Disclaimer: I own jackshit.
AN: Ok, so the latest chapter is done, thank god. It took a while to get everything sorted, and I really can't thank Vladicus enough for ensuring that this one came out alright, along with a suggestion for a ranking system I had initially added. Still give a round of applause for Vladicus for being able to deal with the madness I tend to generate.
Still, hope you lot enjoy the chapter!
XXX
Weak as they might seem when compared to the other factions present in the system, the Imperial Guard still had teeth to them, even if they were normal Humans with Lasguns. For that reason, I didn't immediately send the order to begin the attack on their lines, something that, according to aerial reconnaissance, the Imperial Guardsmen were all too happy to take advantage of. Even before the last of the Sisters and their Living Saint had fallen, they had already started putting more effort into their frontline fortifications and increasing the depth of their defences throughout their territory. It was a smart move, too, especially as they had converted some of the local factories to continually pump out more armaments, which were then being used to arm a conscripted militia.
Said militia was hastily trained, with half of them looking like they barely knew how to hold their guns and shoot it. From observing them, I got the distinct impression that half of them would drop their weapons and run for the hills the moment any battle took place. Though I didn't doubt that should they do so with a Commissar nearby they wouldn't be getting very far. Personally, I would have been glad for them to try. The Guardsmen and Conscripts that did so were only helping me in reducing the number of enemy combatants I had to deal with. Those that got away could be dealt with later, but that was still an issue to worry about after I had taken the world and dealt with the main Imperial Guard forces stationed on the planet.
Of course, weak in comparison to others or not, I felt no need to rush into the range of their defences without getting my own shit in order first. Namely, reorganizing my forces and filling a few of the gaps I had in my current roster of units. Hell, I'd even decided to add a change to the naming convention, if only to let me distinguish what scale some units function. As such, the generalized term for my units was going to be Forms, or Platforms, which could then be sub-divided into, Combat-Forms, Battle-Forms and War-Forms based on the scale that the individual Form could effect.
In this ranking, most of my infantry-bots would count as Combat-Forms, since they couldn't affect anything beyond themselves on either the tactical or strategic scale. Likewise, my 'lighter' vehicles would also go here due to not being able to affect anything beyond the immediate fight taking place around them. Not to mention that the majority of Combat-Forms could be mass-produced and thrown at an enemy like meat for the grinder. My Wardens also fell into this rank, along with any of the smaller Voidships I might produce in the future, like Frigates and Corvettes. Up from there, you had Battle-Forms, which would be able to affect things on a tactical scale due to a number of different factors. This generally meant that they were more heavily armed and armored than a Combat-Form, had a specialised role, or both. Things like my Gladiator fell into this rank, alongside Ruiners, Maulers and Fabrication Walkers. Voidships around Cruiser-scale would also come into play here, since they could affect the outcome of battles covering entire solar systems by weight alone.
Finally, you had War-Forms. These were the Forms that were the most valuable on both a tactical and strategic scale, for any number of reasons. Currently, the only Form I had that fit in this rank was the Bolo since it could outgun just about anything on the battlefield and could serve as a mobile anti-orbital gun due to its nine Hellbores, not to mention the down-scaled Murphy cannon that it mounted. Void-based constructs ranging in size from Battleships and Dreadnoughts, all the way up to Starforts and World Engines would fall into this final rank, since their very presence could change the course of wars throughout an entire region. Whether that 'region' was a single continent or an entire Segmentum was besides the point.
Aside from that, I had already begun shifting some of my units around, re-designating them and setting more concrete definitions on what they were intended to function as. The best example of this was probably the Mauler, which I was originally planning to use as a 'tank'-equivalent. Admittedly, it had done decently in this role, but it had shown itself to work better as an artillery piece with the ability to defend itself against attack. Likewise, I changed the role of the Warden to that of a multi-purpose assault Combat-Form, if only because it's mission profile was so large that it could do dozens of different tasks. Trying to pin it down to one or two roles wasn't something I could really do and when I made dedicated fighters and bombers, they would most likely overshadow the Warden in those areas anyway. At least this way I kept the tactical flexibility to employ the Wardens however I wanted, even if it probably wouldn't be as good as a dedicated and specialized Combat-Form doing the same role.
With that in mind, I could only look at my own forces and see the massive, glaring holes that were present in them. I mean, I had no dedicated Anti-air units, nothing that could be considered an APC or Main Battle Tank; No artillery beyond the Mauler; No dedicated aircraft beyond the Warden and, perhaps, the Legionnaires on their Wingboards. No elite forces beyond the Gladiator; And not even a single dedicated support vehicle. Hell, at best, I had a collection of infantry-scale Forms, a few heavy combat units that were mostly leaning towards the superheavy end of the spectrum, and a few units dedicated to scavenging and engineering. The fact that I also didn't have any kind of unit designed for work in space was another glaring flaw in my current roster of forces.
Yet another item on the list of problems I needed solved, especially if I wanted to survive against some of the other forces that called this shithole of a universe home.
With that in mind I re-tasked processing power to my personal simulation as I cracked open my design tools, knowing that creating the necessary units to, at least, start filling in the holes I had created in my order of battle.
XXX
Looking over the latest designs for some of my latest Forms, I nodded to myself in satisfaction. The ability to alter the speed at which time flowed within my Matrix was, quite possibly, one of the greatest advantages that I had, giving me weeks, months or even years to figure out problems of any range, so long as I had the processing power and energy needed to pull it off. Then again, given how much my territory on Kaurava I had expanded, processing power and energy were both things that I had in Cargo ship-loads.
