Disclaimer: Code Geass and Warhammer 40k belong to other people.
A/N: I get this strange feeling I'm going to end up splitting the next chapter into two parts. And considering the Metal Monsters arc has basically been a novel in and of itself…I can already feel my project manager smacking me upside the head and screaming "SCOPE CREEP!" I'm not sure if I can finish the next chapter before grad school claims my soul again, so I made this chapter extra-long to make up for it. At over 7000 words, this is my longest chapter yet, so strap yourselves in for a wild ride!
Chapter Thirty-Four: Metal Monsters, Part IX
Black Knights 15th Militia Field Headquarters
Tharsis Region, Surface of Mars
Compared to the momentous events taking place in and above Argyre Planitia, the remainder of Mars had fallen quiet. Though the Adeptus Mechanicus still held the main forges and viciously defended them from the encroaching Chaos hordes, allied forces had long since withdrawn from many of the contested regions. They evacuated what they could and torched the rest, depriving the enemy of supplies and equipment. Many a Chaos commander had eagerly advanced into the seemingly-undefended manufactoria, expecting intact production facilities only to find still-burning rubble.
With Abaddon pouring reinforcements into Argyre Planitia and denying his forces elsewhere the same, the red planet fell into an uneasy stalemate. The allied forces seemingly had no interest in recapturing territory and were too well dug-in to dislodge. Whereas millions of sorties were flown every day above the impact basin as both sides clashed for dominance, allied forces held near-total air superiority elsewhere. The titanic ground battles for the forge complex and its Titan workshops gave way to brief, scattered skirmishes. The continuous, macabre meteor shower as heavily-damaged warships and debris deorbited and burned up in the atmosphere over the great clash was replaced with sporadic exchanges of fire.
"Stalemate" did not mean "idle," however. The 15th Militia Group's field headquarters had steadily expanded, its location in the Tharsis quadrangle—indisputably under the control of allied forces and in close proximity to the strategically-vital forges at Olympus Mons—making it an ideal staging ground. Militiamen and construction servitors labored around the clock: vast swathes of land were bulldozed flat and sprayed over in clear sealant, temporary hangars were erected, and encrypted navigation beacons installed. Field-portable cold fusion reactors powered the hadron field emitters protecting the thrown-together spaceport, though enemy bombardment had yet to test the defenses.
"Ma'am, Battle Group Alsvid reports that the convoy has successfully departed orbit," the Knightmare-clad technician dutifully reported, "Battle Group Baldr will enter low orbit in two hours."
"Very good. Keep my updated on any new developments," the Colonel General replied in a half-bored monotone.
Like the rest of the 15th Militia Group, Colonel General Lilia Majka found babysitting the spaceport a mind-numbingly boring, though welcome, change of pace. Most of her attentions were focused on the drop shuttles and utility vessels lined up on the tarmac, busily taking on equipment and personnel in preparation for the incoming convoy. A dust cloud billowed in the distance, no doubt created by one of the countless armored convoys arriving at or departing from the spaceport. The routing had persisted, day in and day out, almost since they had discovered Argyre Planitia's significance and Abaddon began funneling troops from all over Mars in a single-minded quest to seize the forge complex.
The welcome boredom shattered in less than a second, as a rapid series of beeps and whistles echoed throughout the command center. The low din of technicians chatting abruptly died and was replaced by silence for all of one second before chaos broke loose. Lilia Majka was joined by her top officers within minutes as militiamen scrambled about in controlled chaos. Classified ciphers were removed from their storage lockers and torn open as the Black Knights insignia appeared on the central monitor.
"Attention all allied units currently operating on Mars," declared the recorded voice of Field Marshal Nikola Liesel Schwer, "Operation Desert Goliath has officially entered its third phase."
Desks laden with abandoned board games, half-read books, and partially-consumed meals were swept clean, their contents sent haphazardly crashing to the floor. Updated ciphers—Imperial as well as Tau and Eldar—were quickly distributed and the primary tactical display at the chamber's center flickered to life. Standby technicians hurriedly entered and booted up their stations as hundreds of status updates from all over the Tharsis quadrangle flooded in.
"Ma'am, we've received a message from Olympus Mons!"
Text-only, as the Colonel General quickly found out. The two blinking words projected upon her Knightmare's display struck even the seasoned flag officer dumb.
THEY WALK
Bond Crater
Surface of Mars
The battle at Bond Crater fell silent with the Guren-Seraph's appearance, combatants on both sides pausing to assess the new arrival. The deafening roar of battle slowly died down into a background din as Kallen sent both Angron and Magnus reeling. Broken corpses of cultists and traitor Astartes, their flesh reduced to ribbons by the Guren's claws and their bones ground to dust as over one and a half metric tons of Knightmare smashed into them, littered the ground wherever the fast-moving red comet had passed. The subsequent arrival of several hundred OPAW troopers to assist the beleaguered naval militiamen restarted the melee.
