Hope y'all're (big oof to grammar) still enjoying this story, cause I've got another chapter. Obviously I'll be taking some liberties with the specifics of certain aspects of warhammer, but the reasoning for that shall be revealed in due time.

Onward!


Time: 2067 A.D.

Location: Wellington, New Zealand

Church of the Omnissiah

"This day is one of remembrance, for today we honor a fallen hero." Came the booming voice of Marron, the current serving priest. "On this day, the fourteenth of February in the year of 2019, our people lost Opportunity, the martian rover, who became inoperable 5499 days into its ninety day mission."

The sea of people bowed their heads, showing their respect for the world famous rover, which was declared lost after a dust storm had presumably rendered it inactive, assumed to have covered it's solar panels.

The anniversary of it's death had become a national day of mourning, with day long ceremonies and masses held by the tech priests at churches across the remaining human territory.

"Performing its mission 61.1 times over, Opportunity's 15 years of service will be remembered forever as those of a true hero to Earth." Marron bowed his head, cybernetics whirring as his back mounted manipulator arm raised a single, burning candle in honor of the rover. "May your spirit find peace with the Omnissiah."


"It was a great service Archmagos," Came the gravelly voice of the soldier, "the first trip to Mars will be one to bring it back, mark my words,"

"You honor its spirit, Lord Commander," Marron replied, shaking the commanders outstretched hand, "but now I expect you to follow through with that." He said, chuckling.

"Trust me, I will." The commander replied, laughing good naturedly.

"But now, how is your arm?" The Archmagos said, grasping the metal appendage with his hand and looking it over, his augmented gaze scanning the sleek, red and black surface, and small, geometric lights that glowed softly, "you are reporting to your scheduled diagnostic appointments, correct?"

"Yes yes, of course." He said, flexing his arm, the servos gently whirring as the Archmagos requested, "You don't need to worry, your work is second to none."

"Mmm, good." The tech priest released his arm. "Anyway, I have developed a new feature for you, so I hope you'll drop by soon. I'm thinking of making it standard issue to manipulator prosthetics."

"It's that useful?"

"Possibly," Marron replied, his red robe shifting as he moved, hidden mechanics clicking and humming, "but it needs a little testing, of which I'm certain you can provide."

"I definitely can."


Location: Auckland, New Zealand

"Good evening Lord Commander," said the young Lexmechanic, gaze panning upwards to meet the commanders eyes, "We have been expecting you, Enginseer Danica will be with you shortly."

Giving the techpriest a nod, the commander continued on his way, through a series of hallways, before stopping at an automated door, with the words "Augment Diagnostic and Repair" written above it. After a quick swipe of a keycard, the door slid open, revealing a clean, white room, with a pair of metal chairs, one with a small adjustable platform mounted on the center chair.

"Hey Danica," The commander waved to the priest tapping away at a console in the corner of the room, "Archmagos Marron said he had something for me?"

"Oh!" The female Enginseer jumped a little, having not heard him walk in, "Hello Lord. Commander!" She said, clearly excited, stepping away from her console.

"Archmagos Marron told me about the upgrades he's developed for you," the rather short Adeptus Mechanicus looking even smaller when compared to the Lord Commander, her body obscured by flowing red robes, "but he wanted you to go through a checkup first, just in case."

"Makes sense," The Lord Commander trailed off as the cybernetic woman dragged him into the center of the room and sat him down, "I guess we'll just jump right into it then?"


"Have you had any issues?" Danica asked, gently prodding and observing the mechanical left arm, external plate discarded, showing the intricate cybernetic components, occasionally muttering to herself in binary.

"No malfunctions." The commander said, trying and failing to adjust himself, seeing as how his arm was locked down on the platform next to the chair, and the cold metal on his bare skin not a very pleasant feeling, but Danica had insisted he disrobe partially, given that the connection point for his prosthetic was just past his left elbow.

"Any more phantom pains?" She asked, pausing to look at him, his remaining eye looking into hers, and a leather eyepatch obscuring his left. She looked down at his torso, a twisted mess of scar tissue over light skin, countless old claw wounds, bite marks, and healed lacerations contrasting heavily with his most consistent scars.

Tracing his skeleton, were dozens of fine, white, surgical marks, around his shoulders, down his arms, one on each rib, and down his spine, the web of markings looking like organic circuitry.

