Steel & Oil: Warhammer 32K

Kurande stared wide-eyed at the Skitarii stuck fast in the traps, then turned to Lin standing beside him, disbelief written all over his face.

"They fell for it… it was really that simple?"

Lin nodded. "You're not wrong. But that's the Adeptus Mechanicus for you."

The trap itself was straightforward — built on the same principles as a Monster Hunter paralysis trap, with a micro-scale electronic virus woven into the electrical current.

Lin hadn't even bothered to hide it. He'd dropped it on the ground in plain sight, bold as you please, and these Mechanicus members had walked straight into it anyway.

Those who know the most and yet feel humbled by how little they truly understand are always the minority. The Magi of the Mechanicus, steeped in vast reservoirs of accumulated knowledge, carried a peculiar arrogance — one they themselves rarely perceived. And it was precisely that arrogance which had driven them to dismiss the traps as harmless and step right onto them without a second thought.

Knowledge is not the same as wisdom.

What had snared them wasn't Lin's trap. It was the hard-won experience they wore like a badge of honour.

Kurande didn't fully grasp the nuances of it all, but that didn't stop him from gazing at Lin with undisguised admiration. Around the two of them, the Imperial Fists warriors held their vigilant formation — while the veterans of the Second Legion were already filing out one by one.

"Hand it over!"

"Everything useful on your person — all of it!"

"Are those cog-bits on the Skitarii any good? Help me pry them off — I'll have Father Lin take a look at them later."

The veterans descended on the immobilised Skitarii like a pack of wolves, wrenching weapons from their hands, some already picking them apart for components. They looked nothing like the battle-hardened elite Space Marines they were — more like a gang of desperate brigands.

Poverty on the Azure Star had left its mark on all of them.

Lin understood why they were doing it. Still, with an outsider present, the sight was more than a little embarrassing. He glanced sideways at Kurande — only to find Kurande watching the looting with an expression of profound, reverent admiration.

"To seize every opportunity to scavenge usable resources… is this the gap between veterans who've truly been to the brink and the rest of us who haven't…"

Lin: "…?"

Well, no risk of blowing their cover at least. But Lin could already feel his toes curling.

To shake off the awkwardness, he simply walked over to the Magos still pinned in the trap. Lifar, catching sight of Lin in his red robes, felt the dread that had been hovering somewhere in his chest finally sink all the way to his feet.

Oh no. He's one of us.

Lifar's heart was flooded with bitterness. The movement-restricting virus wasn't complicated — a few more seconds and he could have broken free. But those few seconds might as well have been an uncrossable abyss.

With Admir's bolt gun pressed against his forehead, Lifar went rigid. He watched Lin approach and managed to squeeze a placating smile onto his face.

"Hey… any chance we can call this even?"

"We don't have any quarrel to begin with. What's there to call even?"

Lin gave Lifar two hearty claps on the shoulder and smiled warmly. "Isn't that right — Magos Biologis, out of Forge World Cath Maximus?"

"Naturally, naturally." Lifar forced a smile that looked worse than a grimace. As a show of good faith, he didn't even dare reach out to break the virus restraining him. "Though, as they say, all encounters are fated — and the Mechanicus has always stood for mutual aid and selflessness. Perhaps I might share some of my recent research findings with you…"

"Eh? What's all that about?" Lin waved a hand. "What would I want with that?"

Lifar's heart hit the floor.

If this had been an ordinary Space Marine, he could have offered his services to buy his safety. But the moment he'd laid eyes on Lin — a fellow member of the Mechanicus — he'd known his precious store of knowledge probably wasn't going to save him either.

Intra-Mechanicus conflicts were hardly rare. More often than not, they were fought over the unique knowledge locked inside someone's skull.

Of course, unless the losing party would sooner die than give up their secrets, these knowledge-wars rarely ended in outright execution. The knowledge could simply be taken.

But what was this man's angle? He'd already offered to hand over his knowledge, and the man had said he didn't want it. Did he think that killing Lifar would simply make everything in his head fair game anyway?

The more Lifar thought about it, the whiter his face turned. He was considering whether to gently remind his captor that everything in his cranial archive was locked behind encryption.

But Lin had already thrown an arm warmly around his shoulders — and even reached over to dissolve the virus holding him in place.

"How does it feel, being sent on an errand by a Forge World that's already written you off?" Lin asked.

"It's… a bit rough," Lifar answered honestly, with no idea what Lin was playing at.

"We're not here as enemies looking to plunder your knowledge. Quite the opposite — we can help you complete your mission properly."

Lin pressed his case with patient persuasion: "Cutting corners is one option, sure. But if you perform well and earn some genuine merit in the process, then even a thankless errand like this could become the stepping stone that gets you back into favour on the Forge World — couldn't it?"

He had already read the situation from the state of the Skitarii escort: the Magos in front of him was not in a good position. This so-called Skitarii retinue consisted of nothing but basic Ranger infantry armed with galvanic rifles and a handful of combat Servitors converted from bonded labourers. That threadbare arrangement said everything about where this Magos stood in the Forge World's hierarchy — right at the bottom.

For a Magos in this kind of straits, a combination of threat and incentive was always the most effective approach. And sure enough, Lifar found himself genuinely tempted by the offer.

"What exactly are you proposing…?"

Seeing the Magos take the bait so readily, Lin smiled and clapped his hands. He helped the dishevelled Magos to his feet and gestured for him to take in the yellow-armoured Space Marines standing all around them.

"As you can see, we are the Imperial Fists, and I am their Chapter Chaplain."

"I know — my orders included checking on the status of the Imperial Fists on this planet…" Lifar hadn't failed to notice the Imperial Fists around him; he'd simply had no opportunity to think about it until now. "I couldn't find any sign of you from orbit. I assumed you'd already evacuated."

During the days of waiting, Lin's group had found no other survivors — but they had done their best to recover the bodies of fallen Imperial Fists warriors, retrieving their Gene-Seeds and power armour. That was precisely why Lifar had detected no trace of them from above.

"We took severe losses," Lin admitted plainly. "And that is precisely why we need a Forge World to help us rebuild our combat strength as quickly as possible."

Lifar was no fool. "So — you help me complete my mission, and in return, you want me to take you with me when I return to Forge World Cath Maximus?"

"Exactly."

"I'm afraid that won't work." Lifar tamped down the flicker of temptation from before. "The Mechanicus and the Imperium stand as equals. Even a newly-founded Chapter, if it wishes to enter a Forge World, must obtain the express permission of that world's Forge Director. I have no authority to bring you inside."

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