Way of the Warrior 3

 "Tomoyuki. Hey, Tomoyuki!"

I woke up from my trance, so deeply sunk in my memories that for a moment I forgot where I was. My instructor, Ishida Ichiro, was glaring at me from above. I realized that I was seated cross-legged in the Temple of the Dragon King and not embedded in the Helm Mechanicum of my Armiger Warglaive.

No...I hadn't been in a Helm Mechanicum for over seven years now. Ever since I had saved Lord Takeda's life, I had been elevated from the rank of Bondsman to Warrior, or Bushi, in our native tongue. A Samurai, the elite class that governed over the feudal domains of Draconis III.

For about seven years, I had piloted a Questoris Knight of my own, ensconced within a proper Throne Mechanicum.

"Master Ishida."

At my greeting, the wizened instructor smacked me at the back of my head with his walking stick, his wrinkled face twisted into an annoyed scowl.

"The whole idea of meditation is for you to empty your mind, not to daydream! What were you dreaming about, being so deeply engrossed in your fantasies that you failed to heed me when I called you three times? Beautiful women? You know as well as I do that the Yoshiwara District is off limits to men of your status!"

"Not at all, Master." I decided not to tell him that I was reminiscing about the past. He would just go ballistic and chide me for talking back. Ishida Ichiro was the type who insisted that if he said black was white, then black was white. He did not take well to arguments from his charges.

"The idea of Zen is to empty your mind, to liberate your spirit and focus on the present. Remember! An unfettered mind." Ishida was beginning his lecture. "Only when you achieve insight and become one with your sword would you be able to become a true weapon...perhaps a blade on par with that of the venerated Adeptus Astartes."

I wondered about that. The Space Marines - the Emperor's Angels of Death as some know them - were posthuman beings who had transcended all mortal weaknesses. Perhaps we might have an edge over them in terms of firepower and durability when protected within layers of adamantium armor and ion shields while wielding tank-sized weaponry capable of devastating entire armored columns. However, take the suits away and we would be nothing more than vulnerable flesh and bone, easily torn apart by the superhuman strength and reflexes of the Adeptus Astartes. I couldn't imagine ever being equal to them.

"Anyway, you're being called. So on your feet, boy." I hadn't been a boy for decades now, but compared to the ancient Ishida, I might as well be an infant. So I didn't object to that. Besides, I was just reliving my past when I had just barely matured from a naive teenager into a hardened warrior. Fighting against the Orochi would do that to you.

Not to mention a Yamata no Orochi, of all things. Speaking of which, I had lost consciousness after distracting it long enough from Lord Takeda. Consequently, I did not bear witness to the epic battle waged between the Shogun and his loyal retainers - which included a posse of legendary Daimyo - and the great beast. I heard (and saw through hololiths) that the Lord Shogun personally slew the Yamata no Orochi himself, riding in the ancient suit of the venerable Cerastus Knight Lancer chassis.

Displaying incredible skill, he had dodged the many heads of the Yamata no Orochi, deftly getting under its guard and ramming his shock lance right into the heart of the gargantuan creature. Upon pinning it to the ground, he unleashed a tremendous discharge of devastating energies that fried the titanic beast from the inside out.

Of course, he couldn't have done it alone. Clad in a mixture of vaunted Cerastus Knight chassis and the ever-reliable Questoris Knight frames, the Daimyo of Draconis III joined the hunt, incinerating the heads or parrying the tails that swept toward the Shogun's Knight armor. Eventually, they brought it down, and so created a new legend.

Lord Takeda had survived and was able to participate in that final battle. Apparently, everyone thought that he owed it all to me, and thus the Daimyo unanimously agreed to raise my rank and grant me a Questoris Knight suit of my own. I was nowhere near the reverent status of the Daimyo, but being acknowledged as a fully-fledged warrior was already a huge step up.

The status also came with heavy responsibilities, which was why I had been summoned to the Shogun's court.

Of course, I wasn't the only one. On my way there, I spotted dozens of warriors - every single one of them a Knight pilot like me. There were bondsmen too, retainers who accompanied their lords closely. Unfortunately, my current low rank meant that I had no retainers assigned to me, so unlike the majority of my brethren, I walked alone through the peaceful courtyard.

The Shogun, Yato Yoshimoto, awaited inside the massive wooden hall, seated in seiza. The warriors filed in, taking their places along the long tables and kneeling. The Daimyo - the highest ranked warriors - sat next to the Shogun, occupying the places in his immediate vicinity. I took my place at the far end of the table, furthest away from the Shogun. We were seated according to rank and seniority, and as a warrior, I was the lowest.

At least I had it better than the retainers, who were forced to stand outside the hall, waiting patiently for their masters. Fortunately for them, this meeting shouldn't take too long. The respectable Shogun had no patience for formalities, and he tended to end these ceremonies as swiftly as the strides of his Knight Lancer.

Female servants, dressed in brilliantly colored kimono, brought trays of tea and snacks. They placed them right in front of us, and to my complete lack of surprise, I was the last to receive a beverage. As befitting my rank, I suppose.

After the servants departed in a neat, disciplined row, the Shogun began without further ado.

"My loyal retainers," he said. "The time has called for us to fulfil our oaths to the Emperor - long may He live. I have asked a lot from you in the past, but this time, I fear that I will have to place a much heavier demand upon all of you."

There were a few whispers as the warriors murmured amongst each other. I caught snippets of dialogue here and there, and while I couldn't quite make out most of it, I understood that many of my comrades had heard the rumors.

"Yes." The Shogun smiled. "We will be launching a crusade to reclaim most of the worlds from the Draconis Sector."

