\\ BUFFERING


I could feel the asphalt give beneath Ordnatus' feet, the streets hadn't really been built to withstand the multi-ton steps of the mighty Imperial Knight. And it was hard to make it quiet, but I did what I could. Ordnatus wasn't exactly happy about it, but understood my reasoning and was at least mostly helpful when it came to avoiding the few stragglers of the fleeing civilians…

Not that I was technically any different. Just… I wasn't fleeing.

Despite my best efforts to stay calm, my heart was thudding in my chest, it wasn't so bad that it felt like it was slamming against the inside of the metal of my cyber-mantle, but… yeah, tense.

My focus was mainly on the feed from my Auger Servo Skull that I had sent ahead, while normally they needed audio cues or such to work, I was a fucking Techpriest, I'd rigged up a limited vox com in both of my sevoskulls a while ago in anticipation for when I'd add a vox to my implants. No, I didn't have the implant yet, but I had the protocol, and Ordnatus had some serious vox relays in it. It'd work.

The situation my servoskull could see in the… I guess 'plaza' was the best word. It had some silly, long name with a long string of numerical designations that was somewhere on one of my servo-skulls, but I honestly could never remember it. It was a bit of a landmark here in Manufactorum Adepa, it actually reminded me of central park, what with the large, cathedral like skyscrapers of varying sizes to the east, west, and south. The massive stadium-like structure to the north sort of ruined the comparison, but still.

It was an example of a previous Fabricator General's grand work, a massive 'plaza' or 'park' that housed a large amount of bushes and grass… and a single tree.

A Redwood that was over a hundred meters tall.

No, I was not exaggerating.

It was well over ten times the height of Ordnatus itself, it dwarfed the small, cathedral-like skyscrapers around it and was thicker than the streets that led up to the edge of it. Its roots were taller than a man, some of them arched out of the ground high enough that you could walk underneath them without ducking, and the root itself was thicker than you were tall. I knew, it was one of my favorite places to do my studying.

Oh, and there was a bunch of Chaos forces there. Fun fun.

My Servo-Skull wasn't picking out the hulking form of a Space Marine amongst the traitor guardsmen and smattering of hereteks... nor was I seeing anything that looked like a proper daemon... but I could see the aforementioned Warhound Titan.

The hulking monstrosity of metal and violence was prowling about in the open space like a caged predator… waiting… almost… snarling. It's hard to put into words. It was bipedal, with reversed legs and even more hunched over than Ordnatus was, but it was easily half again as tall and probably three times the mass.

Ordnatus' heavy footfalls continued as I approached the eastern edge by way of one of the major thoroughfares, heading straight towards the plaza. The street I was approaching down didn't have a direct line to the plaza, instead dead-ending right into one of the tall, blocky skyscrapers. It'd shield my approach visually, but the 'alleyways' on either side of the skyscraper were large enough to allow Ordnatus or the Titan to get past.

Perfect.

The issue here was simple, I was massively outgunned and outarmored. Ordnatus had a terrifying amount of firepower for an Imperial Knight, but that didn't compare to any of the weapons a Warhound Titan would be carrying. Not to mention that while I had an Ion Flare Shield, the Titan would have fucking Void Shields. Urp.

So the only option was to draw the Warhound into melee, where Ordnatus had some serious advantages.

Y'know, like having melee weapons in the first place.

\\ THE LEFT HAND OF GOD SHALL RENDER JUDGEMENT UNTO THE HERETICS

My lips quirked up into a little smile. Despite my own fears, the Imperial Knights eagerness was actually comforting. I was carefully keeping an eye on my emotional reactions, my first response to fear like this was anger, but… well… Chaos Gods.

That said, even beyond that, this was delicate. The massive stadium-like structure to the north of the plaza was where they performed massive scale biosphere tests or experiments. It was quite impressive, nearly as tall as the Redwood.

But just beyond it? Was the orbital defense cannon.

Once they started to move… if they broke into the biosphere testing range they'd actually be shielded from air superiority until they bust out the other side, where they'd then be literally at the doors of the orbital defense cannon, and if they took that…

I forced down the concerns. I'd already known I had to do something, this just confirmed it. They had to be stopped or at least stalled right here and now.

