952 M41, ten years after his encounter with the Dark Eldar out in the void of space and Lauf still has not been able to catch his quarry. All the years have done is drag Lauf around the galaxy chasing after Ramses. Now he is waiting on the forge world Ryza while trying to request transport off-world from the Fabricator-General to continue his hunt. He stands on the outside of one of the multitude of the massive manufactorums on the planet looking out across the surface. Lauf can see the damages from the invasions of the Forge World by two different Ork Waaghs still being repaired by the countless servitors that swarm around the various battle sites cutting up or repairing destroyed machines to be used in the Imperial armies across the galaxy. Lauf taps his fingers on the rail as he waits for word from the Fabricator General's palace about his request for seeing the ruler. Every day he waits here is another day Ramses is able to cause more damage to the Imperium and kill more innocent victims. And the longer the wolf remains stuck on this planet the sooner he will probably do something stupid like try to stow away on one of the various transports travelling off-world. The only reason why he has not done this yet is because when he first arrived on Ryza he was warned specifically by the Fabricator General that if he did anything to disrupt her forge-world. It would not matter that he is an Adeptus Astartes, she would send his gene-seed back to Fenris while his body would be converted to a sewer cleaning servitor. Lauf took the old woman's threat seriously so he has waited as patiently as a wild wolf trapped inside a cage, watching a rabbit wander around just out of reach.
Growling in frustration he turns along the catwalk of the manufactorum and travels from the spot he has been standing for the past hour. Lauf heads towards the ladder going down to the ground so he can walk off his boredom. Moving along the top of the factory Lauf can see through a broken section of the roof down to the manufactorum production floor. There he can see the servitors and tech-priests working on leman russ executioners moving forward on a production track. The smell of burning metal from the melta-torches used by the cyborgs to build the tanks and the crackling energy from the plasma cannons each executioner has in the turrets moving on racks above the floor fill his nostrils. At a specific point of the production line the turrets are lowered from the ceiling and attached from the tech-priests to the hull of the tank. Lauf looks away from the one line and smiles when he sees five other production lines exactly like the first. Seeing the number of war machines being built in this one manufactorum boosts his confidence that the Imperium will continue to stand as the guardian of humanity.
As he watches one of the tech-priest work on an executioner his eyes widen as he remembers that his armour is in need of proper rites of maintenance after so many years on the move chasing Ramses. Lauf starts to climb down the side of the manufactorum to go find a tech-priest to work on his armour. As he slides down the ladder Lauf can see the great doors of the manufactorum open. He watches as a stream of Leman Russ tanks and other war machines built inside roll forward to a waiting land-train. Servitors near the land-train move the tanks and cargo transports onto the cars of the train to be transported off-world at the nearest space-port. Lauf lands on the ground at the bottom of the manufactorum's ladder and he turns around to head towards the land-train. He's certain there must be a tech-priest there and he moves around the various sized containers filled with spare parts for tanks and machines, ammunition for every weapon in the Imperium, and crates filled with pieces for building new colonies on conquered worlds or rebuilding worlds broken by invasions from Chaos, Xenos or rebellion. Walking by one set of crates Lauf looks at the seal indicating their destination. He recognizes the walls, roof and skull of the Cadian seal and smiles. Even a Forge World so relatively close to Terra can send supplies to the most important fortress world in the Imperium. Lauf's smile comes from the knowledge that this small moment on this busy forge world is the epitome of the Imperium. Equipment forged on this planet sent to the far side of the galaxy to be used by warriors such as himself against the many horrors that would love nothing more than seeing the Imperium fall and humanity be consumed in the madness and chaos of this unforgiving galaxy.
