Time Loop

The Emperor closed his eyes, a silent apology on his lips as the Imperator Somnium died around him.
*******************
"My lord?" Malcador asked. The Emperor's eyes snapped open, he was standing in the strategium of the Imperator Somnium.
"It's nothing," the Emperor said. "Just an echo from our translation."
Malcador grunted, clearly not satisfied. He didn't pursue the matter though. The occulus opened and they had something else to focus their attention on.
"That's not natural," Malcador said.
"Indeed not," the Emperor said. "Report."
"We are experiencing a large gravimetric distortion, lord," the officer at the auspex stated.
"Reverse," Shipmaster Kaal ordered. The sound of the engines straining rose in pitch. The ship started to shake, and there was a groaning sound from the superstructure.
"Full stop," the Emperor said. Kaal agreed with that and the sounds dropped away.

********************

"We've stopped," Perturabo said.. The Primarchs were all in the recreation room that they typically stayed in when they weren't in their quarters. Angron moved to the doors, which opened.

"Well, we aren't in a void fight," Angron said. The doors would have been locked if that were the case. 

"Let's see what we can learn," Horus said.

"I have a bad feeling about this, guys," Magnus said. "And I'm not just quoting Star Wars."

"We'll stay together," Jaghatai said. 

"You also want to know, as much as the rest of us," Lorgar said. He had been getting closer to Magnus recently.

"True," Magnus said. 

The Primarchs clumped together in the hall, heading towards a lifter to take them up to the strategium. They encountered Valdor close to the rec room. He was headed directly towards them.

"You're going to ask us to go back aren't you," Horus said to Valdor.

"No," Valdor said. "I have been sent to bring you to your father. He wants you close for now."

"What's going on?" Ferrus asked. 

"I am not sure," Valdor said. "We seem to have encountered a strange space anomaly."

"Related to the distress call?" Corvus asked. They had been headed for another inspection tour when they had received an automated distress call.

"I believe so," Valdor said. They reached the strategium and the Primarchs got their first glimpse of the phenomena.

"That's weird looking," Leman said, indicating the thing outside. 

"It looks a bit like a cross between a warp storm and a nebula," Lorgar said.

"It's very much not natural though," Magnus said. 

"Why did we stop?" Jaghatai asked.

"The anomaly is giving out gravitmetric distortions," the Emperor replied. "We have tried reversing, to no effect. It was damaging the ship, requiring the stop."

"What about going forwards?" Roboute asked. "It's the most logical theoretical to try."

"We don't know what that might do to the Imperator Somnium though," Ferrus said.

"It's the only suggestion we have right now," Roboute said. "We can try it slow, and always stop again to re-assess if we need to."

"That works," Ferrus said. He didn't like the idea of destroying the ship.

"Forward," the Emperor told Kaal. "Slowly."

"Yes, my lord," Kaal said. The engines spooled up again and the Imperator Somnium moved forwards once more.

Progress was slow, but the ship didn't seem to be trying to shake itself apart at the seams this time. The Primarchs relaxed a bit at that. The Emperor however, still remained tense. He felt like there was something that he should know about this that he couldn't quite recall. After some time they encountered four devices floating in the void. They appeared to be of ork design, meaning that they had been looted from someone else.

"I'm getting high readings of necrodermis, my lord," the auspex officer said as they got closer to the devices. "Gravimetric distortions are increasing as well." As if to emphasize the point, the ship groaned and began to shake again.

"Give us a thruster boost and then cut all engines," Kaal said. "Hopefully we can drift past them."

The helmsman attempted to follow the orders that Kaal had given. Alarums blared as the ship began to shake violently. The Primarchs all grabbed on to bulkheads to try and prevent themselves from falling over.

"The ship can't handle the gravimetric sheer," an engineseer shouted.

"Cut engines!" Kaal called out. The groaning and shaking of the ship continued, despite the engines halting.

"Valdor, take Malcador and the Primarchs," the Emperor said. "Head for the savior pods."

"What about you, Father?" Horus asked, other Primarchs also objected.