There were a few cheers. Some of the warriors banged their tables in approval, while others remained serene, sipping their tea and nodding quietly. The Shogun swept his gaze across us, his eyes grave.

"As you all know, the once great Draconis Coalition has slipped into anarchy following the Great Rift - the Jigoku no Dai Kizu, the Great Scar that ripped through the heavens and exposed our realm to the underworld. There was a long period of time when the Light of the Astronomican was muffled, and our sector was plunged into darkness. We were forced to retreat to this system, to fight off the horrors not seen since the Old Night. But while we were able to largely preserve the core systems of our Draconis Coalition, we lost the majority of our systems. The previously mighty Coalition - once numbering over three hundred worlds - have been reduced to less than fifty. We are but a shadow of our former selves."

By now, all the warriors had fallen into a somber silence. None more so than the Daimyo who sat by the Shogun's side.

"But no more! With the return of Lord Commander Roboute Guilliman, the son of the Emperor, and the re-ignition of the Astronomican's beacon, we will reclaim all that was ours...no, we will go beyond that and expand. The Draconis Coalition will grow stronger and larger than ever!"

"Oh!" The warriors present roared their approval.

"To this end, I declare the launch of a new crusade...the Draconis Crusade! Already we are receiving aid from the honorable Black Templars. The regiments of our Draconian Armored Defenders have been rebuilt and are stronger and more numerous than ever, supplied by our allied forge world of Draconis IV. Similarly, the tech-priests of Draconis IV have reinforced us with many new Knight suits, allowing us to field an unprecedented number of Lances! Not since the days of the Great Crusade have we marched in such numbers! I daresay, we have more Knight suits now than back during the Great Crusade! While most of the Imperium have stagnated and even slid backward, we have progressed forward!"

The Shogun rose to his feet. In a single, smooth motion, he drew his power sword - a curved blade that was forged in the pattern of a katana. He acitvated its power field as he raised the exquisitely crafted sword toward the air.

"We will reclaim the worlds of the Draconis Sector and reforge the Coalition!"

The warriors bellowed in agreement, also rising to their feet and stamping on the ground. Unlike the Shogun, we weren't allowed to bring our personal weapons into the hall, so there was no other drawing of swords.

"But first, we must begin by taking back Kryptos VIII." The Shogun sat back down after sheathing his deactivated power katana. "We will answer the call from our Cadian and Valhallan allies for aid. We will cleanse the sector of heretics, traitors and the alien. We will drive away those who turned their backs on the Emperor and eliminate the greenskin menace."

"We are with you, Lord Shogun!"

"All who stand in our way will perish!"

"Long live the Emperor!"

The Shogun nodded as he listened to the vows made by the warriors. He took a deep breath.

"There is more. There are sightings of the accursed House Malinax on Kryptos VIII. We have been fighting against them ever since the days of the Heresy. They are our archenemy, soulless traitors who committed the ultimate betrayal. We must not allow them to live. If we are to encounter them..."

"We will destroy every single one of those bastards," a Daimyo vowed. Lord Uesugi, if I remembered correctly. Inwardly, I felt a chill. Despite having fought against all manner of monsters over the last seven years, including Tyranid bio-titans and Ork gargants, I had not actually fought against a Chaos Knight before.

I wondered if they would be more difficult to slay than the alien monstrosities that I had overcome so far.

The Shogun didn't seem to care about my misgivings. He continued with an indulgent smile, having sensed the aggressive mood of his subordinates.

"We will be launching out immediately. After this briefing, you are all to make preparations for war. Consult your sacristans and ensure your armors are in peak condition. Liase with the various Imperial Guard regiments who will be traveling with us to Kryptos VIII. House Yato will march in the Emperor's name!"

"Knights of the Imperium," Lord Takeda shouted. "We march!"

The Shogun nodded and raised a hand before issuing one final declaration. "And so...the Draconis Crusade begins."

Advent of the Warmaster Titan

 
The Warmaster Titan looks amazing! Warhammer Community has seen fit to reveal more about him. We even have a crazy command terminal for the big guy.

Depending on your loadout, your Warmaster Titan might cost well over a thousand points. This is huge, for it means you're only likely to have one Warmaster Titan per battlegroup. Since you can only take one per Titan Maniple. I don't know how it will work for Knight Household Armies. I suspect you can only take one Warmaster Titan per Knight Lance? Makes no sense that we can't use a Wamaster Titan with Knight Household Armies.

Anyway, the Warmaster has some sweet weapons. They are mostly plasma too, which fits Draconis IV's specialization. Being the second Ryza, Draconis IV manufactures tons of plasma weapons. I can't wait to see how they will unleash a storm of plasma on the enemy. That will be amazing!

Just look at the Suzerain class plasma destructors! A whooping Strength 11! What the hell?! And if I drain the reactors, it will have the Fusion trait, which will be devastating against other Titans at close range. Whoa! That's not to mention using Maximal Fire for Strength 13 plasma shots!

Then you have the Revelator missile launcher for carapace weapons, and it only has 4 warheads, apparently. ordnance is cool, as is Concussive, especially against Knights. Not bad.

Okay? But what interests me is the shoulder mounted weapons. That's a lot of options! You have six different shoulder mounted weapons to choose from!

If it were up to me, I'll go ham on the plasma and arm my Warmaster with plasma blastguns. Plasma destructors and plasma blastguns. It's essentially the Leman Russ Executioner tanks that Draconis IV are famous for manufacturing (the Draconian Defenders field columns of Leman Russ Executioner tanks equipped with plasma cannon sponsons). An all-plasma Warmaster Titan, marching above my Lances of Imperial Knights. I want to try that in the Horus Heresy event in April!

