Steel & Oil: Warhammer 32K

The only real question left for them was how to maintain their standing as senior tech-priests after arriving on Mars — despite not quite measuring up to that rank in any meaningful sense.

Completing the tasks Mars had assigned them was, of course, one part of the answer. The other, more critical part was plundering Maximus's resources as thoroughly as possible while keeping the Forge World's other tech-priests in the dark.

They had been planning this for a long time, and by all accounts both his own preparations and the Master Forger's were airtight. Even so, the Deputy Forge Director could not shake that nagging unease.

He stood shoulder to shoulder with the Master Forger, watching in troubled silence as the Titan Legion rose slowly from the depths through the lift shafts, emerging one by one onto the surface.

Leading the procession were ten Warhound-class Titans, followed by four Reavers. The Warlord-class Titan — standing a full thirty metres tall — came last, making its entrance alongside the light-infantry Titan Guards assigned to escort it, and its appearance alone sent a ripple of awe through the crowd.

The assembled tech-priests erupted in a small cheer. Some fell to their knees in reverence, prostrating themselves before this sacred creation wrought by the power of the Omnissiah.

On a world incapable of producing a Warlord-class Titan, bearing witness to such a God-Machine was nothing less than the Omnissiah's own blessing. The onlookers found themselves envying the priests who marched in the Titan Legion's wake — envying them for the privilege of serving as an extension of the Omnissiah's will. Yet those very priests kept their heads bowed and their eyes forward, speaking to no one, pressing on in silence.

By this stage of the evacuation, concealing the plan from everyone had become impossible. Those so-called 'attendant priests' marching behind the Titans had each been personally selected by the two senior tech-priests as trusted confidants.

'Trusted' was a generous word — in the eyes of the two seniors, each of these priests was worth less than a single production line or a shipment of raw materials. But since they now had a convenient cover as Titan Legion attendants, the seniors were perfectly content to use the Legion's 'march to battle' as a pretext for letting the priests leave Maximus alongside them.

For the senior tech-priests, the calculation was simple: a few more rootless priests to work the production lines without asking questions. For the priests themselves — who had only just learned that Maximus was to be abandoned — it was news that arrived like a thunderbolt. Grateful simply to have caught this lifeline, they now trudged along behind the Titans with all their worldly possessions in tow, making the entire procession look bloated and sluggish.

The Deputy Forge Director's brow furrowed. "They need to move faster."

"If by 'faster' you mean telling them to drop their belongings, they're not going to agree to that," the Master Forger replied.

"We don't have time to waste here!"

"If you don't want a mutiny on your hands, you'd better let them keep their things." The Master Forger shot back: "Besides, aren't those five ships you've packed full of Frateris Militia rather more of a burden than a few priests' luggage?"

"I'd love to crack your skull open and shove electrodes in until you start thinking straight!"

And then the Deputy Forge Director found it — the source of his unease.

"It's not just the priests. Look at the Titan! The Warlord-class Titan's stride length is down 23.41% from its baseline! It's deliberately throttling the entire column's pace!"

The speed of any marching column is set by its tallest member, and if the Warlord slowed its steps, the entire formation slowed with it. By protocol, the Titans were meant to walk to the spaceport under their own power before being loaded for transport. At their normal pace, there would have been little time for tech-priests to gather. But as the Titan's speed continued to drop, more and more priests found themselves with enough time to drift over and cluster around the God-Machines.

"Aren't you being a little oversensitive?" the Master Forger asked.

But the Warlord's stride did not stop declining at 23.41%. Gradually, it came to a complete halt. At that point, everyone present could see that something was wrong.

The Master Forger frowned and opened a vox-channel — but Titan captain Christina had already sent her report before he could ask. He relaxed slightly as he read it, then turned to explain:

"There's a minor fault in the Titan's locomotion systems. They're running diagnostics now."

"What a convenient coincidence," the Deputy Forge Director said flatly, giving the Master Forger a sideways look. "Didn't you just finish servicing the Titans? Your report said the probability of a malfunction was under five percent."