As such, I shifted the designs around in my personal simulation, arranging them in full detail and lining them up in comparison to my perspective. Immediately, the designs appeared inside the white void, contrasting with the immediate surroundings even as I noted the details that I had decided to make a common factor in my Forms. Namely, it was the presence of multiple smaller weapons that could defend a given Platform from threats other than the enemy that it was originally intended to face. A useful feature, since it meant that even Platforms dedicated to working as Anti-Air or Artillery wouldn't be completely defenseless if they were caught by an enemy sneak attack. Not that I really planned to let that happen to begin with, but one could never have too many backups, especially in the universe of Warhammer 40k.
Turning to the first design, a gesture caused it to shift, rotating around to show itself from all angles before another gesture caused it to disassemble itself before re-assembling into the completed Battle-Form. In comparison to the other Platforms I had on presentation, it was unique in that it was designed with a dual purpose. Admittedly, a majority of my Platforms thus far could have been considered multi-purpose, but this was more a case of the Platform in question being explicitly designed for both purposes as both an APC and a MBT, of sorts. A Platform I had based on both its role and just how tough it was: Juggernaut.
In terms of appearance, the massive nineteen metre tall machine looked vaguely like a centaur, with a humanoid torso mounted on top of a lengthened lower body that sprouted two pairs of legs. However, that was where the similarities ended with the ancient mythological beings, especially since the legs of this unit had more in common with the legs of a six-legged lizard than those of a horse. Each leg was thick, covered in armor plating that concealed powerful motors and artificial muscle bundles that could propel the machine at a significant speed over a very diverse range of terrains. The foot of each leg was similarly reptilian, with the back legs having a passing similarity to that of a Raptor while the front four legs looked as though they ended with a second pair of hands, tipped with three fingers and two thumbs. In the case of both sets of feet, each digit was tipped with a serrated claw forty-five centimetres long and augmented by a mixture of mono-molecular edges, Power Fields and a vibration system to aid in cutting through unfortunate victims. Not only that, but the machine could 'kneel' on its legs and activate a secondary system that would turn them into anti-grav tanks, and increasing their mobility to a, frankly, insane degree. Such speed was part of the reason I had chosen the name, the other part being a mixed Anti-grav/inertia system that would ensure that once the Platform got up to a sufficient speed, it could smash through most targets. Though, even without that, most targets probably couldn't survive being trampled by a bot the size of a Warhound Scout Titan running at over eighty miles per hour, or at over two hundred miles per hour in Hover mode.
Moving on from the legs, the lower body was heavily armored and armed with some of the secondary weapons that the craft could use to defend itself. Several layers of Ceramite were laminated with cushioning layers and threaded with a network of fibres that would leech energy from any point of impact, even through the Ceramite while self-repair systems would keep the machine in the fight even longer. All of that was bonded onto an Adamantium endoskeleton, and exoskeleton in several places, to ensure that this craft could keep fighting through hell itself, which wasn't an exaggeration, since the Warp was a thing in this universe. Along with the layers of armor, twelve up-scaled Refractor Fields, with redundant backups, further enhanced the durability of the Platform, to the point that it was almost a match for a Bolo in terms of its inability to die to anything less than mind-numbing amounts of firepower, or Warp Bullshit. Added on top of that were several Power Field generators that were placed in strategic locations, designed to be activated in case an attack got ideas and tried to board the craft. This would have been a potent enough defense in its own right, but it was a supplement to the various turrets that were mounted on the lower body, not to mention those on the Humanoid body attached to it. A turret-mounted Smart Cannon rested directly in front of the Humanoid torso while eight variable power Lasers were mounted around the sides, with two to a side, and functioning as point defense, anti-infantry and interception weapons, while a pair of turrets rested on the back of the lower body. Each of these turrets mounted a pair of three-by-three missile cells that could be rapidly reloaded from within the Juggernaut itself, and could contain any type of payload that I was capable of fabricating in a battlefield-practical timeframe.
Moving on from the lower body, the upper body was where a majority of the weapons, and at least half of the processing power of the Platform, was located. This was primarily due to the lower body being hollow, allowing for the transport of at least forty-eight Sentry-scale bots, one hundred and twenty-four Collector-scale bots, thirty-two Legionnaire-scale bots, or twenty-four Templar-scale bots. Well, either that, or a hell of a lot of cargo, or some combination of all of the above mixed together. Given the sheer strength of the Juggernauts limbs and the Anti-grav systems present in the bot, the Juggernaut could carry a hell of a lot of weight. The upper body itself was thick and blocky, fastened with weapons that were mounted on the chest, the right shoulder and the arms. Even the arms themselves were weapons in their own right; Colossal, thirteen metre long limbs that were just barely thinner than the legs, and tipped with massive hands that ended in equally large talons. Each talon was thirty centimetres long and equipped with same range of devices as the foot-claws, along with the addition of the same Anti-grav system used by the Gladiator mounted in each fist. On the forearms rested a twin-linked Heavy Rotary Fab-Launcher, upgraded in size and rate of fire so as to shred anything unlucky enough to come into range. However, that wasn't enough, as a gimbaled Heavy Lascannon was mounted in the centre of the 'chest', while two missile launchers were mounted on either side, both launchers containing four rows of ten missiles each, hidden behind an armored shutter that could shrug off a lot of damage. And last, but not least, was the main weapon; A Superheavy Particle cannon that, according to the math, could probably vaporize a Leman Russ Battle Tank in a single hit, and could be used to 'slash' over an entire group of such vehicles.
Alone, a Juggernaut would have been exactly that on a battlefield, however, the other two units I currently had facing me were to be deployed along with the MBT Platform, if only as a form of support. Each of the two other Battle-Forms were built with a specific role in mind, though, both were perfectly capable of wading into the thick of it, and defending themselves reasonably well against most attackers. They were called the Diplomat and the Rainmaker, serving as my new mainline Artillery and Anti-Air Platforms, respectively.
