"Normal speech"

"Gothic around non-Imperials."

"Mental Links."

"Ship Names."

Well this is the end. I hope everyone enjoyed the journey and remember to look out for the third and final book. Few bits of admin. A big thank you to every one who reviewed; your comments and suggestions have spurred me to (hopefully) improve. An even bigger thank you to my Beta Arkh Cthuul; his dedication and hard work have seen all of my stupider ideas firmly shot down and my atrocious spelling/grammar errors corrected. Finally if you want a little extra to your Second Imperium Universe visit skipper 1337 and his story 'the adventures of Jonathan O'Neil' its only one chapter at the moment but it seems very promising.

Huitt1989: I'm glad you enjoyed it. Hope to see you in book three. Be vigilant and strong. The Emperor knows what evil lurks in the vacillation of a weak fool.

starspawn07: Thank you as always. Good ideas they are fairly on track. All souls cry out for salvation.

'The Benevolent Scriber': Thanks for the praise. To serve Him is to worship Him.

Darth nylon544: Thanks for the compliments. Well I'm hoping to show the after effects of the Replicon war to the Imperium in the third book and Mars, even as close as it is, only appears in the sky as a small point and the battle site wasn't the size of a planet. So they might have seen a small brightening of Mars but little else. The fleet moved out to the Pegasus Conquest staging site too quickly to transmit recordings only small reports. Work is Prayer.

Sdarian: Thank you. Yep it's Ori and Chaos in the next book. I'm trying to keep the crossovers simple otherwise my head might explode trying the pound all the Universes together. A few small crossovers and references might appear but nothing much. Good idea though but from SG:Universe it seems that the Alterans only settled in the Milky Way. However if I need to inject some new stuff I hope you don't mind if I steal this idea. Glory in death is life Eternal.

AngelForm: Thanks. I like the O'Neills as well but I'm still terrified that the Universe might implode if I leave them together for too long. Yeah it is, he still got his ass handed to him though but it's the first time he's won against more than men with swords and muskets. A small mind is a tidy mind.

Thrans: No. 1: Yeah all better. Have trouble doing too much exercise now because my lungs have shrunk but other than that I'm back in form.

No. 2: Good! I just tend to think that non-members will forget about stories after a while. Good to see you're more dedicated than me.

No. 3: Thanks. I had just seen the new A-Team when I wrote that part and it just seemed appropriate. The two Dreadnaughts were a little homage to myself (if that's even possible) from the 'Emperor Works in Weird Ways'. Back them people loved the way those two interacted and I thought I would bring it back for the finally. No it's not the end only the end of book 2. Conquer the galaxy. Do it not for yourself, but for the Emperor.

Imperial Year 0 – 0 / 28th March 2004 Anno Domini, Terran Standard / Sixth Generation of Plenty Under the Beneficent Ori / Twelfth Century of Fimbulvetr / Second Epoch After Ascension / 9324899.M41.

It is said that on the final day of peace in the Ori Ascendancy one man had a very bad dream.

Doci, for he had long ago abandoned his given name, nodded briefly to the two Priors as they passed. The younger preachers of Origin averted their eyes from the Doci and bowed deeply as the white robbed man swept past.

"The festival of Holy Light begins in three days. Is the new temple ready?" Doci asked lightly folding his arms across his chest and sliding his hands into the large cuffs.

"Everything progresses well." The older of the two Priors responded bowing his head.

"Excellent. Hallowed are the Ori." Doci responded letting the warmth of his faith wash over him.

"Hallowed are the Ori." The two Priors echoed.

With a motion of his hand the heavy doors of his private chambers silently closed. As was his ritual he took a moment to look out over the City of the Gods. The main city on Celestis stretched out before him. Glittering white towers and halls, all for the glory of the Ori, reached out towards the horizon. A deep pride resonated in his chest. Humanity, flawed as they were, had become great under the benevolent guidance of the perfect and all powerful Ori. He was the sixth Doci to rule over a civilisation that knew perfect peace. It had been many, many thousands of seasons since the last Holy Crusade. Gently he removed the millennia old robes and decorations that marked him as leader of all the Ascendancy and hung them on the featureless mannequin. As the sun began to set behind the distant mountains he lit the small candle at his bed side. The symbol of his ever burning faith and the light of the Ori flickered slightly before it suddenly died. Frowning at the bad omen Doci relit the small tower of wax and knelt before it.

