Steel & Oil: Warhammer 32K

That explanation was hardly enough to fully convince Hays and his group — but the man had explicitly mentioned Kurande. That meant this Forge Director knew something, at the very least. Which made him a lead worth following.

An opportunity like that wasn't to be squandered. Even so, the sight of a Forge Director personally standing here playing receptionist while the Forge World beneath them burned to half a ruin struck Hays as deeply, profoundly wrong.

He thought it over for a moment, then made his decision. "We can go with you — but not through the spaceport. We'll use our own landers."

Cath Maximus's orbital defense grid was not exactly comprehensive. Whether the systems had genuinely gone dark or were faking it, a fast lander was a safer bet than a spaceport that might or might not be harbouring an ambush.

The smile froze on Lifar's face. He had no desire for this much extra complication — but this was a task Lin had assigned him, which meant he had no grounds to refuse. He gave a reluctant, unhappy nod.

"Very well. But I need to meet with your High Lord — I'll have to accompany him to the surface."

"I am the High Lord."

Lifar's eyes went wide.

Whatever else could be said of this Magos, his performance was not what anyone would call becoming of a Forge Director, and the observation put Hays on his guard. The man's behaviour had the unmistakable look of someone acting under duress. Hays quietly signalled his personal guard to raise their alert level.

Facing several dozen bolters pointed at him — with varying degrees of subtlety — Lifar had not had a moment's quiet from the alarm bells screaming in his head. He glanced around, and decided to try building a little rapport with the Imperial Fists warriors.

"There's really no need to be so wary. Your Chapter Master and I go back a long way — we've been through life and death together."

The Imperial Fists said nothing. They simply watched Lifar with cold, flat eyes. It was Hays who raised an eyebrow.

"You and the Imperial Fists Chapter Master go back — life and death together?"

Realising his attempt at friendliness had fallen completely flat, Lifar's face collapsed into a sour grimace. "That's right. Back when he was on Jingang, he was exactly like this lot around you — stone-faced, the lot of them. He and that Forge World Huangquan VIII Magos nearly got me killed."

Nearly getting yourself killed together — how was that not a life-and-death bond?

That single remark carried a great deal of information. Hays didn't for a moment believe a Forge Director would wander off to Jingang just for the scenery. The only explanation was that this Magos had only recently been elevated to the rank of Forge Director.

Possibly right after that Mechanicus fleet had just departed.

Hays was now seven or eight parts convinced that the surviving Imperial Fists were indeed on this Forge World. At the same time, a rising tide of turbulence surged within him.

He might lack political instincts — but he was not without a brain. The catastrophic upheaval on the planet and the sudden change in Forge Director together crystallised a clear picture for a commander who had spent the better part of this expedition suppressing rebellions: he had a very good idea of what had happened on this Forge World.

He didn't know what role the Imperial Fists had played in it. But he refused to believe an entire Astartes Chapter could have stood on the sidelines through something like this.

The situation had suddenly become considerably more complicated. But Hays knew that showing weakness now was not an option.

The landers from the expedition fleet arrived at the spaceport shortly after. Without the faintest flicker of fear on his face, Hays was the first to board, and then made a welcoming gesture toward Lifar.

He was Hays, Astra Militarum commander and member of the High Lords' Council. A little complication like this was nothing he couldn't handle.

Space on the lander was limited. As a precaution, Hays chose to fill every available square metre with Imperial Fists Astartes.

Whatever role the Imperial Fists had played in this uprising, at the very least they had not fallen to Chaos. As long as they hadn't betrayed the Imperium, Hays trusted them to keep him alive.

The lander carrying them deliberately skirted the orbital defense grid and descended toward the planet's surface. From the viewport, Hays studied the city spread out below him — and the more he looked, the more his unease deepened.

With his eye, he could read the battlefield clearly enough. Somewhere in the region of two hundred thousand armed combatants had clashed on this planet.

The number didn't sound enormous on paper — but the ferocity of the fighting had been extreme. The ruins of particular factory complexes and street blocks lay blanketed in wreckage. The remnants of what could just barely be identified as street fortifications bore the scorched signatures of lance bombardment. Near the spaceport, there were even several Titans reduced to smouldering hulks.

More importantly, he could hear the murmur of quiet conversation from the Imperial Fists beside him.

"That fortification destroyed by lances — doesn't it look somewhat familiar to you?"

"It does. Could be the work of Brother Kurande."