"I'm going to try to find a way out of this," the Emperor said. "I'll join you if I can't find one."

"Alright," Horus said as Valdor herded the others from the room. Malcador didn't complain, but gave the Emperor a long look before turning away. 

They headed down to the level of the savior pods, and found their way blocked when the ceiling collapsed. They turned to head towards a different bank of savior pods. It was clear though that they weren't going to make it in time.

The Emperor closed his eyes, a silent apology on his lips as the Imperator Somnium died around him.

**********************

"My lord?" Malcador asked. The Emperor's eyes snapped open, he was standing in the strategium of the Imperator Somnium. 

"It's nothing," the Emperor said. "An echo from our translation."

"I as well," Malcador said. "All this has happened before."

"And all this will happen again," the Emperor replied. 

"Something is wrong here," Malcador said.

"Agreed, " the Emperor said. "Report."

"We are experiencing severe gravimetric distortions, lord," the auspex officer reported. The occulus opened and they viewed the strange phenomena outside.

"Reverse," Kaal ordered.

"No," the Emperor said. "Reduce speed, continue forward."

"Yes, lord," the helmsman said.

"Valdor, bring my sons to me," the Emperor said. Valdor nodded and departed from the stategium. 

**********************

"We've slowed down," Jaghatai said. Angron triggered the door, showing that they weren't in void battle.

"Let's see what we can learn," Horus said.

"I think we should go to Father," Magnus said. "Something isn't right here."

"Alright," Horus said. The others agreed, finding it preferable to be close to their father if things were going to get strange. They encountered Valdor and he lead them up to the strategium. 

"What is that?" Lorgar asked when they entered the strategium.

"We aren't sure," the Emperor replied. "Though it seems to have caught us in a time loop."

"A time loop?" Lorgar asked, looking excited.

"Yes," Malcador said. "Though the loop doesn't seem to have a happy ending from what we can recall."

"We die," Magnus said. "That's what feels so wrong."

"Yes," the Emperor said.

"How do we die?" Roboute asked.

"The ship gets pulled apart by gravimetric shear," the Emperor said. 

"If we can avoid that, we should be able to break the time loop, right?" Horus asked.

"Theoretically, yes," the Emperor said. 

"We're going forward," Roboute said. "That implies you remember that reversing doesn't work."

"It doesn't," the Emperor said. "However, going forward also doesn't work for much farther."

"What about spiraling?" the Lion suggested. "Like making an emergency drop out of the warp?" 

"That is a possibility," the Emperor said. He relayed the idea to the helmsman who began to spiral the ship, trying to drop below the plane of the phenomena.

"What about what's causing the phenomena?" Perturabo asked. "Do we know what's causing that?"

"There were some devices that we encountered last time," the Emperor said. "Though it wasn't clear if they were the cause. We were getting torn apart about that time."

"Destroying the devices could end the phenomena," Malcador said, following Perturabo's thinking. "That should break the time loop as well. In fact, it should have a higher chance of working if we can't escape it."

"What if we have tried destroying them before?" Lorgar asked. "Do we have any idea how many times we've been through the loop?"

"It can't be that many times," Magnus said. "It's messing with the warp,  that's how Father, Uncle Malcador, and I remember what happened the other times."

"Magnus is right," the Emperor said. "Though it is possible that we tried to destroy the objects the first time."

"I somehow doubt that," Malcador said. "I think the first time through the loop you wanted to inspect them closer and that's how we died."

"That does sound right," the Emperor said after a moment.

"What we really need is a way to specifically remember that plan if we die on the spiral," Magnus said.

"We can wait and see if the spiral works first," the Emperor said. "The loop seems connected to the death of the ship."

"That does rather imply that we will get a second chance," Magnus agreed. 

"Gravimetric distortions are increasing, my lord," the auspex officer said.

"Steady as she goes," Kaal said. He had heard everything, and understood what was likely to happen. He didn't like it, but he understood that they wouldn't truly die if the Emperor was correct.

"Aye, sir," the helmsman said.

"Valdor, take the others, try for the savior pods," the Emperor said. He knew he had given that order before, and hoped that he wouldn't have to make it again after this time.

