Bondsman Tanaka surveyed the ruins before him. Taking a deep breath, he whispered a brief prayer to soothe the machine spirit of his steed, Kazan. The Armiger-class Knight responded to his deft touches, his fingers clenching in the haptic gloves as he leaned back in the Helm Mechanicum. There no whispers as there would be in a fully fledged Throne Mechanicum. Tanaka had heard his superior, the higher ranked Bushi who piloted the venerable Questoris Knights and even ths Dominus Chassis, speak much about the "ghosts" lurking in their Throne Mechanicum. He wondered if he would ever ascend to such exalted ranks.
"WAAAGH!"
The howls of the greenskins drew his attention back to the present. The Reaper chain-glaive whirred in response to his thoughts as he triggered a stud in his haptic gloves. On the right of the Armiger Warglaive, the thermal spear glowed as exotic energies flowed from the Armiger-class plasma reactor and into the melta weapon. He took aim at the lead vehicle - a Squigbuggy, from the looks of it, and squeezed the trigger. An incadescent beam of molten energy lanced out, striking the side of the vehicle. Tanaka cursed when he saw it was only a glancing blow. The Orks riding on the buggy bellowed both in triumph and fury, partially relieved that their vehicle hadn't been melted to slag.
"Poor shooting, Tanaka." Suzuki chuckled. Piloting the second Armiger Warglaive of the Knight Lance sent to deal with a roving patrol of Orks, his steed, the Hebi strode forward confidently. "I'll show you how it's done."
While the Hebi sprinted toward the Squigbuggy, Suzuki confidently piloting his machine, Tanaka turned his attention to a flanking mob of warbikers. The Orks had gathered in something Imperial intelligence termed Speed Freeks Speed Mob. In other words, a bunch of greenskins riding warbikes and buggies. Howling excitedly, they waved crude cleavers and choppas, letting off a burst of dakka that sprinkled ineffectively against Kazan's ion shield.
Not one to stray from a fight, Tanaka pulled Kazan to a gentle lope, meeting the charging warbikers. A single burst from the carapace meltagun melted one of the Warbikers to slag, destroying the bike and disintegrating the shrieking greenskin. The rest scattered, evading a short burst from the Kazan's thermal spear. Hooting joyfully, they swiveled about and converged upon the walker, swinging their cleavers and scoring dents. Tanaka winced when damage reports manifested on the green-tinted holo-picts in his Helm Mechanicum.
Spinning Kazan about, he swung his reaper chain-cleaver and caught one of the bikers in a devastating blow. Crude metal and green flesh split under the glowing power field of the deadly weapon, red blood spreading about in a mist as the Ork simply ceased to exist. Crushing the broken bike under the clawed foot of the Armiger, Tanaka then reached out with his haptic glove. Responding to his will, the reaper chain-cleaver lashed out to slice a snarling Ork who thought it had the better of his foe, cutting it apart before it could swing its choppa.
Then Tanaka kicked out at the final biker, knocking its rider off its mount and sending it crashing onto the ground with a roar. The Ork tried to rise, spluttering in an undignified manner, before it was obliterated by the full weight of Kazan stomping on it. It was no Titanic Feet, but even a resilient Ork couldn't survive getting stomped on by an Armiger class Knight.
Raising his head to study the visual auspex, Tanaka saw that Kanda had blown the Warboss on a Wartike clear with a focused fire of graviton pulses. His Armiger Knight Moriax had been outfitted with esoteric technology that was not usually seen on most Armiger class Knights. Thanks to House Yato's links with the Forge World of Draconis IV, though, the great Knight House had an abundant supply of the Moirax variants.
The triumph was short-lived, however, for Kanda's Knight Moirax was sent staggering by the cannons of an approaching boosta-blasta. A second squadron of Warbikers, taking advantage of the reeling walker, charged in with gleeful hoots and whoops, their cleavers slashing chunks of adamantine armor out of the Armiger Knight. To Tanaka's horror, Kanda's machine was laid low with a particular brutal blow from the nob, who wielded a particularly nasty cleaver that whirred and thrummed. Powered by a combination of primitive technology and wild belief in their foul xenos gods, the greenskin swung like a creature possessed, tearing off the Knight Moirax's leg at the knee and sending Kanda's steed toppling.
"Suzuki!" Tanaka shouted, trying to get the second member of his lance to back him up as he charged toward the surviving warbikers. The boosta-blasta's deadly cannon boomed once more, but he somehow deflected it with a deft adjustment of his ion shield. Despite the hasty reflex, Kazan shuddered from the impact. Gleeful, the Warbikers pounced to capitalize. Tanaka cursed and looked around for his lance mate, only to see a smoldering wreck. Suzuki's Hebi had been laid low while entangled with another squad of Warbikers. He wasn't sure if the pilot was still alive, but he wouldn't be if he didn't eliminate the threat before him.
With a squeeze of his fingers, he triggered the thermal spear. The Warbikers skillfully spread out once more, dodging the glowing beam of molten energy with relish, but the boosta-blasta was not so lucky. Tanaka caught a glimpse of the greenskin driver ogling at the incadescent lance, pulling hard on the steering wheel. The ungainly vehicle swerved, but not in time to avoid the melta beam. An explosion engulfed the ramshackle buggy, the wreck consumed by a colossal conflagration.
Uncaring of the fate of their ally, the Warbikers zoomed in on the limping Armiger. Tanaka gritted his teeth and braced himself for the impact. He swung Kazan's Reaper Chain-cleaver and felt a sense of satisfaction when he obliterated one of the riders. However, the nob struck out and tore through the cabling in the Armiger's knees, almost sending the machine falling over.
They know how to fight against Knights, Tanaka thought to himself. They must have learned somehow.
The Orks had always been a tenacious breed, created solely for combat. They thrived on it, even.
Well, not anymore. Tanaka had sworn an oath to his Daimyo to see the filthy species exterminated from the galaxy. These foul creatures would rue the day they invaded the Imperium.
Swiveling the meltagun atop the carapace of his Knight, Tanaka blew one of the Warbikers to bits, melting both rider and mount to slag. Limping after the nob, who had circled about to meet Kazan in combat once again, he swung his Reaper chain-cleaver just as the nob swung its big choppa.
Both weapons collided explosively, sparks flying between them. The nob laughed boisterously, enjoying the contest of strength against the man in a metal suit. Tanaka felt no such joy, but he felt zealous conviction. Faith in humanity's right to rule the galaxy.
With contempt, he had his Armiger kick out and totalled the bike under the nob. The greenskin, taken by surprise, rolled off the ground and brought its weapon up with a snarl. There was a shuddering screech as it slashed the thigh plating of Kazan.
However, it was nothing more but a glancing blow. By the Emperor's fortune, the armor held - just barely. The plating buckled, but the whirring teeth of the choppa failed to sink in any further. The greenskin looked up at the towering Armiger Warglaive, its beady eyes widening as if it could sense the hatred from the pilot within.
Then Tanaka swung Kazan's Reaper Chain-cleaver and took the nob's head off in a single blow.
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