“Are you insane?!”
Enraged, Princeps Altrensian crashed out of the strategic projections filling the local Noosphere and reverted to the harshities of fleshvoice.
“Proposition: No extant alternatives available.” Archmagos Raxis replied in a dull monotone, seemingly unperturbed by the other man’s outburst, “Supporting summation: The Warmaster’s retribution forces will achieve total planetary supremacy in 97hours, 32minutes and 18seconds projected.”
“I know! Omnissiah damn you, I know – I can parse the numbers just as well as you, but what you’re asking is an affront to the Machine God!” bellowed Altrensian angrily.
“Proposition: Legio Crucius cannot stand against the Heretek abomination fielded by the enemy. House Edelweiss cannot stand against the Heretek abomination fielded by the enemy. Attrition has resulted in a lack of viable God-Engines. Attrition has resulted in a lack of viable Knight-Armours.” reeled off Raxis, “Conclusion: Activate the Haram-Abjadicyte. Activate the Furor Teutonicus. Activate the Isarno-Mangari.”
“We can’t!” shouted Altrensian, his voice hoarse and close to breaking, fatigue and frustration stoking the fires of his anger, “We were placed here precisely to guard against their activation. Even House Edelweiss, in the centuries they watched over this world before the coming of the Crusade fleets, even at the height of Old Night’s horrors, never deployed those detestable machines. And when they were rediscovered by the Great Crusade the Emperor himself placed them under the same strictures. Do you want to visit the sins of Kelbor-Hal upon us, do you want another Moravec?”
“Proposition…” began the Archmagos.
“Damn your propositions, I won’t subject my fellow Princeps to that horror. We’ve all seen the tawdry results of your experimentations. You forget, I saw with my own eyes, my own eyes mind, what happened to the twinned Princeps you bonded to that two-headed freak, the Pyraemonian Ettin…” Altrensian spat on the cold, iron floor of the bunker’s strategium in disgust, jabbing an accusing finger at the Archmagos’ chestplate.
“And the Hymenopterans; Aleph and Bayt, when everything else failed, when the Medicae had exhausted all other options, we had to lock the surviving Moderati in stasis cells to stop the screaming. Endless screaming. Screaming about the buzzing.” Altrensian shuddered, remembering the susurrating hiss they broadcast across the Noosphere, almost as loud as their screams.
He rounded on the Archmagos again, “And worse, worse than that, in the decades, decades mind, you’ve had to study them at the Emperor’s behest, you still have no idea, not even one iota of a clue, as to their provenance or operation.”
“Counterpoint: Sufficient data for initial conclusions.
Hypothesis: the Haram-Abjadicyte are merely early precursors to recognisable God-Engine standard template constructs, creation date; the Dark Age of Technology.
Supplementary Hypothesis: Precursor constructs employed a range of possible Machine Spirit templates, before refinement and final selection.
Supporting Hypothesis: Pyraemonian Ettin utilises engrammatic encoding from unknown abhuman or non-human strain.
Hymenopterans Aleph & Bayt utilise engrammatic encoding from unknown hive organism, possibly non-Terran origin.
‘Precursor’ hypothesis applicable to Furor Teutonicus knight-analogous armours.
‘Precursor’ hypothesis applicable to Isarno-Mangari knight-analogous armours.”
“But that’s just it! It’s all just supposition, you don’t know for sure.” fumed Altrensian, “The Dark Age of Technology spawned terrors the likes of which even the Warmaster has yet to rival.”
“Irrelevant.” intoned Archmagos Raxis.
“As acting commander of Legio Crucius on this world I will not allow it, and the High-Queen of House Edelweiss certainly will not countenance it.” retorted Altrensian.
“Proposition: The Haram-Abjadicyte constitute a battle-ready Dominus-class maniple. The Furor Teutonicus constitute a battle-ready Knight Banner. The Isarno-Mangari constitute a battle-ready Knight Banner. Legio Crucius has a surplus of biological assets. House Edelweiss has a surplus of biological assets. Conclusion: The God-Engines will walk. The Knight-Armours will walk.”
“Irrelevant,” sneered Altrensian, “We refuse.”
“Observation: The command structure has suffered attrition.”
“How dare you! How dare you mock our losses, how dare you mock the death of the Princeps Senioris!” roared Altrensian. He still carried the radiation burns from having witnessed the Princep Senioris’s demise at the hands of the enemy.
The archmagos simply repeated the statement.
“What of it then?!” yelled Altrensian, throwing his arms out wide in challenge.
“Seniority” stated the Archmagos flatly.
“What do you mean, ‘Seniority’?” Altrensian stopped pacing and glared up into Raxis’s ocular sensors.
“Proposition: You lack seniority. The chain of command is clear. Seniority now rests with the Mechanicum. Seniority now rests with this unit. Conclusion: This unit is now the Emperor’s voice on this world. Refusal to acknowledge constitutes treachery. Treachery is punishable by termination.” The massive battle-servitors previously dormant at the entrance to the strategium suddenly spooled up to combat readiness, “Query: Are you a traitor Princeps Altrensian?”
“Legio Crucius walks for the Emperor, you bastard.” hissed Altrensian through gritted teeth, “How dare you question that…”
Reluctantly he rejoined the local Noosphere, transmitting the necessary code cyphers to cede control of his Legio’s forces, and those of House Edelweiss, “Damn you, damn you all.”
“Submission accepted” intoned the Archmagos, the weapons of the battle-servitors clicking back into standby mode.
Silence held sway for a moment as Altrensian re-synced with the Legio and fired off missives to House Edelweiss in terse data packets.
Raxis moved closer to the defeated Princeps, his mechadendrites extending and hovering near Altrensian’s head, passive scans washing over him.“Observation” chimed the Archmagos, “Princeps Altrensian, according to Legio Crucius battle rosters, you have a twin…”