There's also the Ancillary reactor system, from which we have two to choose from.

Needless to say, I'm going for the Infusive Supercoolant because I'll probably be firing my plasma weapons a lot. At maximal fire, no less.

Anyway, I wonder if we will ever get an Imperator Titan. Now that would be awesome.

Way of the Warrior 2

 The spiked projectiles hammered against the glimmering ion shield that emanated over my Armiger Warglaive, causing the particles to cascade violently. Encased within my Helm Mechanicum, my fingers twitched within my haptic gloves and my mechanical steed responded fluidly to my will. Its torso pivoted and a searing light of molten energy lanced out of my thermal spear.

My target hissed as part of its massive serpentine body was incinerated. The incandescent beam, which was capable of melting through thick adamantine armor, simply disintegrated organic matter. The orochi writhed in agony, the two halves of its body flopping about. Without any hesitation, I had my Armiger Warglaive end its misery by stomping on its head.

Whirling about, I activated the disruptive power field around the reaper chain-cleaver and caught a second orochi by the throat before it could crash against my machine. Flicking my haptic gloves, I sawed through the orochi's neck and decapitated it in a single stroke. The thirty-meter long serpent flopped onto the ground, its jaws still snapping open and shut in its death throes.

I bade my knight to step over its carcass, the carapace-mounted meltagun whirring about as it tracked a third target. Another thermal beam lanced outward, burning off a few emerald scales. The orochi snarled and lunged at me, but I obliterated its head with a blast from my thermal spear.

"These make for poor sport," Yamazaki Sousuke remarked. His Armiger Warglaive loped from the opposite direction. A second beam of molten energy flared, spearing another orochi before it could slither away. I could hear the disapproval in my fellow bondsman's voice. "How did it go on your end, Tanaka?"

"Clear," I replied. "I've eliminated the three orochi in this area."

"Hah! I took out five."

I didn't respond to that. This wasn't a competition. It was the duty of the Knights of House Yato to exterminate the orochi and other gigantic monsters that roamed the verdant forests of Draconis III, to protect the farmers and civilians from the ravages of ferocious beasts. The ayakashi, as we termed them, usually grew to immense sizes. The orochi was among the worst of them, slithering across agricultural fields to devour entire farmhouses. They showed up in swarms and made for good sport. Normally, a single knight would be dispatched, along with his retainers - in other words, us bondsmen.

I was curious as to why Lord Takeda Takumi, the Daimyo of the Kai Province, had decided to take upon this onerous duty today. Normally, the orochi would be assigned to lower-ranking knights, but Lord Takeda had wanted to hunt. From his enthusiasm, I gathered that it was not simply orochi that infested this forest.

There were tremors and the thunderous clanking of gears and servos to my left. Consulting the hololithic pictscreen that displayed an external view, I turned my mechanical steed around and spotted Lord Takeda's Questoris class Knight Errant stomping over. The Ryuugiri - or Dragon Slayer in Gothic - sported a thermal cannon, a larger and more powerful melta-class variant of the thermal spears mounted upon our Armiger class knights.

Not that I was complaining. Yamazaki and I were both simple retainers, in the servitude of a Daimyo as highly ranked and regarded as Lord Takeda. The Takeda clan had served the Shogun and House Yato for generations, and they had accumulated an incredible amount of prestige. Soon, Lord Takeda would be called to the war among the stars, and we retainers would accompany him.

I wondered what it would be like to travel across the galaxy, transported to warzones where the Knights of House Yato would fight for glory and honor, to uphold our oaths to the Imperium and the Heavenly Emperor. It was the dream of every Draconian warrior to participate in such wars, to earn a reputation not just in the Draconis Sector but throughout the Imperium itself.

"We will be moving deeper into the Mori Forest," Lord Takeda ordered over the vox without preamble. He turned his Questoris chassis about and marched inward without waiting for an acknowledgement from either of us. I glanced at the holo-pict displaying Yamazaki's Armiger and shrugged despite knowing that the Daimyo's other retainer couldn't see me. Yamazaki muttered something on a private channel, but I ignored him. He turned his Armiger around to accompany the intimidating Knight Errant, while I spread out and took the opposite flank.

"My lord?" I asked when my master brought his steed to a halt. "What is the matter?"

"The forest...not everything is as it seems. The inhabitants appear to be disturbed by something."

"The ayakashi?" I asked, wondering if there were more of these warp-born beasts hiding somewhere. "More of the orochi, perhaps?"

"No. Not the orochi." Lord Takeda's voice was tense. "There's something else in here...something more ferocious and insidious. I can sense it."

At that time, I didn't understand how he was able to perceive the malevolent presence, but later when I was raised through the ranks, I realized that he must have heard the agitated whispers of the long-dead warriors who resided in his Throne Mechanicum. Often, when the venerable machine-spirit of the bigger Knights sensed something amiss, the souls within the Throne Mechanicum would lend their wisdom to the current pilot, urging caution.

There was a loud crash, and I spotted a cluster of trees being uprooted and toppling over. I caught a glimpse of something massive slithering over it. At first, I thought it might be an orochi, but then I realized that it was far larger than those thirty-meter long snakes.

"At last..." I could hear the excitement in Lord Takeda's voice. "A worthy prey."

"That's...that's the Yamata no Orochi," Yamazaki whispered, his voice filled with dread.

With a bellow, the titanic ayakashi emerged from the forest, leveling trees and flattening foliage. Stretching over a hundred meters in length, its eight serpentine heads writhed about, each of them focusing on something else. Three of the heads were watching our small lance carefully, tracking our movements.

