Steel & Oil: Warhammer 32K

In this world claimed entirely by the Mechanicus, the abandoned pipeline networks ran like hidden rivers beneath the steel-boned earth.

No one knew where these pipes ultimately led, nor what might happen if anyone tried to move them. Ordinary humans had lost track of the sewers their own engineers had designed beneath a major city after a mere two hundred years — and the Mechanicus was no exception to this rule.

After a few ill-fated attempts to remove decommissioned pipes resulted in inexplicable failures of sacred machinery, all such efforts were abandoned entirely. The Mechanicus simply laid new conduits on top of the old, building a planet of layered, stacked steel.

These forgotten tunnels had a tendency to become sanctuaries for the mutant creatures that found their way onto Forge Worlds. Unless such creatures posed a direct threat to the machinery's operation, the Mechanicus priests generally left them to their own devices.

But in the harsh environment of a Forge World, the only mutants tough enough to survive were insects and rats. The Felynes who had moved in and made the place their own quickly swept those creatures aside, establishing their own small kingdoms in the abandoned pipework.

Working from the location Archmagos Lifar had pointed out from memory on the schematics, Lin — having deduced that the Titans were stored in underground hangars — hit upon the idea of sending the Felynes through the abandoned pipes, letting them burrow deep into the earth and reach the Titan Congregation without authorisation.

Even for a third-tier Forge World, the decommissioned pipeline network was labyrinthine in its complexity. With the added constraint of moving carefully to avoid detection, it took Lin and the Felynes the better part of four days to locate a stretch of abandoned conduit that led close to the Titan Congregation.

Time was running short — but there was still enough.

The rust-mottled metal pipes wound downward in long, curving spirals, and Tom moved nimbly through what had once been the veins carrying life through the Forge World. Threading through the rhythmic pulse of hydraulic machinery, he slipped past several groaning valves and settled silently into position at a ventilation grille near the Titan Congregation.

As the armoured core of a Forge World's military power, the Titans' location would naturally be defended in layers. But the very nature of a hangar meant there had to be maintenance bays, ventilation shafts, and a constant flow of personnel.

Following Lin's instructions, Tom reached up and severed a cable on the exhaust fan — halfway through, not completely — then lay still on the ceiling, waiting for the fan's rotation to slow.

Footsteps broke the mechanical quiet of the corridor below. Two Mechanicus priests were approaching along the passage beneath him.

"Maintenance, maintenance, endless bloody maintenance." A voice drifted up through the ceiling, distorted as though passed through some cheap vox-unit. "Can't we do something that actually matters?"

"I hear the Titan Legion is being mobilised soon," the other voice replied, "to reinforce the front lines against the Greenskins. If you find the routine here unbearable, perhaps you should volunteer to join the priests accompanying the expedition."

"Absolutely not! I'm not going to the front to be worked like a slave! I want to run experiments — real experiments, like the Archmagi do! I refuse to waste my entire life on maintenance and warfare with no hope of climbing any higher!"

"Actually, I've been hearing whispers about this deployment order. Word is the Titan Legion isn't heading to the front lines at all — they're using the order as cover to evacuate Cath Maximus."

"Evacuate? Why?"

The two priests had dragged over a scaffold. They lifted open the ceiling panel, and one of them climbed up to peer into the ventilation shaft. Fortunately, he spotted the damaged cable without even activating a scanner. Realising it was probably some mutant creature gnawing through a wire that had caused this simple fault, the priest allowed himself a quiet sigh of relief.

He shut the fan down, then looked back down at his colleague.

"Pass me a spare cable... and are you really telling me you haven't heard why they're evacuating?"

Tom used the moment of stillness as the fan halted to slip through the grille and into the Titan hangar's interior, leaving the two priests and their argument behind. But their discussion had escalated into a quarrel, and even as he moved deeper inside, scattered fragments of it still reached him.

"Our beloved Forge Director values those production lines more than he values our lives, you know. Do you honestly think he'd be willing to abandon the Omnissiah-consecrated lines on this planet?"