Oblivious to the rekindled clash surrounding them, the two Generals continued staring down the fallen Primarchs. Every muscle of Angron's massive daemonic form rippled, his shoulders hunched and fingers clawed as though imaging them around Kallen's neck. Magnus lowered his khopesh and bolt pistol slightly, the air still crackling around him as his psychic might radiated towards the two Knightmares. Kallen refused to back down, the twin pinpricks of the Guren's eyes increasing in intensity as to be nearly white as the Warp-fueled flames surrounding its claw leapt ever higher. Suzaku gingerly stood up, his body still wracked with the aftershocks of a brutal physical and mental assault.
"Kallen Stadtfeld," Magnus drawled with a smooth arrogance that proved far too much like his father for Kallen's comfort, his smirk telling her that his choice of address was out of malice and not ignorance.
"That name means nothing to me," Kallen bristled, ultimately refusing to rise to the bait, "I cast it aside many millennia ago, long before the Black Knights existed."
"Hah!" Angron's sanity-stripping laughter barked for agonizing seconds before the Daemon Prince spoke, mockery dripping from every word, "So you too wished to cast off the chains of your bloodline? Do not think for a second you will be shown the tiniest shred of mercy, mother."
Though his eyes were hidden under the Lancelot's helmet, Suzaku's surprise was nearly palpable to Kallen. The Guren's right hand flickered into a gesture promising explanation at a later time, a rather impressive feat considering the clawed extremity's limited articulation.
"I made my choice, the same one Lelouch made on the Vengeful Spirit," Kallen roared as she leapt forward, "You may be my flesh and blood, but you are no sons of mine!"
Even his genetically- and daemonically-enhanced reflexes barely afforded Magnus enough time to parry the Guren-Seraph's opening salvo. Suzaku exploded into actions moments later, his blades alight with psychic fury as he charged Angron.
Argyre Planitia Forge
Surface of Mars
Yet again, the Reaver's heat sinks and ammunition magazines competed with the Shinkirou's energy reserves and lost. Each bombardment came ever closer to the warehouses the Sororitas strike force had taken cover in, but the Emperor's defenses had yet to all so much as a single shell slip past. The ancient Knightmare slowly drifted back to the ground, landing heavily as its energy filler finally gave out moments before touchdown. Its eyes and the illuminated strips along the forward edge of it wings went dark, and its movements became jerky as the Emperor manipulated the servos with physical strength alone. The chosen Custodian, who so many times before had greeted the Shinkirou with a fresh energy filler in hand, stood empty-handed.
Several Battle Sisters shot up, bolters shouldered, as the Shinkirou's hermetic seals disengaged with a loud hiss. Those who had not witnessed the Emperor's fiery rebuke of the Adeptus Ministorum attempted, with various degrees of success, to hide their stares as the Knightmare frame fell away from Lelouch's body piece by piece. Partially from reflex and partially due to his flair for dramatics, the amethyst-eyed immortal telekinetically caught each piece centimeters above the ground and slowly lowered it the remaining distance. The Shinkirou's metal skeleton followed next, leaving the Emperor clad in the same outfit—sans cape—that terrorized Britannian forces during the Black Rebellions. The few who recognized Zero's visage from the Black Knights' first broadcast, now long forgotten amidst the chaos that gripped Terra, hid their surprise to varying degrees of success.
"We have two minutes before the Reaver's heat sinks recycle," Lelouch announced while ignoring the stares, "And maybe two or three more volleys before their targeting computers manage to hit this warehouse."
During the Unification Wars, Lelouch had hurriedly donned and doffed his Knightmare so many times that its assembly mechanisms were literally second nature. While a million possible plans ran through the conscious part of his mind, the unconscious part had appropriated a portion of his psychic power to reassembling the Shinkirou. Not even the Custodians could resist staring in barely-contained awe.
"If we were anywhere else, I'd have crushed the thing without a second thought," Lelouch grumbled as he removed his mask.
"My lord?" Prioress Agrippa Laelia interjected.
"The stress of stirring up and containing a Warp storm over Argyre Planitia and then forcibly dissipating it has dangerously weakened the barrier between real space and the Warp," Lelouch replied in a slightly louder voice, "Even something as little as banishing the daemon bound to the Reaver could have catastrophic consequences."
Nobody needed explanation as to what the worst-case scenario entailed. The ground shook and tiny chunks of rockcrete rained upon the Imperial forces as the Reaver loosed another volley from its massive weapons batteries. Lelouch signaled to the Prioress and her command squad as he fished a handheld holographic projector out of a previously-unseen pocket.
"Most of our ground forces are occupied with widening the corridor to the south or with breaking the siege lines around the main workshops," Lelouch projected a copy of the forge schematics as the Battle Sisters huddled around, "Even if they had any anti-Titan artillery to spare, they would never arrive in time."
Lelouch scanned the surrounding warehouses, half-hoping that an absent-minded Tech-Priest had stashed away a Volcano cannon or a rack of Hellion missiles and forgot about it. If such a store even existed, the forge's garrison had long since raided it, though the contents of one nearby warehouse caught his eye. His gaze flickered between the manifest and the nearby maintenance tunnels as a desperate plan materialized.