"My lord..." Yamazaki was unable to conceal his fear. "We must fall back. We cannot defeat the Yamata no Orochi by ourselves."

Inwardly, I agreed with my fellow bondsman. Known as the king of the orochi, the titanic Yamata no Orochi was capable of devastating entire lances by itself. Standard doctrine stated that to combat a Yamata no Orochi, we would require at least three full lances, including a single Dominus Knight Castellan.

However, Lord Takeda was in no mood to call for reinforcements.

"This glory is mine," he declared.

"I must advise against this course of action, my lord," I said.

"Your advice is noted, Tanaka. Now follow me. Dragon Slayer Formation."

Neither Yamazaki nor I was happy about this, but we had been trained to obey our lord. Almost as if in reflex, our Armiger Knights spread out on either side of Ryuugiri's flank. Coordinating through our Helm Mechanicum, we fired a volley of incadescent beams, the trio of thermal lances converging upon one of the central heads of the approaching Yamata no Orochi. There was a blazing flash and the head recoiled, its scales melting. However, it remained intact.

One of the eight tails lashed out, catching Ryuugiri by the arm and sending the super-heavy machine spinning to the ground. I heard a curse from Lord Takeda over the vox, my master sounding winded. Automatically, I moved my Armiger forward at the same time as the other heads. A second tail slammed down on Ryuugiri, knocking it flat onto the ground, and then curled around the super-heavy walker. It began crushing it physically, causing sparks to fly.

"No...!" Lord Takeda growled. He was trying to activate his reaper chainsword, the glowing power field sheathing its whirring blade. However, the Yamata no Orochi continued to tighten its stranglehold, preventing the noble from bringing his deadly weapon to bear.

"Hold on, my lord!" I took aim and let loose a thick beam from the thermal spear, striking the tail several meters away from the Daimyo's steed. The emerald scales glowed and began to melt, but the Yamata no Orochi held strong. Several of the heads snarled at me before lunging forward, but I was already driving my Armiger forward at a sprint.

While the carapace meltagun spat deadly volleys at the head in an attempt to keep them back, I reached Lord Takeda's position. Bringing my reaper chain-cleaver down, I sawed upon the injured portion of the tail. The scales had half-melted from the tremendous heat, softened by the shot from my thermal spear. Still glowing hot from my earlier assault, the flesh gave way underneath my melee weapon. There was a screech of pain, and the tail suddenly withdrew, almost knocking my steed to its back.

"Thank you, Tanaka," Lord Takeda grunted as he swiped at the retreating tail with his glowing reaper chainsword, taking out a big chunk of flesh and scales in the process. Then his voice rose in alarm. "Watch out!"

I didn't have time to react. The other heads that had been pursuing me earlier had finally reached me, smacking the back of my Armiger Knight and sending it flying. I felt a sense of vertigo as my Knight tumbled forward, crashing into trees and toppling them. My Helm Mechanicum went dark and I slumped against my seat, feeling blood trickle down my face. If it weren't for the harness that pinned me to my seat, I would most probably have been thrown about in my cockpit.

Clenching my haptic gloves into fists, I groaned and fought to bring my machine back to life. There was a deafening thud that wrenched my Knight about and I jerked about in my seat. Several of the systems had yet to come back online, but somehow I knew my weapons still worked. I squeezed a trigger with one of my haptic gloves almost subconsciously, blindly releasing another devastating thermal beam, while my other hand dictated a desperate slash with the reaper chain-cleaver. I felt satisfaction when I perceived something yielding before my attacks, as well as the piercing shriek that somehow penetrated the adamantium walls around me to ram against my eardrums.

There was another smack and my Armiger Knight careened once more. My head struck something and I knew nothing more as darkness consumed me.

Warmaster Titan

 
So the Warhammer Community preview that we have all been waiting for has finally revealed the Titan from the Rumor Engine. It's the Warmaster Titan, equipped with twin plasma destructors! It's bigger than even the Warlord Titan!

So...is he different from the Imperator Titan? Will we ever get the Imperator Titan, or is the Warmaster a variant of the Imperator? I dunno. But at least those guys complaining about Adeptus "Knightanicus" can finally stop whining about not getting any new Titans, heh.

Oh, and we are also finally getting a new book for Loyalist Titan Legions and Knight Houses! I need to get this!

If you're on the side of Traitors, don't worry, you'll get your own book later this year!

More painting

 I've been very busy the past week searching for a new room or apartment because my current landlord plans to sell his house. That means I have to move out, and even though the pandemic means I can't go out, I still plan to move into a place near Dreamers Vault at Hiawatha. So I've been searching for an affordable place to live in that is also close by. Being a student, it is easy to find a cheap place, but the problem is that they are usually...uh, how do I put it, crowded. I don't think I'll be able to live in a place with 8 people, not when I spend most of my time writing, reading and studying (that's where the rest of my time has gone to when I'm not looking for a new place).

Otherwise I would have written another story for my Imperial Knight house. Sigh. Oh, well. We'll see if I have the time this weekend, but because of other commitments, I most likely don't. But I did manage to paint my models (should I devote my time to writing a story or to painting models?), so there you go.

I finally painted the base for my Dominus Knight Castellan, and pasted a few shrubs so that he wouldn't look so plain. I also painted my Forgefiend, making him a Thousand Sons daemon engine (well, he looks Black Legion, but he also has a mix of Thousand Sons blue). The joke is that Ignatius (my Thousand Sons Sorcerer in Terminator armor) stole a bunch of daemon engines from the Black Legion, and didn't bother to paint them over. Yeah, that's kind of funny, ha ha. I think.