"To the Flames of Enlightenment I pledge my eternal service." Doci once again reaffirmed his vows before he settled into his simple bed. A momentary meditation sent him spiralling into the normally dreamless sleep of a Prior.

He was aware that this wasn't real the moment his feet touched the grass. A lush and fertile field stretched into the hazy mist filled distance unmarred by human construction or development. He felt a presence drift above him. He caught the flickering of a flame out the corner of his eye and fell to his knees his head almost touching the ground. It was a well known fact that the Ori sometimes communicated to their chosen through dreams in times of great peril. Differing from possession as it allowed the Prior to retain a far greater sum of knowledge on release from the gods grip.

"Rise." A thousand voices whispered at once.

"As you wish." He whispered in return. Even as he returned to his feet he kept his head bowed.

"Watch." The voice caressed his senses like silk.

A tapestry appeared from the air. The huge wall of fabric wrapped around them folding again and again to reveal thousands upon thousands of panels. The masterpiece of art used many shades of brown to depict a millions simple task. Men cutting wood, tilling the fields, women preparing meals and raising children. A town at prayer. A vast Crusade slaughtering the unfaithful. To Doci it showed him the prosperity of his people. He felt the familiar pride swell in his chest as more and more of these idyllic images were revealed.

"You have done well. In a hundred human life times you have spread so far. Everything knows the kindness of Origin. As it should be." The floating flame stated, its multitude of voices dripped with a stern but loving tone.

"Thank you greatly." Doci replied bowing almost double to the floating flame.

"Look." The Ori demanded. Doci felt his awareness being pulled towards a certain spot on the tapestry that depicted a town at prayer.

The Doci blinked in confusion as he stared at the display searching for some sort of meaning. The shard of the Flame of Enlightenment remained silent as it awaited its earthly agent to begin their journey. As his eyes once again swept over the multitude of kneeling villagers he noticed a small discolouration slowly spreading. Moving closer he watched as the dark stain slowly grew and grew. Gently reaching forward he rubbed his index finger across the now palm sized all consuming darkness. He rubbed the liquid with his thumb as he brought it close to his face for inspection. Almost immediately he recoiled as the crimson liquid slithered down his finger. His eyes snapped up to the large patch of blood when it suddenly burst into flame.

Jumping back in surprise; he barely managed to avoid the outstretched silver hand that shot through the flaming hole. Fingers tipped in deadly spikes and arm covered in blades, skeletally thin and a colour he had never witnessed before led back to a blank metal face. The thing, he had no idea what it was, glared with its eyes of cold green fire. It was a stare so piercing, so hateful; it would haunt him for the rest of his days. The being shimmered before it shattered into a billion tiny fragments; even then they seemed to stare murderously at him. And then the Doci saw what lay beyond.

A galaxy much like Orisounes, the one in which Celestis resided, spun slowly in the inky blackness of space. He could hear screaming and a strange roaring unlike anything he had experienced before. Pleas of mercy, startled wails, victorious bellows, sounds so alien his mind couldn't decipher them and that constant loud rattling noise. The stars themselves seemed to cry blood. Taking a step back from the visage he was unprepared for the scene to be replaced with a vast open expanse.

Architecture unlike anything he had seen before, some of it seemingly impossible to his mind, lined the distant horizon but that was not what held his attention. A man, just as alien as the distant buildings, stood before him. The black haired man stood almost double the Doci's height and a strange weight seemed to settle over the Ori's chosen when his eyes landed on the figure. A halo of light adorned the being's head and fire burning brighter than the Flames of Enlightenment wrapped itself around his blade. The man's face was serene and wistful but Doci could feel the unbreakable will in the man. Armour of gold covered in such strange iconography that it baffled the Doci shielded the man behind an impenetrable wall. It seemed to separate him from the world. Leaving him an untouchable fortress of power. Like a god.

"You are my finest warriors, you men who have given themselves to me. Like clay I have moulded you, and forged you in the furnace of war. You are of iron will and steely muscle. In great armour have I clad you and with the mightiest guns have you been armed. You will be untouched by plague or disease, no sickness will blight you. You will have tactics, strategies and machines so that no foe can best you in battle. You are my bulwark against the Terror. You are the Defenders of Humanity. You are my Space Marines and you shall know no fear." The golden man didn't shout. He didn't even raise his voice. He didn't need too; his words flew through the air like daggers.

