Authors Note: hoping for a bit more reveiws so i can get some feedback on whether im doin well or not at my writing endeavors, so heres another chapter for all caring people. LMJ
Sister Charity sat on the rooftop of a wealthy merchant's estate home, bullet ridden frescoes and plants surrounding her, examining her battle gear in her free time from the trials of war.
Aircraft buzzed and whined as flights of Navy craft still buzzed in from orbit to scout ahead of the Imperial forces or commence attack runs on far away targets. Around her in the impromptu camp of Battle Sisters, women sat in prayer, slept or tended to their weapons and armor.
There was a sense of contained urgency in the air along with suspicion that seemed completely at odds with a successful invading force after a battle. But if the eyes were turned East, the source of those conflicting emotions would soon become apparent, to all those gazing towards the sight.
In the air and on the ground were a host of Adeptus Mechanicus might rarely seen any where but the mighty Forge Worlds.
Massive craft continually descended from orbit and upon landing lowered their cargo ramps, disgorged thousands upon thousands of battle servitors and fighting vehicles, along with transports, joining the ranks of already tens of thousands of their comrades. Towering above the whole grand procession though, were the might Ordinatus crawlers, thousands of tons of adamantium, steel and weaponry.
These machines were easily lengths of ten Baneblades, tanks that were the size of a small house and half as tall. The weaponry which each machine sported was either a main gun of energy or shell-lobbing cannons whose muzzles could fit three to four Leman Russ Battle Tanks inside. Bristling along the mighty constructions sides were dozens of anti-aircraft turrets and inside the meters of thick armored plating were huge engines and shield generators, usually seen on small titans. Indeed most of the Ordinatus machines weapons were those that were intended to be placed on Titans of varying sizes, but as slowly the God-Machines died, finding new ones to give the weapnry too was increasingly difficult.
The biggest of these machines was the one at the center of the ever enlarging group, sporting a unbelievably massive Nova Cannon usually seen on Imperial Battleships, the like which were now in orbit of the planet of Yanir. The Nova Cannon could destroy entire cities and armies with only a few shots, its mass reactive shell filled with highly explosive chemicals.
"What do you think the Mechanicus is going to do with all that firepower Sister Charity?"
Retrieved from her thinking, she looked around and saw Sister Superior Alicia, dressed in a dark black robe with an Aquilla brooch on its clasp. She immediately started to stand before the Superior showed that she wanted none of that formality at the moment, " No need to stand Sister, for right now in times of peace we are all equal."
Charity nodded at her words even if they did seem a bit out of place as the burning city of Khergit still rumbled with detonations and small arms fire crackled on the soot filled wind.
She turned back towards Alicia before saying, " What do you mean what are they going to do with that firepower, Sister Alicia? They obviously are here to help the forces of the Imperium triumph."
The older woman chuckled at her response, "You have not had much experience with the Priesthood of Mars, they would not expend so much of their precious technology on one planet unless there was something they wanted here. For the waste of resources would be illogical." On Alicia's face there was almost a expression of disgust at the talk of Mechanicus.
" You do not have a liking for Tech-Priests?"
There was a moment of silence before, "No I do not, they very rarely actually help in military matters of Imperium, even with their huge, technology graced forces. They prefer to just sit back and make weapons on their Forge Worlds and use that fact that without them there would be no weapons to kill the Emperor's enemies to get what they want."
" But without Mechanicus there would be no weapons."
"Yes but that does not mean they have right to practically ignore all laws set up by the Council of Terra because of that excuse."
She had a point, even if it was somewhat small-minded. " So you believe the Mechanicus has a hidden agenda on this world?"
A nod was the answer to her inquiries.
" What do you think it could be? Some sort of quest for forbidden Tau technology or something even more secret?"
" Whatever it is, it will eventually alter the course of this war, of that I am sure."
The two Sisters of Faith looked back towards the site of yet more legions of mechanical warriors marching in perfect formations from the bellies of mass transports, both wondering at what the mysterious faction was planning to achieve.
Colonel Bradington Gunther Jager strode through the battle camp of the Laotian 14th Regiment. Around him and his reduced amount of hand picked Honor Guard, as he did not want to walk everywhere with a full company of heavily armed warriors surrounding him, men stacked supplies into trucks, ate meals, gambled, slept and did the thousand of other things a soldier did in its brief moments of peace.
Holstered at his waist was his ancient inferno pistol, passed down from generations of commanders of the 14th Regiment, its handle worked in fine pearl and metals. The camp and those surrounding it was filled with bustling activity as the armies of the Emperor prepared to move out to a new battle, as news from HQ had made clear this morning.
Surrounding the invaders on all sides were cracked and broken buildings, many which still had leaks of smoke rising from holes in their walls or broken windows, the fire damaged stone staring accusingly back at Guard forces, they had ruined the work of the past builders had tried so hard to create.