Not just the Forgefiend, but I also painted my Serberys Sulfurhounds. Now I have 6 of them (there's only 4, but the other 2 are in my box - I just took one of the original three out so that I can have some reference when painting the new trio). Yay! 2 squads of Serberys Sulfurhounds running about, breathing fire and setting foul xenos, heretics and hereteks ablaze. They will forge ahead of my Knights and other Skitarii, breaking lines and crashing into enemy formations. Hopefully they will deal with swarms and hordes. Meanwhile, my Knights take care of the armor and bigger stuff.

So yeah. If I have time during the weekend, I'll write the next chapter for Way of the Warrior, otherwise I'll have to keep looking for a new place. Oh, well...

Partially painted Models

 Phew, I finally got down to painting my Dominus Knight Castellan. He looks much better now! Then I forgot to paint the base. Stupid of me. Oh well, I'll paint the base some other day. But at least he looks a lot more...colorful than before. Yay.

I also painted the weapon arms for my Questoris Knights - a las-impulsor and a thermal cannon. So now I can swap out the weapons and turn my Questoris Knight into a Knight Preceptor! Yay! Originally, i was supposed to have 2 Knight Preceptors (2 las-impulsors), but the ebay seller from whom I bought the bits for the las-impulsor messed up and sent me two identical sides for the cannon. Needless to say, I couldn't complete the las-impulsor and I'll probably have to wait until the seller sends a replacement (if he or she agrees to). But I'm looking forward to getting a second las-impulsor - not because I need them to buff my Armigers (I don't have many except the two Armiger Moirax). Actually, it's because I prefer laser weapons and energy weapons, which is why I still have the thermal cannons. I don't want my Knights to run out of ammunition in the middle of combat (though they probably have to charge their plasma reactors often).

I can't wait to see how my Knight Preceptors and Knight Castellan play on the tabletop. Damn pandemic is ruining everything, which sucks. But the day will come when I will finally get to field them.

Oh, and I also built a second unit of Obliterators, so I now have 2 units of 2 Obliterators each. They are meant for my Thousand Sons...wait, what? Thousand Sons don't have Obliterators? Damn. Never mind, I'll just play them as part of an allied Spearhead Detachment, most likely from the Word Bearers or something. I still have my Dark Apostle - lovely model, that guy. And the Venomcrawler at the back. This will be fun. A Dark Apostle leading four Obliterators and relying on the Venomcrawler to buff his summons. Actually, I meant to run the Dark Apostle as a Master of Possessions, so yeah. And if I run them as Word Bearers, I can summon the Lord of Change at the back. Hell, yeah! Summoning Thousand Sons! I prefer to have my Thousand Sons summon the Lord of Change themselves, but the Word Bearers' Stratagem is a lot more reliable, especially for a Greater Daemon as powerful as a Lord of Change.

As for my Thousand Sons themselves, I painted a Forgefiend partially. I only painted the gold on him for now, I'll need to refer to my other Forge Fiends for a better color scheme, but he at least looks better now than before.

Still not done yet, but at least I'm halfway there!

The Aligheran Crusade resupplies

Marshal Mowbray of the Black Templars watched from the bridge as the flagship of his tattered fleet, the battle barge Sigismund's Wrath, pull into the orbital docks circling the forge world of Draconis IV. Despite the visible signs of wear and tear, great gouges torn out of drifting battleships from sustained volleys of macro-cannons and cauterized blisters from lances, the Black Templars fleet remained a formidable sight.

Five battle barges, eleven strike cruisers and twenty-eight escorts.

"We had one hell of a harvest," Castellan Claudio remarked beside Mowbray. The marshal nodded, glancing at his second-in-command from the corner of his eye. Like him, Claudio's ornate MKX armor had signs of wear and tear, but the power sword sheathed by his side remained unblemished.

"The casualties were massive this time," Mowbray finally said with a sigh. "We captured two battle barges, five strike cruisers and a dozen escort ships...but at almost the cost of all the non-Primaris."

"It was sheer bad luck," Claudio murmured, his eyes lowered. "We should have known that the Word Bearers would resort to despicable means."

Mowbray closed his eyes, still recalling the bellows of rage and defiance over the vox during that last battle. The Black Templars had descended upon an orbital shipyard circling the daemon forge world of Malevolvis, and stolen the vessels that the Dark Mechanicum had constructed for the Word Bearers. The twisted priests of the Dark Mechanicum, along with the Dark Apostles and Masters of Possession of the heretic legion, were conducting rituals to bind daemons of the warp to the machine spirits of the recently completed ships, but the Black Templars and their allies had hit them hard before they could finish the rituals, banishing the daemons back to the warp and making their way off Malevolvis with almost all the ships that the Dark Mechanicum had built. They had lost some and scuttled a few that they couldn't capture, but no doubt the Word Bearers' wrath would fall upon them sometime in future.

Unfortunately, the Heretic Astartes would have no fleet with which they could chase the fleeing Black Templars with. Marshal Mowbray's fist tightened. He would have ordered an orbital bombardment of Malevolvis and the destruction of its vile orbital shipyard, but the accursed IV Legion had shown up shotly after they captured the ships. The fleet of the Iron Warriors had harried and pounded them as they fled, and though the Black Templars gave as good as they got, they were forced to retreat.

"Honestly, if it weren't for the Knights of House Yato and their Draconian auxiliaries, we might not have pulled it off. The tech-priests of the Mechanicus too...they provided the servitor-crew and experts we needed to man the captured vessels."