Eyeballing it… it definitely looked like they were securing the plaza. The beginnings of cover and what looked like turrets, it looked like there was… a hundred…? Two…?

\\ 197 MUTATED HUMANS ; 13 HERETEK TECHPRIESTS ; 1 CHAOS REAVER TITAN
\\ ALL HERETICS ; MOVE TO PURGE?

'Ah, yes, thank you Ordnatus. We already are, we'll be there in a moment.' But… I didn't see any rift in the air for them to have been… coming… through…

… oh… so that's the Warp Rift… that's… that's actually kinda freaky…

It was this… the hell do you call it? Like, the bark of the Redwood had cracked and fallen inward into this… enormous fleshy membrane, like skin stretch so taut that you could see the veins, dark lines against the glow within. And when the servo-skull zoomed in, I could see heretek techpriests and traitor guardsmen push their way through it, the membrane stretching until it tore like… like some terrible parody of birth before it sealed up behind them only for the next one to push their way through moments later. It was large enough that there was no doubt that the Warhound Titan had come through there.

Right, okay, that's terrifying. Definitely gotta stop this here and now though.

"Sergeant, I'm moving to engage, how are you?" I said into the cockpit, my eyes closed as I paid attention to the multiple feeds of information coming into my head. My probably-broken hand was cradled to my chest as I did my best to ignore my fleshy body in favor of Ordnatus' instead.

"Getting set up now cog-head, what about you?"

I kept a close eye on the Warhound's footsteps, matching Ordnatus pace to its own as best I could as I made the final approach, "Should be engaging in just a sec… I'll let you know."

"Right, best of luck with that, don't go dyin' on us and stuff. Oi! Rook! Get yourself set up damnit!"

With a small shake of my head, I cut off the vox, focusing on the feeds from Ordnatus and my servoskull.

It was only a few seconds later that I came to a stop just a bit before the end of the street, only a few steps before I could peek around the edges of the gothic skyscraper. Deep breath. 'Right, gotta do this, let's make it happen.' "Ordnatus, give me a projection of the quake cannon's firing arc."

\\ KNOW WHERE THE JUDGEMENT SHALL FALL

A brilliant red arcing cone appeared in my perception, reaching over Ordnatus' left shoulder. It took a little working at it since I didn't have a comparative limb on my own body, but I quickly got the hang of it once I made the rather obvious connection that it was a lot like learning how to use my scribe-tines implant. After just a bit of fiddling I finally got it working, the arc slowly climbing at a steeper and steeper angle.

Problem is that Ordnatus didn't have any protocols for how to integrate the two feeds, so I couldn't see it on the image I was getting from the servoskull, and a mighty Machine Spirit Ordnatus may have been, but that's all it was. A Machine Spirit. Not a full AI. It simply couldn't adapt its code to that level. Machine Spirits were 'dumb' AI, more along the lines of what a video game programmer meant by the term than what a futurist meant.

I… might have been able to hodge together something about the estimated range as a waypoint in the servoskull's feed but… yeah, not happening on this timescale. Practical problem, practical solution.

"So…" I sighed out, eyes closed, a throb of pain coming from my right hand before I forced it to relax, "Looks like I'm eyeballin' it."

A twitch of thought turned the vox back on, "Sergeant Umma, are you in position?"

"Finishing up now cog-head, what, you gonna start shooting?"

"Just about to." I hesitated for just an instant before adding, "You stay safe. I'm the one in the giant robot, you're not."

"Pfft, don't worry about that, cog-head."

"Right. Opening fire," I slowly turned, leading the Titan by just a hint, "… now."

With a thunderous boom, the quake cannon kicked, and even braced as it was, I could feel the asphalt buckle beneath Ordnatus' feet from the force of the recoil of the heavy cannon. The sound, even muffled by Ordinatus' chassis, was deafening, there was no doubt that everything within miles heard the boom.

For just an instant I thought that I could see it hurtling off, arcing over the skyscrapers and into the plaza…

There was actually a brief moment as the shot echoed like thunder, the traitor forces snapping to attention, the soldiers and warhound raising their guns, searching around for the source of the sound even as the shell was in transit.