He stopped absent mindedly as a chimera passed by, its passengers saluting him, which he returned with a automatic movement of his arm, as the full cost of war settled upon his broad shoulders. Around the liveliness of the camp was a stark contrast of feelings and sights.
Dark burned out vehicles or habs surrounded on all sides crowing in on the Imperial's, corpses still littered many parts of the streets that weren't commonly used as supply routes, the burned and broken bodies staring at the sky or ground, mouths open in cries of death.
Some of these corpses were Guard, but most were civilian or Tau, as the commanders of the invasion force had decided against cleaning up those casualties of war, deeming it " a pointless waste of productivity", leaving the remaining inhabitants of the city and nature to do the cleanup for them.
He arrived at his tent with an almost relieved feeling, welcome to be back at a place where he can think, his brow furrowing on his features, he waved his guards away, pushing back the flaps of the entrance.
His room was decorated with momentous of past victories, ork teeth from a commander of a warband on Agar Secondary, a Hrud skull from Yurt XII and even a eerily beautiful shuriken pistol from a Eldar Storm Guardian.
He sat upon his bed and removed his finely wrought helm while still pondering the turn of events these past few days, his featurs contorted in thought.
The Colonel looked like a man in his early forties with a collection of scars and smell of dirt and blood no amount of showers could wash away. He was in fact nearly 120 years old, a hundred of those years spent in the Emperor's service. He looked so young because of the attentions of some of the finest surgeons this Sector of the galaxy could offer, and with a large variety of well-crafted augementics.
Through his long and decorated career he had been wounded and almost killed so many times it was almost second nature to Bradington. The many medals and commendations located in a chest of personal items accounted for that.
But every time he entered a warzone where the civilians were being killed more than the enemy he felt disgust for bluntness of the Imperial Guard's might. But that was what happened when the enemy were xenos, they cared nothing for the lives of humans. He startled suddenly as Dragor, one of his guards stuck his head through the flaps of his tent, " Sit I think its time for us to start moving out."
" Thank you soldier."
He saluted and retreated from the space, allowing his commander some time to ready himself and let the troops help pack up his possessions. He stood on up and started to redress himself, all the while filled with a sense of unease about the whole war with the Tau, as if something was trying to worm itself in his mind.
He strode out his tent with a sense of foreboding.
" Captain!" the call echoed from down below, its cry rebounding off the walls of the battleship, Laotia's Might, flagship for Fleet Commander Vont Ferer, Hero of the Battle for Sarssa.
The Commander's pale face turned to the ensign that stood below his command throne, a look of nervousness on his face. "Yes ensign?"
The man saluted hurriedly before saying, " Are sensors have detected a anomaly, sir" A note of timidity entering voice as he talked with the renowned Commander of the Retribution class battleship.
" An anomaly, ensign?" a note of curiosity entering his voice.
" Yes it was detected on our scanners a moment ago, its origin was from the planet itself. It was a breif burst of controlled energy."
"I see, and why is that a anomaly, there is a war going down there. Energy weapons are used on both sides."
"Well, this signal was very powerful, as if having to do with a form of warp travel, sir."
"Warp travel?"
"Yes sir"
The captain swiveled in his throne his mind mildly confused at the information. He looked upon the activity below him, in the heart of his mighty battleship, trying to clear is mind.
" When was this detected?"
"Approximately, ten minutes ago sir."
" What do the Tech-Priests say about this?"
"They are as confused as us, sir. For they know that the Tau technology, however advanced, cannot create a small warp portal on the surface just for transportation, and certainly not for weaponry. Unless they had created this recently but t would have most likely been seen before."
As there was no reply the man continued, " Sir, if I am not stepping out of line but, shouldn't we tell the Guard commanders on the planet?"
"No, we will not, there is no point investigating this at the moment as they and us both have other things to worry about."
He indicated the huge Adeptus Mechanicus ships in orbit with those of the Navy, streams of transports still coming and going from their docking bays. "If you have not seen by now the Mechanicus convoy is a very large target for the Tau, and if they could, they would cause a lot of damage if they destroyed even one of those ships."
" But sir…"
'No" a firmness in his voice showing that he would have no more discussion on the matter at hand.
" Yes sir"
The captain again swiveled in his throne, looking upon the disposition of his forces, there was still a alien fleet to fight. He activated his comm link to the Tech-Priests, " I want a conference with the other officers of the fleet in thirty minutes."
"Yes commander."
Librarian Ashok mediated atop the destroyed East Gate of Khergit, his mind wandering, relaxing and refreshing him from the use of mental abilities in the last few days fights. A red glow emanated from his eyes, the latent use of his physic powers showing, as he explored and took apart the scenery around him with his minds eye.
Below him streams of Guard transports were steadily leaving heading towards the North, where their next objective is, delivered to them by general HQ.
