Reviews:
Artyom-Dreizehn: Thanks for the information about the fleet, I have a plan for them to be used in a battle in the future of the story. That sadly means no military parades with the cruiser or light cruisers.
Guest (the first one): I would not go with the eradication ray and replace it with Volkite Blaster, it is built for range like a sniper rifle. Or maybe go unorthodox and have a built in Transuranic Arquebus, the sniper rifle for the Skitarii with a range of 60". But thanks for the idea which I will probably incorporate into the story in the future.
Guest (the second one): Glad to see that you show emotion while reading this. The blessed augmentations can fix that when it becomes a problem.
Forge Master 00: An Inquisitor on Remnant would only lead to an Exterminatus, which is why the tech-priest don't want to give one of them a reason to enter the system. That forces the tech-priest to be careful with the planet's tech. If they were from Stygies VIII, they would send caution to the wind. Lingua-Technis is a mixture of static bursts and ancient phrases that makes it impossible to translate, but Ozpin does not know this and will try nonetheless. I know talking about Chaos summons it, Pugnus will not explain more about the four gods to the citizens of Remnant. He only mentioned Chaos to tempt to drag any hidden Chaos Cults on the planet into the blessed purging light of the Omnissiah. Thanks for the review!
Agent48: I do not remember much about the brothers in RWBY, if they come back in cannon then the bloodbath would happen. Otherwise they might be forgotten to the endless sands of time. Then they will join the other Eldar gods in the warp.
Votes for Trial of Penny:
Automata [2]
Silica Animus [4]
Feudal STC [2]
Speech Syntaxes:
-Speech- Lingua-Technis
"Speech" Low Gothic/English
Notes: I will try to incorporate every review into the story, I already have a plan for the second race from the WH40k universe that will show itself on Remnant. So no suggesting sending Traitor Space Marines to the planet. I also found out that Domina is the female version of Dominus, it is too small of a detail to start changing the names this far into the story. I have a college visit coming up, the next chapter will be late. I realize chapter five was the last major fight scene with the Ad Mech, but there will be another skirmish in the next chapter or the one after it. Your bloodthirst will be satisfied.
Chapter Nine: A Major Hiccup
Headmaster Ozpin, General Ironwood, and Magos Dominus Pugnus stood around the table in the headmaster's office. The city of Vale was projected onto the table with Atlesian forces marked on the map. A metal mechadendrite inserted itself into the projector, showing a list of available Adeptus Mechanicus Forces in the top right corner. The tech-priest explained what the symbols mean, "The second wave of my forces will reinforce the city. Four squads of Skitarii will hold the walls, with support of two squads of Kataphrons. The three squads of Dragoons and the squad of Ironstriders will act as a fast reactionary force to relieve stress on the front line. The two units of Kastelans and the two Onagers will form the counter attack when the enemies' charge breaks against the wall of metal. The squad of Ruststalkers and the squad Infiltrators will serve a different purpose."
The headmaster glared at Pugnus before remarking, "You speak and plan as if we are at war." A deep and scratchy sound emitted from the tech-priest's vox.
"You believe in the false concept of peace, headmaster. I have been forged in war for the past 231 years, and that is the most idiotic statement I have heard. Do your eyes need to be augmented with machines for you to realize you are at war with the Grimm and this White Fang 'organization'?" retorted the Magos Dominus. General Ironwood was all for military action, but the robed cultists was pushing its limits. Ozpin was more concerned on the fact that no one, which he knew of, informed any members of the Adeptus Mechanicus about the White Fang.
The headmaster reasoned, "When you prepare to go to war, which do you send in first: the flag bearer, or the scouts?" Pugnus' chuckles broke the silence.
"Your dear friend Ironwood shot down our scouts a year ago. Dominus Ira and her patrol detachment acted as our flag bearers. After the forward elements are sent out the army follows. War calls Ozpin, where is your army?" countered the tech-priest.
Ozpin spoke thru his gritted teeth, "There is no need for an army in a time of peace. I do not handle the army of Vale, for I am the headmaster of the Huntsmen Academy."
The Magos Dominus pushed his assault, "Then the Council of Vale has left the children to defend the capital while the men stay at home. Ironic isn't it? They have an old man leading a bunch of child soldiers to protect able body men against the Grimm." The headmaster was on the verge of snapping his cane in half while trying to beat the tech-priest to death with it. Pugnus waved his hand across the map causing the projection to cease. "I have had enough fun toying with your ethics and morals today Ozpin, now onto more serious matters," remarked the cultist as the map of Remnant appears from the projector.
