One should never underestimate the power that a God can bring to bear, even if the Star Gods weren't the same as the other Warp Gods of this universe.

  The entire Sautekh Dynasty took less than a year to eradicate from my galaxy, and now I had a bored Silent King and another Star God I called Zath who was waiting for another genocide to revel in. The C'tan fed mostly on souls, although they could subsist on bland food like stars and other forms of energy.

  Which is why the Necron Fleet of the Silent King was now waiting at anchor at the border of my Fringe Domain, while the Void Dragon was en route with an Ironhead Votann mainframe, and a Cloning Crucible of Votann design.

  Forge Retribution had also sent an Ark Mechanicus with a genetic library and a hundred Magi Biologis, along a cloning chamber used to make combat clones for my armies. Luckily, I had my private Forge World to depend on for such help.

  "I hope you didn't forget why you discarded your frail Necrontyr bodies, Silent King. You already had advanced biological science, even 60 millions years ago. Your former body template was rather cursed by design, filled with cancers and other genetic problems." I said while powering up the main holotable to project my own clone soldier design.

  With a very reduced Warp signature, but enhanced skeletal, muscular and vascular systems, the cloneskeins were quite apt as infantry units for the Auxilia and other biological classes of troops, from ship crew, to pilots of mechs and planes, and a dozen other roles. The clones were also rather cheap and easy to train, even if they couldn't match the Catachans in their jungle combat, or the Space Marines of my Blank Chapters. However, they were better than any PDF or Imperial Guard units, and kinda matched the Death Korps of Krieg, even more so since I had upgraded the Krieg metal wombs to produce my strain of combat clones as well.

  "I suppose these clones would serve as replacement bodies for our Necron Warriors?" King asked in the same bored, metallic voice.

  I just shrugged. The Necron Warriors were in fact quite efficient as line infantry, especially since they could be repaired and resurrected a thousand times if damaged or destroyed.

  "The Warriors would be the last to replace, I should think. Not even the Astartes can match Orks or Tyranids in brute strength or vitality. And the Warriors' neural engrams might be too damaged to properly install into an organic body." I offered in a careless voice.

  The Silent King stood silent for a long minute. "I see your point, Pef Lancefire. Perhaps a filter of the Warriors' cogitation abilities will be needed, to select those with some reasoning capacity for officer roles. Maybe as pilots too." the metal king mused in a thoughtful voice.

  Fabricator Felicia from Forge Retribution tapped her human-looking fingers on the edge of the holotable. "Perhaps a synthetic body like my own would work better than a pure biological one. The Blessed Machine is far more durable than flesh, not to mention other advantages like distributed networks for command and control, just like we do with our Skitarii." she explained logically, quite proud of her state-of-the-art cyborg body.

  A giant metal head hosting the Ironhead Votann appeared at the other end of the meeting hall, and the holographic face of Ironhead took the sight of former enemies around the round holotable with a stern face.

  'Why do you need a block head like this, Lancefire? His thoughts are even slower than your Blade core on the Singularity.' the Void Dragon asked directly in my mind.

  'Expertise in immortality. The upload type.' I answered curtly.

  "We lived for millions of years in metal bodies, Fabricator. We seek to reverse the damned biotransference, not replace a metal body with another." The Silent King answered in cold voice.

  I tapped the side of my head, where the connecting port of my MIU bionics was visible. "I didn't invite the esteemed Ironhead here just to show his giant frame. The Votann have and use a special type of immortality that doesn't involve souls and the Warp. Mainly storing the uploaded memories of the clansmen inside their mainframe."

  Zath stood up and walked in front of the sapient AI core, and sniffed at it like a wolf. "The transfer rate is rather limited, and the same for the total storage space. I foresee less than a hundred resurrections for a Hive World population until the entire system is clogged with dead uploads and the mainframe is slowed to abysmal speed."

  I nodded, being quite familiar with the Votann problems that slowed their thinking to glacial era timeframes. Some of the older Votann in the Galactic Core needed hundreds of years to answer a single question.

  "Yes, but that's a limitation of human technology. The Necrons have quite more advanced cogitator systems and nigh-infinite storage space." I countered with a shrug.

  The Silent King glanced at his newest Cryptek, Orikan the Diviner. "Neural implants like the human Mind Impulse Units would work as a stop-gap, until we can design something better. I would prefer a system of networked nanobots, to allow for distributed cogitation even if our Warriors and Immortals are dismembered." the ancient tech magician spoke in a dismissive voice. The famous crononomancer didn't seem very impressed with the human clones offered as a biological replacement for the metal skeletons they used now.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  "Simply use necrodermis bones, or at least the skull." Zath proposed with a wolfish yawn that could swallow an Astartes whole.