And then the moment was over, and the round hit.

I felt the explosion as a tremor in the ground, and a vicious little grin found itself on my face because my aim had been right on! The flash of the shell's impact explosion completely obscuring the Titan's head, making the massive machine buckle!

For just the briefest of instants, I had hope that I'd taken it out of the fight, but the damn thing roared, standing once again and almost bristling with obvious anger. Damn, void shields had been up. Still, I'd definitely gotten the piece of shit's attention.

\\ MOVE TO ENGAGE?

"Yeah," despite my focus, I could feel the cold sweat on my skin, my heart pounding like a drum, "Let's go!"

We broke into a full run, both melee weapons powering up even as the quake cannon reloaded. Even if we didn't use it again, I'd rather have it as an option than otherwise!

Two, three, four steps later and Ordnatus and I had to lean against our own momentum, gyros and servos screaming in my head as I juked Ordnatus around the skyscraper, sending bits of asphalt into the air with the twists of movement that you'd never expect something this size to be capable of.

Barely coming to a stop just peeking around the edge of the massive building into the plaza, I raised my arms as my eyes rapidly searched for the– there!

The sound the Titan let out was something like a snarl as its head swiveled towards me, its mighty gun-arms raising much like mine were. But I had just an instant more warning, and I milked that instant for all it was worth!

Every gun on Ordnatus unloaded into the Titan.

Its guns thundered and spat, bolts of plasma and bolter shells splashed uselessly against the flashes of black of the void shield. The roaring crack of the lightning cannon accompanied the lightning bolt and explosion of white as the mighty cannon struck like its namesake.

My aim was shit, the triggers pulled too early, some bolter shells and plasma bolts slamming uselessly into the ground at the feet of the Titan as I tracked upwards. But it's fucking hard to miss several thousand tons of war machine. I traced a line of fire up the Titan's body, the rapid fire weapons splashing uselessly against the titan's Void shield; the lightning cannon's blast struck just over the Titan's left leg, causing a black bubble to briefly flare into existence around the chaos war-machine before evaporating like a popped balloon!

And in the next instant the Chaos Titan returned fire, and I knew the term regret.

With a roar like the demon from the pits of hell it was, the Titan showed what true plasma and bolter weapons were like. Its arm mounted weapons, an enormous rotary bolter and powerful plasma cannon fired.

I could see bolter shells bouncing off of the forward ion shield, but even as I tried to reverse direction the massive glob of superheated gas slammed into the shield–!

The impact knocked the air out of my lungs, forcing Ordnatus to stumble back a step to maintain balance! 'Fucking hell! It was like getting hit by a damn linebacker!'

Warning klaxons flared in my head as the forward armor was superheated just by the mere proximity of the plasma! I grit my teeth and held down the triggers for Ordnatus plasma and bolter weapons even as I backed up as quickly as I could, bolter shells raining down on my own shield as I did.

In the corner of my perception I could see the warning flashing for the ion shield as the bolter shells were exploding on impact with it even as I dipped back behind the edge of the building.

With a voice that rumbled like an avalanche, warbling in pitch with layers of notes just a quarter step off from harmony, the chaos titan roared, "BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD! SKULLS FOR THE SKULL THRONE!"

My teeth grit at the scratching sensation inside my skull and chest, a little tremor of perfectly rational fear going through me for the briefest moment before hot anger replaced it, and I muttered, "That's right, come and get me."

"SLAUGHTER THE FOLLOWERS OF THE CORPSE-GOD!"

Lasfire splashed uselessly against the shield as I backed up, and I sent several shots into the guardsmen and hereteks that I could still see from this position even as the ground beneath my feet shook with every step of the Titan as it rushed towards me.

My focus was on the feed from my servoskull rather than on what Ordnatus was showing me, watching its approach as the quake cannon loaded and the lightning cannon recharged, I'd be able to get off another volley before the Titan got around… the… its angle is off…? Why is its- it's coming through the building?!

I twisted in place, planting my feet as I faced the skyscraper, just instants before the Warhound Titan crashed through the gothic structure like some nightmarish parody of the Kool-Aid man!

