Chapter 31: A God Among Men.
When Justinian gazed at the alien vessel, his mind ran through several possibilities. Most of the aliens he knew inhabited Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto were quite old.
He had not heard of those aliens in the modern day comics so he was going off the fact they did not exist. It appears that he had been quite wrong which caused him a great deal of annoyence.
As he crossed his arms, behind him, Predaking, Grendel, Devestator, Grimlock, and Ravage all began to snarl and hiss. With the smile of a pet owner, he began to run his hand down the living metal faces of his five pets.
"Easy my pets, I will decide if they will feed your hunger for flesh."
With hisses and growles, his Predakons backed off which made Albion and Ddraig to gaze at the mechanical dragons. They began to communicate through their souls. While their Avatars were physical, their souls still resided in the Sacred Gears that were part of Justinian's Power Armor.
[You know, these Predakons as you call them can more than match us at our previous peaks before we were sealed. Isn't that a bitch that just being contracted to you, they have become this powerful.]
Albion shook his head at that.
{They may match us in raw power, but they lack our techniques. You could use your Boost to exceed them. Just like my Divide could do the same. We should teach them our ways so they can create unique skills.}
'Not a bad idea, they can access my power and with them being my familiars. They can also shapeshift their bodies to form any weapon that I know and I know plenty. Regardless, let us show our power to these aliens.'
---
Inside the small vessel, the three alien diplomats were currently in a telepathic discussion. The leader of the three, a female had her features hidden in a long green robe.
'It appears that the one responsible for the changes that happened to Mars has come to meet us.'
'The ability to change the sizes and locations of the stellar bodies is a dangerous power. He could end our entire civilization with a wave of his hand. We must guarantee peace between our civilizations for our good.'
The third didn't disagree.
'Agreed. Let us hope our gifts are enough to get a discussion going.'
As their vessel began to descend toward the landing bay of the fortress, they continued to discuss what they would say. Currently, their ship was showing Justinian, his Honor Guard, and his five Predakons.
They could feel pressure coming from every being that had come to meet them. However, they focused on Justinian in particular and in a smaller part Ddraig and Albion. Just as they were mid-discussion, the three diplomats instantly fell to their knees at the sheer telepathic force that slammed into their minds. Blood began to leak from the woman's nose as she heard Justinian's voice.
'Land.'
When the link was cut, she gasped for breath. Her thoughts thought back to the fools who had thought they could do anything to that thing. She didn't consider Justinian a person anymore, just a force of nature.
'We must not offend him.'
Her fellow diplomats agreed.
'Agreed, Lady Nemann. We must ensure he does not turn his attention to our people.'
It was too late as Justinian fully intended to conquer the entire Solar System. Once all of Mars was compliant and his war machine was operational, if they did not comply they would face extinction.
It was already fated that he would conquer the entire galaxy and nothing would stop him from his ambition. When their vessel landed, the diplomats picked themselves up and wiped their noses to appear at least somewhat presentable. They did not take long as the doors to the ship opened.
The first thing they saw was 5 titanic creatures leaning close and roaring at them. Predaking, Grimlock, Ravage, Devastator, and Grendel all backed off with a wave of Justinian's hand. They flew off, but they still circled high in the sky.
Their mechanical optics locked onto their souls to not let them escape if they tried. When the three ambassadors left their shuttle, it was obvious they were much smaller than any of Justinian's guards.
They were not very tall as they were around 6 feet which made them very small to Justinian and his Buring Martian Elite Guards. He looked down to meet the gazes of these red-skinned aliens. None spoke as Justinian spoke up.
"I believe I know who you all are. Saturnians, from the Moons of Saturn."
The female nodded before speaking in Saturnian. Normally, she would communicate telepathically, but after feeling the pressure that came from connecting to his mind she did not dare.
"Yes, we are. We come in a hope to bridge peace between our people."
Justinian didn't understand it, so he dived into her mind and learned the language from her. Once again, that terrible psychic pressure fell on her mind causing her to nearly fall to her knees once more.
This was a combination of Justinian's soul which had been enhanced by his God Emperor inheritance, and containing two Dragon Gods. Only the most powerful of Psychics and mages would be able to get into his mind without issue.
He also analyzed her entire life from the moment of her birth before nodding to himself.
"I was correct. Your entire civilization is the descendants of clones of low-class Martian explorers. I guess this is why you are all so weak. Rather than focus on battle, you focus on technology. Yet, your technology is not all that great either.
You are still stuck in the solar system, limited by the distance. Since you are here to fight for peace, I shall hear you out. What do you have to offer me?"
The woman nodded as the one chosen by the King of their people.
"We are. We have good reason for not leaving the Solar System. The other planets around us are inhabited and we don't get along. It was hard enough to send this vessel past the Jovians, of Jupiter."
Hearing that he looked up gazing at the Gas Giants of the Solar System. They were of vital importance to him Jupiter was the sight of the largest shipyard and Mechanichus forge world. It was where most Void Ships were constructed and more.
The rest of the Gas Giants served as human colonies where the Moons and other manmade space colonies hosted untold billions. He had the same idea and while he was not xenophobic, if the Xenos that inhabited those planets refused him, they would face the same fate as the Great Crusade Xenos.
Justinian had been silent for only a few moments, but it was still quite unnerving
"Are all of you at war?"