"There," Lelouch snapped, causing several Sororitas to jump in surprise as he jabbed at a seemingly-random warehouse, "We can bring that Reaver down with those."
"Emperor?" Agrippa inquired with an uncharacteristic meekness as she skimmed the warehouse's manifest.
She interpreted Lelouch's knowing half-smile as permission to continue.
"What can seismic excavators do against a Titan?"
Combine Forward Operations Center
Outskirts of Argyre Planitia, Surface of Mars
Nunnally Lamperouge wasn't a military woman. The galaxy's brutal realities had forced her to pick up the basics of squad leadership and battlefield command, but she lacked the acumen of her fellow immortals. Even her limited experience was sufficient to tell her that the defenders' discipline in the face of seemingly-endless waves of Chaos Terminators was impressive. After the initial shock wore off, militia units sprang into action to contain the breakthrough. Entire sections of the base were willingly abandoned to the adamantium titans as the remaining defenders collapsed back to the landing pads.
"Protect Governor Lamperouge at all costs!" a Sergeant barked to his men as Field Marshal Schwer and his combat information center staff rounded the corner.
Nunnally caught glimpses of the unfolding battle in the gaps between the encircling Knightmares. Not much could withstand sustained fire from a Terminator's weapons, though the militiamen's makeshift rockcrete barricades at least took the edge off. Funneled into open terrain, the Terminators took fire from a dozen different directions at once. One of the approaching Terminators staggered under the sheer weight of fire, the hadron bolts punching through its reinforced breastplate. The chestnut-haired immortal suppressed a sympathetic wince as one of the militiamen keeled over, his upper body reduced to chunks of gore as the retaliatory assault cannon fire chewed through his fields and armor in seconds. Another collapsed, her head reduced to a fine red mist as a storm bolter shell penetrated her helmet and detonated.
"This is drop shuttle Courageous, ETA three minutes. We're coming in hot."
The rapid-fire rip-cracks of assault rifles slowed as the line of Assault Terminators arrived, standing shoulder to shoulder with Storm Shields raised. Cherry-red lances splashed harmlessly against the plasteel slabs and the shimmering barriers that sheathed them, crackling menacingly with each hit. As the adamantium phalanx neared, militiamen sprang out of cover and deployed their hadron cannons, and the deeper reports of the Knightmare-mounted anti-armor weapons soon drowned out the assault rifle fire entirely. Nunnally's eyes widened as one of the crimson blasts punched through a Storm Shield and vaporized the torso of the Terminator wielding it. The cannon's owner had no time to celebrate their kill, as a barrage of Cyclone missiles reduced the offending Knightmare and its neighbors to smithereens seconds later.
The governor felt frustratingly helpless as her escort ushered her towards the landing pad, the Courageous now a fast-closing speck in the distance. The militiamen slowly abandoned their forward positions, drawing back towards the landing pad as the rapidly-thinning Terminator phalanx surged forward.
"This is drop shuttle Courageous making final approach. Coming in hot."
If they could move any faster than a deliberate plod, the Chaos Terminators may have run for cover as the Courageous' three belly turrets laid down a withering barrage of fire. Long streams of crimson scythed through the enemy formations, littering the ground with fragments of Terminator armor and chunks of gore, as the heavily-armored craft touched down.
"Iron within, iron without!" Peturabo roared as he smashed through a hangar wall, wading through the Courageous' murderous barrage.
"Attention base personnel, your orders have changed: escort Governor Lamperouge back to the Ikaruga!"
Nunnally had never realized Field Marshal Schwer had left her side until he was already halfway down the deployment ramp. He stopped momentarily to assist a militiaman in dragging his wounded comrade onto the Courageous before igniting his blades and charging the fallen Primarch. Before the deployment ramp closed, several Black Knights caught one final glimpse of the Field Marshal, hadron pistol in one hand and parrying the Daemon Prince's massive hammer with the other.
Argyre Planitia Forge
Surface of Mars
True to the Emperor's predictions, the Reaver annihilated the warehouse as the last of the Sororitas hurried into the underground maintenance tunnels. The blast of a Volcano cannon vaporized half of the squat rockcrete structure, and the storm of bolt shells that followed perforated the gutted wreckage. The building gave one final groan, perhaps in defiance of the dark powers the Reaver served, before collapsing into unrecognizable rubble. The Titan's earthshaking advance halted, its massive head sweeping from side to side as auspex arrays scanned for new targets.
The maintenance tunnels, a section of the countless kilometers that ran under the Argyre Planitia complex, proved spacious if dark. Even the Custodians could walk through unbowed, save for the occasional low-hanging pipe, and two Sisters could walk side-by-side. The oppressive silence put more than one Sister on edge, even noises as inconsequential as the whirring of a power armor servo magnified tenfold as it echoed throughout the forgotten corridors. Stains of unknowable origin coated the walls, and the skeletons of long-dead vermin littered the floors.
Lelouch lead the way, having discovered his helmet's night vision settings and quietly wondering what other upgrades were added over the millennia. He tried not to think too hard about the liquids that occasionally dripped onto them, his eyes glued to the map now projected within his helmet. The Shinkirou hovered a meter behind him, silently held in the air by a telekinetic second thought. Numbers and equations scrolled past his peripheral vision as the DRUID system completed the final calculations for his frankly insane plan.