To start with, the Diplomat was named as such because, quite frankly, it solved problems through precise and enthusiastic application of firepower to said problems. It looked like a twelve metre tall, semi-Humanoid crab in terms of appearance, with four small legs coming from a 'waist' that connected to a hunchback-like body with no discernable head or neck. Attached to each side of the body at the 'shoulder' were two massive arms that each ended in a three-pronged claw, giving the machine a stride that had more in common with an ape than with a crab or Human. However, the reason for this was simply a matter of stability, as the addition of such massive limbs also acted as anchor points for when the Platform was firing, even if it was moving while doing so. Even with the Anti-grav/inertia systems added to the Diplomat to work as recoil control and dampening devices, I had considered the additional limbs to be a good idea due to the amount of firepower they carried around, especially since they could also be used as self-defense weapons and ad-hoc entrenching tools.
In terms of firepower the Diplomat couldn't be considered lacking. Each 'shoulder' carried a Gatling-style, triple barreled Artillery-Grade Smart Cannon, called the Storm Cannon as a flight of fancy, that had a minimum shell diameter of one hundred and fifty-five millimeters and a maximum shell diametre almost triple that. A single Storm Cannon could put out five shells every ten seconds, letting single Diplomat shower an entire area in lethal munitions that were internally produced and deployed from the machine itself. However, the Storm Cannons were only secondary when you considered the two cannons that extended from the machine's back and over its 'head'. Each of these cannons were massive monsters, with a minimum bore diametre of half a metre and a maximum of a full metre, the latter mode could only be achieved by fusing both cannons together. These guns, called Rex Cannons, could probably be considered insane and the results of some manner of overcompensation by a fair number of sane standards, and I'd probably agree with most of them, but the universe I was currently in was not a sane one. As such, I felt no guilt about deploying such weapons, especially with a rate of fire of around one shell every ten seconds, or one every five seconds, when fired in an alternating pattern. This feature was probably not helped by the fact that the ammo could be manufactured internally, but the real nightmare fuel for any future victims was the fact that the Diplomat also had a miniature Teleporter Gate installed within its heavily armored and Refractor Field protected body. This little bonus meant that I could ship mission specific ammo types directly to a Diplomat without worrying about any real logistics, especially in the case of ammo types that could not be stored internally, or could not be built in a battlefield-usable timeframe.
When compared to these colossal weapons of destruction, the various PD Lasers, the augmentation systems for the massive, main anchoring claws, the four 'waist'-mounted Plasma Mortars, and the forearm-mounted 'Uber'-Banshee Blades could almost be considered an afterthought. Of course, I doubted that anyone who had the misfortune to test these systems would not consider them to be anything approaching an 'afterthought', especially since I'd bet that the Diplomat had a decent chance of taking on an Imperial Knight and walking away the winner.
Further, when compared to these two giant war machines, the third of their number I had before me could almost be considered a dwarf. The Rainmaker was the 'smallest' of the three, standing at 'only' seven metres tall, but a fair bit wider than most of the machines I had already displayed. In terms of appearance, the Rainmaker was made from a central, hexagonal core that had three triangular platforms extending out from the core in an alternating pattern. From the underside of each platform, a single leg extended to give the Rainmaker its primary form of movement, further augmented by built-in AG systems that could 'lighten' the machine in order to rapidly allow it to 'leap' from one position to another. Between each of these three legs, however, came a single, segmented tendril that could extend to over twenty metres in length and had a built-in Power Field generator, allowing to function as a massive Power Whip and self-defense weapon.
These, and the PD Lasers, however, were not to the only weapons that the Rainmaker housed. From the core, a single turret could extend, mounting no less than six Heavy Rotary Smart Cannons that were primarily loaded with a mixture of Flak, Flechette and HEAP shells. However, those were just the default settings, other ammo types could be either internally produced or supplied through the internal Teleporter Gate. On its own, a single one of these turrets would have been enough to remove entire squadrons of aircraft from the sky, or slaughter an entire horde of infantry and lightly armored vehicles. With that in mind, I could have easily left the single turret alone and called the Rainmaker complete, but, in the process of designing the thing, I had decided to go further. This was primarily in the form of the systems integrated into the three triangular plates surrounding the central core. Said systems were, for the most part, straight copies of the same systems used by the Hex-Bastions to produce whatever kind of turret/weapon was needed at a given time to face a given enemy. Such a system gave the Rainmaker a large degree of flexibility in what it could attack, along with the kind of roles it could fill, even though it was primarily designated as an Anti-Air support unit. The default configuration of these Turret-Fabs supported this; A pair of five-by-five missile pods mounted on a single turret, with each missile tube being loaded with three individual missiles, in a similar manner to the Metal Storm weapon concept I was familiar with. The term 'Macross Missile Massacre' came to mind, especially since all of those missiles would be surface-to-air missiles by default.
Aside from that, the Rainmaker had the same kind of defenses one could expect from one of my Battle-Forms; PD Lasers to shoot at infantry, missiles and lightly armored vehicles; Multiple layers of Ceramite on top of an Adamantium exo/endoskeleton; A crap-ton of up-scaled Refractor Fields, the works.
With the inspection complete, the three designs disappeared as I immediately began the full-scale construction of the new additions to my forces. Gaps still existed in my current Order of Battle, but just these three units, on their own, were a step in the right direction.
XXX
Looking down at the world below, I could pick out every detail with dozens of electronic eyes.
