Thirty Minutes Later
Aboard the orbital shipyard, Qin Mo and Grey stood side by side, staring at the alien before them.
A male Aeldari.
The Aeldari, also known as the Eldar in older records, were the scattered remnants of a once-mighty and ancient starfaring race, now reduced to shadows and memory. Their empire had ruled the stars long before humanity first crawled from Terra's cradle. But their own hubris birthed their ruin, and the creation of the Chaos God Slaanesh had shattered their civilization, leaving only fragments: Craftworlds drifting in space, each guided by Farseers obsessed with staving off extinction.
One of the few xenos species that occasionally cooperated with humanity. However, they were notoriously unreliable, fighting beside you one moment, then plunging a knife into your back the next.
They were bound by their Farseers' prophecies, acting not from logic, but from cryptic visions of the future only they could see, speaking in riddles and layers of shrouded half-truths.
Qin Mo felt nothing but contempt for the Aeldari.
Unlike humanity, they were inherently psychic, their connection to the Warp an intrinsic part of their being, stronger, more refined, but infinitely more dangerous than even the most gifted human psyker.
"Saal," the alien had introduced himself as.
Qin Mo had been given the xenos' name. He nodded curtly, his posture rigid, making it clear he did not care.
If it weren't for the detailed planetary intelligence provided by Shapeshifter, he might have been surprised to see an Aeldari here.
But not anymore.
The Talon System had already proven itself to be a cursed cesspit of heresy and madness.
Chaos-worshiping cults nearly complete in its dark pantheon?
Orks?
Genestealer infestations?
The nightmares of the galaxy had all taken root here.
Nothing surprised Qin Mo anymore.
He merely waited.
Saal straightened, fixing his unnaturally bright eyes on Qin Mo.
"I shall now explain my purpose here, as well as what my companions and I have done on this world." he declared.
Qin Mo remained stone-faced, waiting for the xenos to finish its speech.
After a brief pause, Saal suddenly asked, "Do you see it?"
"I see it." Qin Mo nodded. "I see an alien fool. An alien fool trying to explain something to me, then staring at me for a long time before asking if I 'see' it."
"ÂΓℑ⊕ξΜλÆ!"
Saal muttered something in his alien tongue, visibly shocked.
He had not been standing idly, he had been attempting to convey his message through psychic projection, casting images into the human's mind.
Normally, any human would have instantly seen the visions, understood them immediately.
Qin Mo? Nothing.
No reaction. No visions. No comprehension.
His mind was completely closed off.
A null, Saal realized. Or something very close.
Realizing this, Saal sighed. His voice dropped a note in tone, the confidence bleeding into resignation. There was no choice but to explain things verbally.
....
After several minutes of convoluted explanations, filled with obscure Aeldari terms and fragments of half-clarified timelines, Qin Mo finally pieced together why they were here.
A total of thirty Aeldari operatives had been deployed across the planet, working in support of the Resistance.
They had been sent by Farseer Draal Uthlan of Ulthwé, a Craftworld known for its bleak foresight and obsession with averting doom.
Their objective?
To retrieve an ancient piece of archeotech, technology so old, its origins predated the Imperium itself.
A device that, in the far future, would be gifted to humanity, offering a small yet crucial advantage in an upcoming war.
The Imperial Knights spotted during the battle?
Resistance fighters.
Half a Knight House, along with several noble families, had rebelled against the Cult of the Lord of Wisdom, waging a losing war for decades.
Qin Mo listened.
Did he believe Saal? No. Not entirely. But the xenos, at least, spoke plainly, unlike the usual cryptic nonsense most Eldar spouted. A rare trait among his kind.
Still, something about the xenos' arrogance irked him.
"Are you a governor of this system?" Saal suddenly asked.
"I am." Qin Mo nodded.
Saal's expression shifted slightly.
He had not expected that answer.
During his mission, there had been no reports of an Imperial Governor sweeping through the system with a military campaign.
If such a person existed, why bother working with the Resistance?
Why not approach the Governor directly?
"I was not always a governor," Qin Mo continued, his voice calm and resolute.
"I claimed my world through war. I will cleanse this system. Every xenos, every heretic, dead or driven from my domain. That includes your Aeldari."
Saal snorted dismissively.
"You think I wish to remain here?" he scoffed, then abruptly changed the topic.
"Do you know the greatest secret of this system?"
Before Qin Mo could answer, Saal continued.
"According to what I know… the Talon System was once uncolonized. Ten thousand years ago, a rogue trader named Talon arrived here. He discovered an ancient piece of human archeotech... a relic of his ancestors. With this, he founded three colonies, one on each of the three habitable worlds. The relic became his family's most closely guarded secret."
He continued, his voice lowering as if to share forbidden lore, "Additionally—"
Qin Mo raised a hand, interrupting him.
"How do you know all this?"
Saal smirked, a hint of smug superiority in his tone.
"Because the former planetary governors collaborated with us. They didn't understand how to use the relic. We deciphered its secrets and taught them to wield it."
For the first time, Qin Mo narrowed his eyes.
The xenos had assisted the past rulers?
Before he could press further, Saal continued with self-assured pride.
"But we realized they had lost control of it. And then our Farseers prophesized a war, one where humanity and the Aeldari would stand together against a greater darkness. The relic would play a role in that war. We came to reclaim it. To safeguard it. To return it to you… when the time is right."
Silence.
Qin Mo's gaze was piercing, boring into Saal's smug expression.
He did not believe the Aeldari. Perhaps parts of it were true. Perhaps they were hiding something else.
But one thing infuriated him.
The archeotech had belonged to mankind.
And yet this xenos filth had the audacity to claim it for themselves, speaking as if they alone held the right to decide when it would be returned.
Qin Mo's voice was cold.
"Then allow me to do the same. I will detain you, and when the time is right, I will return you to your people. How about that?"
Saal hesitated, then slowly raised his hands in a gesture of pacification.
"I do not seek conflict."
His tone shifted.
"Very well. We will abandon the relic. The Farseers did not foresee your existence. This mission has already failed… But perhaps there lies an opportunity. We need not be enemies. Is it not better to have one more friend, rather than one more foe?"
Qin Mo immediately understood what Saal was thinking.
The xenos likely saw him as a potential tool, a human who could be manipulated, shaped into an ally of convenience.
But Qin Mo's thoughts were far different.
"I am not like the governors of old. I have no interest in entangling myself with your kind." His tone was imperious. "You aided the Resistance, I will grant you and your kin safe passage. But that is all."
Saal regarded this with a measured hesitation.
His expression flickered with reluctance, but in the end, he nodded.
"Very well. You may oversee our departure. I promise we will not return."
"You'd better not," Qin Mo replied.
Saal smirked.
"Of course. Now, could you arrange for a transport to return me to the surface?"
Qin Mo nodded to Grey.
"Escort him. Ensure he departs from this system."
And with that, the Aeldari was dismissed, his footsteps echoing down the metal corridor, leaving behind a fragile accord in the midst of a system steeped in war and treachery.