  "And where would we store the mind uploads, after the inevitable dozen deaths? Organic life is fragile, even these human war clones are likely to explode from a single bolter round." Orikan asked while leaning on his special magic staff.

  I already had a solution, since I didn't invite some many people for a conference without thinking about it. This wasn't something humanity could do, but I did read plenty sci-fi books in my former life.

  "We'll find a blackhole somewhere, and you can build a virtual universe for the uploads on top of it. Well, our friendly C'tan would." I offered with a wide grin. I had done that in Stellaris, a millennia ago in a galaxy far, far away.

  Zath looked up, likely consulting with the actual God around, the Void Dragon. "A Birch World, you say? Around the supermassive blackhole in the Galactic Center. It would take 700 years and a million stars to build such a thing." the C'tan mused in a deep voice, likely doing some mass-volume calculations that I had no idea how to begin.

  "Likely a bit less if Ygrra decides to help. His specialty is worldbuilding, after all." I added with a smile.

  The Silent King nodded, as if agreeing. "Birch World or not, mega-scale projects require peace and an abundance of resources not needed for war. Also, Chaos and its minions would not simply wait until we are secure, just like it happened with the Pariah Nexus. I would prefer a Blank body to live in, just like you do, Pef Lancefire." the Necron King argued quite logically. I also preferred to live in a Blank body in this crazy universe.

  I kinda expected that. Clones were good and all, but a Chaos Sorceror could still fry them by the thousands with a single Warp spell. And then there were the Eldar and Ork Wierdboyz and many other Psyker species in this galaxy.

  Orikan nodded as well. "We had some success with our Necron Pariahs, but Blanks are much too rare. Even after forced biotransference, we barely obtained a few dozen specimens, not even enough for our ruling class."

  "You won't find many volunteers willing to be mind wiped and replaced by a Necron mind engram. But, you're free to attempt cloning Blanks if you want. I haven't managed yet, but I'm only human, after all." I said with a wicked snicker inside. Even the Emperor failed to clone Blanks, and not for lack of skill or intelligence.

  The Sisters of Silence used natural reproduction to grow their numbers, just like I did with my Blank children. Sometimes both, since I impregnated thousands of Sisters multiple times.

  "They already decided to try the cloneskeins, Khal Lancefire." the Ironhead Votann spoke from its giant metal head.

  "The Necron prisoners from the last rebellion?" I guessed at random.

  The Silent King glared at me with his green glowing eyes. "Indeed. There are many tests to complete before risking our species into another biotranferance adventure. The last one didn't go so well." he pointed out with a glacial voice.

  "And we will try to clone Blanks as well. Now we just need a small star empire to settle in and construct the cloning crucibles. Somewhere nearby, I would guess." the timewizard Cryptek spoke, not really guessing.

  I nodded politely. "There is a small empire called the Tau nearby, already causing some trouble for humanity with their constant expansion and lack of precautions about the Warp. They should also have some technology that may be of use for your future human bodies. Showers and farms and stuff like that. Even hospitals and sewer systems. Organic life is messy, you know?" I asked a bit rhetorical.

  It wouldn't do for the newest clade of cloneskeins with Necron minds to build a city and discover they lacked toilets, right?

  The Silent King tapped the holomap to bring up a Tau Fire Warrior and some stats saved beside. "And thus, your pack of hungry wolves will feed on their blue souls, while we get rid of this upstart species for you. Quite efficient, Pef Lancefire." he noted with a warmer tone.

  Was he becoming a bit friendlier, somehow? Nothing like putting down a rebellion and planning a genocide that brings people of any species together. Come to think of it, I befriended the Eldar God of Murder in the same way.

  I glanced at Zath, who grinned with two rows of sharp necrodermis teeth. "You know I never refuse another genocide, my dear Blank friend. But after we eat these poor blue toads, I expect a proper massacre." the C'tan said in a greedy voice. We did have 60 more C'tan in wolf clothes around, waiting for another soul feast.

  Hmmm. There were plenty of Orks and Tyranids in the galaxy anyway.

  I was good for another millenium, but I began to wonder what will I feed my hungry friends once all the undesirable xenos were dead.

  Oh well, surely we will find someone. For in this grim and rather dark future, there was only war.