Steel & Oil: Warhammer 32K

With every avenue of escape cut off by Lin, Magos Lifar had no choice but to yield. He gathered his specimens and boarded the Mechanicus survey vessel alongside Lin's group, then turned the ship about and set course for Forge World Cath Maximus.

Lin stationed Admir aboard the Hunter, which was piloted by the Felynes and kept close on the survey vessel's tail.

At the first sign of any treachery from the survey vessel, the Hunter would ram its dragon-headed prow straight through the hull, and Admir would lead a boarding action.

Kurande boarded the survey vessel alongside Lin. The Imperial Fists warriors took up positions at every critical chokepoint throughout the ship, placing Magos Lifar under a half-step-from-arrest confinement on the bridge.

This arrangement put any hope of Lifar turning coat and fleeing completely beyond reach. The Magos could only trudge toward Cath Maximus with a dead man's heart, escorting this band of Space Marines so he could "collect" a commendation he had absolutely no desire for.

But the forced "reward-collecting" wasn't even the most galling part. What truly drove Lifar to despair was the fact that a thoroughly knowledgeable Lin was now loose aboard his ship. In the brief span it took to transit the warp, Lin turned the entire survey vessel inside out.

Lin hadn't even bothered to coerce Lifar into surrendering his data access codes. The ship's Machine Spirits — which should have fought tooth and nail against any intrusion — simply rolled over the moment they encountered Lin, letting him walk right in as if the whole system were a child's toy.

All Lifar could do was watch like an aggrieved victim as Lin rifled through every Cogitator array on the ship. Within a few days, Lin had thoroughly devoured every scrap of data the survey vessel held.

Lin found nothing of particular value to himself in all that information — but one thing did catch his interest.

By the time the survey vessel had entered the system containing Cath Maximus, Lin had already mapped every last secret on board. He tossed a data-slate bearing Magos Lifar's credentials onto the bridge's conference table.

Kurande, standing nearby, craned his neck curiously to read the contents.

"Titan Cult Biotechnology Director — Lifar?" Kurande turned to glance at the sulking Magos. "There's actually a Titan Cult on Cath Maximus?"

"Forge Worlds are ranked on a scale of four to one, divided into four tiers. Any Forge World at tier three or above will have Titans of its own — the scale just varies." Lifar said nothing, so it was Lin who answered Kurande's confusion.

The intelligence clearly interested Kurande. He was already turning over in his mind how to construct a defensive line against the Greenskins, and heavy-fire platforms like Titans were exactly what he was hoping for.

"Cath Maximus is a Tier Three Class-A Forge World. Magos Lin, how many Titans do you think a world like that would have?"

"Warhounds or Reavers, most likely. At best, maybe one Warlord for show."

Kurande looked mildly disappointed at Lin's assessment.

Titans — also called the Engines of the Gods — were colossal iron beasts ranging anywhere from fifteen to eighty metres tall depending on their class, loaded to the brim with advanced weaponry of every description. Their powerful Void Shields and cannons were enough to make countless enemies tremble.

But formidable did not mean invincible, especially for the smaller classes. The firepower a light Titan provided was barely greater than a heavy weapons squad. A Warlord-class Titan, nearly thirty metres tall, could genuinely serve as the decisive force that turned a battle — but set against Greenskins who possessed a Battle Moon, even a Warlord was a drop in the ocean.

"And yet you're still unimpressed? You think even that many Titans are a drop in the ocean — well, the Forge World itself may not even be willing to loan those precious darlings out to you."

Lin said with a smirk, "Isn't that right, Director of Biotechnology Lifar — the man doing free labour for the Titan Cult?"

Lifar's mood darkened even further.

"I'm going to go handle the docking arrangements." He dropped the words flatly, shoved back from the conference table, and fled the room.

Kurande watched him storm off, looking puzzled.

"Why does he react so badly to that?"

"Because the bit about doing free labour for the Titan Cult hit a nerve."

"I always assumed that within the Adeptus Mechanicus, serving the god-engines would be considered an honour for any Tech-Priest?"