Hays casually pressed the back of his hand to his forehead, making sure no one noticed the cold sweat that had begun to bead there.

He suddenly felt that "somewhat complicated" might have been an understatement.

But there was no going back now. Before long, the lander found a safe patch of ground and set down. Lifar, who had been barred from sending any communications for the duration of the flight, began calling for transport. A few minutes later, a convoy of wasteland-style pickup trucks rumbled up.

They were emergency-converted resource haulers — iron plating bolted across the front, and an assortment of weapons welded to the main chassis with brutal practicality.

Hays was no stranger to this aesthetic. The vehicle models were different, but the rough-and-ready style had the unmistakable flavour of the rebel forces he had spent the expedition suppressing.

He said nothing about the crudeness of the transport. He simply turned to Lifar with an uneasy question:

"Where exactly are we going in these?"

"The Starwhisper relay station."

"Why there?"

"That... you'd be better off asking the person in charge once we arrive."

Lifar might as well have written "I have no idea either" across his forehead. Hays's unease deepened considerably.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, he had the distinct feeling that his political career was waving him a fond farewell.

But finding the Imperial Fists survivors was his mission. Hays had always believed that before he was a High Lord, he was first and foremost a general — a soldier. Whatever lay ahead, he would not choose to run.

The converted pickups tore toward the Starwhisper relay station at full speed, carrying them through scattered exchanges of gunfire until they reached their destination. Hays and the Imperial Fists warriors climbed out — but there was no sign of Kurande anywhere.

At the entrance to the relay station stood only another Magos, methodically picking through a pile of corpses. Hays had barely registered the figure at first — but when Lifar broke into a near-jog toward him, Hays realised this man was likely another central player.

Lifar appeared to exchange words with the Magos, but the exchange was conducted entirely in binary cant. Hays couldn't follow a word of it. He watched as the Magos rose to his feet and turned to face them.

First, the Magos stowed away whatever components he had been salvaging. Then he made a welcoming gesture.

"Welcome, Imperial expedition fleet — you've come a long way." The Magos spoke with calm precision. "You may have already heard of me. I am the Forge World Huangquan VIII Magos at Kurande's side. You may call me Lin."

Compared to the other grease-monkeys who had rebuilt themselves into something barely recognisable as human, this Magos — whose head bore no mechanical augmentation whatsoever — immediately struck Hays as refreshingly likeable.

"Magos Lin, I am Astra Militarum Commander Hays." He made no mention of his High Lord title. "Our mission is to locate the missing Imperial Fists. Magos Lin — are the survivors here?"

"Of course."

Lin tilted his head toward the Starwhisper relay station. "The one you're looking for is inside. He's just a little... busy at the moment."

Hays looked toward the relay station. At that moment, a bolter shot rang out from within.

The sound gave him pause. He dropped his gaze to the corpses at Lin's feet, and realised for the first time that those bodies had all died from bolter fire as well.

This didn't look like someone conducting business at the Starwhisper relay station. It looked like someone forcing their way through it.

"With respect, Magos Lin — what exactly has happened on this Forge World? Why are the Imperial Fists survivors fighting inside a relay station?"

Faced with Hays's challenge, Lin showed not the slightest flicker of alarm. "As you've no doubt observed, this planet experienced a minor period of unrest. The Mechanicus fleet you saw in orbit was Cath Maximus's transfer fleet — the majority of this world's most valuable assets have been relocated to Mars. As for what remained, the Forge Council, having already evacuated, entrusted Magos Lifar as the new Forge Director to manage matters here."

"That all sounds very orderly — but there's clearly active combat happening here."

"Commander, as you know, the evacuation capacity had its limits. Not everyone on Cath Maximus could be taken off-world. When the final evacuation manifest was announced, those tech-priests who found no berth on the ships rioted — attempting to seize the evacuation vessels by force. The new Forge Director, Magos Lifar, engaged myself and the Imperial Fists to help him suppress the uprising. Cath Maximus became what you see now."

"So the gunfire inside the relay station — that's the suppression operation, still ongoing?" Hays pressed.

"No, that's a separate matter entirely. Once the suppression was concluded, Forge Director Lifar entered into negotiations with us. He concluded that rather than continuing to put down people driven to panic by fear of abandonment, a better approach would be to convince everyone remaining on this Forge World that Cath Maximus could still be held against the Greenskin advance."