Only long practice kept Lelouch inscrutable as the pitch black of the maintenance tunnels gave way to the flickering lights of a storage warehouse. Many a Sister suddenly sagged in relief, and even the Custodians seemed a little less on the edge.
Agrippa Laelia was well-read enough to have heard of seismic excavators, though she had never seen the gargantuan machines in operation. Each nearly the size of a Leman Russ, such machines were but one instrument of the Imperium's voracious appetite. Often deployed to asteroids or nearly-depleted worlds that nonetheless still held some mineral wealth, they literally shook the ground apart to release the bounty within. Tech-Priests of the Adeptus Mechanicus fiercely debated whether the seismic excavator's resonance technology was derived from the sonic weaponry used in their Ordinatus war engines, or visa-versa. Such debates were usually followed with the bitter admission that it didn't matter, as humanity had long since lost the knowledge to produce either.
"Once the Reaver has entered the warehouse complex, we're going to need at least six of these operating in unison to bring that monster down!" Lelouch declared as the Sisters hurriedly fanned out in search of functional units.
The seismic excavators were designed for use by near-illiterate crews of half-trained laborers, a most fortuitous development considering that none of those present had so much as an inkling of how to operate the machines. The controls were simply designed and clearly labelled, with the intricacies of angling and resonance frequency handled by a logic engine. It took only a few minutes before the ominous shaking of the Reaver's distant footfalls was compounded with that of the excavators' automated diagnostic sequences. Time had taken its toll: some machines failed to start at all, while some briefly sputtered to life before falling silent forever.
Combine Forward Operations Center
Outskirts of Argyre Planitia, Surface of Mars
A cough wracked Field Marshal Schwer's, spraying the inside of his helmet with blood as he staggered upright. A wry smile graced his bloodstained lips as he shot a glance at the hangar wall behind him, the metal dented where his Knightmare had impacted. His display flickered due to his suit's accumulated battle damage, but it ultimately told the Field Marshal nothing he didn't already know. Punishing blows by the Forgebreaker had pulverized many of the bone plates in his ribcage, and each breath bought renewed agony as bone shards drove deeper into ruptured organs. His suit's nearly-depleted stores of medical foam did little more than dull the pain. The Courageous had already disappeared into the Warp and beyond Peturabo's reach, so every additional second the Field Marshal remained standing served little purpose other than to deny the Daemon Prince an easy victory.
Nikola's vision swam as he prepared to meet Peturabo's next onslaught. The Field Marshal's body had already given out, his Knightmare's psycho-crystalline matrix constricting even more tightly as his shattered limbs moved through sheer force of will alone. Schwer gritted his teeth as he met Forgebreaker's swing, the mighty hammer's path altered by scant degrees as its handle slid along his forearm. Twisting his body around, the Field Marshal barely dodged the attack as he drove a hadron blade into Peturabo's flank. The Daemon Prince roared, more due to rage than to pain, and aimed a knee at his opponent's chest in retaliation. Avoiding the attack by mere millimeters, Field Marshal Schwer twisted his body around the other way and drove a heel into the back of the Primarch's calf.
Even if he were in better condition, Nikola Liesel Schwer doubted he could have even anticipated, much less dodged, Peturabo's lightning-fast backhanded strike. To his shattered body, the blow felt like that of Forgebreaker, lifting him into the air. The Field Marshal landed heavily several meters away with a sickening crunch and rolled some distance before coming to a halt against a rockcrete barricade. This time, he didn't get back up.
"Your pain now will be but a fraction of that you will experience for eternity," Peturabo taunted as he loomed over the broken Field Marshal, "when I offer up your flesh and soul to Chaos!"
The Daemon Prince of Chaos Undivided had come to expect a great deal of reactions to such a declaration. Some futile last gesture of defiance, pleas for mercy, or even a delusional insistence that whatever powers they prayed to would triumph in the end. The corrupted Primarch of the Iron Warriors was thus at a loss of words when the beaten Field Marshal laughed until he descended into a coughing fit.
"All tasks at hand have been cleared," the Field Marshal taunted as he struggled to a sitting position.
The phrase struck a chord with Peturabo, though he could not recall where he had heard it before.
"The Iron Warriors, the greatest siege masters in the galaxy. Your obsession with breaking the galaxy's mightiest fortifications has blinded you, Peturabo," Field Marshal Schwer choked as the Daemon Primarch grabbed him around the throat and lifted him up, "The ultimate goal of Operation Desert Goliath was never to break the encirclement around Argyre Planitia."
Breaths came to Nikola in agonized gasps as the grip around his throat tightened.