"It is — for Tech-Priests." Lin picked up the data-slate from the table and tapped the titles 'Biotechnology Director' and 'Magos' pointedly. "Tech-Priests consider serving the god-engines a glory. But Magi usually have their own research projects and lines of inquiry — their own affairs to keep them occupied. For someone who already commands enough knowledge, Titans hold no particular appeal."

Kurande connected the dots. "So this Lifar is actually some poor wretch who was press-ganged into doing grunt work for the Titan Cult?"

"Exactly. 'Biotechnology Director' sounds impressive, but in practice he's just a glorified labourer responsible for leading teams to examine the physical condition of the pilots who neural-link with the Titans. Unless you can break into the Titan Cult's upper management, no amount of that kind of work means anything. This Magos must have been having a thoroughly miserable time on his Forge World to end up saddled with a 'distinguished posting' like that."

"Does any of this intelligence actually help us?"

"What it tells us is that this Magos is useless as a backer. When we negotiate with the Forge Director shortly, he won't be able to lend us any real assistance — we'll have to rely entirely on ourselves." Lin paused. "Do you have anything that can prove your identity to the Imperium? Hand it over."

"There's an exclusive code sequence we use to communicate with Terra." Kurande looked faintly puzzled. "But there's no Astropath on hand who can relay intelligence across star systems right now. What do you want it for?"

"Just preparing a backup plan."

Under Lin's direction, the Hunter quietly docked with the survey vessel, and all the wounded warriors along with a portion of the Felynes were transferred over.

Lin took only Sergeant Arlo as his personal escort. Admir, Lieutenant Vigan, Deputy Aibo, and roughly a dozen warriors remained aboard the Hunter.

He left the exclusive code sequence with those who withdrew to the Hunter. The Hunter reversed its engines and slipped silently away into the deep dark of space.

No sooner had Lin completed these handovers than the survey vessel drew close enough to the Forge World's spaceport to begin the docking procedures.

The survey vessel's Cogitator systems were taken over by the Forge World. The Forge World's port inspection protocol simultaneously conducted a comprehensive sweep of the vessel's interior.

Moments later, the Cogitator system detected Space Marines aboard — and a piercing alarm began to wail.

"Warning, warning! Unapproved species detected aboard. Biosign assessment: Astartes. Requesting elevated authority for processing. Requesting elevated authority for processing!"

The instant the alarm sounded, every power source on the ship except emergency reserves was cut. The darkened bridge was lit only by the frantic radar warnings screaming that the vessel was being targeted by over a hundred weapons systems.

Lin, however, had anticipated exactly this. He stood with the Imperial Fists warriors beside the conference table, and all that was required of him was patient waiting.

Before long, the pitch-black bridge recovered its most basic emergency lighting, and a holographic projection flickered to life over the conference table.

The figure projected there looked less like a person and more like a machine wrapped in a token sliver of flesh. No one on Lin's side knew his name — but a single glance was enough for everyone to know that this could only be the Forge Director of this world.

The Forge Director studied the assembled Space Marines for a moment, then shifted his gaze toward Magos Lifar, who was standing well back from the group.

"Error. Magos Lifar, my instructions were to bring back several Imperial Fists corpses."

The Forge Director's voice was mechanical and utterly without emotion. He stated this without any attempt to spare the Imperial Fists warriors present from hearing it. "Perhaps your logic processors have degraded below Servitor-level. How am I supposed to trust a Magos Biologis who cannot tell the difference between a living subject and a dead one?"

"Stow it, Augustus!" Lifar snapped back with barely concealed fury. He tried to square his shoulders and project some authority, but his trembling voice betrayed his anxiety all the same. "I completed the task you forced on me. Stop looking for excuses to make trouble — just let me in!"

"Negative, Magos Lifar. You consider this completion?"

Forge Director Augustus's tone did not waver in the slightest, yet it carried an almost suffocating weight. "How do you intend to prove it? Shall we simply dispose of these Imperial Fists here and now?"

Seeing that Lifar was already useless, Lin had no choice but to step forward himself and pull him out of the fire.

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