Doci whirled round when the figure raised his sword still wreathed in flames. Men bigger than anyone had a right to be each one clad in elaborate suits of black armour stood in perfect ranks as far as the eye could see. As one they moved; the sound of their foot fall was indescribable. The earth beneath his feet trembled as if terrified. A million shinning silver things that looked like boxes with handles and tubes attached hung in their hands each aimed at the sky. Things that seemed like flying temples hung overhead their huge shapes pure black against the yellow sky. For the first time since he had heard and understood the sermons of his local Prior he felt a shiver run down his spine.

"Fear me!" The leader of the Ori Ascendancy turned slowly to regard the huge golden man. "Fear me! For I am your apocalypse!" The figure said pointing his burning blade at the Doci's face.

Then Doci was back in the field. He collapsed to his knees panting as the crushing weight was lifted from his back. The flame was still there, patient as time itself. The tapestry was gone, leaving only the wide open expanse.

"Follow."

Doci gulped down much needed oxygen and scrambled after the slow moving flame. An eternity passed as they walked in silence. Suddenly his foot plunged through something soft. Glancing down the Doci almost retched when the dry and sunken face of a dead woman stared back at him. His foot was buried to its ankle in her chest. He lost the battle with his gut when a large rat escaped from the corpse's mouth.

"Follow!" The Ori demanded again.

Looking away from the corpse he saw a field of bodies; young and old, man and woman that reached beyond the horizon.

"What is this?" Doci inquired, slowly removing his foot.

The Ori didn't answer instead it just continued on. Unsure of what to do and fearful of being left along in the mass grave Doci followed. He managed several steps before an elbow caught his foot and brought him down into the rotting flesh. His face sunk into the rotting abdomen of a shrivelled corpse. The soft flesh yielded instantly and in his gasp the Doci engulfed a portion of blackened intestines. Spluttering and near tears the man scrambled to his feet and ran after the flame of his gods. For kilometres he fought through the rotting piles, the stench no longer bothered him neither did the sounds the bodies made when he stepped on them. Fluids, most left to the imagination, soaked the hem of his pristine white robes. Slowly the decaying people were replaced with simple bones. Their progress increased, even with the unsteady footing, and the Ori and Doci moved ever closer to their goal. Not a word passed between worshiper and god as they plunged deeper into the nightmare.

It came upon them like a spectre. A huge throne. It touched the sky, inlayed with gold and constructed with the bones of the dead. A single figure sat atop the nightmarish construct. Fire wreathed the figure bathing him in shadows. Twisted and tortured forms writhed in agony inside the horrible flames and a river of blood, so thick it was almost black, poured down the steps to pool at his feet. Somehow even though he was almost a kilometre straight up the Doci could see the seated thing perfectly. The man was normal sized, unlike the figure of gold and fire, but he exuded a deadly malice and no matter how the dancing shadows moved they never truly revealed the figures face. All the Doci could make out was a lopsided grin and silvered hair. In his hand he held a gently spinning galaxy and in the other a sword of unknown style hung loosely dripping with a liquid Doci just knew to be blood.

"What is this?" Doci asked again as he stared in awe and terror up at the seated man.

"The future. It burns, it corrupts, it rots, it stains..." The flame had grown with its anger and it threatened to consume even the Doci before it stopped. "You will face Darkness. And in that Darkness you will find eternity."

"What?"

"Search them out. Search out the Children of Altera. Search out the Great Enemy and destroy them! Now go!" The Ori boomed.

Before the Doci could argue a piercing shriek filled the air. Turning back towards the colossal throne he caught sight of a truly massive twin headed eagle plunging towards him its talons extended. With a cry that threatened to burst his ear drums the bird of prey shot past his face its wickedly sharp claws tearing a thin line under his left eye.

"Doci!" Came the startled cry.

He bolted upright and everything in the room, which had been aimlessly floating, collapsed to the ground in a jumbled mess.

"Doci we have been trying to gain access for hours." The young Prior blurted out as he examined the destroyed room.

"Prior. Gather our most talented Scryers." Doci demanded not moving an inch as he tried to stare a hole through the wall.

"Yes Doci." The young man said with a bow. "Doci; you are bleeding." The Prior muttered before he hurriedly left the room.

Placing his hand under his left eye he was not surprised when his finger came away bloody.