"Indeed." Mowbray agreed with Claudio's assessment. The noble Knghts of House Yato had been an indispensable presence, carving a route of devastation when they boarded the orbital shipyards and massacring the cultist slave-gangs and distorted cybernetic monstrosities of the Dark Mechanicum without impunity. Their Draconian auxiliaries, clad in void armor and riding in Taurox Prime APCs, had seized portions of the shipbuilding facilities in short order, occupying the target locations that the Black Templars had blown through only moments before.

For mere mortals, the so-called Kamikaze Troopers of Draconis III had fought like men possessed. The Black Templars couldn't help but be impressed by their tenacity and discipline.

However, the bulk of firepower still came from the Knights, who sawed through bulkheads and sealed hatches with their reaper chainswords and massacred corrupted Skitarii and monstrous cybernetic servitors. As befitting the Dark Mechanicum, there were a few daemon engines, which the Knights easily dispatched. Of course, the Black Templars still bore the brunt of most of the fighting, their bolter shells detonating within the hybrid bodies of flesh and metal, and slicing a bloody swathe through traitor Skitarii cohorts.

Then...Castellan Constantine's Fighting Company encountered the detachment of Word Bearers stationed within the shipyard.

Unlike the purely Primaris Fighting Company under Marshal Mowbray's command, Castellan Constantine's Fighting Company was composed solely of the so-called firstborn Space Marines. Unlike the Primaris Space Marines, Constantine continued to develop his neophytes through the traditional methods. Since they had proven their worth time and time again, Mowbray had not objected, and even welcomed Constantine's company as part of his Crusade.

Their zeal and ferocity had saved the day once more, Constantine leading his company to cut through the Word Bearers' stubborn defenses. As it turned out, the company of Heretic Astartes guarding that part of the platform were merely sentries. The core of the Word Bearers Host had been residing deeper within the vault, conducting a foul ritual.

Within moments of butchering the sentries, the Word Bearers completed their horrifying ritual and opened a portal to the warp. Daemons had flooded out, swarming the beleaguered Black Templars company and cutting them apart to a man. Even so, Constantine had his warriors stand strong and hold the near limitless numbers of daemons back, using the vault as a chokepoint to channel them into killing zones and contain the swarms that would have exited and overrun the entire shipyard.

They were heroes, all. But Constantine's company had paid a terrible price, and by the time they retreated to the last captured strike cruiser, now christened Constantine's Defiance, in honor of the feat he had accomplished in holding a relentless tide of daemons back, there was less than twenty of his once hundred-strong fighting company.

Constantine himself had survived, remarkably, carried back by his surviving subordinates. He had recovered, and even though he stayed silent, Mowbray could sense guilt from the reticent castellan. However, Constantine's actions were what allowed them to complete the mission. If the daemons had managed to break out of the chokepoint and swarm all over the station, the Black Templars and their allies would have failed to capture the vessels in the orbital shipyard. Ships that the Word Bearers would then put to use against the Imperium.

"He should stop blaming himself," he said out loud. Claudio nodded, and then tilted his head as he listened to the vox.

"You wish to see the magos?" It was not a question.

"Yes." Mowbray sighed. "We will have to discuss the issues of resupply and rearmament."

*

"What do you mean, you don't have MKVII or MKVIII power armor?"

Constantine's angry voice sailed through the forge. Mowbray winced before he joined his castellan. The thickset Space Marine was gesticulating in anger toward a strangely human-looking tech-priest, who had his hooded head bowed in apology.

"We mean what we say, honored Castellan," Magos Mansfield replied somewhat stiffly, though whether the lack of modulation was from his augmetics or he simply couldn't suppress his impatience despite a Mechanicus priest supposedly being above such petty things as emotion, Mowbray couldn't tell. "We do not produce the MKVII Aquila Armor or the MKVIII Errant Armor. Never have. We don't have the STC for it."

"Then what has your forge world being producing?"

"I am sure the Castellan is aware that we manufacture arms, ammunition and vehicles primarily for the Astra Militarum regiments of Draconis III, as well as cybernetic automata, Knight suits and Titans." Mansfield glanced at the conveyor belts where plasma weapons were being rolled out. In another section of the manufactorum, Leman Russ Executioner tanks were being assembled, with servitors attaching plasma cannon sponsons or putting the Executioner plasma cannon together. In the farther distance, Mowbray could make out a half-completed Stormblade. Mansfield continued. "If you wish to have a supply of plasma guns delivered to your Chapter, we can certainly accommodate that. But other than MKX Tacticus and MX Gravis armor, we do not manufacture power armor for Space Marines."

"You don't even have the Phobos pattern?" Claudio asked dryly.

"No, we do not," Mansfield replied seriously, missing the sarcasm in the Castellan's voice.

"This will not do!" Constantine growled. "My fighting company have lost many of its veterans, and we need to clad our neophytes in power armor. They cannot be fighting in carapace armor forever!"

Mowbray and Claudio exchanged understanding looks. With the horrendous casualties that Constantine's fighting company had suffered, he had to elevate the neophytes in order to replace the losses. However, during the battle in the Malevolvis shipyards, Constantine and his surviving men were forced to leave their fallen battle-brothers behind (no, not that kind of Fallen - they were Black Templars and not Dark Angels). The precious gene-seed and power armor, all left behind in the damned shipyard, as the survivors desperately fled the overwhelming numbers of howling and braying daemons, their ammunition running low and their wrecked armor failing them.

And now they had almost no power armor left.

"You can at least repair the damaged MKVII and MKVIII power armor that we have?" Mowbray asked, remembering that many of the armor was beyond the ministrations of even their resident Primaris techmarine. Constantine's own techmarine had perished, trying to hold back a Bloodthirster with a thunderfire cannon.