Pugnus continues talking, ignoring the flesh bags surprised faces, "My fleet is doing an orbital scan for high populations of humans and Faunus. I will match these results with every population center under the control of the four kingdoms. Any outliers are either undocumented villages or White Fang Camps. My forces will respond within the next three days to these…discrepancies to…solve them."
"What do you plan to do to the White Fang captives? The treaties after the Great War state that you cannot kill them." tested the General. He wanted to see his reaction to his ethics being questioned.
The Magos Dominus casually waved his hand to dismiss the question as he remarked, "What captives?" Ironwood took his turn to glare at the tech-priest. Pugnus continued, "The Adeptus Mechanicus has not signed or recognize any treaties signed on this planet before first contact. Therefore we are not bound by the same rules or war. While we will not sign or recognize any of your treaties, we will follow by a few of the rules."
Ozpin entered the conversation again, "You said there would be four squads of Skitarii, I only count two camping on my school grounds."
"The second wave of reinforcements will be arriving today. As a matter of fact, they will be here before night fall," explained Pugnus as he turned to head out. He continued once he reached the door, "I have many projects to look into before they arrive, and I believe there is a presentation in Vale that Ironwood has to attend in an hour. Good luck, I will make sure not to interrupt that when I lead a marching column thru Vale to Beacon Academy."
Dominus Ira Ferrum noticed that two students from the school were climbing a tree close to their position. One of the students appeared to be a carrier of the local abhuman strain, sine the long yellow tail he had. While the other student had an unnatural hair color of blue. The tech-priest noticed how natives of this world have unnatural hair colors, similar how natives of Cadia can have purple eyes. She sent the servo skull, which she was ordered to keep hidden by the Magos Dominus, to listen in on the two students' conversation. The tech-priest as about to connect her vox to the servo skull until the hyperactive green haired teacher, which Eights told her about, started to approach them. Ira quickly ran behind the lines of Skitarii, leaving the Enginseer to talk with the teacher.
The green haired menace caught Eights by surprise. And the teacher re-introduced himself, "It is nice to meet you again, I am Doctor Bartholomew Oobleck of Beacon Academy. I would like to find out more about your culture and history." Oh how much he would give to have a Tech-Priest Logis here to unleash the green demon upon.
Eights sighed before answering, "I have only lived for 125 years, so I am not the most experienced tech-priest here."
"125 years?! What is the average lifespan of a tech-priest?" questions the Doctor.
Eights answered, "The oldest known tech-priest is Archmagos Dominus Belisarius Cawl the Prime Conduit of the Omnissiah of Holy Forge World Mars the Red Planet. His age is unknown, but he was there to experience the birth of the Imperium of Man 10,000 years ago."
Oobleck asked, "He is over 10,000 years old! Why that is longer than the entire documented history of Remnant! Who is the oldest tech-priest here? How can one achieve to live to such an age?"
"By the blessing of the Omnissiah thru the most holy of machine augmentations. But they only can be given to members of the Adeptus Mechanicus, which is always willing to accept anyone who wants to join the Quest for Knowledge," coerced the Enginseer. He might have another candidate for the first tech-priest from this planet.
The teacher's eyes widened, "What is the Quest for Knowledge?"
Eights started to walk toward the docks with the Doctor in tow as he explained, "The current year in our calendar 466.M41. That stands for 41,466 years after the start date of our calendar. 26,000 years ago, mankind first reached the stars from their home world Terra. Their empire stretched across the stars. 16,000 years ago, the xenos turned against the human empire. Causing many of the worlds to lose contact with Terra and many Standard Template Constructs, you feudals call them blueprints, to be lost. Over the next 5,000 years more information and planets were lost. That was until the God Emperor of Mankind revealed himself on Holy Terra. He was the divine human incarnation of the Omnissiah. He led the armies of the newly formed Imperium of Man across the galaxy bringing every lost colony into his fold. The Adeptus Mechanicus, back then it was called the Mechanicum, became a vassal state of the Imperium of Man to find every lost Standard Template Construct across the galaxy. That my good friend is the Quest of Knowledge. We seek to find all lost information, we know it exist and we know it is scattered across the galaxy and we know that the enemies of man hide it from us. Some Standard Template Constructs tell you how to build a toaster, while others can tell you how to create a weapon that destroy planets with a single round. These Standard Template Constructs are the key to figuring out the lost history of the Imperium of Man. What I have told you so far is the bare basics of the founding of the Imperium of Man. Come comrade, the day is young and there is so much more to talk about!"