A loud horn-like sound draws Lauf out of his little philosophical thought. What a fool he is. He is not some high-born lounging on a family estate high in a hive world debating the finer points of the Imperium with other entitled scions of rich families. He is a Space Wolf, a son of Primarch Leman Russ. Shaking his head to clear it of these foolish day-dreams he turns to see what was making that sound over the various noises around the manufactorum. It does not take long for him to realize why there is this strange horn noise when he looks at the large facility near the manufactorum he has been standing in front of. Its giant front begins to open to the cheers and loud prayers of a gathered crowd of tech-priests, servitors and serfs outside. Lauf sees why as a Warlord Titan comes out of the massive building. Each step it takes makes him jump off the ground as the massive legs slowly lift off the ground one at a time and comes down in a steady rhythm. Lauf starts to make his way away from the manufactorum to reach the tech-priests in front of the Titan bay. He watches as the Warlord walks along a path through this section of the forges, not stepping on anything on the ground. He watches how the titan moves. Having spent enough time around these forge-worlds to learn a bit about the Titans and their princeps commanders, Lauf notices how the titan seems to hesitate with each step,
"I suppose the princeps is new or just wanting to stretch their legs in the titan," Lauf thinks to himself as he finally reaches the crowd venerating the titan outside the storage building where he can see another pair of titans sitting inside. The giant war engines the Mechanicus worship are truly awe-inspiring as he approaches. Looking up at the head of the warlords sitting inside their bays he thanks the Allfather such powerful machines are on their side. While he towers over average humans, standing next to one of the battle titans Lauf feels very small. He keeps his humble feeling to himself when he knocks a tech-priest on the back of his metallic head. The rust-colour robed priest turns and looks in shock at Lauf, not having heard him approach over the chanting and prayers made by the other Machine-God servants, "My lord Space Marine! What can I do for you?"
The tech-priest asks with the mechanical voice and wheezing sounds from his bionic enhancements as his glowing eyes look over Lauf's armour, data flowing through the eyes into his cogitator enhanced brain, "I need you or another of your order to undertake the rites of maintenance and repair on my armour."
Lauf motions to his battered and cleaned up armour. The tech-priest runs his fingers along various parts of the armour getting more information. The eyes seem to be transferring data somewhere else as he continues to examine the armour,
"I cannot perform such rites my lord. But there is plenty priests of the Omnissiah here who can. One is coming right now." He explains as servitors approached with another tech-priest who bows to Lauf,
"My lord. I'm here to perform the rites of maintenance on your armour as you've requested." The second tech-priest explains as Lauf nods, motioning with one hand to let the tech-priest lead on. The priest starts to walk towards one of the buildings near the Titan storage with his servitors and Lauf following.
When they walk inside the building the servitors have already begun to light incense burners and candles around a stand, "My lord. We may begin." The tech-priest says humbly as the servitors roll up around Lauf. He holds his arms out and lets the cyborgs begin to speak the prayers for the rite of maintenance while removing his armour piece by piece and setting it on the armour stand in the centre of the candles and burners.
Within a few minutes Lauf is stripped of his armour leaving him in a simple loincloth as the tech-priest begins reciting verses of Machine Cult scripture while the servitors circle the power armour. After a few minutes of verses the servitors begin to work on pieces of the armour letting Lauf sit and watch the rites be performed. The tech-priest calls on his armour's machine spirit to accept these gifts of oils and repair tools to repair its broken body to its pristine condition.
Every few minutes the priest stops his repair work to continue saying verses and other prayers to the machine spirit in the armour and the machine god. These stops slow down the actual repair and maintenance operations as the servitors stop their work every time the tech-priest starts his chants. Lauf growls slightly but otherwise stays quiet. The Adeptus Mechanicus' religious ceremonies and devotion to these frustrating pauses to chant prayers is aggravating to the Bloodclaw, but their technical expertise is vital to the Imperium as a whole. And important to his hunt. So he holds his tongue and lets the tech-priest continue his service by sitting down on what seems to be an empty crate and watches.