From above, I could pick out every single defensive fortification that the Imperial Guard had deployed. I could see every soldier, every tank and every footstep carved into the mud under their shoes. The overcast sky offered no barrier to my sight, and only really served to set the scene. Indeed, the overcast sky, from several other angels, gave the impression of some kind of grim, last stand against impossible odds, the kind of thing that legends were spoken of. Admittedly, I doubted that they really knew how accurate that kind of metaphor really was for this situation, but I could see it, even as I noted down their positions and layers of defenses, going from the foot of the Hives all the way to fast fields of mud that surrounded the Hives' industrial sprawl.
Hours had been spent by these orbital eyes, simply watching and recording every troop movement and placement, every act of maintenance or fortification, and even every firing of a Commissar's Bolt pistol. Warminds and Battleminds had spent just as long dredging through those same details and running simulation after simulation, building battle plans and creating comprehensive maps of both the trenches surrounding the Hives, the industrial sprawl, and the Hive itself. Dozens of contingencies had been added to the grand collection of possible alternatives with masses of conditions required to trigger any of them, and allowing the Data-minds to carefully maintain control of the flow of battle, regardless of the situation.
Though, I doubted that many of them would ever see the light of day, especially since the Imperial Guard simply lacked the capability to stop the forces that were arrayed against them. Oh, I didn't doubt that they'd try and put up a good fight, but baseline Humans with lasguns were not a good match-up for an army of machines who were all specced to fight people in Power Armor. Not to mention the simple fact that I had the Imperial Guard outnumbered so badly, it wasn't even funny, especially with the number of reinforcements that were constantly being produced within every Poly-Complex I had. Hell, by that same logic, I outgunned them just as well, since even the weakest of the Combat-Forms I produced was a threat to anything from light infantry, all the way up to low-flying aircraft.
Absently, I considered an idea to up-gun the Sentries even further, as thoughts of an old Manga series I had enjoyed came to mind. Maybe by giving every few dozen such Kill-bots a gun kit capable of shooting down targets in orbit? An interesting idea, though, I was unsure about the utility of it, or the cost for that matter. Noting the idea down in the back of my mind, I turned back to the current situation.
Looking back down to the map of the world, a single thought caused something to shift. Instantly, dozens of target designations sprang to life as I saw the small timers located to each point, denoting the time of impact and the like. Other details played out, denoting what kind of weapon was to be used to destroy what target, along with what the payload of the weapon was. The range of weapons to be used in this one bombardment almost stretched the length and breadth of my arsenal, including everything from Lasers and Kinetic Kill Vehicles, to dirty Nukes and nanotech. Just thinking about it caused the information to appear in the simulated space before me, showing the forms of the orbital satellites, called Observer Combat-Forms, that were modeled after the warsats from Destiny. Each Observer was standing at the ready, weapons armed and targets locked in. They were waiting for me to give the command, a command that would sentence who-knew-how-many men and women to their deaths.
The same could be said for the forces that were already gathered and waiting for the signal to advance. These forces remained hidden for the moment, underground and behind walls of rock and dirt that were primed with explosives, ready to be removed and allow my forces to advance rapidly from an unexpected position. Dozens of tunnels ringed around the Hives, allowing me to engage the entire length of the Imperial trench line at once, in an attempt to stretch their resources thin. Along with that, dozens of task forces had been constructed to act as vanguard units, composed of heavier Battle-Forms mixed with a few designed with mobility in mind.
All of that was primed and ready to go, just waiting for the signal, the signal that would sign the death warrants of countless men and women. A signal that I gave with a second thought, as soon as I felt satisfied with my inspection of the soon-to-be-battlefield.
Immediately following the order, the Observers came to life. Their hulls opening like some kind of metallic flower as rings formed between the various 'petals', before flashing to life and revealing themselves to be the rings of Teleporter Gates. Each Observer's Teleporter Gate was variable in size, depending on the payload that passed through them. Most only had their Teleporter Gate extended to match their original diametre of six metres, while others had unfolded themselves further, expanding to a full fifteen metres as they awaited the passage of their assigned payloads. Only a moment's wait was required as the various payloads suddenly appeared through the simmering portals and fell towards their prey. From some, came spikes of metal that hung like the teeth of some great predator, finally clamping down upon the throat of its prey. From others, beams of light struck down from the sky like the fist of an angry god, setting the sky alight and scorching the ground with enough heat to turn it into miniature fields of glass.
From above, I could only watch the Imperials scramble to find cover as the beams hit first, their nature coherent beams of light, or something close enough, meant that such was never in doubt. Vehicle depots, fuel tanks, Field HQs, exposed defensive emplacements. all of these and more were set ablaze with the first strike. Tens of thousands of Guardsmen were caught as collateral damage from the bombardment. And in the blink of an eye, all of those same targets were gone, as were the beams of light that had erased them from existence. It really wasn't a surprise when the amount of Vox chatter from all over the frontlines spiked as most chains of command for frontline units simply ceased to exist, with Commissars struggling to try and reestablish some form of order to the chaos. Something that they were proving to be doing with a reasonable degree of success, especially as they believed that the bombardment they had just experienced was the harbinger of an enemy attack. Such a realization was enough to get more than a few Guardsmen to get their shit together quicker than others, while those that cracked were dealt with via the precision application of Bolt shells.
To be fair to them, they were right about the bombardment being the precursor to an attack that was heading directly for them. The charges had already been blown and my forces were racing towards the outer perimeter that the Imperial Guard had produced with significant speed. Juggernauts were taking the lead as they formed into an armored fist that was destined to batter and trample anything and anyone unlucky enough to be caught in front of them, while loaded to the brim with infantry platforms. Behind that, other units were moving, by comparison, at a more sedate pace, but even the slowest of them was still pushing over eighty miles per hour despite their appearances. The best example of that was probably found in the Bolos that were following right behind the Juggernauts, being only slightly slower than the mech-tanks, despite the fact that the Juggernauts were currently acting as hover-tanks and moving at two hundred miles per hour. Seeing such a thing would have probably caused a fair number of people to need to change into a pair of Brown pants, though, the local Imperial Guard seemed to have them as standard issue, given their current uniform.