Dominus Ira watched as the green haired demon and Eights walk to the docks, their conversation would end in an hour or two. By the Omnissiah, if they are talking about the history of the Imperium it would take at least three hours for the basics. Dominus Quin Decium would be on the surface before their conversation ended. But she had more important tasks to attend as the servo skull floated by her side. Most servo skulls could hear conversations from long distances if they focused on it, but she could not keep it in the Onager and have it listen to the conversation at the same time. The basics of the conversation was that the six students were planning to 'get back' at a person named Torchwick. Thanks to the Magos Dominus implanting some code into one of the school owned scrolls they were able to find out a lot of information to keep all the tech-priest Logis up in orbit busy for days.
Roman Torchwick, a known criminal mastermind across Remnant. Recently he was been seen on many crime scenes involving dust robberies, most of them occurring after the sun has set. The three squads of Dragoons and squad of Ironstriders will be prepared to intercept him. In the meantime she should send Skitarii Rangers to follow the six students, three pairs of two should work. They will be send out under the allusion of learning the life and culture of the locals to better integrate this planet into the Imperium smoother. If the Adeptus Mechanicus can catch a wanted criminal that the local police and military have failed to catch then their support amongst the populous would increase and they will be feared by criminals.
Ozpin sat in his office alone with his thoughts and cold coffee mug, the General left shortly after the Magos Dominus exited thru the stairwell. He watched the cameras as team RWBY and two members of team SSSN plan to stop Roman Torchwick. Outside their dorm Dominus Ferrum and a floating skull with augmentations over watched their conversation from a distance and Enginseer Eights and Doctor Oobleck had a deep discussion about their cultures and history. Things are shaping up to be a groundbreaking year. The headmaster was curious at what Ira planned to do with her new found information, his questions were answered when six Skitarii entered the same bullhead as team RWBY and half of team SSSN that was heading for Vale.
Blake noticed that six of the soldiers of the Adeptus Mechanicus joined on their bullhead. She sent a text to the rest of her team to be wary about them. Once she put away her scroll, she could see two of the six soldiers staring at her while their rifles sat ready in their arms, barrels pointed at the ground. Once the bullhead landing the six soldiers grouped together once they exited and started talking to each other in a unknown language. One of the soldiers pointed down the street while another gestured down a different street, they appeared to be arguing over direction. Appeared. Once team RWBY, Sun, and Neptune separated into three up they unsurprisingly found out where they are going and split up into three groups of two. Blake sent another text to her teammates saying that the soldiers were following them.
Weiss and Ruby approached a massive tower that loomed over the few trees that line the crossroads. The crimson teen commented, "Wow! I forget how big the Transmit tower looks up close!"
The Ice Queen remarked, "You should see the one in Atlas!"
"That was the first one right?" questioned Ruby. To which Weiss simply nodded her head as she took a quick glance behind her. Blake was right, around thirty feet behind them were two soldiers of the Adeptus Mechanicus. One was inspecting the tower while the other made eye contact with her. He gave a curt nodded before she turned to face forward.
"Atlas developed the Cross Continental Transmit System to allow the four kingdoms to communicate with one another. It was their gift to the world after the Great War," explained Weiss to both Ruby and to jab at the soldiers following them.
Ruby who did not notice they were being followed jested, "Oh, look at me! My name's Weiss! I know facts! I'm rich!"
"Don't be a pest! Besides, the only reason we're here is because you like the tower so much! We could have just as easily made a call from the library!" pestered the Schnee as she turned around to face her partner. The two soldiers stopped walking and both turned to inspect the tower.
The crimson reaper commented as she pulled out her scroll, "I know, but it's so cool! Ooh, I'm going to take a picture!" The device fell out of her hands and landed at a Penny's feet.
Skitarii Ranger-2948 'Agent' and Skitarii Ranger-6213 'Thirteen' watched from afar as the students known as Ruby Rose and Weiss Schnee engaged in conversation with a student from Atlas known as Penny Polendina. Then the Atlesian student started quickly walked away with Ruby in pursuit. Agent yelled at Thirteen, -Follow them, I will follow the Schnee! We will meet up at LZ Old Man.- The Skitarii followed orders left Agent by himself to follow the other student from Beacon.
Weiss watched as Penny and Ruby walked away, but then she noticed one of the soldiers walk past her to follow the two of them. She turned around to see the other soldiers watching her from where he was a minute ago, he simply waved in response to her glare. Weiss decided not to interact with the soldier and continued to head into the CCT. The Schnee walked thru the lobby of the tower at a slow pace to marvel in all of the beauty. She chose to avoid the central terminal and head for the elevator, either the soldier would join her in the elevator or wait till it reached the lobby after she left it. Giving her a head start. The doors automatically slide open to allow the Heiress to enter, once inside she turned around to see the soldier to which she gave a wave.
