Sitting on his throne at the heart of his tomb fleet reminded Simut of the power at his command. The display wall was broken into sections, each showing the sensory collective from a different ship, in turn made up of its own companion-flotilla, accumulated through the flock of assault craft each had ejected from its interior. There was a fractal beauty to the image, akin to the startling mosaics that he vaguely recalled, or perhaps imagined, had once adorned his palaces, which seemed to show a hundred varied pictures as one crossed them on foot, but whose whole beautiful genius could only be truly observed from upon high. At a whim, the overlord could pick a view to expand, one moment looking through the sensors of a harvester vessel on the extreme left of the fleet, the next becoming one with a Scythe-class fighter patrolling around the central tomb ships. He was, to all intents, omniscient and omnipotent.

Yet it was not for him to flex every muscle of this composite beast. Ancient protocols that had been created at the height of necrontyr rule dictated the actions of his underlings. His was the will that impelled the fleet into the new system, but at the lowest levels it was a programmed instinct that set them into motion for war. He could impose his will if needed; King Szarekh had provided him with the necessary god-codes. That was not his role, though, any more than the pyramidion’s job was to hold up the foundations of the pyramid. No, he was the gleaming summit that was elevated by the ranks below, the crown that gave everything beneath its purpose. Those lower levels existed only to lift him to the peak.

There was some enjoyment in experiencing the swooping flight of the crescent-hull attack craft as they streamed en masse towards the outer defences of the stellar system. Even the most basic observation revealed the presence of more humans here. The plumes of star-fuel that came from their engines were as distinctive as the stench of the swampfolk they had encountered at the outset of the expedition. And like those primordial savages, the humans would also be enslaved or destroyed.

The new resonator carrier had not yet arrived in the system, held back by Simut so as to avoid any invitation to the enemy. After the ridiculous oversight of his minions with the enemy citadel defences in the last system, Simut was not going to entrust them with the blackstone obelisk until the route to the surface of the target world was definitively secured. In its absence the overnull effect was much reduced, but it did not matter to Simut’s plans. The humans were outmatched in every regard; it was a simple matter of time before their defences were eliminated or circumnavigated.