Disclaimer: I own jackshit
AN: Merry Christmas to all! I bring festive greetings and this most brilliant gift! Straight from the madness of my Muse, I give you, a new Chapter! It took a while to put together, and no small number of headaches, but it was put together with surprisingly few mistakes in it, something that weirded me out, along with Vladicus, who I had asked to check it for any signs of madness. Still, I'm not about to look a Christmas Miracle in the mouth, so enjoy!
XXX
God-fucking-Damnit! Where the hell had this all come from!? Why was I getting blindsided by this bullshit from out of nowhere?! There should have been signs! Events that stood out like great big fucking beacons for the entire system to see! Fucking hell, did my presence cause this? Because I sure as shit didn't remember this kind of situation cropping up when I had played Soulstorm, in what seemed like a lifetime ago... Then again, this universe was no longer a game, especially since I was no stuck in the middle of it with no opportunities for a save point, restart or a respawn if shit hit the fan.
Taking a moment to myself, I forced down any surprise and unease I felt, careful of the Restoration Protocols that buzzed in warning under the oceans of code that formed my mind as I tried to take a proper inventory of the situation and just how fucked it was. Even so, alerts and high-priority reports flashed through my network with haste as they attempted to inform me of just how fucked the situation was. Already, I could feel Warminds, Battleminds and Forgeminds shifting their incredible processing power towards any and all possible solutions to the current situation as the Coven grasped every shred of data and worked itself into a frenzy of wild brainstorming. Ideas were being thrown around as quickly as they were being thrown away after one fault or another was identified in them as different groups focused on different priorities. The Coven focused on something that they believed was 'worthy' of me and would serve as a proper means to shatter the obstacles that had now been revealed to me. The Warminds and Battleminds were focusing on reusability and effectiveness, in the hopes of creating something that could be deployed again in the future if similar difficulties were encountered. Lastly, the Forgeminds were focusing on cost-efficiency and ease of production, not caring if the result was a single-use weapon, just as long as it could be produced quickly and easily to remove the current obstacles while using up as little time and resources as possible.
Seconds after these problems had been revealed, I could see thousands of ideas being thrown around by the members of each group as processors were over-cloaked and the load was spread over hundreds of thousands of kilometres of networked computers. Refinements, alterations and upgrades were made every moment as more data came back from the rapidly expanding orbital presence around Kaurava II and IV, sending back more data-dense reports on a series of situations that looked to be rapidly spiraling out of control. Looking back at the reports, I glimpsed the images taken from the growing network of Observers and arriving Architects that painted a grim picture of both planets.
Kaurava II had been transformed into a free-fire zone by a combination of my own Forms and the Orks as both did battle with little in the way of restraint between them. The Orks bellowed, and shouted, and laughed, and cheered for the 'good fight' that they now took part in as the world around them burned. Ever growing and escalating Hordes of Orks surged from the jungles of the planet like an immune response as they sensed the conflict centered around my landed Footholds. Mountains of corpses and wrecks covered the battle lines as more and more were constantly being added to the ever-growing piles with no respite in sight. The air was thick with the sounds of battle, death and destruction as bullets screamed their eager anticipation to the world. Smoke clouds blotted out the sun and turned day to night as the firestorm of carnage continued, the only sources of light coming from the burning trees, fuel-drenched wrecks, and the steady beat of explosions that marched over the warzone.
It was the kind of fight that Orks lived for, that they dreamed of, and they threw themselves into it without hesitation while screaming their lungs out in joy. The blackened hellscape had become as close to an Ork paradise as one could get as blood and oil mixed freely on the ash blasted rock and dirt, filling the air with their foul stench as they soaked into everything. Though, rather than being disgusted with this scent, it only seemed to encourage the Orks further, as it set their Mekboys to work with a maniacal fever of excitement. Unfortunately, this also led back to one of my current problems.
Gargants and Stompas, seventeen of the former and over double that number for the latter. They marched from deep within the Ork-held forests at the heart of yet another Orkish Horde that screamed war-cries and laughter to the sky above with no care for if someone heard them. Not a single one of the ad-hoc constructed Ork Gargants was under twenty metres tall, with the tallest of them being just forty centimetres shy of thirty metres in height. Their Scrap-iron construction did nothing to take away from the impressive amounts of firepower they carried, a dozen guns pointing out from their egg-like bodies and ready to spit fire at anyone that might have the misfortune to wonder into the range of the insults to decent engineering. Still, if it had only been the fifty-seven Orkoid Titans and the rampaging Ork hordes that escorted them in one colossal location, then things might have been manageable. Sure, it would be a massive potential drain on resources, but I wasn't running low on materials to convert into combat drones, especially since there might have been a chance to just nuke the Greenskins from orbit and be done with them. Unfortunately, as with Orks, the situation was nowhere near that accommodating.
Sensors were picking up energy readings that the members of my Coven were able to deduce to be some form of energy shield, emitted from the largest Gargants present on the planet and nicely covering the entire horde as it intercepted missiles and artillery shells with insulting ease. The Orks screamed and cheered, treating such attacks as though they were fireworks and working themselves up into a frenzy as they drew closer and closer to the battlefield. Even the Anti-Energy Shield munitions that I'd created specifically to deal with the Tau energy Shields had little, to no, effect on the damned things. With no ranged option that could one-hit-kill the damned things, my next best option was get under that shield that the Orks were generating and to eliminate them at close range. Though, how effective that might be was questionable at best, since I was severely lacking in any combat data regarding Titan-vs-Titan combat. The fight with the Tau KX139 Ta'unar Supremacy Armor didn't count, since they had been all but dead by the time a proper fight could have taken place.
And, of course, this still left the problem of where the damned things had been made. Following the trail of destruction caused by the passage of the Orkish machines was enough to find the initial construction site of the constructs. Said sites were still hives of activity even after the Gargants and Stompas had left, as gantries moved in and encircled areas with scaffolding while dozens of Ork Boyz run rampant over the caste Iron construction. I could see materials being moved around with the typical Ork efficiency while Mekboyz screamed at the lesser Orks to get things done, or risk suffering a swift whack from a heavy wrench to the face in punishment. All around the construction sites, I could see the remains of multiple Orkish constructs that were being stripped of parts and plates to be used in the continuing activity, salvage from a half-dozen Ork voidcraft wrecks. From orbit, I could already make out the skeletons of more Gargants and Stompas being assembled with the usual lack of standardization that the Greenskins lived and breathed. More gantries were even being constructed in an organic web of activity, stretching out from a central point that must have been the original Mekboy's workshop and the sources of their raw materials. Said sources came in the form of a half dozen 'small' wrecks that hadn't been vaporized in my opening attack and had plummeted to the ground, having been too close to the planet that, once destroyed, they had fallen prey to the gravity well of the planet. Though, that didn't really help me much, since even a single one of the kilometre long wrecks would have provided enough raw materials for a truly horrifying number of Stompas and Gargants.
This all added up to mean that I wasn't just looking at one wave of Ork Titans, but the potential for several, with each wave only growing larger as more gantries were brought online and more raw materials were harvested from their own wrecks. Protected by powerful energy shields that were even more potent than those of the Titans, an initial attempt to destroy them with a shot from an orbital Hellbore only served to trigger the shield and flatten some of the surrounding jungle, bathing the group in lethal amounts of radiation. Something that the Orks didn't even register as they raced through radiation-soaked badlands without a care in the world and drawn by the lure of a good fight. The only good thing about that situation was the fact that the Orks had yet to try getting off the planet. The key word there being 'yet'. If I lost my current Forward Operations Base on the planet, and the Space Marines were dealt with, then I fully expected it to become a question of 'when', no 'if', the Orks would break back into the void and fight me for control of the space between planets.