As the ceremony continues the armour begins to lose all the damage and long-term wear that it has suffered over the past twenty years of his hunt. As the damage is removed the quality the Iron Priests put into their work begins to show as clearly as the snow on top of Fenris' highest peaks. Lauf's armour is an ancient suit that had been in the Aett's armouries for millennia before Lauf was even born. It was one of the gifts the Great Wolf had allowed him to take on his hunt for revenge and redemption. When Lauf had chosen the armour set to hunt down Ramses the Rune Priests had added special runes on various parts of the armour. This transformed the power armour into one of the unique Runic Armour sets of his chapters. These runes grant Lauf protection from the foul powers of Chaos that he would face in his hunt. The runes on the breastplate and abdomen armour serve to deflect the majority of psychic abilities, or at least reduce the effects of hostile powers used by the sorcerer and his minions, the gifts granted to them by the Chaos God Tzeentch. The runes on the legs spell out the Fenrisian words for 'good health' and the rejection of disease. These runes are meant to stop the diseases used by Nurgle's servants and are the main reason why Lauf has been able to get close to the walking pestilent bags without succumbing to the terrible illnesses the Chaos God of decay had bestowed on them. On the gauntlets there are runes meant to bring out the cold winds of Fenris to his enemies and weakens the fires of Khorne's daemons. The last runes are carved onto the bare right shoulder pad where Lauf's pack emblem had been before their run in with Ramses. The runes are in the place where the emblem had been scrapped off and read 'pain does not bring joy'. These runes are for stopping the followers of Slaanesh from enjoying any sensation from fighting Lauf. All these runes help Lauf against the followers of Chaos, but they are nowhere nearly as powerful as the tools used by the Daemon-hunters of the Ordo Malleus in their fight against Chaos.
The second benefit of the runes on his armour for Lauf is that they help remind him that wherever he is, the rest of the Vlka Fenryka will be with him. And no matter what, he is never alone even with his pack gone. As the tech-priest stops again to chant prayers of maintenance there is a slight tap against Lauf's chest. Looking down he sees the totem hanging from a leather string made out of mammoth hide around his neck. Scooping the totem up and lets it rest in his palm he examines it closely. The totem is in the shape of a wolf from Fenris and in runes there are the names of each of his fallen pack-mates carved across the body of the wolf. He feels a mix of sadness and anger as he reads the names and their faces come back from the deepest wells of his memory. He keeps looking at the totem while the tech-priest continues praying to the Machine God.
It will be over soon brothers. Either I will avenge you and bring your souls to rest. Or I will join you soon. Lauf thinks as he runs his thumb over the totem and thinks the eyes of the wolf seem to glow from his touch and come a bit to life as he thinks about his pack-mates. Shaking his head and blinking his eyes a couple times he looks back at the totem. It looks alright and unchanged.
Must have just been exhaustion and my imagination. Lauf calms himself after the strange change in the totem. Letting it rest back against his chest he looks back at the stand with his armour. The tech-priest steps back with his servitors as he bows to the fully repaired and restored armour. The symbols and runes on the armour seem to glow brighter than Lauf has ever seen it shine since he took it from the Great Wolf's armoury. But even with the runes carved by the Rune Priests Lauf knows they only weaken the powers of Chaos when he fights their minions. To truly destroy them it will still depend on his sword and axe. The two weapons rest by the armour stand and unlike the armour both weapons are still in the same condition as when he first took them. The care he has taken with looking after them has kept both in exceptional quality. He swore that when it comes time to kill Ramses for all the death he has inflicted, he would not allow his weapons to fail him or his fallen pack-mates by blunting or breaking on his armour,
"My lord. The machine spirit of your armour has been pacified and pleased with the rites of repair I have undertaken." Lauf has been shaken out of his thoughts by the tech-priest standing in front of him with his servitors on either side of him. He nods in thanks to the tech-priest for all the work he has done for the Space Wolf. The servitors take the pieces of the power armour off the stand and bring it over to Lauf as he stands up and extends his arms out. The servitors begin to reattach the armour onto Lauf starting with his chest-plate. As the pieces of the armour make contact with his body, the black carapace implant underneath his skin begins to attach to the pieces, becoming a second skin. As each piece is put on, there is a hiss of gas as the ends of each piece lock into place with each other and on Lauf's body. Slowly the feel of hardened flesh is replaced with ceramite, platsteel and adamantium plates. He keeps his eyes closed as the servitors continue with their duties. The hissing sounds finally begin to slow down as the last bits of the armour are attached. The last thing to go onto Lauf's body is his backpack with his armour's cooling system and the compartment containing furs he had collected before leaving Fenris. Opening his eyes Lauf rolls his shoulders to check his armour's integration with the black carapace. Smiling as he cannot feel the armour on his body. It is his body now, completely integrated.