"At least it isn't the scenario you were most worried about. And the fact that she reported it to us voluntarily already puts the odds of her openly defying the Forge Council at under ten percent."

The Master Forger let out a slow breath. "When we decided to evacuate, Captain Christina was the most volatile variable in our plans — she knew the truth and she didn't agree with us. And yet, in the end, she chose to fall in line. Perhaps I should revise how much weight I give to the threat of death in negotiation theory."

The Deputy Forge Director gave a small nod. The anxiety in his chest eased — but only slightly. He still called over a Servitor and instructed it to go and check on the Astartes once more.

The unaffected Warhound-class and Reaver-class Titans continued their march toward the spaceport. As for the Warlord, which had ground to a halt in the middle of the avenue, a contingent of the attendant maintenance priests began crawling over its locomotion assembly to begin inspections.

It appeared this would not be a quick fix. As the minutes ticked by, the Deputy Forge Director was already composing in his mind the punishments he would mete out to those responsible for the Titan's upkeep.

But at that moment, he noticed a tiny figure who had somehow climbed up onto the Titan's arm.

"...?"

The Deputy Forge Director adjusted his visual processors, trying to identify which devotionally-minded priest had been bold enough to clamber onto a God-Machine. What his magnified visual feed captured made him go cold.

The figure on the arm was unmistakably Sage Lifar.

"When did he get here?!" the Deputy Forge Director blurted. "He's supposed to still be under house arrest!"

He did not for a moment believe that a Biologis sage would climb a God-Machine out of religious devotion. Whatever Lifar was doing up on that arm, he had a purpose.

Sage Lifar cleared his throat. Strapped to his back was a massive amplifier horn, and the sound it produced was more than sufficient to draw the attention of every priest in the vicinity.

"Citizens of Maximus! I am Sage Lifar, the one sent to investigate the greenskin advance!"

Every eye below the Titan turned toward him. The weight of all those stares — and the danger he knew was coming — made Lifar's scalp prickle. But he thought of the script Lin had prepared for him, took a breath, and pressed on regardless.

"The rumours spreading across Maximus — that this Forge World is about to be abandoned — I can tell you plainly: they are true!"

"The Greenskin invasion has been broadcast across the entire sector, but here on Maximus, everyone assumed we lay outside the greentide's path and seldom spoke of it. That assumption was a fabrication — deliberately manufactured by the Forge Council!"

"Having known from the very beginning that the Greenskins were coming, and judging themselves unable to resist, they have been quietly preparing their evacuation in secret! Their plan is to take everything of value and leave the rest of us — ignorant of the truth — to serve as their rearguard and their expendable promethium!"

The crowd of priests erupted into uproar. Many of them, however, recognised Lifar as someone who had a longstanding feud with the Forge Director, and were disinclined to take his words at face value.

"Don't take my word for it — look for yourselves, because the evidence is right here!"

Lifar pointed at the attendant priests milling in bewildered clusters behind the Titans.

"Doesn't something seem off? They are supposedly priests attached to the Titan Legion for the campaign — and yet only 19.7% of them have any documented involvement in Titan maintenance! If they have no knowledge of a Titan's workings, why would they be assigned as Legion attendants?"

"Take a good look! I guarantee that every single one of you will spot someone in that group who you know — someone who has no conceivable connection to the Titan Congregation. The probability is one hundred percent!"

The uproar among the priests swelled into open agitation, because they were discovering that what Lifar had said was entirely true.

Those 'attendant priests' had their heads bowed and were actively concealing their identities — proof enough that the accusation had struck home.

"There is only one explanation!"

Sage Lifar thrust his fist into the air: "The Forge Council — which intends to abandon this entire Forge World — has used the cover of the Titan Legion's deployment to smuggle out the Titans and those priests who knew the truth, taking them away from Maximus under false pretences!"

"They have betrayed the will of the Omnissiah. They have forsaken the sacred production lines. They are taking only what serves their own ambitions and leaving us — the faithful servants of the Omnissiah — behind on this planet to die!"

"Brothers and sisters, this is a betrayal!"

"A betrayal — total and absolute!"

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