However, while the remaining command staff of the individual units on the Guard's frontline were correct in that an attack was coming, they failed to realize one fact: The bombardment had yet to finish. Such a fact was something they only discovered at the last possible moment, just as the vanguard of my forces came into view, and the shells of my bombardment finally landed among them, having finished their journey through the atmosphere to their target.
And within moments of coming into sight of said targets, multiple shells detonated.
Dozens of different types of shells were mixed together, each detonating at a specific time so as to not interfere with the detonation of others. One of the first types of shells to detonate were filled with two metre long, Ceramite flechettes, propelled by the detonation behind them and showering the battlefield in a rain of razor-edged death. Such attacks were indiscriminate in their targets and blanketed the entire area with spikes that pierced through the hides of tanks, walkers, and even impaling several Guardsmen on their lengths. Other shells contained sub-munitions filled with toxin-coated lengths of mono-molecular wire that exploded in the air above trenches and turning them into charnel grounds, soaking the ground with blood and gore while ensuring that those that remained would not live long. And even more shells simply exploded in mid-air, throwing carpets of flaming Chlorine Trifluoride on to the soil as toxic fumes spilled into the air, even as everything was set on fire. And yet, other warheads and projectiles were detonated up and down the Imperial Guards' frontline ranging into the territory held by the Hammer of Big E as anarchy filled the vox-channels and the shouts of the soon-to-be-dead and dying filled the air. Salted Nukes, Neutron Bombs, Plasma Warheads, Thermobaric Explosives and any number of other horrors were all unleashed upon the defenders of the Imperial lines.
And those were just the more 'mundane' warheads that I had thrown into my bombardment. Many more were crafted from the length and breadth of my scientific understanding as Gravity Implosion devices generated short-lived Black Holes that compressed soldiers specks of matter smaller than grapes before crushing them together. Elsewhere, Nano-Disassembler warheads released clouds of Nano-D that rapidly dissolved any matter then came across and reduced them to nothing more than dust on the winds, carried through the surrounding firestorm by heated air, to go along with the agony-filled screams of the dying. And deep within the frontlines of the Imperial defenders, some shells made it all the way to the ground, embedding themselves in rockcrete, dirt and stone before releasing their cargo to the world.
Such shells were few, but their effects were massive as clouds of both Nano-C and Nano-D sprang to life, first ripping apart the surrounding matter and drawing in any carbon-based materials before repurposing them to rapidly construct a force of Combat-Forms within the heart of the enemy lines. Said Combat-Forms were really more of a series of Platforms that would were designed from the ground up to be intimidating, reasonably durable, as cheap to produce as possible, and as quick to produce as possible. The whole goal of such a series was to create a cannon-fodder type unit that could be mass produced, while also being a viable combatant in its own right, generally in the role of a skirmisher and scout. As such, the entire series of Husk-Pattern Combat-Forms lacked most kinds of advanced technologies and materials that were present in most of my other units.
In terms of construction, they were rather plain. Aggregated Diamond Nanorods formed the endoskeleton with Carbon Nanotube muscle bundles attached. Graphene wires and circuits formed the equivalent of a nervous system and brain, both of which were rapidly programmed by the Nano-C that was building them. Armored plates formed from more Aggregated Diamond Nanorods, Diamondoids and Carbon Nanotubes covered their skeletal forms while a carbon-based aerogel worked as both cushioning and energy dissipation for incoming attacks. Power was provided by a simplistic series of Hydrogen fuel cells that ran the length of any given Husk's spine, usually giving a total of twenty cells per Husk, that could allow one to operate unhindered for the better part of seven days before needing to be replaced by friendly forces. For weapons, most were armed with a mixture of nano-serrated, mono-molecular, vibrating talons for hands, sonic-based blaster cannons, and a few micro-smart munitions weapons scattered among the higher level Husks.
By my standards, they were basic and dirt cheap, especially since a Foundry could turn out entire batches of them in seconds. However, I'd also found that they could be produced by Nano-C clouds in a combat-viable timeframe, something I was witnessing right now as dozens of 'Husk shells' automatically assembled such Husks within the middle of enemy lines.
Though, an interesting side effect of the Nano-clouds seeking to re-purpose any carbon-laden objects for their use was that said Nano-clouds were actively seeking out Guardsmen and tearing them apart. Not really unexpected in hindsight, since I could remember reading once that the average adult Human had something in the region of sixteen kilograms of carbon in their bodies, assuming a weight of around seventy kilograms in total. Now, that was just the average, but it helped a fair bit as I watched the new units rapidly being constructed by the nanites that had just dissolved more enemy combatants.
Still, upon being completed I felt the new Combat-Forms link into my network as I gave their marching orders and watched them go to work. Instantly, dozens of them were in motion as I watched the first of them leap from its cover within a Nano-cloud and bisect a Guardsman without difficulty. Others quickly surged out of the Nano-clouds as well, until there was a near-flood of such constructs as they slammed into the rear of multiple frontline units. Over Vox intercepts, I could hear the confusion mounting as the skeletal Husks slammed into the still-reeling Imperial Guard formations. I could hear commands demanding their forces to calm down and get back in formation; I could hear Commissars demanding that Guardsmen get back in line and face the enemy or be executed; I could hear the screams of the dying as they begged the Emperor to save them.