He looks at the tech-priest and nods in thanks, "You have made the Omnissiah proud tech-priest. I haven't felt my machine spirit so content in a long time." The tech-priest bows as the servitors beep and whine while they bow under the command of their master as Lauf picks up his weapons and put them on his hips. Giving one last look and grateful smile to the tech-priest Lauf walks out of the building feeling much more relaxed in his armour and lighter on his feet than when he walked inside it. The ground shakes and causes him to lift off it as a giant, armoured mechanical foot comes down a few metres away. Getting his footing back Lauf glances up to see the titan near him. From its size and shape he can immediately tell it is a warlord titan. It takes a moment though for Lauf to determine what sort of warlord it is. To figure it out he looks closer at its weapon systems.
The left arm of the titan has a giant plasma blaster on it. Larger than virtually all other plasma weapons Lauf knows that the destructive power of that cannon is nothing to mock. Above it he notices a pair of large linked cannons surrounded by a rectangular box with slits on either side, A melta cannon as well? Lauf clicks his tongue with respect. So on the left side this titan can handle itself against any armoured forces. On the right side the first thing that draws his eyes is the massive weapon on the arm. Its six barrels and long form stands out against the short, stubby weapons on the left side. Lauf does not need any guide to tell him the power of the Hellstorm cannon. One of the strongest weapons to be mounted on any titan as one salvo from that weapon could obliterate an entire army. Admiring the cannon and impressed by the titan's capabilities, he glances above the large cannon and notices the last main weapon on the right shoulder mount. All the weapons of the titan so far are perfectly designed for large targets/whole armies except for the many point defence weapons across the titan's body. The last weapon on the Warlord Titan is a large Gatling blaster. A weapon designed to shred infantry and even some armoured forces with its giant shells.
All weapons make this titan a well-rounded war machine as Lauf looks at the banner hanging from the Hellstorm. The symbol of the Legio Crucius covers the top quarter of the banner while underneath all the battle-honours and various campaigns the titan has taken part in. They go back from the current millennium all the way back to the period of galactic history known as the Age of Strife. Reading the lists Lauf finally notices the name of the Titan on the bottom of the giant banner in the High Gothic letters of Terra,
"Imperatus Rex. Emperor King." He translates the name with a smirk while the titan moves towards the storage bay as fast as those war machines can move. Lauf glances around and he notices the surprising lack of tech-priests worshiping the movement of the Titan. Maybe he can get a chance to actually speak with a Princeps of one of these incredible machines. As Imperatus Rex moves to its bay inside the building, Lauf walks inside after the titan. As soon as he steps onto the floor of the bay, the shockwaves from the titan's steps stop. Lauf watches as the Warlord Titan turns around in front of its bay and then backs inside it. When the titan gets into place, large clamps on the wall of the building wheeze to life as steam comes out of the clamp's sides while they close around the back of Imperatus Rex. There is some more noises coming from the titan's body as lights coming from the 'head' and body begin to turn off. Lauf watches the titan for any activity while he climbs up a ladder to the catwalk leading beside the door that leads out of the head. When he gets up to the catwalk he starts to walk towards the head when the door slides open. As soon as the door stops opening a pair of men wearing armour and helmets identifying them as moderati. They operate many of the secondary systems necessary for the titan to fight, taking the pressure off the main commander of the titan, the Princeps. Lauf cannot see the Princeps come out with the six moderati and two tech-priests. When they pass by the Space Marine, each person bow their heads in respect to him while he moves on the catwalk to let the eight men and women continue to wherever they rest in between commanding the titan.