"Don't worry about that." The commander responded, averting his gaze, to which the priestess frowned, an expression partially hidden by her red hood.

"Jack…" She said, her tone getting annoyed.

"Fine." Jack said, "It's not bad, just constant. If a little aching is gonna bring me down, then the Kelkorev are gonna have a field day with me."

Danica responded by pulling him into a sitting hug, resting her face in the crook of his neck, her slim metal hands, designed specifically to work with small and delicate machinery, gripping his back, sending a few shivers down his spine.

"Jack David Ahab." She said, pulling away from him, placing her hands on his shoulders. "Tell us, please, even if it's a little."

"I'm fine really," Jack said, left arm still magnetically secured to the table, making this a bit awkward, "it doesn't bother me that much."

"Jack…" Danica pouted, giving him a pair of sad eyes, "you still need to tell me. I still owe you so much."

"By the Throne Danica," he said, sounding exasperated, "what could you possibly owe me for?"

"When we were still running. Those last few weeks in south america, in 2045." She spoke sincerely. "When you told us about everything, the imperium, the Emperor, our world. You gave me the chance to serve the Emperor and Machine God."

"You can't possibly owe me for that." Jack said, as the female techpriest pulled away, and started reattaching the external plating to his cybernetic arm.

"Maybe," she said, as the last plate was fitted onto his arm, "but at the very least I should thank you."

"Maybe…" Jack said, clenching his metal hand into a fist, flexing, giving it a quick flexibility check. After a moment or two, Danica spoke again.

"How about your other enhancements? You eye?" She said, reaching for his face, putting on hand on his chin and using the other to lift his eyepatch up, exposing a metal eye socket and organ.

"My eye is fine, Danica," Jack said, reaching up to scratch his short beard and fix his eyepatch, covering up the cybernetic, so the harsh red glow of the prosthetic wouldn't be visible, retying the black cord around the back of his head, hiding it in the unruly mess of dark brownish hair that was pulled back into a small ponytail. His fingers gently prodded the strings of the patch, so that the two on the left side went above and below his ear.

"We could fix that you know." Danica said, frowning as she took a look at his face. Clearly an american, Jack had rough features, a strong jawline, and a lot of damage. A scar on his lower lip, on his left cheek, a straight line running from the top of his forehead down to his jaw, dancing over his right eye, and on the left side, a mass of clawmarks around his eye, a single line running across his nose, and a set of three, parallel scars on his left ear, the top fourth of which was missing.

"Nah," Jack shrugged, pulling his undershirt and BDU back on, the tough, well made olive drab clothing fitting him like a glove, "I kind like it, makes me feel...badass." He said, striking a pose, gazing dramatically into the middle distance, bringing a giggle out of Danica.

"Of course you'd say that, dummy," Danica said, shaking her head and smiling, "now get over here, I'll bless your cybernetics for you."


"Ah, Lord Commander," the head techpriest exclaimed as he walked into the room, "punctual for once it appears!"

"Greetings Archmagos," Jack held up a hand, and shook the metal claw of the Adeptus Mechanicus, "I figured I'd get here early this time, I'd not suggest getting used to it though."

"Too late, Lord Commander," the priest said, walking over to the sleek, black case sitting on the counter on the far side of the room, "I fear I'm already used to it."

"Bad idea Archmagos Marron." Jack chuckled to himself.

"Archmagos Marron, bah!" The middle aged techpriest waved his hand dismissively, opening the case, "Drop the formalities Mr. Ahab, you can call me Marron here."

"Sure thing." Jack said, as the priest removed an object form the case and turned back. "So what has the Omnissiah blessed me with today?"

"A new weapon." Marron said, holding a pristine, unpainted prosthetic hand, ended just before the wrist, the shiny, untouched chrome finish of the metal polished to a mirror shine.

"Another hand it seems…" Jack said, inputting a few commands into the miniature console in his forearm, a single plate sliding back to expose the touchscreen, his entire hand popping off after a few keystrokes. "I'll just, put this on the chair."

After placing the detached prosthetic on the chair, Jack held out his wrist, at which Marron simply popped it onto his arm, and with only a few clicks, it was secured on his wrist.

"It's operation is very similar to your pile driver function, and as such I have temporarily replaced their activation methods," Marron began, directing Jack over to a second room, which basically resembles a miniature shooting range, "so simply make a fist, aim, and place your hand on your forearm. It's activated by your sub-dermal pads, so it fires when you want it to."