"THE EMPEROR IS DEAD!" Plaster and stone rained down onto me from the monstrosity as its rotary bolter opened fire, but fuck that! "AND YOU SHALL JOIN TH–"

Instead of retreating as it'd expected, instead of being surprised and bowled over, I braced myself and pushed forward! With a snarl, I pushed forward and the world shook as the two behemoths literally slammed into each other!

Ordnatus bounced off of the heavier machine, but it'd canceled both of our momentums, making the Warhound Titan take a step back.

The impact was deafening, but even from the bad positioning I swung the roaring chainsword beneath the lightning cannon up, the massive thing glancing off of the titans armor.

Servos surged and whined as they tried to match my intentions as I stepped in, the thunderclap claw swinging upwards and reaching up over Ordnatus head to uppercut the cockpit of the Titan! Lightning jumped between the extended fist and the beat's head as it stumbled back.

\\ MOVE TO ENGAGE?

"Fuck yes!" I snarled.

\\ JUDGEMENT SHALL BE RENDERED

The chainsword was swung back around as Ordnatus stepped in, under the envelop of the Void shield, completely whiffing as the chaos titan realized their error, stumbling backwards, trying to make space!

Not if I had anything to say about it!

With a wordless roar, I almost charged forward, uncaring of the rumbling of the skyscraper beside us. The chainsword sung the same song as I, glancing off of the Titans armor once more as I desperately tried to stay close to the larger war machine!

"YOUR EMPEROR IS A FALSE GOD!"

"Fuck you too!" The top of Ordnatus' chassis was just short of being able to fit beneath the body of the titan, and so long as I stayed practically underneath it, I could limit the amount of firepower it could bring to bear!

A flash of heat drew a hiss of pain from me as the plasma cannon fired once more, barely clipping Ordnatus' left shoulder!

\\ QUAKE CANNON DAMAGED ; ENGAGING HEART OF OMNISIAH

"Get back here!" my own plasma weapons fired rapidly, scorching patches of the titans forward armor as it furiously backpedaled. But I pursued, refusing to allow it to create that distance!

The thunderclap claw swung about rapidly, barely missing the cockpit once more, but like a pendulum, I swung back around and brought the chainsword around in an overhead strike!

Adamantium teeth spun and ground as they slammed right on top of the titan's cockpit, grinding and tearing their way through its thick armor! And screams filled the air; the screams of metal twisting and tearing, the scream of the motors of the chainsword, and the screams of the damned as the chaos machine was wounded!

Blood and oil spewed forth, splattering Ordnatus' forward cameras as the chainblade worked, but the Warhound tore away from the blow, its roaring voice gurgling as it fired blindly; dark fluids pouring from the gaping gash in its… cockpit…? Head…? I didn't know.

The lightning cannon's barrel leveled with the cockpit.

And I didn't care.

Static flared across my senses as the electromagnetic pulse from the cannon went off at point blank range, well within both of our shields. My vision cleared to reveal the scorched and damaged titan stumbling backwards, as if I'd let it!

\\ RENDERING JUDGEMENT
\\ REACTOR OUTPUT AT 97%...

I stepped forward, left hand coming up to grab side of the titan's cockpit, adamantium blades digging into its hull as the power field crackled with blue lightning–

\\ OUR HEART BURNS WITH GLORY
\\ REACTOR OUTPUT AT 117%...

Grinding my teeth together, I pulled, feet digging into the ground as I pulled the behemoth off balance, sending the violation of physical laws toppling towards the ground. The massive chaos titan taking several impossibly long seconds to fall, and fall it did. Several thousand tons of adamantium and ceramite hit the grassy dirt, pulled by the inexorable tug of gravity, transferring enormous amounts of kinetic energy to the ground as it came to a sudden stop.

The limbs of the Redwood shook, the tremors going through the ground and up Ordnatus legs.

\\ VICTORY INEVITABLE
\\ REACTOR OUTPUT AT 136%...

Power thrummed through my limb, an electric buzz as the reactor pushed beyond its normal limits, the fusion reactor heart of Ordnatus running even further beyond safety tolerances than it had before! Blue bolts of baryonic matter bond breaking power arced from the thunderclap claw as the capacitors charged beyond their capacity.