In isolation, the situation with the Orks of Kaurava II would have been a difficult, but semi-manageable problem due to being able to focus them down and grind them into the dust. However, the problem I was having was that this campaign for control of each planet in the Kaurava system was not in isolation, which meant I also needed to deal with my other problem on Kaurava IV. Namely, it seemed that the mad-bastards of Chaos had decided that now would be a brilliant time to begin a little urban renewal.
Namely, they had decided to start building Gehemahnets. Plural.
Eight of them, to be specific. Not really surprising, since I remembered that the Chaos Lord of Kaurava IV, Firaeveus Carron, was a Chaos Champion of Khorne and dedicated to the Eightfold Path as a result, even if it was a bit strange for a member of the Alpha Legion to worship the Blood God. Each of the eight Gehemahnets were spread across the entire planet and arranged so that one was located in each of the polar regions of the planets, with the remaining six lining the equator at regular intervals. From captured images of the various construction sites, miles of land surrounding each of the unholy constructs was covered with Hell-forges that worked day and night to continually produce the spider-like Daemon engines that functioned like demented cranes. Smog filled the air around each of the unfinished pillars, but not enough for me to be unable to see the untold millions of slaves that were forced to work under threat of their Overseer's whip if they showed even the smallest hint of unproductiveness. Any who fell to the ground, dead or unconscious were taken away, where their fate was to be added to the 'Blood Mortar' that would hold the massive columns of rubble in place. It was this mixture of blood mortar and the rubble, taken from the ruined cities of the planet, that would be the only construction materials used, and what would give the spire the very properties that the Forces of Chaos longed for.
Once completed, these towers would become siphons and beacons for the powers of the Warp, drawing it into the Matterium and channeling the mutative energies of Chaos into the planets they were built on, tainting it and turning the planet into a Daemon World. Just one of these towers could turn a planet into a Daemon World, but to have eight of the damned things spoke of just how over-eager Firaeveus was to show his devotion to his Gods, especially given the very task that he had been given, and the reward attached and dangled in front of him. After all, for the chance to become a Daemon Prince, the price of four worlds and two moons all being converted into Daemon Worlds was stupidly small. Hence, why the idiot was trying to go overboard with his task and turn even a single planet into one oversized sacrifice dedicated to the Blood God.
Still, irrational hatred for Rhinos aside, the man was not an idiot and had made sure that his offering would not be prevented from being offered up to the Master of the Eightfold Path on the biggest silver platter in existence. Rings of defenses lined the outskirts of every construction site with dozens of miles of trenches and fields of Daemonically Possessed weapons that all pointed outwards, seemingly radiating blood lust and eagerness to kill anyone stupid enough to come near them. Hundreds of Traitor Marines commanded the assembled might of millions of cultists that stood ever-eager to obey their dark masters in the hopes of appeasing the Gods and earning some form of infernal reward of their own. Legions of Chaos-tainted machines and Engines waited with ill-fitting eagerness as to the moment that they would either go to battle, or see the twisted monuments they guarded completed.
I honestly couldn't tell which of the two they were looking forwards to, but it hardly mattered, especially as more and more waves of madmen and twisted things came barreling towards what little territory that I held, in respect to the size of the planet. It didn't help that at least my Footholds had landed as far from any of the Gehemahnets as was possible, with armies storming over Warp-touched soil and screaming like the damned at the prospect of battle. Even if individually weak, millions of cultists backed up by Traitor Marines was a force to be reckoned with, especially since every moment brought fresh bodies for the Forces of Chaos to throw into my meat-grinder. Such a prospect was turning any advance into a bloody slog, even with the liberal use of radiological, nuclear and nanonic weapons. It didn't help that each wave of reinforcements were also bringing heavier and heavier weapons to bear on my FOB on the planet, with some groups even coming with a storming vanguard of Corrupted Titans surrounded by a vanguard of lesser Chaos Knights of one kind or another.
Hell, the smallest group of Chaos Titans I'd seen thus far had fielded at eight Feral-Class Scout Titans, three Ravager Class Titans and a further sixteen Corrupted Knights of one kind or another, but weighted extremely heavily towards the heavy end of the spectrum with lots of tainted Dominus-pattern machines. In some ways, the situation on Kaurava IV was even worse than with the Orks, since they weren't limited by the available resources on the planet itself. Their forces were ripped straight through open maws of unreality that bled from the Warp, and making a mockery of interstellar distances in the process. From above, I could only watch in growing worry, careful of my Protocols, as grander and grander legions of nutters stepped from the bleeding wound in space-time. Each only brought forth with the sacrifice of greater and greater numbers of half-insane men, women and children bearing the wounds of sadistic tortures.
Still, it did bring one thought to the forefront as I watched fresh warriors stride through blood-energized portals: Just what kind of resources did Firaeveus Carron possess? I mean, I knew a bit about the guy, but what I knew was purely restricted to his appearance in the 40k universe, which was limited to a singular game. And even then, there wasn't all that much background information beyond his task, what Traitor Legion he had come from, which of the Four he served, and what would happen if he won.
Aside from that? Nothing.
It wasn't a situation I quite liked, let alone one where the other side was led by a half-insane Transhuman warrior with multiple millennia of experience in warfare and who-knew-what kind of resources to pull on. Hell, the fucker could have easily been supported by a bigger Chaos Lord or Daemon Prince that was putting him forwards as a way of increasing his own strength via proxy. Not an impossibility, but I honestly couldn't say one way or the other since anything was really possible when you considered just how mentally unstable a majority of the Forces of Chaos were.
Then again, knowing all those useful bits of information about Firaeveus would still do me exactly fuck-all good at this point, since I was already neck-deep in the shit at this point. Still, picking up everything and running like hell at this point seemed like a stupid idea, if only because it meant abandoning every opportunity that I was looking at in this system alone. Combat data and tech samples were just two of the main opportunities that were present, with others being present in the form of future opportunities if I was able to play my cards right and grab key individuals before they disappeared. Of course, being able to do so also hinged on being able to deal with the current twin situations that were staring me down like the barrels of a double-barreled Shotgun.
So yes, the joys...
XXX
Ok... I had identified the problems I now faced, but now I needed some solutions before the system was submerged in Orks Spores and/or Warp-madness.
Orks first, if only because I had more available resources in the immediate area to throw at them. Namely, the massive horde of Forms that were currently waiting for orders on Nan Yanoi. First order I could think of was to start building more Heavy Teleporter Gates to allow a greater amount of volume of my Forms to pass though. A few of the massive portals were already present, but definitely not enough to be able to turn the tide on their own. Building more would allow me to funnel more Forms through to Kaurava II as they came online in Foundries on Kaurava I, not to mention the Poly-Complexes that were already being constructed on Nan Yanoi as more and more resources were being thrown at the problem. Once those Gates were complete, it would offer me a bit more breathing room, but that was it. Orks would be drawn to the conflict, and I didn't want to be completely surrounded by Ork warbands as they expanded the battle line beyond the current size it stood at. Especially since the current battle field was already the size of a decent sized country in its own right.
Second order of business was to try and contain the Orks, or, at least, the main warband that was pumping out Gargants like they were going out of fashion. To do that, I needed mobility, which was something I currently lacked on Kaurava II. Sky-Gates were under construction to go along with the Heavy Gates and standard Teleporter Gates, but the time delay could mean the difference between victory and defeat. And in this case, the main delay was in the form of the more complex mechanisms that allowed the various Teleporter Gates to bridge the distance between points. As such, I decided to bypass that entirely by recreating a concept familiar to anyone that had played Planetary Annihilation: The Unit Cannon.