"Any other forge, no matter how many priceless patterns its databanks held, was blown up by our forces when they were in danger of capture. What makes you think Argyre Planitia was any different? Even the Titans stored there are inconsequential in the long run! No, Operation Desert Goliath did exactly what I intended it to do: it drew you in, caused you to pour reinforcements from all over Mars," Schwer continued, the pain slowly fading as his body went into shock, "Did you ever even stop to consider why the war that engulfed all of the red planet suddenly died down except for Argyre Planitia? Why we never exploited the numerous holes you opened in your defenses to maintain the siege? While you were throwing away millions of soldiers to satisfy your own ego, I've been evacuating my forces to Terra!"
With an enraged howl, Peturabo threw the Field Marshal to the ground. Nikola had sustained enough injuries to kill an Astartes warrior a hundred times over, his Knightmare's eyes dimming with each passing second, yet he stayed conscious.
"Your delusions will not save you!" the Daemon Prince roared as he raised Forgebreaker.
"I am Nikola Liesel Schwer, Field Marshal of the Black Knights! My title was earned at the tip of the military spear! Each of us who attain this rank have studied and memorized the writings of Zero, the one you know as the Emperor!" only helmet modulation allowed the Field Marshal to speak louder than a pained whisper, "Kill me, sacrifice me to your gods, it matters not! For any Black Knights you encounter after today will be under Zero's personal command, and Argyre Planitia will seem as a paradise compared to the horrors he will inflict upon you!"
Field Marshal and Primarch alike paused in surprise as a robed figure appeared between the two of them. A single lithe arm extended from under the folds of fabric, its open hand halting Forgebreaker's swing as though it were a toy.
"You're a good twenty thousand years overdue for a good spanking," amused golden eyes mocked, "And if your father won't do it, I guess the duty falls to your mother."
"Director CC?" Field Marshal Schwer gasped, his laughter catching painfully in his throat.
"Rest now, you've more than earned it," CC spared a backwards glance as Schwer's eyes went dim and his Knightmare went limp.
The shock of seeing CC so effortlessly halting Forgebreaker's swing paralyzed Peturabo for far longer than he cared to admit. A Warp-fueled second wind surged through his veins, and the traitor Primarch raised Forgebreaker for another swing.
"This won't take long at all," CC whispered to nobody in particular, the wry amusement in her eyes replaced with cold steel as she drew her saber.
Argyre Planitia Forge
Surface of Mars
Nearly a century ago, a Sororitas strike force on a since-forgotten world set out to liberate a schola taken by the forces of Chaos. In the outer atrium, they found a sixteen-year-old Agrippa Laelia covered head-to-toe in blood, a bolter locked in her fear-frozen fingers, and staving off a panic attack by reciting the Emperor's Prayer under her breath. At her feet were the mangled corpses of a dozen cultists, some apparently strangled to death, and even the burning corpse of a traitor Astartes. The future Prioress of the Convent Prioris earned her power armor and bolter through virtue of her survival and was promptly thrown into the Imperium's endless war for survival. At first relying more on faith and zeal than actual training, she nonetheless survived some of the galaxy's worst horrors. Agrippa feared sleep, as every time she closed her eyes, she was once again a line Sister going bayonet-to-bayonet with renegade Guardsmen, or a Retributor standing before an unstoppable wall of enemy armor, or a Dominion charging headlong into a phalanx of daemons.
Despite all Prioress Laelia had seen and endured, the inside of her helmet felt oppressively cramped and her breath hitched in her throat. She could see the blasphemous inscriptions and sanity-shattering sigils encrusted upon the Reaver's hull with increasing clarity as each plodding step bought the metal monster closer to their position. The ground shook with each footfall, and the Prioress swore that she could hear the laughter of damned souls carrying in the wind. The Titan's massive head swung side-to-side, its auspex arrays searching for targets.
"Squad Seven, fire one shot towards seven o'clock and move to point D-4."
The percussive bang of a bolter had dissipated to a faint pop by the time its echoes reached Agrippa. Though the Prioress saw neither the comparatively-microscopic bolt shell nor the glow as it splashed harmlessly against the Reaver's void shields, she did hear the faint crack and caught a whiff of ozone. The Titan's entire torso swung around, the sweeping motion of its head abruptly halting as its scanners focused on the shot's direction of origin. The high-pitched whine of a Vulcan mega-bolter filled the air, and Agrippa clamped hands over her helmet's sound feeds in preparation for the devil's laughter. The dreaded sound never came, and the Reaver's head resumed its sweeping in a vain attempt to locate the Battle Sister squad that had disappeared from its sensors just as abruptly as it appeared.
"Squad Three, detonate the charges at point F-2, then move to point E-7."
In better times, the silo cluster would have stored plastics in raw pellet form before they were shipped to a nearby forge for molding into bolter sights. Even if the Reaver's bombardments hadn't shredded most of the structure's walls and external supports, it had been centuries since the Imperium held any raw material in such abundance as to merit storing it. Carefully-placed melta charges—and no Sister who witnessed the feat would ever forget the sight of the Emperor calculating the desired structural collapse and the required charge placement in his head—nearly bought down the dilapidated structure.
The Chaos Titan paused mid-stride, rotating its upper body to face the abandoned storage silo as it lowered its foot. The mini-earthquake shook apart the heavily-damaged supports, sending the rockcrete structure collapsing towards the Reaver. A massive Power Fist swung up, its energy field crackling to life as the adamantium fingers closed around the collapsing silo. A sizable segment of the structure ceased existing, and the remaining rubble smashed against the Titan's armor with no discernable effect.