\\ REACTOR OUTPUT A 150%...
\\ DELIVERING JUDGEMENT

I had no witty commentary, no Bond one liner, no snarky quip, just adrenaline, just fear, just righteous anger.

This world had become my home, and I wasn't going to let them take it!

With a wordless scream, I brought the claws down on the prone Chaos Titan.

\\ HERESY

The overcharged capacitors discharged with a bang worthy of their name as adamantium blades buried themselves into the monster's armor, terrifying forces rippling out from the fist and shredding the torso of the Titan open like a dozen firecrackers place inside of tinfoil, shredded bits of armor and electronic shrapnel smacking uselessly against my front.

\\ TARGET'S REACTOR CONTAINMENT BREACHED… ENERGY SIGNAL FADING… JUDGEMENT RENDERED.
\\ REACTOR VENTING

I stood there for a long moment, thunderclap claw buried in the titan's torso. My chest heaving as I stared at the screen before me, eyes on it as well as the feed into my head, almost… disbelieving.

The furious melee had pushed its way into the plaza, and now… now the massive chaos titan lay there in the impact crater from its fall… My heart was still thundering against the inside of my cyber-mantle as I started to realize that my skin was cold and clammy, my right hand aching desperately with how tightly it'd been clenched, starting to untangle my perceptions from those of Ordnatus' feed, a grin starting to spread across my face–

PAIN.

"Agh!" a half-scream tore itself from my throat even as I ripped the claw from the titan's corpse, backpedaling away from it. It was like-! Like fucking white hot needles had been shoved into my temples! Fuck!

Tears running freely down my face, Ordnatus' head swung around, searching for the source of attack, my vision inside the cockpit was actually blurry but the feed was steady–

There!

Hoarfrost coated the ground and a portion of the base of the Redwood, a sphere around the small, almost insignificant little man with a birds head and a large staff, some innumerable number of wings scattered along its body.

"Are you shitting me?!" I half shrieked, fury building in my chest in spite of myself, "Another sorcerer?!"

And like some switch had been flipped, every guardsman in the plaza opened fire.

Lasers peppered Ordnatus' form even as I rapidly tried to reorient the shield as more and more of these little pinpricks of pain made themselves known across my skin… across Ordnatus' hull. Some were rushing at me carrying guns, others trying desperately to set up heavier guns, but for all of Ordnatus' power, it couldn't withstand such a volume of fire.

"Fuck, right," gritting my teeth, I did something that set Ordnatus to metaphorically screaming at me.

I turned tail and ran.

Enormous feet slammed into the dirt, kicking up soil and grass even as the shield oriented behind me, eyes desperately searching for… there! The waypoint!

"Headed your way sarge!"

"No, really?" the sergeant half-snapped over the vox, "That shit could've woken the Emperor on his throne!"

I couldn't help the little grin as Ordnatus thundered between two of the skyscrapers, rushing towards the waypoint I'd set previously. Laughter, nervous and relieved at the same time, bubbled up in my throat, "It's a surprise! I know! I'm even bringing some friends to the party!"

Pain flared in one of my legs, making me stumble momentarily, nearly sending Ordnatus tumbling over, but only just. I regained my balance instants later, stumbling through a half-turn before walking backwards at speed.

'What had- Meltas! Shit!'

Clenching my teeth, I opened fire with the bolter into the forming up masses of the traitor guardsmen, an angry beep sounding in my skull when I tried to fire with the plasma weapons, "What-?!"

\\ REACTOR COOLING ; ENERGY WEAPONS UNAVAILABLE

"Fuck!" I cursed even as I swept the arm back and forth, backing up quickly, Ordnatus' feet finally finding asphalt as I backpedaled, "Coming in hot sergeant!"

"Don't use military terms if you don't know them cog-head! And we see it!"

Las-fire and the wavy distortions of melta weapons glanced off of the ion flare shield, the soldiers of chaos starting to surge forward like the tides– god damnit! Some of them are even rushing at me with chainswords?! The hell?!

"Sir–?" the felinid's voice crackled over the vox, audible over the growing volume and pitch of the shield's alarm in my head.