In truth, it was just a redesigned version of the original Little Murphy Cannons that I had altered and updated to suit my needs, even if it used a different name. Said alterations coming in the form of an increase in barrel and shell diametre, along with changes to the ammo that was being fired. In place of slugs or shells, each projectile launched from these weapons would be an oversized Drop Pod that had enough capacity to hold as much as four fully loaded Juggernauts, or something of equivalent in volume. Some Deployment Shells would carry exactly that kind of load, while others would be filled with mixtures of other Forms that ran the full length of my arsenal, including several dozen specialist Deployment Shells that had been constructed for the exclusive transport and deployment of the only War-Forms that I had produced thus far. Such a thing was no small task, since I had put the Bolo War-Forms through a number of revisions since the original version had been unleashed upon Kaurava I, each version improving upon the last as new technologies were added to the ever growing arsenal of the vehicles. Currently, the production model was in its seventeenth version and had grown massively from the original, both in size and in destructive potential. As such, a single Warbringer Shell could only hold two Bolos within a complex harness of mag-locked Adamantium struts, Hardener Fields and Inertia Compensators.
For such powerful machines, I was taking no chances in ensuring that they reached the battlefield as intact as was possible. Something that was no easy feat for oversized tanks that now measured over fifty metres long, thirty-two metres wide and twenty-three metres tall. Then again, they had enough redundancies and self-repair functionality built into them that I could have just used a bunch of Architects to build them in orbit and drop them on top of the Orks, and they'd survive before going on to kill anyone stupid enough to come near them.
Moving on from there, third order of business for dealing with the Orks was to keep the pressure on. I didn't want the Orks taking back territory that I had ripped away from them, and I certainly didn't want the Space Marines to try deep-striking into what land I had already acquired, especially since they were mostly contained in that little Firebase they had built into the Mountains of Kaurava II. Admittedly, I would still need to deal with them, but I could put that off for the moment. The Orks took priority over the limited number of Space Marines, especially since I wanted to capture as many of the Blood Ravens as I could, if only so that I could study their Gene-Seeds and neural structures for more information.
Still, to keep the pressure on meant constructing more Foundries and unit-producing structures at a faster and faster rate, along with increasing the income of matter and energy that I had. The mass extractors built into every Hex-Foundation was working away, stripping layer after layer of matter from the planet, but it could only work so quickly, and I needed something a hell of a lot faster to keep up with demand. New structures were created, designed to assist with the need for more raw materials as they extended massive pillars of nano-forged composite materials through the crust of the planet they were built upon. Each Mantle Well could construct a single pillar under it in sections from built-in Fabricators, with each section being covered with the equivalent of several dozen Mass Extractors. A mixture of nanotech and gravitational field systems were built into each, designed to rip elements from the flesh of the planet they were built on and transmute it into the slurry of electrons, protons and neutrons that I used as Fabricator feedstock. Admittedly, the Mantle Wells would take time to breach the planetary crust, but their outputs would ramp up quickly once they hit the element rich Outer Mantle, then the Inner Mantle, and the Core itself.
Still, like all my previous orders of business, the Mantle Wells would take time to reach that critical mass before the resource income could snowball from there. Though, once it got there... Yeah, that was going to be a lot of fun.
The same orders were also being carried out to deal with the Lunatics of Chaos, since I could do little else at this point beyond turtle as hard as I could, hold the line and pray that my build queues were finished before they could push me off the planet. Still, the situation was very definitely against me, since I had the least assets present around Kaurava IV to work with, especially since I was still looking for the Dark Eldar on the local moon. Hopefully, the deployment of new members of the Discord-Class would be enough to localize them for capture and neutralization, not to mention that it would also give me a chance to test out how effective this new Form was against the very beings it was designed to hunt.
With luck, I'd hopefully be able to do just a bit more than take a 'wait and see' approach...
XXX
Ok... Fuck 'wait and see'! Fuck it with a rusty, serrated Barge pole straight up the ass! Repeatedly, even! Because this!
This!?
This was a load of Horseshit! Horseshit that I was going to repay in kind as soon as I got the chance!
Grinding simulated teeth together, I had to force myself to calm down, idly noting that my Protocols didn't trip due to rage, at least as long as I didn't act on said rage and do something stupid. Not that I had any intention of doing something like that, since getting angry and acting on that anger in the heat of battle, in 40k, was the same as signing your own Death Warrant. It was for that reason, among others, that I had taken a step back and altered my perception of time enough that any orders I might have given wouldn't be enacted quickly enough for it to effect the outcome of the campaign for the system. Literally, my subjective timeframe made it seem like the world beyond my hardware was moving through thick tar, and giving me more time to think as I took in the developments of some ongoing situations.
Specifically, the shitshow that was taking place on Kaurava IV.
In the two hours since I had ordered the construction of more Teleporter Gates and Unit Cannons, I'd had to deal with repeated Chaos attacks that were only increasing in strength as more and more of the lunatics charged through radiation-soaked wastelands in an attempt to do as much damage as they could in the name of their Dark Gods. Nuclear Bullets, Neutron Grenades, Nano-D clouds, silver-laced Fuel-Air Bombs and dozens of other weapons had helped to hold the line, but things were still getting through and causing damage even as more fixed defenses came online, along with a perimeter wall that was manned by Infantry-scale Forms. For the first hour, that was enough to deal with the repeated attacks by rampaging bands of monsterous madmen, Daemons, Chaos-corrupted machines and Traitor machines. It had also been enough to allow me to witness one of the first Heavy Gates on Kaurava IV almost finish construction as systems flickered to life.
Unfortunately, I saw 'almost' for a very good reason.
Just as the first of the Heavy Gates was about to be completed, sensors in the area surrounding my Heavy Gates screamed in alarm as the atmosphere was ionized for no real reason, right before sparks filled the air and reality split apart. A series of short-lived portals sprang into existence throughout the core of my held territory, with several of them centering on the areas filled with the almost complete Heavy Gates. Said gates never saw their completion, as heavy weapons fire from Chaos Havocs and the tainted powers of Lunatic Psykers destroyed them before they could be finished and brought online. Even when my Forms flooded into the area and drowned the fuckers in metal and their own blood, it didn't matter, since the damage had already been done. Those Teleporter Gates closest to completion had been the primary targets, but they had also fired at anything in sight, destroying any and all infrastructure that they could even as they were gunned down by my Platforms.
With them dead, I had done what I could to get things back on track, Reclaimed what materials that I could before restarting the construction of the Heavy Gates after re-securing the immediate area. More walls were added as my territory was sectioned into smaller pieces while more turrets were created in greater numbers to act as a defense against this kind of teleporting attack again. I'd dug up the information I had on the Tau Early Warning Override system and went about updating my forces to include a similar system into their own sensor suite. Data was updated to recognize the signs of a teleporting attack like that as more Forms were either produced locally, or brought through Gates from other locations in the system. Unfortunately, it was a slow process due to the limited through-put of a standard Gate, not to mention the fact that several of them had either been damaged or outright destroyed in the few seconds it took to marshal a response to the unexpected deep strike. Fresh Engineers were quickly assigned to either repair or rebuild those Gates that had been destroyed, followed by sheathing each Gate in a layer of armor and adding a small Shield system. Any further infrastructure that was destroyed was quickly brought back online, with the exception of the Heavy Gates. I'd lost twenty-seven Heavy Gates in their attack, leaving me with another thirteen that was still being constructed in a staggered pattern so that each one would come online in rapid succession. Plus the added loses of another six Sky-Gates from the initial group of twenty.