"Just one more step…one more step…" Agrippa muttered under her breath, sweat dripping from her brow.
The Reaver's head tilted downwards, as if looking upon the pile of smashed rockcrete that was once a storage silo with disdain. After agonizing seconds, the Titan took a plodding step forward and reduced much of the rubble to dust.
"All units, break cover and open fire on the Titan! The excavators will need time to spool up!"
The Reaver's massive torso spun around for several revolutions, as it confused by the thousands of pinpricks now assailing its void shields. As Lelouch predicted, the small size and low density of targets within the warehouse complex momentarily confused the Titan's auspex arrays. The dreaded whining filled the air once again, but no earthquake interrupted it.
"This is Excavator Five! Our logic engine is unresponsive! The whole unit is shutting down!"
"All units, abort operation!" the Emperor screamed into his radio, the calm of his voice wavering ever so slightly, "Excavator Five, hold your position! We'll calculate the resonance manually!"
The devil's laughter rang throughout the forge complex, saturating vast swathes of terrain with high-explosive shells. When incoming fire from one direction slackened and finally ceased, the Reaver rotated its torso several degrees and began the slaughter anew. Agrippa tried to ignore the screams of the maimed and dying.
With the aid of long experience, Lelouch shut out the cacophony. The Vulcan mega-bolter's barking, the frantic pleas for aid, all were reduced to a distant buzzing as he funneled all of his strength into a single objective. Every second seemed infinitely-long as he tore through the complex, dodging falling rubble and flying shrapnel with sheer reflex.
It took twenty-three seconds for him to reach Excavator Five.
It took two seconds to shove the Sister working the controls aside.
It took four seconds to interface the DRUID system with the excavator's ancient logic engine.
It took one second for the holographic keyboard to materialize before him.
It took seventeen seconds to program the excavator.
Thirteen seconds later, the ground began to shake. Lelouch snapped back to reality, nearly losing his footing as a second, stronger tremor shook the warehouse complex.
The Reaver Titan paused its murderous barrage, temporarily confused as the ground beneath its feet began to shift. Its massive head swept side-to-side, its auspex arrays hurriedly triangulating the source of the tremors. Its Vulcan mega-bolter spun up again, reducing the seismic excavator to scrap metal and its crew to fine red mist with an explosive hail lasting less than a second. The corrupted Titan began to take a step forward when the rockcrete beneath its feet collapsed.
If the Reaver possessed a mouth, it would have roared in surprise and rage as it slowly tipped over. Its other leg dug into the ground in a vain attempt to compensate, only for another tremor to collapse the remaining rockcrete. Only maintenance tunnels extending kilometers deep lay beneath the paved surface, and they were certainly unable to support a Titan's weight. Several of the surviving Sisters swore they heard a howl of despair as the Reaver slammed into the ground.
The tremors from the Reaver's impact dwarfed all others before, knocking Agrippa off her feet and leaving her sprawled on the ground.
"This is the Volgograd. We are in position and are commencing bombardment."
A muted cheer rose as great spears of crimson descended from the sky. The wounded giant writhed helplessly as its void shields collapsed under the strain, allowing the hadron beams to carve massive holes in its armor. A single FLEIJA warhead delivered the final blow, vaporizing the corrupted Titan.
"How many did we lose?" the Emperor's somber voice inquired over a private channel.
"Too many," Agrippa shook her head sadly as she mentally tallied the casualty reports, with still more streaming in from every channel.
The Prioress snorted derisively. The notion of "too many casualties" was once considered cowardly, even heretical. Even as Chaos closed around Terra and the Imperium became increasingly pressed for manpower, no cost was considered too great. The things the Emperor had shown them since then…
A slight tremor snapped Agrippa out of her thoughts. Her eyes slowly turned to the horizon, her mind already fearing the worst. The Warhounds appeared first, crossing the remaining distance to the forge outskirts in leaps and bounds. Two hunched-over Reavers followed, shaking the ground with each methodical step. The Prioress' heart stopped as the massive carapace guns of a Warlord slowly loomed over the horizon.
A massive lance of energy screamed overhead, slamming into the lead Warhound. The Titan's void shield strained and nearly buckled, but ultimately held. Additional beams of similarly bind-boggling power tore across the skies, though Agrippa Laelia's view of the inevitable carnage was blocked by the armored flank of a Black Knights drop shuttle.
Main Titan Workshop
Argyre Planitia Forge, Surface of Mars
Though the siege of Argyre Planitia as a whole was lifted, the breakthrough to the south allowing Imperial forces to quickly roll up the entire Chaos siege line, fighting remained heavy at the heart of the complex. What few enemy forces remained in the impact basin, with memories of numerous unsuccessful breakouts in mind, linked up with the shattered remnants of the Iron Warriors Legion to mount an all-out assault on the Titan workshops. Their numbers already heavily depleted, the battered defenders dug in and weathered wave after wave of vicious assaults.