"Uh...we have a 17.2% of success with repairing MKVII and MKVIII power armor..." Mansfield began.

"Useless!" Constantine roared. His frustration, already compounded by the loss his fighting company had taken, swelled. Mowbray placed a hand on the cracked pauldron of his Castellan's squealing, sputtering power armor.

"Now, now, Constantine. Calm down."

"What use is a forge world that doesn't manufacture power armor!?"

"We do manufacture power armor," Mansfield protested. "Just the MKX variety."

"My men and neophytes can't wear MK armor! Our physiques aren't compatible with it!"

"I apologize."

"Why do you not produce other marks of power armor?" Claudio asked, genuinely confused. Mansfield whirled to him, his augmetic eye glowing brilliantly.

"We were told that the Primaris Marines are the future. After all, they were created by a being none other than the Prime Conduit of the Omnissiah himself! And so the other marks of power armor were becoming obsolete. Hence we ceased production of such an inefficient..."

"Inefficient?! I'll show you inefficient, you blabbering cogwork..."

"Enough!" Mowbray had to physically pull Constantine back to prevent him from striking the tech-priest. He turned back to Mansfield, who appeared giddy with delight as he spoke about Belisarius Cawl. From what he knew, the errant tech-priests of Draconis IV embraced Cawl's philosophy, innovating and experimenting, often with serious consequences. Apparently, they called themselves the second Ryza as they attempted to rival that esteemed forge world by developing their own industry of plasma weapons, but Ryza itself never took Draconis IV seriously. "So there is nothing you can do for non-Primaris Marines? Perhaps alter the MKX power armor to fit them..."

"That's too much work," Constantine cut his marshal off bitterly. "The systems and interfaces of the MKX power armor are complex...they might as well try building a MKVII armor from scratch."

"I wasn't asking you, Constantine." Mowbray's tone was mild, but firm.

"Well, it's not that we can't do anything," Mansfield began. The three Black Templar officers swiveled around to stare at him. The magos held up a mechadendrite. "We do not have power armor for the non-Primaris Marines, true, but we do have Tactical Dreadnought Armor."

"Say what?" Claudio blurted out.

"Tactical Dreadnought Armor. Ah, perhaps you might be more familiar with the term Terminator armor..."

"We know what Tactical Dreadnought Armor is," Mowbray interrupted. "How many do you have?"

"More than enough to supply three comapnies," the magos replied brightly. "And we can produce more if you want. We have the STC for them, after all."

He proceeded toward another segment of the manufactorum, waving a mechadendrite to beckon the Black Templars to follow him. They did, weaving past a row of MKX Tacticus armor, with belts of chainswords and heavy bolt pistols being rolled out. There were even MKX Gravis armor, along with heavy bolt rifles, which Mowbray took special note of.

However, Mansfield took them past the Primaris armaments and toward an isolatd section of the manufactorum. Constantine stopped short, his breath caught in his throat, when he saw the rows of heavy Terminator armor arrayed before them.

"This..."

"If you want them, you can have them," Mansfield said, checking through the noosphere. "It's not like we have any Space Marine Chapter in the sector, anyway."

They did, but Mowbray had heard about the grim fate of the Sapphire Drakes. Once staunch defenders in the Draconis Sector, they had been accused of treachery by the Inquisition and the entire chapter disappeared shortly after that. There were rumors that the Sapphire Drakes had been destroyed by a mysterious chapter clad in silver terminator armor, but Mowbray was unable to verify that.

"There's more than enough here to armor my entire fighting company," Constantine whispered in disbelief, gaping at the many Terminator armor arrayed before him. To his amazement, they resembled none of the Terminator armor that he was used to. Half of them displayed large, layered pauldrons and bore additional plating and shield generators when compared to the regular patterns. The other half was sleeker, allowing for more mobility. "And these are all...relics. Patterns usually only seen during the era of the Great Heresy. I have never seen these numbers of such ancient patterns gathered in a single place."

"Well, we have the STC for them, so we built them." Mansfield shrugged. "During the Great Crusade, Tactical Dreadnought Armor was originally meant to replace the standard power armor, so we stopped manufacturing power armor and focused on Termiantor armor instead. Until the Prime Conduit of the Omnissiah - bless his grace - brought the newer MKX power armor to our forge world."

"Incredible..."

On the other hand, Claudio was more circumspect, studying the barreled-shaped Cataphractii Terminator armor with interest, before turning his attention to the more graceful form of Tartaros Terminator armor.

"Huh? Where's the Indomitus pattern?"

"We only produce the Cataphractii and Tartaros patterns. We only have STCs for those." Mansfield looked sheepish when he explained. "Since the STC for the Indomitus pattern is held in sacred Mars and other forge worlds, we didn't bother to get a copy."

Mowbray, Claudio and Constantine exchanged glances with each other, and then the marshal nodded.

"See to it that our men are armed with these."

"Very well." Mansfield rubbed his mechadendries and biological hands in glee. "It would be great to put these suits to use rather than leave them here to collect dust."

"Constantine, you will continue to liaise with the magos and organize the rearmoring of your fighting company. Claudio, let's go. We will be checking on Brother Devin."

A look of anguish came over Constantine's face, but the castellan clamped down on his emotions quickly. Devin was one of the sergeants in his fighting company and part of he very few survivors from the devastating assault by the daemons summoned by the Word Bearers, but he had been too heavily wounded. His body was currently in stasis as the apothecary planned to install him within the sacrophagus of a Dreadnought.

Unfortunately, they would have to once again rely on the forge world of Draconis IV to provide a suitable Dreadnought chassis for Devin.