"Yes, my king," Valdor said and began to shepherd the Primarchs to the door. Malcador paused, and raised a hand towards the Emperor. 

"Remember," Malcador intoned. He then turned away and followed Valdor and the Primarchs.

They found their way blocked, as they expected. They turned, still trying to preserve themselves as base instincts over-rode their understanding of the situation.

The Emperor closed his eyes, a silent apology on his lips, as the Imperator Somnium died around him.

***********************

"My lord?" Malcador asked. The Emperor's eyes snapped open. He was standing in the strategium of the Imperator Somnium. There was a bright imprint of Malcador's sigil in his warp-sight when Malcador spoke. 

"It's nothing," the Emperor replied. "An echo from our translation."

"You said that last time," Malcador said. "It's the echo from the loop restarting."

"True," the Emperor said. "Report."

"We are experiencing gravimetric distortions, my lord," the auspex officer said. He didn't seem to have any concept of the time loop.

"Orders, my lord?" Kaal asked. He had some idea that he shouldn't order a reverse. 

"Slow speed," the Emperor said. "Continue forward. Scan as best we can in this phenomena."

"What are we looking for, lord?" the auspex officer asked.

"Necrodermis," the Emperor said. "Possibly with other metals filtered in. Orkoid design."

"Yes, lord," the auspex officer said. The Emperor nodded. Valdor gave him a look, and he nodded again. Valdor turned and departed the strategium to retrieve the Primarchs.

"We've restarted the time loop," Magnus said.

"Time loop?" Angron asked.

"We're caught in a time loop, related to the distress signal we caught," Magnus said. "We should go meet Valdor in the hall."

"Right," Horus said a bit hesitantly. He glanced to Sanguinius, who nodded his agreement with Magnus.

"It's where we are meant to go," Konrad said, voicing what Sanguinius hadn't. They all departed the rec room and found Valdor as Magnus had predicted. 

"I see you remember as well," Valdor said. 

"At least some of us," Horus said. They headed to the strategium and joined their father.

"What do you remember?" the Emperor asked his sons.

"We die, if we don't find a way out of this," Lorgar said.

"This is at least the third time that we have done the loop," Sanguinius said. 

"The loop is related to the death of the ship," Konrad said. "We restart when the ship dies."

"We've tried reverse, forwards, and spiraling," Perturabo said. 

"Malcador had a suggestion last time," Ferrus said.

"I think it involved destroying the constructs that are likely creating the phenomena," Magnus said.

"Correct," the Emperor said. "All of you."

"We have a necrodermis reading, my lord," the auspex officer reported. "Four devices."

"Weapons officer," the Emperor said. "Formulate a firing solution for a spread of torpedoes to destroy the four necrodermis devices."

"Yes, my lord," the weapons officer said. A few moments later he added, "Firing solution aquired."

"Fire when we are in optimal range," the Emperor said. Angron looked excitedly out of the occulus. He liked watching things get destroyed. 

The torpedoes were nearly lost amongst the strange looking phenomena. The explosions that they caused could not be missed however. Angron cheered when they filled the occulus. A few of the other Primarchs joined him. The phenomena faded away with a sharp abruptness. 

"The gravimetric distortions are gone, my lord," the auspex officer reported.

"What of the distress signal?" the Emperor asked, looking to the communications officer.

"It's no longer broadcasting, lord," the officer replied.

"Interesting," Valdor said.

"Perhaps it was related to one of the looted devices we destroyed?" Vulkan suggested. "The orks may have thought it was a good idea to draw people."

"That sounds a bit complex for orks," Alpharius said.

"They can be intelligent if there are large enough numbers in a waagh," Vulkan countered.

"That would be a pretty big waagh then," Alpharius said. "That's not a good thing to think about."

"It doesn't have to be the size of the one Father fought," Horus said. "There are the ones they call 'mech boyz' that make their technology."

"Horus is right," the Emperor said. "However, it is also possible that it wasn't left on on purpose by the orks."

"I guess," Alpharius said.

          The Emperor smiled as the Imperator Somnium sailed on.