forgot which chapter he belonged in.
"You know... drunk on the battlefield isn't the way to be."
"Tell that to your lads back in the Space Wolves mate! They're so drunk sometimes, I see them beating each other senseless when the fights over."
"No... they normally do that regardless of being sober or drunk." Fraken said as he adjusted his suit. He had a thing for those, anyone needing proof just had to look inside his wardrobe, and find several suits that were his size, perfectly ironed and without a single flaw to them. Despite being ridiculed by many, the Space Wolf always wore his fancy garments with pride and dignity.
"Well... I'll be off... heehee, I am going to blast so many of them into thin glue..." Tavish chuckled evilly as he grabbed his favored weapon, a massive, customized grenade launcher that had a reputation, half as fierce as it's user.
"Tyranid activity has been calculated to have increased by at least 300% since 20 years ago. Thanks to your efforts and your reforms, we have managed to put down any form of Tyranid offensive with little loss."
"Thank you, Magos. That will be all." The Emperor said as he cut the connection.
"Three hundred percent?" Galaxia asked with disbelief. "Three hundred percent?"
"Three hundred percent. This number is only going to increase as times go on until we put a stop to this." The Emperor said as he began to ponder. "How long do you expect the webway project to be finished?"
"Maybe... 500 years?"
"We'd all be dead by then." The Emperor said shaking his head.
"Perhaps we could rely on the obsolete warp drives that the Tau use in order to remain connected."
"That could work, until we realize that the Imperium isn't a big circle...."
"Sigmar... cutting the Astronomican array... do you really think that could work?"
"Work? The Tyranids MIGHT be attracted to the galaxy because of a machine I built.... if we pull the plug... and it turns out it wasn't the right choice.... what then? We'd be abandoning many worlds in darkness. I cannot allow that. If I save the Imperium from an act of evil... what is the point then? I'll become just like them. Even with borrowing Tau technology... there will still be trillions that are abandoned to their deaths... yet what if pulling the plug is the right choice? And that we wasted countless lives in the battles that followed... or worse yet, we were annihilated? All of us?"
"Sigmar... there is so little we know about the Tyranids. You of all people should know that."
"And it is knowing so little that frustrates me. Knowledge is power, and we have no power against those monsters save for fire and steel. That will only get us so far in the end, when we realize the Tyranids adapt to every strategy, every weapon, every soldier we throw at them. If I send in a million Imperial guardsmen, the Tyranids send in a billion creatures, I send in a thousand astartes, the Tyranids will send in a trillion creatures. If I sent in the Primarchs... I wouldn't be surprised to see an army of swarmlords running around in that case... If I went... if you went... if Malcador went... and somehow... somehow... just one hive ship got away..."
"Let's not think about that." Galaxia said as she put a hoof on his shoulder. "Okay. What was your plan to deal with them originally that didn't involve primarchs?"
"I didn't even have one. We only met 5000 years ago. But... I always wondered... if we cut off the head, will the snake die?"
"That doesn't seem to be the case with the Alpha legion...."
"No... because Omegon still lives." The Emperor said as he thought to himself. "You do know that... right?"
"No..."
"Okay. But to put it in simple terms, Omegon does not exist, is not hiding somewhere, is not planning who knows what with an army that does not exist."
"Okay... but...."
"Have we ever met THE Tyranid leader? Have we? Do we even know what it even is? Don't say it's the Swarmlord or the Norm Queens because I doubt that. What if there is THE Hive Mind, a physical manifestation of it, that's leading the Tyranids?"
"And if we destroy it..."
"The Tyranids, without their hive mind, lose their minds, literally and figuratively, and exterminating them becomes easy.... unfortunately... we don't even know if THAT exists either..."
"You know... we're going to be going in circles for weeks at this rate."
"I know right? And then what if...."
"Can we just focus on that Magnus the Red is trying to stir up trouble again?"
"Okay...okay... he was attacking sub-sector Elysium last time I checked. Someone needed to stop him. I just got word that Leman Russ sent a literal legion against him. It's going to be a heated battle for sure."
"That will be for certain... but what's so special about sub-sector Elysium?"
"Hmmm... I believe there once wa... oh dear..."
"What is it?"
"You know how the webway portal just GOT stabilized?"
"Yeah?"
"And I have a feeling you DON'T know about this artifact... it's a similar one that Cypher uses to get around the galaxy?"
"Oh dear..."
"He teleports to the Canterlot underground, finds the stabilization device... and..."
"But the dark gods are dea..."
"Doesn't matter if they're dead. We'll have an endless invasion of just regular warp beasts. Only SLIGHTLY less dangerous."
"We have to stop him!" Galaxia cried. "If we don't..."
"I'll be at the throne...." Sigmar said. "Tell Leman Russ that he might want to go try things out himself..."