"Another wave coming in at Sector Three!"
"Sector Five is overrun! Falling back into the workshop!"
Even the brutal conditioning OPAW Raiders were subjected to could not keep a man fighting for nearly forty days virtually nonstop. Lieutenant Matthew Landsford had gone somewhat longer than his men, who themselves lasted significantly longer than the forge's unaugmented defenders, before taking his first dose of combat stims. His Knightmare's supply had run out the night before, leaving him with only adrenaline and a stubborn refusal to die. Crouched behind a burning Predator tank, the Raider Lieutenant peered out for a split second before a spray of bolt shells forced him back into cover.
"Looks like they've run out of fodder," Matthew remarked to his companion with all the bravado he didn't feel at the moment, "We got a squad of Marines coming down the street."
Herminia Cassia nodded in acknowledgement, hurriedly counting her remaining ammunition before shouldering her bolter. Unlike her companion, she kept some distance between herself and their makeshift cover, wary of the sigil of Chaos still visible upon the scorched and twisted metal. Herminia had fought beside the Raiders many times since their arrival, so the Battle Sister held no doubts as to their combat abilities, but she doubted she would ever grow accustomed to the Lieutenant's eternally-casual demeanor. Even before he'd started telling tales of his squad's exploits to keep morale up during particularly heavy shelling, she could tell he wasn't a fresh recruit from the fact that the Lieutenant didn't so much as flinch when he saw the severe burn scars—Herminia's only lasting injuries from Peturabo's chemical attack—that now covered the majority of her body.
"That," Matthew audibly sucked in air through his teeth as the whining of ancient servos reached the pair's audio feeds, "sounds like a Dreadnought. We should probably make ourselves scarce."
Were it not for the blasphemous icons carved upon its hull, Herminia might have mistaken the walking tomb for one of its Astates counterparts. Bolters barked and several shots came uncomfortably close as the pair withdrew, zigzagging between burning vehicles and rubble piles as they sprinted towards the workshop walls.
"They're opening the main gates," Herminia's brow crinkled in confusion, wondering if she had misheard the transmission, as the pair threw themselves behind a rockcrete barricade.
Raider and Battle Sister locked gazes, a silent question passing between them. The thud of enormous footfalls, each accompanied by a miniature earthquake, and the barking of titanic weapons provided all the answers they needed.
A Sleipnir drop shuttle appearing scant meters overhead provided the second surprise in so many seconds.
The very ground of Mars shook as the greatest of human war machines took to the field. Their fury, reined in only when the Emperor revealed a fragment of his great designs, only grew as the forces of Chaos desecrated their cradle and was now unleashed. Tens of thousands of adamantium giants, their fists capable of felling armies, descended upon the invaders across a hundred fronts. At their feet gathered the legions of the Adeptus Mechanicus: billions of Skitarii and servitors, millions of aircraft and armored vehicles, the robotic hordes of the Legio Cybernetica and their Datasmiths, the siege masters of the Auxilia Myrmidon, and the Tech-Priests of Mars themselves.
Chaos ships poured anew from the corrupted innards of Craftworld Altansar, accelerating in pursuit of the allied troop convoys leaving Martian orbit. They met the waiting guns of the Basilikon Astra, and the battle over Mars was joined once more.
Chaos Battleship Chaos Ascendant
017.M51, Day Fifty-One of the Battle of Mars
"My lord," the Slaaneshi Champion bowed deeply before Abaddon's throne, "The Adeptus Mechanicus has launched a massive counterattack all across Mars. We've been pushed out of Argyre Planitia."
Not even the traitor Astartes, a veteran of the Horus Heresy, dared breathe as the Despoiler slowly sat upright. Fingers tightened around Drach'nyen as the Chaos Gods' chosen rose to his full height and loomed over the messenger. Several thralls died outright of fright, and the survivors redoubled their efforts to appear inconspicuous.
"It is of no consequence," Abaddon drawled, "I humored Peturabo's ego, and now he and his brethren pay the price for underestimating their opponent. Their blood shall open the portal for our next assault."
The Champion of Slaanesh dared not move, lest he provoke the Despoiler's infamously-volatile temper.
"Now leave me," Abaddon dismissed the messenger with a wave of his hand, "Your news has pleased me. I believe we took some Eldar prisoners during a recent skirmish. You may have your pick of them, up to half the lot."
"Thank you, my lord!" the ancient Astartes scurried out of the chamber, lest his master reconsider.
Combine Forward Operations Center
Outskirts of Argyre Planitia, Surface of Mars
For the first time in millennia, Peturabo felt true fear as his daemonic strength slowly ebbed away. Eyes wide and spittle flying from his mouth, he swung Forgebreaker in great arcs as he blindly rushed his opponent. The green-haired immortal disappeared from his sight for a fraction of a second, reappearing mere centimeters to the right of her previous position and with the flat of her saber stopping his hammer's swing. The retaliatory slash cleaved through armor and daemonic flesh alike, sending the fallen Primarch staggering back. The Daemon Prince recovered and swung again, eyes widening as CC parried the attack with her scabbard.
