Steel & Oil: Warhammer 32K

The spaceport's lifts carried the Deputy Forge Director away from the chaos consuming the surface below.

He passed through layer after layer of checkpoints and finally arrived at the bridge of a cruiser.

Forge Director Augustus stood at the bridge viewport, gazing down at the landscape of Cath Maximus. From up here, he had of course witnessed the mushroom cloud climbing from the surface.

He turned as the Deputy Forge Director took up a position behind him, and asked with quiet detachment:

"The incident. How severe?"

"We have temporarily lost the Warlord-class Titan, Gate of Fate," the Deputy Forge Director reported. "Titan Captain Christina colluded with the Forge Archmagos from Forge World Huangquan VIII who landed on our Forge World earlier. During the transfer of the Titan toward the spaceport, she launched a mutiny. Exploiting the Titan's firepower, they annihilated the Frateris Militia that had been assembled against them. They remain on the surface."

"Temporarily. Deputy Director — do you believe that word is accurate?"

My logical probability calculations give me confidence in that assessment.

"Evidence. Justify your confidence."

The Deputy Forge Director stepped forward and projected the intelligence he had gathered on his way here.

"The Forge Archmagos from Huangquan VIII orchestrated this insurrection to inflame the entire planet. His goal is to seize control of this Forge World after our departure — this was confirmed during my earlier conversation with him."

"His entire plan revolved around preventing us from destroying the production lines. He cleverly led us to believe his true objective was to capture the Warlord Titan — which he had already turned to his cause long beforehand — and that misdirection caused our initial setback."

"But this was merely a scheme he constructed by exploiting unknown variables. Now that his goals and methods have been fully laid bare, he stands alone and isolated — he is no longer a factor that can threaten us."

The footage the Deputy Forge Director was displaying shifted. It now showed imagery captured along the road leading to the spaceport.

Three Warhound-class Titans and one Reaver-class Titan lay wrecked near the spaceport entrance, their hulls bearing the scars of fierce close-range combat. The parties that had exchanged fire with them were none other than the remaining loyal Titans and the garrison forces protecting the spaceport.

"The Warlord Titan is personally captained by Titan Captain Christina. The crew assignments of the remaining Titans have long been the focal point of contention between us and the Titan Congregation. During this mutiny, four Titans still loyal to Christina opened fire without warning at the spaceport threshold, attempting to seize control of the facility. Though they achieved initial surprise, they were ultimately destroyed by the other Titans loyal to the Forge Council and the spaceport garrison."

"Although they seized control of the Warlord Titan and detonated the critical energy core of the Forge World, they have no means of receiving any reinforcement on the surface. We, by contrast, retain full control of the spaceport and can ferry troops groundside in an unbroken stream."

The Deputy Forge Director's case was airtight — clearly he had prepared every argument on his way here.

"Forge Archmagos Lin's desire to possess this Forge World is, at this point, irrelevant to us. The transfer of the Titan Legion was always the closing act of the evacuation plan. The production lines of true value have long since been relocated. The lines that remain were slated for destruction only to deny them to the greenskins. He has prevented that destruction — but that, in turn, creates something we can exploit."

"I will leverage our numerical superiority, dispatching small Frateris Militia units to harass those production lines. Since the Forge Archmagos's objective is to claim the entire Forge World, he will inevitably have to divert forces to defend those lines we have abandoned."

"While he is stretched thin, I will personally lead the assault — striking at the location of the Titan while his forces are dispersed. Once we have the Titan, nothing else matters."

The Titan had always been the Deputy Forge Director's singular objective.

He was different from the Forge Director — a true Archmagos dispatched from Mars itself — and from the senior Forge Archmagos who oversaw the Forge World's manufacturing operations. Those two, even having failed their mission from Mars, would find a place to stand on their own abilities. But the Deputy Forge Director, whose role was commanding the Frateris Militia, had invested too much of himself in the art of military governance.

Any hope of systematically extracting resources from the chaos of Cath Maximus was gone — he harbored no illusions about gaining anything extra now. But this Warlord-class Titan, he had to secure.

Without it, he was quite certain there would be no place for him on Mars.

Mars had its own military hierarchy — would it make room for a mere Forge Archmagos from a subordinate Forge World to meddle in its affairs? Even if that Forge World was technically under Mars's authority... even so, the best he could likely hope for was to serve under some Archmagos as a glorified private army commander.

But a Titan changed everything. A single Warlord-class Titan took even Mars decades of labor-hours to manufacture. That kind of irreplaceable asset was more than enough to guarantee his standing upon arrival.

Moreover, extracting the Titan Legion was Mars's own directive to begin with. He saw no grounds on which anyone could object to his plan.

He was quite confident his plan would succeed. But Forge Director Augustus simply posed a counter-question:

"Time. How long do you need?"

"Calculated estimate: no more than three days and seven hours at the latest."

"Too slow."

That was Augustus's answer. Faced with the Deputy Forge Director's puzzled look, he simply gestured, pulling up a transmission feed on the bridge — a report from a monitoring station at the system's edge.