"When a great enemy is at the gates, the best way to protect your wealth is to run. Haven't you heard that Hive World Nding has fallen? If you ask me, our Forge Director from Mars has been quietly arranging his return to Mars for a while now."

"Nding isn't even on the same Warp transit lane as us! Though — you might have a point. I suppose I really should consider joining the priests going with the expedition…"

Distrust of the Forge Council was spreading quietly among the lower priests — but it was not yet enough.

The Felyne pressed deeper into the hangar's interior, surveying the Titans housed within with a careful, appraising eye.

Through the visual feed Tom was relaying back to him, Lin immediately picked out the one Warlord-class Titan in the hangar.

The ancient Mars-Alpha pattern Titan stood motionless, its towering silhouette nearly grazing the ceiling of the chamber — like a colossal idol of war. The pristine auramite armour plating on its arms bore the marking of its Titan Legion.

The Titan Congregation of the Gates of Fate.

Though the Titan's systems still lay dormant, the Vulcan Mega-Bolter and Volcano Cannon mounted on its arms left no doubt as to the terrifying power of this god-machine.

It was a pity that no additional weapons were mounted on the shoulder pylons. And yet simply standing here, it was the most compelling proof of why the Mechanicus could sit as an equal beside the Imperium.

"Interesting."

Lin studied the Titan through Tom's eyes. The weapon loadout told him immediately that this machine had not been built to fight xenos — it was purpose-built for combat within the Imperium itself.

The Volcano Cannon, currently the most powerful laser weapon in the Imperium's arsenal, could rapidly overload the void shields of priority armoured targets. The Vulcan Mega-Bolter could effortlessly cut down massed infantry formations.

In every practical sense, this Titan's armaments had been designed for civil war.

The loadout was admittedly somewhat underperforming against Greenskins — but the Forge Council had never intended to use it against Orks. They had every reason to hold onto something this formidable, a machine that secured their standing within the Mechanicus.

"A pity. I wonder if I'll be able to put it to use."

Lin felt a faint flicker of regret. But getting his hands on the Titan was a secondary concern — what mattered most was plunging this planet into internal chaos.

The Titan's calibration work was evidently nearing its final stages; the busy Mechanicus priests were now focused mainly on inspecting and adjusting the external cabling and gear assemblies.

Tom slipped carefully into the Titan's interior. He was carrying a digital virus that Lin had painstakingly coded — its purpose was to cause the Titan to briefly lose control for a short window after startup.

The virus had little to recommend it beyond its stealth. But what Lin needed was precisely a brief loss of control during the Titan's transfer from the ground to the transport ship.

He could see that the female Titan captain who had attended the Forge Council as the representative of the Titan Congregation and the Forge Director who had resolved to evacuate were not aligned in their intentions. That misalignment was enough — a Titan going rogue during the transfer could ferment that discord into suspicion and open conflict.

Even a brief clash between the Forge Director who ruled this world and the Forge World's most powerful military force would be enough to throw the entire planet into chaos.

And Lin would seize the initiative in that chaos, taking control of the Forge World for himself.

Tom entered the darkened command chamber, moved past the lightless amniotic tank, and descended to the operator's throne beneath it.

He was searching for a cable interface through which to inject the virus into the Titan's systems, when he suddenly heard the soft click of the amniotic tank's hatch opening behind him.

Tom turned.

Standing before him was the pilot who had appeared at the Forge Council — Christina.

"I know you." Christina rose from the floor, entirely unconcerned by the amniotic fluid pooling around her feet, wrapping herself simply in a white coat. "You're the pet that Forge World Huangquan VIII's Archmagos brought with him."

Her gaze dropped to the data-disc Tom was carrying. Tom instinctively tucked it behind his back, but Christina had already seen it for what it was.

"The Archmagos of Huangquan VIII sends his pet to my Titan carrying a digital virus…" Her voice was soft, but carried an absolute, unshakeable confidence. "Now what exactly would he be trying to do?"

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