"You and the other Primarchs are thirty thousand years too early to challenge any of us," the golden-eyed woman declared as she used her sleeve to wipe away a trickle of blood at the corner of her mouth.
Peturabo didn't even have time to react as a saber pierced through his armor and savagely parted the organs in his abdominal cavity. Sensing his end was near, the powers of Chaos abandoned the Daemon Prince as incomprehensible psychic power flowed through the blade. Returning to sanity a split second before his very soul was annihilated, Peturabo briefly met his biological mother's golden orbs before they turned into pits of Warp-fueled flames. He could swear he saw just a hint of regret in CC's eyes before he knew no more.
Bond Crater
Surface of Mars
Panting heavily, Suzaku yanked his Force Swords out of Angron's chest. The psychic lightning that surrounded his Knightmare gradually dissipated as the General returned the blades to their scabbards. The empty husk that was once Khorne's greatest Daemon Prince sank to its knees and crumbled to dust. Their souls warred with one another for the briefest of moments, and Suzaku felt every thought rushing through Angron's mind in those last seconds. The abandonment by Khorne, the return of clarity, and the regret as the enormity of his sins weighed down on him.
The green-eyed immortal turned a troubled gaze towards the Guren, and its wearer's body language told him all he needed to know.
A cheer and applause rose throughout the crater as news of the victory spread, the victorious Black Knights only hounding the shattered and demoralized remnants of the World Eaters and Thousand Sons Legions for a short distance. Suzaku drew a Force Sword and thrust it high into the air. The cries of victory and the exultations of having survived reached a crescendo as the Guren followed suit, its blood-soaked claw joining the Lancelot's sword. Drop shuttles appeared in the sky, ready to ferry the OPAW troopers and the survivors from the Jakarta home.
Even the infamously-calm voices of Sleipnir pilots betrayed a hint of fear as great rents in reality appeared in the skies. The maddening geometries and impossible colors of the Warp seeped through as legions of daemons descended upon the besieged world.
Black Knights Drop Shuttle Dark Angel
Argyre Planitia Forge, Surface of Mars
"We have reports of daemonfall all over the planet! All units are ordered to complete embarkation and immediately withdraw!"
Agrippa Laelia was really regretting her wish to hear drop shuttle pilots adopt a tone besides unnerving calm. The Emperor stood at the base of the ramp, ensuring the last few surviving Sisters boarded the transports.
"Abaddon, you fool," Lelouch gritted through his teeth as he watched the shifting and impossible forms emerge from their portals.
"Sir, daemon densities are reaching critical levels. If we don't lift off now, we won't make it into orbit!" the Dark Angel's pilot announced with no small hint of panic.
"Prioress Laelia," Agrippa jumped as the Emperor addressed her directly, "The other leaders of the Black Knights are currently headed to orbit. Follow their words as you would mine."
The two members of Squad Zero, already strapped in with the Shinkirou occupying the seat between them, simply saluted in acknowledgement. An outstretched hand silenced the Custodians' objections.
"If we don't stop these Warp rifts, the daemons will be the least of our problems."
Black Knights Drop Shuttle Bombshell Betty
Skies Above Tharsis Region
The last wave of drop shuttles to depart from the 15th Militia Group's field headquarters carried Colonel General Lilia Majka, her top officers, and the combat information center crew. Not content with passively watching, they continued to coordinate the evacuation through their Knightmare displays and portable holographic projectors.
"Ma'am," a technician leaned forward in his seat, "The sensor net around the Valles Marineris was tripped a few seconds ago. We only received fragmentary data before we lost contact, but it looks like somebody's marching an army out of that region."
A/N: And we'll leave it at that! Also, before I forget, another soundtrack listing!
OP 1: Ruina Imperii - Sabaton
OP 2/Black Knights Theme: Union - Sabaton
Insert Song (Beneath the Red Sands arc): Suicide Mission - Mass Effect 2 OST
Insert Song (Great War/Great Crusade arc): The Lion from the North - Sabaton
Insert Song (Craftworld Invasion arc)/Eldar Theme: Glorious Land - Sabaton
Insert Song (Battle for Parynor): 1648 - Sabaton
Insert Song (Kallen vs. Fulgrim battle): Battle Music - Witcher 2 OST
Insert Song (Metal Monsters arc): Panzerkampf - Sabaton
Insert Song (Siege of Argyre Planitia): Stalingrad - Sabaton
Insert Song (Kallen and Suzaku vs. Angron and Magnus battle): Strength of a Thousand Men - Two Steps from Hell
Insert Song (Schwer's Revelation/CC vs Peturabo battle): The Master - Code Geass OST
Insert Song (Titan battle): Never Back Down - Two Steps from Hell
Kallen Theme: Heart of Courage - Two Steps from Hell
Lelouch Theme: Carolus Rex - Sabaton
Nunnally Theme: Enigmatic Soul - Two Steps from Hell
Suzaku Theme: Archangel - Two Steps from Hell
ED 1: En Livstid i Krig - Sabaton
ED 2: The Unsung War - Ace Combat 5 OST