In the feed, a fleet bearing the Imperial Aquila and the markings of the Sol System was pouring through the Mandeville Point at the system's edge. Alongside the fleet came an open communication request broadcast by Starwhisper relay.

"This is the Sol System Expeditionary Fleet. I am Hays, Supreme Commander of the Solar Sector's Astra Militarum forces. By order of the High Lords' Council, we are dispatched to investigate matters relating to the greenskin invasion. We hereby request permission to dock and resupply at the spaceport of Cath Maximus. Please respond at your earliest convenience!"

It was a standard expeditionary fleet, led by a Retribution-class battleship. Arrayed behind the battleship in its escort screen were numerous Overlord-class transports carrying Astra Militarum troops.

At the sight of it, the Deputy Forge Director shot to his feet. "He actually colluded with the Imperium!"

He could not conceal his shock. "Under the Olympia Accords, the Imperium has no right to interfere in the internal affairs of the Adeptus Mechanicus! These maggots from Huangquan VIII — do they have no sense of honor as Mechanicus Forge Archmagoi?!"

"Incorrect," Augustus replied flatly. "If he dared to reach for an entire Forge World, you should have anticipated he would have a contingency. Without the means to resist the greenskins, seizing a Forge World serves no purpose."

"Even so, it shouldn't be Imperial troops—"

Augustus gave no opinion on the Deputy Forge Director's words. "Before absolute force, there is no room to maneuver through protocols and agreements. The Solar Fleet will reach Cath Maximus in approximately one day. You have only that long."

One day.

That window meant the probability of his harassment tactics bearing fruit was very low. He would have no time to whittle down Lin's forces before delivering a decisive blow.

But the Deputy Forge Director had no path of retreat left. His logic-core ran at full speed, calculating alternatives for the scenario where his original tactics could not be executed:

"I will make it work — but I need sufficient support."

"Command of the Frateris Militia has always been yours."

"I also need the fleet!"

This fleet, assembled purely for short-haul transport to Mars, had not been equipped with many escort warships. Apart from the Mechanicus Autocrat-class cruiser Augustus was currently aboard, the only other vessel capable of orbital bombardment was a single Mechanicus Duty-class light cruiser.

Even if neither of these distinctly Mechanicus warships excelled at orbital bombardment, against ground operations they represented overwhelming, crushing force.

It went without saying that a Warlord Titan — even an Emperor Titan — struck by a single lance shot would be reduced to nothing in short order.

This was the decisive importance of orbital superiority. If he could transfer command of both vessels from the Forge Director's hands into his own, the Deputy Forge Director was confident he could punch through whatever defenses the Imperial Fists had erected.

The Deputy Forge Director expected Augustus would not refuse — after all, reclaiming the Warlord Titan served Augustus's interests as well. Yet the Forge Director did not immediately agree. He only fixed the Deputy Forge Director with a long, searching look, as if weighing something.

The Deputy Forge Director felt a flicker of unease. But a moment later, Augustus's answer came:

"Agreed. I will have both cruisers coordinate with your operation."

With that confirmation secured, the Deputy Forge Director lowered his eyelids. He raised the hood of his Mechanicus crimson robes and connected dozens of mechadendrite cables directly into his brain.

This was nothing like the parade of Forge Archmagoi and priests who had once jostled before him, each eager to demonstrate their value. Now, the Forge Archmagoi and priests on the evacuation manifest had no desire whatsoever to lend their hand to a Deputy Forge Director on the verge of losing his power.

The Deputy Forge Director understood this perfectly. So he would rely only on himself.

And he needed no one else.

He was a Magos Bellicus — a Deputy Director who governed the military forces of the Forge World.

He was not a research-type Magos with deep expertise in scientific investigation or production allocation, nor was he a Pursuer on the front lines with extraordinary firepower at his command.

But he alone was an army.

Every augmentation on his body had been built in service of commanding ever-greater numbers of Frateris Militia.

The mechadendrite cables now plugged into him connected with surgical precision to key regions of his brain. They were not mere interface devices — they were enhancement instruments, stimulating and modulating bio-electric signals to amplify his data-processing capacity. Each flicker of the cables represented countless binary codes blazing across his neurons.

These specialized mechadendrites allowed him to effortlessly navigate vast data repositories, running complex calculations and strategic projections... but more importantly, they allowed him to exercise direct, individual-level command over every trooper under his banner, as easily as moving his own fingers.

Even within the complex electromagnetic environment Lin had deliberately manufactured, he needed no external aids — he could directly assume control over dozens of Frateris Militia squadrons by sheer will alone.

As a Magos Bellicus who specialized in command and held dominion over the Frateris Militia, this was authority he had always rightfully possessed.

"I will grind that Forge Archmagos from Huangquan VIII to dust... and in war, I will show him the uncrossable chasm that separates a destitute biological Magos from a senior Archmagos who has mastered the art of warfare!"

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