"So we began consolidating the remaining resources and production lines, and preparing for the coming Waaagh! in earnest. In the course of that process, certain senior tech-priests who controlled key facilities or production lines decided they were in a position to bargain with us — or simply barricade themselves in and play warlord. We were obliged to apply... somewhat more forceful methods of persuasion."

"But, as you understand, there was no alternative. To secure victory, certain costs are both necessary and unavoidable."

Lin spoke with clarity and sincerity. But watching Forge Director Lifar standing to one side, nodding and murmuring agreement with every word, Hays could tell plainly enough that the situation was considerably less tidy than Lin was making it sound.

He could only take stock of the ruins stretching in every direction, then state the obvious: "I don't see how this Forge World, even after consolidating its remaining resources, could possibly hold off the Greenskins."

This Magos had come here from Jingang alongside Kurande. If that was the case, there was no way they didn't understand just how overwhelming the Greenskin tide truly was.

Hays had expected that observation to puncture Lin's story about "holding Cath Maximus" — but to his surprise, the Magos called Lin simply gave a composed nod.

"Which is precisely why Kurande and I arranged for Brother Admidel to travel to Jingang and make contact with you."

"...?"

Hays blinked. Then his expression changed sharply.

Good Throne — they had already calculated around the forces he'd brought with him?

"I am here under orders from the High Lords, to locate the Imperial Fists survivors," he said quickly, looking for an out. "I haven't brought any significant military force with me. The priority should be arranging a meeting between myself and Chapter Master Kurande—"

"That's not all, though, is it? The High Lords' Council will certainly have concluded that the Imperial Fists went silent because they were locked in a desperate engagement. Your mission undoubtedly requires you to re-establish contact with them — but you will also have brought reinforcements intended to augment the Chapter. The Imperial Fists honour company at your side, for instance." Lin paused thoughtfully. "Let me guess — if the High Lords estimated their opposition at eighty billion Greenskins, you'll have brought no fewer than one million Astra Militarum troops?"

The actual number was three million.

Staring at the relentlessly analytical Lin, Hays suddenly found that unaugmented face of his a good deal less endearing than he had moments ago. "The coming Waaagh! numbers in the billions. Even factoring in every Astra Militarum soldier I've brought, I don't see how Cath Maximus could possibly hold."

"It will hold," Lin said, entirely unruffled. "Because the reinforcements are right behind me."

Hays felt the conversation had reached a point where it could no longer be continued in any productive direction. He made a signal for combat readiness. The Imperial Fists, who had come to broadly similar conclusions about this Magos, closed ranks around him.

Then the sound of mag-boots rang out from the steps above — and a figure clad in yellow power armour appeared in the doorway of the Starwhisper relay station.

Kurande walked out.

"Done. Finally found one willing to send a Starwhisper."

Kurande had a trembling Starwhisper apprentice dangling from one gauntlet, his power armour still smeared with blood. He turned to Lin with a complaint: "These Starwhisper psykers are spineless cowards. I told them what I needed — and every last one of them told me that trying to punch a long-range Starwhisper transmission through an Ork psychic field was asking to die." He paused. "...Hm? Brother Eljer?"

Kurande had finally noticed Hays and the Imperial Fists honour company standing beside Lin. The Imperial Fists around Hays stirred with excitement at the sight of a surviving brother at last.

"Brother Kurande — we've finally found you!"

The brother addressed as Brother Eljer responded with warm fervour. Even the sons of Dorn, immovable as stone, could not suppress the joy of finding a survivor.

But Kurande's response was cool. He simply walked to Lin's side and set the Starwhisper apprentice down. "You've come late. We've already cleared the resistance on Cath Maximus. All that remains now is to set our defences."

Set defences? What defences?

Did Kurande mean the same thing as that Magos Lin — that they intended to keep everyone here to defend Cath Maximus?

The Imperial Fists warriors exchanged glances. Finally, Brother Eljer stepped forward to counsel caution. "I believe the most pressing matter is to return to the Shanzheng, reconstitute the Chapter, and deploy to the defence of Terra—"

"Address me as Chapter Master Kurande."

Kurande cut Eljer off. He regarded the brother before him with an appraising eye and rejected the proposal outright.

"Returning to the Shanzheng is a later objective. Before that, I will consolidate every Imperial Fists successor Chapter in the Phal System."

His words landed like a hammer blow.

"I am activating the Ultimate Wall!"

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