Resting on the rubble strewn streets opposite of the traffic, was the Mantis Warriors camp, brothers were preparing their war gear for the next battle as vehicles were serviced. Brother Krudian's dreadnought body was powered down in storage as the ancient sarcophagus holding the wounded brother was placed back into a cryogenic state. Dominating the vehicle repair ground was the massive Land Raider, Manti Exemplari, its weapon systems powered down, its machine spirit resting, as it was rearmed and refueled.
Beside it stood the venerable tank commander, Tech-Marine Sulphus, his mechanical and organic arms moving around its hull checking for damage.
The tech-marine was a source of constant amazement for Ashok, as not only did he have command of one of the chapter's oldest and most powerful vehicles, but, not unlike the marines of Iron Hands chapter, preferred mechanical augmentation over his super-human physique.
As he searched around the camp of Space Marines minds eye was again drawn towards the landing site of the huge Adeptus Mechanicus forces, still arriving, though in not as nearly much numbers as the previous few hours.
He had wondered on whether or not to ask around with the tech-marines, but he doubted he would find much information there, as they probably knew only as much as him. He knew that he could throw around his authority to try and find the information he wanted, but he knew that he would get the same information, just in different forms, from the Imperial commanders.
As he settled down to meditate again the vox chimed in his ear. "Ashok here."
"Sir we have received a communiqué from the Guard commanders asking us to begin mobilizing, were moving out."
"Thank you brother."
"Sir?" the marine on the other end of the vox chimed in quickly.
Mildly surprised, " Yes Brother?"
" Why do you think the Mechanicus are here in such force? I have rarely seen them in these numbers."
A moments hesitation, " I do not know, but I know that it seems that the Mechanicus certainly wants it done."
As he cut the line, and brothers down below started to prepare themselves, his mind once again wondered to the mystery of the huge Mechanicus forces situated outside the walls.
What are they doing here?
The only answer that came back to his thoughts was the sound of the company's vehicle's engines rumbling to life. He picked up his staff and started walking towards the encampment.
Magos Sedisvar looked upon the might of the Machine-God as he saw his endless amount of warrior's march in perfect formations that were shaped in ways that pleased the Omnissah. Beside him, as he stood on the bridge of the mighty Ordinatus machine that bore the Nova Cannon, tech-priests and engiseers moved about and checked monitors and screens waving incense, and chanting prayers in binary, the secret language of the Priesthood of Mars, while occasionally adjusting a dial or knob.
Servitors were wired about into many machines, constantly performing their programmed tasks. Sparks of electricity and bursts of steam announced itself every few seconds as the power flowing through the mechanical veins of the huge crawler sometimes escaped from the seams of pipes or wires.
He could feel the power of the machine's spirit around his quasi-humanoid form, the rumbling of its tracks and the humming of its power its voice, while the massive cannon sheltered in its body would be its mouth as it spoke.
He knew that the power of the machine was strong and would always defeat the weakness of flesh. Just looking at the power of his army, as it was indeed his, would easily show any onlooker that truth.
" Magos." A mechanical voice blared, the hunched form of the magos turned slowly to face the speaker, the powerful servos in his almost piston like legs whining as they moved is weight.
" Yes Tech-Priest Hang?" his reply equally mechanical.
" The adepts situated in the engine rooms have informed us of full readiness and Magos Coras and Jadinar have also reported 100% readiness for mobilization, how shall I reply?"
There was a pause as the Sadisvar's brain units processed the question, going through answers and variables before his vox implants blared into life again, " Tell him to commence the operation."
The priest nodded before striding off, his cog-bladed power halberd held in his hands.
He waited as the Tech-Priest waked away before resuming his brain unit's functions, his mind whirled and clicked processing through information at a incredible rate. Images of lifeless, dry ground, a dark black sky, buildings that absorbed the light, a cavern that glowed with a necrotic green light, and then a world without life, covered in sand and clouds whirred through his skull, and a date.
M20: Explorator Expedition, Adept Remag. He shut off the flow of images, the prize was nearly in his hands, now was the time for action.
Around the fringes of massive Imperial force shadows and blurs of light flitted, so fast they only seemed like a imagining of the brain.
But if one would be able to focus on one of the unknown disturbances you would see they moved steadily forward towards the Imperial's, moving from rock to rock, patch of shrubs to shrubs, stopping and moving again.
On the crest of a small knoll, just a small distance away from the stream of Guard vehicles the blurs of light waited.
Looking through the scope of his long rifle, Eloec, Pathfinder of Altioc Craftworld observed the mon-keigh, their primitive scanners and vision unable to see past the camouflage of his cameleoline cloak, it making him almost invisible to the observer.
His eyes were drawn to the impressive human vehicles, even if they were ugly. He knew what the mon-keigh wanted, and the Eldar would not let them have it, their ignorance would shatter all that the Eldar had sacrificed to achieve in the Great War before the Fall.
He turned back towards the other Ranger's that sheltered with him, "Quickly, we must be fast if we are to report back the seer." They nodded their assent at the veteran ranger before setting off into the west.