The Skitarii watched from the entrance to the CCT as his target went into the elevator. He did not have much of a choice of what to do, so he waited at the entrance to the elevator. Ten seconds later the doors opened automatically and Agent stepped into the elevator. What he hoped was the machine spirit of the elevator greeted him, "Hello. Welcome to the CCT. How may I help you?" The Skitarii had no idea what floor his target went to and there were no buttons on the elevator.
"I would like to go up a floor," responded the Ranger.
The voice questioned, "Absolutely. Could you please place your Scroll on the terminal to verify your identity?" He did not have a scroll, the tech-priest were still debating if it would be tech-heresy to use one. Agent would exit the elevator but the doors were shut and there were not exit buttons. He failed his mission because he could not find out how to use the feudal technology, how would he explain that to Dominus Ferrum when he returns to LZ Old Man. The Skitarii had nothing better to do he started to pray to the Omnissiah for salvation. One minute and thirty eight seconds later the elevator starts moving up and the doors open. Agent could not help but the cheer, that was until the elevator doors opened and he was standing face to face with Weiss Schnee.
She stepped into the elevator and asked, "Why are you following us?"
Agent informed her, "I am here to learn the life and culture of the locals to better integrate this planet into the Imperium."
She repeated herself, "Why are you following us?"
"You are planning to arrest a highly wanted criminal, that is not a safe thing to do for six first year students," countered the Ranger.
Thirteen the Skitarii walked a perfect thirty feet behind the two students as they had a conversation. He was only half listening to the conversation, he cogitators were scanning what he heard for anything about the wanted criminal or anything else important. A large portion of the talk was about Penny's father, which he could care less about. The conversation stopped when they reached the Atlas Military Presentation with was hosted by General Ironwood. He recorded the speech to be sent to the tech-priest latter, but he himself focused his attention on the two girls. That is when the Skitarii heard the signature sound of the war horn of Metalica. The entire crowd turned to see the military parade.
Thru the streets marched the second wave of reinforcements under leadership of Dominus Quin Decium and Enginseer Precision. The two tech-priest lead the parade with twenty Skitarii and twenty Sicarians behind them that marched in perfect unison. The twelve Kataphrons followed behind the infantry with the five Dragoons and five Ironstriders flanking them. Bringing up the rear was an Onager of the Neutron Laser variant with six Kastelans behind the blessed machine. It was a beautiful sight to the Skitarii Ranger to see more of his fellow comrades, but to the crowd of civilians it was a sight of awe and fear. Pugnus was living up to his promise, we was bringing enough firepower to destroy the Grimm menace. Ironwood continued his speech and revealed something called the Atlesian Paladin, it reminded the soldier of an extremely downgraded version of a Titan.
The student called Penny started ran across the street with Ruby in pursuit after seeing a pair of Atlesian soldiers charging after her. Thirteen was quick to join in the chase. The two soldiers caught up to him and one of them asked, "What are you doing here?"
"I have been tasked to keep the student from Beacon safe," lied the Skitarii and the three of them ran after the two students. Thirteen's superior augmented legs allowed him to stay between the crimson teen and the pair of soldiers making sure neither lost the location of the other. Ruby uses her weapon to cut down the flimsy support structure for a stack of wooden boxes. The Ranger was ready for this and destroyed a large portion of the boxes with his Galvanic Rifle while not slowing down his speed. Once he rounded the corner he saw the red student grab the Atlesian Student and bolt down the alley at speeds which should not be possible for organic humans.
The three soldiers come upon a car crash with Penny stopping the van from hitting Ruby, something did not seem right about that Atlesian Student. The two soldiers stopped at the scene to calm down the civilians, while the Skitarii pushed onwards. He found the two at the end of the alleyway with nowhere to run, Thirteen decided to listen in on their conversation instead of confronting them. They were having an argument about trusting each other and friendship, the soldier had to try his best not to laugh at their naivety. Then he overhead Penny quietly say, "Ruby... I'm not a real girl."
Whatever she is it is probably tech-heresy, that the tech-priests will debate upon latter. He took a moment to check that his weapon is loaded before listening back on the conversation. "Most girls are born, but I was made. I'm the world's first synthetic person capable of generating an Aura. I'm not real," explained Penny. Thirteen has heard enough to put the machine person under investigation. If she proves to be an Abominable Intelligence or a Men of Iron, that could act as a casus belli against Atlas. The Skitarii decided to return back to base before he got caught by the potential enemy. The Magos Dominus would love to learn about his findings, and he could be promoted to an Alpha Skitarii for his deeds in the name of the Omnissiah.