At the time, I didn't think much of it beyond the fact that I needed to harden my territory and increase my defenses. It was annoying and a bit of a drain on the locally available resources, but it was all I really could do since trying to push out at that point would have just left me overextended and with too few Forms to cover everything. Even with the Foundries built into each Foothold and the current flow of machines from the other planets, I was only managing to hold the line. Hence, why I needed to Heavy Gates and the Unit Cannons finished as soon as possible.
However, things got even more complicated as the Pricks of Chaos showed that, if nothing else, they had no problem displaying their insanity by repeating the same actions over and over again. Multiple teleporting deep strikes were carried out in the hour following the first one. Each causing smaller amounts of damage, even as they either increased the number of strikes, increased the amount of troops in each strike, or did both. Unfortunately, causing damage wasn't the only aim of such attacks, as each one served as a distraction and a drain on resources to fix, along with stalling the construction of more Heavy Gates as Psykers and Traitor Marines fired away with either Warp-tainted weapons or the raw energies of the Warp. For over an hour, I watched as the fuckers jumped into my base through the Warp and launched attacks that tried to strip away the connection I had to the local region. Some of them managed to do some damage, while others found themselves being drowned in bullets, lasers, missiles and particle beams before they could even scream a warcry or pull their own triggers. All the while, those Titans and larger Warbands grew closer and closer, their progress across the Warp-infused soil of the planet being tracked by Observers and ground-detection sensors that picked up every step of the massive machines.
Taking another simulated breath to calm myself down before letting my perspective of time match that of the actual progression as the world came back into focus. Immediately, I could see as Engineers, and what few Fabricator Walkers that were present, begin the thankless task of repairing the damage done by yet another Chaos deep strike. Multiple Gates were effectively gone, at least seventeen sectional walls had been blasted apart by repeated Plasma Cannon and Melta hits, and wrecks and corpses were clearly visible on the ground, even through the literal sea of Collectors that now flooded my territory. Off to one side, I noted that the fuckers had decided to start throwing more than just infantry and mobs of lunatics at me. A quick scan of the AARs that were automatically being generated and filed showed that the Bastards were now throwing Daemon Engines through their short-lived Warp Portals in an effort to try increasing the amount of damage they could do.
The corpses of at least twelve Defilers of Chaos Undivided, three Nurglite Decimators, a Soul Grinder of Khorne, and another twenty-five Blood Slaughterers were proof enough that even the Forces of Chaos could learn a thing or two after getting punched in the face enough times. Not necessarily a good thing for me, but it showed another facet of the enemy that I now faced.
Then again, being a lunatic didn't mean being stupid about your madness.
Still, annoyance about their deep strike, teleporting bullshit aside, things elsewhere were progressing as I wished them to. The Unit Cannons would be complete well before the Chaos Titans finally closed the remaining distance to attack my territory and all the Deployment Shells had been packed with Platforms, ready and waiting for the chance to be launched from the Moon of Lacunae. The Dark Eldar themselves were still making a nuisance of themselves, but that was nothing compared to the hourly drain of Forms to both Kaurava II and Kaurava IV. They'd attack outposts that were situated on the edges of the regions I controlled, hitting them as hard as they could before fading back into the mist-filled marshes of the moon. They didn't even try to contest the areas I held, seeing no point in it since they had not come for territory, but for slaves and loot. Even so, it worked to divert their attention elsewhere as leering Phonoi stalked through the mists, accompanied by the skeletal and twitching forms of new Algos-Pattern Battle-Forms. Moving on strings of unseen purpose, these Discord machines slipped through the mist and searched for their predetermined prey. And they were certainly making good progress on that front, since they had managed to narrow down the search area for the Dark Eldar Base of Operations to roughly a single region. It was still a lot of ground to cover, but it was better than having to search the entire Moon, especially since the Drukhari were distracted with their raids against the Forces of Chaos, something that worked to my advantage on both fronts.
If I played my cards right, I could be looking at making a full sweep and removing another two factions from the system in a single go, maybe even four, since the Orks were busy butting heads with my Forms while the Blood Ravens made a point to be as big a thorn in the side as possible for both my Forms and the Orks.
Of course, that was just wishful thinking, especially since I had yet to find a way of dealing with one major Chaos had over me: The Warp.
Their Psykers and Sorcerers were their biggest weapon against me, allowing them to twist the fabric of reality in ways that I didn't even want to think about. It was through them, that these teleportation-launched attacks were made possible. And if I wanted to prevent the fuckers from continuing to use those same tricks, not to mention any other Warp-fuckery they might have at the ready, then I needed some way to neutralize it. Either temporarily or permanently, I honestly wasn't fussy, but I needed something that could deal with them more effectively than 'keep shooting until they drop dead!', especially since Warp barriers had little concern for things like 'energy thresholds' or 'overload'.
And, I think I knew how...
XXX
"Can it be done, Neta?" Leaning against the simulated surface of a workstation within the Matrix with my arms crossed over my chest, I watched as Neta looked over equations and simulation results from dozens of tests that she had run in the past. Each of them related to materials that I had previously supplied to her, the Coven and the Forgeminds in an effort to expand my own techbase by reverse-engineering Imperial technologies. Indeed, several examples of Imperial technologies were scattered around the lab-simulation as they hovered over work spaces as three dimensional projections, fully displaying inner workings along with logs of functions and operations that were carried out by said devices.
"... Theoretically, it would be fully possible to create such a device, My Lord. However, the scale of required for such a device to operate as you envision would be extremely costly, both in terms of building materials, and the energy needed to allow such a construct to function..." I could see and feel the nervous anticipation and fearful hesitation as Neta offered up her answer, still manipulating one of the projections as the design flipped around as scrolling two dimensional screens showed line after line of coding needed for the machine to function. I watched as her hands drop away from the planes of light that they had previously been manipulating, trying to find some relation that would reduce the cost of construction and operation for my latest creation.
Not that there really was one, especially since my own understanding of the technology I planned to use was still in its infancy. I'd seen her work out the mathematics behind the creation and operation of this new weapon, and I'd followed, checked, double-checked, and triple-checked it with my excess processing power to ensure that none of the math was incorrect. To do otherwise, for something this important, would have been stupid and foolish to the extreme. Of course, that same lack of knowledge also caused the situation that I now faced as Neta finally stepped back from the projection as her shoulders slumped in dejection before turning to face me fully rather than stand side-on to me as she had previously been doing. Even so, she refused to make eye contact as she clasped her hands in front of her, her biceps inadvertently pushing her breasts together as she looked the very picture of despondent.
"I-I'm sorry, My-y Lord... I just..." She tried to stammer out as I stepped away from the work station I was leaning against, taking two quick steps before I placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, cutting out the stammering before it could really get started. Instantly, I saw the woman relax from the physical contact as I gently grasped her chin with my free hand and pulled it up, forcing her to look me in the eye. Looking down at her, I saw the start of tears in her eyes, absently wondering if I should put Neta through another round in a Thought-Forge, if only to get rid of the Inferiority Complex. Admittedly, it didn't spring up often, but whenever she reached a point where she thought she could have done better, and viewed it as a failure on her part, it reared up and caused her to break down.
"Shhh... It's alright, Neta, it's alright..." I offered her, wiping away an idle tear that was just beginning to fall down her cheek. Watery eyes looked back up at me, letting me see as well as feel the contentment and glum she was feeling at, what she felt was, her failure even as I held her.
