Imperium Ascendant

Chapter 15: The Aquila and the Dragon

Location: The Temple of All Knowledge on Mars.

Date: 792.M30

Billions of Martians cheered as the great gates of the Temple opened. A month ago word spread across the red planet that discussion between the Mechanicum Parliament and the Omnissiah. Pilgrims ranging from devout Cyber-Serfs to entire Titan Legions had come to Tharsis. With hopes of seeing the Omnissiah and to learn the outcome of the secret proceeding inside Olympus Mons.

Very little information had passed in or out of the Temple of All Knowledge. All that was known to the public was the preceding events. Such as the Omnissiah arriving in a Divine Chariot that even now hung over the Mountain, casting a literal and metaphorical shadow of the so-called Imperium.

Then after performing multiple miracles, including inspiring two god machines to kneel before him the Omnissiah entered the Temple and made his way to the Parliament within. Flanked by House Taranis Knights he had surprisingly politely asked the complete Martian Parliament to assemble.

It had taken some time and quite a bit of political cajoling on the front of various converted individuals to arrange this soon enough the entirety of the Martian Elite were under one roof with the Emperor of Mankind. Then his intent was declared plainly. To fuse the Empire of Terra and the Empire of Mars into one.

The initial shock and outrage were quelled when the Emperor had explained his goal of unification, not conquest. His goal was to bring humanity together as one great civilization capable of withstanding any horror the universe could produce. Terra and Mars were to be the twin Foundation and Keystone pieces of this edifice.

Soon the Adamantium vault doors of the Parliament were shut and negotiations began in earnest. The Martian citizenry was ignorant of whatever was occurring within the fortified heart of Mechanicum governance. Radical factions both supporting and opposing the newly declared Omnissiah were kept under control thanks to the twin threats of the Bucephalus and the various Cybernetic, Skitarii, and Titan forces brought by the Parliamentarians.

Over the next year Mars awaited any news, tensions continued to mount and three attempted breaches into the Parliament-Sanctum were stopped with extreme prejudice. Now, this period of unknown fearful possibility had ended with the Omnissiah and the Martian Parliament exiting the sanctum and making their way out of the temple of all knowledge.

The crowd's noise, a mix of organic voices, vox-projections and binary screams traveled far through even Mars's thin atmosphere. The closest to the opening gates watched the twin Titans kneel once again as the Omnissiah made his way to the center of the plaza outside of the Temple.

All 687 members of the Martian Parliament assembled around him in a great semicircle. The Emperor held his left hand aloft for the countless citizens and Pict-Capturers to see. In it was an ornate scroll emblazoned with a Twin-Headed Eagle. It unfurled and nearly reached the Emperor's knee. Written on the exquisite vellum in the Emperor's own hand the first copy of The Treaty of Olympus Mons was proudly displayed.

Speaking through every Vox transmitter on the hemisphere the Omnissiah addressed Mars. "Children of Mars, once in ages past humanity was scattered to the stars. Countless worlds looked to distant Sol as the cradle and nexus of the species. It was an era of wonders where we claimed the stars as our own. Humanity grew to never before seen height and unlocked the secrets of the cosmos."

The Martians like so many of Terras lost children carried ancient cultural memories of the Golden Age. Wistful tales passed down hundreds of generations that spoke of Utopia and its destruction. With those tales swirling through the mind of his captive audience the Emperor continued.