"We will check on him for you, Brother-Castellan," Claudio assured Constantine. He simply nodded, and at Mowbray, he returned to his task. The marshal and his second-in-command then left.

As the two Black Templar officers walked through the manufactorum, Claudio looked around, particularly at the conveyor belt that was churning out Leman Russ tanks. There was another pattern of tanks they weren't familiar with, but a rough search through his dataslate identified it as a Carnodon medium tank, which was armed with fearsome volkite weaponry.

"I don't know if you've noticed, Marshal, but...it seems like they only manufacture the Executioner pattern of Leman Russ tanks."

Mowbray glanced in the direction that his second-in-command was pointing. True enough, every single Leman Russ tank was armed with an Executioner plasma cannon and plasma cannon sponsons.

"There are no standard battle cannons, none of the other variants. I believe it's a throwback to the era of the Great Crusade, where the Draconian Armored Defenders fielded entire regiments of Leman Russ Executioner tanks and Stormblades, but this is..."

"Inflexible." Mowbray paused and glanced back at where Constantine continued to discuss with Mansfield. The lack of standard MKVII and MKVIII power armor bothered him, even though they solved the problem with a ridiculous number of Terminator armor. He glanced at the weapons, noting the lasguns, volkite chargers and plasma guns, but there were hardly any other variants. Meltaguns were produced in smaller numbers. Flamers and heavy flamers were far and few in betweeen. No grenade launchers, missile launchers, man-portable heavy bolters or autocannons. The weapons they produced for the Astra Militarum regiments of Draconis III were primarily energy based.

Mowbray was surprised that Draconis IV continued to produce volkite weapons, though. Volkite technology was incredibly complex and extremely difficult to replicate, even back during the days of the Great Crusade, but apparently Draconis IV produced them with astonishing ease. At the cost of manufacturing ballistic weaponry for the Imperial Guard, apparently. He sighed.

"Draconis IV may be brilliant in terms of plasma and laser technology, as well as holding precious STCs of what would otherwise be relics in other worlds, but their...rigidity and singlemindedness hold them back. No wonder Ryza doesn't take them seriously."

"Indeed."

The two were silent until they reached the apothecarion where Brother Devin's ruined body lay. A tech-priest was in the midst of conferring his body into the sacrophagus that would be installed within a Dreadnought chassis.

But when they caught sight of the chassis, both Black Templars stopped.

"Isn't that...a Contemptor chassis?" Claudio asked, overawed.

"Ah, yes." The Magos Biologis in charge of the installation straightened up, his mechadendrites waving cheerfully. Like Mansfield, Magos Brenan was mostly flesh and organics, with few visible augmetics apart from the mechadendrites from his back. "We only produce Contemptor chassises here on Draconis IV."

"You don't have the Castraferrum pattern?" Claudio asked, astonished.

"The what...? Oh, the box variant." Brenan had skimmed through the noosphere for a second before he understood what the castellan was referring. "Nah, they're too ugly. And we have the STC for the Contemptor pattern, anyway, so why would we bother with inferior variants?"

Mowbray's lip curled. "They are not inferior."

"You can't deny that the Contemptor pattern is superior to the Castraferrum pattern, can you? They offer atomantic shielding, on top of being more mobile and maneuverable. Also, their modular structure allows them to swap out weapons, affording unparalleled flexibility on the battlefield..."

"I am aware of the strengths of the Contemptor pattern," Mowbray interrupted, staring at the chassis with undisguised amazement. "I am just...surprised and impressed that you continue to produce them. Few forge worlds still manufacture the Contemptor pattern today, if any. They are usually relics from the Great Crusade."

"Oh, you'll be surprised. There are many forge worlds who have the ability to produce Contemptor patterns. They just don't want to. Usually because of stupid superstitious reasons. There are plenty in the priesthood who eschew the Contemptor pattern simply because they resemble the mythical battle-automata of the Legio Cybernetica." Brenan waved a hand airily. "But Draconis IV is famous for manufacturing Cybernetica automata, and since the Contemptor Dreadought shares many systems used by our Legio Cybernetica, it's only natural that we favor its production over the Castraferrum pattern. We do not share such ridiculous superstitions - in fact, we revere the Legio Cybernetica."

"Understandable," Mowbray said, though inwardly he wondered if the priesthood of Draconis IV was close to skirting the line of heresy. He had heard that the Adeptus Mechanicus banned reseach on artificial intelligences and the restrictions on innovating Cybernetica automata - the dreaded Men of Iron came to mind - but he wasn't too familiar with what was allowed and what wasn't. Those were the domains of the mysterious tech-priests.

All Mowbray had to concern himself with was the eradication of the enemy. Purge the xenos, the witch and the traitor.

"We will leave Brother Devin in your hands...uh, mechadendrites then. Let us go, Claudio."

"Where are we going, Brother-Marshal?" The Castellan hastened his pace to catch up with Mowbray, who had broken to a trot as he headed in the direction where his shuttle had been parked.

"We will be heading to Draconis III next. I should at least pay my respects to the Shogun, especially since the Knights of his House have aided us greatly during this last expedition." Mowbray glanced up at the darkened skies of Draonis IV, imagining that the many blinking lights above belonged to that of his newly expanded fleet.

Then he clenched his gauntlet into a fist. "And to discuss our next plan of action. Do you remember the astropathic signal for aid?"

"Yes." Claudio perked up at that. "We will be going to battle once more?"

"Of course." Mowbray glanced back at the manufactorum one last time before he strode toward the shuttle. "Once we finish resupplying and rearming, we will move out with the fleet. We will head for Kryptos VIII."