"B-but, th-he te-es-sts... T-They-"
"-showed what I already knew; That the system could not be made any cheaper in either energy or materials at the current time. I am also aware that any attempt to make modifications that would do so, would also reduce the effectiveness of the device and just turn it into a waste of resources for its size." I explained, cutting Neta off before she could really get going and causing shock to flare in her emerald eyes. Smiling slightly, I let go of her face and wrapped my arms around her, pulling her into an embrace that she naturally relaxed into, helped along by me playing her brain chemistry like a piano. As soon as both of my arms were around her, I felt her relax into the embrace as she pressed herself up against my simulated body. A quick command to return her to a more relaxed emotional equilibrium, and I released her from the embrace as I held her at arm's length, a hand on each shoulder as I gave her a look of reassurance.
"You have not failed me, Neta. There is no failure in not knowing the perfect solution to a problem, for perfection does not exist. Likewise, failure does not come from making a mistake, but from refusing to learn from your mistakes and move forwards, a bit wiser and smarter for it. Even so, failure can be forgiven in due time, unlike many other things that seem to fester in the Galaxy." I declared to her with ease as she seemed to soak up the words as her awe was increased just a touch, ensuring that she would remember these words all the more clearly far into the future. Nodding at what I said, Neta smiled happily as her emotions settled down on their own, needing little help as she glanced back at the projection as I let go of her shoulders. Especially since projections were already coming back, showing how much of a better state of mind she was now in, for both the short term and long term.
"Thank you, My Lord, for gifting me with such wisdom. I swear that I will never forget it as I serve you to the best of my ability, in whatever form you require or wish for." Neta swore after a moment, bending at the waist until she was practically parallel with the floor before pulling herself back up and standing tall. It was almost like she wanted to advertise her chest as much as possible, as her biceps continued to press into them from either side, but her now straight posture only added to it. Not that I was really complaining about it, since it was a rather nice view, all things told.
"Good... Still, returning to the original discussion we were having, the device as it stands? It will work as I require it to?" I asked, getting a quick nod of acknowledgement as Neta made a gesture with both hands before spreading them apart, causing a fresh projection of the device in question to appear between us as she looked over it.
"With the current design, My Lord? The device will be capable of projecting a field of sufficient strength and volume to function as you commanded it should. Though, the energy and material requirements... They are still extremely high, My Lord..." Neta stated as I looked over the designs once more even as I looked through the translucent simulated hologram to see the digital persona of the former Magos Errant in front of me. Again, it was a fact that I knew all too well, caused by the immature nature of the technology, but it wasn't something I could fix at the current time. Thus, my response was a simple shrug.
"For something like this? Especially with the potential for this technology? It's worth as a prototype to prove that this kind of application is possible, that is worth more than enough for me to be willing to expend large amounts of both resources. The only real bottleneck would be the limited amounts of Warp-conductive materials that I have access to, something that should be possible to remedy once the knowledge to create such materials is acquired." I explained as Neta nodded once, accepting my argument as she stretched her hands wide, clapping them together and causing the projection to disappear an instant later as she stood at attention in front of me.
"As you will it, so shall it be. Is there anything else you require of me at this time, My Lord?" She asks politely, curious and eager to serve even as conditioning returns to the foreground of her mind as a soft smile finds its way to her lips. For an instant too short to be recognized, I consider the question and what kind of responses I could give at the current time: I could have a pleasant conversation with her; Ask her about what other projects are on the go within the Coven right now; Ask her how the Enlightenment of the Inquisitor is going; Ask her how the further augmentation of the See'lye is going; Grab her by the hair, bend her over the one of the workstations and use her as a sex toy. I could do any of these things, at virtually any time thanks to the disconnect between the differing progressions of time, but decided to do something else as the possibilities were discarded for the moment, replaced by the need to priorities survival above all else.
"No. You may continue with your work." I stated simply as the woman bowed once more, even as I turned around to walk out of the simulation and continue to battle for dominance over the Kaurava system.
"As you Command, My Lord." Was what I heard behind me as I left the Matrix-realm before bringing my primary awareness back to the rest of Base Reality. Immediately, orders were given as Forms capable of construction went to work on the latest addition to my ever-growing arsenal of lethal tricks. Even after a few moments of work, I could feel the hit on my economy as a solid chunk of my energy and matter excess suddenly disappeared into the aether as more Fabricators were brought to bear on the new construct. And they were needed, if only to speed up the construction of such a mind-bendingly complex piece of over-sized equipment. This also included the facilities needed to launch the entire thing and ensure that it was ready to be deployed to Kaurava IV.
Still, even as I watched the Forms go to work and fresh materials form out of a soup of raw subatomic particles, I couldn't help but wonder if the inventors of the Gellar Field had ever thought of using their creation like this? Then again, I'd probably never know, since the Fall and the Iron War probably ensured that they were dead and gone, along with every possible source of documentation outside of those that existed in Big E's brain.
XXX
Battle raged around my territory on Kaurava IV, the enemy having come knocking at my gate with an army at their beck and call. Around the walls of my secured territory, blood ran like rain water over tainted soil as bodies and wrecks piled up on top of one another. The air was filled with screams and warcries and gunshots and a dozen other things that only aided in giving the impression that someone was trying very hard to recreate a vision of 'Hell on Earth', so to speak.
Through the eyes of Observers high above and the Forms mixed into the carnage below, I could see as the latest clash unfolded as masses of mutated Cultists threw themselves into the teeth of my defenses, determined to slaughter and shed blood as they fought on in a mad-orgy of battlelust. It didn't matter what Dark God they served, for that mattered little in the end, it only mattered that they were more meat for the grinder. Distractions and annoyances one and all, they had the advantage of gathering in large numbers to try and drown my forces in blood and death as they attempted to drag a Form or two down and destroy it, but that was about it. Even the weakest of my Forms was a dozen times stronger that a baseline Human, and the 'blessings' of their patrons did little to change that. Warp mutations were plain to see, no matter how minor, as the masses of crazed humanoids rushed constantly onwards, trying to reach and breach my defences. Some ran, their legs warped to grant them greater speed, while others hung by unnatural limbs from the sides of transports decorated in typical Chaos fashion. It was easy to pick out the ones that had been 'acquired' locally compared to those brought to the planet, even if it made no difference in the end. Then again, I cared very little for the ravings of lunatics, as their positions in transports marked them as priority targets even as the swarming masses of 'believers' continued onwards. Their 'Gods' offering no protection to them, leaving them to die before they were even within sight of their Templar-killers that stood around the base of the wall in preparation for the next attack, a safeguard to prevent sappers from breaching the wall.
Still, had the Order of Battle for the Forces of Chaos been merely composed of idiots driven mad by the whispers of the Warp, then the attack would have been nothing to really consider. However, the Cultists weren't alone in their charge. Joining them were legions of Daemons and gatherings of Traitor Marines, both standing tall over the crowd of lesser devotees as they made battle against my Forms, proving themselves to be above the squabbling masses of Cultists even as they fought and raced against one another for the glory of killing my Forms. Tainted vehicles, possessed by bound Neverborn and corrupted Machine Spirits, trailed behind them as they brought heavy weapons to bear, sweeping Lascannons and autocannons over the ramparts of my walls in an attempt to clear them of defenders even as pintle and sponson-mounted weapons blazed away in attempts to thin the phalanxes of Forms that stood before them. Daemon Engines of every kind mixed into the crowds as they clawed and shot and stabbed at anyone that got in their way before descending upon my Forms in a whirlwind of violence that required heavy weapons to remove.