"Hold your fire!" he cut her off, "Let them get closer"

'Ordnatus! How long before we have energy weapons?!'

\\ 47 Seconds.

"Sergeant!" My voice cracked in spite of myself before I swallowed, slowing my fire to controlled bursts as the skyscrapers funneled the guardsmen forward, my voice stronger as I said, "I've only got my bolters right now!"

"Just keep backing up cog-head, you're almost there… just a few more steps okay?"

The thunderous dakkadakkadakka of the bolters sent phantom vibrations up my left arm, the traitor guardsmen firing from what little cover they had even as others surged forward without fear, frothing at the mouth as they charged straight at me.

"Come on cog head, just a bit further, just a little bit, you can do it," the guardsman's voice was a surprisingly soothing and calming thing, making it far easier to fire in controlled bursts of death into the front lines of the charging madmen.

\\ 20 Seconds

"There! Light'm up!"

The windows of the buildings on either side of the street blew open as the Imperial Guard opened fire. Photons and lead raining down into the street atop the closing throng of frenzied berserkers.

There were screams from them, of pain or pleasure… I don't think anyone knew, and I don't think I wanted to know. Because all I cared about was the fact that the rain of death put them down.

A quick turn later, and I'd ducked into a street, putting several buildings between me and the traitors. Well holy fuck, this was actually working. A grin spread across my face even as my chest heaved, my heart beating furiously in my chest.

I chewed my lip even as the mental counter for the reactor cooling ticked down, "Ordnatus, give me a scan of block 2A Sigmus. Life signs?"

\\ PROCESSING . . . LIFE SIGNS IN LOT 2A SIGMUS NEGATIVE

Nodding to myself I muttered, "Good…"

\\ REACTOR VENTING COMPLETE ; ENERGY WEAPONS AVAILABLE ; MOVE TO ENGAGE?

"Just a sec big guy," a twitch of my thoughts turned the vox back on, "Sergeant! Do you need fire support?"

"Do we? Are you crazier than I thought cog-head?"

"Right now," I clarified, "I have an idea."

There was the briefest pause from the guardsmen on the other side of the vox, "If it's anything like the idea to grab the Knight, then I'm all for it! You heard the cog-head girls! Let's keep those heretics busy!"

"Sir yes sir!"

A little grin found itself on my face as I swung Ordnatus around, heading south once more.

Turning down a street so quickly that I left torn up streaks in the asphalt, I rushed down the street I had first approached the plaza from and– there! The building the titan had crashed through!

I grinned.

\\ QUAKE CANNON REPAIRS COMPLETE ; MOVE TO ENGAGE?

"Perfect! Showtime big guy, act two, enter stage left!"

We charged right back into the plaza, turning and skidding to a halt, sending a wave of dirt and grass into the air like snow from an ice skater doing the same.

Shouts of surprise came from the nearest of the traitor soldiers, guns trying to swivel towards me, but I had other plans. Where's the– there! The sorc–

PAIN.

Something in my head burst.

Ordnatus stumbled and my teeth ground together, it was like liquid pain had been poured into my head! Needles and fire and bites and scratching teeth-! I couldn't see out of my right eye, and my vision in my left was fucked, I actually felt something dribble down my face that decidedly weren't tears.

But I was still conscious.

Now that was a mistake.

\\ RETURN FIRE?

The twin cannon leveled "Fuck yes!"

The two cannons leveled out and I couldn't help but grin.

With recoil powerful enough to push Ordnatus back several feet, both the lightning and quake cannons fired… right into the base of the already heavily damaged skyscraper.

"Timber."

The gothic building rumbled, and I could actually hear one of the traitor guardsmen mutter, "… aw skak…"

With a bang, something within the massive building gave, and the building began to lean in earnest, and in spite of the temptation, I didn't stand idly by as the building collapsed into the plaza. I opened fire freely into the damn sorcerer, and despite some shots going wild as the signals I was sending were scrambled, despite the sorcerer glowing with terrible warp power and creating a field of crackling energy, the barrier the sorcerer had thrown up popped like a water balloon under the concentrated rain of bolter shells and plasma bolts.