Imperial Year 1 - 507 / 25th September 2005 Anno Domini, Terran Standard / Sixth Generation of Plenty Under the Beneficent Ori / Asgard Remnant Generation I / Third Epoch After Ascension / 9820900.M41.

It had been a year and a half since that night. A year and a half since the entire Ascendancy had begun to slowly awaken. The Doci paced in front of the Flames of Enlightenment worry and doubt plaguing his mind. Already many Scryers had died, their minds lost to the astral planes they examined. With a heavy sigh the old man turned to the only thing he could; gently he fell to his knees and prayed.

Scryer of the West felt the small blue crystal in his hand, a more concentrated version of what topped their staffs, vibrate. It was the four hundredth time this month that he alone had detected a sign of life but he diligently followed the astral current. He shivered as the temperature seemed to drop suddenly. In his mind's eye he saw something moving in the ether. Moving closer he was assaulted with a piercing pain and something brushing the edges of his mind. Steeling himself he pushed onwards. A wailing assaulted his mind moments later; it was filled with such pain and sorrow it gave him a moment to pause. It was like the death knell of a god.

West almost died of fright when something he could only describe as evil began to race towards him. Desperately he tried to flee from the wall like wave of death. The psychic force overran his errant mind in an instant. Back in the City of the Gods West's body was picked up and flung into a wall. His fragile frame was liquidised as the Big Bang like explosion of the Hive Mind's death scream poured through his mind and into the Materium. North and South were partially shielded from the blow but they were still knocked unconscious. East, terrified by the force of the Tyranid's doom but encouraged by his faith, followed the trail of psychic power back to its source.

For a moment he witnessed an empire that spanned a galaxy, fleets of huge arrow like ships and armies of millions, humans in greater numbers that he imagined possible across multiple galaxies and such pain and death that he nearly wept from simply glimpsing it. Then a presence, so old and powerful it defied his comprehension, settled over him. For an instant he witnessed the face of what he called a god before the being shattered his mind.

Doci allowed the collective sorrow of the lesser Priors to affect him. The Healers had done well but East was lost to them. Much had been recovered from his mind but the young Prior would never recover from the drooling vegetable he was now. Already he had ordered the Prior to be canonised as a hero of the Holy Crusade that was to come. Deep down he knew that many more would follow the Scryer.

"Do we have coordinates?" Doci asked the blind and aged Healer.

"Yes, yes. By the grace of the Ori the young one seemed to hold onto them until the very end." The old man answered, his wrinkled face creasing in a small smile. Such devotion was an example to all.

"We will use this 'Stargate' to send scouts to probe the Great Enemy." Doci commented as he turned away from the muttering but mindless shell of a man. Turning to an equally aged Prior he frowned slightly at the truly maniacal look the man had in his milky white eyes. "Spread the word to all the worlds of the Ascendancy. We are going to war."

"Indeed Doci. It shall be so." The Prior grinned savagely. "Hallowed are the Ori."

"Hallowed are the Ori." The Healer and Doci responded.

Deep in the bowls of Atlantis a sub-space transmission was intercepted by one of the dormant systems of Caminus Animum-252. The disabled machine slowly awoke as desperate signals danced around its central processor.

"Start up systems engaged. Primary mission end." The muffled voice came from inside a straw packed box.

In a shower of wood the two boxes, one containing Vultis's central sphere and the other its blocks, exploded open as the A.I. returned to life.

"Omega overrides start. Secondary mission begin. Scanning… located. Transport under way."

Weir enjoyed the simplicity of running Atlantis. It was a nice change from the madness that had plagues them ever since Supreme Commander O'Neill dropped by for a visit. Her calm demeanour was ruined when the centre of the Stargate platform exploded in a shower of rubble. Startled cries and panic shouts came from the control platform as systems sprang into action themselves. She turned towards the hole only to witness the one being she had hoped McKay had put down permanently rise slowly form the opening.

The annoying machine was a blood red and its rings were spinning faster than she had ever seen them. The four I.G.L. riflemen opened fire on it instantly their Lasguns and P-90s proving ineffective. Before anyone could react the Stargate burst into life behind the A.I.

It paused just before it entered the event horizon and turned to face the gathered humans.

"They are coming."

"It is always more difficult to fight against faith than against knowledge." Adolf Hitler.

Coming this October: 'Heresy Through the Wormhole'.

Humanity's childhood ends.