Entire formations disappeared under the roaring ocean of bodies, drowning Forms through quantity until they pushed through in an effort to reach the base of the walls. Throughout the crowd, I could see Cultists and Traitors carrying explosive devices of one kind or another, the result of either dark alchemy or the product of equally dark pacts and warp-craft. I could recognize them through one method or another, at least well enough to see priority targets scattered through the crowds even as harness-wearing Cultists tried running as far into my phalanxes of Templars before finally letting go of the Deadman's switches. Most never made it too far, being killed before they could even leave their own lines and detonating in the middle of those that should have been their allies. Those that did make it were few, but the damage done was quickly fixed as fresh reinforcements dropped from the ramparts, using built-in thrusters to soften their impact as they crashed to the ground hard enough to leave imprints and small craters.
For every Form destroyed, new ones surged to fill the gaps created as they rushed through either the Gates or straight from the Foundries of the Footholds. Combat data generated by constant warfare against the Forces of Chaos had adapted them to be uniquely equipped to ensure that the Forces of Chaos would suffer for every step taken. Low-yield nuclear weapons were liberally applied, as Templars sprayed a constant stream of nuclear bullets into the approaching hordes, along with other weapons that had been created, tested, refined and mass produced for the exclusive purpose of eliminating Chaos. Silver shards of fractal shrapnel turned Cultists into chunks of meat as the metaphysical weight of the pure metal caused Daemons to scream in surprise as Neverborn flesh recoiled from the intrusion of such materials. Blades of Adamantium, plated in silver sharpened to a monomolecular edge and protected by a Hardener Field, proved themselves effective as they caused Daemons to suffer ever as their essence was banished back to the Warp. After all, Daemons were stories given form and direction through the power and emotion that ran rampant through the Immaterium, forged from the darkest nightmares of civilization. Bullets and bombs could work against them, but they were best dealt with through the old ways; Through the clashing of sharpened blades and in burning flames.
Still, while the Forces of Chaos attacked, it was rather obvious that their aim was not to crack my fortifications, but to stall for time by keeping my Forms focused on the immediate situation, rather than let them deploy further afield. A thought was enough, my view changing from the previous images of death and bloodshed to be replaced with something else. It was a picture of the distant horizon, taken by an Executor even as it fired spikes of silver-plated death into the throngs of Daemon-worshippers and insane Cultists. Magnifying the image, I could see outlines in the distance, showcasing the classical outline of Imperial Titans in their hunchbacked forms. Further magnification caused the image to zoom in further as I suddenly found myself looking at a vision of disgusting taint and corruption that had caused the once proud war machines to become something else.
Warp tainted metal covered the machines as signs of age and decay were plain to see, made all the more obvious by the layers of dirt and grime that clothed every surface like a burial shroud. Even so, I would not make the mistake of underestimating their destructive power, since Titans were still Titans, regardless of who they belonged to. Their weapons would still be potent things, perhaps even more than their Imperial counterparts due to the work of Hereteks and Daemonic Pacts between tainted Princeps and Neverborn. I didn't know, but I honestly didn't need to know since that wasn't a problem that I'd have to worry about for two much longer.
You see, the Forces of Chaos hadn't been the only ones stalling for time.
I had been waiting for the Unit Cannons to be completed, along with the special surprise I had left behind on the world of Kaurava I, buried within the metallic flesh of the Alpha Poly-Complex as Mantle Wells drained larger and larger amounts of matter and energy straight from the lifeblood of the planet. I had waited and endured as they launched attacks against me in an attempt to force me to leave the planet, probably to give them more time to complete their grand sacrifice to the Blood God. I had initially landed on Kaurava IV, and been stalled for over a month, then they might have had a chance to do just that, even if it was only through the completion of a single Gehemahnet. Unfortunately for them, I had no plan to give them that long as I felt the pieces of my counter-attack come together.
A moment later, I felt it, as the last piece of the puzzle came together, and the most complex construct I had built to date was brought online. Immediately afterwards, Battleminds, Warminds and Forgeminds went over every system, every Form and every attack vector with a methodical attention to detail. No variable was left unchecked as they ran system check after system check, knowing that this new tool, if it worked as I hoped it would, could make the difference between victory and defeat. Along with it, other Data-minds worked through the systems required to get it from Kaurava I to Kaurava IV, checking that it was in working order and that everything was on track for a successful deployment.
Within the embrace of my network, I watched as the checklist was completed in the blink of an organic eye. I saw the questing tendrils of data that traced back to each Data-mind retreat as everything came back without fault, without a single point of failure that could ruin the entire counter-attack. I watched as redundancies were calibrated and triple-checked to ensure they would function if the worst possible outcome came to pass. I watched as status updates piled in to my domain of data and information, ticking off the readiness of Forms, systems and individual cogs in my ever-growing war machine. A thought followed, tacked on to the tail end of a single report and series of projections that were labeled as the most likely outcome of this counter-attack, should it work. Opening it, I watched as maps of the different planet, and the system as a whole, appeared before me. Areas and volumes were outlined in striped colours and labeled with whatever intelligence projections that were available to me and my creations at the moment. A slideshow of images followed, displaying the projected possibilities if everything went as planned, with dozens of contingencies attached to each of the slides as they took into account any eventuality that the creator of this report could have imagined. Admittedly, some of the contingencies were paranoid in the extreme, but that was just the nature of the beast that was this universe. It was better to imagine the worst possible outcome and work from there, otherwise, you'd probably die a very horrid death in short order.
Personally, I preferred for those I was fighting against to be the ones dying, rather than myself.
XXX
The teleportation systems that had been created by the Progenitors, my 'makers' were truly impressive things to behold.
Capable of creating two-way 'tunnels' through space-time and allow one to cross interplanetary, or interstellar, distances as though they were walking to the other side of a street. Not only that, but the mathematics behind their functions was standardized to an incredible degree, allowing for the size of the gateways to be made variable and allowing for a single Gate to be produced in any size one could think of, allowing for any degree of throughput that one might require. Though, that came with the requirement that the gates on both sides of the 'tunnel' were of similar size so that nothing... Unpleasant, would happen to those in transit. Even with that restriction, a single pair of Gates was capable of an impressive optimal range, being able to bridge a gap of over ten Light-years with little more than the base requirement of energy needed to operate the system. Though, once past that ten light-year limit, the energy demands doubled for every Light-year beyond that limit that you went. This was something that could be bypassed by daisy-chaining Gates together, allowing for a gate at one end of a chain to connect to one at the other end by bouncing the 'signal' through the gates in the middle without causing the traveler to step foot anywhere else but their chosen destination.
Though, with a bit of investigation, I'd also found it possible to use these same teleportation systems in a different way. Namely, I'd found that it was possible to use a Gate to display a given object up to five Light-years from its launch Gate through a free-standing aperture. The method itself was one-way only, very energy intensive, and prone to a drift factor in the creation of the aperture. It wasn't practical for deploying armies or fleets directly on top of your enemies capital, especially since using it for extended periods of time would only generate more drain.
But for deploying a single unit? For a Commander, or something equally as vital? It was perfect.
As such, I watched as the Uber-Gate underneath the complex colossus came to life, bolts of energy jumped from around the inner surface of the ring-like gate before the required energy threshold was reached. Instantly, an open gateway was formed as a confirmation signal was bounced through the portal, getting picked up instantly by the Footholds stationed on Kaurava IV and Lacunae. The signal was traced to give an idea of where the gateway had been opened, showing that it had been within the projected zone for the drift caused by this method, regardless of the actual distance covered. Still, when you were taking about a method of FTL travel that could discharge you anywhere within a radius of ten thousand kilometres from where you had targeted, that wasn't really as bad as it could have been.