In the end, none of them really got what they wanted, as the origin locations of each transmission was swarmed by Husks, any resistance was crushed through sheer attrition. By the time my mainline forces reached the former battle lines of the Imperial Guard, only the corpses and ruined equipment of a dozen battalions remained to mark that they had ever been present. Any survivors that had remained had been ordered to pull back or carry out a 'last stand' in order to allow other units to pull back without constantly being under attack from increasingly more numerous waves of Husk Forms. Observers in orbit were continuing to watch as the Guard formations continued to retreat back to the Hives, trying to use some kind of leapfrog-like tactic to maintain distance from the approaching waves of Husks even as they pulled back to their next line of defense.
Something that, I considered, was probably going to be easier said than done, considering that the Husk bombs, in particular, had not just been targeted at the immediate area of the frontlines. Not to mention the other patterns of Forms that were currently running loose within the Imperial-held territory.
XXX
DAKKA!DAKKA!DAKKA! DAKKA!DAKKA!DAKKA...!
To say that Inquisitor Thresa Palmios, Inquisitor of the Ordo Xenos, was having a bad day was the understatement of the millennia. Right from the start, since she had entered the Kaurava System, her time had been dominated by one moment of frustration after another. Looking back, she couldn't help but wonder just where things had gone wrong as she absently checked her surroundings, reloading her Bolter with practiced fingers as she glanced towards the victim of her fire. Said victim had collapsed to the ground with several holes punched through the surprisingly durable black armor of the skeletal constructs that had long since invaded the Hive.
Grimacing slightly at that, Thresa picked up the pace. Two hours was all it had taken for everything to get thrown into the Warp as reports surged through the local Vox-network of black, death clouds ripping people to pieces before spewing out hordes of the skeletal constructs. Indeed, entire areas had been flooded before the confusion had worn off, every inhabitant killed and butchered before a counter attack could be mustered. By then, the attacks were far too widespread to do anything but pull back forces and quarantine the entire area while forces were concentrated to allow for a systematic purge of the Hive. It was a good plan, a solid plan that would have worked against a vast majority of the foes that stalked the void, but in this case, it proved to be a mistake.
Just thinking about it was enough to cause the grimace to grow large upon Thresa's face. Initially, the purge had worked, cleansing the areas of the Xenos constructs and pushing them back into the cover of the death clouds that conjured them. Nine areas had been purged of the constructs, along with the sources of their infestations, but not without significant costs to the attacking forces. More Guardsmen and PDF had to be called to face each area after the first successful purge, as the number of skeletal constructs only grew in number the longer that they were contained. Eventually, a breakout had happened as the massive hordes surged through corridors and clambered over their own dead to rip and tear apart those that stood between them and the rest of the Hive. From one of the Command HQs that the Imperial Guard had scattered in, around and throughout the Hive, Thresa had gotten a good view of breakout as it had happened, to go along with a view of the greater situation of the region.
Both such views had not painted a pretty picture.
In every area that had been under quarantine, the Xenos constructs had proven themselves as ruthless machines. Their surprising durability and agility had made them difficult targets to kill, even in the horde-swarm tactics that they had engaged in. Things weren't helped by the fact that the constructs displayed a great deal of accuracy and skill with their own weapons, killing Guardsmen as they advanced before closing to melee. Thresa was no adept of the Mechanicus, but even she could tell that these constructs had been purpose built for melee combat, especially since she had yet to see a single one of them without the massive mono-talon gauntlets that seemed to be standard for all of them. And, it had shown as they displayed their prowess in battle as pict-captures had recorded every battle and displayed them on the hololithic tactical displays. In such a fight, the Guardsmen and PDF troopers had put up a good fight, but they had still been butchered to the last. The constructs had advanced over puddles of blood and chunks of meat that had once been men without pause, nor concern for their own casualties.
Stopping to peek around a corner, Bolter at the ready, Thresa quietly wondered just how things had gone so wrong. Searching down the distant corridor with an exacting and experienced eye, she saw no sign of the constructs, though, she knew all too well that one could easily be lurking in some distant shadow. The Inquisitor had already seen such a thing happen multiple times, and was not in a hurry to experience being on the victim of such an attack by some Xenos Murder-Servitor. Taking a step around the corner and down the corridor, tried recalling the way to the closest hangar bay as she recalled the scenes of the grander situation that she had seen in the HQ before being forced to leave by an advanced force of the Xenos Constructs. Said advanced force had ripped through the command post, killed the staff and butchered all of her Acolytes and Agents, before forcing her to run in order to not be overrun by the ever-increasing swarm of machines.
Losing her Acolytes and Agents had not been something she had enjoyed, especially since it meant the loss of all her heavy combat assets in one fight, however, such thoughts were for another time. Pushing her mind to the immediate problem, she reminded herself that she was wasting time, something she couldn't allow. The grim reality of the region was that it was being overrun in turn, not only by more hordes of metallic, skeletal fiends, but by what must have been the mainline forces of this new group of Xenos. And if the Xenos Murder-Servitors weren't bad enough, the mainline units of this Xenos race seemed a dozen times worse, if only because even the weakest of them had more in common with an Astartes in Power Armor than a normal Guardsman. (changed soldier to Astartes)
And the less said about the heavier forces that the Inquisitor had briefly glimpsed from Vox-transmissions, the better. Not that such a thing had prevented her from grabbing a copy of all the data, to warn the wider Imperium of this new threat, should she escape this system.