"Alright," Jack shrugged, aiming his fist at the target, before slowly placing his right hand on his cybernetic forearm, a silent humm vibrating gently up his arm as the electronic pads under the skin of his fingers and palms linked up with the internal electronics, "so I just think-"

As much as he would have like to finish the sentence, Jack was cut off by the sound of an explosion, and the sensation/experience of watching his hand shoot thirty feet across the room, tear right through the plywood target, and crack the concrete wall behind that, a small rocket fizzling out on the back of it.

"By the Emperor…" He whispered to himself, as Marron eagerly clapped, which made a sound like two metal pans slamming against each other.

"Praise the Omnissiah that worked wonderfully!" The Archmagos shouted, eagerly walking up to the Lord Commander. "If my calculations are correct, that should be enough to take down a Juggernaut!"

"Great. I've got a rocket fist now." Jack grinned, then fell neutral again, "But uh, how do I get it back? I doubt a Juggernaut would let me grab it if I missed."

"Have a little faith Mr. Ahab," Marron gestured to the wrist of the arm, "can you see the cable in the center, the one running out into the range? Yes that one, now using the same commands to retract your pile driver, you can 'reel in' your fired arm."

Doing as instructed, Jack began to reel the arm in. The two watch, one with growing annoyance and the other with growing amusement as the hand dislodged from the wall, and was unceremoniously dragged across the concrete, producing an obnoxious scraping noise as it was jerked slowly along, until it came to a stop hanging a foot down from his wrist, only resuming its return after a second of awkward silence, finally reattaching.

"You uh," Ahab look at the hand, it's pristine chrome surface now covered in black soot and scratches, "you think we can make it a bit smoother? Quicker would be nice too.."

"Yes. That is something we need to fine tune evidently." The Archmagos spoke in a dry, humorless voice. "I shall look into it. But in other matters, you are leaving soon, are you not?"

"Yes, that I am." Jack said, reattaching his original arm as he scooped it up from the chair as the two moved back into the main room. "This campaign needs to happen sooner rather than later, we need the land."

"It is fairly crowded here now."

"New Zealand had five and a half million people living here, and that was back in 2045." Commander Ahab ran a hand through his unkempt hair, "With everyone who came after the fall and general population increase, there's nearly fifteen million living here now, and we're about to have a lot of trouble feeding them if this growth keeps up."

"I am starting to notice," Marron added, "our rations have been slowly getting smaller these last few months. And of course, once winter ends we'll have another population boom. Every year, like clockwork in the summers."

"Yeah," Jack rubbed his tired face with his organic hand, "We've got a strong, large fighting force, but sometimes I wish our people were a tad less prolific. Feeding everyone's become a logistical nightmare even now."

"Even with trawlers out 24/7?" The Archmagos asked, "Surely the oceans bounty can sustain us."

"Aye, that it can," Commander Ahab smiled lightly, "even before the fall, our oceans had made a hell of a comeback. And nearly twenty years without major fishing has done wonders for the ocean. But relying on seafood alone is a bad idea. Something bad could happen, and then we'd be screwed. That's not a chance I want to take."

"I understand." Marron said, falling silent for a moment. "So what is the plan for this campaign?"

"Well the first phase is going to be our first real offensive foray offshore," Jack said, now reviewing the details in his head, "we need more land for food and factories, but it can't be too far from New Zealand and it can't be heavily infested, but we can't waste time on some tiny speck of pacific territory."

"And mainland Australia is far too large for us to handle right now."

"Yes. The plan is to take Clarke Island, then Cape Barren, then Flinders Island. We'll use Flinders as a staging point for out main target." He said, pausing momentarily to pull a small rectangular phone analog out of his pocket, checking for any messages while Marron continued.

"Flinders Island," the Archmagos muttered, "You're going after Tazmania? Why there?"

"We literally just need land and resources, we can't keep raiding backwater Australia, it's too risky." Jack slipped his mini datapad back in his pocket. "We can build small scale factories without worrying about civilians if we get Tazmania, and from there we'll take out time with the pacific islands."

"And after that? What happens once we've established ourselves in the pacific?"

"Then?" The Lord Commander looked over to the Adeptus Mechanicus, "Hawaii."


Aight gamers, let me know what you think, and make sure to review! That shit really keeps me going.

-Athk0r3