With the confirmation given, I turned my attention back to the situation at hand. Mag-locks and grav-tethers disengaged all at the same time as they retreated back into the walls of the chamber. Gravity did the rest as the massive assembly of sophisticated technology slipped free of its bondage before dropping through the portal. All two and a half kilometres of Warp-conductive circuits, processors and armored plating, reinforced by Energy Shields, Hardener Fields, Self-repair systems and dozens of other devices, dropped. Once through, the Gate deactivated, so as to not waste power on something that was no longer needed as the chamber was submerged in shadows, it's assembly of tools and Forms all still and silent as they waited for the next task.
Turning away from the chamber, my observations turned towards Kaurava IV as I picked out the rectangular form of Argent, the codename I had chosen for this, as of yet, one-of-a-kind device. The Gravity well had caught it, accelerating it as the traces of friction started to play across the featureless exterior of the monolithic device. Internal sensors picked up the rising heat caused by re-entry, but flagged it as being within parameters while internal anti-grav systems steered the bulk of the machine towards the target zone. Communication systems within the Argent picked out IFF codes from other Forms, including Deployment and Warbringer Shells that had been waiting to be launched. Now, a near-unbroken chain of shells was tracing a path from the artillery fields of Lacunae all the way to the upper atmosphere of Kaurava IV as they vectored in towards the same target zone. Size and aerodynamics caused Argent to slow down as the remodeled drop pods raced ahead through the atmosphere, pulled by gravity and controlled by onboard guidance systems as AI filtered through a constantly shifting sea of information to adjust their ensure they landed where they were supposed to. Internal clocks ticked down the seconds until it was time to deploy their cargo as the Forms inside each Shell cycled to readiness, re-checking their systems to ensure that no problems had occurred in transit. Any faults that might have been detected were dealt with quickly by internal self-repair systems, bringing every passenger of these glorified cargo pods a combat 'active' status as reports flashed through the network.
On the surface of Kaurava IV itself, none were immediately aware of what was to come. Too caught up in the heat of battle as the Corrupted God-Machines of their patron tumors finally stepped into the fight, weapons firing even as every footstep shook the earth for kilometres in every direction. Within moments of entering the fight, the dynamic of the ground war changed as colossal machines stamped forwards, uncaring of their own allies as those Cultists that were too slow to move were crushed under the immense weight of their Adamantine feet. Everywhere the Titans and Demi-Titan Corrupted Knights went, destruction followed as my Forms struggled against the massive machines with a single-minded determination that matched the zeal and madness of the Warp-worshippers step for step.
Cultists found themselves under attack from every direction as Templars fired mortar rounds, missiles, arm-mounted cannons and massive rifles that looked like they should have been mounted on tanks into the horde of Chaos Cultists and ensured that every centimetre of taken ground was paid for with death and corpses. Warriors formed a bulwark that offered no compromise in it's defense, smiting any foolish enough to come within Hammer-range of them, and blasting anyone within line of sight with in-built weapons. Gaps formed between Templars and Warriors, allowing Gladiators to between the other defenders before descending upon the Forces of Chaos in a maelstrom of violence. Any caught within reach of their blades quickly found themselves cut down as blood ran like water from a summer rain, coating every surface even as Daemons screamed and roared and raved for a fresh challenge. It was a challenge that the Gladiators offered freely, and one that attracted swarms of Lesser Daemons to them as they fought in either single combat or against groups of Neverborn without a second of hesitation. Combat Protocols shifted and adapted with every fresh input of data as every Lesser Daemon found themselves facing their end, fighting against constructs created with the sole goal of banishing them back to the Hell-realms that they had clawed their way out of.
Kill ratios were tallied up with every passing moment, showing just how one-sided it was as the servants of the Ruinous Powers found themselves drowning in the blood of their own comrades more often than not. Combat data was saved, updated and refined as new Protocols were generated and added in a constant stream of patches and updates that flooded the network with every new data point that was uncovered in the heat of the moment. New techniques were being added to the ever-evolving pool of martial prowess as the melee escalated higher and higher as new threats were identified and eliminated after a brief assessment by the Data-minds within my Network. Fresh Cultists would rush to the frontlines, expecting glory and with a prayer on their lips, only to fall to silence within an instant of coming within range of a Form. Each death counting for nothing beyond the minor slowing of a weapon as it cleaved through them before carrying on without pause. It was these minute delays that were the source of deaths, as Forms recovered from their latest kill, only to be critically damaged by another enemy that managed to slip in before the next swing of a blade, hammer or claw could come. Likewise, massed volleys of disorganized fire still caused damage as those in the distance found themselves being pelted by a constant hail of weapons' fire that was punctuated by the impacts of more accurate projectiles or energy bolts that delivered death from the hands of twisted Transhuman warriors.
Still, for all their capabilities and martial mastery, the assembled Forms of Kaurava IV wouldn't have been able to hold the line for long. Even with reinforcements rushing through what few Teleporter Gates that had survived repeated deep strikes, along with the output of dozens of Foundries, loses were starting to pile up faster than they could be replaced. Forces were being stretched thin as the Titans advanced, weapons firing and creating new breaches in the territory walls that had surrounded the regions under my control. Fresh hordes of madmen came surging through every opening they could find with the eagerness of water flooding on to a sinking ship. My Forms continued to fight onwards, despite their loses and the knowledge of the most likely outcome, should no relief forces come. They had been built to fight, and they had received no command to pull back, so they continued fighting without a second thought or wasting a single percentage of their in-built processing power on any other tasks than the two most immediate ones: Surviving for as long as possible, and taking as many of the Servants of Ruin with them as possible.
Scorched Earth Protocols were put into place as the commanding Data-minds ordered a fighting retreat back into held territory. Platforms equipped with Fabricators quickly went to work as entire sectors were designated as being 'compromised' and discarded as a result. Any infrastructure that was present was quickly disassembled before the resources were used to create traps, kill zones and literal meat-grinders that would brutalize the masses of Chaos-worshippers as they tried to push onwards. Larger weapons, based on one of several proposed Anti-Titan weapons, were being built up further inside the regions I still held, but they would never be finished in time to be of use. The Corrupted God-Machines were too close, firing further into the regions under my control as the Tainted Knights rushed onwards, speeding towards the gaping wounds that had been blasted through my defensive walls. Said wounds had been enlarged by repeated strikes from Titan-grade weapons, turning once potent defensive fortifications into little more than so many piles of rubble that climbed up the sides of what few sections remained intact.
It was a brutal calculus, but it was a necessary one. The weapons themselves were little more than bait, being big enough to be seen over the sector walls that crisscrossed the land I controlled, but not so big as to be an easy target for any of the Titans to target without either sufficient elevation, or with a clear line of sight. It was also a taunt to them, of sorts. The weapons were out in the open, and yet, they still stood tall as dozens of Forms scrambled over them to give the appearance of desperation. It was an act that both encouraged and infuriated those men and women that had gladly bowed towards the great Tumors of the Warp.
Unfortunately for them, at the exact same moment that they had been shouting, cheering and declaring that victory was theirs, the glorified Drop Pods that I had launched from Lacunae reached deployment altitude.