The Saturnian woman shook her head.
"Not exactly, we have small skirmishes from time to time, but there has not been a great war in many decades. We are mostly peaceful, but from time to time we are forced to fight."
Justinian connected his mind to his Honor Guard as he began to discuss with them.
'The situation is not ideal, I have plans that will need the entire Solar System compliant to my Imperium. If only Mars was fully compliant and my Flag Ship was complete. How goes the construction of the Invincible Reason?'
Dorn gave him an update on the construction of the Gloriana Class Flagship.
'Thanks to all the advancements and the increased resources, the ship is nearing 50% complete. However, it is not yet ready for any kind of engagement.'
Justinian didn't mind as while he could use his powers to speed up the construction, it would lower the quality.
'I see. Speak free, as my Honor Guard your voices matter.'
Sigismund brought up a dark idea.
'My Lord, I recommend a deception. You use the Saturnians for all they are worth and when Mars is under your boot, you turn your armies against them when they least expect it.'
This called to him, but Remnosh brought up a counter to this.
'Wouldn't we betraying an ally like this bring your honor into question?'
Tigurius countered this point instantly. He had been made to take the form of Tigurius of the Ultramarines.
'I do not agree. We can take the time to silence any such words. We all know how powerful individually we are now. Much less our master, we should use them and their civilization to speed up the process of conquering the planet.
I say we stop using a scalpel and we use a hammer. Us 40, and our Master we use all our power to force the Empires and Kingdoms to bend the knee. Then, we can take the time to make sure all of Mars is compliant even if it takes us time.'
Justinian paused when he heard this.
'Now that sounds like an idea Tigurius. you 40, are my most powerful troops. As Burning Martians nearly nothing can kill you. This is what we shall do, as soon as these Saturnians leave with our promise of peace, we take off the gloves.
We speed up the Unification of Mars. I will take over the entire Psychic Net of the planet and I will take control of the Beast Tide. I will also speed up my cloning. I will send a few Squads of Marines down to Earth to capture a few targets. Any opposition?'
None of his Honor Guard said anything against his plan so Justinian cut the link. While their conversation went on for a few minutes, only a few seconds of silence had gone by.
Justinian turned back to the Saturnian diplomate woman.
"I, Emperor Justinian of Mars have made a decision. I will hear out your terms to peace, but I will only do so by meeting your King on neutral ground. I am sure you would not want to meet here on my planet and I will not go to your capital.
We will meet half way in the Asteroid belt. The Jovians will not dare cause trouble for me because if they do I will unleash my wrath upon them. Does this work?"
The woman was not pleased because she did not want her ruler anywhere near Justinian. However, with the kind of power he had, it did not matter if they were feet apart of thousands of miles apart. It was all the same with the kind of power he could wield.
"Yes. I am sure our King would want to converse in person with you Emperor Justinian. When shall we schedule this meeting?"
"6 weeks Terran time. You know how time is kept on that planet?"
The woman nodded.
"Yes, we keep an eye on all planets of the solar system, Earth as it is called?"
"I call it Terra, but we have an agreement?"
"Yes. In 6 weeks we will send our fleet to the Asteroid Belt. Before we leave, we will leave our gifts."
With a wave of her hand, the two Saturnians her walked into their ship before bringing out a chest. They placed it down at his feet before they opened it. Inside, was what Justinian could only call a sword made of pure Diamond.
It was a large blade that to Justinian's unique sight was flowing with Psychic Energy.
"As you know, the pressure of our planet is so great that it rains liquid diamond. Our smiths can collect this 'rain' and we use it to create our weapons. After being treated by our smiths we can create weapons like this."
Justinian waved his hand and drew the blade into his hand. He pulled the sword out of the sheath to observe it. He surged Psychic and Conceptual Energy the Divine Energy of Dragon Gods into the blade causing it to glow with an icy purple gold. He flicked the blade and was pleasantly surprised at the hardness.
"Not bad. I take that your greatest weapons are made from this material?"
The Saturnian woman nodded.
"Yes, only our nobles and royalty receive these arms. We also give them out as gifts of peace."
Justinian placed the sword in the sheath it came from before.
"I will accept this gift, I will meet with your king in good faith."
That was a lie, but lying was just another weapon rulers kept. He watched as the Saturnians got back into their ship allowed to leave by his Predakons. When they were gone, his smile faded.
"Prepare for total conquest of Mars. You 40 will all split up and either slay or bring Kings and Emperors to their knees. Gather my Chapter Masters as I have missions for them on Earth.
The same goes for Earth, find me some infiltrators because I am taking our Earth countries."
Ddraig smiled as he looked up at his friend.
"How about me and Albion, we can help?"
"I know. Tell me, using your Concepts think you can make me some real dragons?"
Ddraig and Albion looked at each other as they thought of this. Albion nodded.
"Yes, if we work in unison with you. Using our three abilities we should be able to create more than just Dragons. You taking over the Beasttide, and merging the Psychic Net will work."
Justinian liked the sound of that. He began to walk into the fortress to reach the elevator. His Honor Guard walking behind him. As for his Predakons, they choose to stay on the surface, but as discussions continued it was clear the next 6 weeks would be bloody.
This planet and galaxy was only big enough for one Empire and that would be his Imperium. The Imperium of The Emperor failed, but Justinian's would not.