As the last member of the titan crew walks past Lauf while he watches them leave the bay, he looks back towards the titan when he sees something he did not expect to see. A young woman, no older than twenty four Terran years walks out of the Titan. She has auburn hair that hangs down to the bottom of her ears that gently swings back and forth with each of her steps. Looking into her eyes Lauf notices the deep amber eyes of this girl. These unique traits are surprising to Lauf, but what makes his eyebrows rise while looking at the girl are the robes she is wearing. The girl has black and white robes with a black gauntlet curled into a fist on top of an Adeptus Mechanicus gear. On top of the gauntlet there is a white T and there are a few mechanical sockets in her neck, hands and one on the back of her head which Lauf cannot see yet. This… child is the titan's princeps. A fact completely unexpected to Lauf as the girl approaches him and curtseys to him,
"My lord Space Marine. Welcome to Ryza," she says with a fine, soft voice that reminds Lauf of a pup greeting an older wolf. Lauf's long red beard, grown down to the bottom of his chest, with the last quarter length tied in three braids. They are kept in place by bone talismans that resemble animist spirits from his homeworld. The braids flutter a bit as Lauf chuckles at his surprise with the Princeps,
"I have to say my lady Princeps. You are not what I expected coming out of this war machine," Lauf comments as the girl looks at him with a quirked eyebrow. She stays silent as Lauf stops smiling while continuing to look at the Princeps, "What I mean Lady Princeps is that I am surprised to see you are so young and trusted to command such a mighty weapon of the Imperium," he explains as the girl seems to understand. Her flat face turns into a smile,
"I admit I am young my lord. But I am a Princeps like every other of the Legio Crucius and I serve the Adeptus Mechanicus and the Imperium to the best of my ability. I have the honour of commanding Imperatus Rex in this capacity and I will proudly serve in this role until I am relieved, or until I die," she says with a great deal of pride in her voice. The pride makes Lauf grin. He is always glad to see other servants of the Imperium take pride in their roles. It reminds him to take pride in his own work, even with his oath of vengeance,
"I am Alexia Strattus my Lord. Forgive me for not introducing myself straight away," Alexia says with a humble bow. Lauf clacks his tongue against his canines and brings his hand under Alexia's chin. He pushes up to make her stand up from her bow. When Alexia stands back up to look at Lauf she can see the Space Wolf is smiling,
"My lady Strattus. You are not some Administratium bureaucrat whose only claim to honour and respect is some position that no one has bothered to reform or remove from the official documents. You are a warrior of the Imperium. Be proud of that," Lauf states as he looks into Alexia's eyes. He can see the fire of strength and defiance within those amber eyes. This young girl is not some dog that bows and scrapes for superiors or bureaucrats. She is a Wolfess with the fire to stand her ground. Alexia smiles as the Space Wolf looks over her,
"Believe me my lord. Talk to any of those who knew me growing up. They can tell you about all the times I went and got myself into trouble for standing up and being proud of who I am. And they will no doubt tell you about all the injuries I suffered as a result," Alexia begins to tell Lauf of various events in her youth. Most came from her time growing up in one of the many Schola Progenium scattered through the Imperium. She had gone there after her family had been slaughtered by Dark Eldar and was saved by Adeptus Sororitas Sisters of Battle. Alexia tells Lauf how when in the Schola, she would often get in the way of Drill Abbotts disciplining other students and take their punishment herself. She did this because she could not stand the sight of weaker students being alone and harmed. This defiance resulted in her being beaten almost to death several times. Alexia blushes a bit in embarrassment as she talks about it. She does not know why she wants to tell this Space Wolf about who she is, but she continues her story to Lauf's avid attention.