The moment the sensors within each shell picked up on this, they double checked with the local network on the planet while also triangulating their location though both communication signals, along with the use of several laser rangefinders. The response from all these sources was independently checked against one another within each Shell, as to ensure accuracy before logic systems determined that they were all, in fact, correct. A signal pulsed through each Shell after the confirmation came, stirring the waiting passengers into activity as weapons cycled into readiness, ammo magazines quickly filling from onboard Fabricators as capacitors were charged in an instant. Targeting data was communicated between each of the passengers as intelligence was transmitted from the ground network to each Shell before they quickly attached themselves to the local command network and fell into place under the highest 'ranking' Data-mind. In this case, that was the Warmind assigned to oversee the planet and ensure that the defenders held out long enough for my reinforcements to come, and for Argent to be deployed. Following that, the network went quiet as all the information was assimilated by swarms of AI constructs, and then the magic began.
In the air over the battlefields, Deployment and Warbringer Shells started breaking apart. Explosive bolts triggered as layer after layer of armored materials peeled away from a rapidly disintegrating superstructure. Nanite packages activated, carrying out pre-programmed orders as the materials that made up the Shells was deconstructed down into little more than dust in the wind. Mag-locks reversed their polarity, causing entire sections to be thrown apart as they repelled each other while cargo restraints and harnesses disengaged. Shells self-destructed in mid-air as their passengers became a steel rain over the tainted soil of the planet. Too busy with their 'impending victory' none of the Worshippers of Chaos bothered to pay attention as their bloodlust and madness drove them onwards.
As such, the lunatics of Chaos only realized that the tables had turned when the first of my Forms landed among them. Namely, this came in the form of four Juggernauts that had been in one of the leading Deployment Shells, deciding against activating their thrusters and Anti-grav systems enough to slow their decent. The four Battle-Forms had, as a group, decided that they would much rather use the kinetic energy they now held as a weapon in its own right. Messages were sent back and forth before a confirmation was given before maneuvering thrusters fired, changing their trajectory just enough to enable their landing to serve a second purpose beyond just getting them into the fight. It was at this moment that the Forces of Chaos realized they had been outflanked; When two Juggernauts crashed into the leading Chaos Ravager, dog-piling it, and forcing the colossal machine to the ground. Tainted metal and possessed technologies buckled under the sudden strain of the two machines crashing down on top of the Battle Titan, Void Shield offering little protection as weight and volume made them next to useless at stopping the smaller machines from hitting with the force of an angry deity. The legs of the ancient walker snapped, along with its spine and neck, unable to support the sudden change in momentum for even an instant despite the advanced materials used in its construction. The resulting wreckage was compacted further as the Juggernauts finally hit the ground, crushing segments of armor plating under Power Field-sheathed talons.
The other two Ravagers were hit at the same moment, one being snapped in half at the waist, while the other was smashed face-first into the ground at terminal velocity. Any further attempts at movement ended before they began, as Power Field-coated limbs punched through ruined protections and ripped out the beating hearts of the warped machines. Those that survived within the fallen God-Machines found themselves ripped free from their connections and links with their positions and crushed, either ripping them free from armored bulkheads or pulling them loose from MMI thrones that held them tight.
Surprise had been complete, and the effect was total as the Archenemy found themselves uncertain of what to do. Hesitation cost them, even as their minds rebooted from bearing witness to such an... Unorthodox method of destroying an enemy Titan. Hatches opened, weapons were brought to bear and fire control systems were flooded with acceptable targets for as far as the eye could see. Immediately after, the Feral-Class Titans found themselves under assault by a pack of Juggernauts as fresh Infantry-Forms flooded out of access hatches and surged into the fight. Quickly, more Platforms joined the battlefield as the ground shook with every impact and the scream of tortured metal filled the air. Multiple Knights found themselves dead within moments as more Juggernauts, Diplomats or Ruiners landed directly on top of them, turning them into little more than flattened plates of metal, unnatural fluids and woven flesh. Those that weren't immediately crushed were ripped to pieces by a horde of machines that were their equal in size, outnumbered them, and were built to have a very good chance of coming out of a one-vs-one engagement as the victor.
At the same time, sections of the ground suddenly exploded upwards, throwing Cultists and Daemons around like a leaf in a hurricane, exposing gaping maws that led deeper into the planet. Smoke and dust obscured them, making it impossible to see what was within the tunnels, before the smoke was thrown aside when smart bullets, missiles and energy bolts filled the air and cleared the way. Templars and Warriors rushed out in droves from each entryway as underground hollows empty themselves of their contents. Foundries hidden away in underground complexes sprung back into action as more Forms were rapidly constructed, only having stopped originally due to the storage areas being filled to bursting. It was another trap that I'd hidden away, safe from the repeated deep strikes and ready for this single moment as the battlefield turned into a killing floor once more.
Fresh violence filled the air, causing the Forces of Chaos to react as they were once more outflanked in a way that they had missed completely. More hidden passages revealed themselves in explosions of dirt and dust before more Platforms joined the fight from every direction. Inside the walls, those forces found themselves trapped in close-quarters with an ever-growing number of Titan-sized opponents that gunned them down with oversized projectiles and streams of relativistic death. The ground shook under every step taken by the monolithic constructs even as more landed to join the fight, increasing the disparity even further as untouched Engineers marched into the core regions under my control and began to construct fresh Heavy Gates now that the assaulting forces were distracted. Resistance crumbled as those within the walls found themselves cut off by yet more Forms that were impacting the ground all around them. It was only due to the miniature tremors caused by each impact that those within the still-standing walls were even aware of this, as the barriers blocked all line of sight from either direction. Then again, for those still fighting, it might have been a blessing.
For those outside the wall, they had no such luck. The cause and effect of each impact was plainly apparent to anyone with a working set of eyes as more machines rained down from the sky in a gradually widening web-like pattern. Observers looking at the events taking place would have noticed how the first landings took place within the walls of my territory, before expanding outwards at a very gradual rate. It was a pattern not unlike that of an avalanche; Slow to start, but utterly impossible to stop once it reached that critical tipping point. Said tipping point had already been reached, the Shells raining down were just the tip of the iceberg, with more being launched every second from ever-expanding fields of Unit Cannons that pierced through the misty marsh of Lacunae.
Even for those brought low by the insanity of Chaos, it was too much, too fast. Their zeal was fading and horror was rising as I watched one Cultist take a step back, then another, then ten, then a hundred, and so on until entire screaming masses were sprinting in any direction they could go in an effort to escape the sights before them. Daemons gave no care for whether they lived or died, as their essence would merely be banished back to the Warp, brought before their masters for punishments or rewards. They charged the Forms, uncaring and, in most cases, utterly gleeful at the prospects of facing this new challenge that had been placed before them. The fallen Astartes, however, were a mixed bag. Some chose to 'carry out a tactical retreat', while others called the first group cowards before charging into the battle with weapons in hand and a warcry on their lips.
And then, it happened: Argent landed.
The impact was colossal, as though some distant god had reached over and decided to use the planet as a gong. The tremors caused were enough to cause everyone and everything within kilometres to be thrown into the air before falling to the ground. When they managed to retake their footing, they could only look on in awe-laced fear as the two and a half kilometre tall idol stood over the battlefield, radiating an ominous purpose that was concealed behind it's unmarked exterior. It was in that moment, that instant of stunned disbelief and terror, that Argent came fully online...
... And then, reality screamed!
XXX
AN: Ok, so there you have it! A nice new chapter, posted as a Christmas gift to all! Hope you enjoyed it, because I've got no idea how long it will take to have another chapter ready. Still, hope you all enjoyed this view into the madness of my Muse!