Turning another corner before advancing towards the end of the corridor, the member of Ordo Xenos advanced on a distant lifter before smashing an armor-clad finger on to the Activation-Rune. Silently, she prayed for the God-Emperor's protection while she waited, keeping an eye on the area around her even as she noted just how utterly exposed she was. Five different corridors all lead directly to the Lifter she now stood before, which acted as a pillar in the centre of the room, while there was nothing solid enough for her to use as cover, should an enemy attack from any direction. Keeping her guard up, Thresa Palmios silently cursed her luck for the thousandth time as the quiet tick of the Lifter filled the silent, dead air, recalling how she had even managed to get stuck in this system in the first place.
It had been just another assignment, observing an Imperial Navy battle group as it moved to eliminate a Tau fleet. Many of her colleges had believed that this was a precursor to another Tau 'Sphere of Expansion', but that was not immediately clear, even with the size of the fleet that had arrived in the Kaurava system. Of course, regardless of its task, her own task had been clear, as had the task of the Imperial Navy, as they had marshaled a battlegroup and prepared to assault the Xenos and wipe them from the stars. Against the might of even a small Battlegroup, in open battle, very few had any doubt about the outcome of such a battle. However, that was before the Warpstorm had come, devastating entire sections of the system, wiping out a portion of the Battlegroup and plunging Kaurava IV into madness and turning it into a haven of madmen, traitors and heretics. And things had only kept on piling up from there, with the arrival of the Space Marines, the Sisters of Battle, an Ork Warboss strong enough to unity the local Orks with his own warbands, the Eldar, the Dark Eldar, the Necrons, the Warp Storm.
And now this; A new Xenos race, one that apparently had little problem throwing around Atomics and other, more esoteric, weapons of planetary destruction. A new Xenos race that also appeared to, at the very least, have control of the planet's orbit enough to bombard the Hives and launch multiple assault forces directly into the Hive. That, combined with the presence of the Warp Storm in the system, meant that trying to get a message off-planet and to the rest of the Imperium was going to be difficult. Still, that didn't change Thresa's self-appointed task and duty to inform the rest of mankind of this new threat, even in the face of such odds. Absently, the Inquisitor offered a prayer to the God-Emperor, asking for his protection in carrying out her sacred work, if only to reach the safety of Kaurava II, where the assembled forces of the Blood Ravens waged war upon the greenskins. If nothing else, one of their Librarians might have a better chance of punching through the miasma of madness that isolated the system.
At least, that was the hope.
... fizz...
The sudden sound of metal hitting metal fills the dead air, dragging the Inquisitor from her thoughts as instincts suddenly screamed at her to move!Without thinking, Thresa dropped low and rolled out of the way as something passed through the space her upper body had once been, the sound of tortured metal being ripped apart filled the stagnant air as she finished her roll and jumped to her feet, gaining a bit of distance as she turned to the source of the attack. As she did so, the Inquisitor couldn't help but note the current state of the Lifter she had been waiting on, which could be generously described as 'bisected'. The Lifter's pillar had been cut completely in half, with the metal rent apart, the edges steaming very slightly while the smell of ozone filled the air. It made Thresa glad she had reacted in time, since, as good as her armor was, she doubted that her protections could stand up to the sheer level of destruction that a Power Weapon of such potency could generate.
A flicker in the corner of her vision was enough to make her amend that thought, since it was rather clear that she would not be given a choice in the matter as her attack stepped out from the shadows, it's existence first displayed by the flickering arcs of energy that formed the Power Field before it stepped into what little light was present within the chamber. With three surprisingly quiet steps, her attacker became partially visible to her, and causing a chill to run down her spine at the sight before her.
Thresa Palmios was an Inquisitor, and, as such, she was no stranger to the inhuman, the mutant and the demonic in one form or another. Fear had long since been expunged from her, through her training with her mentor, her own experiences, and her Faith in the God-Emperor. However, that did not mean she was incapable of recognizing danger when she saw it, nor did it mean that she was incapable of knowing when it was best to cut her losses and retreat.
And right now, she was looking at an opponent that had every single one of her instincts screaming at her that any fight against this Xenos-Construct was not a fight she could win. Even hunched over as it was, the construct towered over her with ease, it's head hanging near the ceiling of the passage it had come from as the faceless mask remained locked on her as a jeering mouth of razor-edged teeth grinned at her in an expression of predatory hunger. Long arms came from a thin torso, each hand either hanging near the body, or grasping at the edges of the entryway it stood in, all edged with murderous claws that dripped with the lifeblood of more of the God-Emperor's chosen people. The blood painted a grim picture of where this construct had just come from, especially as it dripped from six distinct hands, either slowly cascading down the walls or dropping to the floor and collecting in puddles and rivets of liquid. However, it was the lithe tail that caught her attention the most as it slithered and flickered through the air to the side of the construct, or, more accurately, the large, scythe-like blade attached to the tip that still buzzed with a still-active Power Field that had almost taken her life.
Keeping her eyes on the construct, Thresa watched as it's jaws opened very slightly, it's head lowering as its tail stilled, a hissing sound filled the air even as the Inquisitor tightened one hand around the grip of her Bolter while her other hand reached into the folds of her great coat to pull another weapon free. Idly, Thresa wondered if she could try to escape the machine, maybe slip down a side passage and evade it long enough to reach a still-intact shuttle?
Unfortunately for the Inquisitor, she was given no more time to think of plans to escape and survive, as the machine suddenly moved, shooting forwards at an impressive velocity as it howled at her. Reacting on instinct, Thresa pulled the trigger of her Bolter even as she took off in a sprint down another corridor with the construct right on her heels. All other thoughts were thrown aside as the Inquisitor recalled a mental map of this section of the Hive even as she continued to fire short, accurate bursts of fire at her foe, trying to slow it down, even if only for a few seconds, as she targeted limbs and potential obstructions to distract the murder machine.