She continues saying how when she was ten, a Magos Biologis came to the Schola and tested different children. She was one of those tested and at the time, she did not understand the tests she was made to perform. She also did not know when it was happening that she was the only candidate who went through multiple tests. The Magos finally demanded the head-abbott of the Schola to turn Alexia over to him. While there had been arguments, the Abbott relented and Alexia joined Magos Malloc when he left the Schola. She went with the Magos to her new homeworld, Ryza. The way she describes the Forge World when she first arrived makes Lauf laugh. The amazement of seeing the scale of the manufactorums and other buildings on the world on her arrival was still clear even after 14 years living on the planet. Alexia tells about when she was first connected to her titan after several years training in the academy on Ryza. The details she relays to Lauf about how it felt when she linked with the Titan's machine spirit. How it felt like her mind was trying to be torn apart by giant claws and devoured by a massive darkness. Lauf is amazed, both by what Alexia had to do to become a Princeps. And how she can tell the story in such detail that it makes him feel that it is happening to him. When she finishes her story all Lauf can do is look at her and flash a toothy grin,
"Well my lady. It would seem that you have had quite an adventure so far," he says before a thought runs through his mind, "Have you ever faced true combat before?" Now he's curious how much the Princeps feel when they are commanding their titans in battle. His question makes Alexia smile more proudly and stand taller,
"Yes my Lord I have. I fought against the Ork invasion of this world. I destroyed two of the monstrous machines called Gargants with Imperatus." Lauf nods as he keeps smiling at Alexia,
"What does it feel like if your titan is damaged when you are connected?" Alexia describes how it feels like your own body is injured, explaining that when you are connected to the titan, its body becomes your body.
Looking down at his arm, Lauf imagines what is like to be a Princeps when a titan gets hit and possibly loses one of its 'limbs'. If any situations could be classified as phantom limb syndrome that would definitely be it. Moving aside, Lauf lets Alexia lead the way towards the door out of the storage bay.
Walking out of the titan bay, Alexia leans on the rail outside the door while Lauf closes it behind them,
"So my Lord. What are you waiting for on Ryza? Hoping to request supplies being sent back to your chapter?" Alexia asks while Lauf leans on the rail, causing it to bend a bit against his wait,
"No lady Alexia. I am trying to leave this world to continue hunting a traitor. My reasons are personal and it would take far too long to explain why I must do it alone." Lauf explains while he watches the foundry stacks spewing out clouds of industrial smoke. Alexia opens her mouth to speak when a servo-skull flies up to them. Its red light scans each of their faces before a message plays of the Fabricator General,
"My Lord Lauf. I have received your message and I am willing to meet you to arrange transportation off my forge world," the Fabricator General says in the message before a second message plays out as soon as the first one completes, "Lady Alexia. Grand Master Mortalis and I need to speak with you. Come to my tower. Immediately." While the message to Lauf was relatively respectful and diplomatic, the one to Alexia was definitely a command instead of a request. Alexia sighs and smirks at Lauf,
"Well my Lord. I guess you will be leaving here soon," she smiles. "Wherever you go, I hope you succeed in whatever it is you are doing. Guess we should go to the Fabricator General's tower. She doesn't like being held up." Lauf nods with a smile as he gets off the rail and walks with Alexia towards the tower. He understands why he needs to speak with the Fabricator General, Why does she want to talk with Alexia though? He wonders as he walks. Guess all will be revealed in short order.
As the Space Wolf and Princeps make their way to her tower, the Fabricator General of Ryza sits on her throne while mechanical fingers tap the arm rest of the throne. Her world has only recently recovered from the two WAAAGH invasions and its Titan legion is still at greater strength than most legions. But she still needs to fulfill the tithe demands of the Imperium and every extra request stretches the resources the forge world can deploy if any other major disasters come to their section of the Imperium. Now she has received a call for help from a fellow Forge World that Ryza has sent supplies and some of their tech-priests years ago to help other forge worlds relearn the skills with plasma technology. Now this forge world is desperately trying to fight off an Ork invasion. So now the Fabricator General will send one of the titan legion's Warlords to aid this forge world. Its name: Grael Secundus, primary manufacturing world in Sub-Sector Grael to the galactic south-west of Ryza.