The psyker themselves popped seconds later, shredded by shrapnel and scorched by superheated steam sourced from their own sullied skin.

As the sorcerer died, the chaos-warped guardsmen tried to turn and run, but gravity's inexorable power was quit determined to introduce them to the skyscraper.

My world swam as the ground shook, uncountable tons of concrete and steel and glass hitting the ground, nearly knocking Ordnatus off of its feet.

"Skak! Was that you cog-head?!"

"Eyup!" I said with far too much cheer, right eye clenched tight in an attempt to keep the feeling of things dribbling out of it to a minimum. Because that's a bad feeling.

"By the Throne, nice shot."

"Thanks," I smugged with a little chuckle, my mirth fading just a bit as I asked, "How are y'all holding up?" Bolts of plasma lanced out as I swept my awareness across the portion of the plaza that wasn't cut off by the rubble, "I'm gonna be a bit for me to get back around and provide fire-support."

I blinked my left eye a few times before shaking my head a little, that… hadn't made sense.

"Don't." Sergeant Umma cut me off before I'd even gotten half turned, disregarding my flub, "We can hold here, you flank the heretics. Any chance you can close the portal they're using to get through?"

"I–… I might have a solution…" I noted as I began to move, bolters firing even as the traitors still in Ordnatus' sight fled… was… was that blood I was smelling…? "It involves explosions."

"Sounds good enough to me!"

I actually refrained from opening fire with either of my cannons even after they were ready, instead using Ordnatus' plasma cannons and heavy bolters to mop up the guardsmen as I swung around the Redwood.

Green lasers lashed out from the guardsmen as they turned, red streaks flashing out from the street Umma's squad was holed up in. A quick glance at the membranous warp rift- Something big and blocky and distinctly tank-like was starting to push its way through.

Yyyyeaaahhhh… let's go with no.

Ordnatus twin cannons spoke, and the entire Redwood shook, bark and blood flying everywhere. Why the hell a tree was bleeding like that… fucking chaos.

And then it exploded again.

Wait, what-?

The vox crackled and a synthesized, androgynous voice came over it, "Pilot of Ordnatus Acies Dominus, identify yourself."

"Ah," it took a half moment for my brain to catch up to what was happening, "Lexmechanic Andoriol Phi 2319."

Rockets flew from the air into the traitor forces, and Ordnatus head tracked upwards to find a half dozen light, landspeeder-style aircraft firing down into the scattering forces, "Lexmechanic, you are not authorized to pilot that machine."

"I'm aware," I said as calmly as I could manage, only just now realizing how heavily I was breathing, "I… I judged the offense to the Omnissiah to be less than the offense of allowing these traitors to defile his works."

Raw bullshit, but also kinda true. Sorta funny that…

There was silence on the vox for a long moment, and I very seriously considered opening fire into the chaos-guardsmen again, but held off. Definitely wouldn't do me any favors in the eyes of the Adeptus Mechanicus to further 'offend the machine spirits'.

\\ MOVE TO ENGAGE?

A small smile crossed my face, not that Ordnatus seemed all that offended.

"Lexmechanic, move to the following location," a waypoint appeared on Ordnatus' feed, "And power down Ordnatus Acies Dominus for repairs before turning yourself in for investigation."

The Imperial Knight didn't growl, but it did rather pointedly light every single remaining traitor guardsman up with a targeting reticle, like a big dog pulling at a leash.

But I pulled it back, "Acknowledged. Disengaging."

The smell of blood and sweat and something else entirely disgusting saturated the cockpit, my skin was clammy and cold and my heart beating furiously in my chest as I tried to come down from the adrenaline high, my ears were… actually ringing from the deafening guns and impacts, pain throbbed in my right hand and my entire head… my vision was blurry in my left eye and… I didn't really want to think about my right… and I… I think there's some blood dribbling from my nose and ears… I…

Ordnatus heavy footfalls cracked asphalt as the mighty machine strode towards the designated waypoint.

I… I think I'm happy with this result though… this… this is a fair sight better than I expected for a first fight here… considering… where I was…

Now to… deal with the consequences…


A.N. - N/A