The race against time was back on, and this time, the Inquisitor was racing not only against the invading forces, but the mechanical creature they had unleashed upon her. A race where the only outcomes were to live or to die.
And for Inquisitor Thresa Palmios, to die was to fail the God-Emperor and her sacred duty. As such, failure was not an option.
XXX
Pulling back from the eyes of one of my Forms, I looked over the maps and raw data as it poured in from the frontline units. Reports and figures were being written and drawn up by my Warminds and Battleminds, all of them relating to how individual sections of the current series of battles were going. Honestly, even without looking at the continual updates that the Warminds were sending me, I could see how this battle was going and I could tell that it was only going to end one way.
After the Husks had been unleashed, the frontlines of the Imperial Guard fell to pieces, often literally, as those that remained scrambled to regroup. The further use of Husk bombs throughout the territory held by the Guard simply added more and more problems as the number of Husks grew to the point of saturation. More than one section of the Guard's territory was swarming with Husks that were surging into other areas, at least one 'minor' Hive had fallen completely and another two were in the process of being purged of all life as I watched on. The primary Hive on the planet was also infested with Husks, and was looking very close to falling soon, especially given the location of the frontlines, which had been pushed right to the base of that particular set of Hives.
Even from the view of my Observers, it was possible to see Juggernauts smashing through defensive fortifications and releasing their cargo of Kill-bots into the hastily made trenches of the Guardsmen. Sentries, Templars, Legionnaires, a few Gladiators, Collectors and more Husks than one could shake a stick at were battering the Human lines. There were no breaks, no rests and no other option than to die for them, even as they emptied clip after clip after clip into the oncoming hordes, only to have no effect on the near-endless number of replaceable cannon fodder. Any attempts to rally themselves were crushed under mechanical boots even as my forces continued onward, butchering Commissars and Priests as they continued to advance forwards into the former territory of the Imperial Guard. Hell, Governor-General Vance Stubbs even tried to rally the men behind him in a counter charge, gathering his few remaining Tank Companies, including a few dozen Baneblades, and trying to get some breathing room for his forces. A risky gamble, one that had the potential to pay off in a very big way if they could remove the heavier forces from the playing field and make use of the heavier weapons located on the various patterns of vehicles.
It was a gamble that failed.
Maulers and Diplomats rained shells down on their mustering point while Ruiners slaughtered their advanced forces. Rainmakers unleashed walls of high-velocity projectiles and missiles upon those that managed to escape the initial carnage, reducing them to paste even as Juggernauts rushed into the rain of shells without concern. Without pause, they tore through the hulls of Leman Russ Tanks and Baneblades alike, using claws and powerful motors to easily crush any survivors within fists of Adamantium and Ceramite. Collectors and Engineers joined the search soon after the bombardment finished, picking up the wrecks and corpses and Reclaiming them for any useful materials that could be folded back into my war machine. Indeed, it was through this search that they found the remains of Governor-General Vance Stubbs, who had thought it a good idea to pick a fight with a Juggernaut, and came out worse for it. A quick review had been enough for me to see when and how that happened, even as I saw the initial message denoting the death of enemy leadership.
I honestly found it rather ironic, since the man had such big dreams of advancing through the ranks, and yet, he was no reduced to nothing more than a statistic in a war for the very planet he hoped to Liberate. Anti-climatic, one could say, even if his death had been anything but, as he was ripped limb from limb by a Juggernaut doing a passable, if unknowing, impression of a curious kitten.
After that single moment, their leadership eliminated, the various Data-minds had taken the time to create a timer that was counting down the seconds to what was deemed as 'total victory'. A quick glance at the clock showed that there was still another thirteen hours left on it until all objectives were complete, with various secondary timers for each individual objective and markers for the current progress and thoroughness of each completed objective. For instance, the main objective of conquering the Hives was basically complete, however, if I wanted to have them completely under my control, I'd need to wait another four hours for all resistance to be eliminating from all of them. Likewise, the same could be said for my control of the planet, which was ticking closer and closer to completion as the last few defenders died. Admittedly, there were a few that surrendered or tried to run, but they were few and far between, especially since I hadn't priorities the capture of Human lives for this operation. At best, it was a nice thing to happen, but it was not really that important, especially since I already had around five and a half million people going through the Thought-Forges and getting ready to be turned into Seelie, at least, once Neta finalized the transformation process.
However, the one exception to that had been the Inquisitor that had been found by a lurking Phonoi, which had been a rather pleasant surprise, to say the least. Though, the main reason for that, was simply due to what she may know, such as information normally restricted to one Ordo or another, which she might have been a member of. Even if she had only ever served in one of the big three Ordos of the Inquisition, that still meant that I could have found a potential gold mine of information by sheer chance alone, something I wasn't about to turn down, even if I did question how I had gotten that lucky. Regardless, her capture was beyond doubt at this point, especially given the Form that was currently chasing after her in the process of pinning her down and subduing her.
The Phonoi-Pattern was part of a new family of Forms I had been working on at the same time as the Juggernaut, Diplomat and Rainmaker, but with a different purpose in mind. The grouping itself was called the Discord-Class, named in part for their function of assassination, infiltration, mass-murder and causing utter havoc both on the frontlines and behind them. The Phonoi-Pattern Battle-Form was just the first of them, named after the male personifications of murder in Greek mythology and one of the many children of Eris, goddess of discord and strife.
And given the mess that even one of them had made in the process of eliminating the inhabitants of the upper levels of the Hive, I'd honestly say that the name was well earned by this point...
XXX
AN: Ok, there you have it. Hope you lot enjoyed this chapter and feel free comment or offer feedback, suggestions are also welcome. Hope you enjoyed!